I just heard the news that Conan will replace Jay in 2009 on the Tonight Show. I think that's great!
I love Conan and I think he can turn his irreverent, off-beat cult status more mainstream for the Tonight audience -- hopefully better than Leno has done. While I like Leno the guy, I don't like Leno the host. He's predictable and safe, which makes for mostly unfunny, unoriginal, uninteresting television. He's done what he can within the format, but there are too many traditions to uphold with Tonight. The Tonight Show is an institution, but one that is due for a bit of updating. Conan will fit the mold but may be able to push it out just a little here and there -- hopefully enough to keep the show current.
I'm much more a Letterman kinda girl, but it's a blessing he wasn't given Tonight, as much as he wanted it. Dave is much better in his own little world, where he is in control and there are no ghosts to please.
You would think CBS would want to capitalize on the popular finale of the latest season of the Amazing Race AND the recent Emmy win. But no. According to the Futon Critic, the next season has been delayed. Again. Originally set to start this Sunday, it was bumped to October 2nd and has now been postponed again. Rumor has it the sixth season will start in November now. Hmph!
Lost lived up to expectations. The premiere episode last night was riveting -- scary, disturbing, funny, exciting and with plenty of interesting characters to unravel over the course of the show.
Of course, the big -- and I mean BIG -- mystery is what everyone will be talking about until the answer is revealed. The theory at tivogirl's place? We're looking at a modern day remake of the classic sci-fi show Land of the Lost. There is a real Jurassic Park feel to the pilot and the pacing was fantastic. I just hope they can keep it up week after week.
And speaking of pacing, here's a note to producers. Nausea-inducing camera work does NOT equal fast paced action! All it does is make viewers sick so they can't see what the hell is going on. STOP IT! NOW!
The Amazing Race ended in splendid fashion last night, with the only deserving team left winning the million bucks. I suspected Chip and Kim would take the prize -- with the way they had edited to make Colin and Christy look evil the models to look like dippy crybabies -- but there was still more than a little doubt in my mind.
The longer the finale went one, though, the more obvious things became. The poor moms never had a chance with the extreme physical nature of the next-to-last leg. When Nicole collapsed in a bawling heap over not being able to ride a bike down a slope, I knew she and Nick were never going to win. And as much as they tried to make the final two teams look close, it's always clear when there are no shots of the two teams in the same vicinity that they aren't even close to one another. WHEW! Justice prevails!
The best news is that we don't have to wait until next summer for the next race! Rumor has it, the next season will commence this fall!
How cool is that?! Gotta love a year with a lot of good surprises. My calls were pretty close, although I don't know anyone who would've guessed James Spader would win best actor in a drama.
When Arrested Development won the writing and directing awards early on, I had a good feeling they were going to win best comedy. I'm so glad the voters awarded such a great show! Hopefully it will do the trick and give it enough attention to gain more viewers. As the head writer said in his acceptance speech -- how about let's watch it now, huh?
Predicting the Emmys is like predicting the weather. You can gather all the data, charts, models and satellite photos you want, but you still essentially end up with a somewhat educated guess as to what will happen.
The Emmys tend to go in cycles. For too many years, they will honor the same actors and the same shows over and over and over, usually well past the time they deserve it (see NYPD Blue). Then suddenly, like a tornado out of a blue sky, one year a whole bunch of new stuff will get awarded. It's very exciting and everyone gets pumped up, thinking maybe -- finally -- the television academy has come around. Then the next year it's back to the same old stuff again. I have a feeling this is going to be one of those refreshingly on-target years, but don't quote me on that.
Rather than do the same old list of who should win and who will win on Sunday night, I'm just skipping to the point. Regardless of politics, sentimentality and all that crap, here is who I want to win (and I'm skipping all the lame categories nobody cares about):
Best Actor, Comedy
Kelsey Grammer, Frasier. Yes, he's won several times before and he's always nominated. He had fallen into that category of winning past his prime, but then the final season of Frasier came around. It was witty, fun and fresh again -- largely because of Grammer.
Best Actor, Drama
James Gandolfini, The Sopranos. This guy is SO intense. Would you wanna try and divorce him?!
Best Actress, Comedy
Jane Kaczmarek, Malcolm in the Middle. She's SO funny and SO flawed.
Best Actress, Drama
Amber Tamblyn, Joan of Arcadia. A terrific young actress who looks like a real teen and handles some weighty material.
Best Supporting Actor, Comedy
Jeffrey Tambor, Arrested Development. Tough category. I really like all these guys, but Tambor's wacky patriarch is priceless.
Best Supporting Actor, Drama
Michael Imperioli, The Sopranos. I almost went with Steve Buscemi on this one, but Chris's storyline this last season was a killer (pun intended). While struggling to stay sober, he finds out his fiance is a snitch to the feds. Of course, he has to have her whacked. Heartwrenching.
Best Supporting Actress, Comedy
Where the hell is Poria deRossi in this category?! She MAKES Arrested Development. Sex and the City? Puh-LEEZE! I refuse to pick out of protest.
Best Supporting Actress, Drama
Drea de Matteo, The Sopranos. Love her! Despite her remarkable naivete, Jersey style and nails-on-a-chalkboard voice, I really do. A close second in this category is Robin Weigert, who is great as the scary/nuts Calamity Jane on the otherwise dreary Deadwood.
Outstanding Comedy Series
Arrested Development. DUH!
Outstanding Drama Series
The Sopranos. While I love Joan of Arcadia, it's not quite there yet. And The Sopranos has never won this category.
Outstanding Writing For A Comedy Series
Scrubs (My Screwup). This one is hard. I almost chose Arrested Development (Pilot) but then I realized this was the episode where Brendan Fraser's character dies. Fantastic writing on that episode!
Outstanding Writing For A Drama Series
Whichever of the four Sopranos episodes nominated is the one where Adrianna gets taken for a drive. I don't follow episode names.
Outstanding Writing For A Variety, Music Or Comedy Program
Ellen Degeneres should be in this category, but since she's not, I'll go with The Daily Show With Jon Stewart.
Outstanding Reality-Competition Program
The Amazing Race, of course
The ninth season of Survivor begins tonight and I can hardly wait! This is one of those shows I just had a feeling about from the start. It had a little something that intrigued me -- a mix of the Eco Challenge and the Real World that sounded like it could be interesting. Was I right or was I right?
Love it or hate it, you can't ignore the phenomenon that is Survivor. One thing this show has done that copycats haven't figured out is change things up. Certain basics are kept the same (the conditions, the 16 people, the fantastic casting) but everything else is fluid. I could be an absolute expert on how I'd have played last season, then get on the show and find that strategy is worth as much as a bag of sand on the beach. Even though I disagreed with the decision to bring back some who had been voted off last season, I love the idea that nothing is sacred. You really never know what might happen next.
Tonight we also get to see if Joey keeps up the laughs and how long it takes for JLo to completely annoy us on the premiere of Will and Grace. Love the show, but hate gimmicky guest stars.
There is also the second episode of the Apprentice, which I didn't get a chance to write about last week. The casting is far superior to last season, which is probably due to the show's popularity and the ability to draw from a larger pool. While there are still eccentrics and weirdos in the bunch, they seem to be smart eccentrics and weirdos. The team dynamics are still shaping up so I can't really say for sure who I like and dislike at this point. I do love that they've made the tasks more serious and challenging right from the start. As with any new reality show, the contestants no doubt watched last season and came on board with a playbook on how to handle what they saw then. It's great to be prepared but this is now, and this is new, and they aren't letting anyone off that easy.
I knew it. I knew it. I knew it. It was too good to be true. All the fates conspired against Colin and Christy and they were finally, FINALLY coming in last. Karma had finally reached up and bit them in the ass. I was ecstatic. Then I realized there were still two non-elimination rounds to go, and next week is the two hour finale. Shit.
Now they're just more pumped to beat everyone and out to get my favorite team - Chip and Kim. Maybe Colin will figure out that EVERYONE hates them and it just so happened Chip and Kim got to the yield first. Or maybe not. They'll still be out to get them, but I still hold out hope the Evil Wonder Twins won't win the whole thing.
My hope still lies in the fact that all that footage can be edited to portray any of these teams any way the producers like. They are purposefully making them look like bad guys. Audiences love to have a team to hate, but that team can't win. So they make Colin and Christy look bad so everyone hates them, which means they can't win. Right?... I can only hope.
Talk about kicking the season off with a bang! From the previews, I expected a schmaltzy hero returns storyline for the premiere of Las Vegas, but it was far, far from it.
Danny's return was touching but mysterious, full of character development with a satisfying, yet fast, wrapup. It was a bit over the top but seeing Danny go all Full Metal Jacket was pretty damn cool. I loved the little details that tipped off his state of mind (the stubble and dark clothing) and showed us where he's been (the almost gritty tanned skin). Even with all that going on, we still managed to get a good straight casino plotline going and a silly sidebar that involved all our favorite characters (okay -- too little Sam and too much Delinda, but close).
The ad for next week looks good. Any doubt whatsoever that the "inside job" connection is our new buddy Leo? I knew he wasn't longed for the show when Danny caught him gawking at the girls when he should have been watching the baddies. Oh well. This show already has too many characters. They could ship Delinda off at any moment and nobody would even blink. I used to think that about Mary, but if they're really going to hook her up with Danny, I'm cool with that.
I have great news -- Joey doesn't suck! In fact, the Friends spin-off is pretty darn good. It's tough to judge on a pilot, what with all the character introduction and set-up going on, but I laughed out loud more than a few times at the first episode. Once they get into the regular weekly plotlines, it should pick right up.
Thankfully, it's doing that picking up from Friends in its heyday a few years back, and not the cloying final two seasons. Joey has a great cast (so glad Drea found such a fit after her untimely demise on the Sopranos), decent writing and terrific pacing.
With Frasier gone and Everybody Loves Raymond ending soon, it's great to have a decent new sitcom to watch.
The Amazing Race is getting down to the wire and while I hate Colin and Christy, it's fascinating to watch them win week after week. I'm still rooting for Chip and Kim, and the moms are winning me over with each challenge they take head-on. It looks more and more likely that Colin gets his due in the final few episodes, which leaves room for the moms to win out of sheer determination. I just don't want to see Colin and Christy or those wussy models take it all.
A second viewing confirmed it -- Father of the Pride is off my season past list. While I did laugh twice this week, the show still hasn't risen above predictable, poorly-written, lowest-common-denominator, eye-rollingly unfunny crap. The animation, while interesting, isn't enough to hold my attention. The show really needs to decide what it wants to be. If it's an "adult" cartoon then really go for the jokes rather than using silly frat-boy movie double entendres. If it's a family show, then just dump the stupid enuendo all together. It's not working.
While tonight is the premiere of That 70s Show, I'm already looking ahead to tomorrow evening. Last year, there wasn't much "must see" around these parts on "must see Thursday" -- Will and Grace and ER were it. Now with the start of Joey (the most likeable Friend) and the return of the Apprentice, that is probably going to change. The Apprentice is a given -- loved it last season. Joey is more of a gamble, but if they had to pick a Friend to give a show to, Joey's the guy. And Drea deMatteo?! Rock ON! I was bummed when she got whacked on the Sopranos. She's perfect for Joey's sister and I can't wait to see her take on comedy. I'll be watching.
As suspected, the premiere of the computer animated "adult" cartoon Father of the Pride was a stinker. It's the perfect example of style over substance. Sure, it's cool that a cg cartoon is on in primetime (and the animation is pretty good) but the characters and storyline are the same old cookie cutter crap that's on most every other "comedy" on television.
The worst thing about Father of the Pride is that it simply is not funny. I didn't laugh one time during the entire half hour. That's just sad.