Midseason Shows 2018 Part 1

Well, I have at least two important shows that I’m reviewing here for another blog too. I’m getting to one of them in this post. I’ll get to the other in a future post. Here are all the midseason shows that have started at this time that I saw and here are my reviews of them.

Ellen’s Game of Games: Show Description- Using things done on her talk show, Ellen DeGeneres hosts a show where people have to do random games to move on and get a lot of money potentially. Behind the Scenes- Pretty much the notable things I mentioned about this are in the previous group as well. My Thoughts- It seems odd in some places and I don’t know if it is fair entirely. Ellen’s tendency to ask trick questions can make you wonder if everything is on the up and up. But I do admit that it is funny and entertaining. I give it three out of five stars. Long Term Prospects- This has already been renewed for a second season. I don’t know yet if it will last beyond that or not. Where to Find- On Tuesdays at 8/7 Central on NBC

The Resident: Show Description- This is a medical drama that features different doctors, some new, and there are various problems at the hospital at times. It seems a rather complicated plot that is hard to sum up easily. Behind the Scenes- This has Matt Czuchry who used to star in The Good Wife and Gilmore girls. It also has Emily VanCamp who starred on Brothers and Sisters as well as Revenge. My Thoughts- This seemed pretty good. It points out the flaws that can happen in a hospital, but does it in a good way. I just hope that it doesn’t seem too similar to House. The lead can be strange and arrogant, but that is part of the show’s appeal. It can seem more humanizing that most medical dramas that I’ve seen in the past. I give it four out of five stars. Long Term Prospects- It is hard to tell for sure this early, but I think that it might last a bit for now. Where to Find- On Mondays at 9/8 Central on FOX

Black Lightning: Show Description- A black superhero comes out of retirement to protect his city from new threats. Behind the Scenes- This is adapted from a DC comics character, but is not part of the main franchise of superhero shows on the CW (yet at least). My Thoughts- There could be more people that have super powers in this than I’ve seen thus far, but props to this show for going the route that there are more normal humans that can solve problems. It is a largely back centered show so it can seem a bit different than most shows on network television. I see it as largely good, but it needs improvement as it goes along. I give it three out of five stars. Long Term Prospects- This might last for now, but I’ll hold off on a more firm prediction until later. Where to Find- On Tuesdays at 9/8 Central on the CW

Well, that’s it for part one of these reviews. I don’t know what all I’ll be reviewing later. Just know that if you read a different blog of mine, you would know what show I will review next time I get to the new midseason shows this year. I don’t yet know if there will be a part 3 or not. But you got the first batch of these reviews. As for the rest, well, to be continued…

The 18-34 Demographic and Why It’s Important

Maybe you hear about this and maybe you don’t. But there is an important part of TV ratings that seem to overpower nearly everything else relating to it. If you are in this age range, you are highly sought after by the Nielson Corporation. How important is this thing? Well, let’s get to it.

I hate to tell you this, but even if you are in a Nielson family, you don’t really count in viewership if you not in this demographic. And being part of a Nielson family is pretty much the only way viewership is counted. If you aren’t hired by Neilson, it doesn’t matter what you want. And if you aren’t between the ages of 18-34, then there’s pretty much no point in watching shows anyways since it trumps everything else. Man, that’s just really dumb, yet it’s also the way things work and still work.

If you don’t believe me that this limited age demographic is all that matters, I should point out to you a show called Harry’s Law that aired on NBC. It did great in total viewers and terrible in the demographic. It was cancelled after just one season because of the demographic. That may seem dumb, yet it is also how things work. In fact, it may not just seem dumb, but actually be really dumb.

Why does TV need people in this age range? Well, the main reason is that they are shown to be the most likely to watch TV. But it is also really important for advertisers as they are the most likely group to buy something. Without advertisers, we wouldn’t have television at all. Well, we wouldn’t have most of what we have of television.

And that’s about it. I don’t think that I can explain anymore about this because this is all I really know on the subject anyways. If you are a minor in the US, then there’s no point in watching TV. Focus on your homework and studying. If you are 35 or older, you can watch, but don’t think that it matters for anyone anymore. Sorry, but that’s just a sad fact of life in the TV world.

Top Ten Sex Clichés of Television

Sex on TV is getting to be so commonplace, it is hard to think of a lot of shows where it never happens at any point in time. What is worth noting is that some of what you see happens so often over and over again that I thought that I would point out what ten things related to sex you are most likely to see on television. And this will include things related to nudity as well since that’s practically the same thing. There are probably more than what I am mentioning, but I thought that I would tell you this.

#10 no fatties- This highly offensive one comes up from time to time. At least it seems like a guy thing and not something that women think about men. Plus, I don’t want to sound rude, but don’t fatter women have bigger boobs? Why are they always considered bad for people?

#9 arm around boobs- Actually, this one is more specific than this. It starts out with a woman waking up in some bed, but not where she lives maybe 90% of the time and this is after hooking up with a man. She then realizes what a horrible mistake she made by doing this and has to carefully get his arm off of her boobs so she can fall out of bed and then awkwardly leave the situation, but we all know that we’ll see these two at least speaking to each other again.

#8 bare back of woman- This is normally seen from time to time to show that a woman is, in fact, naked, even though you won’t see anything on network TV. Ever notice how they normally choose certain camera angles and rarely actually censor real nudity? This is probably one of the most commonly seen ones on network television at least.

#7 hook up man is evil- The poor women of TV tend to find themselves in bed with bad guys and they must have been too soon to hook up with the guy because they find themselves to be betrayed so often time and time again.

#6 woman’s back slammed against wall- In the heat of the moment in the preparation for sex when the two characters are making out with each other and undressing each other, but aren’t yet in the room where the sex will happen, the man is holding the women and her back is slammed against a wall. You’d think that would hurt a person, but it seems to add to the sexual thrill of things. Is this a thing that actually happens before sex?

#5 an oddly specific way to refer to virginity- For some reason, if a character on a show is a virgin, if this virgin is a woman, she will say that she’s never been with a man. You’d think that would mean all sorts of different possible things, never being with a man, but that is normally what the person says. Virgin is shorter, quicker, and easier to say. Why it is referred to as never being with a gender? It’s so dumb. I just don’t get why it is said so often.

#4 fighting then sex- This is one of the more fun ones as we see two character who hate each other that we all knew were going to hook up first going at it in terms of fighting before going at it in a completely different way. Sometimes this happens with more regular couples on the show, but it does tend to be a thing seen over and over again.

#3 black bra and panties- Sometimes you actually see a woman in different underwear than this. But, more often than not, they are wearing black bra and panties that you see when they are getting their clothes taken off before sex.

#2 undercover after sex moment- This is the most common way of showing that two people hooked up. You see them in bed after sex where some conversation of some importance happens. They could talk during sex, but they can’t show us this so they always show afterwards.

#1 man on top- I’ll never know for sure what real people’s sex habits are like and I’m never watching porn so if a man is typically on top during sex, I’ll never know for sure. I just know that when it comes to characters on TV, whenever we see straight ones hook up, it is normally the man who is on top for it. Now this isn’t always the case as sometimes we need to see the man in some way that him being on top would make it too awkward to film. But this is still the most common thing that I see related to sex on TV. Surely women are on top a good amount of time, right?

Well, those are the main ones that I can think of. Sometimes we see hook ups in car or showers instead of in bed. People tend to brag about their sex lives all the time on shows and more is better for some dumb reason. But I think that these are the most common clichés related to sex that I see on television from time to time. I hope that I didn't miss any big ones.

When TV Networks Stop Caring about Their Schedules

You wouldn’t think that such a thing would happen. But it seems that every so often, a network can just stop caring about what it airs on their own network. It may not happen that much, but it can be a thing that happens from time to time.

What’s a sign that a network doesn’t care about their schedule? One is that they are airing the same thing over more than one timeslot. Another is having a bunch of unusual specials all airing at the same timeslot. If there are always reruns of shows, specifically the same show, in one timeslot, then you know that they just don’t care anymore.

What causes a network to give up in some way about schedules? Well, part of it relates to cancellations, whether they are owned up to right away or not. They might not have something to replace it right away or at all. This has been a problem on CBS for some seasons: not having the right number of sitcoms leaving an odd number and leading them to show reruns of The Big Bang Theory in its place. You don’t always see this as a problem, but that’s merely one example.

FOX is notorious for airing things of little to no importance on Fridays from time to time. NBC once aired tons of Dateline in place of shows that were pulled from the schedule. ABC has taken to airing twice as much Shark Tank instead of finding a quick replacement for 10 Days in the Valley. I don’t even know what PBS has used to fill the gaps of Charlie Rose or Tavis Smiley. Those were different circumstances, though. CBS can make weird choices, normally during May sweeps. As for the CW, they are the best in terms of caring about their schedule and even if they don’t, they will find something fairly quickly.

That’s about it for this post. You’d have to pay attention to schedules on networks from time to time to see when or if they gave up in some way relating to a certain part of their schedule. It is hard to tell all the time when this happens, but it happens a lot more than you would think.

My Thoughts on the Sexual Harassment Allegations

There is a lot to cover in the whole scandals against a constantly increasing number of men and I’m not sure if I’ll trend as carefully as I should. It is hard to know what to think and there is so much always changing with it over and over again. Maybe I should start with a history of the whole thing.

Long before Harvey Weinstein became a synonym with sexual harassment, there was a man named Bill Cosby who was no longer considered the great man that we thought he was. Numerous women started accusing him of rape and similar crimes. Why is this relevant to what would come later? It is because you never know what could wind up happening with people you once respected like him.

It can be hard for me to have something other than mixed feelings about all this. Now you might think that surely I should just have a hatred of whoever is accused. But what if I like the person? Plus, you’d have to wonder if all of these are true. Sure, some may seem true and most probably are. The more people who accuse someone of sexual harassment, you’d think that would make it more likely that all of them are true. But there is still the possibility that some of the accused are innocent.

Ryan Seacrest is an example of what could be false in this whirlwind of sexual allegations. Maybe it was just the one non news source that I heard about it. But it made it seem like the supposed victim was wanting hush money instead of coming forward with this. If he doesn’t pay the money, she would tell people. But why ask for hush money? If you could tell someone about what happened to you, why would you even ask for hush money? Plus, if you are wanting him to look guilty by saying that it isn’t true, just remember that people will deny what isn’t true as it would be highly moronic to say that you did something terrible that you didn’t do. Remember Amanda Knox?

What does all this mean for women? Some wonder if things will go back to the way things were. I sure hope not. But things could still be bad. For one, some supposedly aren’t wanting to hire women now that they are afraid they will be accused of sexual harassment. If that’s your takeaway, clearly you aren’t learning things in this world. Remember that sexual discrimination is a thing too. Will women earn more of the jobs that men once used to? Will they earn the same amount of money or more than men do? One can hope.

I am also wondering if any women will be accused of sexual harassment. My mother doesn’t think so as they aren’t in positions of power in the first place. But I don’t know if it will happen and probably would rather it not happen.

It is hard to keep track of all of the people affected by this and what the reactions are for the various people. Some are instantly fired. ABC got rid of The Great American Baking Show for the rest of the season leaving a two hour gap on the schedule because of the allegations against a person. Yet they still made the most recent Bachelor in Paradise season even after its scandal. I don’t know if blindly firing everyone accused of sexual harassment is right. While it does send a message that this type of behavior isn’t tolerated, it also makes me worry that you aren’t researching it and making sure that’s what for sure happened with these people. Make sure that the accused are guilty.

Another thing to remind people of is something called the Hollywood blacklist. A long time ago, when someone in Hollywood either was or accused of being a Communist, they wouldn’t be hired by anyone in the industry. You’d think that the sexual harassment thing would be a new version of it. The key thing that is different here is that these people would deserve it only if a very important thing is met first: the accused are all guilty. Another thing to note is that some are sorry and all will need to do something with their lives and if they can’t get jobs anywhere, that’s bad. If these people are willing to change and stop their terrible behavior, never to do it again, maybe a comeback would work for them.

Well, I’ve talked about a whole lot of different things in this post and don’t really know what else there is to say. I hope that I didn’t offend anyone with my various mixed views on the whole thing. Let’s just make one thing clear: sexual harassment is wrong and never should be done.