Reader Q&A
TV critic Matthew Gilbert took questions
Matthew_Gilbert: G'day, friends.
JD__Guest_: Am I earwitness to a new trend in commercials? The pitchman for Six Flags is screaming "More fun!" as if saying it louder makes it more fun. The same goes for Vitamin Water commercials during the NBA playoffs. Do they think I'm deaf?
Matthew_Gilbert: No, they know you -- as in, the general public -- are vulnerable to things like volume and affect. Having someone yell at you just may actually get you to buy. It's like having a laugh track on a show to make you think something is funny....
meretpa__Guest_: What did you think of the Grey's Anatomy season finale? I've been watching from the first episode, but was very disappointed the last couple seasons. I was so happy to see the season end on a high note.
Matthew_Gilbert: I thought the finale was and OK end to a louzy season. And apparently, Katherine Heigl feels similarly. She has withdrawn her name from Emmy consideration this year because she doesn't think the material she was given was good enough.
Matthew_Gilbert: If I were a writer on Grey's, I'd be writing a death scene for Izzie today. Heigl really shouldn't have made such a public slight.
c__Guest_: Is it worth getting excited over another season of Weeds? I didn't think last season was horrible, but I definitely felt like it was losing steam
Matthew_Gilbert: I'm with you on the waning enthusiasm for Weeds. This season (which begins Monday), the characters move to Southern Cal and Albert Brooks joins the cast as Nancy's former father-in-law. Maybe the changes will bring some new inspiration to the show...??
Je__Guest_: re: laugh track. if i hear a laugh track, i NEVER laugh... even if the original joke is funny, the laugh track defused the punchline... it kinda' works weird with me ;). easy example: dexter has no laugh track, but i found myself laughing so hard i almost fell out of my seat.
Matthew_Gilbert: I'm with you on that. There's something about being told to laugh that makes me not want to laugh.
Matthew_Gilbert: I sometimes think it would be interesting for a drama to add on a Cry Track -- with sobs getting louder and softer based on what's happening on the screen. A patient dies on ER? BOO HOO HOO HOO.
Je__Guest_: re: weeds. like many series (Millennium to name an example) the first season is great... then it begins to falter.
Matthew_Gilbert: Unless you're Dexter. Dexter got better for its second season. But that's the exception to the rule, of course. Much as I WISH WISH WISH NBC had brought back "Freaks and Geeks," I also know that season 2 would probably have been a disappointment. Ditto with The Comeback.
laulirose__Guest_: How about the Closer? When can we expect new episodes of that? And do you think they can keep going at the same fine level?
Matthew_Gilbert: The Closer will be back on July 14. I do think that procedural shows have an easier time of maintaining quality. Cable shows, too, since they only have to generate a dozen or so episodes a year.
Matthew_Gilbert: The Closer has stayed really strong through the years, although that Christmas special was a little lame....
DEE__Guest_: What do you think of the series "Life" with Damian Lewis ? I love it and can't wait for it's return
Matthew_Gilbert: I love Life. I mean, "Life."
Matthew_Gilbert: And I think it has the potential to take off this year, once it returns. I hope people check it out. Lewis is great. If the first season hadn't been abbreviated by the strike, Lewis might have been a more serious contender for an Emmy nomination.
Je__Guest_: what do u think of Damanges? do u have high hopes for 2nd season? the 1st was jawdropping =D.
Matthew_Gilbert: I got a little tired of that ONE SINGLE CASE by the end of the first season of Damages. All the subplots attending on that one trial started to feel a little forced to me. But I think it's a series with great potential, and I'm interested in seeing how the writers set up season 2 and whether they decide to go with one big case again.
Anne__Guest_: I was wondering about the addition of Amy Ryan to the cast of The Office... any word as to whether or not that is a long-term thing? And any thoughts about the mysterious spin-off?
Matthew_Gilbert: Interesting pairing of questions. Are you suggesting that Ryan will be the spinoff character???
Matthew_Gilbert: I've not heard whether she'll return to the series for either a few episodes or for longer. Fingers crossed, though -- I love her (she was great in Gone, Baby, Gone and in the Wire) and I loved her Office character.
laulirose__Guest_: I think that maybe it's time for Monk to be put out of its misery, though...I liked it a lot at first, but now it's getting kind of trite
Matthew_Gilbert: You are so right, laulirose. Enough is enough.
Vincent_the_dog__Guest_: Matt... what are your favorite guily pleasure shows? I know I'll be watching the new 90210 this fall...
Matthew_Gilbert: Do crime procedurals count as guilty pleasures? I'm a CSI and Law & Order freak, and watch them even when they're bad. I occasionally pop into the VH1 celebreality shows, just to get grossed out, and Tila Tequila makes me laugh out loud.
b__Guest_: what did you think of the 'lost' finale? I thought it was an amazing end to their best season.
Matthew_Gilbert: I really liked the finale, but I wish there had been one big thing to carry me all the way to next January or February when the show returns. There were a lot of little things that I'll probably forget by then, and the Locke-in-a-casket thing wasn't jaw-dropping enough to keep me thrilled for six months. Remember the first flash-forward in last year's finale, or the "Give us the boy" moment in the first season finale? Those were mindblowers.
roxy__Guest_: Things are so bad on the networks that I have taken to watching The Food Network. Is this a sign of the coming apocolypse?
Matthew_Gilbert: End of days is near. So eat, eat.
Anne__Guest_: Oooh, CSI--how did you feel about the finale this season? Obviously, we all knew Dourdan was leaving, but do you think his character had the farewell he deserved?
Matthew_Gilbert: I do think so. I kept feeling some real emotion among the cast members as they all said goodbye to him in that diner. I think Sara's departure was a lot less interesting and deep. By the way, Sara will be back for the next season premiere -- I assume for Warrick's funeral.
LittleEthel__Guest_: What is this insane love you have for How I Met Your Mother? Except for NPH - yuck! That lead guy has to be the most boring man on TV.
Matthew_Gilbert: I know where you live, LittleEthel.
Matthew_Gilbert: OK, I don't.
Matthew_Gilbert: But I love the way the show is written. It's so cleverly pieced together, with lots of time-play. Also, I think the cast members work really well together as an ensemble. They have a wonderful and organic sense of chemistry.
Matthew_Gilbert: It does have a laugh track, but the volume is kept low. And the episodes are edited together in some ways like a one-camera sitcom like Scrubs or Arrested Development.
Jim__Guest_: Hi Matthew: Keep up the good work. what's the latest on my fav Friday Night Lights?
Matthew_Gilbert: Yessir. Will do.
Matthew_Gilbert: FNL will be back for season two, but the episodes will run on DirecTV before they'll run on NBC. It will be interesting to see how the spoiler thing works in a situation like that.
LostFan789__Guest_: Who could've been in the coffin for you to be blown away?
Matthew_Gilbert: Jack.
Matthew_Gilbert: Seriously.
DEE__Guest_: Is there anything new worth watching this summer. I find myself getting Netflix more and more as there's not much to watch
Matthew_Gilbert: Netflix is good. But Mad Men will be back in late July, and The Closer and Burn Notice and Secret Diary of a Call Girl (Showtime) offer some fun. I'm most curious about David "The Wire" Simon's HBO miniseries about Iraq War, "Generation Kill," which starts in July.
b__Guest_: I don't know anyone that guessed Locke would be in the coffin. Seriously, if Jack had been in the coffin it would have been a mindblower, albeit completely ridiculous and horribly scripted. I think you've just become desensitized to having your mind blown.
Matthew_Gilbert: A very fair point, b. But I'd love to think that Future Jack and Present Jack could meet in that way....
LittleEthel__Guest_: Do you tire of answering the same questions each chat?
Matthew_Gilbert: Nope, not even that question...!
Matthew_Gilbert: Seriously, I spend a lot of time watching TV and really enjoy talking about it. Or talking online.
smosh__Guest_: TV withdrawal...TV withdrawal...TV withdrawal...find myself watching Ax Men and Ice Road Truckers... kill me now.
Matthew_Gilbert: You're already dead.
LostFan789__Guest_: Why didn't Miss Guided get picked up next year? It was actually quite funny compared to some of the other crap that gets on
Matthew_Gilbert: Agreed. I liked that show a lot. But it didn't have a fair chance to catch on. The strike got in the way of that one, big time.
bob__Guest_: What do you think about Harold Parrineau's comments about Lost shortchanging black characters and their story lines?
Matthew_Gilbert: That was very interesting. I think it was a fair point to make -- it generally is on network TV. But I'm not sure race has had anything to do with the fate of Michael or Walt.
LostFan789__Guest_: Any update on Heroes? They've had all this time so it better be Lost-level good...
Matthew_Gilbert: It will never be Lost-level good. I'm sorry, but that's just not possible. A Lost doesn't come along very often. Even at its best moments, Heroes never quite established the same inner life and mystery of Lost.
Je__Guest_: looks like everyone's out to lunch, so to speak. before Babylon5 and Twin Peaks (predating Lost of course ;) were there TV series that banked on serial storytelling in the same way and method?
Matthew_Gilbert: Nothing comes to mind. Because Lost is almost unique or pioneering in the way the writers and producers use attendent media -- the internet, interviews -- to supplement their storytelling.
smosh__Guest_: I'm a bit HIMYM fan, too. I've got a decade on the characters, but I sort of remember that life...
Matthew_Gilbert: Good smosh. Goooood.
smosh__Guest_: Sometimes I wish Friends would have a reunion movie...like SATC. Then when I compare my life to their lives I can cry.
Matthew_Gilbert: Bad smosh. Baaad.
Matthew_Gilbert: I really feel that when a TV series ends after many years, it should stay ended. I just don't like the idea of the SATC movie. The show ended for a reason -- the characters were played out, their arcs were done, the writing was starting to wane. Bringing it back as a movie was motivated by only one thing.
Matthew_Gilbert: And you know what that is.
Matthew_Gilbert: Can you hear me? Because I'm up very high on my high horse...
LostFan789__Guest_: Do you think the producers of Lost would consider a movie after the show is over, a la Sex and the City?
Matthew_Gilbert: I really hope not. The whole idea of TV finale will become meaningless if too many shows follow the Sex and the City example.
smosh__Guest_: I hear you. Your horse just pooped on me.
Matthew_Gilbert: Use your umbrella, ella, ella.
LostFan789__Guest_: Have you seen any pilots for the new shows? Anything look good?
Matthew_Gilbert: I've only gotten the CBS pilots so far. And haven't sat down with them yet. But I'm always optimistic as fall approaches. It's self-delusion, but it makes my life happier and more exciting.
Matthew_Gilbert: Make Denial Work For You. That's my motto.
Je__Guest_: actually, B5 was doing that way before Lost and before any1 knew what the web is ;).
Matthew_Gilbert: But it wasn't doing it on such a massive mainstream level.... All due respect.
LostFan789__Guest_: But I think Lost lends itself to furthering the story. They've established such a rich mythology about the island that they could fill in small details...
Matthew_Gilbert: Still, I think enough is enough. Maybe there's a way to take a peripheral plot and spin it into something. But still, I think the idea of finality is underrated. Just because we want more doesn't always mean we should get more, you know?
Matthew_Gilbert: There's something to be said for longing for more, if you know what I mean.
Matthew_Gilbert: How can I miss you when you won't go away, and all that.
DEE__Guest_: Do you know if Sara Silverman's show is renewed?
Matthew_Gilbert: I believe that it will be back later this year. I love her and that show. I want her to get an Emmy nomination for best comic actress, but I don't think it will happen.
rachjak__Guest_: that's more than your motto,. that's the signature on your paycheck.
Matthew_Gilbert: oh snap, rachjak.
smosh__Guest_: finale...meaningless if SATC example... how about a F+G movie?
Matthew_Gilbert: Freaks and Geeks? THat would be weird. Have the same actors return, years older but still playing high school kids. That would be sick. Like Amy Sedaris's series...
JD_2__Guest_: OK, SATC may have been an awful movie. But how is that "one thing" that motivated the feature any different from what they do on TV? Aren't they all in it for the same thing, and if art strikes, then that's gravy?
Matthew_Gilbert: OK, I hear you. It certainly motivates me on occasion. But it's never the SOLE motivator, you know? SATC was over, creatively speaking.
Je__Guest_: have you heard of HBO's upcoming adaptation of Song of Ice and Fire? what do u think about that?
Matthew_Gilbert: Yes, the fantasy novels. I know HBO has optioned them, but I haven't heard about further development. I think HBO will have a long life going forward, after this summer. It will have a "comeback," as we (the media) like to say.
LostFan789__Guest_: Maybe I'm not ready to move on from Lost. I can't let go!
Matthew_Gilbert: Already grieving? Wow.
DEE__Guest_: oh, a Dan Hicks fan
Matthew_Gilbert: And His Hot Licks? Did I make an inadvertent allusion?
sammywhite__Guest_: sammywhite
Matthew_Gilbert: Matthew_Gilbert
Je__Guest_: re: finale. Have you seen the Six Feet Under series finale? out of all of huge number of TV series (every single ep mind u) i have seen, SFU finale is the absolute best, bar none. u never wonder about "hey, whatever happened to xyz character" after that series finale =).
Matthew_Gilbert: Good point. Six Feet Under was the finale of all finales. A great finish. With little chance of a movie followup.
LostFan789__Guest_: what actor on Lost would you nominate for an Emmy?
Matthew_Gilbert: Michael Emerson.
Matthew_Gilbert: And Michael Emerson.
Matthew_Gilbert: Oh, and Michael Emerson.
Matthew_Gilbert: The guy's eyes are outrageous.
Matthew_Gilbert: And on that note, thank you for showing up friends. See you in a couple of weeks.
Matthew_Gilbert: MG
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