It’s all fun and games till one of you gets my foot up your ass.
I need money.
No, not the stability of a monthly income that will keep me living a glamorous life of Wii and Top Ramen.
A butt-load of cash. A lot of it. I'm looking from someone with Buffet-type money (that would be Warren, not Jimmy, though I'm sure Jimmy's made a killing from The Cheeseburger Song.). A Richard Branson (Manson? No, pretty sure it's Branson) who will help me bankroll my next dream for utopia:
NRN.
What is NRN, you ask? Well, it will be the next NBC, ABC, CBS and, though I loathe to add them, Fox and The CW. What will be on NRN? Well, it's all in the initials:
NO REALITY NETWORK.
Yes, NRN will be a haven for smartly scripted comedies and dramas with brilliant actors and production teams who will be paid well for their services. Great shows like "Dollhouse" and "Chuck" should haven't to have droves of fans sign online petitions to save them because they don't earn ratings like "American Idol" and "The Biggest Loser."
"Arrested Development" was one of the best shows on television before Fox yanked it from the airwaves because it wasn't doing well in its' timeslot. A little advice to current network execs from someone who has been watching TV for a little over 25 years: shows generally don't do well in their "timeslots" if their "timeslots" change at least 3 times a season. If you want proof, just look at "The Cosby Show," "Cheers," "Seinfeld," "Family Ties," and "Friends." That's why those shows earned NBC the Thursday night repuation of "Must See TV." It wouldn't have happened if NBC plopped "Cheers" in Tuesdays at 9, then Fridays at 8:30, then Mondays at 10 all in the same season, now would it?
Here's the other innovation about NRN: shows will be rotated on a seasonal basis, but with very limited repeats. So while a show like "Samantha Who" runs during the Winter/Spring, another show like "How I Met Your Mother" would run during the same timeslot in the Summer/Fall; both would have a traditional schedule, but instead of airing a summer of repeats of one show, you get a new show to watch while the other takes a break and gears up for the next season. Reality shows started because people got bored of watching reruns in the summer and 6 weeks in the winter and spring; this alleviates that problem.
Gone are the remakes/spinoffs of "90210" and "Melrose Place." Back are smart sassy shows like "Privileged" and "Veronica Mars." Gone are "I'm a Celebrity! Get Me Out of Here!" and "America's Got Talent," and back on TV are "Pushing Daisies" and "Dirty Sexy Money."
Who's with me? Who's going to help me launch NRN? What shows do you want axed and what shows do you want saved?




And what about the very fine actors that are doing with much, much less these days as a result of the reign of reality shows? The moral equivalent of fast food, they have completely trashed an industry that once held a place for some worthy artisan efforts. Not no more.
Totally, completely, and whole-heartedly agreed.
I love Verinica Mars. Badly she is not my Girlfriend
.