November 2000
Grandpa's TV Notes
On The Tube
First things first: Fox is pissing me off again! I live on the
East Coast(the better of the two coasts) and I love Futurama. But
Fox allows the Sunday Football carryover to interrupt the show and
make me miss it all together. This is crap! It is bad enough that
the show is put in a bad time slot next to a terribly and unfunny
cartoon (unfunny cartoons are the worst cartoons) King of the Hill.
Why does Fox not push Futurama to another night, in place of (screw)Titus,
maybe? I reaffirm my belief in the blatant attempt by Fox television
to insult Futurama whenever it can. I am going to be sick.
***
The story of the O.J. Simpson trial was great. Not for the acting,
which was tedious (maybe the characters are tedious, they are lawyers,
after all,) but for the interruption on the last night of the mini-series.
According to a research assistant, the local CBS station interrupted
the show for an Election2000 news update. As a life-long New York
Knicks fan, I took note of the irony and smiled.
***
The Simpson’s Halloween Special was terrific! Hands down one
of the best in the series. The gore and the blood was very necessary,
and quite amusing. The Halloween Special set the table for a great
season premiere. So far the Simpsons look like the first half of
the funniest hour on TV this season.
***
Malcolm in the Middle completes the second half of the hour. This
is a terrific show that keeps on giving to its new fans. Like The
Sopranos did for dramas, Malcolm took the sitcom world by storm.
Last season’s success raised the bar significantly, but the
season premiere gave no indication of a change. I am beginning to
look forward to Sundays again.
***
MTV’s Jackass is the funniest show in the world! Damn! The
midget in his undies still cracks me up! Damn!
***
MTV also unveiled Cribs recently. I like the show not so much
for who is showing off their house to the world, but for the decadence.
Many of these people are spending money in large quantities for
the first time. Some spend their money well, and live in style,
while some seem to be on the border between tacky and boring. Master
P’s house looked sweet, while the goatee guy from The Backstreet
Boys bored me half to death. Granted, Master P has much more money,
but you don’t need money to have style (Note: Ozzy also has
a great place.)
The one creepy aspect of the show comes to mind for me when I
switch the channel to VH1 for an episode of Behind the Music. Many
of these rich superstars will one day be in the gutter selling their
last self portrait for grain alcohol and cocaine. MTV and VH1 could
share this footage (easily) and make Behind the Music that much
more interesting twenty years from now.
***
Fox took a shot at a making a Wall Street based TV show this season
with the premiere of The Street. They failed. Or, rather, Wall Street
failed. The Street has all the makings of a good daytime soap mixed
with the simplistic sexual depravity of Melrose Place. Sure, the
show was kind of interesting, but the climax of the show was based
around the success of an IPO. It’s success was inevitable,
of course, but unexplained. At least in shows about hospitals and
courts, the writers try to pretend they understand medicine or law.
The Street just let the IPO succeed without any lingo or jargon.
As a casual observer of the Dow, I felt left out of the fun. If
I understood the risk taken by the main guy, even if it was bull,
I would have been happier. The Street could develop a following
if it sticks to the personalities. Don’t give up all hope just
yet.
***
I am not going to comment on the damn election coverage by the
big three. (OK, you twisted my arm) They should leave the lies and
the half truths to on-line gossip sites.
***
Let’s give a big shout out to The O’Reilly Factor. Mr.
Factor is #1 on the NYTimes best seller list, and the beat Larry
King in the month October. To top it all off, he did a great interview
with Charlie Rose. Mr. Factor is the man.
Also, in the wake of the apparent election, Mr. Factor kept his
cool and stood strong while every other person in television just
kept on spinning.
I knew O’Reilly was the only name to trust in news, and once
again he did not let the people down.
***
Also, the people of Fox’News’ kept me happy for another
month with Fox and Friends. I have said month after month that this
is the best show on morning TV. Their morning after Election2000
coverage was superb. While they do tend to be a bit too right from
center, their on screen camaraderie makes it better than all others.
***
Top Five Shows to watch:
1. Mr. Factor
2. Fox and Friends
3. The Simpsons
4. Malcolm in the Middle
5. That 70’s Show (I have not spoken about this show lately,
but it is always funny and should be watched often.)
Fox again sweeps the top five because they are better than the rest.
