Grid Effect

So you’re probably wondering why we never posted anything even mentioning the inauguration last night considering it dominated prime time television, and the answer is quite simple: I didn’t really give a shit. I mean, I voted for Obama, but the entire “celebration” just seems like sort of an excuse to throw several parties and for everyone to get drunk.

Additionally, what the hell am I supposed to say about it? Politicians glad-hand all day long, but today they’re doing it en mass! Exhilirating! I don’t know, maybe I’ve watched The Wire too many times and as a result I am entirely too cynical about politics, but a preemptive celebration for someone’s arrival into office seems a tad misguided. I don’t think these things should be pre-ordained. Let’s throw a party when the economy is restored and there’s a modicum of peace somewhere in the world other than the west.

Whatever. I guess as long as everyone in the DC area had the day off from school/work, then I’m all for it.

Anyhow, onto some links that we never got around to yesterday, because we do not reside in DC and unfortunately had to show up at the day job.

I can confidently say that if I worked in DC, if I wasn't getting yesterday off then I'm calling in sick or getting fired.

It’s pretty much old news at this point, but it bears mentioning because it validates us: Mad Men is coming back with Matthew Weiner in tow. If I had to guess, the agreed upon figure was pretty much the median of what the two parties were angling for. Shocking! Anyhow, it’s probably not exactly David Chase money because Mad Men hasn’t brought AMC any definable gains that The Sopranos did like, you know, additional subscribers.

As a result of the finalized deal, the writers have been given the go-ahead to start working on the new season. This is good news, for a second there I thought they were going to spend a couple weeks at Disneyland, then decide to retire and just have the actors sort out the plot. That seems to be what happens to most television dramas, anyways.

It looks like the additive marketing and the move to Direct TV has helped Friday Night Lights, as they premiered last Friday with 4.6 million viewers according to the archaic Nielsen ratings. This is good news, but as is recent tradition with television, they will suffer a drop from the premiere to the second installment, and everyone will deem this season a commercial failure. Mainly because no one has any short-term memory anymore.

This article from Slate (which I no longer read because there isn’t a direct link from MSN’s website anymore) asks why Tami Taylor doesn’t have any female friends, and I think the answer is fairly obvious: She hates women. Unless it’s one of her daughters or Tyra, I don’t think we’ve seen Tami engage in conversation with a woman where she didn’t come across as catty or annoyed. Given, these exchanges are in passing and never the focal point of an episode, but they are abundant.

Actually, the answer is probably more budget related, and since she is now inexplicably principal of Dillon High, she doesn’t need any friends. Not to mention I don’t think Eric has any friends, unless you’re including Buddy in that mix.

If for some reason it offends you that According To Jim is still on the air, I hate to ruin your day but there is speculation that the status of the much maligned sitcom might never change. Basically, if I’m Jim Belushi or anyone else integral to the process over there, I’m staying on out of spite at this point. It’s a paycheck and I think we’ve turned a corner in that everyone calling you an asshole has gone from depressing/insulting to humorous.

And finally, Here’s an exposition with the script coordinator for Lost, Greg Nations. How do they do a profile on Mr. Nations and not whoever happened to be the script coordinator for The Wire? I mean, I could say this about pretty much any show ever acknowledged for anything instead of The Wire: “How could (fill in the TV Show) get recognition for (fill in the award/attention) and not The Wire?” But something like script coordinator, whose job it is to make sure every episode is consistent with every other episode, and considering this is the NY Times, I would have guessed this pairing would have made sense. But no, lets give Lost some more unnecessary hype for being second best at something.

Also, you’re probably wondering where those network previews are that we promised a week ago. Well, as it turns out when a new president moves into the White House, it tends to take precedent over regularly scheduled programming. At least for one night and for this new president, so we pushed it back a week. Nothing personal, but giving a snide exposition on what NBC’s coverage of an inaugural ball would look like just seemed to be in poor taste.

Probably it for today, back with more links tomorrow.