Tagged: computer memory

The latest “Dumb Decisions By NBC” moments…

Welcome to the latest episode of “Dumb Decisions by NBC.” I’m your host, HollywoodIdiocy.com.

Clearly, NBC didn’t learn this past season when it canceled Scrubs a year ago, only to have ABC pick it up off the scrap heap and pair it with Better Off Ted, the best new workplace comedy since The Office. The strategy worked so well for the Alphabet Network that Scrubs has been renewed for yet another season, even though Zach Braff will only appear in six episodes next year.

Undeterred, NBC has made even more Dumb Decisions this year, just to prove that the network could be better-managed by computer memory than the current Entertainment Chief. Heck, forget computer memory, just put Tina Fey in charge and triple the NBC executive collective IQ in one fell swoop!

Here’s a list of this season’s crop of Dumb Decisions by NBC:

1) Turning over five hours a week of prime time programming to “Leno In Prime Time,” rather than, you know, actual entertainment. I predict Leno’s new prime time gig will die in the ratings, but NBC won’t care until a new administration takes over.

2) After ordering a super-sized season of My Name Is Earl, NBC cancels the four-year-old comedy at a time when there’s still plenty of life in it. Word is the blue collar comedy didn’t fit in with the new lineup of white collar workplace comedies NBC is favoring on Thursday nights. ABC and Fox are both reportedly interested, so My Name Is Earl is destined to become the next Scrubs debacle for NBC.

3) After Medium became the best-performing show on Monday nights for NBC during May sweeps (the net didn’t even test Heroes or Chuck in May, ending their seasons early), the network decided to forgo a fifth season of the psychic crime drama; word is CBS, which owns the show, will sandwich Medium right between Ghost Whisperer and Numbers on Friday nights next season, where it’s likely to prosper.

At least NBC renewed Chuck and Heroes, but with Leno taking over so much prime time real estate, will the Peacock even be considered a “Big Four” network anymore? Blame a bad economy all you want… there’s no excuse for such lame-brain decisions.

Original Harry Potter cast will finish movie series

Sometimes there is good news out of Hollywood. This is such an occasion. EOnline.com is reporting that Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson have all signed on to reprise their roles of Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, and Hermione Granger for the last two movies of the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and the yet-to-be-published Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which marks a definitive end to the series.

Rumors abound that Deathly Hallows could feature the death of Harry himself, though that is entirely uncertain at this writing. While it would make the best literary resolution, Rowling has a generation of readers to consider and while she may give into the temptation to off Harry in much the same way Arthur Conan Doyle attempted to off Sherlock Holmes, it may all be part of the hype machine to build anticipation for the final book. Will Harry live or die? What better marketing gimmick could there be?

Of course, the media is sure to blow the whistle on how the series ends at first opportunity, and there is the movie franchise to consider; if the ending is revealed a couple years before the movie is released, and it proves unpopular, it could devastate box office receipts for the final films.

Personally, I’d rather not know what happens until I either read the book or walk into the theatre; but that’s not bloody likely. Trust Hollywood and the media to blow a good thing. But at least we know there won’t be any 11th-hour recasting of the principle leads in the film. At this point, if the cast were redone, combined with the ending of Deathly Hallows likely being revealed within a couple hours of the book’s July 2007 release, that would create the perfect storm to kill of the series.

With the way the page counts are increasing in each book released, it’s a good thing the series is ending at seven books, or future releases would become so weighty it would take a load of computer memory just to store it. However, whatever happens to Harry, Hermione and Ronald, at least it’ll happen to the cast audiences around the world have grown so fond of.