Grid Effect

Rescue Me was outstanding last night, much in the same way it’s been before the last two episodes. Beyond that we didn’t really watch any television outside of Daily Show, and Stewart, once again, just bitch slapped all three cable news networks; which is always a feel good moment for the folks. I liked the nervous, forced laughter when he’s taking MSNBC to task.

It makes sense, I imagine there’s a considerable conflict of interests when the person you’ve been trained like a Pavlovian dog to laugh at/with every time he makes an innocuous comment/gesture/facial expression, is now lacing into hackneyed political pundits that align with your ideology. With any luck, they’ll be ruined forever.

Here’s an article wondering why the new CBS procedural drama, Three Rivers, is set in Pittsburgh and not LA. Yeah, why aren’t there more shows set in LA.? That city hardly ever gets any recognition in pop-culture. It just seems so unfair that cities like Pittsburgh and Oklahoma City are always reaping their mid-market status. What about the LA’s, the NYC’s and the Chicago’s? Won’t somebody think of the three biggest markets in the country?!

If you were looking to pinpoint a reason why you disliked Entourage but couldn’t find the words to summarize your contempt, this video does quite well. It’s obviously an over-simplification, but that’s what makes it so funny.

This is basically the entire show.

Somehow, some way, True Blood is bringing in HBO’s best ratings since The Sopranos. For commercial appeal, both rely pretty heavily on sex and violence, so it isn’t exactly a mystery why either of them draw high Nielsen’s, but I am amazed at Americans tolerance and never-ending infatuation for vampire/zombie stories. There’s a few of them out there, from what I hear. If you combine all the film and television installments, they’re basically cop dramas at this point. God, I can’t wait for Treme, Curb, Hung, Boardwalk Empire, and Ribbon of Dreams start up so I can pretend that this and a sabotaged episode of a Joe Buck talk show aren’t the most redeeming qualities for the once great pay cable network.

Well, well, well, looks like ABC is now going inside the Obama White House. Better pucker up FOX, or before you know it the only people watching your network will…probably be the same embittered bunch that already make you by far the highest rated network. As you were.

This is some great news: congress is putting in motion a plan to lower the volume of TV ads. You know how you can be watching, say, Friday Night Lights, and the episode goes into commercial which you don’t really think anything of, only to hear the sonic boom that is a Chevy truck ad because for whatever reason, the decibel level they air the commercial with is ten times that with which they film the show you’re watching. I can’t tell you how overdue this is. My father, god bless him, listens to the television in his house at about the 65 mark. I can on average hear everything thoroughly at about 24. That’s damn near three times louder than most need the television to be. Anything to lower the overall volume whenever I visit is greatly appreciated.

And so the fallout from Artie Lange’s appearance on Joe Buck Live begins. Most notably in him telling an HBO executive to go fuck himself, and reportedly being banned from Conan’s Tonight Show. Yeah, how dare he be subversive on HBO coming from Howard Stern. Seriously, am I missing something here? Even if you don’t like Lange’s brand of low-brow humor he at least made the show watchable. If HBO didn’t want a scene, they shouldn’t have invited on a comedian who’s known for his hatred of their new show host.

And finally, Conan O’Brien first netted Larry David (whom outside of a Top Ten list on Letterman, I don’t think I’ve ever seen do a talk show) for last night, and has Kobe Bryant as a guest tonight. If you’re a fan of watching athletes and entertainers try entirely too hard to be affable and down-to-earth, I suggest you tune in.

Maybe a few more links later.