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A couple of players on my tennis team were singing the praises of HBO’s “Game of Thrones” recently before asking me if I had seen it and if I knew whether there would be a second season.
I hadn’t seen it at the time ( I watched the first episode via HBO On Demand the next night and understood their praise) but I knew it had been renewed because HBO sent me a release about it after the first or second episode aired.
Now that The Buffalo News frequently makes the former TV page into the pop music page, I feel it is my duty to share with you a few emails about TV news that you have missed as the paper uses my former space for reviews of Taylor Swift, Peter Frampton and anyone else with a voice and a guitar who comes to town for a one-night performance.
I get about 100 emails a day – not counting the ones reacting to this blog.
Here are a few things from them that you might have missed in the TV and sports world, though some items have made it into the newspaper and may be old news to you.
*Buffalo’s Mike Williams is No.83: Williams, the Riverside graduate who played football at Syracuse University, made it on the NFL Network list of the NFL’s Top 100 players selected by current players. He was picked No. 83, not bad for a wide receiver who slipped to the fourth round of the 2010 draft.
So far, 90 players have been named and — surprise, surprise — not one Buffalo Bill is among them. The Top 10 will be announced on the network on Sunday, though Time Warner Cable subscribers will be shutout.
* Cheers, Jane Lynch Will Host the Emmys on Sept. 18: The actress who plays mean-spirited cheerleader coach Sue Sylvester on “Glee” would appear to be an ideal choice based on her spring performance on “Saturday Night Live” and her recent appearance on HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher.” She’s multi-talented and has exquisite comic timing.
The Emmys air on Fox this year, with the Sept. 18 date meaning that almost all of the new fall network shows will begin airing on Sept. 19. In other words, you’ll be stuck with reality shows and repeats on network TV until then.
* “Curb Your Enthusiasm” Is Back July 10: I’ve seen the first episode of the new season of Larry David’s (see above) show and can report he is as annoying and as funny as ever. It also has quite an amusing takeoff on the New York City controversy involving the proposed Mosque being built near ground zero. More on the “Curb” season next week.
* “Shark Week” Returns July 31: Not to be confused with “Shark Tank,” the annual Discovery Channel series involves “SNL’s” Andy Samberg this time around as chief shark officer or host. Who knows, maybe that means Justin Timberlake will show up and start singing an underwater duet. Doubt it.
* AMC’s “The Killing” Will Be Back for 13 Episodes: The final episode that didn’t resolve who the killer was had a 2.6 rating in Buffalo, which is decent by cable standards. How many will come back the next time around is being debated online by frustrated fans. I wasn’t a regular watcher – the pace was a little too slow for me and it always seemed to be up against a big NBA game – so I wasn’t that disappointed or surprised by the ending.
It wasn’t the first time that viewers didn’t get the answers they were promised. Remember David Lynch’s “Twin Peaks”?
I certainly do. I gave the series pilot 5 stars out of 5, prompting my boss at the time to write me a message: “I saw that five star show of yours. One of us is crazy.”
The big question in the 1990 pilot was who killed Laura Palmer? It was supposed to be clear after eight episodes. And seven episodes later, we still didn’t find out. Eventually, viewers got tired of the weirdness and stopped watching during a second season of 22 episodes. For those who don’t remember, Laura’s dad did it under the influence of evil spirit Bob.
It is hard to see how “The Killing” can go another 13 episodes without answering wko killed Rose Larsen and keep its fans happy. There was some speculation that one of the stars of the series, Billy Campbell, would be cut from the cast because of his salary. He played the politician who was arrested for the crime and looked like he was going to be assassinated in the final scene.
If Campbell leaves – and I suspect he’ll be saved – it won’t be because of money. He isn’t that big a star to demand a big salary and cable shows typically pay a lot less — as much as 40 percent or more less – than network shows anyway.
* NFL Network Switches Announcers: Three cheers, Joe Theismann is gone. So is Matt Millen. So is Bob Papa. If the NFL starts playing again, Mike Mayock (the guy who always seems to know who the Bills are taking in the NFL draft) will be the analyst alongside play-by-play man Brad Nessler. It almost makes me wish my cable system offered The NFL Network.
Alan Pergament was the television critic for The Buffalo News for 28 years. He currently is an adjunct professor at Buffalo State College and Medaille College, teaching courses in communications. He also writes a monthly column on the media for Buffalo Spree magazine.
