Watching Sitcoms

I’m so happy. I just got my Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog DVD. And it’s amazing. Well, I mean, obviously, I’ve seen the show like a gazillion times since it came out in July. (Also, I’ve listened to the CD so many times I can’t even put a number to it.) But now I get to watch Dr. Horrible, live, in color, on my big screen TV. I get to see them singing, while I listen in surround sound. It’s like I’m living in a dream.

I love it. No, no, really. I just love it. I want more. And, lucky me, the DVD gives me more. Not only are there some behind the scenes interviews and stuff like that, there are also audition videos from other villains as they attempt to get into the Evil League of Evil.

Here’s a little glimpse of one of the interviews:

But the best thing, (more…)

There’s a new trailer for Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse, but I’ll get to that in a minute. OK, don’t misunderstand me, I’m not unhappy about it, but I’m still a bit concerned about what FOX is doing with the show. I’m a little concerned about what FOX is doing with their whole schedule for the new mid-season line up.

Here’s the schedule, as far as I know it, and pretty much only listing those days I actually care about:

MONDAYS
8:00 pm - 24 (part 2 of season premiere on Jan 12- Part 1 airs Jan 11, moves to 9 pm on Jan 19)
8:00 pm - House (starts Jan 19)
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Thanks to LIN Broadcasting, I no longer have CBS (or the CW) on my TV. They decided to have a disagreement with Time Warner. Apparently, when the contract ran out, since they had not come to an agreement, they pulled their stations. They suck.

What makes me even crazier is that LIN Broadcasting is going around trying to say this is all Time Warner’s fault, when its not. The fault lies entirely with LIN Broadcasting, who demanded more money from Time Warner and then chose to pull the channels from Time Warner’s line up during negotiations. Time Warner doesn’t want consumers to have to pay more money for channels that we can get for free, and I totally agree.
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Unbelievable. Just un-stinking-believable. Last year, as anyone who has read my blogs will know, I suffered through each and every episode of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. I didn’t think the show was too good, cause it seemed all that happened was people running around and things blowing up. There was no real story behind it all, at least it seemed so to me, and we never got a chance to know the characters.

But this season, only 5 episodes in, they’ve fixed all that. For me, this season has been really good. I’m looking forward to what happens next. Now I found out that not everyone is as dedicated as I am. The show has lost ratings, and FOX is afraid that it’s bringing down Prison Break, one of FOX’s big shows. I’ve never seen Prison Break and I don’t think I care to (even though I have noticed that it has some Buffy alum) cause it just doesn’t appeal to me. I still want to watch Sarah Connor, though.

It’s the same old thing with FOX. They are evil people. They bring you something, it just starts getting good, and then they kill it. Right in front of you. You have to watch it die.

Let me name just some of the great shows that FOX has killed off (more…)

What in the world is happening? What? Is? Happening? I mean it, how can this be? Look, I watched the second ep of Gary Unmarried this morning. As it turns out, I already watch two shows between 8 pm and 9 pm on Wednesday, Bones and America’s Next Top Model, so I can’t DVR or watch a third at the same time. So anyway, I had to watch Gary Unmarried on the CBS site, like last week, and as I will have to next week, should I decide to ever, ever watch it again.

Last week I was pleased that the show was simply humorously funny and not just about sex. I even overlooked the fact that the opening scene was Gary having sex with a woman he barely knew. I’ll never understand that. Why in the world does someone want to gave sex with a total stranger? If you ask me, that’s just completely icky. But I didn’t let it bother me cause I thought the show was funny otherwise.
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Continuing on with my what’s new, sitcom-wise, for Fall, we come to ABC. (What does that stand for anyway? American Broadcasting Company?)

In any case, guess how many sitcoms, new and old, ABC has on their Fall schedule. One. Yes, that’s right, only one. It’s a returning sitcom, too, Samantha Who, which airs Monday nights at 9:30 pm. Apparently, they are so afraid of what happened last year that they aren’t even going to propose anything new this year. I’m guessing they feel that they have to make up for Carpoolers and Cavemen. As they should.

In reviewing ABC’s Fall schedule, though, I noticed something weird. There are big empty gaps in the 10 pm hour on both Wednesday and Thursday. Maybe they are saving those for something good. Its doubtful they would be sitcoms, though, since sitcoms are usually considered family fare and are on earlier in the night.

The only new show I saw on their schedule, at all, was called Opportunity Knocks. It’s another Ashton Kutcher thing (I believe he plans to complete take over TV) about a game show that comes to you. Really.

Honestly, I wonder if the strike has anything to do with why ABC has no new shows this year. Or maybe they were just having a banner year and feel like they already have a pretty tight schedule. I guess it could be one of those reasons, or maybe something completely different. Maybe they plan on putting new shows into those two blank hours, but they don’t want anyone to know about them. But that’s probably not true. I can say that I hardly ever, ever watch any of the shows on ABC myself, whatever that means.

As I mentioned before, FOX also has two new cartoon comedies airing this year,  these are The Cleveland Show and Sit Down, Shut Up.  I don’t really think of cartoons as adult entertainment, even after 20 years of The Simpsons, so I’m not going to discuss these more than just telling you they exist.

All but one of the remaining comedies on FOX are also cartoon comedies, Family Guy, King of the Hill, and The Simpsons.

The only returning sitcom is Til Death.  For some reason, I never could get into this show.  I remember watching the first ep, eagerly, expecting a lot.  We were actually on vacation at the time, and I stopped what I was doing to see it.  I was pretty disappointed and I really never went back.  Oh, I’ve caught bits of different eps, here and there, but I just don’t get it.  Maybe I expected Robert from Everybody Loves Raymond.  I don’t know.

So along with Outnumbered and Do Not Disturb, this is all FOX has to offer by way of sitcoms this year.  Apparently, FOX, a network that I’ve mentioned many times before loves to kill off shows, is now planning to kill of the sitcom.

I guess I should give in and just accept that cartoons are also sitcoms, but I just can’t.  First of all, I think cartoons are stupid.  I just do.  Years and years ago, I used to read Life in Hell by Matt Groening, and I loved it.  I never could get The Simpsons, though.  It always seemed so whiny and self-indulgent to me.  I know people are gonna attack me for that opinion, but its just what I think.

So FOX is delivering us a slate of cartoons, which, from my point of view, clearly shows the dumbing down of America.

By now you’ve probably all heard about Bernie Mac dying on Saturday morning, August 9, 2008. He was only 50 years old. I was reading lots of articles about it that day, and I just couldn’t help thinking, wow, I’m almost 45. Someone dying at 50 seems very wrong. From what I read, Bernie died from complications with pneumonia. Most people do not die from pneumonia, but apparently Bernie had a pre-existing condition called sarcoidosis, a term which anyone who watches House will have heard before.

Sarcoidosis is an inflammatory lung disease and in the same family with connective tissue disorders. I read that his publicist said Bernie’s death was unrelated to the sarcoidosis, which had been in remission since 2006, but I’m not sure I believe that. It just seems that too big a coincidence to me that someone who has sarcoidosis, would then get pneumonia and die at 50, without the sarcoidosis being a factor. One of the reasons that it stuck out in my mind at all, is because connective tissue disorders is one of the many random not-quite-diagnoses that the many doctors I’ve been seeing have thrown out at me. Nothing is proven yet, and probably never will be, but it just made me think.

Bernie Mac, born as Bernard Jeffrey McCullough, started out as a stand up comedian, who won the Miller Lite Comedy Search when he was 32 years old. He went on from there, through the 1990’s to perform in comedy shows and movies. In 2001, he starred in The Bernie Mac Show on FOX, which was based, somewhat loosely, on his real life. It was a pretty funny show, wherein he and his wife take in his sister’s three children when she enters rehab. Along with the standard sitcom story lines, Bernie was also able to address the audience directly, breaking the “fourth wall.” The show itself won awards, which is probably why FOX failed to renew the show after the 2006 season. In case you can’t tell, that’s me being sarcastic. If you’ve read this blog for any length of time, you’ve probably heard me rant about how FOX kills off shows before their time. So I won’t do that here.

I just wanted to say goodbye to Bernie Mac, a great comedian and actor, who died way too young.

My friend, Laura (she has two blogs - Chris Daughtry fan and Movie Review Report), told me about another site, similar to hulu.com. It’s surfthechannel.com, and I decided to go check it out. It’s a great site. Its not exactly the same as hulu, because it appears that the television programs and movies on the site are actually loaded elsewhere, but link back to the site.

So there’s and upside and a downside. The downside is that you have to go through a couple of links to get to the show and also, if you aren’t careful, you might click on something that ends up showing you something you don’t want to see, like porno. Or maybe you do want to, but that’s between you and your computer. It wasn’t actually porno, but one time I ended up at a site for local dating, with pics of scantily clad chicks. But these were just average people and it was kind of scary. Another downside, is that since the shows are linking back, they have to buffer for you to see them. A couple of the shows I watched buffered every few seconds, although a couple didn’t hardly buffer at all, so for the slow ones, I just paused them and walked away for a while until they were all loaded and then I watched them. Some of the shows also had foreign language subtitles, too; I saw both Chinese and Russian.

But now for the upside. There is a huge, huge selection of both TV shows and movies, kids shows, anime, and other stuff. I’m pretty excited, cause there were lots of shows there I’ve been wanting to see that aren’t at hulu, so that’s really cool. I even saw some movies that are still in theaters, but I’m not saying anything.

One other thing is that the site works better if you use Firefox rather than Internet Explorer. I’m not sure why that is, exactly, but if you don’t have Firefox as a browser, I’d suggest downloading it, even if you just use it to view the shows on this site.

The only other new sitcom from FOX this year is Outnumbered, written and executive-produced by Larry Levin. (There are actually two cartoon comedies on the FOX line up, but I don’t count cartoons as actual shows. Sorry, but that’s just the way it is.)

Outnumbered is a family sitcom, which is described as a “a fresh and hilarious approach” to the sitcom. The description on the FOX site mentions both Curb Your Enthusiasm and Malcolm in the Middle, as similar shows for one reason or another. Apparently, the adult dialogue is scripted but the children’s is not. This is very confusing to me, cause it seems like scripting the children and allowing the adults to improvise makes more sense, like The Cosby Show. But whatever.
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Thought I’d start taking a look at some of the new sitcoms coming out this year, and I’ve decided to start with Fox, since that’s the channel I find myself watching the most these days.

One show I’ve seen lots of ads for is Do Not Disturb, starting Jerry O’Connell and Niecy Nash, which premieres Wednesday, Septermber 10, 2008 at at 9:30 PM ET.

From the title, its obviously set in a hotel and it gives the impression, to me at least, that its about room service or maid staff. But its not. It’s about a New York City hotel called The Inn, which is supposed to be one of the “10 Best Places to Stay” in the Big Apple.

Jerry O’Connell plays Neal, the egotistical, hyper-stylish, detail-oriented general manager who will do whatever it takes to keep the hotel and its employees up to his standards. The hotel’s charismatic owner R.J. (played by guest star Robert Wagner), however, takes all the credit. Niecy Nash (who I didn’t realize was an actual actress, since I’ve only seen her on Clean House as a host) is the brash and brutally honest HR department head.

Do Not Disturb also stars Molly Stanton as Nicole, the aging model front desk clerk, Brando Eaton as Jason, the naive bellman, Jolene Purdy as Molly, a reservations clerk who wants to be pop star, and Jesse Tyler Ferguson as Larry, the head of housekeeping.

The show’s Executive Producer and Writer is Abraham Higginbotham and the Director is Jason Bateman (Is that really Jason Bateman, Jason Bateman?) The Fox website describes the show as “hilarious,” but I have my doubts. I kinda wonder if Jerry O’Connell just has a contract with Fox, so they have to keep creating shows for him to star in. There’s a short clip video at the site, and after watching it, I can’t say I laughed at all. Not even once. But I’m willing to give the show a chance.

Best of the West. Did I talk about this show before, or did I just think about it? I do that sometimes, I think the whole thing out, just in my head, and then never get a chance to write it down. Then I forget everything I thought out that was so witty. Or whatever. Then I either forget about it entirely, or just think I already did it. So, I’m not sure about Best of the West and I’m too lazy to go back and check.

Best of the West was a western comedy back in 1981. And look what I found on YouTube:

This is just a few minutes of one of the eps, but it gives you an idea of what the show was like, for those of you, unlike me, who don’t remember it very well. I remember it really well. That Meeno Peluce (he’s related to Punky Brewster, you know) was such a little cutie, and Tracey Walter, who played Frog, was just so hilarious.

One episode I remember particularly well was about the railroad coming into town. The man who determined where the railroad would go was very religious. Since they wanted the railroad, they decided to pretend they were religious, too. They converted the saloon into a church, and draped the dancing girls in sheets, stationing them along the stairway, to be the choir. They start to sing the hymn, Rock of Ages, but no one knows more than just the title, so they keep singing that over and over to the tune of the song, “rock of ages, cleft for me” pause, “rock of ages, cleft for me” and so on. For some reason, that struck my mother and I as very funny and whenever we hear that song, we always sing it that way. Just goes to show you how people remember silly things.

The writer of the show, Earl Pomerantz, has a series of posts in his blog, entitled “Story of a Writer,�? where he talks about Best of the West and how it came to be. He mentions another funny bit in one episode where the wife is sweeping the floor and complaining that she can’t get all the dirt up, when the husband points out that it’s a dirt floor. Again, silly, but one of those things you remember, even nearly 30 years later.

I also found this link, to someone who has created a DVD of the show and is selling it. I might just have to get those.

The first thing I did this morning when I woke up was check dialidol. Really. It’s an illness, I can admit that now, when its almost over and I don’t have to think about it again until I go to the concert in July. Anyway, I wanted to see what dialidol had to say about who was gonna win American Idol. It says David Cook. And dialidol has never been wrong. At least it has never been wrong for this week, for the final winner. My mother won’t even discuss it. She has already decided that David Archuleta is the winner and she won’t hear anything else. If he does win, she’s gonna be unbelievably obnoxious. My mother is a bad loser and a bad winner.

So as I get ready to watch AI tonight, I’m ready for anything.

Ryan says we had 97 1/2 million votes. That’s 23 million votes more than the most before. Does he mean ever or just this year? So the votes weren’t even that close, 56% to 44%.

Mikayla Gordon is in Kansas City for David Cook. Matt Rogers is in Salt Lake City, Utah for David Archuleta. I love Matt Rogers. I was so sad when he didn’t make the concert in his year.

I think this was the least awkward group performance all season. Which isn’t saying much, but still. It was almost exciting to see all those people I had mostly forgotten about, like David Hernandez. Did anyone else notice someone in the back start to walk off and then go back and get in position? Was that Jason??

I never care much about the audience, but this is a big night. I heard Danny Noriega is upset because he wasn’t invited. Anyway, so far I’ve noticed Marilu Henner and Janice Dickinson. That doesn’t mean anything, it’s just who I noticed.

When they come back from the commercial it seemed like they weren’t actually ready for that. So the start of the David/David song was a little weak. But they did a good job, they sounded good together. I’m almost starting to look forward to the concert now.

The Love Guru skit was actually funny. Who knew? I love the way Fox fills up time by promoting their movies and shows, “Mariska Hargitay.” That’s fun. I’m gonna start staying that.

Next Syesha sings “Wait For You” with Seal. Seal was great, but the song didn’t sound like it was in the right key for Syesha. But obviously, when you’re singing with a real celebrity you have to sing it in his key. And anyway, the judging is over.

Now we have Jason singing “Hallelujah.” How come he doesn’t get to sing with a celebrity? I saw Melinda Doolittle in the crowd. I was crying, too, Melinda.

The Ford commercial this week was just outtakes from old commercials. Question: Why don’t we ever see those commercials as commercials? You know, other than just on AI.

Now the chicks get to sing some Donna Summer, “She Works Hard for the Money” and “Hot Stuff” and then Donna Summer comes out and sings her new song. This is hardly ever a good idea. When old people come back with their new stuff, its usually scary. This was just OK. I missed the ending cause the dogs had to go out.

Next up we have Carly and Michael singing “The Letter.” If I recall, Constantine’s group sang this during Hollywood week. I know that doesn’t matter, but I have to talk about something right now and I’d rather not say anything rude about Carly. Or anything about Carly at all. I wish I wasn’t seeing and hearing her now. Her voice totally grates on my ears and her ugly tat is annoying me. Sorry.

Ryan hands the show over to Jimmy Kimmel. Yeah, Sanjaya is in the audience. I love him! And they showed a pic of Chris Sligh. I love him, too!

Now we have the top 6 guys singing some Bryan Adams, “Summer of ‘69″ and “Heaven.” This is turning out to be a great night for me, cause I’m a big Bryan Adams fan. Forget everything I said about old people singing new stuff and how it’s not good. Bryan was amazing. I actually did a little fangirly squeal when he came out on the stage.

Bo Bice sighting. It makes me wonder where Constantine is. I doubt they could have this finale without him, can they?

Now up we have David Cook with ZZ Top singing “Sharp Dressed Man.” Whenever I hear this song I always hear “his shy best man” for some reason. I know the words, I just always think that. And I can’t believe ZZ is on American Idol.

More Mikayla. Then Brooke singing with Graham Nash, “Teach Your Children Well.” Wow, he’s old. And she’s not wearing shoes. What is that all about?

Is that my imagination or was that David Cook in that Guitar Hero commercial? I wish I was taping this on a video, cause I think I’m gonna want to keep this year’s finale for a while.

Ryan says this next group needs no introduction, and maybe that’s true if you’re a teenage girl, but no one in this living room has any idea who they are. I hazard a guess that it’s the Jonas Brothers. I’m right.

Now, Ryan, with his arm around some strange woman from the audience, introduces a tape of the best of the worst. Just when I had finally repressed it all. Then they bring out Renaldo singing his own song, “I Am Your Brother.” Complete with a marching band. They clearly have too much time to waste on this show.

One Republic is up next with “Apologize” and David Archuleta. Laura just shared that Ryan Tedder looks like a guy named Robbie that was stalking her once. But not as cute. Yes, little by little, the living room has been filling up with people to catch the AI finale. I’m sure we’ll have some phone-ins soon, too.

More with Matt Rogers. Next up with Jordin Sparks. I thought she was on voice rest or something. Apparently not any longer.

The stuff they can do with video these days is just amazing. They can even make Ben Stiller, Jack Black and Robert Downey, Jr. into Pips.

Now we have Carrie Underwood singing some country song. I know everyone likes her, but I really never did. We’re busy discussing her outfit. Its like she put her jacket on but forgot a skirt or pants. So much for sweet and wholesome.

Ashley Tinsdale sighting. I never even mentioned anywhere that the two David’s were given Ford Escape Hybrids.

Oh, look, there’s that Guitar Hero commercial with David Archuleta. Cookie was better.

Another group number with the top 12. George Michael medley. It’s OK, David H, you can say “naked” on TV. And, as is no surprise at this point, we are joined by George Michael. Why is Paula crying? Is she flashing back to some bad experience in the 80’s? We’ve all fallen silent listening to George. Its almost like a spiritual thing. Except for my husband who abruptly left the room when they started singing “Faith.”

OK, so finally, we are down to the end. Finally. It took long enough. And so, the American Idol of Season 7, the best season of American idol, ever, is . . . (drum roll, please) . . . David . . . Cook. Yeah!!!!! We can’t even believe it. I just had to call my sister and be obnoxious. I love it when things work out.

As this season is drawing to a close once again (didn’t this just happen a few weeks ago? No, wait, that was a strike) and most of the shows I watch are going into hibernation for the summer, I did a little sleuthing to see what was what. So here’s a really, really, really (and I mean, really) comprehensive list of all the shows on TV right now, what’s coming soon, and what’s never coming back, from the Futon Critic. I’m amazed at this list. It must have taken forever to put that together and I’m glad all I have to do it link to it.

Anyway, I’m pretty disappointed about a couple of things. First of all Moonlight. They promised me it would be back. Well, maybe not promised, maybe I just assumed it would be back. But it was cancelled. Also, Fox kept Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and cancelled New Amsterdam. It’s like no one even listens to me when I talk.

As for sitcoms, Back To You was cancelled, which is no surprise to me. It had been going downhill ever since it came back after the strike. Also cancelled, and no surprise, were Miss/Guided, Welcome to the Captain, Cavemen, Carpoolers, The Return of Jezebel James and Unhitched. I kinda liked Miss/Guided.

Of all those new sitcoms that came out way back last Fall, we did get to keep my fave, The Big Bang Theory. The last few weeks have seen me laughing out loud, not something I do often, and I’m looking forward to the show coming back even funnier next Fall.

So you’ll want to to check out the list to see if your fave shows are returning or if they are going the way of Moonlight. *sigh*

Who will make the Top 10? This is American Idol. And this is my choppy, cut and chop night review. I’ll be fast-forwarding through stuff again this week. Cause I can. Oh, no, are they doing that songwriter thing again? Why do they do that? It’s almost like they hate us.

Also, I think they should avoid the big group sings with this crowd. These people are too awkward and dissimilar to sing together. Question: Was Ramiele’s mic even on? And why didn’t David C, Jason and Ramiele get to sing solo at all?

I’m even more anti-recap this week than I am other weeks, cause last night’s performances are not something I want to have to sit through twice.

So on to eliminations.

First up is Brooke. She is safe.

Carly is next. She is in the Bottom Three!! Yay! I never expected that.

Next up is David A. He is safe. (Wow, what a surprise.)

Michael is safe!

Now we’re showing the Ford commercial - but the fun part is we get to see how it’s made. So how cold was it in Hollywood when they did that commercial? I mean how cold does it really get there?

Back to eliminations.

David C. is next and he is safe.

Kristy Lee is . . . once again in the Bottom Three.

Jason is safe!!!! Yipee! I get to see him on the tour.

Ramiele is next and she is safe. Wow, everything I thought is being blown out of the water, isn’t it.

Then they did the silly audience questions. I’m just fast-forwarding through these, thanks to DVR. Ditto to Kelly Pickler. And the Idol Gives Back stuff.

Back to eliminations.

Syesha is safe.

So all that’s left is Chikezie and Amanda. Chikezie is safe and Amanda is in the Bottom Three.

I knew it would be a girl. Could this show be more scripted?

Carly is sent to the couches first. She is safe. Oh well, you can’t win them all.

Please let it be Kristy. Please let it be Kristy. Please let it be Kristy. *sigh*

I’ll miss you, Amanda.