Daniel's TV Blog

So tonight if you have really nothing to do, there's the new reality show, Venus and Serena, For Real. It's been six years since the first major reality show, Survivor, sparked a major shift in network and basic cable programming. I've decided that reality shows can be categorized into these major categories:

1. Competition - Survivor, Amazing Race, American Idol, So You Think You Can Dance, Hell's Kitchen
2. Dating - The Bachelor, Average Joe
3. Situational - Real World, Trading Spouses
4. Slice of Life - Cops, Nanny 911, Hooking Up
5. Dream Come True - The Swan, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy
6. Celebrity - Being Bobby Brown, Hogan Knows Best, The Newlyweds, Strange Love, etc...

This last category has become really big lately. Every "star" who is not working on something good wants to be followed around by cameras. In fact during the Jackson trial, they had cameras follow Michael and all his family around. I've heard they are currently editing this together and shopping it around at the major networks. I have no problem with this right now, but soon at the current trend, these could get out of control really fast. Do we really want to see every star with their own "reality" show? Good gravy, no! Let's just watch the craxy ones like Bobby Brown, which is on tomorrow night on Bravo. Set your TiVos.

There are some shows that I'm not sure which category in which they fit. I invite much comment on this subject. The Simple Life and The Princes of Malibu for example. Are these really celebrities? Discuss...

Tomorrow: Hooking up on ABC

SciFi Friday is here! Hooray! Also don't miss The 4400 on Sunday.

So I can't say enough about Best Week Ever. This show is sooooo funny. If you miss it tonight right after Battlestar Galactica, it's rerun all weekend. One of my favorite jokes they've had recently was during the segment called upgrade/downgrade. The panelist comment of common themes in pop culture such as what the former Friends are doing now. Lisa Kudrow in The Comeback...downgrade. A couple weeks back the topic was new music videos. Here's what The Modern Humorist said:

Michael Colton: I hate to admit it but I really love that new Kelly Clarkson video.
John Aboud: No, that's Kelly Osborne.
Michael Colton: Oh, Downgrade!

I then sent them the following email:

Hi Modern Humorist, I wanted to thank you for making me laugh on Best Week Ever for the past year. I recently made all my friends put BWE on their TiVos. Now we laugh and laugh each weekend when we get together for brunch. My friend Matt and I have quoted the Kelly Clarkson-Kelly Osbourne-Downgrade joke repeatedly at many bars accross Seattle. Thanks again! --Daniel

This was their reply:

Joke? We don't "joke" on the show. We provide analysis and context on the week's news. We'd appreciate it if you'd stop laughing.
PS: Brunch is the best meal ever.
-C&A

Don't forget to set your TiVos for Stargate, Stargate: Atlantis, and Battlestar Gallactica tomorrow!

So if the undefeatable Superman and sixty other super heros took up shop in an orbiting space station equipped with a big energy weapon pointed down at the Earth, would you feel like the world was a safer place? That's been the storyline this season on the Justice League Unlimited on Cartoon Network. A government agency named Cadmus has gotten into a super powered arms race with the league. The cloned supergirl and created the Ultramen. These five super powered government agents looked familiar to fans of the original 70s and 80s Superfriends. The four parter season finale concludes this Saturday. If you are backed up on recent episodes of JLU, beware of the following spoilers. Recently Lex Luthor has been doing everything to discredit the league. He's made them look like authoritative despot wannabes. He hacked into their computer and set their energy weapon to destroy a government research center. Superman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, that Martian guy, and Hawkgirl turned themselves over to US custody. Batman declined incarceration but instead convinced the leader of Cadmus that Lex Luthor was the real enemy. In the gripping last seconds of the episode, the league gets released and discovers that Lex Luthor is really dead and his body had been taken over by Brainiac. Part 4 airs Saturday with the season finale (which takes place in the distant future) the following week.

The concept of Man vs. Machine has been hashed out so many times in recent history I would be very surprised if AI would ever be allowed to be developed. The Terminator and The Matrix showed a future Earth devastated by these wars. While I'm personally tired of this paradigm, especially the upcoming movie Stealth (why?), I absolutely love Battlestar Galactica. I love this show because the writing is so good. I love this show because it has good story arcs. I love this show because the characters are so compelling. There are 15 diverse characters I care about each week. Enterprise couldn't give us two. I love this show because it feels so real. The Viper pilots and fighter bays look not unlike a modern day aircraft carrier. I love this show because I love disasters. These people survived the ultimate disaster and they are still fighting for their lives. No one really knows what to do or what's going to happen to their society. I love it because just when it seemed like Adama was the one with the heavy hand, Roslin showed her ruthless side. I love it because of the modern day allegories such as terrorism and the separation of church & state. I just love it.

When last we left, Cylon spy Boomer had just tried to assassinate Commander Adama. The president was arrested for sending Kara on a secret mission against orders. Lee was arrested as well for siding with the president. Baltar, on the home planet of Kobol, was shown something by Number Six which is the meaning of all. Kara landed on Caprica and retrieves the Arrow of Apollo which is prophesized to hold the key to humanity's salvation. I can hardly wait!

This week: Attack of the Sabertooth. It's the World Premier! I've been fooled by SciFi's Saturday movie too many times so I won't be watching. These movies are so bad I'm baffled how they get made. There must be a group of people who are trying to make movies just so they can be on MST3K. Don't they know this hasn't been on since 1999? You can tell it's going to be a bad SciFi movie if the description in the TV Guide has one of these sentence fragments: "A group of scientists...", "...on a remote island...", "...a mutant creature..." If it has all three you should set your TiVo to record The Weather Channel in that time slot so there's no chance it will suggest it to you. I've sat through a half dozen this year including Hammerhead: Shark Frenzy and The Fallen Ones. I was trying to make a complete list but most aren't even in IMDB. There was one about aliens needing human blood and another about bug aliens invading and eating all the trees on the planet. I did avoid Mansquito so I'm not a total lame-o.

There was one time I tuned in for the Saturday movie and was very surprised. Riverworld was originally on two years ago but is showing again next week. It's premise is everyone that ever lived on Earth gets reincarnated on this strange planet. The main character escapes from Nero and joins up with Mark Twain. The two escape with a group of good guys down the river on a Riverboat to explore what else is out there. It was obviously set up as a pilot which was never picked up. I hoped SciFi would produce a new movie each year but that never materialized. Click here for the TiVo suggestion.