Monthly Archives: January 2008

January 5, 2008 · 8:57 pm

CTV Picks up ‘Mad Men’ for Canadian Broadcast

I’ve been loathe to post news notes over the last six months or so because, ultimately, I just don’t have the time – stopping mid-day to post the latest television updates is satisfying but also time consuming. However, as a rather busy schedule has the final two portions of the 10 Shows to (Hopefully) Watch in 2008 being pushed into Sunday/Monday, I figure I should share some news for my Canadian brethren about one of the shows that already made the cut.

CTV announced on Thursday that they have acquired the broadcast rights to Mad Men’s first season as well as its unaired sophomore session. This is a great boon for the series North of the Border, as it is sure to be a strong performer should the strike continue. CTV is in a far superior position to Global post-strike, as the loss of 24 will severely damage the latter while the former has Lost and American Idol returning. This is just one more drop in their bucket, especially in terms of quality.

My only concern is that they’ll treat the series as they treated Veronica Mars – after airing part of the show’s second season (Or was it the first?), they basically gave up on the show even as it continued on the CW. CTV’s schedule is usually so full that there isn’t room for smaller series, but Mad Men’s strike timing and its potential summer return could spell success.

If you’ve yet to see the series, and want to learn more, you can check our Cultural Learnings’ coverage of the series. It’s really not as definitive as that statement made it sound, but there is a lengthy essay on its portrayal of women there that could provide some incentive for academics amongst us.

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January 4, 2008 · 8:59 pm

Friday Night Lights – “There Goes the Neighbourhood”

“There Goes the Neighbourhood”

January 4th, 2007

Every series tends to have a character or two that are incredibly versatile – they can be thrown into a scene with pretty much any character in an ensemble and get the best out of them. Part of what made Friday Night Lights’ first season so effective was that almost all of its characters fell within this category. This season, characters have been far too isolated for us to watch this magic take place…and then Tim Riggins moved into the Taylor homestead.

The funny thing about this episode is that its title is patently false: if anything, it finally regained the sense of neighbourhood and environment that makes this series what it is. The show even mentioned the whole concept of the elephant in the room, and with the murder storyline dead and gone perhaps that is the case – all of a sudden we’re returning to drama that seems real and not sensationalist. After spending far too long in the police station, Friday Night Lights heads back to the football field and the lives of its residents – the result is perhaps the season’s finest episode.

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January 3, 2008 · 11:12 pm

Review – ‘Celebrity Apprentice’

The Apprentice was presumed dead until the threat of a Writers’ strike resulted in its return to NBC’s schedule with a twist: celebrities. It’s a twist which few American competition shows have really used in the past, although it is far more popular worldwide. It’s a last stretch towards relevance on the part of Donald Trump, and its quality is really not the question.

Cultural Learnings won’t be spending any considerable time on the series (We’ll pick up Survivor again before considering it), but I couldn’t ignore the potential hilarity which could follow from its premiere. I haven’t been able to get my snark on in a while, so I thought this might be a return to form of sorts.

Except that…it really isn’t. See, here’s the thing: Celebrity Apprentice is really no different than the normal Apprentice, except that the self-congratulatory mugging and parade of celebrities have become the focus. Trump introduced how he invited people who were commodities, but in reality he is really just attempting to save his own fading commodity.

The result is a series where Trump is the ultimate philanthropist and where the name of the game is celebrities arguing and bickering but ultimately coming together for the little people. And rather than being humorous, it’s just kind of bland – a few are objectionable enough to transcend into humor, but most are genuinely in this for good reason and it’s just sad to see them sit through this tripe.

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January 3, 2008 · 10:00 am

10 Shows to (Hopefully) Watch in 2008 – #3 – Battlestar Galactica

There is no question that there has been a rise in genre television over the past half decade, and inevitably all of these series have faced a certain backlash. Lost and Heroes, for example, have gone from breakout hits to strong demographic performers thanks to a level of backlash from casual fans. For the #3 Show to hopefully watch, however, there was never a breakout success to fall back from, and the critical voices are not quite as damning although certainly still vocal.

Later this Spring, Battlestar Galactica will return to television after what was an uneven but ultimately satisfying season. Much like another high-profile drama, Ron Moore and David Eick put together a finale which brings with it huge ramifications for the past three seasons of the drama series, and the fourth and final season which will debut in March or April. It may well be the smartest science fiction series to emerge, and it’s certainly something to look forward to in 2008.

For me personally, Battlestar Galactica will have special resonance in the months ahead: I’m in the process of completing my undergraduate English thesis on the series’ connection to the Medieval Romantic literary tradition. As a result, I’ve spent copious amounts of time sifting through the series over the past few months, and have further enjoyment ahead.

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January 2, 2008 · 10:31 pm

Gossip Girl – “School Lies”

“School Lies”

January 2nd, 2007

In what has become a bit of a recurring trend with the CW series, Gossip Girl tried to do far too much while accomplishing very little in their first episode back from the Christmas hiatus, and the penultimate episode to air before they run out of fresh ones. There were a lot of gears turning in “School Lies,” as the show finally acknowledged that these people attend a school and do real homework. However, the series’ insistence upon juggling that reality with teen sexuality and parental drama results in an unfortunate lack of drive and motivation.

This is not to say that I think the parents’ storyline is a waste of time, or that the teen drama isn’t worthwhile. Rather, the series cannot be all of these things all of the time. This episode could have provided a great opportunity to focus solely on the personal concerns facing these characters, but all that emerged was a couple of haphazard conclusions and the sad if entertaining return of one-dimensional Chuck. And that’s really too bad.

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January 2, 2008 · 1:05 pm

10 Shows to (Hopefully) Watch in 2008 – #4 – Dexter

Since I’ve got these put together, I figure I’d keep the content coming for the new year – It sets a nice precedent, after all. This is a piece that is really part of a series of larger rants I have regarding the second season of the show in question, but I’ll forget my concerns for a moment and focus more on the series’ intriguing future. Check back for #3 tomorrow, and the Top Two will follow over the weekend.

There has been a lot of talk about Dexter’s second season, and due to time constraints and an unfortunate inability to be able to watch the series live I wasn’t able to review it as often as I would have liked. Oddly, I remain somewhat ambivalent towards the series, and I can’t quite put my finger on why. I love Michael C. Hall’s performance, the concept of the series is as strong as ever, and there was a great deal of potential realized this season with a blistering series of episodes in the latter half of the season that were amongst the best on television this year.

And yet, every week I would watch Dexter on a strange schedule: I didn’t desperately watch it the second I had time, but would really only do so when I became bored. It sat unwatched for quite some time, and only when the action truly ratcheted up did I begin to actually anticipated what would happen next. I never stopped liking the series, but I can firmly say that I wasn’t loving what I was watching.

Despite these reservations, however, Dexter is most certainly on Cultural Learnings’ list of Series to (Hopefully) watch in 2008. Not only is it a potential strike replacement strategy for CBS, who plans to repurpose episodes by editing them for network audiences, but it is also at a creative crossroads heading into a third season with something to prove.

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January 1, 2008 · 5:38 pm

10 Shows to (Hopefully) Watch in 2008: #7-5

If 2007 saw the downfall of Heroes and The Office, it also saw the emergence of these three series as critical favourites. In different season, critics were adamant that these series would be the future of television. Now, with the fate of each up in the air considering the Writers’ Strike, let’s take a look at what to expect from some more fresh faces.

Of 2007’s drama series, only one has made this list. Ultimately, while there are a few series I enjoyed during the fall season, none have been able to supplant other series except for Pushing Daisies. Bryan Fuller’s series has managed to earn him his first full-season order, and it is perhaps one of the only series which might actually benefit from the writer’s strike. While I have remained fairly consistently entertained over the first nine episodes, I will have to admit that the long-term longevity of the series has yet to be decided.

This is on both creative and commercial sides of the coin. In terms of ratings, the series hit some road bumps during the latter portion of the fall, and the result is that the naysayers are rampant. But really, did anyone expect the series to maintain its 12+ Million viewers from the premiere? This was always going to be a divisive show, and the fact that it maintained as much of that audience as it did (Especially compared to other series like NBC’s Bionic Woman) is a success story.

However, the creative question is far more intriguing. While I’ve enjoyed the series’ laidback procedural flow, as it has allowed Chi McBride and Kristen Chenoweth to turn in some dynamite supporting turns sadly unnoticed by recent award shows, others raise concerns regarding the longevity of this atmosphere. It does have the danger of relying on quirkiness for too long, but I have faith that the emotional investment the viewer has placed in these characters is strong enough to sustain whatever format Fuller moves forward with. Plus, I am looking forward to seeing if Fuller is able to pull together a musical episode in the new year – fingers crossed.

Pushing Daisies has received a full season order, but only finished 9 (Already Aired) episodes out of 22. The show will return to production once the writers’ strike resumes. 

YouTube – “Hopelessly Devoted…” from Olive Snook

Matthew Weiner’s drama series debuted on AMC in the summer of 2007 with extremely little buzz. It was only the prodding of various critics that convinced me to give the series a shot, and what I discovered was something quite interesting. I’m on the short list of those who will in the future be forced to catch up on the entirety of The Sopranos, but Matthew Weiner proved his worth for me with Mad Men, perhaps the sharpest new drama of 2007.

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