SueTube – Let’s talk TV with critic Susan Young

Erwin and Godwin Cho of “The Amazing Race” just proved tonight that nice guys don’t always finish last.

The Bay Area racers made sure that Kentucky couple Dave and Mary didn’t get eliminated by helping them get the fast-forward. The couple came in last the week before and had a severe penalty if they did not finish first.

In order to let Dave and Mary get the fast-forward, Erwin had to conquer his severe fear of heights. And you never saw any human scamper up a ladder as quickly as he did.

This latest sacrifice should prove that the Cho Brothers are No. 1 – even if they don’t win the race.

Too many TV choices?

NBC may have found a way for you to cut back on your must-see TV. On Thursday, the once-mighty peacock network announced it would be backing off of scripted series programming in the 8 p.m. hour time slot next fall.

And who can blame them given the fact that Americans flock to such cheaply made shows as “American Idol,” “Survivor,” “Dancing with the Stars” and “Wife Swap”

These days, an hour-long drama costs between $2.5 and $3.5 million per episode to make. A reality show goes for about a million bucks an episode, and has the same or better chance of grabbing viewers than NBC’s fall ratings flops “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip,” “Kidnapped” and “Friday Night Lights.”

Every one of those series earned lavish reviews from critics, but viewers were less enthralled. And NBC fared even less well with its comedies, “30 Rock” and “Twenty Good Years.”

The problem may be an isolated one, however. There’s plenty of thriving scripted shows in that 8 p.m. slot, including Fox’s “House,” CBS’ “NCIS” and even the new fall hits, ABC’s “Ugly Betty” and CBS’ “Jericho.”

The fault of the 8 p.m failure may fall more on the fact that NBC hasn’t been able to generate much in that slot except for “My Name is Earl” and “The Office” for several years.

The peacock fell off its No. 1 perch to become a fourth-place runner. In NBC’s powerhouse years, they had such hits as “Friends,” “Frasier” and “Seinfeld.” During those lucrative years, insiders referred to the network as Never Been Cockier, and executives began making some programming mistakes.

Jeff Zucker, former entertainment president and now the chief executive of the NBC Universal television Group, could never get a break-out hit from the cozy slots between shows like “Friends” and “Seinfeld.”

And during that time, NBC didn’t even seem to be trying, instead letting such place-holder shows as “Veronica’s Closet” and “Caroline in the City” ride the lucrative coattails of what was known as the NBC Thursday night stronghold.

It’s interesting that the man behind those decisions – Zucker – is now at the helm of this new plan to save the company.

The 8 p.m. programming decision is the one spot viewers will immediately notice in the wake of NBC Universal’s restructuring plan announced on Thursday. Company spokespeople say the overhaul will save $750 million in the next two years.

The impact on viewers reaches even further, however, as NBC’s surrender of the 8 p.m. timeslot means fewer shows ordered for next season. NBC could probably keep proven shows in the 9 and 10 p.m. hours, therefore buying fewer series and saving more money.

In the past few years, all of the networks have waved the white flag when it comes to Saturday night programming and have filled the time either with unscripted programming or reruns.

It wasn’t that long ago that Saturday night was a time viewers sat with their families to watch such shows as “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman,” “JAG,” “Sisters,” “Touched by an Angel” and even “The Love Boat.”

But as viewing habits changed, the networks discovered they could not lure viewers to that night, which has the fewest number of viewers of any day of the week.

Of course, it could be argued that as quality slipped on Saturday night, so too did viewer levels.

Not one to let a good line go to waste on just a room full of TV critics, Aaron Sorkin decided to use a comment he made at the Television Critics Association press tour last July in tonight’s episode.

When presenting “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip” to critics, you know what Sorkin was told: Do not talk about drugs. Do not talk about drugs. And finally, do not talk about drugs.

Because, as anyone who cares to know already knows, Sorkin got in a bit of a mess a couple of years ago when he was caught with drugs at the Burbank airport.

When asked last July how he felt about reality programming, Sorkin said “I do think that television is a terribly influential part of this country and that when things that are very mean-spirited and voyeuristic go on TV, I think it’s bad crack in the school yard.”

The bad crack line was used word-for-word by Jordan McDeer tonight when describing why the network executive refused to buy a reality program that tries to break up a happy couple.

Of course, last summer Sorkin would have done anything to take that line back.

Including bribing critics.

“Seriously, I will go person to person, giving each $100 if we can just get the crack quote out of the papers tomorrow,” he sort of pleaded.

Apparently after thinking it over, Sorkin decided it wasn’t such a bad line after all.

OK, so this may sound way too geeky for you, but I couldn’t believe it when I read that tonight’s tight episode was written by Bryan Fuller.

You know Bryan, right?

Besides being a fantastic person, he also is the creative genius behind Showtime’s “Dead Like Me” and the too-good-for-Fox series “Wonderfalls.”

Oh, “Wonderfalls,” we hardly got to know you before Fox ripped you from the air. Thank god for DVDs. The truly nerdy will remember Bryan from his time on “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” and “Star Trek: Voyager.”

Anyway, Bryan’s episode tonight was one of the best yet, filled with ominious overtones and some cool revenge.

And how much did we love Hiro (Masi Oka) popping on board the subway with Peter (Milo Ventimiglia), speaking perfect English and saying that he was from the future?

Did you hear Peter when he finally realized what his power was?

Love it.

“Heroes” just keeps getting better and better.

And we look forward to even more Bryan episodes.

“Project Runway” ends for the season, but “Top Chef” is ready to heat things up.

But first, a little “Runway” chatter.

Last night, Laura tattled on Jeffery for using people to do his sewing for him. Jeffery said only that he had some people do some pleating for him. Which, is legal, as long as he has the receipts for it. (The were given $8,000 to do their collections and have to provide receipts for every penny paid out.)

We think everything will turn out for Jeffery, but who knows? Did he collapse into Uli’s arms (as seen in the previews for Wednesday’s finale) because he was relieved or grief-stricken?

And just how grossed out were we all when Laura’s son offered our dear Tim turtle poop? We were not amused.

Anyway, Nick Verreos, of ‘Project Runway’s‘ second season, designed a limited edition apron to celebrate the third season finale of Bravo’s ‘Project Runway’ (10 p.m.) and the second season premiere of ‘Top Chef’ (11 p.m.), both airing back-to-back on Bravo Wednesday, October 18.

‘Top Chef’ moves to its regular 10:00 p.m. timeslot on Wednesday, October 25.

“I love the show and thought this would be a fun ‘challenge,’ even though I don’t even cook–I order out! I could just see my friends saying, ‘When are YOU going to ever use this apron?’ Well, whenever I get on the phone to order out,” Nick says. “I wanted to design a unique apron that wasn’t your mother’s old apron, so no silly sayings like ‘Blame the Cook,’ or cheesy food graphics like a turkey or fruit. I wanted it to be the hip apron. The end result was this white apron with colorful graphic suspended knives and the word ‘Chop!’

The limited edition Apron will be available on BravoTV.com for $40.00 starting October 18.

Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith have a pilot deal with CBS for a project the Hollywood Reporter describes as “the medical adventures of the CDC doctors who fight the diseases and viruses that threaten people worldwide.”

We describe it as a failed 2004-2005 NBC series, “Medical Investigation.”

That series, starring Neal McDonough, Kelli Williams and Christopher Gorham, centered on the cases of an elite government investigation unit specializing in sudden, mysterious and dangerous medical outbreaks.

Now, we understand that there’s plenty of doctor, lawyer and police-centered dramas on the air that could sound similar on paper. But this one seems just a tad too close for comfort.

Besides, viewers already passed on this the last time around. But if CBS can get Will and Jada to star, the network just might have something here to draw viewers.

Last night was really strange, because I just finished watching “America’s Next Top Model” and switched over to “Lost.”

Except I didn’t think it was “Lost.”

It looked more like “Desperate Housewives.” I actually thought I was watching the wrong channel for a few moments, so I was kind of out of it at the beginning.

But it seemed to confirm that there was some sort of atmospheric disruption just before the plane crashed down.

I think the plane did breech some sort of electro-magnetic field. Remember the field went down when Desmond didn’t punch in the numbers?
What happens now with no one punching in numbers?

I have to say it feels a little odd being with The Others. It was creepy to watch Kate have to shower and slip into a sun dress before meeting with Henry Gale/Ben on the beach.

But did you notice the glass dome the camera lingered on? It covered Kate’s breakfast. Come on, how many meals come in a glass cover???

Ok, maybe that’s a reach.

And what’s up with the zoo? And the kid in the zoo? And Sawyer (and now Kate) in the zoo?

Anyway, I’m not sure I want to be away from the core Lost group for as long. I’m only mildly interested in the Others. Some people think that The Others are the children of the original Dharma people, because those people would be much older than the people we are seeing on the island.

Then we have Jack obsessing on his former wife’s boyfriend. The producers have mentioned several times that his identity might be an important story point. But is it?

Jack sure seems to think so. But I got SICK of hearing Jack go on and on about it last night.

And there were too many darn commercials!

Any thoughts?

“Lost” co-creator J.J. Abrams says he knows what “Lost” is and what it isn’t.

“It isn’t a puzzle before it’s a character piece. It’s not a sci fi series before it’s a character drama and an emotional drama,” Abrams says in a phone interview today. “A lot of people put the facade of what `Lost’ is and put it first. To me, while I would say it is (a sci-fi thriller), it’s almost an anthology. What’s going on in the flashbacks is about who these people are.”

Abrams says in Season Three, a whole new group of people get thrown into the mix. We assume he’s talking about The Others.

“(Copycat) shows like ‘Threshold’ or ‘Invasion,’ while they had great promise, were all happening in response to (the success of ‘Lost’),” Abrams says. “But (the success of ‘Lost’) wasn’t about genre, that was secondary. It’s all about what really makes Locke tick and what has Jin gone through.”

Abrams says the creative team knew even before the pilot was shot that there would be a hatch and there would be a man inside the hatch.

“It wasn’t clear that this man was going to be involved with the people or not,” Abrams says. “The beauty of a good idea of that you can explore different versions. It was clear where we wanted to go in short term (with Desmond), then we cast the actor. Now, wouldn’t it be cool if (we did certain things with that character). That’s the fun of series television, if you are lucky (enough to stay on the air), is to continue to make those decisions.”

“Lost” show runner Damon Lindelof was quoted as saying he thought the 1986 graphic novel, “Watchmen” was the greatest piece of popular fiction ever written.

Which, of course, made me want to track it down.

Then another producer, whom I could name but then he would have to kill me, kept telling me the key to everything was in an episode titled “Special.”

That’s the episode in which Walt is reading a Spanish language comic book that shows a polar bear and a glass dome sitting over what looks like an arctic area.

On the “Lost” season ender, men sitting at an ice station record a disturbance on their tracking device. They say they missed it the first time (When Flight 815 went down?) but they think they have found “him.”

They call their employer, who happens to be the girlfriend of Desmond. The men tracking Desmond are in a polar region.

Where polar bears live.

So again we ask, “Does this explain the polar bear in the first
season?”

“Well, the Arctic is the only place where polar bears live,” producer Carleton Cuse said in our interview last July. “And polar bears will be back this season.”

Which brings us back to that season-one episode titled “Special.”

Before dad Michael tosses it into the fire, Walt’s turning the pages and we see a polar bear and, later, a dome-like structure with electro-magnetic symbols around it. The dome is surrounded by snow.

The illustration style bears an uncanny resemblance to the ones in the Hugo Award (Hugo. Get it? Hurley???) winning “Watchmen.”

There are scenes in “Watchmen” that involve sharks circling a raft much like a scene on “Lost,” the 1980s computer screens looking for input with the blinking cursor, and a bank of TV screens monitoring people’s movements.

In “Watchmen,” one of the main characters is Ozymandias. Think of
the stone foot in the “Lost” season finale and consider Shelley’s
poem “Ozymandias” and the poem’s description of “Two vast and trunkless legs of stone.”

The comic book character Ozymandias thinks he needs to change the world by whatever means necessary.

(The Others always refer to themselves as the good guys.)

Ozymandias believes he knows what’s best for the world. He’s willing to do experiments on people (think about the injections on “Lost” and what it has done to some people), or even commit murder (Oh, where do we start on “Lost’?), for the greater good.

Namaste that, baby.

He also happens to have a getaway in the Antarctic: a dome with a tropical world inside.

And the graphic novel centers on good and bad, belief in your own
potential and using psychic powers to achieve the ultimate goal (Think about Walt’s psychic powers and what The Others said when they let him go: They got more out of him than they could have ever imagined.)

There’s also a lot of talk in “Watchmen” about mankind destroying the world either by damaging the environment or through nuclear war.

Could this be what “Lost” has in store?

Ah, so many layers.

Or just a lot more chain yanking.

To read the entire article on “Lost,” check out Sunday’s centerpiece in the Oakland Tribune/BANG Newspapers Bay Area Living section.

The final moments on “Grey’s Anatomy” tonight may have been some of the sweetest ever.

After deciding he needed to come clean with wife Addison about his sizzling prom sex with Meredith, the rather smug Derek tracked Addison down to her hotel room.

He sat on the bed, telling the sensual Addison _ who was wearing nothing but a bathrobe _ that he wanted a divorce. And just when he was at the height of his condescending speech about the sadness of their relationship ending, out walks McSteamy wrapping a towel around his waist.

Yes, the magnificent Dr. Mark Sloan, played by San Francisco native Eric Dane, is back by popular demand.

We’re wondering what lies in store for McDreamy after Patrick Dempsey told TV critics during a set tour last summer that he thought the men on “Grey’s” were emasculated and needed to man up a bit.

We don’t think creator Shonda Rimes took kindly to those remarks.

In any case, there were campaigns to bring Eric’s character back as a love interest _ even if it was with Meredith.

OK, maybe it was just my campaign.

But Eric’s one of the nicest guys in Hollywood, and after his performance last season he certainly deserved more screen time on one of my favorite shows.

So tonight, when he walked half-naked out of a steaming bathroom, we knew it was game on time for McDreamy.

Who may just find himself McSingle.