Monsters of Television

Since I hit the age that I could watch late-night without worrying about my bedtime, Conan has been my guy. Leno was always too pedestrian, Letterman wasn’t on NBC (I had brand-loyalty from an early age), and Conan spoke to my sense of humor, oddly-shaped as it was by Ren & Stimpy and Space Ghost: Coast to Coast. As his show got glossier, more refined, intelligent even, it almost felt like it grew up with me. Hearing about his getting The Tonight Show was almost like hearing about my own triumph. That’s my guy, the shock of red hair that was on mainstream media yet still kept a low-profile. His success was only exciting to me and maybe a handful of others I knew but it was like a new age was coming and, for kids like me that wanted to be in the content-creation business, his arrival to a flagship program could only be a sign of great things.

Then six years passed and Conan got his show and, for some reason, I fell off. And I wasn’t alone. And NBC hemorrhaged viewers in all facets of the network. And Jay Leno’s 10 o’clock gig failed as miserably as everyone thought it would. And Conan was being pressured to build up the audience it took Jay years to scrounge up. And the network did some things that not only violated the scrap of brand-loyalty I had left but also cast my guy out. My guy! Conan was classy about it, made it about business but also about the tradition and history his silly little show got to be a part of.

This is all stuff you already know. What is important to this story is what happened after and why his eventual national tour (titled as a slap in the face to the network that spurned him) is the way it was. This wasn’t his late-night show taken for a ride. This wasn’t a chance for him to test new material for his new show on TBS. This, instead, was a celebration of years of branding and how Conan’s iconography swelled from being a recognizable figure to a cause. This is also the story of how this tour was not just a celebration of the cult of personality known as Team CoCo but also how this was a chance for us to say goodbye.

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Here at Monsters of Television we value one trait above all else: snark. Sure, we have to be able to write intelligently and put TV shows in academic and societal contexts, but why do it if you’re not going to be witty about it? So in tribute to both television and snark, I have compiled a list of 10 of the snarkiest, wittiest characters on television. I’m including pictures and videos for all of you out there who don’t read so good. See? Snark. Here we go. Read more »

In perhaps a sign that we made it (though perhaps we should wait and see if we get invited to another one), Monsters of Television was approached to participate in a conference call with actress Sarah Douglas (known to some of you as Ursa or maybe as Pamela Lynch or perhaps as Queen Taramis) and director Pearry Teo. They are, respectively, the star and director of the Syfy Original Movie Witchville (which Nick and I live-tweeted when it premiered)

Despite some hiccups with Ms. Douglas’ cellphone (which resulted in me getting tossed back to the end of the question queue), the interview was a successful first outings for us. Below is the entire interview, including the questions from the other participants. Questions from Monsters of Television will be in bold and italics.

Any errors are entirely those of the folks who did the transcription. If you see a glaring error, let me know and I’ll correct it.

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Aside from Noel’s review, each of the writers for Monsters of Television will provide their takes on Lost, from their own perspectives. Below are some brief thoughts about how the series, as a whole, meant for Greeney, our newest writer.

There has been much made of television and its domesticity. Great works of television studies, including Lynn Spigel’s Make Room for TV and Anna McCarthy’s Ambient Television, specialize in a contemplation of space. But equally important is the issue of time. Certainly, long-form narrative is one of television’s specialties, but in particular, I would like to discuss the joy of experiencing a show in tandem with one’s own life. Read more »

“In the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups: the police, who investigate crime, and the district attorneys, who prosecute the offenders. These are their stories.”

chung CHUNG

Law & Order was cancelled today after 20 years on the air with 4 (soon to be 5) domestic spin-offs and a few international variations. The series will tie Gunsmoke as the longest running prime time drama at the end of this season. Certainly not the show that invented the procedural series, Law & Order nevertheless perfected it. Creator Dick Wolf’s goal to look at the development of a case from the police perspective and then to the lawyer perspective allows the show to essentially be a police procedural and a law procedural in one show. Drawing from shows like Dragnet and Trial and Arrest, the series never delved into the personal lives of its characters, one its signature narrative goals, something that most procedurals these days can’t live without. Read more »

Matt Owens was lucky enough to secure one of the last tickets to LOST Live: The Final Celebration that was last night in Los Angeles. In the Royce Hall at UCLA, the event featured Michael Giacchino, the composer of the series’s score, leading an orchestra in a rendition of a number of pieces from LOST. The event also screened next week’s new episode “What They Died For.” Below, Matt recounts his experience, sans spoilers.

September 22, 2004.  18.65 million people tuned in to the series premiere of LOST. I was not one of those people. I had no interest in the show. I’d heard the hype, listened to the attempts at convincing and the pleas, but I didn’t care. A friend of mine gave me his season 1 DVDs to borrow. They sat in my desk drawer. For three years. It wasn’t until I read the events of the season 3 finale “Through the Looking Glass” in an issue of Entertainment Weekly that my interest was finally piqued. “Wait. They get off the island? And they have to go back? And that was a flashFORWARD not a flashBACK!?” My brother Jordan and I promptly power-watched seasons 1 and 2 on DVD. And I was hooked. Read more »

I don’t watch wrestling of any sort.  Not the wrestling on the Olympics and not the wrestling that dominates for USA on Monday nights. And I never have, really. Even when a number of the people I ate lunch with back in elementary school and middle school talked about Hulk Hogan or the Macho Man or The Rock or Goldberg (a favorite due to his Georgia roots), I only had a passing understanding of who they were talking about.

Last night, however, I watched my first WrestleMania. Ted Friedman hosted the event, and luckily the viewing party had a couple of big fans who know the ins and outs of professional wrestling that way I can talk to you about Lost (thanks to Shane, Brandon, and Bryce for putting up with questions). My girlfriend and I (yes, I brought my girlfriend to a wrestling viewing party) were the real novices at the event (though I think she knew more than I did), but I think it was quite the experience, though I am by no means compelled to watch Raw on Monday nights. Read more »

Spurred on by James Poniewozik over at Time, and a desire to satisfy a Lost entry hankering, I’ve compiled my favorite episodes.

They’re not ranked (though I will tell you that “The Constant” is probably the single best hour of television that show has produced) because that would involve re-watching a number of these episodes, and I don’t have the time! As a result, I’m grouping the episdes by season. Read more »

With Lost’s upcoming return, I wanted to take a brief moment to discuss the shows that aren’t exactly innovative in terms of narrative or character or having a big honking mythology. Yes, I’m talking about the other hour-long dramas that are on TV and that, let’s be honest, may not necessarily get the critical love and attention that they may deserve. More importantly though, I want to, hopefully, parse out some of the differences in between these shows and see how they ultimately survive compared to other shows like Lost that burns us up inside, but fizzle on screen.

I’ll admit that Lost’s return isn’t the only motivating factor here. Burn Notice is on tonight, one of my favorite formula shows, and ABC’s Castle was just given two more episodes (presumably based on either the strength of last week’s series high ratings or to cover some post-Ugly Betty spots in the schedule, but in either case it’s a sign of confidence in the series), so it seems appropriate to discuss the issue of formula on TV right now. Read more »