Cancelled TV, New TV & Jay-Z’s Startling Revelation

The bad news? ABC’s new mid-season show Work It has been unceremoniously cancelled after just two episodes. This tells you just how serious TV programmers (at the behest of advertisers) are when it comes to yanking something off the airwaves if audiences don’t respond. To be fair, everyone who saw so much as a minute of Work It found it abysmal, but the ever-shrinking window of TV performance/results/life support is a little scary.

The good news? Hip-hop kingpin/all around mogul/brand new dad Jay-Z has announced that he is no longer going to use the “B” word in his lyrics. According to media reports he’s changed his position on the word in the weeks since the arrival of his brand new daughter Blue Ivy. Thus, he’s vowed to eliminate its use altogether in his songs. No word yet on whether the nine other derogatory terms consistently peppering his tunes will be curtailed. But tiny baby Blue Ivy Carter’s already making strides (and with her “vocalizations” on her dad’s song “Glory”, she’s actually the youngest performer to chart on Billboard’s list!)

The other big story (that isn’t about any Kardashians or anyones’ Housewives) is the biopic about the late, great Elizabeth Taylor. Will Lindsay Lohan land that coveted role? All indicators point to ‘yes’ but there’s recently been talk about other contenders – like Megan Fox. Will you watch a big movie about Liz and her ongoing romance with Richard Burton? I sure will.

Back to TV, because even though we are smack dab in the middle of awards season, and even though we’ll know next week who’s getting Oscar nods, there’s still the day-to-day business of prime time. With networks offering up brand new shows definitely worth watching (with the exception of Work It) and gearing up with some pretty intriguing premises (Awake will either be a super cool hit or it will be incomprehensible). Right now, all I care about is that Revenge is back, and that ABC still has a massive hit on its hands. It is by far the year’s guiltiest pleasure and totally worth watching. Nor, if you haven’t given it a chance, is it too late. You can easily watch and comprehend the first season in a few hours – if you liked Dynasty, or you’ve craved anything with convoluted (and frequently implausible) plotlines, spectacular scenery, gorgeous clothes and even gorgeouser stars, Revenge is definitely the way to go.

Today’s poll:

Which of the season’s brand new TV shows are you most excited about:

1) Alcatraz

2) The Firm

3) Betty White’s Off Their Rockers

4) House of Lies


28 Responses

  1. Heya i’m for the first time here. I found this board and I find It really helpful & it helped me out a lot. I hope to give one thing back and aid others such as you aided me.

  2. Rita says:

    One thing about THE TALK you have to give the ladies credit for. As opposed to THE VIEW, they actually listen to one another and thus the audience can hear what they are saying. And that is also the failure of this show…YOU CAN HEAR WHAT THEY ARE SAYING.

  3. jorren says:

    “Revenge” should show ABC that viewers love original scripted programming and viewers love soaps and drama, not only at night but during the day too. ABC bring your daytime ratings up and bring One Life to Live back to daytime. Millions of viewers would return to ABC if you did.

  4. Lisa Simmons says:

    The President of CBS agreed to do a new kind of taping with natural lighting in a real town with “Guiding Light” that he should have known wouldn’t work. When it was clear this was a disaster he didn’t stop it but continued to let it tape as the show went down hill. Was this his plan all along to make it easier for him to cancel this and the other soap produced out of NYC, “As the World Turns”? By doing this he was able to save all the money on the salaries of all of the soap actors, producers, writers and crew…but what about replacing them with two of the cheapest produced shows on television: “Let’s make a deal” and “The Talk”?

    He can have an actress on “Bold and the Beautiful” say “Let’s make a Deal” is her favorite show all he wants but no one is going to believe that it is actually this character, Donna’s, favorite show. This was an example of not only “cheap” but “false” advertising.

    Wayne Brady works to sell this show but no one can sell something that is just this bad. There is no game to it!..no challenge! It needs to be removed. I cringe every time I hear the music come on and rush to my tv to turn the channel.

    “Guiding Light” and “As the World Turns” were two shows that helped build CBS into a quality station and then continued to pull in viewers. You looked at numbers stating they weren’t pulling in enough during those time slots. When the only people at home during that time of day are housewives you are only going to pull in what is there. You can’t create a public that isn’t there. They are either going to watch television or they are not because they choose to be busy working. There is nothing you can do about that. My guess is they are not going to waste time watching these two shows you’ve offered as cheap substitutions.

    Regarding “The Talk”….you get your wife and producer Sara Gilbert to talk with three ladies about what’s going on and bring on guests….another super cheaply produced show. These women though don’t have the depth of the women on “The View”. This show is a waste of time.

    Les….you are Jewish. Actions like these by you to cut quality to this extreme and replace it with the cheapest replacements you could come up with is what continues to cause stereotypes about Jewish people to linger and will eventually destroy CBS.

  5. christianmonk says:

    I also forgot X-Clan, Isis, Grandmaster Flash, Eric B and Rahkim, even Tupac, who was good until he went on Death Row Records and consorted with the idiot Suge Knight, sounds better than JZ.

    What really worries me is that whites embrace JZ and his trash. Yes, I am black, listen to Beethoven, Chick Corea, Miles Davis, Boston, Chicago, Earth Wind and Fire, Garth Brooks, Enya, Kirk Franklin, mixes by Larry Levan and Junior Vasquez, Indian music, both Native American and from the continent itself – yes, I have an extremely WIDe variety of musical tastes and cross genres without skipping a beat. But JZ is in a class by himself spewing stuff that gives me brain damage. I am not a hater, but hate what his music represents The fact that B even tolerates his profanity laden, misogynist crap really says so much about HER. Real DIVAS don’t have to look like they are pole dancing because at the Paradise Garage, they sang with their clothes on and rocked the house like Martha Wash from Two Tons of Fun, the late Vesta Williams http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GISRQ8_K18, Chaka Khan and Grace Jones.

    Real black music is now dead and anything that comes after is plastic, artificial, egocentric, synthetic filled with emotions that are downright disgusting. Gordon Gecko was right after all – Greed (garbage) is good. What comes from the heart goes to the mind and his music surely tells me more than I need to know about the content of his.

  6. christianmonk says:

    The only reason that a JZ can exist is that the current population supports his trash. Where is Public Enemy or KRS-1 when you need them most. Rap was supposed to be music with a message articulating the voices of youth that were questioning and challenging the superstructure of society. I am from the Bronx, lived all of the city and because I was mostly a House music head during Raps heyday, I rarely listed to it during the 1980′s. Now I have far greater respect for what came out from A Tribe Called Quest, Big Daddy Kane, Dead Prez, Talib, Mos Def, The Roots, Paris, Intelligent Hoodlum and even The Ghetto Boys “My Minds Playing Tricks on Me”. Today’s garbage is just that full of misogynist lyrics that promote decadent materialism, hubris and promote narcissism to a new level. PE’s CAN’T TRUSS IT would kick the s&#t out of anything produced by JZ who sounds like a dyslexic crack head saying nothing. Rap used to stand for something, now it stands for the dumbing down of America and all who listen.

  7. laura says:

    I am really missing V and the Event they were both awesome shows that need to be put back on

  8. tinah says:

    love to watch person of interest n body of proof. starting to like the firm n once upon a time.

  9. Sam McCall says:

    I am in love with FRINGE and SUPERNATURAL. But the best show of all time, IMO, was THE X-FILES. As for FRINGE, give John Noble his Emmy already!!!!

  10. Tina says:

    ” I MISS GUIDINGLIGHT”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! “FREAKIN JERKS”!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  11. rodzilla says:

    Couldn’t be any weirder than Twin Peaks, still my all-time favorite!

  12. ben g. says:

    revenge a guilty pleasure-? gag, the cnacelled working it was better than this pile of bunk,definitely a woman soap, why dont you go watch the soap channel as that is where revenge is going!!!

  13. sandy says:

    I am just glad Mad Men will be coming back March 25. I cannot wait to see the last season. I am looking forward to the Killing starting up again. Disappointing we did not find out the killer in season one.

  14. K. Harper says:

    Alcatraz and the Firm are both good. But the best show on TV is Persons of Interest. Also Justified returned last nite as good as ever.

  15. melvin says:

    Well now it is a little late for that. I mean just because he won’t use it in the future does not erased all of the material he has already published. How and when will Beyonce explain Bootylicious. Go figure.

  16. Tammy says:

    Work It was hysterical! You blew it by taking this off the air. So funny, crazy, relevant, out of the box. Don’t touch last man standing!!!!!!

  17. GVPROCTOR says:

    i AM GLAD REVENGE IS COMING BACI IS REALLY GREAT….LOT THE PLOT AND CANT WAIT FOR VICTORIA TO PAY….ALCATRAZ I REALLY DIDNT CARE ABOUT I THIS WAS A PIECE OF CRAP

  18. Joramythral says:

    All i care about is The Walking Dead, nothing brings out the core of human nature(good or bad)like a good old fashioned Zombie apocolypse…

  19. Dani says:

    So…Jay-Z had no problem calling other people’s daughters the B word, but now that his precious snowflake is here he’s going to stop. I guess 99 Problems is off of the set list.

  20. Swayze Sawyer says:

    I really love “Hart of Dixie” & hope it comes back. Rachel Bilson is absolutely adorable, but the quirky characters that fill out the rest of the cast of townspeople are very zany, funny, & gorgeous, too. Well-written dialog is a plus.
    The Firm is extremely well done, & has so far managed to provide good courtroom drama… & great tie-in to the plot of the original book/movie. In fact, the episodes are (particularly the first one) are very ‘movie-like’ to watch. Josh Logan is wonderfully talented, & a genuine ‘movie star hunk’!

  21. RED says:

    Now renounce the ignorance of the RAP industry and I’ll be impressed!

  22. Debbie Colston says:

    I enjoy Once Upon a Time..love it and I have seen two episodes of the Firm..not sure on that one, I will see how it goes.

  23. Debbie Colston says:

    I enjoy Once Upon a Time..love it and I have seen two episodes of the Firm..not sure on that one, I will see how it goes.

  24. Sandra B. says:

    Wow, again another blog. You keep ignoring the fans of Supernatural. Shame on you. You are lame.

  25. Diana says:

    Love Grimm – a little humor and drama mixed up in one show.
    Alcatraz sucked. Not worth the time.

  26. Jenn Dean says:

    Once Upon a Time…love it and wait anxiously for the next episode! They are so clever!

  27. J.N. James says:

    I’ve watched “The Firm” and “Alcatraz” Love them both.

  28. Diane Falk says:

    The Firm! I haven’t seen my recorded “Alcatraz” yet, but we’ve enjoyed The Firm.

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