Watching Sitcoms

American Idol is heading into Hollywood week, finally. So this week, we have two hours on Tuesday and one hour on Wednesday. Then next week we start the Top 24 eliminations with two hours on Tuesday for the Top 12 boys and two hours on Wednesday for the top 12 girls. Finally, we also get an hour on Thursday for the first four eliminations.

I’m happy about that, cause I was pretty tired of the initial auditions. Especially since no one was too good. No one was really that bad either. Don’t get me wrong, there were some really sucky people who auditioned, but there was no William Hung, if you get my drift. Well, there was the guy in the white winged costume who sang his own song about being brothers. I guess he was almost like William Hung. Except that I don’t know his name. Does anyone? I mean I’m sure any one of us could go look him up somewhere, but you didn’t have to look up William Hung, he was everywhere and everyone knew his name by the next day.

As I’ve already pointed out, I barely remember the names of any of the people who were good, never mind the ones that weren’t.

I do, however, have high hopes for Hollywood week. I really, really do. I keep thinking that maybe the reason we didn’t get to see too many good singers during the auditions is that they want to wow us this week with how awesome the good people are going to be. Call me the eternal optimist, but I believe that American Idol can still turn out to be good this year. I honestly do.

OK. Fine, I did go look up the white winged brother guy. His name is Reynaldo Lapuz, and just to memorialize the end of the auditions, here he is:

Now that the absolute end of the strike is in sight (yay!!!), here’s some news about when shows are gonna be back on the air. I love Michael Ausiello, don’t you? He always has all the answers.

So I checked out his list for all the shows I’m watching, and I was interested to see that some shows still have pre-strike episodes that haven’t aired yet. Somehow, I thought everything that was out there had already aired, with the exception of those few shows that are presently airing new eps, like Lost, Smallville, Supernatural and whatever else there is . . . they know who they are. For instance, I didn’t realize that there are still eps of Back To You and Bones that haven’t aired. So that’s fun. Hopefully, those will air before Spring.

It was sad to see that both Chuck and Moonlight are not going to be back until Fall. I love those shows. Along with Big Bang Theory, they were my favorite new shows of the past season. At least Big Bang will be back by April or May. I guess it gives me something I can look forward to. I have some questions about those shows, though. When will the first season DVDs come out? And when they do, will it be just these few episodes? I mean, they won’t hold off on putting out the DVDs until after new episodes air next Fall, will they?

Well, the exciting news is some of the shows we’ve come to know and love will be back soon. And right now I’m busy pretty much every night of the week watching American Idol anyway.

I was wrong. It appears that instead of House airing new episodes the next three Tuesdays, they will instead be airing new episodes tonight, January 29, Sunday night, February 3 (after the Super Bowl), and then next Tuesday, February 5.

I don’t get that. Why would you show a new episode of a show that everyone wants to watch after a sporting event that doesn’t necessarily end on time?

I’m not against the Super Bowl or anything, but I’m not really a big sports fan. I probably won’t be watching the Super Bowl. (well, maybe we will be, cause I’m sure my husband is planning on watching it in living color on the big TV.) But I will be going to bed and I don’t want to sit up and just wait for the Super Bowl to end so I can watch House. I can, of course, tape House, but who is to say that House will start at 10 pm or 10:30 pm? How do I know if I’ll be taping part of the Super Bowl and part of House?

It just seems like you should show a repeat or something when you can’t be certain what time the show will air. Right? I mean, am I right? Maybe its just me.

Tonight’s episode is entitled “It’s a Wonderful Lie,” which sounds like a Christmas ep to me. Well, it’s not February yet so I guess it’s OK. Sunday’s ep is entitled “Frozen,” and it looks like it’ll be fun, when the team has to diagnose a researcher who’s located at the South Pole. Next week the ep is entitled “Don’t Ever Change.”

House, Hugh Laurie, Super Bowl XLII

Woo and hoo!! New episodes are back. At least for a couple of weeks. And you can color me happy. Not that I’m not enjoying all the stuff I’ve been watching on DVD, but I’d just like to see something filmed after 1989. Its been so long for some shows, I’m not even sure I can remember everything I watched before. Which is a bad sign, cause it obviously means I don’t need to watch anything I don’t remember. And there’s also the fact that even when I remember which shows I was watching, I’m pretty sure I don’t remember what was happening when I saw them last.

I already mentioned Chuck, which will air the last two taped episodes tonight on NBC at 8 pm and 10 pm (this is lovely, cause I really, really miss Chuck) and Torchwood’s new season, which starts on BBC America on Saturday, January 26 at 9 pm. My watchingcw blog also discusses the new eps of Smallville and Supernatural, which start airing on Thursday, January 31 at 8 pm and 9 pm, respectively, on the CW.

And in other very exciting news, also coming back with new eps is (yay!!) House, three weeks in a row, starting Tuesday, January 29 at 9 pm, following American Idol. It will be so much fun to finally see how the new team works out, since we just got them picked when the last ep aired.

Finally, season four of Lost is starting on Thursday, January 31 at 9 pm on ABC, preceded by a recap episode entitled Lost: Past, Present & Future, at 8 pm. I’m really looking forward to Lost, but I’m not exactly positive why. I guess I just keep thinking that some day I’ll understand it and then it would have all been worthwhile. If you haven’t checked them out yet, you should go watch the “Missing Pieces.” They are a little confusing as they’re in no apparent order and they deal with stuff that happened over the past three years, but they are still fun. It only takes about 20 minutes to watch all of them that are up at the ABC site, so you should go see them before the season starts.

Chuck, Torchwood, Smallville, Supernatural, House, American Idol, Lost

Christmas has been keeping me really busy. I’m sorry I haven’t updated in a bit. In any case, I decided it was a good time to take a look into news on the strike - although, honestly, I’d rather not know.

One thing I uncovered that was kinda cute is this blog with the text of a letter from the writers of How I Met Your Mother. Clearly, they are just as unhappy as the rest of us.

Further investigation uncovered some exciting news for me. Apparently, on December 4, 2007, while I was shopping or baking or something, Les Moonves, President of CBS, announced that both The Big Bang Theory and Moonlight, possibly my two favorite new shows, will be renewed for a second season! Of course, that’s provided that the writers strike does eventually end and they can go on with the present season. I’m pretty happy, though, cause I really was worried. Not so much for Big Bang, cause that seemed like everyone liked it right away, but definitely for Moonlight, which definitely has a much smaller target demographic.

One of my other very fav new shows is Chuck, which was picked up for the rest of this season. (You know, the one that’s not really happening right now?) So that was more good news.

Checking out the other couple of sitcoms I’ve been watching, Back To You will be back to us in late March and finish out the season. There’s been no word on a second season. As for Carpoolers, it was greenlit for 13 eps and 6 aired. But there’s no word on whether or not we’ll ever seen any of the remaining 7 episodes. Or any others for that matter.

Well, at least I’ve still got my DVDs. (Except my DVD player has been starting to skip . . . but Christmas is coming, so you never know.)

How I Met Your Mother, The Big Bang Theory, Moonlight, Chuck, Carpoolers

Here’s a link to Nielsens Top Numbers for last week and it’s not what I would have thought at all.

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised by anything anymore, but I was kinda, by the fact that Samantha Who, which I think is one of the least good new sitcoms this year, is on the Top 20 list, and none of the others are on there. I’m talking new sitcoms here, not old ones, cause there are a couple of those on the list. I suppose it has something to do with Samantha airing a new ep last week when most of the others (maybe all of the others) were repeats.

Another thing that surprised me was that I saw very few, if any, of the shows I watch listed in the Top 20. Granted, I was busy last week and maybe didn’t watch as much TV as normal, but overall, very few of the shows I like and watch are on that list.

I only saw House, Law and Order:SVU, Jeopardy (which I catch occasionally) and Judge Judy (which I watch religiously, cause I just love her!) The Top 15 Cable list had some movies on there which I’ve seen, but which I did not watch again last week, namely, Santa Clause 2, High School Musical 2 and Elf.

Call me crazy, but most of the stuff I saw in the Top 20 just didn’t appeal to me at all. So now I’m wondering, am I watching the wrong stuff or is everyone else?

Nielsens, Samantha Who, House, Law and Order:SVU, Jeopardy, Judge Judy, Santa Clause 2, High School Musical 2, Elf

I’ve been trying to keep up with what’s happening with the Writers’ Guild of America (WGA) Strike. It’s only been a week, and already some sitcoms (just after the late night talk shows) are feeling the impact, which is sad.

One affected adversely is The Office, as Steve Carell is also a writer for the show. It makes me think I should go get the DVDs and start watching it. I know I’m weird. The show is off and now I wanna watch it.

I’m particularly unhappy about The Big Bang Theory, which I am really enjoying so much. I hadn’t realized that sitcoms were missing from my life until I started to watch it this year and now . . . I’m losing it so soon. Other stopped sitcoms include Back To You, The New Adventures of Old Christine, Rules of Engagement, Two and a Half Men and ‘Til Death. So what if I never watched them. Someone did, I’m sure of it.

Desperate Housewives is done and the premiere of 24 has been postponed. I believe I read somewhere that Lost was good, as all the eps had been written, which makes me a bit more happy knowing I have that to look forward to. Although some actors won’t cross the picket lines to shoot, so who knows.

The only up side I can see is that many shows go on a hiatus over the holidays for other programming anyway, so maybe we’ll all be too busy roasting turkey and making cookies to realize what’s gone until January. A girl can hope.

Writers Guild of America Strike, The Office, Back To You, Big Bang Theory, 24, Desperate Housewives, Lost

Well, the writers are on strike in Hollywood, but I won’t be joining them, in case you were worried. I’ve been reading about the strike and most people seem a little ambivalent. I don’t think anyone expects it to last too long. Here’s an article from Fox News about what’s happening.

It doesn’t seem like the strike will effect many sitcoms or other scripted prime time shows right away, in any case. It will probably have some effect on any new shows that were supposed to start in the spring, but that’s only if the strike lasts for more than a few weeks. I’m hoping it just blows over quickly. I’d hate to see some of these new shows that haven’t been picked up yet get cancelled because there are no new eps to tape. I’m not positive if that can happen, but it seems likely. Or even worse, come January, everything on tv will be reality programming. Which would make me want to hurt people. Badly. So let’s hope that doesn’t happen.

The one thing I’m most unhappy about is that Joss Whedon had just signed up with Fox to write a new show called Dollhouse, starring Eliza Dushku. It was hoped that it might air as soon as Spring, but now with the writers strike, it might not happen until Fall or later. I hate that.

Oh, and so you know, starting this month, I also picked up another blog at watchingCW.com, so you’ll want to check that one out as well. You may need to come here and read my babble, just for something to do other than watch reality tv.

I just saw this article today about Tim Minear.

You may not know him, but I’ve loved him for a long time. He’s worked on more than one project with Joss Whedon - producer of my most fav show of all time, Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

I’m a little afraid that this show, Miracle Man, doesn’t sound too exciting, but at least it’s not on Fox, so maybe it will be better than we hope. At least it’ll stand a chance.

And once again, here’s proof that Fox kills shows:

Fox, who lost the bidding war to ABC, and with whom Minear has a development deal, is the network that unceremoniously dropped his last four projects (Drive, Standoff, The Inside and Wonderfalls).

I notice they didn’t mention my personal fav Tim Minear series that died too soon, Firefly.

I just had to post this link to an article at E! Online, which totally proves my point that Fox rarely gives new shows a chance.

Not that Anchorwoman was Shakespeare for tv, but still, they might have given it two episodes to find out if people hated it. Especially after all the hoopla thay gave the show before it aired.

I know I said I was gonna talk about the shows on TBS (”yes, you can laugh at that”) but I’ll get back to them. Probably.

Right now, I got sidetracked cause I saw that Nick at Nite is adding Home Improvement (and George Lopez) to its Fall lineup. Starting on Monday, September 3, they will will have a week-long run of Home Improvement, with Tim Allen hosting. This will run every night for an hour, from 9-10 pm ET, and Tim will share a look at his favorite episodes with behind-the-scenes anecdotes. They will eventually air the entire eight seasons of Home Improvement - all 203 episodes!!

I loved that show. I sorta lost touch towards the end, but I still catch it sometimes in the morning while I’m getting ready for work. Now that’s what I call funny.

Oh, and George Lopez will premiere the week after, on Monday, September 10 at 10 pm ET and they have the complete six seasons.

Here’s an interesting article from the LA Times about Aliens In America and the state of the sitcom today.

It does sound as though they expect this show to do well, but I’m still not convinced. I really think that we’re not quite ready for this kind of humor. Don’t get me wrong, I think the humor in the average sitcom is in totally bad taste already, but this just seems to take it to a new level.

American television is certainly tamer than Canadian or British tv in some respects. Generally we have less nudity and foul language, something they seem to take for granted in a way we don’t. Clearly, some cable shows are atrocious in that respect, and in a way, I think when we get a chance to use foul language or be crude, we take it to a whole new level. Like little kids let loose to do whatever they want. Maybe that’s the difference. British or Canadian tv will show something off-color (or colour, for the Brits), but it’s just a normal thing, not something they feel they have to hit you over the head with. But here, we want to make sure you know we’ve gotten away with something.

Of course, the humor in Aliens in America seems to be about bigotry and terrorism. Not something that I find particularly funny.

What do you think?

We interrupt this blog to bring you the following: Happy Maroulis day!! Constantine Maroulis, who finished in sixth place on American Idol’s fourth season, dropped his CD today. I ran to Wal-Mart and bought it at lunch and it’s been playing non-stop ever since.

Even my husband, who was not a big Constantine fan, says it’s really good. And unlike the albums of some other AI finalists who will remain unnamed, the songs don’t all sound the same. So you should run out and get it. Right now. The blog will still be here when you get back, I promise.

Now back to our regularly scheduled blog . . . CBS is offering us just one new sitcom, The Big Bang Theory, airing Monday, September 24 at 8:30 pm, between How I Met Your Mother and Two and a Half Men.

This is their blurb:

Meet two brainiacs with a lot to learn. Leonard and Sheldon can tell their quarks from their quantum physics, but have no clue how women add up. Leave it to their pretty new neighbor, just off a messy breakup, to teach them a thing or two in THE BIG BANG THEORY.

I watched the clip and it was almost funny. The laugh track was annoyingly loud, anyway.

The chatter I’ve seen online seems generally positive, although I did see where some questioned whether or not the actual scientific issues they discuss will have any basis in fact or just be gibberish. I wouldn’t know the difference, but I can see how it might bother people who do know. I can say that I get a little perturbed when writers bend time or storylines to fit their purposes without taking the show’s history into consideration. Like years ago, there was this British show I watched, Robin Hood. At one point, they wanted to make Sir Guy be Robin’s long lost brother, but there was no way to make that work, based on their ages and the year it was supposed to be. Disregarding all that, they just backtracked the years and pretended it added up. OK, that’s a little hard to explain, but the bottom line is, I lost all respect for them.

Clearly that isn’t the same thing here, especially since most of us wouldn’t know one scientific equation or principal from another, but still there are smart people out there watching sitcoms, right . . . right??

My major issue? The guys are just not cute. Sorry, I’m shallow and I need cute guys. Well, OK, Johnny Galecki (from “Roseanne”) is kinda cute, but he’s so geeky looking in this, it’s hard to tell. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Plus, don’t we already have a show called Beauty and the Geek? How much more of that do we need?

I realize that so far I’ve been pretty hard on these shows, so I guess I’ll give this one a try and hope for the best.

Here is a roundup of Fox sitcom news for the fall:

The sitcom “The War At Home” (which, in my opinion, should have never made it to air. THIS they keep and “Arrested Development” they cancel?) will be moving back to Sundays, but at a new time of 7:30. The show premieres in it’s new slot on March 4th.

New sitcom “The Winner” (with Rob Corddry from The Daily Show) from Family Guy creator Seth McFarlane premieres Sunday, March 4 with 2 episodes at 8:30 & 9:30 and it will air for 3 consecutive Sundays at 8:30 and 9:30 finishing it’s 6 episode order in just 3 weeks.

“King Of The Hill” will return to 8:30 on March 25 after 3 weeks off as well as “American Dad” at 9:30 PM.

On Fox’s midseason docket but still looking for a timeslot is the offkilter “The Loop“.

The CW has announced that it will end the long (ish) running sitcom “Reba” with a two part finale. The final date has not yet been set but I am sure they will announce that shortly.

The show started on the WB to smallish ratings but gathered a fairly devoted group of viewers. When UPN and the WB merged to create the CW, the new network decided to renew the show. I had not seen the show for quite awhile but managed to catch a few episodes and I have to say that Reba McEntire plays a pretty funny straightman (or, woman, as the case may be). Catch a few episodes before the show disappears. Quite a few laughs are packed in there.