Category Archives: NBC
Cool Video of the Day: A Behind The Scenes Look At Seinfeld
Today’s video is an Inside Look at a well-known Seinfeld episode, which is included as a special feature on the first DVD box set. The episode, “The Chinese Restaurant”, is from season 2 of Seinfeld and is widely regarded as the show’s first “classic” episode. The half hour revolved around Jerry, George, and Elaine waiting to get a table at a Chinese restaurant so they can make it to a movie. This was the first episode of Seinfeld that placed such a heavy emphasis on the minutiae of daily life.
As the video will tell you, NBC did not want this episode produced. They thought it was going to bomb. Seinfeld had yet to come into its own and the network didn’t want the show to take such a risk. Little did they know, “The Chinese Restaurant” would go down as one of the greatest episodes of one of the greatest sitcoms ever.
Unfortunately, embedding has been disabled, so click through to see the video. It will be worth it.
Cool TV Video of the Day: No Doubt’s Debut on Television
In honor of No Doubt’s first new song in 11 years, today’s cool video of the day are their network television debut on Late Night with Conan O’Brien. The band performs their first hit single, which was “Just a Girl.”
AGT Results Recap: July 11th
Hawley Magic Performing on Tuesday
Four of 12 acts were set to advance on last night’s America’s Got Talent and it was once again the boundaries of what should be considered true talent. The live shows started with 48 acts and a lot of them didn’t deserve a shot. The semifinals will consist of 24 acts, many of which will be misplaced. However, there’s nothing the show can do about it. The judges were never shown a good selection of talent this season. Past seasons have certainly been better, so this is not the best the show can do. It just seems that they got incredibly unlucky this time around. This is the point where the competition is supposed to be getting serious, but it’s difficult at this point to take the show seriously.
The first result brought Turf and Tim Hockenberry to the stage. I was initially surprised. Then I remembered that both acts usually advance when only two are brought on stage. Turf did not deserve to advance, but four acts had to. America probably got it right. After all, both of them are talented. It was clear though that Hockenberry outperformed Turf on Tuesday. The judges usually say the talent is overwhelming and it would be true in most seasons. However, the acts that have been advancing might have already been gone in a more competitive season.
Cool TV Video of the Day: NBC’s Loud and Proud!
Back in the 80s and very early 90s, the Big 3 created catchy songs to go along with their fall schedules. In the early 80s, NBC fortunes were much like they are today: not very good. Instead of complaining about it, they decided to get self-deprecating about it in house. NBC took their “We’re Proud” jingle and had the same ad agency, same production staff, and same performers as the original promo and spoofed their own song.
Here is the spoof (Complete with someone on YouTube replacing the original “We’re Loud” with “We’re Proud.”):
The original is after the jump.
AGT’s Second Night of Performances
Turf
America’s Got Talent has provided its viewers with a selection of acts that basically asks America to go with the lesser of 48 evils. This isn’t to say that some of the acts aren’t good at times, but this is a season with many subpar acts. Even a lot of the ones the judges think are good will never be worthy of a Vegas show. This season’s highest quality should be considered mediocre television. Once again, it’s hard to say whether four acts actually deserved to advance. America will just have to take it as it is and realize those are the rules.
Lion DanceMe
Lion DanceMe act consisted of the performers dressed in their lion costumes jumping in between platforms. This is supposed to be a cross between a dance act and a danger act. There was neither. This act did not deserve to make it past Vegas. As the judges said, their act seems the same every performance. The platforms might have been a little higher and there might have even been less dancing. That makes the act only slightly better in one aspect and much worse in another. In the package beforehand, Sharon said she loved the element of danger. When considering the danger acts, it is incredibly unfortunate that any other truly dangerous act is put into the same category as Lion DanceMe. Howie got bored watching the performance as did I. Both Howard and Sharon were constructive, but it’s not worth it. Lion DanceMe does not really belong on the national stage.
Cool TV Video of the Day: Letterman Introduces the GE Handshake
In the 80s, David Letterman used to host Late Night on NBC. Naturally when GE bought NBC from RCA, Letterman would want to “drop in and say hello,” complete with a fruit basket. However, Dave has trouble even entering the building. You will see the infamous GE Handshake and the rest of the hilarious results in today’s video.
Tina Fey Raps With Donald Glover
30 Rock’s Tina Fey raps with Community’s Donald Glover on Childish Gambino’s, which is Glover’s rap stage name, Royalty mixtape on the song “Real Estate.” The whole mixtape, which consists of 18 songs can be found for free on Donald Glover’s website.
Fey is only on the last song on the album. The full song can be heard below.
The songs featured on Childish Gambino’s new mixtape are:
1. R O Y A L T Y.
2 We Ain’t Them {prod. Childish Gambino and Ludwig}
3 .One Up (ft. Steve G. Lover) {prod. Childish Gambino}
4. Black Faces (ft. Nipsey Hussle) {prod. Boi-1da}
5 Unnecessary (ft. Schoolboy Q and Ab-Soul) {prod. Childish Gambino}
6. Shoulda Known {prod. Childish Gambino}
7. R.I.P. (ft. Bun B) {prod. Childish Gambino}
8. American Royalty (ft. RZA and Hypnotic Brass Orchestra) {prod. Childish Gambino}
9. It May Be Glamour Life (ft. Ghostface Killah) {prod. Myke Murda}
10. Toxic (ft. Danny Brown) {prod. skywlkr}
11. Silk Pillow (ft. Beck) {prod. Beck and Childish Gambino}
12. They Don’t Like Me (ft. Chance the Rapper) {prod. skywklr}
13. Arrangement (ft. Gonage) {prod. Childish Gambino}
14. Won’t Stop (ft. Danielle Haim of HAIM) {prod. Childish Gambino and Ludwig}
15. Bronchitis {prod. Beck}
16. Wonderful (ft. Josh Osho) {prod. Boi-1da}
17. Make It Go Right (ft. Kilo Kish) {prod. Childish Gambino}
18. Real Estate (ft. Alley Boy, Swank, and Tina Fey) {prod. Childish Gambino}
AGT Results Recap: Tuesday July 3
The CMYKs’ Monday Performance
A less-than-stellar crop of acts were facing elimination on last night’s results edition of America’s Got Talent. This whole season has been a disappointment and the performances are not really getting better. Even though four of the 12 acts were advancing, it seemed not even four of them deserved it. Once again, an average act looks fantastic against relatively poor competition. This continues to be the case this season.
The first result featured Michael Nejad, Shanice and Maurice, and Nikki Jensen. It really wasn’t hard to know that Shanice and Maurice would be the ones making it to the Top 24. They were clearly the best of out the three. However, that says very little about their actual talent. They were adequate on a night when Jensen’s singing went downhill and Nejad was horrible. They got lucky this time.
AGT’s First Night of Live Performances: How did they Stack Up?
Edon
America’s Got Talent began its live shows last night and there really wasn’t much to be excited about. This season has clearly been a disappointment. Subpar talent got through Vegas and is now performing for America’s vote. Some of the acts were mildly entertaining, but I don’t know if four of them deserve to go through. Acts that would face a tough elimination against serious talent in past seasons are now simply the best of the mediocre. The show opened with an unnecessary half hour “countdown” with audition footage and outtakes. It served to remind the viewer just how lackluster this season has been. The performances didn’t start until 9pm.
Distinguished Men of Brass
The group performed a marching band style rendition of “Crazy In Love.” Once again, they were sloppy and disorganized. Howie said they had to take it beyond a marching band or a halftime show. Unfortunately for them, the act is pretty much a marching band and not much more. There is no way they can win the competition and I’m surprised they got through Vegas. Then again, the selection in Vegas was never good anyway. This act is not horrible enough to eliminate, but the competition is probably over for them.
Andy Griffith Dead at 86
Griffith as Sheriff Taylor
Andy Griffith died today at the age of 86. He is best known for playing Sheriff Andy Taylor in The Andy Griffith Show and Ben Matlock in Matlock.
The first time America met Andy Taylor was on The Danny Thomas Show, which served as a backdoor pilot to The Andy Griffith Show. In honor of Griffith, below is the opening scene of that episode of The Danny Thomas Show.
What is your reaction to Andy Griffth’s death? Share your thoughts in the comments.
Wait! What's A Dial? 