QUICK HITS | April 29, 2009

Not surprised to learn that Fox has demoted Sit Down Shut Up to 7p/6c Sundays, from its post-Simpsons slot. What a mess this show is. How could half the cast of Arrested Development (including creator Mitch Hurwitz) and the animators of underrated cartoon gem Mission Hill collaborate so un-entertainingly? I’mma stick this one in my “international imports rarely work out well” file. The Office is a notable exception to this rule, though the original British version is quite different. That UK two-season wonder is returning to American television this summer on Adult Swim. In Britain, two seasons and out is often enough to tell a good story and get out before things become unwatchable. …

I like to at least sample anything Showtime dangles in front of me. I’m glad I stuck with Tracey Ullman’s State of the Union for its second season. The first year was hit or miss, but this season really seems to have hit a wonderful satirical stride. The new batch of episodes, Sundays at 10p/9c on Showtime, is worth the price of admission just for the new homemaker Laura Bush character, and of course the show’s perfectly patriotic title sequence. But this week’s J.K. Rowling-centric episode was well-woven from beginning to end, a delightful skewering of the pop culture phenom and the absurdity of American litigiousness. …

We all know America’s preferred Jesus substitute, Oprah Winfrey, sold out some time ago to finance her mansions and whatnot. Just look at yesterday’s show, where decorating dude Nate Berkus redid four families’ rooms by swapping their furniture and shopping exclusively at Target. Now a lesser-known media mogul is cashing in as well. Dave Zinczenko, Men’s Health editor, is developing a reality show based on his popular Eat This, Not That books. This may sound like a good idea, but how long before ‘Not That’ restaurant chains try to finagle their way into a ‘Eat This’ situation? They should definitely not take product placement tips from 30 Rock and Tina Fey. I guess I believe her claim that last week’s Slanket references were not an advertisement, I hadn’t even heard of this Snuggie forerunner until last Thursday’s episode.

THANK YOUR EDITORS | The Amazing Race 14

With another running of the Race winding down, I wanted to pay homage to the folks who painstakingly put this show together. As far as I can tell, after having watched at least three quarters of the series, this is one of the least manipulated, most honest shows in the genre. The fun of storytelling (and contestant mockery, often at their own hands) then falls in large part to the editors, who do superb work each week.

Here’s the list of editors I culled from this week’s episode. Apologies if I overlooked or misspelled anyone:

Michael Bolanowski
Chris Dalzell
Ernesto De La O
Jeremy Gantz
Eric Goldfarb
Julian Gomez
Andy Kozar
Aaron M. Lewis
Kathy Messer
Jenny Nelson
Paul Nielsen
Jacob Parsons
Richard Remis

Associate editors:
Nicole Marx
Mike McCarthy
Phillip Pableo

These people make it look much easier than it ever could be. Thanks for making The Amazing Race so enjoyable.

THE FRIDAY FIVE | Sweeps episodes I’m waiting for

As mentioned yesterday, it’s that time of year — May sweeps. Here are a few things I’m looking forward to in the coming weeks.

Glee
From executive producer Ryan Murphy (Nip/Tuck), the story of a cutthroat high school glee club. Jane Lynch and a cast of familiar faces will return in the fall after this one-off of the pilot.
[sneak preview May 19 @ 9p/8c on Fox]

The Amazing Race
As of this writing, four teams remain. Who will make it to the mat and $1 million?
[season finale May 10 @ 8p/7c on CBS]

Grey’s Anatomy
If history is any indication, I’ll be hanging on every word by the time the bad-again, good-again medical soap takes its final laps before summer.
[100th episode May 7 @ 9p/8c on ABC]
[two-hour season finale May 14 @ 9p/8c on ABC]

30 Rock
Someone put too many guest stars in this episode and it’s about to explode!
[season finale May 14 @ 9:30/8:30c on NBC]

The Mentalist
How will elusive serial killer Red John factor into this freshman hit’s finale? Hopefully not in any way that evokes Profiler’s protracted Jack storylines.
[season finale May 19 @ 9/8c on CBS]

Just when you thought it was safe to turn on your TV, another sweep

Today marks the beginning of Neilsen’s May sweeps rating period, which stations typically use to set advertising rates. If it seems like we just got done being force-fed new episodes, guest star stunts, and all the other familiar trappings, it’s because we did. Back when that digital TV transition was supposed to happen in February, Neilsen moved the sweep that typically occurs in the groundhog month back to March. The DTV switch was delayed til June, but the March sweep happened as planned, which is a whole other set of someone else’s problems.

The May sweep, which begins tonight and runs through May 20, is also the final push for this year’s traditional TV season. Just a handful of episodes remain of most of your favorite shows. You can’t swing your remote around without it hitting some stunt casting, and in some cases season-long story arcs have been building to season-finale climaxes.

You may have noticed, though, that plenty of shows have premiered in recent weeks. Surely they can’t all be packing up in the next month. Some will, some won’t, but this is definitely a sign of the growing movement toward year-round scheduling. Harper’s Island blatantly bucks the in-season scheduling trend. This limited series is scheduled to conclude in July, and so far CBS seems committed to keeping it on the air that long.

Already there are casualties. Tonight’s episodes of Samantha Who? and In the Motherhood have been yanked in favor of a Grey’s Anatomy repeat from a few weeks ago, leading into that show’s new installment tonight; Ugly Betty will take back its time slot next Thursday, a little ahead of schedule. NBC has now punted sophomore drama Kings entirely off the schedule; apparently it was too much of a drag on the bottom line even on Saturdays, where the Peacock gang expects Law & Order repeats to outperform it.

I’ll be curious to see how this next month plays out. This is the third week for freshmen Parks and Recreation and Southland. Will they continue to capitalize on early momentum? And looking ahead to next fall and The Jay Leno Show, would Southland be viable in a 9p/8c timeslot (or, for that matter, Law & Order: SVU)? In the DVR/Hulu universe, does it even matter?

The networks have a lot of decisions to make, with upfront presentations looming in a few weeks. Fox seems likely to unload some of its cult series, CBS has some decisions to make about sitcoms, and I think we’re all a little curious about how NBC’s going to play its new, truncated schedule of scripted series. The jackals are after ABC’s entertainment president for failing to come up with any new hits as its most popular franchises begin to show signs of age (this Millionaire revival feels a bit desperate). The CW actually seems to have the least on the line, given their strong second season at a mini-net.

So many questions, whose answers will be determined in large part by an antiquated business model no one’s quite sure how to improve or innovate. But you’re on notice to set your DVRs, because the arbitrarily mandated end of our ‘official’ television season draws nigh.

DVD Wish List | “Boy Meets World”

Previous installments of DVD Wish List have chronicled shows that have yet to see a DVD release. Boy Meets World is in a different category, having had not just one, but three of its seven seasons released on DVD.

A success story borne entirely of its existence in ABC’s family-friendly ’90s sitcom block TGIF, Boy Meets World was the glacial coming-of-age story of Cory Matthews (Fred Savage’s little brother Ben). He had an older brother (Will Friedle as Eric), a younger sister (sometimes), and two loving parents (William Russ and Betsy Randle). Best friend Shawn (Rider Strong) came from a less stable background; eventual girlfriend Topanga (Danielle Fishel) was a constant foil. Teacher and mentor Mr. Feeny (William Daniels) was also, conveniently, the Matthews family’s next-door neighbor.

Cherry-picking popular sitcom situations and characters from other successful shows, Boy Meets World was able to coast by during its mediocre middle school years and eventually the kids made it to (and through) high school before moving on to college in the final seasons. Floundering as a less-ridiculous Home Improvement in its early years, the show found its footing with more serious storylines and a talented supporting cast.

So how did it end up on the DVD Wish List? After releasing the first three seasons in 2004 and 2005, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment put future releases on hold due to low sales (this has happened to other shows as well in recent years). Is it a coincidence, though, that these less-watchable years proved unpopular with DVD audiences? Did I mention that, during these seasons, Boy survived mostly on the merits of being sandwiched between Family Matters and Step by Step?

With the exception of titles in the Law & Order franchise, there seems to be a reluctance to releasing TV show seasons out of order. But consider the profitability of monetizing, if not the most-watched (TGIF never was much of a Top 30 contender), then at least the most marketable seasons. Consider, if you will, a compilation of Boy’s five (count ‘em) title sequences in seven seasons. Then decide which of the five shows depicted you’d be most inclined to sit through 22 minutes of.

With Matthew Lawrence, Trina McGee-Davis, and Maitland Ward rounding out the cast by the time the college years rolled around, Boy turned into the kind of cookies only ’90s television could make. Though it dealt with serious topics like alcoholism and cancer, the show managed to never take itself too seriously, peppering scripts with tongue-in-cheek asides about its (and the actors’) past and refusing to be ashamed with its contriving Mr. Feeny into a faculty position at every school the kids attended.

Few ’90s sitcoms escaped the lesson/”very special episode” plague, and we cannot count Boy among them. But unlike, for example, Full House, this cast had a way of selling it. And as long as you were buying it, certain episodes could come across as downright earnest. Obviously consumers weren’t buying the early-season DVDs, and for that, I don’t blame them (though an early-years highlight was the tribute Cory and Shawn organized for a fallen lunchlady).

After moderate success in broadcast syndication, a toothless, sanitized version of Boy ran on the Disney Channel in the early part of this decade. Repeats eventually migrated to ABC Family, which stopped airing the show as of fall 2007.

DVD status: Incomplete

Prognosis: Hopeful. In 2008, Lionsgate announced it had acquired rights to several series in the ABC/Disney catalog, including Boy Meets World. Lionsgate now has the rights to distribute all seven seasons, which could mean a complete series release, or individual seasons. In the meantime, good luck finding the first three discontinued seasons on Amazon.

UPDATE: Chen confirmed the news on this morning’s Early Show, adding that she won’t take leave from the summer season of Brother.

Apocalypse now? The Chenbot is pregnant, and due in October. At least her delivery should be after Big Brother season…right?

DVD Wish List | “Unhappily Ever After”

For such a seedy, adult-themed show, Unhappily Ever After was surrounded by babies. I was a mere child when it premiered in 1995, and so was its originating network, The WB (now memorialized as a web video portal). Also babies (or at least baby-faced): each of the Malloy children. More on that in a moment.

Unhappily Ever After (alternately known as Unhappily…) was the store brand of Fox’s runaway hit crappy-family sitcom Married…with Children. Both shows share a co-creator in Ron Leavitt. Both feature classic tunes as their title themes; in Unhappily’s case, the cast’s cover of Ray Charles’ catchy “Hit the Road, Jack” even referred to schizophrenic patriarch Jack Malloy (Geoff Pierson). And both featured casts that went on to greater success in higher-profile shows.

I never got into Married…with Children, but I fell for Unhappily… hook, line and sinker. Its strongest advantage over its more popular predecessor was talking bunny Mr. Floppy (Bobcat Goldthwait), whom only Jack could communicate with. The two swapped stories and advice in the family’s basement, which Jack had been relegated to after a dispute with wife Jennie (Stephanie Hodge).

The eldest of the scene-stealing Malloy children was Ryan, played by Kevin Connolly (now much more famous for his role in Entourage). He was the perpetual underachiever, always trying and failing to win his parents’ approval. Youngest son Ross (Justin Berfield, Malcolm in the Middle’s Reese) played the straight man in a house full of crazy people; his “forgotten child” status was often used by the writers to excuse his lack of screen time in a particular episode.

Then there was middle child Tiffany (Nikki Cox, whose more recent credits include NBC’s Las Vegas), the family and audience favorite. It was no secret that her stunning physical appearance perpetuated her appeal, and this was something the show relied on heavily for tongue-in-cheek material.

For Unhappily…, in a pre-South Park era on a fledgling broadcast network, there were no sacred cows. The show spent four and a half seasons sending up The WB, formulaic sitcoms, Hollywood, ridiculous rich kids, class warfare, and anything else in its path — which often included the characters themselves.

DVD status: Condemned

Prognosis: Negative. One would think this would at least merit inclusion among The (new) WB’s online offerings. But given how many times the show was retooled, as well as the fact that it was produced by Touchstone and not Warner Bros., this one feels likely to remain off the radar.

Mary McCormack returns this Sunday at 10p/9c (along with Marshal Marshall) in a new season of USA’s original drama In Plain Sight. In anticipation of this second season, USA presents a season one marathon beginning Saturday at 9:30a/8:30c.

Got a hankering to (re-)watch season four of Weeds? You’re in luck. The encore season begins tonight at 9:30p/8:30c on Showtime. A new season of the show kicks off June 8.

THE FRIDAY FIVE | Indispensable TV sites

I’ve been obsessed with television for as long as I can remember, and I’ve been using the Internet to fuel my obsession for as long as I’ve had access to it (roughly 1997). I’ve learned quite a bit about the business over the years, and I’ve seen a lot of great TV websites come and go, or evolve into something less entertaining/useful (which is a whole different Friday Five).

There are a few, though, that have quietly gone about their business, and established themselves as reliable go-to sources for information about television. They don’t seem as concerned with trends or flashy technology as they are with fulfilling their niches in the online television news realm. These sites are my go-to resources and I thought you should know about them.

TVtattle.com
If I have time to check just one TV site in a day, it’s TVtattle. Billed as “a weblog of TV news and criticism,” TVtattle was in the aggregating business long before it was cool. Since 2000, the site has compiled a daily digest of industry news headlines, reviews, and reactions about every show under the sun. TVtattle is updated almost every weekday, and when it’s not (for example, on holidays), a note at the top of the sidebar informs readers when to expect a new installment. Updates are appended to original items. Each new day’s postings push a previous day’s links into oblivion. There are no official archives, which makes sense given that the stories TVtattle links to at other sites, papers, and magazines, are likely to expire or be moved after a period of time. The site keeps things sweet and simple: there’s no RSS feed, and the site design and logo remain unchanged since my first visit.

The Ausiello Files
Spoiler hound Michael Ausiello knows a sinking ship when he’s aboard one. After honing his craft at TV Guide, Ausiello recently moved to Entertainment Weekly. He likes his blind items, casting rumors, and spoiler hints, all of which seem to rile up his readers. This is easily the newest site on the list, having come together within the last year, since the name on Ausiello’s paychecks changed. If you like your TV experience as pure as possible, you’ll want to avoid this site; but insider dish abounds for those seeking such things.

The Futon Critic
This site is a living encyclopaedia of television. It features a broadcast calendar of almost every show on almost every network. Network press releases have their own section and RSS feed. You can track any show individually to find out about casting, scheduling, and such. Prime time schedules at a glance are available by season (spring and summer are currently posted). Wanna know when Weeds returns or how many episodes are left in this season of Grey’s Anatomy? The answers to these and countless other questions lie at The Futon Critic.

epguides.com
Along similar lines as The Futon Critic, but with a much more limited focus, epguides.com is just what its name suggests: episode guides for thousands of series. It provides title and airdate information for current and former shows. Most of the episode titles are links to additional information at TV.com, which despite being a larger and more extensive site is littered with corporate ads, social media strings, and other unnecessary distractions. When you need to count a thirteen-episode order quick and dirty, epguides.com has you covered. (P.S. Know the name of the show you want? Just punch in epguides.com/(show name). Keep in mind that the site drops articles, so the guide for The Mentalist would be found at epguides.com/mentalist.)

TV Shows on DVD
Each week in my DVD Wish List, I link to information about a particular show’s DVD releases at this handy site. Ever wonder what happened to the Boy Meets World DVDs after the first few seasons? If there’s even a nugget of information about subsequent releases, TV Shows on DVD will have it. You can customize the site to your liking, and set up email alerts for shows you want to keep tabs on.

These are my must-read sites. Feel free to share yours in the comments.