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The Week in DVR: Clint Eastwood Wants You Off His Lawn! Plus Ray Romano, Steve Martin, and Beyonce

Christopher Rosen — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 13:51:06 -0400

Monday: Men of a Certain Age
When it comes to original programming, TNT hasn't fared nearly as well as fellow cable netlet USA. That's because whereas the latter channel has succeeded by matching high concept fluffiness (Burn Notice, Royal Pains, White Collar) with up and coming actors (Jeffrey Donovan, Mark Feuerstein and Matthew Bomer), TNT relies on worn out genre templates and formerly big names. So we get shows like this summer's D.O.A. HawthoRNe with Jada Pinkett-Smith and the already-forgotten Dark Blue with Dylan McDermott. On the face of it, Men of a Certain Age fits in perfectly with the rest of that TNT aesthetic, but don't write it off just yet. Despite a tired premise (three middle-aged best friends navigating the waters of various relationship distress) and a cast that would have seemed A-list ten years ago (Ray Romano, Scott Bakula and Andre Braugher), Men of a Certain Age looks like it could be worth your while, if for no other reason that to watch the charm ooze out of its three veteran stars. [TNT, 10 p.m.]

Tuesday: Three Amigos
Our favorite comeback story of 2009? Try Chevy Chase. Having spent the last twenty years starring in projects with titles like The Karate Dog, Bad Meat and, well, not a whole lot else, the prickly star returned with a bang thanks to NBC. After a successful guest stint on Chuck, Mr. Chase has been knocking it out of the park on Community (are you still not watching that show?), where he has recaptured that perfect blend of snarky know-it-all and bemused dullard that made him famous. The bemused dullard is on full display in Three Amigos, where, among other things, Mr. Chase's Dusty Bottoms mistakenly kills the "invisible swordsman" out of sheer laziness. Fun fact: this is the only feature film that Lorne Michaels has a writing credit on! [HBO Comedy, 12:50 p.m.]

Wednesday: Gran Torino
With Clint Eastwood's yearly December offering hitting theaters on Friday (this time in the form of Invictus), it seems like the perfect time to revisit Gran Torino. Released last December, the film is a typical Eastwood directorial affair: economical, brisk, gruff and obvious. But what separates it out from his recent spate of awards-bait is that he's also the star. As a cross between Harry Callahan, Shane and Archie Bunker, Mr. Eastwood owns the screen to such a degree, that we're still kind of shocked he didn't get an Oscar nomination for his work. [Cinemax, 10 p.m.]

Thursday: Fringe
File this under: duh! Last Thursday's perfectly adequate episode of Fringe was the highest rated of the season... on a night when both Grey's Anatomy and CSI were in reruns. One of the more boneheaded decisions we've seen in quite some time was Fox's choice to put its sophomore science-fiction serial on Thursday nights at 9; Fringe has consistently run fourth, meaning its been stuck on the bubble of cancelation. The series still isn't quite there just yet—Fringe needs to focus more on the mythology and the characters and less on the stand alone whodunits—but it's always consistently entertaining and, at times, downright scary. One complaint: not enough Joshua Jackson (Pacey for life!), whose character could become a cocky jerk on the level of Matthew Fox if given the chance. [Fox, 9 p.m.]

Friday: Obsessed
Why you should watch Obsessed—a surprise B-movie hit last spring—can be summed up in just three words: Beyonce kicks ass. Any other reasons seem totally extraneous. [Starz, 8:10 p.m.]

How to Watch Thursday Night TV in 289 Minutes or Less

Christopher Rosen — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:47:46 -0400

We hope you're sitting down (preferably in front of a TV). In a study released by The Nielsen Company on Tuesday, it was revealed that the average American spends four hours and 49 minutes per day watching television, up four minutes from last year and nearly 20 percent from 10 years ago. Somewhere in Los Angeles, Jay Leno just let out an exasperated sigh.

Anyway, with 289 minutes to fill for the rest of the day—229 minutes if you watched The View, not that we have or anything—we thought it might be a good idea to offer a viewing guide to Thursday's overloaded evening festivities (can't the networks spread some of these shows out?). Please note: this is only possible if you have two DVR machines and a whole lot of willpower. Attempt at your own risk.

8:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.: Community (30 minutes total)

If done right, you won't have to watch another show live (with commercials) for the next four hours. And hey, it could be worse: not only is Community hilarious (why this is on at 8 p.m. is a mystery), but you also get to see which companies are foolish enough to actually spend their advertising dollars on NBC. Win-win.

8:30 p.m. - 9:14 p.m.: FlashForward on DVR (74 minutes total)

Normally, it takes a series a few seasons before becoming a rote obligation. Not FlashForward, which accomplished the feat in just seven episodes. Watch this while you check your e-mail (multi-tasking!) and just remember to pay attention to the cliffhangers that happen before each commercial break. They're important. Or something.

9:14 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.: The Office/30 Rock on DVR (120 minutes total)

The only downside here: you'll eventually catch up to 30 Rock and be forced to sit through promos for The Jay Leno Show. But that's a small price to pay for watching two of the best comedies on television as close as possible to when they air live. That way you don't get spoiled when you check Twitter and see all the funniest lines already posted.

10:00 p.m. - 11:28 p.m.: Grey's Anatomy/Private Practice on DVR (208 minutes total)

If you squint hard enough during these 88 minutes, you might fool yourself into thinking Kate Walsh is still on Grey's Anatomy.

11:28 p.m. - 12:12 a.m.: Fringe on DVR (252 minutes total)

Time to bust out that second DVR! Because Fox foolishly put Fringe up against Grey's Anatomy, The Office/30 Rock twofer and CSI (though, really, are you still watching that?), it is not only impossible watch Fringe on Thursday nights, but to DVR it as well. Great programming, guys! Anyway, this show is actually very good and it'll give you an added scare if you watch it during the witching hour.

12:12 a.m. - 12:34 a.m.: Parks and Recreation on DVR (274 minutes total)

We're pretty sure that at least part of the reason why the second season of Parks and Recreation is so much funnier than the first has to do with the fact that we're watching it through sleepy eyes. To be fair though, Amy Poehler and her cast of Merry Men (Aziz Ansari, Louis CK, Paul Schneider and Nick Offerman) are hilarious even when seen while fully awake.

12:34 a.m. - 12:49 a.m.: Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (289 minutes total)

As you ready for bed, you could watch Seinfeld reruns—or, heaven help you, The Jeff Dunham Show on Comedy Central—but why not give Jimmy Fallon another try. Spoiler alert: he's gotten much better since you last saw him and his contagious charm will put you in a good mood as you fall asleep.

Happy viewing!

Upfront Week: Fox Sets Fringe Up for Failure

Christopher Rosen — Tue, 19 May 2009 15:06:21 -0400

You can take Kevin Reilly out of NBC, but apparently you can’t take NBC out of Kevin Reilly. The former NBC entertainment president, who now holds the same position at Fox, announced the fall schedule yesterday at Fox’s upfront presentation, and the results were positively Ben Silverman–like. Much can be made of the laughable decision not only to renew Joss Whedon’s ratings-phobic Dollhouse, but to keep it on Friday nights with two doomed half-hour comedies as a lead-in—Brothers, with noted comedian Michael Strahan, and ’Til Death with Brad Garrett (yep, that’s still on)—but we’re more appalled by what Fox did with Fringe. The J.J. Abrams–produced silly-science serial-procedural will now be expected to compete against Grey’s Anatomy, CSI, The Office and 30 Rock on Thursday nights at 9 p.m. On second thought, maybe Fridays aren’t so bad after all.

One of the more successful new shows of the past year, Fringe had found a comfortable home on Tuesday night thanks in part to a gigantic lead-in audience from American Idol and little competition on other networks. Now though, if ABC, CBS and NBC keep their Thursday lineups intact, most viewers won’t even be able to record Fringe on their DVR—assuming it’s already filled up with those other Thursday night shows . Talk about a scheduling conflict! We hope Fringe fans are prepared to watch the show on Hulu.

To give Mr. Reilly some credit, we can at least see the method to this madness. Fact is, CSI is ripe for a takedown and the fresh take Fringe puts on the procedural genre will, in theory, allow it to survive by taking viewers away from sputtering CBS warhorse—CSI's season finale was down 31 percent from last year. But that thinking doesn’t seem to account for the fact that Fringe’s audience skews much younger than CSI's and runs smack into Grey’s Anatomy and The Office/30 Rock. And while Fringe is a solid hit—the first season averaged around nine million viewers per episode—it doesn’t seem like the type of player that can survive against the likes of Grey’s Anatomy, no matter how ridiculous that series gets (see: ghost sex). Lest we forget, the last time Fox took a solidly performing freshman series and moved it to Thursdays to take on CSI and Grey’s, it was The O.C., and that was off the air two seasons later. If Mr. Reilly was looking for a way to get his brother-in-arms, Mr. Silverman, out of the headlines, he’s done so. But not to worry: with NBC set to announce their official fall schedule later today, the diversion shouldn’t last very long.

The Week in DVR: Remember Fringe? Plus, Michael from Lost is Back! And the Best Friday Movie Ever

Christopher Rosen — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 11:00:14 -0400

Monday: Wet Hot American Summer
Does anyone do absurd comedy better than David Wain? Sure, Role Models might have been the most formulaic Judd Apatow movie that Judd Apatow didn’t have anything to do with, but the last act—a full on LAIRE (Live Action Interactive Role-playing Explorers) battle royale complete with KISS make-up and a joke about Marvin Hamlisch—was just about the craziest comedy set piece we’ve seen in a long time. Mr. Wain’s first film, Wet Hot American Summer, is all crazy set pieces; a spoof of summer camp comedies pitched at such psychotic levels that a talking can of mixed vegetables plays a prominent role. We’d like to see Mr. Apatow attempt something like that. [Starz Comedy, 6:30 p.m.]

Tuesday: Fringe
There hasn't been a new episode of Fringe in seven weeks (!), a time period that makes the dual six-week hiatuses of Gossip Girl and 90210 seem brief by comparison. The freshman series returns tonight with a new episode, and here’s hoping the long break hasn’t dulled what was becoming a very fine show. Fringe has its flaws—there are times when it isn’t as smart as it thinks—but it’s undeniably entertaining and routinely cover-your-eyes-with-a-pillow scary. Plus, Joshua Jackson and John Noble, as Peter and Walter Bishop, have one of the better father-son relationships on television. [Fox, 9 p.m.]

Wednesday: The Unusuals
Despite being called The Unusuals, we doubt this new series, from Rescue Me executive producers Peter Tolan and Denis Leary and Bones’ Noah Hawley, will be anywhere near as bizarre as the previous 10 p.m. police show that aired on ABC. That would be Life on Mars, which wrapped up last week with a finale that could only be called bananas—it ended with the entire cast literally going to Mars. We’ve seen plenty of commercials for The Unusuals, and while the series looks fairly standard, we can’t help but love the pastiche cast—Adam Goldberg, Lost’s Harold Perrineau, Amber Tamblyn, and, 2009 potential breakout star, Jeremy Renner. If you don't know Mr. Renner just yet—he had a small appearance in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford—you will by the time Kathryn Bigelow’s highly anticipated film, The Hurt Locker, hits theaters sometime this summer. [ABC, 10 p.m.]

Thursday: Harper’s Island
Because Harper’s Island is going up against Private Practice and John Wells’ new series Southland, we can’t help but feel it isn’t long for this world. But we have to give CBS credit for trying something relatively outside the box. The thirteen episode series is a murder mystery dressed up like a reality show; think Ten Little Indians by way of Survivor. Set during a destination wedding on the fictitious Harper’s Island off the coast of Seattle, each episode ends with one of the characters getting killed off. That the cast is peppered with a bunch of non-stars (the most recognizable names are Harry Hamlin and Richard Burgi) means viewers will be without any preconceived notions of who the killer is, a nice trick that will undoubtedly keep people interested… if they bother to watch at all. [CBS, 10 p.m.]

Friday: True Romance
If there is a better movie to watch on a Friday night, we haven’t found it. True Romance has it all—sex, violence and complete lunacy. There’s Gary Oldman as a Rastafarian pimp with a glass eye, Val Kilmer as the ghost of Elvis, Brad Pitt as a stoner burnout, and, of course, Christopher Walken and Dennis Hopper as a pair of seen-it-all-before old-timers, locked in a duel to see which one will chew through the scenery first. (Spoiler alert: It’s Walken.) [Encore Action, 10 p.m.]

As Networks Tighten Belts, Four Shows on the Bubble

Christopher Rosen — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 19:01:33 -0400

It’s normally not until May when network executives get their knives out to slash the hopes and dreams of many a showrunner, but this year it looks like things are starting a little early. Late Monday night, ABC predictably canceled the lowly rated Life on Mars, though the series will be allowed to finish its storyline so that fans, like us, can have some closure. (Hooray!) Meanwhile, reports are circulating that CBS is planning on keeping The Big Bang Theory and Two and a Half Men around for multiple seasons, which probably qualifies as fantastic news for some and as a sign of the coming apocalypse for others. Between now and the end of May, many other shows will have their fates decided—if you’re a fan of Knight Rider, don't get your hopes up. Here’s a check on four that are still twisting in the wind.

Fringe (Tuesdays at 9 on Fox): One of the most hyped entries from last fall, Fringe has actually acquitted itself fairly well on Tuesday nights. Creatively, J.J. Abrams’ take on The X-Files has found a solid footing, though truth be told, we still get the feeling that Fringe should be a little bit better—why isn’t Joshua Jackson allowed to actually do anything on this show? Minor quibbles aside, however, all signs appear pointed towards another season; last month Fox announced the crew of Fringe would relocate their filming for year two from New York to the less expensive Vancouver. While not an official pickup, that seems to bode well. Being cost conscious is so hot right now. Pick-Up Probability: 98%

Ugly Betty (Thursdays at 8 on ABC): Frankly the idea that Ugly Betty might not be around for another season seems almost unbelievable. It was just three years ago that the show burst onto the scene, winning over fans and critics in the process. Now ABC is pulling it off the schedule in the middle of the season so that it can run episodes of Samantha Who? (a show which has moved around more than the Island on Lost during the past couple of years) and new series In the Motherhood. Despite that bizarre decision, one that usually portends cancellation, ABC executives assure everyone that Ugly Betty will be just fine. We tend to believe them, just because they don’t really have a lot of other options. Then again, these are the same people who told us that the final episodes of Dirty Sexy Money would actually air. Pick-Up Probability: 86%

Heroes (Mondays at 9 on NBC): To borrow from Woody Allen: Television shows are like sharks; they have to keep moving forward or they die. Well, Heroes is looking more and more like a dead shark. As with Ugly Betty, it would have seemed unfathomable to picture Heroes getting canceled just a couple of years ago, but how quickly things change. The ratings stink, critics are out for blood and even the fans don’t seem to care anymore. It also doesn’t help that co-star Greg Grunberg used his Twitter page to say farewell to the cast and crew earlier this week. He has since backtracked, but it all seems a tad fishy. Pick-Up Probability: 52%

Chuck (Mondays at 8 on NBC): This one hurts. Simply, we love Chuck. It’s easily one of the most charming and enjoyable television shows we’ve seen in a long time, and, to NBC’s credit, they’ve stuck with it, leaving Chuck in the same time slot and promoting it heavily. They want the show to work! It’s just too bad it isn’t, really. The ratings are poor, and it seems doubtful that Chuck will all of a sudden gain an additional five million viewers overnight. Last weekend at WonderCon, creator Josh Schwartz said that even if NBC doesn’t pick up Chuck for a third year, the season finale would be satisfying enough to serve as a series ender. We sure hope so. Pick-Up Probability: 37%

OMFG: The Top Ten Television Shows of 2008

Christopher Rosen — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 13:42:23 -0400

A quick note before we dig into our ten favorite television shows of the year. You'll most likely notice the absence of How I Met Your Mother. This has nothing to do with its quality (or lack there of), as our omission of The Office does. We just don't watch it. That being said, we'd be remiss if we didn't at least mention Mother, since every person we know who watches the show unabashedly loves it. Someday we'll likely join the club, plowing through episode after episode on an extended DVD viewing marathon. However, that day has yet to come.

Onto the top-ten, presented in reverse order as to build suspense.

#10: The Katie Couric/Sarah Palin Interviews

Thirty years from now, we fully expect one of Peter Morgan's daughters to write a play, and subsequent screenplay, about the most indelible moment from the 2008 election. Couric/Palin was reality television at its absolute finest: The ultimate train wreck.

#9: Super Bowl XLII: New York 17, New England 14

Whether or not you're a sports fan, you had to appreciate the New York Giants' stunning upset over the undefeated New England Patriots in the Super Bowl. The game transcended sports and moved into the theatrical. But even the most desperate screenwriter couldn't think of a scenario like the Giants game-winning drive. "The fourth string wide receiver will catch a ball... on his helmet!"

#8: Fringe

After a rocky start, Fringe has become one of our favorite shows because, like J.J. Abrams' other science fiction program (a little something called Lost), it always leaves us wanting the elusive more: more mystery, more ad hoc science, more Joshua Jackson. It also doesn't hurt that Fringe routinely scares the crap out of us.

#7: Entourage

We've hated Entourage for such a long time that we almost forgot why we liked it in the first place. Against all odds, the fifth season reminded us. Buoyed by an excellent lead performance from Kevin Connolly (seriously) and a reasonably believable storyline (well, reasonably believable for Entourage), it was pure thoughtless summer fun delivered in the serious-minded fall.

#6: Chuck

Forget Jim and Pam already; the best geek-love relationship on television is happening between Chuck Bartowski and Sarah Walker. In addition to being painfully romantic and charmingly funny (more "ha-ha" than "lol"), Chuck is treasure trove of 80s nostalgia. Where else on television can you find witty references to Back to the Future, Spies Like Us, The Karate Kid and Die Hard?

#5: 30 Rock

There are seams showing--the writing has been particularly haphazard during season three--but nothing makes us laugh like 30 Rock. And there aren't enough positive adjectives to throw in Alec Baldwin's direction. The man is a god amongst mortals.

#4: Desperate Housewives

To answer your question: yes, Desperate Housewives is still on the air. Amazingly, what used to be one of the most over-rated shows on television has now become the most under-rated. The five-year time jump that creator Marc Cherry installed for this season has worked like gangbusters, invigorating stale characters and relationships. However we love Desperate Housewives because of the outstanding cast. Of particular note are Marcia Cross and Kyle MacLachlan, playing the most Waspy WASP couple this side of Westchester. How Ms. Cross hasn't won a basket fully of Emmy Awards for her performance is a mystery of the universe we'll never understand.

#3: Mad Men

Mad Men will appear on top-ten lists from here to Hawaii, so we won't bore you with regurgitations about Matthew Weiner's effortless writing, about Jon Hamm's subtle brilliance or about January Jones' beautiful frailty. What we can say however is that we never expected another show to so quickly usurp The Sopranos in our minds as the pinnacle of cable television greatness.

#2: Lost

What started with a bearded Matthew Fox torturously screaming, "we have to go back" ended with the whole goddamn Island disappearing in a flash of oyster colored light; and while there were some missteps--Michael, we're looking at you--we loved nearly every second. The most thrilling part of season four? The realization that Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof actually know where they're going with all this. Now if they'll only tell us what the four-toed statue means... give us that Rosseau flashback episode... explain what the smoke monster is...

#1: Gossip Girl

Deliciously trashy, incredibly inappropriate (we still feel dirty for having seen the whole "15-year-old Jenny dances in her bra" episode), wildly funny and shockingly smart, Gossip Girl is the most fun we have watching television in a given week. When it first premiered last fall, we took issue with the fact that we didn't care about any of the characters. Now our hearts break for... Blair and Chuck? It takes a special kind of show to illicit feelings for what are, ostensibly, two awful human beings. And yet Gossip Girl makes us want to friend them on Facebook. You can call Gossip Girl a derivative teen soap, Dynasty, Jr., or even a sign of the coming apocalypse. We'll just call it the best show of the year.

What You Need To Know About Fringe

Christopher Rosen — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 13:51:09 -0400

After six episodes, we're still not sure what to make of Fringe. While J.J. Abrams' much-hyped new show has become a permanent fixture on our DVRs, we can't say that we really like it. However, we don't really dislike it either. Tonight brings the series' first new installment in two weeks, ominously titled "In Which We Meet Mr. Jones". As Fox's website describes it: "a strange, almost-otherworldly parasite mysteriously attaches itself to the internal organs of a dying FBI agent." Eek! Sounds good to us! If you haven't been watching, here are some pros and cons to help catch you up before tonight.

Pro: Fringe is super scary...

Most of the time, we watch Fringe while peering through the slits in our fingers as we cover our eyes. It's awesome. How many shows can you say that about?

Con: ...but it's also crazy violent!

Fringe is to violence what Gossip Girl is to underage antics. There's melting flesh, bleeding eyes and, at least once an episode, somebody gets tortured. It's a little over-the-top. For instance, we don't remember any episodes of The Twilight Zone beginning with a girl's head exploding like a watermelon.

Pro: As promised, you don't have to watch Fringe obsessively...

This was one of the biggest selling points for the show and it has proved accurate. Fringe's structure owes more to Fox's biggest hit, House, than it does to Lost. The procedural tone makes it a lot easier to miss episodes and hop back in.

Con: ...except that you do!

The problem is, while the mysteries on Fringe change week-to-week, there is this whole confusing and slightly boring mythology that goes along with them. Almost everything ties back to a previous episode. If Mr. Abrams promised us Law & Order: Sci-Fi, he seems to have delivered a lazier Alias.

Pro: The cast is pretty great...

Even though Joshua Jackson struggles when he plays tough and angry, we still think he's at his snarky best as Peter Bishop. In the role of his father, mad scientist Walter Bishop, John Noble gets to play crazy, annoying, endearing and creepy all usually within one take. We love him. And we'd be remiss if we didn't mention Lance Reddick and Blair Brown, who play a pair of mischievous puppet masters with mustache twirling glee.

Con: ...except Anna Torv is horrible!

Unfortunately for Fringe, the weak link in the cast is also the main character. As FBI agent Olivia Dunham, Anna Torv is just bad. Seemingly always concentrating on keeping her American accent level (Ms. Torv is a native of Australia), she exhibits less emotion than a piece of plywood. Maybe Mr. Abrams should invest in some acting lessons for season two.

Fringe airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m.

Fringe Gets Full-Season Order

Christopher Rosen — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 15:20:09 -0400

Good news for fans of absurd science fiction! Fox has picked up J.J. Abrams' Fringe for a full season order. After an iffy pilot and slack ratings, Fringe has become a moderate hit since being paired with House on Tuesday nights. Its audience has grown and stabilized, two good signs for a network show, and now Fringe sits on an average of roughly ten million viewers per week.

We've been watching Fringe, mostly because we're constantly impressed with how it seems to get more and more ridiculous with each episode. In the one that aired this past Tuesday, a bad guy was running around and killing people with a ray gun and yet there were so many other ludicrous things going on (mindreading, torture with nose probes, etc) that no one even mentioned that, um, there was a dude running around with a ray gun!

At this point, we still aren't sure if we really like Fringe. Half the time the it doesn't make any sense. Fringe makes LOST--with it's crazy time travel and island moving--seem like a documentary. But it is pretty darn entertaining. And we're thrilled that Josh Jackson is in a hit series. It'll just make it easier for us to get him to star in our fantasy pilot about three guys living in New York City with Matthew Perry and Ryan Eggold, better known as that dude who plays the teacher on the new 90210.

So Far, Fall Shows Have Stinky Ratings

Hillary Frey — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 20:36:25 -0400

More evidence that this fall season of TV is weak: no one is watching anything!

Despite our tremendous affection for HBO's vampire drama True Blood, it tanked in the ratings. We suggested it might be Alan Ball's own personal John From Cincinnati, but it may even be worse: True Blood had fewer than half of John's viewers watch its premiere, or 1.4 million total. Fingers crossed that rebroadcasts and On Demand viewings give it a boost.

How about Fringe? Eh. It did all right, and won its timeslot last night, capturing 9 million viewers on average over its two hour debut. Fox will re-air the pilot this Sunday, with 4 minutes of the second episode tacked on. Perhaps making the show even longer will help? Uh, probably not.

And Entourage...dear Entourage! The HBO comedy hit a three year low with its 5^th season premiere (even though we can tell you that this season looks way better than last). 1.6 million people tuned in—29% fewer than did last year. Has Vinnie Chase finally lost his charm? Or, with our recession mentality, are people just not that into spoiled Hollywood boys? We're torn.

In better news, the new 90210 lost viewers in its second week. This sounds like bad news, right? It's not. No one should watch that show. It will rot your soul.

(Thanks to TV Tattle for the links.)

What’s With Fringe’s Sexist Dialogue?

Christopher Rosen — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 15:45:44 -0400

We stayed home last night to watch J.J. Abrams' new show Fringe and, happily, found it to be passable entertainment, perched even, on the precipice of possible excellence. We won't give you a review, since our esteemed colleague already did that, but the pilot did leave us with one question. What was with all that sexist 1950s dialogue?

Unless we were watching Mad Men or reruns of Cheers we didn't think it was possible to hear a grown woman called "sweetheart" or "honey" by her male colleagues on television in 2008 so many times. Yet there on Fox, on a television show that supposedly exists in present day America, FBI Agent Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv) was being derided at seemingly every turn. We swear she was called "sweetheart" or "honey" at least four times within the first half-hour! The clunky, antiquated dig stuck out like a sore thumb.

Maybe we don't get out as much as we should, but do 30-year-old men like Joshua Jackson still really call women "sweetheart?" It seems so...Sterling Cooper. It got to the point that we were honestly surprised Lance Reddick (as Ms. Torv's superior Agent Broyles), didn't call her "toots" while asking her to take down a memo. We know that J.J. Abrams wanted a 1950s Twilight Zone vibe for Fringe, but sweetheart, we don't think this is what he had in mind.