garry marshall

Fox has apparently responded to the lackluster ratings of its new reality series, On the Lot, by trimming down the number of episodes. Instead of airing on two nights each week, the network is going to condense its unreasonably long results show with its competition for a single, one-hour installment each week.

The change is effective immediately: On the Lot will only be seen on Tuesdays at 8 pm starting June 5. There will still be a two-night finale on August 13-14.

The schedule change will also cause a shift in the schedule for the remaining episodes of The Loop. Now The Loop will not appear on Tuesdays, will air twice on Sundays at 7:30 and 8:30 pm on June 24 and July 1.

(S01E04) This may go down as the longest hour of TV in the history of TV. Tonight's episode was only an hour long, but it felt more like thirteen thanks to the lame effort to American Idolize the show with all the awkward pauses and the "we'll tell you right after the break" nonsense.

It probably sounds strange for a guy who practically typed a novel during yesterday's review to be criticizing the length of anything, but what else could I do? There were still 24, pardon me, 18 contestants left, and I couldn't very well not talk about someone's film. It'd be like the producers of this show completely leaving out an episode. Things like that just shouldn't happen.

Anyhow, I guess there's no real reason for me to stretch this out any more than it needs to be. I'll tell you who got cut, but we're going to have to wait...until...after...you...click..the...jump.

(S01E03) New host, new show format, and a new time slot on a new night. If I didn't recognize the judges and the directors, I wouldn't have even realized I was watching On The Lot this week.

Call me crazy, but they should have gone with this American Idol like format from the get go. After watching tonight's episode, the shows from last week feel even more disjointed from the series.

I'm afraid that the plodding, "me-too-reality-show" that was portrayed last week probably turned more people off the show than anything. It's a shame too, because this week the pace really started picking up, and we got to see what the show truly has to offer.

Namely, a great bunch of films from a great bunch of directors. Well, mostly great films from mostly great directors. Click on for a walk through of 18 one-minute comedy shorts from 18 good and not so good up-and-coming directors.

(S01E02) I find myself questioning two things about On The Lot and neither is really a negative thing about the show, which I find myself enjoying.

Foremost, what's with the bizarre airing schedule? Like I said last week, Fox really should have capitalized on the huge American Idol lead in by airing a two hour episode that really illustrated what this show is all about.

These first few episodes really seem to be focusing on the "personalities" and the conflicts they appear to be having. Specifically, the beef between Marty and Jeff and the issues Hanna and Jessica have with Kenny.

If there was ever an opportunity to break the inner quarreling so prevalent (and popular) in reality TV, this show could have been the one that did it simply by focusing on the movies.

(S01E01) I'm a reality TV junkie, and I'm not ashamed to admit it. Well, almost not afraid to admit it.

If I were to compile a list of all the reality shows I've watched you'd find some real stinkers on it (*cough* Temptation Island), but I can't say I could include a single Mark Burnett produced series in the bunch.

Although On the Lot got off to slow start, I really see some potential in the show and think it's going to be another bona fide hit in the realm of Survivor and The Apprentice.

Why you ask? Because it takes all the things we like about the aforementioned shows (i.e. the competitiveness, the warring type A personalities, the bitchiness, and the everyman appeal of the contestants) and wraps it around a topic most of us have more than a passing interest in - movies.

(S01E23) At the beginning of the episode, Justin says, "Life is what happens in between big sets." He is talking about surfing, and also the past year and everything that has happened. I'm still trying to figure out whether or not that is true, profound, or whether, as Justin said, it just sounded poetic in his head. And I think I'm going to have to go with poetic in Justin's head. Just like I think this episode was probably so much better in the writers' heads. I have to admit, I am a little disappointed. I am struggling with a huge bias here though: I HATE slapstick. Hate it. And so whenever this show employs it, I just kind of shut down and zone out. Last week was a brilliant, beautiful episode, and I wish they had just stopped with that. In fact, in my mind, last week's episode is just going to be the season finale, and we'll just pretend this one didn't happen, shall we?

Jerry Belson, who has written for classic shows like The Odd Couple and The Dick Van Dyke Show, died of cancer on Tuesday. He was 68.

His death was announced by his friend and writing partner, Garry Marshall; they worked together on the two shows mentioned above and on Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. As you can see by his IMDb profile, he's worked as a writer, producer, or director on many classic shows, as well as many cult classics like The Tracey Ullman Show. His last TV credits were on The Drew Carey Show, Tracey Takes On..., and The Norm Show.

Oh, I've been waiting for this. The first season of The Odd Couple, the Jack Klugman/Tony Randall comedy from the early 70s, will be released on DVD on August 14.

Sure, the first season isn't half as good as other seasons, but it's still quite entertaining. And look at the extras on this set: audio intros from Garry Marshall on each episode, Jack Klugman commentary on the classic "It's All Over Now, Baby Bird" episode, clips of Klugman and Randall on The Mike Douglas Show, a gag reel, footage of Klugman's Emmy Award win, and various promos.

And if you haven't bought it already, Klugman's autobiography, Tony and Me: A Story of Friendship, is well worth a read, and comes with a gag reel on DVD too. 

(S04E02) Ever since Season Two, I've taken a bit of a cynical view of the first rounds of Last Comic Standing. During that year, Drew Carey and Brett Butler went to the press complaining that Ant was chosen by the producers to go to the house over their objections. It seems that it doesn't matter what the celebrity judges say, the producers are going to pick who they want to pick to go to the house, whether it's because they have a good story, they'll cause trouble, or that they just owe the comic's agent a favor.

This first "semi-final", in which five comics were chosen to go to the house, didn't make me any less cynical. The choices really did smack of compelling story over comedic ability, at least in a couple of cases.