Bits and pieces culled from tvguide.com (mainly from Michael Ausiello & "Today's News: Our Take" by Matt Webb Mitovich):
Heroes, Law & Order: SVU, The Office, and My Name is Earl have all been renewed for another season. And Identity received an order for seven more episodes.
Survivor has been renewed for two more competitions.
American Idol's premiere on Tuesday averaged 37.3 million viewers. The show hit a high of 41.84 million in its last half hour. The second season finale is the only higher rated episode of the series.
Spurred on by the documentary This Film Has Not Yet Been Rated (which looked into the secretive-- and frequent "made up as they go along" ratings decisions-- of the ratings board), the MPAA and the NATO (National Association of Theatre Owners) are planning on making changes to the ratings systems. Changes are expected to include: admonishments that some R-rated movies are just not appropriate for children, remove some of the secrecy of the board, formalize a rule that a board member cannot stay on after their child has grown, and detail (for the first time; on the MPAA website) the standards of each film ratings.
Lost producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse announced they are in discussions with ABC to finalize an "end point" for the series. It's pretty unprecedented for something like this to go down; networks aren't really interested in ending shows they have some measure of control over when there's money to be had. Lindelof & Cuse want to have the series wrap up somewhere around episode #100 (they'll have 93 eps produced at the end of season four next year).
ABC could decline the plans, and replace whichever creators leave (like The CW did with The Gilmore Girls this year) or they could recognize that fans of the show just aren't going to keep watching if some of the mysteries don't get solved (and the quality of the show could decline-- a la X-Files-- if the show gets renewed past its useful life).
The idea behind planning an "exit strategy" for the show can bring a number of benefits: creators will have a target to shoot for to tie the loose ends. Fans will know that there is a plan and things aren't just being thrown in there to extend the series. Having an end point could help "ensure" the show makes it that far. (Let's say ratings drop next season; ABC could order episodes they normally wouldn't just because they know there is an end point).
It's an interesting move, but the creators and actors have always been pretty aware that they have a high-quality show and they don't want to see it go down the tubes just because it became a sensation.
My favorite show of all time, Babylon 5, had a planned storyline from the start-- five seasons-- and it worked (even though there were numerous changes to the storyline due to not having a fifth season ensured until after the fourth season ended). I hope Lost can find a way to do the same.
And, finally, I read in Prison Break Magazine that the role of Abruzzi was originally intended for Chris Penn. I can't imagine anyone other than Peter Stormare in the role, but it would have been something for Penn to be on the show.
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Monday, January 15, 2007
Because No One Demanded It
Okay okay okay. I've mentioned it enough and procrastinated enough that now it's become anti-climatic.
I dug through the nearly 100 shows I watched that aired new episodes in 2006 and then started cutting until I came up with a Top Ten. Are they the best? Not always. Are they my favorites? Surprisingly, not always. Are these better than others that didn't make the cut? For the most part. But I wanted to hit some shows that I love, some that are important to see, and some that really need the mention.
That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.
My Top Ten TV Shows of 2006 (and, yes, I cheated and had more than 10-- even the legit critics do it):
1. [adult swim] (Cartoon Network). Specifically Venture Brothers and Frisky Dingo. For crazy-ass shenanigans and hilarious lines, go no further than the swim.
2. Conviction (BBC America). A fantastic tale about guilt, and how it can slowly drive a man crazy.
3. Entourage. Unique, profane, quoteworthy... And the icing on the cake of Jeremy Piven. And Martin Landau this season: "Would that be something you might be interested in?"
4. HBO Sports. Costas Now, Inside the NFL, and Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel always has some feature every episode that moves me. These shows hit the stories that others won't touch, and even though I don't follow sports, I have to watch these shows.
5. "The New Face of Comedy": My Name is Earl and The Office (NBC) as well as How I Met Your Mother (CBS). Great writing, acting, and directing on these shows just proves that comedies aren't dead, they're just transforming beyond the set-up and punchline method that has been used for decades.
6. Prison Break. If you're new to this blog, you may not know that I am into this show. I read everything I can about it in magazines and on the Internet, and I am surprised every... single... episode. That's amazing.
7. Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO). There is no show out there that hits on the same beliefs I have about the world as this one. Things I've felt for years but couldn't explain get talked about, and I can suddenly express my thoughts and beliefs better. And while Maher is notoriously anti-Bush/Republican (and I can't blame him), he's also pretty negative about the Democrats (mainly for being p*ssies). He's an equal opportunity critic-- and now that the Dems have the House, I expect them to catch some of his wrath in 2007.
8. South Park (Comedy Central). There is no better (or needed) satire airing today than this show about a group of elementary students. Admittedly, it hits some low points, but the next episode always puts it back on top. The amazing one-week turnaround from script to air allows this show to be right on top of events. Or eerily ahead of the times (they called out Mel Gibson as a loon before he had his "episode" last year). And if the satire isn't for you, there are always plenty of poop jokes and swearing to go around.
9. 30 Days (FX). Mandatory viewing. What happens when someone is taken out of their element and put into the complete opposite of it? Understanding and friendship. What a neat concept: get people with opposing views together and they learn to respect each other. Imagine the progress humanity could achieve if we all walked in another's shoes...
10. Ugly Betty (ABC). The characters are garishly colored, the head of the company is a silver spoon horndog, the antagonists are more cartoony than a Bond villain, the acting can be borderline Soap Opera-ish (always by design)... And it works. Wonderfully. It's a breath of fresh air to see a show that isn't mean-spirited (remember: cartoony villains; as awful as they are, you can't hate them) and the "good guys" value friendship and family above all else.
So there you go. I wrote more detailed thoughts for the first half (long-hand, by the way), but I knew if I waited until I wrote them all (and then typed them), it'd be close to 2008. Maybe I'll add to them at a later date.
No promises, though. You see, I've discovered a method of time travel, and it's made it difficult to focus on the blog.
You take a DVD-ROM and insert it into your computer. When the screen comes up, click on Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and then click on "load game". It's amazing, but that's all it takes to travel through time.
Take last night: I put the disk in at 10:30 pm, and the next thing I knew, it was 12:30 am. I jumped forward in time two whole hours, and it felt like ten minutes.
Try it if you'd like, but I warn you: this method only works to jump forward through time. I haven't found a way to go back in time or slow it down.
I dug through the nearly 100 shows I watched that aired new episodes in 2006 and then started cutting until I came up with a Top Ten. Are they the best? Not always. Are they my favorites? Surprisingly, not always. Are these better than others that didn't make the cut? For the most part. But I wanted to hit some shows that I love, some that are important to see, and some that really need the mention.
That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.
My Top Ten TV Shows of 2006 (and, yes, I cheated and had more than 10-- even the legit critics do it):
1. [adult swim] (Cartoon Network). Specifically Venture Brothers and Frisky Dingo. For crazy-ass shenanigans and hilarious lines, go no further than the swim.
2. Conviction (BBC America). A fantastic tale about guilt, and how it can slowly drive a man crazy.
3. Entourage. Unique, profane, quoteworthy... And the icing on the cake of Jeremy Piven. And Martin Landau this season: "Would that be something you might be interested in?"
4. HBO Sports. Costas Now, Inside the NFL, and Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel always has some feature every episode that moves me. These shows hit the stories that others won't touch, and even though I don't follow sports, I have to watch these shows.
5. "The New Face of Comedy": My Name is Earl and The Office (NBC) as well as How I Met Your Mother (CBS). Great writing, acting, and directing on these shows just proves that comedies aren't dead, they're just transforming beyond the set-up and punchline method that has been used for decades.
6. Prison Break. If you're new to this blog, you may not know that I am into this show. I read everything I can about it in magazines and on the Internet, and I am surprised every... single... episode. That's amazing.
7. Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO). There is no show out there that hits on the same beliefs I have about the world as this one. Things I've felt for years but couldn't explain get talked about, and I can suddenly express my thoughts and beliefs better. And while Maher is notoriously anti-Bush/Republican (and I can't blame him), he's also pretty negative about the Democrats (mainly for being p*ssies). He's an equal opportunity critic-- and now that the Dems have the House, I expect them to catch some of his wrath in 2007.
8. South Park (Comedy Central). There is no better (or needed) satire airing today than this show about a group of elementary students. Admittedly, it hits some low points, but the next episode always puts it back on top. The amazing one-week turnaround from script to air allows this show to be right on top of events. Or eerily ahead of the times (they called out Mel Gibson as a loon before he had his "episode" last year). And if the satire isn't for you, there are always plenty of poop jokes and swearing to go around.
9. 30 Days (FX). Mandatory viewing. What happens when someone is taken out of their element and put into the complete opposite of it? Understanding and friendship. What a neat concept: get people with opposing views together and they learn to respect each other. Imagine the progress humanity could achieve if we all walked in another's shoes...
10. Ugly Betty (ABC). The characters are garishly colored, the head of the company is a silver spoon horndog, the antagonists are more cartoony than a Bond villain, the acting can be borderline Soap Opera-ish (always by design)... And it works. Wonderfully. It's a breath of fresh air to see a show that isn't mean-spirited (remember: cartoony villains; as awful as they are, you can't hate them) and the "good guys" value friendship and family above all else.
So there you go. I wrote more detailed thoughts for the first half (long-hand, by the way), but I knew if I waited until I wrote them all (and then typed them), it'd be close to 2008. Maybe I'll add to them at a later date.
No promises, though. You see, I've discovered a method of time travel, and it's made it difficult to focus on the blog.
You take a DVD-ROM and insert it into your computer. When the screen comes up, click on Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and then click on "load game". It's amazing, but that's all it takes to travel through time.
Take last night: I put the disk in at 10:30 pm, and the next thing I knew, it was 12:30 am. I jumped forward in time two whole hours, and it felt like ten minutes.
Try it if you'd like, but I warn you: this method only works to jump forward through time. I haven't found a way to go back in time or slow it down.
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