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February 2009 Archives
Another Happy Smothers Day: More High-Intensity Book Work
February 26, 2009 10:24 AM
Closing in, deadline looming.
I'll be keeping the BIANCULLI'S BEST BETS fresh daily, but I'm giving myself a day or two off from blogging to focus exclusively on my book on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.
Wish me luck... and productivity...
NBC Needs To Extend Its "Life"
February 25, 2009 9:52 AM
Against the unstoppable juggernaut of Fox's American Idol and the can't-miss mysteries of ABC's Lost, NBC's Life is getting lost in the mix. But it shouldn't be. Its stories, and its actors, are too impressive and likable to go unnoticed...
Yet Life, whose newest episode premieres tonight at 9 ET, is getting trounced in its time slot. Not just by those two shows, but also by Criminal Minds on CBS, a much less inventive and entertaining police procedural. It's a shame -- and a lot of the shame belongs to NBC, for putting it in a time slot where almost any show is guaranteed to fail. I watch every Idol, and every Lost -- but I also watch every Life, just as faithfully. (Thank you, TiVo.)
If you have the capability to time-shift with a VCR or DVR, please record tonight's Life and give it a try. If you liked the witty banter of ABC's Pushing Daisies, you'll love Life. If you enjoyed the sardonic byplay of investigators on Homicide: Life on the Street, you'll love life. And if you treasure shows that give you defiantly unique cops -- such classics as Columbo and Twin Peaks -- you'll love Life, too.
Damian Lewis, who was dazzling in imported British dramas before dropping his accent to play Charlie Crews on Life, is a genuine-article TV star here. His character is given a compelling back story -- a cop framed for murder, who served many years in prison and in solitary before being exonerated, reinstated, and compensated with a small fortune. His years of confinement have left him different: zenlike in some ways, quietly intense in others, and addicted to the one thing he couldn't get in prison. Fresh fruit.
His partner, Dani Reese, is played by Sarah Shahi, who puts up with Crews and his weird ways with a mixture of amusement and exasperation. You might expect sexual tension as a subtext, but one way this show subverts the usual formulas is to get Reese involved, instead, with their mutual boss, Captain Tidwell, played by Donal Logue. Meanwhile, at home, Crews has opened his plush home to a fellow former convict, Ted, an embezzler played by Adam Arkin.
There's a secondary recurring plot, in which Crews stubbornly, obsessively investigates the murder that put him in prison. But you don't need to bother with any of that to five in and enjoy Life. The byplay between the characters -- between Crews and Reese, Reese and Tidwell, Crews and Tidwell, Crews and Ted -- is wonderful.
And tonight, as Reese gets farmed out for an undercover FBI job, Reese pairs with another cop, Brent Sexton's Robert Stark, who gets more screen time tonight than he's gotten all season. And he, too, is fun to watch. This is an ensemble drama with a light, deft touch, powered by some of the wittiest, most natural performances to be found in prime time.
Which reminds me: a recent New York Times review slammed Shahi, dismissing her performance as something subpar. Everyone's entitled to an opinion -- but in my opinion, she's subpar only in the golf-score sense. She more than holds her own with Lewis, and he's one of the best actors on TV right now.
But when not even NBC appreciates the true value of Life, why am I surprised?
Next Volleys in Late-Night Wars About to Be Fired: Jimmy Fallon Opens Strong, But Craig Ferguson Is Tutu Good
February 24, 2009 10:33 AM
Last Friday, Conan O'Brien said goodbye to his New York venue and long-running NBC Late Night talk show, preparing for a fall move to take over The Tonight Show. Next Monday, Jimmy Fallon takes O'Brien's slot, and both he and tenured CBS competitor Craig Ferguson are taking the opportunity to define the viewers they're after, and the shows they intend to be.
Even with all of Lorne Michael's muscle behind Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, the folks at The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson have made the smartest, boldest, most identity-defining guest booking of the week...
Next Wednesday, Ferguson's scheduled guest is Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Expect the interview to be expanded to most if not all of the show, the way Jack Paar and Steve Allen used to do with very special guests on The Tonight Show.
Expect, more than that, a fascinating, free-ranging, compelling conversation. Ferguson conducts a different kind of interview than anyone on TV right now, and the Nobel Prize winner is the perfect kind of guest to demonstrate that range. There will be laughs, to be sure, and some astoundingly unexpected digressions. But there also will be serious talk, and probing questions.
And at some point in the interview, I can all but guarantee that Desmond Tutu will look at Craig, widen his eyes, smile and pay a new, enhanced kind of attention, as if to say, "Who IS this guy? Where AM I? And how much fun is THIS?"
Most of Ferguson's guests, sooner or later, experience and display that epiphany. Usually sooner than later.
Fallon's opening-night Late Night guests include Robert De Niro, while Ferguson counters with Paris Hilton, whom he's had on before, and charmed. Tuesday, Fallon has a distinct advantage: He gets his old Saturday Night Live "Weekend Update" cohort Tina Fey, an obvious yet impressive, compelling booking. Ferguson, that night, has Kristin Davis and Wolfgang Puck.
Because of opening-day interest and Fey Fever, Fallon is likely to win big on those first two nights.
Wednesday, Fallon features Cameron Diaz and Billy Crudup, while Ferguson has Tutu. No matter what the ratings are or the demographics, that study in contrasts alone gives Ferguson the edge, and the advantage, on opening week. No booking is more unusual, more noteworthy, and thus in the long run more attention-getting and defining, than Bishop Tutu.
The rest of the week, with such guests as Donald Trump and Drew Barrymore, Jimmy Fallon wins the celebrity battle, and is likely to win the viewership battle for this opening head-to-head face-off. He's got all week to make a good first impression -- but Ferguson, by countering with a loud statement about how different his own show is, and will continue to be, makes the impression likely to prove the most lasting.
What the Oscars Did Right Last Night
February 23, 2009 10:35 AM
Griping about the Oscars the day after is a national pastime and an annual rite. Last night's ABC telecast, though, jiggered with the usual formula quite substantially -- and established some nice new elements in the process.
Hugh Jackman, as host, threw more energy into it than anyone since Billy Crystal. And while he's not as funny, his razzle-dazzle dance moves made for some nice, big-stage moments. Pulling Anne Hathaway out of the front row to sing as Nixon to his Frost was one winning star turn. Doing a medley of musical tunes with Beyonce (is there NO big event at which she won't appear this year?) was another.
Too many pre-planned elements went on far too long, but one which added extra time was worth every precious second. The idea of collecting five Oscar-winning actors or actresses, representing various eras of Hollywood, to present all at once was a good one. Having those performers speak one-on-one to their nominated peers, offering individual glowing reviews, was a great one.
When Shirley MacLaine raved about Anne Hathaway, and we were shown both actresses in split screen, it made for very tender television. And when MacLaine went off script, and heaped additional praise on Hathaway's singing during the musical number with Jackman, how cool was that?
Other highlights: Ben Stiller's lampoon of Joaquin Phoenix (pictured at top above) was the funniest moment of the entire show, especially as he wandered aimlessly while Natalie Portman delivered the lion's share of the prepared podium patter. Hilarious. And Will Smith was so smooth and relaxed, during his multiple-awards presentation, that he might be considered as a future host as well.
Also, I really enjoyed it when Kate Winslet won as Best Actress for The Reader -- not so much for her win, but for the way she not only gave a shout-out to her parents, but shouted out to her father, asking him to whistle so she could find him in the cavernous Kodak Theater. He did whistle, immediately and piercingly, and she and the camera eventually found him. Again, how cool was that?
And at the end, if you stayed the extra half hour to watch the closing credits, the 81st Annual Academy Awards telecast presented something that definitely should become an annual tradition: showing clips of movies now in production, or yet to be released.
Next year, Robert Downey Jr. in, and as, Sherlock Holmes. Can't wait...
This Weekend, Every Night Brings Something Special: Conan Friday, "Taking Chance" Saturday, Oscars Sunday
February 20, 2009 7:55 AM
Every night this weekend, there's a great reason to turn on your TV. Conan O'Brien presides over his final Late Night show on Friday, HBO presents the excellent Taking Chance telemovie on Saturday, and ABC presents the Oscars on Sunday...
FRIDAY: Late Night with Conan O'Brien (12:35 a.m. ET Friday/Saturday, NBC). Sixteen years after he started, O'Brien says goodbye to the East Coast, in peparation for his taking over the reins of the Tonight Show this fall.
His countdown to this farewell show has been quite good -- and, with its servings of lengthy clips and well-edited compilations from previous shows, quite generous. (Great to see the Triumph Star Wars piece again.) Earlier this week, Nathan Lane showed up to offer a musical farewell to O'Brien, just as Bette Midler had with Johnny Carson. Thursday night, Jerry Seinfeld came on to perform standup, then enjoy one last 30 Rock sitdown with the second host of NBC's Late Night.
The first, of course, was David Letterman, now in the 11:35 slot at CBS. In a few months, they'll go head to head. Results will be interesting, but one thing the two comedians have in common, indisputably, is a reverence for the deep history of The Tonight Show. Steve Allen, Jack Paar, Johnny Carson. But that's not the show O'Brien is inheriting, not in weight or substance, so all bets are off.
Still, 16 years at the helm is something to honor, especially with a tenure that began so tenuously, with NBC offering no firm support. I was a TV critic the whole time, and liked O'Brien from his introductory press conference. And I wouldn't be surprised, on tonight's show, if the host didn't put down his mask of ironic detachment, at least for a few minutes, and express some sincere nostalgia, wistfulness and thanks.
SATURDAY: Taking Chance (8 p.m. ET, HBO). As President Obama reopens the debate about allowing the media to record images of the caskets of soldiers being shipped back from war in Iraq and Afghanistan, this new telemovie recreates the actual journey of one Marine (Mike Strobl, who co-wrote the screenplay), escorting the body of another (19-year-old fellow Marine Chance Phelps) across the country to their mutual home town.
Strobl is played by Kevin Bacon, with a quiet stoicism and simmering empathy that mirrors the entire movie perfectly. First-time director Ross Katz does a great job here. He's all about the details, the images, and especially the silences. This movie may have the fewest lines of dialogue for any film since Wall-E, and the restraint, and the silence, builds like a symphony.
Taking Chance is by no means anti-war, or even remotely political. It's about the measure of loss, and the respect for sacrifice -- and as the lieutenant colonel proudly escorts his junior serviceman through airline checks and across America's roadways, the tiny but telling shows of gratitude and emotion for his fallen comrade eventually touch him deeply.
They'll do the same to you, too. It's a flawless, focused drama. There's not a frame in it that couldn't -- and shouldn't -- have been shown on broadcast TV, but the "major networks" aren't making movies like HBO's Taking Chance any more.
So which, I ask you, is the REAL major network these days?
SUNDAY -- 81st Annual Academy Awards (8:30 pm. ET, ABC). Hugh Jackman hosts, which might be interesting. This telecast is an annual rite of TV passage, though the red-carpet pre-show has gotten too painful and inept to watch. Start with The Barbara Walters Special at 7 ET, take a break, and return for the Oscars.
"American Idol" Still Connects... And Serves Up Some Karmic Payback
February 19, 2009 9:16 AM
"Welcome to season eight!" Ryan Seacrest keeps saying, as contestants make it from one rung to another on the American Idol elimination ladder. Last night, the first three singers to make it to the Top 12 were identified -- bringing a new level of drama, as well as competition, to the new season.
In the first week of a three-part series of elimination rounds on this top-rated Fox series, 12 wannabes were winnowed, very quickly, into three. All three, notably, had Ready-for-Prime-Time biographies.
Alexis Grace, the perky blonde pixie who's also a 21-year-old single mom, was the first to make the cut. Michael Sarver, a hard-working 27-year-old oil-rig worker, was the second. And Danny Gokey, a 28-year-old church choir director whose wife recently, was the third.
Danny was pitted, in the final voting duel of the night, against Tatiana Del Toro, the contestant who irritated most of her fellow singers -- and, I'm guessing, much of the nation, during Hollywood Week. It was hard to decide which was worse: Her pushy superiority complex, her sense of "Idol" entitlement, or her annoying, incessant laugh.
Whatever it was, the overall package presented the 28-year-old as the recipient of a big karma payback, ready-made for live TV. The judges could well have put her through to the live round purely to set up the hubris of Wednesday's elimination show: Tatiana, called out by judge Simon Cowell as "a drama queen," having a nation watch as her dream was shattered.
The night before, performing in the spotlight, she flashed self-satisfied smile after smile, as if to say, "This is where I belong." But her vocals weren't quite good enough -- though they were, to be fair, better than at least half of her fellow contestants. The problem is, with only three of 12 singers making the cut, and with one of those three spots guaranteed to go to a performer of the opposite sex, this round is particularly competitive, and ruthless.
Last night, Alexis and Danny earned the right to the advance. The rest was up to karma as much as talent -- and with karma as the tiebreaker, the nice guy from Texas moved on, and the ice queen from Puerto Rico did not.
But after the next six finalists are selected by viewer vote, three spots will remain for judges to fill with wild-card reprieves. Perhaps we haven't yet seen the last of Tatiana Del Toro.
Welcome to season eight.
TV Worth Watching Guides You to eGuiders
February 17, 2009 10:32 AM
Well, I didn't know this was coming, but I'm thrilled it's here: a new website called eGuiders.com, whose intent is to steer you towards the best of what's out there on the web.
It's the Internet equivalent of what we aim to provide here, regarding television, at TV Worth Watching: a guided tour, by people with taste, of the best of what's out there in this nearly infinite world of video entertainment.
And the most exciting thing, for me, is that one of the early "eGuiders," the experts pointing out Internet videos they like, is Mark Tinker, the very guy who gave me the idea for TV Worth Watching in the first place...
Actually, what he said, when we met to say hi in Hollywood and I told him I was likely to leave daily newspapers after more than 30 years, was, "You ought to start a website." He didn't say what kind, or offer any other guidance -- but he was the first to plant the seed that sprouted, eventually, into this website.
And now, here he is, one of the guiding lights -- or, at least, one of the bright guides -- behind eGuiders. His participation alone means this site is worth visiting, and supporting. I met Tinker way back when he was a writer-producer-director on St. Elsewhere. Since then, his TV triumphs have included NYPD Blue and the brilliant Deadwood. Both those shows were done with, and created by, David Milch, another impressive eGuider.
Yet another tasteful eGuider is Damon Lindelof, co-creator of ABC's Lost, who gave an opening-day recommendation of a series of animated shorts called "Rejected" -- an increasingly surreal series of rough motion drawings claiming to be rejected suggestions for actual TV campaigns. They aren't, but that doesn't make them any less funny or twisted.
The Internet, like the spectrum of cable and satellite TV, is a vast universe of possibilities, but one even more full of black holes. Finding a trustworthy guide to sort the wheat from the chaff, the jewels from the zircons, and the quality from the crap can make all the difference.
That's our aim here at TV Worth Watching -- and, clearly, it's the aim of the folks at eGuiders as well. Visit them by clicking HERE -- and use us both to guide you through the 21st-century entertainment rapids. Don't forget us -- but do visit them.
"Stealing Lincoln's Body" Is Too Good To Be True -- Yet, Amazingly, It Is
February 16, 2009 8:06 AM
What were my history teachers doing in high school, that they never bothered to tell me the story of Abraham Lincoln's body being stolen, 11 years after his assassination, and held for ransom?
The story told tonight in History Channel's Stealing Lincoln's Body (9 ET) is astounding. Unbelievable. And even more unbelievable, for being true.
The two-hour documentary presents its story like a movie thriller -- and that's what it is, really. Forget all the far-fetched plots of the National Treasure movies: Here's a macabre, historical plot that involves an actual national treasure, full of twists, turns, dead ends and absurd coincidences that no screenwriters would dare concoct.
Imagine this: Almost a dozen years after the assassination of Lincoln and the end of the Civil War, a Chicago counterfeiter is arrested and imprisoned. Members of his gang decide to free him, and make a fast $200,000 on the side, by stealing Lincoln's body and offering its return in exchange for the money, and their gang member's freedom.
Who would do that? How could they steal the body of a President of the United States? And why did it take a quarter-century before the body was secured in its proper resting place?
Telling this amazing story well, which Stealing Lincoln's Body does, would be enough to warrant raves. Yet it tells so much else about Lincoln, especially about the assassination and funeral, that it's even more of a revelation. And the use of special effects and computer technology here -- everything from motion graphics to photo enhancement -- is nothing less than breathtaking.
Fox's "Dollhouse" Has the Feel of Joss Whedon's Fourth TV Triumph
February 11, 2009 3:12 PM
It's been five years since Joss Whedon has presented a show on network TV -- and much too long since we've enjoyed weekly doses of entertainment from the deliciously warped brain that gave us Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and Firefly.
Tonight, the dry spell finally ends with Dollhouse, a new Fox series premiering Friday night at 9 ET. Give it a chance, and then another one, because it takes two episodes for this new series to get up to speed. But once it does, it has the feel of Whedon's fourth straight TV triumph.
Dollhouse stars Eliza Dushku, the bad-girl Slayer on Buffy, as a woman who is given a chance similar to that once given to the desperate young heroine of La Femme Nikita: Put yourself in our care, she is told, and you'll be absolved of past misdeeds in exchange for being specially trained for a series of top-secret missions.
The difference, in Whedon's vision, is that the young lady in question agrees to a five-year deal in which she becomes, essentially, an empty vessel -- a childlike, docile blank slate onto which is imprinted a composite lifetime of false, borrowed, very convincing memories. Presto: Like an actress accepting a new role and script, the very impressionable young woman (given the code name Echo) receives a force-fed mental download, and she becomes whatever she's told she is. A lovestruck woman. An outdoor adventurer. A master thief.
Very rich people pay to have her, and other men and women like her, embody the stuff of dreams, or supply a skill set elusive or missing in real life. All these "Actives," as they're called, live in a high-tech living quarters called The Dollhouse, where they're pampered between jobs like human Kobe beef. When they return from an assignment, their memory is erased, as are their skills, until they receive another job and download.
Except.
Except that this is Joss Whedon we're dealing with, so Dollhouse turns out to have a lot more going for it than a cross between Fantasy Island and Cinemax After Dark. It takes a while to unspool these plot threads, so that's why embracing this show requires a bit of patience.
But stay with it, because the intriguing wrinkles include a former Active who's run amok and become a killer, an investigator who's closing in on finding the clandestine Dollhouse, and, most of all, Echo herself, who turns out to begin to retain certain memories and impulses, like a blackboard that's not quite erased.
In the three episodes sent for preview, Dushku gets to show some range: party girl, glum hostage negotiator, ultra-confident safecracker and so on. And among the supporting cast, the very supporting regulars include Amy Acker from Angel, Reed Diamond from Homicide: Life on the Street, and the very commanding Olivia Williams, as the operator of the Dollhouse.
Given Whedon's track record, I'm more than willing to give him some time to spread his wings, and unfurl his latest TV series slowly. After all, he's made three excellent TV series already -- and that's not counting his Internet masterpiece, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog.
By the way: After 3 p.m. ET Thursday, you can hear my new interview with Joss Whedon on National Public Radio's Fresh Air with Terry Gross. Just click here.
Letterman Soars With Heroic US Airways Crew
February 11, 2009 8:06 AM
Sunday on 60 Minutes, Katie Couric did a wonderful profile of the US Airways "Miracle on the Hudson" crew by asking the right questions and letting the story tell itself. Tuesday night on another CBS show, David Letterman provided another wonderful hour -- by showing the human, funny side of these everyday heroes.
It was delightful, for some odd reason, to watch pilot Chesley Sullenberger and co-pilot Jeff Skiles, on last night's Late Show with David Letterman, joke with the host, getting increasingly comfortable -- and casually, confidently funny -- with each passing minute.
"I'm more than tired of telling this story," Skiles said, to appreciative applause and laughter from the crowd. The audience also responded with glee when Skiles said the Hudson "stinks," and when Sullenberger asked for a copy of Letterman's detailed flight timeline, as if he were unfamiliar with its contents.
And Letterman, graciously letting them get and enjoy most of the laughs, got a huge one of his own by asking one question about his miraculous water landing that Sullenberger didn't, and needn't, answer: "Could you do it again?"
In the second half of the show, Letterman moved the pilot and co-pilot onto stools, and brought on their flight crew: Donna Dent, Sheila Dail and Doreen Welsh. Letterman, dealing with these three ladies, was especially good, though they all seemed hesitant to be the first to answer any query.
And here, too, Letterman scored one memorably entertaining question. After one of the flight attendants told Letterman of hearing the words "Brace for impact" coming over the loudspeaker, he asked them, "Ever hear that come out of a cockpit before?"
That wasn't the question. That was the setup. Even so, it made them all smile, and say no. But then, without missing a beat, Letterman asked his unforgettable follow-up: "Ever hear that in any other aspect of your lives?"
All five guests smiled and laughed so widely, as the audience roared, that it seemed the pilots and flight attendants were truly relieved to be confronted with such irreverent silliness.
Couric, with her straightforward questions, did justice to this heroic crew and justified her CBS star status. Letterman, with his warped questions, did the same thing.
You can see excerpts from the interview on the CBS Late Show site here.
Just a Tease -- But Changes, and New Writers, Are Coming to TV Worth Watching
February 10, 2009 9:00 AM
This notice is a bit premature -- but it's fair warning, and one I'm thrilled to make, that TV Worth Watching is about to expand a bit. Updated design, new features, and, most important of all, some new contributors.
From the start, this website was envisioned as a place where people could come to read about the best TV, sort among the dizzying hundreds of options out there, and get a general take on the latest programming and events that affect television as we know it.
We're about to take the next step, and add even more contributors to our hardy little stable of veteran TV critics and reporters. The more good writers, and informed viewpoints, we can present here, the better and stronger this site will get.
Why should the networks have all the fun with synergy?
We're still a while away from announcing names, or reconfiguring sites -- but it's in the works, and I'm proud that it is.
With "60 Minutes" and Grammys, CBS Does Itself Doubly Proud -- Next Step, Timberlake TV?
February 9, 2009 8:50 AM
Sadly, the broadcast networks these days seem to be doing less and less of what makes them special and valuable, rather than more and more. But last night, with 60 Minutes and the Grammys, CBS served up 4.5 hours of phenomenal television, and pure class.
First came Katie Couric's leadoff 60 Minutes piece, on the captain, crew and passengers of the US Airways flight that ditched successfully in the Hudson. Couric didn't get in the way of this story, or over-extend her own screen time. She just let this astounding story tell itself -- and it was an amazing, emotional one. Pilot Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger and his crew, reunited by CBS with some of the surviving passengers, were a joy to watch.
If you didn't shed a tear watching that report, your "jaded factor" needs some recalibration.
Similarly, if you watched the Grammys and didn't find something to your liking, and something new to savor, you must not have watched for very long. Ken Ehrlich, the best musical TV producer in the business, approaches each Grammy telecast like a wedding: something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. (Or, at least, something blues.)
Some of the inspired pairings, like Grammy winners Alison Krauss and Robert Plant, come pre-packaged. Others, like Paul McCartney and Dave Grohl or youngsters Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus, are teamed specifically for the occasion. All were fun to watch, and hear -- and Justin Timberlake amazed me again, this time in separate sets with Al Green and T.I.
Ehrlich and CBS, or some other producer and network, should consider this: Sign Timberlake to a series of semiannual variety specials, and let him showcase his skills -- musical and comedic -- with the best guest stars he can gather. Which, given his status and artistry, ought to be the best in the business.
The variety special, in the hands of Timberlake and Ehrlich, could make an instant comeback.
41 Years Later, "60 Minutes" Still Delivers the (Very) Goods
February 6, 2009 8:19 AM
This Sunday night at 7 ET, 60 Minutes presents an edition that may draw enough viewers to dethrone Fox's American Idol as the most popular program of the week. Even if not, it's a lock for the week's Top 5 -- an amazing feat for a TV series that is older than Ryan Seacrest.
60 Minutes premiered in 1968, and has been ranked as TV's most popular show in three different decades. So far this season, it's ranked in the weekly Top 10 in all but four out of 18 weeks, and has topped the charts twice. Sunday, when Katie Couric interviews heroic US Airways pilot Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger and his crew, and presides over a reunion with some of the surviving passengers, expect huge audiences again.
What's most gratifying, though, is that this venerable CBS News show, this virtual video institution, has survived and thrived without stooping to pander. NBC News, on Dateline, sets traps for for predators. ABC News, on 20/20, stages misbehavior to catch candid-camera reactions. But CBS News, on 60 Minutes, presents... gasp... news.
And talks to viewers like adults. And presents its stories without hyperbole, and absurdly dramatic music, and simplistic narration that makes it all sound like remedial journalism.
For all that, 60 Minutes, I thank you. And I keep watching -- as I have from the start. (Because I'm old.)
Over-the-Air TV: Now You See It, Now You See It a Little Longer
February 5, 2009 6:25 AM
Yesterday, less than two weeks before the nation's TV stations were to make the switch from analog to digital-only signal transmission, Congress voted to delay the transition date, from Feb. 17 to June 12. If President Barack Obama signs the bill as expected, it's the over-the-air equivalent of a temporary stay of execution.
But boy, what a botched handoff this has turned out to be...
A year ago, when the mid-February target was settled upon, the A.C. Nielsen ratings company announced that it was so concerned about the confusion it was cause, in the middle of the February sweeps month, that for 2009 it would move the sweeps to March. It did. It has. Since this is one of the key audience measurements of the year, helping local stations set advertising rates for the following quarter, this is no small shift.
But now that the transition isn't happening, the networks' February programming -- including such stunts as the multiple guest appearances by Jon Hamm of Mad Men on 30 Rock -- is being discounted, as in not counted, for no good reason.
Also, since every one of the public service announcements tied to the transition mention the Feb. 17 date specifically, another round of TV spots have to be produced. That means more money, spent by a government that doesn't have any.
The government-supplied coupons, giving consumers free vouchers to use towards purchase of the analog-to-digital converter boxes, have been another botched campaign. Most people haven't requested them. Of those who have, many have sat on them so long without redeeming them that they've expired (the coupons, not the consumers).
And since the government program has run out of funds, it can't replace the distributed coupons, for now, until they expire. In short, it's a mess. Especially since some station owners have announced their intention to go ahead with the conversion as scheduled in mid-February, regardless of the government extension.
The real mess, though, is the hidden inequity in all this. Whenever the transition takes place, and old TVs no longer will be able to pluck analog broadcast signals from the public air waves, an estimated 10 million people will lose touch with broadcast TV entirely. These are the homes without cable or satellite, the homes most likely to be on the poor end of the household income scale -- and, thus, the homes that need free access to shows like Sesame Street the most.
So who's benefiting from this switch? Follow the money. Some of the frequencies freed up by this switch will be sold by the government to the highest bidder, to wireless services and others interested in buying what, for most of a century, has been ours, and has been free.
Three-Way Scripted TV Battle: How Unusual Is THAT?
February 4, 2009 10:05 AM
Tonight at 9 ET, there's a new episode of ABC's Lost, a series so good, and so exciting, I have to watch it as it airs.
But also, at the same time, are new episodes of two other shows I record, and watch, just as faithfully: NBC's returning Life and Fox's new Lie to Me. That's three entertaining scripted shows in the same time slot on broadcast TV.
How wonderful is that? Very.
How rare as that? Not as rare as you might think.
Not as rare as I thought, anyway.
Taking cable out of the equation, watch this. Or, to be more specific, watch these:
MONDAYS. In the opening hour of prime time, we have House on Fox, Chuck on NBC, and The Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother on CBS. At 9 ET, we have 24 on Fox, Heroes on NBC, and Two and a Half Men on CBS. All good shows. All of them scripted.
TUESDAYS. In the middle hour of prime time, ABC serves up double episodes of Scrubs, while CBS has The Mentalist and Fox has Fringe.
WEDNESDAYS. Already covered. Lost, Lie to Me and Life -- all "L" shows, and all shows I have on my weekly viewing list.
THURSDAYS. The opening hour is kind of nuts. Though ABC's Ugly Betty has slipped a little, I still watch it, and NBC's My Name Is Earl, each week. I'm also a sucker for CW's Smallville, while Fox's Bones, a recent transplant to this night, is my new favorite in the time slot. Then, at 9 ET, you have NBC's The Office and 30 Rock, CBS's CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, and though I've all but given up on it this year, ABC's Grey's Anatomy.
Pretty surprising. Actually, in this era of reality TV, pretty amazing...
Here's an Irritating TV Mistake, From NBC's "Medium"
February 3, 2009 8:55 AM
Last night's episode of NBC's Medium contained an on-screen error that wasn't major, but, to a journalist and teacher, was more than a little annoying.
It concerned a TV news report being viewed by a character on the show. In other words, it was a fake local TV newscast, faked by a real national TV show -- but the national show, the Medium crew, couldn't get it right. And no one who edited, approved or saw the show in advance caught the error.
The error was this: Under a tagline saying "Top Story," ran an image with the following headline: "FUNERAL FOR RENOWN AUTHOR NATHAN CAFFERTY." This sentence was on Medium long enough, both filling the screen and in a smaller shot, to be read easily and completely.
And it was easy, therefore, to notice that the word RENOWN was used, when the right word would have been RENOWNED. Leaving the -ED off is no more acceptable, or correct, than calling Jennifer Hudson a TALENT SINGER or John Updike an ACCLAIM AUTHOR.
Everybody makes mistakes. But on major networks, you expect someone, up or down the chain, to catch something as basic and obvious as this. Yet at NBC, those may be too-great expectations.
Super Bowl XLIII: Super Game, Super Halftime, Not-So-Super Ads
February 2, 2009 6:31 AM
Super Bowl XLIII final scorecard: The game was super. Bruce Springsteen's halftime was super. The ads? Not so much...
The morning after, ESPN's SportsCenter showed what it considered the Top 10 Super Bowl plays of all time -- and Super Bowl XLIII claimed three of them, all touchdowns. Two of them were by the Pittsburgh Steelers, and inarguably belong on the all-time highlight reel.
First there was James Harrison's end-zone interception and 100-yard runback for a first-half-ending touchdown. And, at the end, there was Santonio Holmes' jaw-dropping, but not ball-dropping, touchdown catch with :35 seconds left -- his toes on the ground, but the rest of him reaching out to Super Bowl history.
In between, there was Larry Fitzgerald of the Arizona Cardinals who scored an exciting, burst-of-speed touchdown that game his team the lead in the final minutes -- a lead Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger and Super Bowl MVP receiver Holmes stole back with a thrilling photo finish.
Speaking of photo finishes: NBCs Super-Slow-Motion "NBSees" cameras, catching that final play perfectly, paid for themselves a thousand times over. Just like that footage will be replayed in the next few days: a thousand times over.
Astounding, exciting game.
As for halftime, and Springsteen's four-song set? Best. Halftime. Ever.
"Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out." "Born to Run." A new song, "Working On a Dream." And, as the perfect capper, "Glory Days," with Springsteen and Little Steven Van Zandt back to back, then sharing the mike, as the E Street Band played to a phenomenal finish.
At the end, Springsteen's look of triumph was easy to read -- and something to savor.
As for all the Super Bowl ads, a Doritos ad supplied by amateurs -- with the snow-globe crystal ball -- beat all the big boys in ad-tracking polls. I liked other ads better, including the sweet Coke ad with the ladybug and other bottle-stealing insects, and I even was impressed by two of NBC's promos, one of which showed stars of NBC's Monday shows lip-synching to Joe Cocker's "Feelin' Alright." It didn't make any sense, but it was fun.
So was NBC's wordless promo for Jay Leno's new prime-time show. A vintage sports car, with the number 10 on it, zipped down California's Highway 10, and cameras got close enough to show a smirking Leno. The 10s, of course, referred to the new show's unprecedented time slot.
Also, I liked the CareerBuilder ad with the "Do You Hate Your Job?" repetitive screams, punches and insults, and the Cars.com ad about the confident kid who grows up to need help selecting the right car to buy. Even the 3-D images worked for me, in High-Definition, better than I expected.
But one ad, more than any other but the Doritos surprise win, may be a news story in coming days. The Monster.com ad, in which the glorious mounted moose head in one room turns out, with a change in perspective, to provide an office drone with a much more demeaning perspective.
It's a funny ad, worthy of being unveiled during the Super Bowl. Except that it was unveiled early -- and accidentally -- during Sunday's Today show, when Meredith Vieira was doing a live interview about classic Super Bowl ads, and the control booth mistakenly showed the wrong Monster.com ad. An unfamiliar one, which turned out to be the mounted moose ad.
With ad spots costing some $3 million for Super Bowl XLIII, don't be surprised if Monster.com doesn't protest NBC's premature showing by asking for its money back.
Football and Springsteen fans, though, have no such claims to make. The teams, and the musicians, delivered superbly.
