Category: Television

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Three Hour Couric Farewell

TodBits had it right in episode not too long ago. What is the fascination with Katie Couric[wiki]? And I ask, why was there a three hour long goodbye to her on The Today Show yesterday morning? I get that she spent fifteen years on the NBC show, but she wasn’t saving the world by any means.

She’s always seemed kind of stiff. There would be these moments of playful, witty banter on the show at times, only to have Couric kind of ruin the moment by other saying something completely not funny or have that look on her face of disbelief over the fact that she’s surrounded by people not worthy of her presence. The flow would seem to stop with her. Either it was intentional or through missed execution.

People were there yesterday to sing all of her favorite songs, there was a champagne toast, and plenty of sucking up. The event in Rockefeller Center just seemed a little strange, perhaps a bit forced as well. It’s not very often that you see one major network go so far to say farewell to a long time staple to their programming only to have them move on to a competing network. You would expect this kind of send off if she was retiring, not moving on to the CBS Evening News.

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There’s Not A Lot Going On In The U.S.

Rebecca just called me on her lunch break to tell me that her mom told her that makers of Corner Gas are trying to pitch the show to U.S. television networks. That’s right, America. Corner Gas might be coming to a network near you.

That said, can a show set in a Canadian province of which many Americans aren’t even aware translate into ratings success in the U.S.?

Hasson thinks so. Most of the humour on the show is familiar to North Americans in general, he said.

“Corner Gas is small-town-centric,” said Hasson. “There’s absolutely no difference between Dog River, Saskatchewan, and any little town outside Des Moines, Iowa.”  [thestar.com]

I have always found the show fascinating because I could relate the happenings in Dog River to my home town back in Iowa. Apparently I wasn’t that far off, but the central part of the state always seemed to have a lot less going on than the eastern.

The appeal of the show is already stretching beyond Canada.  The Daily Breakfast featured the program on a recent episode.  Apparently Canadian fans of Father Roderick sent him some DVD’s.  He’s liking it already.

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28 Days Slater

28 Days SlaterHilarious! I watched so much Saved By The Bell[wiki] in my lifetime, including some of The College Years[wiki] and The New Class[wiki]. Can’t forget those middle school years with Ms. Bliss either.


28 Days Slater[teamtigerawesome] is freaking funny, I kid you not. They are up to episode three, and I hope they keep going all the way to twenty-eight. Even more creepy is that Rebecca just turned the TV on and Saved By The Bell is on right now. Too weird…

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The State

Taco Mail on YouTubeYouTube can be dangerous if you are someone with a short attention span and are easily distracted, much like myself. So when I discovered that episodes and skits of The State[wiki] are on there, I had to really restrain myself from watching them all in one sitting. Regardless, I still freaked out and got really excited. I even watched “Taco Mail”[youtube] since it was short, but I stopped there before I got completely lost in my excitement.

It was my friend, Isaac, in high school that was the other huge fan of this show. In fact, it was the humor in The State that I blame for my warped sense of humor, even to this day. Combine this with the hours spent watching Monty Python[wiki], and I admit this is incredibly geeky, we were apart of a pretty good improv group for our high school speech competition team. We took the group all the way to state competition, but we tanked there when we failed to do well with our draw of “canned food isle in the grocery store comes to life.”

I still make references to this show only to have very few people know what I’m talking about. What I really want is the episode with the little kid that has everyone at the dinner table saying grace before dinner only to pray for God to strike down one of the little kids at the table. I think his name was Billy, or Timmy? Bobby? And then the prayer is over only to have the little kid run outside, look at the camera, and he says, “What they don’t know is that God and I… are like this.” He shows his index and middle fingers crossed just as God pulls up on a motorcycle. Little kid hops on, and off they ride.

At least it goes something like that. All I really know for sure is that The State was hilarious. It was sad to have it fade away like it did, but a large portion of the cast has moved on to other things. It pains me to say that MTV created probably one of the funniest programs in my lifetime, but they haven’t done anything to match it since.

“My name is Doug, and I’m outta… heeeeeeerrre.”

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Rescue Me: Season 3

Rescue Me castI like Rescue Me. It’s gritty, sad, funny, has some cool camera work, and boasts a kick ass opening sequence that does justice to the Von Bondies song “C’mon, C’mon.” I was curious about the series when I saw the previews prior to its premiere, but it was hearing that song linked up with the images that made me stick around. I’ve been pleased with the program so far.

I knew that FX Networks picked up the series for a third season, but it’s been a painfully long time to hear any news about it. So when Rebecca asked me about it, I came up with this.

I watch my server logs: I know that a lot of Googlers get here wondering about FX’s Rescue Me, a show that I really, really happen to love. Lately, folks seem to wonder: “When is the new season of Rescue Me going to start?” Best as I can tell, we can expect that sometime in the second quarter of 2006—I’d bet on May. [ijsm.org]

The Wikipedia entry about Rescue Me[wiki] also points to a May 30th debut for the first episode of season three on FX, catch it on Showcase here in Canada. At least I hope Showcase picks it up as well.

Oddly enough, Rebecca made a post about Showcase today. Perhaps our conversations spur blog posts, eh?

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A Simpsons Movie?

I’m not sure how I feel about it, but the BBC is reporting that the Simpsons will be released in movie form with about a year.  Now I could be a sucker and falling for yet another April Fool’s Joke, but this news hits me in a few various ways.

I’d love nothing more than have this be true, but Homer and crew on the big screen?  It’s a great concept, and I’m sure there will be droves of people who will flock to the theatres to see it.  However, the Beavis and Butthead movie signaled the end to that franchise.  Are we in for the same thing?

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The Amber Alert System in British Columbia

I was unaware until this week that BC has its own Amber Alert System in place. I found out about it due to an alert that was issued and resulted in locating the child, fortunately, without harm. I’ve read other accounts where people caught news of the alert flashing on bus signs. That’s pretty impressive. This goes a little beyond the usual highway signs and news outlets that I’m familiar with, but it makes so much sense. You can declare this one a success.

My brushes with the Iowa Amber Alert System gives me some insight on this. My chief engineer back at WSUI/KSUI, Jim Davies, was one of the main guys getting the Amber Alert to work through the Iowa Emergency Alert System (EAS). This stuff doesn’t simply work from the start. It takes a lot of work and testing to make all the information flow correctly, not to mention the politics of what constitutes an alert or not.  Have to give my congrats to BC for this one working so well.

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The Award for What What Goes to Who What?

The Academy Awards are days away. I keep finding myself not really caring. For once in a long while, independent films are getting more of a nod, and I still have little to no interest. I think a lot of this stems back to my loathing of film critics in general. On top of that, just being a film major in college for a few years. It’s sad to say, but the film department at the University of Iowa got to me. The atmosphere where nothing is good unless there is a general concensus to merit something being collectively “good” among both teachers and students really turned me off. At the same time, you can only stand non-narrative, abstract films so much until you want to poke something in your eyes to make sure you still have some sort of sense left in them.

I’ll probably watch the awards for the main reason that Jon Stewart is hosting. I liked his short lived show on MTV from back in the day. It’s where I saw Live and Orbit perform for the first time. In fact, that was the last time I saw Orbit perform ever, but I have seen a few Live shows since. Sadly, the academy awards won’t be nearly as cool of an experience. Stewart’s a pretty entertaining guy, even though his antics are getting dangerously repetitive to me. I think that’s why I only check into the Daily Show once and a while.

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“I’ve Decided to Gut the Whole Thing”

Mike HolmesI am a Mike Holmes fan.

I get excited on Thursday nights because it’s “Reno Thursdays” on HGTV. The only show in the line-up that I actually watch is Holmes on Homes. What creeps me out is that a guy by the same name from my home town back in Iowa does similar things, except it’s on cars. Good guy, but the Mike Holmes I’m talking about has his own TV show. HGTV Canada is where it’s mainly aired, but for those of you back home in the states, try Discovery Home and see if you can catch it there. What can you do? The show is Canadian made, in and around the Toronto area.

The formula is pretty straight forward. Reality TV with Mike Holmes examining and repairing botched contractor jobs that were of poor quality. Some of these people were completely screwed out of thousands of dollars after a contractor walked away from a job half way through the process. Sure, some of the stories are compelling and make you hear violin strings playing in your head as it tugs at your heart. It’s Mike that really makes the show though.

There are a few key phrases that I love to hear.

“I’ve decided to gut the whole thing.”

“You cannot do this without a permit!”

“I really wanna kick someone’s ass right now.”

It’s really hilarious, all the while being serious about the work he does. He gets so ticked off with the shotty work he finds from job to job. Even the guys who work with him on the job know how over dramatic Mike can get. Perhaps intense would be a better word for it. The guy knows his stuff. He also loves to use slate where ever he can.

You feel like you can learn by watching this program all the while developing this phobia of ever hiring someone other than Mike Holmes to do any work for you. We’ve developed our own group of guys that we are happy to see on whatever job he’s working on. Craig Lowe, the painter dude. The one guy who does foundation stuff. Ok, so I’m not down on knowing the names, but I know them when I see them.

I’m not the only one talking about the show. Four seasons of this program, and as horrible as some of the jobs are, I don’t think there will be any shortage, eh?

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“That Wouldn’t Be a Home Run in a Phone Booth”

I grew up watching Harry Caray. It is nearly safe to say that he was the one who made me excited about baseball while I was growing up. He slurred, didn’t always get the calls right, and had some of the strangest references about some story from out of nowhere. It was brillant. He made you want to like the Cubs. We are fans of a different breed. It’s not about next year. It’s about having a good time. And baseball, too.

The guy who lost out on the job Harry held for a number of years still holds a grudge. Milo Hamilton feels the need to tell everyone that Caray was a miserable human being, a control freak, and hard to work with. The last part I can understand because the guy was nuts. Just watching him you had to wonder how this guy could do this job every single game of the season, switching between TV and radio the whole time.

All these years and this guy is still ticked off over the fact that Harry got the job that he didn’t. Maybe the issue is deeper, but he waits eight years after Caray’s passing to whine to the world. An attack on his character? What a load of crap. It almost shames me more that Milo is originally from Iowa. Harry’s gone. Get over it and get on with you life, Mr. Hamilton.