Daniel's TV Blog

Heroes is on tonight. Last week was the season premier. The arc they have set up for the season are really good so far. Some real baddies broke out of the paper company prison. Syler killed Ned the insurance agent from Groundhog Day. Nikki has a new personality and a new power. Cool! Hiro has a new nemesis and Ando gets powers. Parkmen gets sent to Africa. Mohinder and the one of the annoying twins get it on. The President of the Galaxy joins the cast as the governor of New York.

But besides the things I love, there's one lame thing and one super lame thing. Mohinder's research to add and remove power with an injection is a bit too much like The 4400. We haven't found out what the side effects are yet. But there's something so terrible about the show now. Syler cut opened Claire's brain, took her power and then she lived. He knew she was going to live. This means if he had killed her at Homecoming in the first season, she would have survived then too. So she never really needed saving. The big tagline from the first season was all unnecessary. I hate when shows throw out the past.

Last night was the something-something annual Emmy Awards. I didn't watch it as I never do. I loath award shows. The Emmys gets way out of control with the number of categories. Every year there's like two more. Did you know they have an award for best casting. How does that require skill? Wow, you did a great job watching people audition. How about best craft service table?

Like last year the big winner was cable. In fact all the major drama awards went to cable shows. 30 Rock rocked the comedy category taking home the top three awards. The only major awards CBS got were for their reality shows. I'm sure they would win if there was a category for best procedural cop show set in Miami. Otherwise they suck. Here is the list:

Drama Series: "Mad Men," AMC
Actor, Drama Series: Bryan Cranston, "Breaking Bad," AMC
Actress, Drama Series: Glenn Close, "Damages," FX
Supporting Actor, Drama Series: Zeljko Ivanek, "Damages," FX
Supporting Actress, Drama Series: Dianne Wiest, "In Treatment," HBO

Comedy Series: "30 Rock," NBC
Actor, Comedy Series: Alec Baldwin, "30 Rock," NBC
Actress, Comedy Series: Tina Fey, "30 Rock," NBC
Supporting Actor, Comedy Series: Jeremy Piven, "Entourage," HBO
Supporting Actress, Comedy Series: Jean Smart, "Samantha Who?," ABC

Reality Competition Program: "The Amazing Race", CBS
Host for a Reality or Reality Competition Program: Jeff Probst, "Survivor", CBS

I think Mad Men deserved it because they award based on one episode, not the entire season. The pilot was the nominated episode at that was one of the best hours of television last year. The show can't really hold up because it is a one joke premise: "look how dumb we were 48 years ago." 30 Rock is the funniest show on television and I'm glad other people think so.

I would also like to make a special congratulation for Pushing Daisies first minor Emmy. They won for Best Musical Composition for the episode "Pigeon". That's they episode where they starting singing "Birdhouse in Your Soul" while driving to the windmill farm. It was wonderful. Watch it here:

Labels: Emmy

The new Fall Season officially starts tomorrow. FOX and the CW have already premiered many of their shows, they aren't real networks. Where's your 10:00 programming? Fakers! For those of you who have only one TiVo or a single tuner DVR, here is my suggestion for your Fall 2008 season passes.

Sunday
8:00 Fox The Simpsons
8:30 Fox King of the Hill
9:00 Fox Family Guy
9:30 Fox American Dad
10:00 ABC Brothers and Sisters

Monday
8:00 NBC Chuck
9:00 NBC Heroes
10:00 ABC Boston Legal

Tuesday
8:00 CW 90210
9:00 FOX Fringe
10:00 ABC Eli Stone

Wednesday
8:00 ABC Pushing Daisies
9:00 Give your TiVo a Break
10:00 ABC Dirty Sexy Money

Thursday
8:00 ABC Ugly Betty
9:30 NBC 30 Rock
10:00 ABC Life on Mars

Friday
8:00 CBS Ghost Whisperer
9:00 Give your Tivo a Break
10:00 NBC Life

So just set it for ABC every night at 10:00, except Friday/\.

Labels: fall 2008

Even with the writer's strike anomaly last year, there are not that many shows returning for a second year. Here the list plus what I said about them.

The Big Bang Theory
May: It's Beauty and the Geek in sitcom form. It's got a great time slot but The Class didn't do well last time.
September: TiVo gave me the pilot on-demand somehow. It looks good but there are other things in this time slot so this gets the ax.
Now: I didn't get to watch the whole season because of conflicts but I like what I saw. I hope to see more this year or maybe watch some online. CBS.com had a really bad server so it was hard. Maybe they have updated it.

Gossip Girl
May: Another teen drama about some elite prep school kids whose life keeps getting documented on the Internet by a mysterious blogger named "Gossip Girl". This looks like it could be good. VMVO is the voice of Gossip Girl.
September: It's The OC in NY. Who is the Gossip Girl who blogs about her fellow students at this exclusive Upper East Side prep school? I want to know!
Now: I dropped this show after three episodes. Don't these kids have parents? Seriously.

Pushing Daisies
May: This show seems quite strange. This guy can bring people back to life so he uses his power to solve crimes. But if he touches the same person a second time, they die again.
Sept: This has been getting lots of buzz. The premise sounds great: a pie maker has the ability to bring people back from the dead with a touch. But a second touch sends them back to the great beyond. The Principal from Boston Public plays a detective who the pie dude helps solve the murder of the people he brings back from the dead. The love story between him and a girl he brings back from the dead but can't touch already sounds tiring.
Now: This was my FAVORITE show of the season. The quirkiness and the random singing made this show a top pick. I love all the characters and the brightly colored world they live in. I can't wait for more and I can't wait to watch it in HD.

Private Practice
May: The highly anticipated spin-off to Grey's Anatomy.
Sept: It's the most anticipated new show of the season. I'm not watching it but I think it will be very successful. I think it will outshine Grey's Anatomy.
Now: Didn't watch it. Don't plan to.

Dirty Sexy Money
May: Finally we've got a possible replacement for Dynasty/Dallas. This rich family drama is from the point of view of their new lawyer.
Sept: Finally a nighttime soap about the super-rich. The Carrington's were the richest family in Colorado, but this family is a super-rich Manhattan family. I like the idea of the show being from the point of view of the new family lawyer.
Now: I loved it. I can't wait for more.

Chuck
May: A computer hacker accidentally gets all kinds of government secrets downloaded into his brain and becomes a new secret agent. The best news: super hot Adam Baldwin is co-starring as the military contact. I can never get enough of him.
Sept: A nerd who works at a Best Buy type store gets all the government secrets downloaded into his brain and becomes a reluctant secret agent. Plus super hot Adam Baldwin from Firefly costars. This is my number one choice for the fall.
Now: It started slow but really pick up and I can't wait for more. I love the back story with the dead/not dead roommate and Chuck's near miss at the CIA while in college.

Life
May: A cop drama with the main detective just having got out of jail after getting acquitted. Sounds interesting but I don't watch too many cop shows.
Sept: I may drop this show after a few episodes. I'm not one for the standard police procedural but this has a good mystery behind it. The main character was frame for murder and spent 11 years in jail. Now in addition to the case of the week, he is also working on finding out who framed him in the first place.
Now: I watched the whole season in a weekend (it was shortened by the strike). I was impressed with it. They tied up one of the main mysteries by the end of the season. Plus how many hot red-head cops are on TV? Who says there is no Life on TV on Fridays.

Lipstick Jungle
May: It's the old smart-women-in-a-fashion-magazine show again. But this time it's a drama and more Sex and the City. We had enough of these in the 90's. The good news: Kim Raver is starring. The bad news: Kim Raver is starring which means she won't be on 24 next season either.
Sept: I didn't comment since it was moved to mid season
Now: I still don't plan to watch it but I like Brooke Shield's on Runway this season.

Reaper
May: A guy becomes a bounty hunter for Satan because his parent's sold his soul when he was a baby. The killer from Twin Peaks plays Satan.
Sept: This sounds like lots of fun. That guy from The Loop finds out he was sold to the devil by his parents as a baby. The devil is played by Laura Palmer's father/murderer. Now the guy is 21 and has to become the devil's bounty hunter. It's a great action/sci-fi/comedy!
Now: I wasn't expecting much from this and it delivered with some really great arcs and surprises. Is Sam's dad a demon or is the devil really his dad? I want to know? It's not coming back until mid-season

Mid-Season shows
Eli Stone - This was great. I love quirky lawyer shows. I missed a few due to TiVo priorities. I think I'll get the DVDs to catch up.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles - It's the terminator of the week show.

Congratulations to all sophomore shows!

Labels: fall 2008

I have finally caught up on the AMC critically acclaimed show Mad Men. This is the show with the most Emmy Nominations for a drama this year. (30 Rock got more, yay!) It also has gotten the most hype of any summer show despite the fact that Burn Notice gets the highest ratings. After watching all of season one and season two to date, I’m not impressed. This is a one joke show: “Look how stupid we were in the 60’s.” It gets old. People are constantly smoking, constantly drinking, constantly driving without seat belts, and sometimes smoking, drinking, and driving without a seatbelt. The most interesting story was the mystery of Don/Dick. The main character is Don Draper stole the identity of his dead commanding officer while on a mission in Korea. His real name is Dick. It was a cool mystery that kind of fizzled out and then the secret came out and nobody cared.

Sometime I think this show might just be a way to add the least offensive product placement into a show ever. American Airlines, Clearasil, and Maidenform all got huge exposure this season. A lot of the cable shows are really selling out to product placement. I'm not complaining, I like it. It can add to the humor with the guys from Psych go to Red Robin for lunch with the restaurant name EVERYWHERE. Eureka's big sponsor is Degree for men. I think they wrote an entire episode about this. They did a groundhog day story and the sheriff was constantly waking up and putting on his Degree for men every time the time loop repeated. It looked like Burn Notice was doing a big car placement with Audi or something but they dropped that early in the season.

Labels: Mad Men, Product Placement

I'm totally not ready for the new season. My TiVo is ready. Right now there is only three episodes of Days of Our Lives, the most recent Project Runway, and the final episode of Starter Wife which I've already watched half of. But the new season is flying off the shelf and I have been delinquent in blogging about it. FOX broke 2008 fall season’s cherry with the debut of the fourth season of Prison Break. The setup for the new season was quick: Scofield has put together his crack commando unit to steal the secrets from the mysterious “Company.” Those are the same folks who killed his dad and the vice-president and framed Lincoln (who is looking hotter than ever). Included on his list are Lincoln (of course), former cell-mate and baby daddy Sucre, the former FBI bad guy, the former prison guard bad guy, and the former dead doctor Sarah. It looks like its going to be a good season and I’m going to overlook the fact that Scofield was let out on bail before he decided to go along with the FBI’s plan. Seriously? He escaped from jail! There’s no arraignment, no trial, and no bail. He would have one directly back to jail. The best thing: laser tattoo removal. No more long sleeves in the tropics for Scofield.

Also debuting this weekend was 90210. I somehow completely missed this but luckily it will be on again tonight on The CW. In all fairness the CW also tied FOX's cherry breaking debut with Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill. I guess this season was double penetrated like an Alaskan teen.

Labels: 90210, Prison Break