Today is my birthday.
I demand popcorn necklaces and macaroni paintings.
I will be deserting this blog for the remainder of the week as I head up to a cottage for some much needed R&R. First of the summer which officially ends today, I know, everyone in Canada is intimately acquainted with the ending of seasons, trust me.
I will, of course, be taking my computer, my efforts to clear away all work before decamping up north having utterly and spectacularly failed.
Be Good.
Edit: Is there any more beautiful, maudlin new song out there right now that beats out Death Cab For Cutie's "I Will Follow You Into the Dark?"
The answer is, "no."
Wednesday, September 21, 2005
Who's got access to Overnights?
If you do, (I don't,) I want to hear the full story on MY NAME IS EARL.
I thought it was smart, very funny, engagingly paced, with witty writing and its number one strength was how it didn't judge its characters at all. And making Carson Daly the bringer of Karma? Genius.
But I think, sadly, that it's destined to be NBC's Arrested Development. And NBC's so far in the hole right now I don't think they can afford that.
I love that writers can still get smart and funny on the air, but I'm not convinced they can get 30 million Americans to watch. And that's the game, right?
Other sitcoms were a mixed bag, I'm afraid.
I wanted to like HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER, especially after the article in the NYTimes painted the creators as such likable guys, but it's just a very anemic show with not enough laughs. Alyson Hannigan....sigh..... is just playing a PG-13 version of the flute girl from American Pie. And Neil Patrick Doogie is playing a dumbed-down riff on his much funnier "I'm playing myself" in Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle. "Suit up!" is not, and never shall be, a catchphrase. Actually, the show really kind of reminded me of the late and utterly unlamented The Single Guy. (Brrr.)
How I Met Your Mother also displays the scourge of the American half-hour comedy; the thing that kills most of 'em out of the gate -- and a trait that it shares with another CBS entry, OUT OF PRACTICE:
Bland leading men.
Holy Gods, what are the casting people in L.A. smoking these days? Sam Malone had edge. Tom Cavanagh had a puckishness about him. Zack Braff was a pleasing geek archtype. Even Eric McCormack had a bit of a weird energy...but both Mother and Out of Practice have these earnest central characters who I just do not want to watch. I do not care.
Here's a thought: if the guy is not as interesting as "your weird friend" in real life, (And I firmly believe that everyone has one "weird friend") don't build a frigging show around them.
Out of Practice was weird in so many ways; likajokes littering the landscape, the inexplicable attempt to render Paula Marshall not-hot...but I refuse to believe that Chris Lloyd and Joe Queenan can't do better, so I'll give it another shot.
Considering we're losing Winkler's hilarious Barry Zuckercorn from Arrested, and probably Channing's Abby Bartlet from West Wing, too -- this show cannot suck. But blando the series lead is a real problem. Come home Kelsey, all is forgiven.
Now where are those damn overnights?
I thought it was smart, very funny, engagingly paced, with witty writing and its number one strength was how it didn't judge its characters at all. And making Carson Daly the bringer of Karma? Genius.
But I think, sadly, that it's destined to be NBC's Arrested Development. And NBC's so far in the hole right now I don't think they can afford that.
I love that writers can still get smart and funny on the air, but I'm not convinced they can get 30 million Americans to watch. And that's the game, right?
Other sitcoms were a mixed bag, I'm afraid.
I wanted to like HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER, especially after the article in the NYTimes painted the creators as such likable guys, but it's just a very anemic show with not enough laughs. Alyson Hannigan....sigh..... is just playing a PG-13 version of the flute girl from American Pie. And Neil Patrick Doogie is playing a dumbed-down riff on his much funnier "I'm playing myself" in Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle. "Suit up!" is not, and never shall be, a catchphrase. Actually, the show really kind of reminded me of the late and utterly unlamented The Single Guy. (Brrr.)
How I Met Your Mother also displays the scourge of the American half-hour comedy; the thing that kills most of 'em out of the gate -- and a trait that it shares with another CBS entry, OUT OF PRACTICE:
Bland leading men.
Holy Gods, what are the casting people in L.A. smoking these days? Sam Malone had edge. Tom Cavanagh had a puckishness about him. Zack Braff was a pleasing geek archtype. Even Eric McCormack had a bit of a weird energy...but both Mother and Out of Practice have these earnest central characters who I just do not want to watch. I do not care.
Here's a thought: if the guy is not as interesting as "your weird friend" in real life, (And I firmly believe that everyone has one "weird friend") don't build a frigging show around them.
Out of Practice was weird in so many ways; likajokes littering the landscape, the inexplicable attempt to render Paula Marshall not-hot...but I refuse to believe that Chris Lloyd and Joe Queenan can't do better, so I'll give it another shot.
Considering we're losing Winkler's hilarious Barry Zuckercorn from Arrested, and probably Channing's Abby Bartlet from West Wing, too -- this show cannot suck. But blando the series lead is a real problem. Come home Kelsey, all is forgiven.
Now where are those damn overnights?
Tuesday, September 20, 2005
Double Secret Probation
...for BONES.
But that annoying conspiracy minded Squint has to go.
I find the whole "building an ensemble" thing interesting, since I'm in the midst of trying that dance right now. In the case of BONES, they have great chemistry between Booth/Boreanaz and Bones/Deschanel...and Michaela Conklin as the friend/confessor is great. But there's definitely one too many squint sidekicks.
If I wasn't already watching HOUSE this show might not survive the shake. But since I am, we'll see.
But she definitely needs to stop throwing people around.
But that annoying conspiracy minded Squint has to go.
I find the whole "building an ensemble" thing interesting, since I'm in the midst of trying that dance right now. In the case of BONES, they have great chemistry between Booth/Boreanaz and Bones/Deschanel...and Michaela Conklin as the friend/confessor is great. But there's definitely one too many squint sidekicks.
If I wasn't already watching HOUSE this show might not survive the shake. But since I am, we'll see.
But she definitely needs to stop throwing people around.
Hero or Protagonist?
My good friend Alex over at Complications Ensue has got his knickers in a knot over my recommendation of PROFIT.
Oh, it's ON, beeyotch.
Okay, it's off ag'in.
I suspect that between Alex and and I this argument shall go on forever. It's happened about other projects, other films and series. I think it comes down to one simple question: do you need your protagonist to be a hero?
Alex (and, I should point out, my Mom... and lest you think I'm being ageist and backhanded here, also a woman whom I totally dig, who is about thirty years younger than me mater) does. I've noticed that whenever the hero strays too far into flirting with unlikabilty, a great portion of people out there can't take it. To a great portion of the population, unlikable lead characters are kind of like storytelling Ipecac.
The problem is that fifty-some odd years into the world of serial stories told for Television, a lot of us have gotten bored. Very bored. And as the level of cynicism continues to rise, a very real question starts to assert itself: is the tried and true hero, even the flawed hero, becoming quaint?
Profit is from 1996. That's almost 10 years old. When it played on FOX, the jury agreed most forcefully with Alex: the show got booted after four episodes.
What I (and people like me) loved about it was exactly what Alex hated: this guy wasn't a hero. But....but....there was something interesting about him. He was compelling, and you wanted to keep watching him. At least I did.
The decision moment in the Pilot for Profit is the Act One out. Seriously. If you are not hooked by that out, then turn it off. The show's not for you.
I think the giddy fun of Profit also had to do with its millieu. In its representation of the corporation as rapacious thing, well, it kind of neatly anticipated The Corporation. Seeing a shark swim among the sharks and be stymied by slightly better or luckier sharks...well, that was kind of cool to me.
And I think Pasdar's Jim Profit anticipated more complicated non-hero protagonists that followed him: Tony Soprano, Angel, (who...admit it, Alex, was always more interesting when he was Angelus) Nate Fisher, Vic Mackey...
These days, you can get an audience for a hero who is not strictly likable, so long as they are compelling.
But the catch is that you won't get everybody. You won't get Alex, unless you play some tricks.
Take an example of an unlikable hero/protagonist that predates Profit: Joel from Northern Exposure. Joel is a whiny little goof. He's extremely unlikable. So they make sure that the townspeople of Cicely, Alaska that surround him are so incredibly quirky and likable and iconoclastic, that it becomes kind of an ensemble show (and the stake becomes will they be able to transform him.) There's some weird stuff that you just accept in NX, like the 60 year old man with the 20 year old hottie, just because...well...execution, I guess. You know, that might not be the best example. Even after 15 years, I still am not sure why NX worked as well as it did.
In The Shield, you give Vic Mackey an autistic son. Does that sound crass? Really? Have you dealt with an autistic child? Have you seen the way Vic deals with his? As a patient, anguished father? There's more than what meets the eye. (The Shield also plays with you by giving you "good" characters who turn out to be...well...not so good underneath.)
Tony Soprano is anguished about his family. But he's still a self-absorbed sociopath. David Chase is so good that he plays the ultimate trick on you: in the season where Melfi is sexually assaulted, there's the therapy scene that follows it. All she has to do is tell Tony what happened to her, and you know that Tony will have the guy whacked. And you want her to do it. Take that, viewer!
If you don't play tricks, the drag you get on the audience from your Bonnie Tyler viewers (Cultural reference carbon dating alert: Tyler, Bonnie, "I Need A Hero" see: Soundtrack, Footloose) will eventually bring you to a a place where you have to make a choice.
Actually, scratch that. I think eventually you have to make that choice anyway, because no matter how many tricks you play, eventually the Bonnies are going to just not like the fact that so-and-so isn't softening the way they'd like. TV always softens characters. Seriously. Look at Carla on Cheers. By the end there she was baking muffins. George Jefferson helped little old ladies across the street. Movin On Up my fanny. And don't get me started on Charles Emerson Winchester III.
When you stay true to your vision, as Alan Ball did with Six Feet Under, you are going to have a wave...nay, a deluge, of people complaining "why are they being so mean?" The brilliance of Nate Fisher was that he was never nice. He was merely charming. But he was compelling. He was a protagonist. Not a hero. And not, aggresively at times, likable.
Either you're on board with that, or you're not.
And it's a fine line, I'll admit. I loved Seinfeld, hated the Seinfeld finale -- which made the point that the characters were unlikable. Don't like Curb Your Enthusiasm much. Sometimes these things are a Fielder's Choice.
Anyway, I still recommend Profit for those who like an audacious concept. It's dated, the computer graphics are ridiculous, and there's a lot in it that's flawed. But not Jim Profit.
Jim Profit's my Daddy. Jim Profit is The Man.
RENTED "PROFIT"
... starring Adrian Pasdar. Terrible pilot. I didn't like anyone. Didn't believe the main character, who was unconvincing as the too-arch or not-arch-enough villain. The ponderous v.o. didn't work for me. I don't care if main characters aren't likable, but I found him uncompelling.
Denis ... why do you like this show?
Oh, it's ON, beeyotch.
Okay, it's off ag'in.
I suspect that between Alex and and I this argument shall go on forever. It's happened about other projects, other films and series. I think it comes down to one simple question: do you need your protagonist to be a hero?
Alex (and, I should point out, my Mom... and lest you think I'm being ageist and backhanded here, also a woman whom I totally dig, who is about thirty years younger than me mater) does. I've noticed that whenever the hero strays too far into flirting with unlikabilty, a great portion of people out there can't take it. To a great portion of the population, unlikable lead characters are kind of like storytelling Ipecac.
The problem is that fifty-some odd years into the world of serial stories told for Television, a lot of us have gotten bored. Very bored. And as the level of cynicism continues to rise, a very real question starts to assert itself: is the tried and true hero, even the flawed hero, becoming quaint?
Profit is from 1996. That's almost 10 years old. When it played on FOX, the jury agreed most forcefully with Alex: the show got booted after four episodes.
What I (and people like me) loved about it was exactly what Alex hated: this guy wasn't a hero. But....but....there was something interesting about him. He was compelling, and you wanted to keep watching him. At least I did.
The decision moment in the Pilot for Profit is the Act One out. Seriously. If you are not hooked by that out, then turn it off. The show's not for you.
I think the giddy fun of Profit also had to do with its millieu. In its representation of the corporation as rapacious thing, well, it kind of neatly anticipated The Corporation. Seeing a shark swim among the sharks and be stymied by slightly better or luckier sharks...well, that was kind of cool to me.
And I think Pasdar's Jim Profit anticipated more complicated non-hero protagonists that followed him: Tony Soprano, Angel, (who...admit it, Alex, was always more interesting when he was Angelus) Nate Fisher, Vic Mackey...
These days, you can get an audience for a hero who is not strictly likable, so long as they are compelling.
But the catch is that you won't get everybody. You won't get Alex, unless you play some tricks.
Take an example of an unlikable hero/protagonist that predates Profit: Joel from Northern Exposure. Joel is a whiny little goof. He's extremely unlikable. So they make sure that the townspeople of Cicely, Alaska that surround him are so incredibly quirky and likable and iconoclastic, that it becomes kind of an ensemble show (and the stake becomes will they be able to transform him.) There's some weird stuff that you just accept in NX, like the 60 year old man with the 20 year old hottie, just because...well...execution, I guess. You know, that might not be the best example. Even after 15 years, I still am not sure why NX worked as well as it did.
In The Shield, you give Vic Mackey an autistic son. Does that sound crass? Really? Have you dealt with an autistic child? Have you seen the way Vic deals with his? As a patient, anguished father? There's more than what meets the eye. (The Shield also plays with you by giving you "good" characters who turn out to be...well...not so good underneath.)
Tony Soprano is anguished about his family. But he's still a self-absorbed sociopath. David Chase is so good that he plays the ultimate trick on you: in the season where Melfi is sexually assaulted, there's the therapy scene that follows it. All she has to do is tell Tony what happened to her, and you know that Tony will have the guy whacked. And you want her to do it. Take that, viewer!
If you don't play tricks, the drag you get on the audience from your Bonnie Tyler viewers (Cultural reference carbon dating alert: Tyler, Bonnie, "I Need A Hero" see: Soundtrack, Footloose) will eventually bring you to a a place where you have to make a choice.
Actually, scratch that. I think eventually you have to make that choice anyway, because no matter how many tricks you play, eventually the Bonnies are going to just not like the fact that so-and-so isn't softening the way they'd like. TV always softens characters. Seriously. Look at Carla on Cheers. By the end there she was baking muffins. George Jefferson helped little old ladies across the street. Movin On Up my fanny. And don't get me started on Charles Emerson Winchester III.
When you stay true to your vision, as Alan Ball did with Six Feet Under, you are going to have a wave...nay, a deluge, of people complaining "why are they being so mean?" The brilliance of Nate Fisher was that he was never nice. He was merely charming. But he was compelling. He was a protagonist. Not a hero. And not, aggresively at times, likable.
Either you're on board with that, or you're not.
And it's a fine line, I'll admit. I loved Seinfeld, hated the Seinfeld finale -- which made the point that the characters were unlikable. Don't like Curb Your Enthusiasm much. Sometimes these things are a Fielder's Choice.
Anyway, I still recommend Profit for those who like an audacious concept. It's dated, the computer graphics are ridiculous, and there's a lot in it that's flawed. But not Jim Profit.
Jim Profit's my Daddy. Jim Profit is The Man.
Monday, September 19, 2005
Does the Darkness of the Ha-ha end tonight?
Rob Salem is a writer for the Toronto Star.
One of the reasons why he's so effective a TV writer is because he's a certified TV Geek.
Don't get me wrong. I like the classics. I love my Tom Shales and I still miss the L.A. Times' Howard Rosenberg, and I do dig the great Bill Carter, but you really should check out...
this.
Rob Salem's thesis, having seen some of the new season's sitcoms, is that...um...they don't suck.
Well, Entourage has gotten better this year. Everyone's crowing about Kitchen Confidential, Arrested survived (for now) and My Name Is Earl has real buzz.
Could it be true? Oh mama, say it's so. Say there'll be laughin' and gigglin' and all will be well! Say it's true, mama! Oh Mama, does anyone ever really appreciate the sitcom while it's alive?
Sorry. Channeling a bit of Thornton Wilder there.
There's a lot of journos out there who've written a lot of "the sitcom is dead!" articles that might have to walk some of those opinions back.
But then again, they won't. After all, they didn't back in the 80's, when they wrote all those same articles. You know, the last time the sitcom was dead. Before some dude named Cosby decided he wanted in.
Say it with me kids,
"Everything is cyclical."
Let me know what y'all think of the new shows in comments. Looking to see if people feel the love for How I Met Your Mother, Kitchen Confidential, the one with Stockard And Winkler that has the bland title I can't remember, the new season of Arrested, and (tomorrow) My Name is Earl.
Jason Lee has powers.
One of the reasons why he's so effective a TV writer is because he's a certified TV Geek.
Don't get me wrong. I like the classics. I love my Tom Shales and I still miss the L.A. Times' Howard Rosenberg, and I do dig the great Bill Carter, but you really should check out...
this.
Rob Salem's thesis, having seen some of the new season's sitcoms, is that...um...they don't suck.
Well, Entourage has gotten better this year. Everyone's crowing about Kitchen Confidential, Arrested survived (for now) and My Name Is Earl has real buzz.
Could it be true? Oh mama, say it's so. Say there'll be laughin' and gigglin' and all will be well! Say it's true, mama! Oh Mama, does anyone ever really appreciate the sitcom while it's alive?
Sorry. Channeling a bit of Thornton Wilder there.
There's a lot of journos out there who've written a lot of "the sitcom is dead!" articles that might have to walk some of those opinions back.
But then again, they won't. After all, they didn't back in the 80's, when they wrote all those same articles. You know, the last time the sitcom was dead. Before some dude named Cosby decided he wanted in.
Say it with me kids,
"Everything is cyclical."
Let me know what y'all think of the new shows in comments. Looking to see if people feel the love for How I Met Your Mother, Kitchen Confidential, the one with Stockard And Winkler that has the bland title I can't remember, the new season of Arrested, and (tomorrow) My Name is Earl.
Jason Lee has powers.
Somebody Owes Lloyd Braun a Muffin Basket
Exhibit A on my "network executives are not necessarily evil" list: Lloyd Braun. You think he clapped heartily last night as ABC and a bunch o'producers collected some hardware for best drama for LOST?
Did he feel vindicated for getting fired from ABC?
Did he just sit there and say, "Yahoo!" (That's one of them little in-jokes, like.)
I have heard some indications that there are some CanNetwork types reading this little blog occasionally. So there it is: there's the gauntlet. Do you have the guts to be Lloyd Braun?
Lost. Seinfeld. The Office. Sopranos. Six Feet. All of these shows wouldn't have happened without a network executive agitating for them in full-throated voice. If you stop chasing the easy and the derivative, you may indeed expose your heiney. Or you may be Lloyd "I came up with the idea for %@#$#ing LOST" Braun.*
In other news, I'm pleased that probably the best ep of the astonishingly good freshman season of HOUSE got recoginzed for the writing award for Drama, and that those evil, scary, preternatural comedy shamans of the The Daily Show took home some hardware, too.
Good Emmys for writing, despite the Academny trying to shuffle the writers to the back of the bus.
Not that I was watching the show, of course. I was playing poker.
I am a writer, after all.
* NB - it doesn't even have to be your idea. It just has to be a project you actually, truly, honest to Dog think is original and worthy! Dare to not develop crap!
Oh. I think some actors won something, too. Full list of Emmy winners here.
Did he feel vindicated for getting fired from ABC?
Did he just sit there and say, "Yahoo!" (That's one of them little in-jokes, like.)
I have heard some indications that there are some CanNetwork types reading this little blog occasionally. So there it is: there's the gauntlet. Do you have the guts to be Lloyd Braun?
Lost. Seinfeld. The Office. Sopranos. Six Feet. All of these shows wouldn't have happened without a network executive agitating for them in full-throated voice. If you stop chasing the easy and the derivative, you may indeed expose your heiney. Or you may be Lloyd "I came up with the idea for %@#$#ing LOST" Braun.*
In other news, I'm pleased that probably the best ep of the astonishingly good freshman season of HOUSE got recoginzed for the writing award for Drama, and that those evil, scary, preternatural comedy shamans of the The Daily Show took home some hardware, too.
Good Emmys for writing, despite the Academny trying to shuffle the writers to the back of the bus.
Not that I was watching the show, of course. I was playing poker.
I am a writer, after all.
* NB - it doesn't even have to be your idea. It just has to be a project you actually, truly, honest to Dog think is original and worthy! Dare to not develop crap!
Oh. I think some actors won something, too. Full list of Emmy winners here.
Sunday, September 18, 2005
Nyah Nyah Nyah, LOST haters!
Another stellar article in today's NYTimes. I have been fighting the cynicism of many of my fellow traveller writer friends in saying that I think the guys at LOST have learned from Twin Peaks and X Files, that they are aware of the problem inherent in stringing the people along. The answer I've gotten most often is, "Don't be ridiculous. They're making it up as they go along."
Well, which is it? Seat of the pants or a well-thought plan?
Bit of both, rilly.
(registration required.)
Well, which is it? Seat of the pants or a well-thought plan?
Bit of both, rilly.
(registration required.)
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