Cutting the cord

Anyone living without cable/satellite TV?

I’m considering giving up DirecTV and cutting the cord again (I didn’t have cable for 2½ years 2006-2008). Except for ESPN and FSN Rocky Mountain (for Rockies games), I almost never watch regularly scheduled television, instead relying on Netflix and Hulu streaming for movies and TV series.

And I can view my local channels in HD with an antenna to see what’s live, local and stupid.

It would be OK if I could order a TV service and pay for just the channels I want — ESPN, HBO, MLB, NFL, maybe a couple others. But why pay for 200 channels when you only want six? Am I at the tipping point?

Just wondering what others are doing. Is TV via internet there yet for you?

BTW, the Netflix app was updated today. It now works on iPhone and iPod Touch, as well as iPad. I tested it by watching an episode of Have Gun — Will Travel from its first season (1957). Dated in some ways after 53 years, of course, but surprisingly well written. Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek wrote some of the episodes I’ve seen. It’s remarkably non-violent compared to current action series.

Take the ballgame out to me

When my kids were playing sports in California decades ago, a local pizza place would send out a high school kid with a step ladder and video camera. After the game, we’d go get pizza and watch the video of the game. I was surprised when we moved to Virginia (and then I moved on to New Mexico) that I’ve never seen that anywhere else. They sold a lot of pizza that way.

Well now, it appears from this story in the Times that we have the 21st century version. The basics:

But what is most startling about technology is the ways it may soon be changing youth baseball at the recreation field around the corner. The biggest change: if you can’t be in the bleachers for your child’s game, snap open your laptop or reach for your smartphone.

In an ambitious plan, Youth Sports Live is striking deals with local leagues around the country to make that possible by installing and maintaining Webcams at local baseball and softball fields. Games can be replayed on demand. Subscribers to the site are charged $14.95 per month or can buy access for an entire season. They can also purchase games on DVD for $19.95.

Hoppy

Hopalong Cassidy premiered on NBC-TV on this date in 1949. According to John Dunning’s On the Air:

One medium fed on the other, and by 1950 [William] Boyd was at the center of a national phenomenon. For two years he was as big a media hero as the nation had seen. In personal appearances he was mobbed: 85,000 people came through a Brooklyn department store during his appearance there. His endorsement for any product meant instant sales in the millions. It meant overnight shortages, frantic shopping sprees, and millions of dollars for Boyd. There were Hopalong Cassidy bicycles, rollerskates (complete with spurs), Hoppy pajamas, Hopalong beds. The demand for Hoppy shirts and pants was so great that a shortage of black dye resulted. His investment in Hopalong Cassidy paid off to an estimated $70 million.

Why a man of 52 years appealed to so many children remains a mystery. Possibly some of it had to do with the novelty of television: just as Amos ‘n’ Andy had capitalized on the newness of radio a generation earlier, a TV sensation was bound to occur. And the hero had a no-nonsense demeanor: he was steely-eyed and quick on the draw, and he meted out justice without the endless warbling and sugar-coated romance that came with the others. As for Boyd, he became Cassidy in a real sense. His personal habits changed; he gave up drinking and carousing and lived with his fifth wife until his death in 1972.

Hopalong Cassidy was my first hero. None has been as good since.

Why Isotopes?

NewMexiKen first posted this item on the Albquerque Isotopes baseball team after attending a game in August 2003 — and then again six years ago today.

The Isotopes get their name from the Simpsons. According to the Simpsons Episode Guide, in “Hungry, Hungry, Homer”:

Homer becomes a Good Samaritan after seeing the benefit of helping people. When he attempts to get Lenny a refund on his Springfield Isotopes season tickets, Homer discovers that the baseball team’s new owner, Duff Beer, plans to move the team to Albuquerque. Homer tries to rally the town in protest, however, no one believes his allegation. To expose Duff’s plan, he stages a hunger strike by chaining himself to a light pole near the stadium. Days later, the Duff Corporation deems Homer their ballpark attraction. They unchain him and tempt his cravings with an Isotope Dog Supreme. Before eating it, Homer realizes that the Southwestern ingredients on the hot dog prove that the team is moving to Albuquerque.

Actually the Isotopes moved here from Calgary, where they were the Cannons.

Truest line of the day

“The most welcome surprise is the performance of ESPN/ABC, which is putting on an excellent show. The camera angles and replays are first-rate, the commentary is crisp and professional, and there are none of the tape-delays and puke-inducing soap-opera dramatizations with which NBC besmirches the Olympics.”

The Sporting Scene : The New Yorker

Irony

The defintion of irony: Bob Costas doing the play-by-play of Stephen Strasburg’s major league debut last evening and talking about the kid exceeding the hype.

The Wire

Amazon has The Wire: The Complete Series for $89.99. That’s all 60 episodes of the best TV series ever.

Treme’s violinist

If you’re watching David Simon’s Treme on HBO you may be taken as I am with the violin playing of the street musician Annie. You may not know, as I did not know, that the part is played by Lucia Micarelli, a rock-star among actual concert violinists. This is her first acting job; fortuitous it seems because she cut her left hand on a wine glass last Independence Day and severed nerves, damage from which she hasn’t fully recovered. Ms. Micarelli is 26.

Playing “Emmanuel” with Chris Botti.

Performing Led Zeppelin’s “Kasmir” with Jethro Tull.

I’d be happy with a recording of her Treme street violinist’s “Careless Love.”

Treme

Is it real or is it drama? David Simon explains it all for you.

Best line of the day, so far

“If you need an introduction to David Simon, then this article will be useless to you, and you need to address your cultural illiteracy by arranging an enviable first screening of The Wire, his Baltimore epic.”

Troy Patterson – Slate Magazine

Simon’s new series, Treme, premieres Sunday night on HBO.

[Based on the reviews I've seen, and The Wire, I've added HBO ($15/month) simply to be able to watch Treme.]

Most fascinating line of the day

“The most watched minute of video made in the last five years shows baby Charlie biting his brother’s finger. (Twice!) That minute has been watched by more people than the viewership of American Idol, Dancing With The Stars, and the Superbowl combined. (174 million views and counting.)”

Clay Shirky

‘Treme’

A rave review for David Simon’s new series “Treme,” which begins next Sunday on HBO. Ten episodes are scheduled for the first season.

David Simon was the writer/producer of “The Wire,” the best thing ever on TV.

Why are professors teaching courses on The Wire?

From Drake Bennett at Slate Magazine, Why so many colleges are teaching The Wire. An excerpt:

Academics, on the other hand, can’t seem to get enough of The Wire. Barely two years after the show’s final episode aired—and with Simon’s new show, Treme, premiering next month on HBO—there have already been academic conferences, essay anthologies, and special issues of journals dedicated to the series. Not content to write about it and discuss it among themselves, academics are starting to teach it, as well. Professors at Harvard, U.C.—Berkeley, Duke, and Middlebury are now offering courses on the show.

Interestingly, the classes aren’t just in film studies or media studies departments; they’re turning up in social science disciplines as well, places where the preferred method of inquiry is the field study or the survey, not the HBO series, even one that is routinely called the best television show ever. Some sociologists and social anthropologists, it turns out, believe The Wire has something to teach their students about poverty, class, bureaucracy, and the social ramifications of economic change.

Afghan Star

At The New Yorker, Steve Coll recommends we see the documentary on HBO “Afghan Star.”

It follows contestants in the runaway-hit Afghan version of an American Idol-inspired televised talent contest. Two female finalists are shadowed by Taliban threats, although one of the pair, a Pashtun from Kandahar, claims on film at one point that ethnic loyalty has trumped ideology and that many Taliban are texting votes to support her, an entirely plausible boast.

Oh, it’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood

Fred McFeely Rogers was born 82 years ago today.

Fred had many opportunities to cash in on his fame and success. He never took them; he never allowed his work to be exploited commercially in ways that might be hurtful to the children.

This bedrock honesty ran throughout the man’s life. He treated everyone with the same respect and sensitivity that he knew had helped him as a child. And his strong moral code informed every aspect of his life, from how he lived to the community he chose for his family and work, even to what he ate. Fred was a vegetarian who told people, “I don’t want to eat anything that has a mother.” He was able to integrate all his interests and aptitudes – his music, his writing, his creativity, his faith, his sense of family and community, and his sense of service – all into a coherent whole that gave a special power to his life and his influence. Fred was careful not to use that influence carelessly or too often. He did not often endorse viewpoints or tell others how to live. Instead he led – as the best leaders do – through example.

Fred Rogers Center

Almost 40 years ago NewMexiKen (I was just Ken then) wrote Mr. Rogers a letter. I thought the way two elderly characters were portrayed on the show was silly, especially the old messenger Mr. McFeely (McFeely you will note was Rogers’s middle name).

I received back this five paragraph letter, apparently from Fred Rogers himself (and oddly not dated). The man took the time to respond to my criticism in a thoughtful way that — at least it seems to me — showed the type of class he evidenced in everything he ever did. Read for yourself his reply. Click each image for larger version.

Mr. Rogers died in 2003.

[I've grown less protective of my name since I scanned the above, but I'm not going to bother rescanning the letter. I've mostly kept my surname private to protect certain Sweeties.]

Ads

I watched NCAA men’s tournament games last night and have them on in the background as I write. Not long ago I reported here on the amount of actual action in NFL broadcasts (11 minutes of action, but 17 minutes of replays and 75 minutes of commercials). I’d hate to see the same numbers for NCAA tournament games. The clock is clearly off more that it’s on during the broadcast, even excluding half time.

So it comes down to whether one can deal with all the ads, or in one word, ARGHHH!

First, all cell phone companies. I would do without cell service just out of spite over their ads if it were possible in today’s world. Can these commercials possibly have any impact on what cell service people choose?

Then there’s Buffalo Wild Wings. They’re the ones extending the TV game into overtime because the crowd at the restaurant is having such a great time. The ad currently in rotation has a camerman shooting off an immense photo-flash to blind a player so that he misses the game-winning shot. Hence, overtime. Waitress, over here, another round please.

If you’ve never been you could undoubtedly guess, but otherwise do you have any idea what kind of food they have at Buffalo Wild Wings? Is it tasty? Is it different than any other chain sports restaurant? (No.) Is it, god forbid, healthy?

No, the ad is strictly a fantasy that has nothing to do with the actual restaurant. Oh, it’s a cute ad the first few times. But not the 30th and 31st times.

And there’s the Enterprise car rental ad. You know the one, where the couple is off for their romantic getaway. Why exactly they need a rental car for this is beyond me, but what is really annoying is when she asks him does he want her to take the red negligee or the black negligee. He gives a goofy, shit-eating grin that should get her to reconsider her weekend plans (if not her life), and says, “Both.”

Moron.

The correct answer is, “Neither.”

Faces of America

I watched the first two programs (55 minutes each) of the PBS series Faces of America this evening. I found the shows to be interesting, informative, moving and enjoyable. I encourage you to find time to view the series; all four episodes are currently online.

What made America? What makes us? These two questions are at the heart of the new PBS series Faces of America with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. The Harvard scholar turns to the latest tools of genealogy and genetics to explore the family histories of 12 renowned Americans — professor and poet Elizabeth Alexander, chef Mario Batali, comedian Stephen Colbert, novelist Louise Erdrich, journalist Malcolm Gladwell, actress Eva Longoria, musician Yo-Yo Ma, director Mike Nichols, Her Majesty Queen Noor, television host/heart surgeon Dr. Mehmet Oz, actress Meryl Streep, and figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi.

Here’s a spoiler for you — Eva Longoria and Yo-Yo Ma have a common ancestor.

Thanks to my cousin Christina for the reminder. Christina wants us to have our DNA tested to confirm that our mothers’ father is the same man. What makes it interesting is that our mothers were born just 10 weeks apart.

And, yes it’s a documentary, but it really is worth watching.

What You Pay

Via AllThingsD, what cable subscribers pay for channels.

Click to enlarge.

Best line about the Oscars show, so far

“Even Oprah had to do it; needless to say, she did it with bullet-point briskness and efficacy, but still, it must the first time she has found herself in a lineup.”

Anthony Lane of The New Yorker in a critique of the Oscar show.

We like us some hockey

More Americans watched yesterday’s Olympic hockey game LIVE than watched all but two nights of NBC’s Olympic primetime shows (one night of which was the opening ceremony).

Half the population of Canada watched the game, the most viewed program in Canadian TV history.

All my gripes about Olympic TV coverage

… were proven correct on the last day. Phil Mushnick puts it best at NYPOST.com. An excerpt:

Many of us sat down for Sunday dinner after that fabulous game, almost like the Nelsons, the Cleavers, the Waltons, the Huxtables, the Munsters.

When’s the last time you could say that about a World Series game or an NBA final? The CBS-leased NCAA basketball championship now tips at 9:22 on a Monday night. Baseball’s Opening Day, sold at auction to ESPN, is now at night, this year’s first pitch after 8 p.m. in Boston — on April 4.

If NBC, or any commercial network, yesterday had been able to shuffle and deal, Canada-USA would have begun at about 9 p.m. ET to maximize coast-to-coast primetime ad revenues.

And NBC would have much preferred that we watched the game alone — more TV sets tuned in, that way — certainly not in groups.

In other words, NBC (and CBS, ESPN/ABC, Fox) would have preferred that we watched from the same place we now watch most games of national interest: that same chair or from bed, lights out, pillows up.

I watched with friends in a crowded bar where people cheered (for Canada, too). It’s a whole different and vastly better experience to share moments like these. (Ten of us watched the Super Bowl together at Jill’s. Same phenomenon — a wonderful shared experience.)

Best line of the day

“… I realized I’ve been getting cranky in the evenings, just from being blathered to death watching the Olympics. Last night, I started muting the sound, and had a much more pleasant time.”

Garret

Why Won’t NBC Follow Its Own Advice On Live Broadcasts?

This one is for a particular reader. He/she knows whom I mean.

Oddly enough, going online during big TV events has the bizarre effect of boosting the ratings of whatever everyone is watching. Like the Super Bowl or Grammys or the MTV Video Music Awards, all of which saw big boosts in popularity in the last year. You don’t care about the show, you care about being able to talk about the show. This is called “community,” which is also the name of a terrible show on a terribly out-of-touch network called NBC.

Seeking to capitalize on the online water-cooler effect, NBC showed the Golden Globes live on both coasts for the first time this year, and the network reportedly wants to do the same for the Emmy Awards this fall, so the entire country can watch (and chat online) simultaneously.

Super-smart NBC has figured out that what all these big blockbuster Twitter-TV combo events have in common is that they are happening live. Shows that are broadcast at different times in different zones (and probably DVR’d anyway) don’t have the same effect. Yet, they have not applied this simple common sense approach to the Olympics.

Frustratingly, Olympic primetime ratings are also up this year and people are marveling about how sports fans will stay up long past their bedtime to watch events that they already know the outcome to, just so they can be a part of the phenomenon. It’s not because they prefer it that way. It’s because they have no other choice.

Deadspin

Best Olympics-TV-sucks line of the day

“Most emotional of all were probably the television executives who prefer to think of the Olympics as a two-week long soap opera filled with emotional turmoil, heartbreak, and redemption. It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s whether you overcame enough adversity to make your life story worth a three-minute interstitial package.”

Deadspin

Hey, Mom

Speaking of moms, can we talk about how offensive that Proctor and Gamble Olympic campaign is? Not because it completely ignores the contributions of abusive, overbearing fathers in the creation of great athletes or glamorizes the most annoying tendencies of stage/soccer parents, but because the underlying message of every single ad is, “Thanks for supporting me, Mom. Now go clean my socks.”

Laundry detergent is for ladies. Don’t ever forget that.

Deadspin