Tue, September 22, 2009

The beauty of the Annual TiVo Gauntlet of New Fall Programming is its ability to showcase the very best and the very worst that broadcast television has to offer. (It may surprise you to know that, by "very worst," I am not referring to The Jay Leno Show.) Loyal ATGoNFP readers know I've been in Community's camp for some time now, that I'm not too fond of the idea of giving Jay Leno a nightly show at 10pm, and that I'm simply old-person baffled at the state of affairs on the CW network. That's the magical irony of being a loyal reader: you can stop reading – you already know everything!

The Jay Leno Show

NBC, Weeknights at 10:00

Apparently, the promos for The Jay Leno Show have been deafening – Jay even made a wisecrack about it in his first monologue – and I'm sure that must feel like one more twist of the knife to Conan O'Brien. I haven't watched NBC in months, so I mostly missed out, but at the movies I saw one extended promo in which Jay and Fred Armisen are driving around with a cameraman and they have an accident where they believe they've killed someone and things go awry in a sort of Blair Witch Project direction. This concept sounds highly annoying, but it was actually pretty funny and Jay was great in it. I always think of him as someone very pre-rehearsed, with a steady rhythm of polished patter – even before he ran The Tonight Show, he was doing stand-up in much the same style – so it was great to see him actually sort of "acting." I have to give him credit for that, and for actually being a decent and well-meaning guy. (Ha! That part caught the loyal readers napping!)

Here at onebee (and at our sister site, Poop Reading), we tend to use Leno as a punching bag, but lately I've realized it's not really that he's evil, it's just that he stands for a terrible form of comedy the same way a studio-audience sitcom with a laugh track so often does these days. We don't hate Jay Leno the man, we hate the "Leno" half of "Leno vs. Letterman," which is sort of a silly comparison because today even the Dave Letterman show doesn't live up to the "Letterman" half of that battle. (You could say "Letterman vs. The Five Minutes or So Dave Spends at His Desk Talking Directly to the Camera After the First Ad Break on Letterman" or "Everything Else vs. Craig Ferguson," I suppose.) Jay Leno stands for a certain kind of bland, easy late-night humor that characterized his years on The Tonight Show, and those of us who love Dave hate Jay for it even more because it won – more people watched Jay than Dave for most of his run. The Dancing Itos, Jay-Walking, it represented a soothing pablum style of comedy, the kind of thing that lulls people to sleep. (And maybe that accounts for Jay's ratings: in most households, his Tonight Show was actually being used as a nightlight.)

You could say that his humor is comedy that says "I give up." It's not going to break any conventions or challenge its audience. It's not hip, ironic, or surprising. And maybe that's why the uproar about The Jay Leno Show. It represents the same statement from NBC: "We give up." The once-unstoppable network has experienced such a prolonged drubbing in the ratings (notably by Fox, which would probably be at NBC's levels without American Idol, and by CBS, which doesn't really have any markedly better shows than NBC but somehow makes it work). The revolving-door honchos at NBC have also bungled the Leno-to-Conan transition almost as poorly as the Carson-to-Leno imbroglio. In both regards, they have decided to give up. They will no longer compete for viewers of narrative TV at 10pm and they will no longer try to figure out whether they're better off with Jay Leno or without him. Do they honestly believe there's room for four straight hours of late-night talk (with a quick 30-minute breather for local news)? Or are they too scared Leno would start a show on another network and trounce them? Obviously, fear.

So, you can see there are many political reasons to dislike The Jay Leno Show. The show itself: meh, not so bad. (I mean, how can you hate soothing pablum? It's soothing! The best you can do is be indifferent toward it.) Jay is pleasant and affable. The comedy is exactly the same (though he does add in some "edgy" sexual references – is he trying to prove he's hip enough for prime time?). The set looks like an upscale hotel lobby with that crosswalk from "Abbey Road" cutting right through it. (Or is it the Robert Loggia FAO Schwarz piano from Big?) Jay now remains standing as the show returns from break (like Ferguson does) and his desk has been removed – he has a pair of chairs like Ellen or Jiminy Glick, with hotel end tables next to them, but the desk comes back for the "Headlines" bit. And there are a lot more "featured" comedy bits. A lot more. If there's anything notable about the first couple of episodes (yes, I watched two), it's the desperation of scattershot comedy bits going in all directions. There's a segment from Jim Norton (whose style contrasts with Leno's like a Saw movie contrasts with The Sound of Music), where he rants for a few minutes while making the minimum number of pedophilia references he can muster (three). There's a segment from Dan Finnerty, the awesome wedding singer from Old School and The Hangover, called "Everything Is Better with Music" where Finnerty stages impromptu musical numbers in random situations (this week: a car wash). This segment was five minutes long, and achingly unfunny. Even the studio audience, stupefied by extra oxygen and prodded by APPLAUSE signs, gave up laughing halfway through. And of course Headlines is still around, which just makes you miss Actual Items, the Conan O'Brien spoof version with made-up typos and strange non-sequiturs. (I haven't watched enough Tonight Show to see if Conan has kept this alive, but I tend to doubt it.)

Jay's interview with Jerry Seinfeld was enjoyable, mainly because Seinfeld wouldn't stop making fun of Leno for having this show. (He referred to it as Jay's "I-guess-I-didn't-get-fired-again-by-NBC program," and added that, "In the '90s, when we quit a show, we actually left. But not in the Brett Favre/Lance Armstrong double-0s!" Later, he took the opportunity to announce his own nightly show at 9:00.) The two are actually old friends, so the ribbing was to be expected, and Jay rolled with it well. (It reminded me of Norm Macdonald's much-funnier rant on Late Night with Conan O'Brien shortly after The Jay Leno Show was announced. "Jay Leno outfoxed you again!") The Kanye West interview (with shades of Hugh Grant circa 1995) was shorter and less informative, but I was glad to see Kanye getting a chance to apologize because I like him and I think this whole dustup is absurd. (Should there even be a Video Music Awards on a network that long ago quit airing music videos?) But you don't really watch Leno for the interviews – you watch for the comedy, and about that all I can tell you is: it's pretty much what you'd expect.

The Beautiful Life: TBL

CW, Wednesdays at 9:00

Speaking of pretty much what you'd expect: another CW show featuring rich, glamorous people living a hedonistic life of non-stop partying and backstabbing. Why mess with what works? I can't even pretend to understand the mind of a CW viewer at this point, but it seems like these shows are supposed to be some sort of wish fulfillment for them? Like, they want to ride around in limos and go to fancy photo shoots and throw back pomegranatinis in chic bars that were converted from chic lofts that were converted from industrial warehouses? The opening of The Beautiful Life: TBL is exactly the same as Melrose Place – we swoop over a city and into a thumping nightspot decorated with 30 linear feet of neon per each occupant. In this case, it's not a bar, though, it's a fashion show. And things are bustling, people! Because fashion is cutthroat and everything is last-minute and all it takes is the turn of one heel to propel one to superstardom or regulate one to the gutter.

But, this is backstage at a fashion show, which means more sideboob than most HBO shows. So, good going there, CW. This is what's hilarious – as much as I hate CW programming, I love the ethos behind it. They took the gripes from the phony, obnoxious Parents Television Council and made them the promotional quotes for season two of Gossip Girl! That's gutsy, and it gets at the more important point, that TV should be an entertainment choice each viewer makes, rather than a sanitized experience which offends no one but entertains no one either. I just wish CW would take all that frisky spirit and channel it into a watchable show. (Like Veronica Mars – man, that was good! What silly network decided to take that off the air?)

So then, what is The Beautiful Life: TBL all about? (That's its full name, and I can only assume that we are expected to refer to it that way.) A pair of teenagers mixed up in the high-stakes world of fashion modeling. She's been at it a few years, and is about to have a big break because she stood in for the previous supermodel-of-the-moment when the older girl couldn't fit in the dress. (Turns out she's put on a little baby weight – ssh, don't tell!) And he's a complete newcomer, literally starting today. His family has taken a week's vacation from the Iowa farm, and for some reason decided to come to Manhattan during Fashion Week. As a result, he finds himself defending the honor of a waitress who's being mistreated by a modeling agent. Of course, the agent likes his look and essentially kidnaps him from his family to set up an "audition" (not that the family particularly seems to notice). Around the modeling agency, people are calling him "Clark Kent," which really isn't that funny because he looks like a younger version of Tom Welling, who started in Hollywood almost exactly this same way, and who will be playing Clark Kent on the same network Friday night.

He's confused by being swept up in this whirlwind (completely unlike the whirlwinds back home that keep putting the cows on the roof of the barn) and she comforts him with what little advice she's been able to muster. As you might have guessed, the modeling agent wants a little something in return for granting our farm boy a dream career in fashion – a bedmate. (Fear not, as soon as this becomes clear to our hero, he socks the agent in the jaw. Iowans, as you have repeatedly been informed, are all homophobes.) When that doesn't work out, it's curtains for his 24-hour career as a model, or is it? Hopefully it isn't, because he already had the tearful 30-second goodbye with his family, where his mom handed him $50 and a balogna sandwich and his dad seethed, "I'll keep your job open for six months, and that's it," while his eyes said "There isn't a part of you I won't beat if you come back gay." They hopped in the cab for their non-stop flight to Des Moines, so he's out of luck if someone doesn't magically offer him a modeling contract. (Fortunately, balogna will keep, and an apartment full of teen models has been known to subsist for months on that much nutrition.)

I honestly forget how this all wrapped up (and I was taking notes!) but I'm sure the girl on the rise figured a way to help out the new boy. I do know they had that conversation where he looked at her amidst all the selfish, manipulative models, designers, and agents and said, "You aren't like these people, are you?" Because that's how these shows work. The one person in the entire fashion industry who isn't a conniving backstabber: that's our hero. The one vampire on the planet who doesn't want to drink human blood: here's his diary. It's hopelessly preposterous, and it makes about as much sense as moving halfway across the country at the drop of a hat with just the balogna sandwich on your back because you got an offer for a job you never wanted. But, hey, people – this is the CW network. (Also, there is sideboob.)

Community

NBC, Thursdays at 9:30

Well, I was expecting to love this, and I did. Joel McHale is perfectly cast as a snarky, selfish lawyer who has cheated his way through everything in life and some small part of it has finally caught up with him. He's suspended from the state Bar Association until he gets a real law degree, so he's headed to community college, where he's hoping an old DUI client on the faculty will help him cheat his way through this, too. When that doesn't pan out, it looks like he'll actually have to try at something, and at that point he's distracted by a cute girl, so of course she takes precedence. McHale, who took over from a series of posers who took over from Greg Kinnear at Talk Soup (now just The Soup), is quick and sarcastic, with just enough slacker in him to make it interesting. (We can all appreciate a little bit of slacker; that's why we love Jim on The Office.)

Certainly, McHale is the center of the show, but it has more of an ensemble feel. Shows like 30 Rock and The Office have done great work with a stable of talented supporting actors, and Community seems to carry that even further. Maybe the supporting cast just seems like more of a big deal because it's anchored by Chevy Chase, but... well, the supporting cast seems like more of a big deal. Chase is doing what he's best at: being self-centered and aloof and kind of creepy. (One gets the sense from available evidence that he's the same in real life, but he's in a supporting TV role now, so he's either humbled or handsomely paid. Possibly both?) John Oliver (of The Daily Show) plays a psychology professor – the "inside man" who was supposed to help McHale, but found a backbone at the wrong moment – and he's excellent. Then there's the cute girl and a surrounding band of misfits (see photo). The entire first episode sets up their Spanish class study group, so each of them has a chance at a nice introduction. From the look of things, there's a lot of potential here. Where a story like The Breakfast Club might have been limited to characters of roughly the same age, a group of community college classmates can vary much more widely across all demographics, and this one does. And they're my favorite kind of comedy characters: you can believe they're real people, but they're just a little exaggerated and funnier. In this hilarious and rapid-fire first episode, they all come to life in their unique ways; it's the best introduction of a character ensemble since 30 Rock – maybe since Firefly.

Created by Dan Harmon, who's written for the awesome Ben Stiller pilot Heat Vision and Jack and The Sarah Silverman Program (and, yes, also Laser Fart), and helmed by Joe and Anthony Russo of Arrested Development, it should come as no surprise that the show offers a variety of laughs, and lots of them per minute. Best of all, not every laugh line is a mean comment at someone else's expense – a lot of the humor comes from the exploration of human weakness, which may be the touchstone of the current comedy generation. Certainly the Apatow brand of comedies focus on similar ideas. And viewers of The Office will find them familiar, too – it's amazing it's taken this long for someone to say, "Hey, if failure and broken dreams are funny at the workplace, why not go right to the source?"

I'll TiVo Another Episode Of...

Community, obviously. I'll TiVo another episode of that until they stop making them.

Returning Shows

We may just have to do away with this section of the ATGoNFP because I haven't had a chance to watch The Office or Parks and Recreation yet – I still haven't had a chance to catch up on Sit Down, Shut Up or King of the Hill! But I did watch an old Pushing Daisies episode that's been around since ABC dumped the last few episodes this summer – and man, was it great! Also, NPH hosting the Emmys, which was above average – not a high bar for an awards show – except for the Dr. Horrible guest appearance, which was fucking phenomenal. Nathan Fillion, call me. I will let you do whatever you want to me. (I'm sure by this point he has a Google Alert set to page him every time that exact phrase pops up on some geek's blog.)

Premiering This Week

Accidentally on Purpose: CBS, Monday at 8:30
NCIS: Los Angeles: CBS, Tuesday at 9:00
The Forgotten: ABC, Tuesday at 10:00
The Good Wife: CBS, Tuesday at 10:00
Mercy: NBC, Wednesday at 8:00
Modern Family: ABC, Wednesday at 9:00
Cougar Town: ABC, Wednesday at 9:30
Eastwick: ABC, Wednesday at 10:00
FlashForward: ABC, Thursday at 8:00
Brothers: Fox, Friday at 8:00
The Cleveland Show: Fox, Sunday at 8:30

Returning This Week

How I Met Your Mother: CBS, Monday at 8:00
House: Fox, Monday at 8:00 (2 hour premiere – yay!)
Castle: ABC, Monday at 10:00
The New Adventures of Old Christine: CBS, Wednesday at 8:00
CSI: CBS, Thursday at 9:00
The Mentalist: CBS, Thursday at 10:00
Dollhouse: Fox, Friday at 9:00
NUMB3RS: CBS, Friday at 10:00
The Amazing Race: CBS, Sunday at 8:00
Family Guy: Fox, Sunday at 9:00
Dexter: Showtime, Sunday at 9:00

© onebee · all rights reserved