2016’s Top 10 Worst/Dumbest Ideas in the Media

2016 was a very crappy year.  However, there has been a mixture of good and bad things.  Mostly bad though.

Anyway, the point of this blog post is to count down the top 10 worst/dumbest media-related ideas of the year.  It is something that I really wanted to do for a long time.

Here are the credentials for what it takes to make it on this list:

1. The situation relating to the idea has to occur and/or have results in the specified year (in this case, 2016).
2. As long as the idea does not fall 100% into “so bad, it’s good” territory, it is eligible for the list.
3. Complete movies, TV series, specials, stage plays (no small local productions, they have to be something along the lines of a professional West End or Broadway production), music, video games, etc. count (even some web stuff).
4. Bad plot points or episodes of good films, TV shows, etc. can count as well.
5. If a TV network or film studio treats any of its well-received programs/films poorly, it can also make its way onto the list.
6. An idea is eligible as long as there is a strong defense for why it is bad.

Just as a warning, the list will contain spoilers.  Here are the top 10 worst/dumbest ideas in the media.

10

The FOX TV Musical “Events”

This year, as a way of trying to catch up with NBC and their live musicals, FOX decided to make two edgier musicals to compete with the family-friendly ones that NBC made for the holidays.  Those musicals were a live production of Grease, which aired in January and a filmed remake of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which aired in October.  I already said about everything I could say about the Rocky Horror remake earlier this year.  In order to make this blog post shorter, I will focus more on Grease Live!  If you want to know my opinion of The Rocky Horror Remake Show, please check out my review here: https://dansmediatopia.wordpress.com/2016/10/31/the-rocky-horror-remake-show-review/

First things first, I know that this production received positive reviews.  However, here is my defense on why I put it on the list (other than The Rocky Horror Remake Show pulling it down to #10 on this list).  While the technical aspects were good and the musical numbers were shot very well, FOX claimed that it wanted to emulate the “energy” of a theatrical setting.  In order to do so, a live audience was incorporated into the production’s stagings.  This was where Grease Live! messed up the most.  While the audience was part of the background, they were told to applaud after the musical numbers but NOT laugh at the jokes (except one person who managed to laugh at one of the jokes).  One of the most essential parts of the theatrical energy is the reaction of a production’s audience, which can also be applied to a sitcom audience (and even people watching something in front of a television or in a movie theater).  While audiences are given time to applaud after a musical number, they also applaud/cheer when a big star/main character or special guest appears and when someone performs an action they love or says a line they agree with.  When a joke is told or something funny happens, the audience is given time to laugh at the joke or event.  These reactions of cheering, applauding, and laughing are known as “positive reception.”  In fact, when you are aware of a live studio audience (or if a laugh track is being used), television viewers would feel like they are a part of the audience.  They not only laugh at the jokes, but also react with amazement.

Since the audience of Grease Live! was only allowed to react to the musical numbers but not the jokes, it took away the feeling of positive reception.  Television viewers, like myself, felt distance.  We were not a part of the audience.  Plus, the lack of positive reception towards the jokes made the jokes come off as awkward instead of entertaining.  NBC’s Hairspray Live! figured out this flaw when the producers tried to do the “live audience” schtick and felt that it was more appropriate for the live audience to react during the in-universe Corny Collins Show portions and the jumps to commercial breaks and behind-the-scenes portions of the broadcast.  But I digress.

While this “audience reaction” error seems more appropriate as a runner-up, The Rocky Horror Remake Show helped pull this into the top 10 with all of its flaws, including an issue that was the very opposite of the Grease Live! audience issue.  Let’s just say that if you want to emulate a theatrical setting’s “energy,” it needs to feel genuine, not staged.

9

ABC Cancelling Marvel’s Agent Carter and Deciding to Not Pick Up Marvel’s Most Wanted

Both ABC and Marvel are owned by the Walt Disney Company.  Since two series by Marvel that were made for ABC were screwed this year, it seems fitting to mention both.

Marvel’s Agent Carter premiered on January 6, 2015 as a mid-season replacement for Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.  The series had Hayley Atwell reprise her role as Peggy Carter while she balances her life as a secret agent for the Strategic Scientific Reserve (SSR) while living life as a woman in sexist 1940s America.  The show featured some pieces of information that connected it to Marvel Cinematic Universe films and TV series and gained critical acclaim.  While a second season was made, it ended up being the show’s last season due to a decline in ratings.  Television politics aside, considering that Agent Carter aired between the hiatus of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and only lasted 8-10 episodes per season, the series had at least one season left to connect a few details together.  In fact, it’s uncertain whether or not a third season will be made.  If another season was made, it could have covered:

• How Peggy Carter, Howard Stark, and Chester Phillips founded S.H.I.E.L.D.
• How Hydra agents snuck into S.H.I.E.L.D., causing the events of Captain America: The Winter Soldier to take place.
• Who did Peggy Carter end up marrying?
• How is Sharon Carter Peggy’s great niece if Peggy’s brother died?  Was the death faked?  The only information known was that Sharon Carter hid her relation until Peggy’s death in Captain America: Civil War.

Strangely enough, when a third season was being considered, Hayley Atwell filmed the pilot to an ABC legal drama known as Conviction.   While ABC was making its decision, Atwell said that if Agent Carter was renewed and Conviction was picked up, she would try to film Agent Carter on weekends.  However, ABC only picked up Conviction despite Atwell’s dedication to working on both series.  Conviction ended up receiving negative reviews and eventually got cancelled.  Atwell is still willing to return as Agent Carter in the MCU (and is currently scheduled to voice her in the non-MCU cartoon Avengers: Secret Wars in 2017).  Whether or not that happens depends on what the executives at Marvel decide.

While fans lost a great show this year, they were denied a potentially good spin-off as well.

Marvel’s Most Wanted was a pilot involving ex-S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and ex-spouses Bobbi “Mockingbird” Morse (played by Adrianne Palicki) and Lance Hunter (played by Nick Blood) and acted as a direct spin-off of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.  The series involved Morse and Hunter on the run from a conspiracy against them without the help of S.H.I.E.L.D. (I’ll get to that in a bit).  This forces them to form an alliance with a rogue adventurer named Dominic Fortune (played by Delroy Lindo) and his niece, Christina Santos (played by Fernanda Andrade).  The series also starred Oded Fehr as a well-known Marvel Comics character (who it was is still unknown).

The series was originally supposed to take place after season 2 of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., but the higher-ups at Marvel felt that Morse and Hunter should stay on the show for a little longer.  The characters were eventually written off in season 3, episode 13 Parting Shot so Adrianne Palicki and Nick Blood could shoot the pilot and put things in motion for the Most Wanted.

Considering the cancellation of Agent Carter, you would think that Most Wanted would be either picked up for another night or become a mid-seasoncan replacement that aired during the hiatus of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.  Unfortunately, ABC turned down the pilot, weakening Morse and Hunter’s big send-off.  Some of the actors have since moved on to other projects, but it would be nice if the pilot (which is probably noncanon by this point) show up as a TV special or a special feature on the Blu-ray/DVD release of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Part of the reason that ABC’s decisions to cancel Agent Carter and turn down Most Wanted are on this list is because of the amount of live-action Marvel Comics series on the air at the time compared to live-action DC Comics series (if you exclude series based on properties under the Vertigo imprint).  During the 2015-16 television season, the only live action Marvel series on the Big 5 networks were Agent Carter and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on ABC.  That’s two series on one channel.  During that season, there DC Comics series on three of the other Big 5 (including Powerless, which was announced to air on NBC during that time period and will officially air in 2017).  Those series were Gotham on FOX, Supergirl on CBS (before it moved to the CW for season 2), and Arrow, The Flash (2014), and Legends of Tomorrow on the CW.  In the 2016-17 TV season, with only one Marvel Comics show on ABC, DC Comics has now beaten Marvel with six TV series on three of ABC’s main competitors.  Even with new Marvel Cinematic Universe series currently streaming on and planned for Netflix, Hulu, and ABC Family/Freeform (plus the X-Men related Legion airing on FX in 2017), the difference in productions between Disney/Marvel and Warner Brothers/DC, ABC needs to up its game.  Luckily, ABC is still developing Marvel series at the moment.  Also, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was given a short web series spin-off Slingshot this year and an Inhumans series will air in Fall 2017.  A put pilot commitment for an X-Men series being developed by Matt Nix for FOX helps as well.

8

Disney Making The BFG a Flop by Barely Advertising It

I heard good things about this film and still need to get around to seeing it.  You might be wondering why I put it on this list.  Well, that’s because the director of this film is Steven Spielberg.  If you do not know who he is, then I’m guessing you never heard of E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial, Jurassic Park, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Hook, Jaws, Schindler’s List, Saving Private Ryan, War Horse, The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn, and the Indiana Jones films.  These were some of the many films he directed.  He is also known for producing The Goonies, Poltergeist, An American Tale, Tiny Toon Adventures, Anamaniacs, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, The Land Before Time, Batteries Not Included, Gremlins, Super 8, and the Men in Black and Back to the Future trilogies.

You would expect a man with a large filmography to be treated with a lot of respect, right?  This is Hollywood and, sometimes, that’s wrong.  I love Disney and it’s many films, but sometimes the company needs to be called out for some of its sketchy decisions.  Steven Spielberg had reunited with the late screenwriter Melissa Mathison (E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial and Twilight Zone: The Movie) to bring Roald Dahl’s The BFG to life.  Unfortunately, Spielberg had a falling out with the studio, who wanted to focus more on “tent-pole” films.  It means that Disney wanted to focus more on movies that would lead to big franchises such as Star Wars and the Marvel Cinematic Universe or would lead to more sequels and/or a lot of merchandise such as its animated films.  Since The BFG only tells one story, Disney felt that there wasn’t much it could do with it.  As a result, less marketing went towards the film while Disney focused all of its resources on Finding Dory.

I felt that this finance-over-art decision was very disrespectful to Spielberg.  While Spielberg is still attached to Indiana Jones 5, the situation resulted in Spielberg cutting ties with the company.  Fortunately, for the film, it made it to #3 in home media sales when it came out on Blu-ray, DVD, and digital download and is on the same path that most adaptations of Roald Dahl books end up traveling: vindication through home video and television.

7

Ash Lost the Pokémon League…Again

The Pokémon anime has been going on for years.  It has gained new viewers while still keeping older ones from the first generation of games around.  However, there have been jokes and criticisms relating to how the anime barely makes any developments such as protagonist Ash Ketchem never aging past 10 years old.  Ash has also lost every single Pokémon League (excluding the Orange Islands because they were not part of the video games), but things seemed different this time in Pokémon XY&Z.  Ash went into the final rounds with a winning team.  However, he still lost and the fandom got pissed.  Since Pokémon Sun & Moon decided to forgo battling gym leaders in favor of something else (and no one knew whether there actually would be a Pokémon League in the games), fans hoped that Ash would finally win Pokémon League this time.  Let’s just say that if you are involved with a TV series that has been running for years, it’s OK to try to change something as long as it is what the fans want.

You can find more information on this subject on KnowYourMeme: http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/events/ash-s-kalos-league-final-battle

6

Paramount Screwing The Little Prince Out of It’s Original Release Date

The Little Prince is an adaptation of the famous novella by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry that beautifully combined CGI, stop-motion, and a little bit of traditional animation.  It also had a cast of well-known celebrities, premiered out-of-competition at the 68th Cannes Film Festival, received critical acclaim, won a César Award for Best Animated Feature film, and ranked as the most successful French animated film abroad of all time.  The film was scheduled to be released in the US through Paramount Pictures on March 18, 2016 (with both a 2D and 3D release).  You would expect a film like this to be treated very well.  You are wrong.  The film’s release was too close the release dates of films like Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Zootopia, and 10 Cloverfield Lane.  Paramount most likely felt that this would make the film a flop and cancelled the release one week in advance (though it still had a wide theatrical release in Canada).

The last minute pull seems a bit too much, but there’s more options, right?  Instead of cancelling the release date, Paramount could have:

1. Push back the release to a date that is more low-profile.
2. Do what Summit did with La La Land, start with a limited theatrical release and slowly widen it over the next couple of weeks.

Paramount, however, decided that the best option was to not release the film at all.  Fortunately, Netflix (savior of productions like Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt) picked up the distribution rights and began to stream it on August 5, 2016.  I personally feel that when a film finds ends up being released on demand, or on Netflix, even if it gets a simultaneous release in a few theaters, it actually hurts its chances at winning an Oscar.  I could see potential in the film.  However, The Little Prince is something that deserved to be on the big screen and be get that potential.  Because of Paramount’s decision, the potential it had is wasted.

5

STEVE ROGERS IS A HYDRA DOUBLE AGENT?!

Steve Rogers, the original Captain America, a superhero who demonstrates American pride and the belief in people having the right to personal freedoms…IS AN AGENT OF HYDRA?!  THE HYDRA THAT’S LED BY THE RED SKULL, A NAZI?!  SAY IT ISN’T SO, NICK SPENCER!  Actually, it’s not.  When Nick Spencer made Steve Rogers young again in Avengers: Standoff!, there were some consequences that showed up in issue #1 of Captain America: Steve Rogers.  At the end of the issue, it was revealed that Steve Rogers was a Hydra double agent all along.  Fans freaked out over this.  What made it worse was that this was the character’s 75th anniversary and the character was created by two Jewish men when the US was fighting the Nazis during World War II.

I don’t read every single issue of every Marvel comic, but it was mainly the Marvel Cinematic Universe that made me read comics again.  I was shocked hear the news, especially when Stan Lee thought that the idea was clever.  I was wondering how it was possible.  I wondered if it was mind control or if false memories were being placed into Cap’s head.  In issue #2, it was revealed that the Red Skull was using a reality-warping being named Kobik to plant false memories into Steve Rogers.  Fans became a bit calmer after learning about it but are still angry over what happened.

I know that Steve Rogers is currently sharing the Captain America title with Sam Wilson.  However, Captain America fought against bigotry, called out corruption in a story that paralleled the Watergate scandal, and provided hope and warmth after 9/11.  Considering that a lot of Americans will not be happy given what might happen  in the next 4-8 years,  give or take, we do not want Steven Rogers thinking that he is a Hydra double agent.  I do not know if there is a chance that Nick Spencer is reading this, but if he is, I want him to know that fans need Steve Rogers to return to the man he once was.

4

Jared Leto’s Method Acting and His Performance as the Joker in Suicide Squad

Oscar-winning method actor Jared Leto’s role as the Joker in Suicide Squad was hyped up in the press and advertisments in the film.  This new “edgier” Joker was supposed to be a psychopath who dressed up like a pimp and had a grill and multiple tattoos.  In fact, the word “damaged” was subtly tattooed across his forehead.  In order to prepare for the role, Jared Leto did things such as:

• Isolated himself
• Interviewed insane criminals in a psych ward
• Practiced his laugh
• Stayed “in-character” on set until filming wrapped
• Gave gifts to the cast such as bullets, a dead pig, Playboy magazines, and used condoms
• Gave Margot Robbie, the actress who played Harley Quinn, a live rat

Strangely enough, while the Joker is known to be a psychopathic criminal, other portrayals gave him at least some sense of class.  While all versions of the character had a clown motif and varying levels mental illness (Cesar Romero was probably the tamest version I know), the Joker had a couple of memorable traits.  The Joker, hence his name, was cracking jokes.  Even when he did horrible things, at certain times, comic book readers and film/television audiences were laughing with him.  That fit in well with the psychopathic personality because his dark sense of humor appealed to the darkness within ourselves.  The Joker had charisma, which actually helped when he told his jokes.  It made him feel like a showman throughout each portrayal, especially his more mob-oriented take in the 1989 Tim Burton film and the “cheapest clown I could purchase because I blew the budget on my kid’s birthday party” look in The Dark Knight.  Even when the Joker had a more monstrous look in The Batman (2004-2008), he still had some of his charisma.  Along with his charisma and jokes, the Joker also tended to make his crime feel like an art form.  Whether it was tricking all of his henchmen into killing each other off so he would get all of the bank’s money in the opening of The Dark Knight or adding a song-and-dance routine to his attempt to drive Jim Gordon mad in The Killing Joke, the Joker was always the most creative villain in Batman’s rogues gallery.

So, after all the preparation that Jared Leto did for the role, audiences expected to see a great performance…but ended up very disappointed.  The Joker people saw was not as psychotic as the actor’s behind-the-scenes behavior.  The performance came off as underwhelming and pretentious.  What makes the performance even more pretentious was David Ayer’s post-release reveal of the meaning behind the “damaged” tattoo.  It wasn’t because the Joker was insane as people thought.  The reason that the Joker got the tattoo was because Batman punched his teeth out after he killed Robin and the Joker wanted a way to say “I used to look good, but you damaged the way I look.”  Jared Leto’s Joker also barely told any jokes or did anything that was funny.  And that laugh…I’ve heard better.  In fact, when you think about it more, while Jared Leto’s attempts to act as a stereotypical psychopath would have worked for another role, the Joker is not a stereotypical psychopath.  He’s a complex character.  We know how he became who he is but don’t have solid details on who he used to be with the exception of him falling into a vat of chemicals.  His standards vary from portrayal to portrayal.  Even when the film tries to dress the character up in costumes that the character wore in the comics, he still does not feel like the Joker.

Basically, Jared Leto failed to capture any sense of who the Joker was by doing things that sounded like things he thought he would be but sounds completely unrelated in context.  Luckily, the majority of Jared Leto’s scenes were cut and after the negative reception of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Warner Brothers and DC Comics have decided to try to rework the entire DC Extended Universe to try to be lighter and softer, along with trying to fix the worst flaws of the films that were recently released  Hopefully, one of those fixes involves recasting the role with another actor who could give a better performance (along with removing all of those unnecessary tattoos).

3

The Reboot of The Powerpuff Girls

 

Cartoon Network’s reboot of its classic series The Powerpuff Girls has been criticized for many things.  These include:

• Lacking the involvement and/or approval from creator Craig McCracken.
• Deciding not to bring back or ask the original voices of Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup to reprise their roles.
• Making the reboot feel like a girl’s show, something that McCracken tried to avoid.
• Claiming that the series promotes “girl power,” yet turning the Powerpuff Girls into characters that have to be rescued.
• Removing of Ms. Bellum for looking “too risque” even though she was one of the most intelligent characters in the series.

However, those reasons are not why the reboot is #3 on the list.  It is because of one infamous episode.

Horn, Sweet Horn

Horn, Sweet Horn involved Bubbles trying to help a pony named Donny who wants to be a unicorn.  Donny was supposed to act as a parallel to transgender people.  Considering that there have been well-written gay and bisexual characters that popped up in cartoons targeted to kids in the last couple of years (especially in Steven Universe, another Cartoon Network series), you would think that this show would do a great job at a portraying transgender character.  Unfortunately, Donny is a giant negative transgender stereotype.  I do not know enough about transgender people to cover the topic properly and I did not know that the episode existed (since I barely watched the reboot) until I heard about it online.  In fact, there is actually a blog post by a transgender Tumblr user that does a great job of deconstructing why the episode came off as extremely transphobic.  Here is a link to the review: http://jitterbugjive.tumblr.com/post/142485553459/jitterbugjive-jitterbugjive-jitterbugjive

Eventually, Emily Brundige, the writer responsible for the offensive episode, went on Twitter and apologized for it.  She went on to reveal that she did not intend to put the transgender motif into the episode.  Apparently, the higher-ups at the network saw the subtext and pushed it even further.

I understand that more people are coming out as transgender and that the topic is starting to enter mainstream media through people such as Laverne Cox and Caitlyn Jenner.  Plus, as time goes by, we are trying to learn how to portray LGBT characters in a respectable manner.  Even though the media has come a long way since 1953 when an actual trans woman’s life into Ed Wood’s Glen or Glenda there are still going to be bumps along the road.  This episode is unfortunately one of them.

2

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

Everyone was hyped up for the Man of Steel follow-up helped kick off the DC Extended Universe.  Warner Brothers was also trying to make the film come to fruition for years.  When fans finally got to see the crossover on the big screen, they were let down for multiple reasons:

• The plot was too complicated to follow.
• Batman using guns and branding people.
• Batman and Superman’s hypocritical hate towards each other.
• Batman and Superman constantly breaking their “do not kill” rule.
• Jesse Eisenberg being miscast as Lex Luthor…along with the douchey portrayal of the character (plus, some people felt that he was acting more like the Joker than Lex Luthor).  It felt like a Razzie-worthy performance…IN A BAD WAY!
• The film introduced too many characters in its attempt to set up the rest of the DC Extended Universe…especially Justice League.
• The tone was very dark.
• There were a lot of stupid ideas and plot holes.  One of the dumbest was Batman and Superman becoming allies because both of their mothers were named Martha.

There.  I’m done.  I don’t feel like talking about more of how crappy this film was.  Let’s move on to #1.

1

The Results of the NBC Comedy Playground Contest

In 2014, NBC held a contest that involved looking for “cutting-edge” comedies throughout the country.  It was called the NBC Comedy Playground.  It’s mission was to seek new and innovative ideas outside of traditional labs such as film schools and New York and LA comedy clubs.  All anyone had to do was pitch their ideas to the contest’s website.  According to the contest, up to ten finalists would be chosen and would get to see their idea turn into a pilot.  After that, an advisory board would vote for two pilots that would be given a really short series run during the summer of 2015.  In addition, people could vote for the pilots online and turn one of the remaining pilots into a web series.  What made the contest sound even better was that the advisory board consisted of A-list comedic talent such as Aziz Ansari, Jason Bateman, Robert Carlock, Sean Hayes, Mindy Kaling, Jason Katims, Josh Lieb, Eva Longoria, Adam McKay, Seth Meyers, Todd Milliner, Will Packer, Amy Poehler, Craig Robinson, Maya Rudolph, Mike Schur, Adam Scott and Mike Shoemaker.

Think of that: an unknown talented person anywhere in the U.S. with a unique idea could get their foot in the door into the television industry. The unique ideas that win the contest could be a part of television history!  Unfortunately, that did not happen.  The finalists of the contest ended  up being from the areas that the contest claimed that it would avoid (although one finalist was from Chicago).  What made things worse was that the finalists already had their foot in the door because:

• Some contestants were worked in comedy troupes/webseries such as the Upright Citizens Brigade, the Groundlings, iO, Above Average, and CollegeHumor.
• The co-creators of one pilot were members of the Screen Actors Guild.
• One creator was an award-winning filmmaker.
• One creator was a film/television actor who wrote for ABC flop Manhattan Love Story.

In 2015, the winners of the contest were revealed.  While I admit that I forgot who what won the “digital webseries” vote, I remember the winners they were:

• Imaginary Friend by  Kassia Miller, which tells a tale of an unlikable character who creates an imaginary friend who looks like a regular person.  Considering the “imaginary friend” concept, I am surprised about the large amount of creativity it lacks.
• Sunset Ppl by Aaron Colom & Adriano Valentini, which is about millennial friends interact with each other about work and life and all that jazz.  In other words, something that every TV station has aired at least once during its entire existence.

Strangely enough, I thought that out of all the pilots from the contest, the most interesting ones (which I personally believe should have won) were:

• Wolfgirl by Melissa Hunter (a.k.a. the woman who made the Adult Wednesday Addams videos), which starred Hunter as a young woman who was raised by wolves as a child and tries to create a life in Los Angeles.
• Bad Guys by Jaleel Saleem, which is essentially a workplace comedy involving people trying to climb a corporate ladder in an enterprise set on world domination.  I believe that this was not picked up because NBC was trying to work with Warner Brothers and DC Comics on a workplace comedy also set in a world of superheroes and supervillains known as Powerless.  Saleem did get hired by NBC in the writer’s room for an NBC series.  Unfortunately, it was for the short-lived Telenovela.

So, NBC chose a creative idea minus the creativity and a safe mainstream show instead of unqiue “cutting-edge” series for its network.  Well, at least the shows will get a short run of a few episodes over the summer to see if they can gain an audience, right?  WRONG!  Instead, the pilots were held and/or reshot for consideration for the 2016-2017 season.  Well, at lest these shows will get picked up out of obligation.  After all, no matter how much effort was put into either concept, at least the creators will accomplish their dream of getting something they created on one of the Big 5 networks, right?  WRONG AGAIN!  Neither Imaginary Friend nor Sunset Ppl were picked up.  The pilots would eventually air on September 2 and 3 at 1:30am, right in the late night death slot.  NBC’s two-year-long experiment was a failure and it is highly unlikely that any network in the United States will try to rerun it.

This has been my top 10 worst/dumbest ideas in the media.  If only the people who made those decisions thought things through.  I hope that you have had a great year…although a lot of people have not.  Considering current events, next year might suck even more.  Therefore, what we need right now is hope…and a lot of TV series, films, video games, etc. to use as coping mechanisms for things to come.