The CW announced their fall lineup on Thursday, and, quite frankly, while I give them credit for finally putting together five nights without having the same show air twice, they really need to start thinking outside the box a little more and develop some new ideas. Among the 2012-13 freshman class:
The Carrie Diaries: A prequel to the wildly popular Sex & The City, which still airs in reruns, be it on basic cable or in syndication (check listings), and spawned two movies.
Beauty & The Beast: A reboot of the former CBS hit from the late 80's-early 90's that starred Linda Hamilton & Ron Perlman. Where it led off the night on CBS back in the day, this Beast has the returning Vampire Diaries as a lead-in.
Arrow: As in, Green Arrow, last seen on Smallville, but this time, the role's been recast, and this new series has zero to do with Smallville. The downside is that this will air on Wednesdays, rather than Thursday or Friday, where Smallville aired during its 10 year run.
You could probably guess which one actually interests me......!
The John Travolta sex abuse case just won't go away. John Doe #2, from this point to be known as Jabroni #2, withdrew his suit the other day, perhaps realizing what the rest of us knew, that he had zero chance of getting the money he thought he deserved. Jabroni #1, undaunted by the fact that Travolta had an airtight alibi to begin with, changed lawyers to Gloria Allred, which only extends Ms. Allred's 15 minutes. Business must be bad at her office to take on a lost cause.
Reading reviews on this week's movies in the New York Daily News this morning, I can't help but think that the critics double-faulted first-time actress Brooklyn Decker, who appears in "What To Expect When You're Expecting" (w/Jennifer Lopez) and "Battleship" (w/Rhianna and Liam Neeson). The erstwhile model should know something about double-faults. She's married to tennis star Andy Roddick. The critics weren't kind to either movie, as "Battleship" got the ol' gongeroo, as Chuck Barris used to say back in the day (that is, it got zero stars), and "Expecting" got one star. Then again, it's what the movies earn at the box office that count more, so we'll see come Sunday.
As for "Battleship", the former Milton Bradley game now manufactured by Hasbro (which absorbed MB a while back), who was the alleged genius that sold this idea to Universal? At least we know it wasn't directed by Michael Bay ("Transformers"), though you can't tell by the trailers.........!
Rumors are swirling that Jennifer Lopez is leaving American Idol after 2 seasons because she's "too busy". Now, I know she developed a similarly themed series for the Latin market with her ex-husband, singer Marc Anthony, but at least she's doing something worthwhile, as opposed to fellow judge du jour Steven Tyler. The Aerosmith vocalist is one of a handful of celebrities shilling for Burger King, but his spot just reeks of bad, trainwreck TV. I'm not going to even justify its existence by posting it.
And if J-Lo is leaving, could Paula Abdul, bounced from The X-Factor after 1 season, return to Idol? Like, they've tried Ellen DeGeneres (1 season) and Lopez (2) in her chair, but maybe Idol regains its charm if Paula "comes home"?
WWE announced Thursday that they will expand their flagship show, Monday Night Raw, to 3 hours a week, beginning July 23. That gives them two months to clean up the creative mess they're already in, as they have a charisma-challenged, corrupt GM running the show (John Laurinaitis), and saw the ratings dip below 3.0 this week. Expanding the show is not the answer. Like, didn't they remember that going from 2 to 3 hours started WCW's Monday Nitro on its slow demise?
In related news, TNA will try to broadcast live again beginning at the end of the month. They're planning to move Impact up an hour to 8 pm (ET), and now, they intend to go with live episodes every week. They'd be well served to start making travel plans, because airing the show from Universal Studios in Orlando week after week ain't going to cut it. The promotion is ratings-challenged to begin with. They need a marketing specialist who understands viewers' tendencies to help them map out a path, but that's low on the budget's priority list.. Meanwhile, Hulk Hogan's daughter, Brooke, who has failed as a pop star (no shock) and a reality TV star (ditto) joins her father in TNA, but pray she doesn't put on a leotard and tights and try to follow in daddy's footsteps as a wrestler. Just ain't gonna happen.
4 comments:
I'll probably check out "Arrow", it looked good in the previews I've seen, but after having seen the production summaries for other networks/cable shows, I'm definitely not watching much TV!
Thank heaven for streaming and DVDs!
It's like Hollywood isn't trying anymore. They churn out one generation after another of scribbling idiots.
I like the thought of Arrow myself, but then I remember that Birds of Prey was put in on Wednesdays nearly a decade ago and bombed, badly. Wednesday, as I said, may not be the best place.
The trouble with writers these days is that all they know is TV.
Writers of early TV were aware of other art forms (film, theatre, etc) and from that they could write what is now often considered classic TV. Critics of "The Simpsons" say something similar as that show has been running for so long, it's written by people who grew up with the earliest seasons, but now write a compleltely different, virtually unrecognizable show.
I had a screenwriting teacher who told me that if you tried to apply the old rules of TV/film writing to the current generation of screenwriters, you'd end up with a blank script and a letter of resignation!
That's probably why we get so many fart jokes and other toilet humor.
As for "Birds of Prey", it had completely different reasons for its failure. Rowdy C who reviews "TV Trash" essentially took the words out of my mouth as to what went wrong on that show - his reviews are definitely worth checking out.
I fall back on an old journalism axiom I learned in high school--write what you know. Unfortunately, today's historically-challenged scribblers have never seen the inside of a library since they were in Pampers!
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