tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75278352022361116862024-03-13T05:25:45.660-07:00The Lost ScriptsThe future of scripted television since the Screenwriter's Guild Strike - cutting the cordMichael O'Faolain -http://www.blogger.com/profile/08206888737951629317noreply@blogger.comBlogger106125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7527835202236111686.post-61624590422226970452020-07-17T16:08:00.000-07:002020-07-23T14:43:28.009-07:00It's 2020. Don't touch that dial...
Nothing in the 20th Century really prepared us for what the illustrative dial above represents. Let's review TV history from the viewer's perspective.
In olden times - the early 1950's - Americans (including this writer's family) bought a TV with a VHF channel selection dial used to choose between channels 2 through 13. Towns were lucky to get three TV stations, typically ABC, CBS, and NBC Michael O'Faolain -http://www.blogger.com/profile/08206888737951629317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7527835202236111686.post-2509581380543899202020-02-04T16:27:00.000-08:002020-02-04T17:05:50.279-08:00Why I prefer scripted, episodic TV series to any other diversionary story-tellingI know some find it odd that I prefer scripted, episodic TV series to any other diversionary story-telling offerings. (Keep in mind that documentaries, reality shows, news shows, etc., are not scripted diversionary story-telling.)
Sure, movies can be great, but they tend to leave me with a feeling of incompleteness. I want to get to know the characters further, over a longer period of time, Michael O'Faolain -http://www.blogger.com/profile/08206888737951629317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7527835202236111686.post-61075728731768885552020-01-16T15:07:00.000-08:002020-01-16T16:01:04.234-08:00Peacock TV - a 15,000-pound bird just landed on your streaming video device
Waiting for Comcast/NBCU to determine the best way to deal with streaming has been tough. But now they giant has dropped his Peacock and it is big. Here's links to articles at Deadline Hollywood:
Peacock Programming: List Of NBCUniversal Streaming Service’s Series, Films, Sports, News & More
‘Two And A Half Men’: NBCU’s Peacock Acquires SVOD Rights To Chuck Lorre Sitcom & ‘George Michael O'Faolain -http://www.blogger.com/profile/08206888737951629317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7527835202236111686.post-72579752286388517722020-01-14T15:39:00.001-08:002020-01-14T15:39:42.013-08:00The coming decade of the Wild West of personal entertainment video streaming. It's subscriber economics not ratings.In the previous post we explored the 21st Century technology shift that has changed the home entertainment industry "television" to the personal entertainment industry "video streaming." What was not explored was the impact on the economic context.
For the past 50+ years, the economics of the home entertainment industry "television" has been portrayed with tables that looked like this:
The Michael O'Faolain -http://www.blogger.com/profile/08206888737951629317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7527835202236111686.post-19330136488286812432020-01-03T12:20:00.000-08:002020-01-09T09:59:13.185-08:00 In 2020 thousands of scripts will be lost to each of us every night because it's wireless video streaming not television. And it seems to be positive progress!On November 12, 2007, this blog began with a series of posts that offered the following conclusion:
While the home entertainment industry struggles to cope with changes over he next 5-to-10 years, viewers who want to watch scripted tv will need to adapt. That’s us, folks. And that’s what this blog about.
It's 12 years later. Television technology, video content Michael O'Faolain -http://www.blogger.com/profile/08206888737951629317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7527835202236111686.post-80441860261492727502017-06-04T22:05:00.000-07:002017-06-05T11:59:05.089-07:00We & TV are in our 70's - what about that cord? Part 5: How a plan for streaming-only in 2017 became streaming-mostly
TV streaming services are not yet adequate for this!
In previous posts, I offered my belief that 2017 would be the year our household would shift to streaming TV only.
For over six months I have been experimenting with it. As of June 2017, I am comfortable stating that while the time for streaming-only TV for many is here, for many others streaming-only is not quite "ready for prime time." Michael O'Faolain -http://www.blogger.com/profile/08206888737951629317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7527835202236111686.post-31493078597943167762017-04-19T22:43:00.000-07:002017-04-20T10:25:28.028-07:00Allegory in American TV series What Can Americans learn from Gillian Anderson playing the Goddess Media looking on the screen like Lucille Ball?The important question coming from an allegorical TV story is: Can Americans learn anything from Gillian Anderson appearing on a screen as Media but looking like Lucille Ball playing Lucy Ricardo? (No that is not a misspelling of the name of the ancient Greek diety Medea - it is Media, the name of a 21st Century deity.)
An allegory is an extended metaphor wherein a story illustrates an Michael O'Faolain -http://www.blogger.com/profile/08206888737951629317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7527835202236111686.post-22417253892736831832017-03-12T13:22:00.000-07:002017-06-05T11:54:17.355-07:00We & TV are in our 70's - what about that cord? Part 4: The daunting challenges when switching from "normal" TV viewingThe impact of streaming TV on the television industry and the service options available now, at the end of the first quarter of 2017 were reviewed in the last two posts.
What wasn't discussed is the stressful process of scheduling the unscheduled. I'm old and I'm used to the network channels offering up their nightly schedules. For over 60 years that process meant even in the DVR era watching TVMichael O'Faolain -http://www.blogger.com/profile/08206888737951629317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7527835202236111686.post-50579904393188352942017-03-07T21:54:00.001-08:002017-06-05T11:55:57.678-07:00We & TV are in our 70's - what about that cord? Part 3: Will the cable channel fixation on packages end our "too much TV"One thing "cord-switchers" quickly discover is that the
"evil" of cable TV, the package, is still a problem. But its a problem
only if you want to watch non-premium cable channels.
Here's what the monthly cost of an assortment of streaming TV sources looks like to us at this time:
Amazon Prime Video is $0 because just as with internet service we
already subscribed before they offered Michael O'Faolain -http://www.blogger.com/profile/08206888737951629317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7527835202236111686.post-46233859076394121942017-03-06T14:16:00.001-08:002017-06-05T11:56:56.582-07:00We & TV are in our 70's - what about that cord? Part 2: What we have gained is high quality scripted streaming contentIn the past ten years the television industry has been full of turmoil and failure, but is ending with a robust technology system and a fulfillment of the promise of The Golden Age of Television which began in 1947.
Ten years ago I began this blog with a four part series The Screen Writers Guild strike, technology, and the future of scripted television. In part four I wrote:
While the home Michael O'Faolain -http://www.blogger.com/profile/08206888737951629317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7527835202236111686.post-30691242724871543882016-12-30T14:27:00.002-08:002017-06-05T11:57:54.734-07:00We & TV are in our 70's - what about that cord? Part 1: 2017 will be a landmark year in the TV industry and our householdEach day when I try to figure out what to watch on TV, the internet streaming "evolution" - I don't want to call it a "revolution" - makes me feel like I walked into this store:
Really, how do you select what to watch when you have a thousand program choices?
This is, of course, a problem created by change. Let me elaborate.
The Changes
Last year (2015) we saw a heated discussion develop Michael O'Faolain -http://www.blogger.com/profile/08206888737951629317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7527835202236111686.post-53474546796768568922015-06-23T15:31:00.001-07:002015-06-25T09:39:12.417-07:00A New Perception: All "TV" is Streaming and Nothing is DifferentThe headlined screamed USA Network Goes Darker to Court Millennials. Say what??? The channel that brought us 125 episodes of "Monk" is doing what?
"Millennials" refers to the generation born between 1980 - 2000 or some slightly fewer years depending upon who is defining the term. But regardless, we've got a grandchild who is Millennial.
Yeah, we're over 70. But we're not slackers in keeping up Michael O'Faolain -http://www.blogger.com/profile/08206888737951629317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7527835202236111686.post-76213083784112542082013-10-02T17:21:00.001-07:002017-03-06T11:13:52.787-08:00It's not a New Golden Age of TelevisionNearly six years ago, I began this blog musing about what would happen to TV within the next decade.
In November 2007, I wrote a six part series here that began with:
The Television Writers Guild strike is viewed by many as just another
labor dispute. It’s not. It is the first nationally significant economic
acknowledgment of the transition in home entertainment that has been
under way for Michael O'Faolain -http://www.blogger.com/profile/08206888737951629317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7527835202236111686.post-11139457186679808262011-05-30T11:37:00.000-07:002011-05-30T11:37:09.890-07:00Scripted TV: thriving and mostly healthyAs I noted at the end of last May, all my fears back in 2007 during the Screenwriters Guild strike that the number of scripted TV would seriously decline were wasted.
During the Summer TV Season of 2011, I am already recording or will record 46 scripted series shows: “Against the Wall”, “Alphas”, “Army Wives”, “The Big C”, “Breaking Bad”, “Breakout Kings”, “Burn Notice”, “The Closer”, “Combat Michael O'Faolain -http://www.blogger.com/profile/08206888737951629317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7527835202236111686.post-80453390394814949732010-10-18T23:06:00.000-07:002010-10-18T23:26:18.296-07:00Mad Men: lives carry onHenry to Betty: "There is no fresh start. Lives carry on."
And that's what happened this year.
In this episode titled "Tomorrowland," Weiner and company had Don finally choose between being Don or Dick, and he chose Don but without rejecting all of Dick, perhaps owning more than just a nickname.
Should this episode have been titled "Fanstasyland" because Don's self-image includes being the "Michael O'Faolain -http://www.blogger.com/profile/08206888737951629317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7527835202236111686.post-30372281692843404412010-10-11T15:56:00.000-07:002010-10-11T16:26:04.439-07:00Mad Men: There's a time for beans and a time for ketchup....So the guy from Heinz tells Don: "There's a time for beans and a time for ketchup."
That statement was one theme of this episode, a theme that is dominating the last half of this season. A can of beans is food. When times are tough, you buy food. You don't buy the little things that make food taste better. This is the situation that Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce is in. Some members of the firm Michael O'Faolain -http://www.blogger.com/profile/08206888737951629317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7527835202236111686.post-79320273340996455952010-10-10T15:32:00.000-07:002010-10-10T15:42:43.707-07:00Rupert Murdoch - A threat to the world's TV viewing audience including you and meMost are not aware of two burning disputes between one media billionaire and two others. At issue is the price of your monthly cable or satellite TV bill. It could go up 50% in a very few years.
Rupert Murdoch of News Corp, #148 on Forbes World's Billionaires list, has decided to take on Charles Ergen of Dish Network, #117 on the list, and Charles Dolan of Cablevision, #367. Rupert is trying to Michael O'Faolain -http://www.blogger.com/profile/08206888737951629317noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7527835202236111686.post-10008652126620105422010-10-08T16:51:00.000-07:002010-10-08T16:51:26.570-07:00Caprica - the reimagined versionFirst of all, I'm very uncomfortable watching these SyFy shows on any other day but Sci-Friday. But whatever NBCU wants to do with scheduling and ad sales, they do. Which, of course, leads to the fact that I was also uncomfortable with them running half a season of this show, leaving us with what for all intents and purposes was an action-filled cliff-hanger episode.
So you can imagine my Michael O'Faolain -http://www.blogger.com/profile/08206888737951629317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7527835202236111686.post-8122117770878707352010-10-05T12:36:00.000-07:002010-10-05T13:25:01.200-07:00Mad Men: Something good happens, something bad happensA story arc sequence in this episode says it all about the "business model" of ad agencies like Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce. (I'd also make a sarcastic remark about investment banking here, but that's another blog.)
The partners are gathered in Roger's office prior to leaving for a funeral of a fellow ad man (we really don't know who David Montgomery is). They talk about how to use the event toMichael O'Faolain -http://www.blogger.com/profile/08206888737951629317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7527835202236111686.post-53941950026321408982010-09-29T14:54:00.000-07:002010-09-29T15:05:50.143-07:00Mad Men: Don't panic, all tragedies have been averted...Joan Harris is the only one who did not seem to have a panic attack as characters are confronted with threats to their reimagined existence.
"We averted a tragedy. Life goes on."And so Joan seemingly sums up the appearance of things in an episode that indicates the imminent collapse of the house of cards built on lies that is Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce. With life closing in, Don Draper was Michael O'Faolain -http://www.blogger.com/profile/08206888737951629317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7527835202236111686.post-45145043177369236012010-09-23T12:43:00.000-07:002010-09-23T16:43:39.583-07:00Mad Men: Can there be soup without a pot?Before plunging forward, I need to thank my partner in life for offering much that makes up this and other "Mad Men" posts. Without her reactions to this show and discussion of the stories from her perspective which is based on having experienced the workplace in 1965, I would miss much.
Joyce explains it all to Peggy:
"Men are this vegeteble soup and you can't put em on a plate or eat em on theMichael O'Faolain -http://www.blogger.com/profile/08206888737951629317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7527835202236111686.post-79629833409667130322010-09-19T16:16:00.000-07:002010-09-20T14:55:54.412-07:00Mad Men: The Amazing Rolling Fables?When I'm drivin' in my car
and a man comes on the radio
he's tellin' me more and more
about some useless information
supposed to fire my imagination.
When I'm watchin' my TV
and a man comes on to tell me
how white my shirts can be.
Well he can't be a man 'cause he doesn't smoke
the same cigarettes as me.The above is the first two versus of the opening song in this weeks episode, "Mad Men: The Michael O'Faolain -http://www.blogger.com/profile/08206888737951629317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7527835202236111686.post-53493113128432855672010-09-07T16:41:00.000-07:002010-09-08T10:41:26.736-07:00Mad Men: What do a mouse and a cockroach have in common?What do a mouse and a cockroach have in common? Answer: they both got a part in this episode of "Mad Men."
Together Peggy and Don cope with the vermin infecting their present and their pasts - you know those noxious, objectionable, or disgusting bits of reality that infect our memories, like mice and cockroaches. In doing so, it appears Don's alcoholic binge may have bottomed out.
The Michael O'Faolain -http://www.blogger.com/profile/08206888737951629317noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7527835202236111686.post-72115907446953161932010-09-01T11:31:00.000-07:002010-09-01T11:33:10.248-07:00Mad Men: What happened to Saturday, Clio?It seems almost as if a certain synergy is involved when you know that the main story arc of this Sunday's episode of "Mad Men" is about Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce - well, really Don Draper - receiving a Clio award.
For on Sunday night, the show won its third consecutive Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series.
(One has to note that if you don't watch much cable - particularly "Mad Men" on Michael O'Faolain -http://www.blogger.com/profile/08206888737951629317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7527835202236111686.post-71476825836369271602010-08-27T14:22:00.000-07:002010-08-27T15:04:37.960-07:00Mad Men: The shame and the guilt"Since when is forgiveness a better quality than loyalty?" asks Roger Sterling, the only veteran of the Pacific Theater, indeed of WWII, in the office.
Cultural psychology underlies this week's episode of "Mad Men" with the title "The Chrysanthemum and the Sword" based a on book by the same name, a 1946 study of Japan by American cultural anthropologist Ruth Benedict written at the invitation ofMichael O'Faolain -http://www.blogger.com/profile/08206888737951629317noreply@blogger.com0