I know, you're probably thinking, isn't the TV Squad blog just a series of random thoughts about television already? Yes and no. Sure, the thoughts are often random, but we put them in very specific posts, whether it's a review, an essay, or an op-ed piece.The random thoughts below are just things I've been thinking about lately. They could possibly end up in some future post about a specific show or star, but I'm putting them here for now. (And thanks to Rich for starting this.)
1. Why do weather forecasters and anchorpersons always freak out over cool temperatures? When October comes around and the temps drop to the 50s, you'd think the world was ending by the way the local news stations act. It's not 10 below zero folks, it's 55, and it happens every single fall. And it's comfortable! Newscasters always seem to bemoan the start of fall, almost to the point of apologizing to viewers, because summer is over. Folks, I have news for you: humid, 90 degree weather is terrible; fall is the best season.
2. Why does Conan O'Brien say "yeah" in almost every single one of his monologue jokes? Check it out sometime. He says yeah right in the middle of his jokes, right before he delivers the punchline. This isn't "style," it's an annoying tic that Conan has because even after 10 years, he's still uneasy as a talk show host. (Forget that Anderson Cooper drinking game I mentioned yesterday, take a shot every time Conan says "yeah.")
3. Why are reality shows still so popular? It's easy to blame the networks, for jumping on a trend and producing shows that don't cost as much as scripted shows with stars. But the networks are in it for money too, and they wouldn't be making all these shows if they didn't get ratings. Which is why you see Dancing with the Stars - both episodes - in the top 10 every week, Extreme Makeover always in the Top 20, American Idol the top show when it's on the air, and The Bachelor and The Biggest Loser getting good ratings. So, do we blame the networks or viewers?
4. Why doesn't TBS start their shows at the times they used to? Remember the days when a show would start at 8:35 or 1:35? Why did they change it?
5. Why don't ABC, CBS, NBC, and The CW have prime-time animated shows? You'd think with the success FOX has had with The Simpsons, Family Guy, American Dad, and King of the Hill, and the success of South Park and Adult Swim, that one of the other networks would have one on their air. Sure, they've tried some here and there: CBS had Fish Police in the mid 90s, the WB had Pinky and the Brain several years back, and NBC had that Sigfried & Roy show Father of the Pride a couple of years ago (there are probably a couple of more examples), but they haven't had a long-running show that they've stuck with. I'd like to see more animated shows.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-16-2006 @ 10:18AM
scott said...
We have a local weatherman who puts on sackcloth when the temp goes below 90 degrees.Everyone else is rejoicing.
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10-16-2006 @ 9:23AM
Scott H said...
3. I blame the viewers who watch this excrement. Everyone claims they hate reality TV and only watch the "good shows". It's like people hating Congress but loving their own representative.
4. Because viewers hated it, and they're now trying to reach beyond the "Andy Griffith Show" audience. Because it screws up TiVos and even VCRs, and unlike the ABC "10:02pm start time" network, they don't want to anger their viewers unnecessarily.
5. Because they're extremely hard to do well. "The Simpsons" got about 8 years of good shows out of the concept. One could argue whether "Family Guy" and "South Park" have any juice left in them. Because the audience may be HUGE for Adult Swim or the rash of animated shows on Comedy Central, but it's miniscule compared to nearly anything that a major network could put on, from people willingly eating sheep pancreas, to another edition of "To Catch a Predator", or even, at the worst, "King of Queens".
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10-16-2006 @ 9:29AM
Tully said...
On #4
I had recently heard two statements regarding the TBS change:
-Recording devices (including DVR systems) were not set up to record the off-times easily for average users.
-It was originally an oddball move by Turner to attempt to capture channel surfers who would stumble upon their programing just as it was starting. The thought being that people started their surfing at the hour and half-hour marks, thus they would come upon a TBS program just starting and be more likely to watch.
No idea if either of the two are true.
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10-16-2006 @ 9:31AM
Tully said...
Oh...and on #5
Animated shows also require a lot of pre-production (not to mention post-production work) and are simply more costly to run than a traditional sitcom or reality show.
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10-16-2006 @ 10:19AM
Tricia said...
About #1 - I totally agree! I do not like summer!! At almost 100 degrees, bright, blinding sunshine every damn day, the humidity so high that you are soaked if you walk outside for even a minute, I could SO do without that!! But fall, beautiful sky, beautiful breezes, beautiful leaves, wonderful! Grab a sleeve and sit outside for hours, never breaking a sweat, that would be perfect all year round weather. But even with that, our local forecasters do seem to apologize if we need to even think about turning on the heater!
#2 - Conan annoys me, therefore I don't watch him.
#3 - Reality television - the only one I am watching at the moment is Little People, Big World on TLC. Good parents, good kids, beautiful farm in Oregon, it is a slice of life about the Roloff family, and I really enjoy peeking into their lives. But the rest, nope, I don't watch it!!
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10-16-2006 @ 10:29AM
Keith McDuffee said...
On #2: How about any time Leno says "did you hear about this?" or "did you see this?"
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10-16-2006 @ 11:13AM
mike said...
#4
IIRC the reason TBS was off 5 minutes way back when was because they ran little news segments on the hour. Made sense when Ted thought CNN and 24hour news would change the world.
(it did, just not for the better)
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10-16-2006 @ 11:22AM
Jen said...
Conan does something else that just gives me the oogies. Every now and then, he'll be talking to some celebrity (and this usually happens when it's a female) and in the middle of a laugh or something he'll stick his finger in his ear and wiggle it around. I've watched this and there has been a few times that right after doing that he shakes the celeb's hands. Ew. ew.. ew.
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10-16-2006 @ 11:22AM
TuckerKatt said...
Father of the Pride was a fantastic show. I was shocked when it got cancelled. Very funny, very clever, and a great cast. I loved how much S&R allowed the show to poke fun at them, they were really good sports about it IMO. Anyone else watch it?
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10-16-2006 @ 12:19PM
Jazza said...
#5 ABC tried it with Clerks. And I can't remember who it was who had Game Over, the CGI one of a family of video games characters
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10-16-2006 @ 6:16PM
Zachary said...
1). I think it depends on where the forecaster is. Here in West Michigan, the forecasters don't bat an eye. I imagine they go crazy farther down south.
2) I hardly ever watch Conan, so no opinion here.
3) I think reality shows are still popular because people, for whatever reason, enjoy watch Regular Joes like themselves do whatever it takes for a shot at fame. People like to imagine themselves in that person's position and think as to what they would do differently.
4) I think TBS tried it to be different and when they found that it didn't really make a difference, they changed it.
5) #1 reason would be money. Like a poster above noted, it's more expensive to create an animated show than a live action. It could also be a thing where the networks have tried and failed and figured that they would let Fox have that arena all to themselves.
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10-16-2006 @ 6:41PM
Quantumkat said...
I wish that prime time TV had mature, adult animated programs done maybe with cheated animation but with intelligent writing. They gotta make it so pretty and then no substance. Basically I wish we have prime time US Anime like Japan offers. I sure do wish that.
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10-17-2006 @ 12:29AM
Erica said...
5.
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10-17-2006 @ 12:38AM
Erica said...
ABC had 2 short seasons of The Critic.
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