Emmy Thoughts

The production offices at 'Friday Night Lights' must be a-twitter, with long-awaited nominations for Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton, for Lead Actor/tress..... Truly the best portrait of a marriage ever put on TV.

Likewise, the 'Modern Family'  family should be feeling smug right about now, though it's a shame that Ed O'Neil was left out... Still laughing at repeats, most recently, at the Pigeon Battle:


I'm wondering when America's undying love for vampires will... die! True Blood gets an undeserved nom for Best Drama Series... I've watched 2 episodes, and came away unimpressed.

Did you know there was a category for Best Non-Fiction TV Special? I hope The Simpsons 20th Anniversary Special - In 3D-- On Ice! Wins....

Best Reality Show? If they give it to The Amazing Race AGAIN, I'm going to have kittens... The recently completed 20th season of Survivor didn't even get a nod, despite the press and critics saying it might have been its best ever.... Russell just can't get no love. Instead, I'd hope they give it to Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution... Only 6 episodes, but great ones! The jaw-dropping episodes are here on Hulu.
Back next week with more thoughts on TV....

Can't ever find anything good to watch? Stick with me, kid.

Been "Off the Air" For Awhile

I've been .... pre-occupied with a dozen other things more important than blogging for the past few months, but for now, with a more stable situation, I return to the blogosphere invigorated.....

Sorry to read that Scrubs, Heroes and Better Off Ted will likely be cancelled at the end of this season. All were innovative shows that broke the mold... Who can forget the Scrubs all-musical episode? Such wonders as "Guy Love" and "It All Comes Down to Poo..." made me laugh out loud.
Thank God for Modern Family and 30 Rock.

This blog will become more specialized, towards TV coverage... as you see. I seem to make more time for TV in my day than others..... But this isn't 'True Confessions.' On with the show....

If you've never caught Friday Night Lights on NBC or DirecTV, the first 3 seasons are on Netflix's direct streaming PLAY NOW section. Kyle Chandler deserved an Emmy for Best Actor but the show has been largely ignored by the public, despite winning a Peabody Award...
From Wikipedia:

".....The show’s producers decided at the outset to allow their performers leeway in what they say and do on the show. Though scripted like any hour-long television drama, performers are given great leeway in the delivery of their lines and the blocking of each scene. If actors feel that something is not true to their character or a mode of delivery doesn’t work, they are free to change it provided they still hit the vital plot points.^[20]

The freedom that producers have extended to the performers is complemented by the fact that the show is taped without rehearsal and without extensive blocking. Camera operators are trained to follow the actors rather than actors standing in one place and having cameras fixed around them. This allows performers to not only feel free to make changes but to feel safe in making those changes because the infrastructure will work around them. Executive producer Jeffrey Reiner described this method as “no rehearsal, no blocking, just three cameras and we shoot.”^[21]

Working in this fashion has had a profound influence on everyone involved with the show, with series star Kyle Chandler going so far as to say “When I look back at my life, I'm going to say, "Wow, [executive producer] Peter Berg really changed my life."”^[22] Executive producer and head writer Jason Katims echoes this sentiment saying “When I first came on [the ‘FNL’] set, I thought, it’s interesting — this is what I imagined filmmaking would be, before I saw what filmmaking was