We’re back and after a long delay, I decided to sit down on the couch in a PCU styled way and catch up on the tube. One lingering feeling, though, is my remorse that the Olympics aren’t still on. Normally, after the first five days of the Olympics, I’m ready to move on. After ten days, I downright despise the Games. This year, though, it seemed like every event was gripping. It was some great television. But, alas, let’s hope in four years the Games even come close to equaling the Athens experience.
As we move into the Fall season, there are some telling signs that television is about to hit its’ ‘Charlie Sheen in the Neighbors Kid’s Bedroom’ phase. This phase is also known as rock bottom to you and me. First, the reality sensation hit and now reality concepts are taking the form of actual actors in series. The leader in this category is Desperate Housewives (ABC/ Sunday night). At first glance of the trailer, I was astounded that someone would sign off on this and then during a passing conversation, a woman told me she thought the show was a big joke. A kind of real dark comedy. I gave it some thought, for about two seconds, and then shook my head and walked off. I am a huge fan of dark comedy and this is not dark comedy. Dark comedy takes ingenuity and skill. This show takes the skill to write that it takes a smoker to light up a cigarette. Not to mention the fact that the show’s airtime and night has already been changed three times. If that doesn’t spell doom, I don’t know what does…. Oh, by the way, if any of your out there run across the two guys from the Sonic commercials, please find a way to get in touch. There is nothing I would like more than to have those two in a room for five minutes. Do they know how bad they’re jokes are? Do they care? Did they go to the writers and plead for some help? Either way, those commercials rank up there as the worst all-time…. MXC (mentioned in the last installment) has a new season out and there are American tourists involved. Remember the comment about how there is nothing funnier than foreign people making jackasses out of themselves in a foreign land? Well, MXC has proved me wrong- there is nothing funnier than Americans making jackasses out of themselves on some strange foreign game show. You really must see this…The Simpsons come out with the Halloween Special Treehouse of Horrors a week after Halloween. Playoff baseball knocked them back a weekend…. For the last two weeks, I’ve been wondering why Fox has had no sound on its’ Sunday NFL games. I thought, either Rupert Murdoch became real cheap real quick or they were trying a new concept. On both cases I was wrong. The reason was because I had my SAP button turned on and apparently the Spanish speaking population isn’t huge into football. But, the end result was quite pleasing. I actually enjoyed not having Meathead Lineman and Nerdy Sportscaster in my ear all Sunday reviewing how the wind affects the bounce of the ball at the five-yard line on Sunday’s at 2:58 EST. You should try it.
CBS has taken some hits in the news department, but the programming has gotten much better. First off, the CSI series is about to overtake Law & Order as the show you can watch more than anything else on the tube, but I’m all for it. CSI: Miami, although completely miscast, is a pretty good show, as is New York. Also, CBS has done a great job getting Two and a Half Guys going. The show is extremely funny and Chaz Sheen might just be back… Speaking of funny, have you seen Arrested Development (Fox)? It comes on after the Simpsons and is, hands down, the new comedy you can’t miss. The show features Justin Bateman and just kills the dark comedy genre. Fox has always had a stranglehold on Sunday night’s and Arrested Development is only going to further that noose.
What’s really gone in the tank lately is the commercials. Besides the Budweiser campaign with the guy who plays football and baseball and speaks the truth, commercials have really been lacking over the last few months. And please, for everyone’s sake, can we please get every male in this country over the age of forty a prescription to some sort of male enhancement pill. How long do we have to endure footballs going through tires before we all have gotten the implied logic behind these ads? (By the way, if you don’t know the implied logic, please email me and I’ll explain) Any commercial that starts with this tag line: “When my man needs a boost…” should be stricken from our TV sets. At the same time, McDonald’s has taken to broad marketing and written a song for every genre of music out there. I heard the last installment a few nights ago with a few hip-hoppers singing grunge rock while a sitar played and people danced around in a circle. That, I now know, was the topper.
One new Television show coming out, starring Jason Alexander (George from Seinfeld) is Listen Up! The show is based on Pardon The Interruption’s Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon. It looks to be very good, but it also has Malcolm Jamal Warner as Wilbon, which is a questionable call at best. If you didn’t notice, and you should have, The Hughleys has changed time slots on UPN 30. For all of you out there such as myself, who were fans of the show, the decision was bad wrong. The Hughleys is one of those few comedies that while taking on some serious issues, did it with a great blend of comedy and learning. Certainly some of the topics got a touch too overblown or they were just overblown to begin with, but D.L. Hughley is a very funny comedian and his scripts really worked in the 30-minute format. An unfortunate turn of events, as they say in the business.
Well, that’s all I got out of this week. Have fun and don’t stare at the television too long or your eyes will turn square!
