Two Comedy Types: Single Camera versus Multi-Camera

You might not notice or care that there are two major types of comedies on television. I am, of course, only referring to the typical scripted sitcoms. Now there are two different types of them and ways to tell them apart. Believe it or not, a lot of TV shows are filmed with just one camera. They may take a while doing extra shots from other angles. But, ultimately, only one camera is used in most episodes.

A single camera sitcom is normally notable due to its lack of a live studio audience or laugh track, depending on which one is used by multi-camera shows. But we’ll get to that later. You see, not having any background noise other than what’s normally in an episode, single camera comedies can even become something like a fake documentary, like Modern Family is. Nobody who has seen Modern Family thinks that it should have laughter in the background. Now single camera shows haven’t always been this way, but they’ve been this way recently enough that probably all of them are like it now. You may notice that the current FOX live action sitcoms have no laughter in the background. They are all single camera shows at the moment. CBS almost never has a single camera comedy. They certainly don’t right now at least. Most of ABC’s comedies are single camera.

You might be wondering what examples of single camera comedies are. Well, here’s all of them that I could think of that are currently on the air: Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Last Man on Earth, Modern Family, The Middle, New Girl, The Goldbergs, and Black-ish.

Now multi-camera sitcoms could be considered the more classic approach at sitcom making. Most of the memorable early sitcoms were all produced this way. As you might expect, a lot of shows are still made that way today. Sometimes they have a live studio audience to record laughter. That’s typically how you know if something is multi-camera or not.

The multi-camera sitcoms that are still on the air are The Big Bang Theory, Mom, 2 Broke Girls, The Odd Couple, and Last Man Standing. There could be others still on the air. You might not know or care about the difference between muti-camera and single camera sitcoms. But now I’m done talking about it. I hope that you enjoyed this article.

Jane the Virgin review

I'm not sure if I have much to add before the quick review of Jane the Virgin that I'm doing. You see, more in-depth reviews will happen on Sundays, providing that I can watch a Survivor: Borneo episode on DVD. Meanwhile, sporadic posts like this one will appear as well from time to time where I simply give a detailed review of a single show that I haven't reviewed before. Of course, my Sunday posts won't last forever, but I'll post a warning when they are to end. Anyways, now to my review of the strange yet interesting TV show entitled Jane the Virgin.

Jane the Virgin: Status- This show is on the CW at 9/8 Central on Mondays. Why I’ve seen it- A dream of mine implied that I should watch it. Description- Based off of a Spanish telenovela, a woman named Jane, who’s a virgin, is accidently artificially inseminated and becomes pregnant. There are others in the cast that make this interesting. Pros- If you actually watch the show, you’ll probably find something very interesting and worthwhile. Cons- It’s hard to tell what to make of this show. I mean, the premise itself seems kind of strange and the promos make it look more than weird. Also, the recurring storyline can drag on throughout the show. Recommendation- I would say that you should watch it, but only if you can see it all the time. Prediction- I think that it will be here for awhile. Reception: critically acclaimed. Grade: B-.

Criminal Minds review

There is a lot of this blog that I will be planning on updating pretty soon. There's a lot that needs posted during the summer. Now I do plan on updating the primetime schedules for each day of the week pretty soon, but I think that it will work better in the regular TV season. There's a lot of stuff that I can post in this blog. I'll be sure to add reviews of cancelled shows, summer shows, and various other parts of this blog that I feel need updating. I'll also make sure to add new features for this blog that will be updated every year. Now, I should actually get to the point of this particular blog post: a review of the TV show Criminal Minds. I haven't done a real review of it yet, so here it is.

Criminal Minds: Status- Currently on CBS at 9/8 Central on Wednesdays. Why I’ve seen it- It was during summer reruns (I think) that I first saw this. I was interested in seeing it at least once. Noteworthiness- The first main character left over creative differences on this show and the thought that it was too dark. Description- A law enforcement agency solves crimes. Pros- It is similar to other dramas so you know what to expect. Cons- It is too dark. One wonders how it can be allowed on network television. Recommendation- I don’t like it and don’t recommend it. Prediction- If it continues getting the good ratings that it has, then it will continue to be on television. I still see it lasting. Reception: negative. Grade: F.

Sliver Globes Award Winners 2014

Well, at long last, it's time to give the awards for the silver globe awards. You may remember that at the beginning of the year, I gave the nominees for good television from 2014. Now, I am telling you who won the awards that I created. This blog of mine should be back to regular updates, but please hope that I have time to write the new updates that I have planned. Some during the summer may just be a review of a single TV show. Don't forget about my awards for the worst in television, my reviews of summer shows, my reviews of cancelled shows this season, and there are plenty of other posts that I can still write. You'll know what they are when you see them. So now, I will get onto the winners of the Silver Globe Awards from 2014's television and the nominees for the best show on television.

Best new show: NCIS: New Orleans

Best one season show: The Crazy Ones

Best cancelled or ending show: The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson

Most screwed show: Almost Human

Best theme song: NCIS: New Orleans

Best idea for a show: Utopia

Best series premiere: Scorpion

Best series finale: Once Upon a Time in Wonderland

Best cliffhanger ending: NCIS: Los Angeles

Best cliffhanger resolution: The 100

Best cast: The Big Bang Theory

Best writers: The Good Wife

Best editing: How I Met Your Mother

Most interesting show: Law and Order: SVU

Best music in a show: Saturday Night Live

Time well spent award: NCIS

Most memorable: Survivor

Most underrated TV show: Extant

Best retooling of a show: The Mentalist

Why was it a midseason replacement award: The 100

Best comedy-drama: Castle

Groundbreaking show: Utopia

Best comedy: The Crazy Ones

Best drama: Bones

Best PBS special: Celtic Woman: Emerald

Best show on CBS: The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson

Best show on ABC: Castle

Best show on the CW: Whose Line is it Anyways?

Best show on NBC: Community

Best show on FOX: Bones

Best show on any other network: none

Best syndicated show: The Ellen DeGeneres Show

Acting Section (name of section will be changed in future years)

Best villain: Tony Vlachos from Survivor

Best hero: Leroy Jethro Gibbs from NCIS

Best bromance: Ryan and Colin from Whose Line is it Anyways?

Best anti-hero: Rumplestiltson from Once Upon a Time

Best facial expressions: Keegan Thompson from Saturday Night Live

Best badass: Derrick from Big Brother

Best shocking moment: Will’s death on the Good Wife

Best show on television nominees: The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, Castle, Community, Bones, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Whose Line is it Anyways?

Sometime I'll be back with the winner of the best show on television award for the year of 2014. I'll probably do the awards for bad shows first. But we'll see what ends up happening as time goes by. Sorry that it took so long to post this.

Christmas Commercials 2014

Some of you may be wondering why I haven’t posted this sooner. You see, every year, I count all the Christmas commercials that I see before the Sunday after Thanksgiving. This would include any and all shows that I recorded on VHS. So I had to get caught up on all my old VHS tapes until I got to the equivalent of that time on my VHS tapes. I even made sure that I wouldn’t watch anything else that I could have just to get caught up on those old tapes. Now I just wish that I could stop getting so behind in the first place. So my count is here as it will be every year. Plus, I had to make sure other parts of this blog were updated as well. But I should be here for regular postings for a good long while.

In 2012, the official count of Christmas commercials before October was 0. The official count before Halloween was 27. The official count before the Sunday after Thanksgiving was 200. In 2013, the official count of Christmas commercials before October was 5. The official count before Halloween was 30. The official count before the Sunday after Thanksgiving was 600.

The first Christmas commercial of the year aired on September 5^th in 2014. In 2014, the official count of Christmas commercials before October was 3. The official count before Halloween (list actually includes Christmas commercials that air on Halloween) was 26. The official count before the Sunday after Thanksgiving was 700.

Rules of Christmas commercials: You might be wondering what the rules for counting Christmas commercials are. Remember that you start counting them from the moment that the first one of the year airs until the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Starting with that day, you don’t count anything. Well, a new rule would allow what are deemed as Christmas commercials, even if they are just about returning gifts. What kind of asshole would return a gift? If you don’t like a gift, then find someone else who would enjoy it. Don’t be the person that returns a gift. Is it that bad? Anyways, keep in mind that these January commercials do not count as the first one of the year. For the record, the January commercials will count in their own separate list and won’t be added with the grand total of all the commercials. That is mainly because I don’t know if it should be with this year or next year. Plus, with this number being missing from previous posts (possibly because it is something new that just starting happening with the most recent Christmas season), it wouldn’t be fair to include it in newer posts like these. You can start anytime after back to school commercials start. Now that I have the basic rules covered, I should tell you which commercials count for the list and which ones don’t. This will mostly focus on what doesn’t count. Plus, it’s ultimately one’s own decision what does and doesn’t count.

What counts: It doesn’t matter how many times a single commercial airs, it adds to the count each time. Even if you record something while you watch something else, commercials for both shows will count. Just try to count the ones that air and don’t pass over them on the recorded shows. There might be other rules that I can’t think of at the moment. If it is a commercial for the “holidays” then it obviously counts as a Christmas commercial. That rule is void if the holiday is actually Thanksgiving, but don’t think you’ll see many of those. Be sure to have both audio and visual for these commercials because what’s looks like one may not sound like one and what sounds like one may not look like one. They may be confusing either way.

What doesn’t count: It doesn’t matter how much they parody Christmas songs or ideas, Black Friday commercials are Black Friday commercials and will not ever count as Christmas commercials. Only television ads count: no radio, internet, print, newspaper, or magazine ads can count. Only commercials count for shows that you are watching. This means that if you aren’t really watching a show, you are flipping between more than one show, you left the TV on when you stopped watching, you haven’t started watching anything yet, or you saw one in a show that someone else was watching, then none of those count. If one happened while you were out of the room, then it doesn’t count. If you are watching something that you recorded and somehow miss on a Christmas commercial, then it won’t count. If you can’t decide on whether or not a commercial counts as a Christmas commercial, then it won’t count. Thanksgiving commercials don’t count and neither do any for winter stuff. Commercials for Christmas movies don’t count. The same rule applies for any Christmas related specials. If there are multiple type of commercials in one single commercial such as black Friday with Christmas, then none of them counts. Christmas stuff being shoehorned at the end of what is obviously not a Christmas commercial doesn’t count. Well, it could, pending rule changes. You know what? Since I’m not sure what things being shoehorned at the end would mean, then you might as well ignore that last rule of mine since it might not even make sense to me.

Note about political commercials: I have noticed that in election years, there are far less Christmas commercials than in nonelection years. I don’t know if this is a good or a bad thing. This sounds like something that’s a problem either way. But, in election years, I’ve noticed that political commercials are functionally replaced by Christmas commercials. If there isn’t an election that year, then you see a ton more Christmas commercials earlier. Either way, you’ll see a lot. It’s just that you’ll see a notable less amount during election years. To make up for it, you have to suffer through a ton of political commercials before the onslaught of Christmas commercials after the election. Either way, you have to suffer. But, not having to sit through the political commercials can actually be a good thing, even if the only alternative is more Christmas commercials. You may notice that even with a ton of political commercials this year, the previous record was still broken. This makes me extremely worried for 2015 and I wonder if we’ll get over triple digits. Yikes.

Christmas overrun for 2014-2015 is the number of 28 commercials. (Remember that these commercials will not be added to either this year’s or next year’s list of commercials at they are the overrun from December 25^th onward, mostly around January when commercials about returning gifts or other things of the sort are still airing. I would have done this last year, but by the time I found out that these were even airing, I couldn’t count any of them since I had been out of the country at the time they would have started. So these are the overrun commercials.)