What happened to Thursday night television?
Ever since I was a young lad Thursday was always “Must See TV.” Cheers, Seinfeld, Frasier, even The Simpsons, helped make Thursday the night to stay in and catch the best of television.
Even with the demise of NBC’s comedy lineup Thursday still provided the best choices as CBS gave viewers Survivor, CSI and more recently Without a Trace. NBC’s combo of The Apprentice and ER gave it still some clout with FOX even throwing The O.C. on Thursday night last year.
Back in university days I soon discovered Thursday was the prime drinking night. I was never really sure who decided this but the masses and I went along for the ride and drank heavily on Thursday. Eventually I managed to plan my class schedule to avoid any early Friday classes or any a several occasions no classes on Friday at all. Soon I was missing out on ER and even a couple seasons of Survivor.
When those days ended I jumped back into the Thursday night TV watching routine. With most of my friends having jobs and maturing (only slightly I might add) drinking got pushed back to Friday to avoid any bad hangovers.
I was almost glad I got to stay in on Thursday but not this year. Sure Survivor still draws me in but after that it’s meh!
I can’t get excited for The Apprentice anymore. Nothing will ever approach how good the first season was and honestly I’m a bit sick of The Donald. Can you say overexposed? He was so much cooler when he had an air of mystery around him.
I never really got into CSI and it seems whenever I watch re-runs of the show to try and “catch up” it’s a show I’ve already seen before. I mean honestly I’ve seen maybe 20 episodes of the show yet when I got to Spike or some other network airing CSI in syndication it’s one I’ve seen before.
ER….don’t even get me started on that show. None of the cast that I came to know and love are left. It’s just a bunch of random people and they seem to add new cast members every week. Heck they are bringing on the tall blonde chick from Third Rock from the Sun. I’m still trying to figure out what rock she has been hiding under for the past five years.
Without a Trace started off with so much potential and yet lately I’ve been disappointed on how the series has progressed. The writers have gotten too much into the personal lives of the characters.
I don’t care if Jack and his wife are having marital problems. I came to watch this show because I want to see some cool FBI action, some good story lines about the missing people. I did not sign up for the Days of Our Lives. Way too many good shows have been ruined by getting soapy, ahem LA Law (actually any show produced by David E. Kelley actually).
I tried to get into the new Fox show Reunion. I really like the premise and concept. But holy crap is the acting bad. First off it’s pretty difficult to cast people who can play a 20 year age gap. In one scene a character is 17 and the next 37. So you need a good makeup department to pull of the change, this show seems to think just putting glasses on a character would age them 20 years. Secondly you need actors that can look young and old. Lastly you need actors you are talented.
I’ve really tried to like this show but man is it hard. The acting is so stiff and awkward. The only really good actor is Mathew St. Patrick, lucky for him he gets to play the same age. Watching Will Estes play a mid-thirties priest last week was a painful experience. To all of his ten fans his poor acting may be due to the fact that the directors of the show suck along with the fact he has to go from being 20 to 35 just like that.
I’m still trying to figure out how they plan to make baby-faced Sean Faris into a 35-year-old. I honestly think he must be the one who was killed just so they don’t have to show him as a 35-year-old. (note I did not watch this week’s episode so if something happened giving away who is dead I didn’t see it.)
Well that’s enough Reunion bashing because as I said I really do want to like this show and heck I think come next week I may give it another shot.
Last year when I started writing for IP one of the first shows I started to recap was The O.C., a show that gained instant popularity by a public craving a replacement for 90210. Adam Brody’s performance as Seth showed him as one of the best young actors to come along in a while. It even had a few hot chicks and the parents were fun to watch. Peter Gallagher showed a light side as Seth’s dad.
During my recaps I started to realize the problem with The O.C. It was a lot like 90210, good, but it was 90210 on crack. The story lines were resolved way too quickly and because of this were not allowed to develop at a normal pace. Sure this is probably more due to generational differences in the fact that 15-25 year old kids watching the show all have A.D.H.D. and can’t sit still for an hour unless 1000 things are happening on screen at a time.
The problem is that with 90210 I, and many other loyal fans, eventually got sick of the show during its ten-year run. Because The O.C. is on crack I got sick of the show in the second season instead of somewhere when all of the 90210 kids went off to college. The ratings for the show may be ok but they haven’t really matched the shows first season’s success. (I will admit that the timeslot issue does come into factor with that all).
The formula for The O.C. leads me to believe that it does not have a long shelf life. It will still probably be stretched out to five years to give FOX and the producers valuable syndication money and the ever growing DVD sales revenue. It will never last as long at 90210 though.
The demise of Thursday TV has forced me to reconsider my drinking habits and just get drunk like I did back in university. It sure wouldn’t cost me to lose any more brain cells than watching Reunion and The O.C. would.
Thank God I have Sunday TV. The Simpsons, Family Guy, American Dad, Rome, Desperate Housewives, Gray’s Anatomy….now that is the best night of TV around.
Till next week.
P.S. due to some staff scheduling changes I have been moving around a bit in the last month or so, from Thursday to Tuesday to Saturday. This should be my spot for the foreseeable future.
