Day 1042: CBS Upfronts

CBS is probably the gutsiest network out there.  10 years ago, with the help of ‘CSI’ and ‘Survivor’ they completely changed the direction of their programing, for the better… and now… they believe in their line-up so much that their not afraid to replace actors and only launch 6 new shows this season, (half as many as any other network).

MONDAYS (Legen…dary)

8 pm: ‘How I Met Your Mother’ is BACK!!!!   This was my favorite sitcom of 2005 and every year it’s on the bubble for cancelation.  I can’t even begin to tell you have excited I am that the show will continue!

8:30pm: ‘2 Broke Girls’… from the writers of ‘Sex and the City’… but doesn’t sound as legendary.

9pm: ‘Two and a Half Men’… wow.  I’m speechless.  I seriously hate this show… and I’m not a huge Aston Kutcher fan (but he was good in ‘That 70s Show’).  But for some reason I can’t wait to see the reboot of this show.  Call it a morbid fascination… but it should be interesting.

9:30pm: ‘Mike and Molly’, I haven’t seen this show, but I want to.

10pm: ‘Hawaii Five-O’, again, I haven’t seen this one yet.  I have it in my queue and I’m really excited about it.

TUESDAYS (Strong)

8pm: ‘NCIS’… I’ll be watching ‘Glee’ on FOX.

9pm: ‘NCIS: LA’… Sure, I’ll watch, I need something to fill the time until ‘Parenthood’ on NBC.

10pm: ‘Unforgettable’, described as ‘The Mentalist’ with a hot girl… and with CBS’s knack for reinventing the same show, I figure it will do well…

WEDNESDAYS (Another strong night)

8pm: ‘Survivor’… HURRAY!

9pm: ‘Criminal Minds’

10pm: ‘CSI’

THURSDAYS (Sounds Good!)

8pm: ‘The Big Bang Theory’, my OTHER favorite sitcom is BACK!

8:30pm: ‘How to Be a Gentleman’, Starring Kevin Dillian (Entourage) and Dave Folly (News Radio and The Kids in the Hall) I WILL be watching!

9pm: ‘Person of Interest’!!!!!!!!  This is JJ Abrams new show.  CBS claims that this show has tested higher with audiences than any other CBS show in the last 15 years… and it’s JJ Abrams.  It should be awesome!

10pm: ‘The Metalist’

FRIDAYS (Skippable)

8pm: ‘A Gifted Man’, a review described this show as a ‘schlockfest’. 

9pm: ‘CSI: NY’

10pm: ‘Blue Bloods’… this is actually a pretty good show and has zero competition… unless you like ‘20/20’ and ‘Dateline’.

SATURDAYS (Huh?)

CBS is the ONLY network to air a real show on Saturday… ‘Rules of Engagement’ will air Saturdays at 8pm… but don’t count on it staying there.  I call this an on deck show.  As soon as one of their new sitcoms underperforms, you’ll see ‘Rules of Engagement’ being called back up to the big leagues.

SUNDAYS (Rock solid)

8pm: ‘The Amazing Race’, AWESOME!

9pm: ‘The Good Wife’

10pm: ‘CSI: Miami’

Day 1041: FOX Upfronts

MONDAYS (Power House Alternative to Reality Shows)

8pm: ‘Terra Nova’, a sci-fi epic.

9pm: ‘House’, eight seasons and still VERY strong.

TUESDAYS (Another Solid Night)

8pm: ‘Glee’

9pm: ‘The New Girl’ staring Zooey Deschanel!!!!!!

9:30pm: ‘Raising Hope’… I haven’t seen it, but I hear it’s good.

WEDNESDAYS (Yawn)

8pm: ‘The X Factor’… umm… this is a singing competition with Simon Cowell and Paula Abdul as judges… wait a minute… isn’t this… wait.  Huh?

9:30: ‘I Hate My Teenage Daughter’, good cast… but shows is this timeslot never do well.   Back in the early days of ‘American Idol’ they used to squeeze in a 9:30 sitcom before FOX switches to local news, but there was always a huge rates drop and affiliates would go berserk.  So, every time the sitcom was canceled and ‘American Idol’ was expanded to two-hours.  Expect that to happen here.

THURSDAYS (Classic FOX)

8pm: ‘The X Factor, Results Show’… by the way… if you haven’t figured it out, in January ‘American Idol’ will take over ‘The X Factor’ timeslot… because… well… sing competitions are awesome?

9pm: ‘Bones’

FRIDAYS (AWESOME!)

8pm: ‘Kitchen Nightmares’… too bad I’ll be watching ‘Chuck’ on NBC.

9pm: ‘FRINGE’!!!!!!!  Sorry ‘Grimm’… I’m a JJ Abrams loyalist!

SUNDAYS (Animated)

8 – 10pm:  FOX’s normal Sunday night animation block.  They have a new show premiering called ‘Allen Gregory’… I know nothing about it.

Day 1040: The ABC Upfronts

Once upon a time ABC was a juggernaut for inventive new shows… however, based on early reporting from critics, who attended the ABC Upfronts, not one of their 11 new shows sparked ‘LOST’ or ‘Modern Family’ level excitement.

MONDAYS (Solid)

8 – 10pm: ‘Dancing with the Stars’, still a rating giant and will probably cause NBC executives to weep openly.

10 – 11pm: ‘Castle’, hands down, the BEST crime show on television.  There is NO way ‘The Playboy Club’ will steal viewers from the fourth season of this fantastic show!

TUESDAYS (Shaky)

8 – 9pm Comedy Block: The early reviews for Tim Allen’s ‘Last Man Standing’ and ‘Man Up’ are NOT good and their timeslot REALLY confuses me.  Based on reviews, these two shows seem focus on male demographics… however, they are being used to lead into the ‘Dancing with the Stars, Results Show’.  The choice doesn’t make any sense to me.

9 – 10pm: ‘Dancing with the Stars, Results Show’

10 – 11pm: ‘Body of Proof’, I haven’t seen this show, but I love Dana Delany and I’m glad to see her show renewed… although I’ll probably watch ‘Parenthood’ on NBC instead.

WEDNESDAYS (Not very exciting)

8 – 10pm Comedy Block: Joining ‘The Middle’ and ‘Modern Family’ are two new sitcoms that I’m not overly excited about called ‘Suburgatory’ and ‘Happy Endings’.  The critics seem to think their worth checking out for a few episodes though… so I’ll probably give them a chance.

10 – 11pm: ‘Revenge’, okay… so… one review begins with, “I'm not entirely convinced that Emily Van Camp can really act, or pull off devious, but she's sure as hell going to try.”  And then it tries to explain the shows rather bizarre premise.  So… I’m hoping CBS will be showing something interesting because I’m certainly not going to watch ‘Law & Order: SVU’

THURSDAYS (Solid Girl Night)

The line-up really speaks for itself.

8 – 9pm: ‘Charlie’s Angles’ reboot.

9 – 10pm: ‘Grey’s Anatomy’

10 – 11pm: ‘Private Practice’

FRIDAYS (Craptastic Reality)

8 – 9pm: ‘Extreme Makeover: Home Edition’… is this show really still on?

9 – 10pm: ‘Shark Tank’

SUNDAYS (Very Interesting)

8 – 9pm: ‘Once Upon a Time’, great cast, but it’s a full blow fantasy show… on a Sunday night.  Not sure how long it will stay there, but I’m going to give it a shot.

9 – 10pm: ‘Desperate Housewives’… still going!

10 – 11pm: ‘Pan Am’, remember yesterday when I said every network wants their own version of ‘Mad Men’?  Well, this is ABC’s version and it is a LOT more promising than NBC’s… but still not REAL promising. 

Day 1039: The NBC Upfronts

So… over my last R&R, I found out a close friend has been secretly reading my blog.  I never knew until we went out one night and he said, “Hey, I really appeared your story about trying to get your internet hooked up in Pakistan.” 

Me: “Oh yeah?  Thanks… wait a minute.  Where… have you?...”

Him:  “Yeah… I read the blog… I skip all the stuff about movies, but I like to keep tabs on you.”

Well… you know who you are, I’ll see you in a couple months and you can go ahead and skip this post.

**********

In case you don’t know, the “Upfronts” are when a television networks present their line-up of shows for the next season to advertisers and the media.  Most importantly, this is their first opportunity to get advertisers excited about their NEW shows and sell LOTS of advertizing time up-front… hence the name… “Upfronts.”

Anyway, NBC, the network poster-child for poor decision…

(That’s right I still haven’t forgiven you for firing Conan… and the fact that you’ve canceled BOTH shows my good friend Jennifer Ferrin starred in, ‘Life on Mars’ and ‘The Cape’, isn’t really helping my forgiving nature!)

… is the first to step up to the plate and announce their Upfronts… and honestly, I have mixed feelings about it… but they do have some new shows that excite me.

MONDAYS (Not Thrilled… except for ‘Smash’)

8 – 10pm:  I am not excited about this at all.  NBC will be rolling out, not one, but TWO two-hour singing competitions in this time slot.  Starting this fall, the will be airing ‘The Sing-Off’ and in the January, they will launch ‘The Voice’.  What, with FOX’s addition of ‘The X-Factor’ this season, there will now be FOUR, that’s right, FOUR bloated singing competitions on the air in one season.

10 – 11pm (Fall): ‘The Playboy Club’… Umm… so… with the success of ‘Mad Men’ every network and their mother want a show like ‘Mad Men’… and ‘The Playboy Club’ is NBC’s attempt to reinvent the wheel.  I bet this show gets canceled with a vengeance!  This is a tough time-slot for NBC shows and I just don’t see ‘The Playboy Club’ appealing to the folks who just finished watching a singing competition.

10 – 11pm (January): ‘Smash’, a musical-drama, produced by Steven Spielberg and staring ‘American Idol’ runner-up Katherine McPhee, described as ‘Glee’ for grown-ups.  I think this is a PERFECT pairing with ‘The Voice’ and could be a hit… IF, and only if ‘The Voice’ is able to maintain viewers.

TUESDAYS (Mixed Emotions)

8 – 10pm: So… Serena and I actually like ‘The Biggest Loser’, however we’ve grown tired of the epically long seasons of two-hour episodes.  It’s just too much.

10 – 11pm: ‘Parenthood’, great cast, great show.  I’m glad it’s back for a third season!

WEDNESDAY  

I am not excited about NBC Mondays AT ALL.  They are rolling out, not one, but from 8 – 10pm:  In the fall it will be

WEDNESDAYS (Showing Promise)

8 – 9pm Comedy Block:  Serena and I LOVE Christina Applegate and were thurally disappointed when ABC cancelled ‘Samantha Who’ a few years ago.  So I am excited to see her back with ‘Up All Night’ and equally excited about Hank Azaria’s ‘Free Agents’.

9 – 10pm: ‘Harry’s Law’, I haven’t seen this show yet, but I hear good things.

10 – 11pm: ‘Law & Order: Special Victims Unit’... … Well, seriously… I think this franchise has run its course.

THURSDAYS (Thumbs Up)

8 – 10pm Comedy Block:  Only one new show in this block and it’s my other prediction for early cancelation.  It’s called ‘Whitney’ and the early reviews are not strong.  The only hope for this show is its 9:30pm timeslot, right after ‘The Office’.  As it stands now, ‘Whitney’ is uncontested in its time slot, so unless CBS announces a 9:30pm sitcom on Thursdays, there will be nothing to watch until 10pm.

10 – 11pm: ‘Prime Suspect’.  This is the new NBC show that I’m MOST excited about.  If it’s anything like the British version starring Helen Mirren, it should be REALLY good!

FRIDAYS (AWESOME)

8 – 9pm: The final season of ‘Chuck’!!!!   Every year I am always concerned about ‘Chuck’, one of my favorite shows currently on the air.  I am really excited that NBC has given this show a chance to go out in style.

9 – 10pm: ‘Grimm’, I’m not sure if I’m 100% behind this show.  The premise is kind of strange… however this is the perfect time slot for it… if it’s going to appeal to anyone; it will be the folks who watch ‘Chuck’.

Day 1038: Super Don’t Worry?

Has anyone heard of the board game “Super Don’t Worry?”… as opposed to normal “Don’t Worry”, which I assume also exists, but have never seen before.

During my R&R, the house we rented in Greece had a ton of board games… and one of the games that drew Grayson’s attention was called “Super Don’t Worry”.  All the pieces were there expect the directions.

So, because of the name, Grayson decided it was the Greek version of “Sorry!”, his favorite American board game… and completely made up similar rules on the fly even though the game board and pieces were nothing like “Sorry!”.

It was pretty darn funny… and out of curiosity, I decided to find the game in hopes of figuring out the real rules… however I can’t find anything about it online.  It’s as if the game doesn’t exist at all.

I have no really hopes of finding it, but I thought I would just throw it out there.

Day 1037: Politics, a Love/Hate Relationship

Although I purposefully avoid the topic of ‘politics’ on this blog, don’t be fooled; I am a very politically minded person and I can’t get enough of the stuff…

In real life (as opposed to blog life) I enjoy discussing politics with people of all backgrounds.  And I REALLY like looking at issues from all perspectives in a very methodical, unemotional, and detached manner.  I personally think it’s easier to understand an issue when you turn off your emotions, turn off the talking points of others, and just research facts.

As a result, I have found that I am less interested in individual issues and more interested in political strategy as a whole.  It’s all a big game and it fascinates me. 

How big of a game do I think it is?

Well, back in 2008, I created a Political Primaries Fantasy League, where every player had to pick a Republican and Democratic candidate for each state… and players earned points equal to the percentage of votes the candidates they picked earned in those states.  (You didn’t have to pick the same candidate for all states; you could pick whoever you wanted for each individual state.) 

Now, some of you are probably drooling with boredom already, but I have to admit.  This fantasy league ended up being a lot of fun and it really forced players to research candidates from both parties AND understand what was important to different states… it forced player to step out of their comfort zone a little bit. 

In addition, the game really got us talking about strategy.  There were a lot of heavy hitters from both parties that lost their footing early in the primary process… which begged the question, “What did they do wrong?”

So, yeah… I have a pretty bizarre love affair with political strategy.  Coupled with my background in Theatre, I sometimes wonder if I would have been better suited as a campaign manager.

Sure, I have some platform issues that I personally find important, but for the most part I am pretty middle of the road, flexible, and I have a very eclectic voting record… but that certainly has its draw backs as well.

When you are sitting in the middle you tend to forget how passionate many people can be about “their” side.  And, even during simple conversations that passion can lead to a lot of very negative unnecessary mudslinging and very derogatory comments about the people they don’t agree with… and most of it has very little to do with fact and everything to do with personal nastiness.  

Sure, I enjoy poking fun at politicians when they say or do something silly… but I just don’t see how being nasty is productive or how it benefits ANY part of our country political dialogue.

Anyway, when a conversation gets to that dark place, folks put their defenses up and it’s pretty much impossible to say anything that isn’t taken personal… and well… the ability to have a logical conversation disappears.  
  
And that’s what I hate about politics.

Day 1036: Oh, that Grayson!

Grayson just cracks me up.  He is always very interested in how my day is and I just love how he asks.

Grayson: “Dad, can I ask you a question?”

Me: “Sure buddy.”

Grayson: “Dad… Dad… I want to ask you… Dad, how was your day at work?”

Me: “It was pretty good.”

Grayson: “That’s good Dad, I’m glad you had a good day in Pakistan.”

Now, sometimes Grayson doesn’t ask me how work was, sometimes he just asks, “Dad, how was your day in Pakistan.”

And my stock answer has become: “HOT!”