Author Archives: Jeremy Einbinder
AGT’s First Night in Vegas
Archer Ben Blaque
America’s Got Talent began Vegas Week last night and there really was no reason to be optimistic about this season. It has been a disappointment. There have been many acts that were terrible and not even remotely entertaining. Most of the acts that made it through to Vegas were only average.
The hour opened with the crowd of acts scrambling as they were told that they would be split into three groups: the judge’s favorites, the standbys, and those who weren’t on either list. The acts in the last group would not perform in Vegas and would either be sent home right away or sent straight to the New York rounds. This was very repetitive, as the acts were shown on camera all saying basically the same thing that they had a good performance at the auditions and they hope they make it through. This did not hold my attention at all and the time could’ve been used to give the acts more screen time.
Previewing The CW’s Fall Season
Since The WB’s merge with UPN in 2006, The CW has not fared very well. Some of its solid hits remain, such as Supernatural, but many of the shows that have premiered since the merger are gone. Now, the network has a strong presence online. Of all the networks, The CW seems the least reliable. Maybe it’ll get lucky this fall.
Arrow
This Action/Adventure drama revolves around billionaire Oliver Queen. Queen returns to his hometown of Starling City after having been stranded on an island for five years and presumed dead. After struggling to mend the relationships of those he left behind, Queen creates the persona of Arrow, a vigilante committed to protecting the city. I am really not sure what to make of this show. Character development will be a must. If it is simply Arrow saving the citizens of Starling City multiple times, it could get boring. Aside from that, the premise and casting of this show seems poorly executed. Oliver Queen was already a main character on Smallville. Justin Hartley’s portrayal was brilliant. This show’s continuity will be reworked and Queen is now being played by Stephen Arnell. I do not understand why this is not a direct Smallville spinoff. I’ve seen The Green Arrow before. Arnell isn’t as good as Hartley. I don’t think this show is going to last too long.
Futurama Returns to Comedy Central
Futurama opened its seventh season with two episodes on Wednesday night. Using futuristic settings to bring a satirical commentary on current popular culture, the show seems as good as ever. In its second season on Comedy Central, it seems more likely than ever that it will enjoy success for years to come.
Spoiler Alert!
The hour opened with a hilariously overblown red alert from Professor Farnsworth summoning the Planet Express crew. As it turns out, he installed a new soda machine. The crew was thrilled. This opening scene was very enjoyable and loyal to the usual dynamic of the group having disproportionate emotional reactions to what is happening around them. This seemed from the start like it was going to be a great episode.
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.
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.
Game of Thrones Puts Bush’s Head on a Stake
The Bush Mask as seen on Game of Thrones
HBO’s Game of Thrones has been the subject of a lot of controversy, since it was revealed that the show used a mask of former President George W. Bush to depict a decapitated head. The production crew apologized, saying that they just had to use the heads they had lying around. They can make any excuse they want and say that it isn’t a political statement, but that does not make the putting a former presidents head on a stake any less inappropriate.
The fact is that it doesn’t matter what anyone thinks of President Bush. It doesn’t matter how often he may have disappointed some parts of the public. He was still the president of the United States and deserves some basic human decency. Frankly, I do believe the Game of Thrones crew and that it wasn’t trying to express any hate toward Bush, but that’s irrelevant. It was in poor taste. They should have known they would have to defend themselves. You don’t just get away with something that is potentially and probably extremely offensive.
Placing Former President Bush’s head on a stake could easily be interpreted as a symbol of the desire to decapitate him, even if it wasn’t intended as such. Someone needed to think it out more carefully. It’s patently offensive. A member of the crew should have thought that the reaction to this will not be positive.
Thankfully, all content about the decapitation will be removed from Game of Thrones DVDs. The show did the right thing after the fact, but such a blatantly offensive idea should have never been thought of in the first place.
Tampa Bay’s Not So Hot for America’s Got Talent
Big Barry posing with Howard Stern
America’s Got Talent has gotten a lot of coverage lately after the Tim Poe controversy, but I was just hoping to see some quality or at least memorable acts on Tuesday’s show. After all, it’s what the show should be known for. Whether it’s showcasing the true idiots of the world or actually finding unique undiscovered talent, the show has failed to do either many times this season. Tuesday was another disappointment.
The second Tampa Bay Episode opened with a Latin dance crew called The Untouchables, which is made up of kids ranging from ages 8-13. It was obvious that the group would make it through, for the simple fact that they’re kids with high energy that can be endearing. It’s also horribly boring. There is almost never a large dance act that isn’t reasonably coordinated and refined. It is not good for the viewer to know who goes through in advance. It would have been a little better if the performance was great, but it wasn’t. It was average. The show is at its best when it showcases the superior and the atrocious. This was neither.
The montages, both successful and unsuccessful, also were not anything exciting. Granted, these are the acts deemed unworthy of a viewer’s full attention, but that shouldn’t lend itself to inadequacy and boredom. A singer with an okay voice, a dancing duo, an illusionist get sent to Las Vegas. A singer with a slightly worse voice and some variety acts whose talents are unclear do not move to the next round. They’re all basically the same. The people voted through will probably not be seen again. The people who were rejected won’t get talked about again. It just seems like an elaborate time filler.
Another act featured was a squirrel that water skis. Some animal novelty acts can be fun and entertaining. This one certainly wasn’t. As Sharon and Howard agreed, it is nowhere near big enough for a Vegas show. Howie disagreed only out of curiosity to see the act do better in Vegas. It honestly would have been more entertaining to watch the squirrel go too fast around the pool and fall multiple times. That would have been worth a proper and unequivocal rejection. Instead, the squirrel technically succeeded with the act. It just wasn’t good. This act was not good enough to be considered a worthy talent. It was not horrible enough to be considered a hopeless excuse for entertainment. If it does not fit either of those, it isn’t worthy of being aired at all.
Previewing ABC’s Fall Season- Part 2
ABC hasn’t found a hit show since the writers strike of 2007-2008, which dealt a big blow to the network. In the last five years, many of the shows introduced on ABC did not live to see a third season. The new shows introduced at the time of the strike were disrupted and most were cancelled. Now that Desperate Housewives is gone, ABC will have to rely on the untested once again. Below are reviews of three more of its new shows.
Malibu Country
In Malibu Country, Reba McEntire returns to television for the first time since Reba went off the air. This time she stars as Reba Gallagher, a country singer who moves to Malibu with her family after she discovers her husband cheated on her. The trailer had some funny moments and some sentimental ones. It left me wanting Gallagher to succeed. There was great chemistry between Gallagher and her mother, who is played by Lily Tomlin. The rapport for these characters, as well as Gallagher’s kids, seems to work. Gallagher also realizes that her heartbreak can provide great inspiration for a resurgence of her singing career. I don’t know if this show will be hilarious, but it will probably be enjoyable.
Wait! What's A Dial? 