Program scripts from week of March 11, 2013
My name is Jay Phillippi and I've spent my life in and around the media. TV, radio, the movies and more. I love them, and I hate them and I always have an opinion. Call this the View from the Phlipside.
The Duck Disease
I have confessed here before my guilty pleasure in a lot of “reality” television. Some of it is compelling because of the nature of the activity like “Ice Road Truckers” or “Deadliest Catch”. Never really thought about either of those jobs and I come away with a deeper respect for the people who make their living doing those kinds of dangerous and difficult work.
At the other end I have also enjoyed things like “Storage Wars” and “Swamp People” because of the personalities involved. Nothing like some really over the top people to make sure that a show hooks me.
But my latest favorite in this category has gone somewhere that no other show of its kind has ever done. Last year I stumbled on “Duck Dynasty” and fell in love hook, line and sinker. If you haven’t seen the A&E network hit it’s pretty simple. The show follows the Robertson family and their company Duck Commander. They make duck calls, which right up front doesn’t sound like a very exciting TV show. But the family and their employees are right up there on the personality charts. Father and company founder Phil who was a good enough college quarterback to keep Terry Bradshaw as his backup. His brother Si who is, well beyond description. Miss Kay is the matriarch of the family and a classic southern lady.
Put them all together with a bunch of sons, daughters-in-law, grandchildren and assorted others and you get some classic TV gumbo.
I’m not the only one to have caught the duck disease. When the third season debuted just a couple weeks ago the audience was huge. Big enough to tie for first place in that time slot with shows on ABC and Fox. Remember this is on A&E, what we rather archaically call a “cable station” competing with the big boys. The two half hour episodes grabbed over 8.6 million viewers that night.
What makes this show about a family of crazy redneck duck call manufacturers so compelling? I think because it feels real. These could be your crazy relatives. But it’s also about family. Each episode ends with the Robertsons et al gathered around the dinner table saying a prayer of thanks and love for one another.
It’s the kind of reality most of us would love to have a little more of in our lives.
The March of Time
I’ve mentioned before that in real life I work with teenagers. It’s mostly in the context of church youth ministry plus some work with groups like the Eastside YMCA. It means that I’ve spent a lot of time with young people over the last decade. It’s out of that experience that today’s commentary grows. You see I think that the folks at Apple may be in need of someone with my background.
Apple has seen some of it’s sales numbers dip a little recently. The rise of Android based phones have put a dent in the iPhone’s dominance. Other tablets are beginning to crimp the iPad as well. So, not surprisingly, Apple is looking for the next big thing. They have a great brand and a retail arm that needs hot new products. The near term idea is in the arena of a smart television. It’s the long range plan that I have doubts about.
You see the next idea down the line is apparently a smart watch. Now the first problem I have is that you say smart watch and the first thing I think of is from the days of the old Dick Tracy cartoon. The real problem that I see comes from my experience with teens. You see the one thing that most of those teens don’t have any more is a watch. When they need to check the time they look at their phone. So Apple is going to have to fight up a hill that they helped to create.
Now I’m aware that the watch industry is still perking along. Last year it was a 60 billion dollar industry with a 60% profit margin. And there are plenty of people who wear them, young and old. I own two myself. Add into that Apple’s track record for creating products that we didn’t even know we wanted and there’s always a chance for success.
At the same time I just can’t help thinking about a generation that hasn’t been raised relying on their wrist for time. So what can you offer that makes them want to strap one on? Watching TV on it would be awkward, don’t know that it would be a huge improvement to listening to music over the smaller ipods. I know I’m working from a small sample size versus Apple but I just don’t get a real good feeling from this one.
At the same time it’s not the worst tech idea I’ve heard this week. That would be Google’s talking shoe technology.
I’ll take Dick Tracy over Maxwell Smart any day.
Next On Tonight
So here we go again. We can only hope that the principal players have learned their lesson and do a better job this time.
The story that is going into reruns this time is the Jay Leno retiring story. You may remember the first viewing of this particular classic. Leno was the king of late night TV. Conan O’Brien wanted to be the heir apparent when the time came. So his new contract in 2004 guaranteed the spot to him. Five long years later Jay Leno decides to move from late night to prime time and Conan moves into the most historic and coveted seat in late night television. The host of “The Tonight Show”. The problem was that Leno (as predicted here) was a complete bomb in prime time. Suddenly we have a problem. One seat. Two hosts. There was a suggestion of inserting Leno into a new program and moving the “Tonight Show” back. Which was just dumb and Conan knew it. A deal was made and he eventually landed on TBS. To be honest while Leno has re-taken the number one slot it’s a lot closer than it was before he left.
So now the rumor begins that Jay is thinking about actually retiring. The situation is a little different in a variety of ways. First there’s more competition than before. Conan is now out there. The real wild card is that ABC has moved into the network late night wars with Jimmy Kimmel Live. And no I haven’t forgotten Letterman. The competition breaks down into two groups, the old and the young. Letterman is actually older than Leno while Conan and Kimmel draw a decidedly younger audience.
The early word is that NBC will follow the pattern that they’ve kind of created recently with Jimmy Fallon moving up from
“Late Night”. The Peacock network is in an interesting position. The last couple years have been awful. The current season has shown signs of a real renewal for them but it’s still a delicate balance. Add in that suddenly the long time king of MORNING TV “The Today Show” has slipped from its perch as “Good Morning America” on ABC has moved by them.
Fallon would seem to be the obvious next choice for that historic host slot. To avoid the kind of train wreck that happened in 2010 NBC needs to make the commitment to Fallon and Leno needs to walk away and keep on walking.
There’s no guarantee that any of those moves will be winners but anything else is sure to be a catastrophe.
Call that the View From the Phlipside
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