FX announced today that they have ordered a 3rd season of the hysterical comedy WILFRED. I am a huge fan of this show. Both because I am huge and because I think this show is hilarious. I feel that I am able to take some credit for this news today as I have recently named Jason Gann (WILFRED) as one of the 10 funniest men on TV. Long-time readers of MWTVG know that I am a professional writer. Now they know that I am also an influential one as well.
I have said before that KEY & PEELE are very funny guys. Their show is like CHAPPELLE’S SHOW without being so angry or blue. If you like funny, you should check out this show. Here is one of their skits from tonight’s show:
The last time I posted a K&P skit, we lost a reader. We’ll see what happens this time.
Not every MWTVG despises Halloween, and in fact it is one of my favorite holidays overall. I like the weather, I like the falling leaves, I like the smell of fires in the distance and I like dressing up like something crazy and running around with my kids as they go trick or treating. And I like eating all the Milky Ways before anybody else can. And it seems like I am one of the only adults that still likes wearing a costume… which is relatively unfortunate. Whether unfortunate for me or for others is up to interpretation.
Equally unfortunate is that basketball pre-empted the regularly scheduled SUPERNATURAL slot tonight, but not all is lost since I typically devote All Hallow’s Eve to spooky movies. THE SHINING on right now. TRICK R TREAT later. And still hoping to be coherent enough to get AMERICAN HORROR STORY out of the way before the night is out.
So getting back to this year’s costume choice, I decided to go with something so extremely frightening, so nightmare inducing and so mind numbing that it will permanently scar even the most hardened of man. I chose a character so sadistic and murderous that he will go down in infamy among the likes of Ted Bundy, Jack the Ripper and Charles Manson. He is truly without a conscience, completely soulless and I will forever regret the day that I first watched him:
Midwest Mark striking the wrong-way Green Arrow pose…
So let me wish you, our devoted fanbase, a big “HAPPY HALLOWEEN”, and I will be back with regularly scheduled postings tomorrow…
Kurt Sutter, the creator and show runner of the brilliantly fantastic FX show THE SONS OF ANARCHY tweeted today that he knows that people are tuning in to see if he will be killing Clay and that he won’t be doing it any time soon. So Sons fans, get ready to keep hating Clay. He’s going to be around for a while. My bet is that he will make it to the end of the show which is slated to be 7 seasons long. There will probably be some kind of Highlander final scene where he and Jax will have it out because, as we all know from Highlander, there can be only one.
Halloween Links
Being out of town last weekend, while being nice and relaxing, didn’t do much for my television watching. And obviously didn’t do much for my health, as I returned with my yearly head cold. But fear not, loyal MWTVG reader, because through the wonders of decongestant and a DVR, I will slowly but surely catch up on required viewing.
One of my choices for this season’s batch of shows is definitely 666 PARK AVENUE as I have written about before… with this week’s episode (now last week’s episode) being no exception.
We explore some of the main storylines a little deeper and start to clarify a few things about the building and its sordid past. We now know that the ghost in the suitcase was part of the original group that performed satanic rituals in the basement in hopes of some sort of large monetary gain. We also find out that Jane is somehow related to him with her necklace being a family heirloom of large significance.
Gavin’s wife Olivia (VANESSA WILLIAMS) is kidnapped at the annual Halloween bash, and the kidnapper gets away with some sort of box that Gavin keeps in his safe. The suitcase spirit (which is a great character played by JIM TRUE-FROST) also comes to terrorize Jane and attempt to kill her with an axe, but is promptly eaten by the sparrows in the walls. I know this makes no sense, but just roll with it.
General rule of thumb: kidnappers and axe murderers make any show a little bit better.
My only gripe with the show so far is that it has pretty much deviated from the deal-with-the-devil theme that worked very well in its first couple of episodes. It’s difficult to read Gavin’s true intentions whether he is purely evil or somewhat sympathetic, and now I wonder if Olivia is really aware of who/what her husband is or not.
I am very hopeful that this show succeeds because it has a whole ton of potential. So if you are a fan of the horror genre and need a fresh show to latch on to, give it a try.
We just passed 6000 visits for the month of October! Thank you everyone who comes to see us. We love having you stop by. When we started this blog all those days ago, who would have thought that just 1 month later that we would be here? Well I know I didn’t. It’s not that I didn’t think we could get the visitors, I am more amazed that even after a month I’m still doing this. I have an amazingly short attention span. Anyway, thanks again for stopping by.
Happy slightly belated anniversary to the Midwest TV Guys. A month ago the world was changed forever. Two months from now the world is slated to end. Coincidence? I think maybe.
SONS OF ANARCHY continues to fire on every one of its two cylinders tonight (Harley humor FTW!!) with Jax’s cool continuing to unravel, Gemma digging herself deeper into trouble and the hatred between Clay and Nero (and Clay + everyone else for that matter) about to reach a tipping point.
This season has been both riveting and brutal up to now, and is certainly the best eight episode run SOA has had so far. Not to downplay the previous seasons because they were generally very good, but there were a couple of times where my interest waned along the way mainly because you wonder why a bunch of grown men would take themselves so seriously.
Perhaps my understanding is limited because I’m not in a biker gang myself…
Unfortunately, there were just a couple brief glimpses of the over-seriousness factor in tonight’s episode that have not been too prevalent so far this season. When you start messing around with the kids, I would be the first one to say “to hell with the club” in favor of my family. Not to get overly-serious myself here, but it can get so dramatic that it gets hokey. Here’s hoping Sutter & company can get back on balance through the rest of the season.
But clear of my tangent, keep up the good work SOA. You make my Tuesday evenings much more enjoyable.
Please. For the love of all that is sacred and holy. Will someone please derail the halloween train? We can’t get away from it. It’s turning in to Christmas. One of the fads about halloween that I hate, of the many, is that every flipping show on TV thinks they have to do a halloween special. Enough I say. I don’t want to see how every show somehow works halloween in to their season. I don’t care about the costume mishaps, the costume misunderstandings, the costumes that don’t make sense, the costumes that aren’t funny, and the costumes that are clearly done by Hollywood make-up artists using the actual costumes worn by the original people in whatever it was they did their thing in that make it look clearly professional and like nothing you have ever seen at any of the halloween parties you have ever been to at any point in your life ever. Is that a run on sentence? You would think I would know this since I am now a professional writer but I don’t. Remember in 8th grade when you did sentence diagramming and you were supposed to learn all the parts of speech and how they are to be used properly? Well I missed that day. I was at home pretending to be sick so I could play Contra.
Don’t you dare sit there and pretend that you don’t know the special code either. I’m not buying it. We all know that code. Where was I going with this? I feel like I got off track a bit but I’m not sure where I was when I was on track. Was I talking about halloween? Right, halloween. Ok here is another problem. What is up with all the slutty costumes? Is there nothing that can’t be turned slutty? I remember when those costumes first started showing up on the scene and I thought “U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!” Honestly. At first I thought it was a sign that we live in the greatest country in the world. Fast forward a few years and now slutty _________________ costumes are so passe. I am actually tired of seeing them. I don’t know if that means I’m old or dying or both but it’s true. Ladies, try a good old classic non-slutty costume. Remember, it’s good to leave something to the imagination now and then.
Ok now I’m going to do what all good professional writers do and bring this thing back full circle, and say again that if we are asking women to leave things to the imagination every now and then, isn’t it fair that we do the same for our TV show writers? Please writers in Hollywood. Use your imaginations and please stop doing halloween episodes.
Here are the ratings for network TV for last week:
Primetime Broadcast Adults 18-49 Viewers for the week ending October 28, 2012:
| Rank | Shows | R=Repeat S=Special P=Premiere | Net | 18-49 rating | 18-49 Viewers (000) |
| 1 | NBC Sunday Night Football-10/28 | NBC | 7.0 | 8808 | |
| 2 | Big Bang Theory, THE-10/25 | CBS | 5.0 | 6314 | |
| 3 | Modern Family-10/24 | ABC | 4.9 | 6263 | |
| 4 | FOX World Series GM4-PRE-10/28 | S | FOX | 4.9 | 6231 |
| 5 | FOX World Series GAME 4-10/28 | S | FOX | 4.7 | 5888 |
| 6 | VOICE-10/22 | NBC | 4.3 | 5438 | |
| 7 | VOICE-TUE-10/23 | NBC | 4.3 | 5390 | |
| 8 | FOOTBALL NT AMERICA PT 3-10/28 | NBC | 3.8 | 4812 | |
| 9 | Two and a Half Men-10/25 | CBS | 3.7 | 4692 | |
| 10 | FOX World Series GAME 1-10/24 | S | FOX | 3.6 | 4559 |
| 11 | FOX World Series GAME 2-10/25 | S | FOX | 3.5 | 4431 |
| 12 | Once Upon A Time-10/28 | ABC | 3.4 | 4364 | |
| 13 | DECSN’12 PRES ANALYS10/22-10/22 | S | NBC | 3.2 | 4101 |
| 14 | NCIS-10/23 | CBS | 3.2 | 4086 | |
| 15 | Criminal Minds-10/24 | CBS | 3.1 | 3861 | |
| 16 | Grey‘S ANATOMY-10/25 | ABC | 3.0 | 3773 | |
| 17 | Person Of Interest-10/25 | CBS | 2.9 | 3674 | |
| 18 | SAT NIGHT FOOTBALL-10/27 | ABC | 2.9 | 3661 | |
| 19 | SURVIVOR: PHILIPPINES-10/24 | CBS | 2.8 | 3595 | |
| 20 | FOX World Series GAME 3-10/27 | S | FOX | 2.8 | 3544 |
| 21 | NCIS: LOS ANGELES-10/23 | CBS | 2.8 | 3526 | |
| 22 | REVENGE-10/28 | ABC | 2.7 | 3421 | |
| 23 | New Girl-10/23 | FOX | 2.7 | 3387 | |
| 24 | Suburgatory-10/24 | ABC | 2.7 | 3368 | |
| 25 | MIDDLE, THE-10/24 | ABC | 2.6 | 3275 |
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Primetime Broadcast Total Viewership for the week:
| Rank | Shows | R=Repeat S=Special P=Premiere | Net | Viewers (Live +SD) (000) |
| 1 | NCIS-10/23 | CBS | 17777 | |
| 2 | NBC Sunday Night Football-10/28 | NBC | 17730 | |
| 3 | NCIS: LOS ANGELES-10/23 | CBS | 16534 | |
| 4 | Big Bang Theory, THE-10/25 | CBS | 15818 | |
| 5 | FOX WORLD SERIES GAME 4-10/28 | S | FOX | 15485 |
| 6 | FOX WORLD SERIES GM4-PRE-10/28 | S | FOX | 15101 |
| 7 | Person Of Interest-10/25 | CBS | 14026 | |
| 8 | Dancing with the Stars-10/22 | ABC | 13274 | |
| 9 | Two and a Half Men-10/25 | CBS | 12937 | |
| 10 | DANCING W/STARS SP-10/23-10/23 | S | ABC | 12895 |
| 11 | Modern Family-10/24 | ABC | 12519 | |
| 12 | FOX WORLD SERIES GAME 2-10/25 | S | FOX | 12343 |
| 13 | FOX WORLD SERIES GAME 1-10/24 | S | FOX | 12243 |
| 14 | VOICE-10/22 | NBC | 12020 | |
| 15 | Criminal Minds-10/24 | CBS | 11613 | |
| 16 | VOICE-TUE-10/23 | NBC | 11223 | |
| 17 | 60 Minutes-10/28 | CBS | 11158 | |
| 18 | Blue Bloods-10/26 | CBS | 11064 | |
| 19 | Vegas-10/23 | CBS | 10797 | |
| 20 | FOX WORLD SERIES GAME 3-10/27 | S | FOX | 10471 |
| 21 | ELEMENTARY-10/25 | CBS | 10308 | |
| 22 | SURVIVOR: PHILIPPINES-10/24 | CBS | 10235 | |
| 23 | Mentalist, THE-10/28 | CBS | 10166 | |
| 24 | CSI: NY-10/26 | CBS | 10089 | |
| 25 | CSI-10/24 | CBS | 9948 | |
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Nielsen TV Ratings: ©2012 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved. All numbers are live viewing plus same day DVR viewing.
THE BIG BANG THEORY and MODERN FAMILY continue to be ratings juggernauts. 2 BROKE GIRLS? Missing? Was it not on last week? I did notice that my brain didn’t feel like it had been abused on Monday night so it’s certainly possible.
The ratings for the World Series are very disappointing for FOX as well. They were beat by two sitcoms. That normally doesn’t happen for a championship series, well except for the WNBA and the NHL.