In Memoriam...

This year, it seemed an unjustifiably high number of big-time shows left us after successful runs on TV. Shows that changed the face of television. Shows that had an impact on society. Shows that left their imprint in our lives. Here they are, in no particular order:

24 (8 seasons): Jack Bauer. Jack Bauer once bit a chunk out of a guy's neck. Chloe. Edgar. President Logan. President Dennis Haysbert. Jack Bauer once bit off a man's ear. Tony Almeida. Michelle Dessler. Jack Bauer once cut off a man's head and put it inside a bowling bag. The CTU ring tone.

Ugly Betty (4 seasons): I still think about the Suarez family and wonder what they're up to. How are Hilda and Bobby? How is Betty in London? And I will forever miss Wilhelmina's one-liners and withering glares.

Lost (6 seasons): I will not miss this show. As well-written and nicely shot as it was, and as epic as the whole story was, there was a lot that aggravated me about the show. Kate and her love triangle. Juliet and her lack of facial expressions. The killing off of almost every minority. The appearance of random new characters late in the final season. The sheer arrogance with which the finale was written, like the creators were spitting in the face of every fan who had questions about the show.

Law & Order (20 seasons): The granddaddy of all law dramas, one that tied Gunsmoke's record for the longest-running American TV drama. I didn't watch Gunsmoke, and I didn't watch Law & Order. I should tip my hat to this show, because without it, there would not be a Law & Order: SVU.

So there you have it. However you felt about these shows, and whether you even watched them, you know that TV will not be the same without them.

Network Upfronts 2010: Pickups, Cancelations And Renewals, Oh My!

With the network upfronts next week, TV news is coming faster than I can post it, so I'll just run through a quick few things that stick out in my mind:

-Chuck has been renewed for a 4th season. Hooray! Subway sandwiches for all!

-V has also been renewed for a 2nd season. I can't believe I'm saying this, but...hooray again! The show has actually been getting good. Almost good enough for me to watch a whole episode while not reading Entertainment Weekly/working on my 5,000-piece jigsaw puzzle.

-FlashForward has been canceled. Thanks for nothing, Joseph Fiennes! I said it once, and I'll say it again: John Cho should've been the lead. Then the show might've had a shred of a chance. Sorry, Penny Widmore.

-NBC's Rockford Files remake is DOA. Thank you, there must be a television god who doesn't like remakes either. Now, about that Hawaii Five-O...

-CBS ordered its first new show for fall: Mike & Molly. It's a sitcom about a chubby married couple. Sookie from Gilmore Girls is playing Molly. Hey, can we get Michel a show? He was pretty awesome.

-The Wanda Sykes Show has been canceled, giving network execs another excuse to say a late-night show starring a person of color will not work. Dang it! Wanda, you're one of the funniest ladies around. Fox's loss.

-The original Law & Order has been canceled. No wait, it hasn't. Wait, it definitely has. Actually, there might be a chance that it won't be. Eh, does anybody under the age of 87 really care?

***UPDATE***

Law & Order is officially done. But not to fear--NBC just ordered Law & Order: Los Angeles. I'm still waiting for Law & Order: Newark.

More to come as I hear about it...

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).

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.