Mondays Suck Because They're Awesome

Dilemma.

My DVR records only two programs at once.

Mondays at 8pm tonight:
- Gossip Girl
- Sarah Connor
- Big Bang Theory / How I Met Your Mother

Mondays at 8pm next week:
- Gossip Girl
- Sarah Connor
- Big Bang Theory / How I Met Your Mother
- Chuck

WTF, all networks except ABC.

PS - ABC, thanks for programming Dancing with the Stars, a show I have zero interest in.

Emmy Day, Oh Emmy Day

Alrighty then... predix. I don't really watch miniseries/TV movies... so I'm not predicting those categories.

Comedy Series:
- will win/I'd vote for: 30 Rock

Comedy Directing:
- will win: Barry Sonnenfeld, Pushing Daisies "Pie-lette"
- I'd vote for: Michael Engler, 30 Rock "Rosemary's Baby"

Drama Directing:
- will win/I'd vote for: Alan Taylor, Mad Men "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes (Pilot)"

Drama Series:
- will win: Mad Men
- I'd vote for: Lost (and Dexter)

Reality Host:
- will win: Ryan Seacrest, American Idol
- I'd vote for: Jeff Probst, Survivor

Comedy Lead Actor:
- will win/I'd vote for: Alex Baldwin, 30 Rock

Drama Lead Actor:
- will win: Jon Hamm, Mad Men (though we've been hearing buzz of a Bryan Cranston upset for Breaking Bad... and of course there's always James Spader to consider, for some ungodly reason)
- I'd vote for: Michael C. Hall, Dexter

Comedy Lead Actress:
- will win/I'd vote for: Tina Fey, 30 Rock (also, she should get an award for entertainer of the year... so, yes, I hope she wins for Individual Performance in a Variety of Music Program for hosting SNL in February)

Drama Lead Actress:
- will win/I'd vote for: Glenn Close, Damages

Reality Competition:
- will win: The Amazing Race
- I'd vote for: Project Runway (c'mon, season four? I love TAR, but let's spread the Emmy love around)

Comedy Supporting Actor:
- will win: Jeremy Piven, Entourage
- I'd vote for: Neil Patrick Harris, How I Met Your Mother

Drama Supporting Actor:
- will win: Ted Danson, Damagers
- I'd vote for: Michael Emerson, Lost

Comedy Supporting Actress:
- will win/I'd vote for: Amy Poehler, SNL

Drama Supporting Actress:
- will win: Chandra Wilson, Grey's Anatomy
- I'd vote for: Rachel Griffiths, Brothers & Sisters

Comedy Writing:
- will win: Tina Fey, 30 Rock "Cooter"
- I'd vote for: Jack Burditt, 30 Rock "Rosemary's Baby"

Drama Writing:
- will win: Matthew Weiner, Mad Men "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes (Pilot)"
- I'd vote for: David Simons and Ed Burns, The Wire "-30-"

Tuesdays are getting crowded

90210: Tabitha is back! And she's still the best thing about the show! Yay! Dixon is wearing a rainbow polo shirt. Mention of money problems... that doesn't bode well for Dixon (since he will undoubtedly become indebted to some rich f*ck for some idiotic reason). Awkward transitions. They forgot to make Naomi endearingly-but-fabulously-bitchy before they tried to give her layers and make us sympathize with her. She'd be a much better arch/villain than pouty spoiled rich girl with family issues. Mention of Donna Martin graduates! This show just bought another five minutes (I know, I said it bought a few weeks last week, but after the blissful euphoria of stupidity the show left me in... my judgment was impaired). Ugh, Dixon said "do me a solid". "Just because you're a bunch of rich brats doesn't mean you can't have angst!" Oh, Tabitha. Nat! Talking about Brandon! To Dixon! As he's hiring Dixon! Well, that was only slightly expected as a result of the money talk. Could the Saturn logo be any more offensively prominent in Silver's car? Aw, troubled jock Ethan has a mentally challenged / OCD / whatever older brother. Oh, lord, Dixon is doling out dollops of wisdom. Back to the Naomi and her cheating father plot... you know the problem with this? I don't care for her, and I don't care against her. And... the baby daddy is Dylan. There goes one of very few reasons to keep watching this show (love you, Tabitha). "That was way better than cookies". Um... Ty still hasn't tasted Annie's snickerdoodles (that just sounds dirty, doesn't it?) so he doesn't really know, now does he?

House: Only show on TV that'll give you a voluptuous cleavage shot during a sexual harrassment training seminar. House is back! Yayz! Huh. The main titles still aren't changed. Wonder what that means for Thirteen, Kuman, and Mini Stud. There's obviously post-Amber fallout to deal with today, but the show needs to figure out how to (re)incorporate Chase and Cameron. And I wouldn't call what this episode did as reincorporating them... but yay, they were both in it? Also... can we move forward on either the Huddy or Hameron fronts, please?

Fringe: Hey, hot chick in underwear in the opening! That'll keep the males watching. Lance Reddick has apparently been totally relegated to the Arvin Sloane exposition role (and he's not referring to Olivia as "liaison" in that relishy way). Zzzz, rehashy backstory. This first episode, thus far, looks incredibly (if expectedly) cheap compared to the pilot. The crazy old genius that is Walter Bishop really, really grates on me. I do like the angle that Oliva has to go back and rework the cases she and her traitorous ex-lover ex-partner worked (as he was all Patterny and traitorous). Okay, besides the description of the serial killer's MO... which gross... it's getting late (12:30am) so I'm just gonna watch and shut up. 'Night, readers!
... the science in this show confuses and annoys me. X-Files was at least based in some semblance of reality (thanks to Scully making sure it was). In Fringe, it seems the most out of the box explanation is always the right path to follow, and there's somehow a way (through Walter Bishop's old experiments and through Massive Dynamic's future-ish-tech) to test the theoretical science.

OMFG Indeed

I will take credit for Gossip Girl's series-best numbers (and... wow... it might be number two on CW this week behind ANTM) because the friend I usually watch with and I had to watch separately last night. And I assume the rest of America is the same?

3.726 million viewers
2.5/4 HH --> same in finals
1.9/5 A18-49 --> 2.0/5 in finals
2.7/8 A18-34 --> 2.8/8
4.2/12 W18-34 --> 4.3/12

WTF?

WTF? SNL was actually funny (in many parts)! And the DVR gifted me with the premiere of Lost's syndicated run! Never saw the (first part of) the pilot in HD. Until now. Er, until later. On Sunday. Since it's apparently 4am.

Remember the good old days when Lost was just plain out addictively awesome and we had no idea we'd be having discussions about time-traveling bunnies?

The Return of the Fug

So... I'm behind in TV. I haven't watched Tuesday's The Shield yet. And probs won't get to tonight's Bones until tomorrow or perhaps the weekend (hey, the Gormogon plotline was the main thing that changed that show from being "save of the weekend" TV to "must see same day" TV... and that ended disastrously... though I am really invested in Booth/Bones and the long-arc plot with Bones' family).

But some things take precedence! And sadly they're all reality TV. Sorry, but nothing scripted has the same urgency as not being spoiled on eliminated aspiring models and designers! And, um, that kills me as a writer...

Anyway. The Project Runway challenge is create an avant garde look based on one of the pair of designers' zodiac signs. But the competing designers are paired with the eliminated designers.

And Stella and Blayne are put together. In the words of the promo'd Heidi clip... "Ooooh, that's bad."

The only thing worse would be if Blayne, Stella, and Suede were put on a team together. It would be a neverending string of incessant catchphrasing evil.

Nothing that comes out of this group of designers comes close to touching Team Fierce's avant garde design(s) last season.

I agree with the judges on Blayne, and I know that the show says "one week you're in, the next you're out"... but Terri leaving instead of Suede? There has to be some room for consistently good work (and terrible teammates).

Also I had drinks with someone this morning who told me that the tranny was eliminated this week on ANTM (some interview she said she heard on Today or something) so I was super happy to see that Isis escaped from the bottom two and remains in the game.

Um

Did anyone else really enjoy 90210 tonight despite themselves? And despite the "yeah, really not good" and "super trite" nature of it? And being able to predict every single "twist" multiple story beats before they happen (Mr. Clark's affair, I'm looking at you). The first few minutes kinda super sucked. But then it picked up. And it was fun. There wasn't excess whining. And the kids were together in various combinations and it wasn't horribly contrived and painful (which is saying something because it was rather forced). I even almost cared for Naomi! Almost. And then she got all melodramatic with her mother.

Although was it really a good idea for her friend to send her cheating ex-boyfriend to console her when she's distraught about the cheating men thing? I was surprised she didn't get bitchy about how all men are jerks (like Ty, or whatever his name is). In fact, it's totally out of character for her to not react that way.

Although Dixon's joking line suggesting Silver stay in his room almost ruined things.

Dear god, I think the show just bought itself another few weeks from me...

... although, where the eff was Tabitha? Did I stroke off when they maybe mentioned she was away for a few days or something for one reason or another?

And how many episodes can they really drag out not telling us the identity of Kelly's son's father?

We were dangerously close to an episode count of "3" for the question of how long until the Wilson family adopts their first West Bev student (er, that isn't Dixon)...

Cameo

Dear Ben Silverman,

Stop making cameos on hasbeen industry insider shows like Entourage. Get back to the office and do your job.

I mean, if you were going to appear on an industry insider sitcom... why the fuck not 30 Rock? Yes, yes, it films in NYC and your office is in LA.

But wait. You rarely go to the office.

*fire away, Zucker*

TY

VMAs

So last year's VMAs sucked, right? The whole "side party" thing in various hotel rooms at the Vegas location... sucked. So this year... we're on a soundstage on the Paramount lot in LA. Yeah.

Anyone else miss the old VMAs (you know, back when MTV was relevant and played music videos) in, like the Met in NYC? Big stage, big production values, big crowd, big deal... just big. This year the promotions promised music and mayhem...

... but it opens feeling so very, very small. And controlled and contrained. Though BritBrit's looking hot!

At least they let Rihanna do an entire song (last year, when she had the biggest hit of the year in "Umbrella" they only let her perform for about 90 seconds).

Ugh, Russell Brand just went political in his opening monologue. He's amusingly frenetic with his pacing and the jerking of his head... and his incredibly skin-tight black pants and shiny belts.

Anyone else amused by the cut from Jamie Foxx saying "give it up for the ladies" to Zac Efron looking like he couldn't care less about the ladies? Just saying.

OMFG BRITBRIT JUST WON A VMA. Kinda hard to believe that about a decade after she landed on the scene she's finally won one of these increasingly pointless awards. Let the comeback begin - again - bitches!

... why is Demi Moore presenting? Damn, woman's got legs to infinity.

Okay, they brought the old "scope" back for the second half of the Jonas Brothers' performance crowding the backlot streets. I still don't get them.

I'm not sure if Lil Wayne is grabbing his crotch just because or if he's regretting the oh-so-sagging-pants thing.

Dammit, I wish I'd recorded the pre-show! Apparently Fanny Pak and Kaba Modern threw down. Well, I'm sure it'll be on YouTube... and probably already is, as I'm watching on the tape delayed west coast. Woo! Fanny Pak! Ah, ubiquitous PCD song. We are so not tired of you.

Bah! I can't watch the Twilight cast presentation. I'm only 3/5 of the way through the book and I refuse to let my reading experience be altered (I also refuse to watch the trailer). Oh my god, Russell Brand is insane.

Pink looks amazing. And this is definitely my favorite song out of her since "God Is A DJ" (although, yes, there's a place in my heart for "Dear Mr. President" and I liked the other singles from "I'm Not Dead" just fine).

Jordin. Don't call me a slut. I still love you.

OH, CHRISTINA.

The acceptance speeches have really been kept to a few sentences... Oscars take note!

... and Britney obvs rehearsed one thank you speech because she basically repeats the same thank yous on win number two. Nice.

There don't seem to be a lot of awards this year. We're just above 2 hours in and they're at Video of the Year? BritBrit threepeat!

... and Russell Brand has absconded with Britney. I'm so confused.

As Kayne wraps up... I have to wonder. Why did MTV choose to have Katy Perry bookend a set of commercials with "Like a Virgin" and "I Kissed a Girl"? Why not let her have the main stage and perform? I mean... what? Sigh, the VMAs now are certainly not the VMAs of yesterdecade. For something that promised music and mayhem... I gotta say... didn't really deliver much of either...

Also, much as I *do* want Brit to have a genuine comeback... a year in which "Piece of Me" was Video of the Year? Is a sad one for music video as an, er, art form. Was Justice's "D.A.N.C.E." eligible this year or last?

Pilotgasm

In tonight's installment... Better Off Ted, Castle, and Kings.

Better Off Ted. Okay. I sincerely don't get this single cam sitcom (I'm sorry, was I supposed to laugh?) Overly excessive talking-to-the-camera device. The cardboard cutout acting of Jay Harrington (combined with aforementioned overly excessive device as Jay plays the titular Ted). The show takes place at some umbrella catchall up-and-coming technologies, device, product, whatever firm and basically involves Portia de Rossi stooping to the Cold, Unfeeling Bitch of a Boss role asking Ted to have his team of scientists, researchers, whatever do the stupid, inane, and/or impossible all at the behest of the people above them. Gotta love middle management. Better off not giving this stinker a second thought. Andrea Anders... surprisingly cute!

Castle. The opening act, which cross-cuts between Nathan Fillion's character's book release party (he is the titular Richard Castle) - he's just written the final book of a bestselling detective character in which the main character is gruesomely killed - and a murder scene where a Female Cop recognizes the mode of murder. Castle's publisher is his ex-wife, and he's months overdue for turning in his next manuscript. Oh, and he invited his (alcoholic?) mother to live with him and his daughter now that he's divorced or something. Castle's mother, played by Susan Sullivan, pales in comparison to Jessica Walter's Tabitha Wilson on 90210 (she remains the only standout on the spin-off... but she's basically playing a toned down version of Lucille Bluth, so... moving on). And just as things are getting truly boring, Castle starts complaining about how truly boring he finds the release parties and how boring he found writing those detective books to be. Why? Because he already knew what every scene was going to be. So you'll color no one surprised when Female Cop shows up at the book release party wanting to ask Castle some questions (because the murder was done in a way that was featured in one of his novels, natch...) Really wish there hadn't been a lampshade hung on that. As usual, Fillion oozes a kind of dirty charm and chemistry with just about every extra and inanimate object. Which is why we love him and why we haven't stopped watching yet.

I find Stana Katic rather bland in the Mariska Hargitay Female Cop role (I believe it's Detective Beckett)... but she's supposed to be straightwoman to Fillion's Castle, who is something of a loose cannon / lothario (he stole a police horse... and was naked at the time... also during the release party he signs many guest's decolletage) so she does a serviceable job. Oh, my, I wonder if the series is going to revolve around UST... b-t-dubs, I think Cupid's UST between Cannavale and Paulson is better. In a semi-twist, it's actually Castle who volunteers to assist with the investigation, as opposed to him being forced to by the police. Much to Beckett's chagrin, of course. I do like the way Katic intonates "novelist" as an insult when speaking to Castle. And I do find myself thoroughly amused that the NYPD runs into real-world roadblocks such as the length of time it takes to get, like, fingerprints analyzed and Castle can just use his "I'm a famous, rich author" connects to speed things up... and then he gets a lecture from Beckett about cutting the line (other people are waiting for prints, you know).

There's another copycat murder, a frame job, yadda yadda yadda, and the only thing I'm really curious about is how the series is going to be set up (since I have to assume that it's not going to be yet more copycat murders each week... and I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that it's Castle looking for his next bestseller).

Score one zinger for the daughter when she tells Castle that if she keeps having bail him out of jail, he's going to have to raise her allowance.

It's hard to see Fillion in a brown coat that isn't Malcolm Reynolds'.

The UST banter between Castle and Beckett isn't quite up to par with Booth and Bones, television's current reigning bantery UST crimesolving duo. Although it's not for Fillion's lack of trying (nice use of entendre on the work "debrief"... XD)

And why are they going to film the series in Los Angeles, when it takes place in NYC and there's all those awesome NY state / NYC tax credits to take advantage of?

For a script that I couldn't even manage to get through 15 pages of... a rather enjoyable foundation from which a better series could rise. The series, by the way, is set up by the fact that Castle's next series of novels will center around a tough but savvy female detective, but Castle needs to tag along to do research (and it's kind of helped along because Castle is friends with the Mayor... so, blah blah, political pressure, swept under the rug, just get on with the series, peeps). I would definitely say that Castle is the first pilot I've seen thus far that has so vastly overdelivered on my expectations. Hell, I'm even willing to see if Katic can grow into the role (a role that is a tough one, as the straightwoman... and will on be aided when the series lets us know more about her character, as the pilot was pretty much all Castle all the time).

You know... I'm actually surprised ABC picked both Castle and Cupid up. Not from a quality perspective, mind you. But they're both NYC-based (though only Cupid will be able to take full advantage of that as it's going to be NYC-filmed) anthological series with a UST throughline between a larger-than-life leading man and a straightwoman. It's just that one is a murder mystery each week and the other is a romantic comedy every week. ABC has done stranger things with scheduling, and of course it totally depends on the network's needs come January or March... but I don't think they'd be a terrible fit together (though perhaps it'd be too much of the same). For now, I say move Brothers & Sisters to the post-DWTS Results 10pm hour, put Castle after Desperate Housewives and put Cupid after Grey's Anatomy (I haven't seen the new Life on Mars yet... but my hopes aren't high).

Kings. And now for my favorite script of this pilot season (which I read so long ago that I don't remember much except that I really dug it... though this was pre-strike, so you know stuff's changed). This pilot is 82 minutes long... so it might continue past what I read.

Note: Kings takes place in a near-future not-quite-New York City called Shiloh. Where America is called something else. And has a king.

Oh, good lord this starts far more boringly than the script did. And it's so dense. And stilted. And heavy-handed with the allegory. People are going to turn it right off. Someone fire Ben Silverman and Teri Weinberg now. Provided it's their fault. Eh, just do it anyway.

Almost 9 minutes in and we finally get the opening of the script I read. And now I kind of get (but also hate) the first 9 minutes... it was all to bridge the gap between real world and fictional world for the unwashed masses (also to show main character David in/with his pre-soldier, pre-celebrity home and family). But why did it have to be so long and boring? I mean... hello? You're going to have to come up with something short and sweet to preamble every week. Did we need 9 minutes of tedium?

Problem with filming someone sneaking around a battleground (from the trenches to the enemy's front line of giant tanks) under cover of darkness: when you light that person in a flattering way - hell, not even flattering, just in any way that you can see the person fully - it makes the enemy look incompetent. Because how did they not see this person? And even more so when said person is able to escape with two hostages one of whom is pretty seriously injured (where were the guards? Anyone? Stormtroopers? Bueller?) The ensuing David (main character's name) versus Goliath (codename for the enemy tanks) sequence is still kinda nifty despite the logic lapse. Oh, and gravely injured soldier is the king's son. Thus David is now a hero. Also there was a photographer with a nightvision lens camera taking pictures.

Kinda weird music choices. I know it must be hard to choose stuff (after all, the near-future world won't have our pop music)... but Massive Attack's "Teardrop" outside of the House theme feels wrong.

Oh, a discussion of the war being a problem for the country's economy and public opinion of the war. That's timely. And a woman (who turns out to be the king's daughter) petitioning about public healthcare! Yes, that was in the script I read, but, well... politics. I think we'll all be tired of it in January 2009, no?

Seeing Ian McShane in an apron waxing philosphical / allegorical over cracking eggs into a bowl is just hilarious.

I've just pulled up a copy of the script that I read. I'm 48 minutes into the pilot, put only 33 pages into the script (allowing for 9 minutes that weren't in the script)... it's not a wonder this pilot feels somewhat slow. The script was 68 pages. So there may not actually be a ton of new material beyond those initial 9 minutes... so much posturing and speechifying...

Oh, I totally forgot the disgraced prince was Sekrit!Gay until King Silas / Ian McSwearengen lays into him. Although it comes out earlier in this version than it did in the script. More appropriately / less contrivancely timed, too. OMG, perhaps a good studio/network note at work!

And I forgot about the war-tech company (headed by the queen's brother) spurring the king on to a sneak attack on the enemy country right after he receives an offer for a truce / peace treaty... because peace isn't profitable no matter how much the public clamors for it. Seriously, I don't think people are going to want to watch this allegory in January.

Oh, lord, Silas just broke out in the a string of Ye Olde Testament diatribe along with Royal We. Oy. It's supposed to be frighteningly serious. But, um... no?

David's speech is moving... but part of me wonders why no one on the enemy's side doesn't just shoot him as he challenges them to get out of their tanks and face him. I mean... really? I believe this is called being "Stupid Good" by my friends over at tvtropes.org (see: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LawfulStupidChaoticStupid?from=Main.StupidGood).

The exacerbatedly ridiculous part being that Silas wants to have David shot because he's gone crazy, but decides against it as the Goliath tanks advance. But, oh, crap, they stop and an envoy form the enemy (btw, enemy country name = Gath) approacheth. How did the soldiers in the tanks hear the moving speech anyway?

I love that the Evil!Plan of the war-tech company was thwarted by David being an idiot. Once again, check out tvtropes.org for Xanatos Gilligan (hey, I didn't name them... http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/XanatosGilligan). Haha, love how Silas (see, I've stopped referring to him as Swearengen) dictates complete fabrications to the guy following him around taking notes and ostensibly writing the history books.

Sekrit!Gay!Son!Evil!War-Tech!Company!Conspiracy!Against!The!King!

I think I was so disinterested in the David/princess love story that I didn't mention it above. It results early on in a great line from Silas (he's offering David anything he wants, even the proverbial "half my kingdom" and David looks at the princess and Silas goes "half my kingdom, it is"). But, well... young love. Soldiers and princesses. We've seen that.

Given that the 68 page script was turned into a two-hour pilot (with the addition of a totally useless 9 minute preamble)... I'm not sure how I feel about this. It plays heavier and slower than I'd imagined. The acting is all there... and Egan (David) and McShane (King Silas) are both excellent in their leading roles... but somehow it's just not the magic I read it as. I still want to know what happens next. And I suppose that's all they need to make me want.

But I do worry about that opening.

Zip

Okay. 90210. Sound off people.

Actually, watching with friends in HD made the experience more pleasurable than my first viewing. I still think it's bad-bad television.

BTW, anyone else in LA watching the HD feed? Because damn someone at KTLA fucked up (during much of the first half hour, the video steadily fell out of frame, so it was cutting off footage at the bottom and replacing it at the top). Then for about five minutes they cut between the SD feed (which was fine, but horribly 4:3 aspect ratio and, well, SD) and the still-malfunctioning HD feed until finally getting it right.

So lame.

You Know You Love Me

Oh, Gossip Girl. I really, really do.

Thank you for finally having Serena put Dan in his self-righteous place.

And for dramatic costumes.

And Blair and Chuck.

xoxo

Nine Oh Two Point Oh (and other pilot / CW ramblings)

Oh, fellow TV watchers.

I really had hoped that 90210 v2.0 was going to be so bad it's good television.

It's just bad television (but it does have that train wreck charm about it).

Maybe it'll eventually grow out of it's crappy self and into something worthy of guilty pleasuredom (though, let's all remember... 90210 v1.0 wasn't a prize pig of guilty pleasureness its first season... remember those crappy moral/issue of the week episodes? Oy!)

Oh the flip side, I do hope it gets big ratings because if it doesn't, well, we all know the days of the CW are numbered anyway, but it would certainly add a year of two to the netlet's lifespan.

A severe disappointment, on the quality-front anyway. But expected because I'd heard there was a lot of disagreement between the studio and network on, well, everything about the series. The teen drama genre has moved far beyond this show...

... speaking of which, I'm actually eager for the return of Gossip Girl despite the fact that the season finale last year was sooooooooo underwhelming (not to mention the last-five-minutes "one week later" bit where the show undid a season's worth of love storylines for some inexplicable reason). But, really... I miss Blair and Chuck. I miss them and their silly outfits and their witty retorts and their evil.

Also moderately anticipating the ANTM premiere. I swear to G-d, I wasn't going to watch this season. But... tranny. It's the only stunt they could've pulled (although Dominique came close last season) to draw me back in.

Got to see some of the final version of Privileged today. The disc was damaged so every 16 seconds, the audio would drop out and my friend and I just started imagining the characters were getting bleeped... and it was much better for it (and sometimes it was oddly appropriate). Only got through 15 minutes of the pilot before the DVD crapped out... I have no intention of seeing any more of the series.

The Alyssa Milano / ABC shitcom Single with Parents (GET IT!?) is, well, shitty. Annie Potts is hilarious in it... and they make good use of Eric Winter's smile, and briefly his abs. But Alyssa just doesnt having comic timing... and the single-camera aspect of the show doesn't help (because one would hope that with a live audience she'd be funnier). Ugh, just not a good show.

Cupid is really cute. As a friend of mine from out of town said when I watched it with her... women across America will be swooning. Bobby Cannavale is the complete opposite of Jeremy Piven in the role. Less in your face sexual, more appoachable/likable. Sarah Paulson is a perfect straightman to his impishness... in a very different way that Paula Marshall was to Jeremy. There's a lot less of the rapid-fire banter between Trevor and Claire in this remake (which I think people who loved the original are going to miss)... but it's because the "love story of the week" is VASTLY more complicated than that of the original Cupid's pilot (which was simply "woman falls in love with a man who happens to be married, and it turns out that he's separated from his wife and well on the way to divorce, so after a showy display of affection, they get together"). Provided Life on Mars fails (and I have no reason to believe it won't), I wouldn't be shocked to see Cupid on post-Grey's Anatomy come March.

PS - I've revised my opinion on The Mentalist. After watching some of the other pilots for this season, it's clearly better than, well... everything premiering this fall except Fringe. Which it happens to air against. Go figure.

Should be getting Better Off Ted, Kings, The Unusuals, and Castle in the next few days.

Can't remember if I ever gave my thoughts on Project Gary / Gary Unmarried or The Ex List.

Gary Unmarried is doomed to failure. Deservedly so because it's terrible. From the jokes to the "would've felt old hat in the 70s" feel. The CBS Wednesday 8pm comedy block is doomed. Poor Old Christine. Although with Worst Week sucking the way it does, I expect it to wind up back on Mondays at 9:30pm by November sweeps.

The Ex List... well, I love Diane Ruggiero. She rocks and she's a fantastic writer. The dialogue in this pilot? Often snappy, witty and fun. And definitely enjoyable in a group of people because at all points someone is going to find something amusing. Unfortunately, there's just not enough substance to the show. I don't find myself caring whether Bella (Elizabeth Reaser) gets married or not. Which, um, total flaw since the premise of the show is that she's told by a psychic that she has to get married within a year or she'll never get married (oh, and the person she'll marry is someone she has already dated). Here's the thing, though. The Israeli show this is based on was a half-hour format. Why did they adapt this into an hour-long serio-comedy when it would be so much better serviced by being a half-hour sitcom (that would probably work well with How I Met Your Mother... just saying)? The issues I have with the pilot are actually pretty easily remedied in series (adding weight of character and making me really care whether Bella gets married). As is, it's on the wrong network (seems more like an ABC show) and scheduled wrong (Miss Match, another light hourlong about love, failed miserably on Friday night).

Le Sigh

It seems like having my usual ratings source on vacation has been a massive hamper in my side as far as posting on PIFeedback.com goes.

Well, that's what happens when you don't have direct access through your job anymore. If I get, I'll post, but c'est la vie!

Ratings this week

So I'll be posting for Marc over at PIFeedback.com this week.

Of course, I've yet to receive them.

Haven't been posting much here. Once again pretty busy... I *wish* it were because I was on vacation!

Ugh

We are two episodes into Project Runway and I'm 1/3 of the way through the third episode.

And. I. Want. To. Kill. Suede.

And then I sorta want to kill Blayne.

But Suede first. The first time he talked about himself in the third person it was annoying. I think we're up to number 70?

And I'm started to get homicidal towards Stella. But because she's complain-y-annoying, not, like, annoying-annoying.

Tonight was the night of a hundred failed catchphrases.
- "If they don't like it, they can get the fuck outta here."
- "Holla atcha boy."
- "-licious."
- "Suede."

Jennifer's garment mades her model look old and fat/pregnant. Those sleeves are awful. I bet she's out. Unless Emily is out for being too blah. I think there's too much work in Keith's for him to go. Give him a slap on the wrist for not editing like you that gave Leanne last week.

Secret Grows and other final ratings stuff from Tuesday

Bah, never received Sunday finals so I have no idea about the details of Mad Men's return. Bah!

Anyway, ABC Family's Secret Life of the American Teenage continues to impress. And swell with what I'm sure is viewers, but it might just be a pregnancy pun.

This Tuesday's episode rated:
- 2.1/4 households
- 1.2/4 A18-49
- 2.5/8 W18-34
- 8.8/30 F12-17
- 3.576 million viewers

And for those who say Gossip Girl doesn't target teens and therefore comparisons are unnecessary... well, that's not true, because CW constantly touted its female teen numbers. Remember, today's F12-17 are tomorrow's W18-34. Also, it does matter that Gossip Girl had to contend with other finales in May... look at the ratings, not just the share numbers. Secret Life has double the teen girl share in this Tuesday's ratings as the Gossip Girl finale had, but over double the ratings points. There's something to be said for tougher competition... but it doesn't count for everything and it doesn't mask the fact that Secret Life is solidly kicking Gossip Girl's butt in this demo, and inching up towards it in the W18-34 category as well (only 0.1 rating points behind Gossip's finale... and, note the fact that its share was actually 1 higher).

In other news, Eureka premiered to:
- 1.8/3 households
- 1.0/3 A18-49
- 2.808 million viewers

I don't track the show enough to know if this is good or bad (or should I say better or worse than previous seasons).

Per a request on Big Brother's age breakdown... hope this helps, but I'm not sure how helpful it is since you really do need to see a mean age figure and compare that to CBS's mean age for viewers... which is something I don't have.
- 6.079 million viewers
- 0.8/3 T12-17 (only 0.2 above other CBS programs airing last night, which were repeats of NCIS and Without a Trace)
- 1.8/5 A18-34 (vs. 0.8 ratings for NCIS / 0.7 rating for WaT)
- 2.2/6 A18-49 (vs. 1.4 / 1.2)
- 2.6/7 A25-54 (vs. 1.9 / 1.6)

So, with the exception of teens, it looks like Big Brother has greater advantages in the younger demos compared to the other CBS shows... but then again, those are repeats.

Female American Teenagers

May 19, 2008: Gossip Girl finale. F12-17 rating/share: 4.2/15. W18-34: 2.6/8.
July 22, 2008: Secret Life of the American Teenager episode. F12-17 rating/share: 7.8/28. W18-34: 2.1/7.

Difference in viewers: 91K (advantage Secret Life).

Interesting, no?

Dear Oscar

Dear Oscar,

Did you see the opening day box office of The Dark Knight?

Your ratings are floundering because you keep nominating movies for Best Picture that, at best, are surprise indie hits (last year's Juno was the biggest box office draw at a bit above $100 million... same story for the prior year's pool with The Departed). Your relevance is floundering.

Please nominate The Dark Knight (and, obviously, Heath Ledger). For your own sake. Not just to attract more viewers - which it would do - but because the movie is legitimately superb and thus worthy.

TY,

TY

PS - Also feel free to nominate Robert Downey, Jr. for his performance in Iron Man.

The Dark Knight

Placeholder while I go to the ArcLight (sigh, not that one... the Sherman Oaks one... I'm doing the CineDome on Sunday). It'll probably be at least 4am when I get back... but reactions will follow. Mostly, though, I'm excited to see WTF the crowd is like. This is gonna be guano bananas.

The idea of this film beating Spider-Man 3 when SM3 grossed about 3x what Batman Begins did in their respective opening weekends... well, it's just all sorts of astounding. But there's a swell and it may be all hype and buzz... but, man, I feel like this one is going to shatter everything. And if it's as good as they say? Well... it's too soon to talk Titanic isn't it... afterall, multiples aren't what they used to be. But there isn't another truly big movie coming out until, what, Tropic Thunder? We could be talking complete and total pwn.

OKAY

So, first off... not the "best movie ever". A really, really, really good movie. It doesn't actually feel like a comic book movie... aside from the crazy guy with the weird costume choices and crazy makeup and the billionaire vigilante in the batsuit. It plays a lot closer, really, to a classic crime movie. As it should - the Batman comic books are littered with mob plot lines and organized crime characters.

Interestingly, though this is a Batman movie... the protagonist is Harvey Dent. At least in the classic film sense of the word protagonist. The biggest arc is his. He is the catalyst for change (though he says that Batman is).

And the movie is about choices.

But, really, it's a showcase for Heath Ledger who absolutely and completely disappears into the backstoryless Joker character. I mean, entirely.

Unlike other midnight screenings I've been to... there was a reverence at this movie. On the outset there's usually a lot of hooting and hollering and "whoo!" etc. There were one or two in my theater who did that.

And they were promptly hushed. A silence came over the crowd even as the Warner Bros and Legendary Pictures logos played.

It was eerie.

And, of course, Ledger got cheers when his name flashed on screen at the end.

This movie is going to be a massive, smash hit. And it's going to have more to do with Heath Ledger's death than anything else in or about the movie (after all, Batman Begins got great critical marks... but no one was talking about it breaking box office records... which makes me wonder what to expect for the box office of the inevitable third film... okay, that's not fair, Begins had to deal with a viewing audience that have Batman & Robin aftertaste still in its mouth 8 years later, and The Dark Knight was riding a brilliant marketing campaign well before Ledger's death... I digress). The tragedy of his death, the curiosity of seeing his final completed film... that is, ultimately, what's driving the massive audience to this movie. I'm not sure if it extends beyond my generation. Like most blockbuster midnight screenings, the crowd was young and very male-skewing. So I don't know if the feeling of loss (of a star, not just of a great actor) extends to even Gen X, let alone the Baby Boom. But the James Dean analogies are spot on. Heath is going to live on pretty much close to forever (as long as the film medium lasts), and his last film was his best performance.

SO

Apparently we're looking at $18.48 million from the midnight showings. Which doesn't include the 3am or 6am showings (yeah, I know).

Batman Begins "only" grossed $15.1 million on its opening day.

BTW

There's a nice cameo I forgot to mention in the opening minutes that helps frame the scale of this movie versus the first one... at least in terms of the villains. I'll let you see it for yourself, but I appreciated the literary device employed.

Brava

Well, it looks like Bravo's attempt to lay Project Runway off worked... ish. Here are the premiere numbers.
- 1.9/3 households
- 1.4/4 A18-49
- 2.915 million viewers

While not at, er, girlicious... fierce... whatever... While not as good as last season's premiere, given the fact that the cable network didn't promote the show to the extent to which it has in the past, these are good results.

Plus, it gave Shear Genius a boost, which is ultimately far more important to Bravo now that PR is headed for different pastures:

Shear Genius (versus last week)
- 1.5/3 households (vs. 0.9/2)
- 1.0/3 A18-49 (vs. 0.6/2)
- 2.164 million viewers (vs. 1.159)

ETA: It's come to my attention (read: TVGuide.com is reporting) that this is the best PR premiere rating, not lower than last season's. I swear I recall PR4 getting in the 3 millions for viewers... but upon research into the bowels of PIFeedback.com, it turns out that PR5 did do the following compared to PR4:
- equal households (1.9/3)
- slightly worse A18-49 (1.4/4 vs. 1.5/4)
- slightly better viewers (2.915 million vs. 2.890 million)

So... considering the relative lack of promotion, this is a complete victory for Bravo.

Clean and Clear

So I'm not sure what qualifies as a good rating on A&E... especially for original drama programming. And not (at all) to compare the show to Mad Men (AMC's first original drama) I believe it's premiere did outrate the AMC series.

Which is a crying shame because from what I've heard, The Cleaner sucked.
The Cleaner (10pm, 57 minutes)
- 1.8/3 households
- 1.0/3 A18-49
- 2.580 million viewers

The ratings I got for the MLB All-Star game definitely don't go through the entire game, but here's what I have...
MLB All-Star Game (8:42pm, 180 minutes... so, again, not through the end)
- 9.3/16 households
- 4.5/14 A18-49
- 14.540 million viewers

Meanwhile...

Emmy nominations are announced tomorrow!

Will there be justice? Sweet, juicy justice?

I doubt it on many counts.

But staying tuned, I am!

Cable finals for Monday, July 14th

Perhaps TNT will think twice about premiering its signature summer series towards the end of July next year... and not against the MLB Home Run Derby on ESPN! Not that The Closer or Saving Grace did poorly by any means... just not as well as they did last season.

And, yes, I'm aware the premieres were pushed because production starts were delayed because of the strike.

The Closer (TNT, 9pm, 60 minutes)
- 5.2/9 households
- 1.9/5 A18-49
- 7.809 million viewers

Saving Grace (TNT, 10pm, 61 minutes)
- 3.5/6 households
- 1.2/4 A18-49
- 5.156 million viewers

Home Run Derby (ESPN, 8:19pm, 161 minutes)
- 5.5/10 households
- 3.6/11 A18-49
- 9.116 million viewers

Weeds (Showtime, 10pm, 28 minutes)
- 0.6/1 households
- 0.6/2 A18-49
- 1.003 million viewers

Burn Notice premiere ratings

Burn Notice (USA, 10pm, 60 minutes)
- 3.4/6 households
- 1.8/6 A18-49
- 5.385 million viewers

I will post The Closer and Saving Grace ratings when I get them later today.

WGA Strike To Blame for Hillary's Loss?

Random thought of the day, upon reading this article interviewing Dennis Haysbert, who conjectures that his stint as President David Palmer may have paved the way for Obama's candidacy (and let's all hope that there's no Day 1-esque attempt on Obama's life)...

Day 7 of 24 was to feature Cherry Jones as the President. It would've begun airing in January, a little after the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primaries.

Of course, as we all know, it was pulled from the schedule as a result of the WGA Strike.

And, apparently, Jones' performance will be Emmy-worthy.

We've already had female Presidents on television (see short-lived Commander in Chief and, of course, BSG).

So, my thought... would having this portrayal of a female President on television during the primary season have helped Hillary? Sight unseen, we have no idea what kind of President Jones' character is going to be (while we know David Palmer was an upstanding citizen, moral center, etc).

Again, totally random.

I swear, I will be posting thoughts on The Ex List and Project Gary and more one of these days... but real life comes comes, and real life is teh crazy bizzeh.

This is not a celeb gossip blog, I swear

While waiting for a friend at The Grove to go see Get Smart (which, by the way... so much better than the reviews had made me expect... I think a lot of the negative reviews were complaining that it wasn't really the same tone as the show... but, um, hello, it was still hilarious spy comedy... with enough references to please and enough hits on the hit/miss joke scale to be hilarious), I saw two American Idol final twelve contestants from season seven.

I would have wanted to run into any two except Jason Castro and Kristy Lee Cook (and the random tall dude hanging with them).

Hilarious side note, Jason was walking around with an "inconspicuous" sweater over his hair. Not sure if it was an attempt to hide the dreadlocks... but way to draw suspicion!

Sigh.

What I'd give for a Carly Smithson / Michael Johns sighting.

... and, comments are closed because I can't be bothered by any more Jason Castro love e-mails.

Camp Rock

So, obvi, the Camp Rock ratings were pretty swell for Friday's premiere (8.9 million viewers). I'm especially interested in the unique viewer cume from that, Saturday's ABC airing, and Sunday's ABC Family airing.

Because it's hot as Satan's sack in Los Angeles, I'm at home with a Pinkberry and the television. Seriously, it's too hot to do anything else. Don't judge me.

Anyway, I'm not going to hold CR up to a really high standard... but I am going to dissect it a little bit for my own larfs. Can it be as campy-awesome as the HSMs?

Demi Lovato is cute. Note the fact that this and the HSM franchise have Latina tween leads. Good formula, people. We're three minutes in and we have a family hug. Ladies and gents, we are in for a G rated fairy tale ride...

I have no idea which Jonas Brother is which, but I think the one who is playing "Shane Gray" would probably qualify as "the hot one"? So. Much. Hair. Product.

If this is a music camp, why are half of the kids disembarking from cars and buses and pop-locking? I'm confused. I mean, I know that many people who are performers can both dance and sing or play musical instruments (and sometimes also act).

The girl who plays CR's version of Sharpay (character is Tess... no idea the actress's name) does have the Tiz's presence or over the top flair. Demerit!

Lola's song at the "Opening Night Jam" felt soooo prerecorded. Mitchie (Demi's character) had a solo song before that didn't smack of prerecord (though, of course, it was). I mean... Ashlee Simpson was more believably singing than this presentation.

And Mitchie lies about what her mother does. Anyone else have a sneaking suspicion this will come back to haunt Mitchie and will eventually lead to a family hug when Mitchie (and possibly everyone else at the camp) learns to love who they are and who their parents are, not the whole fame/fortune/status angle?

I love that Tess has Asian and black girlfriends who do her bidding and let her think for them just like Blair Waldorf. Aw, and Tess has mother issues because the woman is always working and can't spend time being her mother. Now I wonder if eventually Tess's bitch veneer will fade and she'll be jealous of Mitchie's relationship with her mother.

It's nice that Mitchie's alarm clock doesn't wake up anyone else in that cabin so she can sneak out and help her mother. Nice and convenient. Just saying.

Is Mitchie going to be singing the same song over and over again?

OMG, we've crossed into the assimilate with the mindless mass plotline. Is this a Pixar movie?

Whichever Jonas Brother that is, his pants are way too tight. Also, back in the narrative world of CR... Shane Gray is in a band. Why is he teaching a dance class (although the fact that there is a dance class helps somewhat with my earlier question about the randomly pop-locking campers)? I'm really impressed (again, in the narrative world) that all of the students were able to pick up the routine... given that HE DIDN'T TEACH ANYTHING.

Why does the DRUMMER need to translate the beat from the sticks to his feet? If he is a DRUMMER? Sigh. I know, I know.

The spoiled bitch character is performing a song with a chorus "I'm too cool for you." Yeah. We've crossed over into ridiculousness, we're approaching campy... I'm not sure if it's campy-awesome, yet, but I'm going to try and shut up now and just watch...

ZOMG, and now we're hitting the "I want to be an artist, not a commercial entity" theme. We're approaching critical mass, people... and we're only 46 minutes in.

Can you really put a paying camper on kitchen duty as a punishment? I mean, outside of child labor laws, there has to be something wrong with that.

Leave it to the smartish white girl to point out the idiocy of Mitchie's whole lie spiral crap. Zzzz.

Mitchie insults Tess, kind of, everyone laughs including Tess's Asian and black friends, then Tess walks off and the Asian and black friend follow after her... as does Mitchie?

The Shane-search-for-Mitchie thing is a cute little Cinderella / Little Mermaid story. And... a game of telephone! Purple monkey dishwasher!

Okay... so "the lie" comes out... but people are more pissed at Mitchie for lying than at Tess for being a complete bitch about it? God, who wants to be friends with any of these people, anyway? Besides Caitlin/Catelyn/Katelynn/however you spell it.

Why are there, like, 7 costumes changes between the reveal scene and the scene where the mother talks to Mitchie?

We're gonna need a montage! A musical performance training montage! Montage!

I really wish the climax didn't have Mitchie spastically gyrating in front of a metallic silver backdrop. Come on, they couldn't let her just stand and perform to the audience, she had to shake like she was suffering from a stroke (until Jonas Brother makes the solo into a duet...)?

The staging in the final group number is all wrong (Mitchie and Jonas Brother at the top, despite her, um, not winning Final Jam...? I mean, yes, makes sense form the "I'm in like with you" storyline, but... sigh, sigh, sigh).

Ultimately, CR was good for what it was supposed to be. It didn't reach the same level that HSM does, I don't think... not as much is at stake, and it's too formula (which, from a printing money for Disney perspective, is a really good thing) to stand out.

Dream Emmy Noms

Because I'm back from location for the time being, have internet access and a bit of time on my hands, but have neither the energy to write nor to think about The Ex List or Project Gary or Eleventh Hour or Life on Mars (which, yay, the leaked online copy was the final David E. Kelley cut, not the rough cut I'd barely stomached before).

Anyway, in my limited world view... and I know, this is so a month in advance of the nominations coming out, I mean, the lists haven't even been cut down to 10 or 15 possibilities for the blue ribbon panels... also, I don't watch Big Love, yes, I've heard it was amazing this season, but, well, I don't watch it so no noms for it from me!

Please note, I may accidentally miscategorize a couple actors and actresses, sometimes (especially on ensemble shows) you never know whether they've put themselves up for supporting or for lead.

Also, it is so refreshing to have a year without The Sopranos filling every drama category!

Best Drama
- The Wire
- Lost
- Mad Men
- House
- Brothers & Sisters
It pains me to not include BSG... but, well, I didn't love a good chunk of this half season. And FNL, oh, you recovered so well late in the game, but the first half was just poorly played (and, no, I couldn't resist that). Also Bones left such a wretched taste in my mouth at the end of the season that it took it out of the running (but a season stopping at the strike episodes? It would've been there).

Lead Drama Actor
- Dominic West (The Wire)
- Hugh Laurie (House)
- Jon Hamm (Mad Men)
- Michael C. Hall (Dexter)
- Kyle Chandler (Friday Night Lights)

Lead Drama Actress
- Mary McDonnell (Battlestar Galactica)
- Sally Field (Brothers & Sisters)
- Glenn Close (Damages)
- Kyra Sedgwick (The Closer)
- Ellen Pompeo (Grey's Anatomy... okay, I know, controversial, but did you notice how when you stopped caring about Meredith one way or the other, you stopped caring about the show? That takes skillz)

Supporting Drama Actor
- Michael Emerson (Lost)
- Jeremy Davies (Lost)
- Dave Annable (Brothers & Sisters)
- Andre Royo (The Wire)
- Ed Westwick (Gossip Girl... you know you love him... again, couldn't resist... and so never going to happen)
-- (no, but seriously) Matthew Rhys (Brothers & Sisters)

Supporting Drama Actress
- Tricia Helfer (Battlestar Galactica)
- Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica)
- Rachel Griffiths (Brothers & Sisters)
- Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men)
- January Jones (Mad Men)

Best Comedy
- 30 Rock
- The Office
- Desperate Housewives
- How I Met Your Mother
- Pushing Daisies (because, looking back, yeah, I miss it despite the myriad of flaws)

Lead Comedy Actor
- Steve Carell (The Office)
- Alec Baldwin (30 Rock)
- Jim Parsons (Big Bang Theory)
- Josh Radnor (How I Met Your Mother)
- Zachary Levi (Chuck... which I am guessing is being submitted as a comedy)

Lead Comedy Actress
- Tina Fey (30 Rock)
- America Ferrera (Ugly Betty)
- Mary Louise Parker (Weeds)
- Marcia Cross (Desperate Housewives)
- Dana Delany (Desperate Housewives)

Supporting Comedy Actor
- Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother)
- Jack McBrayer (30 Rock)
- John Krasinski (The Office)
- Rainn Wilson (The Office)
- Michael Urie (Ugly Betty)

Supporting Comedy Actress
- Alyson Hannigan (How I Met Your Mother, despite the disturbing continuing lack of red hair)
- Cobie Smulders (How I Met Your Mother)
- Jenna Fischer (The Office)
- Becki Newton (Ugly Betty)
- Jane Krakowski (30 Rock)

The Mentalist

Airing Tuesdays @ 9pm on CBS.

This is the first screener so far this year that I hadn't made it around to reading the script yet... so no preconceptions and I have no idea what it's about or what's going to happen.

Okay, so it's a CBS show and we naturally start at a crime scene. But Simon Baker is there being mysterious and silent and pretty while watching other officers cart away some kid for some girl's murder. There's a press conference right then and there (weird) with the father of the murdered girl talking and Simon Baker notices the body language of the guy's wife. Blah blah blah, Simon Baker confronts the wife in their home and just by looking at her, nails several key attributes about her and her life. Psychic? No he just reads people very well (he's observant... but he used to pretend he was a psychic... on TV...) Husband/father comes in, Simon Baker accuses him of being the real murdered, blah blah, wife goes off and gets a gun and kills her husband.

This is all a character-introduction preamble to the pilot's actual case involving a serial killer (on CBS? shock!) named "Red John". Oh, apparently because of Simon Baker being a douchebag, he was put on suspension. I'm actually not sure if Simon Baker and his people are detectives or FBI (okay, they work for the "California Bureau of Investigations"... so, something in between??) Anyway, his people are played by Robin "Wooden Actress" Tunney (whose character, interaction with Simon Baker implies, was probably romantically entangle with Simon Baker or wishes she were), Owain Yeoman (who has thus far been relocated to background stoicism... why isn't this guy a star, already?), a silent Asian man, and some random girl in the "rookie mistake" role.

I'm writing too much tangential to watching the pilot, so I'm going to watch the next 35 minutes and then write... because, really, I could sarcastically go on for hours, but there's no point because thus far, this is nothing more than typical.

I don't get why they use the pilot to do a case that is a COPYCAT of a serial killer the main character has been involved with trying to catch for several years instead of something with the ACTUAL serial killer (considering there is PLENTY of talk and background on said actual serial killer... I guess the show wanted/needed a crime to be SOLVED during the pilot).

Sigh, everyone wants House as a cop show... Baker's Patrick Jane is a semi-abrasive, semi-charming character. While the show gives Patrick a tragic, hubris-y backstory, he's just not nearly as intriguing as Gregory House. Simon Baker is just too pretty to be as truly in-your-face assholic as a House-like role demands. Worse yet, his character seems to know how good looking he is.

In addition, the show does not deliver a Wilson character, which, as I think the House finale showed, is all-important to that show's character mix. The Mentalist has a Cuddy (Tunney), and the original three assistant types (cute boy/Chase, minority/Foreman, naive girl/Cameron), but no Wilson.

Direction, by David Nutter, is of course great. But I don't see this sticking out from any other procedural crime show on the air, particularly on CBS, where there is obviously already a glut of them.

Plus, it's against Fringe, which will be one of fall's biggest buzz shows, and will have House as a lead-in. Better than a presumably old-skewing show going up against Dancing with the Stars and having NCIS as a lead-in.

Next: Not sure, have to wait for my next batch to come in. I believe CBS's "The Ex List" is going to be in that, not sure what else. So let's say "The Ex List" is next...

Fringe

FOX's "Fringe", airing Tuesdays at 9pm (after a two-hour premiere in late August).

Hm, an Abrams pilot beginning with a turbulent plane scene? It's so meta I could die. Ew, that was so much more gross and disturbing and frenetic than it was on the page (or that I remember it being... been a long time since I read the script).

Unlike Lost (which was Abrams written-and-directed), this is a somewhat maddeningly slow two hours (slower, certainly, than the genius Alias pilot). Abrams produces though, and while I don't think Anna Torv as the lead female character Olivia is quite up to par with his previous leading lady finds (Keri Russell, Jennifer Garner, Evangeline Lilly), she's good. Not Gillian Anderson good (since, ultimately, this series it going to try to be The X-Files for technological/scientific wonders as opposed to supernatural/extraterrestrial happenings), but good. She's a little smirky throughout. I love the way Lance Reddick calls her character "liaison" (let's hope that, since this is a Bad Robot project, we can still get more Matthew Abbadon on Lost).

Not sure how I feel about the giant CGI blow up superimposed letters that set us in different locations (it really tries to be the next step up from Alias's push-through lettering... but I'd almost just prefer a subtitle telling me I'm in Baghdad... especially when the angle cuts away from the moving aerial show and you can still see the giant "Q" in "Iraq"... that was weird). Kinda distracting, actually.

Joshua Jackson seems a tad young. I'm not sure if it's unconvincing... but I just don't quite buy him. He's also a tad monotone in a role that could be more colorful (it eventually edges closer to amusingly sardonic, but still isn't quite what it could be).

In series, I hope the characters don't devolve into a pattern of Waler Bishop constructing a crazy experiment, Pacey complaining about how insane it is leading to a pointless but amusing argument, and Olivia ultimately going with the crazy guy so that we can move on with the plot.

You what really bothered me about this pilot? Jasika Nicole. She just stands in the background being the diversity-required African-American lab hand (even though I think she's FBI?) until about 3/4 through the pilot. She largely serves as a talking board for Walter (and Pacey) to explain the science of what's going on. At least it's not super genius scientists talking to themselves about the experiments or tests or whatever in a way they never, ever would just so the audience can get it (see every episode of a medical show or crime show or legal show ever where people of the same profession boil down the complex mechanisms to colleagues who ought to know anyway WTF is going on...)

The shared dream is wicked.

Massive Dynamic's office building must be the coolest place to work in ever.

A lot of the music reminds me of themes from Lost. I wonder if the pilot will be re-scored.

This pilot will intrigue you... but it won't blow you away in the way Lost's pilot did (though, god bless it, it tries). It looks amazing though, you can really see the $10 million budget. Oh, there's so much more I could say, but I'd really rather you watch the think in August. And I'm particularly eager to see what comes next because this show could go either way... but I really want to know what it looks like on an episodic basis. Will is really be like The X-Files, as the pilot hints at / holds the promise of? It certainly has the conspiracy-laden underpinnings.

Oh, and that last scene? YES! YES!

Next: CBS's "The Mentalist".

Worst Week

CBS pilot airing Mondays at 9:30pm.

Oh, where to begin... okay, first, I'll say that, wow, CBS doing a single-camera sitcom. Second... please, stick with your multi-cams.

Worst Week, or the pilot anyway, is about a hapless man named Sam (Kyle Bornheimer) visiting his girlfriend/almost-fiancée's parents' house (Erinn Hayes in a bland role), a place he apparently burnt down (at least some of it) the last time he visited. Think Meet The Parents, but as a weekly TV show (and not quite so charming... yes, MTP more charming than something, I know right). It tries very hard to be funny and I won't get into the shenanigans (all of which seemingly would be solved if Sam grew either a pair of balls or a brain), but I think the show ought to have tried to be Everybody Loves Raymond. The parents, Kurtwood Smith and Nancy Lenehan had potential to be the lovingly overbearing and bothersome parents like Frank and Marie Barone (Peter Boyle and Doris Roberts). Instead... it's about Sam being a screw-up. Which is a shame, because TV is really lacking a traditional family sitcom. It remains to be seen, of course, if future weeks are as crude and unfunny as this pilot, and how they incorporate the parents into it. But will Two and a Half Men viewers stick around for this? I have my doubts.

Next: FOX's "Fringe"

Surviving the Filthy Rich

Pilot screeners are starting to roll in! I'm so happy......!!!!

Surviving the Filthy Rich, CW Pilot Presentation (it's about 30 minutes of the "key scenes", isn't the whole story but since it's been picked up, the rest is going to be shot... though I've read the script so I know what was missing). It will air Tuesdays at 9pm.

General story: Yale graduate works for crappy tabloid-ish magazine in NYC, wants to write about things and people that matter. Her apartment gets burned down and she doesn't get a promotion to be a full-time writer at the magazine she doesn't want to work at anyway, and through a lucky connection, is sent to Palm Beach (where she happened to grow up) to be a stay-at-home tutor to two pretty, immensely wealthy spoiled sixteen year old girls who live with their grandmother because their parents both died. The plot, as you'd expect, rotates around the main character liking/not liking her job, and the trials and tribulations put in front of her so that she earns keeping the job, and thus we have a series.

Here's the thing about this presentation... it's almost completely, and woefully miscast. The lead, JoAnna Garcia is the best of everyone. Considering I disliked the script, she did an good job making me sympathetic towards her character, Megan. Lucy Kate Hale plays Rose, the seemingly less evil of the evil twins. I saw keep her. Unfortunately, I think everyone else must go. Ashley Newbrough just does not work as well as Hale does in her role as Sage, the bitchier, evilier, more out-to-get-Megan-ier role. Plus they don't look like twins (yes, yes, fraternal twins, blah blah... still, family resemblance isn't working for me). Marsha Mason is woefully Laura Bush-ian in her role as Laurel, the grandmother (OMG IS THERE A THEME TO THE NAMES!?) and Michael Cassidy is painfully bland as Megan's best friend (who we meet in video chat before her NYC apartment burns down and then find him waiting tables in Florida). Not cast yet from the script are Megan's sister, and her boyfriend who happens to live next door to Megan's new home and has caught Megan's eye (oh, sigh, love quadrangle, sigh).

As in the script, there is an atrocious "let's do something insane just so we have a series" moment (the day after Megan gets fired and then tells Sage off in front of Laurel and storms out, then she wakes up to find out she is no longer fired) where Laurel, of her own free will, draws up a contract that says that she can't fire Megan for 6 months, or Megan can sue Lauren for all she's worth (and, it is noted, she is worth a considerable sum). Um... okay...

Anyway... I'm not sure who, precisely, the audience for this show is. Yes, it has the trappings of a younger female oriented soap (though post-college), and it attempts to paint the "filthy rich" in both impossibly terrible and endearingly vulnerable lights (except Sage). But there's just something not quite right with it. Probably has to do with my problems with the cast.

Next: CBS' "Worst Week"

Miranda Bailey

I am in love with Miranda Bailey because she knows about Jacen and Jaina Solo.

ALSO

All the reasons that the second three finale was wrong? The season four finale was right. This was a hopeful, fun finale (especially because the last act was basically EVERY SINGLE MAIN CHARACTER KISSING ANOTHER ONE... and also, major professional progression for the intern/first year resident characters). That actually makes me look forward to next season. It took all season... but I think, just maybe, the show is back on track.

I even didn't hate Lexie!

I've been waiting for Alex to have a breakdown every since we found out his father was abusive. Yay, plot!

Gasp!

Sometimes surprises are awesome.

So I got home at 9:57pm from the gym, changed my TV to Idol to see the result... and at 10pm, Ryan is saying "and the winner is --"

AND THE CHANNEL CHANGES BECAUSE MY NEW, BROKE-ASS FAUXVO didn't get the message that Idol was going to run long (my old one always did... this is something I will have to note for the future) wants to record. It flipped to Top Chef. Which was fine. I wanted that recorded. But apparently the new FauxVo was also recording a South Park repeat.

And I was like... WTF.

I hurriedly changed it back and was like "what?"

Then I was like "yay!"

And now I'm going to "shower!"

And then see IJ&tKotCS at 12:15am at the ArcLight...

KO

So, um, anyone think David Cook threw the finals? I mean, on purpose. Because he sounded good, but for someone who has so consistently had great song choice (and a plethora of amazing performances to choose from for the final song)... with the theme of the night, from a production standpoint, being a boxing match, I really felt like he threw it (with both of his last two performances... don't get me wrong, still really good). Not certain if I *really* mean he did it on purpose... but if I were him, I wouldn't really want to be locked into the Idol contract instead of being able to have my pick of the labels, contracts, and managers.

Anyway, Cook has a viable career ahead of him on Adult Top 40 radio.

Best of luck to Archie with his technical singing, lack of emotional connection to songs, and his pale clone of "A Moment Like This" / "This Is My Now" ;)

I kind of want to tell Randy Jackson that "molten" is never going to happen and he should give it up. 10 Schrute bucks to the first person who gets that.

I think Simon was a bit pissed that David Cook flailed because Archie, aka Presumptive American Idol Winner David Archuleta, is not the modern, relevant recording artist he kept talking about all season. Not that I ever expected Cook to win. Despite the obvious performance artist gap between them, it has been obvious (perhaps too obvious for the show's purposes, hence Simon week after week saying how Cook would win if it were a talent contest) that Archie would win.

ALSO

Is it just me, or did in seasons past as the numbers were whittled down, the performances got longer? Why, in the finale, are we only getting 3 songs at 90 seconds each from each contestant?

That Was Disappointing

Ugh. I loved the Gormogon serial killer plot on Bones. But the resolution was crap.

Meanwhile, House's season finale was great.

So Much To Say

Yawn. Wow, so I am behind on this whole "regularly blog" thang I semi-have going here.

I can explain.

I moved apartments this weekend.

Hence... yawn.

And speaking of yawn... WTF, Gossip Girl? That episode was poorly plotted, IMHFO. Not the entire thing... just the last act. I'm sorry, but you're a teen serial. Leave us with a bang (doesn't have to be literal, but some kind of huge, buzzy cliffhanger would do). Instead, the show limps off to summer with a One Week Later coda that seems to put 80% of the characters back where they started the series (not to mention mixing up, like, all of the teenagers' partners in lust... but in a matter of fact way that doesn't demand exploration, as opposed to that OMFG moment I kept waiting for). I don't get it. When Gossip Girl went on hiatus in early January, I couldn't wait for the next installment. September 1st? I'm not entirely sure I care that it's over three months away.

While on the subjects of narrative leaps, I think I'm in the minority on Desperate Housewives' five year jump. I like it as a reset button. There are plenty of blanks to be filled in... but only a couple that really matter (the central one being why is Susan not with Mike). Let's face it... the show, even though it had a creative resurgence due to Katherine Mayfair / Dana Delany, was getting tired. How many iterations of Gabrielle cheating on Carlos did we see? How much annoying crap with Lynette's preteen boys? This allows new kinds of stories to be told for certain characters without all the hullabaloo of, y'know, transitioning us there (so, in concept, I like it... in execution it seems like the show gave Lynette's storyline to Gaby and is aging Lynette's monsters five years and they're still going to be giant pains in the arse...)

But, hopefully, good riddance Andrea Bowen! May you never come back from college. And can suit-and-tie Andrew please get his gay storyline back? I mean, Brothers & Sisters follows the show... make it work, people.

What?

Love this.

That Script Thing

So, most of the networks have announced all the shows they're picking up for this season.

Except ABC, which has barely shot any of them.

I've got scripts for all of the dramas (because... comedies? on ABC?) and have read them all... so let's have a little round up, shall we? Please note that none of these are final drafts... so plenty can change by the time the pilots get shot (I'll report back when I've seen screeners).

"Captain Cook's Extraordinary Atlas" - Billed as Harry Potter for TV, it's actually more like the sucky version of Pan's Labyrinth, or more accurately like The Spiderwick Chronicles (a movie I did not see). Plus, the lead character is a 13-year old girl. Production nightmare. It may be different than other stuff on television... but that doesn't mean it's good.

"Castle" - A practically unreadable script (seriously). I stopped after the first act, but then decided to read the last 5 or so pages to see what the series set-up was. I'm interested in seeing what Nathan Fillion does with the lead character, who is a kind of philandering cheap thriller novelist who gets called in by the NYPD to help with a series of murder mysteries that reflect those in his books (zzzz). The dialog needs work. The series set-up after this murder investigation is that Captain Tightpants' character is going to base a new series of crime novels off the detective he worked with on the pilot case, and thus will be tagging around. The show wants to be the crime show version of House. It falls short... but after reading the other crime shows, I think it may stand out in a way ABC will be interested in.

"Cupid" - We all know, basically, what this show is going to be. I like Bobby Cannavale as the lead... I think he'll be more approachable / less abrasive than Jeremy Piven's Cupid was, which was part of the fun but also a turnoff for many. They're moving the show to New York City and the script I read was set in Los Angeles, so who knows, this all may change. Plus, who is going to be playing Paula Marshall!?

"Finnegan" - Los Angeles set hardnosed female detective who heads an Organized Crime & Vice unit. ABC needs a serialized crime show like it needs another season of Cavemen. It needs a franchise procedural crime show. This ain't it.

"Good Behavior" - Think Brothers & Sisters is the Walker family were lower-middle class nogoodniks, and all the gloss replaced by grit. It's the other side of the family drama/dramedy coin. It's got heart, and it's got funny (especially with Catherine O'Hara as the matriarch/Sally Field...) It's the kind of show ABC normally would go for... but does the network really need another ensemble family show? Based on the script I hope so, but the programmer in my isn't certain. At least it stands out from basically every other show on television because the main characters aren't incredibly wealthy people.

"Prince of Motor City" - Hamlet on TV. While it's always interesting to see modern adaptations... we all know how this one ends, right? Plus they don't even get to the ghost telling the son to avenge him until the end of the pilot. I dunno. It's intriguing. But also not. I'll have to wait to see the screener to really judge.

"Untitled David Hemingson Legal Dramedy" - I could do without the first 5 pages of set-up before the main character starts his job (the first five pages establish Dylan Hewitt as valedictorian at Columbia Law, introduce a seemingly neerdowell brother / family, and have Dylan easily convinced to take a job at a firm in Los Angeles instead of working at the tax firm he was supposed to). With Boston Legal ending, a legal dramedy seems a tad slap-in-the-face-ish... but I can see this show skewing younger, with the leads being 20somethings, not James Spader and William Shatner. It's exceedingly silly. I don't really buy what it's selling. If Eli Stone tanks on Tuesdays at 10pm and ABC is really gung-ho about having a legal show on... okay, I guess by default they'd have to go here. But eh...

"The Unusuals" - I like the writer, Noah Hawley. He's done good work on Bones. This, however, is your run-of-the-mill New York set police procedural. Not bad, but nothing special. And I think that's an unforgivable sin in a television landscape with procedural crime shows ranging from L&O, CSI, and The Closer.

"Section 8" (title may change because of some lawsuit) - So apparently ABC has already given this show a episode order. I hope they can rescind it. This is trash. I mean, really, what were they thinking? Unless I got a foiler script. It is, as it's logline suggests, about a secret government group that solves crimes and has "advanced mental abilities". Problem is it basically amounts to CSI with superpowers. I don't even like CSI, but part of what makes it interesting is the human element... people like like you and me figuring murders out. Plus, the scripts starts of so very Heroes (voiceover about the human mind and the things it's capable of... come on). Problem is they left out the humanity and the "discovery" elements that were present in Heroes at the get-go. You know, the stuff that really made it good? Ugh. Such. Crap. Maybe it'll be really cool on screen.

ABC's needs at midseason will ultimately be dictated by what works out on the fall schedule (I'm specifically looking at some part of Wednesday failing, the questionable Life on Mars, and probably Eli Stone). ABC might choose to use some of these series (the ones ready, anyway) on Mondays between DWTS cycles instead of the middling and piddling Dance War.

Bold Prediction of the Year

ETA - scratch the below, FOX is programming House on Tuesdays at 8pm... that's clearly the winner. Any time the below says "win" it now means "second place" ;)

The CW will win the Tuesday 8pm timeslot in the A18-49 demo this fall. For at least one night. Or at least be extremely close.

Please note, this prediction is not taking into consideration the possibility that 90210 will premiere before the other networks premiere their programming.

Why? Here's why.

The competition in the fall is weak. Yes, Idol changes the game in January (though, as many have pointed out with the ratings decline... the time to program aggressively against Idol has come... you won't win, but it doesn't have to be total annihilation). But consider:
- ABC has an untested reality/game show. DWTS doesn't get much more than a 4.0 on that night... this is going to approach that? Hey, I'll eat my words, but... I don't think so. Deal or No Deal is way down... the new wave game show semi-bubble has burst.
- CBS has NCIS. There's no audience shared there. NCIS will almost certainly win in viewers, but with a demo that will be in the low-to-mid 3s.
- NBC has The Biggest Loser. The show has gained momentum this season in the ratings... but it's still, like NCIS, low-to-mid 3s.
- FOX has Bones (or so I'm presuming), a show, again, with low-to-mid 3s.

Now, you're thinking... The CW has never rated higher than a 3.0 in the demo (IIRC, the Cycles 7/8 ANTM finales). What makes Travis think that 90210 is going to rate higher than the above shows, which typically rate a little bit more than what The CW's highest rated airing put up?

The CW has nothing else to promote over the next 3-4 months. There are only two other shows premiering: Surviving the Filthy Rich, the initial success of which is entirely dependent on the 90210 lead-in, and Stylista, which airs out of Top Model. 90210 is make-or-break for CW. Literally. Its failure would destroy the network. So where are all of CW's marketing eggs going to go, hm?

So... 90210 is going to open big. Admit it. You're curious about the new show. Whether you were a fan of the old series (at any point in time, not just at the end of its run)... you're curious. Even if not, you're curious.

90210 does not have to be the best show ever. The original was trashy, fun television. That's the only expectation this series needs to live up to. It doesn't have to be, say, Lost in terms of OMFG quality. But it has to not suck (and unless it doesn't translate from page to screen the way I suspect it will... it's not going to suck). It probably won't be OMFG awesome enough to keep what I think is going to be a timeslot winning premiere audience... but it's going to be competitive.

With its scheduling of 90210 on Tuesdays at 8pm... I think CW has, at long last, done something truly smart.

The Blondes and the Boys Have It

Well, it was inevitable that it would be David vs David on Idol. I can't say I'm surprised, but I'm certainly disappointed because Syesha deserved it more than Archie, based on performance. Also, Fantasia schooled the contestants.

Before we started watching this cycle of ANTM, my friend and I said "a blonde will win this cycle". No, it doesn't matter that neither Whitney nor Anya are natural blondes. Anyway, with Fatima's expulsion (because of that hideous commercial performance... also Nigel is shooting the Seventeen cover and we know he doesn't like working with Fatima), we're right. Also, this season has clearly had Tyra's "plus size winner" agenda front and center. I'll admit... it's pretty cool of the show to have a plus size model in the final two, and walking a fashion show in Rome wearing Versace no less. Based on the three snapshots of each girl they showed for the cover, Anya should win. As far as storytelling goes, it certainly would be a nice story for the show to have the girl who was in the Bottom Two for, like, four eliminations running be the winner. Look, she learned... sorta...! Saleisha (UGH!) has her awful hair back. Sigh. Gasp! Was this a semi-real fashion show? I'm actually having trouble telling. Only two looks? Okay, no, this wasn't real at all (what with Whitney and Anya staying on the runway and posing at the end of the show). Um... how come Tyra and Anya changed dresses between the show and the judging? Probably Whitney didn't because the first dress was, shall we say... not the right color or fit for her? Pink works on that girl, somehow. But, let's be honest... Anya looks more like a model.

Side note... I was kinda surprised there was no "coming Tuesdays this fall, 90210" 5-second interstitial. Oh, wait, nevermind, they had it at the end of the final, and therefore most-watched, commercial break.

I love that Paulina is like "um... it's obviously Anya, shut up, Tyra" and Tyra is all "suck my dick, bitch". Then Paulina is like "you know this show has never made a real high fashion model, right" and Tyra bites Paulina's head off and gives it to the girl that American men want to have sex with (seriously, though, in that pink number, she looked like a Victoria's Secret ad... just, like, 25 pounds "too heavy").

You know what, making the plus size model this year's winner? Almost sort of makes me want to forgive the show for Saleisha. Because it's a good message (even if it's still Tyra being self-serving).

But... really!?

Top 3 Perform

A Top 3 I can be satisfied with! Wowza.

Anyways.

Judges' Picks:

Archie - Adequate, nothing amazing.

Syesha - Beautiful and impeccably dressed. I love that Randy (?) said she was number three instead of top three... why was Syesha's trip home just a video of her in a limo?

Cook - Round 1, Cook/Cowell.

Contestants' Picks:

Archie - Sung well enough (as always), but do we believe him singing "my boo" as a lyric? Not if I or Randy have anything to say about it. I'd have gone with something different if he was going to go modern (which the contestants haven't had a ton of chances to do this season). It just shows his lack of musical knowledge, to be honest. If he had to go recent, I'd have gone with a OneRepublic song. Since he's trying to court femme tween votes, I've have gone with Stop & Stare, which is a love song, over Apologize. But what do I know.

Syesha - Now that is a fun choice to go with her theatricality. Syesha has been running, um, "blazing hot" since ALW night. Loved that note at the end. I disagree with the judges. But, again, what do I know. Randy gave her a modern song to do... this showed another side of her personality. We all know she's going home no matter how well she sings, anyway.

Cook - Switchfoot. Very appropriate band choice. Probably better he didn't pick Lifehouse, if he was going to choose a semi-Christian mellow rock band (since his voice is so remarkably similar to Lifehouse's lead singer's). His voice has sounded better, but with the rockier arrangement, the edge and strained warble works, I think.

Round 2... Simon says tie, I give a slight edge to Syesha.

Producer Picks:

Archie - Zzz. Talk about treacle-y ballads. All of the judges just got fired for questioning the producers' song choice.

Syesha - Wow, so the producers suck. Either that or this has been intentional sabotage to see which contestant rises above. I don't get this one (not Syesha's fault).

Cook - Well, this one actually makes sense. Round 3 to Cook by a WIDE margin.

Bones

One episode left and there's been no Gormogon mystery yet since the episodes restarted. But the cliffhanger last night was fine. Argh, I wanted more of that mystery, it's what made the show more than just an amusing procedural.

House

EXTREMELY weird episode of House last night. I enjoyed the show's last foray into the title character's mind much more (the season two finale "No Reason"). But the last act, when he finally interpreted everything... really, really solid. I was a fan of Cutthroat Bitch back in the Survivor-esque period that was the start of this season, but as soon as she started dating Wilson, she was... less awesome. Still, when the reveal was that she was on the bus crash with House (the creepy "who am I, what does my necklace mean" bit)... very, very much looking forward to next week's finale. We here at TY still love Anne Dudek and I'm glad that she's going to be our very special patient of the week.

Nikki Finke

Damn, Nikki Finke has got some fine sources this year, because she's hearing about things and posting them right before I get my info blurbs... so I'll just direct your to DHD for pilot pick-ups instead of trying to scoop her. After all, it's her job, not mine.

Weekend

What a weekend. Spent it relaxing in Palm Springs. Soooo necessary.

Anyway. Let's talk BSG briefly. I feel like this episode was the one we've been waiting for since the start of the season. I mean, that was good TV.

Glad the Hybrid mentioned the Opera House in its prophecy. I mean... I've really disliked that semi-dropped (or just nary mentioned) bit from last season's finale. And I was about to talk about the prophecy itself, then they had a whole scene deciphering it... so oh well. At least I was right!

And then Roslin shares a dream with her cancer ward friend. Nice.

Meanwhile, I'm not so big on The Simpsons airing an episode on Mother's Day about Homer's mother DYING. I mean, yes, the episode is about the "what I'd do because I love my mother" aspect, but still.

Now, to watch DH and B&S.