NotTheRock Musings

This article reports that there's a new executive producer of Katie Couric's debacle of a news program and that under his watch, the program has become "much more harder-edged and newsy." Wait, what?

I think it was in about fourth grade that we all learned that something could be "more hard" or it could be "harder," but it certainly couldn't be "more harder." And it certainly can't be "more harder-edged." And "newsy"? That's not even a word!!

But hey, since we're talking about television and since I got asked to talk about my thoughts on the upcoming TV season (something I've done in the past for those who've been reading a while), let's have at it, shall we?

What I'm Watching (Tolerating) This Year

The Office (NBC) -- One of the funniest shows on the air, if not the funniest. The Office consistently outdoes itself and seems to cross further and further over the line every week, yet doesn't seem to jump the shark. If you've worked in an office, you know people like those in this show. If you haven't been watching, you've missed a lot. However, NBC has so few decent shows that it has decided to completely hitch its wagon to The Office, ordering up THIRTY episodes (instead of the normal 22 for a full season) this year. Ought to be interesting.

Scrubs (NBC) -- I've been loyal to Scrubs for a while now and we're approaching the end of the line. This is the final season for the oddball show that has never quite caught on the way its loyalists feel it should. It's quite funny, though getting a little silly as it ages. Much like me.

24 (Fox) -- Alright, so this isn't on in the Fall, but it'll be back in January for its seventh season. It can't get much crazier, can it? It's only a matter of time before Jack Bauer is battling aliens or something. But it's still my favorite show just because it pulls me in and doesn't let go, even in the weaker seasons. It's one of those shows that gives a wink to its loyal watchers by having characters recur from years gone by and things like that.

Back to You (Fox) -- One of the few new shows that my darling Watersyne and I will be adding to the DVR this Fall. This one has Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton as news anchors. We just like both of them and hope it'll be funny. My friends in the media business tell me it's not, but I imagine it'll be just humorous enough to keep watching.

Nip/Tuck (F/X) -- Another favorite, and one that I got Watersyne into a couple of seasons back. It's like a soap opera in terms of how outlandishly ridiculous the storylines are but somehow it's engrossing. Excellent acting, amazing sex scenes (for basic cable) and plenty of them. Oh, and the show is ostensibly about two plastic surgeons from Miami... although last season ended with them deciding to take their practice to L.A. It premieres in October.

Family Guy (Fox) -- As much as I love this show, it's not as hilarious as it was in its early seasons, but I'm still watching. The fact that they'll make fun of anyone and anything and the fact that, while not as funny as it was, it still makes me laugh out loud at least once per episode. And shouldn't a comedy actually do that?

What I'm Not Watching (Wanting to Torch) This Year

Big Shots (ABC) -- I have to believe the concept for this one was called "Desperate Husbands," because it's such a pathetic attempt to capitalize off the waning popularity of the atrociously overrated and unfunny Housewives that I can't even watch the promos without rolling my eyes hard enough to scratch my eyeballs on my eyebrows. Ugh. Puke. A bunch of dick-swinging, unlikable, rich assholes and the messes they make of their lives. No thanks.

The King of Queens (CBS) -- People who watch this concern me. It's such low-brow humor, they might as well just have any ol' fat guy farting and burping and it'd be at about the same level of creativity. I've bitched about this before, but this kind of show is just so lazy because it's employing the same formula as the old, 1950s sitcoms like the Honeymooners. Fat, dolt husband who always has a "plan" that backfires is tolerated by inexpicably hot wife. Hardy fucking har har. Burn this crap, please.

Moonlight (CBS) -- I just put this one here for fun because it's not like I have to tell you not to watch it -- nobody will. But here's the blurb for the premiere on 9/28: "When a series of vampire-style murders plague LA, immortal investigator Mick St. John sets out to find the culprits and re-connects with a woman from his past at a crime scene." Yikes. A love triangle, vampires and immortality... it's TV gold, I tell ya!

Journeyman (NBC) -- Uh-oh, another time traveler. Wasn't time travel kind of chic in, like, 1989? Back to the Future, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, Quantam Leap, that sort of era? This one will suuuuuuuuuck. I predict it's one of the first ones cancelled.

Grey's Anatomy (ABC) -- Screechy, unattractive women (but the kind that the media wants you to think are gorgeous) babbling on about men and how hard their lives are. Yeah, I remember Ally McBeal and other such baloney from the 90s, too. This show isn't original, it isn't creative, it isn't breaking any new ground and it's pretty unwatchable if you're male. I mean, the one saving grace of a show like this for guys would be hot women -- yet Ellen Pompeo is no where near as attractive as she's made out to be, Sandra Oh is outright unattractive (but again, there seems to be this push for her as some hottie) and the one saving grace, Katherine Heigl is absolutely impossible to listen to for five minutes without wanting to put your foot through the TV. So, uh, yeah, thumbs down here. I'll move on...

Train Wrecks You Might Not Be Able To Look Away From

Cavemen (ABC) -- As bad as this might turn out to be, I'd watch it 100 times out of 100 over Big Shots.

The Bionic Woman (NBC) -- Wait, wasn't this done, like thirty years ago with Lindsay Wagner? Oh, okay, right. Yikes!! It only lasted from '76-'78 then, but it was really sci-fi back then... will people be more into bionic legs in 2007? Maybe, considering how many sci-weirdo shows have had considerable runs recently (like the inexplicably Heros).

By the way, these lists are by no means exhaustive... there are lots more that I will stop and watch and lots, lots, LOTS more that I hate.

Labels: harder-edged and newsy, television opinion, TV, what to send a heat-seeking missle to detroy, what to watch

# posted by J Money : 9/19/2007