This is the final entry on the TCA press tour, focusing on ABC, a network near and dear to me because I interned there twice.
Here are the highlights:
-My favorite half-hour comedy, Modern Family, was renewed for a second season, along with The Middle and Cougar Town. Huzzah for Phil Dunphy! Now all ABC needs is a new half-hour sitcom to fill that hole on Wednesday nights. Might I suggest a show that's not about an unattractive, balding, overweight old man with a hot young wife, or a show that's not about a gorgeous woman who, for some preposterous reason, can't land a guy (I'm looking at you, Alyssa Milano's Romantically Challenged!)?
-Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver (who has appeared on Oprah) is getting his own show on Friday nights. It's about getting America's fat and diabetic children to eat healthier. The show is called Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution. Here's a revolutionary idea: Don't send your kids to McDonald's for school lunch. Starving them is so much more economical. I keed! I keed!
-Speaking of revolutions, ABC came up with the brilliant idea of spinning off The Bachelor into a new show called Bachelor Pad. It'll feature a bunch of old contestants from previous seasons of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette living in a house together a la Big Brother. Uh, ABC, there's already a Big Brother. And it's awesome.
-Dancing with the Stars will return March 22. This time, instead of 62 contestants, they will have a mere 57. Again, I keed. They are actually only going to have 11 or 12 instead of the usual 16. And by 11 stars I mean 2 stars and 9 has-beens. Let's be real here, ABC.
Annnd that's a wrap!
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
TCA Press Tour: Part II.
The big news announced at Fox's TCA press tour was this:
Simon Cowell is leaving American Idol after this season.
He wants to start his own show, a U.S. version of the U.K. hit The X Factor, which Fox has picked up for fall 2011.
What is The X Factor, you ask? Think of it like America's Got Talent. It even has the Xes and everything. Recently, it birthed the career of Susan Boyle. But I'm not interested. American television does not need another America's Got Talent, even if it is produced and judged by Simon Cowell. I wouldn't even care if The X Factor featured monkeys juggling meatballs. I won't be watching.
The move is all well and good for Simon, but what about the rest of us? What about the fans who watch Idol just to see what Simon will say about the contestants? I don't know about you, but I think a panel of three nice judges will be quite the bore. Randy will call everyone dawg, Kara will grab the mic and start singing the songs herself, and Ellen will try to be their best friend.
Zzzzzzz.
I guess this spells the end of American Idol as we know it.
Other news from the TCA tour:
-Glee was picked up for a 2nd season! That's right, our favorite show will be back next fall!
-America's Most Wanted will celebrate is 1000th episode in March. I used to LOVE this show. John Walsh is the man. I never got to catch a criminal, though. Oh well.
-Bones will hit its 100th episode in April. I don't care.
-Fox will premiere a new show called Code 58 in May. This is the description, from executive producer Matt Nix:
"It's an action-comedy where we follow these two cops. So, in a sense, it's a procedural as they investigate usually routine crimes. They both, each for their own reasons, have been sort of banished to the worst jobs in the department. And every week they investigate a crime that can range from the theft of a small residential burglary to reorganizing evidence to dealing with a stolen car. On a week-to-week basis, it's about how that intersects with a much larger crime and how they end up sort of getting involved in something much bigger."
Wow, that could not sound more boring. I'd rather watch 1000 straight episodes of America's Most Wanted. Did I mention John Walsh is the man?
Stay tuned for news from ABC's press tour...
Simon Cowell is leaving American Idol after this season.
He wants to start his own show, a U.S. version of the U.K. hit The X Factor, which Fox has picked up for fall 2011.
What is The X Factor, you ask? Think of it like America's Got Talent. It even has the Xes and everything. Recently, it birthed the career of Susan Boyle. But I'm not interested. American television does not need another America's Got Talent, even if it is produced and judged by Simon Cowell. I wouldn't even care if The X Factor featured monkeys juggling meatballs. I won't be watching.
The move is all well and good for Simon, but what about the rest of us? What about the fans who watch Idol just to see what Simon will say about the contestants? I don't know about you, but I think a panel of three nice judges will be quite the bore. Randy will call everyone dawg, Kara will grab the mic and start singing the songs herself, and Ellen will try to be their best friend.
Zzzzzzz.
I guess this spells the end of American Idol as we know it.
Other news from the TCA tour:
-Glee was picked up for a 2nd season! That's right, our favorite show will be back next fall!
-America's Most Wanted will celebrate is 1000th episode in March. I used to LOVE this show. John Walsh is the man. I never got to catch a criminal, though. Oh well.
-Bones will hit its 100th episode in April. I don't care.
-Fox will premiere a new show called Code 58 in May. This is the description, from executive producer Matt Nix:
"It's an action-comedy where we follow these two cops. So, in a sense, it's a procedural as they investigate usually routine crimes. They both, each for their own reasons, have been sort of banished to the worst jobs in the department. And every week they investigate a crime that can range from the theft of a small residential burglary to reorganizing evidence to dealing with a stolen car. On a week-to-week basis, it's about how that intersects with a much larger crime and how they end up sort of getting involved in something much bigger."
Wow, that could not sound more boring. I'd rather watch 1000 straight episodes of America's Most Wanted. Did I mention John Walsh is the man?
Stay tuned for news from ABC's press tour...
Monday, January 11, 2010
I Spy...The Best Show You're Not Watching.
There are certain shows out there that people live and die by. Ask people who watch Friday Night Lights, and they will swear it's the best show on television, why aren't you watching it, it deserves a bazillion Emmys and Golden Globes, and on and on.
I have the same question about Chuck. The spy dramedy premiered last night, and boy, have I missed it. I even missed things I had forgotten about. Like the theme song. It's catchy, and it suits the show. I also missed Zachary Levi's eye roll that precedes his flashes. I missed his hilarious panicky throwaway lines. I missed the wacky Buy More gang. Especially Anna, who is no longer on the show. I missed Casey most of all. He can steal the scene with a single grimace.
The thing I don't understand about non-Chuck viewers is WHY. Why aren't you watching this show? It has action. Romance. Humor. A diverse cast. Snappy dialogue. Nerdy pop culture references. Relateable, loveable characters. It never slows down. Anyone can get into it at any point--there's no extensive backstory, no complicated plotpoints.
More than anything, Chuck is consistently funny and consistently entertaining. Few shows can boast this quality. Even Glee has its irksome moments (I'm looking at you, scenes featuring Terri and her sister). NBC's primetime schedule may be a huge fiasco right now, but it has this one saving grace. So readers, I ask you: Watch this show and tell everyone about it. If for no other reason than we won't have 5 nights of Jay Leno again.
I have the same question about Chuck. The spy dramedy premiered last night, and boy, have I missed it. I even missed things I had forgotten about. Like the theme song. It's catchy, and it suits the show. I also missed Zachary Levi's eye roll that precedes his flashes. I missed his hilarious panicky throwaway lines. I missed the wacky Buy More gang. Especially Anna, who is no longer on the show. I missed Casey most of all. He can steal the scene with a single grimace.
The thing I don't understand about non-Chuck viewers is WHY. Why aren't you watching this show? It has action. Romance. Humor. A diverse cast. Snappy dialogue. Nerdy pop culture references. Relateable, loveable characters. It never slows down. Anyone can get into it at any point--there's no extensive backstory, no complicated plotpoints.
More than anything, Chuck is consistently funny and consistently entertaining. Few shows can boast this quality. Even Glee has its irksome moments (I'm looking at you, scenes featuring Terri and her sister). NBC's primetime schedule may be a huge fiasco right now, but it has this one saving grace. So readers, I ask you: Watch this show and tell everyone about it. If for no other reason than we won't have 5 nights of Jay Leno again.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
TCA Press Tour: Part I.
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).
-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).
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.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Download This, Matey.
According to TorrentFreak, Heroes was the most pirated show of 2009.
Really?
I didn't realize anyone still watched this show. I used to watch it, but gave up after season 1 because I missed an episode and realized I didn't care. Even though one of the villains, played by that guy from the recent Star Trek movie, is totally hot.
#2 on the list is Lost. That's another one I gave up on. I'm thinking even people who watched it on TV decided to download it so they could watch it 5 million times to try to catch all the clues. That's the thing I'll never understand about people who try to solve a show's mysteries. When I was little, I wanted to be a detective like the kids on Ghostwriter. Now, I just want the show to tell me what I need to know. I'm always wrong, anyway. That dude in the FlashForward video probably isn't even Lloyd Simcoe.
#3 is Prison Break. For me, a poster of Wentworth Miller will suffice.
I'm a big fan of the download. Unlike a DVR, a) it's free b) you don't have to deal with commercials and c) you don't get periodic warnings that you're at 99% capacity and you better delete some stuff or else your machine will explode. Also, if you're watching a show from overseas, you can catch the episode right away.
Advertisers complain that downloading is the equivalent of stealing. How about you just put your products right in the show. Lots of shows already do it--Chuck, 30 Rock, 24. I don't mind if Jack Bauer gets in his Ford and marvels at its wonderful features for two seconds before putting the pedal to the metal to mow down the bad guys. Everybody wins. Unless you're a fan of Heroes, in which case, those downloads may be all you have after this season.
Really?
I didn't realize anyone still watched this show. I used to watch it, but gave up after season 1 because I missed an episode and realized I didn't care. Even though one of the villains, played by that guy from the recent Star Trek movie, is totally hot.
#2 on the list is Lost. That's another one I gave up on. I'm thinking even people who watched it on TV decided to download it so they could watch it 5 million times to try to catch all the clues. That's the thing I'll never understand about people who try to solve a show's mysteries. When I was little, I wanted to be a detective like the kids on Ghostwriter. Now, I just want the show to tell me what I need to know. I'm always wrong, anyway. That dude in the FlashForward video probably isn't even Lloyd Simcoe.
#3 is Prison Break. For me, a poster of Wentworth Miller will suffice.
I'm a big fan of the download. Unlike a DVR, a) it's free b) you don't have to deal with commercials and c) you don't get periodic warnings that you're at 99% capacity and you better delete some stuff or else your machine will explode. Also, if you're watching a show from overseas, you can catch the episode right away.
Advertisers complain that downloading is the equivalent of stealing. How about you just put your products right in the show. Lots of shows already do it--Chuck, 30 Rock, 24. I don't mind if Jack Bauer gets in his Ford and marvels at its wonderful features for two seconds before putting the pedal to the metal to mow down the bad guys. Everybody wins. Unless you're a fan of Heroes, in which case, those downloads may be all you have after this season.
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Damages: Hallelujah For A New Find.
I just found the show to take me to January 10!*
Upon the recommendation of a friend, I watched the first two episodes of the FX show Damages. It's about a tough lawyer named Patty Hewes (played by Glenn Close) and her young associate, Ellen Parsons (played by Rose Byrne). The first season involves Ted Danson getting sued for pulling a Martha Stewart and Glenn Close leading the prosecution. All the while, there is a murder mystery: Who killed Ellen's fiance?
Damages didn't hit me right away. About halfway into the pilot, I said to my fiance, "I don't know about this show." I had a similar reaction to Vampire Diaries--a slow pilot with too much backstory crammed into the first half-hour (why should we care about the characters' backstory when we don't even care about the characters yet?). And like Vampire Diaries, Damages starts to build and build, and before you know it, you're hooked.
What I like most about the show is all the secrets. Everyone, with the exception of Ellen's soon-to-be-dead fiance, is shady in their own way. I thought the blond sister-in-law would be dull as dishwater, but she's turning out to be quite a little sneak. I thought the guy from The O.C. (played by Tate Donovan) was done for, but he's still around to do Glenn Close's bidding. And Glenn Close herself is one scary boss.
If I can nitpick, I will say Damages does something annoying that all shows do: Have characters end phone calls WITHOUT SAYING GOODBYE. Listen up, Writers Guild of America. Most of us do not end a phone conversation with a meaningful statement followed by a wistful smile. Most of us do not agree on something and then simultaneously hang up. Instead, we have sometimes awkward goodbyes that go on for too long, such as the following exchange I often have with my own sister:
Me: All right. I'll talk to you--
Sister: Okay. Bye--
Me: Bye for now--
Sister: Talk to you--
Me: Bye.
Sister: Bye.
*Two words: Chuck. Premiere.
Upon the recommendation of a friend, I watched the first two episodes of the FX show Damages. It's about a tough lawyer named Patty Hewes (played by Glenn Close) and her young associate, Ellen Parsons (played by Rose Byrne). The first season involves Ted Danson getting sued for pulling a Martha Stewart and Glenn Close leading the prosecution. All the while, there is a murder mystery: Who killed Ellen's fiance?
Damages didn't hit me right away. About halfway into the pilot, I said to my fiance, "I don't know about this show." I had a similar reaction to Vampire Diaries--a slow pilot with too much backstory crammed into the first half-hour (why should we care about the characters' backstory when we don't even care about the characters yet?). And like Vampire Diaries, Damages starts to build and build, and before you know it, you're hooked.
What I like most about the show is all the secrets. Everyone, with the exception of Ellen's soon-to-be-dead fiance, is shady in their own way. I thought the blond sister-in-law would be dull as dishwater, but she's turning out to be quite a little sneak. I thought the guy from The O.C. (played by Tate Donovan) was done for, but he's still around to do Glenn Close's bidding. And Glenn Close herself is one scary boss.
If I can nitpick, I will say Damages does something annoying that all shows do: Have characters end phone calls WITHOUT SAYING GOODBYE. Listen up, Writers Guild of America. Most of us do not end a phone conversation with a meaningful statement followed by a wistful smile. Most of us do not agree on something and then simultaneously hang up. Instead, we have sometimes awkward goodbyes that go on for too long, such as the following exchange I often have with my own sister:
Me: All right. I'll talk to you--
Sister: Okay. Bye--
Me: Bye for now--
Sister: Talk to you--
Me: Bye.
Sister: Bye.
*Two words: Chuck. Premiere.
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