NBC

The Short Form: The 66th Emmy Awards

The Short Form: The 66th Emmy Awards

Seth’s Hosting Job: I think Seth did a great job at keeping the proceedings going, but at times the show hit a very late night vibe with minimal grandiosity. This may be in part because his monologue was so brief and he was introduced with minimal fanfare (there wasn’t much of an opening credit sequence that you tend to see in awards shows), but what should be considered one of the big four awards shows almost seemed infinitely smaller than it should have. His monologue was not only short but seemed to fall fairly flat with the crowd, which was unfortunate because it was actually very funny, but the crowd seemed to appreciate the jokes more as the night went on.

The Show Itself: This show seemed to completely lack luster from well before the show even began (as one can expect from a show that scared off of a Sunday for the friggin VMA’s). Normally from awards shows we expect a pompous overblown affair with tons of glad-handing, self-aggrandizing, multiple sets and set changes and **shiver** overwrought musical numbers, however we got a bare minimum of those tonight. The one area the show completely dominated over the prior edition however, was in it’s memoriam segment, while last year we got six funeral dirges, this year we got one simple, classy, memoriam with Billy Crystal providing the best awards show eulogy for a man I’ve ever seen in his speech about Robin Williams.

It was a surprisingly good night to be CBS (or Modern Family): If last year was the story of cable and Netflix burying those last shovels of dirt on the big four, then this year would be about the big four making the most of their nominations. CBS picked up three Emmys on three different shows (Allison Janney for Mom, Jim Parsons for The Big Bang Theory and Juliana Margulies for The Good Wife). Modern Family also picked up a trio of Emmys for Best Supporting Actor, Best Directing and Best Comedy Series, meaning that yes, those pesky broadcast networks managed to pick up all but two of the major comedy awards tonight.

Breaking Bad Gets A Stunning Victory Lap: Up until the 10pm hour, the story of this night seemed to be parity. The comedy category split awards between five different shows (Modern Family, Louie, Veep, Mom and The Big Bang Theory), The miniseries hour saw similar division. However, once 10 pm hit, it was win after win after win for the last half-season of Breaking Bad. The final list included Best Supporting Actor (Aaron Paul), Best Supporting Actress (Anna Gunn), Writing (Moira Walley-Beckett for Ozymandias), Best Actor in a Drama (Bryan Cranston), and Best Drama Series.

On the Red Carpet Front: The story of this night on the red carpets is most definitely the color red. You could find red dresses anywhere on the red carpet, from Heidi Klum to E! Host Giuliana Rancic to Julia-Louis Dreyfuss and Christina Hendricks. While red is typically a very bold choice, the color seemed to work equally well on everyone wearing it even as the cuts varied wildly.

In terms of winners and losers, this is a night with way more winners than losers, especially on the comedy side. In addition to the red dress brigade, I was a big fan of Sofia Vergara’s white and gold combo, Sarah Silverman’s jade green dress, and . I think the big winner of the night was Laverne Cox who shone through the sea of champagne and red with an amazing and downright sexy white dress.

What didn’t work on the red carpet? I wasn’t a fan of Lena Dunham’s light pink look. While Dunham typically goes for something a little more anti-fashion as a rule, the dress, her skin, and her hair somehow managed to clash horrendously. Similarly Hayden Pannettiere’s decision to combine a deep plunging neckline and a third trimester baby bump just did not work for me. But for me, the biggest loser of the night was clearly E!’s clutch cam, which didn’t provide either the scandal, entertainment value or buzz (seriously people, it’s a bag – I may watch red carpet but I draw the line at accessories).

The Night In Speeches: In keeping with the pace of the show, everything seemed quick and to the point. Ty Burrell opened up the night with a pretty funny speech written from the kids on the cast of Modern Family. Sarah Silverman gave a similarly funny but incredibly winged speech after winning the writing award for her recent comedy special on HBO – thanking her agents while naming them after The Three Stooges and a number of other close confidants in one of the rare speeches that can be categorized as both short and rambling.

Steven Colbert and Jimmy Fallon teamed up after a flub filled award win for The Colbert Report to put together a pretty funny speech in which Colbert put words in Fallon’s mouth ultimately forcing the censors to jump in (in retrospect, I wonder why NBC didn’t offer Fallon the gig, he seems tailor made for stuff like this). Weirdly enough, the funniest speech of the night was Bryan Cranston’s self deprecating speech for Best Actor in A Drama

In Summation: This was a surprisingly tight show, fitting pretty squarely inside the 3 hour window NBC gave for the show. The Emmys also managed to avoid the funeral dirge angle that last year had with it’s six memoriam segments (five spotlights and the one usual montage) but also still seemed to miss the celebratory nature of these sort of shows. I think that the blame rests squarely on NBC, whom clearly treated this show as an afterthought (there’s still time left in the broadcast, let’s rush Vince Gilligan offstage in the last award of the night!), with little pomp and less circumstance. I don’t necessarily think that the show was bad, just lacking in star power (the only music segment featured “Weird Al”) and grandiosity (when you’re taking the backseat to the lowest wattage VMA’s in recent memory in spectacle, you’re clearly doing something wrong) and almost felt that the awards were reduced to a formality – a function i’m willing to guess was in part a result of the lack of love the peacock got in the nominating process (CBS and ABC did quite fine thank you).

Last but not least, this is my last day at Manhattan Digest, so I want to take this moment to thank Ryan for giving me a forum to grouse about TV over the last year and a half. It’s kinda crazy to see how I’ve grown as a writer and even moreso as a pop-culture consumer (lets just say I’ve watched more E! and Bravo in the last year and a half than I had any business doing in the 26 years of my life prior). I also want to thank all of you whom have read, commented, and devoted a little bit of time to reading this.

Fall Preview 2014: NBC

by Michael Tyminski

Fall Preview: NBC

Last year was a startlingly successful year for the peacock – the network somehow inexplicably ended up number one in demo and pulled off the coup of all holiday coups getting 20 million viewers to see it’s holiday musical special of The Sound of Music. While the schedule itself didn’t change much, we do see some shakeups in even NBC’s lineup, a little interesting for network that’s trying to build off last years success.

Sundays for NBC in the fall are way simpler than any other network: it’s football, football, and more football. NBC’s Sunday Night Football starts with a Thursday debut on September 4^th with the Seahawks and Packers facing off leading into their time slot debut on the 7^th with the Colts and Broncos.

Mondays also remain completely unchanged for NBC from last year with both The Voice and The Blacklist returning back to back on Mondays starting September 22^nd. The voice sees yet another judging rotation, with Gwen Stefani and Pharrell Williams joining the show’s central Adam Levine and Blake Shelton bromance. NBC further protects The Blacklist, by running State of Affairs (11/17) between the seasons of The Voice. This combination was one of the key planks of the peacock’s schedule last year and they wisely want to to keep the same foundation this year after seeing Revolution and Go On both die horrible deaths after being separated from The Voice.

Tuesdays kick off with the second day of The Voice, which along with Fox’s Utopia function as the only multi day shows on the air this fall. The 9pm hour is filled with comedy, with the debuting Marry Me, and returning About A Boy (both premiere on 10/14). Rounding out the night is the returning Chicago Fire (9/23), which has held down that Tuesday at 10 slot over the last three years.

Wednesdays remain crime night at NBC, (probably due to the relative lack of crime dramas on the other networks that night), and we see the returning Dick Wolf double header of Law and Order: SVU, and Chicago PD. Opening up the night, however, is the debuting The Mysteries of Laura starring Debra Messing as a detective who also has to deal with twin boys and a divorce. All of the Wednesday series begin on 9/24.

We do start to see some structural changes on thursdays for the peacock as the thirty year vaunted Must See TV comedy block is officially dead, with Parks and Recreation finishing out and Community kicked to the Yahoo! Screen curb. NBC’s plan for Thursdays this fall actually looks suspiciously like it’s Tuesdays. Moving into the 8 o’clock hour? The Biggest Loser (debuting 9/11). NBC’s favorite drama, Parenthood, then returns to schedule on Septmeber 25th, occupying out the 10pm hour. We do still get a 9pm comedy hour that is built with 2 new shows: Bad Judge,starring Kate Walsh and whose premise I shouldn’t need to spell out, and A to Z, a romantic comedy starring Cristin Miloti (best known as the eventual mother of How I Met Your Mother).

Fridays bring the return of NBC’s horror block. With Dracula kicked to the curb, and the always amazing Hannibal taking a snooze til mid-season, we get the returning Grimm at 9, followed up by Constantine at 10, making for a stellar year for DC’s licensing (this, the Batman universe for Gotham, and The Flash were all picked up this year). Both return just in time for Halloween on 10/24, reflecting a similar strategy to what NBC did last year. Dateline rounds out the night at 8. Saturdays are typically a non factor for the peacock outside of SNL, so expect the usual mix of reruns and top flight Notre Dame football games in the primetime hours.

Tomorrow we finish up our Fall Preview 2014 with a look at the CW and some returns to the cable landscape!

Running Wild Feels More Like Running Mild

by Michael Tyminski

Running Wild w/Bear Grylls – Mondays at 8 Eastern on NBC

The last decade brought two styles of reality television into vogue: shows about people roughing it in exotic and often dangerous locales that seemingly put the star in the face of death on a weekly basis (Survivorman, Man vs. Wild), and shows that took a look into the life of the rich and opulent (see any Bravo show that isn’t Top Chef). Needless to say, in the desperate scramble to come up with some summer television, NBC has elected to mix some roughing it chocolate with what it hopes will be some celebrity peanut butter in order to score a hit with it’s newest show: Running Wild w/ Bear Grylls.

Running Wild w/Bear Grylls is at it’s core about one simple concept: extreme vacationing with A-Listers. With a guest list that includes Zac Efron, Channing Tatum, and Ben Stiller, Grylls ventures around the world finding the ideal spots that will push their given celebrity to the limits. Monday’s premiere begins with Zac Efron traversing New York’s Catskill Mountains (an interesting call if only because when I think Catskills, I think skiing, old comedians, and Dirty Dancing – not life or death survivalism) trying to finish a 2 day course that includes a number of challenges including rappelling, skydiving, and survival.

So how is Running Wild? Well it’s pretty slow. There’s a lack of real tone differentiation between it’s high adventure and downtime moments, causing many of the journey’s legs to bleed together. I found a similar problem with last year’s Get Out Alive, meaning that they didn’t really learn the stylistic lessons of last year’s attempt at the same format. This is a shame, because a 120 rappel, skydiving, and worm omelets are all basically played as humdrum as a walk through the park on a Saturday afternoon. I don’t necessarily ask for excessive dramatics here, but some sense of stakes would be nice.

Oddly enough, the slowness actually contributes to the show’s strongest point: for a guy who’s famous for being stuck in the woods alone, Grylls is a surprisingly good interviewer. If Running Wild was truly meant to be celebrity rehabilitation puff-piece in the wild, then Grylls more than holds up his end of the bargain, coaxing his guests through numerous tasks – (the Catskills become Grylls personal high ropes course) while using the downtime to ask seemingly probing questions that ultimately make that weeks celebrities look better. This distinction becomes night and day when you see Efron’s cutaways, as the cocksure actor in many of the shows cutaways gives way to a more vulnerable soul out in the wild.

The Final Verdict: For the second straight summer I’m reviewing a Bear Grylls reality show, and for the second straight year, the show feels like it’s just there. It’s a true shame because Grylls is a quality TV personality, it’s just that Running Wild makes life-or-death resemble a trip to 7-Eleven. This is the sort of show that typically puts my thumbs firmly in the middle – check it out if you have nothing better to watch on an early Monday or are waiting for American Ninja Warrior.

Food Fighters Scores A Split Decision

by Michael Tyminski

Food Fighters: Tuesdays at 8 Eastern on NBC

The competition genre has seemingly been on it’s last legs for a while as the genre (Voice aside) has struggled to produce new hits. The end result is that reality hours for the most part have been down across the board, except at the peacock, whose newfound respectability (unfortunately, much to my chagrin, I can’t put quotation marks around respectability anymore) has a summer schedule jam-packed with as much unscripted TV as possible (Last Comic Standing, America’s Got Talent, and American Ninja Warrior being just some of NBC’s recent summer offerings). They add to this stable of competition television with Tuesday offering Food Fighters.

Food Fighters, at it’s core is like Bobby Flay’s Throwdown on steroids. One contestant, with their signature dishes (everyone’s got one – they typically get busted out for dinner parties and the like) must take on not one celebrity chef, but five whom attempt to knock the contestant off their culinary pedestal. The show stars Adam Richman (of misguided thinspiration scandal fame as well as Man vs. Food) as the host, while the celebrity chef pool features a mixture of familiar Food Network stars (Duff Goldman, Cat Cora), brand ambassadors (Lorena Garcia), and new faces (Jet Tila, G. Garvin, Elizabeth Falkner).

The first thing I noticed while watching Food Fighters was the grandiosity. The kitchen area is two tiered and sweeping, the show doesn’t spare it’s prize budget (you’re looking at a $100,000 top prize that seems attainable, but at the same time it’s tough to walk away with less than $5,000 – $10,000). While a lot of cooking shows have tried to give this sort of vibe in the past – this show is truly the closest an American company has gotten to copying Kitchen Stadium from the Japanese Iron Chef, with it’s decadent two tier kitchen, tons of lights and almost game show like appearance.

This grandiosity, thankfully, extends out to the chefs, who play up generally affable villains in the pro-wrestling mold. This include Kevin Belton, a Cajun chef with a knack for witty banter and playing to the crowd, and Marcel Vigneron, a former Top Chef competitor who has a knack for unorthodox cooking methods. It’s Garcia, however, who steals the show by putting on balancing act unlike any other with some impressive knife work and nimbly sashaying around Richman when he gets in the way during a mid showdown interview. Surprisingly subdued amidst the largeness of this show is Richman himself, who despite operating as host, commentator, and interviewer manages to fill a background role without taking the spotlight away from the competitors.

Of course, none of this grandiosity means a thing without a sound format, and Food Fighters comes through in that regard. Seeing how it’s ultimately the battle between home cook and celebrity chef, the show relies on two key twists to balance the tables. First and foremost, in a twist taken from Throwdown, the judges are average citizens, who are put to a blind taste test. Secondly, however, is the strategic element of Food Fighters, where the home chef picks which chef challenges which recipe, meaning that seafood experts could be forced to bake, while Italian cuisine maestros can be pushed into making tacos.

There are, however, a few mild quibbles. First and foremost, the five course setup gets slightly monotonous at points, even if the timers were often incredibly short (all of the battles ran between 15 and 25 minutes in length). The judging segments also seemed fairly weak, with the judges often restating the obvious, which makes some of the decisions feel downright puzzling when Richman announces them. Finally, the show only bothers to promote the end-bosses of any given show, which is a true shame, since it slightly misleads it’s audience.

The Final Verdict: It doesn’t necessarily add a ton to a genre that’s pretty well played out (both food competitions and competition style network shows), but Food Fighters won me over by coming way closer to the pinnacle of the genre than most of the cooking shows out there and generally sidestepping most of the melodramatics and ridiculous gimmicks that are a staple of the format. It’s downfall, however comes in it’s high variance, like many game shows, there will be some curbstomp level showdowns (one chef used egg roll wrap for his tacos because he “couldn’t find the tortillas” and got soundly whumped 5-0) to go with some truly amazing battles (Garcia’s showdown in particular, even the result is a headscratcher). Check it out if you get the chance, even if it’s the sort of show that will likely work better catching the odd battle or two on Hulu.

On TV, The Real Crisis Is Boredom

by Michael Tyminski

Crisis: Sundays at 10 Eastern on NBC

It’s always amazing to see what trends the networks are going to seize next. Last year, the networks were big on serial killers, spawning The Following, Hannibal, Cult, and Bates Motel. This year, apparently, one of the flavors of the week is hostage crises with the topic already rearing it’s head on CBS’s lackluster Hostages. NBC has also decided to go down this road (with a fairly straight up clone) with it’s newest Sunday night show Crisis.

Crisis, much like Hostages revolves around the core skeleton of a powerful Washington family ripped apart by a nefarious mastermind looking to use force in order to impose his will on the country. However, while Hostages was built entirely around the idea of a surgeon killing the president while under the knife, Crisis aims to be more ambiguous by adding political and diplomatic intrigue to the proceedings.

Everything about Crisis screams lazy. The show opens on some of the laziest green screening I’ve seen in recent memory (I’m inclined to think they felt it was meant to feel disorienting, but it feels bush league). Normally, when a show is lazy on it’s visuals it’s a one time thing, but even the image of a plane shutting down in mid-air and plummeting into a nearby industrial building (as shot from an adjacent diner) feels like a non factor. The whole point of visuals is to feel a visceral punch, but nothing this show tries to pull off registers from that standpoint.

Worse than the CG, the acting feels equally listless. Even with an all-star cast including Dermot Mulroney (who I thought was amazing when I saw his stint a couple years ago on New Girl) and Gillian Anderson (The X-Files), everything feels flat, wooden, and generally the sort of teleprompterese I only expect to see from politicians. There are however, a couple of bright spots in this pilot (made even more interesting by the fact that said actors were isolated from the cast for the rest of the show, making me truly appreciate the marvels of second unit directing maybe?) in Lance Gross and Joshua Erenberg, who play Agent Marcus Finley and Anton Roth respectively.

I wish I could blame just the acting and the visual effects, but the fact of the matter is Crisis is a triple threat of suck, as even the initial writing feels truly terrible. Our FBI alternates between complete omniscience and the absolute opposite, with the show going to ridiculous lengths to ensure our characters are lost (I may come from a middle class background, but even the most affluent people I know aren’t embedded with computer chips). Even the mid-show twist, which moves Mulroney’s Mr. Gibson from hero to villain seems completely out of the blue, showing a disturbing lack of a sense of pacing from the sort of twist that typically comes in the last segment of numerous prior pilots.

The Final Verdict: I spent some ink above mentioning all of the similarities between Crisis and Hostages, but I feel like I missed one of the most obvious connections in retrospect: I am completely uncompelled to watch either of them. It’s not very often that I watch a show where it feels like all parties involved thoroughly mailed it in, but Crisis fits the bill in this regard. Skip this, if you actually want to see a hostage situation turn into dramatic entertainment, write a skit or something, because quite frankly whatever you do it will probably be more entertaining than Crisis.

Checking in at Mid-Season: Fox and NBC

by Michael Tyminski

Source: Wikipedia

After a quick glance over at Netflix for some new House of Cards, let’s resume our mid-season look at the state of TV. Today we’ll be examining Fox and NBC, and we’ll wrap this series up with some thoughts on other places around the dial later in the week.

Fox: In the last couple of years (and in an even more pronounced fashion this year), Fox has seemed to turn into NBC of the mid-2000’s: A network with a ton of critically acclaimed shows that no one really happens to be watching. This is a shame for a number of reasons, the most notable of which is that it seems to be putting out consistently better shows than the other major networks.

What’s Working: It’s been a strong season in terms of debuts for Fox. Sleepy Hollow became a sleeper hit right off the bat and Brooklyn Nine-Nine took home a pair of Golden Globes. Even their B-tier debuts, like Enlisted (a show that really needs to find it’s way to Tuesdays as soon as possible because it truly deserves a larger audience). Fox has also managed to find a Tuesday comedy lineup that is Fox’s strongest ever (Dads excluded).

Finally, Fox still finds strength in the perpetual motion machine that is it’s Sunday night block. The Simpsons, Family Guy, and Bob’s Burgers all saw renewals in the fall and American Dad will find a second life on TBS, as no conglomerate loves their Seth McFarlane reruns quite like the folks at Turner.

What’s Not Working: First and foremost, Dads was a total train wreck despite the network putting a ton of effort into advertising it, a pretty star studded main cast, and giving it the lead-off slot in said Tuesday comedy lineup. However, Fox’s real problem is actually the opposite of CBS: It’s older shows seem to be tailing off. This is particularly notable on Wednesday and Thursday, as The X-Factor met it’s maker earlier this month, while American Idol now lacks the cache it used to have as a TV powerhouse.

Another problem Fox did not see coming was the nosedive in the ratings The Following took. This is an issue as one could probably guess that The Following is one of Fox’s most expensive shows, yet it’s ratings have been on a downward trajectory from minute one this season as the show’s writing has only gotten worse over time.

Overall Prognosis: Fox is actually in a pretty decent place for the future and could very easily carry the next decade or so under Kevin Reilly’s leadership when the rest of TV reality comes crashing in on CBS and many of it’s flagship shows age out. Additionally, it’s the network least affected by CBS’s Thursday Night Football deal, as Fox’s schedule has been regularly disrupted for over a decade now courtesy of the MLB playoffs, so all it takes is some mild shuffling and a reserving the now open Thursdays (due to the end of the X-Factor) as it’s designated big November premiere night.

NBC: This year seems to be the year that NBC slowly corrected their ship. They’ve figured out how to leverage their trademark properties best, and the one-two punch of Sunday Night Football and The Voice are not only keeping them afloat, but helping to ensure the network doesn’t always stay a punchline.

What’s Working: I mentioned this before in the open but because they are so central to the network’s success, let me reiterate them again: football and The Voice. Almost everything the network does right comes from those two spokes, and unsurprisingly, the further away you get from them the weaker the schedule looks. NBC also managed to find a hit drama in the form of The Blacklist.

NBC has also quietly steadied the ship on Wednesday nights with Dick Wolf coming to the rescue and a strong block of cop procedurals from 9 to 11. Revolution’s survival is still a toss up, but considering the amount of effort the network is going to have to put into fixing Thursday it would require an insanely strong new drama to unseat it.

Finally, NBC has figured out another way to expand an event lineup that currently tends to be very sports-centric: The return of the musical special. The Sound of Music Live! pulled in an astronomical amount of viewers on it’s December 5^th showing, and it’s not implausible to see NBC go to this trick two to three times a year in order to boost ratings.

What’s not working: NBC has done well with The Voice and it’s dramas, but it’s comedy block has fallen into near complete disrepair. After a year in which not a single comedy got picked up for a second season, NBC is perilously close to duplicating that feat for the second year in a row. A large part of this seems to be due to Bob Greenblatt copying the one network even more mismanaged than his: ABC. Family comedies are not working on the peacock, and the complete and utter failures of The Michael J. Fox Show, Sean Saves the World, and Welcome to the Family are certain proof.

NBC is still very low rated all around, and Sundays still seem to be a lost cause when football is not in season, often relying on a mix of Dateline and spackle to fill the lineup. Thursdays are a mess too, (mostly because of the comedy debacle) but I could see a resuscitation if they find two more passable comedies and anchor around Hannibal.

Overall Prognosis: NBC is in a very weird place. For half their lineup, they seem to be doing all the right things, and for the other half the peacock looks like a barren wasteland that seems to only succeed in padding the episode count of Community and Parks and Recreation (I like both of those shows but it says a lot about NBC’s ability to develop comedies in a post 30 Rock, post Office world that the two shows the network keeps trying to kill keep living on).

Next Time: We hop around the dial, looking at the CW and anything on cable worth my attention.

Thoughts On Jay Leno As He Rides Off Into the Sunset

by Michael Tyminski

Actual pro wrestling match, or how many younger people view Leno after replacing Conan? (Source: WWE)

As someone who follows, writes about, and reveres TV institutions, NBC has made it extraordinarily easy to find out when Jimmy Fallon starts his run at the desk once held by legends such as Steve Allen, Jack Paar and Johnny Carson (February 17^th for those keeping track at home), but incredibly difficult to find out when Jay Leno was ending his run (his last show is February 6^th as the show takes a week off for the Winter Olympics). This seemed particularly off putting to me, as through The Tonight Show’s over 11,000 episodes two of the most memorable had to be Carson’s 1992 departure and Conan O’Brien’s 2010 farewell.

Even after the year of Conan, the idea of 11:30 not being a Leno-Letterman centered universe is foreign to me. I’m just a smidge too young to have been staying up at 11:30 for Carson, who left the air when I was in kindergarten, so my frame of reference comes after the first of many Late Night turf wars for Leno, when himself (then Carson’s regular guest host on Fridays) and future Late Show host David Letterman were jockeying to become the heir to Carson’s chair.

While Letterman would get the original upper-hand on Leno in the ratings war, the Tonight Show would storm back through Leno’s witticisms on what had to be the defining topic of 1994: OJ Simpson’s seemingly never-ending murder trial. Leno’s run on the Tonight Show would continue to generate buzz throughout the 90’s leading to a feud with Hulk Hogan in WCW and wrestling in a Pay Per View main-event match. These were admittedly better times for NBC as a whole– the “Must See TV” lineup anchored by Friends and Seinfeld was a juggernaut, the network had the best sports portfolio on the air (NFL Football, NBA Basketball, MLB during the All-Star Game and playoffs, and both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games).

A key part of this late night rivalry seemed to come from the contrasting styles of the two comedians. Letterman tended to be on the cutting edge (especially during his late night run), often cracking jokes that were sardonic, postmodern, and biting (his takedown of NBC’s Las Vegas Gambit which replaced his AM show is a golden example of this). Leno, on the other hand, has always had a more old-school feel– his delivery felt like the sort that’s often used to mock hack comics who tell bad jokes about airplane food. This phenomena even extended to his two Tonight Show mainstays– Jaywalking and Headlines, both seem as old as the medium themselves, with the man-on-the street interview going back to Steve Allen and Jack Paar. While on one hand, one could find this style grating, it also would ultimately serve as the last vestiges of a tamer style of comedy that served the networks well since the dawn of television.

In later years (especially after the Jay Leno Show debacle), Leno seemed to turn into this Rasputin like figure over at NBC. Blamed by viewers for forcing out Conan and by the network for shredding NBC’s schedule to bits (by obliterating the 10pm hour all five nights of the week), it was clear that the network was going to give Leno a short leash from day one by making their next host of Late Night the clear heir apparent. In spite of the short leash, Leno still seemed like an unassailable figure that both sparkled the audiences of middle America as adeptly as the maneuvering that kept him in his role.

Whatever you may think about the constant jostling and self preservation (he’s probably less culpable in the Conan situation than people made him out to be– NBC in retrospect was the first victim of the implosion of broadcast dominance and while wiping out the slate for Leno was a reckless move, I’m not really sure anything would have done better in those time slots) or his often more punchless brand of observational humor (made all the more glaring compared to Letterman’s more sardonic style of humor), the end of Leno’s run on late night is a bittersweet end of an era. The move signals a changing of the guard as the much younger (and perfectly suited for millennial tastes) Fallon takes over at Tonight, while the show itself moves back to New York.

In the long run, I think Leno’s legacy actually comes down to how well he sticks this particular landing. Even with last departure being horrendously botched and then ultimately reversed, that time around was not truly Leno’s late-night swan song: He was effectively being promoted as the end result of making a promise that would ultimately be too difficult to keep. This time around there is no new show, no likely prospect of a new show (and at 63 it’s doubtful he finds a Conan-esque cable deal, though a show about the man and his car collection could make for better reality TV than 90 percent of unscripted cable TV right now anyway), and increasingly like a relic to a time before irony and sarcasm ruled the comedy roost. A graceful exit here could indeed provide Leno with the goodwill that he has seemingly lost in the wake of the Conan debacle (as the adage goes, “Fool me once, shame on you…”) and help position him as the elder statesman of a medium that targets increasingly younger by the day (unless you watch CBS).

Why you Need to Start Watching Community…Now!

by Peter Foy

American Television’s funniest, sharpest, most inventive half-hour of comedy, Community, is back and just as good as ever…yet not enough people are watching it. True, it’s a show that has struggled in viewership since it premiered back in 2009, despite holding onto a cult following that has if anything only grown more decicated, but the fifth season opener of Community scored 3.49 million viewers which is an all-time low for a season premiere of the show. It’s a real shame too, as this season marks the return of Community’s original creator Dan Harmon as showrunner, after NBC let him go for the fourth season. His absence was very apparent during that season, as the show became wonky and messy without his guidance, but through a minor miracle Harmon has indeed returned to the show, and the season premiere alone is enough to show that the show’s laurels have made an utmost return.

Still though…the show needs to up it’s ratings to get a better chance of scoring another season. Thus, it’s my duty here as a critic and self-proclaimed TV guru to lead you non-Community viewers in the right direction. Thing is, some of you might be a little wary on trying to catch up on the show’s previous 88 episodes in just a few weeks so that you can watch the currently airing one. Not to worry though, as season 5 is already looking to be a great jumping on point, albeit one that will leave one on the outside regarding a few continuity-related jokes and plot points. Here’s my thoughts on the matter about the negatives and positives both method have for tackling Dan Harmon’s meta-show masterpiece.

Watching the Series from the Start:

Pros: Well, I think the best place to start is to bring up why Community is such a bright star over the network tv hemisphere. The single greatest trait about Community is that it’s a satire of network based sit-coms and their established tropes, while also being a great sit-com it’s own right. Right from the very first season the show makes it clear to the viewers how self-aware it is of being in the bubble of network regulations, but rather than give into cliches and limitations, Community revers in them. The show has a very tongue-in-cheek nature about things, and it parodies sit-com conventions such as bottle-episodes, clip shows, character romance arcs, but does it in such a sly and intelligent manner that it forgoes easy methods such as having characters break the fourth wall, which is a tactic that is frequently used to unfunny effect in Family Guy.

In fact, speaking of Family Guy, I feel that Seth MacFarlane should really take some nods from Community on the proper way to do a show that uses plenty of movie references and 80s nostalgia. Sure, you can tell that Dan Harmon spent a lot of his youth watching 80s television and action movies, but he reiterates these low-brow interests of his in a way that’s always intelligent and surprising. unlike Family Guy, whose writers appear to think nostalgia factor is a viable substitute for being actually funny. In fact, another brilliant facet of the show’s milieu is that this meta-logic is encased in one of it’s characters: Abed Nadir. This character (played by Danni Pudi) is a walking encyclopedia regarding movies, tv, and other forms of media, and in a very clever way he’s the show’s main character, as he is the single most consistent and all-knowing of the ensemble cast.

The show is also very complex regarding it’s characters. It’s an ensemble show with a cast of diverse and colorful characters. Of the central characters, the writing uses their differing views on topics like religion, sex, entertainment, morality and such to convey arguments between them at a degree that you rarely see on TV. Plus, these characters all change over time too, with each season carrying a theme that is explored through the character development. The first season sets up how the characters communicate with each other, the second sees them finally mold into their own unique fit, and the third season was about the characters realizing how they evolved so much over two years because of each other…shit’s deep, man.
So basically, watching Community from the beginning is the best way to get the full experience of the show (duh!). Also, while most of the episodes are self-contained, there is a good sense of continuity to the show, especially near the end of the third season which does have a serialized arc to it. With most episodes coming around just 20 minutes, you can find plenty of time to marathon the show, and get through it relatively quickly. Also, I might even recommend skipping the 4th season altogether.

Cons: Well, it’s a bit much for one to digest the show’s first four seasons (especially as the fourth one is fairly lackluster), and also you can tell that Dan Harmon sees this latest season as a rebirth of sorts. Newcomers may want to see a few episodes of this new-viewer friendly 5th season, before deciding on devouring the preceding ones.

Watching the Series Starting With This Season:

Pros: The premiere of this fifth season is entitled Repilot, and it just fits that name in every way. Not only does it express that the show is going through a resurrection this season, but it also showcases that the show’s self-aware style has been nicely set back in place by Dan Harmon. The four episodes that have aired so far are all among the series best, as they’re funny, creative, and aesthetically appropriate. The fact that Abed has commented that everything is changing, yet also remaining exactly the same speaks volumes too. Hell, if any show on TV is demanding a new audience to jump on board for a later season, it’s Community. Also, I’m sure Dan Harmon and co. would appreciate it if the currently airing season got as many new viewers as possible and fast!

Cons: As said before the show does have a strong amount of continuity. Perhaps the most notable inference is in this week’s past episode that deals with the leaving of Chevy Chase’s character Pierce Hawthorne. The episode’s humor relies on the particular characteristics of Pierce that were established over the previous seasons, and it’s not quite as effective for those not familiar with him. Also, there have been numerous other esoteric curios sprinkled over these last four episodes that probably won’t mean much for the uninitiated.

Conclusion:

Well, you might notice that the pros section for watching the series from the beginning got the most words from me. I feel that a show this special really should be experienced right from the beginning, but it is still very enjoyable if you decide to only start with this season, as it still is an excellent one. Whichever method you choose, do it soon and fast though, as for I honestly feel Community is the closest thing to must-see tv right now. As much as I’m intrigued by True Detective, or eagerly await Girls each Sunday, I still can’t help but feel that Community is just too fresh, well-composed and genuine for me to not call it the best show on TV right now.

Chicago PD Tries To Sizzle Without Steak | TV Shows

by Michael Tyminski

Chicago PD: Wednesdays at 10 Eastern on NBC

Some show runners have vast TV universes that span multiple shows, but few have some as expansive as Dick Wolf. The Law and Order creator managed to place three shows (over two networks) within that franchise (with passive connections to shows as far flung as Arrested Development and Sesame Street through Richard Belzer’s Detective Munch). However, now in partnership with NBC, Wolf is attempting to create a second universe, trading in New York for the second city as his sophomore hit Chicago Fire gains a complementary show in Chicago PD.

Chicago PD follows both uniformed cops and the undercover intelligence unit as they pursue the major criminals on the streets of the windy city. The squad is headed up by Hank Voight (Jason Beghe) and Antonio Dawson (Jon Seda, playing a character that loosely ties into Chicago Fire), who follow the renegade vs. by-the-book dynamic that is commonplace in most police-related fiction. These men lead a squad that includes a veteran undercover cop who happens to be the bosses closest confidant (Elias Koteas), a young brash detective (Jesse Lee Soffer), his female partner whom Voight treats like a daughter (Sophia Bush), and a cadet getting his first big break (Kyle Ruzek).

So how does it turn out? Chicago PD plays in the ball field of the corrupt cop, but instead of making one cop corrupt, it turns almost all of it’s field agents into loose cannons– whether through corrupt bargaining with street gangs, cold clocking cat callers, or stealing rings from dead people. Even the cops that are seemingly not corrupt tend to have black hat tendencies such as withholding vital intelligence that leads to an officer’s death.

Speaking of dying officers, Chicago PD ends up leaning on shock like it’s a crutch. The pilot focuses on wall to wall action and plot development, and the pacing tends to lead to major developments coming down the pike in bursts, often leading to diminishing returns by the end of the episode. Similarly, by my account there were at least four no holds barred beat downs over the course of the show, implying the show seems to think that tons of violence will be some sort of ratings panacea. The end result is a show that seems to generate it’s characters solely for the purpose of being acted upon rather than creating characters who can drive the action.

That being said, it’s when Chicago PD stops taking itself so seriously that the show shines brightest. For a relatively rag-tag group of officers (the unit has existed for eight weeks as of the start of the show), there seems to be a strong familial attitude among those in the intelligence unit from minute one, and the chemistry within the unit is a pretty strong fit, although one would expect such a thing when one considers that the show uses every stock character trope that the sub-genre happens to offer (except for the veteran cop who’s one day away from retirement).

The Final Verdict: Chicago PD goes out of it’s way to create a gritty universe, but all of it’s grit feels there solely for grits sake. It’s a shame because if they let the characters breathe and bounce off of each other a little more in lieu of the blatantly flow chart like show that made it to TV (which is a touch ironic because Chicago PD isn’t built on being a full blown procedural like CSI or NCIS). Skip this one unless you really like cop shows, though even then you’re better off watching The Shield on DVD.

Many Happy Returns: The Sing-Off

by Michael Tyminski

The Sing-Off: Premeires December 9^th at 9:00 pm on NBC

Since we last saw The Sing-Off: A little over two years has passed between seasons of The Sing-Off, as NBC benched the show for the 2012-13 season in favor of trying to capitalize on breakout show The Voice‘s success, eating The Sing-Off’s fall spot in the rotation to run two seasons a year. This year, NBC brings the show back in it’s original holiday spot running seven episodes over two weeks.

Personally, I was surprised at the benching. The Sing-Off had just stumbled upon the sort of act that seemed incredibly fresh in it’s season three champions: Pentatonix. The five piece outlet had week-in and week-out consistently broken new ground for the a-capella genre with their original and often transcendent takes on classic songs. This has led to multiple successful concert tours, appearances across the dial (they just appeared on Ellen a few weeks ago), and an incredibly strong presence on YouTube garnering thousands of hits with every new video they released.

We also see many of the older faces return, including host Nick Lachey and judges Ben Folds and Sean Stockman. For the third straight season, however, we will see a new judge in the center seat as Jewel replaces Sara Bareilles on the panel.

One area that does however seem much different from two years ago is the landscape for competition shows. With the exception of The Voice, the competition show is starting to die off across the board, with even venerable juggernauts such as Dancing with the Stars and American Idol starting to feel the pain of cutbacks this year. I think the Sing-Off will need to pull some surprisingly strong ratings if it wants to see a fifth season, although the cut back to seven episodes should help the show maintain the high level of competition necessary for the show to succeed.

What I’m Looking Forward To: We’ve had two years of post-Pentatonix simmering. It should be interesting to see what direction this years groups take, as both PTX and Urban Method got as far as they did on ambition as much as execution. The smaller field should also theoretically mean a stronger field, which is essential because The Sing-Off is always a better show when every group is slaying it out there (as opposed to say American Idol, where half the fun is in watching people crash and burn their way through auditions. When you add in the fact the show should get a Voice bump, this is the best chance the show has ever had to vindicate itself in the eyes of viewers.

What Worries Me: Part of what made The Sing-Off work so well was that it knew what it was, and that was that it was the competition show worth watching if you actually were into music (I’m pretty sure every PTX live audience would make for a killer choir group). While part of that was the high caliber of the contestants (they routinely pulled from the best of college with some small time groups as well), a lot of it also came from Bareilles being the perfect mix for the middle seat, bringing not only enthusiasm, but some pointed criticism as need be. Jewel takes over for Bareilles, and until we what she brings to the judges’ table, I’ll fear the Nicole Scherzinger level worst. The other thing that worries me is that we had an insanely strong talent pool for season three (the super group composed of the best of seasons 1 and 2 finished sixth), so obviously a weaker pool will be pretty disappointing.

NBC

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