Monthly Archives: June 2012
An Anime Review: Cutie Honey
Cutie Honey
For this review I decided to look back at one of the first full anime series to feature a female lead, Cutie Honey. Cutie Honey, first aired in 1973, wasn’t the first anime to have a heroine lead, but it was one of the first of its kind to actually receive high ratings and gain popularity and franchising. It’s been adapted and reproduced in several titles from the popular Cutie Honey Flash to the laughably bad live action series, Cutie Honey: The Live. The only constant in each version is the opening theme. This anime is also considered the first of the “transforming magical girl” genre, though it was Sailor Moon that set the standards of today’s magical girl anime. The style to Cutie Honey was quite unique as well, employing colorful, almost surreal backgrounds that were pleasing to the eye.
The original Cutie Honey follows 16-year-old Honey Kisaragi, who is a joker and a “class clown” at her school. While attending Saint Chapel School for Girls, she enjoys pulling pranks, sneaking out of classes, and torturing two of her teachers, Alphonne and Miharu. Actually most of the comic relief of this series happens in her exploits and antics at school. The story starts when Honey finds her father has been murdered by a strange organization known as Panther Claw and that they are after a special invention of his, something that’s in her. Honey Kisaragi then realizes that she’s an android with the ability to transform and fight against the members Panther Claw, who want the device in her neck that allows her to transform.
MTV Goes Retro
No, MTV hasn’t had a change of heart and decided to play music videos all day. However, MTV has announced its new “Retro Mania” block. The block, which will air weekdays from 9am to 12pm, will start on June 25 and will run until August 3.
The full schedule is:
June 25 – June 29: Laguna Beach (Seasons 1 and 2)
July 2 – July 27: The Hills (Seasons 1 – 6)
July 30 – August 3: Daria (MTV’s favorite episodes from the series)
After seeing the list, it looks like MTV has no idea what is considered retro. If MTV really wanted to go retro, it would have put Remote Control and old seasons of The Real World.
What shows would you like to see on MTV’s Retro Mania block?
I would like to see 2ge+her, which was about a fictional boy band, and the aforementioned Remote Control.
Seasame Street May Take a Trip to the Movies
The Hollywood Reporter reports that 2oth Century Fox has bought the movie rights to Seasame Street.
The show has had two other theatrical releases: Follow That Bird in 1985 and The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland in 1999. The movies were distributed by Warner Bros. and Columbia Pictures, respectively.
The Emmys Needs to Change Eligibility Rules For Animated Shows
On Monday, Simpsons writer Al Jean wrote a letter to The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences asking them to consider reworking the organization of Emmy nominations. In it, he criticized the lack of recognition for the individual achievements in animation. According to Emmy rules, a show nominated in the animation category cannot also be nominated for a writing award. The Academy’s reason for this is apparently because of the collaborative efforts in animation. If the show so chooses, it can be nominated in the comedy category. Jean took issue with this, citing that NBC’s Community was given a one-time exception to this rule. Because it was a significant format change, it could technically be classified as a standalone special. I saw it and it did not seem like a standalone special to me. Besides, Jean is right. Animation may be collaborative, but so is everything else in television.
This rule seems to ignore the hard work that multiple writers invest into an animated show. Animation is just as legitimate as the live action medium. Of course, it is a newer format, but that should not make it any less respected. The production of an animated series is much harder than that of a live action series. The writing is certainly not any easier. It makes no sense to have to ignore either one of these achievements.
America’s Got Talent’s Final Disappointing Audition Show
Liliana
As a lackluster audition season comes to a close, Monday’s episode of America’s Got Talent needed to leave a great impression. This was no time for awful acts that deserved to be laughed off the stage. This was no time for forgettable acts that would never be heard from again. This episode needed to find possible winners. Unfortunately, as soon as the show opened with an act featuring a pig, this night seemed doomed. It didn’t get much better afterwards.
The opening feature package showed a woman excited to show the world her pig’s talent. I could not imagine any talent that this act would show. As it turns out, the pig didn’t really have a talent. She ran into bowling pins seemingly accidentally and squeaked what looked like a bicycle horn with her mouth. The judges didn’t understand it and promptly rejected it. Of course, it wasn’t worth being shown on television at all, so AGT was continuing a problem it has had all season.
Both the “No” and the “Yes” montages that followed were just as forgettable. An average singer, some dance groups, and some acts that weren’t made clear got voted through to Vegas. Some bad singers and more variety acts that could never hold anyone’s attention were rejected from going to the next round. The montage sections of the show has been a constant disappointment throughout the auditions. They are supposed to give the viewer a sense of the talent and lack of talent that was found in various cities. They could never do that in two minutes. The montages just ended up being unnecessary parts of each hour.
NBC Olympics Trial Coverage Begins Tomorrow
Since the 2012 Summer Olympics are opening soon, NBC is trying to get viewers excited with 56 total hours of Olympic coverage over the next three weeks.
The Olympic Trials coverage starts with diving this Tuesday at midnight ET on NBC Sports Network. NBC will air 14 hours of live diving trials including 5 hours of weekend coverage on NBC with the remaining coverage on NBC Sports. From Federal Way, Washington, NBC will have Ted Robinson doing play-by-play, Cynthia Porter doing analysis, and Alex Flannagan reporting.
Twelve hours of track and field trial coverage begins Friday at 9 pm ET on NBC Sports. Eight days will be covered in total, including four nights in primetime on NBC. The track and field broadcast team includes Tom Hammond, Ato Boldon, Craig Masback, Tim Hutchings, Dwight Stones and Lewis Johnson reporting from Eugene, Oregon.
For the first time, every night of the swimming trials will be shown in primetime on NBC. The 16.5 hours of trial coverage begin Monday, June 25 at 6:30 pm ET on NBC Sports. It will be followed immediately by the first of eight straight nights of trials in primetime on NBC at 8 pm ET. Dan Hicks, Rowdy Gaines and Andrea Kremer will be the team reporting from Omaha, Nebraska.
There will be 8.5 hours of gymnastics trials coverage beginning on Thursday, June 28 at 5:30 pm ET on NBC Sports. It starts 4 straight days of coverage ending with the women’s final in primetime on NBC on July 1. Al Trautwig, Tim Daggett, Elfi Schlegel and Andrea Joyce report from San Jose, California.
Fox Announces New Fall Schedule
Today, Fox announced its new schedule. It will start with the season premiere of the X Factor, which marks the debut of Britney Spears and Demi Lovato as judges.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, this is the full Fox Fall Schedule with new shows in ALL CAPS.
Wednesday, Sept. 12
8-10 p.m. The X Factor (Season premiere, part one)
Thursday, Sept. 13
8-9 p.m. The X Factor (season premiere, part two)
9-10 p.m. Glee
The rest of Fox’s Fall 2012 schedule is after the jump.
Weekly TV Update: June 18
Former reality show star and son of Sharon and Ozzy, Jack Osbourne is diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
On Wednesday, ABC Family will air an all day marathon of Melissa and Joey. Old episodes will air from noon to 8pm with a new episode debuting immediately after.
CBS has ordered a Ryan Seacrest produced pilot based on the popular Zynga game Draw Something. The show will follow in the tradition of Win, Lose or Draw and Pictionary.
MTV has a rundown of five key moments from last night’s True Blood.
USA Today has a synopsis of the second season finale of The Killing, which reveals Rosie Larsen’s killer.
Charlie Sheen Stars in Anger Management Promos
You’ve probably heard that Charlie Sheen is coming back to television with Anger Management, which is based on the movie of the same name. Yesterday, FX released six commercials, each one featuring a punchline from the show. However, they are not really funny because the promos at 10 to 20 seconds each don’t provide any context for the joke.
The first commercial is the longest and doesn’t actually have anything to do with the show, except for the fact that it stars Charlie Sheen as Charlie Sheen. At least he gets in a good, albeit overused, joke in at the end.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ouFFugNfxU8
Shows that Should Be Forgotten: Heil Honey I’m Home!
We know the very existence of this article invalidates its premise.
If there are any television shows that should be forgotten, it’s shows that were cancelled after one episode. Some shows are a mistake from the get-go. A sitcom about Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun is one of them. Heil Honey I’m Home!, which was broadcast in 1990 by the ill-fated BSB’s defunct Galaxy channel, should not exist. Not because it’s in poor taste or offensive, but because it’s just an awful show.
Heil Honey I’m Home! is meant to be an ironic satire of 1950s sitcoms. The show was a British creation that revolved around Hitler and Braun arguing about getting along with their Jewish neighbors, the Goldensteins. The pilot has British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain coming over for dinner and Hitler wants to impress him without having the Goldensteins around. Braun suggests that getting along with the Goldensteins will give him a good reputation as a “Nice Guy Fuhrer.” Weird.
This is not poorly disguised anti-semitism. This is not bigotry. It’s solely about a curmudgeon who hates his neighbors. Complete with hackneyed punchlines, an obligatory laugh track and arbitrary applause after a character enters, this is a poorly excuted attempt of satire. The fact that Hitler was a character, complete with American accent no less, only made a bad show seem worse.
Wait! What's A Dial? 