By Nishant Boorla
In the world of T.V Shows, all roads lead
to Charlie Sheen’s crack-pipe! The man is a pop-culture icon for all the wrong
reasons and makes seasons party-ho veterans like Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton
look like school girl amateurs. The best part is – he’s honest about it. For
instance, when Jay Leno as him about his dating life on the Tonight Show,
Charlie swiftly replied – “I don’t think what I do can be called dating Jay!”
Just like that. No sugar coated clichés, no euphemisms, as brutal as Indian
News Channels. There’s not a single talk show host whose day goes by without
taking several shots at Sheen. The man is a blessing. Just when all seemed
lost, with Michael Jackson gone, and George W. Bush out of office every talk
show host was just about to throw in the proverbial towel, when out of nowhere
Sheen came flying in to the rescue. To them, Sheen is a super-hero, nay, a God.
Cape, Car, Coke, the whole package.
Charlie Sheen is at the centre of all
things T.V this week. To begin with, he stopped all that “Tiger Blood”,
“Vatican Assassin”, “Winning” non-sense. Then he made an appearance on Leno’s
Tonight Show and surprised everyone with his composure and in the process won a
few hearts with his disarming honesty. He followed that up by appearing on
Comedy Central’s Roast where he took every joke like a man and even hit back
with a few of his own.
But why is all this important? Because just
like at the recently concluded Emmy’s, we kick things off with Comedy. And as
far a comedy goes, CBS has a pretty strong line-up. Two and a Half Men, How I
Met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory. Two and a Half Men (THM) is the
longest running of the three and is the reason why I opened with Charlie Sheen.
This was his show for 8 years before he finally lost it completely and verbally
abused the show creator. He was fired for self-destructive behaviour among
other things. With Sheen the show averaged 13-14 million viewers per episode,
with an incredible 10 million viewership for repeat telecasts. The premiere of
the new season is sure to give Two and a Half Men record viewership numbers
owing to the curiosity surrounding the new guy. Ashton Kutcher replaces Charlie
Sheen. Kutcher has made a habit of filling every slot (pun intended) previously
occupied by actors who were big in the 80’s! It remains to be seen whether the
show can sustain the numbers and continue to be CBS’ most profitable venture.
Now this brings me to The Big Bang Theory.
They started off with relatively modest numbers in their first season when they
averaged 6-8 million viewers an episode. Even these numbers were largely due to
the fact that Big Bang followed How I Met Your Mother on Mondays, at a time
when HIMYM was at the height of its popularity. But BBT picked up steam in
their second season when the most nerds finally realized the show wasn’t making
fun of them, but was instead celebrating their nerdy awesomeness. They moved up a notch to 10-11 million viewers
and were rewarded with a 2 season contract extension. Cut to the premiere of BBT season 5 and
they’ve proven they can kick it with the best of them. 14.5 Million viewers on
average and #1 in the coveted 18-49 demographic. They’ve got Emmy’s and Golden
Globes in Jim Parson’s name to show for their efforts and their own A-List slot
on Thursdays. The tables have been turned and How I Met Your Mother now needs
BBT’s help. The show seems to have lost its way a bit mostly because all the
characters are now in the mood to stop partying and “settle down.” That might
work in real life but not on screen where HIMYM made a name for itself because
of Barney Stinson’s outrageous character. The show’s still worth watching but
isn’t as hilarious as it once was.
BBT on the other hand is as funny as ever
and Jim Parson’s Sheldon Cooper shows no signs of losing his comedic talents.
The show creators have done a great job of keeping things fresh by introducing
a few new characters. When the going gets tough, they to what anyone would do.
Bring in the mother. Anyone’s mother would do. Sheldon’s, Leonard’s – they’re all
just as hilarious.
Finally – Entourage. There’s not a guy I
know who hates this show. Girls for some reason seem to think they’re supposed
to hate this show but it deserves a shot. The guys behind Entourage lost their
way in Season 6, but pulled themselves together in Season 7. A strong, at times
gritty season 7 laid the foundation for a phenomenal Season 8. Word is that
Mark Wahlberg and company are in talks to make an Entourage movie. They
couldn’t have ended season 8 any better, leaving enough suspense for people to
look forward to the movie, or perhaps another season.
T.V Quote of the Month:
It’s Charlie Sheen again!
“Tell me Charlie – How did you go from
being T.V’s highest paid actor ever, to being the highest actor to ever be on
T.V. Seriously, if you’re ‘winning’ then there’s something wrong with the
F***ing scoreboard!” – Jeff Ross, on Comedy Central’s Roast of Charlie Sheen.
P.S: To those of you who are annoyed I
didn’t cover shows like House M.D, Modern Family, etc, I’m only getting
started. Watch this space.
To those who share my opinion that Mad Men
is the greatest show on T.V right now, a little patience wouldn’t hurt, I’m
still waiting on the official word.
Nishant Boorla
Sarcasm means the world to me. Yeah that's always a good place to start. I watch movies...a lot of movies! Sports nut and a die hard Manchester United fan. Highly opinionated and that shows in my articles.
Sarcasm means the world to me. Yeah that's always a good place to start. I watch movies...a lot of movies! Sports nut and a die hard Manchester United fan. Highly opinionated and that shows in my articles.
