OPINION
Are The X Factor Contestants Too Young?
Dec 9th
Okay so who watched the X Factor elimination last night? Dramatic stuff, right?
In case you missed it, the shock result saw 13-year-old former favorite Rachel Crow sent packing after Nicole Scherzinger refused to vote, pushing the result to deadlock with the viewer vote going Marcus’s way.
But it’s what happened next that provided the X Factor USA’s most stunning moment to date. I’ve seen a lot of contestant eliminations over the years – but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a singer react quite like that!
In case you missed it – Rachel had a complete meltdown upon hearing of the result. She literally collapsed to the stage, bawling her eyes out, while Simon and her mom came onstage to comfort her. Meanwhile Nicole also collapsed into tears – and was later booed by the crowd. All great drama for the show. But I can’t have been the only person left wondering – was Rachel too young to be put in this position in the first place?
NETWORK SCORECARD: ABC
Dec 7th
It’s that time of the year again – the Fall season is over and the broadcast networks are taking stock. But after a tumultuous Fall season how are the big five shaping up – and what does the future hold? Here’s my Remote Patrolled perspective…
WHAT’S WORKING:
MODERN FAMILY: Fall 2012 was a great season for veteran comedies. Two And A Half Men and The Big Bang Theory continue to rule the ratings – but it’s ABC’s Modern Family that’s the undisputed champ when it comes to both critics AND commercial success.
After waltzing off with its second Best Comedy Emmy in a row, Family is the official network comedy king. And this third season is scoring bigger ratings than ever, peaking at over 15 million viewers in week 2 and consistently in the 13-14 million range. Plus Modern Family is the lynchpin for ABC’s whole Wednesday comedy block – speaking of which…
THE MIDDLE / SUBURGATORY / HAPPY ENDINGS: Looks like Modern Family isn’t alone on Wednesday nights anymore!
Freshman comedy Suburgatory has fit right into the Wednesday lineup, averaging a healthy 8-9 million a week and building steadily growing buzz. Meanwhile The Middle continues to hold its own at 8pm, and unwanted stepchild Happy More >
Has Ringer Become Ridiculous?
Dec 5th
Don’t you just hate it when this happens?
You get into a show, investing time into a series and then just when you’ve passed the point of no return it starts to go south! Unfortunately that’s what’s starting to happen with one of my Fall favorites, Ringer.
I’ve been in DVR catch up mode this last week – and so I only just caught the Ringer Fall finale. And I hate to say it, but the Sarah Michelle Gellar saga is in imminent danger of collapsing under its own weight.
Okay so Ringer wasn’t exactly realistic from the start! The tale of twin sisters who swap identities after one of the twins goes missing, but guess what, she’s still alive and conspiring against her sibling – was never going to be believable TV. But I don’t mind suspending my disbelief to a certain extent for the entertainment value of a show.
But there’s crazy – and then there’s just plain insulting!
Fire Your Agent: Megan Mullally!
Dec 3rd
Time for another new strand here at Remote Patrolled – and this one’s a doozy!
Have you got a favorite actor or actress that you just adore – and yet somehow they keep turning up in truly terrible series that squander their talents and just have you screaming ‘what were you thinking?’ Yep it’s time they fired their agent!
To kick us off let’s start with Megan Mullally. Oh Megan – where do I begin!
Like pretty much every gay man in American (heck the world) I just adored Mullally in Will And Grace. Starring as the fabulously wealthy and spoiled Karen Walker, Megan was consistently hilarious and pretty much the definition of a scene stealer.
But ever since the NBC sitcom ended in 2006, Megan Mullally has been adrift, stumbling from one bad project to another.
The X Factor Top 7: Michael Jackson Night – It’s Bad!
Dec 1st
If you were feeling that Michael Jackson hadn’t been in the news enough recently never fear – The X Factor is here – to put the King Of Pop firmly back in the headlines.
Yep, how wonderful – to commemorate the sentencing of Dr Conrad Murray – the Fox talent series dragged out several of the Jackson family to witness the wholesale massacre of Michael’s back catalogue. We had the leeches (aka Marlon, Jackie and the other one), who continue to live off Michael’s legacy, mom Katherine who host Steve Jones desperately wanted to speak (he succeeded later in a horribly ‘awkward’ interview) and Michael’s kids – including the permanently unhappy looking Blanket.
Mind you, who can blame Blanket given the wholesale mess the contestants made of his father’s songs. Talk about Blood On The Dancefloor. Here’s my take…
The Walking Dead: Finale Fireworks!
Nov 28th
Okay – now it all makes sense!
After a somewhat painful second ‘season’ (I know, we’re only halfway through), where at times it felt as though we the viewers were half dead ourselves, The Walking Dead roared back to life last night with one of the show’s best ever episodes – and an amazing finale scene.
You know the sequence in question – the final five minutes of the Fall season finale in which our team of survivors, led by the increasingly hardened Shane, released the Walkers in the barn and shot them dead in front of an aghast Hershel. But it was the final touching shot of long lost Sophia exiting the barn that carried the most power. Though we barely knew her as a character, it was shocking to watch Rick shoot the bewildered Sophia in the head, casting a whole new light on the Season 2 episodes so far.
The Muppets: Don’t Believe The Hype!
Nov 25th
Okay – here we go!
I don’t know how you guys spent your Thanksgiving – but as part of my day my partner and I went to see the new Muppets movie (even though I was battling a work-induced cold!) Now I have to say going in, The Muppets was one of my most eagerly anticipated movies of the year. Like a lot of people my age (I’m 37) I grew up on The Muppets TV show in the late 70’s / early 80’s – and can’t help but smile when I see the likes of Miss Piggy, Animal and my favorite, The Swedish Chef. Plus there was the near unanimous praise for the new Muppets movie – 97% on Rotten Tomatoes. Sounds like a sure bet, right?
Well sadly I’m with the 3% who didn’t give the new Muppets movie a rave review! For me it’s a big old disappointment…
The X Factor Top 9: Reasons To Be Thankful?
Nov 23rd
I don’t know about you but I felt like taking a shower after watching last night’s Thanksgiving inspired X Factor.
Sure the sentiment of ‘Giving Thanks’ was a worthy sentiment but did the whole episode have to be quite so heavy handed and mawkish? I felt battered by the non-stop barrage of pre-performance videos featuring the Top 9’s sad person stories. Put it this way – a little goes a long way – and there was nothing subtle about this week’s show!
The love fest continued into the actual performances which to be fair were generally strong. But did the judges have to give everyone quite such a free pass? Personally I’m just thankful Thanksgiving is just once a year!
So how did the Top 9 fare – as usual here’s my impressions of the night:
Arrested Development Is Back: Do You Really Care?
Nov 22nd
Okay time for a bit of controversy here on the site!
As you’ve no doubt read over the last couple of days, cult comedy Arrested Development is about to get a second chance at success, courtesy of Netflix who’ve just agreed to finance an unspecified number of episodes of the show, leading up to a proposed feature film. Commentators all over the web are cock a hoop at the news. But am I the only person who thinks Arrested Development should have stayed canceled? (more…)
The X Factor Top 10: The Judges Bite Back!
Nov 17th
Did my ears deceive me? Did Nicole Scherzinger actually utter a few words of criticism last night? And Paula Abdul too? What is happening to the world?
Yep, finally, after three weeks of ‘live’ shows the X Factor judges are now starting to get real, a great relief after the lovefests of recent weeks. Simon especially was back to his American Idol best, blasting several contestants with blistering attacks. And as usual – he was spot on.
Last night’s theme was Rock Week – but don’t worry about that – it’s clear the contestants and mentors didn’t as the genre was pushed to breaking point. As usual here’s my knee jerk reactions to the Top 10. But do you agree?
