Froodee

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The Most Pirated Shows of 2010

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Lost has garnered one more accolade for its final season, though I’m not sure if this is one that it’s creators would relish.

According to TorrentFreak, people are still illegally downloading TV shows instead of watching them on live TV. In fact, two of 2010’s most-pirated shows — Heroes and Dexter — outnumbered their live Nielsen ratings.

Anyhoo, here’s the ten most pirated shows of 2010, followed by their approximate number of illegal downloads:

  1. Lost – 5,940,000
  2. Heroes – 5,480,000
  3. Dexter – 3,880,000
  4. The Big Bang Theory – 3,270,000
  5. House – 2,610,000
  6. How I Met Your Mother – 2,490,000
  7. 24 – 2,240,000
  8. True Blood – 1,920,000
  9. Glee – 1,700,000
  10. Family Guy – 1,620,000

Ethan Hawke Wants to be the New Jack Bauer

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Movie star Ethan Hawke and his emotive eyebrows are considering moving to the small screen in his first series starring role. The project is called Exit Strategy, and it finds Hawke leading a team of CIA experts who are regularly sent in when field ops (like deep cover assignments) go bad, to extract the agents-in-danger. This “high octane procedural” will take on a new crisis in a different country each week, and my allusion to 24 in this post’s title is no accident; Fox is planning Exit Strategy as a successor to Kiefer Sutherland’s late great action series.

Exit Strategy has a pilot script order from Fox with a pilot order almost a lock, thanks to Hawke’s all-but-a-done-deal involvement. The actor would also be a producer on the show. David Guggenheim wrote the script, which is being produced by Alex Kurtzman and Robert Orci’s TV studio K.O. Paper Products. K.O. is also responsible for this season’s Hawaii Five-O reboot, and has Locke & Key in the works for next year. K.O. and Fox reportedly have several A-list directors interested in helming the pilot.

I like the idea of a sophisticated, new high-profile action series now that 24 is gone, but Exit Strategy sounds like a bird of a very different flavor. Kurtzman and Orci’s involvement gives me hope for some great mythology elements, but the fact that it’s described as a “procedural” means it likely won’t have any ongoing storylines. Color me curious.

And the nominees are…

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The 2010 Primetime Emmy Awards nominees were announced at a traditionally early-morning ceremony today in L.A. And if there’s one message that the 62nd Emmy Award nominations sent, it’s that it’s good to be Glee.

The freshman musical/dramedy racked up more nods than any other ongoing television series, scoring a whopping 19 nominations — including best comedy series, best comedy actor for Matthew Morrison, best comedy actress for Lea Michele, supporting comedy actor for Chris Colfer, and supporting comedy actress for Jane Lynch. Three of its guest stars even got a nod each, and there were any number of hair, makeup, directing nominations as well.

The most total nominations went to the HBO miniseries The Pacific, which nabbed an incredible 24 nods. Other big winners include Mad Men, with 17 nominations; 15 noms each for Temple Grandin, 30 Rock, and You Don’t Know Jack; and 14 nominations for ABC’s freshman comedy series Modern Family. [Read more…]

Who had the better finale?

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Two major genre shows have just had back-to-back series finales, wrapping up years of storylines. I’m talking of course about Lost (on Sunday night) and 24 (just last night, pictured above). Which one was the more satisfying end?

Both focused more on emotional resolutions, with a healthy serving of climactic action on the side. Both featured beloved characters saying their final goodbyes. And both had plenty of life and death on display.

Lost‘s finale was certainly the bigger ratings hit, with 13 million viewers and a 5.6 rating among the 18-49 demographic. 24 scored just 9.2 million viewers and a 2.8 rating.

Lost wrapped up its story with a long-planned ending that put a definitive cap on this big, mythological saga. 24 left room open for a big-screen film that’s already in the works. It’s a common writer’s adage that you “always leave them wanting more,” because that way they’re always left with positive feelings about what they saw.

The two finales are apples and oranges, but I’m curious… Which one did you like better? Or maybe a more pertinent question would be… which show will you miss more?

Moral Issues Spark Debate Over TV Shows

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Showtime's

Lines such as “everyone’s favorite serial killer” would not have been uttered by the average person a few years ago. However, with the popularity that Dexter has reached, this tag line is well known all over the world. This has sparked a certain amount of interest in those who believe that there is a correlation between real life happenings and what is portrayed in TV shows.

Dexter is not a lone ranger in the recent trend of dark heroes on TV. We have Jack Bauer, who has gotten himself into every sort of tangle possible. We also have Dr. Gregory House, a “distinguished” doctor addicted to Vicodin. There are countless TV heroes today who, contrary to the traditional perception of heroes, cannot be labeled as good or bad. In fact, they fall in the various shades of gray that we encounter in our daily lives.

This is what people who have issues with the moral impact of TV are bringing up. These people, in spite of the fact that they are fictional, may have a way of impacting how the real person thinks and perceives things. But how real is that danger? Will a person act on his immoral tendencies because of what he sees on TV? Will the average guy go out and kill “bad” people because of watching Dexter? Will the clean guy try and get some Vicodin because House does?

Maybe. Maybe not. One thing I can say – these shows are darned good but I am not about to go out and kill all the scum I see on the streets every day.