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July 18, 2006

Low Eggs-pectations

There are days when I am ashamed to be a TV fan. I recently had one of those days. It was this week, when I learned that CBS Marketing Group planned to promote its new lineup by inscribing network logos and slogans on laser-coated eggs.
Yes, that's right -- eggs. Like the kind you eat.

Apparently, CBS will emblazon 35 million eggs with pithy, punny little slogans.
Here are some examples:
-- "CBS Mondays: Funny Side Up"
-- "CBS Mondays: Leave the Yolks to Us"
-- "CSI: Crack the Case on CBS"
-- "The Amazing Race: Scramble to Win on CBS"...
Ok, I can't go on anymore. I'm embarrassed. I'm embarrassed for myself. I'm embarrassed for CBS.
Heck, I'm embarrassed for the chickens that laid these eggs. Ok, I realize that networks have work hard to win viewers. I just don't think they're going to endear themselves to potential audiences by pasting adds for "How I Met Your Mother" on breakfast foods.
I could go on and on about why I think this is stupid, but I'd rather leave you with these succint words from my co-worker, who had this to say when I told him of the new campaign:
"Boooo! Booo!"
Boo indeed, CBS. Boo indeed.

Posted by amanda on 5:06 PM | Comments (0)

July 11, 2006

An entertaining bummer

Horror anthology show have a strange effect on me. Unlike most people, I don't usually find them scary. I find them depressing. I mean it. Shows like "The Outer Limits," "The Twilight Zone" and "Amazing Stories" have always kind of bummed me out. Here's why: they almost invariably start with a happy family or individual trotting along, enjoying life and then -- BOOM! The apocalypse hits. Or someone gets a mysterious power that he or she can't control. Or a happy couple gets lost in a dark and foreboding place.
I can barely watch the beginning of these shows because I know what's coming, and I fear for these people. These poor, poor souls.

That sense of foreboding was upon as I watched TNT's new miniseries/horror anthology "Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King." The series consists of eight episodes, shown in two-hour blocks over the course of four weeks, starting at 9 p.m. Wednesday.
That first block consists of "Battleground," starring William Hurt and "Crouch End," with Claire Forlani and Eion Bailey. Of the two, "Battleground" (which will be shown commercial-free) is the clear winner, with an intense and witty performance by Hurt as a hitman who assasinates a toymaker, then is delivered a mysterious from that same toymaker. Ok -- I'm going to spoil it right now, because the ads already have.
The package contains a bunch of toy army men who come to life and try to kill hurt. Think of it as a nightmare version of the kid's story "The Indian in the Cupboard." Yes, it sounds silly, but it's wierdly absorbing.
That's due to two things -- the always reliable Hurt, and the fact that the episode contains not one word of spoken dialogue. It's kind of eerie and fascinating.
Less interesting is "Crouch End," which stars Forlani and Bailey and joyful newlyweds who coo and kiss and love each other to pieces. Needless to say, hell awaits them. They're honeymooning in England and go to visit friends in a place called Crouch End. They get lost.
I don't need to tell you that it doesn't end well. In fact, it ends rather abruptly, as do a number of the episodes.
Maybe their truncated feel comes from the fact that they're based on short stories. Well, no matter. In spite of being depressing and a little abrupt, the seven episodes I was sent are, in general, pretty good. In addition to Hurt, Forlani and Bailey, episodes feature such solid actors as William H. Macy, Tom Berenger, Ron Livingston and Samantha Mathis.
Other than "Battleground," my favorites were "Umney's Last Case" and "The Fifth Quarter."
"Umney," starring Macy, is about an old-timey private eye who finds out that he is actually the main character of novel. Macy plays both the character and the author, and appears to be having a blast.
"Quarter," with Mathis and Jeremy Sisto, is a fairly straightforward story about an ex-con who searches for a buried treasure.
The story is pretty basic, but is noteworthy due to the performances by Sisto and especially Mathis, who is wonderful as the con's emotionally bruised wife.
Overall, the series is pretty solid, and I must admit I enjoyed it.
Even though it bummed me out.

Posted by amanda on 10:28 AM | Comments (0)

July 6, 2006

At least Jane is happy

Many "Lost" fans were saddened by the fact that the show was virtually shut out of this year's Emmy nominations, announced Thursday. But there was one "Lost" fan who found something to cheer about in the list of nominees.

That someone would be Jane Dean, who runs the web site lostdesmond.com. The site, as readers of my column last week know, is dedicated to Desmond, the man the "Lost" gang found in the hatch at the start of last season.
Henry Ian Cusick, who plays Desmond, was the only actor from the show nominated for an Emmy. His nomination is well-earned, to be sure. Cusick's performance in the show's two-hour finale easily equalled any performance given on the show last year. But Jane is especially thrilled. She sent me a special email today to make sure I knew.
So, sad as I am for the many people on "Lost" who were overlooked, I congratulate Cusick (and Dean) on the nomination.

Posted by amanda on 7:59 PM | Comments (0)

July 5, 2006

Imitation is the sincerest form of...imitation

It's a time-honored practice in the entertainment industry: once you've found a formula that is successful, keep copying it as much as possible until people get sick of it.
The basic cable network USA has embraced this tactic whole-heartedly with the launch of its new series "Psych," which starts this Friday at 10 p.m.

Before I say anything more about "Psych," let me remind you that two of USA's most successful original series are "The Dead Zone," about a psychic, and "Monk," about a detective.
So it would only follow that "Psych" is about a detective pretending to be psychic. Hmmm. Can you hear the pitch meeting now?
"You know guys, we're doing so well with 'Dead Zone' and 'Monk,' -- maybe we could find a way to combine the two? Oh, but instead of casting veterans like Anthony Michael Hall or Tony Shalhoub in the lead, let's get a cocky young guy. And we'll give him a smart-straitlaced sidekick. And maybe we can get someone established to play dad to our cocky young star. Is Corbin Bernsen available? Hmm. And you know, our abduction show 'The 4400' is also doing well. So maybe the new show's pilot could involve a kidnapping?"
Well, maybe I'm way off. But still, "Psych," feels very manufactured. Here's the plot: Shawn Spencer (cocky, young James Roday) is the wise-cracking ne'er do well son of a no-nonsense cop (Bernsen). As a kid, dad taught little Shawn to be uber perceptive, noticing things like how many people in the local greasy spoon were wearing hats while eating their breakfast.
Grown Shawn is, as a result, able to solve crimes faster than the local police. When he sees the manager of a recently-robbed store interviewed on TV, he picks up on the man's nervous ticks and immediately (correctly) pegs him as the robber.
The police, annoyed by this smug know-it-all, arrest Shawn, assuming he is somehow involved with the crimes he solves.
He protests that he is not. Then how, ask the cops, can he solve the crimes so quickly?
Shawn, thinking fast, tells the cops he is psychic. Now, I'm no cop, but it seems to me that explaining that he's just really smart would be more believable to the cops than hearing that he's a psychic. No matter -- the police buy it, and soon Shawn is working for the cops, with the help of his trusty, straight-laced best buddy Gus (Dule Hill of "The West Wing").
This all greatly annoys Shawn's dad, from whom he is now estranged.
And there you have it. Now, "Psych" is not awful. Though Roday walks a fine line between being charming and being annoying, he mostly stays on the charming side. And he has two good foils in Hill and Bernsen. Bernsen in particular exudes a nicely weathered vibe as a disappointed dad.
No, "Psych" isn't bad. It's just unnecesary. It's too derivative of other, better shows, and its strong points just aren't strong enough to making up for an overall sense of familiarity.
Plus, USA's done it no favors having it follow the season premiere of "Monk." Now, "Monk" isn't that original a show, either. It's reminiscent of lot of other private eye shows. But it's made engaging and fun by a game cast, headed by Tony Shalhoub as obsessive compulsive detective Adrian Monk.
The new episode is particularly strong, and features dynamite character actor Stanley Tucci as a nutty thespian preparing to play Monk in a movie. Tucci and Shalhoub have worked together before, in the well-received indie "Big Night," and their chemistry is as good as ever.
It's a sharp, funny hour of television, and makes "Psych" look just like what it is -- a wan imitation.

Posted by amanda on 10:48 AM | Comments (0)