NBC can kiss my ass

That's it; I'm pissed at NBC.

1) First, the buttheads cancelled "The Cape".  Finally, there was a reason to stay up on Monday nights.  The Cape was original.  It was different, and it had the cutest blonde on TV, Izabella Miko.


 Actually, my favorite actor on the series is Keith David.

My wife, who doesn't know the difference between Dusty Springfield and Bruce Springsteen, thinks that "The Cape" is--to quote her-- "A lame-o rip-off of Batman."

Somebody shoot me.

2) Now the idiots at the Numbnut Broadcasting Corporation have tweaked "Law & Order Los Angeles".  They think they're "fixing" it by dumping Skeet Ulrich (In a previous post, I described how the morally ambiguous and complex relationship between Ulrich's character and his wife--a retired cop--adds 3 dimensional reality to the show). That, and here's something that instead of saving the show, will wind up sinking it, because it's so patently implausible:  Alfred Molina's character will quit the D.A.'s Office, and go back to LAPD to be a police detective.

Really?

I predict the unfortunate demise of "Law & Order Los Angeles" within 9 months.

NBC has a known history of sinking good shows and not supporting them:

(1) Dark Skies Dark Skies was a great series about JFK being assassinated as part of the government cover-up of the UFOs that are taking over Earth.  This series was so well written, that despite the fact that every episode presented impossible historical ideas e.g. comspiracy theories, everything was plausible i.e. so cleverly thought-out and written that it "could" have been true.  That's some good writing.

(2) Surface Another sci fi series about a government conspiracy to cover up--this time it isn't Little Green men--it's sea monsters rising to the surface to threaten mankind.  NBC actually cancelled the series in a manner that left viewers not knowing what the conspiracy was, and why.

Why do I let NBC sucker me into watching anything new they put on the air?  Fool me once, shame on you.  Fool me twice...

A friend has repeatedly told me that the reason why new TV shows don't last is that the 2011 TV audience is totally fragmented into people who watch the Crochet Channel, ESPN, Bravo, the History Channel, and the Cartoon Network.  That is, those people who aren't on the internet staring at donkey porn.  We had the same conversation again when I complained that CNN or one of the Big Three (ABC, NBC, or CBS) should have a one hour prime time science news special in which they explain what's really going on in Japan with the nuclear power plants, and with the "radioactive cloud" that is harmlessly floating over L.A.  He said that the advertising dollars aren't there, because there aren't enough eyeballs available to justify spending money on that.

I say, "BALONEY."

Here's why:  TV in Europe and Asia is also driven by the need for commercial profits, but they still have real news programs with real journalists who cover real news. 

In depth.

People in Europe still watch hour-long TV interviews with politicians, scientists, and writers, and unlike Charlie Rose, these interviews are actually on TV when people with jobs are awake.

The real truth is that the spineless idiots who run The Big Three need to grow some testicles (how's that for a mixed metaphor, Mr Welsh?) need to decide, "Look, dammit, this is good material, it's for the public good, and it goes on at eight o'clock."

The world needs less Kim Kardashian, and more Keith David.