I've been watching On The Lot on Fox. I wasn't sure how well I would like it after the first week, but the show tonight showed that most of the contestants are very good. Now that the focus of the show is the films created by each of the contestants I think it's going to be a lot of fun to watch. My big complaint about the show is the judging and the host.
While I think it's important to have some professional commentary about each of the films on the show I'm not sure that Carrie Fisher and Garry Marshall were the best choices. I'm by no means a trained or experienced film-maker, but I expect the commentary about a film to be more substantive than the "it was really good" type of comments most often provided. Fisher seems to be filling the same role as Paula on American Idol – generally nice about everything unless something just really stinks. Marshall has the type of experience I would hope to provide a critical eye to the judging, but he doesn't seem like he is filling this need.
What disappoints me most about the show is how sexist Marshall is with regard to the women contestants. He repeatedly felt the need to say that he "likes women filmmakers." Almost every woman on the show tonight was told that she should tackle themes that are "different from a man" or to focus on their "passion as a woman" or "women's problems" one was even told that he liked her "sensibility as a woman." The kicker though was when he said he was waiting for "Adrianna to come out and do the phone numbers" because he wanted something sexy. I know it's Fox, but seriously can't they do better than this?
My votes for the night:
Best: Danger Zone (Zach Lipovsky), Soft (Mateen Kemet)
Worst: Wack Alley Cab (Kenny Luby), …To Screw In A Light Bulb (Jessica Brillhart)