You know spies — bunch of bitchy little girls. And this week in the ratings post, our favorite spies were beaten by some little girls. It was very close though, if that makes the shot to the ego a little easier to take for Sam and Michael. Those two were the headlines for what was a big week on cable. Also clocking in with records were True Blood, Warehouse 13, Kendra, Nurse Jackie, and Tori & Dean. Back on the networks, there weren’t really a lot of records to be had. Reality continued to rule with good outings from America’s Got Talent, Hell’s Kitchen, and So You Think You Can Dance. Read the rest of this entry »

That didn’t take long. When Conan debuted on the Tonight Show, his premiere soundly defeated Letterman. Of course, as expected, the curiosity of the premiere wore off immediately, and the numbers began to drop. Things really got interesting last week as we started seeing the first signs that the late night war is back on. In week 2 for Conan, Letterman actually managed to win a couple nights in the overnight household ratings. NBC is quick to point out that Conan is still tops in the younger demos.

While that is true, it’s worth noting that the last time Letterman managed to top Leno in the overnights was some eight months ago. Considering that the late night shows operate on scales of years, it’s way too early to declare a winner. However, it all does serve to make the late night ratings race, one which Leno had pretty much owned for years, very interesting again. Elsewhere this week, more good news for cable, from The Closer, Burn Notice, and Royal Pains. Back on the networks, The Bachelorette and I’m A Celebrity squared off again, the dancing kids were winners for FOX, and even without Lebron, the NBA was very good to ABC. Read the rest of this entry »

Bravo

Readers of this space know that two of my great loves are TV and food. I’m sure the expectation is that I would love a show like Top Chef, Bravo’s reality cooking competition. The truth, however, is that I’ve never been able to get into the show. For me, Top Chef is much more a reality show than it is a cooking show, and I guess that’s the point. The challenges seemingly aren’t about cooking as much as they are about creating drama.

Now, I understand that TV shows need to create drama or they’re boring. However, I would point to the Food Network’s Iron Chef America and Next Food Network Star as two food competition shows that remain entertaining without creating faux drama.

On Top Chef, the producers always seem intent on creating a “villain” for the show. This individual tends to be the classic reality program jerk who is just out for him/herself and is intent on driving away the other contestants. I can’t stand this type of person. Why do we, as a society, laud these self serving, arrogant jerks by putting them on television? I don’t understand it, and I certainly don’t understand why people want to watch them, but I also understand not everything on TV is programmed for me.

Read the rest of this entry »