Here's a shock. Nobody is paying attention to the "new TV season":
NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - The first week of the new television season has left industry observers concerned about the absence of a breakout series.
Only two new shows, NBC's "Bionic Woman" and ABC's "Private Practice," have gotten out of the gate with enough ratings momentum to reach potential hit status.
I don't have any guilty pleasures, because I don't even accept the concept -- I like what I like and make no apologies for it. But if I did have any, one would me my addiction to TV game shows that are Too Frivolous To Be Taken Seriously -- "Family Feud," "Wheel of Fortune," "Card Sharks," "Hollywood Squares"; I'll put down the "Remembrance of Things Past" or "The History of Civilization" that I'm reading in a heartbeat to get sucked into one of those diversions. Only my best friends know that "Jeopardy" -- at which I excel, naturally -- is not my only game show.
"You cut, I choose" has been the general principle for settling disputes and potential disputes between two people forever. How startling to see such wisdom in a Jif peanut butter ad that's been running on TV for the past couple of weeks. A mom is distributing the last slice of bread, spread with Jif, to her two kids and tells one he gets to cut it in two, but the other one gets first choice of which piece to take.
When I watch national TV news, I tend to watch ABC. It's all pretty much the same, but Charlie Gibson's pesentation is marginally less annoying than the the rest of them. Apparently, I've been missing something by not watching ABC's overnight news. While I've been sleeping, the World News Now co-anchors have been giggling their way through terrorism, wildfire, cancer, the war in Iraq and a suicide attempt:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q53xjyRwBqc]
ABC's "20/20" doing an investigative piece about NBC's "Dateline" -- now, that's funny:
"Dateline NBC" denied Wednesday an Esquire article's claim that its "To Catch a Predator" producers tried to manipulate Texas police officers into arresting a D.A. who killed himself when confronted by police at his home last year.
When the federal government decided how many gallons of water every toilet in America should use when being flushed -- resulting in annoying toilets that have to be flushed twice, accomplishing absolutely nothing -- I kind of thought that might be the breaking point. Americans would rise up as one and say, "Enough!" Didn't happen, of course. No matter what, we will go back into our "Oh, well, that's the way it is" mode and just take whatever they dish out. But maybe this is different:
The cavemen from the Geico commercials are debuting in their ABC half-hour comedy series in October. But don't worry -- it won't be about race:
There was no intention to have the Cro-Magnons represent any minority group, said his colleague, Josh Gordon.
[. . .]
"I think it's really a show about acclimation more than anything, and that's something that everybody deals with, doesn't matter whether you are a minority or not," producer Joe Lawson said.
Forget the presidential contest for now; it's still way too early. This is much more fun to talk about right now:
Three years ago, NBC announced with pride that Conan O'Brien would take over "The Tonight Show" in 2009. But now that the date is fast approaching, the web is beginning to panic: How do we anoint O'Brien but still keep Leno in the Peacock's nest?
[. . .]
It's official. Tom Henry is the Democrats' major candidate for mayor.
