E! Online Offers a First Look at ABC Family's Pretty Little Liars

From the channel that brought us Greek and Make it or Break it, comes yet another silly teen drama that I am totally going to waste my time watching this summer. ABC Family's new show is called Pretty Little Liars. The major plot of the show is that the queen bee (as they call the most popular girl in school on Gossip Girl) goes missing and the queen bee's posse has to figure out what happened. The show seems to have an eerie, thriller aspect since it's creeptastic tag line is:

"Never trust a pretty girl with an ugly secret."

Creepzilla. This show seems like it is going to be very similar to the CW's prime time programming. I am glad to see ABC Family expanding its original programming and I hope that they are successful in grabbing some of those teen eyeballs away for the CW. I personally feel that ABC Family's programming offers more characters with substance and positive value systems that are better for kids to watch regularly.

Pretty Little Liars will premier on Tuesday, June 8 at 8 p.m. on ABC Family.

TBS Pick Up Coco

After the NBC late night fiasco, Conan O'Brien has a new home on TBS. O'Brien's new program will air Mondays through Thursdays at 11 p.m. Eastern starting in November, which will shift "Lopez Tonight," starring George Lopez, from 11 p.m. EDT to midnight. The five-year contract gives O'Brien ownership of the show, according to a person familiar with the deal who spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to publicly discuss it. (via the Associated Press) Conan of course had a funny tweet on the topic.

Save One Show! The Fans Have Spoken

E! Online  has given a voice to the masses! E! Online's annual Save One Show Campaign is launched on Monday, March 29th 2010 giving fans the chance to rescue their favorite low audience rated shows from cancellation. The shows in the running to be saved were Accidentally on Purpose (CBS), Better Off Ted (ABC), Chuck (NBC), FlashForward (ABC), The Forgotten (ABC), Ghost Whisperer (CBS), Heroes (NBC), Human Target (Fox),  Life Unexpected (The CW), Medium (CBS), Melrose Place (The CW), Mercy (NBC), Numb3rs (CBS), One Tree Hill (The CW), Parenthood (NBC), Scrubs (ABC), Sons of Tuscon (Fox), Trauma (NBC), and V (ABC).

The way voting worked was that fans voted for their favorite show until Monday April 5th when the shows were cut down to a top five, which were

• Better Off Ted
• Chuck
• Life Unexpected
• One Tree Hill
• Parenthood

Fans of the ousted shows had the chance to get their series back in the running via a special Twitter Wild Card vote. The Wild Card winner, which was announced on April 7th, was NBC's Heroes.

Fans of the final shows then voted for the one show to be saved on April 12th and the winner was.... DRUMROLL...
 CHUCK!

I really like the idea of fans being able to tell television execs which shows are important to them and which shows they will actually watch. I hope that this really does impact NBC's executives to bring Chuck back for a fourth season. It is one of my favorite shows on TV and Zachary Levi is so cute.

Last year Chuck was in danger of being canceled as well. The fans spoke up then by supporting Subway which was featured in many episodes of Chuck. Crain's New York Business article 'Chuck fans hit up Subway' details the fans efforts which successfully brought about a third season.


I hope that more fans will speak up for the favorite shows in the future like the instances here.

Better Off Ted (ABC)

Chuck (NBC)

FlashForward (ABC)

The Forgotten (ABC)

Ghost Whisperer (CBS)

Heroes (NBC)

Human Target (Fox)

Life Unexpected (The CW)

Medium (CBS)

Melrose Place (The CW)

Mercy (NBC)

Numb3rs (CBS)

One Tree Hill (The CW)

Parenthood (NBC)

Scrubs (ABC)

Sons of Tuscon (Fox)

Trauma (NBC)

V (ABC)

Read more: http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/watch_with_kristin/b173297_save_one_show_on_get_in_here_vote_people.html#ixzz0mtG9agqs

Modern Family goes iPad Crazy for Free

On Last night's (March 31, 2010) episode of Modern Family Phil wants and iPad for his birthday and his wife Claire tries to get one. So much of the episode is revolves around the iPad that it must have been a paid product placement, right? Wrong! (ad age detailed why apple did not have to pay for yet another product placement in the article 'Modern Family' Featured an IPad, but ABC Didn't Collect) The writers simply used the launch of a new apple product as an interesting plot for the show. I think it gave the episode a true to life feeling. The beauty of it was that the product integration was perfectly in character for Phil Dunphy and the show. In an earlier episode Phil purchases a top of the line remote for the television and mentions discussing technology online with his buddies. Phil's line: "Two weeks?! That's the worst thing you can say to an early adopter" Demonstrates the the launch of the iPad is simply an influential event to him. So many times, product placements are ham-fisted and artificial. This time, it felt natural and absolutely essential for the entire plot.

Check out this clip and see how Claire and Phil's son Luke saves the day with his lies.

Happy Passover!

Jewish holidays seems to be overlooked by the television industry, but the Rugrats, my favorite cartoon of all time, tells the story of passover beautifully. I can't seem to find the full episode, but here is the first part.

Enjoy!

Brace Yourself! The Real Housewives of New Jersey Trailer is here

As Jersey Native and soon to be a Jersey resident once again after graduation in May, I can't help but watch the Real Housewives of New Jersey. This show is so outragous it makes no sense and I can't help but watch it. If you missed the first season check the recap below.

Recap:

ABC Gets Greedy

WABC (ABC's New York broadcasting station) is threatening to pull its signal from Cablevision on March 7th. WABC is demanding  a heightened subscriber fee which is rumored to be a 50 to 60 cent increase or $40 million in new fees for programming from Cablevision and subscribers. Currently WABC's programming is free over-the-air and online and it will likely remain free. So why then should Cablevision and its subscribers for programming that is available for free?

This leads me to ask a larger question about the overall functionality of cable. In the past year there has been a few disputes between networks and cable providers including Cablevision and Scripps Networks Interactive (the parent company of HGTV, DIY Network, Food Network, Travel Channel, Fine Living Network (FLN) and Great American Country) and Fox Network Television and Time Warner Cable. Much of this problem stems from the decrease in advertising revenue these channels are receiving due to recession and what I think is the biggest factor, the move of television content to the online. Site like Hulu.com and the network's very own websites provide cable television for free at anytime the viewer wishes to watch the program. It is very difficult for Television itself to compete with the internet. 


Traditional television seems to be collapsing. Cable companies are losing subscribers to the internet and networks are losing advertisers to online providers. This whole model needs to be re-worked. Networks should stop giving their content out for free (or virtually free since advertisers pay significantly less or online ads than television ads) and start charging for online views. Time Warner and Comcast's TV Everywhere Initiative (an authentication system that allows cable subscribers to access cable content online, but only if one proves that one has a subscription to a cable/satellite provider click here for more details about the initiative) needs to become to standard.

Comcast's Fancast.com is already putting the TV Everywhere model into action and a few friends of mine are reaping the benefits. College students living away from home can access their parents cable from campus' throughout the country. Premium channels like HBO can be streamed live. It is really cool.

Now back to the WABC/Cablevision Dispute

If the dispute does not get resolved by March 6th, WABC will go dark at 12:01am on March 7. This is greatly upsetting to me as a Cablevision subscriber because the Oscars air live on March 7th. What is ABC thinking? The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in conjunction with ABC has worked hard to revamp the show in order to increase the ratings. The number of nominated movies for Best Picture has increased to 10 films and a number of younger actors and directors were admitted into the academy in hopes of increasing viewership. The New York viewing audience will be decreased due to inability of Cablevision subscribers to view the awards show. WABC is only hurting ABC's viewership. It is the best interest of WABC to end this dispute as soon as possible.

That is all I will wax poetic about for now.

Peace and Love,

Alicia