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May 2008 Archives
Season Finale Was So Good, I'm Lost without "Lost"
May 30, 2008 12:26 AM
All I can say is, "Wow." The fourth-season finale of ABC's Lost not only was every bit as dramatic, revealing and surprising as I'd hoped -- it was the year's Exhibit A for Reasons Not to Give Up on Network Television.
I only hope network executives across the board were watching, and learning their lesson...
This is the lesson: In 10, 20 years, people may remember American Idol, but no one's going to revere it, or even watch it. There was a time when The $64,000 Question was the hottest live competition show on television, but how treasured is that show today? A generation from now, the best of today's reality and competition shows will be either forgotten or remade, just as, say, yesterday's Queen for a Day is today.
But a show such as Lost -- it'll be a classic. Maybe not a classic in the Honeymooners or I Love Lucy or Twilight Zone sense, but certainly in the tradition of Twin Peaks or The X-Files. Attention must be paid. Those who love the show will not forget it, and such imaginatively scripted, superbly acted and directed series as Lost will save network television, if anything can.
Last night's season finale actually answered more old questions than it posed new ones -- definitely a first for a seasonal cliffhanger. And in the middle of all the angst and explosions and shifts of time and space, there was one fabulously satisfying moment, the reunion of Penny and Desmond, that paid off a story line that has been years in the making.
The episode also explained everything we needed to know about the Oceanic 6's origin and discovery, and set up not only why Ben had been wearing a parka in the desert, but how he steered the island somewhere else. Or somewhen else. I'm not sure -- just as I'm not sure whether Jin really died, as it appears.
Locke died, that's for sure -- that was the stunner to keep us buzzing until season five. And it seems just as certain that Jack will return to the island, with the body of Locke and the rest of the Oceanic 6 in tow... but then what?
We'll have to wait until 2009, when Lost returns, to find out. But having a show that's worth waiting to see, and worth talking about in the meantime, is way too much of a rarity not to treasure. Even if the next episode is eight months away.
TV Worth Watching's First Reader Quiz: How Much Is "Sex" Worth?
May 28, 2008 9:36 AM
My next column for Broadcasting & Cable magazine, to be published Monday, is all about what I call "made-from-TV movies," pegged to this weekend's release of the big-screen Sex and the City film and, three weeks later, the Get Smart remake. I offered my prediction about how much Sex would earn at the box-office on its opening weekend -- but here at TV Worth Watching, I'm very curious about yours...
My very unscientific formula was based upon such factors as the average audience of 6.1 million viewers for the original 1998-2004 HBO TV series, DVD sales for the lavish box sets, the four-year lag between series finale and movie sequel, and the fact that my daughter Kristin, who just graduated from law school, is taking precious, otherwise hoarded time from studying for her boards to gather some girlfriends and see the movie on opening night, with pre-purchased tickets.
I won't reveal my own guess here. Having my B & C column already edited and on the way to print is the equivalent of sealing my prediction in a well-guarded envelope. It'll be public record Monday morning -- as will the box-office grosses for the first weekend of Sex and the City.
But what's your guess? Let's play by The Price Is Right rules -- closest amount, without going over, is declared the winner. So if the first-weekend total is $50 million, a prediction of $45 million would beat out a $51 million guess, even though the latter is closer. And since all the comments will be posted, you can check out prior bids before making your own -- or stake a claim quickly. Only comments posted before noon ET Friday will be counted, so sneaky people can't check out the lines at their local theaters.
If you're greedy enough to ask "What do I win?," the answer is, not much. But if you guess correctly, and especially if you outguess me, then I guess I can rummage through my pile of old TV crap and come up with something suitable to send as a prize. So what do you think? Will Sex and the City be the next Iron Man? Or the next Speed Racer?
Oh, and Kristin -- if you're reading this, you can play, too. I just won't send you anything if you win...
"Sopranos" Educational Conference Sparks Unexpected C*ntroversy
May 27, 2008 9:15 AM
Over Memorial Day weekend, New York's Fordham University and West London's Brunel University banded together in New York to present a memorial to The Sopranos. The invigorating international conference, called "The Sopranos: A Wake," gathered academics from as far away as Australia to dissect and debate the groundbreaking HBO series. The participants presented papers, offered observations, and, in at least one case, generated controversy...
In the spirit of full disclosure, I should say I chaired the closing discussion, dedicated to the finale of The Sopranos, on the event's final day. And once again, as with Tim Robbins at the NAB, I found myself participating in a conference that, simply by the frank discussion of ideas, got some people fairly agitated.
This time I wasn't dead center. The hot seat was occupied by Kim Akass and Janet McCabe, the respected U.K. scholars presenting one of two opening-session papers. Theirs was an examination of women's roles, and male characters' opinions of them, and featured a title that ruffled more than a few feathers among the bigwigs at Fordham, whose campus hosted the event.
The intentionally raw and abrasive title is so volatile that even when quoting it here, I'll hide behind an asterisk, and the barely euphemistic "the 'C' word.' The title: " 'Blabbermouth C*nts': The Sopranos and the Feminist Dilemma."
Akass and McCabe have edited books on other TV shows and issues, and teamed to present many incisive chapters and papers. The "Blabbermouth" quote was lifted directly from the series -- yet behind the scenes, the women were scolded for their inflammatory title. By the time I arrived Saturday, a goldenrod-colored handout was being distributed, as conveners Paul Levinson and Al Auster of Fordham, David Lavery of Brunel and Douglas Howard of Suffolk Community College sought to defuse the tension. Included in the handout were the following sentences:
"Please know that we intend no offense to anyone with any of the language... One of the very purposes of this conference is to assess and analyze ethnic and gender stereotyping on television."
The buzz around campus this weekend was that some members of the Fordham board questioned the very value of devoting serious scholarly study to a TV series -- an absurdly closed-minded, elitist viewpoint I attacked as outdated in my book Teleliteracy: Taking Television Seriously. And that was 16 years ago.
The value of the Akass-McCabe paper, and the conference in general, will be obvious soon enough. Lavery announced, after the last papers were presented, that their quality and range almost guaranteed that a book compilation would follow.
It should.
HBO's "Recount": Enjoy It, But Don't Mistake It for a Documentary
May 23, 2008 6:42 AM
Since HBO is repeating yesterday's Recount telemovie tonight at 9 p.m. ET, I decided to give myself a holiday and repeat yesterday's blog as well -- and run my review of Recount all over again. Which makes it, I guess, a re-Recount...
HBO's Recount, a new telemovie about the 2000 presidential election and the fight for votes in the pivotal state of Florida, is a perfect subject for a TV drama. The subject makes you want to tune in, and the cast -- led by Kevin Spacey, Tom Wilkinson, Denis Leary and Laura Dern -- makes it an even more mouthwatering prospect.
No question, Sunday's comedy-drama (9 p.m. ET) is a fun film to watch. Spacey, as Ron Klain, carries the Democratic side of things with alternating flashes of humor and frustration, and Wilkinson -- fresh from playing Benjamin Franklin in HBO's John Adams -- spearheads the Republican fight as James Baker III, and gets not only the ultimate victory (spoiler alert!), but many of the best lines.
The candidates these two men represent, Al Gore and George W. Bush, are seen only in TV footage, and heard only in phone conversations, except for a few glimpses of a stand-in "playing" Gore's back or shoulder. But early on, Recount gives us a montage of the actual election-night TV reports -- and they're priceless. That sequence, and a later scene relying heavily upon actual U.S. Supreme Court transcripts, are the best in the drama, because they're the most true.
Other scenes, like the coda in which Baker and Klain meet by accident and exchange pleasantries and opinions, seem forced. (That one is: It never happened.) Screenwriter Danny Strong does well for a first-time effort -- he's best-known as as a character actor, as Jonathan, the short-statured nerd on Buffy the Vampire Slayer -- and the chronology of events alone makes for an incredible roller-coaster of a plot.
I can't help but wonder, though, how Recount might have turned out in the hands of, say, Larry Gelbart, who did such a brilliant job writing another HBO fact-based telemovie, Barbarians at the Gate, recreating a tobacco-company takeover bid. Recount is good, and I love that HBO had the vision and daring to make it -- but, in this case as in most others, don't believe all of what you see on TV.
Frank Rich Working with HBO? This Could be Rich Indeed...
May 22, 2008 12:11 PM
I've never met Frank Rich, never even talked to him. Yet yesterday's announcement that he has signed on as a creative consultant for HBO, to initiate and help develop projects, sounds like the best move HBO has made since green-lighting Deadwood.
And Rich, because of his decades of experience as both an Op-Ed columnist and drama critic for The New York Times, should be anything but dead wood.
Rich's Sunday column in the Times is my favorite piece of weekly journalism, and the first thing I read with my first cup of coffee on Sunday mornings. Decades ago, as a drama critic, Rich both echoed and enhanced my early love of Stephen Sondheim's work -- and probably, now that think about it, had something to do about how I approach my own work as a critic, and why I refuse to underestimate the intelligence of my readers.
So what will Rich do at HBO? I have no idea. Right now, I'm guessing, neither does he. But in the nonfiction area, if he gets to team up with HBO documentary maven Sheila Nevins, he'll be working with one of the smartest, savviest and most tasteful TV executives in the business. And since she's in charge of family programming as well, it wouldn't surprise me to see her working with Rich to tap his theatrical passion as well.
Whatever happens, HBO's embrace of Rich promises to be as enriching (so to speak) as it was unexpected. I await, and expect, great things.
From "American Idol" to "American Gladiators" -- Goodbye, TV Season
May 21, 2008 7:18 AM
David wins! David wins!
On the other hand: David loses! David loses!
As I write this Wednesday morning, the victor in this year's American Idol is unknown. Depending upon when you read this, the outcome may be a sure thing. But here's one sure thing regardless: TV's about to get duller, again, for a few months. After tonight, the May ratings sweeps, and the 2007-08 TV season, are over.
Let's deal with Idol first. I was rooting for David Cook over David Archuleta, but Cook's usually canny song-selecting and arrangement-selecting instincts batted just 1 for 3 in the final competition, with only his version of U2's "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" a powerful choice and performance. Archuleta countered that immediately with an equally impressive version of Elton John's "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me," and the remaining two rounds went easily to the younger David.
Judge Simon Cowell called it a "knockout" by Archuleta at the end, and the youngster's squealing fan base almost certainly will celebrate him home. (If Cook has a slim chance, despite Archuleta's superior finals-night performances, it's only because Cook seems more sincere, and his selections and arrangements more daring.)
A Cook upset is unlikely. Archuleta is so calculating, he once again shaved the all-important opening verse from John Lennon's "Imagine," just so he wouldn't risk offending his voting bloc by singing, "Imagine there's no heaven, it's easy if you try..."
Meanwhile, imagining there's no TV worth watching this summer (the offerings, not the website) is easy if you try.
The season ends officially tonight, and only a few more exciting things to anticipate remain before the month is out. The Ugly Betty and Grey's Anatomy season finales air tomorrow, and, the one for which I really can't wait, the two-hour Lost season finale, is broadcast a week later. But then what? Summer series such as Swingtown on CBS and Fear Itself on NBC will try to keep viewers interested and in place, but viewers, bless them, already are showing signs of impatience.
NBC's awful American Gladiators returned for its second go-round last week in an embarrassing, unexpected fourth-place finish in its time slot. It's impossible not to react with glee at how that cynically mounted and presented series has been rejected so soundly, and so quickly, after NBC counted on it to replicate its initial, curiosity-fueled high ratings. Next up -- and, I bet, next down -- will be NBC's Knight Rider, the tacky telemovie NBC is turning into a fall series.
According to A.C. Nielsen, the five broadcast networks lost a total of 3.4 million viewers for the strike-bitten 2007-08 season, the biggest one-year network decline ever. Ever. But just as gas prices keep setting new records for high prices, the networks better get used to set continual new records for shedding viewers.
The only way out is to make better programs -- and, except for a few notable instances, the networks haven't exactly committed to that.
TV Worth Watching Welcomes Its First Other Contributor: Diane Werts
May 20, 2008 6:54 AM
Since November 5, when TV Worth Watching was launched, I've written every word of every review, blog, best bet and feature that's appeared on this website. Beginning today, I'm happy to report, that's no longer the case.
Did I say "happy"? I meant "ecstatic."
Diane Werts, a very friendly competitor to me when she was TV critic at Newsday and I was TV critic at the New York Daily News, left Newsday recently, and one of the places she's landed is... right here. She's a veteran TV critic, a former president of the Television Critics Association, a smart judge of quality and enjoyable television, and a really good writer.
Beginning today, she'll provide her own column, "For Better or Werts," appearing on the home page just below my daily Best Bets. So for the first time in a long time, there's a reason to scroll down beneath Bianculli's Best Bets. Get used to it, and enjoy!
(And farewell, George Lucas, whose interview has been a bottom-of-page place-setter since the site began. May the force be with you...)
She'll also provide many of the DVD reviews, which, from now on, will be bylined: DVDs and books reviewed by Diane will bear her name; new ones by me will bear mine, and existing ones, now uncredited, are mine, too. I'll claim credit for those when I get the chance.
But time to do all this is elusive and precious, so getting even this far has been a group effort. Not only by Diane, who conceived and wrote her columns and stockpiled some reviews, but by Eric Gould and Rich Baniewicz, who redesigned and/or instituted the page elements. Thanks, all.
Diane's enthusiasm for TV is infectious, and she watches and enjoys enough super-esoteric stuff that her recommendations, I'm sure, will not often echo mine. But even they do, I'm excited about welcoming another critical voice to TV Worth Watching -- and proud to say there are a few other voices poised to join the choir very soon.
I'm not leaving. The cavalry is arriving...
My Smothers Brothers Book Is In the Works -- Finally!
May 19, 2008 7:55 AM
Publishers Weekly broke the news last week in its "Deals" column, so it's official: My book on the controversial 1960s CBS Smothers Brothers variety show is scheduled to be published as a Touchstone hardcover in October 2009. Now all I have to do is write it...
I'm thrilled about this deal, for which I have to thank my agent, Laurie Fox of the Linda Chester Agency, and Michelle Howry, the Touchstone senior editor who made a pre-emptive bid on my 107-page book proposal. But most of all, I have to thank Tom and Dick Smothers, who approached me with an irresistible offer of "total access, total freedom," then waited for me to do all my research and interviews. And waited. And waited.
"The only thing I ask," Tom Smothers yelled at me the day he made the offer, as the escalator was whisking him away, "is that I get to read it before I'm dead." Thank goodness Tom and Dick take such good care of themselves, and are so amazingly patient. That was more than a decade ago.
Finally, after more than 50 interviews and an obsessive amount of research, I'm ready to go, with only a half-dozen final interviews and a few pending Freedom of Information searches yet to go. Dangerously Funny: The UnCENSORED History of 'The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour' moves this week to the front burner.
Except for my Fresh Air work, my Broadcasting & Cable columns and blogs, and this website, the Smothers Brothers book becomes my full-time job between now and September, when I become a full-time professor at New Jersey's Rowan University. With luck, and diligence, I'll have more than half the book completed by then.
Meanwhile, one very fortunate side effect of my years of procrastination is that the Smothers' story is even more relevant now. The story of popular entertainers having the courage and conviction to speak out against a questionable war has been echoed with the Iraq war, with Michael Moore and Bill Maher, for example, attacked for speaking their mind. Both of them, by the way, tell me they were hugely influenced by The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.
Another timely update is that Pat Paulsen, whose brilliantly satiric run for the presidency in 1968 was one of television's most extended and creative comedy stunts, is still making me laugh. Paulsen died in 1997 (and yes, I've been working on this book for so long that I interviewed him before that), but his widow and son playfully have just resurrected his name for the 2008 presidential election. The slogan, which makes me chuckle every time I think of it: "Dead Man Running."
That's delightful. So is one of the campaign's runner-up slogans, "Thinking Inside the Box." Man, I love these guys...
The Smothers Brothers' official website, run by the wonderful Wendy Blair and including their discography and performance schedule, is here. The Pat Paulsen website, with even more campaign news and slogans, is here. And I'm here, finally writing the damned book. Ice cubes from hell, and bacon from flying pigs, can't be far behind...
If you have any stories or memories related to the Smothers Brothers, either their TV show or seeing them live, please share them by sending a comment. I'll make sure Tom and Dick read them all.
Fox Makes Great First Impression: "Dollhouse," "Fringe" Look Wonderful, and Reduced Ad Approach Is Brilliant
May 15, 2008 9:00 PM
Although it's in first place in the ratings, the Fox network was in last place at the upfronts -- but was worth the wait. It offered advance tastes of what look to be the two best new shows of the season, Joss Whedon's Dollhouse and J,.J. Abrams' Fringe -- and then announced a brilliant new way of showcasing them.
First, the shows. After a week of seeing (or not seeing) pieces of the new fall TV series, Dollhouse and Fringe were the first shows that were more captivating than disappointing. Fringe, which will start in the fall (Fox is launching its new shows the last week of August) right after House, may grab viewers just the way Lost did.
And Dollhouse, based on the premise, the cast, Whedon's reputation and the enticing clips shown, is my first-impression pick -- subject to seeing the full pilots of all the shows, of course -- as the best new show of the 2008-09 season.
These are only initial impressions, but that doesn't mean they're invalid. Last year, I picked Pushing Daisies that way; the year before that, 30 Rock. And they both held up once the pilots were delivered. I can't say this plainly enough: I can't wait to see more of Dollhouse. But the series premiere won't air until midseason, when Dollhouse will take over the leadoff Monday slot, followed by the return of 24. What a one-two punch. What could be better?
This could be better. Entertainment President Kevin Reilly and Entertainment Chairman Peter Liguori have settled on these two ambitious new series, Fringe and Dollhouse, as the recipients of a new Fox experiment they're calling "Remote-Free TV." In those two shows, for their entire season runs, commercial ad and promo time will be cut by half, with no more than five minutes of interruptions per hour for network commercial minutes.
That's astounding, boys and girls. In golf, the Masters controls and minimizes commercial time, and NBC Nightly News recently gave Brian Williams a night to play with an ad-reduced, content-expanded evening newscast. But to intentionally reduce ad time as a way to encourage viewers to tune in, and let them know these series are considered special? Picture my reaction as one of those animated guys in the Guinness beer commercials: Brilliant! Brilliant!
Fringe includes, in its supporting cast, familiar faces from The Wire, from Oz, and even, sigh, makes room for Blair Brown. Dollhouse has a strong supporting cast, too -- and Eliza Dushku, as the star, is being handed an amazing acting challenge: Every episode, her character's memory is erased and reprogrammed, giving her as many personalities, abilities and traits as Sydney, on Abrams' Alias, had wigs.
If I sound overly enthusiastic, it's because these two shows, and their treatment, seem to warrant it. There are other shows and ideas in the Fox announcement, but these are the ones I want to hammer home.
Dollhouse. Fringe. Fewer commercials.
Crazy like a Fox...
CBS Upfront Update: Dog and Pony Show, Minus the Pony
May 14, 2008 10:03 PM
Partway through the CBS upfront presentation at Carnegie Hall, Entertainment President Nina Tassler promoted one of her network's new summer entries, a reality series called The Greatest American Dog, by having an actual dog run across the stage and greet her, then wait for its cue to exit, stage left.
It was a typical network dog-and-pony show -- only without the pony.
Instead, there was Craig Ferguson of The Late Late Show, who hosted the event with much more enthusiasm and humor than it may have deserved. After a lengthy presentation by others about the "multimedia cyber experience," a complementary approach embracing TV, the web, mobile devices and video games, Ferguson retook the stage and said, "Thank you, guys, who are very enthusiastic about things I don't understand."
The place I was looking to be enthusiastic was when CBS showed actual clips from the shows on its new schedule. For summer, it's noteworthy that CBS made room to present its dog show, but not to risk showing its controversial, upcoming free-love 1970s-vintage Swingtown to the assembled advertisers.
And for midseason, CBS showed scenes from Harper's Island -- and instantly popped whatever magic bubble that might have been generated by the show's description earlier in the day. That's why getting these first impressions is so helpful --- and, often, is so depressing.
For the fall season, CBS unveiled five new series -- two comedies, three dramas -- and, as noted in the last blog, made one of its biggest scheduling moves by attempting a second night of sitcoms. The crowd at Carnegie Hall reacted very positively to one comedy, Worst Week.
To me, though, I'll have to reserve judgement on that comedy, and on a couple of the dramas, until I see the entire pilots. So far, I've yet to see a single new series whose first taste was so intoxicating that it earned the "most promising" honor right out of the box.
But there's still Fox, so there's still hope. Last year, ABC's Pushing Daisies wowed me that early. The year before that, so did NBC's 30 Rock.
All I want -- all I'm looking for -- is another first-impression thrill like that. Stay tuned. I am.
Upfront Update: CBS Dims "Moonlight," Embraces "Mother"
May 14, 2008 11:13 AM
CBS, at its press breakfast this morning, announced the addition of five new series to the fall schedule, and the re-establishment of a Wednesday night comedy block. The biggest news for fans of current series, though, is that How I Met Your Mother made the final cut, and Moonlight did not.
"We had a very passionate fan base," CBS President Nina Tassler said of Moonight, "and that's a good thing." To fans of the show, though, her using the past tense is a bad thing. Tassler acknowledged that what happened to Jericho -- with its very vocal cult fan base that shrank significantly after the series was renewed -- played a part in her decision.
"It was a factor, obviously," she said, adding, "I love the vampire. What can I tell you?"
On the brighter side, Tassler said CBS had "a fantastic comedy year," and senior executive v.p. Kelly Kahl said, "We loved what we saw coming out of the strike," where the CBS Monday comedies were some of the few programs to improve over pre-strike levels. Hence, How I Met Your Mother lives for another season.
(Those Britney Spears appearances sure didn't hurt... and her mini-cliffhanger paves the way for her return next season as well.)
Also getting a reprieve is Rules of Engagement, which will return at midseason. And The New Adventures of Old Christine, at last getting the respect it deserves, opens the new Wednesday comedy block.
I'll detail the new series after I've seen clips at this afternoon's upfront. Meanwhile, the comedy Worst Week has some strong advance buzz, and one of the network's midseason offerings, Harper's Island, has an intriguing twist. Tassler describes it as a mix between Ten Little Indians and Scream, with 35 people invited to an exclusive event -- with one character dying each week. Instead of being fired, they're retired -- permanently.
I should point out, for those with faint hearts or low expectations of TV, that Harper's Island is a scripted series, not a reality show.
Stay tuned. The CBS upfronts are held in a few hours...
What's New at the Network Upfronts? So Far, Less than Usual...
May 14, 2008 4:51 AM
In past years, the network upfront presentations have been all about unveiling not only the fall schedules, but the long roster of brand new series. This year, at least at ABC and CW's Tuesday upfronts, not so much. As Jimmy Kimmel joked, "Here at ABC, we are very excited about BOTH our new shows!"
Those new fall shows, as it turns out, seem pretty familiar anyway. Based on the short teaser clips, Opportunity Knocks is a game show that goes on location to neighborhoods and tests families about their knowledge of each other -- a kind of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition meets Amne$ia. And David E. Kelley's Life on Mars is an Americanized version of the familiar British import about a modern cop transplanted, somehow, into the early 1970s.
The clips didn't make this new Mars seem all that exciting, but there are two exciting prospects buried among the show's credits. One is the return of actor-turned-director Richard Benjamin in a supporting acting role. Also, one of the show's many executive producers is super-gifted TV director Tommy Schlamme, and the combination of Schlamme and Kelley could prove very potent. (Other Kelley news: Boston Legal was renewed, but for what was announced as its final season. Sigh.)
ABC had so little new fall stuff to promote that it spent a chunk of time showing samples from its imminent summer schedule. Be afraid. Be very afraid. It includes such unscripted competition series as Wipeout (a sort of combination water park, life-size video game and humiliation factory) and I Survived a Japanese Game Show, in which contestants are flown to the Far East to compete in such challenges as "Duck Before Komodo Dragon Eats Your Face."
We should all think about preparing t-shirts proclaiming: "I Survived an ABC Post-Strike Summer Season."
Now the good news. Midseason at ABC includes the return of Scrubs -- which, though I'm pleased my that prospect, prompted Kimmel to joke, "It's always a good idea to borrow shows from the people in last place." Other good news: The return of Lost in January for an unbroken weekly run, and the renewal of Pushing Daisies, last year's best new broadcast network series.
This year's best new broadcast network series, though, doesn't seem to have made an appearance just yet. It certainly doesn't seem to be at the CW, where virtually all the buzz is coming from its remake of that generational TV touchstone, Beverly Hills, 90210.
"You wanna live in the zip," intoned the announcer during the 90210 preview clip, "you gotta live by the code." Yes, he actually said that. Original cast member Jennie Garth will have a recurring role, but the 2.0 version of 90210 is all about the young and gorgeous. In this regard, it has made at least one very smart casting choice. AnnaLynne McCord, who played the devilish teen temptress Eden on Nip/Tuck this season, is one of the regulars on CW's high-profile companion to its East Coast equivalent, Gossip Girl.
Other new CW shows seem similarly status- and fashion-obsessed. Surviving the Fllthy Rich stars Joanna Garcia from Reba as a young woman given the responsibility of tutoring, and mentoring, two pampered teen girls. And Stylista, from the clips, looks like a reality-show version of The Devil Wears Prada. And looks, at first glance, every bit as bad as that sounds.
Midseason news includes the return of Reaper, and of CW's two best shows, Smallville and Everybody Hates Chris, will be back in the fall -- but last year's best new comedy, Aliens in America, wasn't renewed. As everyone at CW seems to be saying these days, OMG.
Next stop in this pared-down upfront tour? CBS, which starts today with the traditional, and always informative, CBS press breakfast. I'll report highlights shortly after that, then update following the upfront presentation once I've seen the clips of the new shows.
I'm searching for the potential gotta-watch gems... and so far, I haven't found any.
ABC Rescues NBC's "Scrubs," While NBC Launches First Fall Promo and NBC NY Anchor Drops the 'F' Bomb
May 13, 2008 8:41 AM
Today I'm diving into New York's upfronts, and will report later from ABC's presentation late this afternoon, so please check back for updates and first impressions of the new series. Meanwhile, among ABC's morning announcements to the press are two very welcome returns by veteran series -- while, last night on NBC, two promos broadcast during NBC's telecast of Medium definitely got my attention, for very different reasons.
The best early news out of ABC is this: One, the network has picked up NBC's Scrubs, a wonderful sitcom that still has lots of life in it. Two, ABC renewed Boston Legal, the David E. Kelley series that is one of the most outrageous, and certainly is the most topical, shows on network prime time today. And among ABC's new lineup is Kelley's adaptation of the British series Life on Mars. Good news all around.
Now for the NBC promo news.
The nationally televised promo was for Christian Slater's My Own Worst Enemy, a new series scheduled to premiere on NBC in the fall. It may be the first new show promoted on air by any broadcast network, so give NBC credit, at least, for trying to build buzz early. The networks all would be wise to follow suit: Audience levels have fallen so much this season because of the strike, the networks should start promoting the concept of a big fall launch before viewers vanish for the summer.
The other promo worth noting was local, an on-air ad for the upcoming 11 p.m. ET newscast -- but since WNBC-Ch 4 is the East Coast satellite NBC affiliate for DirecTV, millions of other viewers, outside the New York area, also got a chance to see it. And to hear it, which, in this case, was a lot more significant.
Channel 4 co-anchor Sue Simmons was promoting a consumer story about food prices, and saving money on grocery bills, when the on-air image shifted from grocery items to a ferry boat. Simmons clearly -- VERY clearly -- could be heard saying, "What the F... are you doing?" Except her expletive wasn't deleted.
Simmons apologized, during the 11 p.m. newscast, for the "unfortunate incident." Call it a "dialogue malfunction" -- and wait for the FCC to be all over this one. If even one complaint is filed -- and, in this case, it should be -- Simmons' angry outburst could cost WNBC a lot of money in FCC fines, and could cost Simmons a lot, too, by tarnishing her station's "happy news team" reputation.
My Own Worst Enemy, indeed...
Being Up Front With the Network Upfronts
May 12, 2008 7:04 AM
This is Upfronts Week, the week in which the networks (except for NBC, which jumped the gun last month) unveil their fall slates for advertisers. Starting tomorrow with ABC, I'll be there -- but, for the first time, reporting for my website, not for a newspaper.
It's the latest phase of my post-career transition, as I set out to redefine what it is I do and how it is I do it. Before, I was at the New York Daily News, competing with the other big-city dailies to deliver and analyze the respective network schedules for the next day.
But now that I'm on a website, am I competing with wire services instead, trying to get out all the news as fast as possible? Do I still need to break down each network's full proposed schedule? Or should I do something different now, and hone in on finding and championing what look to be the most enticing new shows?
The truth of the matter is, I'm not sure, and I won't know until I get there. I may post several times a day with breaking news, or I may present daily wrap-ups. I don't even know which shows might grab my attention. Sight unseen, the most exciting prospect, to me, is the return of Joss Whedon -- of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and Firefly fame -- to series television, with Fox's Dollhouse, starring Eliza Dushku, who played Faith on Buffy and Angel. But that's sight unseen.
This week, clips of that show, and most others, will be sights seen -- though the strike had some series sold on the basis of only a script or pitch. Whatever the sights are, and the most interesting offerings, I'll report them here. I'm just not sure how, or exactly when.
Please stay tuned -- and beginning tomorrow, keep checking back. There's a new RSS link to the site, if that'll help. And if you know what that is.
(If you do, perhaps you could explain it to me some time.)
The Aloha TV Season: You Say Hello, I Say Goodbye
May 9, 2008 7:25 AM
In Hawaii, "Aloha" means both hello and goodbye. Consider 2007-08 the Aloha TV Season, because just as we've welcomed our favorite shows back to the schedule, it's time to say farewell again.
Last night, Scrubs and 30 Rock presented their NBC season finales. Survivor calls it quits for the season Sunday with its traditional live climax, Brothers & Sisters also bows out, and next week offers a long now-you-see-them, now-you-don't parade of series making their last bows until fall.
Samantha Who? and Medium vanish after Monday. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit is gone after Tuesday. Thursday serves up the final 2007-08 installments of My Name Is Earl, Smallville, Supernatural, ER and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. A week from tonight is the final Moonlight, while Saturday Night Live stops going live after a week from Saturday.
And next Sunday, nine days from today, marks the season's final fresh episodes of Desperate Housewives, The Simpsons, Aliens in America and Everybody Hates Chris.
Aloha as in goodbye, Desperate Housewives. The next day, Aloha as in hello, American Gladiators.
Oh, poi...
HBO's "Hear and Now" Is A Treat for the Eyes -- and Ears
May 8, 2008 8:23 AM
Geese.
That's the image, and the sound, I can't shake after watching HBO's Hear and Now, the evocative, emotional, breathtakingly personal documentary by Irene Taylor Brodsky.
The documentary, premiering tonight at 8, is Brodsky's up-close-and-super-personal study of her own parents, Paul and Sally Taylor, both of whom have been deaf since birth. At age 65, they decided to risk the same operation and get fitted with cochlear implants, giving them the chance to hear, for the first time, the world and people around them.
Hear and Now spends more than a year with them. Home movies let us know how they met and married as young adults and spent their lives together, raising a hearing daughter and outfitting their lives with inventions generated by Paul, a professor. Brodsky films her parents taking a solitary winter walk, shortly before undergoing the operation.
Overhead, geese fly by and make that unmistakable honking sound. Well, unmistakable to us -- inaudible to them. Brodsky achieves exactly what she set out to do there: to make us notice the sounds we take for granted, and to imagine what life would be like without them.
And then, on the flip side to imagine what it would be like to hear those sounds, and others, for the first time. The daughter and her camera are in the room when her parents have their implants turned on for the first time, and hones in on their faces as they absorb their firs auditory experiences. He hears an electric tone, and his eyes widen with amazement. She says "Hello," to herself, and can't believe what she's hearing. Or that she's hearing.
"What does it sound like?" the doctor asks Paul, the professor.
"That's a tough question," Paul replies deliberately (subtitles help us understand what they're saying when their speech patterns aren't clear). "It's like, how do you describe what green looks like?"
Because this is real life, and because Brodsky is an unflinching filmmaker, Hear and Now has its sad moments as well as its happy ones -- plenty of them, in fact. But late in the film, when the two of them go out on another winter walk and discuss whether the geese are communicating by honking, well, it's a moment I'll never forget.
And I'm guessing it's a moment they, and their daughter, will never forget, either.
CBS Calls Indiana for Clinton, Then Sweats Hours Waiting for a Second Opinion
May 7, 2008 7:44 AM
For a while Tuesday night, and into Wednesday morning, there were fewer than 15,000 votes between CBS and a potentially huge embarrassment.
Almost six hours after Katie Couric presented a prime-time newsbreak awarding North Carolina to Barack Obama and Indiana to Hillary Clinton, no other network had yet called a winner in the Indiana race.
Couric called the races at 8:09 p.m., projecting the results, at it turned out, correctly. But in Indiana, the margin was so small, and the amount of missing votes from one key county so crucial, that as time went on, the race tightened, and tightened, and tightened. So, I suspect, did some of the sphincters at CBS News. (Sorry. Couldn't resist. And I'm talking biologically, not insultingly.)
At CNN, Larry King complained to John King about the missing votes, which stretched the suspense to the other side of midnight, wondering why they just couldn't call and get them. At Fox News, Karl Rove started doing his complex math as the first tallies from Lake County finally came in, and announced with surprise that, if Obama held to those percentages, he might actually win the state. And at MSNBC, the "A" team of Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann went off the air at 1 a.m. ET, with the race, for a few more minutes, still undecided.
Finally, more than six hours after the Indiana polls closed, the cable networks began to call it for Clinton. Politically, Clinton's win in Indiana, by the thinnest of margins, avoids an avalanche of really bad press. Obama's decisive victory in North Carolina erased Clinton's gains in Pennsylvania and elsewhere in delegate and popular counts, but her narrow victory allows her to save face and keep going.
The same is true for CBS and Couric. Had Gary, Indiana gone a little stronger for Obama, and had he claimed a late-night, 11th-inning upset, CBS would have been scolded fiercely today, and for a long time to come, for letting competitive eagerness get in the way of journalistic accuracy. It wasn't exactly "Dewey Defeats Truman!," or even "It's Ford!," but CBS risked a big chunk of its credibility by reporting so firmly so quickly.
This time, it's no harm, no foul. But next time there's a race that close, will CBS be out there alone again? And if so, does that mean its analysts and pollsters are more accurate than the competition -- or just more reckless?
"Two and a Half Men" Spoofs "CSI" -- But Not for the First Time
May 6, 2008 9:03 AM
Even by sweeps-month TV standards, it's a bizarre crossover stunt: writers on the CBS sitcom Two and a Half Men and the drama series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation taking a stab at writing an episode of each other's shows. The CSI version of Men aired last night, and the more comedic version of CSI airs Thursday.
So far, it's a fun stunt. But it's not the first time Two and a Half Men has tweaked this particular CBS drama franchise.
More on that in a minute. First, some observations about last night's Men...
It's too bad that Robert Wagner, as the brothers' brand-new father-in-law, was enlisted as the corpse. He was lots of fun on this show. But the casting of Jamie Rose, as the detective investigating his mysterious death, was perfect -- a dead-on (so to speak) tribute to Marg Helgenberger's sexy, red-headed detective on CSI.
Also perfect was the end-of-show Chuck Lorre vanity card, a weekly feature which, this week, was turned over to the writers from CSI, who described their transfer into the strange new world of the situation comedy -- "a world where the only rule is whether or not it makes you laugh, where actors say exactly what's on the page so it better be funny right down to the syllable, and where puns are the lowest form of humor." The CSI writers thanked everyone at Two and a Half Men "for making us all feel stupid," and closed by saying, "We look forward to returning the favor this Thursday night at 9."
Very funny. Even funnier, though, was an episode from a previous season of Two and a Half Men, in which Alan's sexy young bride at the time, Kandi (played by the delightful April Bowlby), auditioned for, and won, the part of a forensics investigator on a new TV crime series. That episode of Men ended with Alan and company watching her TV debut in disbelief, especially because of the blatant display of cleavage.
And what was the name of that new, sexed-up CSI spoof? Look below...
CBS Goes to the Dark Side of the "Moonlight" Promos
May 5, 2008 7:43 AM
Viewers tuned to CBS last Friday night may have caught something that made their jaws drop. I know my jaw did...
It was the CBS on-air promo for next week's Moonlight, which warned that there were only two first-run episodes left in the season -- and basically threatened viewers with the show's impending absence.
"You'll miss them when they're gone," CBS warned of these last remaining romantic vampire dramas. "So don't miss them when they're on."
What colossal nerve.
First, I won't miss Moonlight, thanks. It's not that good a show. But what this ad is doing is saying, basically, that these shows presented on broadcast TV are precious jewels. If we don't watch them, it's our fault.
Sorry, but in a strike-crippled season, especially, that's not the way it works. Moonlight won its time slot last week, but overall prime-time broadcast viewership is down since the writers' strike began in November. Millions of people, literally millions, went elsewhere for their entertainment. In a few weeks, when the May sweeps end and summer programming begins, they'll repeat, and probably increase, that driven-by-boredom migration.
The question now becomes, or ought to: Can the broadcast networks field a compelling enough lineup in the fall, and promote it properly enough, to woo those lost viewers back to the fold? Here's a hint, networks. To do so, make better programs than Moonlight -- and promote them better than by scoldng viewers that they have a duty to watch.
If watching TV is a duty, not a pleasure, the networks are the ones at fault.
"You'll miss them when they're gone" is a harsh, threatening line that can be repeated right back to the networks -- referring to their viewers.
Watching Ringo Starr Now and Then -- As in 2008 and 1981
May 2, 2008 7:05 AM
Ringo Starr talks with Dave Stewart about his life and career, and his new album, tonight at 11 p.m. ET on HBO's Ringo Starr: Off the Record. He also talks about his life and career, and his then-new album, on the new DVD John, Paul, Tom & Ringo: The Tomorrow Show, with Tom Snyder. Those two interviews, more than a quarter-century apart, make for a fascinating contrast.
On tonight's HBO special, Starr is completely at ease. That's because Stewart, the host of these infrequent Off the Record shows, collaborated on Starr's new CD, Liverpool. So when Stewart pulls out old album covers and asks, in effect, "Why did the Beatles cross the (Abbey) road?," Starr doesn't act bored by the question.
(The answer: After tossing around a bunch of complicated ideas for that album cover, they simply decided it would be easier to go outside and walk across the street. The same lazy problem-solving process eventually ended up with them going to the rooftop, rather than some exotic location, for their final live concert.)
Most of the stories are old, as is most of the footage. The fun part comes when Stewart, of Eurythmics, picks up his guitar and coaxes Ringo behind a drum kit. What comes out of that is lots of casual talk about how Ringo came up with some of his signature drum fills, and why he plays a right-handed drum kit even though he's left-handed.
On Shout Factory's John, Paul, Tom & Ringo: The Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder, three programs are presented over two discs. One is Snyder's 1980 tribute to John Lennon, featuring his 1975 interview that was Lennon's last. There's also a 1979 interview with Paul McCartney when he was with Wings, and a 1981 interview with Ringo Starr.
It was Snyder's first interview with Starr, and it was divided into two parts -- half with Ringo himself, and half with Ringo accompanied by recent bride Barbara Bach. In part one, Ringo and Snyder, both puffing away on cigarettes, banter nervously as Snyder finds ways of putting his guest at ease. That ease becomes evident only once Bach joins them, and Snyder begins by asking her whether she married Ringo Starr or Richard Starkey (his real name). She smiles, and says she married Richie.
For the rest of the segment, Ringo becomes Richie, talking unguardedly about his wife, himself, and his life at that point, the year after Lennon's death. (You can order the DVD here -- and if you're a Beatles fan, you should.)
It's fun comparing the two Ringos -- the vintage and the current ones -- but it's also a total joy watching hours of Snyder on Tomorrow.
What a natural, fascinating broadcaster.
NBC Slips from Must-See to Please-Watch TV
May 1, 2008 8:04 AM
Hoping to boost the audience levels for two of its Thursday sitcoms, Scrubs and 30 Rock, NBC has swapped their positions in the Thursday lineup. The newly shuffled prime-time lineup, which took into effect last week just as the May sweeps began, now looks like this: My Name Is Earl, Scrubs, The Office, 30 Rock, ER.
It's just the latest in a long line of NBC's Thursday night flip-flops, swaps, disappearing acts and acts of quiet desperation.
The sad truth of the matter is, NBC used to own Thursdays for decades, ever since The Cosby Show hit like a tsunami in 1984, no matter how good or bad the sitcoms it televised. Routinely, NBC would sprinkle sub-standard comedies between its reliable hits, expecting viewers to sit still for almost anything. And, for the most part, they did.
The irony is that, now that NBC has a wall-to-wall lineup of excellent, inventive, delghtful comedies, Must-See TV has turned into Please-Watch TV. With Cosby, Cheers, Friends, Seinfeld and others, NBC ruled Thursdays, and was a dominant number one in the time slot. Now NBC, with its most solid lineup in years, is number four... and slipping.
Last week, when NBC shifted its Thursday lineup, Earl was fourth in its time slot, behind not only Survivor on CBS and Ugly Betty on ABC, but drawing two million fewer viewers than Fox's Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? Scrubs, transplanted to 8:30 ET, did even worse. It was within only about a half million viewers of being lapped by Al Diablo con los Guapos, on Univision.
At 9 ET, the fact that NBC's The Office actually gains viewers from its lead-in, against Top 10 powerhouses CSI and Grey's Anatomy, is impressive, but 5th Grader trounced it, too. And 30 Rock, the best comedy on TV right now? According to A.C. Nielsen, last week's audience was only 300,000 viewers ahead of Univision's Pasion. Ay caramba!
NBC could claim, I guess, that after so many fourth-place showings in the time slot, ER deserves credit for finishing third. But that's only because Fox doesn't broadcast nationally at 10 ET, and stops competing.
The real shame is that NBC's Thursday lineup should be supported, but the truth is that there are more watchable broadcast-TV shows on this night than on any other. The networks are playing chicken on Thursdays, jockeying for weekend movie advertising, and NBC, right now, is running around like a chicken with its head cut off.
And after so many years of taking its Thursday audience for granted, there's no sense crying fowl.
