Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Say, say, say what you want

Today's column is a reader mailbag, with a few more comments on "Friday Night Lights," "Mad Men" and the new season as a whole.

Back later this morning with "Chuck" and "HIMYM" and, eventually, "Heroes."

10 comments:

  1. Alan,
    I tried to watch FNL a couple of times at the beginning, but I found the camera work really distracting, and it didn't seem to add anything to the show. This sort of thing usually doesn't bother me, but in this case, it really took me out of the show. Have you heard anyone else say this, or id it just me?

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  2. Alan,
    I tried to watch FNL a couple of times at the beginning, but I found the camera work really distracting, and it didn't seem to add anything to the show. This sort of thing usually doesn't bother me, but in this case, it really took me out of the show. Have you heard anyone else say this, or id it just me?

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  3. I have heard people say this but it doesn't seem to bother most of us _ I am more bothered by bad Television, say like anything "CSI" or Reality TV.

    FNL (along with "Mad Men") are the 2 best shows on TV, bar none.

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  4. i'll admit it took about 2 episodes until I got used to all of the handheld and jumpcuts in FNL, but now I love it and couldn't imagine the show without it

    however I agree that the way it's shot has a larger effect on people tuning out (and low viewership in general) than it being percieved as being heavily about football (if that makes any sense)

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  5. Glad it's not just me. Handheld can be very effective if used right, and it doesn't just have to be for docu-style shows like "The Office." Hill Street Blues used handheld to great effect, but they knew when to stop. Nobody wanted to be the jittery fly-on-the-wall during the Furillo-Davenport hot tub scenes.
    Speaking of The Office, I totally missed that thread, but I can't believe more people weren't blown away by Andy's serenade. I thought it was one of the best things I've ever seen on TV. I re-watched it, like, 20 times. It rolled everything that is great about the show into 2 minutes, then took it to 11. The pitch-perfection of Ed Helms' performance in that scene cannot be overstated. It was a triumph. Am I overboard here?

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  6. So why hasn't anything been canceled yet? Have the networks looked at their ratings freefall and decided none of the midseason replacements would do any better? Or are they just afraid to stop production on anything right now so they can stockpile material for the strike?

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  7. The problem is that the networks don't have anything that can be long-term hole pluggers at 10, which is where most networks are having problems with new shows("Journeyman," "Cane," "Dirty Sexy Money," "Life," "Big Shots"). Fox always has a debacle in the fall till Idol comes in to save them in the spring, and while the new CW shows are doing horribly, they're not doing much more horribly than the returning CW shows.

    My guess is "Journeyman" or "Cane" is the next to get pulled, with NBC taking the opportunity to save "Bionic Woman" by giving it a better leadin. Slim chance that "Viva Laughlin" is a gigantic enough disaster that it's gone by this time next week, as well.

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  8. Hands down, Mad Men is the best new show. Does it count for this season since it started this summer? I just hope it doesn't get lost on cable. I tell everyone, and I mean everyone, I know to watch it!

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  9. What are the chances Mad Men could get a "Monk"-style tryout on a network? Is the content netowrk-friendly?

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  10. Team Mad Men!

    So, what's going to get canceled first? Anyone?

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