Grid Effect

We haven’t watched Survivor in enough detail to do a full on, play-by-play recap. And to be honest, we’re really unmotivated to do so, everything about this season is about as spontaneous as an episode of CSI. That is to say, we can see it coming from a mile away. I guess that’s the gamut one runs with reality television, you put a lot of stock in casting and hope it pans out. If it doesn’t then the budget costs were low and they can pump out another season ready for airing in three to six months.

So when in doubt or lethargy, we do how we always do and just doll out some links about nothing in particular and be done with it.

The Golden Globe nominees were announced today, and since this is a TV Blog I’ll try to keep my film critiques at a minimum since it seems like for the most part they got it right. We will say that the bias for late fall/early winter releases is growing tiresome. They gave some love to A Mighty Heart and Eastern Promises, the latter was an alright genre flick. A tad formulaic and didn’t really bring anything new to the table, but certainly engaging, well acted and decently written. But still, it pales in comparison to 3:10 To Yuma and Rescue Dawn. One question though, we haven’t seen it, but is it really appropriate to put Charlie Wilson’s War in the Musical or Comedy category. I guess that “American Pie” song is really influential, even though it is misplaced in this film, considering the song was released in 1971 and the movie is set in 1980. But hey, why worry about semantics, right?

As for the television side of things, no nomination for The Sopranos for Best Drama and Gandolfini for best actor are the most glaring oversights, but as far as everything else is concerned it seems pretty accurate. I have a few nitpicks, such as the actresses on Mad Men (especially Christina Hendricks) getting shut out of all nominations, and Vincent Kartheiser as well. However, the series is nominated for best drama and Jon Hamm got a nomination for best actor, so it all evens out. Sort of. Other complaints like It’s Always Sunny and Curb getting shut out weren’t exactly surprises. The former is probably unknown amongst the international press and the latter wrapped up their worst season to date, despite how great the last two or three episodes were. We try to be realists around here.

In non-award news, Will Arnett is scheduled to be the voice of the car from Knight Rider in an upcoming movie adapted from the laughable classic. He really is just squandering away all that good faith he built up in AD, isn’t he?

Those-were-the-dayyyyysssss.

Reno 911 is bringing in several noteworthy actors and actresses for their fifth season, I won’t even say their names. As a casual viewer of the comedy, am I the only one who sees this as a bad thing? Usually when a successful series starts bringing in bigger, non-traditional names to generate buzz, it’s when the series begins to decline. See 30 Rock this season. Or so I’ve been told.

The union is starting to cave in on itself and is now pointing fingers. This might signify the end of the working millionaire in Hollywood. We kid, but we’re actually pulling for them to stay on track and not lose sight of the bigger picture. That being, while this strike is going on, that’s fewer coked out wannabe actresses they’re coercing into bed with the “promise” of a line in the upcoming Brett Ratner movie.

Also from the LA Times, several of the late show writers want their employers returning to work so they can lobby for them on a national level. Because right now as far as the rest of the country is concerned, though there is a deficit of quality entertainment (not necessarily a bad thing in this country), this is ultimately a regional/local problem. Any change would probably be for the better, because right now they’re looking to be in dire straits.

To anyone who isn’t a total moron, Kiefer Sutherland getting a surplus of fan mail shouldn’t come as a surprise. Does he have priors or something? How is he getting two months in prison and his 20 something, white female counterparts are rarely exceeding a full day? God. If this was a torture camp he got electroshocked in the nuts and they got off with some minimal water-boarding. We guess it pays to be a whorish, non-attractive, untalented celebrity in this country.

ABC brought the ax down on Big Shots, a tale of four emasculated CEO’s and how they manage to be CEO’s while completely stripped of their manhood. Damn, we really thought that would build an audience.

And finally, PBS is getting into the reality game with an academic tinge: they’re following around the student newspaper at Penn State. Speaking from experience, we can assure you that few things are more profoundly uninteresting, subjective and apathetic than a student newspaper. Never the less, it beats the shit out of American Idol.

Back with a Survivor recap later.

With the current drought of quality new and original programming, we took it upon ourselves to catch up on a series that we have since overlooked. And given our penchant for television you have to pay extra to receive, we thought Weeds would be an appropriate choice. It’s a half hour long, we had never seen even a millisecond of it and they’ve burned through four seasons in three years. For a network taking a stab to be the “new HBO” of original programming, they sure as shit don’t act like it. Generally that’s the length of hiatus’ on HBO.

Anyhow, the series revolves around our protagonist Nancy Botwin, a recent widow with two sons, a maid and a freeloading brother in law, played with an understated coolness by Mary-Louise Parker, the hottest +40 year old we can think of. We never get any back story, but presumably she had limited options after burying her husband and resorted to selling marijuana to make ends meet (Yeah, I really want a back story, the woman virtually lives in a mansion). All while coping with the pressure of raising two boys on her own and maintaining the facade as a law abiding citizen in the town of Argrestic (I’m assuming on the outskirts of LA) to all the wives and mothers and dealer to all of their husbands.

She buys her packages from the Shepard’s, a sharp witted black family that seems genuinely concerned for her but still prioritizes business over her well-being, particularly the matriarch of the family Heylia, who not only initially sold her cheap marijuana but also took her car then wedding ring as collateral when she was unable to make payments. Six episodes in she has yet to recollect her ring, but got the car back after the Shepard’s house was shot up (not a norm for the series).

When not buying/distributing drugs or tending to her sons Shane and Silas, she’s gossiping with a neighborhood “frenemy” that she mostly likes (and admits to her as much), Celia Hodes. Celia is a gossip monger while claiming to disapprove of gossip. She’s married to a pothead who carries as much disdain for her as she does him. It’s really quite depressing. They casually cheat on each other and seem all but content to go on that way, presumably because both of them are worried about getting slighted in a divorce. Celia is probably the simplest and most cliched aspect of the show. She saunters around insulting everyone from her own children to her husband to run of the mill middle schoolers.

Everything about this series is for people on drugs.

It isn’t Celia’s unpleasantness that undoes the character, it’s the obviousness of everything that she spouts. She’s essentially like the blond from Sex and The City, except married, less slutty and more self-conscious. Even by episode five we discover that she has breast cancer. The similarities are endless I tell you.

Occasionally we are treated to flashbacks of Nancy’s deceased husband Judah, usually through video footage. And honestly, their is a stockpile of footage of this cat. They could make a documentary on this guy’s foreplay from what we’ve seen. The scene always ends with either Shane or Nancy looking longingly at the camera, Nancy is generally in tears but at one point displays some frustration/bitterness that her husband died prematurely when she chucks the camera into the wall of the house.

The show has its downside, like the introduction of characters that we never see again. Namely Josh, a rival dealer still in high school who made his bones selling to preteens. I use the past tense because the kid was in the pilot episode and has yet to reappear. And considering he’s the son of Kevin Nealon’s character Doug Wilson, Nancy’s biggest client and CPA (also city council man), it isn’t really consistent that he would disappear from the cast like that. At least when they got rid of Quinn, Celia’s daughter, they provided an explanation (Celia sent her to boarding school after Quinn flicked her off through a hidden camera device Celia conspired to spy on her daughter with). But Josh seems to have fallen off the face of the earth.

The humor often seems to try a little too hard and remaining unfunny. Kevin Nealon and Nancy’s suppliers are the comedic highlights of the series, but to often are the kids left with comedy material that the actors seem ill-quipped too handle. Not only that, but too maintain a semblance of realism, some of the humor in this series should be met with some hostility as it is very disparaging, but usually it’s brushed off and never touched on again. The characters all seem ambivalent in this regard, and it’s distracting.

Still we recommend it if you’re looking for something new to watch during these strike ridden days we’re living in. If you want a short review of this series, an adapted for television version of American Beauty is pretty accurate, minus the Kevin Spacey character. It’s set in a bland suburban community (as the oddly hypnotic opening credits would suggest) full of duplicity and deception from its inhabitants. Not exactly uplifting but a solid half hour of entertainment. We’d conclude that the series starts to hit its stride by the third episode, so don’t judge it by its pilot or sophomore efforts.

Not a whole helluva lot to say about last weeks episode. We couldn’t stand the gimmick or the “New York” cameo or the infighting or anything about it really. Eden’s miraculously early return seemed entirely too premature and quite honestly, if there was anything we enjoyed about the episode it’s been forgotten about over the past week.

Sean biting the proverbial apple (see James, its a fairly common metaphor, no need to beat it to death) was inevitable. A series like this doesn’t devote a significant amount of time to something that doesn’t happen. It isn’t that good. In light of recent events, we can all see where this is heading. She’s going to attempt to blackmail him despite putting on her most innocent and victimized face last week, Sean is going to have a moment of reflection where he questions his judgment and morality, and either by the end of tomorrow’s episode or the end of the season, Sean will have exposed Eden for what she actually is, and all will be right in the Nip Tuck universe.

It’s all moot anyhow, because after the “future episode” last year we all know Sean is practicing medicine twenty years from now, so he won’t go to prison or lose his license or anything damaging. Maybe a few bad headlines, anything else for this series would be unrealistic. We do have to give the creators of this series credit though for the sculpting of Eden’s character. That is one nasty little piece of work. She’s like the female equivalent of Antoine Chigurh.

In case you don’t know who Antoine Chigurh is, he’s the guy strangling the cop above.

The only other four characters that this series devoted any time to, in typical fashion, were involved in something of a love triangle. A triangle with four people you ask? Christian was the puppet master this episode, leaking to Julia that Olivia and Liz were making out. As a side note, I have no idea if he actually witnessed this, or lied about it and it turned out to be true. We were playing with the roommates dog while watching this. So as you can imagine, our interest has all but deteriorated.

The patient this week was actually reasonable, but the series has spent the better part of five seasons with the unreasonable, so he seemed misplaced. But an aging employee feeling the need to sustain his youthful image is entirely understandable, if also depressing. We can’t imagine him agreeing to be apart of a reality series, but in an episode full of plot holes and missteps, we can agree to suspend disbelief for it.

As for the “unique” format of this episode, we give them points for trying but it’s not terribly innovative to mock reality trash television. Reality TV of the VH1 mode s pathetic and superficial and a train wreck unraveling before our eyes, but the problem with a train wreck is after awhile it loses its shock value, you become desensitized and ultimately you wind up drinking yourself in a stupor trying to forget it even took place.

And really, could anyone take Christian seriously with his outrage about how the debut episode turned out? Didn’t he orchestrate its exploitative nature? He seemed genuinely pissed about the product, and I couldn’t tell if he was putting Sean on or being honest. It seemed like the latter, which is absurd.

Speaking of which, can this series develop some new themes and character traits to hammer away at. We get it, Christian’s a narcissist, Sean’s a pussy, Julia’s indecisive and the world is shallow but individuals usually get nothing out of it. I’m assuming the show creators have a rolodex of, like, ten themes that they casually toss into whatever “shocking” subplot they offer up for any given episode.

In short, this series has a few kinks to work out, and its probably not going to happen before this season is cut short due to the writer’s strike. We’re tuning in tonight, but not out of adulation or interest, but out of apathy.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s always a slow television month, even Friday Night Lights is done until January. Speaking of which, maybe it’s because we watched the episode at 4:30 am on Friday night, but the series has reached its melodramatic tipping point for us, despite the enjoyment of the Street plot. But back on course, the strike isn’t helping the annual dry spell. Nip Tuck should still be around, and we have the final two Survivor episodes on the upcoming Thursday and Sunday. Other than that, we are plum out of material.

The problem at large, the strike, has reached a boiling point and the studios have discontinued talks with the union. So if you’re wondering why we never followed through with some links last Friday, it’s the same reason we’re at a loss today: ain’t shit going on. And we haven’t watched enough television recently to fill it with anything worthwhile. Our Weeds DVD’s came in through Netflix on Saturday, but priorities are priorities, and we had to watch the NFL and make sure that we finished in the money yesterday, and as of now we have yet to view a single episode.

Given the already bitchy tone of this post, we figured why not make it a weekly feature to voice our dissent (i.e. complain) about some idiosyncrasy of the current television landscape. They are plentiful and glaring, so it seems like something easy to discuss for such a slow day/week/month.

This might be somewhat self-serving, but TV critics getting advance copies of the upcoming Wire season really draws my ire. Fuck you, critics. Sure, maybe they write for newspapers with decades worth of prestige and respectability and more than 17 people read their daily work, but we write a foul-mouthed, occasionally coherent blog. Where’s our advanced copies?

Four of these five are dead, and the fifth is in prison for the rest of his life, we had to wait through the harsh winters then to find this out too.

You think those seventeen people don’t need some influence to tune in? For a series as entrenched in modest ratings as The Wire is, one would think they’d be clamoring for every audience member they can get. What do you mean that we have no governing body holding us responsible should we leak anything? Those people in Alabama who own this blog that I’ve never seen and only occasionally hear from would pin my nuts to the wall from a thousand miles away. Outrageous, I tell ya.

What does a television critic need advance copies for anyhow? To develop an insightful, thoughtful response to an episode when it airs? Where I come from we have a term we apply to that and I’m sure you’re familiar with it: cheating. That’s right, cheating. A real recapper/reviewer would watch the episode the night before he plans to respond to it, then throw something together in the early hours at work. Fuck this “I need a month’s time to piece together what I just saw so my readers will get something out of what their paying for” bullshit. It’s for the birds.

If someone wants to draw our readership, they’ll write a review while the episode is airing, then release their work no more than an hour after the episode finishes. Now that, my friends, is what journalism is all about: knee-jerk reactions and unfounded claims. Why does this meet the standard of news journalism and not television journalism? Perhaps this upcoming season of The Wire will answer that for us.

Back with more later, should we stumble across anything of substance.

Since we’re in December, we’re going to start doing year end lists, faux-awards and shit like that to kill the drudgery that is television during the holiday season. And let it be duely noted that this episode title is winning in a landslide for both Ill-advised and non-creative episode title of the year.

Why ill-advised? Because no one who watches this series is interested in this plot, yet they keep hammering away at it instead of pretending like it never happened. If they were so intent on killing the efficacy of the Landry character, wouldn’t joining the football team been enough? Did he really have to kill somebody? And for those saying it was self-defense is a bit of a stretch, the victim was clearly walking away from the scene when Landry beat him to death.

Landry’s like Antoine Chigurh, he’s going to have to murder his way out of this jam. He’s in too deep now.

The manner in which Landry decided to confess was categorically ridiculous as well. Have him and Lyla (as a silver lining, Minka Kelly, who always looks exceptional, looked even more so this episode) even shared a scene together sans the road trip to Dallas for the title game? And the victim’s brother wanting to meet his brother’s victims (what?) a tad contrived. While we never have worked in rape or grief counseling or anything that would give us familiarity with such instances, we find it hard to believe that this is an authentic scenario. But the plot device worked as well as any in this storyline, so what’s one more?

Speaking of plots we’d like to see vanquished, Matt hooking up with his maid or whatever certainly falls into that category. This is at least getting a nomination for inevitable plot development of the year. Not only are we bored with its predictability, but what is this series’ proclivity for high-schoolers engaging in illegal relationships with adults (maybe not illegal, but at least questionable)? I’m not going to go back and do the research, because this is a blog and it’s more fun to simply speculate and make outrageous claims, but if we were to go back and look at who wrote the Riggins-moderately attractive 30-something neighbor and Matt-Carlotta episodes, we wouldn’t be surprised at all to discover it’s the same person. Something tells me someone on the writing staff has some deep seeded maternal issues from his blue-collar upbringing.

As for the Julie-Noah subplot, well that’s just inappropriate. Honestly, if we were place in Noah’s position and Tami pulled us into a room like that. Given that we would have a degree in Journalism from Columbia, we’re quite certain we’d move the fuck out of that small Texas town we’d be gracing with our presence, then we’d leave a note on Tami’s doorstep saying something along the lines of, “she’s your problem now”. Because being verbally berated and accused of something so heinous when the relationship has seemed more or less innocent is quite unnecessary.

Could he have handled the situation a little better? Of course, he didn’t seem to establish any ground rules for their student-teacher friendship when Julie was clearly developing something of a crush on him. Given he’s in the authoritative position, we suppose it’s his responsibility. But to be accused like that in front of a large segment of the student population is uncalled for. We’re just thankful the series portrayed Tami as misguided in this instance and not the “strong-minded working mother of two” that is so often the case. This gives her more depth and adds to what’s already a multi-faceted character.

Smash, on the other hand, doesn’t have such petty concerns, as his road trip to McNeil University is everything he expected. Sure, the entire point was to illustrate how his priorities are still misplaced (which we really don’t see that way, more of a cultural norm than an exception to the rule), and to have him run around in his underwear to end his visit. But it lead to his car ride back with Saracen and his taunting via telephone (we were prone to doing this during our college days), so we didn’t mind the contrivance.

Anything else? They haven’t touched on Taylor’s conflict of interests as head football coach and AD in awhile. Oh, Riggins spent this episode deciding he didn’t want to be a meth dealer, or even some actor with no charisma meandering around in his tighty-whities. His speech at the conclusion of the episode was effective, if not entirely realistic. His team certainly didn’t take his absence personally, and since they’re so miserable without a blocking back I can’t say I’m surprised. But still, not a bad way to cap a decent arc.

In the end, probably one of their more grating episodes. Simply for the Landry and Saracen developments. In the first season, their scenes together were something to be anticipated, now their both deeply involved in their own asinine subplots with predictable outcomes. We need Street and Taylor dominating the screen if this is what they plan to do with Landry and Saracen.

Back with some links to close out the week.

I really hope it’s the season and not my attention span that has me tired of this series. Me thinks it’s the former, but we’re not ruling out the latter. For whatever reason, this could be the end of the road for me and the only reality series we still watch.

For all the hype and all the build up, the happenings after TC were nothing more than a reward challenge. It is an extravagant award that takes place at the Shaolin Temple, but still…a reward challenge? They better fight to the death. The winner gets to invite two people.

Credits. Outwardly ethnic this season, can’t imagine why.

It is a trivia challenge asking questions about Chinese culture. They are all true or false or multiple choice, meaning someone could stumble into a victory or a good showing, much like I did with my ACT score. Anyhow, first to five points wins, PG takes it home, edging out James and Todd, she invites Denise out of pity and Erik out of loyalty.

Which means back at camp is Courtney, James, Amanda and Todd, the perceived final four. With Courtney on the chopping block. Todd and James pontificate about the comfort of their situation, James uses the tired Garden of Eden analogy which none of us are tired of, certainly. Meanwhile Amanda essentially lays out her game plan in a camera interview. Now, opportunists tend to win this game, and it is a smart play, but I don’t have to like it. She has kind of coasted until now, due in part to her play (aligning with Todd), but partly her inability to be a challenge threat (never won individual immunity, nor been a significant contributor in group challenges, but managed to win a majority of them). So, would it be satisfying or deserved if she won? I guess, as much as anyone this season. But that’s what makes it so disappointing and repetitive.

On the challenge, it is one of the more impressive culture-oriented things they’ve done, and it does seem quite entertaining. On the private jet, they celebrate and admire their surroundings. Denise even says, “livin’ large, like millionaires”, and not that it is particularly significant or anything, but if I claimed it didn’t remind me of The Simpsons episode where the carnies kicked the family out of their house and the dad carnie put on one of Homer’s shirt boasted, “Look at me, I’m a millionaire”, well then, I’d be lying.

We’d definitely be trying to get HBO OnDemand on that mini television to catch the final Sopranos episodes we’d been missing.

The challenge was them watching a martial arts show, then participating in a workout with the kids at the temple (there are women around this thing?) and Denise putting on a demonstration for all the onlookers. Judging by the facial expressions of the natives, their is a bit of a cultural divide between what they do in Shaolin and what they do on the Southside of Boston.

Meanwhile, back at camp, it rained. And the four members still back their are huddled up in a cave, acting like no one has ever dealt with some rain in Survivor. They take it really personally when PG, Erik and Denise arrive, actually content for once. For whatever reason, PG really delves into the detail of the reward. Their all really bitter people, particularly Todd.

Speaking of which, Todd gives one of those ironic camera interviews that predicts his fate (sort of) where he bad mouths PG. It’s very non-intimidating. Erik tries to extract information from James and it’s the wrong person to ask, because even if it was in James’ effort to share anything with Todd, he wouldn’t realize it.

After commercial, Amanda brings her plan to vote out James to…Courtney. She plans to vote out James! Why didn’t they do this three or four episodes ago when it made perfect sense? I have no idea. But she lays out her case well, and that is, he has done alright at challenges and he works around camp. Oh, and he has two idols that he has yet to play.

At IC, their throwing ninja stars at these cardboard cutouts of some guys doing yoga. Three highest advance after the first round…and for the sake of convenience those would be James, Amanda, Erik and Courtney. Erik wins immunity. It’s exhilarating.

James monotones getting rid of PG, then Erik and everything will be all good, because that’s the end of the game. Amanda brings her two week old master plan to Todd, which is surprising, since he seems like the most likely to spill the beans, considering he gave James the idols. But he’s reluctantly game.

PG discovers the Hidden Idols and apparently had no idea they even existed. And when she suggests Amanda might be in the dark as well, she takes incredible offense to it. Amanda tells PG her plan as well probably out of necessity, and PG jumps at the notion a little too eagerly. Why do all these people talk to PG like she’s nothing? I kind of want to see her win now. Since they now know everyone is voting for James, PG wants herself and Erik to vote for Todd as a fail safe in case James plays one of the idols. Seems pretty fucking brilliant in a season lacking brilliance, but Erik claims he would be “risking a lot”. What, exactly, is never made clear. And I can’t fathom for the life of me what he’s talking about. I suppose there could be some backlash should Todd go home, but that seems pretty damn minor. He’s playing with house money, shouldn’t he be willing to gamble? Because for all he knows, he’s next on the conveyor belt.

At Tribal, Jeff does everything he can to ruffle some feathers, and I suppose that is his job, but these people are too dull and mundane to really take the bait. I could call them smart, but I’m not willing to jump on that bandwagon. Nothing interesting is exchanged. Again. While voting, PG does indeed vote for Todd, and he casts his for James, James follows through and casts his for PG. When asked to play an idol, James withholds, and it’s somewhat insane considering there are only three Tribal councils left (perhaps he thought their were four?). Anyhow, the votes read as such:
Todd
James
PG
James
James
James
Maybe they don’t know the stipulations, but he reveals later his gut instinct was telling him to play it, and he refrained. To his credit he is good natured and understanding about it. Admits he was mistaken to not play either idol, which is stating the case generously.

Tonight: Amanda goes behind Todd’s back and Denise is suddenly a swing vote, which means this is the height of the game for her.

The post is a little later than usual, especially for the links, because we had a fucking monsoon here last night and it took about five hours to drive three miles because people in Ohio are overly cautious when it comes to moderately severe weather conditions. Back to the purpose of the site, we didn’t get to watch Nip Tuck last night, but we’re really not all that disappointed. since the new episode is in mock reality show format, much like the 4th season premiere of Entourage was a mock-documentary or a “mockumentary” if you will. Needless to say, it’s an anomaly when we find Nip Tuck humor to actually be humorous, and I’m sure this was a stab at it. So, no love loss. We’ll try to catch the replay on Sunday night.

Sarah Shahi, the incredibly gorgeous women from The L Word and the Vegas stripper in The Sopranos episode “Kennedy and Heidi”, is upset that people once found her attractive, and is now content to be taken seriously as an actress on the NBC series, Life. It’s difficult to skate by on your looks, we certainly know how that is. Like, just because everyone wants to take her on lavish trips to Europe and other exotic locations, or offer her exceptionally high paying work based on her physical aesthetics and limited credentials, doesn’t imply she’ll accept your offer, no questions asked. I mean, she would love to take advantage of all the opportunities afforded for her, but she wants them offered for a reason other than how she looks. God, can’t you understand that?

Some American Idol alum pulled a Mel Gibson after being pulled over for a DUI in Tampa. What’s the prevailing wisdom behind this? I know the person in question is intoxicated, but who leaves a bar drunk gets pulled over by the cops then breaks into a series of racial epithets? My guess would be that this woman and Gibson recently lost a potential hookup to a member of whatever race/ethnicity/religious faction that they were so contemptuous towards. Unless they have Tourette’s, any other explanation seems unlikely.

We’ve been wanting to link to this for a day because we’re like schoolgirl giddy about the development: The Wire has posted some prequel shorts on Amazon.com. We see a young, unimpressive looking Prop Joe (just like current day Prop Joe, but younger), he is full of witticisms and logic and is as calm and collected as you would imagine, but he’s hawking cheat sheets in the 60’s instead of dope in the 2000’s. A young Omar is available, as well as his older brother “No Heart” Anthony. You may recall him being referenced in the first season as something of a legend around Baltimore. And the magnum opus of the three is a McNulty and Bunk’s introduction, when McNulty was still something of a healthy drunk and before he’d corrupted Bunk. Really, I could watch hours of this stuff, maybe even a film. It’ll never happen, but seems worth mentioning.

Amazingly, we’ve only seen him commit one murder, and have heard about another.

Also worth noting: The Wire will be airing two specials on December 20th and 21st in honor of the saga. Between these and the fourth season DVD episode commentaries, we should be plenty entertained until the the January 6th fifth season premiere.

Carson Daly was given an ultimatum, hence his decision to cross the picket line. He isn’t actually a member of the WGA, so they’re not taking it as personally, but it was funny to listen to his explanation as if it were different from everyone else’s. Someone should clue him in that they really held his feet to the fire because his show is so incredibly expendable. In all honesty, he should have held his ground, let them axe his show, then he could do the inevitable and find something else to do with his life. Like host a talk show that isn’t on at late night, for instance.

On the other hand, actual talk show hosts are dropping millions to keep their out of work production crews happy and not embittered. O’Brien, Leno and Letterman are paid a healthy amount of money, but at what point aren’t they obligated to hand out $200,000/week for a strike they aren’t responsible for? It’s noble what they’re doing and virtually everyone (including us) backs the union, but this degree of generosity probably doesn’t have much longevity. I guess it’s a communal effort.

And finally, CBS is planning to air episodes of Dexter should the strike be a prolonged event. And who else would air reruns of a series that is half police procedural but CBS? They just go hand-in-hand. Actually, all stereotypes aside, the pay cable network is an affiliate of CBS, and they could potentially air episodes of The Tudors and Weeds, though I’m not completely familiar with the series, it will be interesting to see how it is edited for a broadcast network. We have the DVD’s queued up on Netflix, so it won’t be our problem.

That’s it for now, we’re back tomorrow with a Survivor recap.

And so this is the deciding episode. Where we once and for all determine whether to keep this wretched series on the recap list or save our efforts for something more deserving. Considering we’re only recapping two other series in season right now (FNL and Survivor), the standards are low to keep this one in the rotation, but coming into this week they still had some recovery work to do. I mean, if you look at most of our Nip Tuck recaps, they’re pretty uninspired (generous), so this is wasting our time as much as it may be yours, because no one wants to listen to someone bitch all the time.

To be perfectly honest, however, this most recent episode may have saved series in the short term. That always seems to happen right before we send it it’s figurative walking papers. We enjoyed it on a trash TV level, which is essentially all it has ever been enjoyable on.

Part of the satisfaction came at the end, when Christian set up Eden to be sent to rehab by her utterly clueless (though she probably believes she is “progressive” in some way) mother Olivia. It’s amazing how easily manipulated Olivia and Julia are, there essentially like mice searching for a piece of cheese in a maze, and if you picked it up and put it in front of their faces, they like to believe they “found” it.

We enjoy how Christian is portrayed as Michael to Sean’s Fredo in these situations, and the comeuppance was fantastic and pivotal. Eden was beginning to overrun the series, with her blackmail and such. It was fine when she was doing it somewhat effortlessly. But when it surfaced that she is planting cameras in her mother’s room, it seemed a little too far-fetched. I mean, she’s not a rogue spy, she’s a spoiled high schooler with too much time on her hands. So having her out of the picture, if only momentarily, is welcomed.

This is why the move from Miami to LA seems fruitless…It’s the same exact fucking cast!

The other two subplots took an interesting twist. In fact we’re not sure why they felt the need to end one so abruptly, as they appear to have done with Sean and Kate. There were plenty of quality scenes between these two, we we’re particularly enamored with the “Big Wheel!” incident, as Sean essentially told everyone in the room their “safe word”; but we also enjoyed the subsequent fight over the incident, and the add-in, “Is that why you didn’t talk the whole ride home?” as an explanation to why they didn’t fight until she was cooking. You rarely get those minute details. As far as future , it certainly seemed like a farewell episode for Kate, but assuming Sean stays on “Hearts and Scalpels”, don’t they still have to work together? I don’t know, given the nature of this series, we’ll find out she’s actually a cannibal or something.

But, between the abnormal swingers party and Matt and Kimber’s financial and health troubles, we weren’t sure if we were watching Eyes Wide Shut or Requiem for A Dream. The Matt storyline feels too distant from the rest of the series, we know Sean and Christian have their hands full, like always, but would it really be in character for them to completely leave his (their) dirt poor, desperate son to his own, limited resources? I understand there is still a little animosity after they lost all their money to the “church” of Scientology, but Sean has always been anything but vindictive. In fact, him rehashing Kate taking a shit in the hot tub was probably the most vengeful thing he’s ever done. Surely they would pop in here and there to check up on things, and be able to determine that their son is a meth-addict.

Still, we enjoyed the stab at the pornography world. This series has an uncanny way of refreshing your memory to incidents passed. Like, for instance, the porno Matt and Kimber made, and it being used as a sort of audition tape for Matt to test the waters in gay porn. At least Kimber proved to still have a semblance of a soul when she saved him from that miserable existence. But then she decided to whore herself in front of him for their fix. So, that’s an interesting development. Matt’s narcotic induced dream about a blissful family life isn’t really that hard to attain, but you marry an emotionally imbalanced porn star who slept with both your surrogate and biological fathers, well, you pay the price, pal.

(As a side bar, all we could relate this to in the way they handled it was Dennis and Dee discovering they missed their doctor’s appointments, then contemplating rescheduling, wondering if they will see them on such short notice, then the quick cut to them buying another $100 crack rock).

Not much else going on in this episode: no Anne, no Oliver Platt or Dawn Budge and no stool stealer (we haven’t watched the episode since last week, we might just be subconsciously blocking that subplot altogether). But a worthwhile episode that kept us engaged, despite its absurdity. We’ll watch tonight, and recap it next week. But at the same time we recognize this is due more to a lack of options and apathy than great storytelling and character development.

Maybe back with more after lunch, but probably will hold off until links tomorrow morning.

We’ll make this the last post of the day, since the climate at my work is getting more and more heated and this post is actually a positive one. Much like George Costanza, we try to exit on a high note. And this is a strong recommendation.

Of course, we weren’t around for Don Rickles in his prime, but we are considerable fans of his work. His shtick has been co-opted and replicated ad-nauseum, but he’s the originator of the angry, disgruntled comedian, and he perfected the routine without a model to do so. Essentially an angrier, racist, xenophobic Lewis Black before we had Lewis Black.

This picture seemed appropriate. Not sure why

To commemorate his storied career, HBO debuted a documentary profiling the comedian and his accolades last night entitled: Mr Warmth: The Don Rickles Project. I probably should have mentioned it on Friday, or even Sunday for that matter, but we didn’t know about it until about an hour before it premiered. It is extensive, insightful, and since an entire generation is unaware of his impact in the industry: necessary. Or as necessary as anything like this ever is.

The thing I enjoyed so much about the documentary, other than the archived footage and interviews with admiring comedians, was the honesty it was all presented with. No hyperbole or glamorization of his career, just an honest look of a successful, groundbreaking entertainer. The exhalting the glory days of Vegas might have been a little much, but not anything we were annoyed by.

Anyhow, I’m sure HBO is preparing to rerun the thing ten times a day for the next two months, so be on the lookout for it, as it’s been the only original television we’ve watched and enjoyed thoroughly since the last It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia episode, and definitely worth the hour and a half we spent watching it.

We can all breathe a sigh of relief now that New Mexico authorities have dropped their case against CBS and there morally just and noble reality series, Kid Nation, Apparently unable to find any criminally negligent behavior. And this isn’t all that surprising, its not like this is the first time the media has inflamed a situation for ratings, especially when the headline besmirches one of their competitors.

And really, if you just look at the surface elements of the story, the whole thing was just preposterous. I mean, when have corporations ever been known to use children and circumvent labor laws? It’s absurd to even suggest. Corporations are our superiors, they have more money, therefore the people who run them are better people. That’s irrefutable. New Mexico officials will be lucky if God doesn’t smite them for trying to involve their betters.

They look malnourished.

We have yet to watch the show, but we’re sure it’s just good clean fun and absolutely nothing salacious took place. They were cleared of all charges and should be acknowledged as such, but the head of the article calling the whole fiasco “much ado about nothing”, might be a little unnecessary. If law enforcement had good reason to believe the show was misusing its participants, and all those participants are between the ages of 8 and 15, I think the American public would appreciate some insight.

It appears that a thorough investigation was done, nothing illegal or improper was found (other than the entire premise of the show) and no permanent harm was caused to any of the involved parties. So, keep on keeping on, Kid Nation. this is obviously the type of series that we thought would show up on FOX, but CBS really stepped up to the plate on this one; lowering the bar for standards just a little bit more.

We’ll try to come back with something a little more uplifting after lunch.

After reading the story, it seems everyone at E! momentarily forgot about the writer’s strike. They’re reporting that after failing to meet expectations in the film industry, Sarah Michelle Gellar is rumored to be considering a return to television. This seems like the natural direction this was bound to take, since her acting has never been her most marketable quality. But we here at Grid Effect embrace her return to the small screen.

We have to admit this development is sort of surprising. When you consider the success of Cruel Intentions and She’s All That, and the fact she was the epicenter of both teen “dramedys”, the failure to capitalize is pretty embarrassing. The follow up to these films has included some forgettable stuff sans The Grudge, which we didn’t like but was commercially viable, and was a genre flick anyhow. Meaning, they could have put anyone in it and it would have achieved the same degree of success. If only every role involved her character deliberating whether to sleep with her stepbrother, she would be the Reese Witherspoon out of the Cruel Intentions cast.

Given this picture, they might just bring back the series.

We know she was wildly successful on Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, the series adopted from the film, but we only tuned in when whichever girl we may have happened to be dating insisted we watch, and we must admit that we we’re fairly unimpressed. The acting was fine, but the writing and direction were marginal at best, and the “fight” scenes were horrendous. Like eight year olds in a karate class horrendous. They might as well done the classic Batman thing and had the words pop up on screen every time someone was “hit”.

So we hope the rumors are indeed true, Mrs. Gellar. Besides, the stereotype the TV plays second fiddle to film is an ugly one we do not endorse. Why, just last night A.O. Scott recommended The Wire’s fourth season as his DVD pick of the week while filling in on Ebert and Roeper. Besides, television needs more overrated series staying afloat and gaining notoriety because Americans recognize the actors/actresses names from movies. Really, we don’t have enough of those.

Happy Monday campers, hope all was well in your neck of the woods. They were pretty ecstatic in Columbus all weekend. And if you don’t know why, then obviously college football is not your bag.

Enough pleasantries. The title of this post might be somewhat befuddling, though I suppose all television could be considered exploitation on some level. But auctioning off immigrants desperate to stay in the US legally for the sake of some absurd reality series is probably the biggest indicator that the strike needs to end as soon as possible.

Yes indeed, the concept is being shopped around to all the networks. And if you think for a second FOX isn’t going to adopt this series, you’re kidding yourselves. This is right up there alley. Does it have a subtle conservative tinge to it? Check. Is it shallow and absolutely degrading to its participants? Check. And, last but not least, would the dumbest fuck you know regal the show’s happenings the following day? Check.

The future of television lies in this picture. My money is on the bear.

If that doesn’t sound like a FOX reality series, then I don’t know what does. And in the sake of fairness, it bares mentioning that they have yet to sell the series, but pardon me for jumping the gun. If shows like “Man vs. Beast”, “The Littlest Groom” and “My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance” can all get picked up by the network to denigrate US citizens, then I have no doubt they’ll do the same to immigrants, legal or otherwise.

Back shortly with something a little more encouraging.