BLUE MAG

If NBC had any sense of dignity or proportion or anything regarding sanity it would be ashamed. This “Green Week” stuff is by far the most disgustingly and absurdly fake idea that has ever been hatched. As a television network, NBC exists entirely to waste. Nothing manufactured by NBC will ever solve an environmental problem, and in fact almost everything NBC ever does (measure its success by how many people pump electricity into their TVs at the same exact moment, advertise wasteful products, buy lakes full of gasoline simply to transport props, pay to keep shows on hold during the WGA strike, pay people to act on “ER” 8 seasons after it should have been canceled) is environmentally damaging either directly or indirectly.

It is so offensive for NBC to devote a second of its programming to preaching about “all this ‘green’ crap.” Al Gore and David Schwimmer made this week’s episode of “30 Rock” almost completely unwatchable, and only the genius intervention of Ken’s very last party saved the episode. Tina Fey, you are skating on very thin ice. I kind of secretly hope that shit gets canceled during the strike.

Ugh. If “Friday Night Lights” follows suit tomorrow with the green crap I can promise you I will never watch that program again.

On a positive note, “Office” opted out of the green trope by putting Michael out in the wilderness. Overall, a pretty decent episode. The final moments between Jim and Michael were fabulous, although bittersweet — that could be the last “Office” moment for a long time.

If any show can become a hit after a move to Friday nights, it’s the fantastically written and beautifully put together “Friday Night Lights.” Simply put this is the very best network drama, probably the best in at least a decade.

The one thing that I think will be this show’s saving grace is that I really can’t see it becoming too full of itself. For one thing, it is shot on location in Austin, which must keep things in perspective and I would assume is owed much of the praise for the show’s depth. To hear the hardest working cast in show business tell it, they love this show and believe in it. Networks tend to either ignore shows or ruin them by interfering. All the “McDreamy” crap on “Grey’s Anatomy” absolutely ruined what started out as a unique and well crafted show. (I suppose ABC doesn’t deserve all the blame for that.) NBC will do their best to turn this into a “hot teen drama” or something but here’s hoping they see that they have something special here and leave it alone.

Continue reading “Friday Night Lights”: Last Days of Summer (2×1)

Glenn Morshower, who played agent Aaron Pierce on “24,” has been cast to play Landry’s dad on “Friday Night Lights” this fall. Landry is played by Jesse Plemons. With a resemblance like this how can they not fire up this casting call.

I don’t know but I always assumed season one of “Friday Night Lights” would end with the Dillon Panthers losing in the Texas state championship game, thus giving them an axe to grind for a potential season two. Brett Love of TV Squad says last night’s finale answered the question of whether Coach Taylor would remain in Dillon, and while I have to assume that he will, I don’t I agree that the question was indeed answered. Instead we got FNL’s trademark cutaway shot for our last glimpse of the show until … hopefuly next fall.

I’m feeling a little bit off about last night’s episode. The energy level of the halftime pep talk seemed low. The speech was too short. The winning play was anticlimactic. I doubt they had planned a cliffhanger ending before the game ended, but the episode seemed rushed to me once the game actually started. But man, what a season. I’m pretty sure Connie Britton and Kyle Chandler make the best TV drama couple since…since I don’t know. (What’s with all the elipses today?)

Even though I’m planning to do a full season ending award post, I’m going to go ahead and tip my hand right now: This was the best new show this season. Hands down. Here’s to season two.

I’m tempted to say that this is another of those great shows nobody is watching. If you love American football and can stand a little melodrama this is the show for you.

This week we got the conclusion of a little racial dynamics plot thread that started last week, and I think most people would agree that the show’s handlers resolved this tension very well. I would have loved for Smash becoming a team leader to have been a more crucial and longer-burning subplot, because it would have been nice to have it come to a head with this controversy. However we have to remember that Smash is only a sophomore, if memory serves.

At first it didn’t sit well with me this week was Landry going ga-ga at the strip joint. Landry is a fantastic character–acted really well by Jesse Plemons (well no wonder, dude’s IMDB is chock full o’ roles)–and part of what makes him fantastic and funny is that he is an interesting kid full of controversies. He is a smart and sensitive young man who is in a death metal band called CRUCIFICTORIOUS. So it makes sense that, although you expect him maybe to be the one high school kid capable of rising above the attraction to the strip joint, he actually becomes the one who succumbs.

I wonder what is in store for the Panthers playoff drive. If they hope to keep this show going, they can’t possibly just win the state championship every year, can they? So I think it might be a good play to have them lose in year 1 rather than go all the way and come back with a Texas-sized chip on their shoulderpads.