Category: Television

WAAAY OVERtime

The clippers/Grizzlies game tonight reached 3:00 left in the fourth quarter at 10:18. (I didn’t notice at the time but DVRd the game so I was able to check.) Because there was an overtime period the game ended at 10:59. The coaches used their time outs smartly and in the flow of the game. Fouls were generally good, smart fouls and nothing problematic happened. But it was 41 minutes!

Please understand this was a well played, fun, exciting game. The teams played hard, individuals excelled, the tremendous range and diversity of NBA talent was wonderfully displayed. But the denouement lasted 41 minutes. Including one that included a Clipper foul and final mad dash to the bucket after Memphis had a 6 point lead and the ball with 03.2 seconds left.

It should be on the horizon of concerns that an NBA game can not unreasonably take 41 minutes to play the last 8 minutes of action. An alteration to the rules regarding the frequency of timeouts needs to be on the table. Other rules change during the last two minutes of the game. Perhaps timeouts should be less available as well.

TP

Cable vs. Networks

Yet another recognition that I’m older than I should be: I still think cable and network TV are different. Not like HBO or Showtime, that stuff still seems like, whoa, you’re really spending money on TV.

Okay, but I do still feel sometimes like, hey, why are you deciding to show that commercial, you’re a network? Other times it’s why did you bleep that word, isn’t this a cable show?

How long ago did I establish my TV parameters? Wow.

TP

Rising Stars

Like many I have been watching Heroes intensely. It’s a great show and I still think it’s probably the best show on TV. At the same time, I’ve wondered about how familiar some elements of it seem. I don’t mean in the sense of archtypes or the comic book conventions to which it so often pays homage. Rather that many of the characters seemed pre-built.

However you want to conceive of it, it is clear that Heroes owes a tremendous debt to Rising Stars, a comic series by J. Michael Straczynski. It is an absolutely amazing series. The characters and stories in it are amazingly rich, full and complex. All the things people like about Heroes are realized in Rising Stars.

Simply awesome stuff!

TP

Shields and Brooks

One of the few TV shows I try to watch weekly is the Lehrer newshour. Actually, I want to make a point of watching a single segment. It’s David Brooks and Mark Shields on Friday evenings. They usually get a nice chunk of time and have fascinating, wide ranging conversations like yesterday’s. It’s this kind of political conversation that makes me sad for the folks for whom Fox News and Air America are the sole providers of information. Well, among other things.

TP

Network vs. Cable

Yet another recognition that I’m older than I should be: I still think cable and network TV are different. Not like HBO or Showtime, that stuff still seems like, whoa, you’re really spending money on TV.

Okay, but I do still feel sometimes like, hey, why are you deciding to show that commercial, you’re a network. Or perhaps it’s why on earth did you bleep that word, isn’t this a cable show?

TP

Flying Heroes

When Nathan Petrelli first flew on Heroes, it seemed incredibly sudden, powerful and intense. Watching this week and seeing Peter fly in an extended sequence, carrying someone else and virtually floating over NYC, I was reminded of my instant reaction of wonder at seeing ‘realistic’ looking flying. It’s awesome!!! Heroes is the first show I’ve seen wherein the action sequences typically match up with how I have imagined the physical experience of that power. I’m not an action fan per se and have never felt the need for HDTV or big screens or any of the technophile fanboy gadgets. But, wow. It looks so damn good. And real.

TP

Losing Isaiah

Losing Isaiah

<a href="
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=2821901&page=1&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312
“>http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=2821901&page=1&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312

Okay, first of all this is not about Isiah Thomas, coach of the New York Knicks. It’s about the actor Isaiah Washington who is using rehab to cover his juvenile habit of using demeaning language to describe homosexuals. This would be more sad if it weren’t true.

TP

Heroes/BSG

Yes, I’m really excited that the Colts will probably make it to the Super Bowl this Sunday but I am more excited that both Battlestar Galactica and Heroes are returning to TV. Heroes has become THE show I like more than any other. It’s the best thing I’ve watched since becoming an adult. Certainly you’ll hear lots more about both in the next several weeks!

TP