Olympic Nightmare

First a guy dies on a Luge practice run and the IOC quickly tries to pass it off as user error...then they adjust the track so its not so fast...which by the way did end up pissing off a lot of people who actually wanted the start to be in the right place, but just not have a track that was designed as a death trap.

Then the opening ceremonies, which sucked by the way, were marked by a malfunctioning indoor cauldron and an outdoor one lit by Wayne Gretzky in the back of a Pick Up truck and no security (and no fans).

Then the screwed up by putting up an ugly fence to block people from getting to, or taking good pictures of, the outdoor cauldron.

Then a concert went haywire when fans crashed down from some rafters that collapsed.

Then they had to refund 28,000 tickets to fans who couldn't stand to watch skiing because they hay bails they were standing on kept giving way and the patrons were sinking in the slush.

BUT FOR ALL THE CRAP VANCOUVER SCREWED UP, NOTHING IS WORSE THAN NBC PRETENDING THE OLYMPICS ARE LIVE IN PRIME TIME.

Its the age of Twitter, the internet, 24 hour news and cable stations with scrolling tickers...we all know what happened already, just admit it, embrace it, and run an evening highlight package of the days best work... but still show the events live during the day as the happen. Enough of this bullshit NBC.

Where did this Blog Go?

I have no idea.
You should know I still watch tons of TV, and I have lots to say about it -- maybe I am on my writers strike right now? Not sure. But the motivation to blog just hasn't been there, call it a small peak in an endless valley. But now that 'Lost' and '24' are back, maybe I will find my inspiration. For now, know this:

-24 sucks this year. I am just growing tired of the formula and I feel like I have seen this season four times already. Even the undercover risk your life bullshit comes from Jack in Mexico in season 2. I do love crazy Renee Walker though -- only saving grace so far.

-Lost kicked off in incredible fashion. Wow. The only thing I need to tell you is this...to fully enjoy the experience, you need to read Jeff (Doc) Jenson the next day at www.ew.com. Just click on 'Lost' in the header and wait for his day after recap...its usually about seven pages and its amazing. Its the solid supplemental reading to any good college class. Amazing work. Makes the show that much richer.

-SNL continues to be the biggest piece of shit on television. Jon Hamm wasn't terrible, but it was pretty bad.

More to come...I can feel it happening.

Wow, January Jones Sucked

I love me some Betty Draper, what a great character and so well acted. And guess what, January Jones should get an Emmy this year. What she shouldn't get, is another chance to ever appear on live TV trying to be funny. She can't do it. And you no what? Some actors just cannot work in that format, and she is one of them.
Even worse, SNL is still a god-damn fucking disaster. Did you count the fart/shit/potty jokes last night? Major double digits...come on guys....
Also this, does anyone else fast forward anytime Seth Meyers turns over the Update desk to a 'performer'? I do. And Jon Bovi is the biggest offender. Argh. Other than Jean K. Jean which is only funny because its so bad, I get so mad when we lose valuable headline time for that crap.

Long story short, here is the final math:

Awful host + Terrible overall writing + mediocre female cast / easy fart jokes = Wanda Sykes show. Yep, that's where I am taking my eyeballs next Saturday night.

SLOW THE F**K DOWN 'V'

Holy crap...in only one hour, the V's showed up, announced themselves, were given the name 'V' or 'Visitors', organized a meeting with the UN, came down to meet the UN, started some street clubs with brochures, integrated into our marketing culture, organized spaceship tours, and did TV interviews. Oh, and they already have a resistance movement that knows about them, and many key players already know they are lizards. HOLY SHIT, that was one hour? Watch 'The O.C.' season one much?

You don't HAVE to give us everything in one hour -- that could have easily been played out with huge reveals and suspense over 3-4 shows and no one would have minded. There were no ooh-ahh moments, they just gave it to you. NO FUN AT ALL. We're only into the pilot and it might as well be episode 6. The mini-series didn't get this far after six hours. SLOW DOWN, give us some information to digest perhaps.

On a different note, 'Modern Family' is so damn good it should be criminal. Sometimes a new show comes along and reminds you how good TV comedy can be. 'The Office' and '30 Rock' showed us how workplace comedy could be funny again, and now this show takes dysfunctional family to a whole new level with a nod to 'Arrested Development' for setting the blueprint.

And remember, Always Be Closing. Don't Ever Forget Great Home Ideas Just Keep Lurking...

New Hires...

Let's just move forward to the press release where we announce our formal new hires for 2009-2010

1. Modern Family
2. FlashForward
3. Community (contract-to-hire)
4. V (hired w/o interview...strong letter of recommendation

That's it. This is all we added this fall -- lots of retention at DVR, Inc...

Quick Notes:
You can give dual Emmys right now to Don and Betty Draper (Hamm and Jones) for the 'Don's confessional) episode. Reminded of the time I watch Tony and Carmella fight in the bedroom in the last season the Sopranos -- you knew you were watching television genius unfold before your eyes. It was beyond awesome.

FOX needs to figure out how to make the baseball playoffs go faster. I know, how about playing almost every day like in REAL baseball all season long. Just do it, we will still watch.

I am enjoying 'Castle' and 'The Mentalist' this season a lot. 'Bones' hasn't been appointment TV though by any means.

Both 'Law and Orders' are having very solid seasons. I did delete an episode of SVU where they were going to make some abused kid have dinner with his abusive step dad as some sort of sting. Life it too short to have to sit through that.

I love love love 'Fringe' this year. And the same goes for 'Dollhouse', but I assume its on its way to the cancellation bin after the holidays, so I just hope they can wrap it up in style.

Still have all the episodes of 'Melrose Place' on DVR - may get to them, may not...same goes for 'The Good Wife' -- great reviews, etc...just not compelling right now.

I am also about to start 'The League' on FX.

It's Fun to be Right

Remember when I told you in September that even though Leno's numbers were high, the only thing that matters is whether or not he keeps eyeballs on NBC to increase ratings of local TV news....Do you remember?

Well he isn't. Read it here: The LA Times is considered a quality newspaper too...

Glee = Glum

They need to drop both pregnancy story lines immediately -- this show is not as fun as it should be -- its 'Glee' for f**k sake. Go back to the Pilot episode and make it more like that, only with more Sue Sylvester, like from last night - now that was awesome.

So, in summary: More Sue Sylvester, better songs, more fun, less downer bull-shit.