Top Gear: The Greatest Thing You Aren’t Watching (Unless You Are)

February 26th, 2008


A mitten state expat and child born of the automotive industry’s greasy womb, I have always found myself preoccupied with cars. The only one I ever owned met a sticky end just before I moved to the land of public transportation, but my love has never diminished. In fact, it’s grown. Moving to a city that demands a car ranks high on the list of things I’d like to accomplish in the next couple of years. Few understand my motives, because car culture in America is not what it used to be. Unless you’re a fan of the less cerebral offerings of NPR, there isn’t an entertaining pop culture forum for car talk. (I’m not counting anything relating to NASCAR because I find it suffers from a complete lack of verve.) Fortunately, in England, where I recall the cars being either black cabs or double decker buses, there exists a strong fascination that’s been put to good use for over 30 years in the form of a world’s greatest talk show. That show is Top Gear, and since its most recent incarnation debuted in 2002, it has made for some of the most ridiculously entertaining chat, celebrity interviews and vehicular shenanigans on TV.

The new season (which aired in the UK in Autumn 2007) premiered last night on BBC America, but based on the show’s popularity, this may be nothing new to you. There are an estimated 350 million Top Gear viewers across the globe. It airs on a 5+ month delay in the US, but it’s status as one of the most pirated series online means that few fans are willing to wait.

You are missing out if you haven’t caught it. In any given episode, the three hosts (Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May) could construct limousines out of cardboard, strap a coupe to a rocket, paint liberal propaganda on the sides of trucks while driving through Alabama or ask Helen Mirren about her sexual proclivities. They are arrogant, obsessive, obnoxious alpha males who also happen to be hilarious. Their antics have earned them constant comparisons to the boys of Jackass, but that is something I can’t abide. They may goofy, but they’re also British. And British means classy.

One of the biggest selling points for Top Gear is also the number one reason why the proposed US version is a horrible idea. These guys are not fans of America. It’s hardly a running theme in the show, but Top Gear is the only series in BBC America’s Yankee-friendly lineup that opening challenges our status as global bully and egoist. The hosts’ lack of bias also means that they drive more foreign cars and feel free to rip apart anything they please. The impending NBC version will feature less inspired rides and steer clear of criticism to avoid offending advertisers. It will be a completely different beast, and I can’t imagine the folks they choose to host it will be anything short of repulsive. It had originally been proposed that the hosts of the British version host the US outing, but ringleader Clarkson wasn’t too keen ons spending substantial time in the states.  No worries though, because we always have the original.  And unlike their scripted siblings, British talk and reality are highly prolific.

Top Gear airs Mondays at 8pm on BBC America

Posted in BBC, top gear | 1 Comment »

Saturday Night Live: I’m Loving the Ladies

February 25th, 2008


With the mighty exception of Gilda Radnor, Saturday Night Live has never really been about the ladies. The classic sketches, success after the show and crossover to dramatic film-making have always belonged to SNL‘s men. Each of the show’s first three decades boasts a handful of male cast members who have gone on to solidify themselves as icons in popular culture. But looking at the current stable (one that I’m quite fond of), the most exceptional performances and characters of the last few seasons have belonged to the ladies. And this weekend’s incredibly welcome post-strike return marked an overdue hosting appearance by one of the greatest female alums.

Tina Fey’s transition from SNL to 30 Rock was so speedy and seamless, I never had the opportunity to mourn her absence. And without any real time when she wasn’t making regular appearances on NBC, I also never realized how vital she is to my weekly TV consumption. I certainly have since the strike started. When Steve Martin came on during her monologue to tell her it was time to behave more like an actor, I couldn’t help but think he was passing the torch. I may have even shed an approving tear. Tina Fey is (and should be) someone who is going to be around for a long time.

As for show itself, most of the skits were great. There was the obligatory digital short, the return of Amber the overly confident amputee, two outstanding commercials and even a timely Oscar spoof of Bill Hader as a milkshake-guzzling Daniel Plainview. It wasn’t all funny though. I had a moment of paralyzing fear during the opening credits. Maya Rudolph, after the drawn out “is she or isn’t she?” debate over her return for the 07/08 year, was notably absent. Turns out she never hammered out a contract, but there’s also talk that she was just AWOL to accompany her director husband to last night’s Oscars. Bullet dodged? If so, then it’s not for long. Rudolph (along with Amy Poehler) is expected to depart at the end of this season. In the unlikely event that Kristen Wiig would follow suit, there’d be my three favorite cast members right there.

SNL took the opportunity to fill the Rudolph-shaped hole by introducing a new featured player, UCB’s Casey Wilson. Every time she was in a scene (which was frequently), I was reminded of the old View parody when faux-Barbara Walters would tell faux-Debbie Matenopoulos to go into a cage and shut up. They set her up for diaglogue and then awkwardly cut to another character. She only really spoke once during a spot-on caricature of Rachael Ray – amusing, but she doesn’t seem likely to ever command the presence of our other gals.

My favorite skits either didn’t show up on Hulu or primarily featured men, so, in the feminist spirit of the post, enjoy this NBC-U sanctioned clip of the Tina Fey’s Weekend Update segment on women’s news. If I have any readers in Texas or Ohio, I’d appreciate it if they paid particularly close attention…

Posted in nbc, snl | 1 Comment »

Linkin’ Blogs: The TV Blog Coalition, Feb. 24

February 24th, 2008

Looks like I wasn’t the only one underwhelmed by Knight Rider. Some even had the energy to write about it!

  • Buzz wondered if a movie version of The Wire would be a good idea. (BuzzSugar)
  • Sandie shared a preview clip from the new season of FX’s DIRT. (Daemon’s TV)
  • Marcia considered whether Ashes to Ashes was a worthy successor to Life on Mars. (Pop Vultures)
  • Rae dissected what she liked and disliked about the Knight Rider movie and admits she’d probably still give it a shot if NBC picks it up. (RTVW)
  • Dr. Abbott, Ed Stevens, Ms. Hendricks, Mac’s roommate, The Shredder, Uncle Phil, and George Michael? Sign Scooter up for more episodes of Eli Stone even if ABC won’t. (Scooter McGavin’s 9th Green)
  • Cover your ears, TV fans. Jennifer couldn’t contain her anger and ranted against NBC for canceling Las Vegas. (Tube Talk)
  • The TV Addict helps pitch FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS to the CW, TNT and SCI FI (the TV Addict)
  • Vance LOVES Lost even though he is completely lost while trying to follow the show. (Tapeworthy)
  • This week, Jace was underwhelmed by Knight Rider, entranced by Lost, and hungry for more of BBC’s culinary competition, Last Restaurant Standing. (Televisionary)
  • Dan dug up some reality show contestants’ porno past, including folks from Survivor and American Gladiators. (TiFaux)
  • Raoul interviewed Mary from Survivor (TV Filter)

Posted in links | No Comments »

Why I Watch American Idol: An Overly Serious/Sentimental Look at TV in 2008

February 21st, 2008


As we’ve been hearing for months, this season of American Idol brings with it the most solid top 24 in years – if not ever. Their performances this week do not reflect that. If they were outstanding, it was only in their ability to not completely suck. Mediocrity is nothing to strive for, but with all but five of the contestants, that’s what we’re getting. Results shows at this point are boring in their predictability. There are no surprises as to who will go home before the top 12, and even if there were, it’s impossible to already be invested enough to care. But every hour of live Idol is required viewing for me. Not for entertainment, not for suspense but for the sheer fact that American Idol is the only show that makes me feel like I’m not the only one watching.

Earlier this week, NBC announced that it was officially killing the regular TV season. They will be running a 52-week schedule starting this fall. It isn’t far off from what we’ve gotten used to in the past decade, with the upswing of original and admirable content during the summer season, but this official nail in the coffin doesn’t come without stirring up a bit of wistfulness in my TV-loving heart. You see, the tube, as it was when I was growing up, is gone. The writing has been on the wall for years… and most recently in The New York Times. Their Fall 2007 TV preview included a piece about the way people are defined by the shows they love. It’s the medium’s golden age, and people are taking advantage of this on their own terms. This is not a bad thing. As a TV fan, obsessive and aspiring scholar, nothing is more intriguing to me than the notion of seeing yourself reflected in your set. But with this new lack of structure and focus on independence, the once communal culture of TV barely extends beyond small factions of rabid fans. Nielson can talk ratings all he wants, but as I see it, the collective TV experience is on its way out.

So this is why I watch American Idol. For me, it offers something that none of my scripted favorites can. It is event television in a time when event television (save award shows, sporting events and national disasters) is gone. Sure, Lost, Entourage and Weeds are all good for the water cooler, but do your parents know what’s happening on them? Are their moments dissected or mocked on every talk show and local news broadcast? When something even remotely unexpected takes place, can you not get away with watching them a few days late and remain spoiler free? The answer to all of these questions is “no.” American Idol owns this type of attention (in my opinion, Dancing With The Stars still isn’t there), and offers me my only means to bond with TV-watching America. It’s the only thing we do together.

Just a couple weeks ago I was lamenting with a friend over the state of music videos – how they hold no interest to me any longer and how I’m not even sure if any of my favorite bands actually produce them. We talked about how their premieres used to be events. Everyone wanted to see who would make cameos in Michael Jackson’s clips and how he’d stretch 3:48 of song into a ten-minute feature. They’d air them on network TV – an idea that seems so foreign now it’s hard to reconcile that it was ever real. I was reminded of this tonight during the filler-heavy Idol results show when they premiered Paula Abdul’s attempt to reignite her music career. It’s beyond bizarre that their screening of “Dance Like There’s No Tomorrow” was the first music video I’ve seen outside of YouTube in well over a year. If someone as immersed in television as myself can claim this, I can’t imagine how many other (less fervent) viewers shared my experience. However many there were, no show but American Idol could have sparked the question.

When someone asks me what television shows I like, which someone inevitably does on an almost daily basis, I skew my answer for the person asking. In most instances, I pick the most popular or recognizable series in my roster – like Idol. If I were to tell one of my parents’ friends, for example, that I love Battlestar Galactica, they would be confused and possibly uncomfortable. I, in turn, would be angry that my declaration was met with glassy eyes and an ignorance to the fact that it is one of the smartest and most relevant programs of the last decade. But by holding my favorites close to my heart, and only discussing them in my writing and among like-minded friends, I realize I am a part of the diaspora.

In the end, my nostalgia for family time in front of a tube free of DVR, DVDs and divisive or elitist programming is a moot point. I wouldn’t trade my TV lifestyle or my favorite dramas for the widest flat screen you could dream of. If connecting with my countrymen means only watching shows as agreeable American Idol, I’d prefer to be on my own. But I’ll enjoy the happy medium I have right now while I still can. The TV experience isn’t what it used to be, and what’s left of it is fading fast.

Posted in American Idol, Battlestar Galactica, fox, nbc, random thoughtfulness | 3 Comments »

Linkin’ Blogs: The TV Blog Coalition, Feb. 17

February 17th, 2008

Here be this week’s links… You’ll have to look through all of them to find the drinking game!

  • Buzz is pitting all of this season’s Project Runway looks against each other to figure out which is the most fab. (BuzzSugar)
  • Eric came up with the Top 5 TV Villains on television today. (Daemon’s TV)
  • Marcia celebrated Valentine’s Day by remembering some of television’s greatest kisses. (Pop Vultures)
  • After attending the taping of MTV’s America’s Best Dance Crew premiere episode, Spads shared tidbits from her conversations with judges JC Chasez, Lil Mama, and Shane Sparks. (RTVW)
  • Scooter finally got around to watching the first two episodes of the new season of Lost and, um, well… yeah. (Scooter McGavin’s 9th Green)
  • Last week, Vance bawled while watching Friday Night Lights. Now he may bawl at the thought of NOT being able to watch any more new Friday Night Lights. (Tapeworthy)
  • Dan took some time to think about whether he actually liked Eli Stone, or whether it was just the best scripted show still in new episodes. Either way, Jonny Lee Miller’s dreamy. (TiFaux)
  • Jennifer pondered why everyone falls for Boston Legal’s Shirley Schmidt and gushed about Scott Bakula’s visit to the firm. (Tube Talk)
  • Kate came up with a Gossip Girl drinking game. (TV Filter)
  • Taking a page from HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER’s Barney and his Hot/Crazy Scale, the TV Addict is proud to introduce the LOST Quality/Question Scale! (theTVaddict.com)

Posted in links | No Comments »

How I Met Your Mother: Back on the Bubble

February 15th, 2008


It was the best of times, it was the worst of times… Few of this week’s post-strike news items were as exciting as CBS’s prompt order of nine more episodes of How I Met Your Mother that are slated to start airing as soon as March 17th. There hasn’t been a new episode of Mother since the early December, and it’s absence is responsible for one of the most painful holes in the Jarlsberg that is my viewing schedule. Too bad my moment in the sun was short-lived. The eye network announced their series guaranteed pickups for the 2008/2009 season this morning, and Mother was notably absent.

I really can’t understand why this show has had such a difficult time finding an audience. It’s far superior to any other comedy on CBS, yet they all do much better. It would be understandable if Mother was more similar to Arrested Development or The Office, but there’s no sophistication here that might alienate potential viewers. It is, quite frankly, a formulaic, multi-camera sitcom – a dying breed of show. And while most in its shrinking pool of contemporaries are still finding a wide audience (see every other show in CBS’s Monday lineup), none of them offer Mother‘s consistent humor minus the cliché. Their draw is something I will never be able to understand, and my frustrations are such that I could never fully communicate.

How I Met Your Mother will not be saved by a letter writing campaign or truckloads of yellow umbrellas. If it’s return next month isn’t marked by a solid improvement in ratings, it will probably not be back next year. I would blame the network, but it’s really not their fault. Three seasons have offered the show more than enough to time to grow an audience. The audience just isn’t biting. So if this really is the last season of How I Met Your Mother, the only ones at blame are the foolish people who wait to turn their dial to CBS until 8:30 and 9:00 every Monday to watch boring stereotypes and stale humor in favor of refreshing, intelligent comedy.

Posted in cbs, how i met your mother | 8 Comments »

Jericho: All Those Peanuts for This?

February 12th, 2008


I’m as easily swayed by quality sci-fi as the next socially awkward TV enthusiast, so when fans of Jericho rallied so vigorously after the show’s cancellation last year, I assumed it was probably something I could get behind myself. CBS miraculously resurrected the show, and I decided I would catch up before it returned. I did not. I really meant to, but my poor relationship with the network and my lingering late-90s reservations about Skeet Ulrich kept me from ever making the jump. Thank. Flipping. God.

If the first three episodes of Jericho’s new season are any indication of standards during the show’s initial run, I wasn’t missing much. And neither were you. I’m guessing I can lump us together, because not many people watched Jericho last year. That’s why they canceled it. Now nothing irks me more than people hating on my favorite shows, but given the fact that I was forced to endure 126 minutes of this one, I think I’ve earned the right to vent.

My beef with Jericho isn’t so much that it sucks – plenty of TV sucks. Plenty of the most watched shows in America suck. It’s just the way of the world. What cheeses me off is that each year, one or two legitimately outstanding shows is tossed aside because of flagging ratings. We mourn them, we look back on them fondly and we bemoan whatever crap fills their timeslot the following fall. So when a show gets a reprieve like Jericho, it should be amazing. It should be amazing just to honor all of its fallen brothers and sisters who didn’t get the same chance. Throughout the long and notorious history of “brilliant but canceled” TV, no other show has gotten that chance – at last not in this manner – so forgive me for being a little sour that the honor was bestowed on this steaming pile of poorly scripted, awkwardly paced, laughably acted patriotic propaganda masquerading as allegory.

Posted in cbs, jericho | No Comments »

Friday Night Lights Will Not Go Gentle…

February 11th, 2008

The mere thought that this was the last I’ll ever get of Friday Night Lights hurts too much to bear, so I’ll abandon speculation until after the rundown. Friday’s episode, “May the Best Man Win,” wasn’t a remotely fitting end to this season (much less the series). It offered a bittersweet resolution to the Smash dilemma and opened up a cliffhanger-y pregnancy storyline for Jason Street, but the majority of the episode deviated to two uncharacteristically comedic storylines of gentlemen vying for the affections of two of Dillon’s loveliest ladies. It wasn’t as phenomenal as some of the recent weeks’ episodes but definitely another solid offering from the greatest drama on television.

Well, we last left Smash in a situation I prognosticated as a bit more dire. TMU is dunzo, but it appears that other colleges are still quite interested. They may not live up to the expectations Smash had set for himself, but there seems to be a solid sense of community at Whitmore College, and it beats the living hell out of a mortifying dead end in Arena Football or working at that damn ice cream parlor. Call me crazy, but there still seems to be a bit of ambiguity around this matter. Smash may have found the place he really belongs, and he may just be cooling his heels until some later planned rectification of the TMU debacle.

It seems like poor Jason Street has been rolling around in the shadows since the beginning of the season. He had epiphany after epiphany, and despite his efforts to get out of Dillon, is now working as a car salesman for Buddy Garrity. What better way to vault him back out of obscurity than a pregnancy scare? Though it is anything but scary for Street, who thinks that he inseminated the boring waitress by the sheer grace of God. She wanted an abortion but seemed to buckle under the pressure of a handsome cripple. If there really is another baby headed to Dillon, may I suggest casting one without alien eyes?

Elsewhere… Riggins is not taking no for an answer – especially not when his competition is an uber-yuppie born-again who, as we learned last week, is deeply afraid of sex. Matt Czurchy is a great guy, but he kind of breaks the suspension of disbelief on Friday Night Lights. I’ve already seen him on too many shows. It doesn’t much matter though, because Lyla can’t possibly deny Riggins for much longer. The goofy romantic story between Eric, Tami and her high school sweetheart was a bit more gratuitous. It was really just an opportunity for executive producer Peter Berg to finally show off his acting skills. It had also been a least a month since the last really good dude fight.

Back to the matter of the show’s future, here is what we know: With the end of the writer’s strike, likelihood that FNL will be one of the series to resume production is of the slim to none-ish variety. Some are reporting that there is a chance, but I’d take that with a considerable amount of salt. As for a return next season, poorly media-trained NBC entertainment honcho Ben Silverman is not optimistic – he is about 30 Rock, and I can’t say I care a hell of a lot. So what can be done to save FNL? Probably nothing, but as this week’s return of Jericho proves, anything is possible in this changing TV landscape. I generally don’t participate in these efforts, but my faith in FNL is enough to motivate me. Best Week Ever is currently the hub of all things save-our-showy, so I encourage you all to check it out.

The season may be over, but I’ll definitely keep the updates coming as the efforts continue and the fate of Friday Night Lights becomes clearer.

Posted in friday night lights, nbc | No Comments »

Linkin’ Blogs: The TV Blog Coalition, Feb. 10

February 10th, 2008

Not that you’d consider missing out on any of these hot links, but let me suggest you pay special attention to all posts pertaining to Friday Night Lights from here on out…

  • Buzz wonders how many ’80s TV references you can pack into one little Ben Lee music video. (BuzzSugar)
  • Araya tells us why Friday Night Lights is number 2 on his Top 10 TV Shows list. (Daemon’s TV)
  • Pop Vultures interviewed writer Eric Estrin and got his perspective on the WGA strike. (Pop Vultures)
  • To explain her love for Anna Fricke, Rae channeled her Dawson’s Creek fangirl of television shows gone by. (RTVW)
  • Much like the chick from Girlfriends, the dude from Live, and Puff Daddy’s man servant, Scooter McGavin now supports Barak Obama in the Democratic primaries. Because seriously, who is not swayed by an endorsement from one of the Pussycat Dolls? Yes We Can!! (Scooter McGavin’s 9th Green)
  • Vance skipped The Super Bowl but loved all the super bawling on Friday Night Lights which deserves a bit of that 97 Million Super Bowl football audience. (Tapeworthy)
  • Jace was all about advance looks at British telly this week, with reviews of new series That Mitchell and Webb Look and Last Restaurant Standing on BBC America. (Televisionary)
  • Dan interviewed Tonight Show writer Michael Jann about the WGA strike as part of the Adopt a Writer project. (TiFaux)
  • Jennifer questioned whether Nip/Tuck should be renamed “Nip YUCK,” after the latest developments. (Tube Talk)
  • Kate picked the five best and five worst looks from this season of Project Runway. (TV Filter)

Posted in links | No Comments »

Lost: “Confirmed” Shmonfirmed

February 7th, 2008


Trying to review an episode with Lost without divulging anything that some might see as spoiler-ish is difficult – so difficult that I didn’t attempt it last week. But now we’ve all had the chance to mull over “The Beginning of the End,” and anything is fair game, it’s time to acknowledge how thoroughly rewarding, palm-clamifying and potentially perfect the fourth season looks to be.

At first glance, not much has changed on the island. Locke and Jack are fighting, Kate keeps pulling her criminal shenanigans, Hurley is overly sensitive and Rose continues to offer her exquisitely delivered sassy commentary. But, um, the others are dunzo, there’s a whole slew of newbies who just dropped onto the island and our poor Losties think they’re coming to save them! How wrong they are…

I’m not that concerned with spoiling tonight’s episode, which mostly serves as an introduction to the four folks who have helicoptered over from the mysterious freighter of doom. One thing I can say is that there’s no clear formula for season four yet, with this evening returning to the flashbacks in favor of flash forwards – if only for this new set of characters. The episode offers modest back story for the freighter-ers (they remain about as ambiguous as you expect them to), but does begin to explain their loose ties with this season’s new Wirey mastermind, Colonel Cedric Daniels. “Confirmed Dead” is just as good as the season premiere – though it may lack a little excitement coming a mere week on the heels of the last episode. Half the payoff last week was the fact that it was actually happening.

It’s hard enough for me to digest Lost myself without regurgitating it in blog form. So for the most thoughtful recaps imaginable, check out new “band” Previously On Lost’s weekly musical summaries on MySpace. Their first offering went up this week, and it is as thorough as it is hilarious. Well done.

Posted in ABC, lost | 1 Comment »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »