TV Midlife Crisis

There are some new TV shows, coming on air and new seasons too of shows that are already airing.

However one thing I have been noticing is a common thread: mid life crises, and that too mostly played by actors known for their portrayal of youthful characters..for instance

Cougar town – Courtney Cox –  divorced business owner dating younger men (Theres even a role for Lisa Kudrow)

Mr. Sunshine – Matthew Perry – Sports arena manager going through a midlife crisis

Men of a certain Age – Ray Romano (exception) – Friends in mid 40’s dealing with the realities of middle age

Did the audience just get older or is this what younger audiences want? Well as long as it is comedy, I guess people will watch it.  Hope they are as good as they are made out to be. For now…back to the TV…

LEDing down the wrong path

Samsung proudly announced that they were the first in the market with their LED TV. It was supposed to give us brighter pictures and more contrast. The competition LG called their bluff, by announcing their LED TV which was FULL LED, also known as DIRECT BACKLIGHTING as opposed to EDGE BACKLIGHTING, offered by Samsung, with LEDs on the edges of the screen only. This led to the two companies, complaining against each other to advertising watchdogs, and subsequent bans on ads and such.

SONY had come out with this technology, way back then, when they offered the Bravia range, but were nice enough not to mislead customers by saying it was an LED TV.

LEDs are bulky and are used only in commercial applications where they have outdoor display screens and such. They are not small enough to be used all across Flat screen TVs as pixels, replacing the current fluorescent tubes. All said, these LEDs allow them to manufacture TVs which are as thin as a magazine and cost 3+ times that of an ordinary LCD but are more greener.

Sangria made from Old wine in Old bottle!!! Sony is still the best, and plasma beats them all…!!!

The aliens are coming..

V alien sci-fic TV show about a bunch of reptilian aliens disguised as humans who come to earth and attempt a take over is being remade to be released next year. The show was aired on Kuwait TV in the mid 80’s. This version has Elizabeth Mitchell who plays the role of Dr. Juliet Burke in Lost.

Fatafeat

A treat for the gourmet and gourmand alike. This is the middle Easts first and only food and cooking channel and perhaps the answer to BBC’s Food channel. 24 hour cooking shows in English and even a few Arabic shows the channel provides wholesome entertainment sans the sex and violence.

Incidentally, the channels original backers, a Kuwait based investment company has pulled out and new investors are being sought. I doubt if they will have a problem finding investors because the quality of programming is extremely good and there shouldn’t be any dearth of advertising as the food industry would find a dedicated channel to plug their products and a viewer ship that would have a major say in the spending of the household budget. l hope they find an investor quick or vice versa, as it would be a shame, if the channel were taken off the air .

Chefs featured on the channel include Nigella Lawson, Jamie Oliver & Giada. Not to forget Rachel Ray, though l still keep wondering what her claim to fame is.

Tune into the channel on NileSat3 @ 12341 VPol or http://www.fatafeat.com

Freej

Freej is an animated TV show about 4 Emarati ladies and their lives in the UAE. I was able to stumble on an episode on One Dubai while channel surfing. That episode took a look at the Arab way of life with an unabashed open eye. Airs on Fridays. http://www.freej.ae..and they even have an e-shoppe selling freej merchandise.