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Carrie Underwood’s Wooden Live Performance in the Sound of Music

I wasn’t planning on writing about Carrie Underwood’s painfully wooden live performance last night in NBC’s misbegotten, and ill-fated, “dead” re-enactment of the fabulous Rodgers & Hammerstein musical, “The Sound of Music.”

All the promotional wind leading up to the live event immediately prickled senses in the wrong direction.  The show was being sold as some sort of feel-good, happy children, sparkling story full of singing and wonder and dancing when, in reality, the musical is actually extremely dark and threatening and dreary.

The musical moments in “The Sound of Music” drive the frightening plot forward into a total, creeping, Nazi occupation — and it is in the artful context of that delicate balancing between whistling in the graveyard while staring death straight in the face — that made Rodgers & Hammerstein musical geniuses.

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Why Does NBC Hate Community?

NBC has really changed a lot in the last twenty years. When Seinfeld came out it had relatively low ratings and didn’t really attract a meaningful audience for a few years, after which time it became one of the most popular shows in NBC’s history. If a show like Seinfeld would have started in the last couple of years it would have been cancelled by now due to its initial low ratings.

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Did Twitter Censor a Journalist? Maybe not!

Sometimes when there seems to be injustice in the world, we must come to the aid of those who have been wronged if they are not able, on their own, to defend themselves. Sometimes, however, we will see someone who appears to be crying out for help — but realize that they aren’t nearly as helpless as they appear. Such is the case with British journalist Guy Adams, who had his Twitter account suspended after he posted some tweets that were critical of NBC’s extremely poor coverage of the Olympic Games in the UK.

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Considering the Community Loss of Dan Harmon

Cut off the head, as the saying goes, and the body will die. Tear a beating heart from a living being and you will not get any result other than the death of that being. As I see it, this is just as true in the world of creative fiction whether it takes the form of a book series or a television show. Remove the voice of that series, and you effectively kill the show.

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Failure of The Voice in Season Two

Last year, I really enjoyed the debut of The Voice on NBC.  I thought it was a fresh approach to music and we needed that respite from the drudgery of American Idol.

It’s that time of the year again and both Idol and The Voice are back and competing for eyes and ears and I am disappointed to report that, so far, The Voice has lost its magic in its insipid ordinariness and predictability.  What used to be unique and fun has now become a bit of a bore fest.

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Spader Owns the Office

Yesterday, good news broke that the brilliant and SuperGenius actor James Spader will be taking a major role on The Office to help replace the “loss” of the awful Steve Carell.  Carell played a bully role into a miasmatic “We’ll Miss You Forever, Michael!” character — destroying all the rotten goodness of the entire premise of the show.  With Spader in tow, the show can finally revert to its original needles and pins premise of working for a slightly creepy wacko.

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The Parks and Recreation Review

When I hear that a television show is getting a spin-off, I am usually apprehensive. This was especially the case when I read online that the producers of The Office were planning on making a spin-off featuring the character of Karen as played by Rashida Jones. My first thought was not good — how were they going to make yet another “mockumentary” show that would not basically be like watching another half hour of The Office? It was announced not long after this that the show was being retooled. It would not be at all related to The Office but would still be based on the same style. Elizabeth and I decided to try it to see if we would like it.

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