RANDOM THOUGHTS & OTHER MINDLESS DRIBBLE
Just What’s Your View On Entertainment Trends?
The television industry seems to be embracing cheap programming. While reality TV was somewhat interesting to me in the beginning, I bored with it rapidly. I must tell you up front, I have never managed to make it through a complete episode of “Survivor” or “American Idol”. I did watch some of the first couple of seasons of “Last Comic Standing” but as it got some age on it, that seemed to drag out. What we are being fed is “cheap TV”. An episode of “Law & Order SVU”, “The Mentalist” or “NCIS” can be pretty expensive to film. After-all, they have to pay live actors, with real credits and they have to have a pretty engaging story with a real plot written by a real professional writer. How stupid is the American consumer to believe that on “Undercover Boss” no one ever notices the camera man following around the executive that is supposedly “undercover”? Or that on “Survivor” the candidates are in real danger when the film crew is not out there eating nuts and worms.
NBC used to be one of my favorite networks but they have lapsed into complete boredom with night after night after night after night of “The Biggest Loser” and worse yet “America’s Got Talent”. It seems like it doesn’t matter what night I come in to watch TV, one of those shows is always on - and not for an hour - but multiple hours.
And these artists are supposed to be complete new findings that NBC simply just discovered. Come on, I have seen many of these acts before - most of them on campus stages over the last 20 years. And guess what, for the most part, they don’t even represent the cream of the crop.
Things would be a little better I suppose, if they didn’t drag out the episode like they were taking a lesson from the early days of Fox or even their cable counterparts. They have to spend time rewinding to show you the same frickin’ clip again and again and again - like maybe you missed it the first time and need to be reminded three of four more times. This stuff is so bad that it makes mediocre come-
dy and drama more appealing. And don’t get me started on “The Jersey Shore” or all of those “Housewives of Anywhere” disasters. Are we so stupid that we don’t know those shows were scripted? And if they were going to dredge the bottom of the river, couldn’t they find someone with a little bit of talent. Cheap is bad enough but Dirt Cheap is ridiculous.
There are still a few good shows on television. “SVU” is still one of my favorites although I liked the cast of the original “Law & Order” better. And NBC should get a big poke in the eye for cancelling “Harry’s Law” when they have so much other pure crap on their network. I thought Kathy Bates was sensational and
maybe they will have the good judgment to continue the show on one of their cable affiliates.
There are a couple of places where NBC still shines. No one does it better late night than Leno. The audience loves him and he crosses all demographic lines. The man loves what he does and it shows. SNL at one time seemed to be floundering a bit, but this past year, guest celebrities made all the difference. And NBC still gets my vote for more comprehensive and timely news. I like the new “Rock Center” but while I generally watch “The Today Show” for a short period of time each morning, CBS’ Morning Show seems to have the better guest stars and more relevant and timely information. Everything on the “Today Show” seems rushed and no matter what they are reporting on or who they’re interviewing, it seems to get cut short. For God’s sake, do fewer segments and finish the thought. There are way too may cooking segments and who cares about “Eat This Not That” right after a pie portion with Paula Dean. Tell me what did Ann Curry do to get the axe and suddenly without notice disappear from the show. But for me, CBS is the network to watch. Brilliant comedy, like “Two and A Half Men” even without Charlie Sheen and “The Big Bang Theory” puts me in stitches. I do like “NCIS” although I am not fascinated with the new “Hawaii Five-O”. Some of the most intriguing shows to watch are “The Good
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Wife”, “The Mentalist” and I have gotten to be a fan of “Person of Interest”. I still like “60 Minutes” and I always watch “CBS Sunday Morning” when I can because it covers such a wide variety of subjects.
While I have enjoyed watching some of the Olympics this year, it seems like a soap opera that just does not end and like a lot of people, I have wandered over to other networks. I have abandoned “The Today Show” in favor of CBS’ Morning Show” and have been pleasantly surprised. Just this morning, Charlie Rose’s interview with King Abdullah II of Jordan over the crisis in Syria was not only enlightening but exceptionally well done. And I got to see an excellent interview with Chris Rock as well as one with Mike Tyson. And you know what? Mike Tyson is much smarter than I ever dreamed possible. He has a new one-man show off-broadway that is getting some pretty astounding reviews. I was impressed how this beast of a man known for his violence had such a gentle side. These are my opinions and I am sure you have your own as well. Okay, we all know what they say about “opinions”.
Because I am older than many of you, I came from the golden age of television. I can remember sitting in front of the tube as a kid and watching Carol Burnett, Harvey Korman, Tim Conway, Lyle Wagner and Vicki Lawrence on “The Carol Burnett Show” and holding my side with laughter. This was my favorite show because of the skits. And how about Lucille Ball, Jackie Gleason and Don Knotts (The crazy deputy on the legendary “Andy Griffith Show”). But the list goes on and on with Dick Van Dyke, Mary Tyler Moore, “The Little Rascals” (The Our Gang Kids from Hal Roach) and of course “The Three Stooges.” There are just too many real legends to count here. Probably one of the best written comedy shows ever on television was “M*A*S*H”. Fifty years before Tyler Perry there was “Amos ‘n Andy” but that show is not PC enough for today’s audiences.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that everything we hear and see today is flawed. Again it is a matter of taste. But, if you get a chance to step back in history, you might get a kick out of what was funny or dramatic 20 or even 30 years ago. But not all of what was popular back then was all that intelligent either. Three words: “The A Team.”
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