Monthly Archives: February 2007

February 13, 2007 · 10:28 pm

American Idol Goes Hollywood

Hollywood Week is perhaps the greatest thing ever. We start with people who think they’re good, and then we take those cocky individuals and throw them into groups where their personalities clash right into the middle of the night.

It’s where people forget their lyrics millions of times, to songs that they really should be able to learn much quicker than this (Harmonies aside). It’s where people who were cute stories back in the other auditions turn into the mediocre singers they are.

It’s also where a ringer, someone like Bailey Brown, gets dramatically cut after remembering about 5 words out of her lyrics. And then one of her groupmates explains that Bailey was cut because “God likes good people.”

It’s also where My Grammy Moment winner Robin Troup shows up in the Group singing competition only to end up being cut…and then months later ending up on stage with Justin Timberlake.

Really, Hollywood Week is perhaps the most satisfying part of the American Idol season. There are no hideously horrible singers, plenty of mistakes to make fun of, and some truly good singers who make it in the bigtime. It’s where we see them singing tough harmonies, weird song choices, and a WHOLE lot of crying.

What was really interesting to me was the difference in the endings of people’s journeys. For some that we might have expected to break down, like the girl who lied to her father, she was oddly calm about going in the first round, happy to have made her father proud. Others, on the contrary, were complete and total messes, fighting to the end.

Everything seemed topsy-turvy. They show us someone who did really well, who was really well-liked…and then they’re crushed. The show ended with people’s tears, all upset with the decision of the judges to cut them from the Top 40. It ended on a brother/sister pairing being split up, as well as a pair of snotty best friends (Including “God likes good people” girl. Touché, big guy.)

I don’t even know how to feel right now. Should I feel sad about the people who lost? Happy for those who won? What do I do with these close relationships? Should I be remembering those we chronicled and then lost on the way through? Or looking forward to some of these people that we never even got to meet? Honestly, out of the Top 40, I recognize almost none of them. All we got to see were those who lost tragically.

It’s really just another example of the schizophrenia within this season. Everything seems so strangely off-key, if you’ll pardon the pun, compared to past seasons. I feel like the rug is constantly being pulled out from under us as we watch, never really able to root for someone without worrying that they’re about to go out in a blaze of misplaced glory. It’s, honestly, quite unsettling.

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February 13, 2007 · 9:22 pm

The Superpower Bauer Hour Showdown: Week Four

This is going to be a quick one, based on not only time but also a level of disinterest in last night’s episodes…well, one of them anyways. 

Round One: Overall Quality

24 offers two hours, so perhaps it isn’t a fair comparison, but it certainly stepped up to the plate in terms of plot advancement. There was an expansion of the presidential removal conspiracy, the reveal of Gredenko, expansion on Philip Bauer, and some good action scenes (Jack + Shotgun FTW). Things with Morris were perhaps cleaned up a bit too quickly, but that’s just how the show is. 

Heroes, on the other hand, was just awful. Mohinder/Sylar is a fine comedic pairing, but there was just so much nothingness on the other side of things. Making Parkman a security guard was a nice excuse to get him into the storyline, but it did nothing for his character. I should be happy about a Peter-free episode, but I’m not; his storyline was for more interesting than the rest of this crap.

Round Two: Ratings

From TheFutoncritic.com… 

“Heroes” (households: 8.8/13, #4; adults 18-49: 6.3, #2)

FOX (households: 7.9/12, #2; adults 18-49: 5.0, #1) snagged a rare first place win among adults 18-49 on Monday thanks to new episodes of “24” (households: 7.7/12, #7; adults 18-49: 4.9, #T5) and another “24” (households: 8.1/12, #6; adults 18-49: 5.1, #3). 

Long story short, Heroes won the head-to-head battle, but the two hours of 24 were able to build FOX to a 18-49 win, which is a huge deal. Still, I’ll give this one to Heroes. Just for fun. Not like it will matter.

Round Three: Worthless Storyline Watch 

24’s most worthless storyline right now is Sandra Palmer…who was absent through both hours. Woot!

Heroes has multiple worthless storylines. Mohinder has no momentum, Hiro has indeed lost his purpose (As well as my patience), and Niki the contract killer? Snore. The show has nothing going for it right now, other than Peter…who they left out of this one. Unless he’s really perfected that invisibility trick.

And the…aw, come on, it’s pretty obvious, but anyways…the winner is… Continue reading →

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February 12, 2007 · 12:19 pm

The Pros and Cons of Survivor: Fiji

Now, before I begin, let me note that I watched this from about 3:30am to 4:10am in a hotel room in Antigonish on Friday Night, so perhaps my mind wasn’t as sharp as it could have been. Also, this will be replacing Thursday Night TV Club this week, purely based on my current schedule crunch. That being said, let’s get to it.

Pro: Contestant/Audience Confusion

Seasons of Survivor that start with watching 19 confused individuals try to figure out what the hell to do are often the best. The season started with all 19 on one island, building a shelter together and being forced to work together with no idea what was coming next. It reminded me somewhat of the Pearl Islands shopping excursion in that it was a neat shift of pace in the opening episode that kept me interested far more than last season’s racial divide.

Con: Mark Burnett is ripping himself off

The latest season of The Apprentice started in exactly the same way. Everyone works together to build a tent, two leaders are selected to head the teams, and then they schoolyard pick from those teams. If one of the contestants had not backed out of the game so soon before its opening, it would have turned out in exactly the same fashion. It just made Survivor seem somewhat repetitive, although it is the better reality show overall. Continue reading →

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February 12, 2007 · 1:44 am

Five Notes on the 49th Grammy Awards

The Grammy Awards are an elaborate affair designed to highlight the year’s best in music. This year’s awards show was a jumbled mess that was firing on one cylinder at a time, never quite reaching its pinnacle. It was an absolute failure in so many ways, although some areas hit, so let’s look at the 5 stories that I think the Grammy Awards and the public need to note for the future.

5. Awaking the (Literally or Musically) Dead

I understand the idea behind offering so many awards for lifetime achievement, but it drags down an actual awards show. If they’re that committed to honouring like 12 of them, it would be in their best interesting to do it all at once, as opposed to being spread throughout the show. It gave it a constant feeling of trying to mine the past, as if there wasn’t enough content this year to draw from. Instead of a 4-song tribute to The Eagles and…I don’t even remember the other group, how about working in performances by people like Nelly Furtado? And, if you are going to recognize someone, for the love of all things good don’t let Rascal Flatts cover their songs. They absolutely murdered Hotel California, it made my head spin. And, while the robe placement was a classy touch, Christina Aguilera doing the James Brown tribute was downright bizarre. It just dragged down the show more than it needed to.

4. The Chris Brown and Carrie Underwood generation

Well, according to the Grammys, these are the only young artists worth noting at this point. After James Blunt got absolutely hammered in big categories (Backlash for the song’s success, likely), it was left to these two to be shoved down our throats by the Academy. Underwood performed as part of the “country” medley (Please note: The Eagles, much like Tom Cochrane, are not “country,” so both Disney/Pixar and the Grammys should pick a band that isn’t), and then won Best New Artist for herself as well as picking up Best Female Country Performance. Brown performed as part of an R&B Showcase, and then did a dance tribute to James Brown before the aforementioned robe presentation. These two were pegged as the stars of the future (On this note, my favourite joke of the evening: As two small kids start performing with Chris Brown…”He really IS the next Michael Jackson!”), and I wonder to what degree that will be the case. I hate to see them get the spotlight over someone like Nelly Furtado, who had a much bigger impact on pop culture this year. Continue reading →

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February 8, 2007 · 11:19 am

An Open Letter to The CW

Dear The CW,

So, how’re things? We’re now into the sixth month of your existence, and I’d like to be frank with you. I greatly appreciate your efforts to offer youth-oriented programming, and you’ve managed to develop America’s Next Top Model into a buzz-worthy program on the same level as other reality shows. And yet, as we enter your sixth month, I have a message for you: you need a complete makeover, in every possible way.

Now, I know that this might seem drastic, but let’s consider this year as a bit of a practice run. You just weren’t the huge success that they wanted you to be, all you could do was increase demo numbers in women from 18-34. This is good, and all, but there has been no breakthrough, no tremendous change; there is not yet a CW identity.

I know it’s difficult, when you’re taking on mostly shows from other networks, you’re not going to be able to suddenly brand everything together. UPN was a network that focused primarily on an African-American and female audience, while The WB appealed to families and young adults. These are two identities that can’t just be integrated overnight, it takes time.

This wasn’t helped by a few decisions that most definitely did not prove beneficial. The decision to keep 7th Heaven was a detriment to both of these images. It was clear that the family focus of the WB was headed out the window, the show only served to confuse your message further. Couple this with the decision, financially motivated, to renew Reba, and you’ve got a Sunday Night lineup that lacks any relation to the rest of your audience.

But, this isn’t your only problem. Even with this Sunday lineup, there was a chance to define something new that could be built on in the future. And yet, for two reasons, this failed. Continue reading →

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February 7, 2007 · 9:04 pm

Lost – “Not in Portland”

Considering that this will be posted two hours before the ABC airing of the episode, this will contain spoilers. So, if you want to know what happens later, keep reading. If you haven’t watched it yet, I suggest you don’t.

FINAL SPOILER WARNING Continue reading →

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February 7, 2007 · 10:27 am

Dangers of the Lost (Mini-)Arc: Season Three Continues

There are a large number of things to say about Lost these days. TV critics have been up in arms, viewers are apparently turning away in droves, and the hype machine which once led Lost into the Stratusphere is allegedly disappearing at an alarming rate. Ratings are dropping, and an attempt at a no-rerun 6 episode start to Season Three simply provided more fuel to the fire. Well, most of the things I have to say on this issue were covered today by the Elder in a piece I pretty much agree with 100%.

It is my belief that Lost has been unfairly placed in front of a giant rolling ball of doom. I don’t think that anything about the show should have people up in arms, and people are being more unreasonable than they realize. The Elder focuses on pretty well all of the major points, but there’s something that he doesn’t quite hit on that I think is incredibly important.

I don’t know how anyone could possibly HATE Lost after having liked its first season. You could grow bored, which is reasonable if not my personal experience. You could find you no longer have time to keep up with its plotlines, and that’s ok too. Maybe the show’s new late US timeslot of 10pm EST is too late for your early morning schedule, and I completely understand. You could get frustrated with the show’s quality in your eyes, which I think everyone does.

But this backlash of hatred flying all over the place is ridiculous. It has gone past frustration, and become a downright concoction of anger and haterade. I’m starting to see it happen with 24 as well, as people start to spurn it for being “too slow” and instead switch to watching Heroes which is almost exactly the same pacing style at times. It scares me to see how many people can downright turn against a show: as the Elder points out, a show like Studio 60 went from popular to hated in about 3.6 seconds, even though the show really hasn’t changed from its pilot (And stagnancy is not worthy of hatred).

I don’t want myself to be one of those people, and I hope I never do it. I watch a lot of TV, but I don’t want to become someone who downright hates a show due to a stupid decision. I like to think that I’m patient, understanding. I weathered a few storms on Alias, watching to the very end. I’ve gone through some turbulent times on a show like 24 as well, but I keep watching to enjoy the fine work on display. And, in the end, I love Lost. It is well-acted, well-written, and one of the best mystery stories on television. I want to know more about its characters just as much as I want to know more about its plot, and this is a sign of a TV show that is capable of taking over my life.

At 8pm AST, thanks to some fancy CTV scheduling that for idiotic reasons places Nelly Furtado’s Primetime acting debut on CSI:NY at 9pm instead, I’ll be sitting down to enjoy an episode of Lost that may not make my heart race, that may not answer any of my questions, but one that I will enjoy because it will be well-acted, well-written, well-directed and a whole lot of things a good drama can be.

Visit McNutt Against the Music for the Elder’s more indepth view on why people shouldn’t be quite so fickle, and then enjoy Lost this evening. And, if you don’t, subject to reasoning, you could be on notice.

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February 7, 2007 · 12:38 am

Does Anyone Care About the Junos?

Asked to explain their methods of organizing the Juno Awards, CARS representatives had the following view:

the Junos are meant to be a snapshot of all of Canada’s vibrant musical industry, commercial and acclaimed, inclusive rather than exclusive.

If I had been drinking something at this point, it would have been spurting out my nose. Commercial and acclaimed are not the same thing, the Junos may be the only awards show to challenge the Billboard or American Music Awards for inclusiveness in major categories, and how exactly it can be a snapshot of the entire industry with so few…ah, it isn’t even worth it.

The Juno Award nominations were announced yesterday, and I’ll be honest with you: I didn’t notice. There were only two minutes left in the day when I spotted the new blurb at the Globe and Mail, and I marveled at this fact. Have these awards, Canada’s most widely viewed and publicized, fallen off of the cultural radar of even I? Cultural Learnings has been leaning to the TV side of things, but is this because of my personal tendencies or a lack of interesting news on the music side of things? Either way, the Juno Award nominations are out, and to answer our title question…not really.

You see, the Juno Awards will be forever plagued by ignorance to any sort of quality standard within the Canadian recording industry, no matter what CARAS representatives spout out. The three main categories (Album of the Year, Artist of the Year, Group of the Year) all contain nominees selected entirely based on album sales, as opposed to, you know, quality. It’s always been a point of great contention, and in recent years it has especially drawn the ire of the “Indie music fans.” Really, this just means people with common sense, but let’s go with the rhetoric for a second.

When Sam Roberts won the Juno for Album of the Year a few years back, one had to remember that he was only in the category due to a statistical error. Based on album sales, he didn’t belong there. Just last year, the category rules meant that Diana Krall’s Christmas album found itself up for the show’s top prize. What does that say about the state of Canadian music?

Let’s look at a category decided through these practices, and how it looks compared to one decided by rational individuals and not the consuming public.

Album of the Year

Loose – Nelly Furtado

II – Billy Talent

One-X – Three Days Grace

Hedley – Hedley

I Think of You – Gregory Charles

Yes, these are the highest selling albums of the year. Yes, one of these five must win the award for the best album released in Canada in the past year. Yes, this is the third (I think) straight year a Canadian Idol contestant has broken into this category (Jacob Hoggard leads Hedley, finished 3rd in Season two). We’ve got Charles who has sold an insane amount of albums in Quebec, and both Billy Talent and Nelly Furtado blew up in terms of album sales.

But honestly, Three Days Grace? That is simply an embarrassment.

Now, to an award not decided by a panel:

Rock Album of the Year

II – Billy Talent

Tomorrow Starts Today – Mobile

Chemical City – Sam Roberts

Never Hear The End Of It – Sloan

World Container – The Tragically Hip

Wow, some variety! One newer band (Mobile and Stabilo fought it out to the one-hit wonder death, and Mobile won), some old and some new…there’s variety! Sloan’s fantastically epic album, Sam’s sophomore success…there’s actually some good, interesting albums here. Why aren’t they in the above category? Because they didn’t sell as many copies as Three Days Grace.

I can’t take the Junos seriously, and I can honestly say I care very little about their outcome based on these nominees. I mean, really, IL DIVO is nominated for Best International Album, and it doesn’t help that the awards are being held on April 1st. There are some interesting stories (Eva Avila vs. Melissa O’Neill in the Best New Artist category is quite fantastic), but where’s the hook? There’s no category that instills a sense that they know what makes good music, and in some cases they’re not even trying.

Here’s a link to the PDF with all of the nominations (Boo to you, Junos, for not including a text file) for all those interested. I’m thinking that the number will be dwindling with time.

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February 6, 2007 · 10:22 pm

Shipper’s Log: Gilmore Girls

Shipper’s Log – Stardate 020607

This is the beginning of a long-gestating series where, basically, I talk about relationships in TV series. How civilized. Really, though, they’re integral to understanding the appeal, success, and sometimes failures of TV shows.

Anyways, watching Gilmore Girls this evening was quite honestly difficult. I don’t know what it is about Luke and Lorelai, this pair of star-crossed lovers. One runs an Inn, the other a Diner. One talks faster than the speed of sound, and the other one stutters over a majority of their words. They’ve been married to other people, engaged to one another, and yet somehow their relationship has always stayed the same.

It’s one of the considerations of any show coming to its conclusion, these relationships that are established in a show’s pilot and continue to gestate (Used it twice in one post, fancy that). In the case of Luke and Lorelai, the departure of showrunner Amy-Sherman Palladino was a huge blow to the cause. In her final episode, knowing that she wouldn’t be back the following season, she had Lorelai sleep with former flame Christopher and break off their engagement. Palladino introduced Luke’s long-lost daughter, which drove them apart, and nothing made sense in terms of their relationship.

It’s really a good argument as to why shows like Gilmore Girls shouldn’t even bother to have these relationships, because they become a burden as the series moves on into later seasons. In the same way that a show like Lost has a long-gestating mystery (Which I’ll be getting to tomorrow morning) that fans want to have dealt with as soon as possible, viewers of a show like Gilmore Girls want to see Luke and Lorelai together sooner rather than later. Continue reading →

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February 6, 2007 · 2:14 pm

The Superpower Bauer Hour Showdown: Week Three

 

While Heroes starts to head into the second half of its season, 24 prepares to enter into its 2nd quarter with a fair deal of momentum. Two straight victories in the Superpower Bauer Hour Showdown, and a win in total viewers last week, have placed 24 in the pole position heading into February Sweeps, where TV shows do their best to throw everything in their arsenal at viewers. How did 24 and Heroes hold up in Overall Quality, Ratings, and the Sweeps Litmus Test? Let’s take a look and find out.

Round One: Overall Quality

Heroes finally put together an hour of television that appeared to go somewhere. We got copious amounts of Sylar, first and foremost, although I felt that his anger was a little bit too generic. There didn’t seem to be a mythos to his killing, although “That was for the haircut” was perhaps my favourite line of the episode. However, even though he may bore me, there was some good development for Peter this week. His ability to regenerate when not around Claire was really quite important for the overall story, and Eccleston as Obi-Wan is currently working quite well from a storytelling perspective.

The episode still had its downfalls though. I love Hiro, and loved Ando’s crush on the sister, but the entire plot had no connection to anything, and seemed like just an excuse to cast George Takei (Don’t get me wrong, I love George Takei). For someone so wrapped up in his destiny, to have him stop it all for an entire episode was counter-productive. The entire Niki storyline remains utterly mind-numbing, and this week’s sudden Linderman assisted withdraw of all charges was too contrived for my tastes. Similarly, the entire Simone situation is too uninteresting, I need her to be revealed as an agent of Linderman or SOMETHING here.

On the whole, Heroes’ best transition episode yet, despite some of its parts not quite living up to the quality of our tiny baby step plot movements.

24, on the other hand, did somewhat less in moving the overall plot forward. In a show that, let’s face it, is action-oriented and often tied down by its structure, this was one of those episodes that felt somewhat small scale, like a whole lot of setup. The episode benefited from some more Jack Bauer torture scenes, as well as some family drama, but on the whole it was just a setup for our next major plotline, the “Save Morris” one. I knew it had to be someone at CTU, it just made sense, but I didn’t put together the whole brother in the hospital thing until WAY too late. I think I’m getting a little slow.

Other than that, the episode kept things fairly stagnant. The President stood up to Lennix about the whole martial law type thing, and there wasn’t much else for the episode to go on really. It was very much a holding pattern for 24, and the only big character revelation came at its conclusion. You can’t expect too much to happen in every hour of the day, after all.

Ratings

From PIFeedback.com:

Bona fide NBC hit Heroes was second in the 9 p.m. hour in total viewers (14.56 million) and first among adults 18-49 (6.4/15) — up 28 percent in the demo from lead-in Deal or No Deal. Fox’s potent 24 remained competitive, meanwhile, at 13.58 million viewers and a 5.0/11 among adults 18-49, building from lead-in Prison Break by 3.44 million viewers and 22 percent in the demo.

What does this mean? It means that Heroes has taken the ratings crown in both total viewers and Adults 18-49. Perhaps it was that the CBS comedies sunk into 24’s audience, but it was certainly a bit of a tough week for 24 in comparison to the last few. Still a strong performance, but Heroes takes the ratings outright for the first time.

The Sweeps Litmus Test

Specimen: Heroes

Contents: Big-time Daddy Reveal, Character Thrown Off Roof

Test Results: Pretty decent Sweeps performance from Heroes. Peter is annoying, so the fact that he healed himself was unfortunate, but throwing him off a roof was still dramatic. And, whether predictable or not, Nathan as Claire’s father was a fine way to end the episode.

Specimen: 24

Contents: Revelation of Evil, Kidnapping

Test Results: A strong reveal to end the episode, but it was a bit bizarrely handled on the whole. The “murder” of Graem seemed a bit too extreme, but the reveal of Daddy Bauer as evil made sense. Sense is good, 24, but your kidnapping was a bit undramatic and I don’t think we care enough about Morris at this point for things to work perfectly.

And the winner is… Continue reading →

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