Category Archives: Network Television
Sherman Hemsley Dead at 74
Sherman Hemsley, who is best known for playing George Jefferson on All in the Family and The Jeffersons, died yesterday. He was 74.
In the 90s, Hemsley was still appearing with his on screen wife Isabel Sanford. George and Louise Jefferson were reprised twice on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
Cool TV Video of the Day: The Performance that Got Elvis Costello Banned From SNL
Elvis Costello and the Attractions’ infamous performance of “Radio Radio,” which NBC and Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels did not want played because is a protest song about the media, took place on December 17, 1977. Ironically, the performance and the ban probably would not have happened had the originally scheduled guests the Sex Pistols, who were even more controversial, been able to obtain passports.
At the beginning of the performance, Costello and his band start to play their song “Less Than Zero,” but then stop to consult. This ends with a full performance of “Radio Radio.”
The ban only lasted 12 years. Since 1989, Costello has appeared on SNL 3 times. Lorne Micahels even invited Elvis Costello to perform “Radio Radio” with the Beastie Boys for Saturday Night Live‘s 25th anniversary special.
Weekly TV Update: July 23
Each week we bring you stories from around the Internet that you might have missed.
WWE Raw reaches its 1,000th episode. It will feature a look back the shows 19 years on air.
Aaron Sorkin lets go of more than half of The Newsroom’s writing staff.
The Olympics opening ceremony is Friday. Find your local Olympics schedule at NBC Olympics.
Mindy Kaling is returning to The Office for at least one more episode.
If you missed the Teen Choice Awards, Jen Chaney of The Washington Post has a summary of what happened.
Mariah Carey Joins American Idol
Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez vacated their judging positions only last week, but one seat on the American Idol judging panel has already been filled by Mariah Carey. Meanwhile, executive producer Nigel Lythgoe said at a Television Critics Association meeting that since Lopez told Ryan Seacrest that she was only “99 percent sure” she was leaving, there is a 1 percent chance she will return. Then, Lythgoe went on to contradict himself. He also expressed a desire to keep the show fresh with new judges each season.
Over at The Hollywood Reporter, there are some interesting American Idol related charts, such the following one.
Do you think Mariah Carey will make a good judge? Does American Idol even matter anymore? Tell us what you think in the comments.
AGT Results Recap: July 18th
Ashleigh and Pudsey
A poor night of performances has become the norm on this season’s America’s Got Talent, so the result shows are not really exciting. It’s hard to root for anybody to advance. AGT makes it seem like sending four acts to the next round makes the decision tough because two-thirds of the acts get sent home. However, the real challenge is not deciding which acts have to go home, but rather which average acts will get an undeserving chance at winning the competition. In a season like this, a semifinal of 24 acts seems too big. America is forced to choose the best of the worse.
The first result grouped Mike Price, Jacob Williams, and Cristin Sandu. This was an easy decision for America, but it wasn’t a rewarding one. This group was made up of a juggler who dropped his props, a balancing act that failed, and a promising comedian whose skills are still raw. Williams was the only performer out of these three whose act went as planned. Of course, that gave him an advantage. I’m happy for Williams. While he may have deserved to advance, he also got pretty lucky.
Cool TV Video of the Day: This is Your Life
Earlier today, I wrote about ABC’s Trust Us With Your Life, which is clearly influenced by This is Your Life. Both shows have celebrities discuss their life in front of an audience. However, This is Your Life surprised celebrities with people from their past and revealed information that the famous person might not have wanted to reveal. Needless to say, many stars did not want to participate in the program and those who were forced to participate resented it. Even, Ralph Edwards, who was the host, did not want his life revealed on television. Legend has it that Edwards threatened to quit if the staff ever tried to turn the tables on him.
NBC aired This is Your Life from 1952-1961. The episode with Dick Clark is presented below in three parts, two of which are after the jump.
AGT’s Third Quarterfinal Performance Night
All Beef Patty
This season, I have come to expect disappointment from America’s Got Talent. Most of the acts that made it this far do not deserve to be performing on a national stage in front of millions. They are just not good enough. Some have promise, but are very unpolished. Some are just outright horrible to the point that I feel sorry that they were given so much false hope. Some are good, but they serve as only a mildly pleasant surprise. The competition is far easier for them than it should be. The performances this season have repeatedly come up short. Tuesday night’s show was no exception.
Trust Us With Your Life or Not
ABC‘s Trust Us with Your Life is easy to forget about because it’s on Tuesday nights, which are dominated by America’s Got Talent. I thought this was the debut of Trust Us with Your Life, it was actually the second week and the third and fourth episodes of the series aired.
Trust Us with Your Life is essentially a rehash of Whose Line is it Anyway? meets a really bad talk show. The show’s not terrible, but I could have lived without it. The guests add nothing, except tell wacky stories that are acted out by the cast. The entire cast is talented, but are limited in trying to be somewhat faithful to the celebrities memory. The two shows also pretty much share the same cast, which I am convinced has nothing better to do than to make poor imitations of their most successful show. Only this time they did it sans Drew Carey and added Jonathan Magnum and Fred Willard.
Despite the surprise absence of Drew Carey, not having anything to do with him was the best decision the producers could have made. It is the best attempt to recreate Whose Line is it Anyway? so far, but that’s not saying much. Past attempts at recreating the magic in Whose Line? revolved around Carey, so much so that his name was in the title of the two previous improv shows with the same cast: Drew Carey’s Green Screen Show and Drew Carey’s Improv-A-Ganza. Both shows were terrible and didn’t even make it past a season, which is a fate Trust Us will probably share. When done well, these type of shows work best in America after 11pm. However, the only improv show that has worked so far is Whose Line is it Anyway?. Will someone please make Whose Line 2.0, so the fans no longer have to sit through poor imitations?
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.
Weekly TV Update: July 16
Each week we bring you stories from around the Internet that you might have missed.
Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler leave American Idol.
More American Idol news: Will Aretha Franklin be a new judge?
Aleve may have discovered a way to gets its advertising past a DVR.
Charlie Sheen’s Anger Management keeps losing viewers.
Breaking Bad started a new season last night. Ken Tucker has a review of the show.
Wait! What's A Dial? 