Bryan’s Ramblings

I hardly ever do this. However, maybe I’m growing a little. No, it doesn’t mean I’m going to go out and rent Titanic, but it does mean that I will probably continue watching Today on NBC in the mornings, at least semi-regularly like I’ve always done. Okay, so part of it is that it’s finally in HD, but unfortunately, the other part is that I liked Meredith Vieira on it…and damn it I wish I didn’t, because then I wouldn’t have to admit it. I mean she’s no Katie Couric, but it is her first day, and, I hate to say it, but she’s likable. I never could stand the The View. It made me insane watching those women yap about stuff. I also thought the daytime version of Millionaire that she hosted was second-class. However, removed from those rotten shows, she’s not so bad.

Let’s give the producers at NBC a little credit here. They knew this was a good opportunity to start filming in HD, and they also knew there would be nay sayers like me who would tune in during her debut anyway. For this they had the segment where they talk about her past and pull you in and get you to respect her and like her and all that. Not too stupid of them. Maybe that’s why they are producers for the Today show.

What does this all mean? It means that I might watch the news more with Katie Couric on at night and Today in the morning. Truth be told, I hate watching the news. It’s not because I don’t care what’s going on in the world around me, it’s just because I usually prefer a filtering system like the Internet or someone I know, so that I only get news on a need-to-know basis. I also generally care more about what movies are coming out and what new gadgets are coming out than what goes on in the Middle East or in Washington. I realize this is shallow and close-minded of me, but I’m a spoiled Southern California kid. What do you expect?

So if you had your doubts about Meredith, take it from me: she’s not so bad. This is all making me realize that the new season of television is here and maybe I shouldn’t just assume that all the new shows suck. They can’t all be as good as Arrested Development, though. I guess I’ll have to record more than I planned and see what sticks with me. Oh well.

Goodbye Summer! … Hello Fall!

There’s so much I could write about. The queue of topics in my head is pretty endless, despite the lack of posts recently. Unfortunately, I’ve decided to let loose about a topic I never thought I’d write about in this space. Yep, I’m talking about American Idol.

I’ve put my foot in my mouth many times before. I once claimed I would never own an Apple computer (my primary machine is now a Mac Mini). I used to discount rap as music and then ended up listening to it extensively, albeit during my college days. Most recently, I’ve ranted about the ridiculous world of reality television (even in this forum), and I have specifically denounced American Idol. I was able to successfully skirt the show even though my entire family is obsessed with it. However, thanks (or no thanks) to my lovely girlfriend, I got sucked in this year and ended up watching almost every episode this season. Worse, I followed the season. After allowing myself this horrific fate, I will make two points.

First, I will never watch/follow a season of American Idol again. My mom claims she says this every year and then watches anyway. I will truly make an effort to not slip on this promise. I just can’t stand the insanity. Regardless of what anyone might say, I contend that it is true, pure reality television – fully producer-manipulated and likely fixed to some degree. That’s easy to get away with and it’s even perfectly okay (see: Quiz Show). Plus, hey, it makes great television…but that doesn’t mean I have to watch it. It’s just such exploitation. I mean the fact that the Top 12 go on tour after the finale, and that the finale is basically one giant publicity stunt to promote that tour just makes me sick to think about, let alone actually have to watch. (Not to mention the performances were painfully bad.) So, no more Idol for me, no matter what you say.

Second, I am going to discuss this year’s results. (Ironic, isn’t it? Denounce it, then discuss it. I’m sorry, this season was an anomaly.) In my opinion, the winner is essentially irrelevant, given that their success or failure in the music industry is yet to be determined. In fact, it’s entirely possible that the “losers” will be more successful than the winner in the long term anyway. Also, who’s to say that America’s votes aren’t entirely meaningless and not just a ploy to keep the viewers involved? We could all vote and then the producers could just determine who to send off anyway. Either that, or they could rig the phone systems. If we can’t even get an accurate count for our presidential election (see: 2000), then why do we believe the guy that comes out during the finale and “validates” the results?

Putting that aside, though, it’s clear that Katharine was a better singer than Taylor, but Taylor was clearly a better performer than Katharine. Over time, Katharine will almost certainly improve her performance skills and Taylor will likely improve his singing (especially with the help of computers in recording studios). The important thing to note here is that none of this matters. Many could argue (see: my sister and my girlfriend) that Katharine had the better voice and thus should have won the competition. I must admit I was sort of rooting for Taylor the whole time because I thought he was entertaining. However, Katharine is a fabulous singer, and she is incredibly gorgeous (one of the most beautiful people I’ve ever seen), so I could not have been upset if she won. However, either one of these people, including any of the Top 12, could score a huge hit single or album. It’s a total crap shoot. The point is, my sister and girlfriend obviously see this as a singing contest instead of what it truly is: a popularity contest. (Not to mention that someone from the south always wins because the people in the south who have nothing better to do with their time all sit and vote for them.)

You can see why this show is not for me. I’m glad I’ve let all of these opinions out so I can finally put this godforsaken show to bed. Man, I miss Arrested Development.

What the fuck is going on with television these days? Has TV always sucked this much and I was just never old enough to understand? I mean, sure, “reality” (read: “non-scripted-but-producer-manipulated”) shows have taken over during the past few years, and we all know how mind-numbingly stupid every single one of them is. Yes, I do mean every single one. This includes The Apprentice, Survivor, and even American Idol. I’d say these stupid shows account for just over half of what’s on TV these days, particularly in prime time. However, these are not the only shows to blame for the demise of quality television. Formulaic crappy shows like Freddie, Stacked, Hope and Faith, According to Jim, and even “dramas” like The O.C., Everwood, and Las Vegas all get to stick around on our airwaves while quality programming like Arrested Development, Family Guy (for a short time) and Sports Night (from a little while ago) all get the axe. Look, I’m guilty of some of this too. One of my favorite shows is Law and Order, and it hasn’t exactly stayed very original lately. Everything on each of those L & O shows is totally formulaic and recycled. I watch Joey with some hope that it will maybe start to one day appear like the Friends I knew of old (or at least the first three or four seasons when Friends was really at the peak of greatness). However, I watch these because there really aren’t any other good shows on any more.

Unfortunately I know all too well why TV is like it is. It’s really easy to blame the networks, but it’s really not their fault. To me, it’s like blaming the gun companies for making guns or the tobacco companies for making cigarettes. You can’t fault the networks for producing shitty television. The networks are merely giving their consumers what they want. If enough people were smart enough to watch Arrested Development because they understand how clever and cool and comical it is, it WOULD NOT have gotten cancelled. If people stopped watching Freddie because they realized how unoriginal, unfunny, and unbelievably stupid is, it WOULD have gotten cancelled. Unfortunately, PEOPLE ARE STUPID. Even worse, people are getting stupider by the day because they continue to watch this shit on television.

Maybe TV really has always sucked. I mean I watch shows like Full House, Family Matters and Saved By The Bell now and wonder what the heck I liked about those shows. (Saved By The Bell is still a nostalgic guilty pleasure of mine however.) But it seems even with all the shit that was out there, the classic shows from my youth like The Wonder Years, The Cosby Show were such higher quality than anything that exists and can survive today. All the critically acclaimed shows of today like Lost and Desperate Housewives are mildly entertaining and may fall slightly above the rest of the pack. However, it seems like they hold no water when compared to some of the classic television shows of all time.

I’m all for mindless television at times. Stick that stuff on VH1 and MTV and FX and E!. There is nothing better than those stupid countdown shows like The Top 100 Pop Culture Icons or The 50 Cutest Child Stars or those dumb dating shows like Blind Date and Elimidate when you are looking for brainless TV at 11:00 at night. Just put them all on separate channels and put quality prime time programming on the major networks. Unfortunately this means that the networks would lose all advertising revenue to these separate channels because everyone would be watching them instead. So sad.

I’ve pondered cancelling my cable subscription so many times in the past month. What am I paying for 500 channels when at any given moment, MAYBE two of them have something worth watching on. If they do it is usually a Seinfeld re-run or another movie that I already own on DVD. I know a lot of people say “HBO has good stuff”, and I guess it does, but in this age of technology where you can download commercial-free shows from the Internet or buy them and put them on your iPod, why have cable? Just watch only what you want to watch when you want to watch it. It’s even better than this DVR mentality of “what you want, when you want”. It’s now “ONLY what you want, when you want, AND NEVER ANY OTHER CRAPPY SHOWS”.

Television sucks.