Jeff Zucker is out as the President of NBC and the new owners, Comcast, will be taking full control of this legacy network very soon.  While NBC is one of the biggest names in broadcast history, buying this network is not like a billionaire buying the New England Patriots.  Thanks to years of mismanagement and decisions that seem to have been made after of a bender of Schlitz, pixie sticks, and PCP, the network is in shambles.  For a buyer, this is like sinking your money into the Detroit Lions and hoping for the best. 

There was a considerable span of time where NBC was the dominant force in television.  They were behind a long series of hit shows that included The Cosby Show, Cheers, Night Court, Will and Grace, Seinfeld, Hill Street Blues, etc.  NBC’s “Must See TV” lineup gave people reasons to stay conscious on a Thursday evening that didn’t involve preparing their livers for a Friday night of clubbing.  Something happened in 2004.  Maybe it was the re-election of George W.  Bush or maybe it was the ending of their last truly great series “Friends,” but at some point in time that year, something broke both NBC’s spirit and their brain.  

It started simply enough.  Then Network President, Jeff Zucker, tried to replace “Friends” with two sub standard shows, Coupling and Joey.  Coupling was a British show that NBC tried to bring to an American audience.  The problem was that this program was the Brits low rent version of Friends.  Replacing a popular show, with something that looks a little like it, but without the charm is sort of like trying to replace your first love with a latex based product bought at a Fredrick’s of Hollywood outlet.  It’s just not the same.  Coupling didn’t work out and neither did the show, Joey.  Building a spin-off around the least intriguing character of the Friends cast was a mistake on par with the New Coke, the show After M.A.S.H. and “Hope and Change.”  After that the bad decisions just kept on coming.  (more…)

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Good to know Kanye West is capable of shame. There might be hope for him yet. Who would’ve ever guessed that after eight years of the worst kind of cruelty and vitriol aimed at President Bush that West would be the first to publicly take it back. Knowing the left as we all do, Kanye is likely to be the last.

My wife downloaded “Decision Points” to her Kindle yesterday and I made the mistake last night of thinking a few pages might help me doze off and ended up reading until way past 1am. According to the Kindle gizmo-thingy, I’m 17% in — which is who knows how many pages, but thus far it’s a riveting read and much more of an autobiography than the title implies. (more…)

As the fourth-rated broadcast TV network, NBC has made plenty of mistakes during the past few years, under now-ousted CEO Jeff Zucker. These failures actually arose from NBC’s longtime corporate culture and mission, which have been in place since the 1950s: an emphasis on specials and spectacular ideas as opposed to creating solid entertainment.

It was NBC’s ambitions, inherited from the innovative TV programmer Sylvester “Pat” Weaver in the 1950s, that led to expensive, high-concept shows such as Kings, Heroes, The Event, and the like (note the high-flown titles of these series). Even last season’s Tonight Show debacle can be seen as part of this trend, an attempt at innovation and specialness on the cheap.

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This approach has failed at least as often as it has succeeded—NBC’s ratings were seldom spectacular under Weaver; CBS tended to rule the roost then, as today. In fact NBC’s greatest success in the post-Weaver years was the Brandon Tartikoff era, when the former ABC program exec wedded  the network’s typical ambition and thirst for innovation with a smart quest for personable actors and entertaining concepts.

With Zucker now on the way out and Jeff Gaspin installed as board chairman, NBC appears to be trying to return to the Tartikoff approach, and the new series Undercovers (Wednesdays, 8 p.m. EDT) is a good example of the changes at the network.

It’s another action-adventure  series in the mid-1960s style (like Fox’s Human Target and Fringe and much of the USA Network’s original programming). Created by J. J. Abrams, creator of Alias, Lost, Fringe, and the Star Trek reboot movie, Undercovers is not particularly original, but that may actually be a good sign. Following the pattern established by Fox and the USA Network (and taking a cue from NBC’s glory days under Tartikoff) is probably more sensible than continuing down the same unsuccessful path NBC has trodden in the past decade. (more…)

When “Lost” premiered in 2004, it wasn’t a show about good versus evil. It wasn’t a show about faith versus science. It was a show about survivors from a plane crash who were stranded on an island with a mysterious creature. As the show progressed, it meticulously added new mysteries and twists during each of its six seasons. NBC’s “The Event” tries to recapture the excitement of “Lost” but fails to capture the latter show’s ability to build a strong and compelling story. 

While “Lost” was about survivors dealing with the mysteries that surround them, “The Event” is about strange occurrences that affect its characters. 

Jason Ritter plays Sean Walker, a young man who is seen in flashbacks planning to propose to his girlfriend on a cruise. Before they head off on the trip, Walker receives her father’s permission for the engagement. However, when the time comes for the proposal, Walker and his girlfriend are interrupted by screams from a man whose girlfriend is drowning in the nearby water.

Eventually, Walker saves the girl and the two couples become friends. Walker goes on a day trip with the girl he rescued but when he returns to the cruise, he no longer shows up in the cruise’s directory. His girlfriend and he are mysteriously missing from the ship’s records. (more…)

NBC’s “more colorful.” Are they talkin’ about that fruity colored Peacock when they say that, or are they talking about their new line up of shows that feature some black folk? Oh, how they pat themselves on the back for finally makin’ some prime time shows with leading people of color in this late year of two THOUSAND *#!?* TEN!!!

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Undercovers is among the new line-up meant to pander to us “colorful people.” It stars two very attractive actors: Boris Kodjoe and Gugu Mbatha-Raw and I reckon that since we’re not smart enough to see that they’re Black, NBC had to give us a little nudge to point that out to us. The actors are talented and good looking, but I guess NBC wants the world to know that they’ve figured out that Black people could be good looking and talented enough to have a prime-time show in the form of a romantic action-comedy.

Wow thanks, NBC!

NBC, just like a lot of people can’t just see Americans. They see ethnicities.
What’s worse is that too many people see people who aren’t white as “ethnic.” Let me remind you that white people are also an ethnic group. Every one of us are within an ethnic group.

So when a person refers to me as “ethnic,” I’m like, what the hell do you mean by that? (more…)

NBC’s The Event has probably been one of the most widely anticipated new series of the current season. The network ran countless promotional spots intended to entice viewers to wonder precisely what the title occurrence might be, and what it might mean.

Of course, big hype means big expectations, and it’s an open question whether the show can live up to them. The ratings last night were good but not as high as NBC might have hoped, with the show finishing third in its time slot.

According to TV by the Numbers:

It was NBC’s best non-olympic performance in the time slot since February 2, 2009 and it rose from a 3.5 rating with adults 18-49 in the first half hour to a 3.9 in the second half hour.

But, OK, you may be wondering, should I watch it? Will it be worth my time?

Short answer: probably not, at least if the pilot episode is any indication.

One distinctive element of The Event is the show’s narrative structure: the story jumps back and forth in time and from one place to another. I didn’t find that to be a problem, but others might not find that aspect of The Event particularly enjoyable.

The other evident thing about the pilot episode is the lack of a clear central character. Just as the story jumps about in time and place, it also jumps from one central character to another. That is a more important concern, I think. (more…)

I was flipping through the tube last night, and found myself in an all-too familiar situation: watching reruns of Seinfeld.  Sure, you could chalk it up to my lack of a basic cable package, or it could be due to the fact that I’m no longer able to stomach Letterman’s increasingly senile, liberal spewage (and Leno is sort of hit-or-miss these days).  I would argue, however, that one reason stands above the rest: Seinfeld is honest.

The truth is that Seinfeld reflects the worst among us. It is made up of a memorable cast, all of whom play the most self-serving people you could ever meet. Self-absorbed, vain and often underhanded, the show is a perfect embodiment of many involved with the entertainment industry.  You’ve got to love its transparency. Unlike James Cameron (who is just as materialistic and self-serving as a George Costanza), you never have to worry about the show sermonizing the politically correct cause du jour.

Funnily enough, it is Seinfeld’s lack of a soapbox that spurs me to take a good hard look at myself more than any other show on television. How often do you find yourself disgusted at the selfishness of George or Jerry, only to realize that you’ve most likely acted similarly (if not identically) at one point or another? (more…)

The 2007 fall season was to new television shows what a gold-digging Russian home wrecker with a tape recorder was to Mel Gibson’s career.  Most of the new network offerings that year met with a premature ratings death and were unceremoniously cancelled.  One of my favorite shows, “Chuck,” emerged from the carnage.  Despite some trials and tribulations, this show has clawed its way back from the same chopping block that took “Back to You,” “Caveman,” and “Dirty, Sexy Money” and is now once again part of the NBC Prime Time lineup.  The trip was not an easy one, though.

”Chuck” is a well written, snappy, multi-layered show that doesn’t hang its hat on one particular peg.  It can be funny, poignant, dramatic, and action packed (sometimes all at once).  These are all points in its favor; none of it would be any good if the cast couldn’t deliver what the writers had created.  Let’s face it, Shakespeare’s best work would seem absolutely silly if Paris Hilton was delivering the dialogue. 

The “Chuck” cast is led by Zachery Levi in the title role of Chuck Bartowski, a computer repair person at an electronic store who accidentally becomes a national security asset (or liability…it depends on your point of view).  Yvonne Strahovski plays his occasionally lethal but always stunning CIA minder and girlfriend, Sara Walker.  Television and film veteran, Adam Baldwin, rounds out the main cast as Colonel John Casey.  Colonel Casey is an NSA agent, and the third member of “Team Bartowski.”  He is what one would get if they combined the patriotism of Ronald Reagan, the crabbiness of Lucy from the Charlie Brown cartoons, and the sheer destructive power of Godzilla or Mike Tyson. (more…)

Via the indispensable NewsBusters, even USA Today can’t carry this much water:

There’s awful, and then there’s atrociously, hilariously awful — a line NBC and Jimmy Smits soar across with Outlaw. A gambling, womanizing, conservative Supreme Court justice who chucks the court to become a crusader for the outcast and oppressed? That’s not a prime-time show, it’s a Saturday Night Live sketch.

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Preposterous to a painful degree, Outlaw is a vanity-show concept only an actor could love. Who wouldn’t want to play a larger-than-life devil on the outside/saint on the inside who’s worshiped and adored by the right-thinking and loathed and feared by evildoers? If only Smits had noticed that his playboy card-shark jurist was a dramatic contradiction in terms: a sanctimonious sinner, an intolerably smug one to boot. 

We meet Smits’ Justice Cyrus Garza as he’s being thrown out of a casino for counting cards. Outside, he stops to debate a case he’s due to decide with a pretty ACLU protester (because you know those justices, yak, yak, yak) — whom he then beds. But her words move him, and he resigns to become a trial lawyer. …. (more…)

Editor’s Note: Script reviews of upcoming projects have been around for as long as there’s been an Internet. Therefore it’s no secret that a film can evolve into something quite different from its screenplay. Please keep in mind that this article represents a look at a particular script and not the final product.

The pilot script for NBC’s The Event (premieres next Monday, Sept. 20th) is nothing more than leftist wish fulfillment, a smarmy progressive wet dream that somehow was approved by teams of executives, marketing research firms, focus groups, and Fortune 500 companies looking to advertise their services.  It’s a Big Dumb Action Movie wannabe (no doubt they’re gonna make it “hip” and “edgy” with shaky-cam non-cinematography) propelled by a hyper-partisan political premise so preposterous, paranoid, and childish, it will make your head explode.  Who, besides surgeons who fix botched lobotomies, would advertise for that? 

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The Event’s story follows Attractive, Youthful White Male and Attractive, Youthful White Female (the script says she’s “model hot. And an MIT graduate”– a daring choice given all the inarticulate Joy Behar lookalikes all over primetime TV), who just dither around doing generic young person activities until the writer reveals how they’re inter-connected with serious political intrigue involving Elias Martinez, a newly-elected, charismatic Latino (er, as Latino as “Benjamin Bratt meets JFK” might be) President.  Sound like anybody you know? 

At this point, the script turns into a facepalm fest of political Mad Libs*.  Obama = “Martinez,” Michelle Obama = “Christina,” his tender, maternal wife, Sasha & Malia = “Sandra & David,” their 8 year-old twins (you know that’s gonna factor in to the sci-fi elements of the show– but more on that later).  President Obamartinez is “smart, confident, accessible, a family man and loving father,” the same sympathy-begging dirty trick as the manipulative Rendition.  In addition, President Obamartinez has just passed a hostile takeover of insurance companies “free clinic expansion bill” (PC doubletalk like that would be great satire if it weren’t already aped by real life like N.I.C.E. in the UK, which exists solely to restrict people from buying new medications).  This is a good thing for the fictional America at play here, because there’s an evil pharmaceutical company that’s got “the only drug effective against the new H1N1 strain,” and an MSNBC report lets us know that only the government-run clinics are distributing it.  He’s also about to totally RIP THE LID OFF Guantanamo Bay Mount Inostranka Facility, a secret detention & TORTURE prison that has a menacing Russian-sounding name because it’s located in…

ALASKA!!!  Dun dun duuuunnnn!!! (That’s insidious because Sarah Palin lives there.)  (more…)

So NBC’s chief war correspondent Richard Engel claims that if the U.S. had not invaded Iraq, things would still be bad, but not as bad as before. His reasoning: Saddam Hussein would still be in power, but, “he was probably getting more moderate.”

So, what does he mean by “moderate?”

I suppose, maybe, “only gassing half as many Kurds?”

 
 Kurds gassed by “The Moderate”

Perhaps he was going to instruct his sons to only rape women on “every other weekend.”

Or maybe, to help the environment, he’ll only electrocute citizens using recycled car batteries.

Anypoop – Engel’s wrong. He makes the point that Saddam would be more accommodating, but you can’t be more accommodating than when you’re dead. I think even Saddam would agree, if he were alive. But he’s dead, so he can’t.

In that sense, I guess he’s not that accommodating (which does poke a hole in my theory). (more…)

Satellite operator DIRECTV pulled off a brilliant move, along with Sony Pictures Television and FX Productions, in renewing Damages for two, 10–episode seasons.  The engrossing, critically-acclaimed drama created by Todd A. Kessler, Glenn Kessler & Daniel Zelman, was averaging an unprofitable 1.4 million viewers on FX.

So why did the deal get done, and who stands to benefit?  Don’t look to the LA Times, because they didn’t get it right, calling it a “vanity play” and “marketing hook”.

Wrong.  It’s very likely to be a home run financially for DIRECTV.

And another example of why Hollywood is in big trouble.

The Hollywood business model is such that quality programming has a tougher time reaching audiences via the traditional network route, because network programming is barely viable these days.  The content provided is not reflective of the tastes of the majority of the country, and the comments my articles receive provide anecdotal evidence of this.  The whole point of a broadcast network is that it BROAD casts programming.  But now, these are NARROW casts, leaving out huge swaths of the country.  Damages is a program I would hope that more viewers would embrace because it is primarily concerned with presenting extremely complex moral dilemmas, with life-or-death consequences.  It was too good to be picked up by a network, and found a home on a cable network.  Nevertheless, the present state of even cable economics made it unprofitable to continue on FX. (more…)

Some of you may recall that early in the morning of July 28 of 2006 actor Mel Gibson was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving in Los Angeles, California. During that arrest, it was reported that Gibson was alleged to have launched into a brief but vehement denunciation of Jews that were “responsible for all the wars in the world.” Famed at the time for having produced and directed the film The Passion of the Christ (2004), Gibson’s anti-Semitic tirade was the feature of news reports throughout the media for weeks after the incident.

The same cannot be said, however, for Oliver Stone who just last weekend launched into his own anti-Semitic rant. Coverage of Stone’s outrageous comments, arguably as bad as Gibson’s, has been met with a virtual shrug from the Old Media, especially the TV newsers.

On July 25, 2010, the London Sunday Times released an interview with Oliver Stone that featured his claim that Hitler is often treated too harshly by history because of the “Jewish domination of the media.” (The Sunday Times article is on a subscription only site)

Stone lamented the fact that few people are seemingly aware that Hitler killed “25 or 30 million” Russians saying, “Hitler did far more damage to the Russians than [he did to] the Jewish people.” The reason no one knows this, according to Stone, is apparently because of powerful Jews in the US. (more…)

Law and Order: Criminal Intent, the long-running spinoff of the recently canceled TV crime drama mainstay Law and Order, has on fairly regular occasions manifested the overt progressivist and anti-Christian bias of its forebear This week’s episode is one of the most blatant instances yet.

It’s a pity because the show, now broadcast on the USA Network, has interesting story lines and the central characters, NYC police detectives played by Jeff Goldblum and Saffron Burrows, are intelligent and fairly likable.

Unfortunately, this week’s story line is neither. In “Palimpsest,” detectives Nichols and Stevens investigate a case involving two wealthy Manhattan antiquarians who apparently killed each other in a sword-fighting duel. (That kind of insanely bizarre situation is common for the show.) Also involved in the story is the schizophrenic adult daughter of one of the dead men, whom Nichols used to date before her illness became manifest. (more…)

Movies based on TV shows are often some of the most painful offerings studios have to offer. Whether suffering through the big-screen versions of “The Beverly Hillbillies” or “Car 54, Where Are You?”, “My Favorite Martian” or this summer’s mega-bomb “MacGruber,” the ratio of awful adaptations to successful ones is vastly disproportional.

Of course, once in awhile, some work: “Wayne’s World,” “The Blues Brothers” and (at least financially) the “Mission: Impossible” films come to mind. But with the new film version of “The A-Team,” Fox has concocted a wildly uneven yet (at many moments) even more wildly entertaining edition of the ridiculously fun ‘80s NBC series that manages to both disappoint and enthrall action fans within the span of a rollicking two hours.

Series purists may find plenty to grouse about, as the film kicks off with a somewhat-different take on the group, having Col. Hannibal Smith (played by Liam Neeson here and George Peppard on TV) meet B.A. Baracus (Quinton “Rampage” Jackson here, and the immortal Mr. T on TV) for the first time, as he forces him to let him hitch a ride en route to saving his friend “Faceman” (Bradley Cooper here, and Dirk Benedict on TV). They are immediately at odds before bonding over their mutual Army Rangers tattoos, a trait they share with Faceman and their final member, an insane chopper pilot named “Howling Mad” Murdock (Sharlto Copley of “District 9” here, and Dwight Schultz on TV). (more…)

There’s something absurdly satisfying about watching leftists attack other leftists using leftist tactics. NBC is just now discovering that their ObamaVision push last year coupled with their obtuse propaganda arm over at NBC News and MSNBC made them the perfect target for a racial demagogue like Rep. Maxine Waters. NBC bending over when it comes to all things PC and Obama probably had them under the mistaken impression that their appeasement would satisfy Leftist Bullies like Waters, when all it really does is invite more bullying. 

Comcast and NBC want to merge. This is a very big deal that will require much government blessing and Waters is using the opportunity to her fullest advantage to push what can only be described as a racist agenda that demands individuals at NBC be hired based on the color of their skin.

Paul Bond at the Hollywood Reporter:

“How many of the executive producers for your 2010 fall lineup are minorities?” [Rep. Waters] asked Paula Madison, executive vp of diversity at NBC Uni.

Sorry to interrupt but… “Executive VP of Diversity?” Do you think for a moment that diversity of ideas or political points of view falls under their charge? If you watch any branch or arm of NBC you know the answer. (more…)

“Objection, your honor.” - Jack McCoy

Law & Order devotees have subconsciously felt this moment coming for some time, but now that the axe has finally fallen, many of us are grappling with television-induced heartache.

NBC confirmed Friday that it had canceled the original “Law & Order,” bringing an end to a 20-year-old television drama that jump-started an era of television production in New York City.

“Law & Order” was on the verge of becoming the longest-running drama in prime-time television history, surpassing “Gunsmoke.” But it appears that the “Law & Order” executive producer, Dick Wolf, has settled for a tie. The final episode of the series will be shown on May 24, NBC confirmed in a news release Friday.

As I ponder the unwelcome reality that one of my favorite shows is, well, done-done,  I’m struggling to get past the unsatisfying fact that one of television’s longest running programs was unceremoniously dropped–with neither fanfare nor closure.   As the process shook out, the final episode ended up being shot before NBC decided to pull the plug.  The end result: What was initially written and produced as a season finale (which was excellent, especially S. Epatha Merkerson’s moving performance and Sam Waterson’s epic rant) became the de facto series finale.  Law & Order’s cast, crew, and fans deserve better. (more…)

It might not be my place to do the first “Chuck” post at Big Hollywood, what with Adam Baldwin being a contributor here and all, but one needed to be done (especially since the season finale airs tonight) and I am all about stepping up.  It is probably better for a fan of the show to write about it anyway because it would be a bit embarrassing for Baldwin to have to go on and on about how incredible his John Casey character is. 

For those who have not yet watched “Chuck,” let me explain what you are missing while you still have time to rent and watch the first seasons on DVD before reruns of the current season begin.  “Chuck” is an hour-long comedy/action/drama airing Monday nights on NBC.  The show is now completing its third season and has just been renewed for a fourth. 

The series follows the adventures of Buy More electronics store employee, Chuck Bartowski, who is sucked into the world of spies when his former college roommate downloads the “Intersect” into Chuck’s brain via encrypted email. The “Intersect” turns Chuck’s brain into a super computer full of the country’s most vital security secrets.  Later in the series, Chuck downloads the Intersect 2.0 which not only fills him with information about foreign agents and secret missions, but gives him special skills that enable him to function as a kickass trained spy. (more…)

You would think that after last year’s Perez Hilton debacle Miss USA officials would have put some serious controls over the questions this year’s judges were allowed to ask the pageant contestants.  Instead, Sunday’s event had actor Oscar Nuñez of NBC’s “The Office” grilling Miss Oklahoma on the recently passed anti-illegal immigration law in Arizona.

(more…)

During a recent episode of the new NBC show “Parenthood,” the patriarch of the family was jokingly reminiscing with his wife about a family trip they had taken years earlier when one of their children got sick and vomited on her. His wife painfully recalls the situation in a far more serious tone noting that she was washing out the vomit from her hair in a dirty disgusting gas station bathroom and her husband was amused. As she talks about the experience, her husband slowly realizes that he had hurt her by his casual response to the situation and that the memory was a painful one for her to recall. It was a subtle, small and powerful scene that showcases how NBC’s great new program ”Parenthood” is able to capture real relationships and complicated people.

“Parenthood,” a television drama inspired by the 1989 film of the same name, focuses on a large, eclectic family like the film did. However, instead of going for laughs as the film did, the show focuses on the drama that come from being a parent. I watched the film “Parenthood” for the first time several weeks ago and enjoyed it. However, I am liking the television show a lot more because it’s less concerned with creating comedy and more interested in developing strong characters and great storylines.

The show revolves around the Braverman family, which is headed by a a strong couple: Zeek (played by Craig T. Nelson) and Camille (Bonnie Bedelia). The Braverman family includes Zeek and Camille’s children and their numerous grandchildren. One of the major storylines focuses on one of the grandchildren, Max, who was recently diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome. Max’s parents have a difficult time adjusting to the realization that their child is different than the other kids but ultimately they learn to adapt their life for him — to give him an environment where he can grow. (more…)