Is "Life" going to make it?

Sorry, forgot about that rule. Yes

 

I LOVED this show last year, but this year it's just been bad. It's got a fantastic cast, great characters, a promising premise and really, really shitty story writing. I've never missed an episode, but there are times I literally have no idea what's going on. It badly needs a story editor or something. Some decent writers could really have turned this into something. "The Mentalist" has kind of a similar vibe but is much better-written.

 

I agree about Life's lack of clarity at times - as for The Mentalist, they just had a really lame "lead actor temporarily blinded" episode that was the kind of stuff I thought they'd mock, but no they played it for real. Of course his eyesight returned by the end of the episode.

 

I know, I rolled my eyes when I read the description before watching it. But as potentially stupid a premise as it was, it turned out to be a really engaging episode.

 

It just struck me that NBC is going to be an absolute nonentity when it comes to night-time viewing, and soon.

That's rather sad.

 

I'm thinking NBC will have maybe two hour-long dramas coming back next year, Medium and Heroes, and hopefully FNL. Doesn't look like Kings will be back, though. So with their Thursday night shows and Biggest Loser that gives them about 90 minutes left to program until Sunday Night Football ends.

 

Definitely inspires you for the future of risk-taking, meaty programming, doesn't it?

 

In NBCs defense, they have put on some interesting shows, but they never drew an audience. Loved Boomtown, Kidnapped and some of the other attempts in the last few years, they just didn't generate viewers, even though they were better than stuff on the other nets.

 

Yup, and most of them were 10 p.m. shows they wouldn't bother with today. And even quality stuff they might have developed for 9 will now be dumped for another round of safe stuff like "Biggest Loser: Triplets" or "Celebrity Dog Apprentice."

NBC at 10 used to be a proving ground for some great, or at least ambitious, shows. The loss of that time slot is a blow to decent network TV.

 

NBC is gonna have to let Law & Order make it to 20, isn't it?

 

I watch a ton of TV and the only NBC show I watch regularly is 30 Rock. Even then, I usually wind up watching it online because of the other Thursday shows on the other networks. I'll watch SVU sometimes.

Medium isn't a bad show, but I can never tell one season to another if it was canceled or not. Usually around the Super Bowl you start seeing promos for it.

 

Most of the really good TV shows NBC has any responsibility for recently have all been found, developed and promoted by two of its mainstream cable properties (USA, SciFi). Heroes has foundered and Life gets no support. Jeff Zucker (who loved Father of the Pride and Joey) should be held to account for all of that, along with the stupification of Bravo.

Normally I only watch NBC for four hours a week during the fall. Once the NFL season is done, I'm done with NBC until August.