Pencils down means pencils down

Posted on November 7, 2007 by chatty

If you can’t tell by what I’m reading (see previous post), I’m sort of obssessed with the WGA strike. I think secretly (not so secretly now) my dream job is to be a television show writer. I should say, a good tv show writer. I don’t want to write cruddy lines. I want to write good ones. Ones that Glenn Close or Meryl Streep would want to say. I’m really interested to see how this plays out. As a TV watcher I’m less concerned with, “oh my no more new episodes of ‘Desperate Housewives'”. And if there is anyone out there who is concerned that their favorite TV show isn’t going to continue if there is a strike, well he needs to set his priorities in order. The studio executives are fretting, I suspect, because I should hope that most people are like me, and will tune out.

At this point I’ll say, if you are unfamiliar with why the Writer’s Guild is striking, read any one of the WGA story links in the previous posts, or read this article from Forbes.com.

Their job is TV. My job is the Internet. So I’m interested in how the outcome will playout on the Web. The networks see the dollar signs coming from online advertising. They see the appeal (previous posts show that even I, who never thought I’d ever watch an epi of anything on TV, could get hooked.) There is no turning back there. If the writers get more in the name of programming, how do you measure it? And does this somehow trickle down to me in Seattle/Redmond? What will the outcome do to groups in my organization that work to bring video content (be it original programming or television programming) to the Web? How does this affect our advertisers who, ultimately contribute to me being able to succeed in my job?

There is no doubt that the advances in technology has made this strike more visible than the strike of 1988. Cell phones, instant messaging, blogging, YouTube and the ease to get the word out has turned an LA/NY-centric situation into a worldwide discussion.

BTW, check out the video created by United Hollywood. One of the writers interviewed here is someone I went to middle school with in Connecticut. What are the odds.

I take back what I said. Well, most of it.

Posted on October 1, 2007 by chatty

I’ve mentioned this before, I think. That what I’m wrong I’ll admit to it. So, here is correction number 2.

Desperate Housewives. The DH. I wondered out loud if this was going to be a waste of my time, despite my intention to watch it this season because of my man, Nathan Fillion. I watched the preview scene online and groaned. Oooooh no. This was going to su-uck. I envisioned watching it on the DVR and consistently hitting the 30-second jump button until I found Mr. F on the screen.

So, imagine my surprise when the husband turned to DH last night. I decided to watch a bit and got semi-hooked. Eva Longoria Parker – reasonable comic timing. Marcia Cross with Kyle MacLachlan have a quirky stick-up-your-ass kind of chemistry. I had no doubt that Felicity Huffman could pull off even a reasonable script and she didn’t fail me. Teri Hatcher – meh. Nicolette Sheridan – no way. But 3 out of 5 ain’t bad.

One thing about Mr. F, though. What’s with the plaid shirts and pleated cream pants? Hmmm. And when does he get to show off his comic prowess? Good thing he’s so likable.

So. I’ll still be watching. And won’t be groaning half as much as I thought I would. Perhaps will only need to use the 30-second jump every fourth scene or so.

Let’s Dance

Posted on September 26, 2007 by chatty

What would you do if you became a billionaire? Show up on a reality show, of course!

I read Mark Cuban’s blog regularly, more to get perspective on current events concerning Web/Advertising/Video and HD trends. Less about sports/basketball, though he does do some decent commentary on that every once in a while. So seeing Cuban on Dancing With the Stars, mixing work-ish stuff with the mindless entertainment I ingest to distract myself from work, well it’s like two worlds colliding.

Like when I see someone from rowing every morning at 5 a.m. They see you at your worst, all groggy, greasy hair, pillow imprints on your cheek; or maybe very sweaty and and in spandex. Then later on, after you’ve showered and had something to eat you bump into them at the store. See the collision? You can hardly recognize the person. Because they have clothes on. Or their hair is combed.

Cuban on “Dancing” feels like that. He looks like he’s having fun. Unfortunately I don’t think he’s going to last; That race car driver was pretty good. But I voted for Cuban anyway. I wonder how many other “Dancing” celebrities have their own blog following?

BTW, read the comments from his DWTS post, and Mr. Billionaire suddenly has many more fans. Of the female variety. “Hey Cutey Mark! I voted for you!” Ha ha ha.

BTW2, LOVE the tacky DWTS logo, much better than the newer one they’re trying to hawk. I don’t buy it. Bring back the cheap disco ball.

Another update: Cuban reports on the show, following the results episode. If you must know, he and Kym cut it close but made it through. Good thing I voted for them.

TBL

Posted on September 19, 2007 by chatty

All I have to say about The Biggest Loser … what is up with the Red Team? They are a bunch of w-h-i-n-e-r-s! Oh my goodness I have never seen a bigger bunch of whiners. The women, to be specific. Disrespectful of their trainer, and just complaining all the time. It started last week, with Amber complaining that she wanted to go home (and then she got her wish). Man, I cannot stand whiners, especially when it comes to working out. And wouldn’t you know, it doesn’t pay to whine. They barely lost any weight, and lost the weigh-in again (came in 3rd, since the Black team entered the picture).

One more thing. No, I’m not a whiner … but what is up with 2-hour episodes? Is NBC going to do that the entire series? That’s a heckuva a lot of time to invest in reality TV. I’m not used to it. Sure, I’m still watching, but let it be known that it’s pretty darn hard.

And for those of you keeping track. I did cry. When Bob and the gal from the red team had a moment. But just a little.

Soy un perdidor. I’m a loser, baby.

Posted on September 12, 2007 by chatty

I don’t watch a lot of reality TV, although I’ve seen more episodes of “The Girls Next Door” than I care to admit. There’s something about watching ditzy Kendra that just makes me giggle / groan. Plus, I have a tiny fascination with Hef and the magazine since visiting its offices in grad school years ago. And, no, I ain’t linking to the site from here.

But, Maggie-my-old-officemate reminded me this week that “The Biggest Loser” was starting up again. I managed to catch up on the past couple of seasons via reruns on the Style Network, and got hooked. I then promptly forgot about it until Maggie’s reminder, so I tuned in.

First, this show, more than any other show I watch, makes me cry. All of the losers. They are all criers. So I start crying. It’s not just me. Grotel confirms his wife, another TBL watcher, was also in tears.

My favorite part from the second hour of the 2-hour premiere was when someone puked during or after the “last-chance workout”. I was like, sweet. I liked that Bob, the trainer, smiled at it (or at least, the editing was done such that he smiled after it. Don’t you know how non-real reality TV really is?).

I didn’t cry at that part. I pumped my fist and said Yeah! Now that’s hard core.

Here is a part where I cried a little. Just now, while watching the video on my PC:

Ain’t it sweet. Loser Love.

Getting my Fillion fix. (Or, I’m so desperate, I’m watching Desperate Housewives)

Posted on September 9, 2007 by chatty

For the longest time I couldn’t fathom watching TV or videos on a 2-inch screen. It’s so tiny. What can you actually see? Why would anyone do that?

Today I did it. I downloaded an episode of “Firefly” from iTunes, and I watched it on my new Nano. Nevermind that we own the DVD of season one. And we own “Serenity” (the Firefly movie, for you non-browncoats out there). And, Universal HD is showing the series Saturday nights. Now I can watch it on a 2-inch screen, wherever I go.

And I was watching it today. The picture looks incredibly good on such a small screen. I was impressed. Even outside in the sun, the glare was not terribly bothersome. My mind has been changed.

This weekend, I watched a television episode of “Drive” online. Fox on Demand’s service was impressive. I was able to skip through the boring parts, and find the scenes I wanted to watch. The resolution was sharp (available in small, medium and large screen sizes). Buffering time was negligible. Advertisements not terribly offensive (a 15-second AT&T clip probably every 10 or so minutes). My only complaint was the rather poor user interface. There were two episodes of “Drive” that I hadn’t seen. Because the navigation wasn’t actually pointed out to me (i.e. verbiage somewhere that says, more or less, ‘this is a link that will show you all of the episodes of this show’), I watched the last episode before watching the penultimate episode. Which was a shame, because the last episode ended GREAT, and I was looking forward to seeing what was going to happen in the final episode, only to be disappointed that I had just watched the final episode.

By the way, what is UP with Fox giving up on shows so early? Drive got something like four episodes before getting the axe. Yeah, it started slow but there was some potential. I wonder what their online traffic is for shows that get cut. I wonder if any of it is like a “d’oh!” moment for them (a la “Firefly”).

I’ll be curious to see what the future holds for online episodes. How the advertising will pan out. How networks will win over YouTube (and if they should bother). How have they determined royalties? Will any network take a television show straight to online (have they already?). What shows perform well online and why? I may have to spend a little more time figuring this one out.

And, if you haven’t already seen the pattern of shows I’m downloading and watching online …, these are shows that star the flavor of the month, Nathan Fillion (Month? the husband would say. Try flavor of the year. Yum). I am getting my fill on Fillion. Nice.

Speaking of which, I also watched online a ‘sneak preview’ of “Desperate Housewives,” the show that Fillion will be joining this fall. I’m a little bummed, because, well, based on this 2-minute preview, the show is sorta, well, sucky. The writing, ugh. The comic timing, missing. Chemistry among actors, nonexistent. The two minutes I watched was just. plain. flat.

Oh, I’ll still be watching, because of the aforementioned Fillion (who appeared in the sneak preview for all of three seconds). Just thank goodness for the 30-second skip on my DVR.