Category: Soapbox

Oh, hooray. I’d been wondering why the radio had been less annoying recently. I finally put my finger on it: no more Mattress Discounter adverts. You know the ones – you need to get down to your nearest store to save a bundle on a mattress before the 60-day-long Arbor Day sale is up (and the next sale begins). Yes, I still hear adverts for Sleepy’s and a few others I can’t think of offhand. But the Mattress Discounters adverts were easily the worst offender of common sense – especially the one where you would supposedly save a lot of money by getting mattresses and box-springs whose color didn’t match.

As it turns out, Mattress Discounters had already done the bankruptcy thing once and they are doing it again. They aren’t quite dead – just exiled to a few outposts (metro DC and California – both operations uses the same phone number though the Cali stores appear to have a separate corporate parent). Except for the poor souls who live in the few places where Mattress Discounters still exist, the rest of the country now has less polluted airwaves and fewer places for fools and their money to be parted.

Years ago when Johnny Carson was retiring, NBC made a big mistake in choosing Jay Leno over Dave Letterman. Much has been written about this decision and they even had a TV movie about the fiasco. Leno isn’t nearly the natural that Letterman is. He comes out hand-slapping the audience every night at the start of the show to prove he’s not merely a robot dispensing topical cracks masquerading as humor. His interview segments with guests are as wooden as those seen on the Today show – staged ahead of time with a script. So NBC ended up losing Letterman and CBS had the smarts to pick up Letterman. A clear loss for NBC and a clear win for CBS.

Next, NBC continued the mistakes by hiring Conan O’Brien. While many of you may disagree and say that you like O’Brien, I just don’t think he’s that good. He’d fit better doing late night on the WB. Fundamentally, O’Brien is a funny guy and his writing for his own show as well as that of SNL and The Simpsons shows it. But he’s not great at the host job.

Meanwhile, CBS continued the smart picks by picking up Craig Ferguson for the show after Letterman. Not only is Ferguson a good interviewer, but he’s naturally funny on camera. And his monologue is frequently the funniest on late night.

(For the sake of completeness, I think Jimmy Kimmel is a good pick for host too and it’s too bad that Kimmel isn’t on at 11:30. Not that Nightline isn’t a good show, but it is tough for Kimmel to get his kind of audience at 12:00 following Nightline.)

Five years ago, NBC made another mistake. They decided to announce the replacement of Leno with O’Brien. Now I have no idea why they needed to make this decision so long ago nor do I know why they even thought that Leno had to go. I think he’s a poor host, but he still gets good ratings and NBC couldn’t claim in 2003 that they knew Leno’s 2008 ratings would be poor enough to warrant taking action then. (And if they did try that, they would have been wrong.) And choosing O’Brien to move to the 11:30pm post was a poor choice anyway since part of what makes him acceptable as a host is that people are feeling a little looser at the 12:30am slot. If 5 years ago, NBC was presented with the possibility that O’Brien would leave without a contract for the 11:30 job, NBC should have let O’Brien go.

So five years later it’s time to take action. Early next year is when O’Brien will take over for Leno and Leno is apparently in discussions with other networks – duh! How did NBC not see this coming? O’Brien is already contractually set to go to 11:30 so NBC had no choice but to… give Leno a new show at 10:00pm five nights a week!!?? That’s madness. It’s like after you’ve already robbed the convenience store at knife point you decide to steal a cop car for your getaway – you know you are only digging your hole deeper. This means that they will now have 3 mediocre talents all running hour-long shows 5 nights a week (perhaps Jimmy Fallon will prove to be a decent talent at the 12:30am slot but for now, I’m assuming not) for a total of 15 hours. And the remaining entertainment portion of NBC’s schedule will be reduced to 16 hours (2 hours 5 nights a week plus 3 hours Saturday and 3 hours Sunday). All of the 10:00pm weeknight dramas will move or disappear. I can’t say that I was watching any (or can even name any besides “ER”) but less dramas on network TV is a loss for the country.

How many hours a week is NBC putting into so-called scripted television – dramas and comedies? A quick check of this week’s schedule yields a total of 9 hours (“Life” 1, “Law & Order” 1, “My Name is Earl” .5, “Kath & Kim” .5, “The Office” .5, “30 Rock” .5, “ER” 1, “Lipstick Jungle” 1, “Chuck” 1, “Heroes” 1, “My Own Worst Enemy” 1) and removing those that start at 10:00pm would leave a total of 6 hours. So 6 hours of what most people consider to be traditional TV per week plus another 10 or so hours of reality and news magazines, 20 hours of nighttime talk (including Carson Daly), and 20 hours of Today show all per week. To me, that’s the schedule of what should be NBC’s secondary news/chat show network (perhaps MSNBC), not the primary network.

Or maybe that’s what’s happening here. This is the beginning of the end of traditional TV entertainment. Like MTV that started showing music and was loved for it now accidentally shows a music video or two and it is an event, or AM radio that used be sort of variety radio, NBC will end up being the first network to be primarily a news/talk network with only 6 hours of scripted entertainment remaining.

Other questions are inevitable: Will O’Brien be pissed off that he thought he was getting the top talk show gig but found out he actually will still be second? Or will the 11:30 slot still be top slot and the 10:00pm slot will be second? When booking guests, which slot will get the best crop of guests – the ones most likely to announce they are running for elected office (Ahnold) or the ones on their apology tour (Hugh Grant)? Or will the guest pool be too thin to adequately fill that much talk show? Will people want to watch local news after an hour of Leno? A night-time talk show seems like the right program to follow a newscast but not to precede it. Will viewers used to shutting off the TV half way through the new Leno show now shut their TVs off at 10:30pm? Will producers of new scripted dramas and comedies even bother pitching to NBC if they appear to be getting out of the game and have fewer slots for them? Does NBC secretly wish they could have all their affiliates switch to a 10:00pm newscast and air Leno at 10:30pm? Will affiliates be allowed to make that swap on their own? Time may tell.

A couple weeks ago, we got a call at our home phone claiming to be from the local bank – the local bank that is so local, it doesn’t have any branches. The recording on the other end of the phone said that there was a problem with my debit card on the account and that I would need to enter my 16 digit number to fix the problem. Of course this immediately raised a couple of red flags – most notably because it sounded like a voice version of a phishing e-mail. I tried making up a 16-digit card number but it was smart enough to reject the garbage numbers I entered (I should have tried a number that began with MasterCard’s “54” code but I didn’t think of it at the time). I tried pushing buttons to get an operator but no luck. So then I hung up and tried calling the number that had come through on my caller ID. I got a recording matching the caller ID to the name that had come up on the caller ID display – an investment company in south Florida. I reported the apparent fraud to the bank and the woman I talked to sounded spent – tired of explaining to people that the bank was not calling them and that the FBI was now on the case.

I’ve done some reading on “vishing” (I guess there are no good words for these illicit practices). The practitioners target a local bank and the phone numbers that are known to be in that vicinity and let the robo-dialer go to work. The caller ID is now easy to spoof so the number for the investment firm that came up on my caller ID is just as much a victim as the bank that the recording was claiming to be from. VOIP allows calls to be placed without the ability to track as a landline would. This practice could soon render the Federal do-not-call list irrelevant. That list only works because of fear of what will happen for those who are caught. With no fear of getting caught, other than the use of stolen credit card numbers, this practice is likely to grow and there’s no good way of preventing it.

I’ve also gotten telemarketing calls recently that have originated outside of the US. They usually start “don’t be alarmed, but this is your last chance…”. Apparently, international calling is now cheap enough that it is worth it to telemarketers to do business off-shore and get around the Federal do-not-call list. Either that or the caller ID is spoofed here too.

For those of us who have been dealing with the spam for a while now, it’ll be relatively easy to adapt our cynical views to the home phone. But for those who aren’t e-mail literate, there’s a whole new naiveté to be exploited. And in the case of my local bank, it is the bank probably most used by the majority of seniors in the city – those who would be most likely to punch their debit card into the phone. According to the newspaper report this week, that’s exactly what happened to 4 seniors in my city. And if they got 4 in my city, it probably made all the expense of robo-dialing worth it.

The thing that makes tickets different from any other product is the finite supply. In the market economy, if an item sells well, the manufacturer will make more. But there are only so many seats at Fenway and only so many games a year. Therefore, when the market sets the prices for tickets, it does so at the exclusion of some buyers. If that resulted in only true crazy fans paying those prices, then I might reluctantly agree that it was a victim-less crime. But of course it is well known that there are many “real” fans and families who cannot afford the high end prices. The net result is true fans and families sit at home watching on TV looking at seats filled with those who merely had the financial wherewithal to deal with a reseller.

I also see the resellers as a bit of a pyramid scheme. Because resellers exist, demand is driven up. And because demand goes up, prices go up. And when prices go up, more people want to sell their tickets for profit to resellers. Which makes demand go up, etc.. As with other pyramid schemes, the only winners are those who facilitate the pyramid.

One other negative to the high prices of tickets to sports events or concerts is the disincentive to the non-fan. Perhaps Red Sox Nation already includes every Bostonian, but take the Celtics or maybe the upcoming Coldplay concert. The resellers’ high prices discourage those that might be willing to give the event a try but not want to make a major financial commitment. Therefore, the resellers discourage new fans and entertainment diversity. When the team’s or band’s popularity eventually wanes, they’ll have an even smaller base of fans and those who were only in it during the high times will have moved on to whatever the resellers are selling for top dollar then.

I finally slogged through the rest of the Emmy broadcast from Sunday night. I still can never figure out how these shows end up so long and yet seemingly have so little content. I see nothing wrong with the short and sweet acceptance speeches. In particular, when they are actors like Zeljko Ivanek who have long delivered such great performance (and for the record, I did eventually get used to his accent in Damages).

I liked the idea of the reality hosts hosting the show more than the execution. And perhaps the issue wasn’t so much them as it was the script, or lack of a script, that caused the trouble. Or maybe it really was all Howie’s fault. Even though Bergeron and Klum seemed a little wooden, and Seacrest a little aloof, at least they didn’t babble. Good to see Probst win – not only did he deserve it, but when left by himself at the end of the broadcast, he did what a good host should, move the show along.

So, as usual, my perscription for the ailing award show is to drop all the elements of production, all the little lame intro pieces, and just get to the clips. For every TV show that allows (and any that don’t want the exposure would be stupid), show a clip of about 30 seconds for each aired category. It’s criminal that when things are running slowly, they cut the clips and go with banter. After all, what better way for TV to congratulate itself than by showing clips of TV that much of the current home-viewing audience may not have seen! Even though the Emmy broadcast sent 30 Rock home with 3 Emmy awards (or was it more?), they aired only 4 seconds from the brilliant Cooter episode. Another 26 seconds would have given a little more context and a bunch more laughs.

In other words, people that are tuning in for the Emmy broadcast like watching TV, so give them what they want: TV that is worthy of award nomination!

I’ve been wondering when Battlestar Galactica would return to conclude the season and series so I did some poking around this morning and found numerous sites reporting the date to be in some time in early 2009 (for one, TV Guide). This comes as quite a shock since the run of shows that just finished last month were heavily promoted to be the “final season” and it was only just as those shows began airing that I became aware that the final season would be aired in two batches. So, I naively thought they might take a couple weeks, maybe even a couple months, off in between. Besides, each episode of the first half of this season began with the teaser “one will be revealed” as though that reveal would take place at any moment. And even the media bought into that including a splashy spread in Entertainment Weekly about the impending wrap up of BSG.

But now, we’ll have to wait at least six months and Ron Moore claims it has to do with post-production? It seems to me that they realized that they could turn Season 4 into an ersatz Season 5 through the hype and publicity. Although it might be compared to the Sopranos trick of adding a couple episodes not quite a year later, that seemed more like there was more story to tell than would fit in the already scheduled shows. Whereas the shows and stories for BSG were set well before they were scheduled and it is only after the principal production is complete that the airdate for the shows moved into the future. I feel played for a fool.

I know this is old news, and I’m sure Miley Cyrus wants this to go away, but during the fallout from Cyrus’s Vanity Fair pictures (story: New York Times), Disney made a really dumb comment: “Unfortunately, as the article suggests, a situation was created to deliberately manipulate a 15-year-old in order to sell magazines.” It’s nearly 4 weeks later, but I still can’t get over how absurd that comment is coming from Disney.

Why is Disney against the photos? Because it can damage the Hannah Montana money machine. Put another way, Disney is upset that Vanity Fair is using the 15-year-old to sell stuff since Disney thinks they have exclusivity on using that 15-year-old to sell stuff and Vanity Fair’s poaching could take a chunk out of their money pile.

Oh, and lest you think that Disney is actually upset about the unchaste pictures, check out an article on the subject at Slate.

Okay, I’m no longer quite so certain that a song from Enchanted should have won. Both of the other songs that were nominated were quite good and if I’d seen those movies, I probably would have been all for either of them too. And the win by the song from the movie Once is even better given the great acceptance speech. And here’s a classic line from the guy who won: “I felt like a plumber at a flower show.” (EW)

I suppose I am a little disappointed still that No Country For Old Men did win as much as it did. As I wrote previously, I liked the movie, but didn’t think it was the be-all, end-all that deserved every award.

Jon Stewart was good, and probably great considering that he had 11 days to prepare for the show. But as much of a Stewart fan as I am, no one has done as good a job as Billy Crystal.

The show itself was a bore. Montage after montage. I know that they produced them in anticipation of a potentially script-less show due to the writers strike. But can you imagine just how awful the show would have been if that’s all they had? My Rx for a better Oscar show in the future: No montages at all. No stupid mini-skits before presenting- if people wanted to watch SNL they would (see next post). Show clips from movies – a good 30 seconds from each nominee before every award. After all, the people watching at home like movies and that’s why they are watching. Ditch all the big production numbers and have the candidates for the song just do a 2-3 minute bit before their award. And let people talk!! Cutting people off is rude and turns off the TV audience. That’s what people want to see – to a point.

Finally: Regis. I like the guy, but “Xavier” instead of “Javier”? Did he get No Country For Old Men and X-Men confused? He made a comment that they have him back every 30 years. I think even another 30 may be too soon.

I still love my ReplayTVs and still mourn the passing of the company. But since they can’t record in HD, they are handling less and less of my DVR needs as the Comcast DVR handles more. It used to be that the Comcast DVR recorded maybe 10% of my TV hours. But at this point, it’s probably closer to 60 or 65%. Now, with the balance shifted to the Comcast DVR, I’m becoming increasingly concerned that my best DVR days were in the past.

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I’m feeling a little underwhelmed about the Oscars this year. I don’t know if it’s because I’ve had more going on than usual and haven’t given it my usual too much attention. Or perhaps because it looked like the show wouldn’t go on, I sort of tuned out. Or maybe the whole notion of rewarding film people just seems kind of weak in an election year when there’s important stuff to be talked about? That doesn’t stop me from wanting to share a few opinions, though!

For Best Picture, I’m glad I got to see No Country For Old Men before the show. I had been thinking it was a lock, given what everyone was writing about. But to be honest, I’m thinking Michael Clayton or There Will Be Blood are more likely winners. I loved both Michael Clayton and Juno so I’ll be pulling for either of them, but Juno seems an unlikely winner because it doesn’t seem like the kind of movie Oscar goes for.

Best Actor seems like a lock for Daniel Day-Lewis, given what everyone is writing about. Clooney was good in Clayton but the part was a lot less intense than the others. I think Viggo Mortensen is also a possibility in this category. The performance was fearless and that might earn him some recognition.

I’d like to see Laura Linney get Best Actress. I liked Ellen Page in Juno and I really think she helped make the film the success that it is. But she’s got plenty of time to win – besides, winning an establishment award at her young age might not be good for her career! I think likely second bets are Julie Christie and Marion Cotillard.

And I’ve long been a fan of Hal Holbrook so I’d like to see him win for Best Supporting Actor. And I liked Tom Wilkinson in Clayton. And I think Casey Affleck is probably deserving of the award too. I always like Philip Seymour Hoffman, but I doubt he’ll get it because the movie was not well liked. Although I liked Bardem in No Country, I didn’t think it was an award worthy performance. Still – I think he’ll win it. Maybe I’ll be pleasantly surprised with a Holbrook win.

People are saying Tilda Swinton is the likely winner for Best Supporting Actress, but I thought the part sometimes bordered on just pretending she had the shakes. I don’t know, maybe that’s really hard to do. I did like the part and I loved the movie, so it would be okay with me. But from what I’ve read, it seems like Amy Ryan is probably the one most deserving of Oscar this year. (By the way – should Cate Blanchett be nominated in this category? After all, the part is that of a man, not a woman. This was not a gender bending role. It was a man’s part played by other men in the same movie. Maybe she should have been nominated as Best Supporting Actor!)

Beyond the major categories, I’m hoping Ratatouille, Bourne Ultimatum, and Juno get an Oscar somewhere – they deserve some Oscar love.

Oh and I sure hope that the 3 songs in Enchanted don’t end up splitting the vote such that none of them win. Personally, I’d like to see Happy Working Song win, but all that really matters is that the movie be recognized for the clever songs so any one will do. For none of them to win would be a travesty and should instigate a change in how voting takes place. (For example, even though 3 songs are nominated by one songwriting team, all votes for all 3 songs count together!)