Happy 10th Sports Night

There are many things I find hard to understand: Why women don't get paid as much as men, why people always fly-over the Midwest without stopping to see its beauty, etc., but right now, I am finding it very hard to understand how it has been TEN YEARS since Sports Night first aired on television.

Sports Night will forever be one of my favorite television shows; it features such wonderful writing, interesting characters, and of course that now-patented Aaron Sorkin walking and talking trick. It had Peter Krause before Six Feet Under, and Robert Guillaume after Soap & Benson. It gave Josh Charles, an all-time favorite of mine, his best role, introduced us to Joshua Molina and made me forget that Sabrina Lloyd was ever in that show called Sliders. Most importantly through Sports Night I grew to love one Ms. Felicity Huffman, a love that culminated to me screaming in joy when she won the Emmy a few years back. [View that video, in which she mentions Sports Night here]

One of the things I love best about Sports Night is that it showcases women in positions of power the show is run by an African-American man. I would wager that this combination doesn't actually occur that often. Mostly what I like though, is Dana; I always felt a kinship to her, and as I get older I can relate to her more and more. She loves her career, it makes her who she is, and really doesn't want to comprise it. Still, she does have a desire to settle down. How she tries to negotiate these complex feelings are messy and it doesn't always work out. But, I feel that especially at the end of Season 1, she stays true to herself.

I won't wax poetic anymore for today on the topic of Sports Night, but rest assured the topic will be revisited again (and again!).

Cheers, Sports Night. Thanks for 10 great years.

thursday night premieres

This past Thursday night was season premiere's for many fan favorites; Survivor, Ugly Betty, Grey's and ER. Reality TV's King started up another season in Eden...African style. The tribes were decided by the standard school-yard pick. There could be some great characters this season, although my favorite was voted out in the second hour; Gillian. There is a new twist this year related to exile island and it will be interesting to see who will be strong and pick the clue for the idol and who will be weak and overally secure and pick the luxury. Right now the teams do not seem evenly matched so it might be a killing at every challange.

Ugly Betty picked up right where it left off, with a short recap of her love woes and a random escape trip, complete with postcard images and pictures from her "vacation." Cute, as always. LiLo herself made another appearance as Betty's childhood rival and super-duper burger joint manager. Overall the episode was kind of lame with the standard Mode family drama. Hopefully Betty's new found freedom with her own apartment in the city will bring some new adventures.

Grey's brought some interesting storylines, a new hottie-army medic who makes out with Christina after she was stabbed by a falling icicle (dramatic and not expected) and Bernadette Peters as guest star. Broadway diva's own star made her way to prime time and I love me some Bernadette! It was a standard cat and mouse game between Meredith and McDreamy and I am personally tired of this storyline. My favorite scene in the entire 2 hour episode was when Rose told McDreamy that she was pregnant with his child, but unforunately it was just a joke. I thought there was finally be a new component between the Grey-Dreamy drama, but no-go. I hope that this season brings some closure to romance-less drama.

ER is in it's last season and it started with a boom, literally. In ER-like drama they killed off a main character in the first episode, and I cried like a baby. Many characters are leaving before the final curtain, but a few favorites from the past 15 years are returning, including Dr. Green who died years ago from a brain tumor. Noah Wyle will also be returning as fan favorite Dr.Carter, but no word yet from Clooney. I love ER, but it is time for its pulse to flatline.

with love, from Emmy

Last night was award night for television; the Emmy's were on in prime time. It was the 60th anniversery of the award show and there were some cool, and not so cool, montages to the history of television. I loved the stage sets from various shows, the musical montage of 30 tv theme songs by Josh Groban (who knew he could do a south park homage) Betty White and Lily Tomlin.

It was night of 30 Rock, Mad Men and Damages. I don't watch 30 Rock; not big on sitcoms and comedy skits although I believe the critics when they say it is genius. Mad Men, a AMC drama set in 1960s NYC advertising mayhem is the new kid on the block and it can beat up any other kid on the playground! It is freakin' amazing. T and I just watched the 1st season on DVD and it is amazing, did I just say that. The sets, fashions, acting and storylines are top notch and them winning the Emmy for Best Drama atests to that. They are currently in their second season and I believe Mad Men will be around for awhile. Way to go, AMC.

Damages, a FX thriller new last year, won multiple acting awards. They won because it was, in my opinion, the best acting on television. Damages is a legal rollercoaster of death, lies and videotapes, and I personally can not wait for the 2nd season to return. Simply Fab.

This week starts up many of the new fallseasons for the big networks. Heroes, Dancing with the Stars, Survivor, Grey's and ER return throughout the next 4 days and you can be sure I will be watching!

One more Olympic post...

After a long break, I am back, and I promise to start posting with a vengeance, so watch out! I've finished up some things and now have time and a television. Whee.

As the new fall TV season is just getting started in the U.S. I don't have too much to say on American television. Yet. But, I have a list of shows I want to give a chance, and a color coded schedule will be coming soon. But, I have been watching some stuff here in Great Britain--namely the Olympics. I know this post is a little outdated since the Michael Phelps Games (ahem, the 2008 Summer Olympics) finished about three weeks ago or so, but I hope you will indulge me for just one more Olympic post.

I did most of my watching via the internet, which I think is the wave of the future (or, I guess the wave of the present). There were several things that I liked, both about watching on-line and with the BBC broadcast. The obvious one being that it was great to be able to watch the Olympics without owning a television, because I had been worried about that, as I am AN OLYMPIC FREAK. The other nice thing about watching on the internets was that I had several different streams of sports available to me at any given time, and I could watch highlights (of say, the swimmer boys) over and over if I wanted to. Not that I did, of course.

Specifically to the BBC broadcast, first and foremost were the English, Scottish, and Irish accents. Seriously, that was fun. I also got to "meet" athletes that weren't American or have the required sob story needed to make it on American coverage. There was still plenty of "American" action, and Michael Phelps was covered in great detail.

The parts that I didn't enjoy so much included:

Losing the element of surprise. Events were shown live around 3 am in the morning and generally I woke up, opened my computer, and found the results are displayed all over my screen. I have to say, the events I managed to not know the outcome (such as the Men's 4x100 Medley Relay) were much more exciting than when I did know the results. (such as which American gymnast won the gold). I also missed not getting to see American athlete interviews: I admit it, I am a homer. I root for Americans (often, though not always) and I like to hear what the athletes have to say. Even if it is just so I can make fun of them.

The idea of showing events live is an interesting one, and I get that generally this is a good idea, but I'm not sure about it in practice. Beyond what I mentioned above, doing this meant that sometimes I only got to see highlights: if I didn't catch the event live or on rebroadcast, I didn't always get to see it, if the BBC decided not to upload the full coverage.

I do think, however, that this practice points to a more general difference in the BBC experience versus the NBC one. In the U.S., it is all about ratings, and we are fed one feature story after another, barely seeing athletes or events that aren't either American or high profile, and have lots of commercials, albeit cool ones. The Olympics are a "viewing event" so to speak, much like an extended Super Bowl. Here the Olympic coverage is much more practical and no-nonsense. Because it isn't all about ratings (as the BBC does not need commercials or ratings to survive) there isn't the sense that one needs to pull out all the stops. I saw literally, no features stories, and no commercials. I can't necessarily say that one is better than the other, as I think they both have their good and bad points. I suppose the perfect experience would be somewhere in the middle, with some features, and more events and athletes shown. Maybe in 2012 I will broadcast Sara TV with this combo of coverage.

There is just one other point I'd like to mention, mainly because I find the contrast interesting and discussion provoking. If anyone watched the diving events, and more specifically the Men's Platform Final, you know that Matthew Mitchum from Australia won. It was a very emotional victory and his final dive was beautiful. Throughout the competition, the British commentators mentioned that he had recently been through a rocky time, and that was mainly due to the fact that he had recently come out as a gay man. This was said in a very matter of fact tone, and as part of the general info on the diver, but it was pointed out doing this has been the cause of a lot of pressure on him. I remember wondering at the time if this fact was mentioned on the U.S. broadcast. I did some digging after the event and found out that this little fact was not mentioned, but other athletes' heterosexual relationships were mentioned. You can read about it here if you like, from Yahoo Sports. I am not writing this to stir up things, but because I found the contrast interesting. I'm not entirely sure as to all the reasoning behind this, but I would wager that part of it is because NBC relies upon adverstisers and high ratings to survive.

Anyway, that was my Olympics. If anyone is reading this, let me know what you think, and what you thought of your Olympic viewing experience in whatever country you are in.

I'll be back soon with many thoughts on the new Fall TV season, one of my favorite times of the year!