This weekend was the start of the semiannual Television Critics Association press tour, which is where lots of cool TV news is announced. I have no idea why the tour starts on a weekend, but whatever. Here's what's been announced so far for NBC:
-Howie Mandel is replacing David Hasselhoff as one of the judges on America's Got Talent. I don't care.
-NBC took my suggestion and is creating a new Law & Order series, set in Los Angeles. Wait, they already tried that. It was called Southland, and it got canceled. Well, a rose by another name just might work. At the very least, it'll get better ratings than The Jay Leno Show. Speaking of which...
-NBC will cancel the primetime edition of Leno and give him back his old 1130PM slot. February 12 (also yours truly's birthday) will be Leno's final night in primetime. After the Olympics are over, it'll be Leno at 1130, Conan at midnight, and Jimmy Fallon at 1AM. No idea what will happen to Carson Daly. I know what you're thinking: Carson Daly still has a show?!
-Friday Night Lights may return to NBC in March. You don't care, I don't care. Moving on.
Here's what's been announced for CBS:
-Three Rivers is officially canceled. No one's surprised, and no one's sad. Except maybe Alex O'Loughlin. Listen, CBS. I think it's time you retire that ole "Let's make Alex O'Loughlin a star" mantra. Seriously. Some people are meant to be headliners (ahem Simon Baker), and others are meant to be ensemble. The other thing I want to say is, when you cancel a show, call it what it is, don't call it "on hiatus." You know what's on hiatus? Glee. Don't put that in the same category as Three effing Rivers.
-Numb3rs and Medium may be coming back next year. Uh, heck yeah. They are doing just fine on Friday nights. Leave them alone.
That's it for now. Stay tuned for news on Fox (tomorrow) and ABC (Tuesday).
Showing posts with label the jay leno show. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the jay leno show. Show all posts
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Friday, January 8, 2010
A Letter To My Readers.
I have to be honest. I haven't been blogging as much lately because my enthusiasm for it has been flagging. Plus, I haven't caught up on any of the random new episodes that have been cropping up--Modern Family, Ugly Betty, and so on.
Also, I may or may not have been spending my free moments watching Michael Buble videos on YouTube. Seriously, this guy is cute.
But I know I have readers out there, whether they stumble upon my blog by chance and read one entry and leave forever (99% of my visitors), or whether they go right onto my site every day or every other day to read it (0.5%--the remaining 0.5% would be yours truly). So if I have days or weeks where I blog less than usual, please bear with me. I'm not going anywhere. I love writing, and I love my TV. And most of all, I love you for reading.
On with the TV update. I've been going through the first season of Damages like a maniac. That show is just. so. good. I can't get enough--as soon as one episode ends, I'm all over that mouse to double-click on the next one. It's so much more than Ted Danson and Glenn Close and Rose Byrne. It's Crazy Stalker Girl and that oddly pitiful bald southerner lawyer who will be on Big Love this season. It's all the guys on the show who look like famous guys: Rose Byrne's fiance looks like Jerry O'Connell, Gregory Malina looks like Tom Cruise mixed with Michael Gelman, and that SEC dude looks like Richard Gere. It's the flash-forwards to the future (or present, as my fiance likes to remind me) that reveal, just a little bit at a time, what happened, but never enough to satisfy you.
My friend who recommended this show started with season 2, and has not seen season 1. So I cannot even begin to imagine how good season 2 is.
I haven't watched a single other show, but I've been keeping up with TV news, as that's my day job and all. The big news of the moment is Jay Leno. What the heck is NBC going to do with him? People are saying he'll move back to 1130PM for a half-hour show and Conan will move to midnight. Or Leno will get his full hour back at 1130PM and Conan will leave the network. But if Leno moves back to 1130PM, what will NBC run at 10PM?
My suggestions:
a) Five nights of Dateline: To Catch A Predator. There are so many perverts out there, I would like to see every one of them humiliated and immortalized on this show.
b) Law & Order every night. NBC should've just turned Southland into Law & Order: Street Patrol. Add Law & Order: Celebrities Who Threaten To Kill You On Christmas Day and they're all set.
c) New shows that are not about doctors/lawyers/people with "talent."
No matter what NBC decides to do, one thing's for sure: Neither Jay nor Conan will have the audience they once had. And it'll take MONTHS--okay, let's be real, this is NBC--YEARS for NBC to recover its 10PM audience.
Also, I may or may not have been spending my free moments watching Michael Buble videos on YouTube. Seriously, this guy is cute.
But I know I have readers out there, whether they stumble upon my blog by chance and read one entry and leave forever (99% of my visitors), or whether they go right onto my site every day or every other day to read it (0.5%--the remaining 0.5% would be yours truly). So if I have days or weeks where I blog less than usual, please bear with me. I'm not going anywhere. I love writing, and I love my TV. And most of all, I love you for reading.
On with the TV update. I've been going through the first season of Damages like a maniac. That show is just. so. good. I can't get enough--as soon as one episode ends, I'm all over that mouse to double-click on the next one. It's so much more than Ted Danson and Glenn Close and Rose Byrne. It's Crazy Stalker Girl and that oddly pitiful bald southerner lawyer who will be on Big Love this season. It's all the guys on the show who look like famous guys: Rose Byrne's fiance looks like Jerry O'Connell, Gregory Malina looks like Tom Cruise mixed with Michael Gelman, and that SEC dude looks like Richard Gere. It's the flash-forwards to the future (or present, as my fiance likes to remind me) that reveal, just a little bit at a time, what happened, but never enough to satisfy you.
My friend who recommended this show started with season 2, and has not seen season 1. So I cannot even begin to imagine how good season 2 is.
I haven't watched a single other show, but I've been keeping up with TV news, as that's my day job and all. The big news of the moment is Jay Leno. What the heck is NBC going to do with him? People are saying he'll move back to 1130PM for a half-hour show and Conan will move to midnight. Or Leno will get his full hour back at 1130PM and Conan will leave the network. But if Leno moves back to 1130PM, what will NBC run at 10PM?
My suggestions:
a) Five nights of Dateline: To Catch A Predator. There are so many perverts out there, I would like to see every one of them humiliated and immortalized on this show.
b) Law & Order every night. NBC should've just turned Southland into Law & Order: Street Patrol. Add Law & Order: Celebrities Who Threaten To Kill You On Christmas Day and they're all set.
c) New shows that are not about doctors/lawyers/people with "talent."
No matter what NBC decides to do, one thing's for sure: Neither Jay nor Conan will have the audience they once had. And it'll take MONTHS--okay, let's be real, this is NBC--YEARS for NBC to recover its 10PM audience.
Monday, October 26, 2009
NBC: Sinking Faster Than My 401(k)
I just read an article from Ad Age comparing Jay Leno to a bag of stale Funyuns. I'm not kidding. Here's the direct quote:
"NBC used to offer substantive entrees at 10 ("ER," "Law & Order"), and figured that viewers could be forced to switch to comfort food. But Leno at 11:35 wasn't ever really even meatloaf; he was more like that stale bag of Funyuns in the back of the cupboard you were willing to settle for because mindless late-night snacking is ... mindless."
Now, I'm not a huge fan of Funyuns. I'm more of an Utz Cheddar and Sour Cream girl. Nevertheless, I feel bad for Jay.
I used to watch him all the time, back when my VCR still worked. I'd tape him every night between 11:37PM and 12 midnight (I generally don't watch celebrity interviews). What I liked about Jay was his monologue--just the right amount of corny, and never, ever mean-spirited--and his interactions with Kevin Eubanks. I also loved his Celebrity Jeopardy segments. The hilarious Gilbert Gottfried somehow made his way into almost every one, with his requisite "Son of a b*tch!"
When my VCR broke from overuse, I couldn't watch Jay anymore. Then NBC announced Jay was coming to primetime. "Yay," I thought. "I can watch Jay on the off night that there is nothing to watch at 10PM."
That never happened.
What I ended up doing at 10PM on Tuesdays-Fridays (Mondays being rescued by CSI: Miami) was either A) catch up on other shows or B) read.
Good for the publishing industry, but bad for NBC. Thanks to giving Jay 33% of its primetime lineup on weeknights, the Peacock Network's 10PM ratings are crap. NBC finishes #3 (last place) in the hour almost every night of the week. The only show doing worse than Jay is ABC's Eastwick. (I'm still waiting for ABC to wake up and smell that stinker.)
NBC affiliates all around the country are also crying foul, because low ratings at 10PM mean lower ratings for their 11PM news.
It's time, NBC. Time to admit Jay Leno five nights a week at 10PM was a bad idea. Time to admit not renewing his contract for The Tonight Show was a bad idea. Look, there will be major egg on your face for shoving those "Comedy at 10. It's about time" ads down our throats all summer. You had high hopes for Jay, and it didn't work out. Okay, it BOMBED. But as any addict knows, the first step to solving a problem is admitting you have a problem.
I know you have a contract with Jay for at least a year. But I don't have a solution for you to get out of this mess. It's just a terrible, terrible situation for all parties involved.
Eck. No more entries on the state of NBC for a while. Writing about the network is making me depressed.
"NBC used to offer substantive entrees at 10 ("ER," "Law & Order"), and figured that viewers could be forced to switch to comfort food. But Leno at 11:35 wasn't ever really even meatloaf; he was more like that stale bag of Funyuns in the back of the cupboard you were willing to settle for because mindless late-night snacking is ... mindless."
Now, I'm not a huge fan of Funyuns. I'm more of an Utz Cheddar and Sour Cream girl. Nevertheless, I feel bad for Jay.
I used to watch him all the time, back when my VCR still worked. I'd tape him every night between 11:37PM and 12 midnight (I generally don't watch celebrity interviews). What I liked about Jay was his monologue--just the right amount of corny, and never, ever mean-spirited--and his interactions with Kevin Eubanks. I also loved his Celebrity Jeopardy segments. The hilarious Gilbert Gottfried somehow made his way into almost every one, with his requisite "Son of a b*tch!"
When my VCR broke from overuse, I couldn't watch Jay anymore. Then NBC announced Jay was coming to primetime. "Yay," I thought. "I can watch Jay on the off night that there is nothing to watch at 10PM."
That never happened.
What I ended up doing at 10PM on Tuesdays-Fridays (Mondays being rescued by CSI: Miami) was either A) catch up on other shows or B) read.
Good for the publishing industry, but bad for NBC. Thanks to giving Jay 33% of its primetime lineup on weeknights, the Peacock Network's 10PM ratings are crap. NBC finishes #3 (last place) in the hour almost every night of the week. The only show doing worse than Jay is ABC's Eastwick. (I'm still waiting for ABC to wake up and smell that stinker.)
NBC affiliates all around the country are also crying foul, because low ratings at 10PM mean lower ratings for their 11PM news.
It's time, NBC. Time to admit Jay Leno five nights a week at 10PM was a bad idea. Time to admit not renewing his contract for The Tonight Show was a bad idea. Look, there will be major egg on your face for shoving those "Comedy at 10. It's about time" ads down our throats all summer. You had high hopes for Jay, and it didn't work out. Okay, it BOMBED. But as any addict knows, the first step to solving a problem is admitting you have a problem.
I know you have a contract with Jay for at least a year. But I don't have a solution for you to get out of this mess. It's just a terrible, terrible situation for all parties involved.
Eck. No more entries on the state of NBC for a while. Writing about the network is making me depressed.
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