Ignore the fact that Jay Leno is terribly unfunny, pandering to the lowest common denominator, mocking the less intelligent, going unendingly for the Viagra punchline.  Maybe that’s some people’s taste.

Giving the guy 5 nights of PRIME TIME a week? That was perhaps shrewd.   Times are tough.  Jay Leno costs about half for a week what a good show would cost for a night.  Maybe it’s a matter of standing out from the crowd, in a time slot dominated by procedural law, medicine, and crime.  And the minor hit the network will take for looking like they care more about the bottom line than about creating world class entertainment is probably survivable.

But to cancel John Wells-run Southland? Despite it’s reasonable critical success?  Before it even got a chance to begin a new season?  Boooo.

As I writer, I’m not missing the double insult here.  First, scrap five weekly hours of scripted entertainment, meaning that many fewer jobs for us.  And then go cut a decent show from the new Writers’ Guild president, even though Mercy and Trauma are doing worse with critics, and struggling with ratings. NBC is lucky they have 30 Rock and The Office, or I might my tuner might never land at their frequency.

Bored to Death (HBO)
Schwartzman quirky, on television.

Brothers (FOX)
Has everything. Except laughs.

The Cleveland Show (FOX)
Jeffersons to Peter’s Archie?

The Forgotten (ABC)
Neither compelling nor believable.

Hank (ABC)
Laugh track’s taste sucks.

Mercy (NBC)
Every medical show, redone.

The Middle (ABC)
Huh. That didn’t suck.

Shark Tank (ABC)
Crap. Me, watching reality?!

Stargate Universe (SciFi)
Stargate: You’re no Galactica.

Trauma (NBC)
So many explosions! Meh.

Accidentally on Purpose (CBS)
Flat, uninspired joke writing.

Community (NBC)
Gets one more chance.

Cougar Town (ABC)
Fast-paced. Heavy-handed. Some laughs.

Eastwick (ABC)
Seen movie? Like that.

Flash Forward (ABC)
Season’s best new drama

Glee (FOX)
Overhyped cheese, but fun.

The Good Wife (CBS)
Lawyer premise executed well.

Modern Family (ABC)
Season’s best new comedy

Vampire Diaries (CW)
Teen teen teen blech.

Whatever your politics, few would accuse FOX news of actual journalism.  (Nor, any more, does MSNBC deserve the right to the word “news.”) Kudos to them, I guess, for being entertaining/”informative” enough to maintain eyeballs and make a buck.

But, man… The above theatrics from last week features the standard untruthful and inflammatory nature: “operate in a manner opposing my philosophy” I guess is the new definition of “disenfranchise.”  Yet amidst the bloviating, what really offends my sensibilities is Beck’s horrible “comedic” style.  (Sorry to use so many quotation marks, but this issue seems to beg them.  Am I wrong?  He thinks he’s funny, right?)

Here then, some advice to Mr. Beck from a comedy writer:

• If you’ve only got one joke, you don’t milk it a half a dozen times.  You get in and get out.  Or, ideally, you write some more jokes.  Your sarcasm about Cuba was the best writing.  Notice, no gas can.
• Don’t tip your hand and spoil your illusion.  I guess if you need to remind us it’s only water, for lawyers’ sake, then fine, have the little cartoon happen.  But lose the big white sign reading, ‘water’ from the canister.  It’s redundant.  Either way, you’re removing the steam from your gag; getting matches became pointless.
• Instead, douse your poor chump once at the beginning, really well, as you list offenses.  Get all the comedy from that moment possible, all at once.  THEN, spend the rest of your rant waving around a barbecue lighter as the chump cringes in fear that you’ll oafishly get close enough to ignite him.  See how much funnier that is already?  Plus, you drive home your point of carelessness in government.  THEN remind us it was only water, AFTER the whole gag is over.
• Don’t confuse your metaphor.  Is the chump uncomfortable because it’s gasoline, or because it’s cold?
• “We can disagree on policies… but some of us don’t agree on the policies.”  Huh?
• Really?  Slavery?
• Your landing needs work.  Calling for “and end to the games” doesn’t make sense, y’know… in the middle of a game.  Try a callback to your earlier gag, such as finally actually lighting your chump on fire.  You calm down, the threat of ignition is over, the chump exhales his relief but then you accidentally light him on fire.  Now, as he runs screaming in pain via whatever comedic special effect you’d like, or offscreen with sound effects, you drive home your point that this is how much Obama cares about the average American.

See?  Fixing the comedy even stengthened your thesis.  Should you need any help, Mr. Beck, I hire out as a consultant.  To anyone.  (Although in full disclosure, you I would charge extra.)

Big Love remains one of the best shows on TV.  The big stink from the Mormons over the accurate (so HBO says) depiction of one of their sacred ceremonies was pointless.  They did it with respect.  (How many Mormons really watch pay cable?)  Meanwhile, they did another great job of setting up a mess of internal politics to pay off over the next several episodes.

Kings was rich in mythology, but slow.  After the groundwork in the first hour, it was the duplicity and intrigue that showed up in the second hour that offers the most promise that it’ll get good.

Castle was cute.  Not cute enough to add to my overfull list of shows I follow, but if it were my genre, I’d be interested.  Remember Moonlighting?  That’s what they’re setting in motion.

Better Off Ted has promise, especially in its rich overall tone, but didn’t deliver the funny in the pilot.  This may have been a case of all the funniest jokes being spoiled by the trailers.

Scrubs phoned it in.  Sigh.

Lost was a serious filler episode.  Some of the latest big questions seem like contrivances just to make plot happen.  (Why did Sun land thirty years in the future?  Why was Sayid miles from the landing point of Jack, Hurley, and Kate?)

Dollhouse got better. Not awesome yet, but markedly better.

The Battlestar finale was a loveable trainwreck.  The structure of the two-hours was all over the place, and there was a whole lot that was unsatisfying.  But, like in most of the series, you didn’t care about logic or unresolved questions as much as you cared about this cool Art taking place before your eyes.  Mary McDonald is a fantastic actor, and Edward James Olmos made me cry.