A Classic TV Movie....More Problems for Jay Leno and NBC...and There's Some Good TV to Be Found on Basic Cable

Can you read this?

I think my fingers have gotten a little chubbier after all that I have to eat this fourth of July weekend and the extra chub might affect my typing skills – so bear with me if a few words are spelled wrong.  The food this Fourth of July weekend was pretty much delicious – with the exception of some food that I sampled on a trip up north Friday and I have to give credit to Marty and her youngest son Bill, who pretty much has become the family’s “Grill Master Extraordinaire”!

But enough about food and the fourth – let’s talk some TV and there is a lot on TV to talk about. 

“Duel” anyone?

The fine arts and entertainment channel Ovation (DirecTV Channel 274/Dish Network Channel 157) has been highlighting the work of some film directors a little ahead of their time with a series called “American Revolutionaries: The Directors”.  One of the directors featured in this series is Stephen Spielberg and the movie that they’re showing is the classic made-for-TV movie that he directed for ABC named “Duel” starring Dennis Weaver (who many people may still remember as Chester on the old CBS western “Gunsmoke”). 

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the movie “Duel” – it’s the story of a salesman (Dennis Weaver) who decides to take the scenic route to his next appointment, but little did he know that he was going to be terrorized by a faceless driver in a huge semi-truck that has the words “flammable” printed in big block letters on the back and side of the truck.  It doesn’t matter of Dennis Weaver is in front or in back of this semi – he’s pushed and terrorized the whole time.  You never see the face of the driver in the truck throughout the whole film – but you don’t have to – because every time that you see this truck you know things are going to get a little ugly for Weaver. 

According to the people hosting this show -- this low budget TV movie was all that Spielberg needed to kick start his career – because the first film that he got to direct after “Duel” was aired was “Jaws” and everyone remembers how that movie scared people at the beaches the summer that it was released.

Another director that they’re highlighting in this series is Mel Brooks – who wrote (with Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder) and directed one of my favorite movies of all time “Blazing Saddles”.  I actually seen this movie in a theater some ten times and laughed just as hard the tenth time that I did the first time that I saw this film.  Unfortunately, this series on Ovation won’t be showing “Blazing Saddles”, but will be airing another Brooks’s classic “The Producers”…is everybody ready for “Springtime for Hitler”?

NBC: More Problems than Hits

Remember last summer when NBC tried to convince us that come September we would all be turning to NBC for Jay Leno at 10?  NBC told producers and program suppliers that instead of those expensive prime-time drama programs – they were going to cut cost with running Leno five nights a week at ten with a fresh new show every night.  Leno at 10 was probably the biggest programming bomb in NBC history next to “Pink Lady and Jeff” and “Super Train”.  Leno bombing at 10pm brought about another programming blunder – when NBC thought they would send Jay Leno back to 11:35 and in turn – take “The Tonight Show” away from Conan O’Brien, who had only been hosting the show for seven months. 

One of the reasons that they gave Conan his walking papers was because his ratings were smaller than what Leno got when he did “The Tonight Show”.  NBC probably thought that they would put Leno back at 11:35 and everything would be ok – it would be like the whole “Leno at 10” fiasco was some soap opera dream sequence that never happened in real life.  Well…it happened….and here’s the kicker to the story:  Jay Leno’s ratings at 11:35 are actually worse than what Conan was getting for NBC and Conan was attracting a younger audience that what Jay does…oh well.  It’s going to be interesting to see what kind of audience Conan is going to pull in when he premieres this November on basic cable TBS.

More problems for NBC

One of the shows that NBC was hoping would be a big ratings draw for them come September is a new show called “Love Bites”.  The show, similar in format to the old TV show “Love American Style”, is having a few problems getting off the ground.  The woman who wrote the pilot, and who was once one of the top writers on “Sex and the City”, has left the show and one of the stars of the show – Becki Newton (who suppose to be a virgin on the show) has gotten pregnant.  So, instead of a September premiere – NBC is pushing back production on the show and they’re hoping to have “Love Bites” in shape for a January premiere.

With an hour hole to fill in the prime time schedule – NBC has turned to “The Donald” for a new season of “The Apprentice”.  Unlike the past few seasons that have featured celebrities – sixteen people are going to fight to become Donald Trump’s Apprentice and these people are combination of people who have either lost their jobs or are recent college graduates, who have had a hard time getting noticed in today’s job market.

Good TV is Easy to Find This Summer on Basic Cable

Traditional over the air television is in deep trouble – especially when basic cable channels are beating them at their own game.  When a basic cable channel like TV Land can attract broadcast network size audience with a mediocre sitcom like “Hot in Cleveland” – something is really wrong.

Last week, FX aired the first episode of the new comedy “Louie” starring comedian Louis C.K. and it’s probably one of the funniest shows on television today.  The premise of the show is nothing unusual – it’s basically the same thing that Jerry Seinfeld did on NBC – but Louis C.K.’s comedy has more bite than a shark at feeding time.  Where Jerry Seinfeld could be a little “cute” with things like the girl with the name that sounded like a…you know what….or give new meaning to the phrase “master of your own domain” – Louis C.K. comes out and tells it like it is.  Catch “Louie” Tuesday nights at 11pm on FX.

Fans of Dennis Leary and “Rescue Me”….the show is back on FX Tuesday nights at 10pm.  This is the last season for the show – so you don’t want to miss one episode to see how Tommy fares this season with his libido and battles with the bottle.  (Note:  Dennis Leary has signed with FX to do a new series after the completion of “Rescue Me”).

Jason Lee (of “My Name Is Earl” fame) is back as a Memphis cop who loves Elvis on the new TNT show “Memphis Blues” – Tuesdays at 10pm on TNT.  I caught the premiere episode of the show last week and it shows some promise – and if you watch closely – you’ll see some of Jason’s old cast mates from Earl pop up in the show.

Last, but not least, fans of Kyra Sedgwick and “The Closer” – the new season returns to TNT – Monday, July 12.  Expect some big changes to happen to Brenda and her job with the Los Angeles police department – let’s hope that budget cuts don’t split up her team of detectives.

Well, my stomach has settled down from all of the fourth of July goodies that I have consumed….so, I think I’ll find the remote control and set back and enjoy a show or two….and until the next time…remember – it’s only TV.

TV: The Best of the Bad and the Best of the Best

(The cast of "Parenthood" -- photo courtesy of Imagine/NBC-Universal)

When it comes to television – my taste are somewhat weird – which you’ll soon find out when I reveal some of my likes and dislikes. Although I don’t fit the channel’s demographic – which is basically female – I will admit to watching and enjoying the Lifetime cable channel (and it’s sister channel – the Lifetime Movie Network). The clue to watching either of these channels’ original programming is to never place high expectations on quality. The writing is going to be weak and the acting is sometimes just a hair above that of a community theater group – but occasionally Lifetime will really surprise you. On one hand – you have the funny and charming series “Drop Dead Diva” about a beautiful model who dies and comes back to life in a big girl’s body and then you have “Army Wives” – which is one of Lifetime’s most successful original series and one of my favorite all-time bad TV shows.

One of the first things that you notice about “Army Wives” is how damn cheesy the production values are on the show. I have seen better set design for a junior high school play than I have on this prime-time cable drama. The “Army Wives” sets look like they were hammered together with drywall and filmed in filmed in Sgt. Bilko’s auto garage. I mean, you would be hard press to distinguish a difference in the look of what’s suppose to be a hospital room to what is suppose to be an office of one of the Army officers on this show – this show is never going to win any awards for set design – but that’s part of what makes this show good bad TV.

Then we have the actors who must put some kind of life into the lamest script writing in television today. Kim Delaney (who some might remember from “NYPD Blue”) is suppose to be the heart of the show – but it’s hard to get past her lips. It looks like Delaney got a one of those lip jobs from some Hollywood nip/tuck doctor after her NYPD Blue run and it definitely doesn’t look natural. Then we have Brian McNamara, who plays Delaney’s husband in “Army Wives”, and he tries to over compensate the lousy scripts with acting so phony and over the top that you have to laugh…because you can’t take him serious.

“Army Wives” is so bad…it’s actually fun to watch and that’s why that I’m looking forward to the premiere of Season four on 10 pm, Sunday, April 11^th on Lifetime. (Be sure to check your local listings for cable channel.)

NBC has surprised me. The network that gave us Jay Leno in prime-time, only to replace him on one of those nights with “The Marriage Ref”, has given us a show that I think might be the best television show of 2010 – “Parenthood”.

“Parenthood” is based on a 1989 movie that Ron Howard produced and directed and it’s the second time that this movie has been made into a television series. (The first attempt at turning “Parenthood” into a TV series was in 1990 with Ed Begley Jr in the lead role, but it didn’t click with the viewing public and was cancelled after twelve episodes were aired).

“Parenthood” is about the Braverman family and all the things make a family a family. You’ve got the daughter and her two kids who has to move back in with Mom and Dad after her marriage and life goes south. Then you have the one son with the perfect family – that is until their youngest son is diagnosed with Asperger syndrome. Then you have the other daughter – who’s a successful lawyer, but still can’t quite get the “career and marriage thing together” and then there’s the youngest Braverman son who’s single and lives on a houseboat and just recently found out that he has a son from a previous relationship. You have enough story lines in this show if you just stuck with the Braverman children – but were soon going to find out that Mom and Dad has a few secrets about their marriage that they’re holding back from their children. Got you interested yet?

I’ll admit right off that I have never been a big Ron Howard fan. I know that he’s a talented director and everyone loves Ron Howard, but his movies have never been my cup of tea, but I have to give the man credit for his persistence in breathing life in this new version of “Parenthood” and trust me – it hasn’t been easy.

“Parenthood” was originally scheduled to premiere on NBC’s 2009 fall schedule – but one of the original cast members -- Maura Tierney (“E.R.”) – was diagnosed with breast cancer, so NBC rescheduled the show to begin as a mid-season replacement. Tierney announced that she would be leaving the show to allow for the scheduling of medical treatment and her part was later recast with Lauren Graham (“Gilmore Girls”) – who’s one the show’s shining stars (and it’s incredible how much her fictional daughter actually looks just like her in this show).

When it comes to good TV – you can’t get any better than “Parenthood” (Tuesday nights at 10pm on NBC).

Bad TV/Good TV …it’s all TV….Turn out the lights and enjoy it. Until we meet again – keep the grin above your chin and the TV remote nearby.

The Late Night Mess At NBC Continues

It looks like something is happening with NBC. The network is finally admitting that their grand experiment to save money by programming “The Jay Leno Show” weeknights at 10 is a complete bust. NBC could no longer sit by and watch this show drag their affiliates late night news ratings be dragged deeper into the ratings cellar. Many NBC affiliates across the nation had the top rated news programs before this program premiered last fall only to see them fall into third and fourth place in their markets.

News of the cancellation was officially announced Sunday afternoon with Leno’s final 10pm show to be aired on February 12^th. What happens next remains a mystery. Supposedly, Leno will be going back to his 11:35pm time slot to do a half-hour show, but nobody is really sure what that half-hour is going to consist of. Leno will probably do a monologue – but what does he do after that? A half-hour of late-night network television doesn’t give you a whole lot of time – maybe sixteen minutes tops after commercials – to “put on a show”.

Moving back to 11:35 could be a risky move. Jay went from being the king of late-night television hosting top-rated “Tonight Show” for seventeen years to hosting a nightly prime-time train wreck of show at 10pm that Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post likens to being the biggest marketing blunder since the introduction of the New Coke. If people didn’t follow Jay when he made the move to prime time – what makes NBC think that they’re going to follow him when he returns to late-night. And what if he bombs in late-night – what does NBC offer him then – the nightly news minute or does he bump Kathy Lee and Hoda off of the fourth hour of “The Today Show”?

There are still a couple of other pieces of the NBC late night mess that have yet to be settled. NBC still wants Conan O’Brien to be the host of “The Tonight Show”, but they want to move the show a half-hour to 12:05, but Conan’s contract stipulates that his show begins at 11:35pm and he could hold them to that contract, so what do they do with Leno who they already promised the half-hour show to? They could release Conan from his contract – but that’s going to cost NBC millions and millions of dollars. Fox has made some noise that they would love for Conan to join them and do a talk show there, but they know he’s still under contract to NBC. Should NBC release him from his contract – it’s a good bet that Fox would have him do a show at 11pm – that would directly complete against all of the local late night newscasts. NBC has already done enough harm to their affiliates late night news ratings with Leno they can’t risk freeing Conan to do damage to them on a rival network.

How would I like to see this all played out? Personally, I would love to see Conan hold NBC to their contract – it could end up blowing up in his face and he might have to set out the next five years and collect millions of dollars from NBC for doing nothing – but imagine what would happen if he did. If NBC was to take “The Tonight Show” away from him and give it back to Leno – you can see the negative press already. To be honest with you – it’s time for Jay to take a powder and do something he’s really good at – stand-up comedy – and leave late-night television with a little dignity – something that his predecessor Johnny Carson did.

Johnny went out with class. You remember Johnny Carson, don’t you Jay? If my memory serves me right -- he was the one you pushed out.

Is It The End "At 10" For Leno?

(Photo courtesy of NBC)

If I remember correctly, there was a book published back in the 70’s with the title “If You Can’t Dazzle Them With Brilliance…Baffle Them With Bullshit” and on a cold January day in 2010 the people who program NBC are bringing that title to life right before our very eyes.

Some five or so years ago, NBC decided that Conan O’ Brien would be the next host of the “Tonight Show”, but he had to wait until 2009 to get the show. When NBC signed Conan for the gig, Leno was still behind the Tonight Show desk consistently beating David Letterman on CBS – which should have been a clue right then and there that NBC programming executives didn’t know what they were doing. Call me wacky, but it’s hard to find a good reason why you would go and replace a proven commodity in the 11:30 time slot (Leno) with someone whose show features such characters as a masturbating bear and an insult spewing dog (Conan). It didn’t make much sense then and it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense now.

Leno – being the good company man that he is – went along with the move. As 2009 approached – NBC watched as Leno still got big ratings on the Tonight Show and they knew that they had to do something to keep him under the NBC umbrella after Conan took over the show or risk losing him to the competition.

What was NBC’s solution to keeping Leno? Put his show on five nights a week at 10pm. This is where the "if you can't dazzle them with brilliance baffle them with bullshit" theory really came into play: NBC admitted before Leno's first 10pm show ever aired that it didn't need to big ratings, because the show would be cheaper to produce than a filmed drama. NBC saw it as a win-win….they kept Leno and they had five nights a week of fresh programming at a fraction of the cost. What they didn’t realize was how big this little experiment was going to bomb. Not did Jay Leno's 10pm show get being beaten in the ratings by ABC, CBS and Fox – one-hour dramas on USA, TNT and FX were attracting bigger audiences than Jay. And, if you talked to an NBC programming executive about the 10pm situation – they would deny that there’s a problem.

Now, let’s fast forward to January 7, 2010. Rumors and gossip are coming out of Burbank, California about the future of Jay Leno at 10pm at lighting speed. It all begins with news that NBC has seen the errors of their way and will be canceling the show. The cable news networks and the internet are abuzz with the news – only to have NBC come out and deny that they show is being cancelled and saying, "Jay Leno is one of the most compelling entertainers in the world today.” If you call bombing at 10pm -- Leno is really compelling.

Before night falls though – a new rumor comes out of Burbank. TMZ is reporting that on February 1, Leno’s 10pm show will go on hiatus and return to the 11:30 time slot after the Olympics. (And here’s the big crunch) Supposedly, Conan’s show will follow Jay and Jimmy Fallon’s show will still follow Conan’s -- but will all of the shows still be an hour in length? Dunno. Rumor has it that Leno will be doing a half-hour show and Conan and Fallon will be doing an hour – which doesn’t make a whole hell of a lot of sense, does it? If NBC says they’re giving the Tonight Show back to Jay and they’re only giving him a half hour are they really giving it back to him? I wouldn’t think so. Plus, I think if you cut the Tonight Show down to a half-hour you’re diluting what has been one of television’s most prized institutions -- which is another indication that NBC programmers must be smoking crack somewhere in the halls of beautiful downtown Burbank..

When it comes right down to it....three little words sum up all of the craziness happening right now with Leno, Conan and NBC -- and those three words: "It's only TV".

2009 -- Who Cares -- A Year In Review

We’re approaching the end of another year and you know what that means – a lot of people and their lists of what they thought was the best and what was the worst (fill in the blank) of the year. I’m not going to some best or worst list – mine is going to be a little different – so allow me to present to you:

Rich Frost’s Who Really Cares List for 2009

News bulletin -- Michael Jackson is dead. Who cares! I have no desire whatsoever to rush out to my local movie theatre to see “Michael Jackson’s This Is It” or even rent a DVD of the movie when it’s released; and I could care less about seeing with any member of the Jackson family talk about their brother Michael in exclusive interviews with Larry King, Barbara Walters or Anderson Cooper.

A lot of people are wondering if I am I going to read Sarah Palin’s book? Here’s a quick answer -- Hell no! Sarah Palin wrote a book -- Who fucking cares! It’s incredible how someone as stupid has gone so far doing so little in such a short amount of time and in the process has managed to attract people who not only support her, but will seriously defend her to the end of the earth. Has the pool of legitimate political candidates hit rock bottom or what? How can one take Palin seriously when she actually says that CBS’s news anchor Katie Couric does “gotcha interviews”? Having watched Palin on the talk shows during her recent book tour has only reinforced my opinion that one day historians will proclaim the Sarah Palin era of American politics as “the ultimate dumbing down of America”. Whether we're talking about the book or the politician -- when it comes to Sarah Palin -- all I have to say is "Who cares!!!!"

The movie “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” has taken in some $230 million in at the box office in its first ten days. Who cares? The phenomenon surrounding the “Twilight” movies and the books is crazy. ‘Twilight Fever’ has even affected people who I never would have expected to get hooked by a hokey vampire/love story series, and what’s even more amazing, these people aren't afraid to make public their love for the Twilight series. Me? I could care less.

It was announced five years ago that Conan O’Brien would become the host of the “Tonight Show” on NBC in 2009 and it took the brain trust at NBC a few months in 2008 to finally figure out what to do with Jay Leno to keep him in the fold. What was their solution? Get rid of scripted dramas and move Jay Leno to 10 o’clock. NBC network brass will be the first to admit that Leno at 10 saves them lots of money not having to produce those expensive dramas – but you’d be hard pressed find anyone at NBC that will admit to the show being a colossal failure for the network and the affiliates who carry it. Jay Leno has always been a lousy interviewer – now combine those lousy interview skills with such audience attention grabbers such as “Earn Your Plug” (where celebrities have to do something to earn the right to plug their new movie); or where celebrity guests are timed doing two laps around a race track in an electric car and you can easily see why people are tuning out Jay Leno at 10 in droves….Who cares!!!

Remember when there were just a couple of reality shows on television and we either watched them or didn't? Those were the days – now we can’t get away from these damn reality shows. We have literally have people bumping into other people for their fifteen minutes of fame. We have housewives and chefs, drug addicts, sex addicts and people wanting to be the next superstar model or top forty idol. It has gotten to the point that in 2009 reality TV stars are bumping into one another just so they can get a taste of that elusive fifteen minutes of fame that Andy Warhol warned us about. I say, “WHO CARES!!!!!”

This last past year – we have had to deal with Kate and Jon and all of their kids and the freak show known as “the Octomom”. Then there’s the parents of the ‘balloon boy’ who were so desperate to become reality TV stars that they perpetrated a hoax that captured the attention of the cable news networks eager to fill up air time and had the nation worrying about whether or not a little boy was floating in the air aimlessly in what looked like a Jiffy Pop popcorn like flying saucer.

We can't forget about the tiff that went on between Miss California and celebrity blogger Perez Hilton about gay marriage and now we have a reality TV star wannabe couple crashing a White House state dinner that raises the bar on what people will do to become famous. I would like to say “Who cares” about this incident – but it would only challenge the dumb to do even dumber things for us to write about in 2010.

BAD TV: Rosie Live on NBC

Just when you think that TV isn't "the shithole" everyone says it is -- Rosie O'Donnell comes along and raises to bar of shitty television to a new level with a variety show special that she was hoping would become a weekly series. The variety show -- "Rosie Live" -- was NBC's gift to America on the night before Thanksgiving and let me assure you that this show was a bigger turkey than the NFL Detroit Lions game that CBS aired on Thanksgiving Day and you have got to be trying really hard to be shitter than the Detroit Lions.

I actually like Rosie O'Donnell -- which makes it hard for me to hate this variety special as much as I did -- but if you're thinking of trying to revive the variety show format -- don't present it like a shitty dinner theatre production of some tired ass Broadway play.

One of the problems that I found with "Rosie Live" was Rosie. All the guests on this show had to interact with Rosie in some way or another and the scripted interaction wasn't funny, it wasn't entertaining, and trust me when I say that not only was "Rosie Live" not enjoyable to watch -- it was gut-wrenching to see such talent wasted like this live on prime-time television.

The show started off with Liza Minelli and Rosie performing together and it was the first indication on how big of a train wreck this show was going to be. Liza's singing was all over the place and Rosie (I'll be gentle) of all of your talents -- singing is not one of your strong suits. Rosie -- you want to revive the variety show format -- you should of had Liza come out and perform her verison of Amy Winehouse's "Rehab". Now that's entertainment!

And then there was Alec Baldwin -- who along with Conan O'Brian -- must have been on the show as a favor to the suits at NBC...why else would either of these two people have wasted their Wednesday night to do this show? Conan appears from being a closed door as a surprise guest only to get hit in the face with a pie -- now that's top-notch comedy that's going to bring the variety show format back (or cause the TV audience to search around the TV dial for something more entertaining -- like watching somebody's bowel being disected).

Rosie even had Clay Aiken pop up on the show with a scripted bit that was "gay" and the sad thing is that they meant for it to be just that. And why oh why Rosie did you waste so much time interacting with everyone when you could have better used the time to expose some of the talent that you had -- such as have Harry Connick, Jr. peform a song instead of appearing to promoting a CD or you could have even had Gloria Estefan sing a song by herself -- it would have improved the quality of your show.

I found it hard to watch "Rosie Live" all the way through -- but I did and judging by the ratings that the show recieved -- I was one of the few people who did....which means that there's a good chance that we'll never see "Rosie Live" again on NBC. Who said that TV executives were heartless? Not me.