Dirty Criminal Mind

I don't care for the show Criminal Minds. To me, it's just another generic crime drama with a group of eccentric intelligent people. That being said, I've heard of some issues that strifed on the set. Firings, particularly. And this has grown now into a lawsuit from California themselves in regards to Gregory St. Johns, who was a director of photography for it. California Department of Fair Employment is going after some producers, Disney, and CBS.

St. Johns, from what I gathered from articles, worked on the show for a very long time until being fired a couple years ago. What he would do is no doubt sexual harassment. And not going after women, mind you. Allegedly, he touched men inappropriately and a few other disgusting things. That alone should be enough to be considered very toxic. But how does this escalate into him staying for well over a decade? I'm assuming workplace harassment has become a bigger hot button topic throughout the world. Hollywood being a cesspool of liars and actual harassers.

With this a CBS thing, this network does not escape this sort of stuff or any real controversy. Les Moonves getting ousted in 2018. Charlie Rose and his issues. The difficulties of Mark Harmon on NCIS and other cast members not being comfortable around him. Criminal Minds was one of their biggest shows during its 15 years. Maybe people are opening up about what went down after its final episode aired in February. Having St. Johns on for that long. No one saying a damn thing if they wanted to keep their jobs. Until we hear more, this hurts the show tremendously from a post airing standpoint. If I'm Ion Television, I'd be removing it from its schedule and not airing it after a few years.

I hope this isn't a case of batting a blind eye because its men. If it is, then it shows the double standard of Hollywood. Unless you're someone like Terry Crews, how many will go out of their way to speak up about being harassed? Both sides can be victims. And if the alleged is true, a lot of people, mainly the producers, will probably not work in the industry again. Simply horrible. They could have done something, but didn't, and it made a show for actors to work on stressful.

Unworthy Oscars

Sunday's Oscar nomination show happened and the awards were given. It's ratings are the real story however. Just over 26 million watched, and there are many reasons why this is a huge low for ABC. Ultimately it comes down to all the stuff that has happened the last few years that has built up into this steep decline.

First is politics. Personally, I think Hollywood is still not over Donald Trump being president. It's been over a fucking year since he was elected. When does it stop? When is it time to let it go and get over it? Add in diversity (which could be a little better), all this MeToo crap and all this sexual harassment stuff, something has to give. At some point, false accusations are going to get tiring, ruining it for the few that actually were harassed. Also, if some people did better films, surely they would be nominated for their roles. The quality of a movie is not just judged by the overall film, but the stars that actually commit to it, cinematography, and a few other elements.

Obviously, length of time as news websites have talked about as well as the Internet. It's not a surprise that ratings take hits on prime time networks due to cable (which even that struggles as well) and people going in on the Internet. Websites are cashing in on people watching via whatever they have on them like a tablet. For something like the Oscars, not everybody wants to stay up until 11 or midnight to see every award given. That's a given in today's world.

The one that piques my interest a little bit is what gets nominated. At this point, it seems more like an invitation for independent or artsy stuff that either is a surprise hit or barely does well but gets nominated for awards and might win one. Think about it. Do people really care about Slumdog Millionaire now these days? No. Those kind of films get a few years exposure and then die off without getting reruns. The same will apply to stuff like The Big Sick and Mudbound. People are more interested in comic book films, live action remakes and sequels. Last year was no different. That doesn't mean they are giving up on original films because there are still some that were a big deal like Split and Baby Driver. Right now, Black Panther is doing very well and because of Logan getting some nods, maybe pressure might be put on Academy people to put in the mix for certain categories. Artsy and independent films are still an important factor, but you can't just rely on those and expect viewers to tune in just to see those win instead of others.

There's probably other factors into this, but something will change. It will come down to how people anticipate 2019's Oscars. If it's anything like the last few years, it could dip below 25 million viewers if there is no change to how ABC does things. The same can be said for the Hollywood celebrities. I don't know if it will come down to things crumbling before them or some huge enforced rules. Whatever happens will dictate the future of this awards ceremony.

TV Movies: Cheap Low Quality

There is a joy to seeing a movie in a theater and enjoying one if the quality is there. Unfortunately, not every movie gets put on a screen at your local mall or small theater. Direct-to-video is one option for some and others might find one on TV that you will only find on the small screen. The television movie is one of the bigger money makers for some companies, but it's also one that merits low quality.

Is every television movie bad? No. One of the biggest examples of quality was the 1971 movie Brian's Song. It was the story of Brian Piccolo and the friendship he had with Gale Sayers. They were both running backs for the Chicago Bears and formed a bond that ended when Piccolo passed away from cancer. The film was part of ABC's Movie of the Week program, which showed films made for that network every week from the late 60s up until the mid 70s. For the effort, it won awards, which says a lot.

So why do we have to sift through a lot of crap? That was the thing that canned ABC's program, even though television movies started long before they started running weekly ones. It's like anything. People want to see something top notch or exceptionally good. Even with some big stars in some of them, the quality wasn't there and that's what turned viewers off. Prime time networks have not done this stuff in a long time, but there are cable networks that continue on with this concept.

Now these days, you can look to Hallmark, Lifetime, Syfy, and Disney Channel for TV movies. I think people do go in, expecting lower tiered stuff for being on cable, though the examples mentioned are making the same movies over and over (Disney really depends on what they are making). It's the same romantic crap on Hallmark. Lifetime's lifeline is having these movies where there's abuse in women and they have to triumph over it. They need something in order to keep reruns of Grey's Anatomy exclusive on their channel. Syfy is cheesy and over the top, and they have embraced it. When you consider the Sharknado films to be some of their biggest money makers, they will milk whatever is big for them and continue to do so until it runs dry. They do run theatrical films, though some don't make sense being on that channel like James Bond.

It wasn't uncommon to see Disney making film after film on video and TV back then. I don't watch their TV channel, but I have a niece that does. I feel like there has been way less of their original movie stuff being on in favor of theatrical run ones. Whoever has taken over knows the market and has slowly gotten away from it, but hasn't killed it off. There was that question mark, especially with the rut of films Disney made outside of a few live action ones and Pixar in the 2000s. A lot of people don't care for a lot of the sequels made for video and TV. Whoever listened has put Disney on a bigger step towards being loved like they were in 30s up until the 60s and the late 80s up until the late 90s. They want people to love top notch films, not groan with a cheaply made film that goes for an hour and has the same cliche ending.

In the end, there's always some suckers that either are bored that they will watch TV movies or they think it's something good despite watching the same concept. 

Unwatchable Playoffs

When the NCAA Women's Basketball Championship aired this year, it got a big jolt in ratings. The reason for the increase may not be a huge surprise. It's because UConn was not in it. A team that had blown out teams for who knows how long eliminated in the Final Four gave viewers a chance to watch something exciting. While no doubt the NBA will see a Part III to the Finals between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors, you have to wonder when enough is enough of these teams.

With the way the playoffs have been this year, many will wonder if the sport is not exciting in terms of non-Finals games. Certainly, the Warriors game against the Spurs in the first game of the West Conference Finals, had all sorts of drama. Then the next game was a blowout and as of now, Golden State is one game away from going back to the Finals. Cleveland annihilated the Boston Celtics in game 2, winning by 44 points. Both teams have big superstars who have huge presences on TV, social media, etc. It's not just the Warriors and Cavs. There has to be at least one superstar on a team, even if said team is bad.

For ESPN and ABC, they have benefited a whole lot since the 2008 Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics. I think it helps that the Finals haven't been sweeps and that a number of them have gone six to seven games. The amount of drama and storylines to these teams and players really gives them that ratings increase. Their biggest prior to last year was Game 7 of the 2010 Finals between the Lakers and Celtics with 28 million watching the Lakers get their championship. They might as well enjoy this because eventually, some of these players are going to be on other teams, retire or do something else.

That being said, people do get tired of seeing the same teams in the playoffs every year. I don't think that's a problem with the Warriors yet, but it could be soon. Regardless of your team, people will get tired of San Antonio, Houston, Boston. The list goes on. People were probably tired of the Lakers before they got bad the last three to four years. For the NFL, people are probably tired of Green Bay and New England constantly being the playoffs. I don't think MLB has the problem as much today, but with Atlanta, the New York Yankees, Boston, and St. Louis back then, it's not a pretty sight.

Some viewers might watch the Finals if they have ignored the playoffs. It's a matter of games being close, and so far, it hasn't been that way. This stuff becomes predictable and it leads to viewership not being strong before the championship series. No doubt, this years Finals will be huge. It's going to get the NBA a lot of money and ratings. How far this will go, I give it at least six games. As I just said, the league should enjoy this for now. I don't think we will ever see this again for a long time. Last thing anyone wants to see is something like the 60s Celtics teams.