Archives For TV Shows

10 New Pilots Headed For A Crash Landing

Davis Freeberg —  September 23, 2007 — 12 Comments

marketing-shift-logo.pngIt’s not very politically correct, but I’ve always been fascinated by dead pools. I’ve never actually participated in one, but there is something about wagering on life and death that appeals to the degenerate gambler in me.Since I’m pretty sure that participating in a dead pool is illegal in San Francisco, I suppose that I will have to live with the next best thing, dead TV pools. Marketing Shift is putting on a contest where they are asking readers to try and pick ten of the new shows, that you think will be off the air by the end of the fall season.

The winner of the contest will be the first person to have all ten of their picks canceled. The winner will receive a little bit of link love from MarketingShift.com, but the loser ends up with an internship at Cat World the CW ;)

If you want to see a list of all the candidates for the pool, you’ll find it on Marketing Shift’s website, but here are my picks for their first annual TV dead pool contest: Continue Reading…

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Free Fall Season Online Premieres Reviewed

Davis Freeberg —  September 19, 2007 — 13 Comments

It was a long and boring summer for television this year, but with the fall TV schedule just around the corner, I’m starting to get excited about some of the new shows that are popping up. At the start of the summer, I thought that I would have lots of exciting new shows to check out, but with the exception of Burn Notice (which is freaking awesome), this summer’s crop of new shows was a major let down for me. Too much reality TV and not enough compelling fresh content.

Normally, the start of the Fall TV schedule is a pretty busy time for me. If I don’t catch a show from the very beginning, there is a good chance that I’ll never tune in, so I try to catch as many of the pilots as possible. I won’t end up subscribing to all the shows, but I like to check all of the new ones out, so that I can figure out which ones deserve a season pass. This year, this task got a little bit easier because a couple of the studios have been making some of their pilots available early.

Last week, NBC released free pilot downloads on Amazon’s Unbox service, for 4 of their upcoming shows. Not to be outdone, CBS decided to release an episode of the Big Bang Theory early. Over the weekend I checked out all five of the early releases and had some mixed reviews on the new shows.
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Web-Only “Quarterlife” to Debut November 11th

Mari Silbey —  September 17, 2007 — 4 Comments

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This is what I’ve been waiting for. Something good to watch on the Web. Seriously, with the amount of bad television churned out by the networks these days, I’m all for having a few professionals take the plunge to produce for an online-only audience. Last week, MySpace announced that producers Ed Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz (Thirty Something and My So-Called Life) will debut Quarterlife on its site on November 11th. The show will not be seen on regular networks, only online.

While I don’t know if Quarterlife will live up to my TV-watching criteria (it doesn’t have Timothy Busfield after all), I’m extremely happy that professional producers are willing to give Internet-only distribution a try. Zwick and Herskovitz are almost sure to lose money, but they have a chance to convert some key TV-watchers to the Web and make the platform viable for other producers in the future. I could care less about watching TV online per se, but I’d do almost anything for good content, and it’s clear that producing quality TV for the networks is getting harder and harder.

Continue Reading…

In TV Shows, Video
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More Mall-time Fun

Dave Zatz —  September 15, 2007 — Leave a comment

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We hit the mall today to run a few errands (and fondle the Nano “fatty” again) and ran across a Wii kiosk with 6 stations. They’ve been here (Montgomery Mall) about a week as part of a nationwide 25 mall tour. I got some hands on time with the new Metroid… Let me tell you this requires some serious hand-eye coordination (and maybe Dramamine). If I had tweens or teens in the house, this is a game I’d want them to play. (As opposed to anything on Xbox Live, which would be banned – more on that later.) We also noticed CW banners and window stickers all over the place, most advertising Gossip Girl.

In Advertising, Gaming, TV Shows
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I Saw Bionic Woman (and I’m not impressed)

Dave Zatz —  September 15, 2007 — 11 Comments

In case you haven’t heard, Amazon Unbox is offering free downloads of various NBC fall premieres. Being a TiVo owner, I opted to watch Bionic Woman on television (versus PC or portable) and as the title indicates, I wasn’t overjoyed. Perhaps a two hour premiere or two-parter would have served the plot better – things seemed rushed and definitely progressed too quickly to be believable. I also felt like I was stuck in a Battlestar Gallatica reunion show – I know where to find Starbuck and Galen if I really want to see them. Maybe I’m just spoiled – can any show live up to the excitement and mystery provided by the first episode of Lost?

I’m not sure this is what NBC had in mind, but I thank them and Amazon for allowing me to save space on my DVR by killing the Bionic Woman Season Pass before it starts. Next up tonight: Chuck & Quantum Leap Journeyman.

In TiVo, TV Shows
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