I get it. I actually do, get it. I am well aware that when it comes to television it is the Nielsen Rating that is the one all powerful number. The Nielsen's based on a group of probably about 30k people and using their patented formula will turn the viewing habits of that group into what the viewing habits are for the entire country. It's flawed, and I even accept that too. That said, I totally understand that when a show's ratings slides for long enough, the show will probably be cancelled. My problem comes in when networks start worrying more about the bottom dollar then actually pleasing the viewers that follow them. It's ignoring one of the most important, most basic principals of any company, increasing brand loyalty. Don't abandon your loyal customers. In the case of a tv network, give your loyal customers even just a little of what they want. This week I bring this up because of a few very notable sudden cancellations. The biggest news was for the original Law & Order, which had been on for 20 years and then cancelled. This leaves the show tied with Gunsmoke for longest running prime time drama. NBC also cancelled Heroes this week. Heroes had only been on for 4 seasons, but had once been called the show that would save NBC. FlashForward, an ABC show, was another victim of cancellations this week. The problem with these cancellations is that these networks asked viewers to buy into a serial storyline, watch every week, with the belief that these storylines would be resolved. So there is something to be said for letting viewers see these shows have their proper send offs. A few years back, when Arrested Development was struggling with ratings, halfway through the season the creators were told the show would be cancelled. They rewrote their scripts and created the ever popular, Series Finale. Law and Order certainly deserved a Series Finale, Heroes deserved a Series Finale, and as bad as it turned out to be, FlashForward deserved a Series Finale. When you abandon your shows, you abandon your fans, and that does nothing for your brand loyalty. 

Frequent readers of this blog know of the Triforce Battle of TV Shows, Sarah with NCIS, myself with Heroes and Anthony with Lost. We have all used numbers and theories and strongly worded blogs to defend our shows. I will be honest with everyone here though, the biggest reason I disliked Lost was due to....jealousy. That's right, I admit it, after not getting into Lost at the beginning I wanted Heroes to be "the next Lost" desperately, I clung to that and parts of me still do. I knew I had missed out on something good in Lost and I hated it. Well my friends, while I still have not watched NCIS (though I do now watch Bones) last night I took a nice little island vacation to a tv show called Lost. Thanks to the help of Anthony Zuaro's complete collection of Lost DVDs myself and my girlfriend Sara began Season 1 last night, and well, we loved it. I had heard that episodes of Lost on DVD is like a can of Pringles, once you pop you can't stop. We couldn't, we said we would watch one episode, one turned into two turned into four. We have made our Friday night plans Friday night Lost. It's bad people, its addictive. Now I won't lie, I've read some of Anthony's blogs about the show on this very blog, I have heard some bits and pieces about the story line, but to me its like reading a book before the movie and still enjoying it. So wish me luck on my journey, if I happen to hear how the show ends this season so be it, I will continue to truck on.I will continue to watch Heroes though (Season Finale this Monday) and for those yet to be Losties, spoiler alert, it's okay to watch Heroes and Lost because the man who flew the plane was none other than Greg Grunberg/Matt Parkman. I will refrain from making jokes about the parallels between him crashing a plane and the fate that Heroes has endured.

And so it was, on January 22nd, the year 2010 Conan O'Brien said his final goodnight...on NBC. The Late Night Wars Part Deux came to a close and it seems the only one coming out ahead is, well, probably David Letterman and Jimmy Kimmel. I wrote on the Motivators Company Blog how strongly people fought to try to keep Conan on the air but in the end it was not enough for NBC. Unless you were living under a rock you should know by now the basic story. 5-6 years ago, NBC was afraid of losing Conan to another network (ironically) so they talked Jay Leno into retiring at the end of his contract to give Conan "The Tonight Show", those years came and went and Jay Leno went all Brett Favre on NBC and decided not to retire. So as not to upset the "Aaron Rodgers" of this situation (Brett Favre's backup who had been awaiting the starting QB job) NBC decided to let Jay Leno stay on TV but at 10 PM. NBC had told Jay to wait until the summer months and his ratings would soar. Jay's prime-time show failed, causing a ratings domino effect across NBC. So, Leno's show is cancelled and he is put back to "The Tonight Show" forcing out Conan. Trust me, that's the much longer story short. For the 2-3 weeks this controversy was going down there was sniping everywhere, Leno and Conan sniping NBC, Leno and Conan sniping each other, Letterman and Leno sniping each other, and the best part of the whole thing Jimmy Kimmel sniping Leno, both on and off Leno's show. Conan may have been the sharpest though, being able to laugh at the situation and make the best of it, his ratings doubled during the battle. At the end of it all though, in case you missed it, Conan O'Brien went out like the true professional he is. For his last show he made no negative comments towards his employers, he thanked them and told them he appreciated and loved the work they did together for 20 years. He had Tom Hanks on to support the Haiti telethon. For those that didn't see it he also had a heartfelt thank and goodbye to all his fans, clearly holding back tears. Whether you love him or hate him it was something everyone should watch on the Internet. He said:

"To all the people watching, I can never thank you enough for your kindness to me and I'll think about it for the rest of my life. All I ask of you is one thing: please don't be cynical. I hate cynicism -- it's my least favorite quality and it doesn't lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you're kind, amazing things will happen."

Classy to the end.This is a blog, so I must put out one very specific opinion of my own here. I have heard many people say "Conan will be fine, he got his millions of dollars from NBC." Every one of us does a job and we do it with pride. Unlike most of us Conan does (or did) his job on a larger stage than any of us can fathom.  I have no reason not to believe Conan would have traded every last penny of that money for the chance to live out his dream job for more than the 7 months NBC gave him to work miracles. He would have traded that money to not be silenced for another 7 months and had every joke and character from his 15 years of late night hosting taken from never to be used again. If there is such thing as karma, Conan will land on Fox and crush Leno and Letterman. 

A few years ago television executives stumbled onto a hip new idea to extend their seasons, The Hiatus. Now maybe this has been going on for longer than I have noticed but the first time it affected me was during Season 1 of Heroes when they took about a 2-3 month break or so in the middle of the season. It was torturous, remember, at the time the show was good. I believe this has been done with many serial dramas over the last few years, Anthony correct me if I am wrong I believe Lost has done it. This year V had 4 episodes and won't have a new episode again till March. As Jerry Seinfeld would say (on Curb that is), THAT BEING SAID, I didn't expect this to happen to Flash Forward. Maybe I am nieve, maybe I was just to caught up but things JUST started to take shape. Flash Forward has been doing well in 18-24 year olds which is important but I do not believe it has been a "smash" hit so far. I have loved the show, but the fact is that it has taken the show a while to get all the pieces from all of the characters and story lines together to really start to form a mysterious plot. As of this past week's episode though (without giving too much away) they have finally identified who the major sides are, where most of our characters stand and how things are going to shape up. And now nothing for 3 months or over 90 days if you will or if you prefer, more than 12 weeks. By the time we get to see what is going on with Mark Benford again we will have celebrated the holidays, narrowed down American Idol contestants to a small few, crowned some Gold medal olympians, sent our Valentine's flowers and we will be ALMOST ready for St. Patty's Day. Maybe ABC was afraid of going into a ratings war, maybe they wanted to wait to order the rest of the season of the show but personally I don't think this is a smart move for a show still trying to gain ratings traction. Not just any show mind you, the show ABC wants to carry their torch when Lost finishes up this season. Sigh, someone get me my promotional 2010 wall calendar, I'll be counting down the days.

We now take a short break from the MotivatorsTV blog about our favorite shows for...well a blog about my new favorite commercial. The iPhone is the hottest thing to hit cell phones since ringtones. Its also most likely the biggest thing that has or ever will happen to AT&T. Millions upon millions of people have signed up for AT&T Wireless just so they could get their hands on an iPhone. See due to an exclusivity agreement between AT&T and Apple only AT&T would service iPhones. Obviously this has made other wireless providers unhappy to say the least. Most likely none more unhappy than Verizon since they have been known to have the best network, arguably, and are losing customers to what is considered a better phone.

 Enter Google. Apple's unofficial rival. A year or so ago Google announced it had developed their own mobile phone operating system. It didn't make too big of waves at the time. It was slightly bigger news when T-Mobile came out with their first Google phone. Within the last few weeks however, Verizon changed the game.

About two to three weeks ago Verizon announced their partnership with Google to sell phones powered by Android. They said the new phones would be availible, not within a year, not within months but within WEEKS. Not long after we saw Verizon introduce the first attack on the iPhone, the first attack would be primarily against AT&T. They started their "There's a Map for That" campaign which stated their 3G internet was a stronger network then AT&T's for the iPhone. They werent done.

Last week began the iDont campaign. Since the iPhone came out there have been attempts by companies to create an "iPhone killer." None have been OVERLY successful but none have been as direct as Verizon's have been. The commercial begins with the look and feel of an Apple commercial, white background, black text and hip sounding music. The statements are not Apple friendly. 

iDont take pictures in the dark.

iDont take 5 megapixel pictures.

iDont have a real keyboard.

iDont customize.

iDont run simultaneous apps.

Everything iDont

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPYM-XTqcec

Then the screen scrambles to a darker, futuristing screen with just the words DroidDoes - November.  There is a website also DroidDoes.com,with a weird Alien-like countdown on it. The internet has been a buzz with rumors. The phone seems like its going to be the Motorola Sholes and the countdown supposedly is counting down to about 10/28 which is when Verizon will make their big announcement. 

Kudos to Verizon for if nothing else creating buzz. Since the dawn of the iPod companies have done all they could to take down Apple, none have succeeded. I myself am quite excited to see this new "iPhone Killer." I also believe that Verizon is an overall better cell phone carrier than AT&T but that is but one man's opinion. We shall see how this fight evolves...

For all the NBC hating cartoon cats and mouses out there here is the all important 2 cents of Poochy....

Why is there all this anger at NBC for not letting Glee perform at the Thanksgiving Day parade? I have to ask, WHY should NBC let them perform? Let FOX,CBS and ABC get a taste of their own medicine. It wasn't that long ago that these networks banned their stars from going on Jay Leno's new 10pm show. Let me repeat, they banned stars from going on another network TO PROMOTE THEIR NETWORK SHOW.  I would say it is at least as dumb if not dumber than NBC not letting Glee perform.

And yes, NBC has had some ratings issues recently but let's pause and take a deep breath. First and foremost if it wasn't for NBC we would not have The Office, furthermore if we didn't have The Office we wouldn't have had the AWESOME Office wedding last week. I'm also pretty sure there is a Motivators TV blogger out here who just might be a big supporter of Chuck, which I believe is coming back within the month. NBC has also given us Conan O'Brian, hey a lot of people even swear by Jimmy Fallon. Sure Saturday Night Live for the most part is lacking now, but SNL gave us Amy Poehler which gave us Parks and Recreations. Let's not also forget they are the home of one of the all time great tv shows, Law and Order (and the one good spinoff SVU) and think about this - I made it this far without bringing up Heroes!

 

If I have to choose a side in the spoiler debate I would have to lean against spoilers, but JUST barely. To me spoilers are like candy, too much of a good thing can ruin it.  See, I'm not COMPLETELY anti-spoiler, I am a faithful subscriber to Entertainment Weekly. Entertainment Weekly is great with getting news about movies and tv shows long before anything is released or even before something has gone into production. What ruins spoilers for me is when I'm NOT left guessing.  I'm going to keep this blog spoiler free but by accident recently I happened upon some Heroes storylines for this upcoming season. I knew there were spoilers going into it but I couldn't stop myself.  The show left me hanging and I couldn't wait for more. I immediatly was disappointed in myself. Sure now I knew a few directions the season would go in, it made feel good NOW but will it take away my gasps of excitement come the season premiere? Well I hope not. That right there is the danger of spoilers. For another example we can look at How I Met Your Mother,  I have not looked for any spoilers but I'm sure I could find something that would hint towards or giveaway who or whether Ted's wife will be revealed this season but that would ruin all the fun! Some shows are made to spoiled before they even begin. FlashForward which is debuting next week is based on a best selling novel, so what is stopping anyone from finding the book and skipping to the end? So, in conclusion, I think a hint of spoilers is healthy for anyone but if and when it hinders your show experience, you've gone to far.

HEROES! And by pirates I mean those who engage in the act of television piracy. A recent study has shown that the most illegally downloaded show on the internet is NOT Lost.  Frequent readers of this blog will know while Anthony is here to represent Lost and Sarah is here to represent NCIS every once in a while I must jump in and remind everyone, Heroes was once "that show".  It has been a bumpy ride over the last few years but I think there may be a rebirth in its future. This study shows clealry the fan base is still out there somewhere. The exact numbers for this study shows as follows:

Top 10 Worldwide TV Torrents

With all do respect to Anthony the best food related television series is not Top Chef, or The Next Food Network Star or EVEN ANY of the shows on the Food Network. The best food related show on tv is actually on The Travel Channel and is beginning a new season this week.

Yes, Man vs Food. The show is everything you would expect from the title. The first thing you have to understand is, the show is not based around some trained "professional" eater. It is hosted by Adam Richman who seems to be a guy that has worked in the restaurant industry and stumbled into one of the greatest jobs ever. He tours the country looking for all those food challenges you hear about all the time. He has attempted some very difficult tasks. 15 milkshakes in half an hour, a hamburger literally larger than his head,  curry so spicy the chef needs a gas mask, he doesn't always succeed but you always want him to. Along the way to the challenges you get to see some of the great foods this country has to offer. This show will make anyone hungry. That is the great thing about Travel Channel food shows. They also have a series of Food Paradise shows that showcase the best of the best and where to find the true beginnings of your favorite foods. There is Diner Paradise, Ribs Paradise, BBQ Paradise, Breakfast Paradise and so on. To be honest there are a few other food shows on the Travel Channel, (one is called Bizzare Foods which I won't even touch on right now as I don't normally have the stomach to watch a full episode) and for the most part they all deserve a view. All that being said I believe Man Vs Food may be the most entertaining food show on television.

Sarah is right. The "offseason" for TV is rough. Especially this year with the way the CURRENT season for Mets baseball has gone. That is for another blog on another day though. So I am looking ahead to next season, and will keep blogging about next season till it arrives! The first new show of next season that has caught my eye is actually an ABC show called FlashForward.