Networks Get Ready To Rumble
Posted by Rhys Alexander Categories: ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, Editorial,
It’s January, which means a TV fan’s heaven of all new episodes and mid-season replacements to check out. It also means the most vicious television battle of the year is about to start. In a fight that makes the Olympics pale in comparison, the major TV networks are desperately tossing new shows, and old returning favorites, into the ring. Who will emerge the victor?
NBC has the advantage of the popular comedy Scrubs returning, along with ratings powerhouses such as My Name is Earl and The Office. ABC’s bringing back the beloved Dancing With the Stars, and has the guarantee of massive Super Bowl ratings. CBS has the advantage of the mega-rated CSI franchise. And Fox, of course, might have the best weapon of all in American Idol.
My predictions? Scrubs will sink in the ratings due to its unfortunate move to Tuesday nights, in direct competition with critical darling and fan favorite House, M.D. CSI will continue to be CBS’s reigning show. American Idol will rule its time slot, beating all competition except on the overdrawn ‘results shows,’ where many viewers will wait until the last 10 minutes to tune in.
Which network or show would you bet on? Share your predictions with us!
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That’s the word on the street, anyway. It seems as though the witty The Daily Show host would be a natural choice to front Hollywood’s biggest night. The official announcement is expected on Thursday. Jon Stewart would be a great pick.
Read More 
| LA Times
Nurses Strike Back Against TV Stereotypes
Posted by Rhys Alexander Categories: Grey’s Anatomy, House, Editorial, Internet,
In Heroes, Whores and Handmaidens: 3rd Annual Golden Lamp Awards Rank Best and Worst Media Portrayals of Nursing in 2005, nurses set the record straight. Seems they aren’t oversexed ditzes after all. And here I thought everything on television was true. The list covers the (episode-specific) best and worst portrayals of television nurses. The absolute worst? Grey’s Anatomy, with a whopping six nominations. Ouch.
Read More | Nursing Advocacy
Futurama Fans Rejoice At Possible Return
Posted by Rhys Alexander Categories: Animation, Prime Time, FOX,
Hey, it happened to Family Guy; why not to another animated series? A cult hit for the four years it aired, Futurama’s cancellation left viewers frustrated, though repeats are available on the Cartoon Network. Futurama follows the adventures of defrosted pizza delivery guy Philip J. Fry, who must adjust to being thrust 1,000 years into the future among an eclectic bunch of colleagues and friends. The results are always entertaining.
Talks are underway at 20th Century Fox TV, which also produces “Family Guy,” to make a “limited” number of new episodes of the cartoon, which was created by “The Simpsons” guru Matt Groening and David X. Cohen. The discussions haven’t gone so far as to include a place to air any new installments, Variety reports.
Since “Futurama” last aired in August 2003, it has followed the “Family Guy” pattern of earning strong ratings as part of Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim programming and racking up revenue in DVD sales (although not to the then-record levels of “Family Guy’s” first DVD sets). Also, like “Family Guy” on its first go-round, it was something of an orphan on FOX, saddled with long gaps between episodes and unfavorable timeslots.
Read More | Zap2it
Usually, syndication is a wonderful thing, allowing us to relive the best moments of our favorite TV shows, or catch up on any episodes we may have missed - but sometimes, syndication isn’t so pretty. It can serve as an ugly reminder that the shows we love just aren’t what they used to be.
When new episodes and repeats are airing at the same time, it’s impossible to not draw comparisons. And trouble comes when the old outshines the new.
A case in point: Gilmore Girls. My favorite television show for years, it captivated me with its sweetness and beautiful mother-daughter relationship. This season has left me—and many viewers—feeling empty. Now that The Family Channel has started airing Gilmore Girl’s beginning episodes, it’s easy to see why. With its ease of storylines, natural character development, and celebration of love and friendship, the older episodes are a joy to watch, a reminder of what I, and so many others, loved about the show.
But they make the current episodes look even worse. When viewed side by side, you can’t help but notice today’s trend toward caricature rather than character, overblown plot lines, and ridiculous attempts at over-the-top drama. It’s as though the show lost trust in its simple formula, and feels it has to go to extremes to keep its audience.
That plan has obviously backfired. Gilmore Girls is already contracted for another season. Will the show bounce back to what it once was? Maybe the writers should start viewing the repeats…soon.
Slingbox Lets You Watch Any TV Show, Any Time, Anywhere
Posted by Rhys Alexander Categories: Internet,
Sling Media has an exciting announcement to make: soon, you will not be restricted to the television or computer to watch your favorite TV shows. Instead, you’ll be able to use just about any mobile device. From tv.com:
Sling Media is expected to announce Thursday that consumers can use a wide range of mobile devices to watch their home television from anywhere in the world. The company is set to unveil new software that adds this capability to its Slingbox hardware product this week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
Sling Media cofounder and head of business development Jason Krikorian said that support for mobile devices has always been part of the company’s vision but that the initial focus was on the PC because of the broadband connection.
“There are solutions for live and recorded TV on mobile phones, but now for the first time you can have full access to every single channel you’ve got at your house,” he said. “It’s not just a TV experience on your phone; it’s your TV experience, like you have at home when you’re on your couch.”
The new mobile client, as the software is known, works with any device that uses Microsoft’s Windows Mobile Platform versions 4.0 or 5.0. A visual version of a remote control pops up on the screen, making it a fairly straightforward process to choose whether to watch television live from a home cable set-top box or satellite receiver or something recorded on a digital video recorder.
“You can watch your home TiVo from the back seat of a car driving on the 101,” Krikorian said.
“You can watch Lost the day after it airs without paying two bucks,” added Sling Media PR director Brian Jaquet, in a reference to the television programs sold on Apple’s iTunes for viewing on an iPod.
Wonderful news for TV fans…though perhaps too much temptation for us TV addicts.
Read More | TV.com
Desperate Housewives Receives Chilly Reception In China
Posted by Rhys Alexander Categories: Drama, Prime Time, ABC, Desperate Housewives,
Oh dear. Looks like not everyone loves those crazy ladies on Wisteria Lane after all. Desperate Housewives recently began airing in China—in censored form—to great speculation. Would it succeed in a culture so different than what the show portrays? Would editing hurt the show? Would Susan get on everyone’s nerves?
Looks like the Chinese audience is less than receptive:
Ultimately, it’s the show that matters. To put it bluntly, “Housewives” does not have a demographic fit in the Chinese market. True, it is high in quality and has suspense, thrill and murder as plot hooks to entice a wider audience. But a typical television viewer in China is not someone well-versed in Western arts and literature, mesmerized by parallel narratives and ingenious tracking shots. It is usually someone with no advanced education but simply wants to kick off her shoes and relax after a hard day’s work.
For one thing, American serials like “Desperate Housewives”, with their witty innuendoes and multiple twists, are too fast-paced for Chinese taste. Some viewers complained they would get lost with the plot after a bathroom break. But with South Korean soaps, even if you skip three episodes, you can still follow the story lines.
On a deeper level, life on Wisteria Lane, the fictional California community in Housewives, is too far removed from ordinary Chinese, even the burgeoning middle class. A Chinese teenager would never, in her right mind, advise her single mother on the etiquette of dating. When Chinese housewives get into an adulterous mood, they would not turn to teenaged gardeners, who are usually migrant workers in rags, but to people with deeper pockets and higher ranks. A Chinese woman may act as fastidious as Bree Van De Kamp, but she would not take on the arch-conservative stance of an American Republican. A Chinese super-mom, in a country with family planning policy encouraging for one child, faces challenges very different from tending four unruly kids.
Simply put, the show fails to connect with the vast number of television viewers here because it implicitly requires prior knowledge of the US middle-class lifestyle, exaggerated for dramatic effect of course. That shouldn’t dampen the enthusiasm of those who crave for quality programming, but its target audience shrinks from the culturally curious to the culturally adventurous.
The fabulous Leora from the fabulous Desperate Blog has the full story.
Read More | Desperate Blog
Earls Get A Free Ride At Universal Studios
Posted by Rhys Alexander Categories: Comedy, NBC, My Name Is Earl,
The breakout hit My Name Is Earl will move to 9 PM Thursday nights (previously on Tuesdays) beginning January 5th. In a sure attention-getter, Universal Studios Hollywood will publicize the event by offering free admission into the park for anyone named Earl through the month of January. Earls even get a free T-shirt! That’s great, but to be fair, shouldn’t they offer the same deal to women named Joy?
Read More | Universal Studios
Eva Longoria: One Hot Comedienne
Posted by Rhys Alexander Categories: Comedy, Drama, ABC, Desperate Housewives, Talent,
TMZ is offering a peek at a video of Eva Longoria in her earlier days, “when she couldn’t even afford to put gas in her car.” In an apparent ploy against poverty, Eva and a friend began a female comedy act entitled “Hot Tamales Live.” Follow the link below to view the video.
Read More | TMZ
Wow. This online game is truly amazing. The designer must be the ultimate TV fan of all time. You think of a television character, then answer a series of ‘yes and no’ questions. Then the computer guesses which character you are! I know; I was skeptical, too, but it worked every time, and didn’t take very long for the computer to guess. I chose obscure/outdated characters—Blair Warner, Punky Brewster, and Laura Ingalls—and it guessed each time! It would be creepy if it weren’t so fun. Follow the link to play.
Read More | Smalltime
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