regarding recording television

Upcoming Recordings 01/29 - 02/01

One of the things I try to be conscious of when I’m looking for shows to record is the appearance of bands I like. On Thursday (01/29) a WILCO performance from a few years ago can be found on SESSIONS AT WEST 54TH (Trio, 7pm).

Usually one of my weaknesses is my inability to fully listen to lyrics and discern meaning from them. However, "Box Full of Letters" (from the album A.M.) really seemed to "speak to me." By using that phrase, I’m once again embarrassing myself on the web. When I think of Wilco I remember the summer before my senior year of college. I spent one afternoon a week doing a radio show at WXJM. Inevitably, a song from A.M. would find it’s way into the first hour of my show. There’s something odd, mysterious and comforting knowing that you’ve got a group of handwritten letters tucked away somewhere in your bedroom. Those words are the things you go back to every few years (or maybe only once a decade) knowing they’ll bring a smile to your face and dredge up some, hopefully, fond memories.

I have a dusty crate of letters tucked into a corner of my bedroom. I haven’t read any of the letters in that crate since 1996, when I spent the better portion of a night sorting them by sender and date. One of the frightening things I found was the small stack of letters written but never sent. When it comes to reflecting on your own state of mind during the summer of 1991, there’s nothing better than reading one of those letters (which was probably written while watching an episode of NORTHERN EXPOSURE). Part of me hopes there’s still an envelope or two in there that I sealed and never opened. Not sure where I’m going with this. NOWHERE, FAST, probably.

NOWHERE, FAST is a special that originally aired a few months ago on Discovery Times. The channel is airing it again Friday at 10am (and throughout the day). It’s about "solutions to traffic problems." I hope it’s funny and enlightening. I imagine it’s not as good as a half hour show about people who put dummies in their cars for the morning commute, adding fake passengers thus making their vehicles candidates for HOV lanes. That’s a show with comedy potential and one I’d make sure I actually watched.

I’ve already raved a bit about PARKING LOT. Friday’s episode (Trio, 9pm) features a segment outside a WHITE STRIPES show. I’m not sure if the Von Bondies get a mention or not. So far I’ve only seen one of the PARKING LOT episodes but I was happy I caught it. Anytime a camera crew visits a Sci-Fi convention, you know you’re in for a good time.

Speaking of Science Fiction, I never fully embraced that route as a teenager. Due to a lack of special effects skills, the videos I made usually revolved around English projects (adaptations of Huck Finn, Beowolf, etc.) or the documentation of my high school gym’s transformation into prom dance floor. Of course, there was something thrilling about setting up the title sequence for a short clip from Henry IV that two friends and I made. I’m sure there won’t be anything nearly that elaborate on Saturday morning’s episode of MAKING HOME MOVIES (DIY, 1am). The episode will concentrate on digital camcorders. The potential for Sci-Fi Special Effects is suddenly much greater with them. The glow sticks and swish pans my friends and I used in 1991 now seem old hat.

One filmmaker who seems to be able to capture mood and tone better than anyone on the current scene is SOFIA COPPOLA. A short film she made in 1998, LICK THE STAR, airs at 11:45am Saturday on IFC.

If you’re gearing up for Sunday’s Super Bowl, yet can’t escape the notion that you haven’t been paying enough attention to things Presidential, record PRESIDENTS ON SUPER SUNDAY. I imagine doing so will eliminate all your guilt about enjoying football craziness more than Super Tuesday. It airs Saturday at 10pm on the History Channel.

So, right, I didn’t go the sci-fi route as a kid. I went the comic book geek route. That box full of letters I mentioned earlier starts as a collection of letters from other comic book geeks. I plan to revel in that comic book geekiness when I watch NEAT STUFF of Discovery Home & Leisure. The show airs at 9pm (against the Superbowl) and I’ll be recording it. Not only does it explore comic book collections, but part of it focuses on Dark Horse Graphics, which I assume is Dark Horse Comics.

Whadya’ think Gubes?

I still haven’t finished going through the program guide for this week, but I want to quickly mention that next Sunday morning at 11am you should direct your recording to AMC. They’ve got a show called SUNDAY MORNING SHOOTOUT hosted by producer Peter Guber and Variety Editor Peter Bart. I guess it’s been running for a few months now. I watched the show for the first time today and found it to be perfectly middle-of-the-road veering toward interesting. It only runs thirty minutes and that doesn’t allow for the development of super in-depth conversations, which is too bad because Guber and Bart could have a lot to say. They touch on various filmmaking issues for the first third of the show. That’s followed by an interview segment and the show closes with discussion about a particular film that was released during the previous few weeks.

Of course, one of the reasons to check out this show is to take a look at the set. It looks like it was pulled from some quickly cancelled early 90’s Canadian teen drama (with a touch of 90’s soccer mom Barnes and Noble thrown in for highbrow measure). The whole show is set in a café, with Guber and Bart sitting at a table covered by the Sunday morning newspaper. The background has extras, sipping coffee and presumably talking in hushed voices! It’s very weird and certainly a sight to behold, especially when you see Ben Kingsley, the guest on this recent episode, order a coffee and then join the hosts at their table.

Look for a rerun of this episode Wednesday at 3:40am.

(fyi, credit goes to mitch for reminding me to make sure i paid attention to the set)

Upcoming Recordings 01/21 - 01/25

Is it wrong to like a show when one of the main pleasures is watching one of the lead characters wear a Spoon t-shirt? I gave up on ONE TREE HILL after the first two or three episodes. I didn’t understand the story or the relationships between the characters. Because I’m a sucker for scripted teen drama I returned to life as a regular viewer sometime in November. Sure, “One Tree Hill” is on the WB but it isn’t Gilmore Girls, Smallville or Everwood. The dialogue is stilted. The story is simple. The pacing could be described as languid. Yet there’s something engrossing about this drama and I can’t quite put my finger on it. I like that the backdrop for the show is North Carolina, and that we see the town. And it’s not a made-up town like Stars Hollow, Smallville or Everwood. Tree Hill has character, not quirkiness. The town has an alternative newsweekly, called THUD. One of the main characters, Peyton (the one wearing the Spoon t-shirt in Tuesday night’s episode) draws a comic strip for Thud and she recently quit the cheerleading team. Peyton also mentioned Cat Power on the same episode. And don’t get me started on the episode that had her drinking at a college party. That episode was filled with music references. The person handling that part of the show is doing a great job. And that’s what’s going to keep me watching this season. I like seeing my cute little subculture reflected on screen. I just want more of it. ONE TREE HILL airs on Tuesday nights at 9pm and is the best reason for using the vcr in the other room when your two tuner digital video recorder is busy with 24 (which I am seriously about to stop watching) and America’s Next Top Model.

(By the way, you have to check out http://www.punkndisorderly.com, the “blog” I linked to above written by the character Peyton. I didn’t even realize this much promotion for the show existed. When Sujan looked at me last week and asked if I ever felt like I’d reached the end of the internet a site like PunkNDisorderly (TM and © Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. 2004) appears and is one of the reasons I’m able to quickly and safely answer “no.”)

After the excitement of ONE TREE HILL everything else this week pales in comparison. But I’ve got the DVR ready to record:

WEDNESDAY (1/21)
ToddTV on FX at 10pm – reality this, reality that. TV audience tells a guy what to do.

I watched a few hours of non-dvr’d Comedy Central the other day and could not escape the commercials for the premiere of CHAPPELLE’S SHOW (10:30pm). Be happy I’m not whining about my inability to convince the comedy chair of my university’s program board to book Dave Chappelle during the spring of 1993.

THURSDAY (1/22)
BIG IDEA WITH DONNY DEUTSCH - I liked what I saw of this energetic ad man on “The Apprentice” last week and thought I’d check out his show on CNBC. It airs at midnight, so make sure you program this one on Wednesday.

The other day I mentioned an article in filmmaker magazine about programming short films for Sundance. One of the films mentioned was TERMINAL BAR. It airs on Sundance at 8pm.

SATURDAY (1/24)
At 9pm Sundance Channel presents the SUNDANCE AWARDS 2004.

SUNDAY (1/25)
A few weeks ago I wrote about PARKING LOT on TRIO. The show begins at 9pm and runs every night this week.

Upcoming Recordings 01/12 – 01/17

By the time I post this you’ll have just a few hours to race to your PVR and record MEDIA TELEVISION on Trio. Monday’s episode (2pm) has a story on “Barbarian Invasions” and “Elephant.” My friend Dan skipped “Barbarian Invasions” (and, let’s be honest, he didn’t miss too much) but he did see “Elephant” and 85 other features released in 2003. I posted his 2003 movie list this weekend and it’s worth checking out.

One of the music highlights coming up this week includes a Thursday appearance by THE SHINS on THE LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN. I saw the band during the summer of 2002 at the Siren Music Festival and couldn’t have enjoyed their performance more. If The Shins aren’t what you’re into and you live in New York, check out an episode of MOUNTAIN STAGE Saturday night (17 Jan) on WNYE (channel 25), featuring Ralph Stanley, among others. But perhaps I only mention Ralph Stanley because Jack White covers one of his tunes on the soundtrack to COLD MOUNTAIN and that gives me another reason to mention the 2003 movie lists. My list is forthcoming. I’m still trying to figure out a way to count Along Came Polly as an official 2003 release.

For me, the musical highlight of the coming week happens Tuesday morning when I record BEAUTIFUL SOUTH on Trio (as part of “Trio on Tour”). It airs at 9am. I don’t think I’ve listened to Beautiful South since my second year of college. I couldn’t begin to tell you what they sound like. But I want to be reminded. Whenever I hear the band mentioned I instantly flash back to being sixteen years old and at summer camp (well, Virginia’s Governor’s Russian Studies Academy. We told ghost stories one night, so it counts! - remind me to tell you about the family that was once trapped in a house and wasn't allowed listen to anything other than "Hotel California"). Anyway, there was a girl there who always wore a Beautiful South t-shirt (not to be confused with the girl who always wore the Concrete Blonde t-shirt) and, surprisingly, I didn’t have a crush on her. I was captivated that she knew bands I’d never heard of, or maybe I was captivated by the logo on the shirt. I don’t quite recall. And I remember a year later when a woman I met at that same camp mentioned she was into Beautiful South. Somehow I was lame and never got around to listening to any of their albums (I was probably too busy watching Swan’s Crossing). During my second year of college I ended up making a mix tape for the woman who was into Beautiful South. I included one of the band’s songs. She never sent me a mix tape. No one sends me mixes these days. I am sad about that. Maybe I should’ve become friends with the girl who was into Concrete Blonde instead?

On Thursday the DVR will be rolling when THE LIVES THEY LIVED airs on Discovery Times (2am). It originally aired a few weeks ago, but I missed it. Like the special issue of The New York Times Magazine, this program examines “some remarkable lives that ended in 2003.”

And don’t forget that THE WORLD POKER TOUR concludes Wednesday at 9pm on the Travel Channel. Season two starts in March!

UPDATE (1/14/04): The Shins were on Letterman last night. I recorded it because that's what my guide said. I swear the Late Show website said there were on Thursday. Sorry about the mistake.

2nd UPDATE (1/15/04): I think The Shins are on a Letterman again tonight. I'm completely confused. I'd try to stay out of this bands on late night talk show recording but Death Cab for Cutie will be appearing on Craig Kilborn next Monday, 1/19.

parking lot (last week in jan)

in a week long lead up to this year's superbowl (or, at least i think that should be the marketing angle), trio is presenting six episodes of a series called PARKING LOT. the first episode airs sunday, jan 25th at 9pm (it's immediately followed at 9:30 by the first television airing of the classic HEAVY METAL PARKING LOT. i can't tell how much jeff krulik and john heyn are involved in this new series, but if it's got just half the fun as the original short, it should be amazing. the show airs sunday through friday that week at 9 every night. the press release linked above has a description of each episode and lists the various parking lots visited.

thoughts on criticism, 2003 & what's coming up

During Tuesday’s subway ride home from the office I almost got chills reading Matt Zoller Seitz’s article, THE EYE OF THE CRITIC, in that day’s New York Press. It reminded me why I like reading his work so much. I like seeing behind the veneer of the critic. I smiled the most ridiculous kind of smile for the subway ride, identifying with Matt, when I read:

I’ve gotten to the point where I now read critics not because I trust their opinions, but because I feel that I’ve gotten to know them well enough to be able to split the difference between their opinions and mine, and make a decision on whether to see a particular movie (or watch it again).

What a truthful statement. The entire article is filled with great thoughts about the nature of criticism and it also includes his thoughts on some of his favorite movies of the year. I intended to link this article as soon as I got home but I got distracted by other things. I was reminded of the article when I read GreenCine Daily Wednesday morning and saw the link to Matt’s thoughts.

And reading that made me realize that I hadn’t checked out the TV section of The Star-Ledger during the past week. It contains a lot of gems worth checking out. Both Matt Zoller Seitz and Alan Sepinwall offer their thoughts on the 2003 television season. Alan seems pretty upbeat about the year that was (and I’m happy to report that he gracefully and quickly explains the sheer joy that is THE OC). Matt seems a bit down on the year but makes me wish I’d seen THE ELEGANT UNIVERSE on PBS.

Of course, the real treat is that Alan Sepinwall is blogging from Television Critics Association’s winter press tour. It looks like he’s only updating once a day, but it should be fun to follow for the next week, especially since I now seem to be all about the behind the scenes world of what critics are thinking.

Upcoming Recordings - 01/05 - 01/10

On Sunday night I watched part of the football game between the Colts and the Broncos. As I realized it was starting to become a blowout, it became imperative that I began scanning the schedule of shows airing during the next six days. I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s going to be a reality TV week. Besides the appearance on Monday of AVERAGE JOE: HAWAII and Thursday’s airing of THE APPRENTICE I’ve got all kinds of goofy things that will be taking up hard drive space.

All this week I’ll be recording KISS AND TELL NEW YORK on the Metro Channel. I just finished watching an episode that aired Sunday at 8pm. I guess it’s a dating show. I assume it aired earlier this year. It has that same feel as that British series TO LIVE AND DATE IN NEW YORK that aired a year and a half ago – the one that featured the Barracudas. I’m not officially hooked, but it’s interesting enough. My dating life doesn’t begin to resemble the dating life of anyone on this show and my one promise is to turn the show off the second I see a hot tub.

Tonight I also recorded CELEBRITY HOBBIES (which airs all the time on DIY). I recorded this show once about a month ago and recognized one of the celebrities. The show was super-boring. But I want it to be filled with energy and interesting celebrities and hobbies. And, it’s reality week for me so I’m not ready to give up. I’m watching it now and I think I just hit paydirt! The episode I recorded features Sammy Hagar cooking with tequila in Cabo San Lucas!!! How can I not add this show to my list of regularly scheduled recordings?

By the way, have I mentioned TV ON THE RADIO? It’s not a show, but a band. They’ve got an EP out and it’s what seems to have been on the stereo non-stop for the past two or three weeks. I can’t get enough of this band. No wonder Catherine was raving about them so long ago and they’re appearing on all those year-end best of lists. My year-end best of list really only includes the acquisition of the DVR. It really is the best thing ever but I’m ready to listen to TV ON THE RADIO again.

Jason Priestly is back on TV. During the days after Christmas I caught my fair share of home design shows on TLC. Visiting my parents, who don’t have a DVR, meant that I was forced to watch commercials. I couldn’t get away from Priestly and those super-sleek advertisements for his upcoming show about modified cars. It’s called RIDES and I’ll be recording it Wednesday night at 12am (it first airs Tuesday evening at 9pm). When I was in Virginia during that week, I visited some friends and one of them had a funny name for a car that could be tricked out (like the cars in Fast and the Furious). I think they called it a tweaker (or is it, tweeker?). I was confused because I thought it was a drug reference. Needless to say, I’m sure Emily Valentine won’t be around to slip Priestly any E while he’s hosting this new show. (By the way, those cars in the commercials look pretty cool – especially the one that doesn’t have any door handles).

I expect more TLC escapades Thursday night at 1am when I record DATE PATROL. There’s nothing quite like being reminded that it’s probably best to iron a shirt before going out to meet a young woman for a drink.

HGTV gets dialed up on Thursday when I’ve asked the DVR to record BUILDING CHARACTER at 6:30pm. One segment of the show is about a Virginia Post Office. I wish it was about the post office that used to be in Falmouth, VA. That was a great post office. During my elementary school years through my high school years I found that post office to be my favorite building in southern Stafford County. The place smelled like letters and words and mail. It was dark inside because the afternoon sun would’ve filled the place with too much light unless the shades were always drawn. As a little kid, I liked the three steps and the rails you could climb while your mom was in line mailing a package. And the building’s public area existed as an L shape. If you went to one side of it you could see the back of the building area where the postal staff would stuff the mailboxes. I found that more fascinating than I had any right to. I also liked the angular parking spaces and the difficulty of merging with traffic upon exiting the parking lot. Sadly, the building is no longer a post office. I think it’s been abandoned. I’ll try to take a few pictures the next time I visit my parents.

The reality – or perhaps surreality is the best word – continues Saturday when I record MOST EXTREME ELIMINATION CHALLENGE on SpikeTV at 8pm. It’s the Wedding Industry vs. the Trucking Industry. Has anyone seen this show? It’s the same style as Iron Chef – the video is original Japanese gameshow-like television but with hokey voiceovers, taken to the extreme. And instead of being set in an industrial kitchen, it’s set in a giant playground where adults compete in silly events like a log roll and a surfboard jump (sort of). The commentary is nonstop and just leaves your jaw hanging open at its ridiculousness. Certainly worth checking out so you can talk about it when you’re out drinking later that night. Wait. Am I behind the curve on this? This show is so 2003, isn’t it?

One more thing to mention - Sherman Alexie’s movie THE BUSINESS OF FANCYDANCING airs on Sundance at noon Friday. Short stories by Mr. Alexie keep turning up and he also wrote Smoke Signals, which was good. In an effort to withdraw from all the reality, I'm looking forward to this film which is described as only "semi-autobiographical."

designer finals

On New Year’s Day I recorded Designer Finals on HGTV. I’m only exaggerating a tiny bit when I say the episode featured the most attractive woman I’ve ever seen on television. Student designer Lindsey Kruger completely changed the feel of a wood paneled living room. She handled herself with ease and charm. Because I don’t know much about cosmetology, I can’t exactly say what kind of haircut she had on the show. I want to say it’s a pageboy but maybe it's a pixie cut? It’s that haircut that all those cool design students would have. She’s got a tiny nose ring, which you see all the time in real life (or, at least you did two years ago) but that you don’t see too much on TV. And she walks around with her pants folded up at the bottom, exposing her ankles to the saws and the paint and the dust of the remodel. That struck me as a bit strange, but also as a great commitment to fashion and style. I want this young woman to have her own television show.

Unfortunately, I have no idea when this show (with a host named Penn Holderness) will air again! I don’t see any reruns for the episode slated and I don’t see any new episodes slated on the list of upcoming HGTV shows. I’m currently trying to convince myself that Lindsey Kruger isn’t the only reason I watched this show, or will continue trying to watch it. I want to watch it when she’s not on because I love the idea that the remodel can go disastrously wrong because it’s being planned by a student in his or her early 20’s who has absolutely zero real world experience. Of course, I’m not an authority on these remodel shows. I’d ask my father (who watches a fair number of them) how often things turn out horribly wrong, but when I accused him of watching too many of these remodel shows he suggested that they’re so non-offensive that they’re the perfect television to fall asleep to. In general, I think I’ve got to agree with him. Except for when Lindsey is on "Designer Finals."