SG1/SGA - TV Guide Online: Ask Matt - June 30
From TV Guide Online:
http://www.tvguide.com/TV/Roush/AskMatt/
(Please follow the link for the complete article.)
Question: Summer TV is always bad, but this year I find myself watching virtually nothing. OK, I have used the rerun schedule to catch a few eps of My Name Is Earl (but not if I already saw them), and I have rewatched some Grey's Anatomy episodes, but otherwise I watch nothing. I can't face Gilmore Girls reruns this year. Somehow Lost reruns don't cut it. I'd rather pull my fingernails out one by one than watch moronic reality shows. I don't have cable. Am I doomed until September? Is there anything out there on broadcast TV that is worth watching? — David
Matt Roush: Oh, David, this is so sad. I'm actually having a pretty good TV summer, but only because of the variety of cable choices, from Rescue Me on FX and The Closer on TNT to Hustle on AMC to HBO's Deadwood-Entourage combo on Sundays, with a chaser of The 4400 the same night. And in July there's the delightful new comedy-mystery Psych (paired with Monk on Fridays on USA Network), the compelling Brotherhood on Showtime, the return of Project Runway on Bravo, the quirky new Eureka! on Sci Fi, along with the return of the two Stargate series. But what does this have to do with network TV? Absolutely nothing. The menu the networks are serving up, rehashed and half-baked reality shows night after night, is simply numbing. (Honestly, I try not to be an antireality snob, but during the summer, this deluge depresses me to no end.) I almost wish they'd just stick to repeats. I've sampled most of the network reality shows, since it's my job, and the only one I can bear to go back to each week is Last Comic Standing, because the personalities and challenges are just interesting enough for now. And maybe So You Think You Can Dance, though I'm not willing to commit three hours a week to it. (I am so over Gordon Ramsay's bellowing on Hell's Kitchen, and this may be the most unappealing cast ever assembled on a reality show. I wouldn't buy a pretzel off the street from these people. I miss Top Chef!) And those amateur-night/freak-show talent contests on NBC and ABC? No thanks. Even the one new scripted network show, NBC's Windfall, is an unholy mess, and thankfully it's beginning to droop in the ratings. At this point, it feels like my duty to steer those without cable to the world of PBS, which at least won't insult you. And some nights (with new installments of Mystery! and American Masters) may even entertain you. Finally, the best summer news I can supply at this moment is the fact that Fox will launch several of its new and returning shows in late August. But until then, can I suggest maybe reading? Or, failing that, finding a friend with cable. Trust me. There's something good on almost every night, just not on the Big Four.
|*|(*)|*|(*)|*|
Morjana
http://www.tvguide.com/TV/Roush/AskMatt/
(Please follow the link for the complete article.)
Question: Summer TV is always bad, but this year I find myself watching virtually nothing. OK, I have used the rerun schedule to catch a few eps of My Name Is Earl (but not if I already saw them), and I have rewatched some Grey's Anatomy episodes, but otherwise I watch nothing. I can't face Gilmore Girls reruns this year. Somehow Lost reruns don't cut it. I'd rather pull my fingernails out one by one than watch moronic reality shows. I don't have cable. Am I doomed until September? Is there anything out there on broadcast TV that is worth watching? — David
Matt Roush: Oh, David, this is so sad. I'm actually having a pretty good TV summer, but only because of the variety of cable choices, from Rescue Me on FX and The Closer on TNT to Hustle on AMC to HBO's Deadwood-Entourage combo on Sundays, with a chaser of The 4400 the same night. And in July there's the delightful new comedy-mystery Psych (paired with Monk on Fridays on USA Network), the compelling Brotherhood on Showtime, the return of Project Runway on Bravo, the quirky new Eureka! on Sci Fi, along with the return of the two Stargate series. But what does this have to do with network TV? Absolutely nothing. The menu the networks are serving up, rehashed and half-baked reality shows night after night, is simply numbing. (Honestly, I try not to be an antireality snob, but during the summer, this deluge depresses me to no end.) I almost wish they'd just stick to repeats. I've sampled most of the network reality shows, since it's my job, and the only one I can bear to go back to each week is Last Comic Standing, because the personalities and challenges are just interesting enough for now. And maybe So You Think You Can Dance, though I'm not willing to commit three hours a week to it. (I am so over Gordon Ramsay's bellowing on Hell's Kitchen, and this may be the most unappealing cast ever assembled on a reality show. I wouldn't buy a pretzel off the street from these people. I miss Top Chef!) And those amateur-night/freak-show talent contests on NBC and ABC? No thanks. Even the one new scripted network show, NBC's Windfall, is an unholy mess, and thankfully it's beginning to droop in the ratings. At this point, it feels like my duty to steer those without cable to the world of PBS, which at least won't insult you. And some nights (with new installments of Mystery! and American Masters) may even entertain you. Finally, the best summer news I can supply at this moment is the fact that Fox will launch several of its new and returning shows in late August. But until then, can I suggest maybe reading? Or, failing that, finding a friend with cable. Trust me. There's something good on almost every night, just not on the Big Four.
|*|(*)|*|(*)|*|
Morjana
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