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A few weeks ago, comedian Marc Maron, on his podcast, spoke of a group of Maine radicals that protest American pop culture by shooting televisions. After a decade where an insane run of my favorite programs died a prematurely painful death (Action, Freaks & Geeks, The Norm Show, Andy Richter Controls the Universe, Studio 60, Undeclared, Arrested Development); not to mention the early demise of programs that I would love to have seen succeed (Firefly, Andy Barker PI, Swingtown, Kings, Veronica Mars, Lateline, Sports Night, Las Vegas, Quarterlife), I was almost ready to unearth my great-grandfather’s BATFE-exempted Colt Dragoon revolver to join them.[i] As one of the few children of the 1970s that could not gain interest in Star Wars, the segment of my brain that appreciates sci-fi (and, by proxy, SyFy) was removed when I was abducted by the Mothman (that’s about all I got). My approach to programming that depicts the clash between Good and Evil was encapsulated by Dark Helmet’s words to Lone Star, although I would like to revise the aphorism to say “…because good is dumb, and often really boring”. I like my villains to be well-rounded characters, with a human side, and outside of The Wire (where D’Angelo Barksdale, Omar Little and Brother Mouzone were three of the coolest characters in TV history), antagonists are portrayed with the depth you’d find in a high-school play with dudes donning pasted-on sideburns. Enter NBC Thursday Night. The four shows, like the Atlanta Braves’ pitching staff in the early 1990s, open with the John Smoltz-like rapid-fire of Community, followed by Parks and Recreation and The Office, both of which draw their humor from measured responses and lingering camerawork. After the Maddux and Glavine of the rotation, 30 Rock’s Steve Avery-level heaters require a double-dose of Ritalin.

Community is based on creator Dan Harmon’s experiences in community college, where he enrolled in a Spanish class to reunite with an ex-girlfriend (had he asked Cheryl Hines to portray Brita, the universe would have switched sides on its Mobius strip). Community’s ragtag collective, mirroring his college days, serves a clever compendium of personality types often neglected by sitcom casting directors. Joel McHale, whom I only knew from appearances on Adam Carolla’s radio show, portrays a selfish, egotistical, self-aggrandizing narcissist (you gotta love the guy). This Evolutionary George Costanza occasionally – gasp – does the right thing, but thankfully, not too often. Danny Pudi plays Abed, approximating Bill from Freaks & Geeks after discovering quintuple espresso. In one of my favorite TV moments on the year, Abed makes short films with actors portraying members of the group, accurately predicting their future behavior (I was awaiting the hypermeta joke “…because he’s MY butler”, to no avail). Mad Men fans will instantly recognize Alison Brie, adding another character to her “manic pixie dream girl” credentials. Pierce, played by the one and only Chevy Chase, proves that his innovative spirit wasn’t crushed like Clark Griswold’s Family Truckster.

Parks and Recreation and The Office, two mannered faux-docs, reward the patience of viewers (and hopefully that of NBC). Greg Daniels, executive producer of Parks and occasional writer for The Office, packs a resume the size of a backyard open pit, with writing/producing credits for Saturday Night Live, The Simpsons, Seinfeld, King of the Hill, and the proto-Daily Show brilliance of Not Necessarily the News. The Office has pulled off two difficult sitcom maneuvers: maintaining the “juice” of the series after the romantic union of two protagonists, and successfully adding new characters, such as Andy “The Nard Dog” Bernard’s  (Daily Show alum Ed Helms) foil to Rainn Wilson’s devious scheming as the irrascible Dwight Schrute. Mindy Kaling’s increased role on-screen (Kelly Kapoor), as well as in the writer’s room, has been a long time coming. Parks and Recreation’s first episode recalled I’m Alan Partridge, the often-hilarious Steve Coogan vehicle. Like Partridge bouncing around his hotel room shouting (in that measured, British way, at least) along with Paul McCartney & Wings’ underrated rocker “Jet”, staff manager Ron Swanson (Nick Offerman) looks over at his framed photographs, raises his fist in the air, and yells “BOBBY KNIGHT!” (Offerman has a bizarre imdb.com profile: in addition to multiple roles simply entitled “Big Guy” or “Cop” – including the sergeant that almost busts the rave in Groove – he’s appeared in projects entitled RSO: Registered Sex Offender, Pee Shy,  Golf Cart Driving School and Wristcutters: A Love Story).

(Brief aside – I heard the Wristcutters series took a turn towards reality in the sequel – Wristcutters: A “Get Screamed At While Your Possessions Are Flung At You” Story.)

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Without the whiz-bang style that bookends these two comedies, Parks and The Office require a longer story arc to establish the characters’ personalities. Echoing her role in Judd Apatow’s Funny People, Parks’ Aubrey Plaza perfectly captures the zeitgeist of the apathetic, over-(prescription) medicated teenager. Aziz Ansari, known to comedy fans for his stand-up, in addition to roles in Human Giant, throws a curveball our way in most episodes. (His appearance on episode 2 of Comedy Death Ray’s podcast is hilarious – check itunes and click “subscribe”, you’ll thank me later).

In what will be remembered as a weird social experiment, NBC tested the boundaries of market saturation by bringing two programs into primetime that took a behind-the-scenes look at the reborn Saturday Night Live. While Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip burned out after one occasionally-excellent season – especially the Christmas episode with the New Orleans-themed musical ending – 30 Rock is still kicking, and sometimes where it hurts. While Tracy (Tracy Morgan) Jordan’s friendship with Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) has led to a treasure-trove of quotable moments, I’m hoping the writers give us more Judah Friedlander hat-quotes.

Not so long ago, when we referred to our entertainment portal as a “television set”, popular TV performers aspired to abscond from the small tube to the silver screen, hoping never to return. The audacity of TV has overtaken the boring, emotionally-manipulative world of Oscar-worthy film. Alec Baldwin’s choice to star in a sitcom would have been laughable 20 years ago. Now? After sitting through what I call middlebrow snoozefests like The Curious Case of Benjamin zzz…, we are laughing – at his brilliant performance as Jack Donaghy, “GE’s vice president of East Coast television and microwave oven programming”. In season four’s opener, Baldwin confidently predicted success for Jenna’s TGS by declaring “We’ll trick those race-car loving wide-loads into watching your lefty homoerotic propaganda hour yet!” At the very end, he looks toward Liz (Tina Fey) and  says “There’s nothing wrong with being fun and popular and giving people what they want!”, then turns his head toward the camera for “Ladies and Gentlemen, Jay Leno!”

One understated feature of greatness involves the randomly-appearing talent. For alternative-comedy obsessives, Community has given us Patton Oswalt as a nurse, The Daily Show’s John Oliver as a professor and Mr. Show-alum Dino Stamatopoulos as “Star-Burns”. Parks and Recreation has a three-episode arc with Louis C.K. as a love interest for a drunken Amy Poehler (a Curb Your Enthusiasm-level move would be to repeat every Louis CK scene, but recast with Dane Cook). After The Office’s Michael Scott (temporarily) left Dunder Mifflin to form his own paper company, The Wire’s Stringer Bell (Idris Elba) was brought in for a few shows as the Bizzaro Michael. Mad Men’s Jon Hamm appeared in 30 Rock, with similar results as Louis CK. In true NBC fashion, I would be surprised if we were not privy to a character crossover. We’ve already seen The Office consolidate Dunder Mifflin branches, where Rashida Jones played Karen Fillipelli, a pre-Pam (Jenna Fischer) fling for Jim (John Krasinski), and now she’s Ann Perkins, former nurse, on Parks. Imagine Jack Donaghy as Pierce’s old polo buddy on Community, for example.

“More Colorful” is NBC’s new tagline, and based on the cast of Thursday night, they couldn’t be more accurate. With casts that contain several ages and ethnicities, I’m hoping blogger Angry Asian Man eventually offers his insightful take on how Community, Parks and The Office are ending the era where “Harajuku Girls”-style casting was considered progressive (if NBC is worried about revenue, perhaps India’s 100 million English speakers can entice would-be advertisers). 30 Rock, with Tracy Morgan as a co-lead, also features an oft-forgotten demographic – my proud Appalachians, where Kenneth the Page serves as the show’s moral center.

While the foursome of powerhouse programs may be a huge hit with this author, I’m afraid that the ratings reveal a general public that does not share my affinity for this incredible agglomeration of network television comedy. In an era where a producer can notch high ratings by throwing a handful of low-paid unknowns into a semi-controlled competitive environment, I worry that the smart scripted show may become an afterthought for mindless fluff like Dancing With the Stars. A recent profile in New York magazine spoke of the struggles of fourth-place NBC, trying to regain its leadership status. The lack of a CSI/NCIS-level hit, combined with the economy and DVR/Tivo, has cut ad expenditures to a point where ABC subsidiary ESPN matched NBC’s $6 billion 2008 revenue.  Unfortunately for the Peacock, their properties (USA, Bravo) can’t command the high cable franchise fees of ESPN to pad the profits, leading to a cash flow of “only” a couple of hundred million, compared to ESPN’s $1 billion-plus. We may one day longingly look back at NBC’s current Thursday night lineup as the last occurrence where two full network hours were devoted to smarter comedies – programs that entertain on the textual level, sure – but also invite the mental exercise of the audience, rather than spoon-feeding them “jokes” that are constricted by the Banality Spectrum that runs from the Fighting Married Couple to Annoying Neighbors to Pooping Babies. While I have to admit that the other networks have stepped up their comedic offerings since the darker than “reading Sylvia Plath in an opium den” days of According to Jim; Yes, Dear and Major Dad, NBC’s Thursday night lineup is the first two-hour block of programming to catch my attention in years, and I truly hope it receives the patience and support it deserves. Ben Silverman, one of the people who helped bring this primetime to life, needs a high-five sometime. Consider this your five.

30 Rock – Quarta Temporada

Episódio 3 – Stone Mountain

Episódio 4 – Audition Day

Depois de dois episódios bem irregulares, a quarta temporada de 30 Roc finalmente alça vôo com o seu primeiro episódio realmente engraçado. É uma grande satisfação ver todas as histórias funcionando em Stone Mountain – até mesmo a de Tracy (Tracy Morgan), um personagem que sempre tem storylines pouco inspiradas. Todos aqui possuem o seu espaço, o que sempre é um saldo positivo. No entanto, em Audition Day, as coisas voltam a ficar não tão harmônicas e encontramos um capítulo banal, com poucos momentos de inspiração, justamente porque a storyline do novo membro do TGS já está ficando repetitiva.

As I mentioned in my last post, I got the internet. It’s kind of overwhelming. Not only do I have the old internet that I’m used to, I’ve also got access to Xbox Live and Netflix Instant Queue (30 Rock, Office, Lost). This is blowing my mind.
Now I have to get used to that whole Facebook layout that people were complaining about so much. I have to log in to webpages. I have multiple applications running concurrently. Like I said, mind blown.
All these Youtube videos.
So many blogs to read.
A plethora of bike pictures on Flickr.
I’m freaking out guys!

Maybe it’s a little late, but me and Kanye just wanted to say Happy thanksgiving.

My good friend, Zura, had the pleasure of interviewing Val recently. They talk about his writing(both songs and fiction), his upcoming controversial film and favorite authors. Here’s an excerpt:

Many may recall him from his various TV appearances in hit shows such as Ugly Betty, 30 Rock, Cashmere Mafia, and Hope and Faith. But each of those shows gave him the limited role of “love interest” of the protagonist, not giving him the opportunity to fully demonstrate his acting range. Fighting Fish, an indie film directed by Annette Apitz that centres around Emmich’s character and that of Anna Moore’s who plays his sister in the film, and their very strange and at times creepily claustrophobic relationship. The challenging new role will be a step up from his usual acting gigs, that will allow the public to take notice of his acting than to merely gaze at his cute rocker intellectual looks, something that his limited roles in the past rendered to.

Read more at ValEmmichFans.com.

Over the last couple of weeks, I have been reading lots of books (magic & non-magic) and watched lots of DVDs. Inspiration and creative stimuli is essential in a period where I’m planning, designing and developing projects.

I enjoy listening to audio commentaries of TV shows and movies as they give a lot of writing, producing and directing background insight. Many apparantly indiscrimminate things are actually written or designed with intention and purpose which gives depth and texture to the show.

Gosh, in the last couple of weeks, I’ve watched 30 Rock Season 3, The Mentalist Season 1, How I Met Your Mother Season 4 (I love this show), Transformers 2, Twlight and a whole bunch of magic DVDs.

Some time I also watched a movie called “The Great Buck Howard” starring John Malkovich and Colin Hanks. It is a story about a stage mentalist past his prime. Great for magic geeks!

I designed a new version of a classic illusion invented by Chuck Jones, called the “Mis-made Girl”. I’ve redesigned the look of the illusion and part of the method to create a fresh twist to it called “Multi-Divide”. I’m not sure if we will build this for ourselves but it will definitely be included in my next book (whenever that will come out).

I’ve also developed a brand new “Multiplying Bottles” routine that is a radical departure from the standard routines. It is completely different from the routine we currently do and performed in “Ultimate Magic” for 13 months.

The plot and premise is completely different from anything done before and is a breakthrough in presentation plot and part method. It requires a custom table which has already been fabricated. You can see this routine at “Sexy Magic/ Urban Illusions” in Jan 2010. I will be releasing an ebook on this routine and my previous routine as well as other ideas. The main motivation to release the ebook so soon is really to protect the ownership of this presentational plot.

Look out for it!

Menig avond probeer ik met Comedy Central op tv in slaap te vallen. Dat lukt het beste met de volgende shows.

5. 30 Rock
Twee woorden: Tracy Morgan. Nog twee: Alec Baldwin. Laatste dan: zap.

4. Californication
David Duchovny speelt zichzelf. Big deal.

3. Entourage
Jaja, jullie zijn allemaal hartstikke rijk en cool. Maar hoe is dat boeiende tv?

2. Takeshi’s Castle
Als ik dit soort shows wil zien dan emigreer ik wel naar Japan, ok? En kan het een keer afgelopen zijn met die irritante herhalingen.

1. Frasier
Die dokter Frasier Crane toch. Altijd maar verwikkeld in uit het leven gegrepen hachelijke situaties. En uit het leven gegrepen staat er hier vooral voor dat je het plot zelf ook wel had kunnen bedenken, gewoon door een willekeurige dag uit je leven te verscripten. Laat me niet lachen. Letterlijk. En waarom iedere aflevering weer een nieuw liefje? En altijd zo overduidelijk out of his league. Totaal ongeloofwaardig.

It's not Thanksgiving without a big plate of Wonder Bread!

Ah, yes…tomorrow is the really big day….the family gathers together at a beautifully decorated table (oh my, where did you get those big pine cones?) with the house smelling deliciously like roasted turkey and dressing. The children are well-behaved(and well-dressed…no tee shirts) and appreciative of your efforts(“This is delicious Mom“), no one is tipsy…or mouthy…or late…no one say, “I usually put marshmallows on top of my sweet potatoes.” I’ve never actually attended the above feast, mind you, and maybe it exists only in movies or in my mind.

Truth is, tomorrow is a work day for many people…police officers, firemen(or women), doctors and nurses, and yes…news people have to work. So that already puts a little kink in the quest for perfection. In the perfect Thanksgiving no one ever says, “Will you shake a leg on the pie  honey, I’ve got to get to the hospital/police station/BGE/newsroom!”…whatever.

But even though yours truly will put in some hours at work, I’m all good with it. Tomorrow morning I will enjoy the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade, and begin what for me, is the arduous process of transforming butter, flour salt and ice water into pastry dough…where are you Optimus Prime? The one think I’ve been asked to make for the dinner I’m attending, is apple pie. And against my better judgement, I’m doing it from scratch this year. No Pillsbury-already-flatttened pie dough(how do they get it so round? that’s one of my big problems..asymmetrical pie dough), no canned apples-yech-it will be done by my very own hands, though I’m pretty certain….no, make that 100%… Stone Mill Bakery can make a better one.

I did buy an extra dessert, a banana cream pie from Atwater’s…I know, I know, nothing about banana cream pie screams Thanksgiving, but I think it’s nice option for those who might like something different from pumpkin or apple. At least I know that pie will be delicious.

After I make my apple creation, I may try to catch up on Mad Men episodes…as someone was describing the finale this morning, I realized I never saw it! Oh, Don Draper…you never disappoint. There’s a guy who truly does “live in the bubble”.(Ever see that 30 Rock? Hilarious…)

We’ll head over for dinner about 5…eat some fabulous food, talk, relax a little, and then I’ll head on to TV Hill to do the 11 PM news. And be thankful for a good job…and for someone who graciously feeds me Thanksgiving dinner…and for a warm home…all that stuff. While Thanksgiving won’t be perfect, it never is really, and that’s ok too. It’s Thanksgiving! Try to have a lovely day, no matter what it’s like…do something nice for yourself…let a couple of irritating things a family member says to you just  ROOOOOLL off. And smile. And if you have some leftover good karma…send it the way of my pastry dough.

We are currently en route to Philadelphia, baby! Our good friends moved there in August and we decided to check in on them for Thanksgiving. Big cities can be a corrupting influence, and we just want to make sure that they haven’t made any new friends. If they have gone against our express wishes to remain faithful, then we plan to obtain the contact information of these new “friends” through trickery and bamboozlery, if necessary. What we do with this information is currently up in the air.

It takes twelve hours, give or take, to drive to Philadelphia from Bloomington. Last night we got in bed at 7, watched some 30 Rock episodes, and tried to get to sleep early. After about 6 hours of sleep for me and 4 for DH (it’s not much of a breach of tradition for me to fall asleep at 9pm, but it took DH some time and some Benadryl to get tired), we both lay in bed at 2:45am wide awake. We talked about just getting up and getting on the road, and I made what I’m sure was some very important observation, when DH cut me off to chide me on my morning breath. “You have the worst morning breath I have ever smelled,” he said matter-of-factly between various retchings and gaggings. “Although,” he continued, “I did rub a dead animal in your face last night. That’s the only thing that could explain the smell. I think the animal must have been dead for several days.” I made some witty retort along the lines of, “YOU’RE the one with the bad breath,” and then we called it even and got up to brush our teeth.

La televisión es una de mis grandes aficiones. Puedo pasar horas enteras viendo mis series preferidas, como lo he hecho durante un par de vacaciones viendo TODOS, literalmente, los capítulos de las desaparecidas Friends y Will and Grace. Ese tiempo es también la excusa para buscar nuevas que me llamen la atención y dedicarme a verlas y pensarlas y reírme y reírme más y pasar bueno.

De las series, la que últimamente es la número uno es 30 ROCK. Esto por varias razones: antes me gustaba mucho Desperate Housewives, pero me estresa tanto misterio, un poco incoherente y rebuscado, además desde que todo el mundo creció y en la serie adelantaron muchos años, es más aburrida que nunca. Ahora la vuelvo a ver, después de dejar de ver toda una temporada y entiendo toda la historia sin problema, a pesar de la cantidad de personajes que agregan casi diariamente.

La otra, Grey’s Anatomy, aunque debería llamarse “la indecisión de Grey” que me cansó por la tercera temporada, cuando todo el lío con el que actuaba de Burke. Los personajes nuevos llegaron sin carácter, no transmitían nada, no provocaban ni odio ni amor, la trama era como la misma, repetida, pero al revés. Es decir: igual.

Pero 30 Rock no me ha defraudado todavía. Me encanta su sarcasmo constante, su ironía y risas frente a la misma cultura norteamericana y la explotación de los clichés que me hacen reir hasta no parar, por minutos seguidos. Tina Fey es una mujer brillante y esos guiones son geniales. Puedo ver un capítulo una y otra vez y siempre encuentro nuevas cosas que me gustan.

Otra es la The new adventures of old Christine, que también me saca carcajadas por todos los malos chistes, el egocentrismo de Christine (que creo que vivimos todos) y en general su forma de vida, tan incoherente, fruto del estilo moderno en el que nos encontramos.

Así que de ahora en adelante también dedicaré espacio para esta pasión tan mía de la televisión que nunca le he dado el lugar que se merece en mis escritos. Será porque siempre he querido hablar con la misma euforia de la televisión colombiana, pero siempre ha sido un fiasco, incluso intentarlo.

Our latest member of the Viking Fellowship is an old friend.   I have known and played with Cap since I first started playing MMOs back in 2001.  Back then he was Cappy the Ogre Warrior of Norrath and he later became Capron the Barbarian Shaman.  Huge change in Lord of the Rings Online he is playing a Hobbit Burglar.  Capron started playing with us just a few weeks ago but is already level 44.  He is a MMO pro.  I am overjoyed that Cap has joined us.  He is an excellent player but also he is the life of the party.  Cappy is the funniest player MMO Viking has ever played with.  Smart comedy like 30 Rock not dumb comedy like 2 and a half men.  Cappy used to play Everquest in the back of his classes on his laptop which Beo and Nin thought was awesome.  I also love the fact he chose a Hobbit Burglar.  The fellowship really can use a burglar well for all the conjunctions, specially due to the fact Red seems to always be low on power.  Red will say this is due to the fact he is using all his warden skills possible and getting every inch out of it.  I think Red needs to drink more power potions!   And we needed a Hobbit.  This is Lord of the Rings dammit, sequel to The Hobbit.  This time the hobbit isn’t hired by Gandalf and 13 dwarves to burgle but by Redranth and 2 dwarves!  My favorite races in lotro in order are dwarves, hobbits, female elves, female humans, male humans, male elves.  I don’t know why people play an MMO to play a human that seems boring.  There might be a third dwarf, another old friend added to the mix if he ends up enjoying lotro.  MMO Viking hopes so.  You can never have too many dwarves!

So, in the past couple weeks, there have been a few “top tv shows of the decade” lists released. The most notable lists include The Hollywood Reporter, Paste Magazine, and The A.V. Club. Basically, here’s how the lists top tens shake down:

Hollywood Reporter:           Paste:                                                A.V. Club:

10. Modern Family              10. Mad Men                          10. The Shield

9. Lost                                9. Buffy the Vampire Slayer     9. Deadwood

8. 24                                  8. Battlestar Galactica             8. Lost

7. 30 Rock                            7. Lost                                  7. The Office (U.K.)

6. Mad Men                         6. The Sopranos                     6. Breaking Bad

5. Damages                          5. The Office (U.K. and U.S.)  5. Mad Men

4. The Shield                        4. The Daily Show                 4. Freaks and Geeks

3. Curb Your Enthusiasm    3. The West Wing                   3. Arrested Development

2. The West Wing                2. The Wire                              2. The Sopranos

1. The Sopranos                   1. Arrested Development         1. The Wire

As always, I’m gonna have to side with the ol’ AV Club on this one. Even more than I like their list, though, I hate the Hollywood Reporter’s. No Wire? No Arrested? No Breaking Bad? Modern Family after half a season? Pretty rough. So this got me thinking, and even though I haven’t seen as many shows as these critics (my most notable unwatched items are probably Mad Men and The West Wing), I threw together my list:

10. Lost: ABC

Guilty pleasure doesn’t even begin to describe how I feel about Lost. The writers cheat, trick you, and jerk you around, but damn it’s fun to watch.

9. 30 Rock: NBC

The show wasn’t really on my radar for a while, until I started seeing episodes after watching The Office. Now I’m lucky to cast the end of Jim and Pam’s happy adventures before turning into NBC’s funniest show since Seinfeld.

8. Curb Your Enthusiasm: HBO

Just saw the end of the most recent season. It was pretty funny, but still a bit disappointing after last season’s ending. Having said that, seasons 3 and 6 were about as funny as TV gets.

7. South Park: Comedy Central

This show was always funny, and at times downright brilliant for so many years. It’s a shame that Parker seems to be phoning it in over the past two or three seasons.

6. It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia: FX

All the aforementioned lists love Damages and The Shield, but I’ve picked another FX show. Two years ago, Sunny would have been in the top 3, but a couple of lackluster seasons have lowered it in my eyes.

5. The Sopranos: HBO

The show was groundbreaking and provided some truly great drama, but I still have a lot of bad things to say about this “masterpiece.” It is certainly the best acting and cinematography I have ever seen on the tube, but the writing miffed me at times, and the ending was terrible in my eyes (not specifically the infamous final scene, but the entire second leg of the final season).

4. Frisky Dingo: Cartoon Network

Stop the Presses! What?!? Most of you have probably never heard of the short-lived, serialized superhero spoof from Adult Swim, but find someone who has, and they’ll probably quote your ear off.

3. Breaking Bad: AMC

While the rest of the world watches Mad Men, I’m eagerly awaiting the next sneak peek of BB. Bryan Cranston’s acting is more than deserving of his two Emmys, and the character arcs over two seasons have left fans drooling for more.

2. Arrested Development: Fox

What more is there to say? This was the funniest, most clever comedy I have ever seen. I’m still finding jokes I’ve never noticed on fourth and fifth viewings. AD was the perfect combo of subtle humor and slapstick. It was brilliantly written, acted, directed, and damn near everything else (marketing comes to mind as a flaw). Quite frankly, this is the show that made me realize TV could be as funny as the movies…

1. The Wire: HBO

… still, I didn’t have much faith in dramas. Then I saw the Wire.

Nuff said.

I’m fucking obsessed with this. What’s not to love? Puppets? Fucks my shit up. Queen? Freddie Mercury was from Zanzibar, thus awesome.

Hence, I love the Muppets. And Sesame Street, which will be the only TV show my children will be allowed to watch until they’re old enough to understand 30 Rock.

Having never watched a single episode of the Mary Tyler Moore Show previously (I ended up watching way too much of it subsequently), I was really struck by its similarities to 30 Rock.  While we briefly mentioned that Tina Fey was indeed influenced by the MTMS, it was shocking to see the extent of that influence, which can be best seen through “Toulouse-Lautrec is My Favorite Artist” and the characters’ roles within their prospective shows.

First, let’s examine the similarities between Mary and her long lost stepsister, Liz Lemon.  Both Mary and Liz are in their 30s working on a television program, a job they both seem to have a love/hate relationship with.  The characters also encounter difficulties in dating, which can be seen through Liz’s relationship with Dennis Duffy and Mary’s with the doctor, and they both seem to have amicable relationships with their sarcastic supervisors.

Additionally there are many parallels between Ted Baxter and Tracy Jordan.  Tracy comes onto the Girlie Show in order to use his big, celebrity name to improve ratings; however, his slapstick and improvisation-based humor is problematic in many instances particularly when Tracy refuses to read his cue cards.  Similarly Baxter too has difficulty reading his cue cards providing many problems for those working on the show.  Finally Rhoda Morgenstern and Pete Hornberger serve as the Jewish sidekick/best friend role providing islands of sanity in their prospective seas of craziness.

As mentioned previous, there are some instances of overlap, such as Tracy pretending not to know how to read his cue cards, but in 30 Rock’s “Senor Macho Solo,” Tina Fey seems to be tipping her hat directly to the Mary Tyler Moore Show’s episode “Toulouse-Lautrec is My Favorite Artist.”  In “Senor Macho Solo,” Liz’s biological clock is ticking, and as a result, she gives a little boy on the street a pat on the head.  Of course, this isn’t a little boy, but a midget that Liz Lemon ends up dating.  However, her anxieties about saying something inappropriate in front of him take over, and Liz asks her co-workers questions like, “What if I say something stupid, like ‘Order a tall coffee,’ or talk about my Nintendo Wii?”  While Mary is merely dating a short guy opposed to a legal midget, she too worries about saying insulting things to Eric, and then makes her anxiety apparent by actually saying them out loud.  For example, Mary declares that Toulouse-Lautrec, an artist that suffered from dwarfism, is her favorite artist, she introduces him to Rhoda as Eric Shrimp, and declares that Eric is “short” when he accidentally misses a shot thrown at the garbage can.

Clearly there are many similarities between the MTMS and 30 Rock, for the characters and certain episodic occurrences are extremely similar.  Like great art, great television also tends to be influenced by the works that preceded it.  Just as Manet, Degas, and classical Japanese woodprints influenced Toulouse-Lautrec, Tina Fey was deeply influenced by the works of the Mary Tyler Moore Show.  However, due to stigmas against television people tend to see tradition and influence in this medium as “knock offs” and mild forms of plagerism.

All weekend, I was a wreck. I was feverously prepping for my interview with Alyssa, the head of the Page Program, that took place this morning.  What if she didn’t like me, what if I didnt make a good impression… the what if’s were plaguing my all night long, hence the coffee addiction haze that I am in while writing this current post.

Leaving my desk at Studio 7E at 945 for the 14th floor, I made my way down to the west bank elevators and went up… here goes nothing.

Entering the studio, I saw a room full of pages, working diligantly at their desks, frazzled yet.. empowered. They were doing what so many young people like myself would kill for the opportunity to do. Oh how I want to be frazzled!

Turning the corner, I immediately meet Alyssa, who greets me with a warm smile. I realize then and there that I was nervous for nothing! After having a long conversation with here about her experience with the program, the ins and outs of what will be expected, and where the interview process will go from here, I know this is what I want.

“Alyssa… may I be honest with you?”

“Of course,” she says, with a slight bit of hesitation.

“I know this is what I want to do. I know that NBC is it, where I belong, and I know that I want to be a page.”

It may have been a bit blunt for the first meeting, but I could not contain the words in my mouth. It was the truth.

“Great”, she said, to my suprise and delight. “I’ll definitely be putting your name at the top of the list for the next round of interviews.”

Leaving her office, for this first time in my young career, I felt a feeling that I have never felt before. Confidence. While my other interviews I had left always feeling uneasy, I had a very good feeling about this one.  I have a very strong feeling that becoming a page is my path…. and I’m definitely going to take it!

Com o feriado se aproximando nos EUA, diversos programas de esporte na TV a cabo e com as principais emissoras começando a reprisar sua programação devido ao fim do ano, a maioria dos shows exibidos na quinta tiveram queda. Somada toda a programação, a noite teve uma queda de 4% em relação a semana anterior. Ah, claro que a CBS ganhou a noite.

A emissora ficou em primeiro lugar com as exibições de ‘Survivor’ (12.3 milhões e 3.7 pontos) em queda de 5%, ‘CSI’ (15 milhões e 3.5 pontos) em queda de 15% e ‘The Mentalist’ (15.8 milhões e 3.7 pontos) que subiu 1% em um episódio mitológico relacionado ao Red John. Foi a segunda maior audiência da série nesta temporada.

A ABC exibiu ‘FlashForward’ (8 milhões e 2.4 pontos) em queda de 8% – menor audiência da série até aqui, ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ (14 milhões e bons 5.0 pontos na demo) caindo 11%, ‘Private Practice’ (9 milhões e 3.1 pontos) caindo péssimos 21% atingindo sua menor audiência na temporada.

A NBC e a Fox empataram no terceiro lugar. A primeira exibiu ‘Community’ (5.1 milhões e 2.0 pontos), ‘Parks & Recreation’ (4.6 milhões e 2.0 pontos), ‘The Office’ (7.4 milhões e 3.7 pontos – caindo 12%), ‘30 Rock’ (5.9 milhões e 2.9 pontos) estável e ‘The Jay Leno Show’ (4.8 milhões e 1.4 ponto) também estável.

A Fox exibiu ‘Bones’ (9.8 milhões e 2.7 pontos) em queda de 7% e ‘Fringe’ (5.9 milhões e 2.0 pontos) em queda perigosa de 15%.

A CW ficou em último com a exibição de ‘Vampire Diaries’ (3.7 milhões e 1.7 ponto) em queda de 11%. ‘Supernatural’ fez 1.3 ponto na demo qualificada e atingiu 2.6 milhões de pessoas.

A  single woman’s biggest worry would be choking to death alone in her apartment. Right Lemon?