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New York, 5:46 PM
Fri Nov 27
13 posts in the last 24 hours
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10/29/09
10/30/09
10/30/09
10/29/09
10/29/09
Next time, try getting Parminder Nagra. She makes everything better. #desperatehousewives
10/29/09
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10/29/09
09/23/09
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09/08/09
Oh, and I agree ... I pay a fortune for cable, so I'm bummed to have to watch so many commercials (even on cable). Can't we just adopt the BBC model of charging a fee in exchange for commercials? I know I could live with less Viagra vignettes in my life.
09/08/09
09/08/09
09/08/09
09/08/09
And btw, don't try to tell me that that $100 per month goes to the cable company and not the channels. Because first of all, it isn't true. The channels do get some of that money, even the non-premiums - otherwise many of them couldn't exist. And secondly, as a consumer, it doesn't matter - if I'm paying $100 every month for something, I don't give a rat's ass where the money actually goes, that's for all those jerks in the industry to figure out. All I know is I'm paying a lot of money for TV and I shouldn't be forced to sit through ads.
09/08/09
The fact is this. Content is expensive, hugely expensive. The average primetime scripted drama costs upwards of 2 million dollars an hour to produce, and that's just the raw production cost, the cost of yelling "action!" on a fully staffed set.
From development, to production, to broadcast, to packaging, marketing and promotions you can add another 3 or 4 million per episode to that cost. So now you're talking between 5 and 6 million per episode. Multiply that over the course of a 22 episode season and you're talking about 110 million dollars of basic costs per season to bring a first-tier scripted drama to air.
A large enough revenue stream to pay for all that is tenuous already, and that's WITH sub fees, ads, product placement, cross promo tie-ins and what-have-you. Now, put us in the middle of a cratered ad market, and you have a cash-starved industry that will look at any option, no matter how tacky, to get revenues up.
This is also, of course, why so many cable (and broadcast) shows are reality shows, or clip reel/b-roll countdown shows. Production is cheap or consists of pre-owned library footage.
Thus, so-called "value added" content, like in-show ads, on a cheap to produce, guaranteed eyeball grabber like the new Leno show are a no-brainer if you're a network executive.
09/02/09
09/02/09
09/01/09
09/01/09
...Although I suppose you could argue that she's not "bad" for having a disorder that allows her to be fretful, supportive mom; unflappable 50s housewife; wicked teen girlfriend; a trucker who will beat up your shitty ex. If only I had seen more than three episodes....
09/01/09
Why She's Bad: Gemma once stole a child's skateboard in order to smash the face of a prostitute who slept with her hubby. She has no mercy on other women, and she's the power behind the throne of a major criminal syndicate.
Worst Parenting Moment: She most likely killed her son's father. She explicitly ordered her junkie daughter-in-law to commit suicide by OD, and provided the syringe full of heroin. She's scary-possessive of her grandson.
Love her: She's tattooed, the most coolly manipulative lady on screen since the Marquise de Merteuil, and her best friend is a female porn-director.
Most Fucked Up Kid: Jax is the only kid who survived her mothering. Gemma's other son died.
Fun scale: 11!
What should we get her for Mother's Day?
09/01/09
09/01/09
09/01/09