If you are a comedy TV connoisseur, you probably know that each network has their own brand of comedy they have generally followed since forever: CBS has silly comedies; ABC has family comedies; FOX has animated comedies; and NBC has intelligent ones.
It's no secret that NBC has been the leading producer of comedy shows on prime-time for the last two decades: with shows like Friends, The Office, 30 Rock, Cheers, and Seinfeld. All of these critically acclaimed shows - which are not the only comedies NBC has to offer - are branded "Sophisticated Comedy": smart jokes with complex characters that are easily relatable. All of these shows have won awards and had (mostly) great ratings - so great that no other channel put any comedies on Thursday nights because that was the NBC Comedy Block. But if they were doing do well with these smart comedies, why are they refusing to make anymore - and keep the current ones on the air? The simple answer - FOX and ratings. In that past few years, FOX has introduced three new comedies that rival anything on NBC right now: New Girl, The Mindy Project, and Brooklyn Nine-Nine - funny enough, these shows star or have regular guest stars that we're on NBC's biggest comedy, Saturday Night Live. FOX has made it very clear that they are moving away from their short-lived family comedies to smarter comedies. And NBC is making it very easy for them to take over as the new leader of comedy. By moving away from the smart comedies and into the family comedies, NBC risks losing their entire demographic for something that may get better ratings. But, NBC executives argue that these silly old smart comedies are not what the people want: we want to be patronized through people falling and degrading comments that somehow funny and references passed off as jokes. NBC's Thursday night ratings have fallen 17 percent in the last year, and 57 percent in the last four yets, since they tried to force Whitney and Are You There Chelsea? on their viewers. On the other hand, FOX is taking risks - starting three new comedies in three consecutive television seasons can be pricey and dangerous if the comedies don't all do well. But it looks like the way things are going now, they don't have to worry. NBC has said that after Parks and Recreation and Community end - which seems like it could be this season - they are done producing smart comedies. They have already started their new Family Comedy lineup with The Michael J Fox Show and Sean Saves the World - already having to cancel Welcome to the Family. However, FOX is still pumping them out with a show NBC originally was going to produce and then rejected at the last minute, Mulaney - written, created by, and starting another former-SNL employee, John Mulaney - coming in 2014. I'm no expert on television (who am I kidding, yes I am), but I really do not think NBC has thought this through. But good on you, FOX.
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The Doctor Who 50th Anniversary special “The Day of the Doctor” is fast approaching - it’s creeping up on us and before we know it, we’ll be crying on the floor because, let’s be real, it’s Doctor Who.
For those of you who don't know, Doctor Who is a British sci-fi show that's been on for - you guessed it - 50 whole years! (it technically hasn't been 50 consecutive years, but 50 years nonetheless.) It's about a 900-year-old alien that travels around time and space in his spaceship with friends that he makes a long the way. If you haven't already watched it, do that. Right now. The 50th (that’s what all the cool kids are calling it) picks up right where the seventh season left off: Clara follows the Great Intelligence into the Doctor’s timeline, making echoes of herself all throughout the Doctor’s life - two of which he met earlier in the season in “the Snowmen” and “Asylum of the Daleks.” The episode left us with a cliffhanger that wasn’t like a normal cliffhanger because we didn’t know what was happening at all. “John Hurt as the Doctor” doesn’t hold much weight when there’s a new Doctor every few seasons, and we knew he wasn’t going to be the Doctor because there was no fuss ahead of time. BUT the fiftieth has been made a huge deal - two previous stars of the show are coming back after almost five years: Billie Piper and David Tennant are reprising thier roles as Rose Tyler and the tenth Doctor. If you've never watched Doctor Who and are, for some reason, still reading this, you probably do not understand he gravity of this situation. BILLIE PIPER AND DAVID TENNANT ARE REPRISING THEIR ROLES AS ROSE TYLER AND THE TENTH DOCTOR. THIS IS AMAZING. It's been too long without them on this show, and this is one of the first things Moffatt has done right since he has taken over as show runner in the fifth season (hopefully he doesn't mess it up like everything else on the show). For every Whovian, the fiftieth is the biggest event in the history of Doctor Who - nothing will ever be bigger or better than this; they will never be able to top this; good job Moffatt. |
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May 2014
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