Ah, it's good to be back... because of several scheduling snafus (eliminating any free time I had), The T Dog Media Blog was unexpectedly put on hiatus last week. But we're back -and better - and snarkier - than ever before. Let's celebrate by reaching into the Grab Bag...
- A word about this article in TV Week regarding reality's dominance - um, I hate to break it to you, but reality TV has always been with us. Gasp! Really? Yes, it's been around since Candid Camera debuted all the way back in 1947. Before American Idol, there was Star Search. And before Dancing with the Stars, there was Dance Fever. Before The Bachelor, there was Love Connection, The Dating Game, and Studs (remember the uproar over that show?)
And don't forget, the term Reality TV was used to describe late '80's fare such as Cops, America's Most Wanted, Inside Edition, and salacious daytime talk shows like Geraldo.
So anyone who thinks this is a hot new phenomenon - please... you haven't been here long enough.
- Jimmy Fallon's new late-night talk show got to a good start in the ratings two weeks ago, but the reviews have been meh-like. Fallon's been criticized for unfunny monologues and lackluster interviewing skills.
Yours truly watched the first episode and ... wow. A PSA for Blonde Moms. Lick stuff for $10. That's A-list roll-out-of chair funny stuff. Yeah.
Fallon seems likable and someone you'd want to root for, but he's trying too hard. He needs to loosen up more on camera and take some risks. How's this for an idea as an opening sketch? Have sex with Meg Griffin and later get pummeled by her father, Peter Griffin. The audience would eat that up! Hey, wait a minute...
In other words, get up to speed Fallon, or you might get replaced by... Byron Allen.
- Litton Entertainment has cleared WCIU-TV for R&B star Brian McKnight's new one-hour syndicated variety series for next fall. Litton have been getting inquiries from several My Network TV affiliates, since the network - I'm sorry, I mean "programming service" - is giving Saturday prime-time back to them.
Litton hopes this effort is better than The Tom Joyner Show, a similar program featuring the legendary radio personality which the syndicator had success in launching (as in getting the project on the air), but flopped with viewers in 2005.
Litton has also cleared WPIX-TV in New York and the CW Plus group for McKnight. In a related note, NBC Universal will handle ad sales for all Litton first-run syndicated programming, including McKnight's show and Storm Stories.
- Good Grief, a Star Wars TV series? Casting began this week for a new Star Wars TV series, which focuses on minor characters and whose timeline takes place between Revenge of the Sith and the original Star Wars.
Let's hope this turns out better than the joke that's The Clone Wars.
- The Parents Television Council is after Family Guy again... this time over the episode titled "Family Gay". Does anybody care what this group say anymore? (Check out yours truly's take in the comments section in the linked article - if you can manage to read it. One word of advice - don't format on their forum.)
Oh man. Just talking about the PTC riles my blood up. I sure could use a distraction right now... Ladies and Gentlemen... Mr. Conway Twitty.
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