RIP Lone Star

Today, Lone Star became the first cancellation of the new TV season. Which sucks, cause it was actually one of the better new shows. I still haven't seen the second and final episode, but judging from the pilot this was an entertaining and appealing show that, for better and for worse, was very different from everything else on TV. The fact that the show doesn't quite fit into any particular box (smart drama, trashy soap, or both?) made it hard to market, and harder to get people to watch. But still, how are people ignoring this and choosing instead to watch obvious crap like Shit My Dad Says and Outlaw?

Not that it matters much anymore, but the pilot centers on Bob/Robert Allen, a con man running two long cons simultaneously. In one, he's selling shares to non-existent wells to people in Midland, Texas, while living with his girlfriend. In another, he's married and working his way up in his father-in-law's oil company. And in both, his con man father is close by to monitor his progress.

I think a lot of people were turned off by the idea of a guy sustaining two separate relationships, but while it may certainly make him an anti-hero, Josh Wolk has enough charisma as an actor that Bob/Robert remains likable. It also helps that he's trying to get out of the con life and actually believes he loves both of the women. The best stuff in the pilot involves his interactions with his dad, all of which feels like something out of a Sawyer flashback from Lost (which I mean in a good way). When it gets too far into the family drama with the oil company, then it heads a bit into Dallas territory.

So there's the issue right there. For the most part, it's a smart drama, but it's also a bit of soap. It's a con man show, but has a lot of other things going on. It's hard to tell from the pilot what would happen next, and I guess we may never know. Still, this one had a lot of promise, and I'll get to that second episode at some point, even if I don't ever get to see the third.

Bad News for Dollhouse Fans

Well here's some disappointing news to start the day: according to Entertainment Weekly, Fox is taking Dollhouse off the schedule for November sweeps, not bringing it back til December for back-to-back Friday night episodes. So there's some doubly bad news: not only is Fox giving it the vote of no confidence by taking it off the air for a month, but in December the burning off process begins. All of which means what we probably knew all along: this second season will be Dollhouse's last.

So what went wrong? Why, after just three episodes this season has Dollhouse already been marked doomed? It's easy to just blame the network, but I think this case is a little more complicated than that. After all, most networks wouldn't have renewed Dollhouse at all. Or Fox could have gone the NBC route and renewed it and then canceled it before a single episode aired, Southland style. And finally, they could have actually canceled the show after these three episodes, but instead have promised to air all 13 episodes (even if some may end up being over the summer).

Next, as much as I hate to admit it, Joss Whedon and co. do have to take some of the blame. As I wrote after the second episode, the first two episodes this season just haven't been very good. The premiere was solid enough, but the second episode was just bad, and when every episode counts there's no room for duds. Now, the third episode was a huge improvement over the first two, with a plot about a creepy psycho on the loose in Victor's body who ends up swapping with Echo (leading to a very funny scene of Victor at a club with a party girl's personality). But even that episode was pure case-of-the-week, which most fans had hoped the show evolved out of last year.

But despite some creative missteps, I still believe the time slot was ultimately what doomed the show. There's an argument that Friday nights are a good place for struggling shows because the expectations are lower. But they're not. CBS continues to get blockbuster ratings for crappy supernatural procedurals like Ghost Whisperer and Medium, so the other networks think "I can do it too!" But here's the thing: only old people stay home and watch TV on a Friday night. Young people go out and catch the show on DVR sometime later. Which is why Dollhouse's ratings are 50% DVR. Cause only young people watch it. But it takes 17 days for those ratings to come in, at which point it feels like too little too late.

Even the death slot could have been survivable if Fox even tried to give the show a compatible lead-in, but instead it gave it probably the worst options in its line-up: Brothers and Til Death. Having never seen either, I can't really comment on their creative strength, although I can say that most critics named Brothers the worst new show of the season, and I honestly thought Til Death was canceled years ago until I just looked up Fox's schedule to see what Brothers is called. But even if both shows weren't even more in need of cancellation than Dollhouse, you still can't lead in to a challenging sci-fi show with unchallenging and unwatched comedies. Fringe would have made sense. Even a House or Bones repeat would have worked. Anything that would already have people watching the network.

Entertainment Weekly had a piece recently about how Tuesday is the worst TV night of the week, and shows like Dollhouse should be moved there where they'd stand a better chance. I couldn't agree more. I don't watch a single Tuesday night show, as the only options are reality, NCIS, and remakes of shows from the 1990s (literally the only shows that don't fit into these categories are The Good Wife, The Forgotten, and Leno). So if nothing else, maybe this whole incident will convince Fox that if their benchmark for a successful Friday night show is whether it can beat a repeat of House, maybe they should just air a repeat of House instead. Times have changed since the days The X-Files became a hit on Friday nights. And for Dollhouse fans, at least we'll get to see the final ten episodes sometime.

Pandas, Freckles, and Gossip, Oh My!

You might ask why I bothered watching Kung Fu Panda. It's a fair question. But after the Panda beat Wall-E in all the Animation Guild's awards, I was curious to see what would be losing to the robot come Oscar night. Getting past its obvious inferiority to the Pixar masterpiece, it's a surprisingly enjoyable watch, as far as straight-out kids movies go. Certainly if I was to take a kid to a movie, I could do far worse. The movie's best selling point is the animation. The various animated fight scenes do look really, really cool. I'm sure that's what the animators saw in it.

The Panda also stands out for its rather odd voice casting. Jack Black brings a little too much Tenacious D to his titular slacker. Angelina Jolie's voice has little enough personality you might think her Tigress is animatronic. Dustin Hoffman isn't the first name to come to mind when you hear "kung fu master." Jackie Chan and Lucy Liu are the token Asians in a movie set in China. And David Cross and Seth Rogen are clearly just there for the paycheck (seriously, Monsters vs. Aliens will be Rogen's 3rd animated movie. He really loves the easy money). Kung Fu Panda's not necessary viewing for anyone, but it's a perfectly nice way to waste some time.


Now to shift gears completely, Entertainment Weekly's TV critic, Ken Tucker, wrote this morning that he considers Jack's partner, FBI Agent Renee Walker, to be 24's weakest link this season. He calls her a "wimpy sentimentalist," a "sap," and even goes so far as to call her this season's Kim Bauer. Now, I personally think he's being rather hard on Freckles. Finding it difficult to hold a mother and baby at gunpoint seems like a rather reasonable response. Jack used to have some conscience issues once upon a time as well.

Now, I'm not saying she ranks on the list of memorable 24 characters, but how can you call her the weakest link with so many others to choose from? All Monotone does is make googly eyes at Uglier Sarah Jessica Parker and annoy everyone. Boring Boss seems to be the most extreme justification of torture, just because you'd never want to agree with someone like that. But the award for this season's Kim Bauer goes to the First Gentleman. Acting stupid and getting himself kidnapped? No contest.

Quick recap of Monday night's episode: Jack tries to become besties with his 3rd US president. Do you think when he asked President Taylor to "ask around" about him, he was referring to the dead and possibly dead Palmer brothers? Who else does he know that's still alive? Taylor eventually gives Jack his directive: find the First Gentleman within the hour. I like when 24 episodes have hourly goals; it gives them purpose. Plus, it meant the promise of a shoot-out at the end.

Meanwhile, Taylor lets Buchanan stick around and make policy decisions because she doesn't dare question the hair. Boring Boss enters the Jack Bauer Club...just to lecture everyone for the 8000th time about torture. Jack kills a guy because he's Jack Bauer. Freckles questions her desire to be Jack's torture apprentice for approximately one minute, 49 seconds. And Dubaku goes to confront his waitress girlfriend's wheelchair-bound sister for....reasons unknown. Seriously, does he actually plan on seeing the waitress again? Also, I think Uglier Sarah Jessica Parker is the mole. Otherwise what does she do?

Finally, the weekly gossip on Grey's Anatomy (why is the gossip so much better than the show? Watch any given episode to find that out). Costar James Pickens Jr. (The Chief) told Us Weekly that TR Knight and Katherine Heigl will both be leaving the show. Spoiler King Michael Ausiello at Entertanment Weekly says it's not a done deal, but it will likely happen sometime early next season.

Now, my first thought is to be happy for the actors. TR Knight's George has probably had around three lines an episode since episode four this season. Characters like "Nurse #8" have more screentime. Katherine Heigl's Izzie has had one of the stupidest subplots I've seen on any TV show in recent memory (you know which one I'm talking about). Watching the way these once-likable characters have been tossed aside is just sad, and both of the actors deserve to move on to bigger and better things.

But if they really leave, and only three of the original five interns remain, what's the point of even continuing the show? The show seemed to introduce a major new character every week, but the only one who survived was Army Doc. After another season, will there even be any Greys left? All I can say is I'm glad I stopped watching when I did.

Does the World Need a Gossip Girl Spin-Off?

Today the rumors became truth: Gossip Girl is getting a spin-off. Now, my gut reaction to spin-off news is always dismay. When The Office was supposed to get one, I figured great, the new show will suck and take the original down with it. After all, it's hard to think otherwise when our only current example of a spin-off is Private Practice, a show that did just that. You pretty much have to go back to Angel to find a time when it worked.

But then I actually read the premise. According to Entertainment Weekly, it's about a teenage Lily Van Der Woodsen living with her sister in 1980s Los Angeles. And, presumably, Young Rufus will have a part too. So let's get this straight: no actual cast members are involved, it's a different decade, a different coast, and Lily's name is basically the only thing this show has in common with Gossip Girl. In fact, if it didn't take place in the '80s, it could be any other show on the CW.

If a spin-off was inevitable (and the months of rumors suggest it was), this certainly seems like a pretty good option. After all, wasn't the other option to focus on Jenny Humphrey? Who would want to watch that? Actually, I just thought about a Gossip Girl without Jenny and it seemed like a beautiful thing. Maybe she could take Nate and Vanessa with her, as she moves to Seattle to become a West Coast hipster. Is that still possible?

I'm still not convinced the Lily and Rufus Show will break the streak of bad spin-offs, but I'm willing to give it a shot (or more likely ignore it) on its own merits. So are you excited to learn more about Lily and Rufus' past to some quality '80s music? Or do you think this spin-off is the worst thing to happen to Gossip Girl since Aaron Rose? Comment away.

Fox Cancels Prison Break a Few Seasons Late

After four seasons of tattoos, severed arms, heads in boxes, and returns from the dead, Prison Break will finally be sent to that big house known as cancellation, according to Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello. For most of us, the surprise is not the cancellation but that the show is actually still on the air.

I didn't bail until Lincoln found Sarah's head in a box (before she resurrected), but wiser viewers bolted when the eponymous prison break occurred. No matter how many wacky conspiracy plots and out-of-nowhere deaths they threw in, there was no escaping the fact that without the prison, there was no Prison Break.

So, for those of you loyal few still hanging on, the final episodes will return April 17th. Anyone curious to see how it all ends? Or will you go back to forgetting this 24-wannabe ever existed?

Last Post of the Year

Happy New Year's Eve everyone! On my last post of 2008, I thought I should do some kind of reflection on the year. I have to see a few more movies and catch up on a few more shows before I can do my top 10 lists, but they are coming. As for what else is coming up: tomorrow is blog resolutions, Friday is a midseason TV preview, and next week will be season premiere recaps. Now back to 2008:

It's a really good thing Barack Obama won the presidency in 2008, since that's about the only thing that kept it from being The Year That Sucked. Just look at today's news stories. In real news, the Israeli/Palestinian conflict has come back full force, and controversy over disgraced Governor Rod Blagojevich's senate pick will spill far into 2009. In entertainment news, a Viacom/Time Warner dispute could mean no Daily Show for the forseeable future, while a SAG strike is still a possibility. And that's just this week.

Here's just a few things we've dealt with this year: the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, the fall of Wall Street, the beginnings of the fall of Detroit, record-high gas prices, terrorist attacks in Mumbai, Russia's invasion of Georgia, the Eliot Spitzer scandal, the Rod Blagojevich scandal, a writer's strike that led to one of the worst TV seasons in memory, and a very weak year for movies.

But there were some bright spots, mostly in the election. From the epic Hillary/Obama primary battle to the conventions, debates, and Sarah Palin, the 2008 election was THE entertainment event of the year. People who never voted in their lives were suddenly political junkies, checking daily poll results and tracking debates like play-offs for the World Series. The election even spilled over to real entertainment, giving The Daily Show and The Colbert Report tons of material, and revitalizing Saturday Night Live with Tina Fey's instant-classic impersonation of Sarah Palin. And best of all, it had a happy ending.

While the overall field of movies and TV shows this year may have been weak, the best were comparable with any other year. The Dark Knight was the best superhero movie ever, one of the best crime epics ever, and featured one of the best movie villains ever. Wall-E was so much more than Pixar's best film, being as well a definitive look at our era. Slumdog Millionaire's frontrunner status for best picture may come out of lack of competition, but it would be at the top in any other year too. I'd put these three above my top three movies from last year, easily.

As for TV, I may not have added any new shows to my dvr in 2008, and a lot of my old favorites may have disappointed, but that didn't stop shows from continuing to wow. Lost, already the best tv show ever, proved it more by changing up the formula with flashforwards. Mad Men avoided a sophomore slump by going even deeper into its characters in year 2. And Dexter showed it could still be suspenseful without as compelling a central device as the Ice Truck Killer or the Bay Harbor Butcher.

So 2008 wasn't ALL bad, just mostly bad. On January 20th, 2009, Barack Obama gets sworn in as president. I certainly hope that means my final post for 2009 will be very different from this one.

TV Reminder

Just a reminder to everyone that beyond the usual Sunday night shows, there are two specials worth noting tonight. The first is 24: Redemption (Fox, 8-10 PM), the 2-hour movie to bridge the gap between seasons 6 and 7. It's been, what, a year and a half since season 6 ended? And most of us probably aren't too excited after the disappointment that was season 6. But even in Africa and not LA, Jack Bauer is Jack Bauer, and Redemption might give a sign of whether season 7 will be a return to must-see form.

The second TV event of note is A Colbert Christmas (Comedy Central, 10-11 PM). Despite the constant advertisements during Colbert Report and Daily Show the past few weeks, I'm not entirely sure what Stephen Colbert will do for his full hour. I'm expecting a mix of cheesy, Bing Crosby style Christmas talk with some songs and special guests. Must see? Who knows. The bigger question is why Christmas movies and specials now seem to only come out during Thanksgiving (see also: Four Christmases. Or don't).

I'll try to comment on both as soon as I've seen them. No promises on when that will be. Also coming up this week: What to See With Your Family on Thanksgiving, Top Thanksgiving TV Episodes (hint: nearly all of them are from Friends), and maybe that review of Slumdog Millionaire I've been meaning to write for weeks now.

Bad News from ABC

Well, the day we all feared has finally arrived: Pushing Daisies has been canceled. They've already shot the 13 episodes ABC ordered, so we still get 7 more episodes. I have to assume the decision was made for how much the show costs, because the ratings were bad, but not that bad. Maybe this was a case where an Emmy win for comedy would have made a difference. But with nothing else on TV like it, there isn't any other show that can easily fill the void. Creator Bryan Fuller has tried to put a hopeful spin on it. He says he plans to finish the story through comic books. That's great in theory, but I can't say I've read a single issue of Buffy Season 8. He talks about a movie version, but so did Rob Thomas after Veronica Mars was canceled. And as for reports that he'll be going back to Heroes? A couple watchable episodes of Heroes doesn't make up for the loss of a much better show.

But Pushing Daisies wasn't the only show canceled yesterday on ABC. Dirty Sexy Money and Eli Stone got the plug pulled as well. I didn't watch either show, so I can't say if the cancellations were warranted. The Dirty Sexy Money pilot didn't do it for me, and those advertisements with George Michael were enough to lose my interest in Eli Stone. But I do know both shows have a lot of passionate fans, if not to the same extent as Pushing Daisies. And as a television viewer, it pains me to think that ABC let these three go while keeping Private Practice.

But the TV news isn't all bad today. A few sprinkles of good news:

Mitchell Hurwitz and Ron Howard are making a deal with Fox Searchlight for an Arrested Development movie. That's right. It's no longer just Jason Bateman saying it would be cool. It is actually happening. Now we just need the cast to gang up on Michael Cera and force him to join in.

Also, a new promo for the new season of Lost:



Sure, The Fray isn't the most obvious musical pairing for Lost, other than that the word "lost" is in the song. And yes, nearly all of the clips are from previous seasons. But after 6 months with no new Lost, I'll take anything. Only two more months from today!