DVR Overflow

Stop talking about how we should stop talking about The Wire

GQ recently came out with a list of “The New Rules of TV,” and for the most part the piece isn’t more than typical monthly periodical filler - flippant, fluffy and hastily put together. But one of their “rules” particularly annoyed me because it reinforces an idea that has become increasingly common of late despite its stupidity: People only like The Wire to make themselves look good.

Specifically, the heart of the GQ blurb boils down to this quote: “Wire fans don’t just love the show, they love what they think loving the show says about them—which is basically that they are smart, have good taste, and care about black people.” The piece also mentions that it has been five years since the show ended (Five years! Don’t we all know that it’s pointless to talk about anything that didn’t just immediately happen!?) and that The Wire is no longer an underdog struggling to be appreciated, as well as that some idiots try to use the show to pick up dates on OKCupid.

As I said, this is largely a puff piece that should hold absolutely zero weight in the realm of public discourse. But the concept of “UGH, COME ON HAVEN’T WE TALKED ABOUT THE WIRE ENOUGH ALREADY” grates on me, considering I hear a lot more people who make those kind of comments than I hear extolling how The Wire puts them in a state of zen with the African-American inner city experience.

In particular, I hear a lot of opposition to Wire fandom as a deflection from people who have never watched the show before and just don’t want to put any effort into watching it. The GQ writer here isn’t included in that group, but he/she is adding to a well of ammunition for people who just want to dismiss the show as some false messiah of television. In reality, most fans of The Wire like it because it’s a terrific show. It’s riveting, it’s exquisitely made and, yes, we think it actually has something important to say, which I doubt would cause much ruckus if The Wire were a novel or a play or even a movie. But the fact that people react that way to a TV show? Some people can’t comprehend that, and they automatically assume that those who appreciate the show take it too seriously. Those that take that appreciation to the obnoxious extremes of throwing self-congratulatory pick-up lines in their dating profile are the extremes, not the norm.

So for the record, I’m going to go on chatting about The Wire, even if it is a whole five years since the show ended. After all, this is the show that will likely go down as the Citizen Kane of television, and 70 years later you don’t get looked down upon for praising Orson Welles.

This picture, my friends, is what we have to expect for much of the next three months.

No, I don’t mean to get your hopes up for a TV adaptation of Killzone, unless Sony is working on some PlayStation channel that I am unaware of. But with the season finales last night of American Idol (meh), Revenge (bleh) and Law & Order: SVU (still on the air I guess?) we saw the official end of the 2011-2012 television season, nevermind that Awake still has its finale airing tonight (or that Mad Men, Game of Thrones, etc. still have a couple weeks to go, because those cable channels are rebels, man).

Fortunately there are some bright spots on the horizon. Louie will be coming back for its third season in June, and Breaking Bad will start ramping up for its grand conclusion in July. True Blood is coming back as well I guess, but there’s really very little that show gives us nowadays that a niche fetish porn site doesn’t. These are but the few pools of water in what is the desert of summer, however.

So if you can, start stocking up now. For once in your life, act like a Glenn Beck disciple and start hoarding for the end of the world, only instead of collecting gold and freeze-dried food, collect episodes. Download like crazy. Catch up on Downton Abbey if you haven’t yet, find the entire series run of Taxi, watch LOST in its entirety for the fifth sixth seventh time.  Do what you need to survive. Because after the world ends, there are no rules. Only victors.

Why Bother, NBC?

The news of Dan Harmon’s dismissal as showrunner of Community has been assumed for some time and confirmed for a few days now. But in that time I’ve just become more confused by the whole process of the Community renewal saga. The fact that the show was renewed in the first place should probably make Community fans grateful enough, and showrunners get replaced all the time in television. But in this particular case, there doesn’t seem to be much of a point to keeping Community around for a fourth season if this is going to be the way NBC handles it.

This lack of reason has extended throughout NBC’s behavior during upfronts, particularly when it comes to scheduling their comedies. As this relates to Community, that means shipping it to Friday night and sandwiching it between Whitney, a single-camera by-the-numbers sitcom hated by comedy nerds with a passion, and Grimm, a light supernatural procedural squared more toward casual viewers. Friday has always had a reputation as the place where shows go when they’re put out to pasture (which might not entirely be deserved, considering how long shows like Fringe have survived on that night), so that alone seemed to indicate that season 4 would likely be Community’s last. But the fact that it was being paired with two shows that share little of its audience seemed to ensure it.

So why reshuffle at the top? If you are going to effectively turn Community into a placeholder on the schedule and provide it with little to no opportunity to grow its audience, why kick out Harmon? Do network execs just hate working with him that much that they couldn’t tolerate his existence in the NBC Universal family for 13 more episodes? That seems to be the only logical explanation for me, considering Harmon’s abrasive reputation. His firing really can’t be a way to fix ratings, because NBC doesn’t seem concerned with fixing Community’s ratings. But then again, as mentioned earlier NBC isn’t necessarily letting logic drive their decisions these days.

So Community will be back next year. But it will be back without the man who, unlike those oft-replaced showrunners I mentioned earlier, really is the central brain behind one of the smartest shows on television. Maybe Community would have been better off canceled. I’ll otherwise hold out hope for consistently maintained creativity. But right now, I can’t help but think Community should have died along with Starburns.

It’s coming back. Season 4 is a GO.

Local Politics Breakdown: An Analysis of the Pawnee, Indiana City Council Race

By Nate Silver

The little-known Indiana city of Pawnee is a bit of a cypher, mathematically. While its population is nowhere near that of a major metropolis like Indianapolis, or even that of a minor state regional center like Fort Wayne or South Bend, Pawnee somehow manages to defy typical statistical analysis that would fit a locale of its size and stature. Just one example: Despite being a small to midsize Midwestern town with a vocal Evangelical presence, the town is somehow able to host three gay bars, as well as a financially successful night club.

The same would seem to hold true for the city’s election data, particularly in this year’s city council election between locale candy magnate Bobby Newport and noted waffle aficionado (and deputy director of the city parks department) Leslie Knope. While initial analysis of the election seemed to indicate an easy victory for Newport, the race has since developed into a statistical dead heat.

Geographically, the city should have been an easy play for Newport. As Pawnee’s City Council eschews districts, any candidate needs broad appeal to be even remotely viable. With Newport’s overall 61/32 favorability rating, including an astronomical 78/12 favorability rating among seniors, he easily fits the bill. In addition, his popularity in the wealthy Pawnee neighborhoods along the border with Eagleton, as well as the working class residents of the Sweetums Slum area (most of whom rely on work in Newport’s factory to survive on meager diets of noodles and gruel) gave him a enviable appeal across demographics.

These strengths, along with Knope’s daunting 59% unfavorable rating, would normally enable a campaign to coast, despite Knope receiving the valuable endorsement of popular retiring Councilman Bradley Pilner. Yet recent days have seen the Knope campaign make a remarkable turnaround following a strong debate performance that rapidly closed the gap between the two candidates. Knope’s performance also elimated the chances of potential spoiler candidate Brandi Maxxxx, who until that point had been winning over a sizable portion of Pawnee’s coveted pervert demographic. Further goodwill shone on the Knope campaign with the stunning semi-endorsement of his own opponent by Newport following the death of his father, Sweetums founder Bobby Newport Sr.

Little historical precedent exists for elections where one candidate endorses their opponent, though the 1976 Pawnee City Council race between George Costelle and cult leader Azu the Succulent does offer a close parallel, as Costelle became a follower of Zorp the Surveyor and joined Azu’s group of followers, the Reasonabilists, one week before the election. Costelle was offered up as a virgin sacrifice and lost the election by eight points.

With current polls placing the race within the margin of error, politicos are expected to be watching this race late into the night and a lengthy recount is a possibility. Push comes to shove, Newport should be considered a marginal favorite due to his extensive resources, which should be greatly enhanced by Pawnee voters’ willingness to be bribed with candy.

*Article not actually written by Nate Silver.

Season in Review: The Voice

I’ll start with two confessions. One, I watch The Voice. Granted, you may have been able to figure that out already from the large photograph and title above this post. The second confession is that I don’t have cable. Yes, I blog about TV yet I don’t actually have the service that lets me view 75% of the shows we cover here. I end up relying on a lot of online streaming, family members’ DVRs and one generous friend who provides me with access to HBO Go. But that still doesn’t change the fact that when I get home from work every night, my immediate viewing options are limited to what is on the four major networks, PBS and, for some odd reason, a random country music channel.

The second confession is generally an explanation for the former. I get home from work and have nothing to do on Monday nights, so I find myself with some time to kill and The Voice, with its two hour run time, does a fine job of killing it. It’s a kind of TV viewing experience that I haven’t really attempted in quite some time, at least not during the 8PM-11PM ET prime time hours - watching something just as mindless fluff just because it was there, not because I sought it out.

And honestly, the experience I had with the second season of The Voice wasn’t that bad. I have very little to compare it to - I didn’t watch the first season of The Voice, and other than YouTube clips of auditions my only exposure to American Idol was one incredibly grating season finale several years ago (I remember Clay Aiken being there). But standing alone, The Voice is far from bad television. If not for its uneven format throughout the season, it could be genuinely good television - but regardless, it’s not that bad.

The unquestionable high point of the show is the first few weeks of contestant auditions, where the show’s most well-known gimmick of the spinning chairs is in play. There are two reasons for this, the first being that, unlike American Idol, everybody who gets on air has at least some talent. You don’t get obvious failures on the show just so the audience can laugh at them, everybody who makes it past the editing room is a Lake Wobegon style above-average performer.

The second is that the onus of competition in this round is placed on the judges, not the performers. This above everything else is what gives The Voice any intrigue. Instead of rooting for random kids plucked off the street, the show gives us a rooting interest in famous musicians (Adam Levine, Cee Lo Green, Christina Agulera and Blake Shelton) as they try to assemble a winning “team” of artists.

The show is as much about which judge wins as which contestant wins, which adds a great deal more appeal to The Voice than a typical talent competition. Say you were a fan of RaeLynn, a contestant who was booted off in the first week of quarterfinal eliminations this season. Putting aside the fact that you clearly have no taste because RaeLynn was not very good, you still have a rooting interest in the show to cheer for her coach (Blake) to win with the rest of his team.

On top of that, the judge competition aspect allows for some genuinely entertaining interplay of personalities. If the American Idol judges get into a spat, it automatically feels somewhat contrived because they have nothing at stake in their game. On The Voice, if the judges get into an argument it could have huge repercussions on their team.

Just such a spat occurred in the finale episode, when Adam set up his finalist, Tony Lucca, to perform Hugo’s cover of the Jay-Z song “99 Problems” (Hugo was never credited onscreen, which was annoying, but it was clearly his arrangement). Christina took offense that Tony would perform a song she felt was derogatory toward women, Adam came back at her saying she didn’t understand the song is a metaphor, then when Christina pushed back Adam ripped off his jacket to unveil a pink glittery “Xtina” shirt, allowing him to have the final word in the argument and long magnanimous at the same time.

(This was only one example of the surprising clownish nature of Adam Levine, who as front man of Maroon 5 I was conditioned to hate. But of all the judges he has easily the best screen presence, and his disregard for bullshit, like straight up admitting to some of the show’s sketchy editing techniques, made me a genuine fan of his just a couple weeks into watching)

While neither Lucca nor Christina’s finalist, Chris Mann, ended up winning the competition, it seemed pretty clear that that moment swayed a great deal of voters away from “Team” Christina and toward “Team” Adam, and if Tony Lucca hadn’t flubbed the lines to “Harder to Breathe” later in the show, I bet he would have won. Instead, the under-the-radar contestant from “Team” Blake, Jermaine, rode R. Kelly’s “I Believe I Can Fly” to victory.

But while the judges add a great deal to The Voice, after the auditions it really doesn’t feel like the show is able to completely run with its “team” concept, hence why I keep putting quotes around the word “team.” In reality, the teams are more like brackets, since the contestants only compete against their own teammates up until the final four. Shows like The X Factor take the team concept more to heart, and its a shame The Voice doesn’t, because when The Voice works, that is a core part of its appeal.

Of course, The Voice has other issues. The contestants’ song choices can get painfully boring. An Adele song seemed to pop up every freaking episode - now I like Adele, but it would be nice to see some goddamn variety. Mix that in with a collection of classic rock ballads and easy listening mainstays and the set list for The Voice is hardly groundbreaking (to the point where even a slight detour out of Top 40 Land, such as Jamal Rodgers’ performance of The White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army”, or Lindsay Pavao’s rendition of “Skinny Love” by Bon Iver, can feel revelatory). And then there’s Carson Daily, who is about as interesting of a host as a balsa wood replica of Chuck Woolery.

But then you have to keep in mind that The Voice is just meant to be fluff. It’s so fluffy that I have trouble comprehending that I just wrote about a thousand words about it. And it’s terrific at doing the job fluff is supposed to do: It helps you kill a couple hours on a Monday evening while you prep for four more days on the grind before the weekend. It’s the way most people who aren’t self-absorbed TV critics watch television, really. So here’s to The Voice - I’ll probably never watch another episode, but we had some good, if forgettable, times during cable exile.