The Pilot

I've been watching a lot of TV lately. It comes with the territory, being unemployed and living in my parents' basement. I spent this week glued to my TV, my handy dandy DVR box, and my laptop with the ever present Hulu tab up on my browser. I can now say that I have seen every new premiere that aired this week on any major network, as well as a few of the new summer hits and my old favorites. My understanding of television programming and the diversity (or lack thereof) of the shows currently on the air has grown significantly, and as a result, I find myself drawn to a quote from the Pilot Episode of NBC's one season wonder, Studio 60: 

"This show used to be cutting-edge political and social satire, but it's gotten lobotomized by a candy-assed broadcast network hell-bent on doing nothing that might challenge their audience.... We're all being lobotomized by this country's most influential industry! It's just thrown in the towel on any endeavor to do anything that doesn't include the courting of twelve-year-old boys. Not even the smart twelve-year-olds - the stupid ones! The idiots - of which there are plenty, thanks in no small measure to this network! So why don't you just change the channel? Turn off the TV. Do it right now. Go ahead!"

Without a doubt, I am drawn towards the television series that display even a hint of intelligence in their delivery, comedic or otherwise. Somehow though, it often seems that the networks are pulled in the opposite direction. 


Every once in a while, though, a network will come out with a new show that really deserves a place in "this country's most influential industry." The problem is that shows like this take a while to get rolling. They aren't instant hits. They are often competing for viewers against shows that provide the American audience, home not-so-fresh from school and work, with mindless laughter and easily accessible but pointless drama. The shows worth watching, the shows that don't "lobotomize" us, scare networks because it means a they have to rely on faith and trust, which are two things the major broadcast corporations don't possess an awful lot of. They spend far too much of their time polling and rating to be comfortable with anything not associated with a number.

So here I am, to talk to the intelligence in the viewing public, in my friends, in you. I won't just chat about the shows I like and the shows I don't, but I'll tell you why; what element of the plot was accented by the cinematography, which character skewed so far from their developmental track that it can only mean an actor wasn't polling well with a target demographic. 

And if, in the end, I don't convince anyone to turn off Dancing With the Stars in favor of Raising Hope... well at least I'll have fun watching until it gets cancelled.