Techtite Feature Article!

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Some added "awards" worth mentioning:

Best Series Finale: Star Trek Voyager, "Endgame." A happy end to their quest is enhanced by a cool final (?) battle with the Borg and even a childbirth for B'lanna and Tom. Great finale!

"I can understand why CBS had it cancelled, yet I'm glad it's back on UPN.": Wolf Lake  In the hands of Joss "Buffy" Whedon, this werewolf drama could've been COOL. As it stands, it has one last chance to get a UPN audience before getting the big heave-ho.

Biggest Yawn we thought would be a "Yippee": Survivor 2: the finale/reunion. Tina uses her million bucks to invest in two new floatation devices...and not the motorcycle she promised Colby. No, really; this was the most exciting observation when watching the finale.

Most poignant departure we never expected to be “poignant”: The Practice's obnoxious Richard Bay (Jason Kravits). Sure, he was the little Napoleon district attorney who always got under Bobby Donnel's skin. He still deserved a better departure than to be machine-gunned in a parking garage.

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Feel free to contribute. As always, review submissions are accepted!

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...and the Golden Ottos for 2001 Television go to :

Best TV Show, overall : CSI. Forget the fact that The Golden Globes are unfairly pitting network television against cable TV series, which do not have the challenge of being engrossing regardless of so many network "restrictions." Forget the fact that the mysteries are cool. Forget the fact that the scientific gadgetry they use to discern criminal evidence is cool. Forget the talented cast, the awesome location (Las Vegas), and the cool opening theme song ("Who Are You...I Really Want to Know" by The Who). The fact is, this is the only current show on TV I make a point to never miss a single episode of. I'd like to say the same thing about the award-winning Sex and the City, though sorry...no.

Honorable Mention, overall : The Amazing Race. This was the series to put Survivor Africa in its place, with more intriguing locales and brilliantly crafted challenges. Let's just say, a race with alternate locales worldwide, makes better TV than a bunch of dweebs drinking blood in Africa. That said; it also, quite frankly, had more intriguing people. When CBS announced plans for another Big Brother, they were shocked...yet those same people counted the days until they heard Amazing Race would return in March 2002. YES!

Best Comedy series, when not falling for HBO hype: Scrubs There's a funny side to everything. This series covers the lives of newcomers to the hospital scene with real yet hilarious moments. Adding to the mix is a janitor who has a grudge, the overbearing lead Doctor Kelso, and the cynical Doctor Cox...who J.D. may grow up to become someday, if he's not careful. How good is good? Let's just say, if there's an opening ever available on "must-see" Thursday, NBC should give it to Scrubs.

Best Cable Series: The Sopranos It is unfair to rate this series in the same way as network shows, no matter what The Golden Globes and The Emmys think. Commercial networks ---ABC, CBS, NBC, etc.-- work very hard to give viewers shows for "free," all while working under more restrictions than can ever be listed on one web site. Premium cable networks have no such restrictions, so their series can be as R-rated as they wish. That said, however, yes, The Sopranos is a totally cool cable TV drama. It's a no-holds-barred, frank view of the life of a man trying to balance his business "family" with his real family. This show has garnered more respect than any series HBO ever aired, and this is for good reason. See the reviews of The First Season and The Second Season to catch up via DVD/VHS, though rest assured: last year's third season (to be offered on DVD/VHS this August) was just as cool. Very few best-of-TV lists could get away with not listing this show, without admitting how little TV they watch at all. Techtite.com just feels that, with The Golden Globe and Emmy under its belt, CSI and The Amazing Race deserved some added kudos here. After all, they were shows that had to be entertaining, regardless of editing restrictions galore. If The Sopranos was under such restrictions, could it even be aired at all?

Best Drama: 24 This series is yet another brilliant slice of original concepts from FOX, where every episode is in real time; one hour of the day that would change Jack Bauer's life forever. Bauer is a secret agent assigned to protect the life of Senator Palmer, on the day of the presidential primary. Jack's wife and daughter are kidnapped, and to save them he must be the puppet of the criminal's henchman...though not for long. Adding to this core story are any number of intriguing plot threads: Palmer's son is accused of murder, cover-ups are re-covered, and secrets revealed. If you're missing out on 24, now's the time to at least see the gripping conclusion, which is coming very soon; the series' timeline is already up to the hour of 3:00 P.M.

Best Animated Series: Justice League. Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman are joined by Martian Manhunter, Green Lantern, The Flash, and Hawkgirl. In addition to the new team roster is a fresh look at the human side of the super-heroes. Each story is also two parts, making for nice one-hour plotlines. If you ever wondered if a "mere" cartoon can effectively deliver a one-hour storyline, take a look at this series. The opening theme makes the experience even cooler. 

Most Disappointing TV Show: Big Brother 2. Would you believe CBS is planning a "Big Brother 3"...? Why not; I'd apply for the job myself, if I found the time. Yet for BB2, not enough can be said of how poorly chosen this lot was. From the weak puppet named Bunky to the scheming Will (who won!), and from the overly conservative Kent to the tattooed Nicole, this was a powder keg waiting to explode. Unfortunately for CBS, it did. 

Dishonorable Mention, TV : Survivor 3: Africa. While 2002 would reveal that Ethan won, the first stretch of the show in 2001 showed little to no promise at all. The drinking of blood as a "challenge" was bad enough, though how about a challenge to even understand what was spoken? Every word Tom said seemed like verbal "Scrabble."

Best use of a computer on television: The Drew Carey Show. In his April Fool’s Day Episode for 2001, a whole segment is done via the popular PC game The Sims. The skit ends with a laser beam a la Quake 3: Arena shooting holes in the screen until everyone hides, then, when Drew wipes his brow thinking the coast is clear, he gets tackled by characters from a John Madden Football game. What a riot!

And now, a word about the sponsors:

Best Commercial : The Hallie/Halle, Berry/Barry Pepsi Twist commercial. Forget Britney Spears, and laugh at the humor here. A man notices Hallie Eisenberg drinking a Pepsi, only to have her pull off a mask to reveal she's not Hallie Eisenberg...she's Halle Berry, drinking the new Pepsi Twist. When the man muses that, okay, it's Halle Berry drinking a Pepsi Twist, she reveals its really Pepsi Twist with lemon, and she's not really Hally Berry. "Ya not?" says the man with a grin. No...she's Barry Bostwick! "Who's Barry Bostwick?" asks the man, while Bostwick shrugs. What a riot!

Worst Commercial : Any Bud commercial that tried to keep the "Whazzzaaap!" fad afloat. The whole "Whazzzaaap" fad is over; accept it! It took a while for Budweiser to accept it, with yuppies, Europeans, and just about everyone under the sun impersonating the original Whazzzaaap boys, calling friends and saying their rendition of "What's up?" as the original guys look on in disbelief. Never say that Budweiser doesn't have a strong attention span; remember how long it took for them to replace those Bud-why-zer frogs...?

Best hyped commercial of a now-defunct product: Quickclick, by NBCI, sounded like a cool idea; "See a word, click it, and immediately get information about that word." However, this was just a simple search engine for people too lazy to type "yahoo." To make matters worse, using the service meant putting an NBCI commercial logo, right on the top of your browser! Try to remove it, and a glitch may go so far as to put the same header on all windows, of all programs you use! So much for flawed dreams; the official Quickclick web page no longer works, and NBCI.com now acts like they never promoted it at all.