Community, the tv show

oh man this episode was just on fire

90 minutes of Community this Thursday!

(Then no more until the fall, but still...90 minutes!)

wha? did they make a movie?!

Think they're just burning off the remainder of the episodes.

They were going to air the final two in an hour next week and have the two hour finale of Awake this week because it's the last day of Sweeps, but Community's ratings are much better than Awake's (which has just been cancelled) so they're just finishing them all this week.

How sad must Awake's ratings be if Community gets better ratings?

NBC's drama problem seems a bit worse than their comedy problem. Couldn't believe they were bothering to "fix" Smash but apparently even if descending ratings it's still above anything that previously aired in that slot recently.

You couldn't pay me to sit through another high-concept drama that uses the unsolved mysteries crutch after Lost shit the bed (although Fringe largely sidesteps those pitfalls with a degree of grace). Between that and the slew of clones that turfed out really quickly, I'm not surprised people are a little wary of that sort of thing.

(Re: Awake, obvs.)

Awake was getting less than 1.0 ratings. I don't think they were as bad as The Firm, but still. Thursdays at 10pm has been a dead zone for NBC for years.

NBC must be hurtling towards some sort of event horizon for low ratings, I wonder how much longer they can carry on like this.

re: thurs at 10, it's not actually been that long since ER ended, plus there was that lovely Leno Show window, but it's definitely been a sore spot since

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Must_See_TV#NBC_Thursday-night_lineup_history

the ratings-based color-coding makes this extra awesome

Awake was like a case study in how to make a relatively original, well crafted show as unappealing as possible..."hey would you like to see a really serious-looking actor you've never heard of contemplate 2 alternate realities that both involve the death of a loved one, week after week after week? no? ok nevermind"

SUPER OTM re: color coding, it's like watching the blood drain from a body

'joey' looks to be the tipping point

imagine a time where NBC's problem was that a show was losing enough viewers from its lead-in to slip down to the top 20

I was coming here to post that! Joey always seemed to me like a bad idea for a spin off, but then again I thought Two and a Half Men was a stupid idea for a sitcom. xp

The color coding on that chart was amazing.

really, who the fuck knows how Community would do if it was stuck between a modern Seinfeld and ER

it MIGHT actually be bigger than Veronica's Closet!

lol i remember looking forward to harper valley - 'finally a new show for barbara eden!' i was apparently too young to be angry about them moving my beloved buck rogers.

nbc is totally begging wendie malick to come back for a pilot i bet

she's on hot in cleveland w/ a bunch of other ghosts of television past

lol i remember looking forward to harper valley - 'finally a new show for barbara eden!'

I felt the same way! I remember nbc having new show previews that made this look awesome.

anyone else remember nbc's weird "hey let's start primetime half an hour earlier!" they used a bunch of crappy castoff shows, i think i remember one w/loni anderson and ernest borgnine?

this was mid-'80s i'm thinking.

loni anderson, ernest borgnine and krusty the klown

aw i actually Awake pretty entertaining, though i don't really care about the main "mystery" being solved, it's just double the mind bending soap opera. that said i've never sat through an entire episode

lol i was incorrect, it had jack elam:

Loni Anderson plays a rich girl who loves to play tennis, eat expensive meals, shop, & spend, spend, spend. If I remember correctly, her two comedic godfathers come to live with her in her plush mansion. All of the sudden having money is something they are NOT used to...& that is were the laughs come in.

lol nicole do you remember when the networks would have primetime specials where they would show clips from the new shows they're sure you'll love along w/ some old favorites?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tz0SxNP5YM

This is still my favorite thing. Twin Peaks and Cop Rock! Hosted by Alan Thicke.

i do confess i am a peaker

lol nicole do you remember when the networks would have primetime specials where they would show clips from the new shows they're sure you'll love along w/ some old favorites?

Yes! I used to love those, they made everything look like it was going to be so exciting. I was pretty easily impressed.

same here! i miss those upcoming season clip shows

Awake was like a case study in how to make a relatively original, well crafted show as unappealing as possible..."hey would you like to see a really serious-looking actor you've never heard of contemplate 2 alternate realities that both involve the death of a loved one, week after week after week? no? ok nevermind"

I think a few people have heard of this guy:

http://www.jasonisaacsphotoalbumsonline.com/movies/HPOotP/JasonasLuciusOotPEdit.jpgcrop.jpg

I've seen most of Awake so far this season, and what began as a good (albeit complex) idea has been streamlined into a fairly comfortable viewing experience. Still, I don't give a damn about a single character and figure most everyone else never came back after the very hard to follow pilot episode.

Who is "this guy"?

Lucius Malfoy

Jason Isaacs, lead role in Awake and also known from several Harry Potter films (though I've seen none of them, so he was new to me).

yeah i mean being the 30th most famous person in a harry potter movie really isn't the kind of q rating that lends itself to headlining a network series

well keifer's new show isn't doing much better--so there's yer star power.

ughhhhh nevermind i'm not going to hold the point any closer to your face as you keep deliberately missing it

too gnostic for me

lol is a big name really a prereq for headlining a network drama? did er break cuz it had the guy who played goose nearly ten years earlier? did grey's anatomy break cuz ppl couldn't wait to see what luke wilson's love interest from old school did next? when miami vice came out did ppl go 'o shit it's don johnson from the harrad experiment! as a cop! i gotta watch this!'? probably the opposite is true right - if you're a big name headlining a network drama you're either come off a string of failures in film that have reduced you to doing tv or you're following up a prior big hit tv show in which case good luck catching lightning in a bottle twice (cf kiefer)(though counterpoint cf kiefer w/ 24!). tbf lucius malfoy was a very prominent character in the harry potter movies and one of a few to be in almost all of them but i'm not sure how many ppl would've even realized dude in awake is lucius malfoy or that it would've made a difference, i don't know of anyone who watched luck cuz dumbledore was in it. will admit draco malfoy played a role in me checking out rise of the planet of the apes though.

fwiw i didn't watch awake cuz that show screamed 'soon to be canceled' and though i never thought of it this way 'guess which one of this guy's loved ones is actually dead! see him deal w/ harrowing grief - in parallel universes maybe?' is a horrible hookline for a show.

obv name recognition isn't everything, but it kinda WAS my point that at a time when movie stars are all running to TV and even someone pretty damn famous like i dunno ashley judd can get their show canceled right away (or christian slater can get canceled THREE TIMES), Awake being one of the only new shows on the air without a household name front and center was probably one strike (of many) against it

but yeah the basic premise is a horrible hookline, was all i was really saying

yeah but ashley judd even being on tv was a 'o right, her career did kinda die didn't it' and christian slater defined 'stench of failure' even before he couldn't keep a show on the air on nbc. then again madeline stowe star power probably did help revenge, the breakout hit tv drama of this past year and the only network drama i actually watch now.

Just finished this. Wow.

Also, why the fuck Hulu keep showing me shitty car adverts? How many more of these do I need to thumbs-down?

in the background of the study room:

"Dry-erase boards love Chalkboard jokes."

This was a fun ep, advanced the plot without forgetting to be silly.