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.

My Name Is Rich Frost And I Didn't Watch The Super Bowl

I think the newspaper reports said that some 108 million people watched the Super Bowl on Sunday evening. The newspaper stories go on to say that this was a record breaking Super Bowl with more people watching the game than had watched the final episode of “M*A*S*H”. That’s a whole lot of people – and believe it or not – I wasn't one of them. Yup, My name is Rich Frost and I didn't watch the Super Bowl – I didn't go to any Super Bowl parties – and I didn't have a bet on the final score or who was going to win. Incredible, huh?

If you think that it’s easy to be out of the “Super Bowl” loop – think again. If you don’t believe me – next year I want you to try avoid the Super Bowl hype and influence that is all around you during those last couple of weeks leading up to the game. You pick up a newspaper – there’s all of the Super Bowl stories and next to the stories are ads with people trying to associate their products and services to the big game. When are retailers going to realize that you can have a Super Bowl Sale on Super Bowl Sunday? People want to watch the game – they don’t want to shop…oh well.

Not only was I not one of the 108 million eyes tuned to the Super Bowl – I also didn't get to see or even hear one minute of a half-time show featuring “The Who”. Did I miss anything? I don’t think so. There’s nothing really sexy about a sixty-plus lead singer in a rock n’ roll band swinging around a microphone singing, “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss” and shouting that “We won’t fooled again!” C’mon!!!! Who are the Who singing about – they’re all old enough to have oatmeal mush and drool coming out of their mouths in some rock n’ roll nursing home – why are they doing a half-time show at the Super Bowl?

How did I avoid not getting caught in all of the hype on Super Bowl Sunday? Well…you can have your year and a half and three year old grand children spend the day with you. The little ones are good teachers for adults when it comes to things to not give a damn about. You see, grand children are more concerned about whether Grandma and Grandpa have a pantry that’s well stocked with chocolate donuts and cheese puffs; and they’d rather be watching “Dora the Explorer” or “Sponge Bob Square Pants” than watch a overpaid jock readjusting his cup in between plays. I’m sure that once they get older – they’ll change their views about the Super Bowl…but for right now…you could douse John Madden with gasoline and set him on fire on the sidelines and the grand kids wouldn't bat an eye.

There’s another way to avoid the hype of Super Bowl Sunday….you could grab a book and sit in your favorite chair and get lost in some of the great works of the classic authors. J. D. Salinger died recently – you could crack open a copy of “Catcher in the Rye “and read it – while 108 million other people are tuned into the football game on CBS. You could…and like me…you probably didn't.

I shouldn't admit what I was doing when the Super Bowl was being played – because you’ll only laugh --- and dare I say – call me the biggest pussy on the planet earth. Yup, while the Super Bowl was being played – my girlfriend and I were sitting comfortably in front of the television set watching an episode of “Chopped” that I had recorded off of the Food Network on the DVR. After a new “Chopped” champion was crowned – our attention went to a two-hour movie – not HBO, Showtime or Starz – nope – we sat and watched a totally unforgettable two-hour movie about a woman with amnesia who was having some doubts about her “fiancé” that aired on the Lifetime Movie Network. (I told you that you’d call me a pussy.) It was one of those bad movies that you had to sit through to the conclusion, because you know that the people making it knew it was as bad as you thought it was.

Yup…I totally avoided the Super Bowl on Super Bowl Sunday. And all of the commercials that aired during the Super Bowl game – I didn't get to see any of those either – including the controversial abortion ad. Well, life goes on, they say. They’re will be other Super Bowls. I’ll have my chance next year to join the millions who get taken in by all of the hype and hoopla and maybe I’ll even give a damn about the game….but this year wasn't going to be one of those years.

My name is Rich Frost and I didn't watch the Super Bowl.