Toe Dip Into TV Land

I don't watch much episodic TV (unless you include Monday Night Football). About the only exception is Mad Men. It's mostly a time thing, but also much of what I've seen is cringe-worthy.

Last night the HB slept over at a friends' and the NZS went to a party. The wife and I made plans to maybe hear some music or catch a movie after she got back from a happy hour she and a co-worker were hosting for some people helping them on a project. Well, that whole thing turned out to be a clusterfuck, so she didn't really feel like going out. Besides, by the time she got back we had missed all the movie times. So, we ran out and got some dinner and a bottle of Pinot Noir and hit the video store (there wasn't anything particularly good on PPV).

After perusing the movies, we worked our way towards the TV epdisodes. Every now and then we'll rent a few episodes of shows, particulary ones on HBO or Showtime, just to check them out. Last night we rented some episodes of Weeds.

One thing about watching a few episodes back-to-back is that the theme songs get annoying. I think they're only meant to be heard once a week. I thought the show was only OK. It's well acted and all, but the writing completely lacks subtlety. And aren't there enough shows that skewer the 'normalcy' of suburbia?

With no serious college football on today (except the lower division playoffs) I've put together a list of things to do around here. Also, the wife and I are going to check out a place for my parents' 50th. But, dealing with all of that will have to wait for another post.

Scratch Any Cynic and You’ll Find a Disappointed Idealist

I was resisting writing about George Carlin's passing for two reasons. One, it totally lacks of originality and doubt I have any additional insights. Second, the one time I saw him, he sucked.

I loved watching him, whether on the first SNL, on an HBO special or in Dogma. This all made the live performance even more disappointing. It was in Vegas and my wife and I got the sense that he was just starting out some new material for a special and it just wasn't quite good yet. The political observations were run of the mill and the language wasn't sharp. It was all cunt this and bitch that. It just seemed below him.

The only similar experience I had was seeing Bob Dylan when I was in grad school. I was never a huge Dylan fan, but I figured it was a unique opportunity. Oh, and the woman I was fucking was into him. I understand that he's not Mr. Warm and Fuzzy on stage, but it was like he didn't give a shit. He just kind blew through the songs and that was that. But, I digress.

Besides being funnier than hell, Carlin showed us how words really matter and how euphemisms take the place of truth. That made him valuable and entertaining. Now go out and shout the 7 dirty words you could never say on TV.

That's Entertainment

The weather was very weird here again yesterday. Cool and periodic clouds. More like fall than late spring. So, instead of celebrating the weekend with the grilling of the cased meats (which we'll do today), in the afternoon we picked up my parents and went to see the new Indiana Jones movie. We all really enjoyed it and I would say that it is definitely the best of the three sequels.

For the first time in what seems like forever, the wife and I got a babysitter and went out. She was lobbying for another movie. My thinking was that we live in the big town and we need to act like it more often. So, we cruised by a playhouse and our timing was perfect. The theater was showing two one act plays by David Mamet (Duck Variations and Keep Your Pantheon). They were different, but both very good and well acted.

After that we hit a wine bar (delish Rioja!) and ordered way too much food (we were starving) and chatted about this (kitchen remodel), that (whether we want to commit to hosting another NZS even though we haven't had the first one yet) and the other. I accidentally caught the Laker score on the TV (they got creamed by the Spurs, so LA leads the series 2-1), which saved me an hour of watching it on DVR when we got home.

This morning I'll head over to my Rotary Club's book sale fund raiser (don't laugh...last year we netted $16). Then off to my sil's for grilling. Later tonight I'll do the pledge of allegiance at our Elks Club (I'm not a veteran, it's something I'm asked to do as being Rotary prez). Then, back to work tomorrow.

Writers' Strike--Finis

Using the directors' contract as a jumping off point, the writers came to an agreement with the producers. The end of any strike brings the question, "Was it worth it?" I think the producers got pretty much what they wanted, the writers, not so much.

The producers were able to dump a bunch of lousy new shows and streamline the pilot process (not produce as many that will never see the light of day). They kept the union from having jurisdiction over reality shows and certain animated shows and also kept a three week non-residual window for new online content.

The writers got what they said they wanted, which was residuals for web content (after a flat fee for two years) and increases in movie residuals. Strangely, they didn't get an increase in DVD residuals, which was one of their original beefs.

In the end the settlement means that the successful writers will do better and there will be fewer opportunities for new or less successful writers for cable and television shows. And they gained all of this while throwing half the industry out of work for 100 days. The flip side is that if scripted entertainment delivered over the web is the wave of the future, tons of new writing jobs will be created. You can decide which side got the better end of the deal. I'm thinking it's the producers who are lighting the cigars.

Will Celebrity be the First Casualty of the Writers' Strike?

Bear with me on this one. Since the TV and movie writers' strike began the media coverage went quickly from "The sky is falling!" to "Look, a shiny nickel!" Some of the late night talk shows are back and pretty much everything else is in repeats. But, since people have lived most of their lives without any given show, they've shown they can live without it. This has not exactly helped the writers' cause.

Given that the threat of, "We're not going to write [fill in the name of any given show]" hasn't really worked on the producers, the writers played a bigger card by not granting a waiver to write this weekends the Golden Globes. Since the actors won't cross the writers' picket line, NBC canceled the show. I mean, what's an awards show without celebs?

Guess what? NBC probably lost some money and the Hollywood Foreign Press, sponsors of the awards, didn't get their big ego strokes. But, there wasn't very much outrage over the lack of celebs on TV tonight.

Does the whole thing bring NBC back to the negotiating table? Probably not. Just means that they'll pay less for the Golden Globes next year.

Does this mean that the writers' will grant a waiver to ABC for the Academy Awards so that they will have a star-filled show? Hell no.

But, if award 'season' comes and goes and celebs are not on TV every other weekend and the public doesn't miss them, then what? The pressure to end the strike won't come from either negotiating side. Rather, it will come from third parties who are just as affected. And it won't be painters and caterers. If enough of famous folks somehow perceive that they are becoming less famous, then we'll see some pressure to negotiate.

Celebrity and fame in this country travels in a self-fulfilling cycle. We want to know more and more about famous people and their publicity machines put so much out that we can only want more. But, if we wake up one morning and don't care about who was wearing what designer's clothes, then that will be a sea change. That could lead to less paparazzi coverage and we'd get used to knowing less about famous people. Then, they'd become less famous. Not less talented, just less famous. Would that be bad for the famous or us?

The last time the writers went on strike, the unintended consequence was more reality TV. This time it might be new, independent providers of entertainment delivered over the internet. Or, it could be the devaluation of celebrity and fame.

New Entertainment

With the HB staying at his cousin's on Friday, the wife and I went for the movie double-header. The good thing about doing such is that we went to the fancy multiplex that has a real bar in it. So, after knocking back a couple of full sized martinis, we went and saw Charlie Wilson's War.

The movie was OK. The plot moved quickly and had some funny lines. But, when it comes down to it, that episode in history showed the short-sightedness of our foreign policy. The movie kinda-sorta tried to address it, but did so in a shallow, half-ass kinda way. Also, Julia Roberts does NOTHING for me, acting or otherwise. Philip Seymour Hoffman was good, as usual.

Then, after another drink and some dinner, we popped into The Dewey Cox Story. Good for a few laughs, but I'd wait for the rental.

Also, you may have noticed a couple of changes on the MP3 list, including the addition of the latest Queensryche Take Cover. I like it when bands do cover songs. It gives you some insight into their favorite songs/artists, especially when the record company allows them to put out songs by more obscure artists, or famous artists less known hits. This record has a pretty good mix. Neon Nights is very close to the Black Sabbath original (which makes sense as Geoff Tate and Ronny James Dio have similar styles and ranges). Their version of Synchronicity II (a Lola dream of Tate doing Sting, as it were) is close to how The Police did it. It's always funny hearing successful bands do protest songs (Almost Cut My Hair and For What It's Worth) on a record that's put out by a big corporation, but that's the way it goes.

The Value of Writing

Now going into it's 5th week, it's official that entertainment purchasing public does not give a shit about the writers' strike. Hell, it's hardly even being covered by the LA Times anymore.

I was giving this some thought. Social critics have lamented our addiction to TV since I was a kid, yet the American public has reacted with a collective yawn as fewer and fewer 'fresh' episodes are available on TV. Why is that?

1) This is the first opportunity in a while for TV to be affected by the market forces that swooped in during the last writers' strike. What happened then? The networks started buying 'reality' shows to fill in slots. This basically said to the writers, "We can manufacture as many laughs and as much drama with a single contrivance than you could with several. Get lost."

2) Downloading. Music customers told the industry, "Y'know, the stuff I like to listen to is only worth the cost of a blank CD and my monthly cable modem/DSL. Go stick the rest up your ass." The unintended consequence of the TV networks streaming their product is that for the first time allows consumers to put a price on an episode of TV. And when you start saying, "Hm, is it really worth $1.99 to download Desperate Housewives" it is not that far of a leap to say, "It's not worth it...I'll just grab it with bittorrent." So, the show's ratings go down and no revenue is generated.

3) Home entertainment is over priced. Radiohead put out their new CD online and asked people to pay what they thought it was worth. 62% (and these are their fans) said $0, and of the other 38%, the average was about $6. Downloading takes time, is a bit of a hassle and may not be as high of quality as the CD you would buy in the store. Yet people do it. Why? Because a CD (or DVD) on Amazon costs more than people think the content is worth.

4) TV is mostly crap. Let's say EVERYTHING on TV was pay-per-view. $.50 for an epidode of Teletubbies, $1.00 for SpongeBob, $2.00 for CSI-Peoria, $5 per football game, etc. How many shows do you think would make enough money to justify their (current) production costs? I'd say 15, tops. This would lead to a serious market adjustment of the salaries of EVERYONE involved in the TV industry and we'd find out the true market value of TV writers (and actors and directors). My guess is that it is far lower than they imagine it to be. The economics are propped up by consumer product companies being convinced (or convincing themselves) that they have to buy millions of dollars of advertising to be competitive. If Anheuser-Busch, GM and Coca-Cola woke up tomorrow and said, "Every goddamn person in America knows about our product, and spending another dime won't get us any more market share, so we're gonna stop advertising on TV" the suicide rates among TV execs in NYC and Hollywood would skyrocket. And the quality of what's on wouldn't change an iota.

Why the writers and producers can't work out a percentage agreement for 'new media' residuals is beyond me. But when this is all said and done, I think it's going to be a while before the ratings for most shows go back up. Both sides have completely over estimated the value of their product in this country.

Oscar Night

I’m not really into the Oscars, or any awards show for that matter. The idea of judging art for statues just seems impossible and dumb. Art is arguable, box office isn’t. That’s how America judges the best movies.

Since the show is on so early here (5:30pm), we decided to record it. But, by the time we got to watch the program it was 9:30. Unlike sports, it’s hard to blow through the Academy Awards. Sure, you don’t need to watch the commercials. But, you can’t watch it on fast-forward—what people say, the small snippets from the movies and what people are wearing (my wife’s favorite part) all go by too quickly. It took us 2 hours to get through it and we didn’t even watch the stuff I wanted to (the foreign language film montage, who died last year, some of the songs, etc.). Shit, the thing was over by the time we started watching. If all she cared about was who won we could have looked that up online in about 2 minutes. So, I just put it on Save Until I Delete and will try to see the other stuff later.

I’m not into who wore what, who has had work done, etc. But I will say this: Jennifer Hudson needs to donate some of her cheeseburgers to Nicole Kidman.