dreamloom

Tag: nbc

  • Suddenly There is Music in the Sound of Your Name…

    In the past three weeks, the following things have all happened on the National Broadcasting Company:

    • Mr. Daniel Radcliffe hosted Saturday Night Live
    • Smash, premiered to great fanfare (if NBC-level numbers)
    • Mr. Matthew Broderick appeared in a heavily promoted ad during NBC’s highest rated program of 2012 (I don’t think it’s premature to make that pronouncement now)
    • The NBC Promotions department put together a Superbowl spot in which the casts of many of its shows performed a slightly modified version of “Brotherhood of Man”.

    Do you know what didn’t happen in the past three weeks?

    • The Parks & Recreation character Tammy Two did not appear in said promo spot.

    Look, I know we fans of musical theater are only a diminishingly small fraction of NBC’s diminishingly small audience. And I know that the Radcliffe and Broderick appearances are mere coincidence that probably didn’t even register on anyone’s radar. But if you’re going to do that damn number, maybe you ask Megan Mullally—one of the all-time best Rosemarys, who has been awfully good for your network for a really long time—to pop in for a second.

    Of course, that would require NBC’s promo department to know something about musical theater and they have enough trouble trying to figure out how television works, so I should let it go.

  • Friday Night Lights: “East of Dillon”

    fnls4e01Welcome back, Coach!

    I have very little and very much to say about this beautiful season four premiere. Let’s see whether my talky or taciturn side wins, shall we?

    When we left Dillon, Coach had been screwed out of his position by Joe McCoy’s machinations, ((I’m sure in his eyes, Coach hoisted himself on his own petard by ignoring precious, perfect JD.)) banished to the newly reopened East Dillon High as both consolation and punishment. Despite promises of large state grants to both schools, the best talent and lion’s share of the money have been diverted to Dillon.

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  • Law & Order: Criminal Intent keeps going and going…

    jeff_julianne

    “Why are you a cop?”
    “Because I like it, and I’m good at it, and that kid is a killer.”

    Returning for its eighth ((!)) season this Sunday, April 19 at 9/8c, Law & Order: Criminal Intent doesn’t have the cachet of its sister or the mothership, but it keeps trudging along at a high level of competency. Originally built around the mesmerizing performance of Vincent D’Onofrio, the workload on him proved to be too great, so an ingenius solution was devised. L&O vet Chris Noth was brought in to take lead on alternate episodes, halving D’Onofrio’s burden.

    That worked successfully for three seasons, swapping cases back and forth between brainy and intuitive Det. Goren and mesomorphic Det. Logan. But Mr. Big was ready to move on (again) and Dick Wolf and his EPs Walon Green, Ed Zuckerman, and John David Coles decided to go another way with Jeff Goldblum.

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  • Friday Night Lights: “Tomorrow Blues”

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    Y’all have had a really nice relationship and you don’t know what’s going to happen after that. If you and Matt are meant to be together you’ll be together. And if you’re not, there’s going to be someone else special for you.

    And so the long ride comes to a close. We diehards hold out hope that the weird admixture of DirecTV ratings plus the upcoming NBC run of these 13 episodes will earn another season, but if it doesn’t this was an okay way to say goodbye. If we’re meant to be together, we’ll be together.

    Jumping five months from last week’s title game, it’s time for the seniors to say goodbye to Dillon High and put away their childish things. Soon. Anytime now. But first, Matt’s got to fight with Grandma about how many dresses she needs to bring to the assisted living facility. And Tim’s got to convince Billy he needs a steer. And Joe McCoy – never anything but a childish bully – has to push Eric out of his job.

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  • Friday Night Lights: “Underdogs”

    fnls03e12

    Living in Dillon is certainly handicap enough to make anyone an underdog. Almost as much a handicap as a show airing exclusively on DirecTV before returning to the broadcast airwaves. All underdogs can do is push, strive, and keep trying against overwhelming odds and insurmountable forces.

    Would the Panthers find the hearts of champions within to beat the South Texas Titans? Would Tyra find the essay within to beat down the doors of college? Would Landry find the field before game time?

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  • Friday Night Lights: “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall”

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    In Mo Ryan’s recap/preview of FNL’s third season she pointed out how much this season has replayed the greatest hits of season one. ((And fortunately did NOT put any dead bodies in the trunks of cars.)) That’s certainly true, but is to be expected to a certain extent in a show about teenagers. After all, while it feels horribly unique and unprecedented when you’re living through it, age and perspective show us that the teenage experience is common across the generations.

    Fathers and sons fight. Daughters grow into women. Our parents and grandparents grow smaller and feebler before our eyes.

    But while I’m all for some repetition of themes and motifs, tonight actually irritated me. Tell me if any of this sounds familiar to you:

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  • Friday Night Lights: “The Giving Tree”

    Money comes and goes, yeah? These kids of ours, that’s a one-time deal.

    “The Giving Tree” is one of Shel Silverstein’s finest works, and while Landry’s right that his relationship with Tyra superficially resembles it, the story is about parents and children. The give us life, nurture and support us. They feed us, clothe us, give us shelter and succor. They keep us warm and dry and safe. They teach us to play and teach us to become men and women. In the end, we survive our parents. We are their lives’ work and when they finish, when we finally say our goodbyes, it is with love and debt for all they’ve done.

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  • Kings premieres. Does anyone care?

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    I don’t have a lot to say about the premiere of Kings right yet; it was ambitious and interesting and I’ve saved a season pass for it, but I don’t really know what to think. It could easily degrade into a soapy mess, more 90210 than The West Wing, but Michael Green’s pilot managed to hold the line. It certainly doesn’t hurt that he’s got Ian McShane and Eamonn Walker around to recite some of his Jacobean dialog. And it doesn’t hurt that he’s willing to write such stylized dialog.

    Unfortunately the ratings were…poor. Which is a shame, because unlike other high-profile, heavily hyped shows that have premiered lately (*cough* Dollhouse *cough*) this one deserves a chance to fly on its butterfly wings. Sad that someone who played Vamp #3 in some episode of BtVS or another didn’t make an appearance. Maybe the Whedonverse faithful would have tuned it to this with some of the passion they’ve been wasting on that Friday night abortion.

    If you didn’t watch the pilot, go online and give it a chance. It’s available on the NBC website and Hulu. If you did watch, pipe in below with your opinion/thoughts on the episode. Did you like it? Will you be giving it a chance? Should we be reviewing it?

  • Friday Night Lights: “Game of the Week”

    When Friday Night Lights is at its best, football is the hub around which each story revolves. Some are obviously and tightly coupled, such as the QB controversy or Matt standing tall under the weight of hit after hit to go back for one more play, one more yard. Some seem detached, like Mindy and Billy acting out the behaviors they’ll repeat for the next 30 years. But in the good episodes, every story – every *person* – is impacted by Panther Football. Tonight was one of those episodes.

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  • Friday Night Lights: “New York, New York”

    You’ll be swell! You’ll be great!
    Gonna have the whole world on the plate!
    Starting here, starting now,
    Honey, everything’s coming up roses! – Mama Rose

    So ends Six’s story, with the tearful reunion of an accidental family and the broken heart of a lifelong friend. Nothing ever could stop Jason Street, not even a broken neck. So while yes, the kid with the GED getting even an entry level job at a New York boutique agency is a bit crazy, I can *almost* believe it. Scott Porter is that good. He’s so good, I could watch Jason lie outright to Wendell about being on his way back to Dillon and stopping in just to help the poor kid make the right decision and *still* believe every word he said.

    That’s a testament to Street as a character and Porter as an actor.

    Jason rolls off into the sunset on $40K a year and the knowledge that he’ll be running that agency someday. At least he should know that.

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