Wed, May 5, 2004
"greatness in this medium [television] ... is defined by the quality and distinctiveness of an idea and the passion and skill of great writers and directors." – Fox TV President Dana Walden
Which begs the question, the "quality and distinctiveness" of cloned reality fare like Forever Eden = Paradise Hotel = Temptation Island exceeds that of funny shows like Cracking Up and (wait for it...) the charmingly inventive Wonderfalls?
Launch Memo for Fox's New, Cheap Division [Defamer (new!)]
These are the same people who recently announced a shift to "year-round" television seasons, because it seems to be working for HBO. Couple things: one, HBO has good TV and knows what good TV is (most of the time); two, HBO doesn't cancel stuff right away if it doesn't get the best ratings in the history of its time slot and compel hordes of people to loot TV sets from department stores in order to watch it. There's no point in a year-round season or a fall season or a mid-season if all you're running is short-run reality stints and shorter-run narrative shows that are canceled after three weeks after failing to survive minimal promotional support and multiple time slot changes. All you have is a dozen or so three-week "mini-seasons" a year.
Maybe I'll just get a frontal lobotomy so I can eagerly await The OC every week, like I'm supposed to.
