No "Glee" on NBC, Less Violence on the BBC, "Monty Python" on IFC, "Leave It To Lamas" on E! - Ed Martin - MediaBizBloggers

As I watched Tina Fey promote the season premiere of 30 Rock Wednesday on CBSamp8217 Late Show with David Letterman and Thursday on ABCamp8217s The View I couldnamp8217t help but wonder Why did NBC see fit to forbid the cast of Foxamp8217s Glee from performing in the Macyamp8217s Thanksgiving Day ParadeSeriously what is the issue here CBS doesnamp8217t seem to have a problem with Fey appearing on its redhot late night franchise and ABC seems to be at peace with a little promotion for 30 Rock on its highprofile daytime showpieceamp160So whatamp8217s the harm in NBC letting the kids from Glee sing a song during its annual Thanksgiving holiday specialThis decision on the part of NBCamp8217s management team is in a word twitchy First up Glee is hardly a ratings behemoth though its steady performance to date has made it a solid midlevel success Itamp8217s not as if weamp8217re talking about a float featuring the cast of the Fox smash House though that might be okay since House is a product of NBC Universal Productions Second Law ampamp Order Special Victims Unit the NBC series that is telecast in the same Wednesday time period as Glee shares almost zero audience with it so issues of competition arenamp8217t particularly significant Third just as an appearance by the very popular Ms Fey no doubt brought a number of viewers to Late Show or The View who might not otherwise have been watching an appearance during the parade by the cast of Glee might bring to NBC a host of new eyeballs especially those 1849 eyeballs over which it obsesses and wouldnamp8217t that be a great group for the network to reach with promotions for its struggling lineup Whatamp8217s the downsideSpeaking of SVU which has taken a significant hit since NBC pushed it out of the 10 pm time period in which it belongs to make way for the curiously dull Jay Leno Show which might benefit from an appearance by the lively cast of Glee I thought the opening sequence of this weekamp8217s episode with guest stars Scott Foley and Christine Lahti was one of the most disturbing things I have seen on a broadcast network at 9 pm in a long time Foleyamp8217s character woke up naked disoriented and a bit bloodied in the bathroom of his apartment with blood smeared on the white tiled walls around him He then stumbled into his living room where a dead seminude woman lay on the floor in a pool of blood the side of her skull bashed in with blood splatters all over the walls The camera repeatedly returned to and lingered on the goop and guts surrounding the womanamp8217s massive head wound This is hardly the first time that SVU has presented the awful aftermath of a violent crime without showing the violence that came first and such messy displays are par for the course on many of CBSamp8217 hugely popular crime series But for some reason I found this scene hard to look atJust as I was wondering what my problem was I came upon this article from Britainamp8217s Daily Mail that says the BBC out of respect for viewer sensitivities will be making an effort to cut back on graphic violence in its programs I donamp8217t know if they are talking about CSIstyle thrillkill ultraviolence or Law ampamp Ordertype blood and guts or both but I like the idea of less repugnant imagery on television There is much to be said for thoughtful restraint in popular culture especially where violence and especially violence against women is concerned But I can just imagine the outcry in this country if broadcast networks and basic cable nets for that matter were to cut back on violence American television viewers have been known to scream at the heavens when surprised by a bared heinie or a flashed boob but they seem to be good with brainbashings and disembowelments which are also popular entertainment elements of the video games their kids are happily playing in the other room Imagine the horrible howling that would follow a concerted effort on the part of any network to make television entertainment less graphicMoving along to something completely different how cool has it been to see original Monty Pythonamp8217s Flying Circus members John Cleese Eric Idle Michael Palin Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones with a cardboard standup of the late Graham Chapman making the rounds of television talk shows promoting IFCamp8217s sixpart documentary Monty Python Almost the Truth The Lawyeramp8217s Cut set to run October 1823 at 9 pm ET Almost the Truth is essential viewing for those of us who grew up running lines about penguins on top of television sets and evilsmelling flocks of soiled budgies flying out of peopleamp8217s lavatories and singing about crossdressing lumberjacks and bisected bees That Cleese and the others have still got it comes as no surprise What puzzles me is this Why hasnamp8217t another talented troupe come along in the 40 years since the Pythons made their historic debut and unleashed an equally impressive catalogue of similarly silly and sublimely sophisticated comedy bits and pieces There are many people making great comedy these days alone and in groups but itamp8217s hard to imagine that any of them will have the sheer staying power of the mighty Monty PythonAll this talk about great writing that stands the test of time brings me to another question Can anyone tell me what an amp8220asshatamp8221 is I have heard this term used in several primetime shows this season including The CWamp8217s egregiously underappreciated Supernatural and NBCamp8217s steadily improving Mercy and Iamp8217m sure Iamp8217ll hear it in several more I realize it39s a substitute for the word quotassholequot but wouldnamp8217t a dramatically huffed amp8220assamp8221 suffice amp8220Asshatamp8221 is one of those words one never hears in real life that fill the air in writers rooms along with similarly foreign phrases some of which amp8220my badamp8221 amp8220find the funnyamp8221 seep into mainstream conversation while others amp8220Iamp8217ll eat your dogamp8221 go away fastABC has found much funny this season with The Middle Modern Family and Cougar Town three genuinely amusing singlecamera comedies that have held up creatively and in the ratings for three consecutive weeks Coming off a decade in which any network was lucky to introduce even one comedy per season that caught on this must be a modern record of some kind ABC hasnamp8217t just launched a comedy it has launched an actual comedy block When was the last time that happened Unfortunately Hank the Kelsey Grammer vehicle that kicks off ABCamp8217s new night of laughs has proven to be every bit as funny challenged as many of us feared This might be the time to revive Better Off Ted and reshuffle the sked starting with Modern Family at 8 and followed by Middle Cougar and Ted in that orderI have to admit that a full season of Hank would be easier to take than a second episode of Eamp8217s wretched unscripted entry Leave It To Lamas about the largely dysfunctional family of badass Bmovie actor and longago Falcon Crest hunk Lorenzo Lamas What an assault on life After thirty minutes of listening to sisters Shayne and Dakota prattle on about absolutely nothing of any importance and watching their topless overheated menopausal mother chill her breasts in her daughtersamp8217 fridge I couldnamp8217t decide what to do first Boil my eyeballs or shove knitting needles into my ears

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No "Glee" on NBC, Less Violence on the BBC, "Monty Python" on IFC, "Leave It To Lamas" on E! - Ed Martin - MediaBizBloggers

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From GLP-1 to Baseball Caps: What Our Appetites and Identities Reveal About Us - By Jack Myers

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No "Glee" on NBC, Less Violence on the BBC, "Monty Python" on IFC, "Leave It To Lamas" on E! - Ed Martin - MediaBizBloggers

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Ed Martin

From GLP-1 to Baseball Caps: What Our Appetites and Identities Reveal About Us - By Jack Myers

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