Category Archives: Network Television
AGT: The YouTube Show
Romeo Dance Cheetah
After a two week break for the Olympics, America’s Got Talent returned last night with the worst show of a terrible season. It was so bad, changing the channel was actually recommended.
The YouTube show has always been hit or miss. Some acts have thrived in past seasons, such as Jackie Evancho. However, most acts crack under pressure and bomb because they have never performed in front of a live audience before. Ten of the 12 acts that performed fell into the latter group. Only two acts from last night’s AGT deserve to go through to the next round.
Clint Carvalho and His Extreme Parrots
Clint Carvalho introduced America to Kitten, who he called “the Evel Knievel of parrots.” Kitten did a freefall from the 180-foot Robert Treat Tower, flew through the lobby of the theater, over the heads of the audience, and into Carvalho’s hand. It was amazing to see such a well trained bird. However, this cannot be made into a show because it would get old fast. Carvalho says he has more birds and stunts that are just as good, so we shall she what happens.
Cool TV Video of the Day: Conan’s Emmy Opening
In 2006, Conan O’Brien hosted the Emmy’s on NBC. His hilarious opening parodied several popular shows of the time. The shows featured in order are: Lost, The Office, 24, House, Lost, South Park, and even To Catch a Predator.
Animal Practice… Worth the View or Just a Zoo?
As anyone who has ever been to a theatre knows, nothing is ever on time. Because the Olympics wasn’t over by 10:30 last night, the Sneak Preview of NBC’s Animal Practice was pushed back 20 minutes. When it started, I was left wondering if it was worth NBC finally cutting time out of the Closing Ceremonies to see it.
Justin Kirk plays Veterinarian Dr. George Coleman who is good with animals, not so good with the owners. When the woman who owned the animal hospital George works in passes away, her granddaughter, Dorothy Crane, takes over. Crane, played by Joanna Garcia-Swisher, also just happens to be Dr. Coleman’s ex-girlfriend.
The main human-centered storyline of the Sneak Peek episode is that after the owner of the hospital dies, Dorothy takes over and tells George that they can keep the hospital running without it being too awkward. Other important story line centered around a dog that swallowed something and needs surgery to remove it. The owner isn’t happy that the surgery will cost two-thousand dollars and demands to put the dog down despite the fact that it would destroy his young daughter’s happiness. George, angry with the owner, takes the dog and proceeds to hide it. He plans to do the surgery anyway despite the consequences.
Shows That Should Be Forgotten: Joey
Friends was a sitcom on NBC that began in 1994 and lasted 10 seasons. It is currently in syndication on multiple channels and it doesn’t seem to be going away any time soon. Friends might have been a success, but its short-lived spin-off, Joey was a failure from the start. Joey Tribbiani (Matt LeBlanc) moved from has native New York City to Hollywood in the spin-off. Joey was meant to be a big hit after it was announced as part of NBC’s fall schedule for the 2004 season. Obviously, that didn’t happen. Joey had low ratings from the beginning and never succeeded with critics. It was cancelled in the middle of the second season. Even so, it lasted too long.
In the pilot, Joey goes to Hollywood after hiring a new agent and is offered the lead in two television series. He accepts the one of the offers and assumes that the other one will be a huge flop. The series Joey chose is cancelled almost immediately. At this point, he is right back where he started. He is a struggling actor, who is untalented and is failing to realize his dreams because he is unable to make decent career decisions. Conversely, the show he rejected becomes a huge hit. Joey is close-minded right from the start and it is extremely hard to root for him.
Go On Will Go On
NBC hit a home run with Go On. The show stars Matthew Perry as sportscaster Ryan King, whose boss forces him to join the Transitions therapy group. Of course, Ryan feels that he does not need therapy and any attempt to convince people to agree with him fails because he keeps lashing out at everyone. For those who insist on making Friends comparisons, Ryan is Chandler Bing, if Chandler Bing suffered from clinical depression and was constantly sardonic. It is a little jarring at first, since Friends is still being rerun continually, but it works.
Ryan’s first Transitions’ meeting makes up a big part of the pilot episode. When he first arrives, Ryan takes his place in the circle and listens briefly to some of his fellow group members’ problems. He quickly gets fed up with the wallowing because everything in his life is a competition. Deciding to do something about this, Ryan pulls out a whiteboard and starts making a bracket that one of the group members dubs “March Sadness.” For someone to progress in “March Sadness,” they have to tell their sob story in 5 seconds and it has to be more depressing than their competitors. It is twisted that Ryan turns suffering into a competition, but for some reason it does seem like a feasible way to move on in one’s life. The winner was a Fausta, a woman who spoke mostly Spanish and lost both her husband and her son. As the winner, Ryan crowned Fausta with a pastry box that she now cherishes.
Sharon Osbourne is Leaving America’s Got Talent
After a dispute with NBC involving her son, Sharon Osbourne has decided to quit America’s Got Talent. Obsourne has been with AGT for six years. Her reasons for leaving NBC may be justified, but another change is going to be hard to handle. Sharon Obsourne wasn’t a great judge. She was too lenient with the contestants, even the terrible ones. She always wanted to be nice to the contestants and apologetic to the ones who had no talent. It may not have been reasonable, but it was part of the show. The AGT judge panel thrived on polarity. The other judges’ harsher personas have been at odds with Osbourne for her entire tenure. It was always good television. The classic arguments will be gone. The instinct of telling the men to “behave” will be gone. Howie Mandel is about to become AGT’s longest tenured judge and he has only been on the show for three out of its seven years. There is a huge possibility that a lot of the entertainment value will be gone from the show once Osbourne departs. Of course, it all depends on who replaces her, which has yet to be determined.
Weekly TV Update: August 6
Each week we bring you stories from around the Internet that you might have missed.
Showtime ends Weeds and The Big C. The season finale of Weeds will air September 16. Date for The Big C have not been announced yet.
Comedy Central roast stalwart Jeffrey Ross offends with a too soon joke about the Aurora, Colorado shootings.
Nick Jonas may become a judge on American Idol.
According to The New York Post, Sharon Osbourne is quitting America’s Got Talent because NBC fired her son from Stars Earn Stripes.
Which new daytime talk show hosts will last? The Hollywood Reporter assesses the pros and cons of all the new daytime hosts.
Wait! What's A Dial? 