Daniel's TV Blog

The new shows are still trickeling out.  Here's how the rest of the fall is shaping up.

Wednesday 2014-10-22
100 (CW) - Last season was really good.  Now we needs to know who is the real bad guys is, the Grounders, the Mountain Men, or maybe the Arkers.

Friday 2014-10-24
Constantine (NBC) - Originally I wasn't going to watch this because it is clone of Supernatural, it has been getting a lot of nerd buzz so I will give it a try.

Grimm (NBC) - Nick lost his abilities as a Grimm.  How will the new season play out?

Thursday 2013-10-30
Millers (CBS) - I didn't watch the first season but now that Sean Hayes is joining the cast I'll be adding this to my watch list.

Two and a Half Men (CBS) - Jon Cryer and Ashton Kutcher's characters are getting married even though the are straight.  This might be an interesting season but I probably still won't watch it.

McCarthys (CBS) - This new comedy about a close family with a gay brother looks pretty good.  I'll be watching this.

Elementary (CBS) - I enjoyed the Mycroft story arc last season.  This show has been consistently good so I look forward to a third season.

Monday 2014-11-17
State Of Affairs (NBC) - Katherine Heigl returns to TV as a CIA analyst attached to the White House.  This is still a bit away so I can still decide if I want to watch this.

Monday 2014-11-24
Ascension (Syfy) - This new Syfy show looks compelling.  A large generation ship was launched into interstellar space 50 years ago and now in 2014 they are half way to their destination.  I'm hopeful this will be good.

Labels: Fall 2014

A while back a friend of mine who hasn't watch The Simpsons since the 90s asked me for a list of the best recent episodes.  We are two episodes into Season 26.  Here's the best ones over the previous 10 seasons.  Only one is airing on FXX any time soon.  The will be running lots of Treehouse of Horrors in the next three weeks.

Season 16
All's Fair In Oven War
What's it about: Marge enters cooking competition
Why I love it:  Well the title alone is genius.  The other competitors are so completely over the top mean to Marge you want to see them all fail.  Then there is the fact that the kids don't age during the two year kitchen renovation.
This episode is on FXX on Friday 10/24

Season 17
The Seemingly Never-Ending Story
What's it about: Homer gets wedged in a cave and the family tells stories.
Why I love it: The story is very well integrated and incredibly well written.  Also the cave they visit is called Carl's Dad's Cavern.  That joke alone is worth watching the entire episode.

Season 18
The Haw-Hawed Couple
What's it about: Bart becomes friends with Nelson
Why I love it: The final joke alone is worth it.  But also it is the introduction of the Harry Potter spoof book series Angelica Button.

Springfield Up
What's it about: A documentarian returns to Springfield every seven years.
Why I love it: Burn's lake house and the back story of Crazy Cat Lady

Any Given Sundance
What's it about: Lisa makes a film about the family and submits it to Sundance
Why I love it: Homer's Shia LaBeouf wig, Skinner's other films, and the joke that there should only be one Simpsons film.

Season 19
Smoke on the Daughter
What's it about: Lisa becomes a ballerina and a second-hand smoker
Why I love it: The final Angelica Button book has the best title ever: Angelica Button and the Deadly Denouement.  Also Chazz Busby.

Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind
What's it about: Homer forgets what he did the night before and get suicidal
Why I love it: It's a very complicated story with great writing.

That 90's Show
What's it about: When Marge and Homer were dating, Homer was in a grunge band called Sadgasm
Why I love it: The constantly changing history of the family always amuses me.

Season 20
Gone Maggie Gone
What's it about: Homer needs to find Maggie before Marge knows she missing
Why I love it: It's a bizarre spoof of puzzle movies like The Da Vinci Code.  I love things that are different.

Season 22
Angry Dad: The Movie
What's it about: Bart's short film about Homer gets nominated for an Oscar.
Why I love it: Lots and lots of movie and Oscar jokes.

500 Keys
What's it about: The family finds keys to every door in the city
Why I love it: Everyone has their own different adventure with the keys.

Flaming Moe
What's it about: Moe's Tavern transforms into a gay bar called Mo.
Why I love it: It's the third best gay episode.

Season 23
Holidays of Future Passed
What's it about: In the future, the kids and their future families return to Springfield for Christmas.
Why I love it: This is the best future episode and the best Christmas episode.  Homer is a much better grandfather than he is a father.

A Totally Fun Thing That Bart Will Never Do Again
What's it about: The family goes on a cruise.
Why I love it: The cruise devolves into a post-apoc landscape.

Season 24
The Day The Earth Stood Cool
What's it about: Homer becomes a hipster
Why I love it: Homer becomes a hipster

Dark Knight Court
What's it about: Burns becomes a crime fighting super hero
Why I love it: He's Fruitbat Man and Smithers pays Homer to masquerade as a villain so Burns can catch him over and over again.

The Saga of Carl
What's it about: Carl goes home to Iceland
Why I love it: Wait what? Carl is from Iceland?

Season 25
Steal This Episode
What's it about: Homer shows pirated movies in the back yard.
Why I love it: Lots of guest stars and great jokes about piracy.

Brick Like Me
What's it about: Homer has a Lego fantasy dream
Why I love it: A great father daughter story with more than half the episode made from Lego bricks.

I'm going to switch to The Last Word With Lawrence O'Donnell for a while.

There's a handful of new and returning shows this week.

Sunday 2014-10-12
Affair (Showtime) - Well I don't have showtime so I guess I'm not watching this

Walking Dead (AMC) - Yay, new season.  Are the people in Terminus cannibals?  We will find out tonight.

Monday 2014-10-13
Jane The Virgin (CW) - Why does CW keep trying to make comedies.  This comedy about a virgin impregnated by technology sounds awful.  However it does point out how unmiraculous the Virgin Mary myth is.

Tuesday 2014-10-14
Marry Me (NBC) - This is my top new comedy I have been looking forward to this year.  It has two of my favorites Casey Wilson and Ken Marino as the leads in this RomComSitCom.  It is also was created by the creator of Happy Endings.  I will happily watch it.

Wednesday 2014-10-15
Things You Shouldn’t Say Past Midnight (DirecTV) - This is a comedy I don't know much about.  It's about dating or something.

Labels: Fall 2014

Watch the entire clip and read Sam Harris' work. Then you might re-evaluate your opinion. Just because the ugliest of extreme right hates Islam doesn't mean liberals should defend it. Sam is right that "Islam is the mother lode of bad ideas." Moderate Christians believe that marriage equality is ok. Moderate Muslims believe it's ok for others to kill apostates. The two religions are not equivalent.

The new shows are continuing this week.  Here's what's debuting and returning.

Sunday 2014-10-05
Bob’s Burgers (Fox) - This show has finally hit the popularity it deserves.  My favorite recurring joke is Tina's love for zombies.  "They're dangerous, but I love their swagger"

Mulaney (Fox) - I've seen John Mulaney's stand-up and he's hilarious.  Nasim Pedrad is the costar and I love her.

Tuesday 2014-10-07
Flash (CW) - I watched the leaked pilot and this show looks great.  Unlike Arrow, this show will have meta-humans including Wentworth Miller as my favorite Flash adversary Captain Cold.

Supernatural (CW) - I'm glad Crowley is a full cast member this season.  I'm looking forward to Demon Dean also.

Wednesday 2014-10-08
American Horror Story (FX) - As much as I loved last season, the Freak Show really freaks me out.  I just can't watch this season.

Arrow (CW) - I hope we see more of Amanda Waller.  She's my favorite DC non-villain villain.

Kingdom (DirecTV) - This is Nick Jonas' new show about MMA.  I want to give this a try for the eye candy.

Star Wars Rebels (DXD) - Yay and new Star Wars show!  This is about the time between episode 3 and episode 4.

Friday 2014-10-10
Cristela (ABC) - I'm not that excited about this new comedy but I'm happy to see more diversity in sitcoms.