June Friday Questions are busting out all over.Tobi Gordon is up first. Will you please explain the fascination of programming everything worth watching on Sunday nights between 9-11:30 pm?Of course, we can TIVO, tape, OnDemand like crazy, but wouldn't it be better to spread the wealth across the week? They're deliberately abandoning the audience for quality TV 6 days a week. Sunday is the night that has the largest viewership. It’s the end of the weekend and most people are home gearing up for the week ahead. During the week folks work at night, take classes, hook up with Tinder dates, are in bowling leagues, or drink heavily. Pretty much anything other than go to Tampa Bay Rays home games. So more eyeballs.
And now with DVR’s networks are less inclined to move a powerhouse show out of Sunday because two hits can co-exist nicely.
Networks that have NFL football on Sunday also have the advantage of having a big audience to start with once their primetime lineup begins.
I also think that when HBO scheduled THE SOPRANOS for Sunday night that sort of set the template for quality TV on that night.
blinky asks: This season on Orphan Black they are doing behind the scenes vignettes DURING the show. The actors break character and they show the sets with green screen backdrops, even playing with the pet scorpion. Imagine Alan Alda and Larry Linville walking around the set on M*A*S*H joking about how the camp is inside a big studio in Century City. Maybe showing how the operating room and shower are right next to each other. Doesn't this just ruin the illusion of the show?I think it does, but it depends on the genre and the target viewer. I suspect ORPHAN BLACK’S audience is very media savvy and enjoys a brief lift of the curtain.
Commentary tracks on DVD’s have taken us behind-the-scenes on most of our favorite movies and TV series. So we’re now used to seeing how the magicians do the tricks.
And ORPHAN BLACK is kind of a unique case because you’re always watching on two levels – following the story and marveling at how Tatiana Maslany can play these multiple characters.
cd1515 has a question everyone over 34 asks:Why are young people "all the nets care about" when most of them have no money?Because they are still open to choices. At some point people decide on their brand of toothpaste, laundry detergent, gun, etc. But younger people are more open to try new things.
Plus, since movies are geared to them exclusively, the only money studios spend for advertising is to attract those moviegoers who text, talk, and bring babies to the theater.
michael wraps it up.Question for your baseball and director side. Would you direct a TV telecast of a baseball game different? I feel one of the reasons games seem slow is due to the amount of long static shots and the repetition of shots - pitcher, batter, from behind the pitcher, batter reacts, repeat. I would like to see the entire game - show me the defense, show me less of the players in the dugout and more players on the field communicating, how about showing the third base coach give signs, etc. I could direct AVATAR 2 before I could direct a live baseball game. Talk about confusing. I’ve been in the truck and watched guys direct baseball games. It’s insane. He has all these camera choices – there’s seven to twenty monitors.
A batter hits the ball. And now all hell breaks lose. Because cameras are following the ball from different angles you look up and on four monitors the ball is going right and on five others it’s going left. Other cameras have runners racing around. You don’t know which runner is which or what base he’s going to. And the director has to call off “Camera four, camera six, camera two” instantly as the action unfolds.
And then there’s instant replays. I shudder just to think about it.
What I want to leave you with now is an amazing video. Harry Coyle was maybe the greatest baseball director ever. Watch and listen to him direct an NBC Game of the Week. This was on national TV live. After a couple of minutes there’s a power failure and he must then direct the game with only one camera. Even if you’re not a baseball fan you will be enthralled by this.