Dennis and Leanne Sarcowitz are your typical Young North American Couple: middle class, literate, professionals with creative streaks, white wine with seafood, she drives a KIA sedan (he's holding on to his Civic), fitness enthusiasts, photogenic, politically liberal... I interviewed them because they're my age and I needed a blog post, but also to find out more about this exciting and diverse world, and others' experiences of it. Plus, everyone loves the interview format!
Publicato: Alright, thanks for agreeing to do this. You're helping me out a bunch. I guess the most obvious place to start is to ask how you met each other.
Dennis: Well it's pretty much the standard version: two people in similar social circles meet –
Publicato: Cool, yeah...
Dennis: – and they connect over really basic stuff. 80's movies, childhood memories, a shared fondness for plummy reds, similar senses of humor. It's standard but it's magic, you know?
Publicato: Oh definitely. So it's love?
Leanne (laughing): I guess it is. We're happy.
Publicato: Right on. Everyone's talking about gas prices, what do you guys think about it?
Dennis: They're great. I'm saving twenty or more bucks per fill-up. I still go out of my way to avoid traffic, but most excitingly –
Leanne: We're talking about doing a nice road-trip this summer with the money we're saving. Connecticut, to visit some of my family, and maybe all the way to Oklahoma to visit his. On the way we'll do some good hiking and camping and sightseeing... this is the year to do it.
Publicato: I hope so. If a '73 style crisis develops and you get stuck in backwoods Arkansas, will you liquidate your whole nest egg to get home?
Dennis: It's super unlikely, and we have other resources, but yes, we would do quite a lot in order to make it home safely. Gas will probably go up in a few months and we'll, I dunno, fly to Europe again or something. Spain's real nice any time of year and we haven't been to Bucharest yet – which we really want to do before it becomes touristy.
Publicato: Oh, word?
Showing posts with label Perfect Couples. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Perfect Couples. Show all posts
11/15/11
Community.net/No Obituaries Yet/Don't Panic/What?
NBC is a troubled network. Let's get that out of the way. Other networks have crazy-popular TV franchises and series and the name of the game is viewership. Quirky shows don't do super well in a line-up crowded by quirk-fests such as Glee, Big Bang Theory, and How I Met Your Mother. However you look at it, or however you feel about quirky television, there are still lame-stream sitcoms being made in this era, and they are still watched. NBC has led the pack in terms of quality for a while. 2009 was a ridiculously strong season for them: 30 Rock at its peak (or just over it), Community out of the blue like a bolt of lightning, and Parks & Rec to round out the quirky slapdash humor.
But there was competition by shows that simply got more viewers. So the NBC lineup was always dwarfed by Two and a Half Men or American Idol or any type of one-dimensional trash. I've stopped watching television and I think the latest season of Community is the most inconsistent yet. I have more or less stopped watching or being excited about it, but there was at least one fantastic episode, so the show is not a write-off. There have been enough weak efforts, though, that the executive decision to shelve the program is not entirely surprising. There are simply not enough regular watchers to buoy the show, and the fans are a dedicated bunch but they're not the millions of people the show needs to survive.
The news is that NBC have moved Community off the roster of televised shows for the midseason (January). Whether this is to be competitive or what it means for the show remains to be seen. Obviously, television nerds are furious about this decision, especially since the reeking bomb that is Whitney has not been cancelled yet. And that show is probably the reeking bomb of the season, but I understand why it was made and why the network is still apparently supportive: the dumb pantywaist yuppie demographic needs its fix of lukewarm comedy, and Friends was so long ago, and so fondly remembered, that it would be foolish not to try and resurrect that kind of audience and show.
But nobody can recapture that magic. Friends had something that no contemporary similar show has captured. Perfect Couples was near to doing it but got canned just as things were heating up. Then the Paul Reiser show that NBC doesn't even acknowledge having broadcast. Things are tough at that network and there's just no coherent stance. They can't have too many Parks & Rec, 30 Rock, or Community-styled shows without appearing 'highbrow' or purveyors of 'comedy snobbery' so they have to pander to the folks who are still loyal to Two and a Half Men. Whatever. Some people watch television for background noise, or to simply stare at moving pictures, or to yawn and relax. Not everyone wants to think about a joke, remember a scene, or pay attention. That's how it is.
Well, Community may stay or it may be cancelled. Lots of good shows don't last long, and lots of bullshit keeps airing after any of its worth has expired. I believed television was more or less hopeless before Community and I'm sure another great show will come along. Eventually. Until then people can keep trying to make this into an issue. But it's not an issue, it's just a slight deviation from regular programming.
But there was competition by shows that simply got more viewers. So the NBC lineup was always dwarfed by Two and a Half Men or American Idol or any type of one-dimensional trash. I've stopped watching television and I think the latest season of Community is the most inconsistent yet. I have more or less stopped watching or being excited about it, but there was at least one fantastic episode, so the show is not a write-off. There have been enough weak efforts, though, that the executive decision to shelve the program is not entirely surprising. There are simply not enough regular watchers to buoy the show, and the fans are a dedicated bunch but they're not the millions of people the show needs to survive.
The news is that NBC have moved Community off the roster of televised shows for the midseason (January). Whether this is to be competitive or what it means for the show remains to be seen. Obviously, television nerds are furious about this decision, especially since the reeking bomb that is Whitney has not been cancelled yet. And that show is probably the reeking bomb of the season, but I understand why it was made and why the network is still apparently supportive: the dumb pantywaist yuppie demographic needs its fix of lukewarm comedy, and Friends was so long ago, and so fondly remembered, that it would be foolish not to try and resurrect that kind of audience and show.
But nobody can recapture that magic. Friends had something that no contemporary similar show has captured. Perfect Couples was near to doing it but got canned just as things were heating up. Then the Paul Reiser show that NBC doesn't even acknowledge having broadcast. Things are tough at that network and there's just no coherent stance. They can't have too many Parks & Rec, 30 Rock, or Community-styled shows without appearing 'highbrow' or purveyors of 'comedy snobbery' so they have to pander to the folks who are still loyal to Two and a Half Men. Whatever. Some people watch television for background noise, or to simply stare at moving pictures, or to yawn and relax. Not everyone wants to think about a joke, remember a scene, or pay attention. That's how it is.
Well, Community may stay or it may be cancelled. Lots of good shows don't last long, and lots of bullshit keeps airing after any of its worth has expired. I believed television was more or less hopeless before Community and I'm sure another great show will come along. Eventually. Until then people can keep trying to make this into an issue. But it's not an issue, it's just a slight deviation from regular programming.
4/28/11
RIP Perfect Couples... You Were Just Getting Good
I like to bring up the NBC series 100 Questions, because it used to air after Community – the disconnect from a nimble, funny show to a clunker with a laugh track was so insane that it used to make tears well up in my eyes. Going from Community to 100 Questions (with only one commercial break in-between) was like finding yourself passive and bored with the rebound relationship after a short and incredible but ill-fated relationship with someone you genuinely liked and understood.
In September 2010, with Community safely renewed and airing its second season, NBC seemed to throw the same type of curve-ball at me. By this time I knew exactly the flavor of heartache to expect. Perfect Couples was a huge stinker. Generic, had a laugh track, was about three yuppie couples. I turned the TV off in disgust, "They're going to shit-can that show so hard all the actors will need neck-braces."
Between September 2010 and February 2011 Perfect Couples became a decent show to watch. It was a pleasant surprise. Apparently they had learned from their errors and made improvements. The cast was alright, and even though the show was still on the generic side, it actually had some funny moments. Of course the show was shit-canned recently and replaced by a bizarre and twisted wreck that nobody loved. I was right, but at what price?
I feel sorry for NBC. Perfect Couples could've been one of those shows that ends up being better than what it copies. Friends wasn't as good as nostalgia leads you to believe. It was, quite often, an arid wasteland of puerile yuppie pretensions and sexual tension (which really sold the show). With Perfect Couples the relationship units were already established, so there was less tension, but then again, one of them contained Olivia Munn. The rest of the cast was also good, but everyone is waiting to see if Olivia Munn is going to end up anywhere other than the one-a-month reports for Jon Stewart.
There's not much more to say. I can't find the show anywhere and I don't want to look around for it. If it was still on TV I might've watched it another two or three times in my life, and it probably would've amused me. It just worries me that networks don't have the patience to try out many shows beyond the first season, and that their analysts apparently don't give breathing room for increased performance.
Remember Cheers? Cheers was not at first a smash hit, but TV afficionadoes still refer to it like it's a god. But I guess Cheers was a 'critical success'... who holds those keys, anyway?
In September 2010, with Community safely renewed and airing its second season, NBC seemed to throw the same type of curve-ball at me. By this time I knew exactly the flavor of heartache to expect. Perfect Couples was a huge stinker. Generic, had a laugh track, was about three yuppie couples. I turned the TV off in disgust, "They're going to shit-can that show so hard all the actors will need neck-braces."
Between September 2010 and February 2011 Perfect Couples became a decent show to watch. It was a pleasant surprise. Apparently they had learned from their errors and made improvements. The cast was alright, and even though the show was still on the generic side, it actually had some funny moments. Of course the show was shit-canned recently and replaced by a bizarre and twisted wreck that nobody loved. I was right, but at what price?
I feel sorry for NBC. Perfect Couples could've been one of those shows that ends up being better than what it copies. Friends wasn't as good as nostalgia leads you to believe. It was, quite often, an arid wasteland of puerile yuppie pretensions and sexual tension (which really sold the show). With Perfect Couples the relationship units were already established, so there was less tension, but then again, one of them contained Olivia Munn. The rest of the cast was also good, but everyone is waiting to see if Olivia Munn is going to end up anywhere other than the one-a-month reports for Jon Stewart.
There's not much more to say. I can't find the show anywhere and I don't want to look around for it. If it was still on TV I might've watched it another two or three times in my life, and it probably would've amused me. It just worries me that networks don't have the patience to try out many shows beyond the first season, and that their analysts apparently don't give breathing room for increased performance.
Remember Cheers? Cheers was not at first a smash hit, but TV afficionadoes still refer to it like it's a god. But I guess Cheers was a 'critical success'... who holds those keys, anyway?
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