Category Archives: Fox
9 Reality Shows That Didn’t Last
In recent years, entertainment has been suffering an overload of reality television, most of which is trite and unintelligent. A lot of the programming is still on the air, but a lot of it is now a part of television history no one appreciates. Let’s revisit some of the shows that flopped.
Married By America
In Married By America, viewers voted for pairs of single men and women would be engaged and arranged to be married all within a 5 week span. The dating pool was originally selected by the suitors’ loved ones. America then voted in to decide which man would propose to which women without even having seen her face or talked to her at all. After the fiances were paired up, they spent five weeks first getting to know the person they were planning to marry. At the end of each episode, so called relationship experts would decide which engagement was going to end. By the final episode, two couples were left to plan their weddings Thankfully, neither of the couples went through with it. I’m surprised this wasn’t thought of as unethical from the start, but cancelling it after a season was the right call.
Weekly TV Update: July 9
Each week we bring you stories from around the Internet that you might have missed.
Ernest Borgnine dies at 95. Before his death, The Hollywood Reporter interviewed Borgnine about his 32 day marriage and his recurring role on Spongebob.
CBS and the cast of Happy Days reach an out of court settlement. The cast, minus Ron Howard and Henry Winkler, were suing because CBS was using their images in merchandising without paying royalties.
Adam Lambert may become the newest judge on American Idol.
Demi Lovato will host the 2012 Teen Choice Awards.
Fox Takes New Girl On The Road
New Girl, the Fox sitcom starring Zooey Deschanel, is hitting the road with “The New Girl True American Bus Tour.” The tour will feature the party school bus that Jess borrowed for Schmidt’s birthday and will visit various cities all over the country. At each stop, fans will be able to watch exclusive videos and various New Girl merchandise, such as Jess’s signature glasses and New Girl T-shirts with logos and catchphrases from the show. Some of the catchphrases available on the shirts are “Pink Wine Makes Me Slutty” and “Schmidt Happens.” You will also be able to reenact the New Girl‘s opening theme song in a photo, eat Jess’s cupcakes, and play “douchebag jar” pong for prizes.
The tour is in Atlanta this weekend. Here is the schedule: (Keep in mind the schedule may change.)
FRIDAY, JUNE 22 (ATLANTA)
9:00 – 10:00 AM
Live Appearance on “Good Day Atlanta”
11:30 AM – 3:30 PM
Brewhouse Café
401 Moreland Avenue Northeast
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.
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.
Choose Not to Watch The Choice
I wanted to like The Choice in a charmingly absurd kind of way. The premise of the show revolves around celebrities choosing dates based only on the sound of a suitor’s voice. The title is clearly a derivation of NBC’s singing competition show The Voice and this show seems to be trying to gain popularity based on viewers being familiar with the NBC show. That was really the main reason I was interested in watching it. I knew it wasn’t going to be “quality” television, but I still thought it was going to be enjoyable. I was mostly wrong.
The show opened with introducing the celebrities. They included recording artist, Romeo, Olympic athlete Jeremy Bloom, Jersey Shore cast member DJ Pauly D, and General Hospital star Jason Cook. None of these celebrities really interested me. Most of them are not really that famous. Of course, much like Dancing With The Stars, hiring low caliber “stars” is a common problem. I understand that most of the bigger “stars” already have their relationships constantly in the media or do not need the publicity, but the selection of celebrities was still a weak point for the show.
Previewing FOX’s Fall Season- Part 2
There’s a lot of risk in creating new television. The months or sometimes years invested may go unappreciated or completely unnoticed. Fox has taken those risks. It is the youngest broadcast television station, having only been in operation since April 1987, and its hits have been groundbreaking .
In the very beginning, Fox broke in with Married…With Children and it lasted 11 seasons. For all its inappropriate humor, it made the standard sitcom family a dysfunctional one and that point of view is not going anywhere. Fox’s next hit was The Simpsons, which debuted in December 1989 and ushered in a new generation of primetime animation. It is still as strong as ever to this day.
Fox’s has not been so lucky in the drama department. FOX seems to be a lighthearted network. With House on its way out and 24 still missed by its millions of fans, the network has to take risks again by going out of their comfort zone. Serious dramas are a bigger gamble as there is no way to really “love to hate” them. They have to be genuinely good. FOX knows its challenges. They’ve come to expect a struggle finding a new hit show.
Fox only has one new drama premiering in the fall, so they are leaving themselves a lot of breathing room for midseason. Now that one of their few hit dramas is gone, they have to have some faith in their new shows.
Previewing FOX’s Fall Season-Part 1
FOX is notorious for shows with incredibly short tenures. Whether it was reality shows with absurd premises or just really bad sitcoms, a lot of its shows over the past decade lasted less than a season. In some ways, I almost anticipate most of their shows getting cancelled, even if I tend to like them. I know what’s done well and I know what’s not. I just don’t always like what’s done well. The fact is, network television is a rare and coveted entity.
New television excites me, though. It’s a new opportunity for a critical eye, whether my sentiment is “I like this,”, “I hate this,” or “I love to hate this.” The variables of FOX will most likely make this season very enjoyable.
The Mindy Project
I like Mindy Kaling and I don’t really have a concrete reason why. Her character type seems somewhat simple. She said in behind the scenes segments of The Office to basically be an exaggerated version of herself. The character of Kelly Kapoor is a caricature. She’s very over dramatic, immature, and lacking emotional development. Despite all this, she’s still charming to watch. Kelly went from an auxiliary background character to one worthy of an episode’s focus. She made me laugh, especially concerning her relationship “drama” over the course of the show. When I heard about The Mindy Project, I knew that I would have to give it a chance.
Kaling stars as Mindy Lahiri, an OB-GYN, who while a very competent doctor, has a lot of trouble with friendships and dating. The trailer was interesting and made me laugh, but I couldn’t tell much about the show’s premise. Lahiri seems to have a lot of the same mannerisms as Kapoor, especially concerning her fixation on men. The trailer also detailed her being charged with public intoxication. Her complaints about men and her struggle with alcohol could get old, but it might not matter so much if the episodes are funny.
Regardless, the show’s premise isn’t very much established in the trailer and self-contained shows do not impress me as much as shows with recurring arcs. Either way, I’m not sure what kind of show this is going to be. If The Mindy Project becomes a show about various neuroses Lahiri has to endure with her “guy of the week,” I don’t know if it can sustain itself. If it becomes a show about the delicate balances between her career and the discoveries of what (and whom) she really needs out of life, that seems a bit more promising. I just couldn’t tell. However, out of loyalty to Kaling, I would have checked this out regardless of what the trailer told me and I will watch at least a few episodes. I just hope it shows Kaling’s potential, even though I will miss her on The Office.
Weekly TV Update: May 21
Each week we bring you stories from around the Internet that you might have missed.
The Wall Street Journal reports that network “TV Embraces Its Dark Side” with new shows inspired by the success of The Walking Dead and Dexter.
For more news on the upcoming Fall season, check out Philly.com.
Less than a week since Dan Harmon was fired, Community has new showrunners.
Kristen Wiig leaves Saturday Night Live.
The series finale of House is tonight. The Tampa Bay Times has some observations about the show.
Wait! What's A Dial? 