Evil Dead: The Musical

There are plenty of days I'm glad I don't live in New York City.

Today is not one of them.

I wish I could have seen this one, no matter how far off Broadway it might have been.

I give you EVIL DEAD: THE MUSICAL.

Groovy.

President's Day Movie-thon 2008

Over the past few years, I have developed a personal tradition of attending as many Oscar nominated films as opssible on President's Day.

It all started under a previous employer who insisted we all take the day off - even though it was in the middle of sweeps.

By far the most interesting edition was the year I saw SIDEWAYS, MILLION DOLLAR BABY and THE AVIATOR in succession and learned that broken noses appeared prominently in all three films.

But I digress.

This year's marathon consisted of THERE WILL BE BLOOD, ENCHANTED and CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR.

THERE WILL BE BLOOD was underwhelming for me. Didn't care for it - and I usually like Important Films. More on Daniel Day Lewis' performance at the end...

ENCHANTED was sweet. It was surprising to see Disney poking fun at itself. Nicely done, but I don't see the nomination for Amy Adams. It wasn't a very complicated role. Loved her, but wouldn't have nominated her for it.

CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR was fun. Anyone who was born after 1980 should probably see this film - just to get a taste of the Cold War. I liked it a lot - even though it was written by Aaron Sorkin. the 'true events' nature of the story prevented Sorkin from preaching too hard, allowing his crisp dialog to shine.

Tom Hanks was great as usual, but the actor of the day for me was Phillip Seymour Hoffman. His CIA operative was a dead pan marvel. Loved it.

Meanwhile, was it just me, or was Daniel Day Lewis channeling SMALLVILLE's Lionel Luthor in THERE WILL BE BLOOD? I'd bet a meteor rock enhanced milkshake on it.

Strike Over, Blu-Ray Wins

Not sure if the announcements are related, but both are certainly welcome.

First, if you've been living under a TV rock... the Writers' Guild of America has settled their strike, scoring a share of income from new media sales. Production companies all over L.A. are now falling all over themselves, ramping production up for the April returns of SOME of your favorites. some of your favorites (well, MY favorites) won't be back until next season.

And Jack Bauer will be sitting things out until January '09. Boo,

The worst of it is that now that all of this production frenzy is underway, unagented writers (like myself) can forget about getting anyone's attention for about nine months. Such is life.

The other development in the world of home theatre is the death of HD-DVD. Seems along aboutTuesday, Netflix announced they would no longer be carrying HD-DVD copies of any future releases. It got worse. Wednesday, Wal-Mart made the same announcement.

Toshiba, the creator of HD-DVD, promptly folded the format into a tidy little ball and tossed it into the dumpster next to Sony's BetaMax.

Sony wins the format war this time. Blu-Ray DVD promises oh-so much. And with prices for the Blu-Ray players orbiting at about $600, that $399 Playstation 3 (which doubles as a Blu-Ray DVD player) is looking more and more attractive.

And who doesn't want to play a little Madden '08 in HD?

Zucker Strikes Again

The New York Times is reporting that Jeff Zucker has decided that NBC will no longer be producing pilots for their new shows. It seems actually producing a sample episode of an unproven concept is simply too expensive for the vertically integrated company's 21st century business model.

“It’s clear we are in a recession in the United States, and we’re going to have to manage our business accordingly,” he said.

Oh NBC's in a recession alright - but it has nothing to do with the economy.

“Sometimes you see the world from a different perspective when you’re flat on your back,” he said. “At NBC Entertainment we’ve been flat on our backs for the last few years.”

Wonder who was in charge the whole time....

Of course, Jeff probably doesn't need to see samples of the shows he wants to add to the lineup - because the quality of the program isn't the most important thing to him.

Number one on his list? Is the show produced by NBC/Universal?

Vertical integration at its finest.

Fire Zucker. Save the network.

Spring Comes Early for FOX

The numbers say it's spring, but there's eight inches of snow in my front yard....

Last year it didn't happen until mid-March.

We all knew it was going to happen again this year, but I doubt anyone thought it would happen before Super Bowl Sunday.

On the strength of a better than normal fall performance, decent but not Earth-shattering numbers for the BCS, an explosive debut for TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES, the return of AMERICAN IDOL and stellar numbers for the NFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME (dude - a 40 share in A18-49!) which drew almost 50 MILLION viewers, FOX has taken over the #1 slot in A18-49.

With 36 hours of IDOL still to come, the debut of a scandalous game show, THE MOMENT OF TRUTH coming tomorrow, oh - and that SUPER BOWL thing next Sunday, the other nets can only wave in FOX's rear view mirror.

See ya!

Hasta la Vista, NBC

It's that time of year again.

The mid-season blues are hitting most of the broadcast networks - magnified by the continuing writers' strike - and the FOX freight train is a comin'.

Last week, NBC struck gold with the debut of AMERICAN GLADIATORS. This retread of a crappy syndicated pile of poo from the '80s actually managed to score the largest audience of any new series of the season.

Until Sunday.

The debut of TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES cranked out the best FOX series premiere numbers since the debut of MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE in 2000.

It's the biggest new show debut on network TV of the season. And thank God - it's scripted.

It's only going to get worse for the competition.

IDOL returns tomorrow.

Say goodnight, Mr. Zucker.

Change in the Weather

The holidays are over and now the post-holiday blues are ready to set in - and this year (thanks to the writer's strike) there's not going to be much new TV to help pull one out of the funk.

But, we shall endeavor to persevere.

I've had several opinions over the last month, but not nearly enough time to post.

The most troubling development in TV (beyond the strike, which MAY just cripple broadcast TV for a long time) is Thursday's announcement that the Weather Channel is for sale.

The Weather Channel (TWC) and weather.com, up until now, have been fiercely independent. TWC isn't part of any massive vertically integrated congolmerate.

Yet.

The company most interested in TWC? Why, it's NBC/Universal.

Yep. The man who has ruined so much of so many cable and broadcast entities, Jeff Zucker, may be getting his hands on a channel that is uniquely positioned in the cable world.

In a time when Sci-Fi shows wrestling, and History explores UFOs ad nauseum, TWC has managed to pretty much cover THE WEATHER 24/7.

Two things could happen if NBCU gets TWC.

First, we could see program changes. Perhaps some weather related disaster films produced in Canada, TWC meteorologists doing forecasts for NFL Sunday night games, maybe a variety show featuring The Weather Girls or guest celebrity forecasts featuring the briefcase girls from DEAL OR NO DEAL.

Second, the hideous force-fed Green Week on NBCU channels will be aggressively expanded. You see, the company that controls NBCU is General Electric. It is GE's stated goal to promote the concept of global warming in order to promote compact fluorescent bulbs, along with other 'green' technologies that would not be adopted without mountains of propaganda.

Imagine the outcry if Exxon controlled NewsCorp.

Meanwhile, the FCC is going ahead with its plan to change the rules about cross ownership of TV stations and newspapers.

Soon we will be exposed only to the messages that GE, Disney, Coke, McDonald's and Rupert Murdoch want us to see.

None of this is good news.

Stay tuned.

ER & Political Product Placement

Sometimes there's something beneficial to watching several episodes of a series back to back. It's way easier to spot trends when the chapters aren't separated by a full week of the mundanities of life.

Take my recent experience with ER, for example.

It's not a big thing - and quite possibly something I wouldn't have noticed had I not been cleaning out the TiVo.

But...in back to back episodes characters from ER mentioned Democratic presidential candidates in passing and in a positive light. Both Obama and Hillary got what might have passed for product placement had they been Gateway computers or hybrid cars. They weren't ringing endorsements a la "I'm voting for Obama!" but they were positive mentions nonetheless.

One wonders - once the writers' strike is over, will there be enough election process remaining for John Edwards or any of the Republican candidates to receive anything approaching equal time?

A Daisy By Any Other Name

We've become big fans of PUSHING DAISIES. It's quirky, surreal, colorful (absolutely gorgeous in HD!) and unique.

We're also big fans of Chi McBride around here. Loved him in BOSTON PUBLIC, but he looks like he's having a grand time here. I had lunch with Mr. McBride sometime during the first season of BOSTON PUBLIC. He was determined to learn everything he could about the giant TV machine.

As he put it, "I stand where they tell me and say what they tell me. What do you do?"

I had the honor of explaining the role of local TV promotion to the star of what was then FOX's most critically acclaimed drama.

Kinda cool. But I digress.

What brings me here today is the first hint that baboons may be taking over PUSHING DAISIES. (See TV Shows Written by Baboons)

Part of the charm of DAISIES is its timelessness. It doesn't seem to take place in any certain city or state. It has a retro modern flavor that includes rotary phones and hybrid cars. It's decidedly not set in our universe. It's apolitical. It is its own entity.

That's why three lines of dialog in "Smell of Success" (airdate 11/27/07) stuck out to me. There was a reference for Ronald Reagan. One character expressed fear of the C.H.U.D. And another warned "don't make me cut you, bitch."

Each of these instances popped me out of my comfortably quirky DAISIES universe. I assumed a baboon must be responsible. Research shows the episode was written by Scott Nimerfro, his first effort for the series. A-ha! An unwashed member of the common public who doesn't understand the culture of the show!

Not exactly. Turns out Scott is a Co-producer for DAISIES.

Geez, if the staff can't get it right, what chance do the rest of us have?

Still love the show. Hope Scott gets it right next time.

ER Goes Green, Badly

Wow.

Just watched the 'green' episode of ER - the one that aired in NBC/Universal's ridiculous GREEN WEEK.

What a pitiful, forced, badly written attempt at subliminal propaganda.

From a tie-dyed hippie sing-a-long (I swear the guy was actually wearing a tie-dyed T-shirt) to not-so-subtle lines discussing the inconvenience of truth, to the product placement storyline featuring one of the doctor's new itty-bitty car, this episode stunk.

Part of the reason the Writers' Guild is out on strike right now is because they're being forced to write commercials like this into their story lines 1) without a share of the money earned by such commercial placement, and 2) without regard to how crippling said placement may be to a storyline.

And while this may not have been product placement in its purest sense, there's no doubt the massages were forced into the hour. No characters came out and said "Mmm McDonald's - I'm lovin' it." But I suppose it's hard to work "I'm Al Gore and I used to be the next president of the United States." into many plots.

This episode of ER was shameful. This show used to be a strong, forceful energetic being. Now the show is like an exotic dancer who's past her prime. Just going through the motions for the tips.

If I were the writer who created Abby Lockhart, I'd consider suing for literal defamation of character.

Elsewhere in GREEN WEEK, Al Gore's appearance on 30 ROCK was a great self-parody, akin to the treatment he gets over on SOUTH PARK. At least the guy who used to be the next president of the united States has a sense of humor about himself.

Shiny Metal Inspiration

Over the last one year and a bit, I haven't posted a great deal of video, but it looks like I'm about to go 2 for 2. Yep it's two embedded video posts in a row - and I'm proud of it.

Can you name the animated FOX program that this song is NOT the theme for?



(Cue the 30th Century Fox logo for a hint.)


The story is a certain studio couldn't afford the clearance rights, so they hired someone to get as close to the original as they could... It feels a bit like the original MISSION IMPOSSIBLE theme versus the hip hopped edition for the movies.

Kinda cool.

Family Guy vs. Picard

This week, FAMILY GUY celebrated their 100th episode by allowing Stewie to finally kill off his mom, Lois.

Or did he?

Here's a spoilerish clip of the end of the episode:




It's ultimately a spin on the best season-ending cliffhanger in the hisotry of television:



Now that was some good watchin'.

It's Over for Three

And the first three fatalities of the new TV season are:

ONLINE NATION - The CW - a review of the hottest stuff you can find online - which you can find online - without having to sit through annoying hosts and commercials....

NASHVILLE - FOX - A bad attempt at a reality documentary that wasn't very real. MTV would have canceled this one - and they'll air anything.

VIVA LAUGHLIN! - CBS - COP ROCK goes to Vegas - with worse results.

Someone cue the logo lady - "It's Over" for them.

Who's next?

PVR Ratings - My List

This year TV pundits are very excited about a new set of ratings Nielsen is publishing. These numbers take into account delayed viewing on PVRs.

If a Nielsen family watches HEROES live, that's always been counted. Now, if they watch HEROES on their TiVo on a slow Friday night, it gets counted in the show's total ratings for the week.

Seems folks were expecting more than they should have. The top 10 shows didn't get much of a bounce, or change their order much. The big boys' audiences grew about 10% versus the overnight ratings.

Which really isn't that spectacular given that PVR penetration is at 20% now.

Other folks are looking at TiVo's top 20 with some surprise. Why is TiVo's Top 20 so different from Nielsen's - easy. TiVo's Top 20 is made up of a lot of second choices.

If you're stuck between watching HEROES or K-VILLE, odds are K-VILLE's the one getting recorded.

Which leads me to ask - what is your TV watching schedule?

Here's mine:

MONDAY
PRISON BREAK
HEROES
JOURNEYMAN (haven't canceled the season pass yet, but we may be close)
K-VILLE (season pass canceled)

TUESDAY
BONES
HOUSE

WEDNESDAY
BACK TO YOU
'TIL DEATH
KITCHEN NIGHTMARES
PUSHING DAISIES
BIONIC WOMAN (season pass canceled)

THURSDAY
SUPERNATURAL
SMALLVILLE
ER
MAD MEN (can't wait for season 2 in June!)

FRIDAY
TiVo catch up night

SATURDAY
TiVo catch up night

SUNDAY
THE SIMPSONS
FAMILY GUY
AMERICAN DAD

As much as is on this list, there's less on it than last year, and there will probably be less on it next year. Awaiting the returns of 24 and LOST, and looking forward to checking out TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES in January.

What's on your list?

K-VILLE KO'd

It looks like FOX is setting K-VILLE up for the big K.O.

There's a pattern of behavior with the network when it comes to marginal shows the suits think need a boost.

Invariably, they air the episodes out of order. It can be jarring sometimes - like when they started THE WEDDING BELLS with episode #2, then aired episode #1 the following week. Yes, episode #2 may have been more compelling, but TV audiences are easily confused when characters they see grow in one week regress inexplicably the next.

The same thing happened to SLIDERS and JOHN DOE. John walked into a bar one week and new everyone on the staff. The next week, he walked into the bar for the very first time.

It's so extremely frustrating. Why can't they just let the show grow in real time?

Which brings us to K-VILLE. The episodes numbers to date: 101, 103 and 105. Next week, episode 104.

If the suits can't bother to run the show as produced, why should I bother watching it?

First Katrina, now FOX. New Orleans and yet another Tim Minear production get soaked.

Cancel my season pass.

Back to You - Ouch!

No, the pain is not from having sat through another craptacular sitcom. No, this pain is from seeing a sitcom set at a TV station - featuring folks who had a former relationship as the central characters.

BACK TO YOU makes JOINED IN PROGRESS seem rather derivative.

But hey - this is TV - where suits have no original ideas - so maybe I've got a chance now!

BACK TO YOU (Wednesdays at 8/7 c on FOX) stars Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton - and the pilot was damn fine.

JOINED IN PROGRESS hasn't been cast, seen or read by anyone who can help bring it to life.

But I recommend you check them both out.

Belated Props to Flushed Away

The folks at Aardman (responsible for the wonderful WALLACE & GROMIT series of claymation films) teamed up with the CGI folks from Dreamworks for FLUSHED AWAY.

Not having young children in the house, I thought I had no reason to see this kiddie flick when it was first released.

I humbly admit the error.

This brilliant bit of diversion is such a treat. The plot may be simple, but the detail upon detail thrown in by the animators makes for a wonderful 90 minute ride.

It made me long for a CGI version of DANGERMOUSE - a project I had no idea I wanted to see until tonight.

Click on over to Netflix and get this one in your queue

Emmys '07

I didn't get to see as much of the Emmy telecast as I wanted - and maybe that's a good thing. The list of winners is stupefying.

The good:

Theatre in the round. A cool concept that heightened the Hi-Def picture. The producers of AMERICAN IDOL were in charge and it showed.

Yay for THE SOPRANOS, Terry O'Quinn from LOST, and the Stewart/Colbert/Carroll acceptance bit.

Boo to just about everything else. Spader wins Best Actor in a drama over Hugh Laurie? I don't think so.

Meanwhile, FOX had to deal with a few loose lips. Seems Ray Romano and Sally Field forgot the show wasn't being aired on HBO. (And no, Sally was NOT censored for her political diatribe, it was her choice of vocabulary FOX didn't like. They really, really didn't like it.)

Kudos to FOX for having the forethought to actually putting the program on a delay so they could cut away from any profanity. Like it or not, this is broadcast TV. It has a responsibility to the free over the air viewers.

'Bout time.

Burning Off the Summer, Part 1

My schedule's been a bit cramped of late, but Mrs. Kimosabe & I worked hard this weekend cleaning out the TiVo of some of the summer stuff we couldn't quite get to over the last few weeks. The fall premieres are a comin' and that means there's lots of TV watching to squeeze into two weeks' time.

I'm three episodes into MAD MEN and have every intention of finishing the run. Kudos to AMC for enhancing the environment for this advertising based drama with trivia bumpers that run in between all of their commercials.

Orkin started advertising on TV in 1954... followed by an Orkin spot.

The number one night for movie advertising is Thursday... followed by a spot for a movie.

The Paramount logo is the oldest movie studio logo still in use... followed by a spot for Paramount film.

Smart stuff - and a very clever way to fight back against TiVo hopping.

Also - a big shout out to SUPERNATURAL. Got all caught up on the Winchester brothers' adventures tonight. The show has an X-FILES feel - and it should, Kim Manners was deeply involved in both. It's a tight show, too. The main story always seems to be wrapped up in 45 minutes, followed by a little bit more of the ongoing mythology. Nice.

SUPERNATURAL started the season head to head against THE O.C. - and choices had to be made. Come October 4th, Sam & Dean will get their season pass back.

Time for Some TV

Summer's over and another fall TV season is about to begin.

I've been away for too long, prepping for a premiere of my own.

Now that the show is open, it's time to clean out the TiVo of some good cable programming - MAD MEN, SAVING GRACE, DAMAGES and umpteen reruns of SUPERNATURAL (that we couldn't squeeze into the schedule during their first runs).

Coming soon - my recommendations for the fall.

Stay tuned.