"Scrubs" |
HOLLYWOOD - The good, bad and the ugly on the tube this past week:
RAVE
"Scrubs" not scrubbed by NBC
Let's face it: Scrubs is a ratings loser. It's got a great lead-in with Frasier, but audiences are fickle, opting instead to catch the last half of NYPD Blue, Smallville or Buffy. Well, usually NYPD Blue.
But NBC has faith in the show--renewing it this week for another season--and that's a good thing. It deserves to be seen. The creativity and quirkiness of Scrubs is fresh and daring and rarely borders on lame.
RAVE
Maher dethrones the King
It's been said that CNN staple Larry King goes soft on his questioning of guests.
And that's often true. It's sad.
The thing is, Larry is seldom challenged by his guests. Nobody ever seems to fire back at him...until Politically Incorrect host Bill Maher spent an hour with Larry earlier this week. At every turn, Maher skewered King with solid reasoning and a massive knowledge of history. When King compared America's prejudice against Muslims to the Japanese interment camps of the '40s, Maher's response--"What a ridiculous jump!"--launched him into a tirade that had King pinned against the wall.
RANT
The ABC's of irony
The big news at ABC early this week was the shuffle (which means "firing") of executives at ABC Entertainment. Something had to be done to improve poor ratings.
Late Tuesday, when Nielsen Media Research released last week's final numbers, ABC came out in the top spot: it snagged the number-one position in the rankings. But, after all this hyped-up executive "shuffling," it actually wasn't the ABC Entertainment division that won the week--it was ABC Sports, which led the way with its broadcast of the Rose Bowl.
Perhaps the network needs more rah, rah, rah and less Regis?
RANT
"Friends" Forever?
Despite Jennifer Aniston's comment in the fall of 2001 that Friends is in its final season, NBC execs insist the rumors are not true. At NBC's portion of the Television Critics Association press tour on Wednesday, Jan. 9, bigwigs assured the press that they're negotiating to keep Friends on the air--but left it at that.
They were evasive, actually.
What's hindering the negotiations? Do the Friends need more cash? More? The six cast members can already pay off the national debt.
OK, enough NBC-bashing for now. The whole Scrubs thing balances it out.