Cultural Learnings

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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Filed under 30 Rock, Grey's Anatomy, NBC, Scrubs, Survivor, Television, Ugly Betty

Tagged as Thursday Night TV Club

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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Filed under American Idol, Television

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:

Continue reading →

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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Filed under American Idol, Television

Tagged as Mass Media

April 17, 2007 · 9:58 pm

Changing Perspectives: Television and the Virginia Tech Tragedy

It happens with any tragedy. As the news media begins to cover the story 24/7, as its true ramifications and impact begin to take hold on our minds, it fundamentally changes our perspective. Things which were once innocuous, things which were once seemingly harmless, take on new meanings. And really, I think it’s only human nature; as human beings, we are affected by tragedies which are so relatable, which could happen to anyone. What happened at Virginia Tech is something relatable for me: as an RA who sees people in residence who have issue with anger, issues with violence, I can’t help but become hypothetical. I can’t help but think about these realities in my own life, and thus it’s also impossible to ignore connections between the tragedy at Virginia Tech and the television we watch. As a reflection of our lives, and in many ways an extension of our societal values, television is going to provide unintended context to a tragic event.

The shootings have already resulted in a network reaction from FOX in regards to this week’s episode of ‘Bones,’ which had been about a college student who had been murdered and buried a set of bleachers. And, although I do not believe anything has been made official, there has been some reaction to this weekend’s Saturday Night Live Digital Short, “The Shooting.” I think that the short certainly takes a somewhat different turn when you consider it in the light of the shootings, and NBC agrees. Although they weren’t too quick to take down the short when it aired (NBC was apparently unable to legally clear the song for use on YouTube, but didn’t want to kill the hype), NBC is now making legal claims about anyone posting the video on YouTube themselves.

My opinion on these two reactions is that I think they are both for the best, and both justified, and yet I think it’s important to avoid the types of reactions seen on the Saturday Night Live message boards. This one, an example of the sentiment, in particular is a problem [Highlights are mine]:

“I created an account and I am commenting here on this site for one reason only — to STRONGLY agree [the first poster]. I’m a longterm SNL fan, and I can certainly take a joke, but SNL needs to realize that they are absolutely no different than the Quinten Tarrintino’s of the world, violent video game producers, and all the media outlets that indirectly promote this behavior by showing people shooting other people on TV or on computers. SNL — you all have a responsibility to society as well. Some jokes don’t need to be said, and skits don’t need to be shown. You didn’t cause this event, but it’s shows like yours that slowly make these “nut cases” lose their sensitivity and become enamored with this kind of behavior — and ultimately do it. SNL and NBC — you are partly responsible.“

I think we need to draw a major line in the sand in regards to responsibility for the event and responsibility to the public. What SNL did was create a comedy sketch that made light of violence…in order to satirize the dramatization of violence on other television shows. In the end, the sketch was written and presented as comedy. It cannot, in any way, be retroactively declared as a glorification of violence simply because of this terrible event. SNL and NBC are not responsible for anything other than poor timing, and that was out of their control.

Look at Bones, which is dealing with a problem of an episode that has been filmed and completed and yet can’t possibly air considering its subject matter. They are not at fault for producing an episode which featured a college student being killed considering that we’re talking about a forensics procedural drama. We live in a television environment where every CSI, every Law and Order, every Criminal Minds or NCIS, are all dealing with death on a regular basis. I would hate to have the job that those writers have, planning out how they’re going to create a murder for these people to solve every week. And yet, can we hold them responsible for doing their jobs? Can we hold the shows responsible when they have some of the highest ratings on TV? Can we hold us responsible, then, for consuming and demanding this type of programming?

This is the problem with attempting to find blame within the mass media, specifically within television or video games. Consumption of television, of video games, is far too subjective to even consider its effects without opening up a Pandora’s box that is simply impossible to close cleanly. It’s an easy out, a nice story for the media, and yet I don’t think it actually has enough true relevance to consider as an issue of responsibility. What SNL presented, what Bones was planning to present, was a reality of what we as viewers consume, wish to consume, and find funny or dramatic on a regular basis.

FOX and NBC made the right call removing these from air/YouTube, as it is a sign of their own remorse and sensitivity towards these events. However, I want to make it very clear that no one should be blaming any of the parties involved for anything. So, I can only hope that I don’t see a nationwide boycott of SNL, or Shia LaBeouf, or Andy Samberg, or David Boreanaz. This tragedy is not an issue of blame, no matter how much the media wants to find a catchy byline to scroll on the bottom of the screen to sum everything up. The actions of that student were actions that were personal, emotional, contextual, and can never be boiled down to any show, any societal construct. The micro, in this case, is where you begin, not with the macro mass media element of things.

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Filed under Bones, FOX, NBC, Saturday Night Live

Tagged as Mass Media

April 16, 2007 · 12:32 pm

Ratings Roadblock: Sunday Failure for ‘Drive’

“Drive can’t get into gear on Sundays”

“Stuck in Traffic: Drive detours into 4th Place”

“Lost in Transmission: Drive Drops Out of Contention”

“Running on Empty: Drive’s All Fumes on Sunday”

“We Need a Jack: Drive Deflates for FOX”

Yes, as my assortment of puns demonstrates (Feel free to add to the pile, it’s really quite fun), Drive failed to garner much attention in the ratings last night. While final ratings are not available, it looks like Drive barely garnered higher ratings than last week’s set of comedy repeats, and was actually lower than the comedy repeats which aired a year earlier. [Source: PIFeedback]

What does this mean? It means that if you watched the pilot through some other means, you better watch Drive tonight if you want the show to continue. 8pm on FOX is the time and place, and the show is currently looking like a 6 and out for FOX unless things really pick up this evening.

If I was FOX, I’d lay the blame on CTV who aired the episode on Friday. This meant that the episodes leaked onto the internet, so a lot of people are sitting around waiting for the third episode to air. Let’s hope they turn out, because otherwise the show is facing some serious engine trouble.

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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Filed under 24, NBC, Saturday Night Live, Television

Tagged as Shia LeBeouf

April 15, 2007 · 1:07 am

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

Saturday Night Live

April 14^th, 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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Filed under NBC, Saturday Night Live, Television

Tagged as Avril Lavigne, Shia LaBeouf

April 14, 2007 · 3:30 pm

Box Office ‘Disturbia’ (April 14-16) – Friday Estimates, Projections

You see, sometimes the Box Office needs to make up its bloody mind. The past year has seen internet-focused films like Grindhouse and Snakes on a Plane fail to meet expectations, struggling to emerge from their internet-audience into a broader spectrum. And yet, this weekend has marked the success of a film that had little-to-no mainstream hype, a plot ripped almost straight from Rear Window (Although you could do far worse than Hitchcock), no truly mainstream lead, and a limited marketing push on television coupled with an extensive internet advertising campaign centered on sites like Ain’t It Cool News. That film was Disturbia.

Friday Estimates – Top 5

1. Disturbia -$8.7 Million

2. Blades of Glory – $4.3 Million (-50.8%)

3. Perfect Stranger – $3.9 Million

4. Meet the Robinsons – $3.1 Million (-54.3%)

5. Are We Done Yet? – 2.4 Million (-55.3%)

6. Pathfinder: Legend of the Ghost Warrior – $1.7 Million

8. Redline – $1.4 Million

10. Grindhouse – $1.3 Million (-73.9%)

11. Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theatres – $1.3 Million

First off, I think this shall now be officially declared the Spring/Summer of Shia LaBeouf, considering that he’s starring in Transformers and will likely start shooting Indiana Jones 4 during this period. This 21-year old (He’s my age, this is terrifying) has made a name for himself as a talented actor and someone for the future, but that was all supposed to start with Transformers. That fact that Disturbia stands to make $23 Million or so is absolutely astonishing, and destroys most predictions made for the film’s box office fortunes. It’s a huge coup for Dreamworks, and should be a huge coup for young LeBeouf as well.

Perfect Stranger, the other big release, had Halle Berry and Bruce Willis…and yet more or less bombed. The reason is simple: the film didn’t look very good. Berry has yet to be a box office draw since her Oscar win, since X-Men had nothing to do with her, and people like to see Bruce Willis playing either sarcastic or full-on action here. This doesn’t do much to hurt Willis heading into Live Free or Die Hard, but Berry’s star is falling fast. Meanwhile, the other three debuts were, as expected, tepid at best. Crashing a fancy car did nothing for Redline’s box office fortunes, Karl Urban is unsurprisingly not a large enough draw to carry a Viking film, and ATHF did alright for a niche release.

Among holdovers, drops were high as expected due to last week’s Friday holiday, but films held on at fairly standard levels…except for Grindhouse. I singled it out for an absolutely disastrous week-over-week drop of 74%. The film has sunk, and whether Weinstein splits Grindhouse into two parts or not I just think that the films don’t have an audience big enough to make it work. It’s a fine piece of art, but people weren’t looking for art in their cinema.

So, what does this mean for the Top 5 Weekend totals? Without looking at sites which actually do this on a regular basis, here are my educated guesses:

Weekend Projections

1. Disturbia – $22.7 Million

2. Blades of Glory – $14.3 Million

3. Meet the Robinsons – $11.8 Million

4. Perfect Stranger – $10.1 Million

5. Are We Done Yet? – $8.1 Million

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 15^th 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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