TELEVISION

11-01 Ron

The new season on Brazilian cable TV, i.e. programs in English with subtitles, begins today and there are a few programs I'm looking forward to.

Mondays at 8 PM, Without a Trace (3rd season) on WARNER.

Tuesdays at 7:30 PM, That 70's Show (7th season) on SONY; at 8, Joey (1st season) on WARNER; and at 9, C.S.I. Miami (3rd season) on SONY.

Wednesdays at 7 PM, Alias (3rd season) on SONY; at 8, C.S.I. (5th season) on SONY, and at 10, Cold Case (2nd season) on WARNER.

Thursdays at 8 PM, C.S.I. NY (1st season); and at 9, Desperate Housewives (1st season), both on SONY.

Fridays at 7 PM, Everybody Loves Raymond (7th season); at 7:30, The King of Queens (7th season); at 8 PM, Scrubs (4th season); at 9, Law & Order - Criminal Intent (4th season), all on SONY; and at 10, The West Wing (6th season) on WARNER.

Saturday at 9 PM, The Awful Truth (1st season) on SONY.

I hope all of them meet my expectations but I'll let you know in a few weeks.

08-27 Ron

End of the road for Sex and the City and Friends. Sex's series finale was emotional but predictable and lacked the insightfulness that I admired so much throughout its six seasons. Among the thousands of shows that are no longer produced this is one of the very few I will miss.

Although I craved watching Friends just the first four seasons, I wanted to see the end of the series. Unfortunately I was on my honeymoon.

Nonetheless, my favorite police drama The Shield, led by Michael Chiklis, is back on AXN (Thursdays at 9 PM) after a one year hiatus on Brazilian cable. The brutality and goriness make it seem much more real than other shows.

05-26 Ron

The TV season in the U.S. is practically over but it has a few more months to go in Brazil. The following series are what I think is worthwhile on cable:

Monday - 24, on Fox at 10 pm. A violent action-packed day in Los Angeles when federal agents led by Jack Bauer -- played well by Kiefer Sutherland -- take on terrorists.

Sex and the City, on Multishow at 11 pm. A remarkably insightful and entertaining depiction of the lives of four girlfriends living in New York, exquisitely portrayed by Sarah Jessica Parker (the writer), Kim Catrall (the sex addict), Cynthia Nixon (the romantic), and Kristin Davis (the mom).

Tuesday - Friends, on Warner at 8 pm. After ten years the sitcom's six lovable characters will stop making the viewers smile on July 6 (FYI: 30 seconds of commercial time during the finale, which aired in May in the U.S., cost US$2 million).

Dragnet, on USA at 11 pm. Friday is the name of the chief-detective who guides us through the solution of murder cases in L.A.

Wednesday - C.S.I., on Sony at 9 pm. An ingenious whodunit where scientists (or crime scene investigators), not detectives, solve mysterious crimes.

Without a Trace, on Warner at 9 pm. The FBI investigating the disappearance of people, for all kinds of reasons, is fascinating.

Thursday - Raymond, on Sony at 9:30 pm. It doesn't make us laugh as in other seasons but it is still a good portrayal of the American family.

Friday - Cold Case, on Warner at 8 pm. Cops reopen files to find those who got away with murder in the past, in a more emotional fashion than other TV crime dramas.

I'm so glad the police stories have in the last few years come of age. Nevertheless, my favorite program is Sex and the City.

04-05-2004

Did you know that there are 128 programs on network TV (does not include cable) in the U.S.?

11-17 Ron

Newsweek lauds Friends, the popular American TV sitcom that will end in May of 2004 after ten years (Tuesdays at 8 PM on WARNER), and worries that worthy situation comedies are endangered species.

Actually, Friends was really funny just during the first four seasons. From the fifth season on good jokes or laughable situations have become infrequent. I believe that one of the reasons for its success is the characters' appeal. Many people care about what happens in the lives of these lovable six friends.

Regarding the extinction of fine sitcoms, they haven't been around anyway. Making people laugh is not easy. Seinfeld, the greatest TV comedy ever, ended in 1998 and nothing extraordinary has appeared since. Sex and the City, for example, (Mondays at 11:15 PM and Tuesdays at 9:15 PM on MULTISHOW) is exceptionally written and makes us laugh but it's, undoubtedly, a half-hour drama.


10-20-2003 Ron

Since my first comments, more than two and a half years ago, many programs have come and gone, of course. Among those that I used to watch just Ally McBeal is no longer on the air.

I do not enjoy nor recommend any more the following: Law & Order - Special Victims Unit (uninteresting stories), That 70's Show (ordinary jokes), Whose Line Is It Anyway (too many similar sketches), Will & Grace (gays are not funny anymore), and The West Wing (patronizing and sometimes annoying).

Others I don't praise but are worth a "peek": Keen Eddie (a comedy about an American detective working for the British police, on FOX); NYPD Blue (a drama about a New York precinct's cops, FOX); Friends (six friends in humourous situations, WARNER); Law & Order: Criminal Intent (a gifted detective and his partner putting together crime puzzles, SONY); ER (intense drama surrounding an emergency room's doctors, WARNER); C.S.I. Miami (crimes investigated by scientists, less plausible than C.S.I., SONY); The Practice (lawyers at work, FOX); Monk (a strange but very observant detective solving cases that viewers may be able to crack as well, USA); and Actors Studio (famous actors talking about their lives, MULTISHOW).

The new TV season has begun this month in the US and is starting, on cable in Brazil, in November. I hope that the programs below haven't been cancelled because they were my favorite last season: 24, Sex and the City, Law & Order, C.S.I., Without a Trace, Everybody Loves Raymond, The Shield, Robbery Homicide Division, and Dragnet.

04-01-2001 Ron

STOP WATCHING REALITY SHOWS, FOLKS!!!

The programs below are the ones I like the most on cable TV:

Monday

Law & Order* - USA - 8 PM (an above average police and court drama)

The Simpsons* - FOX - 8:30 PM (a great cartoon for adults, Mondays through Fridays)


24 - FOX - 9 PM (the most exciting thriller on TV)

Seinfeld - SONY - 11 PM (reruns of the best sitcom ever, Mondays through Fridays)

Tuesday

Law & Order-Special Victims Unit* - USA - 8 PM (another good police and court drama)

That 70's Show - SONY - 8:30 PM (unusual and funny)

Wednesday

Whose Line is it Anyway? - SONY - 8:30 PM (highly talented comedians and actors improvise terrific sketches)

CSI - SONY - 9 PM (a fine show about crime investigation)

Thursday

Will & Grace - SONY - 8 PM (gays making us laugh)

Ally McBeal - FOX - 9 PM (psychology and law mixed up to provide us with a wonderful drama)

Everybody Loves Raymond - SONY- 9:30 PM (Raymond is very funny playing a family man and the youngest son of a weird family)

The Practice - FOX - 10 PM (a poignant drama about a law firm and its cases)

Friday

The West Wing - WARNER - 10 PM (the president of the US and his staff's daily routine at the White House, marvelously written)

Sunday

Those who have Way TV, instead of Globo's NET, have the chance to see The Sopranos, one of the best dramas of all time.

*I watch them pressing the SAP button because they are dubbed.

What American TV shows do you enjoy watching? Write to english@lynnandron.com .



Mon. 3/25 Lynn

The Oscars have become too political for my taste. And there have been too many award shows. But was happy for Denzel whom I enjoyed in Training Day.

Mon. 3/3 Lynn

The networks are fighting over David Letterman. His contract was up in Jan. and it seems CBS didn't offer him what he considered his due. And that doesn't mean money because, strange as it may seem, money isn't his top priority! Will ABC be able to steal him away from CBS? Negotiations are ongoing. Let's wait for the results!

2/18/2001 Lynn

DAVID LETTERMAN UPDATE:

Julia Roberts' recent appearance left Dave with pie on his face! Julia was her usual eloquent, gracious, and clever self but Dave came off as impolite and intrusive when he insisted on her talking about the "all-important" Oscars.

Another night Benicio del Toro, shockingly tall, revealed he had gone to Prep school in the US, confirming a possible fact that he was a terrible teen and the known fact the he comes from a wealthy family. His "bedroom" eyes also support the fact that he loves to sleep...and spends a lot of time doing so!

Ron 1-29-2001

Excluding the sports events, TV can't be considered great entertainment. Nonetheless, there are a few U.S. programs on cable (NET) that you should check out.

I strongly recommend The West Wing (Warner, Wednesdays at 9 P.M.), That 70's Show (Sony, Tuesdays at 9:30 P.M.), and Will and Grace (Sony, Thursdays at 10 P.M.). The first is a drama about the everyday lives of a liberal U.S. president and his staff. Although difficult to understand at times because of the technical wording it's fast-paced, inventive, interesting, and poignant.

The second is a sitcom about a group of six friends living in a small city in the state of Wisconsin in the 1970s. It's originality must be pointed out. Will and Grace, a comedy as well, may be funnier than That 70's Show because Will is gay and by being so many situations become hilarious, especially concerning his and Grace's friends.

2/10/2001 LYNN COMMENTS

Ditto to everything Ron said above but I'd like to throw in another recommendation -- Ally McBeal, Monday 21:00, Fox.

The appearance of Robert Downey Jr. as Ally's new boyfriend has brought new life to the show. Although many think he should be in rehab full-time to try to get rid of his drug problem, his contract has been renewed for another season!

Yes, we're right into the new season but the networks keep throwing reruns at us. No wonder they're worried about their ratings going down. When you turn on your favorite show and get one shown way back then of course we switch to the movie channels and perhaps never go back!

*****

A bunch of losers agree to become castaways on some island made to look like a hellhole, even though there's a resort a mile away. The people are uniformly despicable--they make George Costanza look like Jonas Salk.

They eat rats. They wear no makeup. They are festooned with scabs and bug bites. If they assembled the cast on a parapet for a group picture, the caption would read, "Throw out your dead!" (I don't understand it. Ginger was marooned for years on "Gilligan's Island," and she looked great!)

All they wear are bathing suits. It's like "Baywatch From Hell." It's the only show on TV where you're praying the women won't take off their bathing suits.

To top it all off, at the end of each episode they sit around at some dopey "tribal council" and vote one slob off the island. "The people on the show," my friend Tom said, "are so unattractive that after a show is over you want to take a shower--and while the show is on, you wish they'd take a shower."

And this kind of TV, according to TV executives, is the Next Great Thing.

*****

Ron (9-4-00)

The American football season is back! In Brazil check it out on Sundays at 9:30 P.M. and Mondays at 10 P.M. on ESPN International. Many games are much more exciting than a lot of the soccer on TV, so, if you're not a fan, try watching a few.

8/18 - Lynn comments:

Yep, cable is reruns and reruns. It's the off season and we're waiting....and waiting.

"Politics is show business for ugly people". Well-said.