Category Archives: Television

April 20, 2007 · 11:28 pm

Disorder in the Court: The Fall of ‘Law & Order’

In the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups: the police who investigate crime and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders. These are their stories.

These iconic words signal the start of one of the longest-running television dramas of all time. Dick Wolf’s Law & Order began airing on NBC in 1990, and has resulted in three sister shows, multiple spinoffs, and 17 seasons of justice being served. There had been crime dramas before Law & Order, there had been legal dramas before Law & Order, and yet there was something about the show that connected with viewers in a new way. For me personally, the show represents an opportunity to get entirely engrossed in each week’s case. You see it from beginning to end: you’re there when the body is discovered, you’re there as the police search for clues, and you’re there when the legal team takes over.

It was this format that brought the show a great deal of success, including an Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series in 1997. It became a show that NBC could count on for critical praise, ratings success, and even some media buzz when it came time for its many cast changes (which never seemed to hurt the series) or its stories which were ‘ripped from the headlines.’ And, thanks to the joys of syndication, you can basically watch five episodes a day without changing the channel if you switch over to TNT. The result of all of this was a certain level of prestige around ‘the mothership’ of the Law & Order franchise. Even with the rise of Special Victims Unit to ratings supremacy and awards attention, there was still something powerful in Sam Waterston laying down the law. There was still life within Law & Order.

And yet, now, there are stories like this one. And this one. Law & Order, the mothership, is sinking. What led to the fall from grace for this once venerable drama? The answer is a whole lot of things, and its ability to recover from them will entirely depend on Dick Wolf’s ability to kiss up to NBC Executives.

Five Reasons For the Fall of

Law & Order

1. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
It began airing ten years after Law & Order came onto the air, and yet seven years later pulls in over three times as many viewers. Law & Order, up until CSI came onto the scene, was the only real procedural in town. While there were other successful shows, no doubt, CSI was the first criminal show of this nature to emerge as a bonafide hit at the level of Law & Order. It provided a distinctly modern tilt, the forensic analysis portion of each individual crime, and was able to do it with an assortment of relatable characters. It had the procedural qualities of Law & Order, but it was also flashy, hip, and 21st century cool. Law & Order, meanwhile, was sticking to its traditional guns. In a time when television became flashier, Law & Order simply sat back.

The problem is that as it sat back a trend formed. CSI’s success would lead to everyone and their mother developing procedural dramas. This trend has suddenly placed Law & Order, once head and shoulders above the rest, as just another drama which takes on a single crime per week. There is a reason that Law & Order hasn’t received an Emmy nomination for outstanding Drama series since 2002; it’s because CSI became the cool kid in town, and after that point there were so many procedurals that the academy became numb to the entire genre. With the arrival of CSI, Law & Order’s “gimmick” died. While the show itself didn’t change, the level of potential cultural impact it once had disappeared, and the prestige and image of the show was forever tarnished. Now, CBS’ Numbers (A Procedural crime drama about a math geek and his FBI Brother) is defeating Law & Order on a weekly basis.

Law & Order’s move to Friday nights, where ratings potential is far lower, has been another factor…but it actually relates directly to the rise of CSI. Law & Order switched timeslots this year in order to avoid CSI: New York, as the rise of CBS’ procedurals basically forced them to the sidelines. The reality is that CSI changed everything, and Law & Order has been the greatest victim of its rise.

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April 20, 2007 · 2:01 pm

Thursday Night TV Club – April 19th, 2007

 

I really don’t have much to say about last night’s episodes, to be entirely honest with you. While I watched everything that was new, I honestly felt that every single show just treaded water outside of one. That one, surprisingly enough, was the one show which seems to be falling off the cultural radar.

While I gave 30 Rock credit last week for continuing storylines over multiple episodes, this week was…just the same as last week. It’s disappointing to see Floyd leave, really, but at least it keeps the show from becoming complacent. This episode was exactly the same as last week’s, in most ways, except this time we had a small dose of Jenna (And yet even the writers seemed begrudging about it, keeping her out of most key storylines and dissing her ability to carry the show in Tracy’s absence). I thought some of her lines were funny, but then they had her trying on underwear and falling down. The character is simply out of steam. Jack’s relationship with Phoebe is frustratingly dull, and the only character currently surviving is Tracy, mainly for the Black Crusaders portion of his storyline. And even then it was fairly low on the comedy scale outside of Gordon from Sesame Street being one of its inner circle. Liz’s trip to Cleveland was cute, but it was all wrapped up in the same cloth as last week’s episode.

Scrubs was on the same boat, as it was one of their annoying “Let’s have other people do the voiceovers” episodes. I think that it wasn’t a half bad episode of Scrubs based on this season’s standards, but I’ve been watching Season One on DVD recently and I can’t help but compare. I do not care about Elliot and Keith, stripper pole or no stripper pole. Ted is fairly boring, and him standing up to Kelso felt dated. Jordan has lost much of her character depth since the intense botox treatments, and I don’t think she really demands our attention. And, while I love The Todd and felt that his internal dialogue was by far the most interesting (and actually funny), it still wasn’t much of a real storyline. All three of the focused-upon characters are never going to actually become anything important, so why bother spending so much time on them when it will all be forgotten by next week?

Speaking of forgotten, I was woefully bored with this week’s episode of Ugly Betty. I enjoy the show, but this episode just did absolutely nothing for me. Wilhelmina seducing Bradford just isn’t entertaining to watch, and Daniel sleeping with a 16-year old is decidedly regressive (moreso than it really needs to be). The show was rolling at a really good clip dramatically for awhile, but this episode dropped the major component of this: Henry. Christopher Gorham’s likable accountant was the thing that kept Betty on track, and watching her fall off the rails wasn’t good television in the least. The show lacked the charm of the rest of the season, and its darker turns don’t seem like the right step forward for the show…and the less said about the terrible Ignacio storyline the better.

For details on Grey’s and the best episode of Survivor in a long time: Continue reading →

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April 18, 2007 · 10:10 pm

Obituary: Sanjaya Malakar (2007-2007)

It is with a sad heart that I announce that Sanjaya Malakar as been eliminated from American Idol this evening, April 18th, at 9:57 EST. Sanjaya is survived by six other superior contenders for the title, who will remember him fondly, and millions of viewers who will not.

The girls cried for him. The celebrity judges loved him. Simon hated him. It was a love/hate relationship from the very beginning, and he will always be remembered as perhaps the most polarizing contestant of all time. His presence simultaneously delegitimatized the show as a singing competition and provided it with some of its most substantial press in recent years. It was a double-edged sword, and tonight Sanjaya’s metaphorical head got caught between the sword and the chopping block.

A Memorial Service is likely to be held on every morning talk show, every internet site, and on a wide majority of future Idol broadcasts. They’ll remember his tenacity, his spunk, and ignore his terrible singing.

So long, Sanjaya. See you at the Finale.

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April 18, 2007 · 9:11 pm

Lost – “Catch-22”

“Context-22”

The Wikipedia Links You’ll Need to ‘Get’ Tonight’s Episode of Lost

A full recap of the episode will follow after the link, but here’s some Wikipedia links that will help provide some context for the episode even if you haven’t watched it. I shouild really be working on my exam studying, so I won’t go into any further detail.

Catch-22 (Logic) – a situation in which an individual has to accomplish two actions, both of which are dependent on the other.

Catch-22 (Novel) – Historical Fiction novel from American author Joseph Heller.

Moriah – Biblical Mountain Range

The Binding of Isaac – A moment in the bible when God asks Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac, and it’s all a big test of his faith.

These four links should give you a nice foundation for the episode; if you want all of the details:

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April 17, 2007 · 11:14 pm

Cultural Feedback: The Politics of Sympathy on American Idol

In the wake of Monday’s shootings at Virginia Tech (Which I’m not trying to exploit here, in talking about them twice, but I really want to focus on this conundrum), American Idol felt that there should be an address of sympathy to the victims and their families. At the opening of the show, Ryan Seacrest forewent the usual bombast and drama for a subtle, well-stated message of sympathy in the wake of yesterday’s events.

However, after his performance, Idol contender Chris Richardson made special mention of the tragedy, and provided his own personal condolences. Judge Simon Cowell was very clearly upset at this, turning his head away from Richardson and seeming genuinely angry. In fact, as this picture shows, Simon was most certainly rolling his eyes.

After Chris’ comment, Seacrest noted that “All of us feel for everybody affected by that,” seemingly trying to depersonalize the statement. Later in the broadcast, after Blake Lewis had performed his song, Simon tagged on a message of sympathy from the judges specifically which had no relation to Blake’s comments.

This raises a lot of questions. While I think everyone would believe that a response from a show like American Idol is a classy move, was Richardson stepping out of his bounds in an attempt to rise above the competition? Was he just trying to gain attention, and did that attempt make the other contenders seem less sympathetic? Was Simon’s response petty, feeling that he was not personally connected to one of the apologies, or rather out of concern for the other competitors?

On a personal level, I think that the one show-wide message of sympathy is the better tactic, and that intended or not Richardson should have left it at that. I admire Simon’s effort, but he came across as really angry, which was also inappropriate considering the situation. And yet, I think that this raises a really interesting issue (Especially considering my previous post on the relationship between the recent tragedy and television), and I was wondering if anyone else had an opinion on the subject. Did Chris or Simon go too far, or is too much sympathy never a problem?

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April 16, 2007 · 11:44 am

Cultural Feedback: SNL’s Sofa King, 24’s Final Act

In the midst of a current wave of fairly heavy hits regarding Saturday Night Live and its Digital Short, I’m going to press my luck and see if anyone actually has an opinion on some things. I’ve been receiving from feedback with certain opinions (See: Scrubs/30 Rock), but there certainly hasn’t been a whole lot of comments. Feedback is an important thing, so I’d like to see if you could help me out with two things.

Why is this Funny?

“Sofa King”

First, to those SNL fans out there…why is Sofa King funny? I’ve watched this skit a few more times after seeing it originally, and I’ve still yet to figure out what makes this particular skit worthy of so many google searches yesterday. Can anyone explain to me its charms?

I just can’t, for the life of me, figure out what is funny about this skit. If anyone can provide some context, that would be fantastic, because I’m just not getting it.

[Edit: Um, I’m officially an idiot and totally missed the entire punchline of the skit (For those silly like me, treat “Sofa King Great” as a Mad Lib), but I still think that it’s a one-note skit that has some really weird elements like twitchy songs and a lack of any material other than that…so I’m still lost on its real appeal. But I’m still an idiot. Oy Vey.]

What’s your Thoughts?

24’s Final Act

Second, the sixth season of 24 is heading into its final act tonight as Jack heads out in an attempt to save Audrey’s life. I doubt that anyone really thought she was dead, I’m sure, but I’m curious if anyone else maybe had any thoughts about the season thus far. We’re through 17 episodes, and I know that there’s some people who have stopped watching. Considering that last week featured perhaps the best sequence of the season, do you think things are back on track? Is the season’s new direction a good one, or was the old plot wrapped up too quickly?

I’m of two minds on this one. I think the first plot wrapped up without true resolution, and on the whole was a waste of time outside of its beginning and its end, and so I think a better resolution could have come with more time. That said, I think that a Jack-centric final narrative is in the show’s best interest…although Presidential affairs should be an interesting challenge.

So if you’ve got an opinion, do let it be known!

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April 15, 2007 · 1:07 am

Saturday Night Live (April 14th, 2007) – Shia LaBeouf & Avril Lavigne

Saturday Night Live

April 14th, 2007

Shia LaBeouf and Avril Lavigne

It’s a very youth-skewed Saturday Night Live with two early 20s younglings taking the stage. Does it result in a show which reflects the revived nature of the Digital Short generation, or does the show just drag them down with them? Let’s take a look.

The Monologue

It was clear that LaBeouf was fairly uncomfortable, as he immediately headed out into the backstage area and basically had the rest of the cast carry the monologue for him while he played a rather manic and simplistic straight man. It was cute, sure, but it was certainly not enough to make me have great hopes for LeBouf’s ability to carry the show.

The Host

Shia LaBeouf comes from a background of comedy, having spent years on Even Stevens on the Disney Channel, and yet it didn’t translate well into this scenario for the simple reason that the material just isn’t as polished. That sounds like an odd comment to make, but LaBeouf never really got to sink his teeth into a character, a common problem in the modern days of SNL. He’s just kind of there in pretty well every skit, and it resulted in a lack of an impact. I always feel like a host should be able to establish themselves, and yet LaBeouf was never given the chance even within the Digital Short. The only skit which Shia LeBouf really seemed to be in some way involved in was the one featuring ‘Shia’ LaBeouf with ‘Maya’ Rudolph, which was still him playing the straight man like in the monologue. He wasn’t a bad host, but rather an uneventful one.

The Skits

Yawn. I’m sorry, but the skits just don’t do it anymore, and I really don’t feel that Saturday Night Live is living up to its skits. The Prince Show is a great concept that seems to have been driven in the ground, and it has no depth beyond Armisen’s strong performance. The skit about kids buying beer had some really funny bits but ended so damn quickly I became annoyed at it, and the Sofa king sketch was just derivative. I like the Dakota Fanning Show as a concept, and it was nice to see Avril get involved in a sketch, and I like Keenan’s reactions…actually, I kind of liked that sketch. A lot. Really, the sketches weren’t too bad. The sketch between Shia and Maya (They rhyme!) was quirky, cute and charming…something that can’t be said for the rest of the show. And yet, in the end, it was still inconsequential, and none of the sketches will be remembered. Stuff like the Knives sketch was still all LaBeouf playing straight man, and I wish he would have had room to break out somewhere in there. The ‘Intimate Moment with John Mayer and Jessica Simpson’ was a smart little piece, didn’t run too long, and yet it was so short that it had little to no impact on the show as a whole.

The Digital Short

[Note: The Digital Short has been taken off YouTube, and is unlikely to return considering the recent tragedy at Virginia Tech.]

The basic premise: “Let’s Make fun of the use of overdramatic music in death scenes on TV shows.” The song in question was Imogen Heap’s ‘Hide and Seek,’ and it was quite effective as satire [Edit: Actually, it’s incredibly effective. Head to YouTube to watch the O.C. scene in question (Starts at 2:00) and it’s freakin’ hilarious]. The only problem is that it was really just the same joke being driven into the ground, which works fine as an overall statement but lacks the variety to make a digital short truly memorable. That being said, as someone who watches those shows I found it quite funny, and I think it has satirical value of a different sort than other digital shorts which is good for variety. [Edit: I now think it is bloody hilarious, it’s growing on me]

Weekend Update

Darrell Hammond does a great Imus, they did a decent job of dealing with the Anna Nicole baby situation (Rudolph and Samberg nailed that short interview piece), so on the whole it was a half decent edition of Weekend Update. I think it could have done better with the material, but there was nothing which intensely disagreed with me.

The Musical Guest: Avril Lavigne

Songs Performed: ‘Girlfriend’ [Music Video – YouTube] and ‘I Can Do Better’ [MP3 – YouSendIt] from The Best Damn Thing

I think that ‘Girlfriend’ is a cute little song that has potential from a summer single perspective, and I’m glad to see that there was not a full choreographed dance routine when performed live, but there was still far too much dancing for someone like Lavigne who should simply not be dancing. The problem is that her second song (‘I Can do Better’) also featured odd choreography and a lyric which was just terrible. It even had the same really annoying cheerleader bridge that just isn’t worth anyone’s time, and the melody of the song more or less disappeared when performed live. Avril’s voice is best on ballads and songs with melody, not these worthless attempts at emulating Gwen Stefani and a derivative version of herself. After reaching some level of maturity or at least mature-esque behaviour with the last album, this is kind of insulting. [Random Note? I totally just realized that the guy playing guitar for Avril Lavigne was the guitar player for the House Band on Rock Star: INXS. And that makes me mildly amused.]

The Verdict

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April 14, 2007 · 2:04 pm

Review: Taking a Sunday ‘Drive’ with FOX

Although later than most midseason premieres, and more of a summer show in the end, FOX is premiering Drive on Sunday, April 15th with a two-hour event designed to mirror 24’s premiere structure. It moves into the 8pm Monday Prison Break timeslot the following night, and I think it’s a far more fitting comparison. In the end, ‘Drive’ is what Prison Break used to be: entertaining television that draws you in with a diverse cast of characters and a premise that keeps you guessing.

The show’s premise is deceptively simple, at its most basic level. 32 teams of two people participate in a cross-country road race from Key West, Florida to an undisclosed location designed in a form of checkpoints, with the winner receiving $32 Million. At each checkpoint, you get a message on a provided phone which sends you in a new direction. This is all of the detail we’re really provided with, as our main character Alex Tully misses the orientation session and the race’s version of Phil Keoghan (Who has a much more dire version of Philimination at the end of the 1st Hour) has already put away his PowerPoint and closed his satchel, robbing us of visual aids. The show, then, follows a rather impressive number of these teams on the race.

It’s a diverse group of characters, and it features enough diversity to promise some interesting things moving forward. For the purpose of organization, I’m going to separate them into distinct teams.

Team Kidnapped

Alex Tully and Corinna Wiles

Alex (Nathan Fillion) is the star here, in the race to rescue his recently Kidnapped wife. Early on in the first episode, Corinna makes her first appearance, and through the two-hour Pilot you will get a sense as to her shady past. Her connection to the race, and to the team name I’ve selected, will be revealed in the show’s second hour. Their biggest challenge is someone connected to the race organizers who seems intent on a) running them off the road, and b) killing Corinna. That would be a problem, no?

Team Mother

Wendy Patrakas

It’s a team with only one official member, as Wendy is all on her lonesome. She gives birth in the episode’s opening act, and is in Key West with a Bjorn strapped to her just a week later. She is the only racer we see who has a run-in with the cops, thanks to some issues with her abusive husband, and she’s provided with the most diverse race experience thus far in the show’s second hour.

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April 12, 2007 · 10:09 pm

Thursday Night TV Club – April 12th, 2007

[Another week, another set of repeats from Thrusday Night’s dramas. The result? Another Thursday Night TV Club focused on NBC’s Comedy Night Done Right.]

The Office

“Safety Training”

This week’s episode of The Office represents an important development for the series: it’s its first attempt to officially integrate a new character into its motley crew of characters. There was very little of Andy, except for Dwight shunning him, and it’s kind of tough for us to really accept him or notice him early in the episode. And, while I think that this would have been fine if the rest of the episode was very successful at providing comedy, it just really wasn’t that great a half hour of the show.

The episode instead dealt with…well, nothing really. After a series of episodes which offered either broad comedy or real plot development, it’s weird to see the show head back to its old roots in ridiculous office situations. This doesn’t mean the show isn’t funny, or that the episode was a waste of time, but rather that it seems inconsequential. It didn’t show a real character shift in anyone, didn’t address any true issues in office work, and just felt like the show was treading water. Considering that we just came off an extended episode which was complicated and interesting, this just felt like a step in the wrong direction.

The focus on safety and Michael’s search to prove himself is nothing we haven’t seen before, and it never really got to be resolved in a meaningful way. The betting sideplot which accompanied it was cute, sure, but it hasn’t been asked to carry an episode since the days of Office Olympics (And even there it had real ramifications for characters). Instead, all we got was some rather humorous but not laugh-out-loud funny moments. The bets included: guessing the number of jelly beans, seeing how long Ryan can talk to Kelly (With sidebets regarding how many times she says ‘Awesome’ or mentions romantic comedies), and whether or not Creed will realize when they switch out his apple with a potato. He doesn’t. That being said, they were still very small-scale, and didn’t really make an impact.

And the problem was that this episode really did have to do something more than this. It really needed to integrate Andy into the office atmosphere and make me see a purpose for him: and it didn’t. Andy was shunned by Dwight, which was humorous, but it was humorous for Dwight and not for Andy. If all he’s going to do is be a nothing character, then why bring him back full time? And while I think he can be established with time, and this episode didn’t sink their ability to bring him into the cast, I really think that a better effort needing to be put forward.

30 Rock

“Corporate Crush”

Where the Office finds itself in a bit of a rut, 30 Rock is the exact opposite; every single one of its storylines is a continuation of last week’s episode, and it all feels natural and interconnected. It’s shown itself capable of balancing storylines, and yet managing to provide a varied smattering of comedy each week. It’s situational, it’s absurdist, and yet it remains grounded in the principles of the show as it was organized: Liz is a lovelorn writer, Jack is the powerful yet insecure executive, and Tracy is the absurd actor. In this episode, each of them got to grow as characters and show new sides of themselves. This is precisely what The Office didn’t manage to do, and why 30 Rock was the better show on this evening.

Liz and Floyd’s relationship was nice and established until Jack came along, and Floyd and Jack started mandating. Jack, you see, is struggling with depression ever since his fireworks extravaganza last week went horribly awry and Don Geiss (President of GE or something) took away his prized Microwave Oven division. After Liz tells him to stop trying to steal the Floydster (Jack’s nickname for Floyd), he decides to find his own Floydster by dating his art dealer, and then proposing to her in order to fulfill the executive stereotype brought up at the beginning of the episode. Meanwhile, Tracy tries to get his Norbit-style Jefferson biopic made, and even when he fails he decides to finance it himself.

See how that all relates back to last week’s episode? To the basic nature of these characters? To everything the show stands for? For actually managing to contribute to the show in a meaningful fashion, and yet remaining funny, 30 Rock succeeds once again.

Scrubs

“My Words of Wisdom”

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April 11, 2007 · 9:34 pm

Lost – “One of Us”

The True Believer:

The Manipulative Ms. Juliet

Throughout this week’s episode of Lost, it became incredibly clear that Juliet’s story is incredibly important to where the Others currently stand on a variety of issues. And, based on the cure provided to her sister by the mysterious Jacob, it can’t be too surprising that Juliet is in fact a true believer in everything the Others stand for. It puts a fair amount of the island’s past into perspective, and we learned more about how they operated in the days before the giant purple flash from the Hatch.

Let’s look at some of Juliet’s past actions and try to reconcile them as more or less Ben’s manipulations, shall we? It’s a little game I like to call:

Juliet’s Manipulative Past:

Genuine or False?

The Mutiny – Genuine

Remember back at the beginning of the season when Juliet presented the “Some of us want a change around here, do the surgery and then have him killed” plan Bob Dylan-style to Jack through the video? I think that it was actually Juliet’s plan to have Ben killed and to in some way take his place; while she is certainly a believer in the cause considering what happened, I still think that she and Ben have trust issues. Here, she seemed to be representing some form of movement within the Others against Ben’s leadership, and I think this was a truly genuine belief.

The Promise – Undecided

When Ben promised Juliet that getting Kate and Sawyer off the island would get her home, I am conflicted as to whether this actually happened. We never actually got to her what Ben said at this point, and this could have been the point where Juliet realized that the best option at this stage was to begin to gain Jack’s trust. However, Ben could have actually promised Juliet that he would let her off the island if she followed his plan, although the fact that we never got to hear him say it makes me think that it was certainly more manipulative than we realize.

The Submarine – Undecided

I think it really depends on whether Ben actually promised her anything; I think it’s clear that she wants to go home, and yet her desire to leave has never truly been seen. If the promise was genuine, and Ben was going to let Jack and Juliet go home, then she was more than prepared to leave. It would also mean that Ben allowed Locke to blow up the submarine entirely to screw over Juliet and keep her and Jack on the island. However, what if they had never planned on taking them home all along? What if they had planned to simply have the submarine head to a different location and screw over Jack? What if it had all been planned from the point where Juliet was in the operating room with Ben? In the end I’m leaning towards it being a genuine desire to go home…but how does that explain what followed?

The Infiltration – False

The problem is that there’s no question that the infiltration was false, that she was lying to Jack and Kate and all of this. However, why would she agree to this? Was the submarine being blown up enough to have her just immediately assimilate back into the society? Or, was the entire submarine thing all designed to increase Jack’s trust in her? Hell, it’s still entirely possible that Juliet is in some way playing with Ben and is subverting his authority in some way.

What’s the result of all of this? We really don’t know all that much about her at all. In fact, to be honest, I think we are less sure about her motives now than we were before. Her faith in what they stand for, in Jacob’s healing ability, adds a newly complicated perspective on her past. Now, rather than being someone who was kept against her will and who had no connection to their beliefs, she appears to be a true fundamentalist, a believer in what has occurred. This is a very interesting development, I think, and one which still doesn’t define her as good or evil. Much like when she was introduced, she remains a reminder of the complicated network of individuals that make up the Others.

As for the rest of the episode: Sawyer and Sayid remain skeptical (Let’s hope they stay that way), Kate remains bitter about the whole scenario with Jack and Juliet, and Desmond is still another sort of oddball who likely has some questions for Juliet that would prove quite interesting. If you want to know what else went down, go ahead and read the full recap after the jump.

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