Grid Effect

We hate going into the weekend with an episode recap being our final post, it feels so impersonal. So here are some links to varying degrees of TV news. Enjoy.

Supposedly a television adaptation is being made for The Conversation, the 1970’s critically acclaimed Coppola film starring Gene Hackman as a bumbling, troubled private-eye doing all he can to pose as competent. It’s a brilliant piece of film making that I recommend to everyone, and if placed in the right hands it could translate well on television. It does beg the question of, why now? I mean, the advancements in technology and everything make it much more plausible for a series, but does anyone the networks target actually know of this movie? You might as well just rename it “Inspector Gadget” and call it a day. At least it’s AMC doing it, after Mad Men they can go back in history and adapt Duck Soup for television and I’ll probably tune in.

Mark Wahlberg will make a cameo on Entourage. This will be his second cameo on a series that he gets a producers credit on, but we are pretty sure it is a no-show type of gig for him. We watched a couple episodes recently and while it was generally lighthearted and enjoyable, our dislike of several of the characters only inflamed. But we’ll still watch it, because we have the will of a prairie dog running from a lion.

I can't figure out why guys like this show.

Alan Sepinwall speculates that NBC’s plan of 3,600 hours of Olympic coverage might be too much. That all depends, I suppose, on what’s being aired vs. what would be aired in its place. If you were to do a rundown of what NBC channels usually offer, you would probably say, “hey, I’d take archery over Dan Abrams any day!” But you might be singing a different tune around the 1,800th hour. So yeah, I think it is safe to assume that 3,600 hours of anything is too much. I could be eating lollipops and steak while Victoria Secret models blew me and I updated my Fantasy Football teams, and after about three weeks I’d be willing to call it quits. If I never slept during those 21 days that would come to only 520 hours. In no way do I feel like I took this out of context.

And finally, We mentioned half of this before, but Wendell Pierce (The Bunk) and Clarke Peters (Lester Freamon) are signing on to star in David Simon’s new series about the New Orleans music scene, Treme. We were going to watch the series any way, but now it’s official: We would leap over a volcano to watch this. Dignity, Governor, dignity I say, above all else…

Enjoy the weekend, back Monday all hungover, shiny and new.

Well, it’s official, Kevin Reilly, the entertainment president for NBC that brought us The Office, 30 Rock, Friday Night Lights and a host of other critically heralded series, has been fired. This is just more and more evidence that my sensibilities aren’t in line with the average American/network executive.

Some suggest NBC’s dismal ratings can be attributed to their perceived liberal bias that at least half the country would resent, something that the entertainment president could hardly be held accountable for, but I tend to believe the problem runs deeper than that. I am convinced that at least FNL’s biggest hurdle was reassuring the mainstream (This is too vague a term, but I’m using it anyway) that the series was about more than a high school, football or high school football. But describing it as a exposition of contemporary small town America is hardly fan friendly. As far as perceived political affiliations are concerned, it probably doesn’t help matters that Alec Baldwin is the male lead in 30 Rock (which is something of a catch-22 since the series wouldn’t exist without him) and Aaron Sorkin’s follow up to The West Wing had more of a liberal slant than a feminist website. Just sayin’.

As far as the three comedies are concerned (He’s responsible for My Name is Earl as well), their paltry ratings could only be attributed to there stylization. Unlike most sitcoms, the characters aren’t funny in and of themselves. Generally, they’re unaware of how their actions might be interpreted as comedic. Michael Scott isn’t pulling one liners out of his ass to the bemusement of his employees, ninety percent of the time the comedy he provides is derived from his awkwardness, idiocy and misconceptions. Also, no laugh track seems to be a death wish for offbeat comedies (i.e. Arrested Development, at some point I need to get over that series’ premature cancellation), none of these three score top ten nielsens, if they all last a full additional season, I’d be surprised.

With that said, FNL has lost an integral fan upstairs, the series was essentially a Kevin Reilly charity case to earn a second season, His patience in hoping the series will appeal to the masses (beacuse there is no real reason it shouldn’t) is unlikely to be inherited by his predecessor. This is, by far, the first order of business for whoever earns his position: observe how FNL does on its Sunday night reruns over the summer, and the strength of those and the first few episodes of season two will determine its future. Needless to say, things look grim. HBO would have never renewed The Wire if Chris Albrecht decided to allegedly start beating his girlfriend three years ago instead of this month. But Albrecht has a certain affection for the series, so it was signed through five seasons.

Anyhow, despite his misfortune (and really, there is a ton of it), Reilly will be sorely missed on this website. Farewell, sir, best of luck in your future endeavors.

ETA: The former head of HBO is Chris Albrecht, not Mike Albrecht. Thanks to Lynn for pointing this out in the comments.

It’s been a slow week here at Grid Effect, two late short posts on Monday and Tuesday, another equally short and much later post here on Wednesday, at this rate we’ll be replaced by memorial day. I’m not even going to delve into excuses even though I have a viable one. But I get the impression some of you are annoyed with such explanations.

Anyhow, with so little going on in our television world (We’re down to two series and both of them have this Sunday off), I’ll turn the post over to you. Is there anything you suggest we tune into? Something new or obscure you haven’t seen commmented on here? I’m skeptic, because I know everything, but you’re recommendations are appreciated. Honestly, all I watched on television last night was the NBA Draft Lottery, and this is hardly the proper forum for such topics (though Celtics and Knicks bashing is always encouraged). So any comments, questions or complaints you may have, I would be happy to respond.

And I promise to have a lengthy post tomorrow morning observing some recent trends in the medium.

I am a little back loaded with television right now. Last night we were privy to three hours of Survivor (the finale and reunion show), a Sopranos hour chock full of subtext and symbolism; and a new Entourage episode, which was decent but relative to what it was airing next to, the best classification for it would be yawn inducing. And this didn’t even account for the Warriors-Jazz game that put all of these shows on the backburner.

So yes, I was up until about 4am watching television. I am suffering the consequences right now. Between the tiredness, the distorted vision and the famine; I am going to need a couple hours and a Mountain Dew (Fuck Coffee) before I can write a coherent or clever synopsis of anything. If I’m not face down on my keyboard in the next twenty minutes I would consider it a minor miracle.

So I’ll gather my thoughts and my second wind, if you’re looking for reading material on any of last nights riveting television, Entertainment Weekly always has follow up pieces, and slate.com does a Sopranos email exchange between two people that have had brief run ins and accidental dalliances with La Cosa Nostra. Oh, and Brian Williams pitched in last week (it was difficult to read his emails without them echoing like news headlines in my head) for an unabashed “celebrity” cameo.

Anyways, I am getting entirely off track here. Sometime in the next three to four hours I should have an Entourage recap posted, check back around then.

Upon seeing Anna Paquin in a trailer for a new HBO series in between Sunday’s The Sopranos and Entourage, it triggered a conversation with a friend about the merits of going from a film to a television career for an actor. Generally this is considered a step down in the entertainment industry, but I was trying to contest that for the actors making the leap to television have relatively successful film careers, but to become recognized by the mainstream it was imperative that they find another medium. My friend was arguing that their film careers were so dismal to begin with, that moving to television could hardly be considered a down grade. With all the people in hollywood trying to jump start acting careers, I had to suggest otherwise. There are literally thousands of actors that would sacrifice limbs to have the career that Jeremy Piven had pre-Ari Gold.

If one makes the leap the goal is to either attain critical or commercial praise. Ideally both, but that is rare. James Gandolfini has a history of playing muscle, so taking a lead role on a dramatic HBO series as a mob boss was probably a natural transition, and considering the network it is on, and the track record of those behind the scenes, Gandolfini would have been a little disillusioned if he turned down the Tony Soprano role because it was on television.

Kiefer Sutherland is another one who’s attained the fanfare of both critics and the masses. While it has come to my understanding that 24 has taken a nosedive this season, the series still tops the ratings and he has a closet full of hardware to prove the critical success of his performance and the show. I have stated many times before that 24 has never appealed to us hear at Grid Effect, too melodramatic and outlandish for how seriously the show takes itself, but we give credit where credit is due and recognize there ratings blitz.

Sarah Jessica Parker has probably made the biggest splash in going from the big to the small screen. Hollywood tends to be unfair to actresses (outside of a select few, it’s unfair to everyone involved, but is especially cruel to aging, non-botoxed, female screen talent). While she had made her bones in movies such as Honeymoon In Vegas, Ed Wood and LA Story; in 1998 she made what may have seemed like a gamble at the time and switched to television for Sex and the City. A series heralded as the vehicle for empowerment amongst the single women in their thirties crowd somehow appealed to the college demographic as well, and managed to ruin an entire generation of women (obviously, I’m kidding… Sort of). When we’re talking about something as trivial as scripted television, how many series’ can say that?

This (or you could argue Robert Wuhl in Arliss, though he didn’t have anywhere near the film career Parker had) seemed to trigger a movement in television. With recognizable actors (hey, it’s that guy!) realizing the film business is getting younger by the day opting for a career with more longevity. And for the most part, they all seem successful. One could argue that a series now needs that star power be competitive in the ratings war. Gary Sinise and David Caruso have both helped yield incendiary ratings for the CSI franchise. It goes without saying that the contributions from Gandolfini and Imperioli on The Sopranos have been considerable (Can you imagine anyone else in the Tony Soprano role?). Alec Baldwin has already won an emmy for his role on 30 Rock and Charlie Sheen is the lead on the number one sitcom on television.

The list is much longer than that but you get the point. Making the transition from film to television is not always a step down. In several cases, it has helped rejuvenate careers, catapulted ratings monsters and contributed significantly to legendary series’. For all the work Sutherland, Gandolfini and Parker have done in films, for better or worse they’ll be remembered as Jack Bauer, Tony Soprano and Carrie Bradshaw.

It’s usually the first post on Friday where I recap The Office, typically there isn’t much to rehash about comedies other than this was funny, that wasn’t funny, this worked, that didn’t, etc. But that’s not in the cards this morning. Why, you ask? Because our local news dominated the 8:30pm et. slot with a solid twenty-two minutes of weather updates (supposedly there was a tornado getting ready to hit Pike County).

I understand the need for severe weather warnings and the like, and I do not know who has the executive decision on this, the network or our local NBC affiliate, but twenty-five minutes? If the weather was severe enough to warrant all that television coverage, then surely enough the fine citizens of Pike County had lost all TV reception, if not all power. But I can almost assure you that the weather has never been cataclysmic enough to demand non-stop coverage like NBC (or WCMH) was doing. And really, I’m not trying to undermine the importance of warning everyone in the general viscinity of a possible tornado, but CBS (or WBNS) simply skipped all their commercials during Survivor to update the local masses.

When I got up this morning, I had three minutes of the Office episode, twenty-two of weather coverage and five minutes of commercials recorded on my DVR. Really what’s the point of the three minutes? It’s like they’re saying, “Yeah, it’s on, but you’re not going to watch it unless you cop it on Itunes”. Maybe this is indicative of why CBS is #1 and NBC cannot get over ten million viewers for any series. That isn’t to say that weather warnings are specifically the sole cause of the current state of both networks, but rather one is simply governed much better that the other, or at least is much more fortunate to have comptent local syndicates.

Whatever the cause, NBC has has been bottoming out this year. And while I prefer their original programming much more than any of the other networks (meaning they have at least two series I make appointment television, one I casually watch and several I can respect but never tune in to), Kevin Reilly and such need to get their shit together before NBC cleans house and the new management revives Fear Factor with five straight nights of “celebrity” editions.

/rant

A recap of The Sopranos episode “Remember When” later this afternoon.

Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund

April 16, 2007, will be remembered as one of the darkest days in the history of the Virginia Tech community and the world beyond.

To remember and honor the victims of those tragic events, the university has established the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund to aid in the healing process and generate financial support.

The fund will be used to cover expenses including but not limited to:

• Grief counseling
• Memorials
• Communication expenses
• Comfort expenses
• Incidental needs

If you plan to give, please click the link below:

Tonight there are three series’ airing new episodes that we generally have a laudatory opinion of here at Grid Effect. In addition to Friday Night Lights and South Park (which only airs in 6-8 episode intervals), Survivor has been moved to tonight for this week for the sake of the NCAA’s; and that is perfectly acceptable considering we would have a three week hiatus if they didn’t (for a fucking reality series at that).

My point being, that while I enjoy summarizing, watching, debating and categorizing all the aspects of all these series, I like to get off my couch once in a while. Currently, there are four out of the six nights in which I do not watch a single series: Sunday (soon to change with Entourage and, more importantly, The Sopranos returning on April 8th), Monday (Yeah, yeah, I know, The Black Donnelly’s, but you have no idea how hesitant I am to tune into that every Monday, in fact the only reason I do is for material), Tuesday and Friday.

So I guess this is a plea to the networks… can’t we space out the quality programming? After I am done watching all three of these episodes tonight not only am I going to be one step closer to full blown carpel tunnel, but I might have to jog three hours just to compensate for the lack of physical activity, and I hate jogging. So take this with a grain of salt, I know you network overlords have bigger fish to fry, but quit deferring to American Idol on Tuesdays, 24 on Mondays and the steaming pile of dog shit that ABC offers up on Sundays; then maybe I can get back to a semblance of reality and stop living in Pleasantville on Wednesdays. Thanks.

-Does MTV have more reality/dating shows than CBS has crime/law shows? Most likely, given they have twenty-four hours to kill of original programming as opposed to the fifteen or sixteen CBS is responsible for, but percentage of series’? Its pretty much a toss up.

-We are seeing an influx of Irish mob stories in film and television. Which ethnicity has the favorable stereotypes? Italians tend to be categorized as more violent but somehow more cosmopolitian. Irishmen are typically labeled as drunken louts with little or no cognitive abilities. Personally, I think I would prefer the culutural mischaracterization of Italian/Americans, you may be brutally violent but at least it’s by choice.

-HBO needs to spread out the body of their original programming throughout the course of the year. We have three months from teh finale of Extras to the start of the second half of the most recent seasons of Entourage and The Sopranos. Why not pick up one of these two on the same night Extras has its finale? Only seems logical, right?

-From what I understand and from the little I have actually been privy to, Showtime series are a close second to HBO series. But really, what percentage of the American population have Showtime? Like five percent. Honestly, putting Dexter and Weeds on the obscure premium network is akin to The NHL being on Versus. Except people would actually watch the two shows if they were even remotely available.

That’s all I’ve got. More on last nights FNL later today.

Thursday is unequivocally the best night for television, multiple quality series that can leave one at a loss if not equipped with a DVR or TIVO. I cannot say i am a fan of all these series, but I do recognize that virtually everyone has something commercially viable airing tonight.

Between CBS having Survivor and CSI, FOX having The OC, ABC having Ugly Betty and NBC airing there comedy block; depending on which shows you find preferable to others, Thursday night is the most indicative of your basic viewing habits.

Personally, regular readers of grideffect.com will know that I watch Survivor and The Office. The former, because it’s the best of its genre, and reality TV is so predominant, I figured I mine as well watch one. The latter because its the last decent sitcom on basic television (though that doesn’t say much, it is damn funny). And while I do not tune in to either one, I can certainly understand the appeal to 30 Rock and Ugly Betty. As far as the OC is concerned, there is a better alternative in terms of high school setting FNL (and that is all they have in common: setting), and a better cop drama than CSI in The Wire (Again, the only similarity being detective work, The Wire is hardly a typical cop show).

I am well aware that neither of my opinions for the last two series are widespread. In fact I am in a distinct minority, but I am trying to bend you people to my will and refine your aesthetic judgment. So if your a CSI fan, try saving that hour for Survivor or The Office and 30 Rock or Ugly Betty, and seek out DVD’s of the first season of The Wire and save the high school nostalgia for Friday Night Lights.

Speaking of which, that was a fantastic episode last night. More on that later now that I am done indoctrinating you.

Since I procrastinated doing a follow up to last nights Extras, there is little for me to write about so here are a few thoughts:

-Why does anyone watch The Grammy’s nowadays? The show lost significant credibility in years past, what with giving Milli-Vannilli two Grammys several years ago, and if you look at a list of passed winners, it leaves something to be desired.

-Ricky Gervais and Larry David are responsible for almost every comedy I have followed in my adult life (The exceptions being Arrested Development and South Park). So when I heard they were getting together to talk shop for a show in London, I was a little disappointed it wouldn’t be airing here in the states. Thanks to technological advancements over the past ten years (ala YouTube), we are no longer restricted by geographical borders when it comes to viewing availability.

-Speaking of YouTube, it doesn’t pertain so much to dramatic or comedic television (at least not scripted, anyway) but Sean Taylor must not adhere to the unspoken rule of coasting in the Pro Bowl. I can’t think of a more fitting response then the Japanese call of this play.

-I hesitantly admit that I caught a bit of Desperate Housewives last night. And it seems like a regular occurrence to kill people off in this show. Am I wrong, or is this series still about a small suburban community? There isn’t a drug cartel intriniscally involved, is there? You’d figure after the tenth person in two years turned up murdered, they would form a neighborhood watch or something to deter the violence.

-And finally, I don’t really watch the series, so I can’t attest to it. It is critically heralded and people tell me there are a lot of modern day parallels to war, social politics, etc. So I am probably over-simplifying the case, but the impression I get is Battlestar Galactica is just for masochistic Trekkies.

Just a quick reminder about tonight’s television options, Bill O’Reilly and Stephen Colbert are going too be on each others talks shows tonight. The O’Reilly Factor is on at 8pm et. on FOX News, and The Colbert Report airs at 11:30pm et. on Comedy Central. If for whatever reason you cannot catch the first run of either of these, O’Reilly’s show reruns at 11pm and for the nocturnal and college students alike, again at 4am. Colbert’s show reruns at 1:30am, then tomorrow at 8:30am, 2:30pm and 8pm. All times listed are standard eastern and all replays are on the home networks for the two respective shows. Enjoy.

What’s peculiar about the four major networks (ABC, NBC, FOX and CBS) is how reluctant they are too stray from the genre of programming they are comfortable with, they all remind me of a four year-old kid with a blanket that they are physically and emotionally attached to, unwilling too let anyone else have it or for their parents too wash it. All four of them have reality shows, comedies, dramas etc. But they each have a cornerstone that they depend heavily on for awards and Nielsens. This adds too the problem of network television, the inability too tackle new subjects and break from the norm, if you were going too characterize each network in how it is unique too their three competitors, it would look something like this:

: Starting too find its own path and deviated slightly with series’ like Heroes (wildly popular), Friday Night Lights (critically praised, possibly more so than any other series on the four networks) and Studio 60. They also have veteran series such as the Law and Order franchise and ER, both of which have been around for the past ten years now. But this netowkr prides itself on the sitcom, and it has for the past ten plus years dating back to the third season of Seinfeld. Since then they consistently deliver the best sitcoms any of the four networks have too offer. Which probably explains why they are rated fourth, because no one watches sitcoms anymore. But their Thursday night lineup with The Office, My Name is Earl, Scrubs and 30 Rock offers more in the sitcom department than any of its competitors.

: After 24 and the unfortunate cancellation of the cult hit Arrested Development, FOX’s lauded genre is Reality television, and it begins and ends with American Idol. Since reality shows have such lower production costs, they will produce a few outlandish ones every season (who else could develop a show entitled Man Vs. Beast?), but Idol is such a ratings juggernaut that it keeps them respectable, and gives them a license too go for the absurd, then hope people watch for shock value.

: The number one rated network actually manages too have the top rated sitcom with Two and A Half Men and two of the top rated reality series in Survivor and The Amazing Race, but CBS is unquestionably the network of the crime drama. Between the CSI franchise, NCIS, Cold Case, Criminal Minds and Without A Trace; that is seven hours of primetime programming focusing on crime dramas. I am not sure how these seven series are in anyway distinguishable from each other, but there it is.

: Probably the most diverse, and amazingly my most despised of the four networks. It is difficult to pinpoint ABC’s schtick, but I would say the bulk majority of the \ir programming, whether it be dramas, comedies or reality, they mainly target the female demographic. Between Dancing With The Stars, Desperate Housewives and Grey’s Anatomy, three of the four top rated programs on the network, I do not know a single adult or adolescent male who watches or at least will not admit too watching any of these. Even their supplementary series such as What About Brian, Big Day and Brothers and Sisters are geared towards women. The lone exception is Lost, which seems like a fluke when compared too the rest of its primetime lineup.

Maybe if these networks branched out a little more frequently, there would be more engaging series’ on television. Instead, they stick too their base and every so often try too emulate their competitors. I feel like NBC is the most likely, too produce original and thought provoking humor and drama, but for it too be oin a regular basis is probably wishful thinking on my part.

Welcome to 2007! Hope your resolutions are still intact.

I should start by apologizing for the dearth of posts lately. I am sure most of you have been exceptionally busy, as have I, so it is of no matter. But they will definitely pick up once we are done with “hiatus season”, as I prefer too call it. Along with the series’ I already discuss, I also plan too track returning series The Apprentice (sigh), Extras, Entourage (Soon) and The Sopranos (April), and new series’ Dirt, The Knights of Prosperity and In Case of Emergency (I figured I should quit pretending ABC doesn’t exist, though I generally wish it didn’t).

Also, a new posting schedule has been forced upon me by the powers that be. Monday through Friday, a new posting will be available around 10am-ish est. Any other additional posts will go up at random throughout the course of the day.

Upon looking at the Nielsen Ratings from December 11th-17th I have concluded that there is no saving the eventual demise of quality narrative in television. If professional and collegiate mainstream sports ever fall the way that film and television has, we would be watching midget thumb wrestling and minature golf tournaments in greater numbers than we currently watch The Superbowl. That’s how dismal network series’ are. Let’s rundown the top ten Nielsen shows from last week:

CSI was holding three of the top ten spots (6, 7, 10), Criminal Minds checked in at #5, and NCIS is the top rated show from the week in question. This is redundancy personified. Each of these series have character arcs that begin and end in the same episode, with every episode replicating the one before it. There is always some insignificant difference, like the girl was murdered by her dad in the woods as opposed to the boy being murdered by the bell hop in the elevator, which is negligible too say the least.
The character’s mannerisms and emotional development is akin to that of The Terminator. No one and nothing about these series are layered. The story is setup, presented and resolved by the 55 minute mark with no reprecussions.
What is most infuriating about the existence of shows such as these, is the manner in which people liken them to something as phenomenal as The Wire, when people ask me what it is about, the obligatory response is always, “Oh, I love CSI“. Look, I don’t mind people watching CSI or Without A Trace or anything else. To each his own, right? But please don’t mention any of these corny, psuedo-cop dramas in the same breath as The Wire. Thanks.

Is there a body in that car? You’ll know in a little under an hour.

Deal or No Deal is/was the second highest rated show according to Nielsen’s. I am going to be optimistic about this, and assume that several families with young children are tuning in too watch strangers randomly open briefcases, which is acceptable. Deal or No Deal is formulaic, simple and uncontroversial, and as far as primetime is concerned, family programming is suddenly an untapped market (Remember the days of Full House and Step By Step? Anyone?). And too be honest, the production on game shows is so affordable, that if they turn commendable ratings, then no one can blame the networks for continually throwing them on air.

Two and a Half Men is the eigth rated show on air, making this swill the highest rated comedy series in the country… How? Why? When? All valid questions that you should be asking yourself. It is never a good sign when you can immediately predict how a character is going to respond too any situation, and that’s what I experience when I watch Two and a Half Men.
Also, it seems like if you’re a guy, you ultimately have too be a masochist too enjoy this show, because I have never seen a character more emasculated than whoever Charlie Sheen’s brother is. It’s not offensive or anything, just a tired and overused sitcom gimmick, devoid of any originality and all artistic merit. That’s all.

The remaining three shows in the top ten are all understandable: The finale of Survivor: Cook Islands was astonishingly high at #3 (Surprising because from everything I had heard, the series was experiencing a ratings slump. I imagine this is similar to a movie grossing $12 million at the box office during a slow movie week, so it still finishes #1. That, and 16.4 million viewers is probably low for Survivor finale standards).

House checked in at #4, and while I do not watch it, I can certainly understand the appeal. It’s a medical drama, but at least it’s an atypical medical drama. Most fans seem too enjoy it for the lead role, and while I am disinterested in the “doctor who doesn’t play by the rules” theme, it has Grey’s Anatomy and ER soundly trumped in creativity.

And Sunday Night Football clocked in at #10. The only surprise here is that it wasn’t higher.

What is surprising is neither Heroes nor Ugly Betty cracking this list. I keep hearing about what ratings juggernauts these two series are and neither of them cracks the top ten? Maybe neither of them were airing new episodes during this particular week? Either way, on a second look of this ratings turnout I am pretty much resigned too the fact that Jerry Bruckheimer is going to eventually rule the world with his cliched iron fist. David Caruso will be his second in command and they will interrogate rebels with lines like, “I know what you did, and I’m not going to let you get away with it”. I hope everyone is still enjoying it by then.