EW.com
Torrentfreak has issued its annual list of the year’s most pirated TV shows, and, once again, it’s topped by Heroes (6.6 million downloads for a single episode). The Top 10:
1. Heroes
2. Lost
3. Prison Break
4. Dexter
5. House
6. 24
7. Desperate Housewives
8. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
9. Grey’s Anatomy
10. True Blood
I feel a little like the Writers Guild Award nominees, announced yesterday, were downloaded directly from my own brain. Or at least my DVR list. And knowing what I know about what shows PopWatchers tend to get all message-boardy about, I’m guessing you feel the same. There in the drama category are Breaking Bad, Dexter, Friday Night Lights (pictured), Lost, and Mad Men. In comedy we have 30 Rock, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Glee, Modern Family, and The Office. And as if all that weren’t enough, we have the new series category: Glee, Modern Family, The Good Wife, Nurse Jackie, and Hung. First and foremost, I’m thrilled when any awards are smart enough to recognize the brilliance that is Friday Night Lights — a show that, by premise, could’ve been lame at best, but instead manages to wring tearful drama from grounded-in-reality situations every week that it hangs on despite its ratings challenges. I’m also thrilled when any awards are smart enough to get Lost, as well, which basically does the opposite — makes utterly ridiculous, barely comprehensible plotlines hit us in the heart (oh, Sawyer and Juliet!) despite their reliance on string theory. It’s nice to see Glee up for its first big awards, too — it’s just plain not easy to write a musical every freaking week and make it work, and while the dialogue and plotting occasionally gets heavy-handed, it still works — and ditto for Modern Family, the funniest new show this season. (Love 30 Rock and Mad Men, too, but even the Emmys have been onto those for a while.)
I’m a writing-first kind of TV watcher, so it makes sense that I’d like this list. (The awards, by the way, will be given out Feb. 20.) But what’s missing? How I Met Your Mother is the only one I can think of off my own DVR list — what do you think, PopWatchers? Was Grey’s Anatomy good enough? Did Gossip Girl hold up for you? Did FlashForward get dissed?
The May 6, 2004 finale of Friends aired just five years ago, but it might as well have been from some bygone era spoken of only with wistful sighs. According to The Hollywood Reporter, some 52.5 million people tuned in to watch Ross and Rachel re-re-rekindle their romance while Monica and Chandler moved out of their impossibly sweet Manhattan pad, making it the most-watched regular TV episode of the aughts. (Or the 2000s. Or the 2Ks. Or the what-have-yous.)
The list is actually a bit skewed, since no show was allowed to repeat — otherwise, at the least a few more American Idol and Survivor finales would’ve crowded their way in there. Still, it’s telling that of the ten episodes listed, only one wasn’t a season premiere, season or series finale, or post-Super Bowl event: The hour of ER when 39.4 million people crowded around their televisions to see if Dr. John Carter and med student Lucy Knight would survive their attack from a schizophrenic patient, which aired waaaay back on Feb. 17, 2000. (Read full post)
Grey’s Anatomy fans — particularly those who love the relationship between Cristina (Sandra Oh) and Owen (Kevin McKidd) as much as I do — got a little queasy last week with the arrival of Kim Raver’s Dr. Teddy Altman. While, of course, we watch the show for the drama, it’s hard not to feel protective of a couple that’s overcome so much — his post-traumatic stress disorder from serving in combat, her general prickliness. So it’s hard to take kindly to a pretty, talented doctor type who shows up out of nowhere, then becomes Cristina’s mentor only to also confess her festering-since-their-military-days feelings for Owen. If it’s any consolation, McKidd feels our pain: “Sandra and I, when this [storyline] was pitched to us, we became very angst-ridden about it,” he says. “We love working together, and I think that adds to the dynamic on screen.” The triangulation continues to unfold on tonight’s episode — here’s what McKidd had to say about what Cristina-Owen fans can expect from the hour and in the near future: (Read full post)
Women are being beaten, tortured, and brutally murdered more than ever on network TV: A new study by the Parents Television Council shows violence against women on television is up a stunning 120 percent in the past five years. Violence overall in the same period increased only 2 percent, which seems to indicate there’s very little guy-on-guy combat happening, relatively speaking. Those stats also seem to implicate procedural dramas, which have taken over the airwaves ever since CSI became a hit nearly 10 years ago.
There’s definitely an arms-race mentality when it comes to making one team of whip-smart crime-solvers stand out from another — and one way to do that is with increasingly gory, baroque crimes, often against women. (You know, dudes just shoot or knife each other, but oh, the things that can happen to poor, innocent women…all the better to make the clues ever more twisted, the heroes ever more heroic.) And brutality specifically against teen girls has risen a whopping 400 percent, mostly in crime-solving shows as well — CSI is cited in the report as a repeat offender — which indicates perhaps that pretty, young victims grab more eyeballs than any others. (CBS hasn’t yet responded to EW’s request for comment.) One of the bigger surprises from the report comes courtesy of Fox animated comedies, which are apparently using more violent acts against females — say, shooting a woman as part of standard 18th century divorce procedure on Family Guy — as a punchline. (Though, to be fair, those shows are just plain chock full of intentionally shocking stuff.)
ABC was the only network not to see a significant increase in female victimhood — no surprise from the home of Grey’s Anatomy and Desperate Housewives (though even the latter is basing this entire season on the strangling of a young girl, Susan’s daughter Julie). We’re not asking that every network dedicate itself entirely to post-feminist hospital staffs and empowered ladies of a certain age, but it wouldn’t hurt to lay off the gruesome playbooks for committing intricately heinous acts against women.
What do you think, PopWatchers? Is there too much violence against women on network television? Have you noticed more of it in the last few years? Does it turn you off to certain shows?
Photo Credit: Robert Voets/CBS
Sarah Drew is set to scrub in on Grey’s Anatomy, apparently as one of the Mercy West docs heading to Seattle Grace thanks to the merger. Drew, best known as the awesomely uptight Hannah from Everwood and as Kitty (Salvatore’s wife) on Mad Men, is venturing back to the Shonda-verse after a stint on Private Practice last season.
I’m wild about Drew and hope she can make the leap to Grey’s regular — she has the emotional eyebrow-cock thing down like nobody’s business, and she might be just the actress to get me back into the show. Seriously, watch the cry/smile at the very end of this. It belongs at Seattle Grace:
But! Where are all the dudes, Grey’s Anatomy? Where is the romantic subplotting and the scheming and the will they/won’t they? Everyone’s all coupled up, and I miss the romantic relationship shenanigans that brightened the often freakishly sad patient stories.
What say you, PopWatchers? Do you miss the sexytimes tension as much as I do?
With the fall TV season getting into full swing, my DVR has gotten bloated and a little bit crampy, kind of like the way my stomach felt the last time I went to an Ethiopian restaurant and forgot to bring my willpower. But since that cherished little machine next to my television can’t be cured with a roll of Tums, my husband and I were forced last night to get out the scalpel and make some painful cuts from our “Series Recordings” list.
Our first elimination? Grey’s Anatomy. (See above use of the word “scalpel” as foreshadowing!) All summer long, several of my friends tried to convince me Shonda Rhimes’ medical drama had recovered from its “Izzie having sex with ghost” ridiculata. And yes, I know the show’s writing team explained away said phantasmal nookie with a brain tumor. But for me, Grey’s has become the kind of show I watch more out of habit than actual enjoyment. And the old “I’ve followed these characters for five seasons: I can’t give up on them now” mindset just isn’t working. Which is why I am reluctantly skipping tonight’s season premiere, and all but the occasional episode that follows it. Miranda Bailey, I’ll miss you most of all! (BTW, Grey’s loyalists, check out our gallery of the show’s 15 Memorable Cases.)
Also getting the boot at Casa Slezak is PBS’ Masterpiece Mystery!, thanks to the peculiar lack of suspense and middling writing on recent episodes of Inspector Lewis and Marple. (Read full post)
For our final class of our EW University course on TV Auteurs, Prof. Jennifer Armstrong is back to address the lack of diversity in our list, and in the TV industry as a whole.
Aaron Sorkin, Aaron Spelling, Joss Whedon, J.J. Abrams: All great auteurs, with distinct voices and visions, who left indelible marks on television. All genuinely brilliant in their own ways. All deserving of auteur status.
And, of course, all white men.
When we assembled our list of TV visionaries to discuss in this EW U course, there was no arguing with the names we chose. We could’ve added a few more –- a David E. Kelley or a Seth MacFarlane or a Chuck Lorre -– but, guess what! Those are still more white men. Distinctive talents, sure. But when it comes to offering a broad range of perspectives, television still lags behind, you know, real life. (Movies could use a dose of perspective, too, by the way.)
What makes this disconnect even more shocking is that these days, strong leading ladies are THE thing, especially on cable. It seems all you need to do to make a hit is plunk a female star of a certain age who isn’t getting the juiciest parts these days (hi, Kyra Sedgwick!) or ever (Jada Pinkett Smith) into a sassy character who solves crimes/saves lives each week; or, on pay cable, give her a flawed character who screws up lives while baiting Emmy voters (see: Edie Falco). And yet a large number of TV’s most commanding female characters are being created and shaped by … men. Pinkett Smith’s Hawthorne comes from John Masius; Sedgwick’s The Closer comes from James Duff. They’re part of a long tradition: Sex and the City sprung from the mind of Darren Star (who later brought us Cashmere Mafia), Desperate Housewives from Marc Cherry’s fertile imagination. There are, certainly, a few up and coming female executive producers these days: Rebecca Sinclair (an alum of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Gilmore Girls), who turned The CW’s 90210 remake around; Stephanie Savage, who’s given both The O.C. and Gossip Girl bite (even though she takes second billing to the more auteur-ish Josh Schwartz); The L Word’s Ilene Chaiken; and Weeds’ Jenji Kohan. Tina Fey’s one of the few female voices on the Big Four — and she’s clearly one of the most unique (not to mention critically drooled-over). But none of those ladies has gotten the chance to prove she’s more than a one-hit wonder. The only woman who could come close to entering the all-boys auteurs’ club is Grey’s Anatomy’s Shonda Rhimes (pictured above) — who, thanks to Private Practice, is the only woman and the only person of color with more than one show on network television right now. Her vision is still too new and untested – Grey’s is a surefire and distinctive hit, but Practice is far wobblier — to achieve auteur status. However, she could become a Sorkin or a Kelley over time. (Read full post)
ABC’s released a few 30-second teaser promos for the upcoming sixth season of Grey’s Anatomy (which returns Sept. 24 with a two-hour premiere), and oh man, I don’t know if I’m emotionally prepared for all the death and funerals. Or even the cancer recovery, though of course that is a technically happy event. Watch first, then we’ll talk some more:
By now we all know…(but I’ll say SPOILER ALERT just in case)…George is out and Izzie’s in (at least until Katherine Heigl’s upcoming hiatus) — which this trailer seems to pretty much acknowledge. Though what I don’t know is if I can handle two hours of gut-wrenching right out of the gate. It does, on the other hand, look like George will get the send-off he deserves (let’s hope he gets more respect in death than he did while technically “alive” all last season). It also looks like Cristina and Owen will be romping around in sexy underwear — and to that I say, amen. (I would totally watch a show called Just Cristina & Owen’s Anatomy.)
How are you feeling, PopWatchers? Are you excited about Grey’s return? Or will it be too sad to watch George’s demise?
More ‘Grey’s Anatomy’:
Ausiello: Katherine Heigl takes a ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ leave of absence
Looks like Patrick Dempsey wants to make sure his chance at an Emmy nomination this year doesn’t become another victim of a showier serial killer (Dexter) or ladykiller (Don Draper). The Grey’s Anatomy heartthrob is taking himself down a notch from the leading-man category to supporting actor in his award campaign materials, the Los Angeles Times reports. You can’t blame a guy for trying: This season gave Dempsey noticeably more acting to do, as his Dr. Derek Shepherd navigated a shame spiral after losing a patient and also finally proposed to longtime star-crossed love Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo, who’s sticking in the lead category herself). He’s clearly trying to take advantage of his actual-range-of-emotions-showing clip reel while he’s got it. You never know when he’ll have to go back to simply looking pretty. Though, ironically enough, if there’s any season when the guy was a lead instead of supporting, it’s this one.
Other categorical surprises?
* Connie Britton as a supporting actress for another stellar season on Friday Night Lights. She deserves a nom even among the Glenn Closes and Holly Hunters, but certainly she should get a spot in the supporting category…right, voters? Please?
* Judy Reyes suddenly as a lead on Scrubs after about a thousand seasons.
* Chace Crawford, Ed Westwick, and Leighton Meester as leads for Gossip Girl. I’d love to believe they have a shot — Crawford’s grown tremendously this season and Westwick and Meester made the show worth taking seriously. But in categories with very grown-up actors like Sally Field and Gabriel Byrne, that longshot’s even longer.
What do you think, PopWatchers? Is Patrick Dempsey really a supporting actor? Who has a shot at nominations in these categories? Who would you like to see get a nod?
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