Hill Street Blues was a Network Show - Part 2

Part I - Hill Street Blues was a Network Show

 The thing about network shows is they are simply so much more watched than cable.  While watching television is done much less often by watching television than it has in the past, and even more less often at the appointed times on channels seen by most, the best way for a lot of people to watch a single program is on the networks.

As ubiquitous as ESPN is, there is a reason Monday Night Football Ratings dropped when they moved from ABC to ESPN, and Sunday Night Football became the most watched show on television after moving to NBC.  Part of the fun of watching shows is talking about them the next day and the way we watch television now does not lend ourselves to doing that.

The last network event was the Lost series finale in 2010 was somewhat tame compared to the big ones like Seinfeld or Friends.  But still, you could not avoid running into the accompanying media coverage.  Series finales of classic shows like that always draw huge audiences and there is a reason M*A*S*H finale remains and will remain the most watched program in the United States.

The Office had a finale of similar nature.  It turned in a solid ratings boost for the finale, though by no means was a ratings boon.  In the retrospective for that very show, the actors interview about how the show began as a ratings (and critical) disaster, but it was saved by iTunes, being the number one show on that service.

The point is The Office finale was one of the rare shared viewing experiences that people can talk about, whether it be friends, co-workers or mere acquaintances.  Most conversations about television now go something like this:

Do you watch Breaking Bad?
Yes, but I just started, so don't tell me anything.

or

How far are you?
Season two.
Oh man, just wait until season three!

or

This isn't a spoiler but...[spoiler!]

With the release of House of Cards, critics began more broadly using a term for an action that had already been going on for years: binge watching.  This is something any West Wing fan who received Bravo on their cable system was already familiar with (every Monday in the mid-2000s!).

While the convenience of a la carte/on-demand viewing cannot be beat, there is something to be said for a shared viewing experience, taking a show one week at a time with a whole lot of other people at the same time.  The Internets do allow for us to read articles from and talk with a lot of people we don't know about shows currently airing, so maybe the point is moot.

More outlets for writers and actors to work on*, and more choices for viewers are indisputably a good thing.  More flexibility for viewers on when to watch whatever they want is indisputably a good thing. 

But that doesn't have to mean there are so few quality options on the networks.  And it doesn't mean that networks can't produce quality television because they can't say "god damn."

Maybe one approach is re-thinking up-fronts.  There's no doubt that would cause an up-rising among advertisers, but if they coupled it with a smarter ratings system and showed them why it would stretch their ad dollars farther, maybe some wouldn't object.  Surely there has to be a better way than rolling out a host of new shows each year with the hopes of one or two sticking, while axing the rest by October.

Keep at it ABC.

* Cable seasons, generally 13 episodes, also give actors the rest of the year to work on other stuff.  Two very popular movies from this past year were boons for actors you recognize from outstanding cable shows: Argo and Lincoln.

Veep: Utter incompetence

"What?  You work at the White House?!  Oh my God, can I blow you?!"

 Veep returns Sunday night on HBO.

Regardless of where you live, expectations of any Washington-centric show include political machinations featuring members of Congress, lobbyists, and other movers and shakers making deals over steaks, cigars or cocktails.  It's a glamorous display of power, effectuality and uber competence.

Not so much.

If you live in Washington, DC the show has a built in appeal to you because you know DC has as many clowns, charlatans, and b.s. artists as anywhere.  Everyone alternately scrambles or procrastinates to get through the day just as you would in an office park in Scranton, PA.  Which is why Veep is so good...the ubiquitous nature of incompetence in the everyday workplace.  It provides the Office of the Vice President as the backdrop for a typical workplace comedy.  Yet the jokes are specific enough to politics and government the show is far from generic.  Perhaps these are not unique to DC, but some of these characters just scream Washington adding to the hilarity.

Dan - Climber, ascends professionally more due to networking than competence
Gary - Kool aid drinker. It'd be obnoxious if he wasn't so sincere
Jonah - constantly reminding everyone where he works

This doesn't even include the verbal japes the staff take at their own jobs when they refer to making "the medium bucks", using "creative" as a euphemism for "cheap" when it comes to budgeting and the utter contempt most others have for the types listed above.


Besides her staff deftly avoiding most implications of competence, the Veep's office also manages to rebuff any myth of having power and effectiveness in Washington.   Vice President Selena's image of herself as the second most power person in the world does not exactly line up with reality.  This is not unlike Michael Gary Scott's view of himself as a model businessman, comedian and all around best friend to everyone.  Selena's reaction when she discovers this misalignment is however much angrier than that of the Dunder Mifflin regional manager.  Rather than wrap her foot in bubble wrap and sulk, or double down by parading out self created characters to help make his original point (or oftentimes the exact opposite point he tried to make), she instead borderline abuses her staff to turn around their current political mess and get back into the country's/political ally's good graces and live up to her ambition.

Veep spawns from a much darker place than The Office though.  The shows' plotting diverges them further.  Michael may be down and depressed about his 30 year mortgage only to be welcomed back warmly to an office later that day while Selena and her team will be nearly out of the weeds, only to have the facade they've constructed come crashing down on them at the end of the episode, often putting them in an even worse position than they started.

And if you're interested, there's another show in the pipeline featuring the vice president. 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus was up for a Golden Globe and took home the Emmy for the Best Actress in a Comedy.  The show itself was nominated for an Emmy for Best Comedy Series.  It airs Sunday at 10 p.m. Eastern on HBO, repeats throughout the week and is on HBO Go.