Emmy Reading This Correctly?

I'm not sure anything I've watched during the past season toyed with my emotions the way reading this year's list of Emmy nominees did earlier today. It was like my brain was playing Twister with me, calling out one new color after another before I could possibly get my left hand on green.

First there was anticipation: would Lost - after last year's snub - get its due this year with a nomination for Outstanding Drama? Then there was curiosity: there's an Outstanding Choreography category? That was followed by a sense of 'who knew?': there's an Outstanding Commercial category. Next there was self-doubt: "Am I reading this correctly? I must have missed the mentions of Planet Earth." (I did, it picked up 7 nominations). Then the fireworks began, starting with a feeling of satisfaction: 10 nominations for 30 Rock, 9 for The Office; which quickly turned into tempered indignation: Lost getting only 4 nods, but in the right categories and for the right reasons; and finally downright contempt when, after I finished the list, I realized Elizabeth Mitchell's name was nowhere to be found.

Now, I'm grounded enough to know that none of this is really that important. After all, more often than not its nothing more than self-congratulatory Hollywood nonsense. But the same could be said of any industry's awards. Does anyone outside the field really care who the best plumbing supplier in greater Montpelier is in any given year? No, but the pipe pushers in Vermont do, and while I don't get to see how good those guys are at hawking hose I do spend an inordinate amount of time watching television. I have some favorite shows - and guilty pleasures - as well as some absolute must-not-watchers (Grey's Anatomy) and I am able to recognize quality work when it is put in front of me. In that context, I don't feel so ridiculous in my reactions to this morning's announcement.

A second look at the nominees reveals some well deserved recognition as well as some head-scratchers. Among the highlights and lowlights:

It was great to see both Michael Emerson and Terry O'Quinn (Ben and Locke respectively) of Lost get nods for Outstanding Actor, albeit in the supporting category. I think a case could be made for either or both of them to have landed a lead spot, perhaps taking Keifer Sutherland's place in that category. While Sutherland's work is usually pretty compelling, this iteration of 24 left him very little to work with and he felt like more of a supporting character in the last two-thirds of the season.

It was good to see Heroes get some respect - 8 nominations including Outstanding Drama - though it may be a little undeserved. A good show, but very uneven in it's first season, it started to coalesce into something greater than its parts just before it completely imploded with a disastrously disappointing finale. I agree with the suggestions that this nomination may be lip service to those of us who like serialized dramas. Mark Harris has a great article about this and other aspects of the nominating process at EW.com.

Top Chef is in the running for Outstanding Reality Competition, though it will have trouble against perennial favorite The Amazing Race and another Bravo standout, Project Runway.

Alec Baldwin is up against Steve Carell in the Lead Actor - Comedy category. Though I love Carell's continually oblivious performance, Baldwin was a major reason the audience kept watching 30 Rock until the show eventually found its footing and established itself as the best new comedy of the season.

Not to drift too close to fanboydom, but most of my discontent stems from how Lost was treated by those who do the nominating. It was a stellar season (yes, from start to finish) and the second best ep of the season, "Through the Looking Glass", rightly received nominations for writing and directing. How the series didn't make the cut for Outstanding Drama however boggles one's mind, especially in light of the fact that the season finale was quite possibly two of the best hours of primetime television I have ever seen. I like Heroes, but Lost is a far better enterprise. Though maybe both should be in the final list, at the expense of the glorified soap opera that is Grey's Anatomy.

Additionally, I am gobsmacked that Elizabeth Mitchell's portrayal of Juliet on the series was completely overlooked. She should have at least gotten a nod for Supporting Actress if not Lead. Her work was simply fantastic. In each episode she appeared she was asked to play a range of emotions in order to conceal the fact that she is at least a triple agent whose sole allegiance in the end is probably only to herself. I can't imagine anyone who voted for this category seeing any of her performances and not putting her at the top of the list. It's criminal to say the least.

At least, as viewers, we have the next two months to regain our composure. At which time the polka dotted plastic rug will reappear to remind us that the voting process makes no sense, and more often than not seems to be based more on soundbites and hype (read Harris's article) rather than merit. Well, merit wins the technical categories, but we don't get to see those. They apparently don't make good television. Oh the irony!

Skip Through The Ads My Darlin'

No wonder the majority of new shows each season tank - it turns out, in this era of DVRs and OnDemand programming, TV execs are spending more time finding ways to develop ad revenue than they are developing new series.

From a certain standpoint, I can appreciate this. Ultimately, if they can't sell ads, we won't get television for nearly as inexpensively as we do now. Unless we want a glut of a quasi-reality, American Idol type shows; cheap to produce and hand-over fist money makers.

The problem is they're focusing on the wrong problem. DVRs provide essentially the same function as VCRs, which have been around for close to 30 years. Why the sudden scare that commercial viewership is decreasing? Granted a DVR will allow you to only slightly time shift a program (say start watching it 10 minutes in), where with a VCR you have to wait until the show is done recording. However, with the limited numbers of DVRs in use I have to ask again, what is the sudden scare? It can't be any sort of pre-emptive strike, American businesses having proven time and again that they are too shortsighted to be proactive. So what is it that they are actually reacting to?

Got me. Even though I skip through the ads most times when watching recorded programs, I sometimes will stop and go back if something catches my eye. For instance I'm a big fan of the Mac ads, so if I catch a glimpse while one is going by at the speed of a freight train, I back up the program to check it out. Same goes for something that looks quirky or funny in high-speed; I'll go back to play it in real time to see if it was. When watching a show "live" however, I usually just change the channel to something else and wait out the commercial break - thank goodness for dual-tuner DVRs. In this scenario the advertisers actually fair better when I'm watching something I've recorded or time-shifted on the DVR.

Contrary to what they teach in business school, advertising can be successful without being in your face. A poorly designed ad will fail no matter how high it's volume or obnoxious it's presence. A well designed ad however, even one playing on a TV used primarily as background noise, can still catch the interest of the essentially uninterested viewer. So can a well-thought-out product placement.

You know what I remember more than the commercials that aired during an episode or season of The Office weeks or even months after it has ended? The fact that they have Staples products strewn throughout the Dunder-Mifflin complex. The irony of this juxtaposition makes this memorable enough, but the fact that I notice, and chuckle at it every week makes it even more so. Staples is getting every bit of their money's worth out of that deal.

Product placements can work, and don't necessarily have to lessen the integrity of the show. Of course, if they are done poorly and out of context - see the J&J Acuvue placement in a Smallville episode from a couple seasons ago - the results can be horrific. I'm willing to risk it however, if for no other reason than the hope that it might free up some time for the suits to work on giving us some innovative programming.

Season Finale Highlights and Lowlights

Lots of big doin's in the past week. Here are some of the highlights (and lowlights):

The Simpsons - The finale actually consisted of two unrelated episodes, the second being the series' 400th. The first episode however was my favorite of the two. I love The Simpsons, but I rarely watch the episodes in their first run anymore; I either wait for syndication or the DVDs. However, when I saw they were doing a 24 parody I couldn't pass. This ep was spot on (did I see Jack with his man bag?) and so good in fact that I want more Simpson's episodes in this style. The second episode was good too, if for no other reason than Homer's letting us know that he learned from Fox news that "Mexican gays are sneaking across the border and unplugging our brain-dead ladies". Looking forward to the movie this summer.

The Office - A classic episode, and a great way to end a great season. Michael's going nowhere, Jim's got a date with Pam, and Ryan will now be Michael's boss. His exchange with Kelly after his phone call from corporate was fantastic. As was the barely noticeable comment from CFO David Wallace that the corporate HR guy is kind of a jerk. The table has been set for what should be a hilarious fourth season. My only concern is that NBC has apparently ordered thirty episodes for next season. That's 1/3 more the funny; it may be hard to pull off.

24 - This episode was better than most of it's predecessors this season, but still indicative of the unevenness of this sixth season. It was good to see the return of Jack's man bag, but his final confrontation with his father was a bit of a let down. Plus wasn't it just super-convenient that Audrey's house was only a four minute walk from the spot where Jack jumped off the helo? Lots of stories about the producers hearing our frustration and making some significant changes for Jack's next long day. Let's hope they're true.

Lost - Thank goodness for DVRs. I don't think I would have remained mentally stable (relatively, of course) if I had to wait through each commercial break of what was an especially intense and simultaneously uplifting and browbeating two hours of television. The game has definitely changed, and I didn't really see it coming until Jack was alone in his pad with countless maps of the South Pacific. The only other clue I picked up in my initial watching was how new his cell phone looked, but I thought maybe that was just a prop dept. mistake. What a great episode: action, emotional engagement, a good number of loose ends tied up, and several more laid out. I can't wait to see how the show will reconcile its "new" format with the need to tie up all the other loose ends that still exist. Who's funeral do you think it was nobody showed up for?

Smallville - A little uneven, like the rest of the season. Lana's death was a (self-planned) setup telegraphed by the unnecessary delivery van that passed in front of her right before the explosion. I was really hoping Lois was actually dead and Chloe was going to take over her identity for some reason. I'll be sad if Chloe is really dead, cause the actress is much more likable than the chick who plays Lois. The appearance of the Martian Manhunter and Bizarro was cool, but could have been much better executed. This show never allows for more than five minutes an episode for its climactic scenes, and it usually results in a bit of a letdown, just like...

Heroes - I loved the final episode, right up until the last scene with Nathan jetting Peter off to safely explode in the atmosphere. I don't really care if Nathan's dead, but if they really killed off Peter I may stop watching; it's like killing off Superman in a Justice League scenario. The two episodes leading up to the final had a lot of build up to what was billed as a spectacular confrontation. Well, there was a confrontation, but it wasn't very spectacular, and it lasted less than three minutes. Peter used none of his powers to stop Sylar, instead absorbing Nikki's strength to knock him around until Hiro showed up to deliver the fatal blow. This begs another question. Why couldn't Peter just fly himself away? Why did he need Nathan? Hiro's eventual landing in Ancient Japan is interesting, but like a lot of other viewers I felt a little insulted by how weak a job was done of wrapping things up. This show had a good first season, but I think a lot of that was based on faith. I kept watching, even though I wasn't totally connected with any of the characters, for the promise of what the show could be. It seemed like in the last few episodes it might live up to that potential, but then at the last minute it tripped. I just hope in can pick itself up for season two.

"30 Rock" Gets 'That Sweet Cuyahoga Glow'

Last night's episode of 30 Rock was fantastic! So why aren't more people watching it? In the overnight Nielsen ratings for Thursday it pulled a 3.3/5. I know it's on against Grey's Anatomy and all, but I can't imagine that those two shows are competing for the same demographic. (I would never even consider watching Grey's, and I haven't since being turned off during the first ten minutes of the pilot.) When you factor in that The Office (30 Rock's lead-in last night) pulled a 4.0/7 for a re-run it gets even harder to understand. Both shows share a similar understated sense of humor, terrific writing, and great acting.

30 Rock is consistently funny week after week. The writing is stellar, just witness last night's ode to Cleveland for example. Or the recent multi-episode arc involving Tracey Morgan's character trying to find backers for his Thomas Jefferson biopic while on the run from "The Black Crusaders"; a secret group of celebrities fighting black exploitation and stereotyping that includes, among others, Bill Cosby and Gordon from Sesame Street, and who apparently meet quarterly in the skull of the Statue of Liberty. (If you missed last night's episode you can check out it at http://www.nbc.com/Video/rewind/full_episodes/30rock.shtml)

Thankfully, the show's already been renewed for next season. I just hope it can drum up a little more business so they don't pull the plug. It really is probably the second funniest show on television right now; behind The Office of course.

The Finest Circumstantial Humor

Yesterday's Mike and Mike in the Morning on ESPN2 featured a fun discussion between Mike Greenberg and guest host Tim Kurkjian about their favorite sitcoms of all time. Audio for the segment is available here. For the record, Greenberg's number one was Seinfeld while Kurkjian's choice was Get Smart.

This got me thinking about what my list of top sitcoms (or at least favorites) would look like. Without question the two best sitcoms of all time are Seinfeld and Cheers. Seinfeld is quite possibly the best written comedy to ever grace the airwaves (especially those seasons with Larry David at the helm). Cheers had solid writing for all its 11 seasons, but what I think really made it work was the chemistry among all the actors and most of all their comedic timing. Even when a joke was less than stellar (which wasn't very often), the delivery more than made up for it.

After those two, I have trouble with the rest of my top five. I'm tempted to immediately throw Arrested Development, The Office, The Simpsons, and Curb Your Enthusiasm into the mix. But does that have more to do with how fresh they are in my head? What about all those shows from decades past that I know and at least remember loving at the time? That brings up another dilemma. Are those oldies as good as I remember, or is nostalgia clouding my rearview?

Fortunately, we have a number of outlets like Nick-at-Nite, TV Land, YouTube, and sydnication to judge how well many of these shows have held up. Some shows I remember watching religiously when they originally aired, I find almost unwatchable now: MurphyBrown, Frasier, Mad About You, The Brady Bunch, Three's Company. Perhaps these shows were great in comparison to their contemporaries, but for whatever reason these guys just don't stand the test of time. (An aside here- John Ritter was fantastic on Three's Company, but the writing was just too simple and redundant to make the show a classic).

Other shows have aged better, but still don't quite reach the level of classic: Family Ties, The Cosby Show, NewsRadio, Wings, Newhart (the 80's version), Happy Days. Actually, most of these are still really funny, but there's just something there that doesn't quite elevate them to that next level.

Then you have the classics: Dick Van Dyke, Mary Tyler Moore, Bob Newhart (the original from the 70's), The Odd Couple, All in the Family, I Love Lucy, and The Honeymooners. These are all great shows which continue to be funny 30, 40, and 50 years later. They have truly stood the test of time, but only one will make my top five. (A lot of people would add M*A*S*H* to this list, but I have never once actually laughed during an episode of that show.)

For some reason I felt compelled to add The Mary Tyler Moore show to my list. Though I hadn't seen it in a while, I remember it being very well written and acted, and most importantly, hilarious. I thought I would refresh my memory at YouTube, and after watching the two clips below I put it at number three without hesitation.

So my final top five looks like this:

1. Seinfeld
2. Cheers
3. Mary Tyler Moore
4. Arrested Development
5. The Office

Time may change my mind on 4 and 5, but it'll be tough. Think about what these five shows all have in common and you can see why each is a classic in its own right.

Have your own top-five or want debate my list? Leave a comment below or send an email to cathoderadiation@gmail.com.

For more fun, check out the Mike and Mike segment where they play name that tune with TV sitcom theme songs, it's pretty good. Also take a peek at this list of sitcoms from Wikipedia. There were more than a few in there I had completely erased from my memory banks.

Suckers!!

That's what I have to say to all those people who gave up on Lost. Last night's episode, "The Man From Tallahassee", was the best this season and ranks up there with the last third of season two's run, which in my opinion was just brilliant television. If you haven't seen it yet, stop reading and go to abc.com to watch it.

We finally found out how Locke got into the wheelchair, and though the manner in which it occurred was shocking, we hardly even cared by the time they got to it because so much other stuff happened. Jack and Juliet were set to leave the island pronto, Sayid and Kate get captured, and Locke squares off against Ben/Henry Gale in some of the best back and forth I've seen on any show (obvious exception being The Office) in a long time. By the way, I was dead-on with my destroying the sub theory, though I'll admit I was a little off with my views on Jack - seeing how he was scheduled to leave at dawn - but I'm not convinced I'm entirely off-base, especially since he isn't going home anymore. It was pretty significant that Tom let him in to see Kate and that he warned him about the bugs in the room. (If you have no idea what I'm talking about read my recent post "Theories, Theories".)

Not only that but how awesome was Sayid's exchange with Alex? "How do you know my name?" "Because you look like your mother." That's ranks up there with last year's "..but I still did not believe you, so I dug up that grave". And then Jack's stare at Locke after he blew up the sub, priceless.

I have to admit I wasn't quite surprised Locke's dad was there on the island at the end though. Right near the end when Ben looked in on Locke I thought to myself "where is this man from talla...oh, I bet it's gonna be his father". Other bloggers picked up on it quicker than that, but like I said there was so much going it was easy to miss the telegraphing. Anyway it should be interesting to see how he got there. My guess is there is more to it than just the Locke connection, because I'm pretty sure he is the "real" Sawyer. According to some other blogs, I'm not the only one. Some people complained about the possibility of him being pulled out of Ben's "magical box", but I think that is more a metaphor for something else going on. If it was supposed to be literal, then Locke's joke about conjuring a new sub would have been a realistic possibility in Ben's mind.

Though I had no problems with the eps that aired in November, I do believe ABC erred in airing this season broken up the way they did. Unfortunately, those not patient enough to stick around are missing out on a show that is still thoroughly in its prime.

For some other reaction to last night's ep check out:

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20015692,00.html

http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/2007/03/lost_its_my_loc.html

http://www.eonline.com/gossip/kristin/blog/index.jsp?uuid=fe204412-831d-486a-969d-a109b222758a

Revisionist Office History

Not that I need incentive to watch reruns of The Office (I've already watched seasons one and two multiple times on DVD), but NBC will be airing deleted scenes of the show's previously original episodes during their subsequent rerunning in the coming weeks.

The whole story can be found here. Sounds like we might be getting some updates on how Andy's anger management courses are going. Sweet!

Happy New Year!

You may have noticed that my last post was a few weeks ago. Obviously the holidays played a big part in my lack of posting, but that's not the main reason I haven't written lately. Quite frankly, there has been nothing to write about. There has been absolutely nothing on TV the last few weeks. I mean nothing. Not even good bad-movies. This past week was finally a bit of a reprieve because they started to show decent reruns on NBC, but there has really been a lack of anything interesting to watch the last couple weeks on either network or cable TV.

I don't usually watch a whole lot of holiday programming, though I was excited that TBS played National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation a couple times. That wasn't enough however, to make up for the lack of anything interesting. I'm not sure if programmers thought people weren't going to be watching television with their time off this year, or if they are just trying to rotate newer reruns and movies into their schedules, but even the cable channels didn't really pull out the compelling stuff. Heck, TV Land has a treasure trove of old shows they can pull from, and they love to do marathons, but all we got the last couple weeks were the same old episodes of Sanford and Son and All in the Family. Where was Cheers, Benson, Night Court, or Miami Vice?

A lot of times I'm not even looking for something to sit down and get lost in, but rather something I can put on as background noise that is at least a little entertaining. TNT came through today with a Law and Order marathon, but otherwise I was a little disappointed with this year's holiday offerings.

Luckily I got some TV on DVD for Christmas, including Seasons 1 and 2 of The Office. I can watch those episodes a million times and find something new each time. Last night was the first time I saw the "Office Olympics" episode and I realized that that episode is where the show hit its stride. They subtly shifted Michael's character from an oblivious jackass to an oblivious jackass with a heart. This makes a big difference, allowing the viewer to enjoy his outrageous inanity without being turned off. It's what makes this show one of the best on television. That and the origami doves Pam made for the closing ceremonies.

Roundup and Recap

Reports of the Sitcom's Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated
USA Today this week had a great interview with producers from the shows making up NBC's revamped must-see-tv block on Thursday nights. Among the topics are ratings, the new style of sitcom, and as always, whether the sitcom is dead; to which Bill Lawrence, exec. producer of "Scrubs", has the best answer I've heard in a while:

The only thing really dead about comedy right now is that everybody has so many options about what to watch that crappy comedy is dead. Crappy television is dead. The days of putting anything on at 8:30 just because it's after a hit and expecting people to watch it, I think that's over with.

Of course crappy television isn't quite dead yet (somebody put "Twenty Good Years" on the air after all), but his point is a good one.

Shielded Cable
Also in USA Today, speculation that broadcast decency standards may be applied to basic cable in the not too distant future. I'm a still on the fence about that. There's a lot of questionable stuff on some cable channels even during the middle of the day. But nobody's forcing me to buy basic cable, and most cable boxes these days have more parental control options than they do channels. Plus, the only chance I get to watch "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report" is when they're rerun at 8am, and I'm pretty sure a change in the rules would take that away from me.

Fake News Alert!
Speaking of the "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report"; executive producer for both shows, Ben Karlin, has decided it's time to move on. Luckily he will stick around as a consultant. Get the whole skinny from the NY Times here.

30 + 60 = 90 Minutes of Quality TV
Alessandra Stanley compares "30 Rock" and "Studio 60" in an interesting piece in the New York Times. She likes both shows, but notices many of the same annoyances with "Studio 60" that I do.

"30 Rock"s on!
Good news for fans of "30 Rock", which includes me. NBC has picked up the show for a full season. Details are here at zap2it.com.


Quick Recap
Solid episodes this week from "The Office" (of course), "Heroes" and "3o Rock". I didn't get a chance to watch "Studio 60" yet. First there was Monday Night Football, and after that I was a little busy with the Superman box set that came out this week.

I saw my first broadcast of Thursday Night Football. Not only wasn't I really interested in the match up (though I do have Baltimore's defense in my fantasy league), but I had a hard time with Bryant Gumbel doing play-by-play. There's something off-putting in his nasally, high-pitched delivery that doesn't really go too well with football. I'll take Greg doing a game any day.

Friday night marked the first on-screen appearance of my brother-in-law Ken. Usually he works behind the scenes, but last night he got some face time and stole the show, leaving at least one viewer (his sister) asking for more. Nice work Ken!