Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Upfront about the Upfront


The answer to Monday's Trivia Question: Howard Stern's three daughters names are Debra, Emily and Ashley
FIRST FIVES: Jim Wall, Jo Engel & Lillian Doremus

Friday's Cable Top 5
NBA PLAYOFFS-ESPN 1.8/3.8
WWE-Syfy .8/2.5
AMERICAN DAD-Adult Swim .7/1.8
COMMON LAW-USA .7/2.4
NBA PRE-GAME 

Sunday's Broadcast Top 5
DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES-ABC 3.2/11.1
ONCE UPON A TIME-ABC 3.2/9.4
SURVIVOR-CBS 2.8/10.2
SURVIVOR REUNION-CBS 2.4/8.0
FAMILY GUY-FOX 2.3/4.9

Sunday's Broadcast Trendrr Top 5
DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES-ABC 242,814
ONCE UPON A TIME-ABC 173,705
CELEBRITY APPRENTICE-NBC 127,529
THE SIMPSONS-FOX 103,756
FAMILY GUY-FOX 72,564

Sunday's Cable Top 5
Still NA

Sunday's Cable Trendrr Top 5
GAME OF THRONES-HBO 165,072
MAD MEN-AMC 60,455
MOB WIVES-VH1 42,787
STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS-NBC Sports 35,332
KHLOE & LAMAR0E! 34,484

TOP 5 DVR'ed shows for the week
BIG BANG THEORY
NEW GIRL
GREY'S ANATOMY
THE OFFICE
GLEE

-I think I still have this huge grin, and this enormous sense of "I TOLD YA SO" from last night's premiere of AMERICA'S GOT TALENT with Howard Stern.  I have to be honest, I had never watched the show before, so I have nothing to compare it to, but I have been listening to Howard since 1987.  I am a huge fan, my husband is a huge fan and most of my friends are too.  This was a brilliant move by the network and quite frankly by Howard too.  Of course I knew he would be awesome and he was.  The show was great, Howard, Howie and Sharon have great chemistry, and for some reason I feel this enormous sense of pride and redemption...I really hope the ratings are strong ,but either way, it's going to be a great Summer watching this show.  

-Unfortunately, my son is sick with a virus and we had to go to the pediatrician late in the afternoon, so between catching up with work after the Upfront, the sick kid and 2 hours of AGT, I am now officially in a code red catch up situation and WAY behind in my viewing...I haven't seen GAME OF THRONES, NURSE JACKIE, ONCE UPON A TIME, HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER or SMASH...so hopefully I will catch up tonight...

-The only show other than AMERICA'S GOT TALENT that I was able to see was LIVE WITH KELLY.  Jimmy Kimmel who is obviously in town to host today's ABC Upfront was Kelly's co-host...he of course is great because he's hilarious and he hosts his own show so he knows what he's doing.  I had no idea that Jimmy had two college aged kids...I knew he was a Dad, just never realized how young he was when he became one.  Other than that, the show was same old same old...I did like Kelly's outfit though...so that's a plus.


-I LOVE Upfront week...LOVE!  Unfortunately due to my schedule, I can't attend all of the presentations in person, but I do love going and checking out the upcoming schedules and shows.  I have to be honest, it's really unfair to form an opinion on a show just from a 3 minute clip shown when the lights are low and the stars, writers, producers and executives are all in the audience.  I prefer watching the full pilot to determine what show wins a TiVo season pass. On Monday, I was fortunate enough to attend NBC's Upfront at Radio CIty...here are my initial thoughts but again, I reserve the right to revisit these words after viewing the pilots:

  • REVOLUTION is not for me...sort of a HUNGER GAMES/LOST type thing (another JJ Abrams/Jon Favreau deal) 
  • I really hope GO ON with Mathew Perry works out for him...he's good, we are all rooting for him...this one looks cute, he plays a sports talk radio guy whose wife dies and he goes to group therapy 
  • NEW NORMAL...ehhhh...hard to say really.  This is the new Ryan Murphy one about a gay couple (one of whom is Justin Bartha from THE HANGOVER) who hires a surrogate. She comes with an overbearing racist Mom and a cute daughter. 
  • ANIMAL PRACTICE stars Justin Kirk who I love from WEEDS plays a kookoo vet in this one, hard to say...the animal thing is fun but not sure if it gets old fast
  • GUYS WITH KIDS looks good and of course Jimmy Fallon is the executive producer.  Meadow Soprano  (Jamie Lynn Siegler) and Vanessa Huxtable (Tempest Bledsoe) are in it along with quite a few babies...I'm not a huge fan of babies, but the show was cute
  • CHICAGO FIRE is not really my genre, BUT there were some hot shirtless guys in the clip I saw, one of them is Taylor Kinney who is currently dating Lady Gaga and had been Mason Lockwood on  THE VAMPIRE DIARIES...if they could figure out a way for all these guys to fight fires topless...I'm in
  • DO NO HARM is a medical show which is a genre I don't do, and this one is definitely not for me when the doctor turns into a monster at night...no thanks
  • There were a few other midseason shows that seem pretty good...SAVE ME with Anne Heche about a Mom who has a near death experience and comes back a bit different
  • 1600 PENN which is a White House comedy...I love anything that has to do with The White House...this one has Jenna Elfman and Josh Gad, who you will definitely recognize from various movies, TV shows etc.  I recognized him from one of my faves...the movie 21.
  • I also really thought that NEXT CALLER looked decent.  Dane Cook as a Howard Stern type...I like that idea and I like Dane Cook.
  • INFAMOUS...not my thing at all.
  • I do love my reality shows but not sure if AMERICAN NINJA WARRIOR, STARS EARN STRIPES or READY FOR LOVE are for me.  Although I seem to be on a Giuliana and Bill kick, so maybe???
  • Note to NBC Execs...I personally enjoyed the performances from the cast of SMASH...but one would have been enough...I would have liked to hear Adam, CeeLo and Xtina speak, but having Xtina attempt to walk off stage in the crazy heels and extremely tight dress, was a great consolation prize...not sure it was intentional...but thanks anyway.  Jennifer Salke may be a great programmer, but she really needs to work on her delivery...she was the most unenthusiastic presenter of her own work I have ever heard (and I have been to a TON of these presentations) especially when she is asking the audience to share in her enthusiasm and get excited about these shows...dull delivery was a show stealer on its own.
  • One last thing...just remember when all else fails...you can never have enough JIMMY FALLON
-FOX Fall Schedule was revealed yesterday as well. I guess the biggest news is that GLEE moves to Thursday night's.   I didn't go to their Upfront but I did watch the clips on YouTube...again I reserve the right to revisit.  
Monday: BONES, MOB DOCTOR (THE FOLLOWING joins midseason)
Tuesday: RAISING HOPE, BEN & KATE, NEW GIRL & THE MINDY PROJECT (THE GOODWIN GAMES joins midseason
Wednesday: X FACTOR (Fall) IDOL(midseason)
Thursday: X FACTORY (Fall) IDOL (midseason), GLEE
Friday:TOUCH & FRINGE (HELLS KITCHEN joins midseason)
Saturday: FOX SPORTS/COPS joins midseason)
Sunday: NFL/THE CLEVELAND SHOW, SIMPSONS, BOB'S BURGERS, FAMILY GUY & AMERICAN DAD
 MOB DOCTOR is tough for me...I LOVE all things that have to do with the Mob ,but I don't watch anything medical...so as much as this looked interesting, I am probably not going to watch it.
  • BEN & KATE was cute.  Immature brother, mature sister, the adorable and precocious little girl from WE BOUGHT A ZOO...brother stays to help sister take care of the kid...could be cute
  • THE MINDY PROJECT didn't make me laugh in the clip, but this could be one where the entire pilot is needed...so the verdict is still out at this point
  • THE GOODWIN GAMES is from the same team that brought us HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER.  Becki Newton (Guess she doesn't end up with Barney...shhh I didn't see the season finale of HIMYM yet) and Scot Foley from FELICITY about a family competing for their father's estate...I liked this one
  • THE FOLLOWING stars Kevin Bacon as a former FBI guy who is brought in to help solve a serial killer case...way too scary for me even though I LOVE KEVIN BACON


-It was also announced on Monday that in addition to Britney Spears, Demi Lovato will be joining Simon and LA Reid as the 4th judge on THE X FACTOR.  I have to admit, I'm not thrilled.  I really don't think that either one of these girls offers much in the form of judging and are they really qualified to provide constructive criticism to most of these people? What's Britney going to say?  "Use more autotune?"  Demi Lovato?  What credentials does she bring to the table?  Now technically you could say this about Nicole Scherzinger as well, but at least Nicole was HOT...SMOKING HOT...women, men, kids, we all thought she was gorgeous and we enjoyed her outfits which made her inane comments bearable.  With THE VOICE on Monday & Tuesday and THE X FACTOR following on Wednesday & Thursday will these two additions bring in an audience, will people ever get sick of this genre and just be done altogether?  It's going to be an interesting Fall...


Completely inappropriate, but amusing nonetheless...if you are a fan of the SNL digital short, you will definitely appreciate this one from Saturday...check it out:

http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/snl-digital-short-100th-digital-short/1401418/ 
Tuesday's HOWARD STERN Trivia Question: What is the nickname of Gary Dell'Abate, Howard's Producer?
WWTM-Kristy

2 comments:

  1. That trivia question is far too easy for me to even answer it.

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  2. LOL re Britney - "use more autotone". But I will give the show a second shot because of her. I do miss Piers. You would expect Howard to fill the role of "brutal judge" but he is much nicer than Piers. People love Simon because he was brutal to the contestants and you could argue that while American Idol is good with the new judges, it's not Simon Cowell good. As a multi-season AGT-watcher, I am certain that the Howard-led show will be good. Time will tell if it will be as good as it was.

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