Wednesday, October 14, 2009

WTF NBC!!!

Sometimes, I think I should start a new blog, Taffy’s Stuff I Hate, since it seems that there’s a lot out there these days that is pissing me off like:
  1. Gourmet magazine folding
  2. Southland gets cancelled right before the second season premiere
  3. X-Men Origins-Wolverine (Oh my lord! Don’t get me started, will blog later…) So, back to the Southland cancellation. I have a university degree in which I majored in television production and I worked at a television station for 6 years, so I’m not completely ignorant as to what’s involved in getting a television show on the air and if I know anything at all, that is you don’t waste good money on shooting half a season of episodes of a really good show and then pull the plug on it to promote what you think is a cheaper programming option that is not even performing to expectations. This means you Jay Leno:

"Who, Me?" If NBC executives knew how hard it is to get someone like me, who really mostly watches genre shows (Supernatural, Buffy, Angel, True Blood…) and the ones that are straight drama that I do like (Mad Men, Breaking Bad) should tell you that my standards for that kind of programming is extraordinarily high. Southland getting cancelled pisses me off for so many reasons, including: 1) The Loss Of A Great Black, Female Character

Regina King as Detective Lydia Adams was what drew me to the show in the first place. black women are the most underused of all actresses and that is especially true of genre shows and films (plenty of white girls, asian girls, green girls, girls with lumpy foreheads and so on. And don’t even say “Uhura is black” and “What about Storm?” Name another black woman, come on I dare you!)

Lydia was kick-ass! When a pack of uzi-welding gang-bangers busted into her house where she was guarding a teenage murder witness, she blew almost all of them away just with her shotgun.

Now get off my lawn, Bitches! Compare that with what her partner does during his time on the show, which was pretty much summed up as “he flirted with some chick and then got shot by his neighbour” and that makes it more than a crying shame that I won’t be seeing more of Lydia. 2) This Character Is Gay

What a great change it is that he doesn’t have one iota of fey and doesn’t qualify as a bear.

3) This Guy, In a Police Uniform

I will do anything not to get a ticket officer...

The cancellation also shows how little confidence NBC has in foreign distribution profits. Southland often made Canada’s listing of top 20 shows when the first season aired. This is remarkable when you consider that it was shown on A Channel, CTV’s poorly performing regional stations. Yes that’s right, regional. The show wasn’t even broadcast nationally and it still made Top 20.

There is some talk that the show maybe be picked up by another broadcaster but I’m not holding my breath.

Monday, October 5, 2009

Things Taffy Hates...Gourmet Magazine To Fold!!!

Son of a bitch!!! I don't usually take these kind of things very seriously but I am bummed out that one of my favourite magazines, Gourmet, will soon no longer be published! I love this magazine! Even though their heavy emphasis on travel was not really my thing (because only people who have millions of dollars can stand on top of a mountain) I loved the recipes. I also read Food & Wine because the articles are great but I've never actually tried any of their recipes. Some how F&W recipes don't connect with me.
It was with Gourmet however, that I learned how to cook the baked eggs that I always make for my friends and family when they come to stay with me during the holidays, that I found out that the micro-brewery near to my apartment was defiantly worth checking out and helped me to find that one of the best restaurants in Canada was back in my home town of Montreal. Even one of their editorials featured pictures of my glamorous model cousin (who by the way, cannot cook). Gourmet helped to shape my views, my appreciation and my love of food and cooking in such a way that I'm not really sure I would have had if I didn't have the magazine to guide me on my culinary journey. I will raise a glass to their staff, who are most certainly taking this news a lot harder than I am.