Wednesday

Just a couple of quick points tonight.

What would they do for TV programs if they couldn't use lawyers, doctors, cops or any of their affiliated brethren for characters?  And what is it about those jobs/careers that the writers find so intriguing?  These questions are prompted by me catching the last 20 minutes last night of the new ABC program, Combat Hospital.  This show is a modern day Mash/ER wanna be which may or may not get an order for a few episodes past the pilot package.

I suppose that the lack of ideas is what drives the reality TV phenomena.  Let's watch people make fools of themselves over the course of 20 installments.  Not to say that these things can't be entertaining; they just play on a different emotion with the viewership.  Rather than the fantasy element of creative shows, reality programs hit at another spot in the brain.

Here's some ideas for some alternative, creative programming:

1.  Drama: A new media company fighting for a place in the new world of on-line stuff as well as the remnants of print and cable/satellite competitors.
2.  Drama: An IPO firm taking start-up companies through the maze of public offerings.
3.  Drama:  A California winery owned by 2-4 families.
4:  Comedy:  A company that recycles personal computers and other electronic equipment.
5.  Comedy:  A company that imports stuff from China.

I'm guessing that things like this are already on the desk of some producer in Hollywood or elsewhere.  I mean, If I can think of the idea, it surely has already been thunk of!

Of local interest, Dan Pearson is leaving Channel 6 to pursue some work with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.  I know that he is a pretty religious person, and the Athletes organization will give him the chance to merge his sports reporting skills with his Christian beliefs.  Good for him.  He's a good guy.

Then I had another TV thought.  The forgotten roles actors/actresses play before they "make it".  I caught a few minutes of the 1994 B or C grade movie The Chase with Charlie Sheen the other night.  (Speaking of actors and forgettable roles...but that's another topic for another time!)  That movie was the one that was a bit of a spoof on the OJ Simpson white Bronco low-speed chase on the LA freeways.  Anyway, in The Chase, the camera man hanging out of the TV helicopter and doing cheesy on-air reporting was the actor Rocky Carroll, who now plays the very stern character of Director Vance on NCIS.  You've come a long way, Rocky!

Thanks for reading.

BCOT