Category: TV, Film and Radio

Tuesday’s episode of “Eureka” was -INSERT AD HERE-

Lewis Black ranted about it during the Emmy ceremony, but few TV executives seemed to have heeded the sage comedian’s words. Black delivered a funny, yet obvious, monologue about the annoying -WATCH THIS SHOW!!!!!- banners and bugs that clutter up the TV screen when someone is trying to enjoy their program.
It seems the Sci Fi Channel hasn’t gotten the message. I was trying to watch Tuesday’s airing of “Eureka” but my viewing was interrupted by -WATCH THIS SHOW!!!!!- the constant presence of a large promotional ad for an upcoming show of another series in the -WATCH THIS SHOW!!!!!- right-hand corner of the screen. It loomed above the station’s normal bug (which is unnecessary in this era of digital cable/satellite and DVRs).
This ad was on the screen for the entire episode. (UPDATE: You can see the image on TV Squad’s episode review. Grrr.).
Now, I can see why Sci Fi can -WATCH THIS SHOW!!!!!- lend some of the screen real estate for some promotions, but did I really to have to be subjected to that annoying promotion for -WATCH THIS SHOW!!!!!- the entire 42-minutes of actual programming? Not only did it consume a bulk of my viewing time, it ate into the screen image. The station bug and banner ad gobbled up about a tenth of the viewable screen (already reduced because the show is letterboxed). When you add Sci Fi’s -WATCH THIS SHOW!!!!!- 18 minutes of commercials along with the show, a viewer ends up watching commercials the entire time.
Indeed, the banner was so -WATCH THIS SHOW!!!!!- annoying, I paused my enjoyment of the show I wanted to watch to give the advertised show -WATCH THIS SHOW!!!!!- “Three Thumbs Down” on my TiVo (The thumbs are a way of indicating show preferences on the DVR). Not only have I never seen the show -WATCH THIS SHOW!!!!!-, I know have no desire to ever seek the show out. If the show happens to be on when I watch TV, I will steer far clear of this -WATCH THIS SHOW!!!!!- program.
Notice that I have not disclosed the -WATCH THIS SHOW!!!!!- show that Sci Fi was so eager to -WATCH THIS SHOW!!!!!- promote. I have no desire to give this program any inadvertent promotion on my -WATCH THIS SHOW!!!!!- own.
As I’ve tried to illustrate with this blog with the -WATCH THIS SHOW!!!!!-, the constant presence of the advertising banner totally takes away from my enjoyment of -WATCH THIS SHOW!!!!!- this -WATCH THIS SHOW!!!!!- program. -WATCH THIS SHOW!!!!!- -WATCH THIS SHOW!!!!!- -WATCH THIS SHOW!!!!!-

More on “Chuck”

Now that the premiere of “Chuck” has aired, I can discuss what I view to be two big pitfalls in the series. Chicago Tribune critic Maureen Ryan mentioned them in her review of the show, but I’ll summarize. First, won’t all the secrets in Chuck’s head get old after a while? And second, the cold-blooded shooting of a character added a dark tone to the pilot.
Since her blog allows people to comment, here’s what I wrote:

I picked up on the potential “stale secrets” plot hole as well. I wonder how they’ll deal with it, but I imagine they have to especially because the pilot dealt with intel acquired within a matter of weeks, not years.

My theory — the trio of Chuck, Sarah and Casey will become the human version of the two intel agencies feeding data into the secret computer. It makes sense for the agents (and agencies) to keep providing information to Chuck — somehow.

My other concern dealt with the casual brutality of Casey telling other agents that it’s OK to murder another U.S. agent and on American soil to boot. Of course, how Sarah dispatched the agents was violent, but still executed in a fun, if implausible, fashion.

I’d be curious to see the longevity of the series after a few episodes. I wonder how the show will spin its wheels through weekly episodes while trying to drive a plot arc through a number of episodes.

I’m still gonna watch the show, but these things are in the back of my mind. A promo for an upcoming episode showed the spies and Chuck sitting at a table with photos. I hope they’re feeding him intel and proving my theory right.

Hey! Free marketing information

The Nielsens are probably best known for the TV ratings the organization releases every week. The trouble is the ratings are less useful in this era where people watch shows from hundreds of channels on DVRs.
Nielsen is also facing problems convincing networks and their advertisers that its information is still useful. After all, who cares who’s watching “The Office” when it’s potentially possible to measure who’s watching the commercials between the show.
20070925_heynielsen.jpgNielsen has launched Hey! Nielsen, a new site which just seems geared to mine marketing information from the general public. On the face of it, the site appears to be a place for people to sound off about TV, music, etc., but Nielsen has plans for the information.

From Hey! Nielsen’s About page:

Using data from real users, Hey! Nielsen generates a Hey! Nielsen score — a real-time indicator of a topic’s impact, influence, and value. As users submit feedback, the score is created from a number of factors such as user response, blog buzz, and news coverage, as well as raw data from our sister sites Billboard.com, HollywoodReporter.com, and BlogPulse.com.

It seems to me Nielsen is trying to use the social-networking potential of the Web to build a new set of marketing data. I wonder how many people are going to divulge their opinions for Nielsen’s new data mill.
I also wonder how useful the data will be. After all, marketing data is used to help determine the Peoples Choice Awards and we all know how well a barometer of pop culture that event is.

The reign of the geek begins tonight

With the fall TV season is in full swing, my free time is going to be totally sucked dry as I try to keep my TiVo’s hard drive from filling up. One thing I’ve noticed is that geeks are going to be pretty much ruling the roost this fall (until the cancellation ax falls).
There are a number of cool shows that I’m checking out — “Bionic Woman,” “Heroes,” and “Pushing Daisies.” “Beauty and the Geek” remains the only reality show that I can stomach on a weekly basis.
One new show I’m definitely adding to my Digital Video Recorder is “Chuck,” which premieres tonight. There’s not much I can add that hasn’t been said elsewhere — the pilot episode is tight. It’s full of polish and cinematic flares under the direction of McG.
There are some weird questions about the premise that could prevent the show from totally succeeding, but the strength of the cast and the general fun of the premise could keep it going for a long time.

What’s next for Al Gore?

From Ryan:
This was originally published on my personal blog, but is here now for your reading and digestive pleasure.
I don’t know why I did it, but I watched what seemed to be all 82 hours of this year’s Emmy telecast Sunday on FOX. The creative arts Emmy show (a two-hour affair Saturday on E!) was much breezier — they cut out the lists of nominees, most of the speeches and thankfully all of the singing numbers.
Anywho, I was interested to see Al Gore win an Emmy for his broadcast baby, Current TV. As I watched the audience’s resounding ovation, I wondered what was next for the former vice president.
Since he’s already won an Oscar (for “An Inconvenient Truth”) to go with his Emmy, what is his next entertainment conquest? I think he should form a barbershop quartet and go for a Grammy.
What do you think? A Grammy? I don’t think Al will go for an American Music Award because it’s not classy enough. Perhaps a Tony for a Broadway production of “An Inconvenient Truth”?
Heck, if they can turn “The Producers” and “Hairspray” from cult films to top-rated musicals, who knows what they can do to an environmental documentary. I can’t wait to see a musical “Truth” come back to movie cineplexes.

On Pop Culture: Pledge break

We’ll rejoin the regular “On Pop Culture” column in a minute, but first we’d like to take a moment of your time to ask you to call in with your pledge of support for this publication.

As you may have heard, our publication faces a tightening budget due to advertisers deciding that newspapers aren’t going to be the new MySpace. I know we’re not MySpace — the newspapers are like CraigsList, but with news and classifieds you have to pay for.

Because of the cutbacks, we’re now turning to you — the reader — for your support. For the cost of a submarine sandwich a month, you can help keep this column going. We will take your generous donation and buy our columnists sub sandwiches.

Since the inception of the “On Pop Culture” column last year, the average age of our publication’s columnists has been lowered by about 20 years. Without it and the “Starving Student,” the average age of the columnists jumps back to 67.

That includes Wm. Jameson T. Cornballer, our 93-year-old phonograph reviewer who thinks that “McPheever” is a disease his young fiancee died from in the 1930s. Thanks to your ongoing support, we have a vaccination for the most fatal and virulent forms of McPheever.

I know “On Pop Culture” can’t be as timely as the entertainment blogs or even weekly TV programs. Instead of going for instantaneous gratification, every two weeks our column goes for timelessness.

Remember where you were when he tried to explain the culture significance of the phrase, “Time to make the doughnuts”? Recall the good times when we tried to discuss the impact of the Disney Channel phenomenon “High School Musical” without actually seeing the program.

Who else but an overweight, out-of-touch columnist can shed insight on the things that you can hear and see with your own ears and eyes?

Call now. As our way of saying thanks, with your pledge at the level of $75 a year, we’ll give you a special premium — the voice of columnist Ryan singing a TV theme song on your phone answering machine. I’m a fan of “Electric Company” and “Speed Racer,” but can just as well sing the themes to “Lost” or “Heroes.”

We’re going to rejoin our regular programming in a minute, but we just want to let you know that we’ve got a lot of great things lined up for the next few months. April Fool’s Day is around the corner. We’ve got more “Secret Shames,” including a look at local karaoke bars.

With your generous pledge of support, we can … Uh, one second.

We’ve just received word that no one has called in during the past five minutes it’s taken you to read this column. I’m hearing from my manager that this will be the end of “On Pop Culture.”

Thanks for your support. It’s been a blast these past four months. And, please, buy a newspaper once in a while. It’s good for you (and me).

Due to budget cutbacks, the size of the Enterprise-Record’s “Buzz” entertainment section was halved. “On Pop Culture” was among the items cut to save space.

This MySpace-only column is my reaction to the news. The Dude abides and I hope I do too.

Why Mom says I’m not as funny as I think

I try to be funny from time to time. It doesn’t always work (hence, why my mom says that). Some people laugh, but I’m always afraid it’s pity laughter.

Now you can judge for yourself. I’m reposting my twice-monthly “pop culture” column on my MySpace blog after it’s published in the newspaper (and on ChicoER.com).

Here’s my latest, skipping the usual moaning about Valentine’s Day and focusing on what comes next — marriage.

New service to give weddings an extra boost

Background

When I wasn’t dreaming of becoming a diplomat (like they were on “Star Trek”), one of childhood fantasies was to save “Saturday Night Live.” Given how bad some of the episodes were back in the day, I figured I help out and save the show.

Although SNL emerged from that slump and has mired itself in a new one, I’ve moved on from that dream and turned to news writing.

My new position as an online editor gives a chance to stretch my legs a bit. One direction is a twice-monthly “pop culture” column where I have fun looking at our society from different angles.

Instead of focusing on Britney Spears’ latest f-up, my column strives to be longer lasting than tabloid tissue.

So please feel free to poke around and let me know what you think. Do _you_ think I’m as funny as I think I am?

Major bummer

When I lived in Michigan, I felt like I was on a different planet — far away from a “big city.” Chicago was 10 hours away and it took 14 hours to drive through Michigan. It was pretty isolated.

Moving to Chico was a huge step up in some ways. San Francisco was three hours away. Sacramento was practically next door 90 minutes away.

I sort of felt that isolation last week. My spirits were raised when TV Guide announced that they had some passes to see “Battlestar Galactica” on the big screen. The theater company hosting the screening has theaters in San Francisco.

Much to my dismay, the passes were only going to be available in six cities, and San Francisco wasn’t going to be one of them. And TV Guide was only going to give away two sets of passes in each city.

Needless to say, my balloon was burst. Ultimately, it’s not a big deal, but it would’ve been nice to see Battlestar on the big screen.

BSG is on Friday – Time to party

My user name is “Galactican” and yet I’ve done next to nothing about my fav show “Battlestar Galactica.” Well, no more. Here’s a bulletin because I’m sorta hosting a party on Friday.

– Season 3 Premiere is Friday night on Sci Fi. The first act is already online. It is a great piece of television and definitely makes me want to see the whole episode.

– If you want to see if there’s a Friday viewing party in your area, check out FrakParty.com. Someone set up a party in Chico.

– The preseason “Resistance” web episodes concludes today at Sci Fi’s Web site. For short 3-minute episodes, they were pretty good once the story got underway.

If you haven’t given the show a chance, I highly recommend you do. It’s a pretty dramatic show following human refugees fleeing the destroyers of their homes. There are some sci-fi elements, but it’s a pretty good, yet grim, drama.

You can get caught up with Sci Fi’s Story So Far primer. There are 3- and 42-minute video recaps of the show to this point.

Date with history

I’m bursting with excitement about my previous hometown’s pending television date. For 3.5 years, I worked in Houghton, Mich. in the rural Upper Peninsula. One of the highlights of my time there was the pleasure of taking part in the 100th anniversary of the birth of professional ice hockey in the town.

On Sunday, Canadian TV viewers can see Houghton’s role in the evolution of a sport beloved by millions. The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. will air the first two parts of the ten-part Hockey: A People’s History. The second episode, “The Money Game” details how a game previously dominated by amateurs transformed into a sport where athletes are paid.

Here’s part of the blurb from the CBC site:

Pro hockey is born in the heart of Michigan’s mining country, while heavy-handed amateur bosses drive Canada’s top talent south of the border.

The Daily Mining Gazette, my former newspaper, has the story.