Media Maven’s State of the Media Address: The First Month

Hey all, hope you had a terrific weekend. As we get into this 5th week of the 2007-2008 tv season, I thought it would be a good time to take stock of where we are in the world of entertainment. We’ve got all the fall movie releases underway, a full month of television in the can, and new albums dropping all the time. Consider this my State of the Media address. You may stand up and applaud me as often as you’d like.

Film:

Where my films at? From the front to back, and is you feelin that? Well, I for one am not feelin that. What was the last great movie you saw? If you’re like me, you’re having a tough time trying to answer that question, for the last several weeks have seen an enormous drought of high quality commercial films. Sure, some smaller movies like Michael Clayton or Lars and the Real Girl have been getting some buzz and nice critical feedback, but we all know those movies aren’t really that good on the 110 year timeline of cinema history. The big commercial releases? The Game Plan, starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, was #1 at the box office for two straight weeks (not only strongly solidifying the commercial viability of the “handsome tough guy with little children” movie, but also officially marking The Rock as the WWE’s first truely commercial crossover star– an incredible feat), Ben Stiller/Farrelly Brothers bust The Heartbreak Kid, limp Rese Witherspoon/Jake Gylenhaal offering Rendition, and other lame drama/thriller offerings. The box office has been down for 5 straight weeks, with this weekend’s number one film, 30 Days of Night (a horror movie I’m guessing most of you have not even heard of), earning only $16 million bucks to claim the top spot.

So what is going on here? Why are we facing such a dearth of good movies? Well, as I see it, there is one crucial factor– studios are now releasing their big tentpoles flicks in 3 specific annual bunches– Winter Holidays (late Nov-Dec), Summer (May-early August), and oddly enough, late February/early March (a territory established firmly with this year’s surprise smash hit 300). If a movie is released in January, April, September or October, chances are it sucks. Obviously, this is not a hard and fast rule, but think about it– 27 of the top 30 films of 2006 were released in the 8 prime movie months, and so far this year, the numbers are following the same pattern. Why is the early Fall a dumping ground for crappy movies? It’s too late to be a summer blockbuster and not late enough to be prime Oscar-season cinema. So unless schools start pushing their new semesters into October, you can expect that autumn is going to be a terrible time to go to the movies for years to come.

Music:

Aside from the choose-your-own-price release of Radiohead’s newest offering, In Rainbows, there ain’t too much great happening in the world of music these days. Hip hop from the likes of Chris Brown, Kanye, etc. and of course, the ubiquitous Soulja Boy, are currently dominating the mainstream music world. I don’t know if you’ve looked around lately, but I’ll let you in on a secret– popular music sucks. No ifs, ands or buts about it. The mainstream pop music of today is about as mindless and unoriginal as music has ever been. Every song sounds the same, no one is innovating, and worst of all, casual music fans just don’t seem to care. Nevermind that Brittney Spears is as terrible a singer as she is a mother– if she has a new single, it’s going to sell, as her latest track “Gimmie More” obviously has.

If you want good music, you need to turn off your television, turn off your pop radio, and turn on your computer. The future of music rests in the microchips and metal that make up the machine from which you now read. With the accessibility of home recording equipment and software, such as Pro Tools or Logic, and the ease with which artists can upload music and build a fan base through music blogs and communities like MySpace, everyone and his mother can be a musician. This development has both positive and negative effects. On the negative side, like the amateur directors and comedians who drop their videos on YouTube, there’s a reason most of these musicians had to record their music in their garage or on the tiniest of record labels– because they are absolutely terrible. Also, how can the few truly talented acts reach a meaningful level of success if there are 10,000,000 other artists you can listen to with just a click of your mouse?

But on the flip side, the exponential growth in small record labels and artists has left our current soundscape flush with talent acts of all kinds. Whether its one of the artists I’ve talked about in my music posts over the last year, or a newly discovered favorite (mine is newly released Population, the third album from Canadian group The Most Serene Republic), there are musical gems hiding everywhere. Trying to break into this whole indie scene, but aren’t sure where to start? Try subscribing to the KEXP Song of the Day or KCRW Today’s Top Tune podcast on I-tunes. While not every track is a winner, you’re sure to uncover some terrific artists you never would’ve been exposed to otherwise. At the very least, you’ll be getting more compelling music than “Crank That.”

Television:

Whereas a year ago, I was raving about a new golden age for television, recently, the tube has lost much of its luster. Of all the new shows that debuted this past month, there isn’t a single one I’m excited about. Worse, nearly every returning show that I watch is having its worst season yet. For the sake of clarity, I’ve divided up every show that I watch religiously into four tiers of quality: Great, Good, OK, and Not So Good (if a show is bad, like say House, it won’t even be on this list because I don’t watch anything that is consistently bad.) Drum roll please!

Not So Good — Heroes, 30 Rock, Bionic Woman, Prison Break

My criteria for this category was simple — have I been frustrated by the past few episodes? Did I feel unsatisfied or cheated? Could I pick out distinct problems in execution or writing that have led the show down a disappointing path? For the above four shows, the answer to each questions is yes. Prison Break was so dull, I quit watching after episode 3, and I was a big fan of seasons 1 and 2. Hot off an Emmy win for best comedy and looking to boost viewship, how was 30 Rock responded? By throwing their formula for success out the window and focusing each episode on stunt casting. Fighting between Liz Lemon and Tracy’s wife Angie? Jack has a weird cookie jar collection? These things are supposed to be funny? Granted, Tracy Jordan’s “Werewolf Bar Mitzvah” was one of the funniest gags ever, but there hasn’t been much else on that level. Guest stars do NOT equal funny. And don’t get me started on Heroes. As my last 4 Heroes posts have argued, this show is walking a very, very thin line between asking us to be patient and asking us to eat a barrel of horse shit every week. If Veronica Mars herself can’t jumpstart this puppy tonight, I don’t know that I can continue to watch. Bionic Woman, for all its potential, has not delivered in a big enough way. Other than the awesomeness that is Starbuck, the show isn’t really compelling on any other level. Put it this way– as interested as I am to see if the show can improve, I wouldn’t care if I never saw another episode again. You can tell a lot about a show from 4 straight episodes, especially at the beginning of a season– these shows need to start delivering the goods now or face The Shit List, or even worse, Unofficial Cancellation.

OK — Pushing Daisies, Journeyman, Chuck, Reaper, Californication, Weeds, Damages

All of the above shows are good programs, but they aren’t good enough to make me wait on the edge of my seat until the next episode. Other than Weeds, these are all new shows, and its never auspicious when my interest in a new show is dwindling after only a month.  Californication is about as good as its ever going to be.  The acting is very good and the writing is usually quite sharp– but the premise of the show just isn’t that engaging.  How much mileage can they get out of this one guy’s life as a writer?  He’s either going to get the girl or not, and then what?  There’s just no overall arc that pulls me in.  Same goes for Reaper and Chuck, a.k.a Chuck and Reaper.  Both shows are entertaining (not to mention interchangable), but I could care less if I missed an episode.  I know I wouldn’t fall behind since there’s no real serialized arc to follow, and each episode is pretty much the same as the next.  Until last week, I felt this way about Journeyman, but the recent addition of some strange time-travel doctor has me intrigued and excited about the direction of the show.  So it has the potential to ascend to the Good tier, but it has not done so as of yet.  I accidentally forgot to Tivo last week’s Pushing Daisies.  Oops.  Just goes to show why this show is only OK– if I really loved it, I would have a) Season Pass’d it already (I’m still reticent to commit) and b) caught the missed episode online, which I did not do.  It’s just not compelling enough– I don’t care enough to catch every minute because I feel no emotional connection to the show whatsoever.  Damages has been a pretty good trial (pardon the pun) and error season, with some moments of boredom mixed with some of high suspense and intrigue.  Let’s see if tomorrow night’s finale can elevate the overall season, as a good finale should.  As for Weeds, as I mentioned last week, this has been the worst season yet.  I don’t think I’ll ever stop watching because I love the characters so much and because seasons 1 and 2 were both so good.  But this show needs to get its act together if it wants to finish out the season on top.

The Good: My Name is Earl, The Office

It’s a short list, but a fair one.  The Office has never been my favorite show, but despite the backlash at the month of hourlong episodes, I find myself liking this show more than ever before.  Say what you will, but I laugh more during The Office than any other program.  Last week’s bit about “whoever” vs. “whomever” was absolute genius.  Genius.  Also, they’ve cut back on Michael being over-the-top ridiculous (aside from the whole driving into a lake thing), as the centerpiece of every episode.  His behavior has been more reasonable (for Michael Scott, that is), and it’s helped me to like his character more.  Unfortunately, the show has been too hit or miss for me to really love it.  While certain moments are just hysterical, others are dull and unfunny.  I’d like to blame this on the episode length– when Scrubs returns to the Thursday night lineup this week, I’m guessing we’re going to get a fantastic 30 minute episode of The Office as well.

My Name Is Earl, on the other hand, is one of the most consistent shows on television.  While its funniest moments can’t match those of our pals at Dunder-Mifflin, it doesn’t have any of those bad jokes/boring storylines that can sometimes plague the Scranton branch.  Earl is all about middle ground — never laugh so hard you cry hilarious, but always funny and, most importantly, always trying new things.  It’s extremely rare to see tv series execute paradigm shifts from season to season, and I can’t say I’ve ever seen it done on a comedy before– but Earl has managed to completely shake up the reality of the show by throwing Earl in jail and just letting that play out.  It adds a whole new element to the show, and for that reason alone, this show deserves to be on this tier.

The Great: Friday Night Lights, Dexter, South Park, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia

My criteria for this level was simplest of all: these are the only 4 shows on television that I would never allow myself to miss under any circumstance.   This past week, South Park began part 1 of a 3 episode arc entitled “Kyle Sucks Cartman’s Balls: The Trilogy.”  Need I say more?  For whatever reason, FX has been running back-to-back new episodes of Sunny every Thursday night.  I don’t know if they’re trying to burn through them to get a new show on earlier or what, but I just thank my lucky stars that I get a double dose of this absurd comedy every week.  It’s the closest in tone to the god of all comedies, Arrested Development, and it is this over-the-top absurdity that makes the show so outstanding.  If you haven’t started watching this yet, get your ass in gear and Season Pass that ish.

I don’t care if it stumbled out of the gate: last week’s episode proved that Friday Night Lights is back to its former glory (well, as soon as Coach Taylor gets his job back, it will be!).  This show is so damn captivating, I find myself shaking my head in amazement while watching.  The acting is so frickin good, and last week’s episode was extremely tense and dramatic without being the least bit trite or over-the-top.  If you don’t watch this show, it will get canceled.  It’s the only show on network television that I consider great– shouldn’t that tell you something?  And Dexter.  How could this show be any better?  The transition from last season to this one has been seamless; where some shows have difficulty finding their focus once an enormous narrative hurdle has been resolved (Heroes anyone?), Dexter has segued flawlessly into its new chapter.  The characters have grown and changed from last season, but in a meaningful and organic way.  New characters have been introduced, but they’ve been slowly and naturally eased in, rather than forced down our throats.  For my money, Dexter is currently the best show on television.  HBO, eat your heart out.

Well, I hope you didn’t expend too much energy with all that standing up and applauding, but I would love to hear some feedback from you all.  Do you agree?  Disagree?

Enjoy Chuck/Heroes/Journeyman/Weeds/Californication tonight!  I know I will (at least I hope I will!)