THE TKTV NEWSLETTER
Season 4, Episode 10 aired March 19, 2001

CONTENTS
1. Intro
2. Letters from the viewing audience
3. The poll
4. Don't Miss
5. TV Trivia
6. Favorite quotes of the week
7. A totally unrelated link
1. Intro

Did anyone catch the premiere of ABC's new show, "The Job," last week? It's temporarily in the 9:30pm Wednesday "Spin City" time slot, and I think ABC is a little nervous about it. And rightfully so. Off the top of my head, in the half-hour premiere, "The Job" managed to offend black people, Puerto Rican people, Irish people, grandmothers, and New York policemen.

Denis Leary stars as Mike McNeil, a pill-popping, booze-swilling, cigarette-puffing, privilege-abusing, extramarital affair-having New York City police detective. His partner, who in the premiere episode is concerned about the size of his butt and struts around the car during a stake-out so that Mike can render an opinion on it, is played endearingly by Bill Nunn. Rounding out the cast are Lenny Clarke, Diane Farr and Adam Ferrara as other detectives, and John Ortiz and Julian Acosta as rookie cops. Peter Tolan ("The Larry Sanders Show") is one of the executive producers along with Leary himself, and while I was never a fan of "The Larry Sanders Show," Tolan's reputation precedes him.

ABC is marketing this thing as a comedy, and I'm afraid they're going to do it what they did to their last edgy single camera half-hour dramedy ("Sports Night") - promote it in the wrong direction. This show is really more like "NYPD Blue" with a little comedy thrown in to lighten it up. The laughs are tempered with groans, and if you're easily offended, then stay far far away. I personally loved the first episode, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend this show to everyone.

I gotta say, I'm loving this new trend of beautifully produced half-hour shows. It's nice to see comedic TV breaking out of the standard fourth-wall set and mixing it up a little. The big difference, as far as I can see, is switching from multi-camera to single camera. I'll admit, I don't entirely understand the technicalities (and if anyone does, feel free to write in), but it's easy to tell the difference when you're watching the show.

Compare "Malcolm in the Middle," a beautifully edited single camera show, to "Friends," a standard popular multi-camera show. You always see the "Friends" sets from the same angle, right? In Monica's apartment, the kitchen is always on the left and the bedrooms are always on the right. In the coffee shop, the couch is always facing the camera with the door behind it and the counter is on the left. Now look at "Malcolm in the Middle." You know that Malcolm's house is a one-story two-bedroom abode, and the living area is all connected, but depending on the camera angle, you get to see the house from all different perspectives. A shot from the living room to the kitchen is just as likely as vice-versa, and we've seen all four walls of the building. Most one-hour dramas are single camera, and I look forward to seeing more and more half-hour shows pull it off as well.

Last but not least, I'd like to ask Fox to stop sticking new shows in the time slot of death. Who is going to watch something that's on Fridays at 9pm surrounded by Police Videos and the news? Haven't they ever heard of giving a new show a good lead-in? First they put "Freakylinks" there, and wondered why it failed, and now they've moved "The Lone Gunmen" (spin-off of "The X-Files") from its cushy Sunday-night slot after "The Simpsons" and "Malcolm in the Middle" to Fridays, and they're acting all surprised that its ratings got halved in the process. Yo! Fox! Cut it out.

Enjoy the first week of spring, and mom, happy birthday.

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2. Letters from the viewing audience

From William Noetling to Jason:
Hey Jason, thanks for the kind words. You're absolutely right, I forgot to mention Max Headroom, the Series. My bad. I've seen every episode (more than once), and even remember seeing the original TV Movie on Cinemax more than a year before it premiered (on ABC if I remember correctly). And I even remember watching Max's "talk" show (also on Cinemax) where Max would introduce videos and guest stars (kind of like Space Ghost Coast to Coast, only he actually had some interesting things to say). Sorry about that...perhaps I'll do a part three sometime in the future, if I can think of a few other shows to go with Max.
From Michaela to William:
Space: Above and Beyond may have ripped off a lot of other sci-fi vehicles, but Starship Troopers is not one of them. The show premiered in 1995 - a full two years before Starship Troopers was released.
Letters from the viewing audience are always welcome. Please email any opinions, questions, comments, or random thoughts to TK at tk@tktv.net with the subject of "letters." Letters may be edited for length or content.

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3. The poll

This week's poll found out what everyone's favorite sci-fi show is. Over fifty percent of you picked Buffy the Vampire Slayer as your favorite. Let's hope that Buffy's production company and the WB come to some sort of agreement soon, because the WB's exclusive negotiation window has already expired, so it's possible that Buffy could be moving networks. Then again, that means my friend Rachel, who lives in a WB-less part of Iowa, could finally watch it.

Trailing far behind Buffy were Charmed, with about twenty-five percent of the vote, Dark Angel, with about twelve percent of the vote, Star Trek: Voyager, with about eleven percent of the vote, and UPN's Seven Days, with only two percent of the vote.

In honor of the premiere of the new NBC lawyer show, "First Years," this week's poll finds out what your favorite law show is. Check it out, share your opinion, and find out how other people feel.

As always, the TKTV weekly poll can be found right on the front page of the site.

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4. Don't Miss
For details and lots more fun TV to look forward to, see
http://www.tktv.net/index.html?/upcoming.html

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5. TV Trivia

Last week's question was: on which daytime drama did Rena Sofer, recently seen as a district attorney on NBC's Ed, play the wife of her real-life spouse, Wally Kurth?

First prize goes to Sidnaya G. Congratulations!

Honorable mentions go to Izellah2187 and Janis G.

The correct answer was "General Hospital."

This week's question is: what Saturday Night Live actress guest-starred on Seinfeld as a woman whose arms don't swing when she walks?

This week's question is: on which daytime drama did Rena Sofer, recently seen as a district attorney on NBC's Ed, play the wife of her real-life spouse, Wally Kurth?

Send answers to TK at tk@tktv.net with the subject of tvtrivia. Winners will be chosen at random from all the correct answers.

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6. Favorite quotes of the week

From The Hughleys
Sally: It'll be like Charles and Di's wedding except people will have chins.

From The West Wing
Charlie: Hassan Ali is coming here at the end of the week.
C.J.: He's got thirty-eight wives.
Charlie: Yeah.
C.J.: Imagine being the girl he dated that he didn't marry.

From Friends
Phoebe: Since when are you into swing music?
Chandler: Oh, since forever. I used to go all over town listening to bands...
Monica: Chandler.
Chandler: Gap commercial.

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7. A totally unrelated link

Jesus seeks a loving woman

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Happy spring, happy spring, happy spring spring spring!