The Downfall of Awards Shows & Late-Night TV

By Tony Mazur

Remember the days when you sat through an awards show to see who was performing? Remember the days when you would turn on The Tonight Show to see what guests Johnny Carson will be interviewing?

I do (except in my case I watched Letterman). And it wasn't too long ago when those programs were still entertaining. But somewhere along the line they became bland and uninteresting. They have become elements of the past, along with variety shows and prime-time game shows from the 1970s. Where's Gene Rayburn when you need him?

Kanye West's outburst during Taylor Swift's acceptance speech at the MTV Video Music Awards shouldn't have been shocking. Yeah, I felt bad for Taylor, regardless if Kanye's inebriated appearance was staged or not. But after Beavis & Butt-head, Prodigy's "Smack My Bitch Up", and the hundreds of reality shows, nothing should be shocking to the MTV audience. I believe this incident was drummed up by the media to actually get people interested in the VMA's again (if they ever were in the first place). The last time I tuned into that rubbish was in 2002, when the censors bleeped out any use of the word "gun", including when Guns N' Roses hit the stage.

On Monday, I sat through The Jay Leno Show. I like Leno, but his show was like watching The Tonight Show, only at an earlier timeslot. There was nothing earth-shattering about it. I enjoyed "Headlines", but again, this was a Tonight Show bit. And I have not watched Conan O'Brien's version of The Tonight Show, mainly because I don't care.

Honestly, when was the last time your water cooler talk revolved around a cable TV awards show? When was the last time you guffawed about something David Letterman said on his stale CBS program?

The only reason why Leno, Letterman, O'Brien, Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel (he still has a show, right?), and Craig Ferguson still have jobs is because they are more cost-efficient than a scripted and produced TV drama or sitcom. If so many people were sick of reality shows, then why are they still on TV? Because they are cheap to produce.

The medium of appearing at awards shows and late-night talk shows is dying. Nobody cares anymore. If Kanye didn't open his cakehole, not one person would have muttered a word about it on Monday morning.

Maybe TMZ has had something to do with it. TV viewers once had a couple of opportunities to catch their favorite actor or musician; the Oscars/Emmys/Grammys, and if they were interviewed by Carson. Now that TMZ is ever so popular, we can get daily updates on how old Chevy Chase looks like, rather than wait for him to go on Letterman to promote yet another failed attempt at a show.

And by the way, it is sad that I get more accurate reporting of breaking news than legitimate news outlets. TMZ reported the death of Michael Jackson LONG before the rest of the mainstream media considered it safe to run.

While Leno's show can still be funny, I think we will be seeing the death of the late-night talk show in the coming years. Each host has gotten away with copying Carson's format for too long. It is time for TV executives to find original and creative programming to fill the gaping holes in their programming.

The same goes for the awards shows. Change the format and keep it interesting. As the years go by, each show is even more forgettable than the last.

But by all means keep your silly programs. I'll just watch infomercials of Vince Offer pitching ShamWows! and hooker repellent.

50th Annual Grammy Awards: PLEASE Don't Let There Be 50 More...

By Tony Mazur

Last night the 50th Annual Grammy Awards was broadcast live on CBS from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. The ceremony honors the musical achievement of artists from all genres. The Grammys feature many performances by today's hottest singers or groups, and sometimes collaborations, and awards are presented by music legends, even though most of the awards were handed out prior to the broadcast.

I watched it. Needless to say, I wasn't impressed. Tony Mazur is not impressed by an awards show?? Preposterous! It was one of those situations where it's extremely cold outside, there's nothing else on TV (see Pro Bowl...), and I'm eating dinner. Otherwise, I would have tuned into the same reruns of Family Guy. Don't get me wrong; I love Family Guy. But Seth, make some new ones already!

Anyways, onto what I did like from the Grammys.

I do like Alicia Keys. She sang a "duet" with Frank Sinatra to start the show, and she later performed "No One", her Grammy Award-winning single. Morris Day and The Time did their 1984 hit, "Jungle Love", with Rihanna, leading into her Top 40 songs, "Umbrella" and "Don't Stop The Music". The Band, Bob Dylan's band, received a Lifetime Achievement Award, so that was cool. The Foo Fighters won Best Rock Album for Echoes, Silence, Patience, and Grace, and performed "The Pretender" outside of the Staples Center, by far the best performance of the night.

Oh, and I also loved the music playing off Kanye West was he was gloating to the world about his Grammy Award. What a pompous piece of garbage.

Now onto the bad parts of the evening.

Can Aretha Franklin never appear on a stage again? With a yellow dress, she honestly looked like a school bus.

Bruce Springsteen won three Grammy Awards. Why?! The Boss is so far removed from being that blue collar man from New Jersey. He used to be this high energy, brilliant songwriter from Asbury Park, thanking WMMS's Kid Leo for first playing his music. Now he's this cranky, Obama-supporting communist who hasn't put out anything halfway decent since Born To Run.

Speaking of Osama- I mean, Obama (who hasn't gotten that one wrong?), he won a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for his book, The Audacity of Hope. Please don't tell me this is going to be his year. I have hundreds of reasons why I do not want Barack Obama to be our next president, but I'll save that for further FDH Lounge posts.

Just a question. Why does every awards show have to be political? Can someone answer me that question?

After losing American Idol, Chris Daughtry has blown up the music world with such songs as "It's Not Over", "Home", "What I Want", and "Over You". However, he got screwed out of an award. The aforementioned Springsteen won his deserved award.

Everyone made a big deal about Amy Winehouse not being able to perform in the United States. I watched her perform "Rehab", and it didn't blow me away. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't breathtaking.

I don't know who performed The Beatles' "Let It Be", but I started cringing. They turned a wonderful song written by Paul McCartney into a Negro spiritual. And that brings me to my next point. I understand that February is Black History Month, but do we have to have a constant reminder ever ten minutes? I acknowledge the month. But please don't pound it into my head 24/7.

A miscellaneous thing I got out of the ceremony was the good time Tina Turner had with Beyonce. Now that Ike is six feet under, Tina enjoyed herself for the first time since 1962.

50 years of the Grammys. 50 years of fraud and phoniness. This must be why I watch sports. Oh wait, steroids, gambling, thug lifestyles. I guess there's no escaping it.


Meanwhile, here is a video of the Foo Fighters performing "The Pretender" in England.