TV Diary
a) "Web Soup"
It's becoming increasingly clear that "The Soup"-style clip shows serve the same kind of function for basic cable networks that aggregator blogs and RSS feeds serve for bored internet surfing, with everyone clamoring for their own show featuring a host riffing in front of a green screen, including official spin-offs on Style, Vs. and now G4 (The Dish is still the best offshoot, but none come close to Joel McHale on the original article). "Web Soup" isn't the first attempt to cram YouTube memes and 'viral' videos into a TV format, and it definitely won't be the last. But Chris Hardwick is kind of a weak host who probably could only really come off clever in the context of something as stupid as "Singled Out."
b) "Tosh.0"
Despite the garbage name and it being Comedy Central's off-brand "Soup" knockoff with the exact same concept as "Web Soup" that started airing the same week, this is way better, mainly because Daniel Tosh is a genuinely funny stand-up, and his ultra-dry and mildly envelope-pushing (but not Mencia-style broad "edgy") sense of humor lends itself well to this kind of show. Both shows seem to be starting with the concept that their viewers haven't seen all the big web memes of the past 5 years, and that they can fill a bunch of their airtime by reintroducing stale old stuff, but Tosh at least does more pre-taped bits (sometimes involving the original people from the videos) to make it more creative than just stock wisecracking.
c) "In Plain Sight"
I guess with various incarnations of "Law & Order" going to basic cable, now channels like USA are holding up the procedural drama genre more than the big 4, which probably is a good thing since these shows seem fairly cheap and plop out of an assembly line. This one is a variation on the form about people who work in witness protection; I got sucked into one episode because Lester from "The Wire" was the guest star, and it was pretty good. One of the main actors was a supporting player from "The Wire," too, one of the Greeks. Anyway, don't know if I'll keep tuning in but I kinda like the feel of the writing, show has potential.
d) "The Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien"
I was an 11-year-old Letterman nerd when Conan began "Late Night," and was a big fan of the show in the early days when they were perpetually teetering on the edge of cancellation. So it's been really vindicating to see him ascend the throne now, even if ratings are already bad and after years of climbing he's kind of back in an underdog position. I just wish I had a chance to watch this more, but really anytime I'm awake past 11:30 these days it's because I'm covering a show or writing, so it's rare I get to see it. What I've seen has been cool, though...I wish Andy was back in his old role, or at least as prominent a part of the show as he used to be.
e) "Better Off Ted"
Really happy this show is getting renewed and they're actually airing all the episodes produced for the first season now (after airing a premature 'season finale' a few weeks ago). Still a little too broad and conceptual to be up there with the best sitcoms, but sometimes I like having something a little madcap to watch.
f) "True Blood"
This dumb trashy show never got me totally hooked, but it's decent enough that I'm still watching on season 2. And actually it's kind of nice to start a new season with all of these disparate plot strands and newly introduced characters, because you know they'll actually be exploring them, whereas it was kind of annoying towards the end of the first season when they kept bringing up new storylines that you know they wouldn't have time to get into in any satisfying way. I kinda hope I don't get too into it this season, though, since I'm planning on cancelling my HBO before this season's over.
g) "Pushing Daisies"
It was cool that ABC was apparently contractually obligated to air every produced episode of this even after they cancelled it, since it meant I didn't have to track down the last 3 episodes online or on DVD or something, but it was also really lame of them to wait to air them 6 months after the last episodes, on Saturdays in summer programming hell. So this last batch kinda felt too short and isolated to really be a satisfying end to the series, but they were still as consistent as the rest of the series. I'm glad it lasted as long as it did, actually, pretty cool show. I guess I should rent "Wonderfalls" and "Dead Like Me" now.
h) "Ace of Cakes"
The episode where they did the cake for "Lost" was pretty cool, partly because it was fun watching them totally geek out on the show like the rest of us and be super hyped to go to Hawaii, and then have the cast members come out and eat cake and joke around while still in the costume/makeup from a crazy dramatic episode. I don't know if it's more pathetic or less pathetic that I've had a hardcore crush on Elena from Squaaks since before she was on TV.
i) "Arrested Development"
I've been good and stubborn over the years about not liking what I've seen of this show, not being interested in really giving it a shot to grow on me, etc. law brought a DVD and got me to watch a good number of episodes and OK, it's alright, I don't totally hate it. I still get a little pissed when people compare it to the all-time great sitcoms, though.
It's becoming increasingly clear that "The Soup"-style clip shows serve the same kind of function for basic cable networks that aggregator blogs and RSS feeds serve for bored internet surfing, with everyone clamoring for their own show featuring a host riffing in front of a green screen, including official spin-offs on Style, Vs. and now G4 (The Dish is still the best offshoot, but none come close to Joel McHale on the original article). "Web Soup" isn't the first attempt to cram YouTube memes and 'viral' videos into a TV format, and it definitely won't be the last. But Chris Hardwick is kind of a weak host who probably could only really come off clever in the context of something as stupid as "Singled Out."
b) "Tosh.0"
Despite the garbage name and it being Comedy Central's off-brand "Soup" knockoff with the exact same concept as "Web Soup" that started airing the same week, this is way better, mainly because Daniel Tosh is a genuinely funny stand-up, and his ultra-dry and mildly envelope-pushing (but not Mencia-style broad "edgy") sense of humor lends itself well to this kind of show. Both shows seem to be starting with the concept that their viewers haven't seen all the big web memes of the past 5 years, and that they can fill a bunch of their airtime by reintroducing stale old stuff, but Tosh at least does more pre-taped bits (sometimes involving the original people from the videos) to make it more creative than just stock wisecracking.
c) "In Plain Sight"
I guess with various incarnations of "Law & Order" going to basic cable, now channels like USA are holding up the procedural drama genre more than the big 4, which probably is a good thing since these shows seem fairly cheap and plop out of an assembly line. This one is a variation on the form about people who work in witness protection; I got sucked into one episode because Lester from "The Wire" was the guest star, and it was pretty good. One of the main actors was a supporting player from "The Wire," too, one of the Greeks. Anyway, don't know if I'll keep tuning in but I kinda like the feel of the writing, show has potential.
d) "The Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien"
I was an 11-year-old Letterman nerd when Conan began "Late Night," and was a big fan of the show in the early days when they were perpetually teetering on the edge of cancellation. So it's been really vindicating to see him ascend the throne now, even if ratings are already bad and after years of climbing he's kind of back in an underdog position. I just wish I had a chance to watch this more, but really anytime I'm awake past 11:30 these days it's because I'm covering a show or writing, so it's rare I get to see it. What I've seen has been cool, though...I wish Andy was back in his old role, or at least as prominent a part of the show as he used to be.
e) "Better Off Ted"
Really happy this show is getting renewed and they're actually airing all the episodes produced for the first season now (after airing a premature 'season finale' a few weeks ago). Still a little too broad and conceptual to be up there with the best sitcoms, but sometimes I like having something a little madcap to watch.
f) "True Blood"
This dumb trashy show never got me totally hooked, but it's decent enough that I'm still watching on season 2. And actually it's kind of nice to start a new season with all of these disparate plot strands and newly introduced characters, because you know they'll actually be exploring them, whereas it was kind of annoying towards the end of the first season when they kept bringing up new storylines that you know they wouldn't have time to get into in any satisfying way. I kinda hope I don't get too into it this season, though, since I'm planning on cancelling my HBO before this season's over.
g) "Pushing Daisies"
It was cool that ABC was apparently contractually obligated to air every produced episode of this even after they cancelled it, since it meant I didn't have to track down the last 3 episodes online or on DVD or something, but it was also really lame of them to wait to air them 6 months after the last episodes, on Saturdays in summer programming hell. So this last batch kinda felt too short and isolated to really be a satisfying end to the series, but they were still as consistent as the rest of the series. I'm glad it lasted as long as it did, actually, pretty cool show. I guess I should rent "Wonderfalls" and "Dead Like Me" now.
h) "Ace of Cakes"
The episode where they did the cake for "Lost" was pretty cool, partly because it was fun watching them totally geek out on the show like the rest of us and be super hyped to go to Hawaii, and then have the cast members come out and eat cake and joke around while still in the costume/makeup from a crazy dramatic episode. I don't know if it's more pathetic or less pathetic that I've had a hardcore crush on Elena from Squaaks since before she was on TV.
i) "Arrested Development"
I've been good and stubborn over the years about not liking what I've seen of this show, not being interested in really giving it a shot to grow on me, etc. law brought a DVD and got me to watch a good number of episodes and OK, it's alright, I don't totally hate it. I still get a little pissed when people compare it to the all-time great sitcoms, though.
This entry was posted
on Thursday, June 25, 2009 at 3:53 PM.
You can skip to the end and leave a response.
Post a Comment