November 2008 Archives

Holiday DVD Shopping? Holiday TV Viewing? TV Worth Watching Has It All, So Please Dive In!

November 27, 2008 11:15 PM

Well, it seems to be time to start thinking about holiday shopping, and holiday viewing -- and here at TV WORTH WATCHING, do we have a gift for you! (Yes, we do. That wasn't a question.)

Newly added to the site, and updated regularly for the rest of the year, is a triple-threat guide to all the Christmas specials, holiday movies and Christmas-themed series episodes on TV between now and 2009 and beyond. Three different lists, all exhaustive, and all searchable.

Want to find out when A Charlie Brown Christmas is showing this year? When White Christmas will be on? Where to find the Seinfeld episode of "Festivus"? Check out the lists: Linus and company will show up Dec. 8 on ABC, White Christmas will be shown on Lifetime Dec. 19, and "Festivus"... you'll just have to keep checking back.

All this work -- all these lists -- are the absurdly time-consuming handiwork of our own Diane Werts, who used to provide them for New York's Newsday. TV WORTH WATCHING is extremely proud to be their new home base. You can find all three lists on the home page, just to the right of Diane's regular FOR BETTER OR WERTS column. Just look beneath BIANCULLI'S BEST BETS.

For today, you can jump to them by linking here for EPISODES, here for SPECIALS, and here for MOVIES. But keep coming, and keep reading. Diane's going to keep updating the lists all year long.

Something else that's being updated all through December: the pair of DVD shopping guides, giving reviews, details and shopping links to the year's best TV-on-DVD releases.

You can find these just below BIANCULLI'S BLOG on the home page -- click on either of the Santa-hatted puppies, and they'll take you there. "Christmas Shows on DVD" takes you to collections of holiday specials on DVD, and "Holiday Shopping Guide," immediately below it, is a giant guided tour of big boxed sets, individual DVDs and everything in between -- anything having to do with TV, which we consider cool.

Again, Diane did most of the work on this year's version, but some of my reviews and recommendations are there, too, and we're both very proud to present these online offerings to you.

We're not too proud, though, to point out the fact that, if you use one of the gift guides to purchase a DVD or two, TV WORTH WATCHING gets a small kickback from Amazon. It costs you nothing extra, but believe me, every little bit definitely helps.

We'll never charge for this site, and we want to make it as good and useful as we can -- adding features and writers when possible, and generally being a reliable, readable guide to quality television.

Let us know what you think of the Christmas TV listings -- and, if you used or looked at the gift guides, what you thought of them, too. Even we worker elves are hungry for feedback from time to time... especially around the holidays.

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For Thanksgiving, TV Worth Watching Will Spare a Turkey: "Rosie Live!"

November 27, 2008 7:09 AM

The original plan today was to review last night's Rosie Live!, Rosie O'Donnell's attempt to revive the variety-show format on NBC. But since today is Thanksgiving, and the show was such a turkey, TV Worth Watching has decided to spare it.

Embracing the adage that if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all, TV Worth Watching will say nothing at all about Rosie Live! At least not today.

Enjoy the holiday...

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The Variety Show Deserves to Be Reincarnated -- But Is Rosie Its Savior?

November 26, 2008 9:25 AM

Tonight at 8 ET, in a very rare attempt to revive the TV variety show format, Rosie O'Donnell is hosting a one-hour live special on NBC, smack in the middle of prime time. I concur completely with her passion that this is a genre worth reviving -- but I doubt whether Rosie, despite her enthusiasm and clout, is the person to do it.

If a variety show is going to be brought back for the 21st century -- and it should be -- it will have to be hosted by someone with talent.

A lot more talent that Rosie O'Donnell has, anyway. Hers is a talent for standup comedy, occasional controversy, and fanboy-level enthusiasm. The first and third served her well on her talk show, and the middle one served her on The View. But Ed Sullivan notwithstanding, a variety show host for a new generation must bring talent, as well as viewers and guests, to his or her TV party.

Rosie sang, many times, on her daytime talk show, especially with visiting performers from Broadway shows. She sang on Broadway herself, in Grease, but "sang," in all these instances, is a rather charitable description. She plans to "sing" tonight, too, with Liza Minnelli and others. Okay. If you must.

But compare that to another old-fashioned TV special that premiered last week: Comedy Central's A Colbert Christmas. Colbert not only had a wide range of guests, from Willie Nelson to Elvis Costello, but sang with them, too.

If a variety show is going to work, circa 2008, it has to do what The Smothers Brothers managed to do with their landmark variety show, circa 1968. Make room for the veterans and the cutting-edge new performers -- and, when possible, get them to interact during the same hour.

Some network, from CBS to TV Land, certainly should give the Smothers Brothers a prime-time special in 2009 to celebrate their 50th year as a comedy duo.

Also, Tom and Dick would be great guests on a new-generation show. In their prime, Tom and Dick played host to such wonderful, still-funny show-biz veterans as George Burns and Jack Benny. Now it's their turn to be the honored guests. But guests of whom?

If O'Donnell's proposed deal with NBC -- six sporadically scheduled specials per order, if tonight's pilot fares okay -- is used as a template, then a network could get a variety host who wouldn't commit to a full season or half-season order, but who might like to preside over a special from time to time.

So who would be the ultimate host for such a show? Someone talented enough to work with old and new singers, dancers and comics? Someone who could be funny in skits, exciting in song, impressive in dance? Someone held in such high regard among peers that booking popular acts would be no problem? And, last but perhaps most, someone with a loyal enough fan base to bring new viewers to the tube for an old-fashioned TV show?

The answer to all those questions is the same one.

Justin Timberlake.

Every time this guy has hosted Saturday Night Live, he's stolen the show, and made for the best SNL of that season. Earlier this month, in an unbilled guest appearance, he appeared in two skits and ran away with both. The audience loves him, and with good reason. He sings and dances with verve and skill -- and he's a goofy, truly funny comic actor.

Yes, it's high time variety TV made a comeback. But if it's to return successfully, it'll probably take a champion more multi-talented than Rosie O'Donnell. And wouldn't it be nice if the man who sang of "bringing sexy back" would also be the one to bring variety back?

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FX's "The Shield" Ends As It Began, with a Killer Episode

November 25, 2008 9:42 AM

The FX series The Shield shook up viewers, and all of TV, when it burst onto the scene in 2002 -- with the show's purported hero, Michael Chiklis' rogue cop Vic Mackey, knowingly and ruthlessly killing an undercover officer.

Tonight at 10 ET, six years later, The Shield goes out the way it goes in -- with a killer episode.

For more than a year now, series creator Shawn Ryan has been building the confrontation between Vic and his former second-in-command, Walton Goggins' Shane Vendrell, to critical mass. All that energy and dramatic tension pays off tonight, as we finally learn the fates of Vic and Shane -- fates which were blood-stained from the start.

Don't worry: I'll say nothing about what happens in this expanded finale. Only that it's fabulous, and unceasingly tense, and loaded with one gripping, sometimes startling scene after another.

And it's not just the endgame between Vic and Shane that makes this last Shield shine so brightly. CCH Pounder as critically ill police chief Claudette Wyms, and Jay Karnes as principled detective Dutch Wagenbach, also get meaty, satisfying scenes in this finale.

For six years, the image of Vic shooting another officer in cold blood has stayed with me -- just as the bold example of the protagonist as extreme antihero has inspired and driven basic cable dramas ever since, from Nip/Tuck and Damages to Breaking Bad and Mad Men.

Tonight's episode contains images that, I'm sure, have seared themselves into my TV brain just as indelibly. Literally, from start to finish, The Shield has been one amazing, satisfying thrill ride.

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Even Sweeps Don't Keep Cable From Demanding Attention

November 24, 2008 9:03 AM

Last night the broadcast networks presented one of their biggest guns of the November ratings sweep: Fox's two-hour telemovie, 24: Redemption. But over on cable, some of the regular weekly offerings were even more satisfying -- including the season finales of HBO's True Blood and Entourage.

True Blood ended its first season with all cylinders firing: a murderer unmasked, a heroine threatened, and so many juicy cliffhangers introduced that it'll be tough to wait until next summer for season two.

(Between the rebellious teen vamp returned to her "daddy" Bill, and the menacing, mysterious woman played by Michelle Forbes, there are two big new reasons to watch. And what in the world has happened to Lafayette? He vanished in last night's episode after being attacked by... something.)

Anna Paquin, as Sookie, has embodied one of this year's most intriguing characters -- and HBO, with True Blood, has presented its first truly buzzworthy series of 2008.

HBO also said goodbye for the season to another series last night: Entourage, which ended strongly with Vince bouncing back from defeat (not being cast in a Gus Van Sant movie) to the promise of his biggest victory yet (being cast as Nick in a remake of The Great Gatsby, directed by Martin Scorsese). If this story line is followed through next year, it ought to make for the show's best season yet.

It was an impressive one-two punch: Two solid series, two satisfying season finales, two shows doing better work, last night, than almost anything the broadcast networks had to offer on a hugely competitive sweeps night.

And don't even get me STARTED about Showtime's Dexter, which still has a few weeks to go before its own season finale. Or Comedy Central's A Colbert Christmas, which was SO much fun.

When broadcast TV's best offering is a 24 movie, that's no cause for shame or concern. But when, that same night, it's only the fifth best thing on TV... that IS something that should strike fear into the hearts of network executives.

But, as proven by last week's treatment of Pushing Daisies, not all of them HAVE hearts.

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ABC Mows Down "Daisies," Fox Presents Bite-Sized Taste of "24"

November 21, 2008 1:21 PM

Pushing Daisies, the best new series ABC has presented in two years, has been cut down by the network. Obviously, and stupidly, ABC loves it not...

The remaining shows in the 13-episode order will play through January, but the network has decided to punish Pushing Daisies for ABC's own post-strike stupidity. The work stoppage by Hollywood writers may have been strike one -- but for ABC, not returning the show in the spring was strike two, and not promoting the show well enough this fall was strike three.

Three strikes, and Daisies is out!

What a shame. ABC executives, this is a stupid, stupid move.

Over at Fox, meanwhile, the executives are smart, smart, smart. They, too, decided not to return one of their series, 24, after the strike was through -- but with good reason. There was no way to present a full-length season of 24 hours without letting it spill into the summer, so it opted to wait until January 2009 to restart the show.

But because that's such a long time -- only The Sopranos went that long between seasons -- Fox this Sunday (9 p.m. ET) presents a two-hour telemovie, 24: Redemption, to try and give fans something to remember the show by.

Two hours, compared to 24, may not be much, but it's something. Hell, I was grateful for the mini-episodes of Rescue Me served up by FX for a similar reason -- and they were only five minutes long.

24: Redemption, by being so fast-forwarded in nature, points out some of the flaws and crutches of the 24 writing staff, but it's still lots of fun, and Robert Carlyle is a great guest star. For a fuller review, listen to today's (Friday's) Fresh Air with Terry Gross.

The best part of the 24 telemovie is what follows it immediately: a lengthy promo teaser for the January 2009 story arc. It's thrilling to see what's coming, and to know that we've got lots of hours of 24 ahead.

Sadly, though, we're down to our last few hours of Pushing Daisies.

By the way: Is it any surprise, or any coincidence, that Fox is ahead of ABC in the network ratings race?

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"Pushing Daisies" Needs ABC's Support Now More Than Ever

November 20, 2008 11:27 AM

Last night's episode of ABC's superbly sublime Pushing Daisies tied, in the preliminary ratings, with NBC's supremely stupid Knight Rider. Not good. For Daisies, it was a series low in terms of viewers, but close to a series high in terms of writing and acting.

ABC, ignore the ratings for now. It's time to grow a pair, or at least rent one, and renew your best new show of the past two years...

Here are five quick reasons.

One: I put it to ABC that no show in prime time this week was promoted LESS than Pushing Daisies, and I was keeping track. How can a show build an audience, at a crucial time in its history, if its own network ignores it?

Two: The drop in viewership is ABC's fault. After the strike, it held back on new episodes, figuring it would relaunch the show this fall. Poor strategy -- but Bryan Fuller, Barry Sonnenfeld and the rest of the people involved with Daisies did nothing wrong. So stand by them now, and make it up to them.

Three: There hasn't been as visually ambitious and unique a series on broadcast network TV since Twin Peaks.

Last night, the climactic image -- involving a dead magician encased in concrete, an unconscious geek killer and a suddenly rescued and regurgitated kitty -- was laugh-out-loud hilarious.

Abra cadaver!

Four: This company of actors is pitch-perfect, and a total treat. Anna Friel and Lee Pace, as the look-but-don't-touch lovers (see above), are magical. The aunts, played by Ellen Greene and Swoosie Kurtz, are as lovable as they are colorful. Chi McBride's cynical investigator is a hoot, that's what he is. (Sorry: now I'm channeling Boston Legal.)

And Kristin Chenoweth, as Olive, is my favorite character in the entire series. She's almost like a three-dimensional cartoon character

And next week, when she goes undercover like some sort of modern Eva Gabor from Green Acres (diamonds, upswept hairdo, false eyelashes, pig on a leash), who can look at this woman and not smile, broadly?

Five -- and this is my final point -- there was a time when the networks would stand behind their best shows, and watch and wait as Hill Street Blues, Cheers, Seinfeld and other quality shows climbed from the ratings basement to much loftier heights. Pushing Daisies had big audiences once, pre-strike. Given network patience and support, it can get them again... and shows this excellent don't come around that often.

Give the show a renewal for the rest of the season, ABC, and get behind it. Daisies, like any flower, will benefit from a nurturing environment -- and it doesn't count that it's surrounded, on much of the rest of the lineup, by a bunch of manure.

Fans of Pushing Daisies recognize what a special show it is. Does ABC?

ABC, now's the time to demonstrate taste and patience... or admit, as a network, you don't have enough of either.

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ABC's "Pushing Daisies": An Endangered Flower That Must Be Protected

November 19, 2008 10:38 AM

The latest episode of ABC's Pushing Daisies airs tonight at 8 ET, and its fate may be determined by the number of viewers who tune in. So please, please watch -- but shame on ABC for not supporting and nurturing this excellent series more lovingly.

If I were holding a daisy and pulling its petals one by one, this is the chant I'd use regarding Pushing Daisies and ABC: "I love it. ABC loves it not..."

When Pushing Daisies was unveiled at the network upfronts last year, and again when the networks delivered their fall series pilots, I championed the show as the best new fall series of 2007. But because of the writers' strike, only nine episodes of Bryan Fuller's inventively different TV confection were shown last season. Their average audience was 9.4 million -- very solid, but not great -- and ABC decided to hold back on additional episodes until this fall, when it would, in effect, relaunch the series.

That approach, it's now obvious, was wrong. CBS, which put shows back into production last spring, fared better than the networks that held back on inventory. So far this season, Pushing Daisies has seen its audience drop to 6.6 million.

ABC, not the series itself, is to blame. This season's episodes of Daisies have been just as enjoyable and inventive as last year's, and ABC appears to have all but given up on promoting the show.

Tonight's episode features, as guest star, Fred Willard, playing a magician. But you might not know that, because ABC's on-air promos for Pushing Daisies have pulled their own vanishing act.

I checked this week's three series most likely to appeal to a Daisies viewer -- Desperate Housewives, Boston Legal and Eli Stone -- representing one show each from ABC's Sunday, Monday and Tuesday lineups. All three of those series promoted Private Practice and other ABC shows heavily, but not one presented a promo for Daisies, except for one tossaway mention by an announcer at the end of Eli Stone.

How can a show build an audience if its own network won't support it?

What's worse, Pushing Daisies is so much better than so much of what's on broadcast TV right now, it should be nurtured carefully and stubbornly by ABC. Yes, the network deserves lots of credit for developing and scheduling the show in the first place. But now is the time for ABC executives to step up and embrace Pushing Daisies, even if it takes viewers a little longer.

ABC, You've planted, and grown, a beautiful flower in Pushing Daisies. Now's not the time to nip it in the bud.

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New Holiday DVD Shopping Guides Are Up -- Please Shop. Please. Pretty Please...

November 18, 2008 7:42 AM

I know, it's not even Thanksgiving yet, so talking about holiday shopping may seem premature. But if you want to buy the perfect TV-on-DVD gift for someone, you can save a lot on shipping by ordering early. So shop soon -- and, because we're launching these nifty shopping guides today, please, PLEASE shop here...

Some of you may have been around this site long enough to have ordered from our Holiday Shopping Guide last year. It's back -- and this year, thanks to a lot of great, exhaustive work by TVWW contributor Diane Werts, it's better, and a lot bigger, than ever. If you can't find a DVD boxed set or individual release on this list that will thrill someone you know, that person must HATE television.

Selections range from single discs (my personal favorite: The Point) to massive complete sets, such as the new The Sopranos: The Complete Series. You can access the list at any time by clicking on the Holiday Shopping Guide banner, just above BIANCULLI'S BEST BETS. Or, for now, by clicking HERE.

Starting today, there's a second list to peruse, too, and this one taps into Diane's expertise as the author of Christmas on Television. TVWW's Guide to Christmas Shows on DVD is another list of recommended gift possibilities -- but this list is devoted specifically to TV shows on DVDs that are ABOUT the holidays. These range from brand new offerings (A Colbert Christmas) to really vintage ones (A Shari Lewis Christmas). Again -- if you can't find the perfect gift on this list, you're shopping for a Scrooge. And even then, you'd have LOTS of choices.

Sample that list by clicking on the banner just beneath BIANCULLI'S BLOG on the home page -- or, for now, by clicking HERE.

Also in the Christmas spirit, Diane will be posting a full list of holiday specials and holiday-themed TV shows as they appear on TV this season. So watch for that, and keep checking her main-page blog, FOR BETTER OR WERTS -- and buy her book, which I reviewed glowingly long before she ever came aboard this website. Click HERE to buy her Christmas on Television.

Sorry for the hard-sell approach, but there are two reasons we're throwing so much space and effort into these special pages and offerings. One is because DVD sets of TV shows are among the best inventions of the decade -- and yes, they've pretty much all come out in this decade. Another is because holiday television is one of Diane's pet passions, and she's the recognized national expert on the subject.

And the third, which we've always been upfront about here, is that every purchase made that originates from this website results in a small kickback for TV WORTH WATCHING. Small, but, if enough of you buy a DVD or two by clicking on one of the "Buy Now" buttons here, not insignificant.

So while shopping for a friend or loved one, you're buying a gift for us as well -- one that doesn't cost you anything, but which helps us stay alive. Really. That's the dream, anyway.

Enjoy! And thanks, Diane and Rich and Eric, for teaming up to make this year's holiday guides a reality. Now I can start shopping for gifts for YOU....

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The Best, And Worst, Of Current TV Commercials

November 17, 2008 7:21 AM

Most TV ads are eminently, instantly forgettable, but once in a while, one appears that's either really good or really bad. On television right now, there are stellar examples of both...

What makes a great ad? Think, as your baseline, Tina Fey's commercials for American Express. When you're adding up what a banner year she's had, between 30 Rock, lots of Emmys and playing Sarah Palin, don't forget her ad triumphs, too. Her spot trying to get into an airport lounge, just so Martin Scorsese can try and sell her a time-share condo, is priceless.

So which new series of ads on TV is up to that very high standard? Volkswagen's new ads for its VW Routan, presented by comically snarky spokeswoman Brooke Shields.

VW has a long, long history of great commercials. One of many personal favorites is the ad that, for most of the commercial, is nothing but a lone VW bug driving in a snowstorm along deserted roads. Finally, the punchline arrives: Did you ever wonder how the guy who drives the snowplow GETS to the snowplow?

In the newest series of VW ads, Shields talks directly to viewers, urging them not to make the same mistake as car consumers who have had babies merely to take advantage of the roomy, family-friendly Routan and its German engineering. She stands near couples who protest her allegations, but she dismisses them derisively.

Watch closely, and you're not only seeing a great ad. You're seeing what may be the best role Brooke Shields has ever played, and a persona that should be tailor-made to a sitcom built in that image. Certainly, NBC's Lipstick Jungle isn't going anywhere, and didn't help. Some TV producer should let Shields unleash her inner bitch, and have a field day. Forget empathy and sympathy. Let her play dismissive and arrogant -- and let her loose.

On the other end of the spectrum, there's one of the worst, most baffling commercials I've seen in some time. It's an ad for Charmin bathroom tissue, and, in this new animated campaign, features a bear playing football with a bear cub. When the little bear (not THE Little Bear) bends down to hike the ball, the big bear is shocked to see that the baby bear's bottom is festooned with pieces of leftover toilet tissue.

Forget the demonstration that follows, and the rest of the commercial. Is this really such an issue that a commercial needs to address it? Are so many people rising from their toilets with pieces of paper still stuck to them that the proper brand of tissue is seen as a welcome remedy?

If that's true, I really don't want to know. And if there's a next time I buy Charmin, which up to this moment has been my preferred brand, I don't want the salesgirl thinking I'm stricken by that particular tissue issue.

That would be... unbearable.

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Ricky Gervais Scores Comedically and Technologically -- Look Ma, No Hands!

November 14, 2008 9:07 AM

There isn't much to look forward to in this very weak November sweeps month, but here comes something great: The new HBO standup special, Ricky Gervais: Out of England.

Gervais is brilliant at the way he tells a joke. And that goes for the technology as well as the comedy.

Ricky Gervais: Out of England premieres Saturday at 9 p.m. ET on HBO, and is repeated Sunday at 10 p.m. ET on HBO2. Whenever you see it, you'll see a very clever comedian -- co-creator and star of Extras and the original, British The Office -- telling stories very cleverly.

Out of England begins with a grandiose entrance: Gervais entering with pomp, circumstance, and a robe and crown. But after that kickoff sight gag, he gets down to basics. Basic black tee shirt, black pants and not much else.

Not even a hand mike.

It took me a while, because I was laughing so hard and so often, to notice how much Gervais' unobtrusive headphone microphone added to his presentation. It left both his hands free to gesticulate wildly, to hold notecards and computer printouts as he read from them, and to help with his efforts at pantomime.

At various times in this 75-minute comedy special, Gervais assumes the positions of everything from a lazy mouse to gay sex. With both hands free, he can do more -- and does.

His mouth, meanwhile, is taking on some wildly improbable targets. Adolf Hitler and overweight people, okay, that's not so unusual. But making fun of Stephen Hawking? Rosa Parks? Nelson Mandela? It takes just the right tone, and joke, to make that work -- and Gervais, who wrote his own material, never misses.

Part of his approach is to make fun of himself, putting on an air of laughable arrogance as he jokes about everything from cancer to AIDS. Part of it, though, is pursuing a thought beyond the norm -- to tell three jokes when most comics would move on after one.

In a bit about nursery rhymes, for example, Gervais complains about the nonsensical absurdity of the Humpty Dumpty poem. The moral, Gervais, seems clear: "Don't send horses to do medical procedures."

Most comics would accept the laughter and applause that follows and move on, but Gervais is just getting started. "They've got no dexterity whatsoever," he complains, and goes on, and on, and on. Eventually, the very fact that he's not letting go makes the whole thing even funnier. And once you start laughing at that, he's STILL going.

"Certainly," he argues about the king's horses, "don't send ALL of them. That's going to be CHAOS!"

And this special, when you see it, is going to be hilarious.

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NBC Product Placement Stoops to Another Egregious Low

November 13, 2008 6:45 AM

How low will NBC stoop in its enthusiasm for in-program scripted product placement? As low as Knight Rider and its ubiquitous Mustang, we all know that. But last week on My Name Is Earl, NBC sank even deeper into the bottom of the barrel...

The episode, called "Sold a Guy a Lemon Car," had a subplot involving Earl's ex-wife, Joy, and her enthusiasm for something she'd seen in an ad on TV. It was an ad for the "Open Hearts" necklace from Kay Jewelers, designed by actress Jane Seymour.

First we saw Joy watching the ad, and Jane Seymour selling the necklace, on her TV. (See image above.) Joy declared it the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen in her life.

Shortly thereafter, Seymour appeared in Joy's bathroom mirror, replacing Joy's reflection, to call her by name and tempt her with the necklace.

At the end of the show, Joy's current hubby, Crab Man, presented her with a special surprise gift. It was the "Open Hearts" necklace, shown in loving closeup, after which Joy fastened it around her neck and walked away, beaming.

Bad enough? Because none of it was remotely funny, yes. And what made it worse was that in between those scenes, during a commercial break, was the actual Jane Seymour ad for her necklace -- the very same ad watched by Joy during My Name Is Earl.

Watching it in that context, though, there was no Joy whatsoever.

Just the overwhelming stench of tacky overkill.

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"Chocolate News": Comedy Central Gets Its Newest Breakout Vehicle

November 12, 2008 8:56 AM

It hasn't taken long at all -- less than a month -- for David Alan Grier to turn his new Chocolate News comedy series into Must-See TV. Exhibit A: The day after Barack Obama was elected, Grier opened his program with an emphatic, unbleeped two-word phrase.

The first word was "Holy." The second word rhymed with "fit." And then he screamed with joy...

And while it was bleeped in reruns, that exclamatory, excretory phrase went out loud and clear at 10:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Nov. 5. Clearly, Chocolate News is not for the faint-hearted... or the easily offended.

Grier, who mastered the art of making studio audiences roar and gasp at the same time way back on In Living Color, has found his voice and his show here -- and Comedy Central has found a way to fill the vacuum left when Dave Chappelle walked away from the network.

Grier opens each show -- tonight at 10:30 ET will be a new installment -- addressing the TV audience, rather than the studio audience, directly, sounding off about the week's events as seen from a black perspective. When that week includes the first black President being elected, it's more than just a case of fortuitous timing. It's highly entertaining, highly relevant television.

In addition to anchoring the show, Grier headlines most of the filmed skits presented as part of the weekly program. Last week, one skit had him playing a particularly feisty and clueless precinct vote worker -- a loud-mouthed, easily angered woman, while another had him playing a veteran jazz musician who, according to the sketch, once so angered bandleader Duke Ellington that Ellington made good on his threat to shove a trumpet up somewhere very painful.

The payoff for that latter sketch was that the trumpeter in question learned to turn that unfortunate accident into a unique benefit -- the ability to play jazz duets with himself, by, uh, expelling air from both ends. The visuals were funny enough, but the soundtrack really drove it home.

Also on the same show: A sketch in which representatives of various minorities competed, in a game-show format, to replace African-Americans as the most visible oppressed minority now that Obama was in the White House.

And, as a capper, there was a report alleging that while 90 percent of black voters supported Obama, an even higher percentage of support came from the KKK, because they saw his presidency as the best possible recruitment tool. One of the signs of "support" carried by the white-hooded members? "Yes We Klan."

There's plenty to offend everyone, if you're easily offended. Otherwise, there are plenty of laughs -- from a sorely needed perspective.

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Scarborough Spills Steaming Cup of F-Word on "Morning Joe"

November 11, 2008 8:00 AM

I don't post a video link often -- about once every vernal equinox, actually -- but this one definitely is TV Worth Watching...

The appeal of MSNBC's Morning Joe program is how relaxed and conversational it is. Yesterday's show, though, got a bit TOO relaxed, as host Joe Scarborough referred to an anecdote just told to him off the air, and used definitely off-air language to describe it.

In other words, because other words are called for, Scarborough used the F-word when he meant to SAY "the F-word." Clearly, there was no seven-second delay in place. Just as clearly, though the host was stunningly unaware of the broadcasting sin he'd just committed, no one else on the program missed it. Mike Barnicle, in a split-screen shot, dropped his jaw open like a cartoon character.

For the next few minutes, as Scarborough tried to plow ahead, the rest of the panel couldn't let it go, until Scarborough finally asked for a "time out" and confronted the issue directly. Did he really slip, and say the F word?

Yes, he did, and it's a priceless clip, especially in a year when both the FCC and Supreme Court are wondering how, and whether, to put a price on such outbursts. Click HERE to see, and hear, for yourself.

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Happy Smothers Day -- Again!

November 10, 2008 7:00 AM

Expect to see this blog entry headline more and more this month, because my book manuscript on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour is due at the end of the month.

Please be patient, and picture me toiling away, like Bartleby the Scrivener, buried by piles of videotapes, books, articles, audiotapes, transcripts, notes and depositions. Every so often, when I'm on a roll, it's either impossible or unwise to stop. So here it is, another Smothers Day holiday.

I'll always do BEST BETS, but occasional breaks from the blog will help. And every day I pull this stunt, I'll post a new photo or other goodie, just to say thanks for your patience. Today's picture shows Tom and Dick appearing on The Jack Benny Program, before getting their own series...

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TV Worth Watching Marks First Anniversary! Exclamation Marks Justified!

November 6, 2008 9:54 AM

(Leaving this up an extra day -- part of the celebration!)

November 5 marked the first anniversary of this TV WORTH WATCHING website. I would have mentioned it then, but there was this pesky presidential election thing to write about instead...

Not that I should be surprised that breaking news would trump things here. The very day I launched this website, on Nov. 5, 2007, the Writers' Guild went on strike... making it much more challenging, for the next year of reduced production and offerings, to find TV worth watching. But the presidential campaign already was underway, so that was something.

And so, when the stroke of midnight approached and President-Elect Barack Obama was giving his acceptance speech on live TV, I was hardly surprised that breaking news, and real-life events, would take precedence.

But today, with everyone nationally taking a communal breath, I feel justified in taking the time, and space, to mark this site's 1st anniversary. From this side of the computer screen, it's been a hell of a ride.

I began contemplating the idea of a website devoted to quality TV in July 2007. A month or so after that, I sent my first ridiculously amateurish mock-up to Eric Gould, a great friend who's also a great architect and artist -- and who patiently and brilliantly turned my stick-figure drawings and tacky visual aids into the pages you see today, and have seen for a year.

For old times' sake, and for a good laugh, I'm reproducing here the first page mockup I sent poor Eric then, for what was supposed to be the main page. Have pity on him.

The website -- designing, programming and maintaining it -- was infinitely more difficult than I could have imagined, or I never would have attempted it. Eric provided the first element, and website programmer Chris Spurgeon, another great friend, provided the second, and, at first, the third. Then Rich Baniewicz took over the programming part.

Diane Werts joined as a fellow columnist about halfway through the year, and has done a marvelous job. She's also done something really special: click on the "Holiday Gift Guide" just above the BEST BETS, and you'll be taken to a terrific list of gift recommendations. Other special links and offerings by Diane, including a compendium of holiday specials on DVD and an absurdly complete list of holiday-themed TV specials and where to find them, are imminent. And there's her book, too, which makes a perfect holiday gift -- and can be ordered by clicking on its icon at right.

Diane and Bill Brioux, another contributing TV critic, added their voices to the site's special fall preview package this season, which I hope you found helpful, as well as fun to read. And along the way, during this first year of TV WORTH WATCHING, I've been proud to present such things as coverage of the strike, news of the renewal of Friday Night Lights, and my account of the bold NAB address by Tim Robbins.

All that, and a year's worth of BEST BETS without missing a day, and weekday blogs with almost the same consistency. Fair warning: for the rest of November, I'll be taking occasional days off, as I work to complete my book on the Smothers Brothers, which is due Nov. 30. Wish me luck.

Truth be told, though, I feel pretty lucky already. I'm proud of TV WORTH WATCHING, and hope to open it up to more TV critics in 2009. And I'm really, really happy you're here for the ride. Please keep visiting... and spread the word. The first anniversary gift, after all, is paper -- and I'm not working for one of those any more.

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Obama Wins -- Election TV Coverage Does, Too

November 5, 2008 8:54 AM

Today on MSNBC's Morning Joe, Joe Scarborough likened last night's Barack Obama victory to another internationally televised event that took place in his lifetime: the moon landing in 1969. That's quite a comparison -- but there's no denying that, last night, the whole world was watching.

The networks, well aware of the disputed coverage and results of the previous two elections, took that responsibility seriously. For the most part, they made no sudden moves, no hasty calls, no egregious mistakes -- and, at the end, allowed the emotion of the event to speak for itself.

Even before the first polls closed, you could get hints that an Obama victory might be in the offing, because of all the talk about "historic." But whether it was Brit Hume at Fox News or Charles Gibson at ABC, the job of the anchor last night was to be just that -- a dragging weight that kept its craft from drifting too far or too fast.

In the opening hour of coverage, notably, the most blatant conversation about a presumed Democratic victory came from BBC America, which also was the first to show live coverage of the first audience members streaming into Chicago's Grant Park to take their place and wait for their candidate to speak. The U.S. networks were keeping cards closer to their vests, though some of the analysts clearly were chomping at the bit to break loose and pontificate.

The echoes of the 1960s were there, as the night wore on. Grant Park, the site of police brutality at the 1968 Chicago Democratic National Convention, now was the site of a huge, Woodstock-like crowd of shiny happy people. Woodstock, of course, was in the summer of 1969 -- as was Neil Armstrong's walk on the moon, which was televised live just before 11 p.m. ET and electrified the world.

Obama's election, last night, was televised just after 11 p.m., and Scarborough was right -- it was a pivotal, and an emotional, moment in American, and world, history.

As for the coverage, almost everybody had a high tech gimmick, whether the touch-screen maps popularized by CNN's John King (and now in use everywhere from ABC to Fox News), or the goofy virtual set on which NBC's Ann Curry collided with seemingly 3-D graphics.

I enjoyed working with DirecTV's single-channel overview of eight different news sources, and the ease with which you could toggle among them to hear audio or select that channel. But despite that menu screen, and all the bells, whistles, graphics and crawls offered by the various networks, the most welcome and memorable part of last night's coverage was the commentary.

Men and women talking, putting things in perspective. Especially the older people, who could connect this new generation to the Civil Rights era.

Jeff Greenfield and Bob Schieffer at CBS. Tom Brokaw at NBC. Charlie Gibson at ABC. They were wonderful. And the political operatives turned analysts, whether Karl Rove at Fox News or George Stephanopoulos at ABC, steered the conversation towards the right battlegrounds, the key moments, and the meaningful overall perspective.

Interviews were good, too. The best, perhaps, was with Democratic Rep. John Lewis of Georgia, a black man who told tales of being with Martin Luther King, Jr. and fighting for civil rights, and having this happen in his own lifetime. They were great stories, told to the team at ABC before Obama spoke -- and told after he spoke, just as powerfully, on NBC.

Overall, networks were so cautious that Jon Stewart, on Comedy Central, actually called some states before CNN did. And CNN, even with its commendable caution, made the biggest error of the night, one that was caught, but not explained, by Wolf Blitzer. That was when the early returns came in from Florida, and the percentages of the votes for Obama and John McCain added up to a lot less than 100 percent.

Unlike in 2000 and 2004, though, early projections held, and the electoral college votes stacked up early enough to have the race called at 11 p.m., and both McCain and Obama able to hit the stage, before their respective supporters, before midnight.

Those speeches were memorable, in part, for their genuinely conciliatory, openly emotional nature. McCain raised his hands to stifle boos from the crowd after he mentioned Obama's name, and Obama's speech was punctuated by reaction shots of tearful onlookers, from ordinary supporters to Jesse Jackson and Oprah Winfrey.

It was a dramatic end to the most dramatic TV story of 2008. And for once, the candidates and the media all managed to cross the finish line with their dignity intact.

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Today's Election Day Advice Is Short and Simple...

November 4, 2008 6:49 AM

GO VOTE!!!

And if you want to share your voting experience -- not for whom you voted, necessarily, but the locatlon and conditions of your polling place, unless you voted early -- feel free to fire off a sentence or two. We might be able to compile an early snapshot of what's happening nationwide, even if from a very small and skewed sample.

I'm going to vote around 10:30 a.m. ET, and will add my own comment then. All day, feel free to add yours -- AFTER you've voted!

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"SNL" Fires One Final Election-Year Bullseye

November 3, 2008 6:31 AM

Tomorrow, the election. Tonight, one last chance to revel in the inspired political parodies from NBC's Saturday Night Live. Don't miss it, because it's not only TV reacting instantly to history -- it's TV history, as well...

Without question, this is the best SNL political humor season since 1992, when Dana Carvey nailed both George H.W. Bush and H. Ross Perot, and Phil Harman played a humorously affable Bill Clinton and a goofily clueless James Stockdale. Fred Armisen as Barack Obama hasn't truly triumphed, but Darrell Hammond's John McCain is just right, and Tina Fey as Sarah Palin is the most white-hot, and arguably most influential, TV performance of 2008.

Tonight at 9 ET, NBC presents Saturday Night Live Presidential Bash 2008, collecting the best of this year's campaign parodies -- and including those from previous years, starting with Chevy Chase as a bumbling Gerald Ford in the show's inaugural 1975-76 season.

That's when I started as a TV critic -- the premiere of Saturday Night Live, in fact, was my first official review. So when I say Fey's Sarah Palin is among the best and biggest SNL political lampoons of all time, I'm speaking from 33 years of watching that show religiously.

Last Saturday, Fey did it again -- appearing as Palin opposite the real John McCain. Spoofing Obama's big-ticket buy of prime time to deliver his message in a half-hour TV special, SNL had McCain and Palin going on QVC to raise awareness, and money, by selling campaign goodies.

One inspired item -- inspired, in part, by the McCain-Feingold Act -- was a line of jewelry called "McCain Fine Gold." The necklaces were pointed out by a typical QVC point-and-smile model, who was played, in a well-received cameo, by the actual Cindy McCain.

Meanwhile, Fey's Palin took the opportunity to go "rogue," as she put it, by whispering to a side camera and hawking her own line of merchandise, available after Tuesday. It was a tee shirt with a very pointed message: "Palin in 2012."

"I'm not going anywhere," Fey's Palin promised, "and I'm certainly not going back to Alaska."

The McCains, both John and Cindy, were quite good in that sketch, clearly having fun. And on "Weekend Update" (hosted solo, for the second straight week, by Seth Meyers), John McCain was even better. he seemed to feed on the supportive applause, and the waves of laughter, and displayed a side of himself that was more animated than most of his recent campaign appearances.

Offering a list of rejected ideas for last-second campaign strategies, McCain described, and dismissed, such ideas as the "Double Maverick" and the "Reverse Maverick." My favorite was "Sad Grandpa," which McCain described thusly:

"That's where I get on TV," he said, "and go, 'Come on, Obama's going to have plenty of chances to be President. It's my turn! Vote for me!'"

Brilliant comedy, superbly delivered. Tonight's show, no doubt, will include that moment, and others, so enjoy the jokes.

Tomorrow, it's no laughing matter. Go vote.

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