Since last I stuck my nose into the mailbag, reveling, as I always do, in the earthy aroma of spleens being vented, so much has happened in TV land, from WBBM canning its Carol Marin-cast, to the “West Wing” president becoming more insufferable by the episode, to the nation deciding to forego electing a real president in favor of providing the cable news channels with a month’s worth of programming.
Here, then, and without further throat-clearing (except, of course, for this clause), are more complaints, cavils and (occasionally) compliments from the small group of people who not only watch television, but read and write about it, too:
Thursday evening was sort of the finale of my television viewing. Three quarters of the way through ABC’s documentary titled “Shooting War” I realized that I was being had. I was viewing commercials with a little bit of documentary mixed in. At the next “break” I counted them. Not 3 or 4, not 5 or 6, ELEVEN commercials! To me that’s the end. Time is my most valuable asset and while other industries have come to understand this factor of millennium life, the moguls of TV, in their quest for profit, have missed it. So with the exception of a few well-timed programs of “must see” I’ll take my time and wallet elsewhere. Hope you can use the observation to nudge the industry toward self-analysis.
Rolfe, via E-mail
When you said “Thursday night,” I was sure you were going to blame the new NBC “comedy” “Cursed.” In fairness to your count, commercials are getting shorter these days. But your general sense is also right: Commercial time is increasing, though not as rapidly in television as in radio. With TV, at least, you have the option of using the dodgy VCR or the dandy new hard-disk recorders, and a flick of the thumb makes the ads as meaningless as, say, an episode of “Cursed.” As for introspection in the TV business, you’re better off hoping for it to show prudence in forecasting election-night vote outcomes.
“NYPD Blue?” Remember that show? It used to be on all the time, but now…
Patrick, via E-mail
Patrick, Patrick, Patrick. We’ve been doing this long enough now that you should know to use proper question form.
WHAT is the deal with “NYPD Blue?”
Syma, via E-mail
That’s better, if a little Seinfeld-esque. ABC held it, again this year, till January, so that it could run “Once and Again” episodes in its 9 p.m. Tuesday time slot. The good news for “NYPD Blue” fans is two-fold: 1. Not starting till then means almost no reruns before the season ends in May; and 2. There is still no logical way the writers can bring back Jimmy Smits’ character for yet another lingering death.
Are you that upset that YOU didn’t get to replace Siskel? Anyone who has seen a movie and commented on it is a movie critic. It is just an opinion rendered. Richard Roeper can offer his opinion on a movie just as any other observer could, what’s the big deal? You take it way too seriously, the only thing lamer than the movies is television anyway…
Dan, via E-mail
If I follow your logic Dan (referring to my Nov. 22 review of the new “Ebert & Roeper and the Movies” show), then anybody who makes dinner is a chef, which I’ll try to remember if a restaurant ever tries to serve me frozen pizza. I’m more upset that I didn’t get to replace Boomer Esiason (in the “Monday Night Football” booth) or former presidential candidate Steve Forbes (in the will of his father).
I was wondering if you could tell me how “Boston Public” was doing in the ratings?
Dave, Plainfield, via E-mail
Just as a true film critic never looks at box-office figures, a true TV critic never checks Nielsen ratings. Such crass commercial considerations should not be part of our thinking, and I am, frankly, a little offended . . . Oh, okay. I’ll go to the Nielsen web site and look it up. The answer, for David E. Kelley’s new Fox series, is: Not bad, ranking 45th out of 146 programs in overall viewership so far this season, and doing better than that in Fox’s target 18-to-49-year-old audience.
Do you know anything about the classical music that “Frasier” was playing in his apartment towards the end of the episode which aired November 14, 2000?
Kelly, via E-mail
Um, it had a good beat and you could dance to it? You want John Von Rhein’s letters column.
I have just sent off an email to NBC regarding the broadcast going on right now of “ER” in the wide-screen format. I hate it. It is a gimmick, a disservice to their viewers. Less is not always more. What do you think?
Han, via E-mail
Are you implying that the November “ER” episode in question will not some day be shown at film festivals?
I just read your article about Dan Ratherisms and really enjoyed it. Something you may not know is that his manner of speaking is a genetic trait of true Texans. It’s as natural as a nudist camp. Why, you might ask, does George W. not speak in metaphors, similes and exaggerations? Well, beyond the fact that there appears to be a genetic inability to speak in coherent sentences, the boy simply isn’t a Texan.
Pam, Austin, TX, via E-mail
Never mind the politics, Pam. Tell me more about the nudist camp.
In your column of today (11/20) you used the word “bloviator” in describing Chris Mathews. “Viator” is a word, but nowhere could I find your word. Please explain its meaning.
Alan & Janet, via E-mail
A splendid old word for “windbag,” popularized by President Warren G. Harding, according to one source found online (so you know it must be true). Quoth the source: “It made it into Webster’s Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, first published in 1967, but was dropped from the next edition. It was defined, `to orate verbosely and windily.'”
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Send transcripts of your own, TV-related bloviations through the wires to SAJohnson@tribune.com or over land to 435 N. Michigan, Chicago, 60611.
