Posts tagged: TV

Jan 22 2010

TV Midseason- Human Target, Life Unexpected

The new series of the 2009-2010 season for television are continuing as the midseason lineup has arrived. There are only a handful worth checking, so far, two four good ones have premiered. FOX’s Human Target, which is getting an Idol boost (hm, wonder if FOX ever thought of giving Dollhouse that boost? Might have helped it a little) premiered with a special presentation before the return of FOX’s staple action series 24, and I happen to thought those two shows to be highly compatible, enough that I feel whenever Jack Baur does decide to finally retire, FOX has a series with the highly explosive action and fast moving plot to replace it. Starring Mark Valley, (had small recurring role in 1st season of Fringe, which I believe lead to him being the lead of his own series), as Christopher Chance, a dude that seems to have a deathwish, putting himself in extreme danger (first episode started him off as almost being blown up). Only two episodes have aired so far, but so far, so good. Human Target‘s regular timeslot is Wednesday nights 8/7c, which it has yet to air in that slot, as it premiered on a Sunday, and it’s previous ep was on at 9/8c after Idol versus a regular slot before it. I wonder why FOX shows sometimes fail, but Human Target does seem to have an Idol boost no matter, as the State of the Union address next week will push a new episode to air on next Tuesday instead. So just go to FOX’s Human Target Site to find out when the next episode actually airs.

The second series is the CW’s Life Unexpected, which airs regularly, so far without strange special timeslots or anything, Mondays at 9/8c, stars Roswell‘s Shiri Appleby, North Shore‘s Kristoffer Polaha, and Dawson’s Creek Kerr Smith. The series started with a teenager 15 yrs old (almost 16), named Lux (Brittany Robertson), applying for emancipation (she was going from foster home to foster home as she was never adopted) but needed signatures from her birth parents, played by Appleby and Polaha. Appleby’s character, Cate, is a 32 yr. old radio host, who was only Lux’s age when she got pregnant, and when the court didn’t grant Lux emancipation, Cate decided to be a parent and take Lux in. Only one episode has aired, and it’s actually quite good. Nothing supernatural, nothing violent, has some of the same charm that made Gilmore Girls good (but not as good, but still watchable). The ratings for the first episode even topped that of Gossip Girl, so it shows that the CW may need to think more along the lines of shows like this, whether than clog their airwaves with One Tree Hills and 90210s. What I find strong about it so far is the character interactions.

[Additions made 1/25/10 for 2 more series, Caprica and Spartacus: Blood and Sand]
Syfy premiered the prequel to Battlestar Galactica, Caprica, and I checked it out and plan to watch more. I did use to watch Battlestar Galactica, but it was before I had a DVR and at that time it was difficult to keep up with every interesting series. By the time I had a DVR, I was behind on the series. But I checked out Caprica hoping that since it’s a prequel, I could understand without Battlestar Galactica, which is so far true. Plus, the clip sequence of what’s to come featured a very special guest star, James Marsters (his appearance is in the March 5th episode).

Also, Starz premiered a new series (which they had already renewed a second season), called Spartacus: Blood and Sand. Unfortunately, I don’t have Starz, but was able to catch the new show thanks to the channel having an online stream of the pilot. I think what I find to be most intriguing is the cinematography. The graphic novel feel works for the show that’s full of blood and violence (and lots of sex to go with it). Starz is now officially competing against HBO and Showtime, with a solid drama that pushes boundaries. As mentioned, though, I won’t be able to catch the rest, since at my household, HBO is the chosen premium, and only when True Blood is on.

At the time of this writing, there’s only one more new series I can think of that may be worth watching, and that is NBC trying (again) to have a Parenthood series, based on the Ron Howard movie of the same name. The difference this time around? Ron Howard (director for the ’89 movie, and, according to IMdb, served as a producer for the short-lived ’90 series) and Brian Grazer (producer for the ’89 movie) will both serve as Executive Producers. And based on the tv spots, it looks pretty good. Did I mention Lauren Graham will be in it (Gilmore Girls), as well as Peter Krause (Six Feet Under, Sports Night), Craig T. Nelson (Coach), Dax Shepard (Punk’d, When in Rome), & Erika Christensen (Six Degrees, Flightplan).

Check out this real funny trailer for the new series set to premiere after the Olympics on NBC:

Jan 15 2010

MTV Networks Arrange Haiti Telethon

Press Release

NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES, Jan. 15 — In response to the devastating earthquake in Haiti, MTV Networks is presenting “Hope for Haiti,” a global telethon to air commercial-free across ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CNN, BET, The CW, HBO, MTV, VH1, and CMT on Friday, January 22, 2010 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT and 7:00 p.m. CT. “Hope for Haiti” will also be made available to MTV Networks International, CNN International and National Geographic channels worldwide.

Full article: the futon critic

Find out what you can do to help Haiti.


All new episodes scheduled for January 22nd (including the return of the CW’s Smallville and the series finale of FOX’s Dollhouse will air the following week on January 29th.

Sci-Fi Wire

Jan 12 2010

Conan Stands up Against NBC

Bravo! Don’t let NBC walk over you. NBC can barely get regular primetime shows right (I don’t watch Southland, but I do think it was rash and stupid to cancel it before the new season premiere, now TNT has got it, and well, we’ll see how ratings go before making any more comments). Back in 2004, NBC made the deals between Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien, where Leno exits and Conan takes over The Tonight Show which starts at 11:35PM (and has been for a long time, about 45 years, but always after the news (*fun fact, the local news used to be only 15 minutes, so the early days of the Tonight Show started at 11:15*)). Of course, there was already previous controversy surrounding the early 90s when it went from Johnny Carson to Leno (Letterman, who was Late Night host at the time, was gunning for the job and even Carson was pulling for him, but it went to Leno and that caused emotions to stir and Letterman left NBC to have his own show (Late Show) on CBS).

Deja Vu all over again, as when the transition from Leno to Conan started becoming more of a reality, NBC was afraid to lose Leno since ABC became interested (guess they just don’t like talk show hosts jumping networks and potentially competing against them). Now with the whole Jay Leno Show debacle, NBC wants to move a shorter, half-hour version to late night after the news and move Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon 30 minutes later (12:05 and 1:05 respectively). At the same time, FOX is showing interest in wanting Conan (though Conan has gone on record saying no offer has been made). So, will NBC wise up and keep Conan and ditch Leno to keep Conan from moving to FOX, or will they remain stupid and appease Leno and lose Conan.

Here’s what I think they should consider: Keep Conan at 11:35, ’cause The Tonight Show is an American Institution of late night goodness that always follows the news. If they positively have to keep Leno, how about this: ONE FUCKIN’ DAY IN THE WEEK. Is that so hard? Pick a night where The Jay Leno show did somewhat better, and make that the one night it’s on. Avoid filling the 10PM void with repeats (which could actually end up just hurting the local affiliates more anyway), and make all three parties happy (though, don’t know Jimmy Fallon’s view on everything, and no one seems to care about Last Call with Carson Daly (and yes, that show is still on)). I know I’m no TV exec. person, but it seems like a no-brainer.

But, like I said, I’m not a TV exec, nor a professional TV critic/blogger, I just watch the damn thing and I happen to prefer Conan over Leno. I find Conan to be much more enthused, and a hell of a lot funnier. Don’t get me wrong, there were moments when Leno hosted (such as my favorite ‘Headlines’ segment, which he brought over to the Jay Leno Show). At the same time, there was the ‘Battle of the Jaywalk All-Stars’ which no longer exists, because after moving to 10PM, it’s changed to some idiotic Battle of the *insert ridiculous reality shit-show here* Stars (such as the more recent ‘Jersey Shore’ dumbasses). He basically turned a funny segment into a bloated possible PR-bullshit parade.

What Conan brought from his stint at Late Night are still the same segments that WORK, and he added the new ‘Twitter Tracker’ segment (kind of weak, but the animations for it is what matters), but what’s great about Conan, his monologue. He jumps and hops onto the stage, jumps here and there, does his usual ‘puppeteer’ bit, and gets the show going with full energy.

In the end, I’m on Team Conan, and that’s that. If he leaves the Tonight Show because of NBC’s stupidty and finds a gig with FOX, then I’ll have one more show on FOX to look forward to, and one less NBC (even if Leno gets Tonight Show back, I just couldn’t bring myself to watch it, even though I’d miss Headlines). So wherever Conan goes, I’ll watch, but I thing he deserves to be a part of The Tonight Show, it is his time for it, and in these tough times with our economy and everything, we need someone to make us laugh our asses off.

Read Conan’s statement to NBC’s plan: Conan O’Brien Rejects NBC’s Offer

And here’s an article on ‘NBC’s Idea’ to keeping all Leno, Conan, and Fallon: NBC moving Jay Leno out of Primetime

BTW, Conan is hosting tonight’s show, and Zac Levi (Chuck) will be a guest, so YAY! Watch it!

*Update [1/13/10]: Jay Leno May Leave as well, because he too isn’t happy with how NBC themselves are handling everything.

Jan 10 2010

Chuck Returns; How I Met Your Mother 100th

Ahh, 10 days into the new year and the TV schedule is already filling up. First, the third season of Chuck returns on NBC on Sunday, January 10th, with a special 2-Hour event starting at 9/8c. Then, the series will return to its normal, regular timeslot of Mondays at 8/7c on January 11th. For those who’ve watched the show (or at least checked the last few eps last season), know that Chuck has been upgraded with the Intersect 2.0, which does more than just causes him to flash for intel when triggered (either by the face of a spy or even a top secret device), now, in a given situation where he needs to act fast, he’ll flash for a useful skill. As seen in the second season finale, he and Sarah and Casey were in a little tight situation, so he flashed on kung-fu skills, and boom, he knew kung-fu. Previews show him flashing on complete languages and even getting mad guitar skills. It’ll sure be a fun and interesting development for our favorite little spy that could. Check out the preview trailer for the upcoming 3rd season:

Also, Sunday night sees the 450th episode of The Simpsons plus a 20th Anniversary special, starting at 8/7c, on FOX.

FOX, has decided to bring House back from winter hiatus a little early (those pesky devils), going up against the new Chuck as well as How I ‘s milestone 100th episode. And what a special episode it’ll be. First, Barney has to choose between wearing a suit or dating a girl, which leads to an awesome musical number involving 75 people dressed in suits. Second, a clue to the mysterious ‘Mother,’ as in, who she might be. CBS.com is lovely and nice enough to have a 2-min clip of a behind the scenes look:

How I Met Your Mother – ‘Girls vs Suits’ airs Monday, Jan. 11 at 8/7c on CBS.

And let’s not forget the rest of Monday night, with new Heroes after Chuck (I don’t care what anyone says, I still see good in it), a special night for Fringe on FOX after House (guess they want to see if Fringe can get some better ratings with a more higher-rated lead-in, like it did last year, also when it wasn’t against 2 mega-ratings dramas), and a new Castle on ABC at 10/9c with special guest Alyssa Milano (Charmed).

Phew, that’s just the next two days. The week will also see Bones back from hiatus (note, their 100th is currently scheduled to air on April 8th [could change]). Next week, the CW will come back with their #1 lineup on Thursday with the Vampire Diaries and Supernatural, and Fridays are complete again (briefly) with the return of Smallville [sadly, Jan. 22 will also serve as the day Dollhouse is dismantled]. Also, see the return of USA Network’s #1 shows come back in full force, including new nights for White Collar (Tuesdays at 10pm, starting Jan 19) and Psych (Wednesdays at 10pm, Jan 20), and for those who watch [unfortunately, time didn’t allow[, Burn Notice remains on Thursdays (10pm though) on Jan 21. The CW will premiere a new series, Life Unexpected on Jan. 18 at 9/8c, starring Roswell alum Shiri Appleby, which I might give a shot. See when/if your favorites return this winter at the futon critic.

Dec 03 2009

Don’t forget, Dollhouse Returns Dec. 4

Small reminder post, Dollhouse will begin its last 9 episode run tomorrow, Dec. 4, with back to back episodes starting at 8/7c on FOX. Some shows haven’t gone on winter hiatus yet, so there’s still some competition (especially since USA Network’s Monk is ending its run at 9/8c). I have to DVR Monk and Medium, and record Dollhouse over the air, right to DVD, as 9pm hour is really congested, since Stargate Universe is also new, but Syfy re-airs new episodes later in the night, so I’ll catch the 11pm showing. Smallville is a repeat, so 8pm is just Dollhouse for me, and 10PM is just 2 shows that record fine on DVR, Syfy’s excellent Sanctuary and USA’s newest hit, White Collar.

Oh, and I’m working, don’t get off ’til 8pm, lovely huh?

Nov 30 2009

Three Rivers Shelved; the TV Landscape

I didn’t know really how to title this post, but I found out that CBS has shelved, though not officially canceled, the freshman medical drama Three Rivers, which stars Alex O’Loughlin (Moonlight). I watch a good 40 or so shows regularly over the course of the year, and a handful of those are new series, in which majority of those never come back (sometimes, along with a few previous favorites of mine). Anyone who may also watch TV as much as I do, knows the frustration of a good show getting canned because there is simply not enough people (or the right people) watching.

Some shows can have a miraculous save, such as last season’s Dollhouse on FOX, although, this was a temporary redemption, as the series had been canceled, officially, a few weeks back. ABC also has some hiccups, though it’s on the bubble gem Castle has a full 2nd season now, there’s no guarantee ABC will keep it next year, which would be a shame, ’cause I know several people who caught one episode and loved it, but being they are not a TV viewer like me, they probably don’t watch it every week. As for their freshmen dramas, the weakest links were that of Hank and Eastwick, both of which were canceled. They seem to be getting by with the forgotten, which isn’t high, but at least did better than Eastwick. NBC also seemed to have followed a similar route. With two of their new dramas, Trauma and Mercy, Mercy performed maybe slightly better, so it got a full season while Trauma got canned. However, NBC decided to order three more episodes, so they may just be trying to fill the schedule with any existing show they can until the new season slate arrives.

Of course, NBC has a whole other dash of weird. With Jay Leno having his own show five nights a week in the 10/9c hour, let’s just say those ratings aren’t stellar neither, but at least it’s a much cheaper show to produce instead of a full-fledge scripted drama.

But what has caused networks keeping series with such low ratings? Simple, they really don’t have much of a choice. They could cancel the low performed and got for repeats of top-performers (such as FOX filling Friday with Bones and House while Dollhouse was on hiatus. And for a Friday night, those repeats did only slightly better than new Dollhouse (I think, .8 vs 1.1-ish). Would networks really be better off to just air encores on Fridays? CBS could probably still get away with new episodes, but it doesn’t seem to happy, even though it wins the night. Shouldn’t the nights ratings be compared with those it is competing against, whether than the rest of the week (Meaning, CBS cut Numb3rs‘ season order, having got around a 1.7 with the last new episode, behind ABC’s 20/20‘s 1.8, but still ahead of NBC’s failed experiment The Jay Leno Show, so instead of putting it side by side all the other crime dramas of the week, it should only be compared to those in the same timeslot, or even just of all shows for that day.) Nope, TVByTheNumbers.com has a Renew/Cancel Index that uses data for all shows for the network throughout the week (simpler terms, you have an average 18-49 rating, and it’s a matter of seeing how shows score in relation to that number, with a .9 being borderline).

Of course, there are always exceptions. Networks keep shows for syndication revenues, such as ABC holding onto Ugly Betty, or CBS taking Medium in when NBC gave up on 10pm shows. ABC keeps Scrubs, also taking that series from NBC a season or two ago, since it is an ABC Production (in-house), so in these cases, no worries about a broadcast fee, but they can collect a lot in syndication (which almost questions FOX for not getting My Name is Earl (a 20th Century FOX) show when NBC canceled it last season). This would’ve been the 5th season, with that golden 100th episode, why not have sweeten it, instead of going for a new series which pretty much stunk in ratings (Brothers). They kept ‘Til Death on, since Sony lowered the fee, but there’s only so low they can go, was it even worth keeping that which even I stopped watching in the 2nd season? My Name is Earl was actually good. Well, it was also a little more expensive, being a single-camera comedy, which carries a higher production value. But, then the next question, what is wrong with keeping a few shows of high-quality, even if the ratings are what you’re looking for? A network can offset costs from their more top-performers, and could gain, especially in My Name is Earl‘s case, from syndication and DVD sales (if they are under the same parent company of course).

Plus, high-quality shows have a higher ratio of loyal fans. Take Pushing Daisies, which was a Warner Bros. Production. ABC canceled it after it suffered a major ratings loss (I blame the fact there was about a 10 month gap between season 1 and season 2, due to the strike and ABC not order a few post-strike episodes, but I can mention that everytime and it still isn’t gonna change the fact that it was axed). Now, of course it may not make since for ABC to stick with a show they didn’t even produce, but there are chances to become a co-producer of some sort with Warner and split syndication, or Warner could’ve done more to shop it around (could the CW have worked, since Warner has a 50% stake in the network?). Truth is, Warner doesn’t do much for their shows, case an point, the main reason I feel the need to ramble on. I decided to watch Veronica Mars from the beginning, and the high addictive show was highly-loved by critics, and had the most engaging stories, and a season-long mystery mixed in with day-by-day life of the title character, that kept us watching week after week. That is until the CW canned it and stayed with the more soapy One Tree Hill.

I know I’ve mentioned this before, at least once or twice, but shows like Veronica Mars were cursed from the beginning. It was a Warner Bros. Production, and instead of starting on the WB (a Warner network), it was broadcasted on UPN (a CBS network), where it was for two years, before the two nets merged, and the show managed to survive to the new network (the CW). Joel Silver was even the Executive Producer, and he worked on hits such as the Matrix trilogy (as well as that other failed series, Moonlight). What went wrong? Simple, CW is a low-rated network, and many people will shun shows on them, thinking it’s filled with nothing but Dawson‘s and One Tree Hill‘s. But Veronica Mars wasn’t the average teen drama. Yes, the character of Veronica Mars (played by Kristen Bell) was a teenager in high school (then college in the 3rd season), with teenage problems, but the series was also more mature. Like Buffy the Vampire Slayer it was able to reach a broader audience, more-so than what UPN could provide. Could the series have been even slightly better off if it got started on the WB, getting the Gilmore Girls pairing earlier in its existence? Maybe.

Truth is, there’s no way to know. I know I am just one of many who hate seeing their shows get canceled, because they are too smart and witty for the general public. But that’s why there are blogs. Gives a chance for people like me to vent their frustrations.

So why do I support Three Rivers? Because, it wasn’t a bad show. What hurt it? It could be all the NFL overruns, that pushed it passed 10PM (it was a 9pm show) and people started to go to sleep. Also, tuning at 9PM and seeing The Amazing Race might of just made people flip the channel (I’ve had to adjust my DVR manually, hell, I almost missed it once because of this). Oh, DVRs, now that’s another thing, and right now I’m clockin’ in over 1300 words, so I won’t get into it, again.

Happy Winter!

Sources used: TVByTheNumbers.com, the futon critic

Plus, here’s an article stating that a Veronica Mars movie seems to be out of sight now, tvSquad Article, which is a shame, although I think I’d prefer the series to come back, like how Family Guy did.

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