By Lisa de Moraes
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
As best we can figure, the Television Critics Association did not nominate "Friday Night Lights" for program of the year, though you may have seen that it had in earlier reports, and it was on the TCA ballot yesterday morning, though we've been assured that was a mistake. Or not. Oops on that.
The shows that are nominated are HBO's "John Adams," ABC's "Lost," AMC's "Mad Men," PBS's "[Golden Boy Documentarian]'s The War" and HBO's "The Wire."
Program of the year is not to be confused with outstanding new program of the year, whose contenders include AMC's "Breaking Bad" and "Mad Men" -- that's right, it's one of the year's best programs and one of the year's best new programs.
Are you keeping up with me? Anyway, also New and Possibly Outstanding are FX's "Damages," HBO's "Flight of the Conchords" and ABC's "Pushing Daisies," which, owing to the writers' strike, aired so few episodes it might better have been nominated as a miniseries.
Speaking of miniseries, this year's nominees for outstanding achievement in miniseries, movies and specials, according to the TCA ballot sent to members, are HBO's "John Adams," PBS's "Masterpiece: Cranford," "Masterpiece: Jane Austen Collection" and "[Golden Boy Documentarian]'s The War" and -- what's this? -- HBO's "A Raisin in the Sun"? But "A Raisin in the Sun" aired on ABC. No wonder critics liked it -- they thought it was on HBO!
What with the Hollywood writers' strike happening for 100 days in the middle of the broadcast networks' TV season but not the cable networks' TV season, which is, oh, anytime, broadcast programming fared very poorly in the TCA series nominations.
For instance, the critics' noms for best comedy series include Comedy Central's "The Daily Show," which stayed on the air during the strike, allegedly writerless, as well as Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report," HBO's "Flight of the Conchords" and NBC's "30 Rock" and "The Office."
Picks for best drama series include FX's "Damages," HBO's "The Wire," AMC's "Mad Men" and NBC's aforementioned not-nominated-for-program-of-the-year-but-definitely-good-enough-for-drama-program-of-the-year "Friday Night Lights" and, of course, ABC's "Lost."
In keeping with tradition, the network you most love to watch every year is cut by TV critics. For the past several seasons that distinction fell to CBS. But this year being Fox's very first ever as the country's most watched network, TV critics cut Fox in their nominations. But for good measure, they cut CBS again, too.
That's right, no nominations for "24" -- which stands to reason because it did not air this season. But "House," a darling of the TCA, also was snubbed. Too bad, because Hugh Laurie gives the best acceptance speeches. And by "best" we mean wildly better than anyone else's.
On the other hand, there are lots of nominations for "The Wire," one of those tough-as-nails HBO shows critics ingest in gulps to help them stomach the fact they cover an industry that includes programs such as "CBS EliteXC Saturday Night Fights" and "Cashmere Mafia."
"The Wire" is nominated in every category in which it was eligible: program of the year, outstanding achievement in drama, individual achievement in drama, and the Heritage Award. That, TCA elite reminded members, is to be awarded to a "long-running program with a track record of high achievement that made a lasting cultural or social impact." Given that hardly anybody watched "The Wire," it's hard to know what its cultural impact was, and given that it aired only five seasons, it's hard to reconcile the whole "long-running" thing. Particularly when you look at the other nominees in this category, including "M*A*S*H," "Saturday Night Live" and "Sesame Street" -- though what "Roots" is doing in there I'm sure I don't know, since it was hardly "long-running," except maybe for a miniseries. My head aches.
Speaking of long-running, James Garner, Lorne Michaels, Bill Moyers, William Shatner and Mike Wallace are locked in a death match for "career achievement."
PBS's "[Golden Boy Documentarian]'s The War" did nicely; it's also nominated for outstanding achievement in news and information, along with PBS's "Frontline," Sundance Channel's "Nimrod Nation," Showtime's "This American Life" and HBO's "Alive Day Memories."
Last, and least, because TCA periodically toys with the idea of dropping this category, this year's nominees for outstanding achievement in children's programming: PBS's "Curious George," PBS's "Word Girl," Nickelodeon's "Yo Gabba Gabba" and -- you know it's coming -- Disney Channel's "Hannah Montana" and "High School Musical 2."
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With "American Idol" over, CBS is back on top. And what a week it was for CBS, filled with Regis Philbin-hosted game shows and gimongous men beating the tar out of each other in the name of "art."
Here's a look at the week's tops and bottoms:
WINNERS
"CBS EliteXC Saturday Night Fights." The "elite" bare-knuckle mixed martial "arts" slugfest clocked just 4.85 million viewers Sunday night -- but 156 percent more 18-to-34-year-olds and 357 percent more 18-to-34-year-old guys-- than CBS clocked in the time slot during the 2007-08 TV season. And 18-34 guys, in case you haven't heard, are the Hot Blond Chicks With Implants of Madison Avenue.
"Million Dollar Password." Philbin drew a whole lot more viewers for CBS on Sunday than Kimbo logged Saturday -- 10.6 million -- but I'm guessing a whole lot fewer 18-to-34-year-old guys.
"Hell's Kitchen." Fox's "cooking" competition scored 9.5 million viewers, its biggest audience, excluding finales and post-"American Idol" broadcasts. Interestingly, "Hell's Kitchen" was the week's highest-rated non-scripted program among 18-to-49-year-olds, but Fox's "So You Think You Can Dance" was highest among 18-34s. From which we have learned: The older we get, the more interested we are in (a) food and (b) sadism. And they say you can't learn anything from television!
"The Simpsons." Huzzah to 20th Century Fox studio's animated comedy for snagging a 20th-season contract from Fox network. This puts "The Simpsons" in a tie with "Gunsmoke" as the longest-running series in the history of prime-time TV -- eat your heart out, Dick Wolf. And good for the show's voice artists for negotiating a salary of nearly $400,000 apiece per episode for next season's 20 episodes -- roughly, more money than you will ever see in your lifetime.
"In Plain Sight." Cable TV continues its love affair with drama series about damaged women who should no longer shop in the juniors section. Most recently, Mary McCormack as Witness Protection Program chick on "In Plain Sight" clocked 5.3 million viewers Sunday to make it USA network's most watched series premiere since the laugh-riot launch of "The 4400" in July '04.
LOSERS
2008 MTV Movie Awards. Did you know there are just under 3 million people willing to watch Mike Myers eat fake animal excrement in the name of groundbreaking humor? Didn't Divine originate that gag about 30 years ago? Sadly, that's the smallest audience for this once campy-fun trophy show in more than a decade. Last year it logged more than 3.6 million viewers; in '04 it approached 6 million; and at its peak in 2002, more than 7 million watched.
"Lost." File this under "In the land of the pygmies the guy who wears elevator shoes is king": The fourth-season finale of "Lost" was last week's most watched show (12.3 million viewers) and the biggest draw among the 18-49s who are the Hot Blond Chicks of Madison Avenue. Towering above its competition on Thursday, ABC notes, it topped Fox's "So You Think You Can Dance" by 2.7 million viewers and by 36 percent among the aforementioned HBCs. Last week, of course, was the first week of not-the-broadcast-TV-season. "Lost" also clocked its biggest audience in three whole months, ABC points out. That's right, three months! Even though it competed against the NBA Western Conference playoffs in much -- that's much-- of the country.
National Spelling Bee. Sadly, to make way for the out-of-season puff-uppery of "Lost," ABC moved this precious little franchise from Thursday to Friday night, where it suffered its smallest audience in three years. Fewer than 5 million watched, compared with last year's more than 7 million and the 8.5 million who watched it two years ago, when ABC knew how to treat it properly.
The week's 10 most watched programs, in order, were: ABC's "Lost"; CBS's "Two and a Half Men," "Million Dollar Password," "60 Minutes," "NCIS," "Criminal Minds" and "CSI: NY"; and Fox's Thursday "So You Think You Can Dance," "Hell's Kitchen" and Wednesday "So You Think You Can Dance."
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