Boobs really ARE the answer; a look back at TV trends in 2012

- December 23rd, 2012

lena dunham emmys

In his opening monologue at the Emmy Awards in September, host Jimmy Kimmel noted that cable networks accounted for all the shows in the outstanding drama category in 2012.

“The Academy is sending a clear message,” Kimmel said. “And that message is, ‘Show us your boobs.’ ”

That’s Lena Dunham of Girls in the above picture, by the way, taking Kimmel’s advice to heart – or is it having her cake and eating it, too? – in the opening bit that kicked off the Emmys.

True enough, boobs are the cause of, and solution to, all of life’s problems, to paraphrase Homer Simpson (he was talking about alcohol). But it actually is more complicated when it comes to TV.

The calendar year 2012 continued the trend of viewers peeling off to specialty programming and specialty channels, as the big broadcast networks try to figure out where they fit in the future of television.

The past year also saw a significant increase in the amount of internet-first “TV” programming, through services such as Netflix and the like.

Genre-wise, there has been a notable push in the past year toward fantasy, at least when it comes to drama. Shows such as Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, True Blood, The Vampire Diaries, Once Upon a Time and American Horror Story remind us that when real life gets boring, we always can make something up.

Isn’t it strange that in some ways we now expect our comedies to be more grounded than our dramas? When an alien-based sitcom like The Neighbors comes along, many people turn up their noses because it’s too “ridiculous.” But some of those same people happily will watch Game of Thrones or The Walking Dead and think, “Wow, great art.”

Not that there’s anything wrong with that, it’s just amusing when you think of it that way.

So looking back at TV in 2012, we’ll remember zombies and dwarves, good wives and mad men, drug dealers and high-class schemers, butlers and bootleggers.

And boobs. Lots and lots of boobs.

bill.harris@sunmedia.ca

@billharris_tv

Dennings, Hendricks compete for “breast dressed” title on Emmys red carpet

- September 24th, 2012

Kat Dennings Emmys 2

The first star to make a buxom splash on the red carpet at the 64th annual primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday was Kat Dennings of 2 Broke Girls.

Dennings (pictured above) was one of the first celebrities interviewed during red-carpet coverage on E!, outside the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles.

And when the well-endowed Dennings, wearing a low-cut red dress, mounted some steps to the interview area, interviewer Giuliana Rancic’s eyes just about jumped out of her head.

Rancic: “OK, when you walked up here, I was like, ‘Wow, you look gorgeous.’ ”

Dennings: “Well, no matter what I do, they’re there, so, what are you doing to do?”

Rancic: “You knew what I was getting at?”

Dennings: “Yeah.”

Rancic: “Could you tell I was staring at them?”

Dennings: “Well, you know what I mean? I looked in the mirror and I was like, ‘Uh, God.’ But what am I going to do? They’re always the same size.”

Rancic: “Honey, don’t even say it like it’s a problem. It is a good thing.”

We concur.

There was a similar moment when E!’s Ryan Seacrest was interviewing the similarly curvy Christina Hendricks of Mad Men, who was wearing a low-cut silver dress. Seacrest asked Hendricks (pictured below) how Mad Men’s fans would react if her character, Joan Harris, and Jon Hamm’s character, Don Draper, ever got together.

“Um … I don’t know how the fans would react … it would be a very combustive situation, I would think,” Hendricks stammered.

“Combustive is the right word for this moment,” Seacrest said.

Touche.

E! always brings a sense of fun to red-carpet coverage, as opposed to ABC’s approach, which tends to be a bit more stiff.

But E! went the extra mile at the Emmys Sunday with three deliberately ridiculous innovations:

* The Mani-Cam (celebrities stuck their hands close to a little camera so their fingers could walk a tiny red carpet and their manicures could be examined).

* The Stiletto-Cam (same idea, with shoes).

* And the Glam-Cam 360, in which stars were photographed “in the round” to be more intricately examined by Fashion Police.

Speaking of Fashion Police, Joan Rivers kicked off E!’s red-carpet coverage with the following speech:

“It does take a village to produce a great show,” Rivers said. “Fashion Police would not be a big hit without the help of many of you wonderful celebrities, so I want to take this opportunity to say thank you to some of them.

“Tara Reid, thank you for being a skank. Christina Aguilera, thank you for being a chubbo. Courtney Love, thank you for not even knowing that you are Courtney Love. And thank you Lindsay Lohan, for just being you … hic!”

Former Emmys host Jimmy Fallon also dipped into the deep well of celebrity rap sheets for humour when he was speaking with Seacrest.

As the interview began, Fallon was pretending to be out of breath and panicked, as if he had just had a narrow escape from a dangerous situation.

“I’m just glad to be alive,” Fallon said. “Amanda Bynes gave me a ride over.”

Fallon also quipped that he didn’t actually have a ticket for the Emmys, but that “Clint Eastwood is saving me a chair.”

The really funny thing was, when ABC opened its red-carpet coverage with Fallon, he told the exact same jokes to Chris Harrison!

Great lines, Jimmy Fallon, but remember, people have clickers and they aren’t afraid to use them.

Then again, jokes about Bynes aside, it’s possible that Fallon really was frazzled. Maybe he caught a glimpse of the four-part attack provided by Kat Dennings and Christina Hendricks.

bill.harris@sunmedia.ca

@billharris_tv

(For full coverage of the actual Emmy Awards ceremony, which aired on ABC and CTV, you can check out the story I filed for Sun Media here.)

Christina Hendricks

Is the caller there? Kelsey Grammer dialed in at the Television Critics Association tour, day 13

- August 2nd, 2012

kelsey on the phone

Television Critics Association tour, day 13.

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. – Kelsey Grammer may be perplexed by the lack of Emmy love for his performance in Boss, but he has won the unofficial award for longest personal phone call ever taken on stage at the Television Critics Association tour.

It occurred during the TCA panel for Boss, a dark drama that originates on Starz in the United States and airs on Super Channel in Canada. The second season debuts on Aug. 17.

During the panel Grammer’s phone went off. This happens from time to time to panelists, but they usually either don’t answer it, or they quickly say, “Have to call you back,” and hang up.

But it became apparent Grammer was talking to his wife, and the conversation went on for 90 seconds or so – it felt longer, with an entire boardroom full of journalists stopped dead, waiting for him to finish. It did not sound like an emergency in any way, as Grammer had a grin on his face throughout the call (photo above).

Afterward, there were differences of opinion among reporters about what had occurred.

Some thought Grammer was just rude, or that it was an ego move in a “my time is more valuable than your time” kind of way.

Others (I’m more in this camp) thought Grammer just got caught on the phone with someone who kind of wouldn’t stop talking. He might not even have realized right away that the proceedings had come to a halt. Yes, it was inconsiderate to the group. But it’s not as if he began his day plotting to be inconsiderate to the group, unless I’m really misreading it.

Anyway, near the end of the panel, Grammer got asked specifically about the phone call.

“Well, there are some things that are more important than others, and the well-being of my wife sits atop the charts,” Grammer said.

Starz later felt the need to issue a press release about it, trying to spin it into a story about family values.

On a side note, if you’re Kelsey Grammer’s cell-phone service provider, there’s a built-in commercial in this, get on it.

bill.harris@sunmedia.ca

@billharris_tv