Two Tivos To Paradise 2.01.08: Super Bowl Sunday and Super Tuesday Deserve a Super-Sized Column!

Posted by Al Norton on 02.01.2008

Your guide to Super Bowl Sunday, Starz brings Crash to TV, Sami Rami signs on for a new series, NBC reshuffles the line up, Lifetime gets a dancing show of their own, a strike update, thoughts on Lost, an American Idol recap, raves for Breaking Bad, tons of news and notes, the TV Pick of the Week and more, all in this week's Two Tivos To Paradise!

Hello Friends. Things are a bit more under control this week in the Tivo household, and I was able to catch up on some (but not all) of my viewing. I also got a call from the Obama campaign; no, it was not because they realized how much weight an endorsement from me would carry with my massive readership but rather because Massachusetts is a part of Super Tuesday and they were asking who I planned on voting for. Their loss – the TTTP seal of approval could have been the difference maker.

Johnny played guitar, Jenny played bass, the name of the band is the Human Race. Everybody tell me have you heard, pop goes the news.

Try To See It My Way, Do I Have To Keep On Talking Till I Can't Go On?
The latest in strike news…

* The LA Times and multiple other outlets are reporting that the last week of informal talks between the WGA and the AMPTP will lead to formal talks re-starting soon, perhaps before you are reading this, and that it's possible a settlement is but days away. All of this is taken with multiple grains of salt but it's nice to know there is dialogue going on again.

*The WGA continued to make side deals with production companies, including one with Lionsgate that means the writers of Weeds and Mad Men are already back at work.

*The WGA issued a waiver to The Grammy Awards, meaning the "witty banter" between presenters will be written by union members.

*Producers of The Oscars telecast are moving forward with two plans, one for the ideal situation (the strike gets settled before the February 24th event or the WGA grants them a waiver) and the other as a worst case scenario, which would be montage heavy.

So Bring Your Good Times And Your Laughter, Too, We're Gonna Celebrate Your Party With You
The Patriots-Giants match up for Super Bowl XLII on Fox will kick off this Sunday at (approximately) 6:18 pm but that is hardly the start of football programming for the day. Fox starts things off at noon with The Road to The Super Bowl, and follows it with Inside The Rings with Troy Aikman (1:00 pm) and Howie Long's Tough Guys: Super Bowl Edition (1:30 pm) before kicking off their official pre-game at 2, which will run until 8 and feature all sorts of pigskin talk plus musical performances, a red carpet welcome for VIP's, and the debut of a Paula Abdul video. NFL Net airs NFL Total Access from 11:30 to 4:30 and Sunday NFL Countdown is on ESPN from 11 – 2. The official half time entertainment is a mini concert by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers but there will be plenty of other options as well, including Spike's airing a competitive eating contest and Oxygen showing the premiere episode of their new reality series Deion and Pilar: Prime Time Love, both of which will time up to begin right after the teams head into the locker room.

Those of you who are not football fans shouldn't think that TV is a barren wasteland on Sunday. Discovery has an 18 hour Mythbusters marathon (9:00 am), TNT has 12 episodes of The Closer starting at noon, WE has five hours of Rich Bride, Poor Bride from 4 – 9 pm, and USA has another Law and Order combo (Criminal Intent from 11 to 6 and SVU from 6 to 3).

Sweet Like Candy To My Soul, Sweet You Rock and Sweet You Roll
The Starz cable network has given a 13 episode order to a television adaptation of the Oscar winning movie Crash. Involved on the producing side are the film's writer and director Paul Haggis, co-writer and producer Bobby Moresco, and producer and star Don Cheadle. Writing and production can begin immediately because Starz has teamed with Lionsgate TV (see above story).

I know Crash took some hits for being over mellow dramatic (that's a tough combo, by the way, over dramatic and mellow dramatic) but I thought it was amazing and think the long term, layered storytelling that TV allows for is a perfect fit for the issues they are looking to address. Cheadle is reportedly interested in appearing in the series as well, schedule permitting, and I can see how they might attract some big names; Haggis writing is a HUGE draw to actors, as is a short (13 episode) season.

He's Gotta Be Strong And He's Gotta Be Fast And He's Gotta Be Straight From the Fight
Sam Rami has partnered up with Disney-ABC for a new live-action fantasy series that will hit syndication this fall. Wizard's First Rule is based on the popular Sword of Truth series of books by Terry Goodkind, and follows an everyman type who becomes a magical leader in order to stop the world domination plan of an evil tyrant. Rami, who directed the cult favorite Evil Dead series as well as the recent Spider Man blockbusters, is a fan of the books and his involvement went a long way towards the 22 episode order Wizard's was given. Disney-ABC is promising high production values and said it would be, "a network quality show." Less than a day after the show was announced Disney-ABC reached an agreement with Tribune Broadcasting, meaning Wizards is already set to be seen in 35% of the country.

Despite my love of television I have never seen a full episode of either Hercules or Xena: Warrior Princess, both of which would serve as the obvious comparison here. Actually, one of Rami's producing partners (Ned Nalle) served as Xena's exec producer, too. I question if there is room in the current TV landscape (WGA strike excluded) for a show to be successful in syndication; other than the two mentioned above and Star Trek: Next Generation, there's not a lot of best case scenarios to point to. All of that being said, Rami has quite a following and did a great job with the Spider Man films keeping both the diehards and the casual fans happy, so I will not count him out. What's working for this new show is the lack of fantasy programming on TV right now; most network's idea of fantasy is a world where fat guys (Kevin James, Jim Belushi) get hot wives (Leah Remni, Courtney Thorne Smith), so there is a crowd that will eat this up if it's at all good. This also means Comic-con will be even more crowded this year. Hey, maybe Kristen Bell finally found a way to increase her popularity with the fan boys – do a cameo in the Wizards pilot!

Oh Lord, Please Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood
Parents Television Group has launched an attack on CBS for the network's plans to air the Showtime series Dexter starting later in the month. The group, a non-profit sent a formal letter to CBS asking them to pull the show, calling it a "graphically violent show about a hero who is a serial killer." While no official plans were stated, it's possible and probably that the PTC's next step would be to go after companies that advertise during the show.

Apparently PTC is ok with the usual graphic and disturbing forays into the minds of killers that CBS offers up each and every week on Criminal Minds and the various CSI series, but once the killer becomes the main character there are issues. To me the problem is that the PTC doesn't realize that someone being the main character of a show does not make them a hero. History is filled with books, movies, songs, and TV shows where the protagonist is presented as interesting and charismatic but also deeply, deeply flawed, and not one who should ever be emulated. Anyone who watched The Sopranos and thought Tony was a great guy was clearly missing the point. I am sure this will pass but I was amused that people still wasting time blaming TV for world's ills instead of focusing their attention on matters that actually may make a difference in someone's life.

You Push It Just A Little Too Far, You Make It Just A Little Too Hard
NBC has done some line up shifting this week, the biggest move being switching My Dad Is Better Than Your Dad to take over the Monday's at 8 time slot when the first season of American Gladiators ends in early February. The Baby Borrowers, a reality series about teenagers who take on the responsibility of raising kids, was originally set for that spot but the network decided that the Dan Cortese hosted Dad was a better fit in terms of tone and demographics. There has been no announcement of a new home for Baby. It was also announced that Amnesia, a new quiz show with Dennis Miller as the front man, will take over the Friday's at 8 slot from 1 vs. 100 next month as well. Finally, the series premiere of Quarterlife was pushed back to February 26th, which in turn pushes the NBC debuts of Monk and Psych to April 6th.

Dan Cortese winding up in prime time on network TV may be the cruelest blow of the WGA strike yet. I know this is a business but personally I would much rather watch a show about teens learning the realities of being parents than a show the pits son/daughter & Dad against the other in challenges that can best be described as Family Double Dare on steroids. Are we at the point that hyping something as, "from the producers of Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader" is a good thing?!? NBC also announced they were reviving Gladiator 2000, a mid-90's AG spin off that featured teenagers as participants. And finally, what's gotten into Dennis Miller's agent? In the last 12 months he's hosted a really cool game show tournament on GSN, his own sports talk show on Versus, and now this new show on NBC. Somebody's been earning their paycheck!

But If You're Out On A Date Don't You Bring Her Home Late Cuz It's A Sin
Lifetime is getting into the reality dance competition business with Your Mama Don't Dance, a new show set to premiere at the end of February. Hosted by Ian Ziering, the series puts its own twist on the genre by pairing up professional dancers with a parent who is not so rhythmically inclined. Of course there will be three TBD celebrity judges as well, and the winning Father/Daughter or Mother/Son team will waltz off with $100,000 in cash and prizes.

I give Lifetime credit for taking a popular concept (dancing on TV) and making it their own, but I am already a bit creeped out by the idea of some of the Oedipal scenarios that may occur. I mean, Dancing with The Stars managed to turn the likes of Marie Osmond into a somewhat sexual being, so a Father-Daughter tango could be a major car wreck. And yes, I mean that in a good way. Hey, do I have my own catchphrase?

And With Your Hair Combed Right And Your Pants Fit Tight, It's Gonna Be All Right
Week three of TTTP American Idol coverage. Once again the ratings are a matter of which way you look at it - 28.1 & 25.33 million viewers respectively, which was easily more than its combined opposition but also down from last week and also last year. Also a major factor is that according to the numbers, the overall TV audience is down as well from January of 2007, do doubt in large part due to the WGA strike, so anyone who thought the numbers would be the same was being foolish. On to the singers…

TUESDAY
And we're back, with only three more audition episodes (plus one recap) before we head to Hollywood. It gets a bit tougher at this stage since a lot of the performances seem to blend together, but as your humble servant I am dedicated to seeing this through! Let's get started...

-Omaha, somewhere in Middle America…

-Writer's Strike or no Writer's Strike, the TV line of the year is, "I feel like I could explode and little bits of happiness would go flying everywhere."

-Did Simon seem more relaxed when Paula MIA? He's been rather laid back for most of the season so far and I don't think it's hurt the show one bit.

-Jason's version of When You Say Nothing At All reminded me of how the loss of Keith Whitley still hits me 19 years later. For those of you who don't know, Whitley was a country singer with a deep and beautiful baritone voice who hit it big in the late 80's with consecutive # 1 songs When You Say Nothing At All, I'm No Stranger To The Rain, and Don't Close Your Eyes (also the title of that album), before dying at the age of 33 from alcohol poisoning in May of 1989. I would put those three songs up against anything that country music has produced since and feel comfortable knowing there would be no comparison.

-Why didn't Rachel the arm wrestler do Meet Me Halfway, the love theme from Over The Top?

-Did you catch the sweat stains on the girl who did I Heard It Through The Grapevine? You'd have thought she was on Moment of Truth.

-Dave Cook, the preppy punker, may have the best male voice I have heard so far this season. Can we just cut right to the makeover episode now?

-Stay gold, Johnny

WEDNESDAY

-Loved the Miami Vice opening. I bet Jan Hammer could use the risidual checks.

-Using Miami Sound Machine? I know they have Paula Abdul as a host but does AI know it's not the 80's anymore? At least Will Smith's Miami would have been a more recent dated reference.

-Shannon was nowhere near as bad as the judges made her out to be. Yes she over-sang so much it made Michael Bolton embarrassed for her, but she clearly had talent and seemed genuinely stunned when she left sans a golden ticket.

-Hey, Zamfir hits The Idol!

-"What is the what?" is my new favorite expression

-Ghaleb - who I was shocked made it through after simply butchering a beautiful Marc Anthony song - looks like the love child of Antonio Banderas and Mandy Patinkin.

-Has Paula ever cast a deciding no vote? Ever?

-Brittney and Corliss almost defy words...Except to say that Brittney was so big her breasts had breasts.

-Look out! Suzanne almost gave AI their first ever "nip slip"

-Isn't saying someone is "huge in the Philippines" a euphemism for something?

-Syesha has the best smile prime time has seen since Clooney checked out of ER

-At Last is such a tired song choice, so you better have a great voice if you want any shot at making it through. Lucky for her...

-I think Julie sang better on American Juniors. Her dress was shorter than Paula's - is this really how a 16 year old dresses?

And that's it for week three. The final audition episode is on Tuesday, followed by a recap on Wednesday to get everyone ready for the compitition to really begin in Hollywood the follow week.

But You Were Up To Your Old Tricks In Chapters Four Five And Six
All you need to know about the Nielsen's for the last week…The last pre-strike Ugly Betty was the lowest rated non-Thanksgiving holiday episode in the series two year history…Both Thursday Chucks drew fewer viewers than it was averaging in it's regular Monday at 8 home, although the 10 pm episode did win the hour in demos…A rerun of CSI was Thursday's most watched show but The Celebrity Apprentice did top the night in demos…Sunday's SAG Awards pulled in over 6.1 million, making it the most watched telecast of the awards ceremony since it debuted on cable in 1998…American Gladiators and Dance Wars tied for total viewers on Monday at 8, with the 9.4 million representing a series low for each. AG was down 22% from last week…19.6 million watched The State of the Union on the big three networks, with NBC's 6.7 barely topping ABC…A new episode of House benefited from the AI lead in to put up some very strong numbers; 22.5 million total viewers and it's highest demos since May of 2007…Moment of Truth dominated Wednesday at 9 with 17.87 million, down 23% from last week's premiere…ABC's re-airing of Lost's season 3 finale was a smart move, finishing second in the demos from 9 -10 and first in the demos from 10 -11…Law and Order: Criminal Intent was up to almost 9 million, meaning it has been highly profitable for NBC Universal with it's combined USA and NBC airings…

All The Young Dudes Carry The News
Industry Notes, Pilot Updates, & Casting News…TMZ is reporting that representatives for Drew Peterson, who is suspected of being involved in his wife's disappearance last October, have reached out to Fox about him appearing on a live episode of Moment of Truth…NBC announced they are moving forward with a second season of The Celebrity Apprentice and that they have already heard from multiple "high profile celebrities" who are interested in taking part…CBS has ordered 2 more cycles of Survivor, which means the reality franchise is guaranteed to run at least 18 seasons…The February 20th episode of Supernanny will be the first to feature a celebrity when Jo visits Wendy Wilson – of Wilson Phillips – and her large family (husband, newborn twins, and 3 & r year old sons)…Ben 10, the Cartoon Network's number one Saturday morning show, is getting a reboot this spring when it morphs into Ben 10: Alien Force, which finds the lead character now 15 years old…TNT has purchased the rights to the first two seasons of Bones and has already started airing them Tuesdays at 10 pm…Judge Judy was renewed for two more years, meaning it's set to be on until at least 2012…Merv Griffin's Crosswords was picked up for a second season…The Food Network is developing Rescue Chef, where Danny Boome helps individuals who are culinarily challenged…Keith David is starring in Spike's SIS, a movie/back door pilot about a special division of the LAPD that handles only the toughest cases…Two Marie Osmond references in one column?!?!? As you read here a while back, Marie, a daily daytime talk show, will hit syndication in the fall of 2009…The CW has ordered an eight episode run of a Tyra Banks produced reality competition series where the prize is a job at a major fashion magazine…Lots of new shows this week - CBS even ordered a new dramatic series! Flashpoint, starring Enrico Colantoni (Veronica Mars) and focusing on the Strategic Response Unit of a major city's police department, is the networks first deal with a Canadian production company, which means they are side stepping the WGA strike…Another new show – GSN gave the green light to 40 episodes of Bingo America, an interactive mix of trivia and bingo hosted by Patrick Duffy…The Montel Williams Show is signing off after SEVENTEEN years, although those of you who can't go cold turkey can enjoy The Best of Montel in syndication next year…FreemantleMedia North America, the production company behind American Idol, is launching a new version of Match Game…

Turns Out Not Where But Who You're With That Really Matters
The top thing I watched since the last column went to press AKA The Best Of What's Around…I finally had the time to sit down and watch the first two episodes of Breaking Bad this weekend and was blown away by how good it was. I know I was sold on this show from the pitch – a married high school chemistry teacher with a teenage son with cerebral palsy and a new baby on the way finds out he has terminal lung cancer and decides to open a crystal meth lab in order to make sure his family has financial security when he dies – but I haven't been this exhilarated watching a new show in a long time. Bryan Cranston should start working on his Norty acceptance speech now, that's for sure. One of things that stood out to me was how the first episode covered three weeks of time and the second episode just a couple of days, which worked quite well as you got all the set up you needed right off, and then dug down deep into the darkness the next week. The drug dealer chained up in the basement takes the show in a direction I did not in any way see coming, a direction that finds a way to put a different spin on the many moral issues the series raises. Aaron Paul as Cranston's partner in crime is clearly a star in the making, and Deadwood's Anna Gunn is well cast as the suspicious pregnant wife. The show's creator is Vince Gilligan, whose previous work as an Emmy nominated executive producer and writer of The X-Files, Lone Gunman, and the cult favorite Harsh Realm in no way led me to believe he was capable of this type of examination of the human soul. I got an email from Adam who informed me that R.J. Mitte, the actor who plays Cranston's son, actually has CP. As his email correctly pointed out, TV usually casts actors without a disability in these kinds of parts and everyone falls all over themselves to laud their performances, so this is a nice change and hopefully one the industry will take note of. AMC is making the episodes of Breaking Bad available on-demand so do yourself a favor and check out a show that is sure to be on my year end Top 10 list.

People Say I'm Crazy Doing What I'm Doing. Well, They Give Me All Kinds Of Warnings To Save Me From Ruin
What's flashed before my eyes the last seven days…Since Lost aired last night I will make my thoughts spoiler free as well as not letting the fact that I have already seen next week's episode (thank you, ABC) affect my views on last night. The highlight of the episode was the phenomenal performance from Jorge Garcia, who continues to be the most underrated of the cast members. I am sure some of you were disappointed there weren't more answers but I would argue that what is more noteworthy is the show, in it's fourth season, is still managing to come up with new questions, and more than that, questions that the audience cares about. Every season of Lost builds to a major crescendo in the finale, and then that build starts over again the next year, each time with a slightly larger knowledge base. If you go into it thinking the tension from the finale will carry over you're forgetting the energy and effort it takes to get to that boiling point…How great was James Marsters on Torchwood? All the charm of Spike but with a bit less evil. The make out/fight scene was unlike anything I've ever seen on TV. Let's hope Captain John comes back sooner than later…I caught two highly entertaining episode of Tru TV's The Real Hustle last week. The new series uses hidden cameras to show three hustlers ripping people off of cash, cell phones, and tons of valuable personal information. Of course they give everything back at the end, but it's still fun to watch. It'd be even more fun if they took out all of "coming up" scenes, not to mention the needless transitions shots showing the three con artist (emphasis on artists) posing or walking around…I may have heaped some praise on Medium last week but I forget to mention their great use of 10cc's I'm Not In Love. While it will forever be Eden Capwell and Robert Barr's song to me, it still stuck it in my head for days…I think this is far and away my favorite season of Nip/Tuck. Maybe that statement makes me scary to those who have commented on how truly dark these episodes have been, but I am all about dark…Speaking of shows having their strongest seasons, Boston Legal has been top notch all season. This past week's episode involving the courts potentially ordering a woman to have an abortion raised a lot of interesting issues about Father's rights and did so in a thought provoking but never preachy way. Other highlights included a great scene with Denny and Carl Sack and a rather moving closing from Jerry…

TV Pick Of The Week
Assuming that everyone will watch the Super Bowl with or without my recommendation, I thought I would go a different way this week (insert bi-week joke here).
Lipstick Jungle, the new NBC series based on a novel by Candice Bushnell (Sex And The City) premieres on Thursday at 10 pm and I am here to say that not only does it seem like The Sopranos when compared to Cashmere Mafia but it's also a good show in its own right. Starring Brooke Shields, Kim Raver, and Lindsay Price as professional New York women dealing with varying levels of personal and professional success, the bond of friendship between the three seems genuine from the get go, which goes a long way towards establishing the heart of the series. It's a lot more of a drama than the ads would make you think, and the scenes between Shields and Two Tivos fave Paul Blackthorne as her less successful husband are as real as TV gets these days. The screen nearly melts when Raver hooks up with her much younger lover, and her flashbacks to the deed are even more revealing. Price has the lightest load to carry as a fashion designer who is trying to re-invent herself while beginning a relationship with a multi-millionaire (Andrew McCarthy, whose underplaying comes across as shockingly charming). I know this will be considered more of a show for the ladies but I can assure you that the dudes who tune in won't be any worse for wear. Don't miss Lipstick Jungle this Thursday at 10 pm on NBC.

Two Tivos To Paradise, Weekly Update
30 Days, 30 Rock, Aliens In America, American Idol, Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, Antique Roadshow, The Apprentice, Battlestar Galactica, Best Week Ever, Big Love, Bionic Woman, Bones, Boston Legal, Brothers And Sisters, Burn Notice, Chuck, The Closer, Criss Angel Mindfreak, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Deadliest Catch, Desperate Housewives, Destination Truth, Dirty Sexy Money, Entourage, Eureka, Everybody Hates Chris, Flipping Out, Ghost Hunters, Gossip Girl, Grey's Anatomy, Heroes, The Hills, House, How I Met Your Mother, Jericho, Kid Nation, King Of Cars, Last Comic Standing, Law And Order, Law And Order: Criminal Intent, Law And Order: Special Victims Unit, Lost, Mad Men, Make Me A Supermodel, Medium, Moonlight, My Name Is Earl, The New Adventures Of Old Christine, Next Food Network Star, Nip/Tuck The Office, One Tree Hill. Project Runway, Pushing Daisies, Psych, Real Time With Bill Maher, Reaper, Rescue Me, The Riches, Rules Of Engagement, Run's House, Samantha Who?, Saturday Night Live, Scrubs, Shark, Shear Genius, The Soup, Supernatural, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Top Chef, Top Design, Top This Party, Ugly Betty, Welcome To The Parker

Additions :None
Deletions : None

People Love You When They Know You're Leaving Soon
Here ends another edition of Two Tivos To Paradise. Hope everyone has a great Super Bowl weekend. I can't urge you enough to check out AMC's Breaking Bad – hey, it beats six hours of pre-game. We'll be back next week with all the latest TV news, perhaps news on the end of the WGA strike, plus I promise to watch those last two episodes of Chuck I have sitting in my Tivo.

Have a great week, see you next Friday!

Feedback is encouraged at [e-mail] as well via the comments section below.

Sources for this week's column include Daily Variety, Entertainment Weekly, TV Guide, and Hollywood Reporter (plus the web sites for those publications) as well as Aintit.cool.com.