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THE “BOBBYS” 1/15/2011 6:54:36 AM
The current “magnificent seven” best shows on TV — although some are on seasonal hiatus — are MAD MEN, THE OFFICE, BLUE BLOODS, MODERN FAMILY, GLEE, MEN OF A CERTAIN AGE, and THE GOOD WIFE, not necessarily in that order, but close. I know; your favorites didn’t make the cut, but this is my Op-Ed blog. Write your own.
MAD MEN easily wins the lion’s share of accolades, and like all the rest, its supremacy is heavily evident in the writing. Jon Hamm and most of the others are superlative actors, but MAD MEN’S plot and dialogue in the hands of any thespians would be exemplary. The directors have an almost uncanny ability to extract just the right amount of authenticity from the characters, scenery, photography, music, etc. The show is damn near perfect.
GLEE made the list with reservations. No choral group — and very few Broadway shows — ever achieves the high level of polished sophistication and professionalism portrayed each week by the “kids” of William McKinley High School in Lima, Ohio. I personally performed in many secondary school productions during my four ghastly years, but we never came even close to GLEE’S standards. There is not one actor on the show who should be earning less than $550,000 per week. The only reason it made the list at all is because it is so unrealistically entertaining. Performances are as we dream all should be, if only the producers were smart enough to hire us.
Speaking of “unrealistic,” note that no Reality Shows made the grade — probably because so few of them stress much reality. SURVIVOR has become ho-hum, THE APPRENTICE, thanks to Donald Trump, is too predictable, and THE AMAZING RACE enlists the most boring, distasteful people available — even the exotic locales are treated in a pedestrian, offhand manner. The remainder of the genre is just embarrassing, especially UNDERCOVER BOSS, the strongest argument ever for anti-capitalism and early retirement.
Among half hour sitcoms, MODERN FAMILY has no peer, thanks mainly to Christopher Lloyd. Although this genius doesn’t physically appear on the show, his contributions are visible in every scene and utterance. Not since the days of Sid Caesar, Ernie Kovacs, Steve Allen and Mark Twain, has any creator, writer, or exec producer come up with an effort as sharply drawn as this slice of family life. The cast, ultimate professionals all, were born to play these characters (when the show finally folds, they will have no choice but to retire.)
THE GOOD WIFE tries desperately to win out over MAD MEN, and with some episodes it does. But generally it’s just a slick, well paced and exquisitely written and directed diversion about a discipline (law) most of us erroneously think we know a great deal. Julianna Margulies proves what astute viewers have known for ages: she is arguably Hollywood’s most talented actress, wasted for years on popular but vapid shows.
BLUE BLOODS speaks for itself. Not since NYPD BLUE has a police drama been worth watching, although LAW AND ORDER was a staple until it moved West. Its spin-offs fall far short of the original.
BROTHERS & SISTERS coulda been a contender but faded when it disintegrated to a soap opera reminiscent of “All My Children” and “As the World Turns.” Sally Field’s dad, Jock Mahoney, is probably spinning in his grave. Likewise, DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES lost out, although it remains nonsensically and moderately entertaining. Both of these shows had great potential, but they are to drama what certain care giving practioners are to medicine: what baggage handling is to aviation. Neither show, as of this writing, has been renewed by ABC (though they probably will be.)
PARENTHOOD makes a strong bid, but its characters are too plastic, perfect, shallow and thus predictable. Fun to watch, though, when one realizes no such people actually exist; while they all talk at once, we are fooled into thinking family issues are just a game to be played by glib protagonists. The old father is a genuine patriarch, however, played to perfection by Craig T. Nelson. The rest — with the possible exception of Crosby’s kid — should be cut out of the Will.
There are, assuredly, other TV programs to which we are addicted, and most deserve some recognition, albeit begrudgingly, here and elsewhere. A number come to mind, such as 60 MINUTES, THE DAILY SHOW, HELL’S KITCHEN, MASTERPIECE THEATER, DIRTY JOBS, NOVA, AMERICAN EXPERIENCE, HOUSE, JEOPARDY, the HISTORY CHANNEL, ABC and NBC NEWS, PBS’s NEWS HOUR, PRARIE HOME COMPANION, MEET THE PRESS, DATELINE, TODAY — the list is as long as 30 Rockefeller Plaza is tall and Disney’s pockets are deep.
Except for sporting events and election returns, we rarely watch commercials; thanks to our generous kids a few Christmases ago, most programs are TiVo’d to avoid them (the commercials, not the kids.)
But the schedule of shows is, mostly, just a list that makes up the diet of an industry devouring material as rapidly as Hollywood and New York manufactures it. There is no entertainment vehicle that consumes output with the ferocity of TV. Unfortunately, the people entrusted have limited and suspect credentials for production and harvesting. They do not have ample right stuff to come up fast enough with the delicacies required to fill an insatiable appetite.
It’s as if billions were feeding off fifty acres of farmland planted by a couple dozen agricultural students.
There seems to be no relief from mindless mediocrity in the visual arts, and perhaps that is our lot in life. No, not perhaps — it definitely is. TV is a self-fulfilling prophecy, precisely as FCC chairman Newton Minnow said fifty years ago: “ . . . when television is bad, nothing is worse. I invite you to sit down in front of your television set . . . and keep your eyes glued to that [screen]. . . I can assure you that you will observe a vast wasteland.”
Welcome to our vast wasteland. Were it not for news, sports, and politics, the tube would eventually go the way of Greek writers, encyclopedias and Bibles — not, of course, it our lifetime but certainly by 2904 (or sooner.)
Thank heaven for our magnificent seven. Without them, we would have nothing but MASH, ALL IN THE FAMILY, THE JEFFERSONS, I LOVE LUCY, SANFORD & SON, ER, IRONSIDES, OZZIE & HARRIET, THE FLYING NUN, BILL CROSBY, DALLAS, MASTERPIECE THEATER and THE MICKEY MOUSE CLUB.
I once did a daily radio show for an auto entrepreneur named John Doyle. He was a strict disciplinarian who allowed his children to watch TV for only one hour a night and never on weekends. His boys grew up to become college graduates with post-degrees and grade-averages well over 400; today both are “leaders of industry” with seven-figure incomes. I bet they now watch all the TV they want — or none at all.
But neither claim to have missed a thing growing up. Makes me wonder what will mesmerize the next generation.
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A Reminder: My second novel — AURA LEE — a Civil War yarn, is now available for ordering at www.authorsden.com/robertmills. It can be ordered on line and delivered to your door within 72 hours!
