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Posts tagged as “News”

To the future!

Well hello there.

Looks like I’m back.
Okay, that’s a half-lie (or is it half-truth).

Since late-November, a lot of stuff has happened.
Avatar came out and broke box-office records.
Golden Globes were delivered, and Oscar noms went out.
The final season of Lost has begun as well as the 2010 Olympics.
Pilot season is upon us, and there was this whole Conan/Leno story.
Wow, what a (few) month(s)!

Oh, and I have a Green card.

Now if you’re wondering what the hell happened to me in the past three or so months, the short answer is that I’ve been away.
For the longer version, stay tuned. I do have a lot to talk about.

The one thing to note is that I have been busy working on the new version of the blog (remember?).
I admit, I took a Christmas break, but it’s almost over now.

You’ll have to wait a bit before discovering the new website as I still need to transfer (right now) the 400+ posts and basically re-tag every one of them (among other things).
Hang tight, we’re almost there.

During that time, I will still be on Twitter (where I admit I haven’t been that much present).

Okay.
That wasn’t a bad first post.

I’ll see you on the flip side (or on the bird).

And happy Valentine’s Day.
And New Year while we’re at it.

NBC programming keeps going down South

NBC programming keeps going down South

So, I woke up this morning with another news that symbolized the continued downfall of the Peacock network.

“Southland” has been cancelled after a quick run in the spring, and while it was scheduled to return in the Friday slot of death in just 2 weeks.

Today, TV commenters are dumbfounded by the decision, which was prompted, according to sources, by a content deemed “too gritty” for 9 p.m. viewers. Some people call it “the first casualty of Jay Leno”; others “the end of NBC’s commitment to excellence in drama”. They’re absolutely right. But I also think it shows tragic misdirection in NBC’s management of their development slate.

“Southland” premiered in the Thursday slot left vacant by “ER”, which was run by John Wells, who also produces this show. The ratings were surprisingly solid, which was seen as a “tour de force” in an otherwise bleak season. But, as we all know, Jay Leno would take all the 10 p.m. slots in the fall. NBC sure wanted to stay in business with Wells, so they decided to renew the show, but put it on Fridays at 9.

Usually, if a show had a gritty content, execs would ask to lighten up the tone of the stories somewhat. Not the case here: they waited until six episodes were completed, and decided it was inappropriate to show on Fridays. This comes after news that Amaury Nolasco was leaving the show, the premiere was pushed back a month…

And there was still a slot on Sundays at 10 pm on midseason.

Oh, wait. That’s “The Apprentice” time.

As we all know, apart from “Law and Order SVU” and its comedy block (with modest ratings compared to the Must-See TV days), nobody even bothers watching the fiction programming anymore. “The Biggest Loser” apparently does fine, and, coming October, “Dateline NBC” will do fine….especially for NBC, who produces the program in-house rather than buying an expensive and “dark” John Wells production for a hefty price tag.

Nikki Finke also reported that “Trauma” could be next to face the axe, with less than 6 million viewers. Barely surprising. And I also bet that the new JJ Abrams project, as well as a few other shows, will be fast-tracked for midseason, once all the drama slates are left vacant.

In conclusion, an interesting analysis from a NPR specialist.

On and off

Due to the fact that I’m pretty busy nowadays (what with the new design and all), for the next week or two (basically until A TV Calling 2.0 is live), I’ll only be posting here and there instead of daily.
At least now when I post it’ll be something worthwhile! (wink, wink)
Don’t go far though, there is still going to be some fresh content by Lordy.