Monday, September 22, 2008

National What?!?!

ABC is promoting its National Stay at Home, Sit Lazily on the Couch, Eat all the Snacks You Want, all as long as You Have the TV on and are Tuned to ABC Week.  Ok, that isn't the offical title, but I don't see how this week is any different than any other week for me since I seem to do all those things with or without premieres.  Hopefully, this week will provide more enjoyable viewing than June, July, August and for that matter with the strike most of last season.  

What this week really means is that I need to start making choices.  My DVR can only handle two shows at a time.  I have to figure out what I am watching while it happens, recording to watch in the future, going to have to go online for, and most importantly what gets cut.  

On the top of my cut list Do Not Disturb. While I found myself laughing a few times during the two shows I watched, I feel no connection to any character on the show.  Nor do I have any desire to tune in again.  A successful 30-minute comedy needs both funny and attachment or it is gone. 

How I Met You Mother has successful found that middle ground.  Both shows have a womanizing suited up male in the lead role, but Neil Patrick Harris has developed Barney Stinson into a perfect blend of crass and vulnerable.  Whereas Jerry O'Connell's Neil Danner is still a flat one-dimensional character.  I think the biggest difference is HIMYM is a relational comedy about friendships with a really great down to earth guy as the lead who is friends with Barney.  There must be a reason Ted would like Barney and that makes him intriguing.  They aren't exactly opposites, so what is it that makes them similar enough to be friends. Whereas DND is a situational comedy with no one to even out Neil.  Colleagues are not on the same level as friends.  Being paid to work with someone and choosing to be friends with someone place those relationships on different levels thus making the positives of the people they interact with at different weights with the viewer.  Besides the workplace there are no obvious common threads.  This doesn't mean that it is impossible to make a 30-minute situational comedy work.  The Office and 30-Rock have both proven it is more than possible.  It just means that it is more work on the writers, directors, and actors to create a reason to connect which is easier in a relational comedy. 

I definitely find myself drawn to relational comedies.  NewsRadio is the biggest exception to the rule for me.  

So, that leads to my newest set of questions - What have been your favorite 30-minute comedies, were they situational or relational, why did you like them?

Monday, September 15, 2008

SNL Funny Again, Sort of

Of course, it took a guest appearance from Tina Fey, but the opening of Saturday Night Live was hilarious this past Saturday. Michael Phelps came on and not only was painfully not funny, but seemed to suck the funny from the whole show. These are the times I am especially grateful for online video. For those of you who missed it, or need a daily infusion of funny here you go:

Saturday, September 13, 2008

I Don't Watch for Reality

Fringe premiered this week. My DVR once again conspired against me, this time a little more cruelly. It decided to record only half of the 2 hour premiere. I found the rest through Fancast that streamed through Hulu. Let me start by saying that I am highly impressed with the streaming through Hulu. It was seamless. I watched for an hour without any streaming issues. I have watched a fair amount of online shows and have never had it stream so well.

Now, on to Fringe. I loved it. I am chomping at the bit for the next installment. JJ Abrams created a $10 million movie of a premiere and it was amazing. It combined the excitement of Alias, the sarcasm and relationship development of Felicity, with a little Lost back story and intrigue. I was reading a completely unrelated article on Popular Mechanics (but one you should check out and digg all the same) this week that had a link to an article exploring the validity of any of what happened on this show actually being able to occur. I clicked the link, started reading, and realized I didn't care. In fact, I hope none of what was depicted on the show can happen.

What I realized was I don't tune into television for reality, not even the "Reality" shows I watch are reality. I sit on my sofa, turn on the television, and expect to escape. If I wanted reality I would watch the news, which I intentionally avoid. I don't tune into the History channel either. Television to me is a transport into world's that are not my own. I enjoy being a voyeur into other people's dysfunctional relationships, envisioning what the world might be some day, and choosing a competitor to cheer on for completely arbitrary reasons I couldn't judge others on in my own world.

Why do you tune in?

Friday, September 5, 2008

Redemption

Week one of premiere month and all I have to say is the CW is bringing back some of the WB and redeeming itself in the process. After Gilmore Girls and Veronica Mars were canceled I didn't know if I could watch any "new" shows on the CW. Then Gossip Girl came along last season and I realized one day a week I could tune in.

Fast forward a year and this Monday not only did Gossip Girl deliver a stellar opening to its sophomore season (minus the cougar storyline), but then One Tree Hill started with not only a Coldplay led soundtrack, but also the right girl was at the airport (I am looking over the creepy Dan storyline that I will have to fast forward through).

The "new" 90210 premiered Tuesday and I was surprised to find myself spending the first two days of premiere month glued to the CW. Familiar faces and even more familiar names, enough extravagance to make me want to date again (but only hot guys with their own jets and don't kiss on the first date), and new characters and story lines that keep close enough to the original not to alienate those of us die hards who not only watched every episode the first time, second time, and third time, but still tune in to SOAPnet for more. Plus a little mystery.... whose child is that blonde curly mopped child Kelly introduced as her son?

So, right not it looks like the CW is going to win 1/3rd of my viewing week. How did it happen? A departure from the reality shows and a return to hour long multi-generational dramadies. All three shows I watch have solid story lines for high schoolers and their parents. It seems that other networks have abandoned shows that will appeal to high school aged viewers and left that programming to the CW and MTV. Even Fox which made its name on the original 90210 has left that aspect of broadcasting behind. When they got big enough, they rid themselves of what set them apart... and the WB and eventually the CW stepped in. Let's hope the CW doesn't outgrow its fans too.