The Morning After: Do I Smell Smoke?
ABC
It's (almost officially) summer, which means the beach that is network television is thick with smoke from the bonfire of summer-burnoff shows. Last weekend saw the return of Kings, which may or may not get the chance to air its remaining shot episodes on NBC, depending how the ratings hold up; the final episode of Pushing Daisies; and—while it's not officially a burnoff yet—another episode of ABC's The Goode Family, which, between being debuted after the regular season and then summarily being moved to Friday night, is not exactly getting a ringing vote of confidence.
Which is too bad, because I could see this being one of those shows that hits its stride just as it's taken off the air. Friday's episode was the series' best yet, and one that showed that the premise about a family trying to live up to its lofty ideals could just have legs. I'll assume no one here watched, but Helen received a visit from a Myanmar refugee she had sponsored since she was a teenager, only to find that the things her Third World friend longs for in the United States—electricity-guzzling appliances, piles of meat at the supermarket—are precisely the ones that Helen spurns; meanwhile, Gerald tries to decide if it's worse to hire immigrant garden workers (and thus help their boss "exploit" them) or not hire them and thus leave them broke and unemployed. ("Do you think Al Gore has a staff of people who work for him?") Unfortunately, I doubt we'll get a chance to see where this series ultimately would have gone. Care to pick it up, Comedy Central?
Are you still keeping your fingers crossed for any summer burn-off shows? Tell us, or share your thoughts on the first True Blood of the season—I won't be blogging it separately, though I may do the occasional episode—in the comments.
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1
I wouldn't know... I haven't watched them yet. It's the weekend durnit - and I'm not getting paid for my reviews!
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But I didn't post just to list my viewing failures. Has NBC put out screeners for The Philanthropist yet? As (I believe) the most expensive burnoff ever (and Kings probably takes the title if not), it seems ripe material for "The Nadir of NBC?" articles if terrible, "NBC can't catch a break, even with novel programming (Kings, Southland, etc.)" articles if decent. -
2
The Goode Family made me laugh and I look forward to seeing next weeks episode. I liked Gerald a lot more than I had in previous episodes and the kids are my favorite part of the series. Helen is a little too clueless for me, though. You've got to be a really big "meat is murder" person before you deny meat to a Burmese refugee. I also thought they missed a joke about what to call Myanburma. Myanmar is what the dictators named it, so we should call it Burma, right? But is Burma just what the Europeans who conquered it named it? It's very confusing for those of us who want to stand with the Burmese people by ...calling their country whichever name they prefer.
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3
We found Harper's Island in netflix watch it now and are now hooked. And I don't care who knows it.
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4
@James,
I've got a question for an industry pro (such as yourself) . . .
First of all, I watched the True Blood season premiere, and it was INCREDIBLE. I think the relatively weak Sookie/ Bill relationship is drastically outweighed by [spoiler alert]: Lafayette nabbed by the vamp powers-that-be! Tara enthralled by strange goddess (?) Admiral Cain! Heartless corpse murder mysteries! And much, much more!
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In other words, I think it's incredibly strong, and once they figure out what to do will Sookie & Bill, it will be a watercooler show . . . which brings me to my question:
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Wouldn't some of these failing broadcast networks benefit from running the already aired pay-cable episodes of appropriate shows, such as Big Love, No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, Brotherhood, and Dexter, during the summer, rather than wasting time producing shows that are sub-par?
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I know some of these shows would require network-friendly edits and a good delay so viewers who actually pay for HBO stick around, but since they're already produced, good quality, and haven't been seen by vast cross sections of the population, isn't there some money in this? In an era when people will get it ALL for free on Hulu anyways, why not try to draw some non-internet viewers into some really good shows? -
5
@vastwastelander: Sure. CBS already aired Dexter (from Showtime, a corporate sib) during the strike. HBO has sold Sopranos and SATC for basic cable. It's a question, I suppose, of cost-vs-audience. A show like Big Love, much as I love it, has a limit on its audience even if you edit it. After all, the difference between a network and a pay-cable show is not always just sex and language; it's often complexity. Even cleaned up for air, only so many people would want to follow something like The Wire on network (tho it did run, edited, on BET).
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6
@James,
I hear ya, and I thought the Dexter on CBS move was a good one, but it was limited by the strike and couldn't find a "real," long term broadcast audience. I guess Big Love would be my perfect case-in-point: I'd think the Desperate Housewives audience would love the show, and since it already exists, there are basically 0 production costs . . . so why wouldn't ABC just plug it into that timeslot during the summer, albeit a few seasons behind HBO's regular airings?
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It just seems like that would be a more rational move than developing some of these shows that are obviously doomed to failure, and are of inferior quality in terms of acting, writing, and production value. And Big Love wouldn't need many edits to meet broadcast standards: it's a clean, "wholesome" show at it's core. I mean, they're wasting money with junk like "Impact," or they're running reruns . . . why not reruns of something network viewers haven't seen yet?
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Tell Robert Iger, or Les Mooves, or Jeff Zucker or whoever that Vastwastelander thinks they're missing out on some good opportunities . . . but if they insist on letting broadcast TV become the realm of drooling imbeciles, I can't stop them.
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That is all
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7
Gosh, I weep for 'Kings'. *heartbreak*
- poniewozik Loved the season. Mrs Tuned In wd have put u on the main list RT @boredtodeath Thank u for incl us in Time's Top 10. We'll take hon mention. - 4 hours ago
- poniewozik @carr2n Virgin is the best, LAX-JFK - 5 hours ago
- poniewozik Did NPR interview abt multiscreen multitasking. After, automatically reached for iPhone in pocket. Like don draper wd have for cigarettes. - 6 hours ago
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