TV This Week-Premieres & Finales 2/12/2012

February is here and the list slowly moves from premieres to finales.  But there are a few notable premieres in the list for this week including Smash and The River.  Check out the complete list below.

                  Cougar Town Returns to ABC Tuesday

 

NOTE: All Times are Listed for EST – TV schedules subject to change

Sunday, February 12

The 54th Grammy Awards (8pm on CBS) If you’re into awards shows and music, this is always a good option.  This year Adel performs for the first time since vocal-chord surgery (ouch!) and I expect at least some mentions of Whitney Houston after her death yesterday.

Wild Mississippi (8pm on National Geographic Wild) New nature/documentary series

Worst Cooks in America (9pm on Food) Season 3 premiere

American Chopper: Senior vs. Junior (9pm on Discovery) Season 4 premiere

Undercover Boss: Abroad (9pm on TLC) New reality spinoff series

Full Metal Jousting (10pm on History) New reality series

Comic Book Men (10pm on AMC) New reality series with Kevin Smith

My Strange Addiction (10pm on TLC) Season 3 premiere

 

Monday, February 13

BET Honors 2012 (9pm on BET) BET’s music awards show with Stevie Wonder, Spike Lee, Mariah Carey and more.

World’s Toughest Trucker (10pm on Discovery) New reality series

 

Tuesday, February 14

Cougar Town (8:30pm on ABC) Season 3 premiere

Teen Mom 2 (10pm on MTV) Season 2 finale

Top Shot (10pm on History) Season 4 premiere

 

Wednesday, February 15

Survivor: One World (8pm on CBS) Season 24 premiere

Top Guns (10pm on History) New military/tech series about…. guns.

 

Friday, February 17

Michael Feinstein’s American Songbook (9pm on PBS) Season finale

The Life & Times of Tim (9pm on HBO) Season 3 finale

 

Saturday, February 18

Ultraviolet: Code 044 (Midnight on G4) New series

 

Sunday, February 19

The Amazing Race (8pm on CBS) Season 20 premiere

Jerseylicious (8pm on Style) Season 4 premiere

The Celebrity Apprentice (9pm on NBC) Season 12 premiere

Big Rich Texas (9pm on Style) Season 2 premiere

Eastbound & Down (10pm on HBO) Season 3 premiere

Khloe and Lamar (10pm on E) Season 2 premiere

Pan Am (10:01pm on ABC) Season 1 finale

Ice Loves Coco (10:30pm on E) Season 2 premiere

Rattlesnake Republic (11pm on Animal) New series

 

Monday, February 20

Basketball Wives (8pm on VH1) Season 4 premiere

Million Dollar Collections (8pm on HD Theater) new auto series where Bob and Paul Milhous assemble a vast assortment of the world's most unique mechanical devices.

Bethenny Ever After (9pm on Bravo) Season 3 premiere

Renaissance Man (10pm on HD Theater) new auto series

 

Tuesday, February 21

Caught Red Handed (9pm on TruTV) New reality series

 

Wednesday, February 22

Royal Pains (10pm on USA) Season 3 finale

American Weed (10pm on National Geographic) New reality series

 

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Google TV Hints at Monday Announcements

A bit short on details but the GoogleTV Facebook page is hinting at some “big announcements” for GoogleTV coming Monday.

Whole Home Music Streaming Device?

Some are speculating that it will be a Sonos competitor based on a WSJ article

“Google Inc. is developing a home-entertainment system that streams music wirelessly throughout the home and would be marketed under the company's own brand, according to people briefed on the company's plans.”

I suppose that is possible given Google’s continued attempt to bring Google Music to peoples attention, but I suspect the announcement will be one of two things:

Guess #1:

New content providers – the new Verizon/Redbox streaming solution discussed this past month could be one of the new providers and there is certainly room for others.  This would be a “nice-to-have” announcement, but wouldn’t be “big” in my eyes.

Guess #2:

New GoogleTV Devices – this is more of a long-shot, but this is the one I hope we will hear about.  I know that Google has a team working on some significant upgrades to GoogleTV that could bring it closer to the Media/HTPC world (more on this soon), but I didn’t expect anything until later in 2012.  It’s possible they want to give the world a sneak peak at what they are working on to beat Apple to the punch.

Guess #3:

Some sort of software update?  Google has said there will be several updates coming this year – in particular Ice Cream Sandwich (Android) will come to GoogleTV.  This could be that announcement.

On a sidenote, I find it curious that this tease from GoogleTV was posted only on Facebook and not on Google+.  The Google+ GoogleTV page has nothing about it at least thus far.

 

via GoogleTV Facebook Page

Netflix Jumps into Scripted TV Series World with Lilyhammer

Netflix launches its ambitious move into original TV series programming today.  It’s new streaming TV series is available today with all 8 episodes of its first season available all at once today, February 6th. 

The new Netflix Inc. original series starring and co-written by E Street Band guitarist and “The Sopranos” actor Steven Van Zandt. 

Mobster Stuck in Norway

The series brings back the mobster character we knew from “The Sopranos,” played by Steven Van Zandt.  He stars as Frank “The fixer” Tagliano who gets forced into the witness protection program and moved to the town of Lillehammer in Norway.  This is a dark comedy that looks pretty promising.  This series might be successful for Netflix in the U.S. although I wonder if American’s distaste for subtitles might get in the way.

Subtitles?

The series was filmed in Norway and the only English dialog spoken in the movie is by Van Zandt.  All other characters in the Norway setting are speaking Norwegian with English subtitles.  I haven’t seen the first episode yet, but I look forward to checking it out.  The series is already a hit in Norway and will be premiering in the U.S, Latin America and Canada as well.

Netflix Original Programing – More Coming Soon

This is only the beginning of Netflix’s move into becoming a “channel” of TV & movie content.  Netflix will be bringing David Fincher & Kevin Spacey’s political series “House of Cards,”  the new Netflix-exclusive season of “Arrested Development” and “Hemlock Grove”, Jenji Kohan’s (Producer of Weeds) new comedy “Orange is the New Black.”  As you can see, Netflix is very serious about this “experiment.”  Netflix has been bidding against HBO and AMC for some of this original content and they fully intend to bring original programming value to it’s network.  This should be interesting as Netflix becomes more HBO-like and HBO becomes more Netflix-like with their HBO-go setup.

American TV Transforming before our RealityTV watching Eyes

I begin this with an obvious fact.  Reality TV has invaded nearly every facet of American TV networks.  This change is driven by the massive changes in the advertising world but the end result will be the complete transformation of the television industry as we know it.  It’s not something coming in the next decade – it’s already begun.

 

I began writing this story after tweeting this:

This is the new face of History Channel:

Swamp People on the History Channel

 

A La Carte TV Programming Coming?

In the near future, network and basic cable TV channels will have nothing but the cheapest programming available to them.  That means realityTV programming known in the industry as unscripted television and lower-tier sports.  The rest will be reruns of older tv series or older programming from pay channels.  If you’re one of those who has been anxiously waiting for the A La Carte programming where you decide which channels you get with cable or satellite TV, well you’re going to get something close to that.  But you might not like it once you realize what it means.

1999 – It Begins

Around 1999 and 2000, American TV watched the success of unscripted shows like Big Brother and Survivor.  The late-night talk show hosts liked to make fun of these shows, but it was very obvious that many were watching these shows – in numbers that were large enough that networks realized this could be a gold mine.  Inexpensive production, no money to pay stars, and the fact that these were treated like “live” events made audiences watch it as it aired instead of “DVR’ing” them like they were doing with many of the other series.  Then in 2001 ratings dropped.  Network executives and press began saying it was a passing fad that would eventually dwindle.  But they didn’t dwindle.  The number of realityTV shows continued to slowly increase in the 2000s.

RealityTV Multiplies in 2007

Fast forward to the writers strike in 2007.  Network executives and programmers literally had thousands of television hours to fill and no new scripted shows to fill that time with.  An easy answer for the executives was to ramp up reality series and fill the void.  No actors or writers to deal with during the strike and they were cheap to produce.  Add in the fact that TV audiences had nothing else to watch either and you have the perfect storm.  The strike was finally resolved in early 2008, but rumblings of a Screen Actor’s Guild strike kept the industry hesitant to commit to very many new scripted shows for another year.

This time allowed for reality TV programming to take hold.  Network executives came to the realization that while the quality of the programming took a serious hit, the profit from these shows many times INCREASED the advertising revenue because more people were watching these shows live.

Fast Forward to 2012:  RealityTV is Everywhere

If you watch much TV you already know this.  But I’ll point out the obvious and show how much unscripted TV has taken over.  Doing a simple search for reality programming on Monday, February 6th from 7pm EST through 10pm EST and you will find more than 70 airings of reality TV programs across the networks (cable and major networks).  And it’s all over the channels, not just Spike and TruTV.  You find things like Paranormal State on Biography, Pawn Stars on History, Hoarding: Buried Alive on TLC, World’s Strictest Parents on CMT, Supernanny on Style, Keeping Up With the Kardashians on E, and The Bachelor on ABC. 

This is just a small sampling of shows on TV these days.  The History Channel is no longer about… well about history.  Instead primetime this week on the History Channel you will find the following:  Pawn Stars, Cajun Pawn Stars, American Restoration, Swamp People, Mudcats, Top Gear and American Pickers.  Not a single history-centric airing on the channel they call “History Channel.”

Move on to the channel formerly known as SciFi, now renamed SyFy.  You will find reality TV programming littered in its primetime lineup like Face Off, Ghost Hunters, and WWE Friday Night SmackDown.  We could go through nearly all channels and see much of the same thing.  Scripted series are surviving here and there, but they tend to fall in two categories:  the less expensive to produce like sitcoms and the mass appeal series like CSI, House and Criminal Minds.

The Future of Scripted TV – You Will Pay For It

So what does all of this mean for you and me when we look for quality, scripted TV programming?  It means we will have to pay for it.  More on that in the next segment – stay tuned.

TV This Week-Premieres & Finales 2/5/2012

February is here and the list slowly moves from premieres to finales.  But there are a few notable premieres in the list for this week including Smash and The River.  Check out the complete list below.

Katharine McPhee and Megan Hilty both posing as Marilyn Monroe for the new musical series Smash – premiering Monday on NBC (Photo by Mark Seliger/NBC)

NOTE: All Times are Listed for EST – TV schedules subject to change

Sunday, February 5

Super Bowl XLVI (3pm on NBC)

The Voice (10pm on NBC) Season 2 premiere

 

Monday, February 6

Trailer for the new Netflix Exclusive TV Series Lilyhammer

Lilyhammer (Netflix) Netflix launches its ambitious new streaming TV series with all 8 episodes of its first season available all at once on February 6th.  The new Netflix Inc. original series starring and co-written by E Street Band guitarist and “The Sopranos” actor Steven Van Zandt.  I’m betting this one is a huge success for Netflix and is an example of the future of scripted TV.  More on that on GeekTonic this week.

Smash (10pm on NBC) New music/drama series from executive producer Steven Spielberg.  It’s about the making of a broadway musical based on the life of Marilyn Monroe.  Starring Katherine McPhee, Debra Messing and Anjelica Huston.  The buzz and early reviews on this one are very good.  Will be interesting to see if the ratings are good also.

 

Tuesday, February 7

The River (9pm on ABC) New mystery series written by the writer/director of “Paranormal” and filmed much like the “Blair Witch Project.”  Six months after adventurer Dr. Emmet Cole goes missing in the Amazon, his location beacon sends out a signal; Emmet's wife, Tess, along with her son and Emmet's film crew, embark on a journey to find him; a crew member goes missing.

Doomsday Preppers (9pm on National Geographic) New documentary series

The Real Housewives of Orange County (9pm on Bravo) Season 7 premiere

 

Wednesday, February 8

Person to Person (8pm on CBS) New news series with the same name and format as the one that was once hosted by Edward R. Murrow.  This version is hosted by Charlie Rose and Lara Logan.  The focus is on celebrity interviews in their homes.  Should be interesting to see how this one does.

Guess Who Succeeds (8pm on Food) New series where three real-life food entrepreneurs fight for their business.

Inside the NFL (9pm on Showtime) Season finale

 

Thursday, February 9

Love at First Byte (6pm on CNBC) A special all about online dating

Swamp People (9pm on History) Season 3 premiere

Mudcats (10pm on History) New reality series where six of Oklahoma's most respected hand fishing teams hit the water, braving hundred-degree plus heat and severe drought conditions, in hopes of bagging colossal flathead catfish.  And the “history” channel continues its slide into irrelevancy.

 

 

Friday, February 10

Valentine’s Day Massacre (10pm on National Geographic) A special about the 1929 slaying ordered by Al Capone

 

Saturday, February 11

Parking Wars (9pm on A&E) Season 5 premiere

Billy the Exterminator (10pm on A&E) Season 5 premiere

 

Sunday, February 12

Wild Mississippi (8pm on National Geographic Wild) New nature/documentary series

Worst Cooks in America (9pm on Food) Season 3 premiere

Full Metal Jousting (10pm on History) New reality series

Comic Book Men (10pm on dAMC) New reality series

My Strange Addiction (10pm on TLC) Season 3 premiere

 

Tuesday, February 14

Cougar Town (8:30pm on ABC) Season 3 premiere

Teen Mom 2 (10pm on MTV) Season 2 finale

Top Shot (10pm on History) Season 4 premiere

 

Wednesday, February 15

Survivor: One World (8pm on CBS) Season 24 premiere

Top Guns (10pm on History) New military/tech series about…. guns.

 

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TV This Week-Premieres & Finales 1/23/2012

Closing in on February, there’s a few notables on the Premiere list – in particular Fox’s new “Touch.”

Kiefer Sutherland Stars in the new “Touch” series on Fox

 

NOTE: All Times are Listed for EST – TV schedules subject to change

Monday, January 23

The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills (9pm on Bravo) Season 2 finale

The Layover (9pm on Travel) Season finale for Anthony Bourdain’s series

American Masters (10pm on PBS) Season premiere

How Do I Look? (10pm on Style) Season finale

Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern (10pm on Travel) Season premiere

Love Games: Bad Girls Need Love Too (11pm on Oxygen) Season 3 finale

Tuesday, January 24

 

All-Star Dealers (8pm on Discovery) New reality series

Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best? (9pm on WE) Season 2 premiere

Beyond Belief (10pm on OWN) New documentary series

REAL Sports with Bryant Gumbel (10pm on HBO) Season 18 premiere

Extreme Couponing All-Stars (10pm on TLC) Season 1 finale

Wednesday, January 25

 

Touch (9pm on Fox) New Drama Series with Kiefer Sutherland produced by Tim Kring.  On my record list

American Greed (9pm on CNBC) Season premiere

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (9pm on CBS) the end for Marg Helgenberger on CSI

The Challenge: Battle of the Exes (10pm on MTV) Season 22 premiere

Dark Minds (10pn on Investigation Discovery) New crime series

 

Thursday, January 26

Fat Chef (10pm on Food) New food series

Russell Simmons Presents the Ruckus (10pm on Comedy) Season premier

Inside Comedy (11pm on Showtime) New standup comedy series hosted by David Steinberg.  First up is Jerry Seinfeld and Don Rickles

 

Friday, January 27

 

Top Shot (5pm on History) Season 1 finale

 

Chuck (9pm on NBC) This is the end of the series for Chuck.  Chuck Versus the Goodbye

 

Deadly Women (10pm on Investigation Discovery) Season finale

 

Bering Sea Gold (10:01pm on Discovery) New reality series

 

 

 

Saturday, January 28

Namath (9pm on HBO) A special documentary on Joe Namath

 

Sunday, January 29

Rachael vs. Guy Celebrity Cook-Off (10pm on Food) Season 1 finale

Kourtney & Kim Take New York (10pm on E) Season 2 finale

Majors & Minors (10pm on Hub) Season 1 finale

After Lately (11pm on E) Season 2 finale

 

Monday, January 30

Cake Boss: Next Great Baker (9pm on TLC) Season 2 finale

 

Tuesday, January 31

Kitchen Boss (5:30pm on TLC) Season premiere

Celebrity Wife Swap (9pm on ABC) Season 1 finale

Tosh.0 (10pm on Comedy) Season 4 premiere

Tory & Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood (10pm on Oxygen) Season 6 finale)

Key & Peele (10:30pm on Comedy) New comedy Series with Keegan-Michael Key & Jordan Peele

 

Wednesday, February 1

Beast Tracker (9pm on Discovery) New nature series

 

Thursday, February 2

I Just Want My Pants Back (11pm on MTV) new comedy/drama series

Delocated (12pm on Cartoon) Season 3 premiere

 

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TV This Week-Premieres & Finales 1/16/2012

Moving further through January we see even more new TV premieres.  I’m going to go out on a limb here and assume most of you have DVRs or HTPCs to tell you when your favorite TV series are returning from holiday break and we’ll focus on the new premieres, finales and specials as we always do.

                               JJ Abrams Alcatraz premieres Monday on Fox

NOTE: All Times are Listed for EST – TV schedules subject to change

Monday, January 16

Alcatraz (8pm on Fox) The new J.J. Abrams produced series.  This one is a crime mystery/drama where Detective Rebecca Madsen and Dr. Diego Soto joins forces with a secret agency charged with catching recently resurfaced Alcatraz inmates; the team retraces the steps of the past to apprehend a sniper who is targeting young victims.  Starring Jorge Garcia, Sam Neill and more.  It’s on my list to record – we’ll see if it lives up to the hype.

Betty White’s 90th Birthday (8pm on NBC) Special tribute

Being Human (9pm on SyFy) Season 2 premiere

Scouted (10pm on E) Season 1 finale

 

Tuesday, January 17

Remodeled (9pm on CW) New reality/fashion series

Southland (10pm on TNT) Season 4 premiere

Justified (10pm on FX) Season 3 premiere

Ragin’ Cajuns (10pm on Discovery) New reality series about shrimpers

 

Wednesday, January 18

American Idol (8pm on Fox) Season 11 premiere

Sons of Guns (9pm on Discovery) Season 2 finale

 

Thursday, January 19

Beyond Scared Straight (10pm on A&E) Season 2 finale

Archer (10pm on FX) Season 3 premiere

Unsupervised (10:30pm on FX) New animated comedy series where we join the lives of two teenage best friends, Gary and Joel. The duo are optimistic teens taking on teenage life and all of it's hurdles without any parental guidance whatsoever.  Cast voices include Justin Long & Kirstin Bell.

Friday, January 20

Shark Tank (8pm on ABC) Season 3 premiere

Primetime: What Would You Do? (9pm on ABC) Season 5 premiere

Great Performances at the Met (9pm on PBS) Season 6 premiere begins with Anna Bolena

On Freddie Roach (9:30pm on HBO) New sports reality series about boxing trainer Freddie Roach

Swanderosa (10pm on CMT) New reality series

 

Saturday, January 21

Bayou Billionaires (9pm on CMT) New reality series

My Big Redneck Vacation (9:30pm on CMT) New reality series

 

Sunday, January 22

Majors & Minors (10pm on Hub) Season finale

Chef Roble & Co. (10pm on Bravo) Season 1 finale

American Masters (10pm on PBS) Season premiere

 

Monday, January 23

The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills (9pm on Bravo) Season 2 finale

Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern (10pm on Travel) Season premiere

Love Games: Bad Girls Need Love Too (11pm on Oxygen) Season 3 finale

Tuesday, January 24

Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best? (9pm on WE) Season 2 premiere

REAL Sports with Bryant Gumbel (10pm on HBO) Season 18 premiere

Extreme Couponing All-Stars (10pm on TLC) Season 1 finale

Wednesday, January 25

American Greed (9pm on CNBC) Season premiere

The Challenge: Battle of the Exes (10pm on MTV) Season 22 premiere

 

Thursday, January 26

Fat Chef (10pm on Food) New food series

Russell Simmons Presents the Ruckus (10pm on Comedy) Season premier

Inside Comedy (11pm on Showtime) New standup comedy series hosted by David Steinberg.  First up is Jerry Seinfeld and Don Rickles

 

Friday, January 27

 

 

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