Category: Television

  • CBS Returns to Music

    After surrendering its music label to Sony, CBS is once again in the music business. CBS had found it increasingly difficult to arrange for new artist/song “visibility” in the highly competitive American market. Sony had folded the CBS label into its own, and has since failed to use the label name for any constructive purpose.

    It’s a new day in marketing, however, and CBS officials have raised their expectations of artist exposure and popularity. CBS plans to play music from the CBS label as soundtrack pieces for the shows airing on CBS, CW (formerly the Warner Brothers Network, WB), and other CBS owned stations. Primetime television soundtracks have exploded onto the scene within the past few years. The first show I remember seeing that both played real songs and promoted the artists was the alien / sci-fi show, Roswell, on the WB some five or six years ago. Perhaps there were other shows doing the same thing at the same time or before, but I cannot recall.

    In addition to television promotion, CBS will make label music available for download via Apple’s iTunes and also on CBS’ own website. More plans and strategies are expected to help the now fledgling sub-company get back on its feet.

    Television companies seem to hold a serious edge right now compared to all other non-radio forms of music advertising. People watch their favorite shows, and a good producer will tie in good music to enhance the feel and attachment from viewer to storyline. A well-placed ad at the end of each program (as done by Roswell) informing the audience of the name of the songs and artists included in the episode naturally persuade people to want that music.

    I bought Remy Zero’s album The Golden Hum, strictly because the song “Save Me” is the title song on the Smallville soundtrack. Of course, I previewed the rest of the album before purchasing because I can always buy songs individually on iTunes if the rest of the album isn’t as good. But this album had enough to persuade me to buy.

    It all began with watching a television show, and recognizing that the title song was a real purchasable song (though I don’t recall ever seeing advertising on the band during the show – I probably just wasn’t paying attention). I actually searched iTunes for Smallville because I wanted that song. That is the power of television episode soundtrack advertising.



  • Internet Replaces TiVo

    From ABC’s video player to CBS’ Innertube, the major networks have done away with most people’s need for TiVo. Go to abc.com or any of the other television network websites and you will find a media player allowing you to watch this season’s episodes of your favorite shows. Miss an episode of Grey’s Anatomy? Catch up on back episodes online. Don’t mess with programming a digital recorder or VCR.

    Why worry about it when the network provides the shows for free? I never get to watch NCIS any more. NCIS comes on at the same time as Standoff on FOX. I watch Standoff because my wife prefers it. Now I don’t have to miss my shows again. I can catch up on NCIS on lazy weekends. I might even start watching back episodes of Jericho, though it doesn’t interest me enough to watch during the week. I like the convenience of it. There are times when the Library is closed and I want to watch a movie or show.

    The library has become a valuable Blockbuster-esque resource. You’d be amazed at how many recent DVDs I can get ahold of for free. Still, as I said, the library has business hours that don’t always fit my schedule. Now it doesn’t have to matter. I can go online and catch up on my shows or start watching a new show from the first episode of the season. Pathetic, I know, to care so much about television. It’s all rot in the end, I suppose. But it is entertaining.


  • T. R. Knight

    There’s no more Grey’s Anatomy. Well, no more gratuitously excessive episode watching, that is. The show will go on in a few days, but it is the end of my sweet escape. The show is not as meaningful in small doses. If it cannot become a week-long obsession, it falls miserably short of it’s “intended” purpose. It’s sad what a person will turn to when smoking is no longer an option. For me, it has been Whataburger, Starbucks, and Grey’s Anatomy.

    I’m looking at my coffee table and wondering why I don’t feel the least embarrassed at the four Grey’s Anatomy DVD rental boxes sitting there. I’m not embarrassed. I feel no shame at all. And I don’t mind admitting that T.R. Knight, who plays the role of intern George O’Malley, is the most incredible television actor I’ve seen in years. He is the reason Grey’s Anatomy lasted more than a few episodes for me.

    Theodore Raymond Knight, born in 1973, leads an all-star cast of surgeons and interns. The five interns of Grey’s Anatomy form this beautiful dysfuncitonal family. They face the most hideous diseases and traumas imaginable and despite imperfect advice and lacking morals, they manage to learn how to support and love each other through it all. For anyone who has missed out on the opportunity of real quality family time with their parents and siblings, Grey’s Anatomy is one of those shows that presents us with a picture and a hope of a second chance at belonging.


  • Grey’s Anatomy Obsession

    I am 30 minutes away from finishing the second season of Grey’s Anatomy on DVD. Yes, I have actually watched all 27 episodes of season two in the past 10 days. And that includes a two-day sabbatical. Heather and I actually stopped the final episode because it’s nearly 3am and we have church in the morning. I’m not going to summarize this or any other Grey’s Anatomy episode at this time because I’ve already found too many blogs and websites out there who focus entirely on the show and its actors. There is no need for another recap.

    I do have some thoughts, however, and I will share them as they come, both now and in the future. There are different kinds of writers, you see. Some people are strictly factual reporters. Some are biased/sensationalist reporters, bending the story to fit a preconceived idea of what should be deemed newsworthy. Some are novelists. Some are poets. Others are playwrights. Then there is the columnist. The columnist takes the facts from the story, sifts through them, and finds little jewels of truth, insight, interest, and clarity which the others frequently miss. I am the columnist. I can be the poet and I aspire to be the novelist; but for now, I am the columnist.

    You know that voice that talks at the beginning and end of each show of Grey’s Anatomy? That’s me. Okay, not literally me. I am not a writer or speaker on the show. But that is my type. I’m the person who takes all the interesting, bizarre, and mundane aspects of life and searches for the moral, the lesson, the silver lining. Such morals, lessons, and silver linings cannot always be found. But with convenient little shows like Grey’s Anatomy, they are hard to miss. It is difficult to not notice the ironic similarity between the problems of the patients and the problems of the staff. They coincide nicely and neatly far too often to be coincidence… except that life is often just as coincidental. What am I saying? I don’t know… It’s 3am. I don’t have to make sense at 3am. More on this later. Get some sleep.


  • Actresses in Television vs Film

    Is it true that women have a better chance at quality female roles in television than in film? Katherine Heigl seems to think so. Grey’s Anatomy Insider reported at the end of a segment on Heigl that she deeply appreciates the opportunity to play a role on a quality television show. She expressed her opinion that “the roles are really great on television and they don’t really have that in film.” That comment struck me as odd, and I decided to think on it for awhile.

    Could it be true? After all the Academy Award winning actresses that have gone before? I thought, and I thought. And it turns out that there are still only a small handful of actresses whose talent I respect compared to several dozen actors. Why is that? Could it be the roles? Could it be that men really do have center stage some 90% of the time?

    Most movies do revolve around men. That’s why a list of quality current actors is so long. The overall plot may not always be the best, but the individuals come to the dance prepared. A very short list of quality Hollywood film actors includes Denzel Washington, Brad Pitt, Kevin Spacey, Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro, Anthony Hopkins, Tom Hanks, Morgan Freeman, Tim Robbins, Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio, Tommy Lee Jones, Jude Law, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, Edward Norton, Will Smith, Bruce Willis, Ethan Hawke, Ed Harris, Tom Cruise, Matthew McConaughey, Dennis Quaid, Harrison Ford, Antonio Banderas, Kiefer Sutherland, Colin Farrell, Hugh Jackman, Hugh Grant, Mel Gibson, Jack Nicholson, John Cusak, Robert Downey Jr., Dustin Hoffman, and so on and so forth.

    I could keep on going until the cows come home. I literally added ten names to this list after I had moved on to the next paragraph. My “A” list of film actresses is rather short (we are talking acting talent, not appearance): Susan Sarandon, Julia Roberts, Meg Ryan, Nicole Kidman, Rachel Weisz, Jodie Foster, Keira Knightley, Kristin Scott Thomas, Kate Hudson, Drew Barrymore (who I can’t stand), Natalie Portman, Gwyneth Paltrow, Diane Lane, Halle Berry. Cameron Diaz, Charlize Theron, Renee Zellweger, Cate Blanchett, Kate Winslet, Emma Thompson, Sharon Stone, Angelina Jolie, and Julianne Moore pretty much wrap up the list of actresses.

    Sure, a few are missing from the list, but even most of those in the list are questionable at best. But let’s not blame it on the men completely. True, too many starring female roles are given to beautiful, talentless women. True, they are chosen for the physical beauty, regardless of their actual acting talent. Some of these women have enough talent to play one type of role, but they don’t have the versatility to play multiple roles.

    Granted, there is a lot of type casting going on with male actors as well. Who ever thinks of Morgan Freeman except as a detective pursuing some psycho killer? Denzel Washington is the tough, independent speech maker who rallies the troops. Al Pacino is the master of grandstanding and dramatic speech. Anthony Hopkins is the eloquent, intelligent older man who always knows more than he tells. There are roles which seem formed and fashioned for the best of the best, and it’s easy to understand why they choose to play similar parts over and over again. Why mess with a good thing? Then again, you have the Nicole Kidmans who so stretch themselves to succeed in vastly different roles that you can’t help but respect her.

    Dressing up as an ugly woman is the kiss of death to an actress unless her acting skill is so far superior to her peers that she can walk away from the role still capturing the people’s respect and admiration. I had high hopes for Julia Ormond after Legends of the Fall, Sabrina, First Knight, and Smilla’s Sense of Snow. I thought we had a new leading lady for the big screen. It was not meant to be, apparently. Sure, she has starred opposite Bill Paxton and Benicio del Toro recently, but she’s managed to stay off the radar. I can’t blame her for avoiding the paparazzi, but I’m disappointed with the path her career has taken these past nine years.

    Inevitably, there are other one or two hit wonders out there who could have become better than good actresses, but it’s a cutthroat business. Katherine Heigl probably doesn’t stand a chance at a Julia Roberts-esque career, simply because she gives off this ditzy blonde image without even trying. I’m willing to give anyone a chance. And truly, if Drew Barrymore can make it in the business purely on the strength of her acting talent (and family history in the biz) then there is hope for other non-supermodel types with personality lurking in the shadows out there. All it takes is one good hit (and a stellar agent). And while we wait to see which leading lady, if any, will capture the silver screen, we have television shows like Grey’s Anatomy, LOST, House MD, Crossing Jordan, and Six Degrees to make up the difference.


  • Grey’s Anatomy Obsession Part One

    The past week has been a blur. Besides work, I have watched 21 episodes of Grey’s Anatomy, and that’s not counting the six episodes I watched a second time. Count up them hours, Maynard. That’s a lot of time spent. I’m hooked. I can’t say that I share the same value system as the writer of the show, but I sure do appreciate the humor.

    I will be saying this over and over again – George O’Malley is the best television character I can remember ever gracing the television screen. He is the funniest, most emotive, most entertaining guy I’ve ever seen. I feel exactly what he feels in each episode. That being said, I’m taking a much needed break. I still have 17 episodes left to watch, but I’m taking a two-day sabbatical. You know you’ve watched a lot of television when fictional surgical interns have conversations in your dreams. You become even more certain that you’ve watched too much television when you understand all of the surgical terminology within those conversations. I’m picking up a whole new vocabulary which I can’t even spell (that’s a first). So for the next two days, I will be intern-free.

    I will still watch House MD tonight on FOX, but that’s another story. It doesn’t count. As entertaining as House MD is, and it ranks within my top five shows of the season, it doesn’t compare mostly because the ongoing story isn’t as strong. The dialogue is dripping with wit, sarcasm, and humor, but the show is formulaic and always ends with the same conclusion – House throws out one diagnosis after another until one experimental treatment works and reveals the nature of the problem. The story line is weak and underdeveloped, which is sad because the actors are talented and the characters are interesting enough to make for a good story. No, it’s not the same. I watch House for the sarcasm and wit. I watch Grey’s Anatomy for the humanity, the sense of family, and the progression of the story.

    I do not watch ER or Scrubs or Nip/Tuck or any other wannabe hospital show. And I sure as heck don’t watch any soap opera hospital shows. Nope, it’s House MD or Grey’s Anatomy, end of discussion. Each delivers a unique brand of entertainment which I appreciate and value. That being said, I will now get back to work while daydreaming about the next episode. Call it obsession. Call it neurotic. Call it what you will. I call it being a fan who is excited about finding a show with two complete seasons to watch in succession without having to wait for commercial breaks or week-long intervals.


  • Deconstructing Grey’s Anatomy

    What is the message behind Grey’s Anatomy? I must confess that I jumped into the series mid-season, with no idea what I was getting myself into. I quickly jumped out after feeling like I was subjecting myself to a medical slutfest. Leave it up to Destiny Vandeput to spark interest in the show once again. Honestly, I should have her write for CultureFeast. The girl is a writing machine. She must have three or four blogs written a day on her MySpace page.

    Every show is narrated in the beginning, at the end, and at times in mid-show, by Meredith Grey, the lead role. Played by Ellen Pompeo, Meredith Grey is a second generation surgeon (well, intern so far) who is struggling to find her way in life. Meredith is flanked by four other interns, Izzie Stevens, George O’Malley, Cristina Yang, and Alex Karev. Keep in mind that I jumped into Grey’s Anatomy at the end of Season Two. I’ve been watching since then, and I just finished watching the complete First Season. Now I just have to catch the first half of Season Two. My details may be occasionally off base, due to the missing episodes.

    More to come.


  • The End of Eko?

    Season 3 / Episode 5 – Eko sees his dead brother walking the jungle. Eko confronts his brother and his past, and insists on having done his best with the life he was given. Eko meets the black cloud, is tossed around like a rag die, and dies in Locke’s arms. Locke, Desmond, Sayid, and two extras see another station via television monitor. A man with an eye patch covers the camera with his hand. Jack is in the middle of some sort of game between Juliet and Ben. Ben supposedly has a tumor against his spine and has captured Jack in order to have an operation. Ben admits to having planned to break Jack down in order to get Jack to want to do the operation. Juliet uses trickery to pass a message to Jack without being discovered by anyone monitoring.

    Juliet asks Jack to do the surgery and kill Ben, making it look like an unfortunate accident during surgery. We don’t trust them. It’s all a head game. For all we know, those x-rays of the spinal tumor don’t even belong to Ben. That’s what the LOST writers have done to us. Nothing is safe anymore. No assumption is obviously true. But just when you expect to find an even greater conspiracy, the mystery is gone and the truth was pretty close to the appearance. Jack is getting played, that’s all there is to it. Sawyer and Kate are probably getting played too. These Others are so impossible to figure out. They could be from any number of explanable origins.

    Eko was one of my favorite characters, and he will be missed. But with visions of the dead traipsing about the island, perhaps we haven’t seen the last of him… LOST has set a new precedent for television quality. The actors, sets, dialogue, and storyline are so far superior to the television shows of 10 years ago. It’s like getting to watch a movie in 40 minute segments once a week, only the movie lasts a little longer than two hours. When it’s all said and done, I will probably purchase each LOST season on DVD so I can watch them in sequence without waiting. There are very few television series out there that I would purchase on DVD.


  • Screwing with Television Schedules

    The past 12 months has seen more ridiculous programming interruptions than I can remember. It started for me last Fall during season two of LOST. Know this: if you haven’t watched LOST and you watch television, you are missing out. But last season’s programming schedule was so funky that some fans of the show checked out. Whatever the excuses, we the fans waited two weeks sometimes for a new episode. That’s ridiculous. I have heard that the reason for the delay was the late creation of the show in relation to the beginning of the season. So be it. I have not had any complaints against the show so far this season (except the apparent increase in commercial time – which is not the show’s fault). This year, it’s the World Series on FOX.

    Maybe it happened last year too. I can’t remember. I don’t pay attention to baseball. It’s bad enough that we don’t get to watch House MD or Standoff until the stupid World Series is over. But on top of that, some competing prime time networks refused to air new episodes of popular shows to compete against the World Series. I understand the strategy behind not “wasting” a single episode of viewers, but it also expresses a lack of confidence in the quality of one’s programming.

    If ABC has no faith in their shows to compete, they shouldn’t schedule them at all. To pull a show because it seems a given that the show will lose viewers to a sporting event is frustrating. The Superbowl is one thing. It’s one game on one night. But any sport that has multiple game championships does not deserve special privileges. I won’t even go into how ridiculous it is to have a seven game championship series (even for my beloved sport of basketball). That’s for another post. It is enough for now to say that I speak for many when I say that I am not happy to lose favorite shows due to a baseball game series. And since I’m on the subject, I have two complaints: who’s bright idea was it to move Kidnapped to Saturday? It’s a great show. What, it couldn’t compete with the others? Have you seen this cast? Delroy Lindo is the head FBI investigator. Emmy award winning Dana Delaney stars as the mother of the kidnapped boy. Academy-Award winning Timothy Hutton (of Nero Wolfe fame) stars as the father.

    If that’s not enough, Jeremy Sisto (White Squall, Suicide Kings, Hideaway, Clueless) plays the professional kidnap retrieval expert. He’s ex-FBI, and he breaks any rules necessary to bring kids back to their parents. It’s a great story. It’s another season long story, like 24 and LOST. It is not a carbon copy of any other show. And what about Crossing Jordan? I checked NBC’s online programming schedule three weeks ago and it had Crossing Jordan slated for Friday nights at 8pm EST. I went back to check again this week, and Crossing Jordan has disappeared. Now there’s a stupid gameshow instead…. I just did a little research and it appears that Crossing Jordan will appear around midseason. Why? I have no idea. The gameshow will move to 9pm EST supposedly.

    I’m not sure I believe it. Stations are becoming more fickle and unpredictable with every new season. Of course, the number of shows worth watching has increased too, but that doesn’t make up for the fact that even the TV Guide doesn’t know when a given show will definitely be on. Crossing Jordan was one of my shows.

    Don’t mess with my shows.


  • Last Comic Standing Might Save Reality TV

    The key word there is might. It’s at least a better show than Survivor or Big Brother 29 (how many times can you do the same stupid thing and make a profit?) At least here we have the chance to laugh. Okay, maybe you prefer watching people behave like selfish, spoiled, deceitful brats. That’s fine, really… you’re just proving the flaws of the American educational system. Eventually, the Last Comic Standing show will turn into the same soap operish slutfest that every other reality show becomes. Sadly, it appears to be the nature of the beast. Maybe the comedians won’t redeem reality tv. But at least I’ll laugh. At least I will be entertained.

    At least I will enjoy an ever so brief respite from the absurd waste of prime time television that is REALITY TV. I have to admit that the judges aren’t as biased as I expected. Naturally, the funny guy with cerebral palsy was voted most popular comedian of the night; and naturally, he made it to the next round. But he was funny. It wasn’t a fluke. Check it out on Tuesdays at 7pm EST on NBC. When everything else on prime time is a rerun, it’s better than nothing.

    Wow… I’ve really raised the bar of expectation for tv shows, haven’t I?