Pop Culture Curmudgeon

Pop Culture Roundup, January 21

The Biz
TV News
Supernatural
Random Stuff

The Biz

Thinking Outside the Box: Web TVs Skirt Cable Giants
I can’t wait until we choose exactly what we want to watch, when we want to watch it without having to subscribe to a bunch of worthless channels. I mean, really, The Military Channel? No thank you, but to get E! and Style, I have to get that one, too.

Why the Broadcast Networks Can’t Take the Summer Off
Seems the big 4 are tired of being left in the dust by the cable nets every summer. This year (again), they are promising to do better. Find out how and why they can’t afford to fail at broadcasting watchable summer programming this time.

Studios Even More Afraid of Unsolicited Scripts
Combine a litigious society with a bunch of execs whose business model is shifting under their feet. What do you get? Overwhelming fear. According to this article, the slush pile may be at an end in TV and movies.

Can’t Hollywood Swing for the Fences?
An interesting look at the lack of black voices in filmmaking.

TV News

Viewers Abandon Heroes in Drove: Can It Be Saved?
The real question is, “should it be saved?”

Rob Estes Leaving: Harry Wilson Will Be Written Out
90210 is losing another of the grown-ups. Rob Estes apparently didn’t get what he wanted from the CW brass in his contract negotiations and is leaving the show. Will Annie become even more annoying now that she will be a product of a broken home? And will granny still let them live in her crazy mansion?

Tom Shales on the Villains in the Leno-O’Brien Fiasco at NBC
This morning, it was announced that NBC is paying Conan $32.5 million and giving his staff severance of nearly $7 million to get him off the Tonight Show. In this piece from earlier this week, Shales rips the NBC executives to shreds in this opinion piece. Great reading!

Supernatural

Supernatural: The Devil Went Down to Carthage
Here’s a link to the Zap2it recap of the last new episode. For me, it’s all about refreshing my memory about what happened way back in November so that I’m not too lost tonight.

5.10 Abandon All Hope
The Supernatural Wiki has all sorts of resources to help you get caught up and ready for tonight.

Preview of 05.11 “Sam Interrupted”
Our friends at Buddy TV help us get caught up and give a few sneak previews of what is going on tonight.

Supernatural Countdown No. 14: The Family Business
A funny look at the top 10 “happy” events on Supernatural. It’s not all gloom and doom for our Winchester boys.

Looking for spoilers? Here’s what I know.

Random Stuff

Golden Globes Stunner Sophie Loren’s Tips for Ageless Beauty
Sophie Loren is proof positive that women can age gracefully, if they accept it instead of fighting it. That doesn’t mean you should just shlump through your life because you’re gonna get old anyway. But, you can take care of your body and your skin, take pride in yourself, and dress appropriately rather than going under the knife.

Let me know what you think of the new link format. Thanks!

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Monday Poll Results

So, my friends and readers are not so much into the reality television.

Chuck was the big winner on our poll, with 24% of the vote.
How I Met Your Mother and Big Bang Theory tied for second, with 18%.
Everything else tied for third place, with 12%: Heroes, House and Gossip Girl.
24 brought up the rear, with 6%.
None of my readers watch Dancing with the Stars. That makes me happy.

So, did you enjoy the poll? Do you want to see more polls in the future?

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Lost Makes Me Feel Dumb

I watched the season premiere of Lost last night, and as usual, it made me feel dumb for not paying better attention. I typically read or write while I watch tv, but this is a huge mistake with shows like Lost that have a ridiculously rich mythology and 30 Rock that have subtle and clever humor.

I often feel dumb when I’m watching Heroes, too, both for not quite getting what is going on and for actually continuing to watch the show. I’m holding out hope that the return of Bryan Fuller to the writing staff will help it return to its roots, when it actually deserved a People’s Choice Award. (I’m still bitter that it beat out Supernatural!)

How do you follow the mythology of Lost? Do you visit Ryan’s Lost blog at zap2it? The TWOP forums? Some other discussion site I’m not familiar with?

That was my life when Twin Peaks was on. I spent many an evening on the newsgroups (the only Internet discussion we had back then) when I should have been studying. And I usually had the tv on while I was doing it. Lost is enjoyable to watch, but it hasn’t grabbed me the way Twin Peaks did. Twin Peaks made me feel smart for picking such an inventive show and for keeping the mythology straight. Perhaps that’s the difference for me.

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The Nail in Pushing Daisies' Coffin?

There has been some talk of other networks picking up when it ends its run on ABC. Sadly, this rumor appears to be false.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Pushing Daisies creator Bryan Fuller will be rejoining the writers of Heroes as they strive to fix what’s broken on their show: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/news/e3i5a49077a0f8280a05381cedfd646ed1a

As a fan of both shows, I find this news to be bittersweet. I want Heroes to be good again. But I really, really want to continue my weekly journey into the fable of the piemaker.

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Watching Out of Habit

Ani Difranco sang a song called Out of Habit. It has some of my favorite song lyrics ever: “The coffee is just water dressed in brown” “My thighs have been involved in many accidents, and now I can’t get insured”

While I was watching Heroes Monday night, that song got stuck in my head. I watch Heroes every week, and I’m definitely not ready to break up with it, but I don’t have the passion to watch it that I had the first season. I believe I’m simply watching out of habit.

That has happened to me before. Season 9 of Friends was a bit of a disappointment as the characters became buckets of over-exaggerated flaws. Same with Season 7 of Gilmore Girls. If these shows were still on, I would still be watching them (thanks to DVDs, I still do) out of habit. I care enough about the characters to continue to watch even when the show is but a ghost of its former self. And I still feel that something is missing at 8:00 on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Do you have any shows like that? Shows that you won’t give up even when the characters lose all subtlety and dimension? When the writing is flat and the jokes are cheap?

What shows have stood the test of time and continue to draw you in each week? For me, Supernatural is my favorite of the returning shows. It lagged a bit last season, but this season is great. Chuck has the potential to continue to improve and be one of the shows with staying power.

What shows have you given up on, no mater how much you used to love them? Grey’s Anatomy and ER are the two at the top of my mind. I know there have been others, but I am someone who tends to stick it out until the bitter end more often than not.

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Chuck versus the Boring Superhero Show

Last year, Heroes was appointment television, and Chuck was something I recorded to watch on the wasteland that is Tuesday night.

A few episodes into this season, I’ve become a flip-flopper. Chuck is now my favorite part of Monday night, and Heroes, well, I watch it, but while I’m reading or playing WOW or playing with the dogs. The unfortunate thing is that now I have to watch How I Met Your Mother on my computer Tuesday nights. (Perhaps I should ask for an HD-DVR for the living room for Christmas. I really prefer watching my TV on TV, as I’m sure I’ve mentioned before.)

My thoughts on last night’s episode of Chuck: I have never bought John Larroquette as a lady-killer, not on Night Court, and not now. But, I loved his character, and I think he brought the right level of smarm. Melinda Clarke was fun, but Sasha could have been played by anyone.

I love that Chuck is coming into his own and doing spy stuff rather than just flashing info for the big guys to take care of. I hope this moves toward him becoming a spy, an integral part of the intel team even after the new Intersect is built.

And I was shocked to see Bryce. I can’t wait for next week’s episode to see what he wants. No good can come of it.

My thoughts on Heroes: Well, I’m not sure I really have any. I did pay pretty good attention, even though I was reading and keeping the daggits occupied. But, when someone asked me what the ep was about, I really couldn’t give an answer. I said something like, “They went to the future a lot and people died.”

Here’s hoping the season picks up a little and involves fewer flash forwards. The future visit worked really well as an isolated episode in season 1, but I’m tired of it now.

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