Monday Morning Oscar

Once again, I made my pilgrimage to the multiplex in attempt to construct an educated opinion about Oscars.

Unfortunately, a few titles slipped through town and got away before I got to them. No MILK, FROST/NIXON, THE READER or REVOLUTIONARY ROAD.

That being said, I don't have much of an opinion that's contrary to the results from last night.

I thought Mickey Rourke bared his soul in THE WRESTLER - and Marisa Tomei certainly bared everything else. I thought both performances were extremely brave.

Eh, but you can't have everything.

As for the telecast itself, the individual tributes to the nominated actors was an interesting idea, but became tedious as the night wore on. I mean, why did we spend ten minutes talking about the merits of all the Supporting Actor noms?

It would have made more sense to have had THEM on the stage talking about Heath Ledger. Come on, let's face it - EVERYONE in that building - even the gigantic egos of the other nominated actors - KNEW Ledger was getting that statue.

It would have been marvelous for the other actors to honestly speak from the heart about what an honor it truly was to be nominated with such a daring young man.

My favorite techie moment from the show, was the curtain failing to open as the opening montage began. A mic was open backstage and I heard "Open it! Open it!" while the curtain puller kept yanking on the wrong rope, closing the curtain ever tighter.

I thought ABC did a miserable job of using the platform to promote new programming.

And what did it take to get in the end-of-the-show trailer-rama? Anyone else notice the absence of STAR TREK and WATCHMEN?

As for Hugh Jackman? Brilliant. Don't care about the ratings, he's the man.

SNIKT. Razor sharp.

Another Week, Another Bad Trend for Net TV

Something disturbing has developed in the world of network TV.

OK, so name a week when that sentence doesn't apply.

This week's pattern that has emerged is the rise of Univision. Or maybe not so much the rise of Univision, as the collapse of ABC and NBC to below Univision levels.

This past Monday the finale of SUPERSTARS OF DANCE and the second part of KNIGHTS TEMPLAR finished 5th in their time slots in Adults 18-49 and Adults 18-34. The good news is that NBC managed to beat reruns on the CW.

Tuesday, ABC's HOMELAND SECURITY USA trailed UNI's CIUDADO CON EL ANGEL in A-18-49 & 18-34, while SCRUBS trailed FUEGO EN LA SANGRE in total viewers by 30,000 people.

Wednesday, CIUDADO CON EL ANGEL beat everything but AMERICAN IDOL in the demos during the first hour of prime time. A Katie Couris news special, a new KNIGHT RIDER, a rerun of last week's LOST and a repeat of PRIVELEGED were all dispatched by Spanish language telenovela.

And it's not like CIUDADO is a ratings blockbuster. It's winning with a 2.1 rating. The other nets can't make it to a 2 against IDOL? Ouch.

SANGRE bumped UNI's performance up to a 2.4 18-34 demo rating and beat a repeat of CRIMINAL MINDS, LAW & ORDER and 90210.

At 10/9c DON FRANCISCO PRESENTA beat LIFE ON MARS and a rerun of CSI: NY with a 1.6 rating in 18-34.

It doesn't end there.

Thursday, with a special edition of IDOL in the mix, it's more of the same.

CIUDADO came within one tenth of a point of catching a second place rerun of CRIMINAL MINDS in A18-49. In 18-34s, it beat CRIMINAL MINDS by a good 8 tenths. That's a substantial margin when 2nd place only scores a 2.3.

So what are we seeing here?

1) Network reruns have almost ZERO appeal to 18-34 year olds who are being trained by these very same networks to go online to catch episiodes the miss?

2) UNIVISION represents a growing Latino market. Not proven. UNI's success seems to have an upper limit. It's the other nets collapse that is the equalizer here.

3) IDOL destroys everything in its path when it coms to 18-34s. Not mentioned above are the 8s and 9s in 18-34 compared to everyone else's 2s and 1.5s

What do you think?

Future Classic: Ferguson

I haven't watch an episode of THE LATE LATE SHOW WITH CRAIG FERGUSON in a couple of weeks - and now I fear I've missed some incredibly wacky TV.

I happened to be in the room when my DVR switched over to catch the beginning of last night's show.

The video quality leaves a bit to be desired, but this is how Craig opened his show last night:



It's brilliant in it's simplicity, and it makes me think of Ernie Kovacks. Here's a clip of his famous Nairobi Trio:



Set your DVR. Stay up late. Do what you must, but find a way to catch Craig. You'll sleep with a smile on your face.