by bronwen November 12, 2009

Greatest Moments in Television History Ever, OK?

That this moment would be included in our prestigious canon is a fuckin’ given. Do not underestimate the cultural importance of when Dr. Kimberly Shaw RIPPED OFF HER WIG.

To refresh your memory, Melrose Place (old school) began rather slowly. Jane & Michael were married, Billy didn’t want to work in the family carpet store and Amy Locane was the OASW (Original Ashlee Simpson-Wentz), doomed to disappear before the back nine. As the fable goes, Heather Locklear joins the show and the action revs the hell up. The affairs and the catfights reach new heights and the show becomes a pop culture phenomenon.

On April 27, 1994, Fox aired the seminal Melrose Place episode “The Bitch Is Back.”  In this episode, Kimberly, played by Marcia Cross, returns to the titular apartment complex after faking dead and being buried. For a dead chick, she looks great. She’s way up on her high horse, swanning around the place and basically being the biggest badass ever. Then she takes to the bathroom and rips! off! her! wig! revealing a shaved head and a brain surgery scar. Squealing and cheering ensued nationwide.


by jaybushman November 11, 2009
“I hate when TV shows have couples argue for contrived reasons just because the writer wants tension, but when the Taylors get into it, it’s almost always over something real, and if they’re petty or stupid about it at first (Eric claiming the check was for dry cleaning), eventually they talk about it like grown-ups and we get a real resolution. I watch how these two are written, and played by Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton, and I constantly want to chain writers of other TV shows in front of an “FNL” marathon to say, “See this? This is how you can write a happy, mature couple and still keep it interesting.”
— What’s Alan Watching?: Friday Night Lights, “In the Skin of a Lion”: Open eyes, full slate, can’t sleep
by jaybushman November 11, 2009
“Boy, that Under Armour sure is a generous sporting goods company. I’m gonna start buying all my helmets from them”
— Bronwen, while watching Friday Night Lights, s4e03

Nielsen Massages Data to Bulwark Its Fading Relevance

by bronwen November 10, 2009

This chart provided by Nielsen to The Hollywood Reporter (and then charmingly hotlinked to by me) “proves” that household television viewing hours are on the rise.

Man, if we didn’t have Nielsen, I just don’t know how we’d know anything about the viewing habits of 25,000 very carefully selected Americans.

Via The Hollywood Reporter’s Live Feed.


Jason Segel Hair Terror Watch

by bronwen November 9, 2009

How I Met Your Mother, “The Rough Patch”

Longtime listeners to my ranting will know that I am continuously fascinated by Jason Segel’s hair formations on How I Met Your Mother. Segel appears to be blessed with naturally curly hair, but he seems to be unaware of how to take care of his hair. He tends to let it grow kind of long and unruly, and then uses way too much gel to smush it down. It mostly becomes a gloppy mess. Please see this classic example from Go Fug Yourself.

Sometime during production of the last few episodes, Segel got a haircut. So while his hair is still not being well managed, at least there is less of it.

On a scale of “Good Hair” to “Nick Nolte’s Mug Shot,” Segel’s hair in “The Rough Patch” weighs in at a mildly unpleasant “Comb That.”

Please note the poor hair continuity at work in this episode though. I captured this screen grab about one second after the previous image, Segel has not had time to fix his forelock and yet -


Exercise TV: The Shield

by jaybushman November 9, 2009

My building has a gym. That’s not new. I’ve ignored building gyms for years. But this is a gym with a difference. The treadmills have individual TVs. Again, not unique. But there’s one extra thing about these treadmill TVs - you can attach an iphone to them and route your own video to the screen. This is how I convince myself to exercise in the mornings.

A couple of months ago, Annalee Newitz convinced me to try Supernatural (or as I call it Band of Deans), and through Excercise TV, I was able to power through four seasons worth. Now that I’m caught up, I can turn my attention to another show that I never watched but have heard endless praise for: The Shield.

It just so happens that my sister has never seen The Shield either, and she has a similar cardio/TV regimen. So we’ve decided to watch the show in parallel.

Today I watched the pilot. Throughout it, I kept thinking:

1) damn, SD video sucks. How did we ever watch it
2) a lot of Homicide vets: Reed Diamond, Max Perlich, Clark Johnson behind the camera
3) Silverlake and Echo Park sure look gritty
4) it was okay, even if it felt a bit pilot-y.

Then they got to the end.

Oh crap, they shot Mike Kellerman in the face!

Fooled me - I was set for the arc of the season to be about his character infiltrating the unit. But it seems that Vic Mackey is a much harder fish to reel in. Color me intrigued.


by jaybushman November 9, 2009
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Support our new favorite start-up ad agency.


Peggy vs. Pete

by jaybushman November 9, 2009

Something that been on my mind for the last few episodes of Mad Men this season: what is the difference between Peggy’s need for validation and respect, and Pete’s need for the same?

In every article I’ve read and every discussion I’ve had, Peggy has been portrayed in a much more favorable light that Pete, and yet haven’t they each been asking for the same things? Is it because Pete visibly suffers (or whines) about it where Peggy is stoic? Is it that Pete, having grown up with more material advantage than Peggy, is less deserving of our sympathy?


Pilot Watch: We Do Not Want to See David Tennant Not Being Our Lawyer

by bronwen November 9, 2009

David Tennant has, of course, left his role as the fucking awesome Tenth Doctor on Doctor Who to move onto brighter pastures, avoid typecasting, and to “bow out when it’s still fun.” Ok, sure. He won’t actually find a better part, but whatevs, I’ll go with his logic.

No matter what, an NBC pilot is not a brighter pasture. It was announced last week that Tennant will play the titular role in Rex Is Not Your Lawyer. Per the Hollywood Reporter, the pilot focuses on “a top Chicago litigator who begins suffering panic attacks and takes up coaching clients to represent themselves in court.” Words fail me, because mostly what comes to mind is “Gag.” And yet, somehow David E. Kelley is not to blame.

The rant:

  1. NBC has basically abandoned drama: see giving away 10:00pm, see just not airing Southland, see limply promoting and second-windowing Friday Night Lights, the only good show on this network. I mean, really, you can see how much television I get through in a week and the only NBC show on this list currently airs on Direct TV.
  2. The premise of Rex Is Not Your Lawyer blows, as does this freaking long title.
  3. Avoiding typecasting? Playing a guy with panic attacks certainly won’t resemble any sort of stammering characters that Tennant’s done before.
  4. Filming 22 episodes in 8 months when you’re used to filming 13 in that time frame will not, in any way, be fun.

The best possible outcome here is that Tennant gets a nice payday, even NBC decides they don’t want to watch this crap, and no pickup occurs.


Mad Men S3 Finale

by jaybushman November 8, 2009

Previously on this Sunday, Bronwen quizzed me while I was on my way out the door as to what my predictions for tonight’s Mad Men finale would be. How’d I do? Find out after the spoiler-protective jump.

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