|
|
Spring 2004
In the TV world
there's "cheers and jeers." In the movie world there's
"thumbs up" and "thumbs down." Well, here in
cyberspace, there's (...) dots and (/) slashes. What news
bytes hit their mark, and which should be
"slashed" ? Here are the latest of them...
Want Something
Praised...or "Slashed"? Send a note, and
we'll add it to the list!
 Slash
: To the number of series offered the chance at
a series finale, and the few that took advantage of it. How often does a series
get cancelled so soon they cannot end the series' ongoing story, on a high note? Shows like Angel
and Frasier were given that chance, and instead, they decided to
give us ...What? Frasier was left headed for
Chicago, with no sign nor indication of whether he's going there to piffle
away his family in Seattle and his brand-new job offer in San Francisco,
or if he's going there just to bring
what's-her-name with him to his job/family. Oh, but how could that cliffhanger be worse than Angel,
where the entire cast is stuck in an alley with a seemingly unstoppable army of bad guys,
and...cue the final credits. Auuugh! The only thing more pathetic than these
finales are the fanboys who go to every message board, insisting how "cool" these finales were. If they
were so cool, where's the "finale" of these shows, if there was
one at all?
 DOT
:  To
Six Flags' hilarious, toe-tapping commercial, which brings the spring
season in with style. An old man comes slowly out of a Six Flags bus, then
giant loud speakers pop out of the top of the bus, blasting some
toe-tapping party music. The seemingly
"old man" starts dancing and jumping as if he's just
visited the most fun place on Earth. The whole neighborhood jumps on board
the
bus to see what all the hubbub is about. This is the sort of ad that is
hard to forget...in a good way. Speaking of which...
Slash
: To Disney World commercials, which in Michael
Eisner's typical stupidity lately, seem to be lampooning trips to Disney
more than promoting them. In one such commercial, a bunch of stuffy shirts
are playing golf as the wives go to the parks. My, what a wonderful ad for
a family theme park this is! Sure, they're trying to appeal to all
"types," but...what's next? Showing frat boys hurling in the
men's room to try and get the Spring Break crowd to come visit? Come on
guys; you know better than this.
Slash
: To FOX television, and the totally cowardly way they
handled the publicity of some slow-starting yet very promising new shows.
Consider how a once fledgling network had to bend a few rules to get
anyone to notice Melrose Place (which, after heather Locklear and a
sexy new line of scripts was added, lasted ??? seasons), X-Files
(??? seasons), or for that matter, their entire prime time line-up (which,
in one brilliant publicity stunt in ???, began during the summer, with a
slew of enjoyable "summer" themed episodes). Now, the network
has a little bit of a bother making people tune in to see Wonderfalls and
other promising dark horses, and what does the FOX network do? Why, they
cancel the shows, of course, without so much as a single coherent attempt
to make the shows work. Words of advice to FOX: don't put all your eggs in
one basket labeled "American Idol." Just look at ABC when it put
similar eggs in a basket called Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.
They're now, at best, a fourth place network. Keep that in mind guys.
----------------------------------
Agree? Disagree? Send
comments to Techtite Letters.
| All Text, Title
graphics, and the DOT/Slash icons are created by Techtite, copyright
1999-2004; all rights reserved. Pictures of products, if any, are used only for purpose of
review, with copyrights still held by their respective owners. For further "legalese" &
disclaimers, click here... |
|
Burnout
Near
Miss
Small
Crater
Large
Crater
Deep
Impact