Question: Matt, I'm a huge fan! My question is about ABC's comedies (According to Jim, Rodney, Hope & Faith, Crumbs, Sons & Daughters, George Lopez, Freddie and Less than Perfect). Which ones do you think will survive another season? I think it's time for According to Jim and Hope & Faith to go. But I love Rodney and Less than Perfect. Creatively, I feel they have a lot to offer. Do you think there is at all a chance for a TGIF comeback? What are your thoughts on this?
Answer: Of all the shows you mentioned, I would only even consider watching Sons & Daughters regularly. But I know I'm in the minority on that one, given the puny ratings it drew this spring, which makes me doubt it will return, barring a miracle. (There are some intriguing comedy concepts kicking around ABC for next season, and maybe ABC would keep Sons & Daughters alive as a companion piece. But that's probably a pipe dream.) Given that Rodney was put on hiatus before it could play out its second season, and that Less
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Question: First, let me say that I really look forward to reading your columns each week; we seem to have the same taste in programming. My question is about how and why there seems to be an ever-growing incongruity in this country these days in terms of what passes for good TV comedy. To be honest, it really bothers me that shows like Arrested Development and Sons & Daughters could never bring in viewers despite being two of the sharpest and wittiest comedies to be produced in recent memory. Even Scrubs has never been a commercial success, and I frankly marvel that (thankfully) it's been able to stick around for at least five seasons. At the same time, inane drivel such as According to Jim and Yes, Dear have enjoyed great success in viewership (even making it to syndication!). It just seems that more often than not the only TV comedies that survive are the stale, formulaic ones, while the innovative, edgy, truly funny ones die premature deaths. Are these comedy gems just ahead of ...
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Starting Feb. 14, ABC's Tuesday-night schedule will be exactly one-third Jim Belushi. According to Jim will air at 8 and 9 pm ET, with Rodney in between at 8:30 pm, and George Lopez and Boston Legal bringing up the rear at 9:30 and 10 pm, respectively. To kick off this new lineup, the network is preempting its 8 pm Jim on the 14th and replacing it with A Charlie Brown Valentine. Yes, that ought to really clear things up in viewers' minds.
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Question: I was annoyed when ABC scheduled Emily's Reasons Why Not opposite Two and a Half Men (which is uneven but sometimes very funny). I needn't have worried. ABC couldn't produce a funny sitcom if it tried. The Watercooler review of Emily was glowing, but I think it tried too hard to be funny and the jokes were cliché. There is only one word to describe Emily: insipid. What did you think of the premiere? P.S.: Although many of your readers (and you) would disagree, I think there is only one truly funny show out there: South Park.
Answer: I would agree that South Park is one-of-a-kind funny, and if that's your standard, then everything else is bound to come up short, because no one (especially on network TV) is going to have the freedom to be that outrageous, crude and topical. But that gives way too short shrift to great comedies like Earl, Scrubs, even Two and a Half Men. As for Emily: I'm glad ABC is trying to broaden the tone of its comedies beyond the Jim-Rodney-George Lopez-
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The Apprentice: Martha StewartIt took the final three a long while to realize that neither Marcela nor Ryan would be returning to the suite and that they were indeed the final three. Martha confirmed the demise of Matchstick, then hurried Bethenny, Dawna and Jim off to their corporate interviews. Bethenny was at best "scrappy" and at worst "manic." Dawna was sitting pretty as "almost the whole package." But Jim failed to impress, and at his dismissal it struck me that he honestly thought he was going to win. I applaud Jim's self-confidence; it's his self-awareness that I question.
With the chaff gone, we have an all-female final pair, which is fitting for this incarnation of The Apprentice. Two big charity events will w
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