Since taking over Late Night and later the Tonight Show, Jimmy Fallon has pretty much created the manual for how TV personalities should utilize social media. In today's world, it had become much more rare for viewers to sit down and watch television live. With Netflix, Hulu, Amazon and other subscription based streaming services, the appeal of live TV just isn't what it used to be. So for shows to get into public view, they need to take advantage of all the mediums now available. While all programs should utilize Youtube, Facebook and Twitter, I would argue that it is most valuable for talk show and late night programs. These type of programs often play more like variety shows then one long piece, making them perfect for Internet. With so many different blocks/segments on late night TV, internet videos services are the perfect way to share chunks of the show without having to push the entire hour of content.
Over the last few years, no late night personality has done this better then Jimmy Fallon. A staple of Fallon's Tonight Show has been his many different comedy bits. Fallon consistently rolls off hugely popular segments, with great celebrity cameos and his popular band The Roots. He does everything from funny games, to musical numbers, to surprise reunions. Each of these 2-10 minute segments, instantly goes on to Youtube, where they are viewed, and shared and a rapid rate. These blocks are perfect for Youtube and almost always build enough buzz to start trending on social media. The great thing about sharing these individual segments is that they show the greatest part of Fallon's show while allowing viewers to skip the rest of his program. On a show like the Tonight show that airs five times a week, not every bit hits, but with Youtube, Fallon fans can skip the mediocre parts, pretty much getting a best of highlight reel instead.
Last night, Fallon continued his streak of popular segments, when he reunited Kenan and Kel, popular Nickelodeon stars from the 90's for a "Good Burger" sketch. A big chunk of the Tonight Show's audience has been college students, a group the Fallon usually plays to in his segments. During his run he has staged a series of 90 reunions from "Full House", to "Save By The Bell." These videos have millions of views on Youtube and I'm sure his latest bit will reach high numbers. The "Good Burger" sketch is just the latest example of how Fallon uses perfectly utilizes YouTube, something I'm sure we'll see more of during his reign.
While sports fans have their fantasy leagues, TV buffs are placing bets on which pilots will actually make it through a season. In a mix of comical book adaptations, spinoffs, and a few original programs, the Network's have chosen who will stay, who will get a chance to premiere more episodes, and who is already kicked to the curb. This year adds in more competition with Hulu, Netflix, and Amazon creating their own scripted programming. Out of ABC's 14 comedies that were pitched, four were chosen to continue. Surprisingly, not on the list of picked up pilots was Chevy Chases' comedy (called Chevy) about grandparents who suddenly have to raise their grandkids alone. In addition, ABC saved 7 of 12 pilots in the drama category, with an equal mix of political and social plot conflicts.
In the other neck of the woods, CBS only secured 2 out of 9 comedy projects, while 4 are still being reworked in order to see another day. CBS had 9 drama as well, and gave 5 of them a series order. FOX only had 8 comedies to show, giving half of them a chance to premiere their seasons. And with only 7 dramas, FOX decided to order seasons for 5 of them, and have yet to cancel the other two. Meanwhile, NBC came out hot with 14 comedies, 6 have ordered more episodes and 5 are stilling fighting to stay alive. With 10 dramas, NBC has decided to continue 6 of them, leaving two on the bubble.
Last but not least, the CW produced 5 drama pilots, and only 2 made the cut.
If you're looking for your next new favorite show, some to look out for include Dr. Ken(ABC comedy with Ken Jeong), Angel From Hell (CBS comedy with Jane Lynch), Minority Report(FOX drama), and The Player (NBC drama).
Click here if you want your complete guide to the 2015 pilot season.
If you have Netflix, HBO Go, Hulu, or any television streaming website, you know how it feels to binge watch a TV show. There comes a point in the level of binge watching where you should ask yourself, "Is this healthy?".
Where binge watching can't directly effect your health, it's best not to try and over do it. This way of viewing TV shows is kind of like being hooked on drugs, you get addicted and there's no way you're not going to push the button for next episode when it appears.
But there's another question that comes along with this style of television, are you really appreciating the show? If you watch so much of one show at a time there is a point where you will get distracted or become disinterested in what you are seeing. Are these TV streaming websites taking suspense and drama out of TV shows? There's no waiting anymore, you can automatically click on a button to see what is happening next.
Netflix is definitely taking over the television scene and there is no way that it's going to stop. People spend hours and days of their lives watching continuous television and missing out on the "reality" of the world. They are stuck in this virtual world which can ultimately lead to them regretting the decisions that they made to binge watch television. They do this to be caught up with the times, or to watch that one popular show that they missed out on. Either way that you look at it, binge watching television online is hindering the lives of people and their health. There is no looking back now, and we will walk forward in this digitally infused, binge watching obsessed world.
After tearfully finishing the series finale of Parks and Recreation, I needed to immediately watch another show to pick me up out of the post-finale sadness. I turned to Brooklyn Nine-Nine, a sitcom co-created by Daniel Goor and Michael Shur (Shur co-produced Parks and Rec in addition to The Office). So I figured this would be a good choice. As far as pilots go, it definitely caught my interest.
The sitcom follows smart but immature NYPD Detective Jake Peralta (Andy Samberg) and his fellow detectives plus conflict with the new commanding officer Ray Holt (Andre Braugher). The pilot opens with a very close up & melodramatic monologue from Peralta. Even though the opening is meant to be comical on Peralta's part, it still drew me in because there was dramatic music, a close-up shot to show intense emotion, and even some slow-motion movement. It was a quote from another movie, but nonetheless it made me want to keep watching. Peralta's monologue is cut off by his partner Detective Amy Santiago (Melissa Fumero) trying to solve the crime, and changes to a single-camera shooting method with many fast zooms. (very similar to The Office and Parks and Recreation styles). Throughout the episode, Peralta finds that all of his work methods are under scrutiny by Holt, including, but not limited to, his lack of cooperation to wear a tie, slightly offensive comments, and method of capturing criminals.
The secondary characters (the other detectives) are introduced by the Sergeant; there is b-roll of the character doing something ridiculous while he narrates the basic characteristics of their character. They include Detective Rosa Diaz (Stephanie Beatriz), Detective Charles Boyle (Joe Lo Truglio), and Gina Linetti (Chelsea Peretti). They are all very funny, have great chemistry with the main characters, and contribute a lot to the story.
The seeds of other funny storylines have also been planted, such as the rivalry between Peralta and Santiago. They have a bet for who can make more arrests; if she makes more arrests then he has to give her his nice car, and if he makes more arrests then she must go on a date with him. There is clearly a lot of sexual tension between them, so I suspect some sort of relationship will develop. It was also revealed later in the episode that the new captain is gay, so future episodes will probably lean on that fact heavily.
I really enjoyed the pilot, and will most likely watch more episodes in the near future. (Especially since Andy Samberg is one of my favorite comedy actors).
Brooklyn Nine-Nine has been a hit so far and has recieved very positive reviews and awards! At the 2014 Golden Globes it won for Best Television Series (Comedy) and for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series (Andy Samberg). It has also just been renewed for a third season!
If you haven't heard about this show yet, you may be able to guess what this series is about from the title. The Slap on NBC, is a revamp of the Australian series The Slap, but the American version is not receiving the same good reviews that the original did. The first time I saw the trailer for the show, I didn't think they could make a series about a single incident. I also didn't think the show would work because they were promoting it as if the audience would decide if Harry (Zachary Quinto) was right or not to slap someone else's child. So I thought the whole series would be about Harry going to court for a long trial, and the jury would decide his fate based off of the audiences tweets about their opinions.
Here is the trailer for the series:
As planned I didn't watch the pilot of this show when it aired two weeks ago [Feb. 12, 2015]. Then the days following the premire I mostly heard bad reviews about this show. I was shocked to hear that there were rumors that this series could get canceled. I thought this show couldn't be very good if it's a mini-series with 8 Episodes and it might get cancelled!
When I saw the pilot on Hulu, I just had to see it for myself. Something I like about the show that I didn't know before watching, was that each episode is narrated and follows a different character. The first episode follows Hector (Peter Sarsgaard), "The Slap" happens at Hector's house while celebrating his 40th Birthday. After seeing the first episode I thought it was good enough where I wanted to see the next episode. Maybe I went into this show with such low expectations that I enjoyed it more. I saw the second episode that is about Harry, and I don't want to reveal any spoilers but you learn a lot about Harry's character after the episode. I thought the second show was better than the first and I am planning on watching the third episode after it premiers tonight. There are other conflicts happening in this show besides just "The Slap", which I'm glad about. There seems to be more drama building up, and I want to see what happens! The Slap is a decent drama, that is good enough for me to want to keep watching. This isn't one of my new favorite shows but I am planning on seeing the next six episodes.
Netflix is sure uping the antis with increasing its number of "netflix original series" with the success of orange is the new black. Netflix is sure being smart and creating their very own market.
Now that Netflix has its own series, it is really putting a stress on TV networks. More and more people are turning to Netflix, hulu and other online streaming sites. What is next to come? Hulu original series? If networks were smart they would be doing the same thing and creating a place to stream their shows easier and more efficient. If its cheaper, people will sure flock to their site.
In 2015, Netflix will be releasing 9 new original sees and I'm sure there is more to come. Instead of wanting to work for a station, I much rather work for Netflix or Hulu with the rate this is going.
Not only is Netflix spreading across the United States, but it is also spreading around the word. Soon it will be launching in Japan in the fall as well. Currently Netflix is the WORLDS leading TV network with over 57 million members and over 50 countries. It is crazy to think about. I know where I want to apply when I graduate.
So I'm sitting here at work and trying to think about what to write for my post, which reminded myself that I don't have cable TV this year in my dorm. I've been keeping up with my shows on Hulu (regardless of being a week and a day late from the episode's premiere) and in my spare time I watch reruns on Netflix. But it fascinates me that I've made it this long without television. This time last year we would constantly have the TV on in our room, even if it was just for background noise we would always have the TV running. And it makes me sad, I feel so completely out of the loop, without the ability to channel surf I miss out on so many shows I may potentially fall in love with. Sure, I could just search the endless genre classifications on Netflix, but there's a big difference between getting into a show by reading a show's description and getting into a show by catching a clip and that clip grabbing your attention. Lately any new things I've watched have been on recommendation from my friends, which sucks when I can't make any recommendations of my own. But luckily Thanksgiving break is just another few weeks away, and Winter break another few weeks after that, so hopefully by then I'll have a plethora of shows to post about :)
A new show just premiered on ABC last night called Mr. Sunshine. It deals with the behind-the-scenes workings of a sports/events arena and stars Matthew Perry and Allison Janney. I just watched it and I thought it was really funny. I would definitely recommend checking it out, especially if you're into dry humor. Here's the link to it on Hulu if anyone's interested.
