I was flipping through the channels yesterday afternoon, when I came upon a rerun of My Wife and Kids on ABC Family. Instead of continuing to flip the channels, I stopped. It had been quite a while since I sat down and watched the Damon Wayans sitcom, but they were doing a special episode in the Bahamas, and I do love me a good TV stunt. I was only about five minutes in when I recalled something that I had forgotten: this show is actually pretty funny.

My Wife and Kids certainly isn’t the edgiest series that has ever been on television, nor does the writing set the world on fire. What it is, is a solid family sitcom — and what’s wrong with that? As much as I love it, not everything needs to be Arrested Development. Part of what made My Wife and Kids great is that even though the day-to-day situations were slap-stick and ridiculous, the characters were grounded in the real world.

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CliqueClack’s recent poll about our Wednesday night television preferences got me to thinking about the variety we’re offered on other nights of the week. Inevitably, my mind wandered to NBC’s Thursday night lineup. As much as that night has declined in quality, I still find myself recording almost the entire three hour block (Kath & Kim is just too much of a dip.) And I found myself considering all of the great shows that we’ve lost in the past few years.

So, I went back to the beginning of my life: 1981, taking a look at what Thursday night on NBC has offered us over these past twenty-eight years (or twenty-four years and four twenty-fourth year anniversaries, as I celebrate the day of my birth now.) And the first thing that came to mind? Wow. NBC has given us some amazing fare, from the dramatic to the comedic, with stops all along the scale. A lot of classics have been offered, and I wondered what the perfect lineup might look like. If I had my pick, what gem could I assign to each 30-minute slot to create the perfect evening of television? Read the rest of this entry »

Dog the Bounty Hunter is a rough gem. Over the holidays, I saw Dog the Bounty Hunter on On the Record with Greta Van Susteren. Wow, that guy looks like nine miles of bad road, doesn’t he? But it was sweet how he called Greta “ma’am” and was so polite and gentlemanly. Despite his rough looks and questionable past, Dog really seems to have a good heart, and Lord knows he’s got the bounty biz down pat. Things were going great until the interview was over and he signed off from Hawaii with “Obama Country!” That seemed a little awkward for Greta. Anyway, check out Dog the Bounty Hunter on A&E. It’s rough fun.

Those slippery floors on The Biggest Loser made me crazy. We faithfully watched The Biggest Loser this season, and loved seeing everyone get healthy and change their lives for the better. But the season finale made us grip our chairs with suspense. Not because we wanted to see who’d win — we pretty much knew Michelle had it in the bag — but because of those slippery floors on the stage.  Every time a female contestant emerged in her fancy dress and high heels, she was in dire peril of skating across the floor and landing on her nicely-toned butt. Thank goodness Bob Harper was there to help the ladies across the floor. Next time, think about sticking some of those non-skid grippers to the bottom of your shoes, girls. After all that work, you don’t want to end up in the hospital with a broken rib or something. Read the rest of this entry »

This may seem like piling-on after yesterday’s brilliant Grinch/Zucker ditty by CliqueClack’s own Richard Keller, but what the hell happened to NBC? The once imposing network — home to such television icons as the Cartwrights and Johnny Carson — has plummeted into a chasm of mediocrity. A perennial ratings powerhouse during the ’80s and ’90s, the 21^st century has seen NBC flounder like week-old sea bass at the bottom of the Nielsen Media Research barrel.

Allow me a moment’s diversion: Has anyone ever met a man, woman or child who belonged to the elusive “Nielsen Family?” I’m aware these chosen few are sworn to secrecy — under threat of execution by firing squad — never to divulge their Nielsen status, but I smell an American Idol-sized rat. I am convinced this so-called Nielsen is actually an introverted genius with Coke-bottle-thick glasses and severe hyperhidrosis, who works out of a windowless room feeding advanced algorithms into a holographic supercomputer. But that’s just my warped opinion. I could be wrong.

Anyway, among the big four networks, NBC consistently places third or fourth in the weekly ratings race. Is this a prolonged slump or has the peacock lost its broadcasting mojo?

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