I couldn’t help but notice unscripted shows about auctions. You have Auction Kings which premiered on October 26, 2010 on Discovery. Funny thing, only a day later, Syfy premiered Hollywood Treasure. And then there’s Auction Hunters that premiered on November 9, 2010 on Spike. That’s THREE auction series that premiered in only a few weeks time.

First, I want to apologize for not picking up on this sooner. I was aware of the Discovery and Syfy ones (since I watch those channels often), but just recently saw ratings notes for Spike’s one. This is what made me wonder what the deal is.

Next, in my quest, let me pick apart what the difference between these series are. Starting with Auction Kings, it revolves around one auction house, Gallery 63 in Atlanta. It’s rise came about after the success of History Channel’s Pawn Stars, which are similar when it comes to old antique items and them being appraised and sold. In this case, at an auction. I don’t watch either, but from what I gathered from, yes, Wikipedia, Auction Kings follows a similar format to that of Pawn Stars. There are experts to appraise items of historical significance and a multiple choice question (for some reason). Syfy’s Hollywood Treasure, goes a more fun route, it follows a California-based appraiser who looks for, well, Hollywood memorabilia, check authenticity of the items and auction them off. Spike’s Auction Hunters, which deals with storage-unit auctions (’cause, from what I hear (I saw it in a Criminal Minds episode, “Limelight”), if someone rents a storage unit and it’s neglected, they can legally auction off the units after I think 6 months or something?). Anyway, this being on Spike, it’s seems to focus more on finds of antique guns, baseball cards, and guitars.

So, the shows offer there different attributes to the table. A big history buff looks like they would enjoy Auction Kings on Discovery more (which doesn’t focus on specific types of items, so it may be more appealing in general), and a guns and ammo guy, would probably love watching Auction Hunters on Spike. And pop-culture and media buffs, especially sci-fi fanatics, would get a kick out of Syfy’s Hollywood Treasure.

Now, I can see the appeal, things like these can be very interesting. I just find it strange on how they all premiered within a month of each other. Then again, people in general get into things, love them for a year or two, so the popularity stays high, then they are phased out. One network does a competition reality show, and then all the others jump on board. But, most end up goner, while in the end, a few (like Survivor) well, survive. This idea of either people put into one place, and then one is voted out, was just a huge thing. It moves on to talent competition, having FOX bring in American Idol, other singing competitions follow, same goes for dancing. But in the end, only one still ends up being the bigger ratings powerhouse. And reality shows aren’t the only ones doing this. Scripted show fall victims to this as well. We have two shows where the lead is pretending to be a psychic, not to mention had two shows where the leads were actually psychics, all within the last five years. There’s been a slight bump on Moonlighting-esque crime dramas, and now it seems every show wants to do a musical episode.

Remember when court-room drama were the “it” thing? Law and Order lasted for 20 seasons, spawned four spin-offs (don’t forget, there was the failed Trial by Jury a few years back), but now, no one is watching them (Law and Order got canned last season, Criminal Intent, I think, has one season left, the new spin-off Los Angeles isn’t doing all that great, and SVU is still the more higher rated, but it’s not looking overly pretty, but still good in an NBC standpoint though. Plus, other courtroom shows, The Good Wife and The Defenders aren’t doing too great in ratings for CBS). Got two vampire shows in the US, one more on the way (which is the US remake of a British series, Being Human, I recommend the British series), mixed in a pool of vampire films (though, that seems to have died down a little, unless I haven’t heard anything, it seems to be existing franchises such as the most awesome of them, Underworld, but unfortunately, there’s still more of the horrible Twilight crap left that overshadows potentially good vampire films (such as Daybreakers, it wasn’t that bad), after that it was zombies (which I guess there’s still love for that, since The Walking Dead ended up being a big ratings win for AMC). Talking about films, let’s not forget the comic-to-movie surge, which is still going on, with a few big franchises, along with a few bad attempts).

I think the point is, the American TV/(and film) viewers seem to have a short attention span. The next big, what people call ‘fad’, will happen soon, and a whole slew of related projects will come about (maybe witches is the next thing, or there will be robot phase, and for TV, look for an increase in comedies, particularly romantic comedies, as TV.Com pointed out, there are five shows coming up in the midseason schedule, plus one on now, about couples in different stages of a relationship (such as one that are married, one that’s been together for years, and one that’s been going out for a couple of months)). Maybe one or two will live on another season, but I expect networks to keep trying as multiple-camera comedies tend to be as cheap as you can get for a scripted show. Afterall, both NBC and ABC are each having comedies go in the 10pm hour (ABC Wednesdays and NBC Thursdays are all comedy in the midseason).

Back to unscripted, I imagine there being a few more auction-related series, then a new thing will emerge. All it takes is one network to have success with a new (or semi-new) idea and then others will follow.

…HOLY SHIT!

(spoilery material)

I don’t typically write reviews, as I’m not really good at it, but this episode, the ending was just jaw dropping, I had to share it. I think Sanctuary is one of those amazing underrated shows that doesn’t get all the love it should.

That’s the only thing I could think of when the December 17th episode of the Syfy original series, Sanctuary, had its midseason finale. The third season has been truly amazing. With the exception of few stand along episodes, the first ten eps lead up to the finding of ‘Hollow Earth.’ It all began with a holographic map from Magnus’s father, of a hidden city. Magnus eventually became trapped in a building and there is where she came face to face with Adam (Jekyll and Hyde), a man she thought was dead. This lead to her finding Druitt, and more information on Hollow Earth.

In “Hollow Men,” Magnus, Will, Kate, and Henry are dropped off at the entrance by Druitt (Between Magnus, Druitt, and Tesla, only one can go as Tesla only made one shield, since they injected themselves with source vampire blood, they would be rejected by sensors). They proceeded to use the key they retrieved in the previous episode to open a door (well, it would’ve opened if there wasn’t a chunk of ice blocking it). Will chopped away at it while Henry had a little torch to melt some of the ice. Once inside, they had pass through the sensor (Will referred to as a “Vampire Detector”). Magnus goes through last using the device (Tesla called it a “Vampire Shield”), but it still traps her before letting her in (later, it is revealed that the sensor detected the cloak). After the scan, a slight quake occurs, separating them into pairs (Henry and Kate / Will and Magnus). The scan also followed Magnus and Will as they proceeded to a bridge with a gap. Instead of cross, Magnus just hangs below, Will follows, and the laser scan passes right above them. Then they get back up, jump the gap and follow.

I could go through a play by play, but at this point, Druitt is worried about them (as the tracker went dead) and he, Tesla and Adam work out a place where Druitt can teleport them to (well, he played a trick on Tesla, leaving him at the Sanctuary). Kate and Henry eventually find evidence of plumbing and follow it to where these dudes were, who ended up knocking them out with a energy blast of some sort, and finding themselves locked up. Will and Magnus run into a snake-like dragon creature, which only recognizes faces, so as long as one doesn’t look at them, then the dragon essentially doesn’t acknowledge them. They are saved and invited to someone’s home where they are fed and then shown to where they can get to the city. They arrive at a transportation system (which was pretty cool, it’s like there’s a large ball that can fit several passengers, and it’s in this tube-like structure, and it’s propelled really fast (really fast). They end up in the same ‘jail cell’ as Kate and Henry, and from then on, they are brought to the President of the city (a woman), who passes a sentence on them for being outsiders…

Before I get to that, back to Druitt and Adam, turns out, Adam is evil and it was a trap. Okay, the sentence, death.

[MAJOR SPOILER ALERT]
At the end of the episode, Will, Kate, Henry, and Magnus are hanging up and trying to plead with the President. In the end, a surge of electricity is used, and then there’s just their lifeless bodies, and we’ll see what happens when the last half of the season comes back in the spring.

If you have Netflix, I suggest you catch up on seasons 1 & 2 (available as Instant Streams, or I guess you could rent the discs too), and Syfy has 7 full episodes up from this season to stream.

And, because I suck at recapping a show, you can watch the full episode of “Hollow Men” online at Syfy.com (plus, as mentioned earlier, a few others of the third season. If it’s still listed, I suggest checking out the 4th episode, “Trial of Blood,” because that is when Nikola Tesla comes back, and he’s been one of the major positives to this season.

I rated this episode 5/5 or 10/10 or 7/7, however rating system makes sense to you, I give the fullest possible amount to, not just this episode, but for the whole series itself. It’s definitely one of the best shows you’re not watching.

Sanctuary for All

And on another note, there is no date for the return, but Merlin (another fun little series) will be on in its place (Friday at 10) starting Jan. 7. Since that is a 13-episode series (British shows don’t go higher, at least none that I’ve seen), if there is no breaks and its 13 weeks strait, then the season finale would be April 1 (but if there is at least one week off, then April 8), so unless Syfy is gonna go crazy with the schedule, there’s no reason Sanctuary can’t return by April 15th (tax day, hehe), and have the 3rd season finale on Jun 17, which means Haven can easily return to that spot in July. Again, no dates are said, this is me just figuring out one possibility of what could happen. I would also suggest that Eureka and Warehouse 13 being on Tuesday, especially since there one-time holiday episodes earlier this month did much better than what SGU did. It’s a shame that Smackdown hogs Fridays.

As a kid, you hear a Christmas song, you may start to sing along with it.  As you get older, you don’t think much of it.  Then, when you find yourself in retail, where they got Holiday music (which, unfortunately in the US it’s just Christmas music) playing non-stop, you want to shoot yourself.  From a thousand different versions of “Jingle Bells,” to just plain hearing the same ones constantly everyday (and really annoying versions of “12 Days of Christmas”).

Most issues with it are also because you got pop stars re-covering the same damn songs over and over, and in 95% of the cases, it sounds the same. Very few artists write an original tune.  Probably the only songs I like would be the South Park ones, including the Hanukkah related ones as well and, of course, “Mr. Hankey the Christmas Poo”.

But another reason I personally don’t like it, I don’t care too much for Christmas itself.  The commercialized holiday is nothing more than a business boom to retailers.  It brings in this idea that people are gonna be more giving, and even if they are, shouldn’t people just be nice all the time?

But, back to the songs. They are just annoying, and I know I’m not the only one who thinks so.

If you haven’t already heard, FX has canceled their freshman drama Terriers, which just aired its finale. Despite critical acclaim, the series had very poor ratings, even for a cable channel (averaging no more than 700,000 viewers). I myself didn’t watch this, but I’ve only heard good things about it. Based on several articles (one writer at BuddyTV claimed it the new Veronica Mars, in terms of writing).

Starring Donal Logue (who previously was in the series Grounded for Life (which I believe had about 5 seasons across FOX and then the WB) and also the short-lived ABC series Knights of Prosperity, so no stranger to TV) and Michael Raymond-James (probably more known as Rene in the first season of True Blood), the series has nothing to do with dogs, despite the title. It’s actually about an alcoholic ex-cop (Logue) partnering with former criminal (Raymond-James) in an unlicensed PI business. If it weren’t for sites like BuddyTV, I wouldn’t even know what it was about, because, the name Terriers is an odd choice. Other possible issues could be the brief period when FX wasn’t on DISH, or it was too witty (?) for the network of typical push-the-envelope, serious drama you expect on the network. But, the likely culprit, that name. FX Cancels Terriers – Hollywood Reporter

Which has got me thinking, what other shows may have suffered because of their name. Think of just Veronica Mars, just having a female name for the title would have a person believe it to be feminine. Well, it was actually a very well-written drama, that, yes, had a very strong female lead, had appeal to anyone (young, older, male, or female). Though I liked the name, since she was the main character of the show. Almost any show of the WB/CW has feminine names, except the likes of Smallville and Supernatural, which explains why they have lower women 18-34 demo that CW targets more, but they do better (slightly) in overall adults 18-49 demo advertisers like (they are behind Vampire Diaries, which does well in both key demos, for scripted shows).

Another show, that I loved, was Dollhouse. The problems with the show was the title didn’t really tell you what it was about (though, it worked for what it was about), and most of the promo pics didn’t convey the plot of the series well (Echo pointing a gun, okay, it’s got action, but the name Dollhouse is still confusing). If you think it’s about prostitution, that assumption isn’t very far (people are essentially re-wired to be programmed for a client to take on a task (whether as a date, lover, hiking buddy, partner in crime, negotiator, whatever)). It was also on the dreaded Friday night.

Or maybe there are some shows that aren’t really suffering in ratings, but there are regrets for the name, such as Cougar Town. It doesn’t work, since the main character isn’t dating someone much younger than she is (probably only a few years, don’t think his age was actually mentioned, or I missed it), and her friend is younger, so no cougar-ness there, and her other friend is married. The only cougar would be that lady, Barb, that just pops up in weird places (kind of annoying). They even considered changing the name, before scrapping the idea since they couldn’t think of anything better (Cougar Town Keeping it Title – EW). Though, it’s a wonder if the series, which is quite funny, would retain more Modern Family viewers, had it had a better name.

So what titles do well? Well, on the cable side, The Walking Dead did VERY well, so maybe having ‘Dead’ in the title plus being about zombies, helps. Or have ‘Blood’ in the title; look at True Blood. One would say, on the broadcast side, look at Blue Bloods, which does fine in total viewers (over 10mil, so actually, it does well), but like everything else, not so much in demo (no longer in the 2s). Honestly, the older people are watching probably because CBS is part of their routine and, well, Tom Selleck. Titles that stand out work well too, like Big Bang Theory, it’s a unique, and geeky name, perfectly describes the show.

Other shows are more direct with their titles, such as How I Met Your Mother. It is a series about someone recounting to their kids ‘how he met their mother,’ and it’s a very long one. It would have to come to an end, but it is one of the funniest series since Friends, so hope it can have at least another season or two. And ratings-wise, it’s been solid.

But in the end, how much does a title really help/destroy a series? Are there people who are judging a book by the cover?  Did the title The Event made you want to watch the series (it did well in the beginning), but the show itself took you out of it (I’m even wondering it myself)?  I don’t think its the main factor for all cancellations, but it certainly was a factor for Terriers, and from what I hear, it’s a shame.

I believe I’ve previously posted when I was job hunting and how much it sucked. Well, I’ve been working at a certain retail store (I won’t divulge that info, though I can give a hint: think of an Adam Sandler movie and a remote), but I just absolutely hate it. Being in a small town, our store is small with a bunch of shit cramped up inside. I fear for my life sometimes just walking in a stock room (which there are three different ones, for some reason). Between boxes stacked too high for anyone to really safely reach (as long as they aren’t too close to the light, it’s fine, but it’s still really high), only having multiple tall ladders (sometimes, I just need a damn step stool, it’s ridiculous), oh, and trying to get work done when getting called up front to run a register or “having” to stop and greet every customer (ech). I understand the need for customer service, but if the store was designed better, with like things together and decent amount of merch on the floor in reaching distance, they shouldn’t need help finding stuff. Oh, and I hate answering phones (so low tech to me).

But what am I to do? There are people who find a job they love, but I unfortunately don’t know exactly what I can do. I know I hate running a register (given) and dealing with too many people (I can help customers, but I actually hate it, especially if they don’t know what size comforter they need [you should know the size of your bed, at least I would think so]). I have no problem climbing ladders, but I hate doing that every five minutes. Again, if the store wasn’t so cramped, you wouldn’t need to stock things so high to require a ladder frequently. Even the stuff stocked in the back is up high.

It’s taking all my energy to just not quit, though I am very tempted to do so. I even bought a lottery ticket today (fingers crossed, it would make this decision easy, especially if I match at least 5 numbers, though I’d be lucky to just win the $3 with just getting a powerball number). Even four plus powerball is $10,000, which would be enough to not need to work for about 5 months (I’m gonna say 4 months, since I’d need time to look for a better job).

Now, I do have an Associate Degree for Internet Technology (specifically in Web Development), which is the most USELESS degree in this region (we’re not very up there in tech). Being on the coast, I wish I could go back and go into some like Marine Biology or something, there would a few more job options here with that. But, unfortunately, without a stable income, it’s not financially feasible to go back to school. Also, the community college, well, doesn’t really have that many great programs. Actually, there’s not a Marine Biology study, but general science, for the most part.

Maybe I should make this blog post an almost sort resume, putting myself out there in some way, since places like Monster.com tend to attract Insurance Companies saying I’m qualified, despite not actually being qualified.

I like to draw, and like to think I have some creativity. I don’t really paint, mostly pencil sketches, but I don’t really draw these large original pieces that people would want to buy. And whatever I have painted, I start but never finish (for some reason, maybe there is a painter’s block, similar to a writer’s block).

Now, I have did some quick animations, the little 15-sec witch one (really about 3-sec) and a 10-sec eye one (actually 4-sec, the rest is credit roll):

But, that’s about the most I’ve done. Could I do something longer? I have thought of trying, even getting audio software in order to do voices (and messing with pitch and whatever), but I don’t really have time (damn work). At one point, back in high school, I once considered going to this certain school that dealt more with graphic design, animation, and, well, basically, using technology for creative projects. But it’s an expensive school, but I always wondered whether I could’ve worked in 3D animation, using the software to render video. Guess I’ll never know.

I’ve looked at other schools, wishing to go into something related to film and TV. I love movies, and obviously, I love a lot of TV shows (despite me limiting myself to any new series, since I no longer have a DVR to just be able to watch the 40-some odd number of shows I used to watch. It’ll be nice to find a job where knowing about a shit-load of TV shows, as well as understanding TV ratings and such, and getting paid. Though, I don’t consider myself much of a writer.

And, as I just said, I’m not the greatest writer. Right now, I have multiple, what I call “story ideas,” I’ve been working on (some I started as long as 5-6 years ago). Typically, they are of sci-fi/fantasy/supernatural themes (a few vampire/werewolf ones), but I generally have an idea of what is going on, but I have a hard time developing an actual plot.

I think what it comes down to, I’d love to work where I’d have more freedom (I never go to the movies) and don’t feel so miserable all the time. I was in the top 20 of my graduating class, I had a high GPA in both high school and at community college. I did well in general (not so much in gym, go figure, and also Spanish, and Chemistry (though I think that was the teacher, ’cause oddly, I did well in science classes, except that one). I only failed one class, Calculus (that is very hard, I didn’t even take the second part, went for a college course instead, dealing with computer multimedia (such as flash)).

I can build a computer (built my first for myself in 2006, and, though I now have a laptop, just last week it was plugged back in and it still works), I understand basic networking, and just to note, that computer I built had two Linux distros (PCLinux 2007 and OpenSUSE 10.2) as well as Windows XP Pro. If I could either find a better, more stable job, or just win the lottery, I would love to build another machine, this time one to serve as a DVR (I really, really want to do this, so that no matter what service I have, they can’t take it away from me). I was thinking a MythTV setup, since it’ll be Linux (not Windows), and since it’ll serve one purpose, it wouldn’t need to be overly powerful.

Geez, over a thousand words, yikes, I’ve got to stop going on like this.

Until another day…

It’s no secret that in today’s world of television, ratings have been going down, pretty much across the board. Some networks have been getting it hard (ABC, NBC), the others are somewhat steady, though CBS is still trying to fight for Friday (though, it may as well just give up, it’s not gonna do any better than what it has been doing in the last two years).

Now, the demo rating (adults 18-49) is the number networks care about the most, because it’s the one the advertisers actually pay more for. But to put things in perspective, and because I don’t actually have a way to find what demo ratings were for shows back in the 90s, I remember the times of NBC being the #1 network with ER and Friends in the 1 & 2 spots (probably by their 5th seasons easily, so ’98-’99), but I believe it was total viewers. The point I’m trying to make, shows like that saw over 20 million viewers, regularly, if I remember well (Friends 4th finale (London) saw about 30mil viewers, season finales now of top rated scripted programs do not see those numbers). Now, NCIS has occasionally reached or topped a little, but sheds viewers in the late winter with the return of American Idol. And the finales don’t see skyrocketing ratings. The last episode of Friends scored over 50 million viewers, while ER, which was 5 years later, got, if I remember correctly, about 16 million (Though, I think the fault there was dumbass CBS airing the 200th CSI (a very disappointing episode, I blocked the ep from my memory and no longer watch the series) and the fact ER was an aging series, but the last episode was a very good way to end a series). Hell, this past year, the last episode of Lost barely got 14 million viewers (but it had a superb demo rating of 5.8: source: Zap2it).

So despite loyal fanbases, critical claim, and previous high ratings, what happened? Well, the most acceptable reason is the DVR. It’s simple. It allows you to skip commercials, advertisers not happy, nets not paid for DVR numbers. Plain and simple. But, going by the latest DVR ratings (source: TVByTheNumbers), take NCIS‘s total viewers before (19.2 mil) and then after (21.7 mil), is barely a difference of 3 million additional viewers who DVR’d the show. But, keep in mind, NCIS skews older and older people DVR less. It went from 4.3 to 5.0 in demo. In terms of a higher rated comedy, say, Modern Family, total viewers went from 12 mil to 14.9 mil, again, barely a 3 mil increase, and it didn’t have a total viewership that was that of Friends back in the day before regular DVR.

So, comparing in that manner, the DVR is not the only culprit. The next cause of the decrease live viewers: tons of more programming choices. This is most definitely the reason behind ABC, NBC, and even CBS now, have been struggling lately with the 10pm shows. The 10pm hour has become popular with cable shows, such as F/X’s Sons of Anarchy and Comedy Central’s South Park. Several cable nets have 9pm programming as well, such as Discovery which has brought in some very popular programs, especially with males viewers, such as Dirty Jobs and Mythbusters, but overall TBS, TNT, Comedy Central, Discovery, F/X, Syfy, and especially USA Network (BTW, Psych returns Nov. 10 at 10/9c on USA) all have popular programs, giving the TV audience more choices in programming than ever before. Let’s not forget AMC’s recent success with The Walking Dead (10pm), which has brought some more competition on Sundays, and after 2 eps, it’s averages about 5 mil viewers (which is a lot in cable!). Hell, even History has Pawn Stars which has found itself near 5 mil viewers as well, and that’s a Monday night show (10pm). Actually, for the week ending Oct. 31, Walking Dead‘s premiere and Pawn Stars were 1 & 2 for non-Sports programming for all of cable. (source: TVByTheNumbers).

Could there be something more than the increase use of DVRs (specifically the fast forwarding of commercials) and the increased amount of programming choices? Eh, some people may think it’s because people are going to sleep earlier, but people have been going to work in the morning way before DVRs, so I don’t see that is a reason (though it has affected me, now that I got a terrible retail job (I HATE IT) where I got to be there either 7 or 8am, but I’m not a Nielsen viewer, so what I watch doesn’t count anyway).

There is another factor, online viewing. Take a show like Heroes. It was highly popular, got great reviews in its first season, then dwindled (2nd season, I admit, not the best, end of the 3rd was an improvement, 4th was alright), but in the end, I hated that it was canceled, however, it was the most illegally downloaded show (mostly, probably by other countries, ’cause in the US, people could legally watch it free online at Hulu or NBC.com, with very few commercials). But that is one other problem, even with legal online views, as Nielsen isn’t gonna implement the new measuring system for online viewing ’til sometime next year (I think it was pushed back a little), which would measure series watched online as long as they have the same national commercials and were watched within 3 days after original airdate. But, they don’t make up a large percentage.

But, it more portable media present, many people could probably be playing online games, watching YouTube clips, or browsing the net endlessly, so there’s a slight decrease in TV viewing right there. If networks want to save themselves, they need to better utilize the Internet to their benefit (Conan did, and the premiere got a whopping 2.5 demo rating, with a median age of 30!), (Source: TVByTheNumebrs). There is power with online videos and using Twitter/Facebook (Conan tweeted pretty much everyday, and in the weeks leading to the premiere they had the Live CocoCam for 24 hours (introducing us to the Dancing Taco, a now new fave), the blimp, and for 7 days, they gave away a 1,000 shirts a day (I got one the first day, a nice blimp shirt), and when the ratings stabilizes (1st eps ratings are always bloated, due to ‘premiere excitement’) we’ll see how well that paid off, but so far, it has.