When the highlight of your Golden Globes evening is watching stars and interviewers alike try to maneuver through a sea of umbrellas on a rain-soaked red carpet, you know you’re in for a long night. (Kudos to the ever-amenable George Clooney, by the way, who not only went sans cover, but stood in the rain signing autographs for fans in the bleachers).
Perhaps it was the pall cast by last week’s earthquake in Haiti or maybe the dampened dresses inside the ballroom. Whatever the reason, this was easily the most subdued Globes ceremony I’ve been witness to and likely the most downbeat awards show in general this side of the post-9/11 Emmys.
Even Ricky Gervais, ordinarily a reliable producer of gut-busting comedy, was off last night. No one is better at putting a few cracks in the ego-filled room while still managing to crack said room up. Other than a wickedly funny joke at Mel Gibson’s expense and the requisite knocks at NBC, Gervais largely spent the night plugging his various DVDs, which got more annoying than funny each time.
Airing live across the country for the first time in an attempt to make audiences think the show carries as much weight as the Oscars didn’t make much difference, either. By the time next week’s Screen Actors Guild Awards come around, nobody will remember who picked up a Golden Globe anyway.
And just who did walk away with a prize? Film winners included Avatar and its director James Cameron (was it just me or did Up in the Air director Jason Reitman look downright pissed when Cameron's name was called?), The Hangover, Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side), Robert Downey, Jr. (Sherlock Holmes), Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart), and Meryl Streep (Julie & Julia). Streep gave the night’s best speech, honoring her late mother for giving her the means to be generous and humble in the face of the world’s realities, and delivering what may have been the night’s funniest line: “I want to change my name to T Bone,” in reference to T Bone Burnett, the winner in the Best Song category.
The TV side was fairly predictable and leaned heavily toward series from Showtime and HBO. Toni Collette (United States of Tara), Michael C. Hall and John Lithgow (both for Dexter), Chloe Sevigny (Big Love), Julianna Margulies (The Good Wife), and Alec Baldwin (30 Rock) earned trophies, while Mad Men and Glee took series honors. (Glee’s award should have gone to Modern Family, in my opinion.)
The broadcast itself was not done any favors by its director, routinely cutting to cameras that were whipping around or managing to find the wrong person when a name was read. The Globes are famous for serving alcohol, and even Gervais was guzzling a beer on stage. But that doesn't mean the man in charge of what the audience is seeing should be allowed to drink, too.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
A Monday Night Logjam, Plus Conan O'Brien Speaks Out
In the new year, Monday is quickly becoming not only one of the busiest nights on TV (with 24 and the new Life Unexpected yet to take their spots), but also one that offers up its share of quality programming, as evidenced by last night’s crop of noteworthy episodes.
Men of a Certain Age: Moving beyond what was a slightly bumpy start, this TNT show has made great strides in recent weeks, delivering its best installment yet last night. Ray Romano’s Joe spent the hour cajoling buddies Terry (Scott Bakula) and Owen (Andre Braugher) with the details of the first blind date he’s gone on in twenty years. From an awkward IM session that had Joe pulling his pants down in his office to a black eye sustained while faking a leg cramp staged to ward off premature ejaculation, Joe’s tale was funny, poignant, and relatable to anyone who’s ever suffered the nervous pangs of a first date. It’s nice to see that this worthy show is finding its footing.
How I Met Your Mother: Five years and 100 episodes on, we finally got a glimpse of the titular matriarch. Kind of. We saw her foot, and at this point, we’ll take it without complaint. Turns out that Ted’s eventual wife is the roommate of the graduate student (guest star Rachel Bilson) he went on a few dates with. He hasn’t actually met the Mother, but he did accidentally leave behind that yellow umbrella we’ve seen a few times over the years. If that weren’t a big enough deal, this centennial episode also had plenty of Barney in it as he tried to bed a hot bartender who can’t stand guys in suits, leading Barney to a fantasy musical number in which he sang the praises of his sartorial standby. It was a joyous moment in a show that is often filled with them. Let's just hope it doesn't take another hundred episodes for us to see the Mother in all her splendor.
The Big Bang Theory: Having written this show off as a one-joke pony early in its run, I’m glad I gave it another chance last season. It still relies too much on that signature joke (have one of the nerds say something nobody at home could possibly understand, causing us to laugh not at the joke itself but at the fact that we don’t get the joke), though its characters are so earnest and sincere in their utter cluelessness when it comes to human interaction that it becomes funny despite itself. Case in point: a woman was actually interested in Sheldon (Jim Parsons, wonderful in medium-sized doses) last night, to the point where she was practically throwing herself on him, yet he could not have been the wiser. Big Bang is at its best when it doesn’t make its viewers feel like morons for not being brilliant physicists themselves.
Chuck: How great is it to have Chuck back on NBC's schedule? That’s a rhetorical question to anyone who’s ever basked in the glory of this underrated gem. While it too can get a little nerd-intensive sometimes, the show’s real strengths lie in the tumultuously endearing relationship between Chuck and Sarah. Their feelings for each other go beyond will they/won’t they; it’s more can they/should they with these two, given that the CIA forbids agents to get involved and they can’t seem to decide what’s more important, their mutual love or their desire to serve their country. The spy-jinks are amped up this season as well, with Chuck now equipped with a mega-powered version of the Intersect, chock full of skills ranging from dance to music to kung fu to surgery. But no matter what kind of trouble our heroes find themselves in, it’s always the quieter moments that keep this terrific show centered.
On a separate note, Conan O’Brien has issued a statement to address his feelings about the NBC late night debacle. In it, the Tonight Show host laments the position he has been put in, having his hand forced only seven months into his run. “I sincerely believe that delaying The Tonight Show into the next day to accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting… I cannot participate in what I honestly believe is its destruction.” O’Brien expressed concern for Jimmy Fallon, whose show would also be affected by the changes NBC has proposed, and said that he has no other offers on the table. The statement doesn’t go so far as to say that O’Brien is quitting, though he minces no words in saying just how disappointed he is by this unfortunate turn of events.
In his monologue last night, Jay Leno said, “I take pride in one thing. I leave NBC prime time the same way I found it: a complete disaster.” You have to wonder, if this is the way Leno feels about the network that has supported him for nearly twenty years, even now to its own detriment, why does NBC continue to show such allegiance to him? It has been said that late night audiences simply use TV as a sleep inducer. Couldn’t that mean that more people simply found that they were able to fall asleep more soundly with the unfunny Jay on in the background than they are with Conan, thus accounting for Leno's higher Tonight Show ratings? I guess at this point, NBC will take all the eyeballs they can get, whether they’re open or not.
Men of a Certain Age: Moving beyond what was a slightly bumpy start, this TNT show has made great strides in recent weeks, delivering its best installment yet last night. Ray Romano’s Joe spent the hour cajoling buddies Terry (Scott Bakula) and Owen (Andre Braugher) with the details of the first blind date he’s gone on in twenty years. From an awkward IM session that had Joe pulling his pants down in his office to a black eye sustained while faking a leg cramp staged to ward off premature ejaculation, Joe’s tale was funny, poignant, and relatable to anyone who’s ever suffered the nervous pangs of a first date. It’s nice to see that this worthy show is finding its footing.
How I Met Your Mother: Five years and 100 episodes on, we finally got a glimpse of the titular matriarch. Kind of. We saw her foot, and at this point, we’ll take it without complaint. Turns out that Ted’s eventual wife is the roommate of the graduate student (guest star Rachel Bilson) he went on a few dates with. He hasn’t actually met the Mother, but he did accidentally leave behind that yellow umbrella we’ve seen a few times over the years. If that weren’t a big enough deal, this centennial episode also had plenty of Barney in it as he tried to bed a hot bartender who can’t stand guys in suits, leading Barney to a fantasy musical number in which he sang the praises of his sartorial standby. It was a joyous moment in a show that is often filled with them. Let's just hope it doesn't take another hundred episodes for us to see the Mother in all her splendor.
The Big Bang Theory: Having written this show off as a one-joke pony early in its run, I’m glad I gave it another chance last season. It still relies too much on that signature joke (have one of the nerds say something nobody at home could possibly understand, causing us to laugh not at the joke itself but at the fact that we don’t get the joke), though its characters are so earnest and sincere in their utter cluelessness when it comes to human interaction that it becomes funny despite itself. Case in point: a woman was actually interested in Sheldon (Jim Parsons, wonderful in medium-sized doses) last night, to the point where she was practically throwing herself on him, yet he could not have been the wiser. Big Bang is at its best when it doesn’t make its viewers feel like morons for not being brilliant physicists themselves.
Chuck: How great is it to have Chuck back on NBC's schedule? That’s a rhetorical question to anyone who’s ever basked in the glory of this underrated gem. While it too can get a little nerd-intensive sometimes, the show’s real strengths lie in the tumultuously endearing relationship between Chuck and Sarah. Their feelings for each other go beyond will they/won’t they; it’s more can they/should they with these two, given that the CIA forbids agents to get involved and they can’t seem to decide what’s more important, their mutual love or their desire to serve their country. The spy-jinks are amped up this season as well, with Chuck now equipped with a mega-powered version of the Intersect, chock full of skills ranging from dance to music to kung fu to surgery. But no matter what kind of trouble our heroes find themselves in, it’s always the quieter moments that keep this terrific show centered.
On a separate note, Conan O’Brien has issued a statement to address his feelings about the NBC late night debacle. In it, the Tonight Show host laments the position he has been put in, having his hand forced only seven months into his run. “I sincerely believe that delaying The Tonight Show into the next day to accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting… I cannot participate in what I honestly believe is its destruction.” O’Brien expressed concern for Jimmy Fallon, whose show would also be affected by the changes NBC has proposed, and said that he has no other offers on the table. The statement doesn’t go so far as to say that O’Brien is quitting, though he minces no words in saying just how disappointed he is by this unfortunate turn of events.
In his monologue last night, Jay Leno said, “I take pride in one thing. I leave NBC prime time the same way I found it: a complete disaster.” You have to wonder, if this is the way Leno feels about the network that has supported him for nearly twenty years, even now to its own detriment, why does NBC continue to show such allegiance to him? It has been said that late night audiences simply use TV as a sleep inducer. Couldn’t that mean that more people simply found that they were able to fall asleep more soundly with the unfunny Jay on in the background than they are with Conan, thus accounting for Leno's higher Tonight Show ratings? I guess at this point, NBC will take all the eyeballs they can get, whether they’re open or not.
Friday, January 8, 2010
NBC in Trouble: Do Peacocks Shrug?
After months of speculation, NBC finally seems ready to admit that its experiment in torture also known as The Jay Leno Show—now averaging between four and five million viewers a night—just isn’t working. While no official changes have been announced, Variety is reporting that the network is about to move Leno back to his old 11:35pm home after the Winter Olympics come to a close. In one scenario, Leno would only do a half-hour show, focusing mostly on a monologue, with The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien to follow. If, however, O’Brien decides that he doesn’t want to be pushed around by the network that announced his succession of Leno five years in advance, Leno would take back Tonight and O’Brien would have to look elsewhere for work. Similar to what happened with Leno before he ultimately re-signed with NBC, O’Brien may have prospects at Fox or ABC, though those prospects would be greater if he wasn't finishing behind both Nightline and Late Show with David Letterman in total viewers.
All of these changes may be too little, too late for a network in freefall. Taking Leno out of primetime will open up five hours of programming that NBC is in no way prepared to fill. They are being aggressive in ordering pilots, but any series that come out of that group won’t be ready to air before the fall. Does this mean more episodes of Dateline NBC and reruns from the Law & Order franchise in the meantime? Probably. The network can also raid its cable siblings’ lineups and put on repeats of, say, a Bravo reality show or USA’s Burn Notice. Honestly, I’d rather they wait out the season with Leno at 10pm than throw on any old thing they can find as filler; at least Leno would be new. Dumping Southland a few months back suddenly looks even more boneheaded than ever. If there’s an upside to any of this, it might be that those who don’t subscribe to DirecTV may no longer have to wait until the summer to enjoy the brilliant fourth season of my beloved Friday Night Lights.
Friday, January 1, 2010
10 for '10
Last New Year's, I made a list of the shows you could look forward to in the early part of the year. While my predictions weren't all that sound (all but one of the new shows I picked—Fox's Lie to Me—has since been cancelled), that's not going to stop me from doing it again this year. What follows is a list of the ten shows, new or returning, I think will be worth your time in the months ahead.
1. Parenthood (NBC, premieres March 1, 9pm)—Originally scheduled to premiere in the fall but delayed due to actress Maura Tierney’s treatment for breast cancer, the series, from Friday Night Lights executive producer Jason Katims, finally finds a slot on the schedule with Gilmore Girls’ Lauren Graham filling in for Tierney. It’ll be interesting to see if Graham can rein in the kinetic style she honed to perfection on Gilmore to play a more subdued character. The show’s going to be saddled with a tough time slot opposite Two and a Half Men/The Big Bang Theory, 24, and Dancing with the Stars, so it’ll likely have to stand on quality over quantity when it comes to viewers tuning in.
2. Life Unexpected (The CW, premieres January 18, 9pm)—There are shades of the kind of show The WB used to do so well in this drama about a girl named Lux (Swingtown’s Britt Robertson) who is fed up with the foster care system and goes looking for her biological parents in order to become an emancipated minor. The judge who hears Lux’s case decides it would be best for her parents (Roswell’s Shiri Appleby and Mad Men’s Kristoffer Polaha) to share joint custody of the teenager, leading the trio to become the family they never allowed themselves the chance to be. That description sounds almost sickeningly sweet, but then so did the loglines for Felicity and Everwood and just look at what wonderful shows they were. If The CW can reclaim even an ounce of that old WB creative magic here, it could pay some serious dividends.
3. Lost (ABC, season premiere February 2, 9pm)—By the end of May, we’ll all know what’s up with that wacky island. Exec producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse have their work cut out for them if they’re going to satisfy loyal viewers who have spent the last five years trying to piece together all the clues that have been so delicately doled out. Expect the roar to be positively deafening if they don’t pull it off, but I have complete faith that the ultimate answer will be as thrilling as the entire journey has been.
4. Southland (TNT, premieres January 12, 10pm)—The cable net is going to re-air the seven season one episodes (with added scenes) of this gritty cop drama, which got better each week, plus the six second-season episodes filmed before NBC pulled the plug last fall. Season two promises to focus more on individual characters and have less of an ensemble feel than season one did. If that means more screen time for the wonderful Regina King, so be it. It’s too soon to know whether TNT has intentions of producing new episodes of its own. At the very least we get another chance to see these fine actors in a show that, by all accounts, they have great passion for.
5. Spartacus: Blood and Sand (Starz, premieres January 22, 10pm)—It says a lot when a network is so high on a show that it greenlights a second season before the first one has even started. Such is the case with this swords-and-sandals drama from exec producer Sam Raimi (Legend of the Seeker). Generally I would say this type of show isn’t for me—I seem to be the only person who thought the movie Gladiator was dull and overrated—but how can you deny such an extreme vote of confidence in a television climate that is exceedingly cautious?
6. Undercover Boss (CBS, premieres January 7, approximately 10pm; thereafter Sundays at 9pm)—Never in a million years would I have guessed this would be the show CBS chose to air after the Super Bowl. This is another case of a network being certain that it’s got something good. As the title suggests, corporate executives get a bird’s-eye view of their employees when they work alongside them anonymously. CBS thinks they’ve got the next big reality franchise on their hands; they could just have a variation of Wife Swap. Either way, I know I’m intrigued.
7. Sons of Tucson (Fox, premieres March 14, 9:30pm) —When their real father goes to prison, three young brothers hire a con man (Reaper’s Tyler Labine) to assume his role. Something incredible begins to happen as this decidedly unconventional group of guys gets to know each together: they become a family. The concept straddles the line between hokey and hilarious, and the whole thing will likely hinge on Labine’s performance. This could be the show that finally gives his smarter-than-I-look shtick the spotlight it deserves.
8. Romantically Challenged (ABC, premiere date TBA)—What would you sacrifice to be with Alyssa Milano? That’s the question on the table for Shawn (newcomer Josh Lawson) as he struggles with his feelings for Rebecca (Milano), a woman who has two kids and an ex-husband. I won’t hold the fact that it comes from Family Guy exec producer Ricky Blitt against it, especially when it features the drolly hilarious Kyle Bornheimer, last seen on the unfortunately short-lived Worst Week. Fingers crossed that ABC’s decision to trim the episode order from thirteen to seven is not an indication of the show’s quality, but merely a symptom of the network’s already full midseason slate.
9. Archer (FX, premieres January 14, 10pm)—With It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia bringing in record ratings in its just-completed fifth season and the winning new comedy The League coming back for season two, FX finally seems to have gotten a handle on its problems in the comedy department. They look to add to that success with Archer, an animated spy series that combines the irreverence of Sunny with the twisted sensibility of an Adult Swim cartoon. A preview episode in September got good notices from critics, so expectations are high for this one.
10. Winter Olympics (NBC, February 12-28)—If you’ve watched NBC for even a minute at some point over the last year, you know that the Vancouver Games are coming. Gross promotional efforts should not detract from the fact that the Olympics continue to be one of the world’s great unifying forces. For two weeks every two years, we have a common goal of peace in the interest of sportsmanship. The Olympics go far beyond who wins and who loses; it’s about the experience. And that experience can be just as awesome for the viewer as it for the athlete.
Most of these picks are made on gut feeling alone. I've not actually seen any of the pilots so it's impossible to know for sure whether they'll be good or not. But as a critic, I always hope for the best. And I've no doubt that you, as a viewer, do the same. Happy 2010, everyone!
1. Parenthood (NBC, premieres March 1, 9pm)—Originally scheduled to premiere in the fall but delayed due to actress Maura Tierney’s treatment for breast cancer, the series, from Friday Night Lights executive producer Jason Katims, finally finds a slot on the schedule with Gilmore Girls’ Lauren Graham filling in for Tierney. It’ll be interesting to see if Graham can rein in the kinetic style she honed to perfection on Gilmore to play a more subdued character. The show’s going to be saddled with a tough time slot opposite Two and a Half Men/The Big Bang Theory, 24, and Dancing with the Stars, so it’ll likely have to stand on quality over quantity when it comes to viewers tuning in.
2. Life Unexpected (The CW, premieres January 18, 9pm)—There are shades of the kind of show The WB used to do so well in this drama about a girl named Lux (Swingtown’s Britt Robertson) who is fed up with the foster care system and goes looking for her biological parents in order to become an emancipated minor. The judge who hears Lux’s case decides it would be best for her parents (Roswell’s Shiri Appleby and Mad Men’s Kristoffer Polaha) to share joint custody of the teenager, leading the trio to become the family they never allowed themselves the chance to be. That description sounds almost sickeningly sweet, but then so did the loglines for Felicity and Everwood and just look at what wonderful shows they were. If The CW can reclaim even an ounce of that old WB creative magic here, it could pay some serious dividends.
3. Lost (ABC, season premiere February 2, 9pm)—By the end of May, we’ll all know what’s up with that wacky island. Exec producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse have their work cut out for them if they’re going to satisfy loyal viewers who have spent the last five years trying to piece together all the clues that have been so delicately doled out. Expect the roar to be positively deafening if they don’t pull it off, but I have complete faith that the ultimate answer will be as thrilling as the entire journey has been.
4. Southland (TNT, premieres January 12, 10pm)—The cable net is going to re-air the seven season one episodes (with added scenes) of this gritty cop drama, which got better each week, plus the six second-season episodes filmed before NBC pulled the plug last fall. Season two promises to focus more on individual characters and have less of an ensemble feel than season one did. If that means more screen time for the wonderful Regina King, so be it. It’s too soon to know whether TNT has intentions of producing new episodes of its own. At the very least we get another chance to see these fine actors in a show that, by all accounts, they have great passion for.
5. Spartacus: Blood and Sand (Starz, premieres January 22, 10pm)—It says a lot when a network is so high on a show that it greenlights a second season before the first one has even started. Such is the case with this swords-and-sandals drama from exec producer Sam Raimi (Legend of the Seeker). Generally I would say this type of show isn’t for me—I seem to be the only person who thought the movie Gladiator was dull and overrated—but how can you deny such an extreme vote of confidence in a television climate that is exceedingly cautious?
6. Undercover Boss (CBS, premieres January 7, approximately 10pm; thereafter Sundays at 9pm)—Never in a million years would I have guessed this would be the show CBS chose to air after the Super Bowl. This is another case of a network being certain that it’s got something good. As the title suggests, corporate executives get a bird’s-eye view of their employees when they work alongside them anonymously. CBS thinks they’ve got the next big reality franchise on their hands; they could just have a variation of Wife Swap. Either way, I know I’m intrigued.
7. Sons of Tucson (Fox, premieres March 14, 9:30pm) —When their real father goes to prison, three young brothers hire a con man (Reaper’s Tyler Labine) to assume his role. Something incredible begins to happen as this decidedly unconventional group of guys gets to know each together: they become a family. The concept straddles the line between hokey and hilarious, and the whole thing will likely hinge on Labine’s performance. This could be the show that finally gives his smarter-than-I-look shtick the spotlight it deserves.
8. Romantically Challenged (ABC, premiere date TBA)—What would you sacrifice to be with Alyssa Milano? That’s the question on the table for Shawn (newcomer Josh Lawson) as he struggles with his feelings for Rebecca (Milano), a woman who has two kids and an ex-husband. I won’t hold the fact that it comes from Family Guy exec producer Ricky Blitt against it, especially when it features the drolly hilarious Kyle Bornheimer, last seen on the unfortunately short-lived Worst Week. Fingers crossed that ABC’s decision to trim the episode order from thirteen to seven is not an indication of the show’s quality, but merely a symptom of the network’s already full midseason slate.
9. Archer (FX, premieres January 14, 10pm)—With It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia bringing in record ratings in its just-completed fifth season and the winning new comedy The League coming back for season two, FX finally seems to have gotten a handle on its problems in the comedy department. They look to add to that success with Archer, an animated spy series that combines the irreverence of Sunny with the twisted sensibility of an Adult Swim cartoon. A preview episode in September got good notices from critics, so expectations are high for this one.
10. Winter Olympics (NBC, February 12-28)—If you’ve watched NBC for even a minute at some point over the last year, you know that the Vancouver Games are coming. Gross promotional efforts should not detract from the fact that the Olympics continue to be one of the world’s great unifying forces. For two weeks every two years, we have a common goal of peace in the interest of sportsmanship. The Olympics go far beyond who wins and who loses; it’s about the experience. And that experience can be just as awesome for the viewer as it for the athlete.
Most of these picks are made on gut feeling alone. I've not actually seen any of the pilots so it's impossible to know for sure whether they'll be good or not. But as a critic, I always hope for the best. And I've no doubt that you, as a viewer, do the same. Happy 2010, everyone!
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