Primetime TV
Real Time Reality TV
Wednesday, April 15th, 2009By now, most everyone is aware of the escalating violence off the coast of Somalia. Since Sunday, Somali pirates have taken seventy-five additional hostages and fired upon American ships bearing food aid, all in response to this past weekend’s rescue of American Captain Richard Phillips and several French sailors. A spokesman for the pirates (yes, they apparently have spokesmen) said, “Our latest hijackings are meant to show that no one can deter us from protecting our waters from the enemy because we believe in dying for our land.”
A serious situation, to be sure. So imagine my surprise when I saw this banner ad in my Yahoo! news feed:
Apparently, a company called 44 Blue Productions will station TV crews aboard U.S. Navy vessels patrolling the Somali waters for pirates. Rasha Drachkovitch, 44 Blue’s president and founder says he will have access to dozens of navy cameras along with his own. He feels it’s his job to “find the characters and stories to focus upon.”
Spike’s senior VP for original series, Sharon Levy, said she didn’t know if the incident with Richard Phillips would “kill the deal or seal the deal,” but feels that “following the work of Navy personnel on this mission is the sort of action Spike craves. . . The cable channel targets young male viewers aged 18 to 34, potentially making ‘Pirate Hunters: USN’ a strong recruiting tool for the Navy.”
The Navy, believe it or not, agrees. Navy spokesman Commander Richard K. Anderson (who was terrific in The Matrix, by the way): “That’s the Spike demographic and (recruiting) is a factor. We also have a responsibility to inform the American public about what we are doing.”
To all of which, I can only add this: Seriously? The U.S. Navy needs a Reality TV show to inform the American public about what they’re doing to fight Somali pirates? Isn’t that what the news media is for? Isn’t it enough that the President of the United States has publicly vowed to halt the piracy? Or is that just advance marketing for the TV show now?
And do we really need to “find characters and stories to focus upon?” Here’s a story: a group of Navy Seals took out three pirates with high-powered rifles in open water without so much as splashing water on the hostage. Sorry, but I don’t need touching background footage of their wives & kids back home to consider them heroes.
This is reality. It doesn’t need to be reality television.
Categories: News and/or Media, Primetime TV | 1 Comment »
Seth Meyers Rages Against the (Gaffe) Machine
Monday, February 9th, 2009Kudos to Seth Meyers and Saturday Night Live for calling out the folks who fall all over themselves to call out Michael Phelps:
NOTE #1: Not entirely safe for work, in a late-night network TV kind of way…
NOTE #2: But still hilarious, also in a late-night network TV kind of way…
NOTE #3: Thanks to Willow Gross for passing it along…
Categories: News and/or Media, Primetime TV | 1 Comment »
I’m an Apple IIc. I’m a PCJr.
Friday, January 23rd, 2009For those of you who might have thought that Apple’s current “I’m a Mac; I’m a PC” ad campaign is “Thinking Different,” check this out:
The more things change, the more they stay the same, huh?
Categories: Primetime TV, Tech Talk | 2 Comments »
Doogie doin’ Doogie
Friday, January 16th, 2009This (via Electronic Cerebrectomy) is very cool:
For those who want to compare, the original is here.
Categories: Primetime TV | 1 Comment »
This settles it – EVERYTHING is on YouTube
Sunday, December 21st, 2008Back in November of 1995, my wife and I went on a vacation to California and Las Vegas. Those were the pre-children days, and we did all the normal touristy stuff: Beverly Hills, Hollywood & Vine, tour of the stars’ homes, Rodeo Drive, etc..
One of the big items on our list was to watch a taping of The Price is Right. My wife had been to California on her own years earlier, and had planned to see it, but had arrived at the studio too late (you have to get there at some ungodly hour – like 5:30AM – to get in). Anyway, we got up earlier this time around, got in and watched a taping, and then were asked to stay for a second taping that day, so the studio audience would be full for the cameras.
During that second taping, a man named Bryan played what is commonly agreed to be the most memorable game of PunchBoard in the show’s history. So much so, that when they ran a Price is Right 25th Anniversary Special, they included the clip. Here it is, courtesy of YouTube:
THE INSIDE SCOOP: (WARNING: SPOILER ALERT – watch the video first, then read this). As soon as they went to commercial and the music died down, Bob Barker turned to the audience and said, “What an idiot!” People were still buzzing about what happened and someone must have said something from the audience, because Bob said something to the effect of “I don’t care if he won, he’s still an idiot.” After the taping was over, we were filing out of the studio and Bryan and his wife walked by. The audience was still yelling at him that he should have taken the first prize, but he was smiling from ear to ear and taunting us all with a piece of paper the show had given him (presumably related to his winnings). I was glad for the guy, but Bob Barker was right – when the odds of worsening your position are 61 out of 63, you don’t continue with the game.
Even more amazing, is that my wife and I were able to find ourselves in the audience shots from the show more than thirteen years later. Here we are, just over Bryan’s shoulder:
Not our best photograph to be sure, but there we are…
Categories: Primetime TV | 1 Comment »
How Screwed is Conan O’Brien?
Wednesday, December 10th, 2008So, you’re Conan O’Brien and you took over the late-night show (12:30AM) from David Letterman back in the mid-90s. No one thought you’d survive, but you made it work. Then, Jay Leno announces he’s leaving the Tonight Show and, unlike the Carson/Letterman thing, you are named as his successor. Life is good, right?
Well, now, Jay Leno has announced
Categories: Primetime TV | 3 Comments »
ISBS Review: Rosie Live! – Dead on Arrival
Monday, December 8th, 2008Last Saturday, I summarized all of the bad reviews that Rosie O’Donnell’s new variety show, Rosie Live!, received on it’s premiere (and, as it turns out, finale) show. At the end of the post, I off-handedly commented that I’d really like to see the show now, just to see how bad it was. And then Jason egged me on. So tonight, I put myself through watched it.
First of all, let’s be clear: the show deserved every bad review it got. It was truly awful. And, since I watched it with an eye toward what made it so bad, I think I’ve got it figured out: Rosie simply cannot get out of her own way.
Did you ever go to a local comedy club? You know, the kind where there’s an emcee who does a few minutes of stand-up to warm up the crowd, then introduces the next act, then comes back and does some more stand-up, then introduces the headliner, then reminds you to tip your waitresses and says goodnight? OK, did you ever truly hate the emcee? I mean, has he/she ever been one of those people that just rubs you the wrong way as soon as he/she takes the stage? To the point where even if you enjoyed the comedian, when you saw the emcee you thought, “Ugh….this guy again?!?” If you know what I’m talking about, then you know what Rosie Live! was like.
Every time Rosie was on stage, the material was cringe inducing. The comedy bits were lame, poorly rehearsed, and ill-timed (Example #1: “Oh, let me see who’s at the door. Why, it’s Jane Krakowski! <at which point, Rosie opens the door>. Example #2: “Wait a minute, was that the doorbell? <NBC chimes sound – bing, bong, bing…> Why, yes it was!”). And her singing was, as it always is, barely passable.
But here’s the thing: even that wouldn’t have killed the show. The main problem was that Rosie was in all but four of the numbers – a pair of tap-dancing twins, an acrobatic act that called back Ed Sullivan’s spinning plates (now with Segways!), and two musical guests – a jazz singer who’s name I’ve instantly forgotten and Alanis Morrisette. In every other case, Rosie inserted herself for no apparent good reason. As such, major talent like Liza Minelli, Jane Krakowski, Kathy Griffin, Clay Aiken, Harry Connick Jr. and Gloria Estefan had no room to shine. They either performed with Rosie as an anchor around their waists, or walked on and off stage, barely performing at all. Clay Aiken made a lame joke about how both he and Rosie were gay, but didn’t sing a single note. Harry Connick Jr. plugged his Christmas CD, sang a few bars of a Christmas song, and was then ushered off the stage by Rosie so the show could move on. If you go back and read the list of names I just mentioned, you can’t help but admit that the lineup is pretty impressive (not every performer appeals to everyone, but remember – this is supposed to be a variety show. That’s the point).
The intervening comedy bits (like the comedy club emcee coming back on to introduce the next act), were poorly written and inclusive of popular TV personalities (Alec Baldwin, Conan O’Brein, and others). I’d have even given these a pass because I remember the old Bob Hope specials, where he’d do the exact same thing. A master comedian like Bob Hope (or Johnny Carson, or Dave Letterman) can be funny to watch even when the jokes are dying. But Rosie just couldn’t pull that off. It didn’t help that she started the show by talking about how overweight she was and then grabbing her own breasts. This theme carried throughout the comedy sketches, as guest after guest made reference either to her cleavage or her weight. The closing number, with Gloria Estefan, was a song entitled “I’ll Eat Tomorrow,” and contained dancers wearing giant food costumes (think: Beauty and the Beast – the stage show) and Rachel Ray walking on stage with a giant (fake) turkey.
The bottom line: the great variety shows of the past featured their hosts, but they weren’t about their hosts. The purpose of the show was to showcase the guests, and the host existed to weave it together. This show was an on-stage tribute to Rosie herself. With four exceptions, everything was by Rosie, about Rosie, with Rosie or for Rosie. When it ended (and before she read the reviews), I’m guessing Rosie was pretty happy about how it all went. Unfortunately, no one else in America agreed.
Categories: ISBS Reviews, Primetime TV | 6 Comments »
The Muppets Do Billy Joel
Saturday, December 6th, 2008SamuraiFrog over at Electronic Cerebrectomy points us to this awesome clip of Dr. Teeth & The Electric Mayhem (a.k.a., the Muppet Band) covering Billy Joel’s New York State of Mind:
The clip is awesome for several reasons. First, I’ve never seen it before (and I have the TimeLife issued complete Muppet Show DVDs, so this must have been recorded but never incorporated into a show Best of the Muppet Show DVDs, but this isn’t on it). Second, with the exception of the standard Statler & Waldorf tag at the end, it’s done straight – no anthropomorphic Greyhound Buses or newspapers popping up during the song for our amusement – just the music.
Third, and most interesting to me, they do some really cool things with the song musically. For instance, the bridge is sung in a higher key than the verses, rather than a lower key as Billy Joel recorded it. In Joel’s version, the bridge is a quiet reflection on his time away from New York, and an admission that he misses the rat race and wants back in. The lower key gives us a sense of this “break” from the story. When it’s over, the song returns to a somewhat angst-laden traveler who just can’t wait to get home already, and the key goes back up to reflect the tension.
The Electric Mayhem reverse this to great effect. Floyd sings it as a guy who’s perfectly comfortable being on the road. His travel back to New York is just another Greyhound bus in a string of thousands, and it doesn’t phase him at all. At the bridge, though, the key goes higher as he gets downright mournful (and maybe even a bit annoyed?) about having spent so much time off the road, disconnected from the rest of the world. When his bridge finishes, he sounds downright relieved to be singing about his travels again.
The line to listen for is “Don’t care if it’s Chinatown or Riverside.” When Joel sings it, he means “I don’t care where you take me, just get me there already.” Floyd means it more literally – he really doesn’t care if he winds up in Chinatown or Riverside. It’s just another stop on the tour to him, and he’ll be leaving soon anyway.
I expect this kind of emotional depth from Billy Joel – he’s a consummate artist and a storyteller at heart. But a bunch of felt puppets? Jim Henson and his crew were so much better than anyone else at that genre, it’s staggering. Oh, and we need to remember that there was a real band providing the music off stage, and they had some serious chops too.
Categories: Primetime TV, Words about Music | 2 Comments »
Everyone’s Coming Down (on) Rosie…
Saturday, November 29th, 2008Flipping through the on-screen guide just before Thanksgiving, I noticed that Rosie O’Donnell was launching a new variety show on NBC. The originals in this format were all just before my time, but since I never turn off an old Carol Burnett rerun, I hit the “Record” button on my DVR, figuring I’d get back to it at some point.
Well….the reviews are in:
James Hibberd’s The Live Feed: “There’s a notion that the climate is right for the genre to make a comeback. I guess we now know what not to do, thanks to Rosie.”
The New York Times: “Ms. O’Donnell can be very funny, but she didn’t try very hard Wednesday night. . . Lame jokes are part of the holiday variety genre, along with campy production numbers featuring sexy dancers and cute little children. Celebrity score-settling, on the other hand, belongs to the self-obsessed blogging Facebook generation. Ms. O’Donnell, who frequently takes out her frustrations in a video diary on her Web site, would have been better served leaving herself behind and sticking to the classics.”
Matt Roush: “If the TV variety format weren’t already dead, the ghastly ego trip of NBC’s Thanksgiving-eve turkey Rosie Live would surely have killed it.”
LA Times: “‘Rosie Live’ may enter the realm of unsolved mysteries, along with the fate of Amelia Earhart and the design team of the pyramids. O
Categories: Primetime TV | 2 Comments »
Tina Fey as Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live – 9/13/08
Monday, September 15th, 2008We all knew it was coming. Saw it a mile away. Predictable as hell. And STILL, it’s fall-down-on-the-floor hysterical!
Categories: Political Rantings, Primetime TV | 1 Comment »