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Hulu's first scripted weekly series falls short of a Battleground worth claiming

unclebarky@comcast.net — 2012-02-13T15:10:36-06:00

The new web-only series Battleground trains its sights on the minds behind a fictional Wisconsin Senate campaign. Hulu photo
Premiering: Thursday, Feb. 14th on hulu.com and hulu plus
Starring: Jay Hayden, Teri Reeves, Jack DeSena, Ben Samuel, Lindsey Cutter, Jordan T. Maxwell, Alison Haislip
Produced by: JD Walsh, Hagai Shaham, Marc Webb

By ED BARK
The title is more than a little misleading, suggesting an intergalactic series or at least a bloody war front of some sort.

But during election seasons, Battleground also can be a hotly contested state. And hulu.com doesn't yet have budgets big enough to accommodate a lot of scope, costumes or special effects.

What we have here then is strictly earthbound and filmed in your friendly content provider's old school daze city of Madison, Wisconsin. Battleground, launching Tuesday, Feb. 14th on both hulu.com and hulu plus, is scheduled to run for 13 episodes in half-hour chunks. It's hulu's first original scripted series and for the most part plays like a semi-promising minor league pitcher without good enough stuff to play in the Bigs. Nice try, though, and everyone has to start somewhere.

Battleground's theme song and talk-to-the-camera interludes are reminiscent of The Office and its numerous offshoots. It's also at least mildly derivative of HBO's landmark Tanner '88 series, in which a fictional presidential campaign was tracked from the inside out.

Hulu's first two episodes of Battleground fall well short of both antecedents. The campaign staff for plain-faced, middle-aged U.S. Senate candidate Deirdre Samuels (Meighan Gerachis) is notably young and pretty but not very believable. And an incoming volunteer named Ben Werner (Ben Samuel) is impossibly naive and wide-eyed -- to the point where you'd like to grab his shoulders and shake him for the remainder of the premiere episode.

Running the show is Chris "Tak" Davis (Jay Hayden), who has GQ model looks but way too nice a temperament for a campaign manager of even a school board race.

Tak's chief media strategist, Kara "KJ" Jamison (Teri Reeves), likewise lacks the requisite bite. There's also one-note Jordan T. Mosley (Jordan T. Maxwell), who likes to think he's a key operative but is actually the campaign's "copy room advisor." Add speechwriter Cole Graner (Jack DeSena), who's romantically involved with KJ, and campaign helper Lindsey Cutter (Lindsey Payne), who's warming to Ben. And Ali Laurents (Alison Haislip) is increasingly indispensable as the "social media director."

The would-be senator they all work for is decidedly charisma-challenged, as is the show. Battleground's first two episodes, while not unwatchable, don't achieve enough liftoff to merit must-see return trips to hulu for further weekly adventures. The whole enterprise is too labored and forced for that. Waiting for Battleground to jell seems like too much of a losing proposition. A candidate who seemingly has nothing going for her only compounds matters.

GRADE: An on-the-curve C in deference to Battleground's web origins

new jerryseinfeld.com is fun, but not navigable enough right now

unclebarky@comcast.net — 2011-05-11T17:58:19-05:00

By ED BARK
The brand new jerryseinfeld.com not surprisingly is all about him.

But if he's being a show-off, it's to our advantage. Let him explain under the "What Is This?" heading, in which Seinfeld notes that he started watching stand up comics on TV when he was 10 years old.

"I fell in love with them and I'm just as fascinated with stand up comedy today," he says. Furthermore, "when I started doing TV, I saved every appearance on every show I did."

So what he's done lately is sift through all of his old stuff and pick three brief bits a day to post on his website. They all "still amuse me for some reason or another," he says. "Somewhere out there are ten year olds like I was just waiting to get hooked on this strange pursuit. This is for them. I'm just hoping somehow it will keep this silliness going."

One of his three Wednesday, May 11th submissions is "Rooting For Laundry." with which he regaled David Letterman during a 1994 appearance on his show. Fans who cheer for sports teams, he says, are really "rooting for clothes" because the players keep changing from season to season. It's an amusing little sniglet.

Here's one problem, though. Right now you can't access the previous day's bits. Or anything else other than the three riffs currently on Seinfeld's daily menu. So you may not see this in time to watch "Rooting For Laundry." But you may be just in time to take in the Thursday, May 12th trio of "Golf is an avoidance technique; Closed captioned for the movie impaired" and "The post office is like a lava lamp."

Seinfeld needs to fix this. Otherwise it's a great idea.

"Welcome to Cambio, where fans become friends"

unclebarky@comcast.net — 2010-06-16T10:12:17-05:00

Up-close on their terms with Demi Lovato and Nick Jonas
By ED BARK
The new website Cambio is the latest way for celebrities of a certain age and status to blow past conventional media outlets and go directly to their fans.

In other words, it won't be warts and all. What you'll see is what they want you to get.

Launched Tuesday, Cambio (which means change in Spanish) is a production of AOL, MGX Lab and the Jonas Group, which reps the Jonas Brothers (who have a home in North Texas), Demi Lovato (whose mom was a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader) and Season 6 American Idol champ Jordin Sparks among others.

Aimed at 13-to-24-year-olds, Cambio is a "safe environment" for stars to communicate with fans, Kevin Jonas Sr. told The New York Times.

A visit to the web site Wednesday immediately cued up a video of Lovato welcoming customers to Cambio and touting her filming of the premiere episode of Cambio Cares in Santiago, Chile.

The Jonas Brothers -- Nick, Joe and Kevin -- also provide a brief video taste of their new Road Dogs softball team, with more coming. For now you get a collection of squealing fans, a snippet of game footage and Joe Jonas declaring, "I'm not trying to boast. I'm just saying we're gonna win. We're gonna win with all my force." Whatever develops, you probably won't see any ground balls going through his legs.

Another early feature, Cambio Connect, is hosted by an aggressively exuberant guy named Quddus. Fans are encouraged to interact with Cambio's roster of stars via Twitter, Facebook and youtube. They're also urged to send in questions, but don't throw any sucker punches. In the first installment, Allison J 20 asks Sparks what it felt like to win American Idol. "It felt so amazing," she says in part. Sparks also experienced "surprise and awe."

Well, there you have it -- and welcome to it. And here's that Road Dogs video.

Treasure trove: Archive of American Television puts major players on record

unclebarky@comcast.net — 2009-10-08T11:52:16-05:00

By ED BARK
Brimming with facts, figures and interviews with many of the medium's most prominent figures, the newly remodeled Archive of American Television can be a site for sore eyes once you start navigating it.

In other words, it can be hard to stop watching. Some of the interviews -- and interviewers -- obviously are better than others. And a few bugs still need to be squashed. But as a TV tutorial, this is a gold mine.

Below is a portion of an interview with Hill Street Blues creator Steven Bochco, who very candidly talks about the ups and downs of this landmark NBC series. You can either watch the whole half-hour or move up to the 10-minute mark, where Bocho talks about drug use on the set and some of the series' combustible actors. It'll take just over 30 seconds for the entire interview to load up, so a little patience is required.

Bocho has seldom been shy about expressing his opinions, so that helps. Other TV giants among 219 interviewees to date include Steve Allen, James Arness, Bea Arthur, Bob Barker, Milton Berle, David Brinkley, Sid Caesar, Walter Cronkite, Dick Van Dyke, James Garner, Larry Hagman, Angela Lansbury, Norman Lear, Jerry Lewis, Mary Tyler Moore, Bob Newhart, Carroll O'Connor, Carl Reiner, Tim Russert, Aaron Spelling, Grant Tinker, Barbara Walters and Betty White.

Here's Bochco discoursing on Hill Street:

Killer trailer for 4th season of Showtime's Dexter

unclebarky@comcast.net — 2009-07-24T14:51:23-05:00

Now the married father of three, including a newborn baby, Dexter Morgan and his serial killing ways return to Showtime on Sunday, September 27th.

The network has put together a blood-curdling trailer for Season 4 of Dexter, in which John Lithgow will join the cast as "The Trinity Killer" while Keith Carradine reprises his role as Special Agent Frank Lundy. Michael C. Hall stars in a title role that so far has earned him three Emmy nominations, including one earlier this month. Here's the clip.
Ed Bark

Peacock droppings: NBC launches behind-the-scenes website for Leno's upcoming prime-time hours

unclebarky@comcast.net — 2009-07-23T15:25:45-05:00

By ED BARK
NBC's riskiest prime-time venture ever, The Jay Leno Show, now has its own newborn website.

Launched Wednesday, it's intended to whet appetites for the Sept. 14th premiere of the program, which will run Mondays through Fridays at 9 p.m. (central). NBC used the same tack with Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, whose website preceded the TV version of the show by several months.

Here's one of the short videos currently offered exclusively on thejaylenoshow.com. It shows the host trying out a few new jokes with his staff, who are required to laugh or be fired -- he jokes. A short commercial precedes the festivities.

Brian Williams is indie-pendent of Nightly News with new web-only briTunes

unclebarky@comcast.net — 2009-05-11T16:41:01-05:00

By ED BARK
NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams sports a light grey, v-neck sweater, button down shirt and black dress slacks for his interview with the comparatively gnarly looking Deer Tick indie band.

It's for the first webisode of his new briTunes. It's also reminiscent of a long-ago sight to be seen in which former NBC News stalwart Edwin Newman interviewed Kiss for a 1978 news special titled Land of Hype and Glory.

The very proper Newman wore a light grey suit, white shirt and tie for the occasion while Kiss appeared in full regalia.

"Is Kiss bludgeoning rock to death?" Newman inquired after quoting a critic of the group.

"I think Kiss is a lot more exciting than four slobs walking onstage who need a shave," said Kiss member Paul Stanley.

Newman also wanted to know, "What is the art form that is involved when you pretend to be vomiting blood onstage?"

"Who told you we pretend?" retorted Gene Simmons, still a player three decades later.

Williams is hardly the straitlaced square that Newman once was. But it wouldn't hurt him to loosen up a bit in future installments. He seems a bit ill at ease in this inaugural 3 minute, 39 second outing, as do the members of Deer Tick. Williams notes that Rolling Stone dubbed them "the emerging band to come out of" Austin's latest South by Southwest music festival. "We're thrilled to have them in Rockefeller Center."

The four band members crowd together on a sofa, with Williams sitting cross-legged to their left on Internet screens.

"When will you know that your life is going to be different? Is there a threshold or a benchmark you're looking for?" he asks.

"Probably when I get a phone call, 'John, I'm pregnant,' " replies band leader John Joseph McCauley III.

"Ok-a-ay, and back to the professional life of the band," Williams segues awkwardly.

The anchor explains in print that he didn't come up with the name briTunes, but has "always loved identifying good music and good groups -- discovering them early (bar bands are the best) and following them through their journey."

This all sounds like a nice hobby, plus a good way to expose deserving bands on the rise before they become bands on the run. Williams might want to wear a pair of jeans and sneakers the next time out, though. Just tryin' to keep it real, bri.

Here's the Deer Tick sit-down:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Take it from Jeff Brady -- "Sometimes you still need an expert storyteller to help get the word out"

unclebarky@comcast.net — 2009-04-14T12:47:14-05:00

"The Two Jeffs:" -- Brady and Crilley say they've got news for you.
By ED BARK
"I have journalism in my DNA," proclaims former WFAA8 anchor/reporter Jeff Brady in the video hard sell for his newly formed Brady Media Group.

Oh yeah? And I've got printer's ink in my sweat glands and lately Internet links up my hard drive.

Anyway, this is Brady's way of saying that you might want to hook up with him if you want to make the news. Because as he elaborates in one of his new Web site's accompanying print pitches, "Journalists have never needed this kind of supplementary help more than now. Every newsroom in the country is being squeezed for personnel, time and resources. Budgets are tighter. And deadlines are shorter. We offer a lifeline to time-starved reporters who are being pulled four directions at once. We've already researched the story. We've already vetted the source. We've already done the research.

"Yes, some of our pitches represent paying clients. But in the end, a story is a story. And if it has journalistic merit, it should be reported. If not, it should be ignored, right?"

There's a lot of this going around, much of it detailed in a story I wrote for last August's D CEO magazine. In fact, one of Brady's new like-minded partners in his post-WFAA8 venture is former Fox4 reporter Jeff Crilley, whose Real News PR company opened for business last spring.

In a post titled "The Two Jeffs," Brady says he'll work with Crilley -- and vice-versa -- when it's deemed necessary to "pitch a larger client who may need the services of more than one small agency."

It's getting a little too easy to envision more TV news "expatriates" pitching stories than there are gullible TV reporters to catch them. But Brady's enthusiasm is undeterred, even if some of his verbiage might make your head hurt and would never get by a good editor. Such as this description of what he sees as "The Revolution" -- in a printed blog titled "The New Rules:"

"It's the movement AWAY from top-down, one-way autocratic broad-based big media content -- toward more unique, niche-based, on-demand, dialogue-format media in which providers actually try to educate, inform, entertain and engage a smaller, highly-focused digital audience."

Oh well, unclebarky.com will continue to just plod along, scratching out stories on its own with occasional tips from sources. Meanwhile, here's Brady's one minute, 3 second video pitch, which is nicely produced and priced to sell:

Jeff Brady Introduction from Jeff Brady on Vimeo.

Eminem clips Romo/Simpson in new video

unclebarky@comcast.net — 2009-04-08T09:39:35-05:00

By ED BARK
Eminem's new video, perhaps his first since M&Ms went blue, includes mockups of Tony Romo and Jessica Simpson, with the uniformed Cowboys QB -- played by Eminem -- tossing her a burger in the closing seconds.

In "We Made You," Eminem also messes with the likes of Sarah Palin, Kim Kardashian, Ellen DeGeneres, Lindsay Lohan, Elvis and Mr. Spock. You'll also see "Tony" and "Jessica" in the video's early seconds after Eminem begins with "Guess who? Did ya miss me? Jessica Simpson, sing the chorus!"

But that's not her, singing or otherwise. Here's the whole thing:

O.C. creator hits nothing but net with new Rockville CA

unclebarky@comcast.net — 2009-03-19T16:14:26-05:00

Alexandra Chando, Andrew J. West star in web-only Rockville CA.
By ED BARK
A new series from the creator of The O.C. isn't coming soon to a conventional TV screen near you.

Increasingly, that's no longer the first choice of TV auteurs. Instead, Josh Schwartz's low overhead Rockville CA arrived on TheWB.com this week in four webisodes ranging from four to six minutes apiece, minus closing credits. Two new ones will be added each Tuesday through May 12th. That adds up to 20, with the total time amounting to the equivalent of a feature film.

Shot on location at The Echo, a Los Angeles indie music venue, Rockville is populated with fictional young characters and real-life bands that get about 20 seconds of stage time per webisode. The Kooks, Broken West and The Duke Spirit are some of the early participants, and they're all deemed "major" by bespectacled talent scout Deb (Alexandra Chando).

Her principal sparring mate is "resident music geek" Hunter (Andrew J. West), whose 'tude is relatively harmless but sometimes a little too transparently grating.

"Are you always this majorly charming?" she asks him after he rags on her in the premiere webisode, subtitled "Solo Acts." Clearly they'll be falling for each other in due time, which on Rockville can't be very long.

The club owner is an adult woman named Shawn (Bonnie Burroughs), who's mostly superfluous. There's also book-reading doorman/bouncer Hugh (Lester Speight), and a spaced-out club denizen known as Chambers (Ryan Hansen). Hunter dubs him "The Douche" in webisode 2. By any name, he's a way-too-cartoonish combination of Maynard G. Krebs and Screech from Saved By the Bell.

All of the action takes place either inside the club or immediately outside of it. The banter is brisk but sometimes forced, with Webisode 4 falling particularly flat after an opening discourse on "stripper shoes" between Deb and her friend, Isabel (Natalie Morales).

Rockville never lasts quite long enough to get wearisome, though. It's kinda cute in spots. And indie bands around Southern California no doubt are clamoring to be a part of it all, even if it's only for a short burst. But they all get a link, too.

TheWB.com, which also stocks full episodes of The O.C. in its growing library, yearns to be an ahead-of-the-curve destination for what it calls "the new reality of digital entertainment consumption." Deb, Hunter and their fellow clubmates are likely to make the site hotter than it's ever been. Right now that's not so hot. But stay tuned -- in an antiquated manner of speaking.

GRADE: C+

Hulu.com lets Stewart rip -- even though its co-owner also owns whipping boy CNBC

unclebarky@comcast.net — 2009-03-11T16:59:52-05:00

CNBC's excitable Rick Santelli and Jim Cramer flank Jon Stewart.
By ED BARK
Credit the co-parent of hulu.com with being able to take a punch -- and then another one.

I three-quarters expected hulu, owned by NBC Universal and News Corporation (Fox's parent company), to omit Jon Stewart's devastating Daily Show dissections of CNBC blowhards Rick Santelli and Jim Cramer. After all, Stewart makes both of them -- and their all-business network -- look like bear's asses. And that's not always good for business.

On the contrary, though, hulu carries both of these clips in its regular Daily Show section. A 30-second commercial paves the way, which may be the saving grace. But it's still a praiseworthy decision on NBC Universal's part, even if the corporation triggered Stewart's rants by allowing Santelli to belatedly back out of a scheduled Daily Show appearance shortly after he was targeted as a know-nothing by White House press secretary Robert Gibbs.

Here's video of the second and shorter Stewart bit, in which he zeroes in on Cramer and leaves him bent, spindled and mutilated. Mmm mmm good.

"Some goofball, some dork from wherever"

unclebarky@comcast.net — 2009-02-17T15:50:45-06:00

Strange daze: Joaquin Phoenix with David Letterman. CBS photo
By ED BARK
CBS reports that more than 2.5 million viewers dined on a Web clip of Joaquin Phoenix/David Letterman within 36 hours of its Feb. 11th telecast on that old thing known as a TV set.

"Additionally," says CBS, "clips of the interview have been shared thousands of times through user-embedded players on social networks and blogs, underscoring the complementary relationship between on-air and online."

We'd like to further underscore that complementary relationship with a clip from Letterman's perhaps even more bizarre encounter with Crispin Glover on the host's old NBC Late Night program. It originally aired on July 28, 1987.

Stick around after Letterman walks off and then walks back on to brand Glover "some goofball, some dork from wherever." You'll hear Dave being jeered by some members of his studio audience. And he doesn't much like it. Enjoy.

Chat with stars of TNT's Trust Me

unclebarky@comcast.net — 2009-02-09T12:49:42-06:00

Tom Cavanaugh and Eric McCormack of TNT's new Trust Me
By ED BARK
Wanna chat live with the cast of TNT's Trust Me? You can from 10 to 11 p.m. (central) immediately after the Monday, Feb. 9th episode.

Participating are stars Eric McCormack and Tom Cavanaugh plus other cast regulars Monica Potter, Griffin Dunne, Sarah Clarke, Mike Damus and Geoffrey Arend.

Get your hookup and post your advance questions here.

Vegging out: NBC nixes sexually suggestive PETA Super Bowl ad

unclebarky@comcast.net — 2009-01-30T13:37:14-06:00

Veg-o-matic: Still pic of banned SB XLIII ad from PETA's Web site
By ED BARK
OK, I can kinda see why NBC rejected this now widely seen PETA ad for its Super Bowl XLIII festivities.

Still, vegetables never had it quite so good.

Basically, the 30-second spot depicts several scantily clad models pleasuring themselves with pumpkins, broccoli, eggplant and asparagus. The tagline: "Studies show vegetarians have better sex."

PETA is having a fine time chiding NBC over this, including the publicizing of a letter sent to the organization by the Peacock's vice president of advertising standards.

"The PETA spot submitted to Advertising Standards depicts a level of sexuality exceeding our standards," says NBC, which last spring presented a 30 Rock episode built around a fake reality series titled MILF Island.

NBC's letter to PETA mandated eight editing changes. Some of the more printable ones are "rubbing pelvic region with pumpkin" and "touching her breast with her hand while eating broccoli."

PETA responds, "Wow, that list even made us blush!"

The infamous and by now exceedingly tiresome controversy over Janet Jackson's Super Bowl XXXVIII "wardrobe malfunction" continues to make all broadcast networks a bit gun shy. But at last glance, several youtube postings of the PETA ad have generated more than 400,000 views.

Here's the "offending" 30-second spot. Meanwhile, please pass the peas.

"So I'm leavin' the White House to go tear Dallas a new party hole. But don't worry, the Tiger Woods guy is takin' over."

unclebarky@comcast.net — 2009-01-12T17:31:26-06:00

By ED BARK
Funnyordie.com can be profane, inane but on occasion high-larious. Or at least in the ballpark.

Celebrities taking the time to do exclusive videos sometimes are promoting something, too. Not a big problem, though. Denis Leary, for one, only takes about three seconds to mention his bestselling book, Why We Suck: A Feel-Good Guide to Staying Fat, Loud, Lazy and Stupid. Otherwise he's gamely riffing on all the crappy movies he's made, including Operation Dumbo Drop and The Matchmaker, which he sums up as "Went to Ireland. Drank my ass off."

Tied to the above headline, here's a funnier, shorter video starring Will Ferrell as George W. Bush touting his one-man Broadway show "You're welcome, America." It opens on Inauguration Day.

Just remember, it's hulu, not hula

unclebarky@comcast.net — 2009-01-08T13:56:47-06:00

By ED BARK
Have you hulu'd yet? You should.

Launched on March 12, 2008 by NBC Universal and News Corporation (parent company of Fox), hulu.com has grown to a mega-treasure trove for TV junkies of all shapes, sizes and guilty pleasures.

Its vast free-of-charge TV landscape -- a few feature films are offered, too -- accommodates both full episodes and clips of shows ranging from all-time classics (The Mary Tyler Moore Show) to quickly canceled little gems (The Tick) to irresistible, brain-decaying junk (Tequila & Bonetti).

You can watch every episode from the first three seasons of MTM, beginning with the "Love is All Around" pilot and ending with No. 72, "Mary Richards and the Incredible Plant Lady." Commercials occasionally intrude, but none are more than 30 seconds. And the episodes are all crystal clear and in wide-screen.

Hulu also offers the 1983 documentary Amos 'n' Andy: Anatomy of a Controversy among its hundreds of titles. All 20 episodes of CBS' Square Pegs likewise are in the hulu house. The 1982 CBS sitcom co-starred Sarah Jessica Parker as a dorky denizen of Weemawee High School.

Joss Whedon's Web-centric Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, starring Neil Patrick Harris, is on the hulu menu, too. Or maybe you'd like to catch up with or start watching Fox's Fringe. Ten full episodes are available.

We'll close with a timely hulu.com clip from The Daily Show. Now go see for yourself.