Tag Archives: CBS

October 16, 2007 · 2:29 pm

Cultural Catchup – Comedies – October 16th

[Oy vey. So much TV, so little time. This will be part one of a two-part series at this point, so we’ll start the comedies and move onto the dramas tomorrow (I’ll be covering Gossip Girl and Pushing Daisies this evening, barring unforeseen circumstances).]

How I Met Your Mother – “Little Boys”

There were some funny moments, sure, but the show’s focus is falling apart. The end of last season was a fantastic series of episodes because it was focused on Marshall and Lily’s wedding with Ted and Robin’s relationship taking a backseat. What happened at the end of last season was that Marshall and Lily became that “married couple” who no longer had any real comic potential…and Ted and Robin became the focus.

Ted has had some decent episodes (“Lucky Penny” was an example), but there is something about Ted that just doesn’t make for good comedy. The show has tried various perspectives: We went into Ted’s office for a span, and the result was mediocre comedy. Right now, Ted and Robin are both single and dating, and it just…isn’t entertaining. There’s some great jokes, and the structure of this week’s episode was interesting, but it just isn’t memorable.

I’m almost expecting them to throw Robin into the workplace any day now.

Samantha Who? – “Pilot”

The final new comedy of the fall season, Samantha Who? debuted to some solid numbers last night…and I’ll admit that I enjoyed it quite a lot. There are some fantastic elements to Samantha Who? that keep things interesting: a fantastic cast is first and foremost, with pretty well every performer nailing their respective character.

The comedy itself isn’t all that interesting, but the structure of the pilot had a lot of potential. There was some nice reveals of her “fake” best friend and her boy issues, and the mysterious hit and run driver is certainly of concern. As a pilot, it was well constructed to introduce us to these characters, as an Amnesiac makes a great tabula rosa upon which to write.

The concern, obviously, is that they’ve played out their amnesia jokes and that the rest of the series won’t be able to live up to this pilot structure. I enjoy the characters, from Jean Smart’s fantastic mother to Barry Watson’s awkward and short-haired boyfriend, but she can only learn so many things about herself each week before this gets extremely old. Will she get amnesia again? Will another character get amnesia? Where can this go, exactly?

Chuck – “Chuck vs. The Wookiee”

I will concur with the general sentiment on this episode: it just wasn’t as good as last week. It was still engaging, but it had some issues with balancing comedy and drama. In other words, it wasn’t quite funny enough, and the drama didn’t quite play as well as it could.

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Cultural Learnings’ Fall 2007 Lineup: Thursdays

Yes, I am aware that there was a delay in posting Thursday’s lineup, but there was a reason for this. I’ve been anxious over this day in particular because, as per usual, it remains the most packed night of programming on the Fall Schedule, especially for me. And last night, I decided to see whether I might (finally) be able to cut Survivor out of my Thursday lineup. And, well, see below for whether or not that worked.

The Office

Airing four hour long episodes early in the season before Scrubs premieres, The Office is taking on Grey’s Anatomy single-handedly this year. It hopes to sustain last year’s ratings, and certainly has a decent shot at it. There’s some exciting developments heading into this season (Ryan as the boss, Jim/Pam, etc.), so even some uneven episodes won’t keep me away.

Cultural Learnings’ Review of The Office Finale

30 Rock

This Emmy-winning comedy has the unfortunate circumstance of being located within a rather difficult timeslot: sure, it belonged to The Office last year, but it’s also against two other shows I’m interested in covering. Still, it gets this particular spot regardless of that development: the show was too good last season to consider putting on the backburner, although it doesn’t debut for a while yet.

Cultural Learnings’ 30 Rock Coverage

Survivor: China

Yeah, I’m weak: as much as I might claim I can disconnect from this series in its 15th season, it just isn’t happening this time around. The cast of characters have already had a chance to make their impact, and the challenges despite repetition are usually enough to suck me in. I’ve tended to skip the Tribal Council sequences more now, but the point stands: I’m covering Survivor.

Cultural Learnings’ Survivor Coverage

The Other Shows

Ugly Betty and Grey’s Anatomy are in a tough spot for me, one in terms of time period and the other due to a weak third season. Ugly Betty ended its first season on a high note, and certainly has a lot of momentum moving forward. But I never feel like I’m “caught up” in it, which is the way I perhaps felt about Grey’s Anatomy before a frustrating last stanza. The George/Izzie relationship took out a lot of steam, so it’s going to be wait and see for the series.

I’ll also be watching Scrubs when it returns late in the year, although my interest in that series has also wained.

Cultural Learnings’ Fall 2007 Lineup: Mondays

[Although I’ll be covering some of this week’s early premieres, I thought I’d take a break this week and let readers know what shows I’ll be focusing on this television season. Thanks to writing a thesis and all, admittedly post volume might be lower, but I think it will simply challenge me to say more in less words. And I think we’d all agree that’s in the best interest of everyone. So, each day, I’ll preview the shows I’ll be following in this year’s lineup at Culturall Learnings. This doesn’t exclude other shows, but simply means they won’t be a focus. If you want me to write about anything, always feel free to send me an email at cultural.learnings @ gmail.com!]

Cultural Learnings’ Monday Lineup

Heroes

NBC’s sophomore drama series disappointed with its finale, but I’m more than willing to give this strong ensemble another shot. With Kristen Bell appearing for an extended guest arc, and the Heroes: Origins segments to air at the end of the season, it’s looking like an interesting year for the crew. I’ll start the coverage with a look at the show’s season finale airing September 24th, where at least one of the characters in peril during last year’s finale (Peter, D.L. and Nathan) will perish.

Cultural Learnings’ Heroes Coverage

Chuck

A comedy of sorts from Josh Schwartz, Chuck follows the exploits of a Nerd Herd employee who finds himself a wealth of government secrets due to an email. The dialogue is sharp, and Schwartz has shown an ability to tap into the humour in more serious situations in the past. The show debuts on September 24th, and you can find my review of the show’s pilot by following this link.

Pilot Preview: “Chuck” – Cultural Learnings

Weeds

Little boxes on the hillside, little boxes made of ticky tacky, little boxes…sorry, I got carried away. Weeds’ infectious theme song isn’t the only thing keeping me interested: things heat up tonight with Mary-Kate Olsen’s arrival and further escalation of the U-Turn storyline. I’ll be covering the series until it rides off into the sunset in November. You can find my existing Weeds coverage by following this link.

Cultural Learnings’ Weeds Coverage

How I Met Your Mother

I discovered this show over the summer, and it was well worth my time: it is the best traditional sitcom on television, and is certainly deserving of more attention. The show premieres on September 24th with guest stars Enrique Iglesias and Mandy Moore, as Robin returns from Argentina while Ted has moved on from their breakup. This is one I hope that gains more viewers: if you want some more info, check out our coverage by following this link.

Cultural Learnings’ How I Met Your Mother Coverage

I’ll also be watching Aliens in America, The CW’s freshman sitcom, and may occasionally update on its progress and perhaps pick it up post-Weeds depending on how balancing four shows goes.

Why CBS Wishes it was the Home of the Emmys in 2007

Although it is officially Emmys week here at Cultural Learnings, Fridays always bring forth a certain level of Jericho consciousness. As a result, I started to think about ways in which Jericho’s plight could have been improved by the Emmy Awards. Fans already let the world know that Jericho deserved Emmy nominations here at Cultural Learnings, but the show unfortunately didn’t get a nomination.

However, that doesn’t mean that the Emmys couldn’t have been a boost to Jericho and the rest of CBS’ 2007-2008 lineup. Each year, the host network of the Emmys (It rotates each year) is in the position of being able to use an audience of tens of millions of potential viewers to promote its new fall shows as well as returning programs. And what better stage for promoting Jericho could CBS have than TV’s biggest night?

Unfortunately, of course, FOX is hosting the Emmys. But it’s impossible to ignore how much CBS needs this right now.

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Filed under Award Shows, Emmy Awards, Jericho, Kid Nation, Television

Tagged as CBS, Emmys, Jericho Fridays

September 11, 2007 · 12:00 pm

“When Does Lost Return?”, “What’s up with Jericho?” and Other Burning Fall Season Questions

[Taking a break from the Emmys coverage briefly, the fall season brings a lot of premieres, but also a lot of questions. So, to help answer those, here’s some answers to the most commonly asked ones. If you have any other questions, feel free to send us an email at cultural.learnings @ gmail.com]

When does Lost return?

Due to its shortened season, and to avoid running into any hiatuses, Lost will be starting its 16-episode run sometime in January or February of 2008. This should give producers more time to produce episodes, and hopefully we’ll get a better season out of the arrangement. It does, however, mean a fairly lengthy delay before new episodes: the Season Three DVD releases in time for Christmas, so you can satiate your desire with that if you’re desperate.

What’s Up with Jericho? Wasn’t it Renewed?

The short answer to this question is that it has been renewed, but it does not yet have a timeslot in which it will air. CBS is waiting on reaction to their new shows, as an open timeslot might mean that the already completed episodes of Jericho could begin airing as soon as possible. Otherwise, if nothing falters, the network will likely look for a slot at midseason (January) in which to air the episodes.

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Filed under 2007 Fall Preview, ABC, Battlestar Galactica, Jericho, Lost, Television, The Amazing Race

Tagged as CBS

September 10, 2007 · 2:30 pm

Emmys 2007: Much Ado About Scene-Stealers in Supporting Actor (Comedy)

One is a multi-camera comedy series that has a laugh track on CBS. The other is a single-camera comedy series airing on HBO. And yet, both How I Met Your Mother and Entourage share one key factor: outside of their core drama, but related to it, there is a character who becomes the real reason to watch the series. In reality, Jeremy Piven (Entourage) and Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother) are lead actors in the eyes of many viewers, and in the episodes submitted for Emmy consideration they claim ownership to their respective series. And this makes them, in the end, the front-runner and the dark horse in this Emmy race.

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Filed under Award Shows, Emmy Awards, Entourage, How I Met Your Mother, Television, The Office

Tagged as CBS, Emmys, HBO

September 7, 2007 · 9:49 am

Cultural Learnings: The House that ‘Jericho’ Built

[As the Emmy Awards and the Fall Premieres start to take over Cultural Learnings, Jericho Fridays might be on a hiatus during the month of September, although I have no intention of abandoning the show. However, before this hiatus takes place, I want to take a chance to take the time to discuss the impact that Jericho has had on this blog over the past four months.]

Recently, someone asked on a message board how bloggers had worked in order to build a consistent audience. In answering this question, it’s easy to go through the usual: using Digg, tagging posts properly, and putting out content in terms of both quality and quantity. However, I had a rather unique response as well: Jericho.

While I had certainly brought a lot of content to Cultural Learnings before May, I had never achieved what I would consider an audience. A blog is one thing, but to be able to create a discourse is the goal of any internet writer. Without people reading, it can often feel like a rather fruitless endeavor.

But all of that changed with a simple post about Jericho, as after the show was canceled I decided to take the devil’s advocate approach and analyze just why CBS canceled the series. And, to be honest, I would still argue that at that point, before the campaign that followed, they probably made the logical, if not proper, call.

May 16th – Why CBS Canceled ‘Jericho’

My perspective was one of a cynical TV writer, fascinated by the anger of a fanbase that, before that point, I wasn’t aware even existed. Jericho had fallen off my own radar months earlier, and this piece was designed to try to jump onto a bandwagon for mostly selfish purposes.

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Tagged as CBS, Jericho Fridays

August 31, 2007 · 8:46 am

No Holds Barred: What Needs to Be Said About ‘Jericho’

[As part of Cultural Learnings’ Jericho Fridays, I think that it is necessary to perhaps be able to state certain things that might not be seen as “positive” or popular. I, admittedly, began this campaign by pouring salt in the wound of Jericho fans, and while I have since been inspired to drop this position I think that being open and honest is still an integral part of the process.

These are things that need to be said not because they’re undeniably true, but rather so that it is out there and able to create a reaction that could spark something new. This week on the Jericho Forums at CBS.com, there was a thread about how more people should go onto the forums, and all of a sudden a huge flow of ideas emerged. That needs to happen again, and here’s some things to perhaps start it off.]

No Holds Barred:

What Needs to the Said About ‘Jericho’

1. CBS’ Fan Central is Worthless

I spent last week analyzing Fan Central at an indepth level with the assistance of fans, and kind of hoped that some of that might be taken to heart. And, to an extent it was: they ripped off JerichoMonster wholesale, creating the Jericho Fan Central Fan of the Week.

It’s clear that Shaun has essentially been brought in to run the site, but he doesn’t seem to be doing anything but rewriting forum posts out and then linking back to them. The problem with this is that, if one of the posts works in sending people to the boards, why would they need to be told what’s on them if they’re already there?

The answer is that they don’t: right now, the site is basically just a few blog posts a week that aren’t about bringing fans together, or providing some sort of new content, but rather reposting old content with a fairly slow reaction time thanks to a low volume of postings.

As it is, the site just sits there as Shaun’s not even daily blog, and one that isn’t offering any new perspectives. Unless they’re willing to bring someone in to raise actual issues and give fans a reason to return to the internet, the site is pretty much just wasting bandwidth. And that’s something that I think fans should be concerned about.

2. The Jericho Fanbase Needs Fewer Blogs

I have absolutely nothing against the large assortment of bloggers who talk about Jericho: they have been incredibly good to me, and I have tried to return the favor as much as physically possible. But, I’ve got to be honest with you: I think there’s too many blogs about Jericho.

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Tagged as CBS, Jericho Fridays

August 24, 2007 · 2:25 pm

A Lost Ranger: Jericho Fans Mourn the Loss of GaTravelGal

Amongst tight-knit internet communities, the real identities of the people involved are often shrouded by the user names or avatars that they use to identify themselves. And yet, within certain communities, the passing of one of their members does not go unnoticed. You hear stories regarding funerals in World of Warcraft, and I’m sure the same can be said for Second Life. And, this week, a similar blow struck the Jericho community, as news reached fans that user GaTravelGal passed away unexpectedly.

In my interaction with this fan community, GaTravelGal was best known for starting the Jeriatric Boomers Ward, the lengthy thread that inspired my most professional piece of journalism written at Cultural Learnings. She was a facilitator of memories, discussion and a fantastic fan environment in which older fans overcame any computer issues they had to reminisce about the good ol’ days in a wonderful new medium.

I think that the outpouring of love and support in response to her passing reflects how close this Jericho community has become: there is not a scent of cynicism or jaded perspectives amongst their ranks, and I envy them for the relationships they’ve created. They really do serve as a family, and one that they should all be proud to be part of.

There are currently efforts being made to reflect GaTravelGal’s contribution by dedicating a second season episode of the series to her memory. I fully support this idea, as abstract as it may sound to those not part of the community, and would like to offer my own memorial of sorts. In writing that Boomer article, GaTravelGal (A 56 year old boomer from Georgia) filled out a set of questions. Here are her answers, inspiring words that mean no less following her passing.

a) How did you become a fan of Jericho?
I had seen a promo for the show and made a mental note to watch the pilot. Since it aired on Wednesday nights, I had been at church and almost forgot to turn it on that first week. In fact, I missed the first 30 minutes. But even only watching the second half, I was immediately hooked. I then began to tape it on my DVR in case I got in after 8 pm the following weeks!

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Tagged as CBS, Jericho Fridays

August 24, 2007 · 8:05 am

A Wish List: What Jericho Fans Hope For from CBS’ ‘Fan Central’

[Over the past week, Jericho fans have expressed their hopes for CBS’ Fan Central website. Through email and through the Jericho message boards, the very people the page was designed for have made it clear that it needs a little work…but they’re more than willing to help out with some suggestions. The following is their view, compiled from their comments, of Fan Central.]

Jericho fans are perhaps the most devoted you could imagine in television right now: their success at bringing back their show certainly made them well-loved by the cast and crew of the series. Hoping to take that catch that lightning and bottle it for the series’ future, CBS has established Jericho Fan Central, a page that gives Jericho fans links to websites, articles and information they’re looking for.

However, the distinct problem that myself and Jericho fans have observed is that they really aren’t offering anything new. If this is really a place for fans to go, then why is so much of the content simply repeating the efforts fans are already aware of, or reposting content from the message boards? There is all sorts of potential for Fan Central to be a place to offer fans more interaction with their series, and they have some ideas I think CBS should be aware of.

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Tagged as CBS, Jericho Fridays