"Humiliation TV" is all the Rage!

I saw a story on the CBS Evening News that caught my attention. They said that more people watch American Idol than the viewership of the State of the Union address on ABC, CBS and NBC combined. Isn't that a sad commentary on our society? I'm not a fan of our boneheaded, corrupt, war mongering leader, but nevertheless, caring about the direction of our country should be more important than finding out who will be the next Ruben Studdard. Everywhere you look there are shows where people humiliate themselves in exchange for their 15 minutes of fame. People are exploited on shows like American Idol, with its many tone deaf contestants who are under the delusion that they will be the next Kelly Clarkson or Carrie Underwood. Some shows like Celebrity Fit Club or The Biggest Loser exploit the overweight. And then you have shows which take has-been, washed-up "celebrities" and they put them in wacky situations to entertain the public. Just look at Armed and Famous, Flavor of Love and The Surreal Life. Don't forget the self destructing celebrities on shows like Breaking Bonaduce or Shooting Sizemore. The worse they act, the more people watch.

St. Elsewhere and Other Happenings in the World of Entertainment

One of the best shows ever, St. Elsewhere, is now available on DVD. The show aired from 1982 to 1988 and featured fascinating characters and insightful storylines. It was nominated for 60 Emmy awards, winning 13. The show took place at a Boston hospital called St Eligius. The public called it St. Elsewhere since it was a facility that received no respect and was always in the shadow of the rival hospital, Boston General. Patients would rather be taken elsewhere. The show was a big break for actors like Howie Mandel, Denzel Washington, Mark Harmon, Ed Begley, Jr. and William Daniels. The voice of KITT, the car on Knight Rider with David Hasselhoff, was voiced by Daniels, who played the cranky surgeon with a severe Napoleon complex. I always enjoyed the senior staff of the hospital, including Dr. Craig , Dr. Westphall and Dr. Auschlander. The program was distributed by MTM, Mary Tyler Moore's company. One of the producers was Bruce Paltrow, the late father of Gwyneth.

A woman has died from water intoxication after participating in a water drinking contest on a Sacramento radio station. She was trying to win a Nintendo Wii video game console for her son. Ten employees were fired and homicide detectives have been investigating. Manslaughter charges may be filed. One of the sidekicks on the show brought up the dangers of drinking too much water, but they proceeded with the contest anyway. The thing that's creepy is that this type of contest takes place at stations all the time. I heard clips of the show on Opie and Anthony's show on XM. O&A had said they have done similar stunts in the past. Around Christmas they did an egg nog drinking contest. Ron and Fez, also on XM, did a show featuring an eating contest many years ago when they were in Florida. Vince (Don Vito) Margera, from the TV show Viva La Bam, was in the eating contest and ended up in a hospital in a coma.

The Today Show will add a 4th hour starting in September. Matt Lauer and Merideth Viera will not be involved. The 3rd hour is hosted by Al Roker and Ann Curry but it is unknown at this time whether or not they will host the additional hour. The CBS Evening News is still in 3rd place with former Today host Katie Couric at the helm. She has admitted that the job is more challenging than she had anticipated. One has to wonder if she regrets leaving Today.

Just when everyone thought that the main broadcast networks were floundering due to all of the competition from cable, DVDs and internet sites like You Tube, American Idol premieres its new season with monster ratings. 37.3 million people watched the show on Tuesday, which was 5% higher than last year's first episode. Expect to see many A.I. clones on other networks. Paula Abdul recently appeared on a Seattle TV news program appearing under the influence of alcohol, drugs, or both. She blames it on technical difficulties, but supposedly she takes lots of pain killers due to previous injuries. Idol judge Randy Jackson is producing a new CD with Travis Tritt, for Category 5 records. It is scheduled for release this summer.

*Some material from msn.com and imdb.com.

Happy Feet's Dismal Message

I went to see the movie Happy Feet over the Thanksgiving weekend. Some may say that the animated films are just for kids, but I like a lot of them. Some memorable ones I have enjoyed include Toy Story 1 and 2, Monsters Inc. and Lilo and Stitch. After enjoying March of the Penguins 2 summers ago I decided to check out an animated film about the Emperor penguins of Antarctica. What I expected was a harmless, fun, light-hearted movie for kids. The first half of Happy Feet was decent, as decent as you can make a movie revolving around a dancing penguin. But then the writers had to inject their political agenda. If you are planning on seeing this movie and do not want to know any spoilers, quit reading here. The main character, Mumbles, ends up in a zoo and the movie shows how bleak life is for animals who are in captivity. Then it tells how over fishing in Antarctica is making it hard for the penguins to have adequate food supply to survive. This was supposed to be a fun, mindless kid's movie. I halfway expected Al Gore to appear on screen and talk about his gloom and doom global warming scenario. If someone wants to make a political documentary about the evils of zoos and the fishing industry, then do it and label it as such. But don't disguise your political agenda as a kid's flick. The fish supply for penguins may indeed be a big problem, I don't know. But Happy Feet was not the correct forum to discuss it. On the topic of zoos, animals might be happier in the wild, but zoos do a lot to help animals too and certain species would probably be extinct if it was not for the zoos breeding them and keeping them away from predators they would face in the wild. Humans do some things to hurt the environment, but we also help it in certain ways too.

No More Sitcoms

Have you noticed how few good situation comedies are left on TV? It has always been my favorite type of show, but these days the new sitcoms don't seem to be funny like they used to be. According to Entertainment Weekly magazine, the last 35 years have seen a wide swing from few sitcoms on broadcast TV to many, and back to few of them currently. The 1970-71 season saw 6 sitcoms in the top 30. By 1990-91, there were a plethora of successful sitcoms with 20 in the top 30. The 2005-06 season saw only 2 sitcoms in the top 30, both on CBS. 2 and 1/2 Men and The New Adventure of Old Christine are the only current sitcom success stories. I enjoy NBC's My Name is Earl, The Simpsons on Fox, and HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm, but other than those, these are hard times for a fan of comedies.

I miss shows like Family Ties, All in the Family, The Jeffersons and The Cosby Show. Some sitcoms like Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley and The Wonder Years focused on a nostalgic, simpler time. There was a time when it seemed like every stand up comedian got a shot at a sitcom. Some examples were Roseanne, Seinfeld, The Drew Carey show and Home Improvement. Some actors were lucky enough to be in 2 different hit sitcoms. Ted Danson had success with Cheers and Becker, and Tony Danza had Taxi and Who's the Boss. Kelsey Grammer played Frazier Crane in 2 different shows spanning almost 20 years. Bob Newhart played a Chicago psychologist in the Bob Newhart Show and a Vermont innkeeper in Newhart.

Hopefully sitcoms will make a comeback. I for one am tired of all the reality shows and the CSI shows and their endless amount of clones.

Pee Wee's Playhouse is Back!

We haven't seen much of Paul Reubens a.k.a. Pee Wee Herman since his incident in an adult movie theatre in the early 1990s. 20 years ago in 1986 his innovative children's program Pee Wee's Playhouse premiered on CBS Saturday mornings. The show is now airing on Cartoon Network during their Adult Swim lineup. I always got a kick out of the show and I think Pee Wee is a unique, comical alter ego for Reubens. The show had a 5 year run and won 22 Emmy awards. The wacky theme song was performed by Cyndi Lauper and it was written by Mark Mothersbaugh from Devo. Laurence Fishburne played a character named Cowboy Curtis and Phil Hartman played Captain Carl. Reubens and Hartman had worked together at the L.A. improv group The Groundlings, the equivalent of Chicago's Second City. Pee Wee shared his playhouse with many odd characters, like Jambi the genie, Globey the globe and Conky the robot. Conky would give Pee Wee the day's secret word. Whenever anyone uttered the word, everyone would scream. Reubens made 2 films featuring Pee Wee, including Pee Wee's Big Adventure and Big Top Pee Wee. His 3rd film is now in the works.