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Foreign Friday: Die Harald Schmidt Show
Every Friday, I post a clip from a country other than the United States.
This week we visit Germany. Die Harald Schmidt Show is a talk show strongly influenced by David Letterman and Conan O’Brien. Harald Schmidt is often called the “German David Letterman” to the point that Letterman once referred to him as “the guy in Germany who does my show.” Schmidt’s original set was almost an exact replica of the set that Letterman had during his Late Night days.
While the following clip only has a few subtitles, it is pretty easy to understand what is going on. Enjoy this look at German television.
Howard Stern or Piers Morgan: Who’s Got Talent?
In June 2006, a competition show premiered on NBC, ostensibly to compete with the hugely popular American Idol. It was hosted by Regis Philbin with judges David Hasslehoff, Brandy, and a controversial British tabloid journalist named Piers Morgan. The show was called America’s Got Talent, and it is profoundly surprising that 7 years later, after so many changes, it’s still doing well. None of the original cast is on the show anymore, with the most noticeable change coming this season. Piers Morgan is no longer at the judges table. I have seen at least a few episodes of every season since the show started. Morgan, who started out as a blatant Simon Cowell imitator, was the one constant. As the years went on, he development his own (albeit still antagonistic) style. With him gone, I didn’t know what to expect this season. I will say unequivocally that Howard Stern, with his experience in the entertainment industry and reaching out to audiences, was a very good choice as a replacement. I do believe he will do well this season. However, as a somewhat loyal viewer from the beginning, I am going to miss his predecessor.
The show has been at its best since Nick Cannon took over as host in Season 4 because he had a far more captivating presence and higher energy level than the previous two hosts, Regis Philbin and Jerry Springer. It concerns me that his enjoyable quarreling rapport with Morgan can now longer be part of the show. Morgan had a reputation of being harsh with the buzzer, while Cannon was known to defend the acts. It made for especially good TV when Cannon would walk out onto the stage during the audition process to stick up for the entertaining untalented acts. Cannon would enthusiastically shout “Hit the track!” and continue an atrocious singing or dancing act, ensuring that even the disgraced contestant would have a good time. Last season, Cannon was relentlessly pulling for karaoke artist Udi Abgagnale, so the judges just left the studio, so they didn’t have to listen as Cannon, Abagnale, and the crowd kept singing “Hot Hot Hot.” Morgan just asked the camera incredulously, “Do you see what’s going on with Nick Cannon?” Who’s decided Udi is the hit of the show.” That was good television. The best interactions in competition shows the last few years between a host and a judge have been between Cannon and Morgan. Whether it was Cannon’s defense of acts or Morgan’s ridicule of Cannon’s fashion choices, their relationship on the show worked. I have yet to see the same type of interaction between Cannon and Stern.
Dateline NBC’s 20th Anniversary Special Review
Last night, Dateline NBC celebrated its 20th Anniversary with a special that was less a special and more a regular episode. While it was nice to catch up with Michael J. Fox and Anne Curry’s favorite sextuplets, I was expecting more about the history of Dateline. I wanted NBC to show how Dateline has evolved from that from first show into what it is today. Instead, viewers saw four interviews catching us up on four different topics: Michael J. Fox and Parkinson’s, two families brought together by a bus accident and accidental mix-up of their daughters, the first sextuplets to be born and survive, and Carrie Underwood’s success since winning American Idol. It was not a bad episode, just typical. This was the type of special usually reserved for those odd anniversaries like the seventeenth where a big special seems inappropriate, but no one wants to let the anniversary pass without a mention.
Previewing NBC’s Fall 2012 Season- Part 2
Every year, countless writers work sleepless nights, most likely putting themselves virtually under house arrest for several months, just for the outside chance of getting their pilot produced for television. Even six shows greenlit for NBC seems like a lot for the upcoming fall season. As discussed in Part 1, considering the network’s limited success producing long-running shows in recent years, the very deliberate effort to introduce new shows concerns me a bit. New shows do tend to interest me, though. I’m relatively young, and there have not been many chances for me to say I was a regular viewer of a really quality, long running television series from start to finish. This year could be my shot.
Animal Practice
Animal Practice revolves around Dr. George Coleman, a veterinarian at Crane Animal Hospital in New York City. The premise is relatively simple: he’s a prestigious veterinarian because of his kindness and care toward animals, but just doesn’t have the same kindness toward people. With that brief description, one might be inclined to chuckle in somewhat of a forced way. “He would be so likable if he cared about people that much, but he doesn’t! How amusing!” Upon watching the trailer, however, it becomes clear that this sentiment is nothing more than a misguided hope in the minds of the show’s creators. Dr. Coleman’s lack of sympathy and utter disinterest for anything human dominates the trailer. From the get-go, after Coleman, with no emotion, explains to a customer that he thinks her cat tried to commit suicide. At that moment, I knew the rest was not going to be promising. As it progresses, his boss calls him a lousy director so he says, “My system may not be perfect, but I help a lot of animals and I meet a lot of girls.” After a beat, he says excitedly, “My system is perfect!” The unsympathetic comedy protagonist has proven successful in past shows, but those kind of characters should be at least somewhat enjoyable. Most importantly, the characters and their surrounding situations should be funny and the attempt at humor seems very forced. Basically, I really don’t see Animal Practice lasting.
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.
Previewing NBC’s Fall 2012 Season- Part 1
Upon hearing that Community got renewed for a fourth season, I was excited, but also a little disappointed in the size of the order. Thirteen episodes means less of a chance of further continuation (six seasons and a movie!), but given the fact that NBC needed room to budget its new shows it wasn’t a surprise. It also got me very curious about the upcoming Fall season.
Most shows produced for network television never see the light of day. A lot of them get cancelled after a few episodes. Some get really bad time slots, others get terrible lead-ins. A lot of times, it’s just a bad show. The point is very few shows get respectable runs, especially in recent years. On NBC, the only truly stellar run in the last 5 years has been The Office, which is clearly on the decline. Not since the ending of Friends could any show on the network truly be considered a “classic”, so there’s a certain degree of skepticism in my mind when there are six shows debuting in the fall and many more set to debut afterwards.
Go On
Lately, Matthew Perry has made a career of less than promising movies and sitcoms that go no more than 15 episodes. It’s just not the same as when he was Chandler. Hopefully that will change because Go On is looking promising.
As Ryan King, Perry portrays a slick, sarcastic sportscaster who, after the death of his wife, is ready to get back to work. However, his boss will not let him back on the air until he goes to group therapy. King’s goal is really just to get back on the air as soon as he can, but it seems that his less-than-caring approach seems to work for him and the group. Perry’s character resorts back to what worked best for Chandler: a tragic backstory and the use of humor as a defense mechanism.
The highlight of the trailer was a sequence of Ryan holding a contest for “Who has the best sob story?”, known as “March Sadness”. With its snarky attitude, a caring story, and what seems like a solid supporting cast for Perry, this show looks like it could last a while. NBC is advertising this series as Matthew Perry’s return. Here’s hoping it’s a bit more triumphant than the last attempt, which was Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip in 2007.
NBC’s Community Loses Dan Harmon
NBC’s Community officially lost its creator Dan Harmon. Earlier today on his blog, Harmon announced that Sony Pictures Television fired him from his position as showrunner. While Dan Harmon is still a consulting producer, his role with the creative aspects of Community is over.
Head over to Vulture for the full story.
Time magazine’s James Poniewozik has an analysis of Dan Harmon’s impact on Community.
Brandon Tartikoff’s Last Great Ride
Brandon Tartikoff was NBC’s entertainment president from 1980 to 1991. This is a book review of his memoir The Last Great Ride, which was published in 1992.
During the 1980 and early 1990s, NBC was “Must See TV”. It was also a time, as Brandon Tartikoff points out in his memoir, where a “27 share was the dividing line between renewal and cancellation.” Nowadays, the highest rated show on television, American Idol, does not even get close to a 27 share. American Idol only gets a 14 share due to the increasing number of niche audience, the fact that most homes have more than one television, and everyone can watch almost anything whenever and wherever they want. Brandon Tartikoff knew this in 1992, which was the year his book The Last Great Ride was published and VCRs were the only commonly found television-recording devices.
Wait! What's A Dial? 