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Rupert Murdoch really is a billionaire tyrant...
A pox on Fox is all I have to say...
I mean, leaving Seventh Heaven on air for ten dubious seasons of sugary sappiness was insult enough. But then to consistently kill off quality programming in its prime time and time again is really too much...
Futurama was just hitting its stride, picking up the slack as The Simpsons began to run into creative limits when the big axe came mercilessly down. Despite massive DVD sales, the show is probably lost to us forever...
Fans obviously wised up the Fox's love of cutting their favourite shit and were ready when Rupert & co had a hack at the Family Guy, but lost their nerve in the face of the hordes of fans...
Now Arrested Development, probably the first decent, misanthropic sitcom that had me doing anything more than throwing objects at Ted Danson's withering, yet incredibly unfunny antics and passing my spare time perfecting my Ray Romano voodoo doll (anyone got a lock of Ray's hair btw, I'm working off the classic 'Monkey Island' technique), and they cut that too...
We in Australia have to wait some time for the American shows to make their way down under. Usually we're a season behind (don't tell me what's happening in Lost, I want to be frustrated and exploited by their manipulative writing later), and the best stuff comes on in the dead of night. I discovered Arrested, nestled away in its 11.30 timeslot some time in the middle of last year. Now it looks like season 2 and 3 won't even get a look in on the tele before proceeding directly to DVD. Similar things appear to be in store for the likes of Deadwood, American Dad, Family Guy and so forth...
On the other hand, we also get the most inane and ridiculous tripe served in primetime year after year. The cycle is sickening in its consistent predictability. Ray and Frasier (well, not bad, but not great) dominate the ratings period, before a horrible Summer of offal that deserves to be buried and never spoken of again. The stars are always washed up, old or totally drug fucked losers, such as the inimitable Charlie Sheen, who decided to hang up his badarse acting days from Platoon, and even his own self parodies in Ferris Bueller or Hotshots, and team up with some stupid kid and lumbering cadaver in '2 and a half men'. Who can forget the hilarity of 3rd generation Cosby show ripoffs, post 'Hanging with Mr Cooper', as one of the Wayan's brothers dons the blustering patriarch act and proceeds to berate his children and recieve stare after withering stare from his assertive wife, oh when will the laughter stop? Isn't it great to see Matt Le Blanc really moving past Friends, or wait a second, maybe to a new city where he can continue to be a complete dick and remind us all why he was out acted by a chimp in that delightful 'ape plays baseball movie'.
With the state of most of the locally produced Australian shows, basically The Simpsons is one of the only consistent consolations in a desolate hell of television programming which aims for the blandest patch of grey it can find to avoid niche markets...
Ok, I feel a little better now, but that's only because I have my precious DVD's...
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