Fav Scene of the Week 17th - 23rd Jan

This is a bit late then usual due to technical issues. My favourite scene of last week was from How I Met Your Mother. It was pretty hard for me to whittle it down to a scene from the episode called 'Jenkins'. There were so many funny moments to pick from.

I checked out of the premise of how Ted met the mother of his kids a couple of series ago but what has kept me going as been Barney, Robin, Lily and Marshall. Most of the time, they steal the show (especially Barney) and Ted, at times, becomes a side thought.

The scene I eventually chose was Jenkins apologising to Marshall for kissing him but him being more concerned that Lily knows the kiss actually happened and then what happens when she does. I love Lily's reaction as its not the soft and peaceful Lily that we're used to.

Letterman weighs in on NBC/Leno/Conan

The NBC Leno/Conan situation has definitely been the kind of drama that some shows dream of writing.

Having taken scripted content off 10pm for Leno, the network will now be looking for things to fill the spot now Leno is being moved to 11:35pm. David Letterman offers his own idea of a drama that can fill the now vacated timeslot.

The World to Stop Turning

Though I thought the day would come soon, I never thought that the announcement of another soap being cancelled would be this year. As The World Turns has been cancelled by CBS, who broadcast Guiding Light for the last time in September. I've only ever watched a couple of episodes of this so I won't comment on that, but soaps are definitely becoming an endangered TV species.

Originally starting in 1956, the show will air for the last time on CBS in September 2010. This will leave CBS with two soaps and six across all networks. I thought that this announcement would come next year, so it didn't surprise me. What did surprise was the timing of the announcement.

Unfortunately money talks and this will leave many without a job. Soaps are an expensive business and it's been a well documented issue regarding contract negotiations and pay-cuts, amongst the actors. Networks want cheap programmes and this leans towards things like quiz shows.

I guess the next question is, what will be next. I don't think it will be another CBS show just yet. My money is on One Life To Live, though I think All My Children will give it a run for its money.

I Think We Have An Emergency

What can be said about the three new hospital dramas that debuted this fall? Mercy, Three Rivers and Trauma have aired to less than impressive ratings and less than favoured reviews. There was a big gap left in NBC’s schedule after ER ended; it was a mainstay in the schedule for 15 seasons. It puzzled me that NBC went for both Trauma and Mercy but hey, I’m no network exec.

I’ve watched all three of these dramas and in the case of Mercy and Trauma; I’ve already stopped watching them. With Mercy, I lasted 3 episodes and 5 minutes of episode 4. My problem with this show was that I just didn’t care. I didn’t care that one of them had issues since returning from war. I couldn’t sympathise with her or understand her to any extent. I found Michelle Trachtenberg’s character a bore and more annoying than her character in Buffy and I never thought that could ever be possible. I couldn’t find a character to route for and the storylines were boring. The show has been picked up for a full season.

What can I say about Trauma? A quote from my mother sums it up “Trauma is traumatic to watch.” The last episode I watched had someone being electrocuted, another guy’s arm cut off and a guy falling on something that went straight through his body. The show seems to be intent on finding ways to try and gross people out. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t get grossed out easily, I’ve seen four of the Saw films and will watch the latest. I don’t mind watching things like this on film, but I don’t want to see this week in and week out. It wouldn’t be such a bad problem if there was a storyline, some character development, anything to keep people interested. it seems like a mini-movie with no plot and just an aim to see how much they can spend on effects.

News came this week that NBC was to air 13 episodes but it was as good as cancelled. Someone mentioned that it would at least give it time to wrap up storylines, what storylines?

This then moves me on to Three Rivers, which I'm still watching. This is a very slow paced show and even with a storyline about a bus crash, it's still failed to ignite anything in this show. For a couple of episodes, ratings for this show haven’t been helped by extended football games but that is no excuse. The slow paced drama has one thing over the over two - three actors with a fan base. Alex O'Loughlin, Alfre Woodard and Katherine Moennig are probably keeping some viewers watching despite the show itself. In some ways, that's probably part of the reason I'm still watching it. All three of them have been part of shows that I've watched (Moonlight, Desperate Housewives and Young Americans). I feel like I'm waiting for something to happen, I'm just not sure what it is yet.

I have yet to hear of anyone with the opinion that they think Three Rivers or Trauma will get a second season. I'm not looking for an ER replacement, as I stopped watching it for the last few seasons that were aired. I just think that with medical dramas, there should be a good balance between the medicine, the characters, the story within the episode and the story within the season. I don't want a snooze fest either, just a well-written drama.

Fav Scene of The Week - Oct 18th 09

One of my possible choices was Miranda Bailey's crossover from Grey's Anatomy to Private Practice. Her first scene reminded my why she is one of my favourite characters.

Instead I picked a scene with Sheldon and Raj from The Big Bang Theory. It could be seen as childish but this has me laughing every time I see it.



I do have to make a special mention to a scene from Modern Family regarding a certain song, In the Moonlight. This song has been in my head since seeing the episode and I've even purchased it off iTunes. I've included the scene from the show and an extended version of the song.

My Cancellation Predictions

"It lacks cohesion." A quote from the season opener of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. This is something that can be said of many shows on TV and is often thrown at new shows in particular.

I've watched most of the new shows that have been aired so far. I've taken a look at the ratings for their debut and in some cases, their second outing. I'm going to loosely predict what shows I think will be cancelled as well as predict some more established shows. The first one on my list was going to be The Beautiful Life but the plug was already pulled before I got the chance to write this.

Lets get one thing straight, though I'm predicting the following, it doesn't mean I necessarily dislike the shows that I've picked, as there are a couple that I like but still think they will be canned.

Ugly Betty - Now this hasn't even been shown yet and that is one of the points of why I feel it will be cancelled. This week ABC announced that Betty's season opener air date has changed. It was moved to Friday which is the least watched week day (I'm looking at it in terms of the highest viewed show per day). CBS so far has that night in the bag with Medium, Ghost Whisperer and Numbers. The viewers were already dwindling before this move.

Hank and The Middle - They're just not as good as ABC's other two new comedies Cougar Town and Modern Family. That and the ratings are reason enough.

Trauma/Mercy - I can't really choose between the two but I think one of them will go. My personal opinion is Mercy but Trauma had the worst debut. Not sure why NBC went for two new shows about the emergency services.

Cold Case - I like this show but there were rumours that this was up for the chop with Without A Trace and it was an either or decision. With CBS cutting costs in both primetime and daytime, I see this as one to go.

Dollhouse - Another show that I like but not enough people are watching this. It also doesn't help when SyFy's Stargate Universe and encores of shows already shown in the week get better rating numbers.

Smallville - I haven't watched this since the first season but like Ugly Betty, it has been moved to Friday. I don't see why it couldn't have been moved into The Beautiful Life's vacated spot instead of a Melrose Place rerun. These are the reasons I have this down plus the length of time it's had on air.

I've had to put the following in a separate section as if they were on any other network, I think these shows would be canned but as NBC's figures as a whole haven't been as good as CBS or ABC this week (in some cases Fox either) then it's hard to tell what they would actually get rid of.

Heroes - I really don't think I should have to explain this one as those that no longer watch it know why. It should have been cancelled last season but they persisted and gave it another go. The characters have become annoying, they've killed off some interesting and popular characters, it's lacked direction and decent story-telling and people are abandoning it fast, including many of my family and friends.

Parks and Recreation - I really like this show but it's the worst performer out of NBC's Thursday comedies.

The following ones I'm debating and could go either way depending on how they do further down the line. I won't go into my reasons, in some cases, you just have to watch them to know.

Eastwick
The Forgotten
Accidently On Purpose
Brothers
Till Death
Melrose Place
Castle

The last one I am mentioning is just what I think should end.
One Tree Hill - I think it should have ended last season as I think it was time and ended on a good note, which I mentioned in a previous post. Now it feels like they are just dragging things out. If you have to have Dan Scott married to Rachel Gatina and another Nathan may or may have cheated storyline, then you need to end it.

Obviously Lost isn't included in any of the lists, as we all know that it will be airing it's last season. I think it was good that they announced a couple of seasons ago the timeline for the show.

We shall see what shows are still on when I do this again, after the mid season shows have aired.

The Light Has Gone Out

The longest running scripted show in broadcast history aired it's last episode on Friday 18th September 2009. It's hard to think that something has lasted for the amount of time that this show has clocked up. 72 years, which includes its birth on radio.

Let's start with CBS pimping out their new daytime schedule without Guiding Light straight after airing As The World Turns. I found it in poor taste to do it before the final nail was even on the casket.
They didn't even show a full set of credits, seeing as it was the last broadcast. To fully list those that worked on the show would have been great.

Lots of people have commented on it was great that certain characters got to have their happy ending but I'm going to comment a couple of things that really got to me. Did there have to be so many weddings in such a short space of time?

Though I think Remy and Christina are cute, but why did they have to waste precious time with them having to get married for the third (fourth, I've lost count) time in less than a year. This time could could have been used to develop/finish other story lines. With scenes being short they seriously didn't need to add in this extra element to the couple. They should have just had them announce their pregnancy to Mel and be done. It perplexed me even more when having read the preview of an episode from CBS' site that there was to be a Doris and Olivia scene, I tuned in to see that the scene wasn't even aired.

Another point was why did everything seem so rushed in the last couple of weeks. The cancellation news came on April 1st and according to an interview with Jordan Clarke (Billy Lewis) they were told in May that there was a 1% chance of the show being picked up by another network and filming ended in August. I'm not a maths genius but there was a little bit of time to sort some stories out properly. This then moves to my next point.

What the hell was with the Jeffrey and Edmund storyline and are they still playing a game of cat and mouse in the one year jump. What was the point of this storyline again other than to keep Jeffrey away from Reva and Dinah away from Shayne. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a Jeffrey or Reva fan but I did liked Dinah and Shayne. Plus didn't the scene with Shayne and Marina in the jump scream awkward.

The next thing I'm only gonna touch on briefly, the non Otalia kiss. Yes they should have kissed when everybody else was doing it but this is the thing that bugged me even more. Olivia was allowed to give Doris and Reva a platonic kiss on the cheek but two scenes of Olivia kissing Natalia on the cheek were cut. CBS and P&G have allowed Luke and Noah to kiss on As The World Turns (apparently there was a kissing ban but I won't comment on as I don't know the facts). So why wasn't Otalia allowed - something doesn't quite add up.

I don't know the full Guiding Light history or even past the last few years but it would have been great to see some of the historic characters coming back a little earlier and have more than a couple of minutes on the canvass.

I'm not normally a fan of soaps but this year I became a fan of this show. There was something different about this over the other US soaps that are currently airing. Maybe because it felt more like the soaps produced in the UK or maybe it was the build up of certain story lines and characters (loved Bill, Lizzie and Phillip). It was definitely a sad day for this historic soap and I felt it was fitting for the scene involving Reva and Josh did feature a lighthouse in the background.

So long and farewell. It's a good thing some episodes are online to relive.

The End of The Light

I just wanted to make a quick mention to the news that Guiding Light hasn't managed to find a new home and will definitely come to its broadcasting end on September 18th. It's hard to think of anything lasting over 70 years but this show has. I haven't grown up with it like other viewers have but over the past few months, this show has come to be a huge part of my television viewing.

I will never learn the full history of the show and some of that history is making appearances as the show counts down to its last broadcast.

People have complained about the "production model" which seems alien to me as I'm used to this way being prominent in British soaps. It gives it the realism that you can't get in a studio. Sometimes the outside can be a distraction, like flying aeroplanes but sometimes filming outside can help produce and enhance beautiful scenes.

I didn't get the chance to see the transition that the show had to make but having seen a couple months worth of episodes from 2005, I can say that I prefer how its being shot now.

Over the past couple of weeks, there have been a couple of things have made me wonder about where they were going with things like Who killed Edmund or whoever that body is and how does one kill with a baby stroller.

Saying that some story lines have shown the talents of people that I was never aware of until now - Kim Zimmer, Crystal Chappell, Jeff Branson, Robert Newman, Gina Tognoni, Jessica Leccia and Grant Aleksander. The only person that I knew of before watching Guiding Light was Daniel Cosgrove from his time on Beverly Hills 90210 and the film Van Wilder. What I do know is that I shall remember them and they might even make me watch other soaps, if they, like Crystal Chappell find another soap to work on.

A Daytime Emmy Performance for 2010

I'm not going to go too much into anything about the Daytime Emmy's as I'm no expert on it and this year will be the first time I shall have any interest in it. I do however want to talk about one nominee and that's EJ Bonilla. I have not seen that much of his work so I can't comment on his nomination for this year but I do want to throw him into the hat for a nomination for next year.

I would also throw in Crystal Chappell and Jessica Leccia for nominations too (not sure why they aren't this year though the former made the prenoms).

The whole Otalia storyline has brought out some brilliant performances but Bonilla's performance on Monday 15th recently had me enthralled. The way he played Rafe's reaction, to finding out his mother is in a relationship with a woman, stole this episode for me.



I'm sure his reaction is true to life and one of many ways the writers could have taken it. It's a real truth to what many people face everyday and Bonilla did a fine job in this episode, bringing that to light.

Keeping The Light

I am recent fan of Guiding Light. The first time I saw anything about it was when I walked past my mother watching a clip on YouTube regarding the Ava/Bill/Remy and baby Max story. I didn't really think about it much until a few months later I came across two interest clips, also on YouTube. One was Buzz and Alan fighting, leading up to them both having a heart attack and the other was the famous "Two Mommies" presentation. Both had me in complete stitches and I knew I had to watch more and I have been hooked every since.

Like every other network and lets be frank, most businesses, CBS has made some cuts and shows like Without A Trace and Guiding Light have been axed. There is no comparison to Guiding Light as its been broadcast for decades, but having watched both British and American soaps, whether once or for years, Guiding Light is the only one I'm watching and I'm excited to watch. In fact it has me more excited then some of the dramas or comedies out there.




I never realised how many people that I like or watch on things today have passed through GL, including the legend that is Joan Collins.

I will continue to watch it up till its run ends on CBS on Friday 18th September and I shall keep following if it gets picked up by another network; hoping they make it more accessible to international followers.