So we’ve been doing these ‘Tonight on the Tube’ articles for awhile. Occasionally we even get a comment from you guys about a particular show you watch or are excited about. But all in all these go down pretty quietly. Are you liking them? Do you find them helpful? Too wordy? Not informative enough? This is your blog and we want this particular feature to benefit you as much as possible.
As such, we’re going to start experimenting with how we present this information to you. Do you want to see a full listing of what’s new on television tonight, or would you rather we use this space to spotlight a few key episodes or specials? Maybe you don’t want any of that and would prefer a basic list. Or maybe you just want me to ramble on about my belly button lint for five or six hundred words. And I can totally do that. Today it was the brightest blue you ever saw. Really, I should knit a sweater with it.
Spotlight Show of the Night
Boston Legal – (ABC, 9:00 p.m./8:00 p.m. Central) – This is it folks. After five seasons, two of which were shorter than I would have liked, it’s time to book our last case with the attorneys of Crane, Poole & Schmidt. Tonight’s finale runs two hours and and features the return of Rene Auberjonois as Paul Lewiston. Alan and Denny get to head back to the Supreme Court one last time, and we get to see at least one more balcony scene. It’s all come down to this, and while it’s sad to see the show go, at least they’re going out on their own terms and, hopefully, with no cliffhangers to speak of.
Beginnings, Endings & Specials
A Charlie Brown Christmas – (ABC, 8:00 p.m., 7:00 p.m. Central) – It’s a classic. What more do I need to say.
First Class All the Way – (Bravo, 7:00p.m./6:00 p.m. Central) – This sixth episode wraps the first season of the docu-drama following Sara Duffy and her travel concierge business, handling the upper in upper-scale clientele. Tonight wraps the two-part trip to Italy.
Hot Planet – (9:00 p.m./8:00 p.m. Central) – A two-hour special examining global warming and how it effects storms, sea levels and wildfires. The climes they are a-changin’. Al Gore would be so proud.
Scream Queens – (VH1, 10:00 p.m./9:00 p.m. Central) – It’s down to the final three and with two challenges left before the winner is crowned and gets the coveted “screaming girl” part in Saw IV. So was this guilty pleasure television or just more schlock at VH1? I caught part of one episode and it was too much even for me, and I watch a lot of bad TV.
Top Gear – (BBC America, 8:00p.m./7:00 p.m. Central) – Kicking off the eleventh season of this hit UK series, tonight they put five supercars to the test to see how far they can go on one tank of gas. Then, the challengers have to put together their own police cars and and put them in a chase situation.
Other Episodes
8:00 p.m./7:00 p.m. Central
9:00 p.m./8:00 p.m. Central
10:00 p.m./9:00 p.m. Central
Fill up the comments with your thoughts on this feature. I really would like it to be as useful and enjoyable for as many of you as we can possibly accomplish. I know you’re an opinionated bunch, so chime in. And while you’re at it, tell us what you watch. What shows are you watching on this list that we’re just not talking about enough. And if you want to you can even send me money. It might just make you feel better about everything. I know it will make me feel better.
Clacked by Jason Hughes 
on Dec 08, 2008 @ 19:30 EST5EDT
I like the way Jason has been doing it before this post. My problem with them (and the reason I would rarely comment) is they were posted pretty late on the east coast (just like this one). These would be more effective, I think, if posted at 8 or 9am or at least by noon (eastern).
But again, I really liked the format a lot.
*POST AUTHOR*
As part of the retooling of this post, in whatever format we we settle on, I’m going to shoot for a noon-time posting. Sorry for the late posts on some of these. I know it’s a pain.
I kind of like what was just posted. If an episode of something might be better more anticipated than usual, or a good point for a new viewer to tune in, I’d like to know it. It’s blog, after all. If I wanted to read the listings only, I could go to TVGuide or my DVR lineup. Just my opinion, of course! :-)
I like this format too, Jason. I loved the way you used to do it because I really enjoy your sense of humor and the commentaries you put on the listings. This, though, I think is actually a more useful format. The stand-out stuff at the top, but still the other shows listed for reference.
Maybe I’m about to over-analyze this, but hey – that’s what I do. I’m going to assume that only fairly serious TV watchers frequent this site. For us, our other web surfing already exposes us to multiple synopses of the evening’s network programs, plus they aren’t that relevant for us anyway. It’s not like we are going to watch one episode of Law and Order and skip another based on how interesting the evening’s murder sounds. It’s either all or nothing. Sure, some people might sample an episode of something they don’t normally watch because of the guest star, for instance, but if they have special interests like that they may well already have a Tivo wish list entry handling it. (Remember, I’m assuming serious TV watchers here. I wouldn’t make this argument at some other TV web sites.) Similarly, our Tivos adequately handle rerun/new episode identification. If we have a cable company DVR these issues may not be adequately handled, but we are already in the habit of correcting the DVR with checks of the Futon Critic.
So what’s left as a niche to fill? I would argue that the main thing would be premier, event, and limited run series information on shows on the minor networks like TLC that many other sources skip. I don’t think that merely reminding us that Scream Queens is on VH1 tonight accomplishes much. If we care, we already have a season pass. (Although alerting people to it for the first week or two would have been in order.) It is worthwhile, though, to alert us to an awards show or other one time event that might be on. I’ve only seen one blog that makes a serious effort to fill this niche, and it is a bit undependable due to the author’s personal problems.
I liked it better the other way mainly because of the program descriptions so I could tell if they were new eps or not. 3 months ago I wouldn’t have cared but I just switched from DirecTv/Tivo to Comcast/piece-o-shit dvr and it takes so much longer to program it daily. I miss my damn Tivo. Also wished the post was up earlier. And I liked your writing style the other way too. Forget the sweater, you should make a ball out of your belly-button lint.
I am liking this new format more than the other one. You’ll note if they’re repeats, right? I do like the commentary you had in the other format but sometimes when you’re looking for a particular show it was hard to sift through to find the name. Maybe if you did it in more of a list format, with the name of the show and then the commentary after, it would be easier.
Seems like there are votes for both ways, Jason. I think you should use both formats and just do 2 posts per day. ;-)
*POST AUTHOR*
Hey Bob what a great idea… that’s exactly what I should do! [mustn’t kill bob]. I love that you chimed right in there with not only your opinion [would anyone miss him] but offered up a brilliant solution, too [ah who cares take the bitch down]. Thanks a lot, buddy!