The Current TiVo-Worthy List

For those of you who've recently asked (and you know who you are), here's a rundown of what yours truly, TV Boy, is actually watching these days on prime-time/evening television:

MONDAYS

Arrested Development (Fox)
If you're not watching Arrested (and you're probably not, considering the ratings), then you're missing television's smartest and funniest non-animated situation comedy. Need more information? Well... if you're so inclined, then please click on the "save this show" link in the "Official TV Boy Links" column on the right-hand side of this page.

How I Met Your Mother (CBS)
Part of the freshman class of the 2005-06 television season, Mother is the show that is restoring my faith in the three-camera sitcom. This very un-CBS-like comedy boasts an appealing cast, good writing, and an interesting premise.


TUESDAYS

Commander in Chief (ABC)
Much to my surprise, this freshman show is becoming one of my favorites. Geena Davis earns the "surprisingly solid and convincing performance of the year" award for her excellent turn as the nation's first female president. Also very appealing (in an evil, Snidely Whiplash sort-of way) is Donald Sutherland as the speaker of the house and chief nemesis to Geena Davis' President Allen. When Emmy-nomination time comes around, don't be surprised to see the names of both of these actors on the list.

My Name is Earl (NBC)
Yet another freshman series; NBC seems to have hit paydirt by making a 180-degree turn from their usual "young urban" sitcom formula in the form of Earl. Keep an eye out for the peacock to shift Earl to Thursdays, as the first step in a strategy to reclaim dominance on that evening.


WEDNESDAYS

Lost (ABC)
What can I say about Lost? It's only the most addictive drama to come along in quite a while. The numbers. The Others. The hatch. Even the Dharma Initiative! Where the show is going is a complete mystery to me... but you know that I'll be there to find out. Rock on Mama Cass!


THURSDAYS

Everybody Hates Chris (UPN)
In one of those "when hell freezes over" moments, I am here to now stand up and admit that I watch UPN. And no, this confession will not require my enrollment in a 12-step program ("my name is Jerry, and I watch the network that gave us Homeboys in Outer Space").


FRIDAYS

Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO)
The sharpest, funniest, and most insightful politcal/current events commentary is not found on CNN, MSNBC, or Fox News Channel; the real deal is found on HBO's Real Time, the successor to ABC's late, lamented Politically Incorrect. And if you ever have the chance to see Bill Maher's live stage show, then run, don't walk, to the box office to get your tickets. I saw him last year in Boston, and yes, he was that good.


SATURDAYS

yeah, right.


SUNDAYS

The Simpsons (Fox)
Television's smartest and funniest animated sitcom (it'd be the flat-out smartest and funniest sitcom PERIOD if it weren't for that pesky Arrested Development).

The West Wing (NBC)
First I find myself watching UPN, and then The West Wing becomes interesting television again. Who would've thought? Anyway... if you haven't seen it lately, then check out Wing's best season in two years.

Desperate Housewives (ABC)
While still a great show (and still on the must-watch list), Housewives is suffering from a second-season slump. But it's early in the season yet, so Marc Cherry still has time to wrap up that waste of time "guy in Alfre Woodard's basement" storyline and get this show back on track.

Breaking Bonaduce (VH1)
Danny Bonaduce. Yes, that Danny Bonaduce. My description could never do this show justice; instead, you MUST check it out for yourself. And believe me - you WON'T be able to stop watching (in much the way that you watch an accident scene along the side of the highway while you're stuck in traffic).

** ** **

SWEEPS ALERT

Just a reminder that the November sweeps begins this Thursday, November 3. Get those TiVos ad DVRs warmed-up and ready!

Ratings Report 10/17 - 10/23/05

For the week ending October 23, 2005...

Top 20 Prime Time Programs

1. CSI (CBS)
2. Desperate Housewives (ABC)
3. Lost (ABC)
4. WIthout a Trace (CBS)
5. Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
6. CSI: Miami (CBS)
7. Survivor: Guatemala (CBS)
8. NCIS (CBS)
9. MLB World Series Game 2 (Fox)
10. Commander in Chief (ABC)
11. 60 Minutes (CBS)
12. Two and a Half Men (CBS)
13. MLB World Series Game 1 (Fox)
14. Cold Case (CBS)
15. ER (NBC)
16. NFL Monday Night Football (ABC)
17. Law & Order: SVU (NBC)
18. MLB National League Game 6 (Fox)
19. CSI: NY (CBS)
20. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (ABC)

The Bottom Five

111. Supernatural (WB)
112. What I Like About You (WB)
113. Reba - Beginnings (WB)
114. What I Like About You (WB)
115. Sex, Love, and Secrets (UPN)

Mustn't See TV

If you saw last week's Nielsen numbers, then you know that a 20-year television tradition is officially dead. The tradition? NBC's "Must See TV Thursdays," of course.

Not only did NBC's Joey and Will & Grace suffer severe beatings, but The Apprentice continues to lag far behind CBS' CSI. But - the final straw that broke the back of "must see TV" was the failure of 10:00pm stalwart ER to come even close to the ratings of Without a Trace on CBS. That, my friends, was the final nail in the coffin of NBC's must see TV. And you were there!

The "watch NBC on Thursdays" tradition dates back to the early 1980s. Back then, NBC, mired deeply in third place (out of only three networks in those days), chose to attack the problem of lagging ratings by becoming "the quality network." Under the able stewardship of Grant Tinker, out went shows of dubious quality such as Supertrain and The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo, and in came critically-acclaimed fare such as Hill Street Blues, Fame, and Cheers.

It wasn't until 1984 when the "let's put on good shows" strategy began to pay dividends. In an era when pundits had proclaimed the sitcom to be dead (shows such as Dallas, Dynasty, and Magnum PI sat atop the ratings charts back then), NBC quietly launched a little Thursday night comedy called The Cosby Show (perhaps you've heard of it?). It was, of course, an instant success, and not only did it resuscitate the comedy genre, but it also helped to propel the fortunes of NBC's other Thursday night shows.

Before you knew it, Thursdays on NBC became truly "must see TV:" Cosby, Family Ties, Cheers, Night Court, and Hill Street Blues. A year later, NBC was the number one network, and began an air-tight ownership of Thursday nights that would last for 20 years. Seinfeld... Frasier... Friends... ER... they all reigned supremely on Thursdays.

But those days are long gone. So what happened? Well, the bottom line is that NBC became complacent. In the mid-to-late 90s, instead of using the Thursday night "hammock" time slots (8:30 and 9:30) to launch and nurture the next generation of must-see comedies, they threw away the slots to some of the most poorly conceived, poorly executed series to ever have "graced" the airwaves. Does anyone remember Cursed, The Single Guy, Madman of the People, Grand, or Jesse? Bad TV. Very bad TV.

Without new shows to take the place of retiring hits such as Friends and Frasier, NBC left itself vulnerable. VERY vulnerable. CBS was the first network to smell blood, and it pounced: first by running Survivor at 8:00, and later by moving CSI to 9:00. The move paid off, and today CBS is the king of Thursday night TV.

Things have gotten so bad for NBC that a little network by the name of UPN actually challenges NBC for dominance in the 8:00 time slot (with Everybody Hates Chris). UPN seriously challenging NBC on Thursdays? Sounds like it should be the set-up to a bad joke. Except that it's no joke.

NBC's best chance of regaining Thursday night momentum would be to move breakout hit comedy My Name is Earl to Thursday nights. Risky? Sure is. But as the saying goes... "no risk, no reward." Okay NBC, here's the plan: bump the tired The Apprentice and the fading Joey to Tuesdays; this will free up the Thursday at 9 slot for Earl. Use Will & Grace to lead off the night at 8:00.... then, slot your most promising new sitcom (Max Mutchnick's Four Kings, maybe?) in the Will / Earl hammock... and then promote the hell out of it. Finally, get Scrubs out of those hiatus mothballs and into the Earl lead-out slot at 9:30.

This schedule shuffle won't give NBC a Thursday win, but it will build a foundation upon which the peacock can begin the drive to reclaim its longtime Thursday throne. Quality programming and a little patience could just go a long way... just like it did 20 years ago. And we all remember what happened then.

RIP TVG

Oh sure, she's been showing her age lately. It's been obvious to all that she just hasn't been the same over the past few years. And somewhere in the back of our minds we knew that her days were numbered. Of course we hoped that we were wrong, but we knew otherwise.

Sadly, the end has come. The venerable TV Guide, the nation's number-one selling magazine for much of the past 50 years, has ceased to exist. In its place... the so-called "new and improved" TV Guide.

Let's face it: TV Guide has been in decline for several years. Under the inauspcious ownership of Rupert Murdoch (who purchased the magazine from Walter Annenberg in 1988), serious television journalism (once a crowning achievement of TV Guide) was jettisoned in favor of lighter, fluffier pieces. The local listings section, once the envy of all other listings sources, has for the past few years been a mere shell of its former self.

Nevertheless, this is TV Guide about which we're speaking. In its heyday, the Guide was the weekly bible for the television aficionado. For those of us who knew in our younger years that we wanted to someday be a part of the television industry, the weekly Guide was required (and highly anticipated) reading.

But times have changed, and so have the ways in which people get their television programming information. With many homes capable of receiving at least 200 channels, the relevance of a printed listings guide has diminshed. On-screen program guides and online listing sources have become the 21st-century guides of choice for those who have access to those aforementioned 200 channels.

Aiming to stay relevant in this new universe, News Corp. (Rupert Murdoch's mighty empire) has decided to ditch the digest-sized, heavy-on-the-local-listings TV Guide. In its place comes the new, full-magazine-sized TV Guide. The biggest change within this upheaval is the elimination of local TV listings. In place of the local listings comes a national, catch-all grid for both broadcast and cable/satellite channels. This is a huge blow to die-hard readers of the Guide.

At first glance, the new TV Guide gives faithful and long-time readers hope that the old Guide may have morphed into something akin to Entertainment Weekly, a periodical which actually injects journalistic values into its coverage of the worlds of movies, television, music, home video, and books. Need proof of EW's journalistic chops? Then check out the article entitled "Lost in Transmission" in the October 29th edition of the magazine.

Alas, upon deeper inspection, one discovers that the result of the new Guide is a magazine that's disappointingly lacking in journalistic depth, and instead is heavy on "celebrity light" reading material. It's actually closer in look and feel to News Corp.'s recently-launched television-centric, celebrity-focused weekly Inside TV (which appears to be turning into a calamitous failure for Mr. Murdoch's empire). For those unfamiliar with Inside TV, let me tell you: being compared to Inside TV is not a compliment.

Is the new TV Guide the worst thing I've ever read? No. Of course not. Far from it. In fact, there were a few interesting reads, including a pretty good piece on Lost. But is it the TV Guide of its glory days? Sadly, the answer is no.

Rest in peace, old friend. The world of television won't be the same without you.

Ratings Report

For the week ending October 9, 2005...

Top 20 Prime Time Programs

1. CSI (CBS)
2. Desperate Housewives (ABC)
3. Lost (ABC)
4. WIthout a Trace (CBS)
5. CSI: Miami (CBS)
6. Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
7. Survivor: Guatemala (CBS)
8. Commander in Chief (ABC)
9. NCIS (CBS)
10. Law & Order: SVU (NBC)
11. Cold Case (CBS)
12. NFL Monday Night Football (ABC)
13. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (ABC)
14. CSI: NY (CBS)
15. Two and a Half Men (CBS)
16. ER (NBC)
17. Las Vegas (NBC)
18. My Name is Earl (NBC)
19. Crossing Jordan (NBC)
20. Medium (NBC)


The Bottom Five

111. Twins (WB)
112. Blue Collar TV (WB)
113. What I Like About You (WB)
114. Reba - Beginnings (WB)
115. Sex, Love, and Secrets (UPN)

** ** **

Cancellation watch: the season's third cancellation is official... and to no one's surprise, it's NBC's Inconceivable. It was just days ago that NBC was publically voicing its support for the show, despite word that production on the series had been shut down. A permanent replacement has yet to be announced. But whatever it is, it HAS to be better than Inconceivable.

Actually, now that I think about it, there is one thing that would be worse than Inconceiveable. Nobody's heard anything about NBC picking up Sex, Love, and Secrets, have they?

There Goes Another One

It's time for the Fall season's second offcial cancellation. And the loser is... The WB's Just Legal. In another case of "blink and you miss it" television, legal-odd-couple-drama Just Legal is vanishing from the airwaves after only two airings. Coincidentally, the season's first cancellation, Fox's Head Cases, was also a legal-odd-couple-drama. And so goes the "legal-odd-couple-drama" genre for another year. Farewell. We hardly knew ye.

Sitting in the "unoffficially cancelled" circle are UPN's funny-for-all-the-wrong-reasons Sex, Love, and Secrets, and NBC's Inconceivable. Production has been halted on both series, although neither has been officially cancelled. In fact, NBC is claiming to still be supporting Inconceivable. Yup... okay... whatever you say, NBC.

** ** **

PEG Award update: for those of you in Rhode Island who might actually be interested in watching the 2005 PEG Awards, then be in front of your TV (or set your TiVo/DVR) on Sunday, October 9 (which just happens to be tomorrow) at 2:00pm on cable channel 13. It's truly an awards show like no other. After all, where else would you be able to see yours-truly and the cast of a local tea-discussion show on the same stage? The telecast will run for about two hours, so be sure to stock up tonight on the snacks (and of course tea, if you really want to get into the odd spirit of things).

Say Goodnight, Eric

In what has to be one of the more pathetic stories of this or any other recent television season, UPN has shut down production on its new Sex, Love, and Secrets… after airing only ONE episode. Yes, you read that correctly: one episode. Ratings for the premiere episode of Secrets were so low that the series actually placed EIGHTH in its time slot. Eighth! For those of you doing the math at home, this means that Secrets not only finished dead-last among the six broadcast networks in the time slot, but it also finished a couple of places behind two CABLE networks. When’s the last time you heard of that happening?

Secrets has about eight or nine episodes already in the can, so UPN may air a few more before sending in the replacements. Hey - is that South Beach I see swinging a bat in the on-deck circle?

Sleep tight, Eric Balfour. Your reputation as a show-killer lives on in infamy for yet another year.

That Was Fast

Well, we’re barely two weeks into the Fall television season, and we’ve already had our first cancellation (Fox’s Head Cases); now, we have our first schedule change, courtesy of our friends at the once-high-and-mighty-and-now-just-sad-and-pathetic NBC.

Effective this Wednesday, NBC will flip the time slots of The Apprentice: Martha Stewart and E-Ring. E-Ring will now air at 8:00, while Martha gets the unenviable task of facing off at 9:00 against that juggernaut known as Lost.

Will any of this help? Maybe a little, but not much. A lot of Martha’s female reality audience was being siphoned away by UPN’s America’s Next Top Model, so in theory a move out of that time slot should only be a good thing for Martha… except for the fact that she’s being pushed into what is arguably prime time’s most competitive time slot. Sorry, Martha – you probably just won’t fit.

As for E-Ring… the competition at 8:00 is much less severe, and allows for a much clearer opening for a drama of this type. This move can only help. And let's face it: this Fall, NBC needs all the help that it can get.

** ** **

Ellen DeGeneres… Eat Your Heart Out

Has it been a year already since the last PEG Awards? The answer to that question is “yes,” as the fifth annual Rhode Island PEG Awards ceremony was held last night. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the PEG Awards, allow me enlighten you. You’re familiar with the Emmy Awards, right? The awards for excellence in television? Okay - good. Well, the PEG Awards are just like the Emmy Awards, except that they’re handed out for excellence in “public access” television (and no, that’s not an oxymoron). At this point, I should probably admit that the phrase “just like the Emmy Awards” is maybe just a a bit of an exaggeration. But I digress. For those of you who are wondering, "PEG" actually stands for Public, Education, and Government access television.

I was back for another go-round as host of the awards show (my fourth year, in fact), and all seemed to go well: I showed up sober, I didn't fall off of the stage, and I somehow managed not to offend too many people. Unfortunately, my planned comedy bit with Eva Longoria had to be scrapped, as Ms. Longoria chose not to attend. Go figure.

Anyway... most of the winners were present to accept their awards, and only a handful of people had to be “played off” of the stage (you know - the dreaded music!) for overly-long acceptance speeches.

The ceremony will be telecast soon (I’ll keep you posted on the dates and times), and you KNOW that you don’t want to miss it. You do know that… don’t you??