Although the writers strike has left me watching very few shows, one that will be watched by me (live tonight, and in most other cases, probably on the internet because 10 is past my bedtime) is Jericho. As I pointed out last year, this show has some interesting points, and since I've invested so much time into so far, I figure why not go for eight more episodes and see how it ends. I am less inclined to believe that the show will survive past this 8-episode run, particularly post-strike, but it's nice that CBS has afforded much more vociferous fans than me the opportunity for closure. See Thanks to the fans, 'Jericho' returns. Hopefully with the 10 PM show, they can finally explore some darker elements.
I will respond to someone's comment posted yesterday about tv generally, and I agree that there probably are not any new shows that I am planning on devoting any time to. One of my friends did in fact cancel his cable, but has told me that since his job consists of reading and writing and working all day, he has lost most of any enjoyment from regular reading. For me, at that point I need an hour or two to sit and watch tv and just not think about work. Are others in that same boat? I would hope not. I would much rather be able to leave by 6 and read the paper and go out than be a slave to the television set. (Which is why I think I prefer watching shows online at my own pace).
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Jericho returns tonight
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Regardless of this writers strike, Hollywood loses: Or, Why I am going to stop watching Heroes when it comes back on
Notwithstanding my efforts to contribute productively to the global discourse on more relevant topics, this entry is another jab at the goofy television industry. I saw an interesting article the other day that basically predicts that the result of this writers strike will have the same effect on Hollywood that the 1994 baseball strike had on baseball (or the lockout on hockey or the strike in basketball a couple years ago). See Julian Myers fears Hollywood's end is near. Julian Myers is some sort of Hollywood legend who doesn't have any webpages written about him, but I'll take the google search word for it. I agree that this strike is probably going to leave many people (myself included) watching far less television. This is a good thing.
After all, most of the television shows are pretty crappy anyway. Further, I see no problem in hiring so-called "scabs" to give network television another go. But if you're going to do that, why not call them for what they are: non-unionized college students. Granted, some of the shows on TV are pretty well done (mainly, Lost and some shows on pay stations), but they are the exception rather than the norm. I am positive there are some creative minds at various colleges and universities who would love to take ABC or another network up on their offer to come up with a new tv show. Why isn't that on the news anymore? If it works for Fox on American Idol for music, why not convert the television pilot premise into some reality show and then run the "winner" as a scripted sponsored series (for six episodes anyway)? My thoughts on what could make for a good television series are already written and could easily be applied. I digress, however.
My most recent example of just plain bad tv is the Sarah Connor Chronicles. My review of why that show sucked and should have stayed on the big screen is here. According to one source, the ratings for "day 2" of the Sarah Connor Chronicles series premier were decidedly poorer. Well, it shouldn't have taken a robotic time traveler to figure that one out.
Heroes, however, had a much better premise and has gone off the deep end and consequently, off my television list. I will not be watching it again. Essentially, I see two premises that the show will be unable to recover from. First, the whole time traveling thing. I don't need to explain why this was a stupid idea to begin with. I'll simply point to the latest problem that was created by everybody being able to regenerate and time travel: now you've got a storyline where some girl from the past is taken to an alternate future. How can you possibly and with a straight face get her back? And truthfully, why would you want to? For these same reasons, I will no longer watch Journeyman either. Talk about a show that started off slow (with some potential) but literally went slower. And backwards. Literally, not figuratively. Result of the six-episode run for Journeyman: Stop watching it.
Although unnecessary for explaining why I am no longer watching Heroes, I will support my reasoning for why Heroes will ultimately fail when and if it comes back on also because of the whole regeneration storyline. I can't even support going back to the original Sylar storyline because I have no more faith in the writers because (a) the finale promised resolution of that storyline (which it failed at miserably), (b) the finale predicted a far worse "boogie man" for season 2 (which it also failed at doing miserably, and brought back Sylar instead), and (c) the show epitomizes everything that is wrong with tv today. That alone should be enough.
In short, I can't waste any more time on Heroes (or Journeyman), either in watching it or in writing about it. I suppose I will entertain responding to comments on why my points are right or wrong, but I will not be devoting any additional time in writing an entry about it short of one of the show producers or a popular Hollywood magazine or newspaper asking for my comments.
I should have listened to my original prediction in finding that the show was too out of control from the beginning and that I should have given up on it much much sooner. I certainly will not be making that same mistake with Journeyman.
Perhaps a more practical entry on options to spend your valuable free time with will come tomorrow. In the meantime, I suggest reading a book.
Saturday, January 05, 2008
Late night gives up on doing reruns
I see from CNN that the striking writers are mad that the late night talk show hosts have decided to roll the dice and go back on the air. See Strikers hit Leno with criticism for punchlines. Apparently these late night hosts (probably with some prodding from their bosses and sponsors) have remembered the simple maxim "you don't get paid if you don't work."
This article struck me as funny and I am tempted to invoke the "I told you so" argument based on my prediction of this very event a few weeks back. As this strike has basically ended most of my television watching for the spring (which probably has added benefits anyway), for now I will simply rest on my original point that these strikers may be striking themselves out of a job.
As one of my non-law school/lawyer friends pointed out rather astutely, what is to stop the networks from getting some poor college student (or students) to work on writing a pilot for a few thousand bucks. Granted, I know how this wrecks the economics of the real world to some degree, but greedy college students will gobble this up, and probably not realize what they are actually giving up and who they are hurting until it is too late. But regardless if their show becomes the next best thing or tanks in the test market, it's a feather on the cap that they wouldn't have gotten otherwise. Personally, I can't wait to see what new crap gets spewed out in the next great drama series on any of the major networks thanks to new writers who decide not to join the union. It certainly can't be any worse than some of the ideas these union writers come up with over the past couple years.
I just wonder how long it is before some college drama professor decides to take his (or her) class into a new direction and with the aid of a site like YouTube, create something actually worth watching on tv. The better question I have is whether the effects of this strike will make people realize how much time they waste watching tv (myself included). Only time will tell how much of an effect this strike will have on the general television watching population. At least there's still reality tv....
