Grid Effect

Well, you know it’s been a slow week when we went into great detail about two fledgling reality series. Leaving us with really no other options than to close this five day span with some links. I think I might need to subscribe to Showtime just for some decent material.

The View is not ruling out hiring a male co-host to replace Rosie O’Donnell after the “controversial” pundit’s abrupt ending. The only prerequisite is that he absolutely must, must be gay. Which is probably a necessary requirement, any straight man would be too preoccupied with trying to bang Tim Hasselbeck’s wife, diverting him from concocting consipracy theories and dolling out outrageous political commentary. Yeah, a gay man is best for everybody.

Speaking of Rosie O’Donnell, she may be hosting The Price is Right when its all said and done. This may be a mistake. When people are playing those games, they don’t want to be lectured on how they are symbolic of US oppression in third world countries, they just want to watch the wheel spin or the ball roll or the cards flip. Call it American complacency, call it ignorance, call it what you will, but its the reality of the situation, and one the producers are going to take into consideration.

Vincent Curatola, aka Johnny Sack, is the first and presumably only actor from The Sopranos to publicly voice and discontent over the finale. He wanted to see Tony and Carmela lamb it. Which, in my opinion (for what it’s worth). is completely absurd. It was a huge changing of the tide when Tony’s head was removed from the chopping block, if Tony had after all these years of dismissing the concept of free will (”How come I’m not making pots in Peru? Fuck this shit, you are what you are”), he gathered everything and moved to Wyoming with Carmela, leaving AJ and Meadow behind and everything he has gleafully immersed himself in, I may have thrown the remote through my friends television.

American Dad has been around for three seasons? My how the time flies when you’re completely disinterested. Honestly, this show has its moments, but it’s one long running gag revolving about the stereotypes of each character. I watched the first five-10 episodes before I realized I was watching the same exact jokes on a loop, just in a different context each week.

Forget what the series has become, this is how iconic The Simpsons is.

This is why actors/writers/directors still clamour to be on one of the broadcast networks. For how popular Nip/Tuck is relative to your average CBS drama, the two lead actors are making chi-chi beans next to their FCC complying counterparts. Don’t get me wrong, $125,000 per episode (3 million a season) is nothing to sneeze at, but when comparing salaries, you tend to do it with people in the same line of work.

I haven’t been addicted to a video game since junior year of college, but this might get me back into the swing of things. Honestly, if this enables me to play first person from the perspective of Dwight Schrute, I may have to buy a Nintendo Wii. And do everything in my power to avoid behaving like this.

You know how people say hollywood is cutthroat and an unmerciful trade. Yeah, well, this is what they are referring to.

Isiah Washington, comparing himself to Malcom X, hopefully he realizes he is speaking out of turn.

James Gandolfini will be back on HBO in September; not as Tony Soprano but as a documentarian, chronicling the recovery of Iraqi war veterans injured in battle. Jesus, now that is an abrupt change of pace.

Jon Stewart, now in the running to replace Conan O’Brien when he leaves for The Tonight Show. Does he realize he’ll have to work Fridays should he switch to NBC? Might want to reconsider.

Sadly, Larry David will not implicate his divorce in any Curb episodes. That’s a shame, I’m willing to hold out for the next series. It seems unlikely that someone as creative, cynical and agitated as Larry David could go through the divorce process (In California, no less) and not have something humorous to say about how corrupt and absurd it is.

If you watch The Wire and enjoyed the character Bunny Colvin as much as I did, Robert Wisdom, the actor who played him, is joining the cast of Prison Break. More importantly, this is a good indication he will not be on The Wire’s final season, as he is “out of the game” and raising Nemond.

And finally, beacuse I’m too good to you people, Stephen Colbert causing a scene in an unexpected venue.

That’s all I have, enjoy the weekend. Next week we hope to get around to more initial impressions of upcoming fall series, a Rescue Me recap of this past Wednesday’s episode (somewhat dull and uneven again, by the way) and maybe a few more show reviews. Also, maybe a running diary of the first round of the NBA draft, for those of you who are interested in that sort of thing. Until then…