Writers back to work!

It's over! Oh happy day, oh happy day, the writer's strike is over.
So what?
We'll see the first return to normalcy with late night television. All the late night shows will be made with writers starting next week, and a few return tonight with writers. After that the comedies will be next to come off the assembly line, and viewers can expect at least 5 episodes from most of their favorite comedies. The outlook for dramas isn't as pretty, with 3 to 4 being the maximum output for most studios before May finales, and some dramas may not return until the fall.
Don't expect to see any episodes of Heroes until next fall, and 24 probably won't be back on until 2009. New shows that were struggling, like Chuck, probably won't return until the fall so they can remake their image to attract more viewers. Other new shoes like Bionic Woman may not be as lucky, as they may never return. As for Ugly Betty, they plan on condensing their story arc into a 17 episode season. Lost, which filmed eight episodes before shutting down may be able to finish its planned run of 16, but it's possible they'll be limited to only 4 more episodes before shutting down for the summer.
If your show isn't back this fall on NBC, it may get an early release in the late summer. NBC is planning on having some season premieres right after the Olympics to carry the momentum built up from viewers over the summer.
The end of the strike also means that the Oscars will happen with their normal glitz and glamor, as stars will be attending and the production will occur as usual. The one downside is that host Jon Stewart only has two weeks to work with writers.

Grammy diary

For the sake of full disclosure i need to admit that i didn't watch all the Grammys. Also, these thoughts are coming at you in no particular order and are rather incomplete. I doubt anyone will complain because i don't think anyone actually reads this. If you actually are reading this, make your presence heard and leave a comment on one of the articles of this blog. Tell me I'm an idiot, tell me that you love me, tell me that I'm an idiot, tell me your own thoughts, tell me that I'm an idiot, or post your favorite article of the Constitution. Without further ado, here are the ramblings of an idiot....

Unlikely duos can yield exciting and surprising results at the Grammys, but most of the time they just make you cringe. The pairing of Kid Rock with some old lady definitely fell into the latter category. Kid Rock seemed completely out of place as he stumbled through his performance and tried to hit on a lady who probably slept with William McKinley. The lady they dug up, who apparently won the first Grammy ever for some category that had probably been created the year she won, appeared drunk on stage, which was evident when she forgot the nominees had been introduced and then stole the envelope from Kid Rock.

Kanye West has gone from being productive to flat out annoying. During his acceptance speech he basically declared himself king of the hip hop world, and told everyone else to kneel before him. He went so far as to tell other rappers not to release albums the same year as him because they wouldn’t be able to compete with him. After Kanye was done congratulating himself, and announcing what other artists he would find it acceptable to lose to (the list contained two), he gave a shout out to his recently deceased mom. At that point he had to tell the show’s producers to stop playing music over his speech because it was, “in bad taste.”

When Stevie Wonder was standing by the microphone I wondered how he would leave the stage. I assumed someone would come over and lead him off the stage, but it made me think of the time Wonder was left on stage after performing with Will Smith.

When Alicia Keys wears her hair straight she looks like Rihanna. I feel like those two together would be a pretty sweet pairing, but would never happen because it lacks a comedic factor and is too sensible. Instead Keys got put together with John Mayer, who appeared in a limited role of about thirty seconds, which ended up being rather unsatisfying without making me too mad.

Ringo Starr has been enjoying the work of John, Paul, and George for over forty years, and I don’t think he cares. I’m not saying I wouldn’t have gone along for the ride too if I was an average drummer, but it’s just something that should be said anytime Ringo makes an appearance.

Ringo presented an award to Vince Gill. Gill had the second best line of the night as he took a shot at Kanye, asking whether he had ever gotten an award from a Beatle. Gil's moment was only exceeded by Usher, who told Kanye, "there are no losers in the best Album category."

I love the joke Cher made about singing for Abraham Lincoln. I’m happy that she’s embraced how ridiculous she is.

Aretha Franklin is ridiculously fat. If she didn’t have a sweet title (Queen), I bet she would just be like every other person her size who stays at home and dreams about making a Subway commercial. Actually, the Subway commercial line is outdated. I think nutrasystem is the diet to shill for these days.

All these Lifetime Grammy awards are bringing me down. I can’t handle all these flashback clips that are usually followed by old people struggling to relive glory days. I’m glad that Tina Turner can still sing and fit into a disgustingly tight dress, but you don’t do honor to your legacy by trashing it later in life. If you can still hack it you should get your day in the sun, like Jordan with the Wizards, or John Fogerty and Bruce Springsteen today. But really crazy old lady, Tina, and Aretha? Let them show the clip from fifty years ago and then let some hot young thing put their spin on it. It’s not only easier on the ears, but the eyes too. The performance of “Rhapsody in Blue” follows my advice. Let the guy without arthritis play the piano and it just sounds better.

I love the shameless promotion CBS has for all of its shows during the Grammys, and I’m not even talking about the commercials. Every actor that’s presented, while I’ve been watching, has been from a CBS show. The exception is George Lopez, who I don’t think had a show before the strike started, but probably has a pilot in the works over on CBS.

Taylor Swift is eighteen, and it looks like she wore her prom dress to the award show. That said, I would love to accompany her to her Prom. The offers out there Taylor, and if you go to high school I think you should take me up on it. Kanye just lost to Rihanna, and I’m so happy.

Rihanna has done some crazy things with her hair, and has pulled it off in the past, but her Flock of Seagulls look isn’t working for me. Jay-Z began translating for Rihanna, which was amazing since she was speaking in English. I couldn’t tell for certain if it was a joke, or whether or not he really thought her English was unintelligible.

Cuba Gooding Jr. will do absolutely anything for money or fame. Live from London he introduced Amy Winehouse. I’d say more about how Gooding has become a pitiful shell of his former self (the guy won an Oscar), but I need to talk about Amy Winehouse.

Winehouse gave a pretty exciting performance for someone who was doubtful to perform two weeks ago. The energy isn’t completely back, but her performance is definitely heads above the lackluster shows she was putting on at her worst recently.

The best part of Winehouse’s performance was that fact she had the balls to sing Rehab. I’m not sure if it’s funny that she’s singing it, or maybe she finally kicked her problems and this is the final nail in the coffin for a drug filled life. My guess is the song will continue to be funny for years to become. It’s not that I’m betting against her, it’s that I haven’t found a place to make that bet yet.

I was kind of hoping Amy would reinvent herself for this performance, but it basically turned into one of those, “see I’m alive” kind of show. It was sort of like the performance Britney Spears mailed into MTV last year.

Tony Bennett has proved that old people shouldn’t be allowed to sing, or apparently read anything on the Grammys. It’s not as if he didn’t have his glasses on, because he did, and still couldn’t read his lines. Although, maybe they were his lines, but they didn’t WGA writers to write them, and so they came out like the ramblings of an insane old man.

Amy Winehouse just won record of the year and thanked, “incarcerated Blake.” Blake is Amy’s husband who is currently spending time in a British jail, and has recently begged his wife not leave him. I’m thinking with this big win everything is going to be alright in Amy’s life….

Music executives have fallen further in my opinion after tonight. Some guy from the Recording Academy, we’ll call him Steve, just declared that he and his brethren will fight for compensation for music played over the radio. Steve is probably the same jerk that killed Napster, and now he wants to kill small time radio stations that won’t be able to pay such royalties. I guess now would be a good time to plug my school’s radio station, WGSU, 89.3 the Revolution. Tune in every Saturday at nine to hear an hour of songs my dad likes. I should warn you that you can only get Geneseo’s radio station if you’re basically in the broadcast booth or standing on top of the library.

Based on Little Richard’s performance it would seem that he doesn’t just make Geico commercials and scare little children with his face. Richard definitely fell into the category of those who could still hack it. He might not be able to dance, but he can still sing and entertain. Jerry Lee Lewis, who played adjacent to Richard, should have stayed at home.

Lewis used to be an electric performer, who would crush the piano if he tried to get on top of it like fifty years ago. He doesn’t need to dance on the piano, but some energy would have been nice.

Final Note: Of all the shows a network station could bring over from cable, was Dexter really the best choice? Apparently the editing process has been relatively smooth, but I don’t see Dexter making it, even against reality television and reruns. The show has no buzz, no history, and lacks the critical acclaim of other show that could have made the transition. With the Sex and the City movie coming out in May, I think it would have been the perfect time for it to make the jump to network television. It already airs in an edited format, and I already know it’s better than its spawn, Cashmere Mafia and Lipstick Mafia.