Glee Girls Perform I Kissed a Girl
Here is the full performance of I kissed a girl, by all the Glee Girl.....
The Lime TV News, The Latest TeleVision News On Shows And Stars
zaterdag 26 november 2011
Smash the first Music Video
Smash the first Music Video
The first full video from the new musical tv show can be seen on the Perez Hilton blogg, see the link below to watch Katharine McPhee as she performs Christina Aguilera's Beautiful.
Smash - Beautiful
The first full video from the new musical tv show can be seen on the Perez Hilton blogg, see the link below to watch Katharine McPhee as she performs Christina Aguilera's Beautiful.
Smash - Beautiful
Kirk Norcross quits TOWIE for The Bachelor
Kirk Norcross quits TOWIE for The Bachelor
Kirk Nocross has quit 'The Only Way Is Essex' to become 'The Bachelor'.
The 23-year-old hunk - who has dated co-stars Amy Childs and Lauren Pope in the past - is "jumping at the chance" to leave the ITV2 reality show, and is keen to follow in the footsteps of rugby ace Gavin Henson and find "the one" on the Channel 5 show.
An insider told the Daily Star newspaper: "Kirk has been approached to join 'The Bachelor' on Channel 5. He's jumping at the chance to leave 'TOWIE' and do something more dynamic. He has an eye for the ladies and has been saying for a while it's time to find a nice girl and settle down.
"Kirk's been really successful with regard to money and business ventures, but has yet to find the perfect lady. After seeing how much fun Gavin had on the last series of 'The Bachelor', Kirk's well up for it."
The nightclub owner isn't the only 'TOWIE' star set to ditch the show for a Channel 5 programme, as Lauren Goodger and Sam Faiers have also been offered lucrative deals to appear in the upcoming series of 'Celebrity Big Brother'.
A source told the Daily Mirror newspaper: "Lauren Goodger and Sam Faiers are both being offered big sums to appear in 'Celebrity Big Brother'. Kirk's the only one to make a decision."
However, Kirk's appointment on 'The Bachelor' won't sit well with former 'Geordie Shore' hunk Greg Lake, as he recently admitted he was hoping to find "Miss Right" on the dating show.
Kirk Nocross has quit 'The Only Way Is Essex' to become 'The Bachelor'.
The 23-year-old hunk - who has dated co-stars Amy Childs and Lauren Pope in the past - is "jumping at the chance" to leave the ITV2 reality show, and is keen to follow in the footsteps of rugby ace Gavin Henson and find "the one" on the Channel 5 show.
An insider told the Daily Star newspaper: "Kirk has been approached to join 'The Bachelor' on Channel 5. He's jumping at the chance to leave 'TOWIE' and do something more dynamic. He has an eye for the ladies and has been saying for a while it's time to find a nice girl and settle down.
"Kirk's been really successful with regard to money and business ventures, but has yet to find the perfect lady. After seeing how much fun Gavin had on the last series of 'The Bachelor', Kirk's well up for it."
The nightclub owner isn't the only 'TOWIE' star set to ditch the show for a Channel 5 programme, as Lauren Goodger and Sam Faiers have also been offered lucrative deals to appear in the upcoming series of 'Celebrity Big Brother'.
A source told the Daily Mirror newspaper: "Lauren Goodger and Sam Faiers are both being offered big sums to appear in 'Celebrity Big Brother'. Kirk's the only one to make a decision."
However, Kirk's appointment on 'The Bachelor' won't sit well with former 'Geordie Shore' hunk Greg Lake, as he recently admitted he was hoping to find "Miss Right" on the dating show.
Peter Andre's jungle love triangle
Peter Andre's jungle love triangle
Peter Andre is already at the centre of a jungle love triangle.
The 38-year-old singer - who is to be a guest panellist on ITV2 spin-off show 'I'm A Celebrity ... Get Me Out Of Here NOW!' - has won the affections of 'The Only Way Is Essex' beauties Jessica Wright and Gemma Collins, who are desperate to get their hands on him before he enters the main camp and meets Australian model Emily Scott.
Gemma - who is also appearing as a guest panellist on the show - said: "I love Peter. He's lovely. I'd be his 'Mysterious Girl'."
Meanwhile, Jessica is flying out to the jungle to support brother Mark Wright, and her mum Carol admitted Peter used to be the brunette bombshell's "idol" when she was a child.
She told the Daily Star newspaper: "She loves Peter Andre. He used to be her idol when she was little."
In case the hunk shuns her affections, bubbly Gemma has already cooked up a plan B and has got her eye on 'I'm A Celeb' hosts Ant and Dec.
She joked: "I've got my eyes on Ant and Dec. I quite fancy them, too."
However, sadly for Gemma and Jessica, Peter - who met ex-wife Katie Price on the show in 2004 - has vowed to stay single this time around.
He said: "The last time I came here single, I ended up walking out and getting
Peter Andre is already at the centre of a jungle love triangle.
The 38-year-old singer - who is to be a guest panellist on ITV2 spin-off show 'I'm A Celebrity ... Get Me Out Of Here NOW!' - has won the affections of 'The Only Way Is Essex' beauties Jessica Wright and Gemma Collins, who are desperate to get their hands on him before he enters the main camp and meets Australian model Emily Scott.
Gemma - who is also appearing as a guest panellist on the show - said: "I love Peter. He's lovely. I'd be his 'Mysterious Girl'."
Meanwhile, Jessica is flying out to the jungle to support brother Mark Wright, and her mum Carol admitted Peter used to be the brunette bombshell's "idol" when she was a child.
She told the Daily Star newspaper: "She loves Peter Andre. He used to be her idol when she was little."
In case the hunk shuns her affections, bubbly Gemma has already cooked up a plan B and has got her eye on 'I'm A Celeb' hosts Ant and Dec.
She joked: "I've got my eyes on Ant and Dec. I quite fancy them, too."
However, sadly for Gemma and Jessica, Peter - who met ex-wife Katie Price on the show in 2004 - has vowed to stay single this time around.
He said: "The last time I came here single, I ended up walking out and getting
Tulisa Contostavlos won't hide tattoo
Tulisa Contostavlos won't hide tattoo
Tulisa Contostavlos has vowed to continue flashing her tattoo on 'The X Factor'.
It had been claimed the show's judge could be breaking Ofcom rules on advertising with her signature arm salute because the inking on her forearm - the words 'The Female Boss' written in script - share the name of her perfume, but the N-Dubz star insisting she is doing nothing wrong.
She said: "I was showing off my tattoo long before 'The X Factor'. It's always been my trademark and it's always been my nickname.
"The perfume's not actually called The Female Boss - it's just TFB. So someone wouldn't go into a shop and buy my perfume just because they'd seen my tattoo. The show told me it's OK, I can carry on doing it - and I will."
While Tulisa's future with the show has not been confirmed, she is keen to return to the programme next year - though she wants a payrise.
She told the Daily Mirror newspaper: "I definitely want to come back next series. But would I do it for a pay-cut? Definitely not. That's ridiculous."
Meanwhile, the 23-year-old star has admitted she has received death threats since joining the show, but she just laughs about them rather than take any action.
She told The Sun newspaper: "I've always had abuse - since the age of 17 - so I've been trained for it.
"It's nothing to me. If anything it's gotten a bit more light-hearted since I've been on the show.
"N-Dubz fans are a bit feistier. It used to be, 'I'm gonna slice your throat and you're a whore'. Now it's more like, 'You're s**t, I hate you'.
Tulisa Contostavlos has vowed to continue flashing her tattoo on 'The X Factor'.
It had been claimed the show's judge could be breaking Ofcom rules on advertising with her signature arm salute because the inking on her forearm - the words 'The Female Boss' written in script - share the name of her perfume, but the N-Dubz star insisting she is doing nothing wrong.
She said: "I was showing off my tattoo long before 'The X Factor'. It's always been my trademark and it's always been my nickname.
"The perfume's not actually called The Female Boss - it's just TFB. So someone wouldn't go into a shop and buy my perfume just because they'd seen my tattoo. The show told me it's OK, I can carry on doing it - and I will."
While Tulisa's future with the show has not been confirmed, she is keen to return to the programme next year - though she wants a payrise.
She told the Daily Mirror newspaper: "I definitely want to come back next series. But would I do it for a pay-cut? Definitely not. That's ridiculous."
Meanwhile, the 23-year-old star has admitted she has received death threats since joining the show, but she just laughs about them rather than take any action.
She told The Sun newspaper: "I've always had abuse - since the age of 17 - so I've been trained for it.
"It's nothing to me. If anything it's gotten a bit more light-hearted since I've been on the show.
"N-Dubz fans are a bit feistier. It used to be, 'I'm gonna slice your throat and you're a whore'. Now it's more like, 'You're s**t, I hate you'.
Lily Allen Gives Birth to Baby Girl
Lily Allen Gives Birth to Baby Girl
It's a girl for British songstress Lily Allen. She and husband, decorator Sam Cooper, welcomed their first child Friday, The Daily Mail reports. The couple has not yet announced the name of the baby.
Lily Allen ties the knot
Back in 2008, Allen suffered a miscarriage while four-months pregnant, and then again in November 2010 after a six-month-long pregnancy.
The 26-year-old pop star and her husband, 32, married in June of this year. The couple began dating in July 2009.
It's a girl for British songstress Lily Allen. She and husband, decorator Sam Cooper, welcomed their first child Friday, The Daily Mail reports. The couple has not yet announced the name of the baby.
Lily Allen ties the knot
Back in 2008, Allen suffered a miscarriage while four-months pregnant, and then again in November 2010 after a six-month-long pregnancy.
The 26-year-old pop star and her husband, 32, married in June of this year. The couple began dating in July 2009.
N.B.A. and Players Reach Tentative Agreement
N.B.A. and Players Reach Tentative Agreement
The N.B.A. and its players reached an agreement early Saturday morning, officially ending the second-longest lockout in the history of the league.
The final negotiations took 15 hours, but it was ultimately decided that a 66-game compressed regular season will begin on Christmas Day, according to the New York Times.
NBA Cancels First 2 Weeks of Season
"We've reached a tentative understanding that is subject to a variety of approvals and very complex machinations," N.B.A. commissioner, David Stern, said at 3:40 a.m., "but we're optimistic that that will all come to pass, and that the N.B.A. season will begin on Dec. 25, Christmas Day, with a tripleheader."
For now, the regularly scheduled Christmas games will be played as planned: Boston Celtics vs. the New York Knicks, followed by the Miami Heat vs. the Dallas Mavericks and the Chicago Bulls vs. the Los Angeles Lakers. The remainder of the schedule, which will need to be tweaked in order to accommodate for the lost time, should be released within the next few days.
"We're really excited," said Peter Holt, the San Antonio Spurs owner and chairman of the league's labor-relations committee. "We're excited for the fans. We're excited to start playing basketball, for players, for everybody involved."
The N.B.A. and its players reached an agreement early Saturday morning, officially ending the second-longest lockout in the history of the league.
The final negotiations took 15 hours, but it was ultimately decided that a 66-game compressed regular season will begin on Christmas Day, according to the New York Times.
NBA Cancels First 2 Weeks of Season
"We've reached a tentative understanding that is subject to a variety of approvals and very complex machinations," N.B.A. commissioner, David Stern, said at 3:40 a.m., "but we're optimistic that that will all come to pass, and that the N.B.A. season will begin on Dec. 25, Christmas Day, with a tripleheader."
For now, the regularly scheduled Christmas games will be played as planned: Boston Celtics vs. the New York Knicks, followed by the Miami Heat vs. the Dallas Mavericks and the Chicago Bulls vs. the Los Angeles Lakers. The remainder of the schedule, which will need to be tweaked in order to accommodate for the lost time, should be released within the next few days.
"We're really excited," said Peter Holt, the San Antonio Spurs owner and chairman of the league's labor-relations committee. "We're excited for the fans. We're excited to start playing basketball, for players, for everybody involved."
TV Ratings: A 'Blue Bloods' rerun wins Friday night
TV Ratings: A 'Blue Bloods' rerun wins Friday night
Fast National ratings for Friday, Nov. 25, 2011
It was a night of reruns, holiday specials and movies - so who came out on top? CBS did, as usual, but by a much slimmer margin than the Eye normally wins. A "Blue Bloods" rerun was the overall ratings winner for the night.
CBS averaged 5.3 million viewers and a 3.3 rating/6 share in households. ABC was second with 4.5 million, 2.7/5, NBC was third with 3.979 million, 2.5/4 and FOX was barely fourth with 3.977 million and a 2.4/4. The CW trailed with 1.5 million, 0.9/2.
In the adults 18-49 demo, it was almost exactly reversed. FOX won with a 1.2, followed by ABC with a 1.1, and then CBS and NBC at 1.0. The CW was fifth with a 0.4.
Friday hour by hour:
8 p.m.
ABC: "Shrek the Third" (4.08 million, 2.4/4)
NBC: "National Treasure: Book of Secrets" (4.05 million, 2.6/5)
CBS: "Hoops & Yoyo Ruin Christmas" (3.7 million, 2.2/4)/ "Elf on the Shelf" (4.3 million, 2.3/4)
FOX: "Iron Man" (3.7 million viewers, 2.3/4 households)
The CW: "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" (1.8 million, 1.0/2)
18-49 leader: "Shrek the Third" and "Iron Man" (tie, 1.1)
9 p.m.
CBS: "CSI: NY" rerun (5.5 million, 3.5/6)
ABC: "Shrek the Third" (4.6 million, 2.5/4)
FOX: "Iron Man" (4.2 million, 2.5/4)
NBC: "National Treasure: Book of Secrets" (3.97 million, 2.5/4)
The CW: "Olive, the Other Reindeer" (1.2 million, 0.7/1)
18-49 leader: "Iron Man" (1.4)
10 p.m.
CBS: "Blue Bloods" rerun (6.5 million, 4.2/8)
ABC: "20/20" (4.97 million, 3.3/6)
NBC: "National Treasure: Book of Secrets" (3.9 million, 2.3/4)
18-49 leader: "20/20" (1.2)
Ratings information includes live and same-day DVR viewing. All numbers are preliminary and subject to change, especially in the case of live telecasts. Source: The Nielsen Company.
Fast National ratings for Friday, Nov. 25, 2011
It was a night of reruns, holiday specials and movies - so who came out on top? CBS did, as usual, but by a much slimmer margin than the Eye normally wins. A "Blue Bloods" rerun was the overall ratings winner for the night.
CBS averaged 5.3 million viewers and a 3.3 rating/6 share in households. ABC was second with 4.5 million, 2.7/5, NBC was third with 3.979 million, 2.5/4 and FOX was barely fourth with 3.977 million and a 2.4/4. The CW trailed with 1.5 million, 0.9/2.
In the adults 18-49 demo, it was almost exactly reversed. FOX won with a 1.2, followed by ABC with a 1.1, and then CBS and NBC at 1.0. The CW was fifth with a 0.4.
Friday hour by hour:
8 p.m.
ABC: "Shrek the Third" (4.08 million, 2.4/4)
NBC: "National Treasure: Book of Secrets" (4.05 million, 2.6/5)
CBS: "Hoops & Yoyo Ruin Christmas" (3.7 million, 2.2/4)/ "Elf on the Shelf" (4.3 million, 2.3/4)
FOX: "Iron Man" (3.7 million viewers, 2.3/4 households)
The CW: "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" (1.8 million, 1.0/2)
18-49 leader: "Shrek the Third" and "Iron Man" (tie, 1.1)
9 p.m.
CBS: "CSI: NY" rerun (5.5 million, 3.5/6)
ABC: "Shrek the Third" (4.6 million, 2.5/4)
FOX: "Iron Man" (4.2 million, 2.5/4)
NBC: "National Treasure: Book of Secrets" (3.97 million, 2.5/4)
The CW: "Olive, the Other Reindeer" (1.2 million, 0.7/1)
18-49 leader: "Iron Man" (1.4)
10 p.m.
CBS: "Blue Bloods" rerun (6.5 million, 4.2/8)
ABC: "20/20" (4.97 million, 3.3/6)
NBC: "National Treasure: Book of Secrets" (3.9 million, 2.3/4)
18-49 leader: "20/20" (1.2)
Ratings information includes live and same-day DVR viewing. All numbers are preliminary and subject to change, especially in the case of live telecasts. Source: The Nielsen Company.
Desperate Scousewives: boss entertainment or reality overkill?
Desperate Scousewives: boss entertainment or reality overkill?
E4's new structured reality show has a sparky cast that live up to every stereotype – but can it be as good as its name?
Structured reality television is a wonderful thing. It's introduced us to the concept of the vajazzle, and reminded us that posh people can hurt too, between jewellery launches. But The Only Way Is Essex and Made In Chelsea may now find themselves with some competition, thanks to E4's upcoming Desperate Scousewives.
Despite sounding very much like a title in search of a format, the new show promises potential televisual greatness, thanks to its cast of participants, all presumably reared playing with giant hair-rollers and sleeping under cot blankets of woven hair extensions. It's a show constructed from everything the stereotypes bring to mind when you close your eyes and whisper "There's no place like Liverpool": Shiny stilettos, crystal-tipped nails, chiffon baby-doll dresses, slash-necked T shirts, and the "cheeky Scouse wit" pioneered by Joey in Bread.
It's every Scouse cliche you can imagine, as the girls compete to make Ladies' Day at Aintree look like an Amish barn-raising, and the boys tussle over who can dress the most "boss" and be the most cheeky (probably DJ Danny, who claims "my most distinguishing feature is my immaturity"). But while it's easy to play TOWIE snap – Mark and Chris are Amy and Harry, Danny is Arg, "player" Joe McMahon is Mark Wright, while his on-off girlfriend Layla is Lauren Goodger with excess attitude – do we really have the energy for a series showcasing yet more living cartoons?
I believe we do. The first episode is introduced by Jodie, makeup artist extraordinaire, who's just arrived back from London, because "Liverpool is the centre of the universe". Despite the constant references to independence, as in TOWIE, none of the women seem to have heard of feminism. Beauty queen Debbie demonstrates her best "calendar moves" to her little sister, which mostly seem to involve sucking her finger while falling out of her nightie, while Layla begs Joe for commitment – "I blew up the airbed for you, didn't I?" he demands, astonished.
These girls are all from the Elsie Tanner school of life – brassy, ballsy, with hearts like popped balloons, giving their all to snare men who'd rather be on a football pitch with their mates. And despite appearances, there's a youthful sweetness about them all.
But I worry for Desperate Scousewives. It could be too much, too late. The TOWIE cast have become the real celebrities they once aped; we've seen one too many door answered with the words "You'd better come in – we need to talk. We're running out of patience with nightclubs that don't play music. Somehow all the brash self-promotion, the claims of "I'm Barbie meets Christina Aguilera in her heyday" (there was a heyday?); the nightclub scenes where feisty blondes with towering beehives throw champagne over blinking club promoters; the fierce pursuit of looks, fame and cash by way of boutiques and dancefloors that make downtown Vegas seem a bit muted… It's all beginning to feel depressingly familiar. Like a crazy, ageing mate who used to be fun, but who can't accept that everyone else has changed.
But perhaps the Scousewives (and their scusbands) will breathe new, peach-scented life into the format. There's a blogger, a model, "Abby Clancy's cousin", and a psychology student – who should be having a field day. All of them appear to be constructed from offcuts of My Big Fat Gypsy wedding and the Muppets. And it's more than possible that they're about to become our new obsession. Toto, I don't think we're in Widnes any more.
E4's new structured reality show has a sparky cast that live up to every stereotype – but can it be as good as its name?
Structured reality television is a wonderful thing. It's introduced us to the concept of the vajazzle, and reminded us that posh people can hurt too, between jewellery launches. But The Only Way Is Essex and Made In Chelsea may now find themselves with some competition, thanks to E4's upcoming Desperate Scousewives.
Despite sounding very much like a title in search of a format, the new show promises potential televisual greatness, thanks to its cast of participants, all presumably reared playing with giant hair-rollers and sleeping under cot blankets of woven hair extensions. It's a show constructed from everything the stereotypes bring to mind when you close your eyes and whisper "There's no place like Liverpool": Shiny stilettos, crystal-tipped nails, chiffon baby-doll dresses, slash-necked T shirts, and the "cheeky Scouse wit" pioneered by Joey in Bread.
It's every Scouse cliche you can imagine, as the girls compete to make Ladies' Day at Aintree look like an Amish barn-raising, and the boys tussle over who can dress the most "boss" and be the most cheeky (probably DJ Danny, who claims "my most distinguishing feature is my immaturity"). But while it's easy to play TOWIE snap – Mark and Chris are Amy and Harry, Danny is Arg, "player" Joe McMahon is Mark Wright, while his on-off girlfriend Layla is Lauren Goodger with excess attitude – do we really have the energy for a series showcasing yet more living cartoons?
I believe we do. The first episode is introduced by Jodie, makeup artist extraordinaire, who's just arrived back from London, because "Liverpool is the centre of the universe". Despite the constant references to independence, as in TOWIE, none of the women seem to have heard of feminism. Beauty queen Debbie demonstrates her best "calendar moves" to her little sister, which mostly seem to involve sucking her finger while falling out of her nightie, while Layla begs Joe for commitment – "I blew up the airbed for you, didn't I?" he demands, astonished.
These girls are all from the Elsie Tanner school of life – brassy, ballsy, with hearts like popped balloons, giving their all to snare men who'd rather be on a football pitch with their mates. And despite appearances, there's a youthful sweetness about them all.
But I worry for Desperate Scousewives. It could be too much, too late. The TOWIE cast have become the real celebrities they once aped; we've seen one too many door answered with the words "You'd better come in – we need to talk. We're running out of patience with nightclubs that don't play music. Somehow all the brash self-promotion, the claims of "I'm Barbie meets Christina Aguilera in her heyday" (there was a heyday?); the nightclub scenes where feisty blondes with towering beehives throw champagne over blinking club promoters; the fierce pursuit of looks, fame and cash by way of boutiques and dancefloors that make downtown Vegas seem a bit muted… It's all beginning to feel depressingly familiar. Like a crazy, ageing mate who used to be fun, but who can't accept that everyone else has changed.
But perhaps the Scousewives (and their scusbands) will breathe new, peach-scented life into the format. There's a blogger, a model, "Abby Clancy's cousin", and a psychology student – who should be having a field day. All of them appear to be constructed from offcuts of My Big Fat Gypsy wedding and the Muppets. And it's more than possible that they're about to become our new obsession. Toto, I don't think we're in Widnes any more.
TV Takes a Close Look at a Marijuana Haven, Just Before the Law Does
TV Takes a Close Look at a Marijuana Haven, Just Before the Law Does
Orange County and Beverly Hills have “The Real Housewives.” The San Francisco Giants had “The Franchise” on Showtime last summer.
The Bay Citizen
A nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization providing local coverage of the San Francisco Bay Area for The New York Times. To join the conversation about this article, go to baycitizen.org.
Related
Now, Oakland is getting ready for a reality television close-up. Naturally, it is a show about marijuana.
The Discovery Channel will broadcast the first episode of “Weed Wars” on Thursday. The four-part series offers an inside look at the medical marijuana business at Harborside Health Center in Oakland, the largest dispensary on the West Coast. The show stars the colorful crew that runs the dispensary: Steve DeAngelo, the silver-pigtailed co-founder and executive director; Luigi Zamarra, the nervous accountant; and Dave Wedding Dress, the bearded, dress-wearing co-founder, among others.
The day-to-day routine, it turns out, is a mix of the achingly mundane and the risky. In one episode, as Terryn, a Harborside “bud tender,” frets about aphids killing his plants, Mr. DeAngelo stares into the camera lens and says, “At any moment federal agents could break through these doors and lock me up for the rest of my life.” In fact, the Justice Department announced a big crackdown on medical marijuana dispensaries across California soon after the series finished its scheduled shooting, though Harborside remains open.
“Weed Wars” is not the first marijuana reality show. It is not even the first featuring Oakland. That honor goes to “I’m in the Marijuana Business,” an episode of the MTV “True Life” series that was broadcast last summer. While “Weed Wars” is straightforward, “True Life” was more typical reality TV fare, with a cast of volatile individuals prone to fighting, crying and flashing money.
MTV followed a friendly 20-something named Chris who moved to Oakland to pursue his lifelong dream of growing marijuana. But “he’s been afraid to tell his family for fear they’ll disown him,” the announcer intones dramatically. It also features a Colorado hippie couple, Gemma and Pa, as they struggle to make marijuana bars in between stoner ruminations and screaming matches.
Mr. DeAngelo wanted to avoid this type of portrayal. He said that before the Discovery Channel offer, he turned down 10 other companies because “I could tell they had some sort of agenda.”
“We have been stereotyped as slackers, profiteers and criminals,” Mr. DeAngelo said. “With this show, they will see that we are decent people who are providing medicine for patients in a responsible way.”
The first episode of “Weed Wars” centers on a tax-bill fight between Harborside and Oakland’s Business Tax Board of Review (in what is undoubtedly the television debut for the solemn and obscure entity).
To cope with the stress of the ordeal, Mr. DeAngelo turns to his own form of relief. The camera cuts to a darkened room. “I don’t want to forget how to relax, and cannabis really helps me remember how to relax,” said Mr. DeAngelo as he lovingly inhaled.
At another point, Mr. DeAngelo, who has a medical marijuana card, rips into a marijuana-laced piece of gingerbread to calm his nerves as he drives across the Bay Bridge to a speaking engagement. It does not take effect for 45 minutes, he tells the camera in an effort to explain that he is not driving while high.
Although Discovery could not know it at the time, the dispensary’s skirmish with the tax board was a precursor to much more serious weed wars. Soon after the crew turned off its cameras, Harborside was hit with a $2.5 million bill from the Internal Revenue Service. The Department of Justice crackdown on California dispensaries came the following week.
In an interview this week, Mr. DeAngelo acknowledged that when he opened his doors to the cameras last year, the legal climate was decidedly sunnier. The Obama administration had indicated that it would not go after medical marijuana dispensaries.
“I wasn’t expecting to find us in the middle of a huge reversal of federal policy when we made this,” Mr. DeAngelo said.
Indeed, after the announcement from the United States attorneys, the Discovery crew returned to collect more video. When asked if it added more drama to the show, Mr. DeAngelo deadpanned, “Just a touch.”
Some people in the medical marijuana industry were alarmed by Mr. DeAngelo’s decision to open up his operation to the cameras.
“I think they’re absolutely nuts,” said William Panzer, a criminal lawyer who represents medical marijuana dispensaries in the Bay Area. “I think they risk getting shut down. They risk getting raided.”
The Discovery producers, however, seem careful with the dispensary’s image.
“With this show in particular, because there’s a lot on the line for Steve and his business, we wanted to make sure we were getting it right,” said Nancy Daniels, executive vice president of production and development at Discovery.
Mr. DeAngelo is hoping for the best. “There’s no question in my mind that the show will help the movement,” he said, though the dispensary still faces some harsh realities. “Whether or not it is going to protect Harborside from the wrath of the federal government, I don’t know.”
Orange County and Beverly Hills have “The Real Housewives.” The San Francisco Giants had “The Franchise” on Showtime last summer.
The Bay Citizen
A nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization providing local coverage of the San Francisco Bay Area for The New York Times. To join the conversation about this article, go to baycitizen.org.
Related
Now, Oakland is getting ready for a reality television close-up. Naturally, it is a show about marijuana.
The Discovery Channel will broadcast the first episode of “Weed Wars” on Thursday. The four-part series offers an inside look at the medical marijuana business at Harborside Health Center in Oakland, the largest dispensary on the West Coast. The show stars the colorful crew that runs the dispensary: Steve DeAngelo, the silver-pigtailed co-founder and executive director; Luigi Zamarra, the nervous accountant; and Dave Wedding Dress, the bearded, dress-wearing co-founder, among others.
The day-to-day routine, it turns out, is a mix of the achingly mundane and the risky. In one episode, as Terryn, a Harborside “bud tender,” frets about aphids killing his plants, Mr. DeAngelo stares into the camera lens and says, “At any moment federal agents could break through these doors and lock me up for the rest of my life.” In fact, the Justice Department announced a big crackdown on medical marijuana dispensaries across California soon after the series finished its scheduled shooting, though Harborside remains open.
“Weed Wars” is not the first marijuana reality show. It is not even the first featuring Oakland. That honor goes to “I’m in the Marijuana Business,” an episode of the MTV “True Life” series that was broadcast last summer. While “Weed Wars” is straightforward, “True Life” was more typical reality TV fare, with a cast of volatile individuals prone to fighting, crying and flashing money.
MTV followed a friendly 20-something named Chris who moved to Oakland to pursue his lifelong dream of growing marijuana. But “he’s been afraid to tell his family for fear they’ll disown him,” the announcer intones dramatically. It also features a Colorado hippie couple, Gemma and Pa, as they struggle to make marijuana bars in between stoner ruminations and screaming matches.
Mr. DeAngelo wanted to avoid this type of portrayal. He said that before the Discovery Channel offer, he turned down 10 other companies because “I could tell they had some sort of agenda.”
“We have been stereotyped as slackers, profiteers and criminals,” Mr. DeAngelo said. “With this show, they will see that we are decent people who are providing medicine for patients in a responsible way.”
The first episode of “Weed Wars” centers on a tax-bill fight between Harborside and Oakland’s Business Tax Board of Review (in what is undoubtedly the television debut for the solemn and obscure entity).
To cope with the stress of the ordeal, Mr. DeAngelo turns to his own form of relief. The camera cuts to a darkened room. “I don’t want to forget how to relax, and cannabis really helps me remember how to relax,” said Mr. DeAngelo as he lovingly inhaled.
At another point, Mr. DeAngelo, who has a medical marijuana card, rips into a marijuana-laced piece of gingerbread to calm his nerves as he drives across the Bay Bridge to a speaking engagement. It does not take effect for 45 minutes, he tells the camera in an effort to explain that he is not driving while high.
Although Discovery could not know it at the time, the dispensary’s skirmish with the tax board was a precursor to much more serious weed wars. Soon after the crew turned off its cameras, Harborside was hit with a $2.5 million bill from the Internal Revenue Service. The Department of Justice crackdown on California dispensaries came the following week.
In an interview this week, Mr. DeAngelo acknowledged that when he opened his doors to the cameras last year, the legal climate was decidedly sunnier. The Obama administration had indicated that it would not go after medical marijuana dispensaries.
“I wasn’t expecting to find us in the middle of a huge reversal of federal policy when we made this,” Mr. DeAngelo said.
Indeed, after the announcement from the United States attorneys, the Discovery crew returned to collect more video. When asked if it added more drama to the show, Mr. DeAngelo deadpanned, “Just a touch.”
Some people in the medical marijuana industry were alarmed by Mr. DeAngelo’s decision to open up his operation to the cameras.
“I think they’re absolutely nuts,” said William Panzer, a criminal lawyer who represents medical marijuana dispensaries in the Bay Area. “I think they risk getting shut down. They risk getting raided.”
The Discovery producers, however, seem careful with the dispensary’s image.
“With this show in particular, because there’s a lot on the line for Steve and his business, we wanted to make sure we were getting it right,” said Nancy Daniels, executive vice president of production and development at Discovery.
Mr. DeAngelo is hoping for the best. “There’s no question in my mind that the show will help the movement,” he said, though the dispensary still faces some harsh realities. “Whether or not it is going to protect Harborside from the wrath of the federal government, I don’t know.”
Naked Truth: New Sitcoms Are Reruns
Naked Truth: New Sitcoms Are Reruns
THE other night while I was watching television, Zooey Deschanel said “penis,” and I didn’t laugh. I didn’t even chuckle.
Since sitcom writers seem intent on recycling old jokes, why not have some fun with the concept? Give us your best scenes that combine two different sitcoms, current or past. Feel free to write dialogue or throw in a pratfall, but keep it short.
“Doesn’t this guy read the papers?” you’re thinking. “Doesn’t he know that everyone is calling this a comeback season for the sitcom and that Ms. Deschanel’s show is one of the most popular around? Dude’s not right in the head.”
I thought so too, for a while. But I came to realize that I’m not the problem. The problem is that we’ve reached the End of Comedy.
First, let me emphasize that it’s not just Ms. Deschanel, who strives for cute but often achieves insufferable on her new sitcom, “New Girl” (Fox). I haven’t been amused by any sitcoms that hit the air this fall, although millions of Americans seem to tolerate them. “New Girl” and “2 Broke Girls” (CBS) are in the Top 20 in the ratings category that matters most to advertisers, ages 18 to 49. So is “Two and a Half Men” (CBS), an established sitcom that might as well be new because it underwent a radical cast change over the summer. “Whitney,” another aren’t-I-cute gal show starring Whitney Cummings, has been given a full-season extension on NBC, as have the awful “Suburgatory” and “Last Man Standing” on ABC and others.
Yes, people are apparently watching these shows. But I have a hard time believing that many are laughing at them, or at least many in my age bracket, which is the one just after the aforementioned 18-to-49s.
I don’t think my disenchantment is a result of graduating to cranky-old-man status. Heck, I was cranky when I was 25, but I still laughed at “M*A*S*H.” No, it’s definitely the End of Comedy. As with Francis Fukuyama’s much-discussed essay “The End of History,” that doesn’t mean there will be no more small-screen humor. It means that television comedy has ceased evolving.
Certainly no series introduced this fall is breaking new ground. Ms. Deschanel’s show — her character moves in with three guys — is a role-reversed “Three’s Company.” “Up All Night” on NBC, with Christina Applegate and Will Arnett, is working new-parent territory explored 60 years ago by “I Love Lucy.” On “Last Man Standing,” Tim Allen is basically doing a Tim Allen impersonation, trying (unsuccessfully) to conjure the magic of his earlier show, “Home Improvement.”
So it’s not that the new series are going places I’m not willing to follow; it’s that they are going places I’ve already been. After an exhaustive study that consisted of watching several new shows and several old ones, I have concluded that all television jokes going back to those first flickering black-and-white images fall into one of five categories. All those categories have been worked so heavily and so well in the past that comedic time has shrunk and comedic tone has degenerated; shows don’t want to risk building their humor slowly or subtly because they’re afraid audiences have already seen too many dumb-dad or balky-toaster bits and will grow impatient.
Anyway, herewith this cranky man’s five categories, comparing now versus then:
1. GUESS WHAT? WE HAVE GENITALS Nothing has been more prevalent on new sitcoms this fall than the organs and bodily functions centered just below the navel but above the knees. Ashton Kutcher made sure he made an impression in his “Two and a Half Men” debut by strolling around naked. Kat Dennings tossed off a “vagina” a minute into the first episode of “2 Broke Girls.” A few weeks ago on “New Girl,” Ms. Deschanel’s character accidentally saw one of her roommates naked and couldn’t shut up about it, or It.
Much of this barrage, though, has felt ham-handed, a clumsy celebration of the fact that the censors who used to keep words like “vagina” and “penis” out of prime time have apparently all died. We can say this, therefore we’re going to say it over and over.
But there have always been genital references on television; it’s just that the people making them in the past (besides needing to please those censors) knew that subtle is funnier than brazen.
Consider “The Contest,” the legendary 1992 episode of “Seinfeld.” It involves a bet between the four main characters as to who can go the longest without masturbating. It is startling in its fearlessness, even today. And, most notably, it never uses the word “masturbation.” That’s part of its brilliance.
Contrast that with the naked-roommate episode of “New Girl.” It is all about the character Nick’s penis, which Ms. Deschanel’s character, Jess, has accidentally seen. The word “penis” is spoken (or, in one case, sung) nine times, and that’s not including a batch of near-penises as Jess struggles to say the word. (Eventually, of course, she does.) It’s all done with an episode-long smirk, the very smirk I affected back in junior high when using what I thought would be an attention-getting word. And I might have found “New Girl” funny when I was in junior high. The thing is, I’ve graduated. Sorry, New Girl; no laugh for you.
2. TECHNOLOGY EXISTS TO MAKE US LOOK STUPID Man-against-machine humor goes back a long way, perhaps most famously to two women: Lucy and Ethel trying to keep up with that candy conveyor belt in 1952. When this genre was young, you could make a satisfying extended joke out of characters’ inability to master technology. Take Episode 4, Season 1, of “Gilligan’s Island.”
A plane is due to pass over, and the castaways might be able to contact it if the Skipper, a sleepwalker, can doze off and relive a moment during World War II when he turned a radio into a transmitter. The episode is spent tranquilizing and hypnotizing him, building to a classic Gilligan sight gag. After everyone else goes off to bed frustrated, Gilligan brings the transmitter to life just by pounding on it. He talks briefly to the pilot, then fetches the Skipper.
Enlarge This Image
A sortable calendar of noteworthy cultural events in the New York region, selected by Times critics.
The cast of “Gilligan's Island,” from left, Russell Johnson, Alan Hale Jr., Dawn Wells, Bob Denver (in red shirt), Tina Louise (in white dress), Jim Backus and Natalie Schafer.
Since sitcom writers seem intent on recycling old jokes, why not have some fun with the concept? Give us your best scenes that combine two different sitcoms, current or past. Feel free to write dialogue or throw in a pratfall, but keep it short.
“But how could you have fixed the radio?” the Skipper asks, to which Gilligan responds, “Oh, it was easy; all I did was hit it like this,” and he pounds on it again. The radio’s guts fall to the ground. Another potential rescue foiled.
These days, bad cellphone reception and frozen computers are so common that any joke in this sphere just seems tired. But shows keep revisiting the subject anyway. “Last Man Standing,” Mr. Allen’s retro-man new sitcom, likes to do this, but only for easy quickies. In the premiere, his wife mentions their daughter’s vlog. “Vlog?” Mr. Allen’s character says. “Is that slang for something bad?” And then he turns the word into — wait for it — a penis joke.
3. PARENTS+KIDS=WAR Sitcoms built around a family may have a veneer of love, but that is covering a warmongering heart. This war, though, is rarely fought with guns; it’s psychological.
And it’s as old as “Cleaning Up Beaver,” Episode 21 of Season 1 of “Leave It to Beaver,” first broadcast in 1958.
June is lamenting the Beaver’s messiness. Ward suggests applying psychological pressure by praising the cleanliness of the Beav’s older brother, Wally. “It works down at the office,” he tells June. “Every time we have a sales meeting, we praise the fellows who have gone over their quotas. Then the guys who have been kind of dragging along get the idea.”
The entire episode is built on this chess match, the Beaver reacting to his enemy’s manipulation in ways that turn the parents against each other. Classic divide-and-conquer, expertly unspooled over 25 minutes 48 seconds.
Move ahead to the October premiere of “Reed Between the Lines,” a plodding family sitcom on BET. Carla, the mother and actually a psychologist, is trying the same sort of mind games on her daughter Kaci, hoping to trick her into revealing details about a boy she likes. The kid lets the mom go on for 15 seconds, then says, “You’re using reverse psychology on me like I’m one of your patients.”
What in 1958 occupied 25 minutes is now condensed into 15 seconds. Television’s parent-child war, once full of intricate battle plans and troop movements, has degenerated into a snarky guerrilla contest made of quick, largely mirthless strikes.
4: EEK, A BABY Before you even ask, no, babies do not fit under Category 3 because they are not fully formed people in a television sense; they can’t memorize lines or demand their own trailers. But they’ve been a constant source of humor since television was invented. The latest befuddled new parents are Chris and Reagan on “Up All Night.”
The Nov. 16 episode opens just as Chris has finished feeding the child. His shirt has a blob of baby food on it, and he’s angry. “Oh, honey, she’s just a baby,” Reagan says. Chris barks: “Yeah, that’s what she wants you to think. Why don’t you ask her what happened with the sweet potatoes?” And he storms out. Funny? Maybe a little.
Back in 1996, the “Third Rock From the Sun” episode “My Mother the Alien” also had a spitting baby, one that was being fed by Tommy and Harry, the space alien brothers. But this scene didn’t give up so easily. The baby spits at them awhile, then the camera angle shifts, so that the camera becomes the baby’s point of view. The baby spits some more, until finally Harry takes a mouthful of something and spits it on the baby — that is, onto the camera lens. Funny? Very. The difference? Taking the time to find the unexpected perspective, something the new comedies rarely do.
5: CLODS IN THE WORKPLACE This category has assorted subsections: The Boss Is the Dumbest Person in the Building, for instance. Since this is a season of shows created by and about women, we’ll here look at one in particular: Men Don’t Get It.
In the “2 Broke Girls” pilot, just before she says “vagina,” Ms. Dennings, who plays a diner waitress, smacks down the cook by saying: “Hey, when you get a second? Stop looking at my boobs.” Sure, it was a throwaway line, and even a little amusing, but the shorthand it represents is dismaying somehow. The male-female workplace dynamic has been so thoroughly strip-mined that all you have to do these days is make a passing reference to it.
Things were different in 1972, when “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” began Season 3 with Mary’s discovery that the man who held her job before her was paid substantially more than she gets.
In a wonderfully drawn scene, she haltingly tries to confront her boss (Ed Asner’s Lou Grant) about this, stuttering, stammering, and then finally getting it out: “I would like to know why the last associate producer before me made $50 a week more than I do.” Lou barely registers the question. “Oh, because he was a man,” he says matter-of-factly.
And the scene goes on, saying a lot by contrasting his cluelessness with her budding indignation. Because of the strip-mining, today’s series don’t have that luxury of time. They have only the quick jab, and the payoff isn’t nearly as rich.
If sitcoms are merely rehashing the same five categories of jokes, they’re also just shuffling the same handful of situations. Family with precocious kids. Workplace full of kooks. The young and hip being young and hip. You might think that the been-there-done-that thing isn’t an issue for viewers in a younger demographic, but thanks to Nick at Nite and such, it is; they too have seen all those shows we cranky geezers grew up on.
And so here at the End of Comedy, there’s nothing left to do but embrace a recycling ethic: shuffle the various well-established pieces around and hope someone chuckles. Have the “Odd Couple” guys baby-sit the “Modern Family” youngsters. Put Archie Bunker on a plane next to Corporal Klinger. No new shows need to be filmed; just open up the archives and let people create their own. Mash-Up TV. Sounds like the future.
THE other night while I was watching television, Zooey Deschanel said “penis,” and I didn’t laugh. I didn’t even chuckle.
Since sitcom writers seem intent on recycling old jokes, why not have some fun with the concept? Give us your best scenes that combine two different sitcoms, current or past. Feel free to write dialogue or throw in a pratfall, but keep it short.
“Doesn’t this guy read the papers?” you’re thinking. “Doesn’t he know that everyone is calling this a comeback season for the sitcom and that Ms. Deschanel’s show is one of the most popular around? Dude’s not right in the head.”
I thought so too, for a while. But I came to realize that I’m not the problem. The problem is that we’ve reached the End of Comedy.
First, let me emphasize that it’s not just Ms. Deschanel, who strives for cute but often achieves insufferable on her new sitcom, “New Girl” (Fox). I haven’t been amused by any sitcoms that hit the air this fall, although millions of Americans seem to tolerate them. “New Girl” and “2 Broke Girls” (CBS) are in the Top 20 in the ratings category that matters most to advertisers, ages 18 to 49. So is “Two and a Half Men” (CBS), an established sitcom that might as well be new because it underwent a radical cast change over the summer. “Whitney,” another aren’t-I-cute gal show starring Whitney Cummings, has been given a full-season extension on NBC, as have the awful “Suburgatory” and “Last Man Standing” on ABC and others.
Yes, people are apparently watching these shows. But I have a hard time believing that many are laughing at them, or at least many in my age bracket, which is the one just after the aforementioned 18-to-49s.
I don’t think my disenchantment is a result of graduating to cranky-old-man status. Heck, I was cranky when I was 25, but I still laughed at “M*A*S*H.” No, it’s definitely the End of Comedy. As with Francis Fukuyama’s much-discussed essay “The End of History,” that doesn’t mean there will be no more small-screen humor. It means that television comedy has ceased evolving.
Certainly no series introduced this fall is breaking new ground. Ms. Deschanel’s show — her character moves in with three guys — is a role-reversed “Three’s Company.” “Up All Night” on NBC, with Christina Applegate and Will Arnett, is working new-parent territory explored 60 years ago by “I Love Lucy.” On “Last Man Standing,” Tim Allen is basically doing a Tim Allen impersonation, trying (unsuccessfully) to conjure the magic of his earlier show, “Home Improvement.”
So it’s not that the new series are going places I’m not willing to follow; it’s that they are going places I’ve already been. After an exhaustive study that consisted of watching several new shows and several old ones, I have concluded that all television jokes going back to those first flickering black-and-white images fall into one of five categories. All those categories have been worked so heavily and so well in the past that comedic time has shrunk and comedic tone has degenerated; shows don’t want to risk building their humor slowly or subtly because they’re afraid audiences have already seen too many dumb-dad or balky-toaster bits and will grow impatient.
Anyway, herewith this cranky man’s five categories, comparing now versus then:
1. GUESS WHAT? WE HAVE GENITALS Nothing has been more prevalent on new sitcoms this fall than the organs and bodily functions centered just below the navel but above the knees. Ashton Kutcher made sure he made an impression in his “Two and a Half Men” debut by strolling around naked. Kat Dennings tossed off a “vagina” a minute into the first episode of “2 Broke Girls.” A few weeks ago on “New Girl,” Ms. Deschanel’s character accidentally saw one of her roommates naked and couldn’t shut up about it, or It.
Much of this barrage, though, has felt ham-handed, a clumsy celebration of the fact that the censors who used to keep words like “vagina” and “penis” out of prime time have apparently all died. We can say this, therefore we’re going to say it over and over.
But there have always been genital references on television; it’s just that the people making them in the past (besides needing to please those censors) knew that subtle is funnier than brazen.
Consider “The Contest,” the legendary 1992 episode of “Seinfeld.” It involves a bet between the four main characters as to who can go the longest without masturbating. It is startling in its fearlessness, even today. And, most notably, it never uses the word “masturbation.” That’s part of its brilliance.
Contrast that with the naked-roommate episode of “New Girl.” It is all about the character Nick’s penis, which Ms. Deschanel’s character, Jess, has accidentally seen. The word “penis” is spoken (or, in one case, sung) nine times, and that’s not including a batch of near-penises as Jess struggles to say the word. (Eventually, of course, she does.) It’s all done with an episode-long smirk, the very smirk I affected back in junior high when using what I thought would be an attention-getting word. And I might have found “New Girl” funny when I was in junior high. The thing is, I’ve graduated. Sorry, New Girl; no laugh for you.
2. TECHNOLOGY EXISTS TO MAKE US LOOK STUPID Man-against-machine humor goes back a long way, perhaps most famously to two women: Lucy and Ethel trying to keep up with that candy conveyor belt in 1952. When this genre was young, you could make a satisfying extended joke out of characters’ inability to master technology. Take Episode 4, Season 1, of “Gilligan’s Island.”
A plane is due to pass over, and the castaways might be able to contact it if the Skipper, a sleepwalker, can doze off and relive a moment during World War II when he turned a radio into a transmitter. The episode is spent tranquilizing and hypnotizing him, building to a classic Gilligan sight gag. After everyone else goes off to bed frustrated, Gilligan brings the transmitter to life just by pounding on it. He talks briefly to the pilot, then fetches the Skipper.
Enlarge This Image
A sortable calendar of noteworthy cultural events in the New York region, selected by Times critics.
The cast of “Gilligan's Island,” from left, Russell Johnson, Alan Hale Jr., Dawn Wells, Bob Denver (in red shirt), Tina Louise (in white dress), Jim Backus and Natalie Schafer.
Since sitcom writers seem intent on recycling old jokes, why not have some fun with the concept? Give us your best scenes that combine two different sitcoms, current or past. Feel free to write dialogue or throw in a pratfall, but keep it short.
“But how could you have fixed the radio?” the Skipper asks, to which Gilligan responds, “Oh, it was easy; all I did was hit it like this,” and he pounds on it again. The radio’s guts fall to the ground. Another potential rescue foiled.
These days, bad cellphone reception and frozen computers are so common that any joke in this sphere just seems tired. But shows keep revisiting the subject anyway. “Last Man Standing,” Mr. Allen’s retro-man new sitcom, likes to do this, but only for easy quickies. In the premiere, his wife mentions their daughter’s vlog. “Vlog?” Mr. Allen’s character says. “Is that slang for something bad?” And then he turns the word into — wait for it — a penis joke.
3. PARENTS+KIDS=WAR Sitcoms built around a family may have a veneer of love, but that is covering a warmongering heart. This war, though, is rarely fought with guns; it’s psychological.
And it’s as old as “Cleaning Up Beaver,” Episode 21 of Season 1 of “Leave It to Beaver,” first broadcast in 1958.
June is lamenting the Beaver’s messiness. Ward suggests applying psychological pressure by praising the cleanliness of the Beav’s older brother, Wally. “It works down at the office,” he tells June. “Every time we have a sales meeting, we praise the fellows who have gone over their quotas. Then the guys who have been kind of dragging along get the idea.”
The entire episode is built on this chess match, the Beaver reacting to his enemy’s manipulation in ways that turn the parents against each other. Classic divide-and-conquer, expertly unspooled over 25 minutes 48 seconds.
Move ahead to the October premiere of “Reed Between the Lines,” a plodding family sitcom on BET. Carla, the mother and actually a psychologist, is trying the same sort of mind games on her daughter Kaci, hoping to trick her into revealing details about a boy she likes. The kid lets the mom go on for 15 seconds, then says, “You’re using reverse psychology on me like I’m one of your patients.”
What in 1958 occupied 25 minutes is now condensed into 15 seconds. Television’s parent-child war, once full of intricate battle plans and troop movements, has degenerated into a snarky guerrilla contest made of quick, largely mirthless strikes.
4: EEK, A BABY Before you even ask, no, babies do not fit under Category 3 because they are not fully formed people in a television sense; they can’t memorize lines or demand their own trailers. But they’ve been a constant source of humor since television was invented. The latest befuddled new parents are Chris and Reagan on “Up All Night.”
The Nov. 16 episode opens just as Chris has finished feeding the child. His shirt has a blob of baby food on it, and he’s angry. “Oh, honey, she’s just a baby,” Reagan says. Chris barks: “Yeah, that’s what she wants you to think. Why don’t you ask her what happened with the sweet potatoes?” And he storms out. Funny? Maybe a little.
Back in 1996, the “Third Rock From the Sun” episode “My Mother the Alien” also had a spitting baby, one that was being fed by Tommy and Harry, the space alien brothers. But this scene didn’t give up so easily. The baby spits at them awhile, then the camera angle shifts, so that the camera becomes the baby’s point of view. The baby spits some more, until finally Harry takes a mouthful of something and spits it on the baby — that is, onto the camera lens. Funny? Very. The difference? Taking the time to find the unexpected perspective, something the new comedies rarely do.
5: CLODS IN THE WORKPLACE This category has assorted subsections: The Boss Is the Dumbest Person in the Building, for instance. Since this is a season of shows created by and about women, we’ll here look at one in particular: Men Don’t Get It.
In the “2 Broke Girls” pilot, just before she says “vagina,” Ms. Dennings, who plays a diner waitress, smacks down the cook by saying: “Hey, when you get a second? Stop looking at my boobs.” Sure, it was a throwaway line, and even a little amusing, but the shorthand it represents is dismaying somehow. The male-female workplace dynamic has been so thoroughly strip-mined that all you have to do these days is make a passing reference to it.
Things were different in 1972, when “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” began Season 3 with Mary’s discovery that the man who held her job before her was paid substantially more than she gets.
In a wonderfully drawn scene, she haltingly tries to confront her boss (Ed Asner’s Lou Grant) about this, stuttering, stammering, and then finally getting it out: “I would like to know why the last associate producer before me made $50 a week more than I do.” Lou barely registers the question. “Oh, because he was a man,” he says matter-of-factly.
And the scene goes on, saying a lot by contrasting his cluelessness with her budding indignation. Because of the strip-mining, today’s series don’t have that luxury of time. They have only the quick jab, and the payoff isn’t nearly as rich.
If sitcoms are merely rehashing the same five categories of jokes, they’re also just shuffling the same handful of situations. Family with precocious kids. Workplace full of kooks. The young and hip being young and hip. You might think that the been-there-done-that thing isn’t an issue for viewers in a younger demographic, but thanks to Nick at Nite and such, it is; they too have seen all those shows we cranky geezers grew up on.
And so here at the End of Comedy, there’s nothing left to do but embrace a recycling ethic: shuffle the various well-established pieces around and hope someone chuckles. Have the “Odd Couple” guys baby-sit the “Modern Family” youngsters. Put Archie Bunker on a plane next to Corporal Klinger. No new shows need to be filmed; just open up the archives and let people create their own. Mash-Up TV. Sounds like the future.
Walking Dead's Sarah Wayne Callies: Lori's Afraid Rick and Shane Might Kill Each Other
Walking Dead's Sarah Wayne Callies: Lori's Afraid Rick and Shane Might Kill Each Other
The secret is out!
In last week's episode of The Walking Dead, Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies) finally came clean to Rick (Andrew Lincoln), not just about being pregnant, but also that she had had an affair with his best friend Shane (Jon Bernthal). (To be fair, they both thought Rick was dead.)
The Walking Dead Boss: Shane's living on borrowed time -- but hasn't worn out his welcome yet
Now, Lori and Rick will face a challenge more treacherous than ravenous zombies: saving their marriage, a task complicated by Lori's pregnancy. Is it Rick or Shane's kid? TVGuide.com chatted with Callies to get her take on the venomous threesome.
Now that Rick knows about the affair, how will that change things between them?
Sarah Wayne Callies: Andy and I have been playing with the idea for a while that Rick has known for a long time and it was a test of whether or not Lori would be honest with him and when and why. It actually opens the door for things to begin to heal for them. He deeply needed to hear her say that she thought he was gone. She wasn't secretly burning a candle for Shane for the last eight years of their marriage.
You say he needed to hear that, but do you think that's the truth? Lori doesn't have any feelings for Shane?
Callies: I don't think Shane ever crossed Lori's mind as anything other than a dear friend until she was in his arms the night that Atlanta fell. There's something about memory that's really tricky, that when you go back to an event in your mind, it can actually change. Lori's having a much harder time putting it out of her mind and putting Shane out of her mind than she ever would've anticipated, given that it was really just a purely physical thing at its inception.
Walking Dead's Robert Kirkman: Lori's surprising results are only the beginning
How will Shane react to the pregnancy? Will he assume it's his?
Callies: That's her biggest fear right now, because there's no way to be sure whose baby it is, unless it turns out that she's two months pregnant and it happened before Rick was shot. But at this point, there's no timeline, so she's really afraid. Quite frankly, one of the reasons that she considered terminating the pregnancy is because it has the ability to tear these men apart, and that has huge implications not just to her personal life, but to everyone's safety. There's a part of her that's afraid they might kill each other. This is the kind of thing men kill each other over.
What will Shane do to cement himself in Lori's life?
Callies: For a while now, Shane has been trying to protect her and Carl (Chandler Riggs), and has been doing that from a distance and trying to take Rick's place. He's posturing. I'm thinking of the Planet Earth films, where the men of a species are trying to demonstrate to the females that they're bigger, stronger and better. Shane has a new level of investment in Lori's safety, if he does believe it's his child that she's carrying, and that means Rick's protection of Lori has to be that much more complete. It all gets very futile. At a certain point, this culture has devolved into a place where, as a woman, maybe you have to decide who you're with based on who can keep your child alive, rather than who's the best communicator, or who makes the best spaghetti Bolognese.
The Walking Dead: Can the survivors coexist with the family at Hershel's farm?
The Walking Dead's community has regressed to caveman-like conditions. Who can build fire? Who can protect you? That's who you should be with.
Callies: That's exactly right. We talked a lot in the first season about a certain Camelot prospective. You have three people who really do love each other equally. The longer we go on, the more it feels medieval, where there are moments where Lori looks at these guys and goes, "Jesus Christ, if I'm not careful, one of you is actually going to throw me over your shoulder and ride off on a horse with me." [Laughs] It's kind of amazing, especially coming from a woman who six weeks ago was driving a station wagon and shopping at Walmart.
Will Rick use Lori's pregnancy as a card to play to be able to stay on the farm?
Callies: The effect it has on him is more about the need to stay, not just because there's safety, but the need to stay close to the only person who practices medicine, veterinarian or no, and the need to make things right with Hershel (Scott Wilson) and the need to be able to make a home there. The pregnancy heightens all of that because Lori is not going to be able to run forever. There's a time bomb growing in her.
The Walking Dead's Laurie Holden: Andrea greatly admires Shane
How will the survivors deal with the barn in the midseason finale?
Callies: It speaks a lot to what we were discussing before about Rick and Shane. When people find out what's going on, there are very different perspectives on how we should proceed because there are different perspectives on what the true danger is. Is the true danger a bunch of walkers in the barn? Is the true danger Hershel throwing us off his farm? Could Hershel even do that? We outnumber them, we're armed, and who do we become if we make that kind of decision? Those become the questions that are raised with the barn and it deeply, deeply, deeply divides people. The whole thing blows sky-high.
The first half of the season is interesting because you have the illusion of safety for a minute, for a few episodes. You have people experiencing the problems you'd have when you're not necessarily running for your life every second. What the barn does is bring us back into a world where everybody realizes that we're not safe and we're not going to be safe. While it's the end of the first segment of the second season, the second half of the season has a very different character because of what the barn represents and how the situation is handled.
The Walking Dead's midseason finale airs Sunday at 9/8c on AMC.
The secret is out!
In last week's episode of The Walking Dead, Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies) finally came clean to Rick (Andrew Lincoln), not just about being pregnant, but also that she had had an affair with his best friend Shane (Jon Bernthal). (To be fair, they both thought Rick was dead.)
The Walking Dead Boss: Shane's living on borrowed time -- but hasn't worn out his welcome yet
Now, Lori and Rick will face a challenge more treacherous than ravenous zombies: saving their marriage, a task complicated by Lori's pregnancy. Is it Rick or Shane's kid? TVGuide.com chatted with Callies to get her take on the venomous threesome.
Now that Rick knows about the affair, how will that change things between them?
Sarah Wayne Callies: Andy and I have been playing with the idea for a while that Rick has known for a long time and it was a test of whether or not Lori would be honest with him and when and why. It actually opens the door for things to begin to heal for them. He deeply needed to hear her say that she thought he was gone. She wasn't secretly burning a candle for Shane for the last eight years of their marriage.
You say he needed to hear that, but do you think that's the truth? Lori doesn't have any feelings for Shane?
Callies: I don't think Shane ever crossed Lori's mind as anything other than a dear friend until she was in his arms the night that Atlanta fell. There's something about memory that's really tricky, that when you go back to an event in your mind, it can actually change. Lori's having a much harder time putting it out of her mind and putting Shane out of her mind than she ever would've anticipated, given that it was really just a purely physical thing at its inception.
Walking Dead's Robert Kirkman: Lori's surprising results are only the beginning
How will Shane react to the pregnancy? Will he assume it's his?
Callies: That's her biggest fear right now, because there's no way to be sure whose baby it is, unless it turns out that she's two months pregnant and it happened before Rick was shot. But at this point, there's no timeline, so she's really afraid. Quite frankly, one of the reasons that she considered terminating the pregnancy is because it has the ability to tear these men apart, and that has huge implications not just to her personal life, but to everyone's safety. There's a part of her that's afraid they might kill each other. This is the kind of thing men kill each other over.
What will Shane do to cement himself in Lori's life?
Callies: For a while now, Shane has been trying to protect her and Carl (Chandler Riggs), and has been doing that from a distance and trying to take Rick's place. He's posturing. I'm thinking of the Planet Earth films, where the men of a species are trying to demonstrate to the females that they're bigger, stronger and better. Shane has a new level of investment in Lori's safety, if he does believe it's his child that she's carrying, and that means Rick's protection of Lori has to be that much more complete. It all gets very futile. At a certain point, this culture has devolved into a place where, as a woman, maybe you have to decide who you're with based on who can keep your child alive, rather than who's the best communicator, or who makes the best spaghetti Bolognese.
The Walking Dead: Can the survivors coexist with the family at Hershel's farm?
The Walking Dead's community has regressed to caveman-like conditions. Who can build fire? Who can protect you? That's who you should be with.
Callies: That's exactly right. We talked a lot in the first season about a certain Camelot prospective. You have three people who really do love each other equally. The longer we go on, the more it feels medieval, where there are moments where Lori looks at these guys and goes, "Jesus Christ, if I'm not careful, one of you is actually going to throw me over your shoulder and ride off on a horse with me." [Laughs] It's kind of amazing, especially coming from a woman who six weeks ago was driving a station wagon and shopping at Walmart.
Will Rick use Lori's pregnancy as a card to play to be able to stay on the farm?
Callies: The effect it has on him is more about the need to stay, not just because there's safety, but the need to stay close to the only person who practices medicine, veterinarian or no, and the need to make things right with Hershel (Scott Wilson) and the need to be able to make a home there. The pregnancy heightens all of that because Lori is not going to be able to run forever. There's a time bomb growing in her.
The Walking Dead's Laurie Holden: Andrea greatly admires Shane
How will the survivors deal with the barn in the midseason finale?
Callies: It speaks a lot to what we were discussing before about Rick and Shane. When people find out what's going on, there are very different perspectives on how we should proceed because there are different perspectives on what the true danger is. Is the true danger a bunch of walkers in the barn? Is the true danger Hershel throwing us off his farm? Could Hershel even do that? We outnumber them, we're armed, and who do we become if we make that kind of decision? Those become the questions that are raised with the barn and it deeply, deeply, deeply divides people. The whole thing blows sky-high.
The first half of the season is interesting because you have the illusion of safety for a minute, for a few episodes. You have people experiencing the problems you'd have when you're not necessarily running for your life every second. What the barn does is bring us back into a world where everybody realizes that we're not safe and we're not going to be safe. While it's the end of the first segment of the second season, the second half of the season has a very different character because of what the barn represents and how the situation is handled.
The Walking Dead's midseason finale airs Sunday at 9/8c on AMC.
OLTL Online Plans Canceled
OLTL Online Plans Canceled
Sorry, soap fans: The painful economics of running daytime dramas on the internet have made it impossible to keep the shows alive after they’ve been yanked off of broadcast TV. Prospect Park announced today that its hope to move One Life to Life and All My Children to a planned Online Network in 2012 has been shuttered, dashing any hope of keeping Llanview and Pine Valley fans satiated.
The media and production company founded in 2009 by Jeffrey Kwatinetz and former Disney Studios head Rich Frank was unable to reach guild deals to make the soaps’ run on the internet a reality. Arrangements with the unions were necessary if Prospect Park wanted to also sell the soaps to cable, but it’s economically unfeasible to pay guild wages for an internet show that would generate a fraction of the revenue it once did on ABC.
As it was, Prospect Park was already having a dilly of a time closing deals with the AMC actors (hey, Susan Lucci!), so it had to delay the show’s planned return in January: Only Cameron Mathison (Ryan Lavery) and Lindsay Hartley (Dr. Cara Castillo Martin) had agreed to continue after it ended its ABC run in September. In contrast, OLTL’s Erika Slezak (Victoria Lord), along with Ted King (Tomas Delgado), Michael Easton (John McBain) and Kassie DePaiva (Blair Cramer), among others, has closed deals to stay in the fictitious town of Llanview after it sunsetted on ABC this January.
The company released this statement: “After five months of negotiations with various guilds, hundreds of presentations to potential financial and technology partners, and a hope that we could pioneer a new network for the future, it is with great disappointment that we are suspending our aspirations to revive One Life to Live and All My Children via online distribution. It is now becoming clear that mounting issues make our ability to meet our deadlines to get OLTL on the air in a reasonable time period following its Jan. 13, 2012 ABC finale impossible.
“We believed the timing was right to launch an Online TV Network anchored by these two iconic soap operas, but we always knew it would be an uphill battle to create something historical, and unfortunately we couldn’t ultimately secure the backing and clear all the hurdles in time. We believe we exhausted all reasonable options apparent to us, but despite enormous personal, as well as financial cost to ourselves, we failed to find a solution.
“While we narrowed in on a financial infrastructure, the contractual demands of the guilds, which regulate our industry, coupled with the program’s inherent economic challenges ultimately led to this final decision. In the end, the constraints of the current marketplace, including the evolution and impact of new media on our industry simply proved too great a match for even our passion.
“In our opinion, new models like this can only work with the cooperation of many people striving to make them happen, and we would like to thank and praise the numerous people who tried to help and showed us incredible support. We are extremely grateful to the fans and media who showed great support to us through this process, to ABC who did everything in their control to help, and we are especially grateful for the support and encouragement from many of the soaps’ cast and crew themselves.
“We hope that our efforts are not lost, and that we somehow created a dialogue and movement on the feasibility of first run, network quality content online. Of special note, we would like to thank Frank Valentini (Executive Producer), Ron Carlivati (Head Writer of OLTL), Agnes Nixon, many of the cast of OLTL including Michael Easton, Ted King, Kelley Missal, Melissa Archer, and of course Erika Slezak all of whom signed on quickly and did all they could to help, as well as our own Christine Sacani. Cameron Mathison and Lindsay Hartley also get our sincerest thanks for their support. We feel terrible we couldn’t come through for them and we were very much looking forward to working together.”
Now fans will have to mourn the death of AMC and OLTL all over again, after ABC made the heartbreaking announcement in April that it was yanking the serials due to the changing economics of daytime TV. The soaps were replaced with the (cheaper-to-make and easier to monetize) lifestyle shows The Chew and The Revolution.
At the time of Prospect Park’s purchase of the soaps in July, Frank and Kwatinetz released this very optimistic statement: “We are privileged to continue the legacy of two of the greatest programs to air on daytime television, and are committed to delivering the storylines, characters and quality that audiences have come to love for over 40 years. All My Children and One Life to Live are television icons, and we are looking forward to providing anytime, anywhere viewing to their loyal community of millions. Technology changes the way the public can and will view television shows. Now that there are so many devices available in addition to television sets, viewers are taking advantage of watching shows where ever they are and on any number of devices.”
Sorry, soap fans: The painful economics of running daytime dramas on the internet have made it impossible to keep the shows alive after they’ve been yanked off of broadcast TV. Prospect Park announced today that its hope to move One Life to Life and All My Children to a planned Online Network in 2012 has been shuttered, dashing any hope of keeping Llanview and Pine Valley fans satiated.
The media and production company founded in 2009 by Jeffrey Kwatinetz and former Disney Studios head Rich Frank was unable to reach guild deals to make the soaps’ run on the internet a reality. Arrangements with the unions were necessary if Prospect Park wanted to also sell the soaps to cable, but it’s economically unfeasible to pay guild wages for an internet show that would generate a fraction of the revenue it once did on ABC.
As it was, Prospect Park was already having a dilly of a time closing deals with the AMC actors (hey, Susan Lucci!), so it had to delay the show’s planned return in January: Only Cameron Mathison (Ryan Lavery) and Lindsay Hartley (Dr. Cara Castillo Martin) had agreed to continue after it ended its ABC run in September. In contrast, OLTL’s Erika Slezak (Victoria Lord), along with Ted King (Tomas Delgado), Michael Easton (John McBain) and Kassie DePaiva (Blair Cramer), among others, has closed deals to stay in the fictitious town of Llanview after it sunsetted on ABC this January.
The company released this statement: “After five months of negotiations with various guilds, hundreds of presentations to potential financial and technology partners, and a hope that we could pioneer a new network for the future, it is with great disappointment that we are suspending our aspirations to revive One Life to Live and All My Children via online distribution. It is now becoming clear that mounting issues make our ability to meet our deadlines to get OLTL on the air in a reasonable time period following its Jan. 13, 2012 ABC finale impossible.
“We believed the timing was right to launch an Online TV Network anchored by these two iconic soap operas, but we always knew it would be an uphill battle to create something historical, and unfortunately we couldn’t ultimately secure the backing and clear all the hurdles in time. We believe we exhausted all reasonable options apparent to us, but despite enormous personal, as well as financial cost to ourselves, we failed to find a solution.
“While we narrowed in on a financial infrastructure, the contractual demands of the guilds, which regulate our industry, coupled with the program’s inherent economic challenges ultimately led to this final decision. In the end, the constraints of the current marketplace, including the evolution and impact of new media on our industry simply proved too great a match for even our passion.
“In our opinion, new models like this can only work with the cooperation of many people striving to make them happen, and we would like to thank and praise the numerous people who tried to help and showed us incredible support. We are extremely grateful to the fans and media who showed great support to us through this process, to ABC who did everything in their control to help, and we are especially grateful for the support and encouragement from many of the soaps’ cast and crew themselves.
“We hope that our efforts are not lost, and that we somehow created a dialogue and movement on the feasibility of first run, network quality content online. Of special note, we would like to thank Frank Valentini (Executive Producer), Ron Carlivati (Head Writer of OLTL), Agnes Nixon, many of the cast of OLTL including Michael Easton, Ted King, Kelley Missal, Melissa Archer, and of course Erika Slezak all of whom signed on quickly and did all they could to help, as well as our own Christine Sacani. Cameron Mathison and Lindsay Hartley also get our sincerest thanks for their support. We feel terrible we couldn’t come through for them and we were very much looking forward to working together.”
Now fans will have to mourn the death of AMC and OLTL all over again, after ABC made the heartbreaking announcement in April that it was yanking the serials due to the changing economics of daytime TV. The soaps were replaced with the (cheaper-to-make and easier to monetize) lifestyle shows The Chew and The Revolution.
At the time of Prospect Park’s purchase of the soaps in July, Frank and Kwatinetz released this very optimistic statement: “We are privileged to continue the legacy of two of the greatest programs to air on daytime television, and are committed to delivering the storylines, characters and quality that audiences have come to love for over 40 years. All My Children and One Life to Live are television icons, and we are looking forward to providing anytime, anywhere viewing to their loyal community of millions. Technology changes the way the public can and will view television shows. Now that there are so many devices available in addition to television sets, viewers are taking advantage of watching shows where ever they are and on any number of devices.”
'The Office': First look at Maura Tierney in 'Mrs. California'
'The Office': First look at Maura Tierney in 'Mrs. California'
The Dec. 1 episode of "The Office" is called "Mrs. California," and as that title implies, we'll get to meet Robert's (James Spader) better half for the first time.
As Zap2it first reported in September, former "ER" and "NewsRadio" star Maura Tierney is playing Mrs. California. We're quite curious to see what kind of woman would be married to the likes of Robert, and we hope the show gives us some clue about that. The episode will be Tierney's first role on a comedy series in more than a decade.
(It should also prove that Tierney and Jenna Fischer are not, in fact, the same person. Unless Fischer's maternity leave begins with this episode, in which case we won't get to see the two of them in the same room.)
Robert brings his wife to Dunder Mifflin Scranton in hopes of finding her a job -- which could explain the unenthusiastic look on Andy's (Ed Helms) face.
maura-tierney-office1.jpgThings don't get much better when Robert joins the conversation.
maura-tierney-office2.jpgAlso on Thursday, Dwight (Rainn Wilson) opens a gym in the office building -- and gets at least one of his co-workers, Darryl (Craig Robinson), to try it out.
The Dec. 1 episode of "The Office" is called "Mrs. California," and as that title implies, we'll get to meet Robert's (James Spader) better half for the first time.
As Zap2it first reported in September, former "ER" and "NewsRadio" star Maura Tierney is playing Mrs. California. We're quite curious to see what kind of woman would be married to the likes of Robert, and we hope the show gives us some clue about that. The episode will be Tierney's first role on a comedy series in more than a decade.
(It should also prove that Tierney and Jenna Fischer are not, in fact, the same person. Unless Fischer's maternity leave begins with this episode, in which case we won't get to see the two of them in the same room.)
Robert brings his wife to Dunder Mifflin Scranton in hopes of finding her a job -- which could explain the unenthusiastic look on Andy's (Ed Helms) face.
maura-tierney-office1.jpgThings don't get much better when Robert joins the conversation.
maura-tierney-office2.jpgAlso on Thursday, Dwight (Rainn Wilson) opens a gym in the office building -- and gets at least one of his co-workers, Darryl (Craig Robinson), to try it out.
Fast National ratings for Thursday, Nov. 24, 2011
Fast National ratings for Thursday, Nov. 24, 2011
CBS rolled to an easy ratings win on Thanksgiving, with its rerun lineup leading all three hours of primetime in viewers and two of the three in adults 18-49. ABC's special "A Very Gaga Thanksgiving" put up decent numbers as a fair amount of people tuned in to see her sing, do crafts with third-graders and cook with chef Art Smith.
CBS averaged 8.4 million viewers and a 4.9 rating/9 share in households for the night, topping second-place ABC (5.4 million, 2.9/6) by 3 million viewers. FOX took third with 5.1 million viewers and a 2.4/5. NBC (3.7 million, 2.1/4) came in fourth, and The CW trailed with a little under 900,000 viewers and a 0.6/1.
In the adults 18-49 demographic, CBS' 2.1 rating led the pack. FOX's 1.7 edged out ABC's 1.6 for second. NBC drew a 1.1 and The CW a 0.3.
Thursday hour by hour:
8 p.m.
CBS: "The Big Bang Theory" rerun (11.2 million viewers, 6.0/12 households)/"Rules of Engagement" rerun (7.9 million, 4.4/9)
FOX: Specials - "Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas" (7.1 million, 3.2/7)/"Happiness Is a Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown" (5.3 million, 2.4/5)
ABC: Special - "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" (5.8 million, 2.8/6)
NBC: Movie - "Horton Hears a Who" (3.4 million, 2.0/4)
The CW: "The Vampire Diaries" rerun (1 million, 0.6/1)
18-49 leader: "The Big Bang Theory" (3.6)
9 p.m.
CBS: "Person of Interest" rerun (8 million, 4.6/9)
ABC: "The Middle" rerun (4.25 million, 2.3/4)/Special - "A Very Gaga Thanksgiving" (5.75 million, 3.2/6)
FOX: "Happiness Is a Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown" (4.6 million, 2.1/4)/"The Simpsons" rerun (3.4 million, 1.8/3)
NBC: "Horton Hears a Who" (4 million, 2.2/4)
The CW: "The Secret Circle" rerun (776,000, 0.5/1)
18-49 leader: "Person of Interest" (1.7)
10 p.m.
CBS: "The Mentalist" rerun (7.8 million, 4.7/9)
ABC: "A Very Gaga Thanksgiving" (5.4 million, 3.2/6)
NBC: Special - "85th Anniversary of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade" (3.7 million, 2.1/4)
18-49 leader: "A Very Gaga Thanksgiving" (1.6)
Ratings information includes live and same-day DVR viewing. All numbers are preliminary and subject to change. Source: The Nielsen Company.
CBS rolled to an easy ratings win on Thanksgiving, with its rerun lineup leading all three hours of primetime in viewers and two of the three in adults 18-49. ABC's special "A Very Gaga Thanksgiving" put up decent numbers as a fair amount of people tuned in to see her sing, do crafts with third-graders and cook with chef Art Smith.
CBS averaged 8.4 million viewers and a 4.9 rating/9 share in households for the night, topping second-place ABC (5.4 million, 2.9/6) by 3 million viewers. FOX took third with 5.1 million viewers and a 2.4/5. NBC (3.7 million, 2.1/4) came in fourth, and The CW trailed with a little under 900,000 viewers and a 0.6/1.
In the adults 18-49 demographic, CBS' 2.1 rating led the pack. FOX's 1.7 edged out ABC's 1.6 for second. NBC drew a 1.1 and The CW a 0.3.
Thursday hour by hour:
8 p.m.
CBS: "The Big Bang Theory" rerun (11.2 million viewers, 6.0/12 households)/"Rules of Engagement" rerun (7.9 million, 4.4/9)
FOX: Specials - "Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas" (7.1 million, 3.2/7)/"Happiness Is a Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown" (5.3 million, 2.4/5)
ABC: Special - "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" (5.8 million, 2.8/6)
NBC: Movie - "Horton Hears a Who" (3.4 million, 2.0/4)
The CW: "The Vampire Diaries" rerun (1 million, 0.6/1)
18-49 leader: "The Big Bang Theory" (3.6)
9 p.m.
CBS: "Person of Interest" rerun (8 million, 4.6/9)
ABC: "The Middle" rerun (4.25 million, 2.3/4)/Special - "A Very Gaga Thanksgiving" (5.75 million, 3.2/6)
FOX: "Happiness Is a Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown" (4.6 million, 2.1/4)/"The Simpsons" rerun (3.4 million, 1.8/3)
NBC: "Horton Hears a Who" (4 million, 2.2/4)
The CW: "The Secret Circle" rerun (776,000, 0.5/1)
18-49 leader: "Person of Interest" (1.7)
10 p.m.
CBS: "The Mentalist" rerun (7.8 million, 4.7/9)
ABC: "A Very Gaga Thanksgiving" (5.4 million, 3.2/6)
NBC: Special - "85th Anniversary of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade" (3.7 million, 2.1/4)
18-49 leader: "A Very Gaga Thanksgiving" (1.6)
Ratings information includes live and same-day DVR viewing. All numbers are preliminary and subject to change. Source: The Nielsen Company.
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