Soccer

About a week ago, I tried to watch soccer. I saw men in their 30s wearing short pants and sporting pre-teen haircuts. A gigantic field, a gigantic goal apparatus, and no goals. It doesn't make sense to me that you can't use your hands. However, I did experience a similar weird awakening as Tim Goodman earlier this month when I watched an inexplicably-compelling game of darts.

. . .

Speaking of sports, I enjoyed the 12-9 NHL All-Star game yesterday afternoon. Having two captains draft their teams turned the game's focus to the league's world-class players, none of which were named Crosby or Ovechkin by the way. It's a better method of picking All-Star teams than going by conferences or nationalities. The game is being rerun tonight at 8pm EST on the NBC Sports Network.

Touched

After a long string of drama flops, FOX has, in three weeks, launched three dramas that look like they'll stick around: Alcatraz, Touch, and The Finder. Say goodbye to Terra Nova, Fringe, and perhaps House.

. . .

A rare event occurred Wednesday. I watched an episode of a drama series and did not snicker at its actors or dialogue. I think I'll watch Touch again, when it returns in eight weeks. I'm surprised myself, because I didn't get past the pilot of 24.

Dramas I haven't watched more than once:

Bones
House
NCIS
CSI
The Mentalist
Castle
Harry's Law
Supernatural
Alcatraz
Fringe
Smallville

24
Pan Am
Ghost Whisperer
Chaos
Numbers
Lone Star
Lie to Me
The Chicago Code
The Good Guys
Chuck
Chase
Off the Map
No Ordinary Family
V
Ugly Betty
Crossing Jordan
Touched by an Angel
Walker, Texas Ranger

While I Was Out

I was away from the internet for seven days and my Google Reader filled up with 950 unread items.


1. FOX is creating its own Adult Swim-ish block on Saturday nights. It will be a good place to hide future Allen Gregorys.

2. The Masked Scheduler became a Masked Strategist. Expect Bones to move out of its plum timeslot.

3. CBS This Morning debuted. It only looks like hard news when compared to The Today Show and Good Morning America.

4. The Finder didn't premiere well, as anyone who saw the backdoor pilot last season would have guessed.

5. Rachael Ray was renewed for two more years. I honestly did not know she still had a show, or that her show has been on for six seasons.

6. Dish wants its customers to have the Big 4's primetime shows available on their DVRs for an entire week after broadcast. It also wants to annoy sports fans with pop-ups about rugby.

7. Bob Greenblatt admitted NBC's Fall failed. Maybe he really doesn't give a fuck.

8. Whitney and Up All Night switched slots but both scored 2.0, while Chelsea scored 2.3 after Whitney. We'll be seeing another slot switch in the near future.

9. 30 Rock returned to a 1.8, which means nothing for Community fans.

10. The Firm tanked. And NBC had ordered 22 episodes.

11. Amazon will provide digital lockers for Samsung Blue Ray players, meaning you can upload your old DVDs for streaming from anywhere. Now you can just invite a lonely friend over to watch their DVDs rather than go to their sad apartments.

12. Psych was renewed for season seven, extending it to at least 115 episodes, only 10 shy of Monk, but 61 shy of Silk Stalkings.

13. After years of not fitting-in on ESPN, Jim Rome is movin' on down to CBS Sports Network, which is apparently a thing. He is also slated to appear on CBS, if only to make the NFL on CBS just that much worse.

14. Rob premiered big. I wonder how it will do in Mexico.

15. Work It got canceled. 8:30 after Tim Allen isn't the best spot for Cougar Town, but that's what happens when you're a sitcom that can't establish itself in the ratings. You plug holes, like NewsRadio did, and Rules of Engagement does.

16. The CW ordered 10 episodes of extreme musical chairs.

I leave you now with a moment of Zen.

“Some of the kids, they had wonderful-looking faces, but you just could not imagine the very bright kid inside.” -- Tim Kring

The High Profiles of Lou Ferrigno and Debbie Gibson

I ain't watchin' that! I got taste!

Bold Comedy Prediction

Let's count this Fall's comedies.

CBS had 7: The Big Bang Theory, 2.5 Men, 2 Broke Girls, How I Met Your Mother, Mike & Molly, Rules of Engagement, and How to Be a Gentleman.

FOX had 8: New Girl, Raising Hope, I Hate My Teenage Daughter, The Simpsons, Family Guy, American Dad, The Cleveland Show, and Allen Gregory.

ABC had 6: Modern Family, Suburgatory, The Middle, Happy Endings, Last Man Standing, and Man Up.

NBC had 6: The Office, Up All Night, Parks and Recreation, Community, Whitney, and Free Agents.

That's 27.

NBC Sports and the NHL

Looking at Spotted's Sunday Midseason Matchups, it struck me how NBC tosses away its monster number of football fans as soon as February rolls around. Dateline and The Celebrity Apprentice aren't the kind of shows that attract the beer-drinking crowd.

Enter the NHL. The cable channel Versus gets relaunched tomorrow as NBC Sports, and its crown jewel is the NHL, as other sports have proven difficult to pry away from ESPN, CBS, TNT, and FOX. NBC Sports and the NHL need each other. Wouldn't it make sense to give the NHL a Sunday night platform on NBC to help build all three brands simultaneously? It wouldn't be difficult for the NHL to add a national game with two good teams on Sunday nights, nor would it be an expensive acquisition for NBC.

If nothing else, it would free up The Celebrity Apprentice to move to one of NBC's other problem nights, such as Mondays in the Fall. Two hours a week could cover up a lot of hurt in NBC's schedule.

NBC has Sunday Night Football locked up for another 9 seasons. There's no reason to continue sacrificing most Sunday nights to short seasons and Dateline.

2012 Event Calendar

The year is top-heavy with events, including the Oscars, The Super Bowl, three All-Star Games, lesser awards shows, the Daytona 500, and March Madness. SNTA put up their calendar, so here's mine.

There's a lot of buzz around Lenny.

NHL Winter Classic -- January 2, Rangers vs Flyers, Monday, 1pm, NBC

NCAA Football National Championship -- January 9, LSU vs Alabama, Monday, 8:30, ESPN

People's Choice Awards -- January 11, hosted by Kaley Cuoco, Wednesday, 9pm, CBS

Golden Globes -- January 15, hosted by Ricky Gervais, Sunday, 8pm, NBC

NHL All-Star Game -- January 29, Sunday, 4pm, NBC Sports

NFL Pro Bowl -- January 29, Sunday, 7:30, NBC

Super Bowl -- February 5, Sunday, 6:30, NBC

Grammys -- February 12, Sunday, 8pm, CBS

Nascar: Daytona 500 -- February 26, Sunday, Noon, FOX

NBA All-Star Game -- February 26, Sunday, 7pm, TNT

Oscars -- February 26, 8pm, ABC

PGA: Masters Tournament -- early April, CBS and ESPN

NCAA Basketball Tournament -- mid March to April

NHL Playoffs -- April to early July

NBA Playoffs -- May to July

Kentucky Derby -- May 5, 6pm, NBC

IndyCar: Indianapolis 500 -- May 27, Sunday, Noon, ABC

The Tonys -- June, 2012, CBS

Tennis: Wimbeldon -- mid-June to early July

Tour de France -- July

MLB All-Star Game -- July 10, Tuesday, 8pm, FOX

Summer Olympics -- July 27 to August 12

Primetime Emmy Awards -- September

MTV Video Music Awards -- September

MLB Playoffs -- October






Sports, 2011
Award Shows, 2011