Nostalgia Content
3 days ago
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Monday, December 29, 2008
Armchair TV Exec
According to tradition, most magazines put out some kind of "year in review" issue right about December. This time around, I have noticed that in the pop culture-driven mags, whenever they talk about tv, Heroes is a popular punchline. As in "how far a tv golden child can fall," etc. There is also something known as a "sophomore slump," (which happens to sports rookies as much as tv writers), and I have an idea as to why this happens to tv writers. It's the networks' fault.
Maybe it has always been this way, I don't know, but lately networks have been very quick to drop the axe on shows that aren't instant ratings performers, no matter how high the quality of the show. Maybe it's the reality tv invasion that has caused execs to get trigger happy, as reality tv doesn't have as much overhead as scripted, but I digress.
With this ever-looming threat of axe wielding, show creators, producers, and writers are under tremendous pressure to grab and retain audiences early (much like the opening-weekend nonsense movies have to contend with), so they present all the really good stuff right out of the gate, not always planning to have a second season. They do well, and then, what next? They leave themselves with a very tough act to follow. So they often go back to the basics of character development, which they would have done first, but networks often do not trust the audience to stick around for that in the beginning, (though chances are it would be better for the story in the long run). And of course by this time, the audience is used to a hard-hitting format, and NOW doesn't have the patience to sit through a ramping-up period waiting for payoff (miraculously around sweeps time), no matter how big. So you end up with poor reviews, reduced viewership numbers, and a spot as the year-end punchline.
Heroes is past it's sophomore slump, but it's still reeling from the effects. Season 2 turned the show in a direction that is proving difficult to reverse smoothly. I imagine the options were to cut it off at the hilt and start over, losing continuity between seasons, or transition gradually back to the formula and core characters that granted them success in Season 1. I believe they chose the latter, and it's definitely the hard road. Though some lost their jobs over it, the show is still around to make good on its promise to return to being the show its fans love. Tim Kring issued a verbal mea culpa, and found that most fans are very forgiving, even if the critics hold an impenetrable grudge.
Of course, I'm not in the entertainment business, so I'm just speculating here, but I've seen the sophomore slump occur in enough shows--some got the guillotine, some pushed through it--to take a guess as to the cause.
Maybe it has always been this way, I don't know, but lately networks have been very quick to drop the axe on shows that aren't instant ratings performers, no matter how high the quality of the show. Maybe it's the reality tv invasion that has caused execs to get trigger happy, as reality tv doesn't have as much overhead as scripted, but I digress.
With this ever-looming threat of axe wielding, show creators, producers, and writers are under tremendous pressure to grab and retain audiences early (much like the opening-weekend nonsense movies have to contend with), so they present all the really good stuff right out of the gate, not always planning to have a second season. They do well, and then, what next? They leave themselves with a very tough act to follow. So they often go back to the basics of character development, which they would have done first, but networks often do not trust the audience to stick around for that in the beginning, (though chances are it would be better for the story in the long run). And of course by this time, the audience is used to a hard-hitting format, and NOW doesn't have the patience to sit through a ramping-up period waiting for payoff (miraculously around sweeps time), no matter how big. So you end up with poor reviews, reduced viewership numbers, and a spot as the year-end punchline.
Heroes is past it's sophomore slump, but it's still reeling from the effects. Season 2 turned the show in a direction that is proving difficult to reverse smoothly. I imagine the options were to cut it off at the hilt and start over, losing continuity between seasons, or transition gradually back to the formula and core characters that granted them success in Season 1. I believe they chose the latter, and it's definitely the hard road. Though some lost their jobs over it, the show is still around to make good on its promise to return to being the show its fans love. Tim Kring issued a verbal mea culpa, and found that most fans are very forgiving, even if the critics hold an impenetrable grudge.
Of course, I'm not in the entertainment business, so I'm just speculating here, but I've seen the sophomore slump occur in enough shows--some got the guillotine, some pushed through it--to take a guess as to the cause.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Family Circle, 1974
Came across this in a family member's basement. It's a UK Family Circle magazine from the 1970s, and it's got some brilliant ad content. Really.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Wanking Season
Awards season is upon us: The Golden Globes, the Oscars, the Emmys at some point, People's Choice, Teen Choice, Kids' Choice, Taster's Choice--there is no way I can name them all without Google. For the world of Twitter, there is the Shorty Awards, and I recently nominated someone.
There's a template, that says "I nominate_____ for a Shorty Award in [the category of] ________ because_____," and we just fill in the blanks. I tweeted the nomination, and it sounded fine, but when it popped up as an update, and I re-read it, it sounded kind of kiss-ass-y, though it was completely sincere. So then I got to thinking... are we SO cynical that honest praise sounds exactly like wanking? Or maybe I'm just that cynical.
An accessible example of praise that we have no way of knowing is honest--but sounds exactly like wanking either way--is the celebrity press tour. Interviews. Every movie's actors describes whatever they're promoting to be the best experience of all time, each director the most inspired, each crew the most dedicated, each script a masterpiece of which that they just had to be a part.
And there are movies which are truly that awesome... but so many people profess the same boilerplate praise every time, that statistically speaking, somebody has to be full of it. Therefore no one comes out sounding sincere (to me).
Maybe I should lay off the DVD extras for awhile.
There's a template, that says "I nominate_____ for a Shorty Award in [the category of] ________ because_____," and we just fill in the blanks. I tweeted the nomination, and it sounded fine, but when it popped up as an update, and I re-read it, it sounded kind of kiss-ass-y, though it was completely sincere. So then I got to thinking... are we SO cynical that honest praise sounds exactly like wanking? Or maybe I'm just that cynical.
An accessible example of praise that we have no way of knowing is honest--but sounds exactly like wanking either way--is the celebrity press tour. Interviews. Every movie's actors describes whatever they're promoting to be the best experience of all time, each director the most inspired, each crew the most dedicated, each script a masterpiece of which that they just had to be a part.
And there are movies which are truly that awesome... but so many people profess the same boilerplate praise every time, that statistically speaking, somebody has to be full of it. Therefore no one comes out sounding sincere (to me).
Maybe I should lay off the DVD extras for awhile.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Facebook Schmacebook
I admit it. I couldn't hang with Facebook.
It started out OK; I found some people I hadn't spoken to in years, and saw photos of weddings and babies and read posts, and it was cool. But then came the Friend Adds from people I didn't necessarily want to talk to again. It's not that I don't like them or anything silly like that, it's just that these are people from my past who I prefer to stay there. And I didn't figure out all the privacy settings before it was too late.
I'm being totally neurotic about this, I know. But I'm pretty different from who I was when I knew many of these people, and I think I can safely assume the same is true for them. They are strangers to me now, but worse. They have an impression of me from many years ago, and I of them. So both parties will be trying to reconcile the old memories with the more recent versions in the posted photos and bios, and, at times, old impressions are difficult for some to break. If you do talk to each other, most of the time you end up rehashing the old crap after you get through a few rounds of "What are you up to these days?" and other awkward variations on smalltalk. And if they so choose, all your Facebook Friends (and their Friends) can see it! (Direct messages aside.) Ugh.
At least I'm consistent. I don't do reunions either. Aren't those just big parties that devolve into mini reunions of the same old cliques? Yeah... no thanks.
Bottom line: I know who I know, and I tend to prefer the here and now to the past, even if it was fun. I'm cool with running into someone on the street. In fact, I find that infinitely more gratifying than clicking Add As A Friend, but my preference is that the past stays right where I left it.
It started out OK; I found some people I hadn't spoken to in years, and saw photos of weddings and babies and read posts, and it was cool. But then came the Friend Adds from people I didn't necessarily want to talk to again. It's not that I don't like them or anything silly like that, it's just that these are people from my past who I prefer to stay there. And I didn't figure out all the privacy settings before it was too late.
I'm being totally neurotic about this, I know. But I'm pretty different from who I was when I knew many of these people, and I think I can safely assume the same is true for them. They are strangers to me now, but worse. They have an impression of me from many years ago, and I of them. So both parties will be trying to reconcile the old memories with the more recent versions in the posted photos and bios, and, at times, old impressions are difficult for some to break. If you do talk to each other, most of the time you end up rehashing the old crap after you get through a few rounds of "What are you up to these days?" and other awkward variations on smalltalk. And if they so choose, all your Facebook Friends (and their Friends) can see it! (Direct messages aside.) Ugh.
At least I'm consistent. I don't do reunions either. Aren't those just big parties that devolve into mini reunions of the same old cliques? Yeah... no thanks.
Bottom line: I know who I know, and I tend to prefer the here and now to the past, even if it was fun. I'm cool with running into someone on the street. In fact, I find that infinitely more gratifying than clicking Add As A Friend, but my preference is that the past stays right where I left it.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
This is Not a Blog
This "intentionally left blank" card came with my insurance cards, and I thought my head would explode. Then I thought, maybe this is a zen lesson meant to increase health through meditation on the contradictory nature of life. Ultimately, I've decided it's pop art commentary à la Warhol, and as such, I've framed it and put it on my wall.
Monday, December 8, 2008
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Miam-Miam
I love this lamp. It's in this great Algerian restaurant in Montréal called Kamela. If you go there, eat a "Brick." It comes with a really delicious salad. And get the crème de légumes (cream of vegetable) soup--amazing.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Eyes on the Road
Figuratively, I am on a road to optimism, so I try to keep my ranting here to a minimum. Tonight, however, I am angry. I am angry because while on an actual road, someone failed to pay attention while driving his vehicle, and nearly killed my entire family.
I was driving, sitting in the intersection waiting to make my left turn. As I made the turn, a Jeep Cherokee came along from the right, ignored or missed the fact that his light was red, and very nearly t-boned the passenger side of our car at full speed (which, around this intersection varies from 40-50 MPH or more). It was so much closer than I dare to recall, so I will try not to picture it, but--by the grace of whatever is out there--we were not hit.
I am not a person who believes that driving is a right. I believe it is a privilege that carries a serious responsibility which most clearly take for granted. Probably because we, in the U.S., have come to view driving as something everyone should do. It's a charming little rite of passage for our 16 year old kids. There's at least one car per person in any given household. Yet if any terrorist group or murderer or obscure disease killed or maimed as many people as car accidents do every day, there would be outrage and telethons and run-walks and weepy celebrities calling for action. But apparently the convenience is worth the casualties.
Even the best drivers make stupid mistakes, and all you can do is hope that your inevitable slips of judgment mean no more than a fender-bender or someone giving you the finger instead of a trip to the hospital or the morgue. Many believe that the general public cannot be trusted with a gun, but a two-ton projectile moving at high speeds is somehow acceptable for anyone who's had a sweet sixteen. Hm.
I was driving, sitting in the intersection waiting to make my left turn. As I made the turn, a Jeep Cherokee came along from the right, ignored or missed the fact that his light was red, and very nearly t-boned the passenger side of our car at full speed (which, around this intersection varies from 40-50 MPH or more). It was so much closer than I dare to recall, so I will try not to picture it, but--by the grace of whatever is out there--we were not hit.
I am not a person who believes that driving is a right. I believe it is a privilege that carries a serious responsibility which most clearly take for granted. Probably because we, in the U.S., have come to view driving as something everyone should do. It's a charming little rite of passage for our 16 year old kids. There's at least one car per person in any given household. Yet if any terrorist group or murderer or obscure disease killed or maimed as many people as car accidents do every day, there would be outrage and telethons and run-walks and weepy celebrities calling for action. But apparently the convenience is worth the casualties.
Even the best drivers make stupid mistakes, and all you can do is hope that your inevitable slips of judgment mean no more than a fender-bender or someone giving you the finger instead of a trip to the hospital or the morgue. Many believe that the general public cannot be trusted with a gun, but a two-ton projectile moving at high speeds is somehow acceptable for anyone who's had a sweet sixteen. Hm.
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