The Waltons

That's right kids.

Hallmark channel has been repeating most episodes of The Waltons in order for up to 3 hours a day. On Easter weekend they will have a 24-hour marathon.

This show is great and is better than Little House on the Prairie. I have not seen this show since I was a kid since it was not as a popular rerun as other shows of the time. The acting is great, the sets are really well done, and the themes/episode continue throughout the episodes.

For those who do not know The Waltons is a show about a large family living on their own land during The Great Depression. It is based on the book Spencer's Mountain but is only 10-25% based on real the life author Earl Hamner Jr. So loosely based on real life is most accurate.

Each episode is can be broken down easily:
Someone comes to stay with the Waltons, the visitor(s) have a problem and by being around the Waltons they come to realize how family should work and they resolve the problem.

The show is not heavy handed with the judgement and while church plays a huge role the father is not religious because of his war experience but is more spiritual. The first season is near perfect for a drama with moments of comedy. After that subtle changes start appearing that still haunts shows to this day. Typical stuff like focusing on kids instead of older people, using more sets than outside filming, and complaints about money yet always seeming to have more the next episode ( cough...cough...Desperate Housewives...cough).

John Boy plays the role of observer more than the star, at least in the first 3 seasons. It is kind of odd watching this old show knowing that eventually Richard Thomas leaves and gets replaced and by the end the show gets silly but for now it is good. Take a second and TiVo an episode or two.

Sam Axe Appreciation Day (Burn Notice)

All to promote the special prequel 2-hour episode Burn Notice: The Fall of Sam Axe the back story of Sam Axe, played by Bruce Campbell at 9pm ET on USA.

Burn Notice is a great show about an ex-spy trying to get his job back while doing the right thing in Miami. The location and music is good enough to watch on it's own.

This marathon is a good chance to catch up with all the major plot lines. With all the explosions and outside scenes some may wonder what type of budget must this show have. Hawaiian shirts alone must set them back a couple of thousand.

Typically burned spy Michael Weston looks to get his job back and also helps people on cases that need  more than just your average detective. His mom, old frenemy, and on/off again girlfriend all help him. At the end he always wins and gets a step closer to his old life.

Sure it is normal drama format but it is well acted and produced. I hope it ends well because it is one of bright spots on basic cable.

This Old House Hour

A combination of This Old House and Ask This Old House.

On PBS for decades this might be considered reality but it better listed as home improvement. Last week they finished a Los Angelos project and now they are repeating a Renovation of a 1940s House.

I was always drawn to this show because it simple there are no gimmicks and you get to see something from beginning to the end. Shows like Extreme Home Makeover, Trading Spaces, or Flip This House are a joke compared to this original. Teaching history and home improvemnet from the basics to complex is what the show is about but seeing a beautiful finished home is also great.

Airing every Saturday in NYC channel 13 it became a ritual in my home. Granted I would still take a brownstone or penthouse any day but country living looks good on TV.

I have no doubt this show would be one of many that will soon disappear especially since some fools are attacking PBS. For now it is still must see TV.

The Paul Reiser Show: Pilot

I do not enjoy Curb Your Enthusiasm because it is a quasi-reality-fiction-scripted nonsense. Plus it is not funny.

Now imagine someone decided to copy it except on network TV, without bad language, and decide to make it even less funny. Got the picture well that is The Paul Reiser Show.

Image source: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/sites/default/files/2011/04/paul_a_l.jpg

Pilot:
Paul is asked to host a game show and is reluctant but does it anyway and is so awkward that everyone loves it.
He has a group of odd friends who are overly supportive and equally unfunny.
Special guest Larry David made the cherry on unfunny pie perfect.

All My Children Cancelled

All My Children  along with One Life to Live have been cancelled by ABC.

Soaps were a great form of entertainment, a place to speak out on social issues, and a stepping stone for young actors. Unfortunately the trend for the cheap will kill off all scripted TV until all that is left is reality-fiction like Jersey Shore, American Idol, and Oprah. (yes I'll rant about these later)

Soaps like most scripted shows gives you a story with a specific meaning. Unfortunately the narcissism of most people along with the increasing narrow minds makes audiences more fractured. The days when you just sit back and accept the premise of something as a work of fiction for fiction's sake is over.

Most audiences rather see "real" situations and the judge them and then contribute to it until they force some sort of reaction. The Oprah Syndrome for short. The problem is most people are cattle and not smart enough to make the right decision, just abbreviated from old books like the bible and such. Just look at any major event and then see how many people ignore logic, commonsense, and science instead going for simplistic and ridiculous conspiracy theories.

Back to the soaps.
All My Children is being replaced by The Chew a show about food and food trends.
One Life to Live is being replaced with The Revolution a show about fatties and how they will keep up their denial about exercise and blame food.

As the World Turns was replaced with The Talk, a better version of The View thanks to Leah Remini but on the edge of flooding the airwaves with misinformation thanks to Sara Gilbert. Did we need another talk show? Maybe but that won't save CBS.

So what have I've been watching as the TV death-spiral continues? I'll see if I can start sharing soon.

TV Japan

TV Japan, Channel #265

In response to the earthquake and following tsunami and nuclear problems Cablevision has decided to allow TV Japan to broadcast free of charge, temporarily.

Usually this channel is one of many channel that are in the 200 channel range that must be special ordered in order to view. These 200-299 stations are generally foreign language stations. For $24.95 you get a small selection of non-English stations of your choice, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Russian, etc.

Surprisingly in NYC these channels are popular even with the add cost.

TV Japan's  normal programing  has been stopped for the immediate future to run 24 news coverage of the disaster. Cablevision said they will let the channel broadcast for free until March 17.

Watching a bit of the coverage it is much like a U.S. disaster coverage with the exception of the eyewitness show. If this was an American disaster you would have reporters hunting for victims to exploit or grandstanding eyewitnesses telling the horrible papercut stories. There use of paper pictures to describe the nuclear plants were easy to follow then the stuff on regular channel. And that is in Japanese without subtitles.

No need to explain there is a large Japanese community in NYC, as well as a large every other ethnic group or country in NY. So a little applause to Cablevision for being nice.

The Sheen is from Flop Sweats

He's a wife beater.
He's a drug addict.
He believes in conspiracies like those involving 9/11 and vaccines.

In other words he is either psychotic or evil. Doesn't matter he should be shunned and punished and should go into therapy.

From my previous rant on April 15, 2006...

Oprah gets soapy

Just watching some commercials with Oprah annoucing her next show. She will have various <b>soap legends</b>.

Okay I don’t really care but I'm testing a new blogger <i>phone app</i>.

Super Blah

Never  understood why they have a championship game without a NY team.

Last year I was deep into Puppy Bowl VI. Luckily NYC had a parade in Chinatown so I did not watch any marathons.

As dull as the game was the halftime show was quite sad, the only person that should have been auto-tuned wasn't. Usher and Slash, a noun and verb or two verbs?

The ads were forgettable, the one with all old shows was kind of nice. There was another that had something blowing up but right now I can't remember it.

New Year, New Yawns

Well all the shows have returned from the Holiday break and they should have stayed gone.

My tolerance for predictable story lines has reached its limits. Add to that the horrible news and even worse pundits that love to start fights but then when one breaks out they blame others.

Oh well I have work, friends and a camera I can not seem to master so my TV habit may soon be kicked.

So what else am I watching repeats of Still Standing and Doctor Who.
New shows like Shameless are well acted but so unrealistic it throws you right out of the fantasy. The whole glorification of weed is getting ridiculous. The only nice moment the family has is when they get high together, that is truly shameless.

 

News Fail

I used to love local news especially WPIX where Kaity Tong has anchored for decades. The news was simple straight forward and light with fluff and teasers.

Then suddenly they started bringing in pundits and commentators who resemble rejects from FOX or Comedy Central. Then they changed the format to a standing woman in front of a green screen doing a top 11 news run down. It's like a Youtube version of the news. Unfortunately the ratings reflect that it is working. For me this news is now unwatchable.

Oh and they have the original anchors pushed to the side and weekends doing on the scene stuff.

Moving onto NY1 the only good news channel left suddenly changed from channel 1 to 8.

Worst part was that TiVo changed it 2 weeks ago but Cablevision did not move the channel until Monday. When TiVo deletes a channel you can no longer record or even watch the programs.I don't know why the move but I fear what shenanigans will happen soon.