Renewals and Cancellations: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Network upfronts have been going on the last week or so, and we now have news about which bubble shows have been unceremoniously cancelled, and which ones the network execs in their infinite wisdom have decided to maintain. As per usual, there is lots of good here and lots of bad. Among the good/great/spectacular news: FOX renewed Fringe in spite of its ratings for a final tie-up season; NBC renewed Parks and Recreation for a full-on 22-episode season (!!); and NBC is keeping Smash around in spite of some frightening creative flaws in the addictive musical drama. The bad/ugly/evil news came in the form of CBS renewing a boat-load of crappy, high-rated procedurals and horrible comedies; and The CW cancelling The Secret Circle (Sad trombone. You would think a show like that would be able to survive poor ratings on THE CW, right? Wrong, I guess).

Anyway, here are some updates on shows I watch and/or find myself midly invested in.

RENEWED:
30 Rock (13-episode final season, which is sad, but it's a great testament to NBC that it lasted seven seasons!)

American Idol (Hopefully will produce more of this, and less of this.)

Blue Bloods (I drop in and out of this one, but am glad for my parents that it's still around.)

Cougar Town (And moving to TBS, which is good news for three reasons: 1) TBS will actually promote the show; 2) The move to TBS was contingent on all of the principle cast members returning; and 3) Producing at least 40 more episodes (to get to 100) is in the best interest of TBS, who retains syndication rights.)

Fringe (YESSIR! Only for 13 episodes, but I'LL TAKE IT!!)

Glee (Silly, stupid fun.)

Grey's Anatomy (And Ellen Pompeo, Patrick Dempsey, Sandra Oh, Justin Chambers, James Pickens, Jr., and Chandra Wilson have all also renewed their contracts for two more seasons! One guilty pleasure dies, while another lives to fight another day.)

Grimm (Is anybody watching this show? Has it moved away from the procedural format and towards some kind of mythology yet?)

Happy Endings (For 22-episodes! Yessir!)

How I Met Your Mother (For probably its last season.)

Law and Order: SVU (Why is this show still on?)

Modern Family (No surprise here.)

New Girl (If you're not watching this show because of the early season hype attack, you're missing out. This.)

Once Upon a Time (Good, wholesome fun on my Sunday nights.)

Parenthood (Glad NBC is sticking by this show. It's pretty great. Only 15 episodes, but that's better than none!)

Parks and Recreation (22 new episodes! 22 new episodes!!!!)

Pretty Little Liars (CAN'T WAIT for new episodes this summer!)

Private Practice (Renewed for [probably] a 13-episode final(?) season, which is about all the room in my life I have left for this show and its "special crossover episodes".)

Revenge (Rich people soap fun!)

Scandal (Yayness! Really enjoying lots of things about this newbie, btw.)

Smash (Come on, Smash: live up to your pilot episode! You can do it!)

Southland (TNT continues to stick by one of the best dramas on TV period.)

Suburgatory (Great news, as this show keeps getting better. Maureen Ryan's loving it, too.)

The Good Wife (Obvs. Dot com.)

The Office (See note for Law and Order: SVU, above.)

The Vampire Diaries (TVD lives on in infamy!)

The Voice (Glad NBC has a hit, but airing this show in the Fall and the Spring seasons is going to be a bad move.)

Up All Night (Uneven, but has potential.)

CANCELLED:
Alcatraz (A decent show in spite of hemorrhaging ratings. In usual JJ Abrams fashion, it would have gotten better with a second season.)

Awake (Conflicting emotions: I like this show okay, but I'm okay deleting the backlog on my TiVo.)

Bent (NBC dropped the ball on this charming comedy before it even aired. We've all missed out.)

Chuck (My feelings were hurt by the finale. Why did they end it like that?!)

GCB (This one hit me surprisingly hard, and I'm sad to see it go. I think this show would have worked better, and perhaps survived, in half-hour instalments rather than hour-long episodes.)

House (Probably a couple seasons late.)

Make It or Break It (Disappointed, but not surprised to see it go. I'm going to need another girls-in-sports show ASAP, though.)

One Tree Hill (There's a good possibility that I watched all but, like, 3 episodes of this entire series. WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?!)

Pan Am (Got better as it went, but uneven. I'll miss the occasional bouts of Goran Visjnic on my TV.)

Prime Suspect (Wish this had been a midseason replacement show, as lower expectations for this really good procedural/character drama might have kept it around.)

Ringer (So many awful things here, but was good fun for the majority of its run. Sad to see it go.)

The Secret Circle (Booooooooo! How do 90210 and Hart of Dixie get a pass over TSC? Y'all, I am NOT OKAY with that!)

'The Voice' Pre-finale!

I haven't posted much on NBC's The Voice this season, but I've been enjoying a lot about it lately. It's sort of a shame that the press for both The Voice and American Idol have focussed on this cockeyed "competition" between the two shows, because, frankly, there's room for both in our TV-verse -- especially since NBC's scheduling of the former didn't force us to choose (well done, NBC)! While I have been enjoying The Voice a lot in recent weeks, I have to admit that it took me a while to get into any of the contestants. The coaches are so much more interesting than the contestants (the opposite is true on Idol, incidentally) that it was hard to remember many of the "voices" we saw in the blind auditions. Then it kept getting weirder when about half of the battle rounds went to contestants with seemingly stank personalities. Hmmm.

The "live shows", though, are where the real magic started to happen. They started off a little slow, but when the sing-for-you-life thing kicked in on results shows, desperation started making people awesome. Namely, Ashley de la Rosa with this performance of Grace Potter and the Nocturnal's "Paris (ooh la la)"! (I also LOVED her version of Jewel's "Foolish Games" because it made me hear that song differently, which is all I really want my reality singing contestants to do!) Additionally, some people who were pretty good during the auditions started getting a lot better in the live shows. I'll miss Jamar Rogers, even though I like Juliet Simms better.

After all was said and done, we ended up with Tony Lucca (Adam's new BFF, and Xtina's punching bag**), Jermaine Paul (Blake's protégée who is amazingly not a teenage girl), Chris Mann (Xtina's opera singer with the frightening gaze), and Juliet Simms (CeeLo's whiskey-voiced murderer). If you know me at all, you'll not be surprised that Juliet is my favorite of this bunch, and, really, of the whole season. I tried to like Tony Lucca, but can't see much past the MMC nostalgia thing; Jermaine Paul is fine, but he's not exactly going to set the world on fire; and, seriously, would you buy a Chris Mann record? I don't think you would. Juliet's performances of "Roxanne" and "It's a Man's, Man's, Man's World", however, are some of the best reality show performances this year! It would be a real shame to see her lose out to one of those three fellows. I'm also really curious to see if a woman can win The Voice, because I don't think a woman can win Idol any more (not just this season, either).

It will be interesting to see what happens tonight on the final performance show! Who are you rooting for??

** The real fun starts in this clip around the 2:12 mark during the night that will forever be known as "Honesty Night". Wowsers.

More Randoms

Short post to say that I really like this Droid Razr commercial right now.

Idol's Final Five: What Needs to Happen, What Probably Will, and What We Can Do About It (Nothing!)

We're finally down to the final five, that austere moment in the Idolverse where we start widdling down the really great contestants to get to the okay contestant that will win the show. I kid, I kid. (But seriously, let's be honest with ourselves about the quality of the last couple of winners of this show!) With Elise's unceremonious departure following two of her better performances, Skylar's SHOCKING appearance in the bottom three after one of her very best, and Phillip's amazing ability to skate by on sub-par jam band songs with a wink and a smile I'm starting to feel a little nervous about where we're heading. I really don't know who that second person in the finale is going to be for the first time in a while, and I don't think anyone can beat Phillip.

Don't get me wrong: I rag on Phillip/Dave, but I like him okay. I'd probably buy his record if he proves astute in song-writing, but how depressing would it be to see another cute white guy with a guitar win the show and sell 150,000 copies of his debut record? For singing reality shows to continue (and there are some of us that still like them!), shows like Idol and The Voice need to produce popstars with radio-friendly potential. I genuinely love a lot of the singer-songwriters that Idol has produced (I'm thinking of the underrated post-Idol efforts of Crystal Bowersox, Brooke White, Michael Johns, Katelyn Epperly, Tim Halperin, and even David Cook and Kris Allen), and I look forward to future releases from the likes of Elise Testone, Colton Dixon, and Phillip Phillips, but I want someone with pop potential like Skylar, Hollie, or Jessica to win the show. Scotty McCreery, in spite of the boring way he played Idol, has been good for business; David Cook, Kris Allen, and Lee Dewyze have not. Idol needs another Jordin Sparks, pronto. (Btw, is anyone else REALLY excited about Jordin's new movie remake, Sparkle? Seriously, watch the trailer! "Why would the Lord give me this gift if I wasn't supposed to use it?" Get it, Jordin! I digress.)

I would never leave you without a solution to the problem of this season's deserved Idol winner, though, now would I? As I see it, that solution is Skylar Laine. No matter what happens in the next four weeks of this show, it seems almost a sure thing that Skylar's going to have a music career, post-Idol. Frankly, she's the kind of artist 19 has been looking for. She's only (just) 18 (as the show likes to remind us), but she's a more mature singer/performer/show-woman (not a word in my computer's dictionary, although "showman" is. Hmmm) than many Idol teens that have come before her, and according to Jimmy, she writes, too. She hasn't had a bad performance in weeks, and her performance of Queen's "The Show Must Go On" last week was kind of legend. As J-Lo pointed out last week (and I pointed out six weeks ago. Just sayin'), she's a great storyteller, which is 90% of why she's believable as a country singer. Plus, anyone that can make me like/download "Wind Beneath My Wings" must be an evil genius.

I shouldn't have to sell Skylar to you at this point in the competition, though. If you're like me, you've probably already chosen your favorite, and it either includes the country vixen or it doesn't. These kids aren't earning more fans at this point: they're simply trying to keep their fanbases from getting apathetic. I'm just saying that Skylar is crazy-marketable and she's going to have a huge career no matter what the speed-dialling teens do this season. According to Billboard, Kellie Pickler is the fourteenth best-selling Idol artist ever, and she finished in sixth place.*** Also, lest we forget, Miranda Lambert got started on a reality show, too. On the USA Network. And she was third. (If you haven't seen Miranda's Nashville Star performances before, this one is fab.) It probably won't happen, but my point is that it would just be awesome to see a winner in the Skylar mould. Dare to dream. Fangirl rant over.

Before I wrap up this little soapbox (and if you're still reading, good for you!), I also wanted to add a little word about the other three contestants, any of which would be fabulous winners this season, as well. I'm still waiting for Joshua to sing something I want to listen to over and over again, although that India.Arie song was lovely. I can't really fault him for being himself, though. He's undoubtedly a great singer, and I look forward to seeing what he can do with it next.

Jessica is definitely getting better, post-elimination/save, showing (probably!) real emotion with that wonky "Dance with My Father" song (the horrible silhouette behind her did no one any favors). Whether you like her, find her robotic, or both (I think that's where I am with her), you can't deny how special her voice is. With the right songs, she could have a huge career after this thing is done.

I saved Hollie for last because she's become a little bit of a loveable underdog for me lately. I think her "Rollin' in the Deep" performance last week was shockingly good, and I actually loved both of her performances this week. "The Climb" is the PERFECT (pehr-fehct?) song choice for her because she can sing over it rather than up to it. She's finally starting to show some of her adorable personality in her performances (even though her wardrobe situation is still a strange mix of business casual and pageant-wear), she no longer looks terrified onstage, and she's singing really well. It's likely too little too late to compete with the others, but I wouldn't be upset to see her stay a couple more weeks. She should be right at home with this week's British Invasion theme, in any case.

Sorry for the essay, you guys! I get a little carried away sometimes. I take my Idol-watching a little too seriously :) I'm also really bad at conclusions, so, the end.

***Btw, you guys, Kellie Pickler's new record 100 Proof is so good! I finally caved and downloaded it, and it's been on non-stop iPod rotation since. Her voice is smoother and lovelier than I've ever heard before from her, and the songs have that great Pickler-esque blend of hillbilly spunk and heart. Instant classic.