Daniel's TV Blog

Just read through the fall tv preview issue of #EW

2011-09-05T14:32:00.001-07:00

Their top five new shows: Person of Interest, Homeland, Up All Night, 2 Broke Girls, and American Horror Story. I'll watch all but Homeland as it is on Showtime.

Just watched last night's #ChelseaLately. @HelloRoss is the best guest host. Can't wait until he has a show.

2011-08-23T11:37:00.001-07:00

Watching #JerseyShore. Yes.

2011-08-12T14:55:00.001-07:00

Summer finale of #whitecollar.

2011-08-10T18:28:00.001-07:00

So happy to be watching #phineasandferb the movie!

2011-08-05T20:32:00.001-07:00

#Torchwood is the best thing on TV right now. Soon the families will rise.

2011-07-29T20:52:00.001-07:00

Watching a #BobsBurgers repeat. Burn Unit and Food Court. Great episode.

2011-07-28T20:00:00.001-07:00

Catching up on #Eureka. Fun show.

2011-07-28T19:41:00.001-07:00

Just watched this week's #childrenshospital. Not. On. My. Watch.

2011-07-16T14:51:00.001-07:00

I love the new season of #torchwood. Really great first episode.

2011-07-10T20:53:00.001-07:00

It was totally worth ordering Starz. The story is compelling. I can't wait to see where it goes from here.

I love #childrenshospital. Happy New Year, more like unhappy New Year.

2011-07-07T21:51:00.001-07:00

Just watched #happilydivorced. Appletinis for everyone!

2011-07-07T17:09:00.001-07:00

Watching #outcasts on BBCAmerica.

2011-07-07T15:41:00.001-07:00

Watching #whitecollar.

2011-07-07T10:03:00.001-07:00

Just watched #flippingout. Bring on another season of crazy!

2011-07-06T22:57:00.001-07:00

Watching #ChelseaLately. @HelloRoss and Reave Me Arone = Great episode.

2011-07-06T09:15:00.001-07:00

Just watched #trueblood. Sexiness.

2011-07-05T15:20:00.001-07:00

Rewatching a great #parksandrecreation. Harvest Festival? More like Harvest Bestival!

2011-07-03T15:22:00.001-07:00

Watching #celebrityrehab with @happyfunmatt

2011-07-02T15:36:00.001-07:00

Bottled water is linked to bisexuality.

Just watched #Wilfred. Look a pelican!

2011-07-02T10:36:00.001-07:00

#thesoup and #fashionpolice: the best thing about Saturday morning.

2011-07-02T08:23:00.001-07:00

I love #childrenshospital. In Brazil now and always!

2011-07-01T13:54:00.001-07:00

What is #burnnotice? It's what I'm watching.

2011-06-30T21:48:00.001-07:00

New #futurama!

2011-06-30T21:00:00.001-07:00

Parade Day Parade!

It's a Mozzie episode on #whitecollar

2011-06-30T14:16:00.001-07:00

Watching #covertaffairs

2011-06-30T11:52:00.001-07:00

Auggie is sexy.

Watching #throughthewormhole

2011-06-29T23:35:00.001-07:00

With Morgan Freeman. String theory says there are 9 dimensions. My brain hurts.

Yes I watch #toddlersandtiaras

2011-06-29T21:48:00.001-07:00

I love crazy moms.

Watching #ChelseaLately

2011-06-29T21:12:00.001-07:00

Catching up on #Franklinandbash

2011-06-28T17:07:00.001-07:00

Three episodes behind and a new one on the way.

Watching Last Night's #thedailyshow

2011-06-28T15:28:00.001-07:00

NY marriage equality and Jennifer Aniston!

Now on Twitter!

2011-06-25T18:12:00.000-07:00

You can now follow me on twitter at @DanielsTVBlog

The New 2010 Shows Getting a Second Season

2011-05-24T13:41:00.000-07:00

Not many new shows got renewed this season. But here they are what I thought about them before and what I think now.

Blue Bloods
What I said last May: New York cop family with Magnum PI, blah, blah, blah.
What I said last fall: Yet another New York cop show. And this one is about a family of cops. Let me guess there's a bad brother out there they have to consider covering up. Snore....
What I say now: I can't believe this survived. The pilot was laughed at for having the most obvious exposition ever. So, whatever...

Mike And Molly
What I said last May: A couple of fatties meet and fall in love at an Overeaters Annoymous group. Get this cancelled already and bring Big Bang Theory back to Monday.
What I said last fall: Fat love. I don't care.
What I say now: How the hell did this become the #1 new comedy. I've not watched it but Friend of DtvB Matt says the writting is aweful. So, whatever...

Hawaii Five-O
What I said last May: Super hot and sexy cast include Jin from LOST and Sharon from Battlestar Gallactica shot on location in Hawaii. With Jean smart as the governor of Hawaii! I so super excited!
What I said last fall: I'm most excited about this series reboot. The original lasted for 279 episodes. This is said to be a very contemporary version and not a remake. I don't remember much from the original except for the opening sequence. I like Hawaii and all of the actors especially Jean Smart. It is going to be great!
What I say now: Week after week of international terrorism in Honolulu got real tiresome. And too often they would "stumble on" to a murder. How many times have you stumbled across a dead body? They do it all the time. Also they killed Jean Smart. I won't be watching this next season.

Raising Hope
What I said last May: A family comedy about a unexpected new baby arrival in a very dysfunctional home. With guest star Cloris Leachman. Fox comedies always fail so don't get too attached.
What I said last fall: The creator of My Name is Earl is back with a dysfunctional family raising a baby that showed up unexpectedly. If it's anything like Earl, it will be very funny.
What I say now: This show is hilarious. It comes down to great characters masterfully played by great actors. I'm kinda sick of the girl with the duchey college boyfriend. It's time for them to break up already or give Jimmy a new love interest.

Nikita
What I said last May: A sexy spy thriller with Nikita being hunted by her former agency. Sexy but no.
What I said last fall: This started this week. I caught the pilot and it was OK. I just don't see any long term potential. How long can you spend taking down a corrupt agency?
What I say now: The pilot episode failed to interest me.

Body Of Proof
What I said last May: Dana Delany and Seven of Nine in a procedural about a medical examiner. Sounds like a good show, too bad they are burying it on Friday nights.
What I said last fall: I love Dana Delany and I like the idea of a Quincy like medical examiner solving crimes. They don't have much faith in it by putting it on Friday.
What I say now: This was moved to mid season and Tuesday. I really like the showed but I haven't watched the finale yet. For crime procedural I put this up there with Castle.

Then of course there were a couple of mid-seasons: Harry's Law and Happy Endings. I watch and enjoy both of them.

The CW New Fall 2011 Show

2011-05-24T12:59:00.000-07:00

I'm down to just one CW show with Supernatural, which had a great an unexpected finale last week. Only Ringer is on my watch list for the fall.

Ringer
Sarah Michelle Geller is back on TV an on the lamb after seeing a murder. She steals the identity of her twin sister but her life is kinda outta control as well. Yay!

Hart of Dixie
This looks a lot like Northern Exposure except going south and with a lady doctor. Rachel Bilson is a New York doctor who takes over the practice in a small gulf coast town in Alabama. I do like Rachel Bilson

H8R
A new reality show where celebrities and people who hate them compete in chalenges. I think they will get only the worst D-Listers for this disaster

The Secret Circle
An orphaned teenager moves in with her grandmother in a small northwest town and discovers everyone their is a witch.

CBS New Fall 2011 Shows

2011-05-20T13:55:00.000-07:00

I haven't watched the previews for the news CBS shows. I wanted to but in order to see them you have to create a log in account on cbs.com. I see no point in doing that as I watch very few CBS shows: HIMYM and Big Bang Theory. I watch Amazing Race when I remember to add it to my DVR. Why do they have to change the title every season? It's retarded. So here's my take from the press release:

2 BROKE GIRLS
Two friends and coworkers scheme to make more money while waitressing It's on after HIMYM but I probably won't give this a chance.

UNFORGETTABLE
A lady detective with 100% perfect recall memory, except for the one thing she really wants to remember: her sister's murder. I'm falling asleep just typing about this.

HOW TO BE A GENTLEMAN
This looks like a modern day Odd Couple with a writer and a personal trainer working together to improve each others live or something.

PERSON OF INTEREST
This is the only show that kind of appeals to me as it stars Lost's Michael Emerson as part of a crime fighting duo. He uses advanced software to figure out crimes before they take place. Never mind, this sounds stupid.

A GIFTED MAN
A doctors starts seeing and talking to the ghost of his dead ex-wife and she tries to help him be a better person. Oh my this sounds bad.

ABC New Fall 2011 Shows

2011-05-19T15:23:00.000-07:00

Charlie's Angels
I was so ready to hate this show but the preview looks great. Like really great. Bad girls are recruited to be a team of problem solving PIs working for unseen Charlie in sultry Miami. I can't wait.

Pan Am
This is one of the most anticipated shows of the fall. The escapades of pilots and flight attendance at the dawn of the jet age. I think this will be a big winner, for the first season at least. Let's see how it holds up year after year.

Once Upon A Time
This one is a bit confusing. Townsfolk in a mysterious New England town are actually fairy tale characters and they don't even know it. Or something like that.

Last Name Standing
Tim Allen is back as a dad living in the women's world of his wife and daughters. I'm not a big Tim Allen fan so I'll skip it. Also it just seems like we've seen this before.

Man UP
Three best friends deal with life and relationships and play lots of Call Of Duty together. This could be good.

Suburgatory
A teenage girl and her single father move from Manhattan to a suburban nightmare. She is literally to cool for this school. Angsty teen comedies never last but maybe this will.

Revenge
There's a new girl in town at the Hamptons and she's pissed. And killing people so some reason. Rich people getting what's coming to them, always a good time.

FOX New Fall 2011 Shows

2011-05-18T21:49:00.000-07:00

Five new shows on FOX this fall. However FOX does not allow me to embed any of their videos. Lame.

Allen Gregory
It's a new animated comedy about a 2nd grader who acts like a middle aged business man. Also he has two dads and he's in love with his principal. This looks like a great addition to Animation Domination.

Terra Nova
This is getting lots of good buzz. I'm going to lower my exceptions but keep things hopeful for the new dinosaur adventure. Yay, dinosaurs!

New Girl
Zooey Deschanel moves in with three male roommates and they all become great friends. I hope this is good.

X-Factor
The show that brought us Susan Boyle in the UK is finally in the US with Simon. Do we really need another reality singing competition? Apparently yes.

I Hate My Teenage Daughter
The wonderful Jamie Presley returns in this mother-daughter comedy It should be good.

NBC New Fall 2011 Shows

2011-05-17T17:50:00.000-07:00

Like Bender, I'm back baby. The new fall schedules are coming out this week and here's my take.

Playboy Club
So the problem with Mad Men, is it sucks. No one likes to point this out, but it's true. The actors are great, the setting is cool, but the story lines suck. I stopped watching it after season 2 and the rating are terrible, there's no reason it should be on TV. However, The Playboy Club would never have come into existence without it. And this show looks great. It's my number one pick for the fall season, and not just because Eddie Cibrian is dreamy.

Up All Night
This has the dream cast of the season: Christina Applegate, Maya Rudolph, and Will Arnett as hard partying parents. This is a MUST watch.

Whitney
NBC has not had a hit multi-camera sitcom in years. I'm hoping Whitney will change that. I was laughing hard during the 4 minute preview and I love Whitney Cummings' stand-up.

Free Agents
This show seems to be inappropriate in the workplace for the sake of being inappropriate in the workplace. The trailer did not make me interested in the story or the characters.

Prime Suspect
This procedural stars a female detective in a male dominated department. It seems kind of retro sexist and I don't know how realistic this is in 2011.

Grimm
Oh my this looks bad. I'm all for another good supernatural cop show but really, the Grimm fairytales as true cautionary tales? This won't make it to the World Series.

More soon...

My New Favorite Commerical

2010-11-14T16:53:00.000-08:00

The Real Housewives of SNL

2010-11-05T14:38:00.000-07:00

Mya Rudolph talking about the wheeve just kills me.

Favorite Commercials

2010-11-04T16:51:00.000-07:00

Butterfinger Snackerz. I think you won't:

DirecTV. Opulence, I has it:

Halloween Episodes

2010-11-02T16:45:00.001-07:00

The Halloween episodes this season were some of the best ever.

For new shows it was Raising Hope which had a Halloween winner. Of course Cloris Leachman is beyond funny in the show and especially this episodes where she thinks she is an eight year old girl. But unlike other show, the characters had costumes which looked like they were made by real people not professional Hollywood costumers. Modern Family had a wonderful family haunted house following a great caper where Mitchell went to work as Spiderman and had to climb out the window. Cougar Town, one of my favorite shows, had three of the characters dress up as other character. The Office had another great Halloween episode with some great costumes and a wonderful group insanity over the $15K coupon book. I'm getting to enjoy Outsourced more and more and their Holloween episode played on the culture clash the show seems to be based around.

But by far the funniest episode was Community. This was not only a great Halloween episode it might have been the best episode they have had. Besides the hilarious zombie story, there was so much to love: Shirley's costume, Sr. Chang's costume, Troy and Abed's matching costume, the dean's costume. Also the Abba soundtrack was delightfully quirky behind the scariness of a zombie attack. It was just a perfect episode.

But wait, the Simpsons Halloween isn't until next week still. I hate Baseball.

Summer in Review: Cable Shows

2010-09-18T16:00:00.000-07:00

The networks are incapable of launching a summer series. NBC tried again this year with Persons Unknown, but they moved nights and just stopped running some of them. I decided not to catch up on Hulu and gave up on the show like most people. But the cable networks do a much better job of launching and successfully running summer shows. The best thing about these shows is you can start watching one of these shows knowing full well there will be at least one season and the show will be on the same night each week throughout the summer.

First up is True Blood on HBO. This is the best summer show and this season was great. There were lots of vampire deaths this season, much more that I ever expected. This season started all about the werewolves and ended with the true nature of Sookie's heritage. Sookie and Vampure Bill broke up just like in the novels, but not for the same reasons. I wonder if she will end up with Vampire Eric. They seemed to imply that next season is going to be about witches and witchcraft as they have added two minor characters that are witches.

One of my favorite cable shows ran a half season on USA: Burn Notice. This season had a great addition of Jesse, another burned spy. However the "big bad" this time was less defined other than previous seasons. Also the secret that Michael burned Jesse was a little contrived. Logically anyone would understand that Michael didn't know the fall out of his mission into the CIA office in Miami. Plus the CIA burned Jesse rather abruptly with very little evidence. I didn't really buy it. But their stand alone stories were as good as ever. This show always delivers.

Also on USA is Psych, the funniest detective show on TV. Richard from LOST joined the cast as a recurring character: a super-smart super rich fake FBI profiler who immediately figure out Shawn was a fake psychic. I hope we see more of him when season 5 resumes. in November.

After Pysch was the new show Covert Affairs. I can't image the new JJ Abrams spy show this fall could be better than this one. Agent Walker is a great character and it has been great watching her as a new spy. Plus the season arc of her ex-lover/rouge spy has been fascinating. The finale was last Tuesday but it is still on my DVR.

Over on TNT (the know drama) is Leverage. My friend Bill calls it Average. I still enjoy it. This time they tried to have a season arc with a big target fell a little flat this season. They didn't even talk about it until the last episode. Regardless the show is enjoyable. Also it is filmed in Portland so it has a look like no other on TV right now.

On A&E is The Glades, a police drama set in Florida. This show has a unique feel as rather than a homicide team, it is a detective and a medical examiner working together on cases. Plus the main character is hot.

And finally the only comedy: Louis, created by and starring Louis CK. This show is really funny. My favorite moment was when Louis and the mom of one of his daughter's classmates are sitting at the playground talking dirty. Saying this like, "I bet you'd want that guy over there to bunch up his sack and put it in your puss." While they were discussing the dynamics of how one does they, his daughter comes up and asks for carrots and they effortlessly slip back into mom and dad mode. It is very funny and wonderfully unique.

Summer in Review: SyFy Channel

2010-09-17T14:07:00.000-07:00

SyFy channel had three original series this summer: Eureka, Haven, and Warehouse 13. Haven is still running, although I don't know if anyone is watching it. That is a rather standard strangeness/monster/mutant of the week. It kind of lost me last when it was revealed that lots of people knew about the main FBI agent's mother and just decided not to tell her about it all season. It was the worst way of dragging out the season arc mystery ever. It just makes most of the town looks like jerks. And that's all I'm going to say about Haven, except don't watch it.

Eureka was really good this season. It started with a big game-changer premise where five of the characters were sent back in time to 1947 and return with Baltar and lots of changes in the town. It is suggested that the kid with autism sent everyone back in time on purpose so they would change things enough so he wouldn't be autistic anymore. The best story is the love story gone wrong between Zane and Jo. Just before Jo went into the past, Zane proposed. When they returned, they had never dated in the changed time-line. Over the season, Zane figures out that Jo is into him and kisses her in the season finale. Zane, played by Niall Matter, is currently the hottest guy on SyFy, in my opinion. The addition of Baltar to the cast as the 1947 scientist now in 2010 was the best thing about the season. When the show started Sheriff Carter was the everyguy/outsider that the other characters would explain things to as a way to explain things to the audience. He's become so much of an insider to Eureka, having a new outsider was important. And James Callis does such a good job with his 40's accent I didn't even recognize him of BSG until his second episode.

But my favorite SyFy show is Warehouse 13. The second part of the finale is on Tuesday. The second season has gone deeper into the Warehouse mythology with the unexpected return of Warehouse 2 which had been buried outside Alexandria prior to the invasion of Egypt by the Romans. They also added two new recurring characters this season: Lindsay Wagner as the Warehouse doctor, and the unfrozen H.G. Wells who had been an agent of Warehouse 12. But there's a twist: HG is Helana, a woman! I like her character a lot. We don't know if we can trust her or not. After the end of part one on Tuesday, it looks like we can't trust her. But that might mean she will turn out to be good all along. But is Artie bad? Did he uncover Warehouse 2 so some nefarious purpose? I'm excited about the ending. This is my favorite summer show.

New Fall 2010 Shows I'm Not Watching

2010-09-12T10:11:00.000-07:00

There's always a bunch of shows I decide not to watch even before they air.

My Generation
It looks like a reality show but it's not. This won't make it to Thanksgiving. ABC Thursday 9/23

Detroit 1-8-7
Homicide detectives in Detroit. I can't think of city I care about less. ABC Tuesday 9/21

Law & Order: LA
I don't watch any of the existing Law & Orders so why would I start now. NBC Wednesday 9/29

Undercovers
Sorry JJ Abrams. I think when his name is attached I'm less likely to watch the show. Also there are enough spy shows on TV right now. NBC Wednesday 9/22

Outlaw
As much as I like Jimmy Smits, I can't sign on to the absurd premise that a supreme court justice would resign to become a defense attorney. No. NBC Wednesday 9/15

Hellcats
Oops I missed the pilot this week. Although I do like the idea of Bring It On the series. No wait, I never saw Bring It On. CW Wednesday

Blue Bloods
Yet another New York cop show. And this one is about a family of cops. Let me guess there's a bad brother out there they have to consider covering up. Snore.... CBS Friday 9/24

Mike And Molly
Fat love. I don't care. CBS Monday 9/20

New Fall 2010 Shows

2010-09-11T19:23:00.000-07:00

The New Fall Season is starting in just over a week. Here are the new shows that I'm going to be watching.

Hawaii Five-O
I'm most excited about this series reboot. The original lasted for 279 episodes. This is said to be a very contemporary version and not a remake. I don't remember much from the original except for the opening sequence. I like Hawaii and all of the actors especially Jean Smart. It is going to be great! CBS Monday 9/20

The Event
The creator has spent over four years developing the pilot and the overall arc of the series. He is also a huge fan of the great recent serials: LOST, 24, and Battlestar Galactica. Hopefully NBC won't fuck this up. They have never done a successful serial. They came close with Heroes but after the first season is totally deteriorated. I think by the end there were three differing reasons why people got powers. Having one producer with a vision that NBC seems to have bought into could lead to one great show. NBC Monday 9/20

Lone Star
Monday is going to be a busy night. Lone Star is about a con man working a long con on a family business and things get complicated. Really good buzz makes me want to watch this one. Fox Monday 9/20

Running Wild
GOB as a spoiled trust fund baby now living with his idealistic childhood sweetheart. From some of the people who worked on Arrested Development means it will be awesomely funny. Fox Tuesday 9/21

Raising Hope
The creator of My Name is Earl is back with a dysfunctional family raising a baby that showed up unexpectedly. If it's anything like Earl, it will be very funny. Fox Tuesday 9/21

Outsourced
NBC hasn't failed with a Thursday comedy in a long time so I don't think they will blow it this time. Here an American moves to India to run a call center with a much of misfit employees. NBC Thursday 9/23

Shit My Dad Says
They created a whole Twitter presence in preparation for this show. They had me at William Shatner. It's about time he did a sitcom. He was so funny on Boston Legal. CBS Thursday 9/23

These are shows I might be watching, I haven't decided yet.
Nikita
This started this week. I caught the pilot and it was OK. I just don't see any long term potential. How long can you spend taking down a corrupt agency? CW Tuesday

Chase
Looks good and I love a good chase show. It might just be a bit of Monday overload. NBC Monday 9/20

The Defenders
With Jerry O'Connell, this looks like the best of the new lawyer shows this fall. Plus it takes place in Las Vegas. CBS Wednesday 9/22

Body Of Proof
I love Dana Delany and I like the idea of a Quincy like medical examiner solving crimes. They don't have much faith in it by putting it on Friday. ABC Friday unknown

No Ordinary Family
I read recently that in addition to a weekly stand alone story, there is an complicated back story. I'm still deciding. ABC Tuesday 9/28

Summer Reality Wrap-Up and Fall Preview

2010-09-07T20:01:00.000-07:00

I cannot get enough of the Jersey Shore. I think every episode has been about "The Note". Talking about the note, writing the note, delivering the note, finding the note, confronting people about the note, and finally getting into a big girl fight about the note. The best thing is Sami is still with the NPD Ronny. I love it!

I'm also enjoying Bachelor Pad. This is a rip off of VH1's I Love Money before it was canceled because a murderer won season 3. I Love Money took people who used to be on dating shows and put them together in a house to compete in stupid challenges, vote people off, and hook up with each other. That is exactly what is happening on Bachelor Pad, except they manage to stretch it out for two hours. After last night with the third week of completely predictable results I'm getting very sick of these idiots.

Over on Bravo, Flipping Out is running its current season. While I sometimes get uncomfortable when Jeff goes all crazy on his staff, the recent episode without any flip outs was kind of a let down. I guess he did flip out at the guy who tracked mud in the house. The real star is Zoila and Jeff even made a joke about that in his meeting with the Rockafeller Center Kitchen people. It looks like he will be promoting Zoila to nanny in a future season.

Hoarders season 2 started on Labor Day with 2 new episodes and they were great. They had this crazy old women in Oklahoma who went out and got a whole bunch of stuff out of dumpsters after the first day of yard cleanup. Then there was a family in Bothell who hadn't taken anything out of their house in the 40 years they've lived there, including their two children now in their late 30's. Their house was is such disrepair they still had to move after the clean-up because it was condemned. The the best was this old guy in Florida whose house was filled with dolls, and tiki birds, crappy Asian style art, and assorted what-nots. He acted like Liberace but all he really wants is a lady to share his life with. Right, lady. Anyway I love this show as I am a borderline hoarder. I had a five minute mental debate this weekend after throwing out a receipt. I ended up throwing it out, but pulled it out two days later and put it in an envelope. I'm like one tragic event away from stacking newspapers in my hallway so watching this show helps me stay grounded.

And here are the upcoming fall reality shows:
The Real Housewives of Atlanta comes back on October 4th. I love this show! I think the one white chick became a lesbian or something.
The Amazing Race starts on September 26th. The teams don't look very interesting but I still like watching it.
The Apprentice returns on September 16th. This isn't The Celebrity Apprentice, this is old school, get a job after, The Apprentice. I haven't decided if I'm watching it yet.

And some other shows I'm not watching:

America's Next Top Model: 09/08
Survivor: Nicaragua: 09/15
Dancing With The Stars: 09/20
Hell's Kitchen: 09/22
Extreme Makeover: 09/26
Undercover Boss: 09/26

When Are My Favorite Show Starting?

2010-09-07T18:03:00.001-07:00

This year the big networks are all using the third week of September as an old fashioned premiere week. All but two of my favorite returning shows are returning that week, with one before and one after. If you are like me, you need to re-add all these shows to your TiVo/DVR as I delete them all in the summer. Here's the list on premiere dates:

Tuesday 09/14
Parenthood on NBC

Monday 09/20
Castle on ABC
Chuck on NBC
How I Met Your Mother on CBS

Tuesday 09/21
Glee on FOX

Wednesday 09/22
Cougar Town & Modern Family on ABC

Thursday 9/23
Community & 30 Rock on NBC
Fringe on FOX (I still haven't decided if I'm watching this season)
Big Bang Theory on CBS (new night)

Friday 09/24
The Good Guys on FOX
Medium on CBS
Smallville & Supernatural on CW

Sunday 9/26
Desperate Housewives on ABC
The Simpsons, Family Guy, & Cleveland Show on FOX

Sunday 10/3
American Dad on FOX

Coming up this week: new shows I'm watching, shows I'm not watching, reality show update

Futurama

2010-07-30T15:48:00.000-07:00

The current season of Futurama is just great. It's shaping up to be the best season yet and it's only 7 episodes into the 12 episodes season. The Zap Branigan episode was the only one I wouldn't watch again right now. Last night was one of the best again. They introduced the SciFi concept of sequential universes as opposed to parallel universes. In the end Fry, Bender, and the Professor go so far forward in time that the universe completely burns out and decays and then a new Big Bang restarts everything exactly the way it was before. However they miss their stop and have to cycle around again and then accidentally kill the Fry Bender and Professor from that universe preventing them from going forward. Which explains why no past sequential Fry and company showed up to live take their place. So F(0) -> F(2). F(2) = Dead. F(-1) -> F(1). F(-2) = Dead. And so on. I'm not sure if that was on purpose but it was complicated and hilarious.

Here is a list of my 10 favorite past Futurama's in no order.

How Hermes Requisitioned His Groove Back. Fry gets laid, Bender gets reset, and Herme's sings an awesome song.
Amazon Women In the Mood. Branigan crashes a restaurant, Fry gets laid, and Bea Arthur is the voice a FemBot and FemPuter.

Roswell That Ends Well. The group travels back in time through a super nova and metal in the microwave problem, Bender becomes the Roswell spaceship, and Fry gets laid and becomes his own grandpa.
War is the H-Word. The war with the Balls. It's just a serious of ball jokes and it's great.
The Devil's Hand are Idle Playthings. The last of the original episodes. A great love story with Fry and Lela.
The Farnsworth Paradox. The parallel universe episode. It's very complicated
Jurasic Bark. The most touching episode that made me cry like a baby at the end. The story of Fry's dog after he got frozen.
Anthology of Interest II. Bender becomes human. Fry saves the world through video games. But the bit where Leela acts out the roll of Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz is easily the funniest moment of the series.

Where No Fan Has Gone Before. A must for any Star Wars fan.
The Problem With Poplars. The crew discovers a delicious new food source and gets rich off it, until they discovered when Popplers actually are.

Summer Reality

2010-07-29T18:40:00.001-07:00

Tonight is the premiere of the second season of The Jersey Shore. This is the season with the cast in Miami Beach. The third season back on the Jersey Shore is currently filming (after a brief cast strike). The cast has become a cultural sensation, but not too much since The President didn't know who Snookie was when asked on The View today. The governor of New Jersey said none of them are from New Jersey but he was misinformed. Sweetheart is from Jersey and three of them are from Staten Island which might as well be New Jersey. Seriously, look at a map. How did this island become part of New York? In addition to The Jersey Shore, here are the other reality shows I'm watching this summer.

Kathy Griffin's Life On The D-List. The season finale is next week. This is the funniest reality show. She is constantly planning crazy things just for her show, like her public pap smear.

The Fabulous Beekman Boys. A gay couple from New York City buys a farm in upstate New York and hilarity ensues. The recent episode had the birth of a bunch of adorable baby goats. So cute. And they have wonderful gay couple arguments over stupid things like how to park the tractors. It's very funny.

Holly's World. Holly was Hef's #1 girlfriend but her show is definitely #3 of the girls. Kendra's show is funny and having a sexy Super Bowl star husband to get into adventures with makes for a great show. Holly and her friends are trying so hard to be interesting but they are not. On of the girls has a baby and one got a boob job for her 21st birthday. Wait, maybe those were both the same girl. I don't really remember or care. Plus her gay friend is kind of annoying. He totally blew his audition for the Priscilla on Broadway so he could keep hanging out with Holly. What an idiot.

Last Comic Standing. This show gets completely reconfigured every time it comes back. This year it is very much the American Idol standard with home voting determining who stays and goes each week. My favorite is the tiny Jew, Myq Kaplan. He is the funniest.

Top Shot. This History Channel reality competition show is quite entertaining. It's done Survivor style with teams competing on shooting challenges. The loosing team nominates two candidates to compete in a final elimination challenge. The red team keeps nominating their best competitor because they don't like him. But he keeps coming back. I think next week the teams will merge. I find this show quite entertaining.

Lil' Hitler

2010-07-09T21:08:00.000-07:00

This seems to come up a lot lately:

Salon!

2010-07-08T10:33:00.000-07:00

Say it right!

Season In Review: Smallville

2010-06-29T10:10:00.000-07:00

For a few seasons I wondered why I watched Smallville. This season wasn't one of those. This season rocked. Clark began his destiny with a cool black suit with a long coat reminiscent of a cape. This season the mythology they took on was the city in a bottle, Kandor. In the comic books, Kandor was an actual city that wad shrunk and exists in the fortress of solitude. The Smallville Kandor is a metaphoric city in a bottle. A group of Kandorians were digitally stored and cloned on Earth long after their death on Krypton. They were lead by Zod and the writers took every opportunity to say "Kneel before Zod" they could. The show is now as much about Green Arrow and Watchtower as it is about Superman, and that is what makes the show good. This season also was the introduction of Checkmate. A super great twist was the identity of The Red Queen, a mysterious powerful person referred to by Checkmate. It turned out to be Clark's mom, junior senator from Kansas Martha Kent. It turns out she's ben pulling strings in the government to keep Clark's identity safe. In the end she gave his iconic blue and red costume. Next season will be the last so we should see him in it by the end of show. That's if survives his Kryptonite infected fall from a very high building.

Season In Review: Chuck

2010-06-28T14:05:00.000-07:00

Chuck began with him training in Universal Studios/Czech Republic but of course he returned to the Buy More. He needed to control his emotions to jeep the intersect working properly. During the season, all the main characters found out his secret and he continued to fight the strangely well-funded Ring. At the season finale, his dad died (which was unnecessary), he captured the ring leadership, he discovered a huge cache of experimental tech his dad invented, and a new bad guy was introduced: his mother! Very Alias. Also John Casey found his daughter (new character next season?) and the Buy More blew up. I'm excited about next season.

Season In Review: Saturday Night Live

2010-06-26T09:55:00.000-07:00

The season before this last season SNL was riding high on election jokes, specifically Sara Palin jokes. This was another very solid year with many memorable moments. Of course the highlight of the season was Betty white. Possibly the best line of the season was "let her just stay home and lez out." Other than that, my favorite skit of the year was the one where Smashmouth was the monster in the closet of the little girl. Besides being wonderfully random, it just was funny from start to finish. JLo was great as the mom. The look on Smashmouth mouth faces as they almost get caught was brilliant. And I just loved the way the girl yelled Smash Mouth. Then Jason Sudeikis comes in as the tired dad and the skit got even funnier. Just great from start to finish. My second favorite skit wad the Gerard butler episode where the 300 army ended Don't Ask Don't Tell. My favorite new recurring sketch was Jenny Slate as Tina Tina in Doorbells and More, Car Horns and More, and Alarm Clocks and More. Become a fan of her on Facebook! Weekend Update had the great new character: Stefon. I can watch this over and over.

Here's my list of the top ten people who should host next season:

Jeffrey Donovan (lead actor on Burn Notice…What is Burn Notice?)
Steven Colbert (maybe as his Colbert Report character)
Steve Carell (why has this never happened?)
Carol Burnett (queen of sketch comedy in the 70's)
Ricky Martin (newly out, either as musical guest or both)
Russell Brand and Katy Perry (host and musical guest, respectively)
Joy Behar (before Fred Armisen leaves the cast)
Jane Lynch (or anyone from Glee but Matthew Morison)
Jorge Garcia (now that Lost is over)
Kathy Griffin (also, why hasn't this happened?)

Kathy Griffin, Steve Carell, and Jeffrey Donovan are all on NBC networks so these are perfect for cross promotion. I predict at least one of these in the first half of the next season. I want Kathy the most.

Season In Review: Glee

2010-06-25T13:00:00.000-07:00

I loved Glee from the first time I saw the Pilot a little over a year ago. The show is the worst great show ever. The musical numbers are what we watch it for. But sometimes this show has worse writing than Jerry, Blairs cousin from Facts of Life. For instance, in the penultimate episode of the season the timeline was just completely off. The establish at the start of the show that the Cheerleading Nations are the upcoming weekend and that Quinn is going to sing her song on Friday. Then Will asks Sue on a date for Wednesday. After rejecting her he goes to school to find that Sue canceled the last two practices. The he convinces her to return, she does, they win nations. Next Quinn performs her song and then the group preforms their Funk song for Vocal Adrenaline, the end. So Sue canceled multiple practices after the Wednesday date? This would move the timeline to Friday at the earliest, but then they win the Nations before Quinn sings her song on Friday. And the obvious timeline problem wasn't even the worse thing about the episode. There was the way-too-mean egging of Rachel and the much-to-hard punishment for the tire vandalism. There was no way they should have been caught for that crime. It was just a bad-bad episode.

And they had some bad arc stories as well. The Rachel and her mother story was terrible. Yay we meet! No I don't want to get to know you right now! OK, I'll just adopt another baby and forget about you! It went way to fast and I never believed the characters (or any characters) would ever act like that. The worst thing about the show is Will Schuester singing Hip-Hop. He is on the bottom of the list of people I want to hear singing. Sue is better than him, and she clearly can't sing. She kinda talk-sings through Vogue and Physical and she's great. I want more.

But even with the numerous problems, this is one of my favorite shows ever. That's mostly because of the fun factor of the songs. I love the songs in the choir room (such as My Life Would Suck Without You), I like the fantasy numbers (such as The Safety Dance), I love the performance numbers (such as Don't Rain On My Parade) and I love the special guest numbers (such as I Dreamed a Dream). It's just very lucky this show has so much going for it I don't mind putting up with the foolishness.

Season In Review: Supernatural

2010-06-24T13:00:00.000-07:00

Last fall my friends Brian and Ethan loaned me season one of Supernatural. I caught up to the current season around episode 15. This season was an epic they had probably planned for since the start of the season. The brothers were destined to be the vessels for the battling angels Michael and Lucifer. In the end Lucifer in Sam's body was dropped back into the cell that had been holding him. But Sam somehow got out. Not sure how that happened. But now that they have battled angels, what is left? I guess they could go on to fight God. And Horseman Death seemed to imply he was older than God. So maybe they will find there are things out there bigger than angels and demons. My favorite moments from this season were when they attended the Supernatural convention with people dressed up like them and when they were brought to the summit of the lesser gods. Sadly, The Trickster/Gabriel/Loki died in that episode and he was a great not too threatening recurring bad guy turned ally.

Season In Review: Fringe

2010-06-23T20:32:00.000-07:00

This is the first in my series of season in review for the 2009-2010 season.
Last season fringe ended with Olivia in the parallel world and started the season with cliched amnesia. Eventually she remembered meeting mirror mirror Spock sans goatee. During the season we and all the characters discovered Peter was from the parallel world as real Peter died as a child. This season they also moved the production from NYC to Vancouver, where all sci-fi should be made. I'm embarrassed I didn't figure that out until the third to the last episode.

The season ended with an epic two parter where Walter and Olivia travel to the parallel world to get Peter back before he helps Walternate destroy the world.

The more I think about the finale, the less impressed I get about it. Here are my gripes.

The main thing is Olivia was altered by drugs as a child in order to be able to transit between worlds. How then did Olivia B make the jump?
Peter just seemed way to willing to go to World B and also to come back.
How did Olivia B escape? No one was looking for her and Olivia A tied her up well.
When did their goal change from capturing them to infiltration? That is a rather big mission to agree to with no time to consider. What about her hunky boyfriend? How long is his business trip because she might be gone a long, long time.
The characters from World B just seem way too evil. While it's true that alternate universe people are typically evil versions of the main universe characters, it's just too predictable.
If Olivia can transit universes, why can't she just escape her prison back to her world?
If Olivia B had studied Olivia A for a while she might be able to impersonate her. As it is now, she should have already be found out. There is no one I spend as much time with as Peter, Walter, or Astrid spend with her. But I would be able to spot an alternate Matt C or Jeff P or David O within a short time if I knew such alternates existed. She had no time to prepare for the impersonation. Also, when did she had time to change into Olivia A's clothes.

The writing at the end of the season was so poor I'm not sure I'll be watching next season.

Canceled Shows: Two Seasons or More Edition

2010-05-23T11:17:00.000-07:00

Better Off Ted
It's too bad, I really liked this show. I'm not a big fan of narrated shows, but this worked much like Malcolm In The Middle did. Ted was the only sane person in a really crazy corporate environment. The episode where they had to all swear at each other because of a memo typo was brilliant.

Scrubs
I think this is the third time this show was canceled. Maybe this time it will stay dead.

Ugly Betty
Flashforward didn't just kill my hopes for a great new TV show, it also killed Ugly Betty by taking its time slot. I think this show should have had one more season.

Cold Case
The only thing I know about this show is the MadTV skit:

CBS has a knack for having shows on for 7 seasons and still nobody I know has ever seen one episode.

Gary Unmarried
I never really watched this.

The New Adventures of Old Christine
I watched the first season until TiVo conflicts forced me to drop it. I think it is most successful post-Seinfled show. Let's see how The Marriage Ref does. I still can't believe it was renewed

Numb3rs
It looks like they knew this was going to be the last season since the cast already had new shows lined up before the official annoucement.

Ghost Whisperer
It's her cursed-blessing:

ABC is in talks this week to pick it up mid-season so it may not be all that dead. I can hear it whispering to me

Dollhouse
Like any Joss Wedin show is going to make it these days.

24
I stopped watching it this season because it was too violent.

Heroes
The first season was the best but then they just never built on the character strengths since then. The final season with the movable carnival was rather confusing.

Law & Order
Canceled after 20 seasons was quite a surprise. SVU continues on in its 12 season and Criminal Intent in its 9th. Then there were Crime & Punishment and Trial By Jury which have since gone away. It will be replaced with Law & Order: LA which is their first location based show taking a page from CSI and NCIS.

Canceled Shows: Fall 2009 Edition

2010-05-22T10:11:00.000-07:00

Eastwick
This surprised me. I thought the show started really strong, I don't know why it didn't build a great following. They effed up the ending and didn't air one episode. That didn't make sense to me.

FlashForward
I was looking forward to this show more than any one this season. However, by about the fourth episode something didn't seem right. When Charlie showed up things started falling apart even faster. Friend of DTVB Matt stopped watching it a few episodes before me. When Charlie and the guy who was sleeping with Penny chose to decide whether to come public with the experiment that cause the blackout over a poker game, I turned off the episode half way through and deleted it from my season pass. I watched the special catch-up episode and it only got worse.

The Deep End
Another awful lawyer show. I never watched this.

The Forgotten
Another forgettable procedural. Don't care. Never watched.

Hank
Now that Kelly Grammar is a out Tea-Bagger, I'm not watching any of his failed shows any more. Not that I watched this or his last failed show.

Accidentally On Purpose
This show turned my stomach. I'm so glad it was canceled.

Three Rivers
I've never been a fan of medical dramas. Unlike cop or lawyer shows, there's only enough room for a few of these on TV and Grey's Anatomy and spin off have those covered.

Mercy
See Three Rivers

Trauma
Have paramedic shows ever been successful? There was Emergency and Third Watch...

Melrose Place
I think Ashley Simpson doomed this show. Ever since her SNL failure, I've boycotted everything she does and you should to.

The Beautiful Life
This show was canceled after only two episodes.

Brothers
I think this show might have been on before The Simpsons but I couldn't tell you much more about it.

Jay Leno Show
NBC really failed this season and the well publicized Leno vs. O'Brian show down was the main reason. They failed to develop any new show other than Community. Parenthood became a hit after Jay's cock-blocking five hours a week went away. Now they lost Law & Order. WTF? Hopefully they can pull things around next season.

New Fall 2010 Shows

2010-05-21T07:03:00.000-07:00

NBC
Outsourced
NBC has been batting 1000 with comedies lately. I'm really hoping this isn't another "Single Guy".

The Event
The Event is described as a "high octane conspiracy thriller". It looks like a good successor to 24 with the converging storyline aspect of Heroes first season. It will probably be at least 13 episodes in before we know what The Event is.

Chase
About US Marshalls chasing down bad guys. Is this a new bad guy each week or one bad guy over the course of many episodes? Probably a new serial killer each week. I hate shows about serial killers.

Undercovers
One word: Sexspionage. Husband and wife spies from JJ Abrams. It's like Alias meets Hart to Hart. Hopefully there will be room in my schedule for this one.

Law & Order: Los Angeles
Same show, new city. I guess after 20 years you gotta do something different.

Love Bites
I can't remember the last time there was an anthology show on TV. This one promises different stars each week like Jennifer Love Hewett. No way this will survive.

Outlaw
Jimmy Smits as a retired supreme court justice taking on cases himself. This will never survive.

Fox
Lonestar
A con man with a million dollar smile falls in love with his mark of a wife and considers going legit. He also has a girlfriend. Love ruins everything.

Raising Hope
A family comedy about a unexpected new baby arrival in a very dysfunctional home. With guest star Cloris Leachman. Fox comedies always fail so don't get too attached.

Running Wilde
Anything Will Arnett does I will watch. His character doesn't look too far off from GOB as the rich kid who never amounted to anything.

The Good Guys
They had me at action comedy. And its the one show they chose to preview this year like they did Glee last year.

ABC
No Ordinary Family
After surviving a plane crash in Brazil, the entire family starts to develop super powers. It's great to see a real good family show again. I probably won't watch it though.

Detroit 1-8-7
Homicide detectives in the most dangerous city in America. Staring that guy from the Tequilla commercials.

My Generation
A docu-series (reality show) about a group of class of 2000 high school students and where are they now. Don't kid yourself into thinking this isn't a reality show because it is.

Body of Proof
Dana Delany and Seven of Nine in a procedural about a medical examiner. Sounds like a good show, too bad they are burying it on Friday nights.

CBS
Mike and Molly
A couple of fatties meet and fall in love at an Overeaters Annoymous group. Get this cancelled already and bring Big Bang Theory back to Monday.

Hawaii Five-O
Super hot and sexy cast include Jin from LOST and Sharon from Battlestar Gallactica shot on location in Hawaii. With Jean smart as the governor of Hawaii! I so super excited!

The Defenders
Jerry O'Connel as a lawyer who fights for the little guy. I'm so sick of those kind of shows.

Shit My Dad Says
Technically called $#*! My Dad Says (and pronounced Bleep My Dad Says), this is the first show based on a Twitter account. Irregardless of the origin, it looks like a solid father-son comedy with Captain Kirk/TJ Hooker/Denny Crane as the dad. I love it!

Blue Bloods
New York cop family with Magnum PI, blah, blah, blah.

CW
Hellcats
Its about time they made a show completely about a cheer squad. Perfect for the CW but not for me.

Nikita
A sexy spy thriller with Nikita being hunted by her former agency. Sexy but no.

Shows that get a second season

2010-05-20T11:18:00.000-07:00

Hey look, I'm blogging again!

The upfronts were this week so I have several posts planned about the new fall season. First up, shows that were new last fall that got a second season pickup. This list does not include mid-season shows.

Parenthood
What I said last May: Since ABC is making Eastwick, NBC is resurrecting an old 80s movie into TV form. That movie was great because of the cast, who knows if this will capture the magic.
What I said last September: The movie was great and like 20 years old but I look forward to the very few episodes I expect out of this.
What I say Now: The show was moved to mid-season because NBC had a retarded season with the Jay Leno failure. The biggest surprise was that this is a drama, not a half hour comedy. I'm really enjoying this and it makes me super happy I don't have kids.

Community
May: A comedy about a study group at a community college. With the Soup and Seattle native Joel McHale and the awesome Chevy Chase this show is sure to be a hit. It looks like the funniest show of the fall. I always say the funniest shows come from NBC. Expect Arrested Development.
September: Joel McHale from The Soup is the star of this new sitcom about a bunch of characters at a community college. It looks like the best new comedy of the season.
Now: It's hard to pick a second favorite comedy after 30 Rock but this one is up there. The paintball armageddon episode was one of the funniest episodes of any show ever. I look forward to more zaniness from a great collection of characters

Glee
May: OMGYG! I'm so pissed that the pilot last week is all we get until the fall. This show was so good I was so expecting at least seven episodes this summer. I guess being pissed they produced an awesome show isn't too bad.
September: This premiered back in May and I love this show. Love it. Love it!
Now: One of the most inconsistent shows I can't stop loving. The writing can at times be the sloppiest on television but as the only successful musical television show in modern times (Cop Rock? Viva Laughlin?) and a great cast I can't stop loving it. Can't wait for the regionals in June!

Cleveland Show
September: This was initially a mid-season replacement from last season. Cleveland from The Family Guy moves to Virginia and marries his high school sweetheart. Looks awesome.
Now: Seth McFarlin has made another entertaining show which is essentially the same formula with different character. Still, this show pushes the limits with Cleveland being a pimp and the leader of a teen drug ring. Plus the bears are funny.

Cougar Town
May: Monica from Friends plays a older women trying to date younger men. Didn't Courtney Cox marry a much younger man?
September: I love Courtney Cox Arquette although I don't think this show will be success. Maybe 6 episodes I guess.
Now: From the first episode I loved this show. The characters coalesced throughout the season and now they are kind of the fantasy neighbors one dreams of. I wished I lived on their cul-du-sac.

Modern Family
May: Another family comedy about an over scheduled modern family. The online clip was all about scheduling a time to administer corporal punishment to the son. "It's on the calendar now, you can't complain about it." Maybe, I don't know.
September: Why watch Parenthood, which was about family life in the late 80s, when you can watch a total new and original show about three different families. One of them is a gay couple with an adopted baby
Now: The pilot had a huge surprise when it was revealed the three families were all related. Initially there was going to be another character who was a Swedish foreign exchange student who lived with the family as kids and returned to make a documentary about them. The character was cut (for now?) but the documentary style remained. This show is so consistently funny I want to watch it right away.

The Middle
May: The Janitor from Scrubs plays a dad with a middle class family in the middle of America (Indiana). I can't think of the last successful family comedy so I'm hope this makes it.
September: I can't watch every new comedy, sorry.
Now: Good for them for being renewed.

Shark Tank
September: A new reality show where inventors and innovators bring their ideas to a group of five real life investors. This looks like could be quite interesting but filled with lots of super embarrassing situations. For that reason I won't be watching it.
Now: I've caught glimpses of this show and it is the worst. I hate reality shows that take themselves way too seriously

NCIS: LA
May: Well it's NCIS but in L.A. Is there a lot of naval investigations to be had in L.A.?
September: What is NCIS? There's a spin-off now? Who watches this?
Now: This is kinda a huge hit but I have not and will not ever watch an episode.

The Good Wife
May: The wife of a scandal deposed Senator goes back to work at a law firm after her husband goes to jail. I like lawyer shows but this just looks boring. Why would she go work at such a cut throat firm? There are lots of smaller single-mom friendly places she should go work for especially with the connections she has as a Senator's wife. Fake office tension is one thing I cannot suspend my disbelief for.
September: I find the concept good but the execution awful. So a disgraced politician's wife must go back to work after her husband is put in jail. Sounds good. But she chooses a cut-throat trial law firm with lots of hungry 20-somethings. It would make a lot more sense and be a lot more original if she became a lobbyist. Lame, don't watch.
Now: A few weeks back I got a TV guide and I stared at the cover for several minutes before realizing this cast was on the cover. I can't understand why anyone would watch this show, it looks so painfully awful.

Vampire Diaries
May: Really? Do we need a new vampire show every year? Moonlight then True Blood. Now a teen romance vampire show on the CW. I can't stand it.
September: I will not be watching it. And it's not because the vampire landscape is totally over full with True Blood and Twilight. It's because I refuse to accept that this love triangle with two vampires and a human could ever exist. I'm 38 and I would probably take the opportunity to have sex with an 18 year old. But I could never have a relationship with him. So these vampire brothers are like 80 years old or what ever? How could they possible want to have more than a brief affair with this teenage girl? It's just weird. At least Sookie is in her 20s on True Blood. Other than the love triangle, there's also Buffy elements of demons and supernatural stuff. Hasn't this all been done to death, so to speak. One good thing is has Boone from Lost.
Now: I've heard almost nothing about this show since it had been on. I have no new opinions on it.

V
September: We have to wait until November but we get: Inara/Adria, Agent Baldwin, and Juliet all in the same series! I'm happy they are remaking this classic show from my childhood. I just hope they don't do the whole stealing-the-water story. There's so much water in the galaxy, there's no need to pull it out of our gravity well. Go gerbils!
Now: Originally this was a mid-season but they pushed the first four episode to November. I'm not sure if that was the best decision. Irregardless, the show is starting to develop its own really good mythology. The friendship between Anna and Erica was completely unexpected. It's funny, as soon as I found out it was filmed in Vancouver instead of NYC, I suddenly gave the show so much more slack. All SciFi shows are produced in Vancouver so I had higher expectations of one made in New York. I only caught that one iconic Vancouver building in one shot so far. I like how the aliens get "infected" with human emotions and that is becoming their downfall.

V is Back

2010-03-30T17:39:00.000-07:00

V returns tonight. Although the show isn't perfect it is both enjoyable and a huge improvement over the original 80's mini-series and one full season. The characters are good and Elizabeth Mitchell is exceptional. I'm not super excited about The Leader or The Anchorman.

But about a month ago I came up with a way the show could have been super awesome. So imagine the pilot mostly the same with one difference. All the actors are the same, all the dialog is the same. Drop the reptile thing, which never really works anyway. Some of the effects would need to change. The big difference would be at the end. Ana is interviewed by Chad and when he asks her about the planet the Vs come from, it is revealed the aliens are actually from Earth in a distant future and the planet they are infiltrating is the alien planet. I think it would be a great twist. Too bad the show is already in progress.

The Daily Show is a News Show, Not a Comedy Show

2010-03-29T22:32:00.000-07:00

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart returned from a week break this week. The fact that they do any breaks in their schedule is retarded. ReeeeTaaarDddeeeddddd!!!! They are a real news source, despite the fact they are Comedy Central. Last week was a huge news week with the completion of health care reform. And where was The Daily Show? On vacation or something. ReeeeTaaarDddeeeddddd!!!! Larry King goes on vacation and his show goes on with a guest host of Joy Behar or Kermit The Frog. Joy's new show is on break this week and she has some random lady judge hosting. All real news talk show have guest hosts at times and that is OK. Joy's lady judge sucked, but I'll still watch Joy when she comes back next week. Friend of Daniel's TV Blog, Matt, said that Olberman and Madow have guests hosts which suck compared to the main host. But they seem to know that news happens all year round and only that last two weeks of December can be repeats. What do they think will happen? People will stop watching the second string Daily Show? ReeeeTaaarDddeeeddddd!!!! People want news and we expect it from The Daily Show with Jon Stewart four days a week even if Jon Stewart isn't in the chair for four to ten weeks a year. Seriously, step up to they responsibility your have earned and accept that you are a real news source and stop taking weeks off. New episodes every week!

Supernatural is back

2010-03-25T16:10:00.000-07:00

A few months back I started getting caught up on CW's Supernatural. It is currently in its 5th season. I am finally caught up with real time and I'll be watching the new episode this week with everyone else. I have really enjoyed the show and I'm not quite sure why I didn't start watching it when it first came out. Each episode is like a short horror movie. There are not of shows with a great serial aspect like this (other than LOST of course). What I like about this was the serial story started of rather localized (hunting the demon who killed their mom) and slowly expanded to putting the brothers square between the final battle between Michael and Lucifer with all of humanity hanging in the balance. This story is supposed to be concluded by the end of the season with a new story starting next season. Also both the main actors are hot. No wonder there is so much brotherly incest fan fiction written about them. Gross and hot. They have even made fun of that on the show. Sadly, no love scenes yet.

A funny casting note is that the actor playing Lucifer is the same actor playing Jacob on LOST. This week on LOST he claimed not to be the devil. Yep, that's a different show.

Elisabeth is Still Crazy; Elisabeth, Unlikely Voice of Reason

2010-03-25T15:34:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday, Elisabitch Hasslecunt threw in a low blow against the Health Care Bill. She said American Idol was the only place that we still get to vote on. It was neither true or funny. Sheri was like, "Hold on, whatyajustsay?" Whoopie, quickly shot back with "Like the war! Like America voted on the war. Yeah!" Knowing she was loosing, she dropped the subject.

Then today she spoke out against the violence that some Republicans and Teabaggers are inciting. Sarah Palin released a list of congress members with a rifle crosshairs on a map. See below. She also said it is time to "reload" on this movement. EH agreed with Joy (reluctantly) that inciting violence is wrong and it needs to stop. Elisabeth: Unlikely Voice of Reason.

Elisabeth Hasselcunt is Crazy

2010-03-23T08:58:00.000-07:00

I was very interested in watching the View yesterday after the passage of the health care bill over the weekend. Elisabitch Hasselcunt did not disappoint in bringing crazy to the table. First she excuses bigotry as people just being "fired up". Sherri did not let her get away from it. Then she changes the "Hot Topic" they are talking about spouting teabaggery talking points. Whoopi got so frustrated she has to take a few deeps breaths and remind herself to breathe. Of course she pretends to be the oppressed one like she always does. She constantly lies and says the majority of Americans don't want this bill, when 80% of the people at that table seems to be in favor of it. She thinks that 212 is more than 219. But the best is her outfit. She is wearing an Anne Coulter style cocktail dress in the early morning as if she was out partying all night and just wandered in. The other ladies are dressed more appropriately. Here is the clip.

Luckily they had only a limited time to talk about the landmark legislation that effects millions of Americans and the sixth largest industry (or whatever the metric is, I don't care enough to spend 20 seconds google-ing it; I'd rather spend 60 seconds writing about why I don't care) because they had to more on to the more important topic of Tiger Woods latest interview. Stay classy, ladies of The View.

Yay New South Park

2010-03-17T15:58:00.000-07:00

South Park is back tonight. I think tonight is a Tiger Woods episode. They did a promo short which is a great spoof of the Ginger Hater Kid video. How amazing would it be to have South Park remake your own YouTube video?

Watch it here:

Here's the original:

The Office

2010-03-08T14:21:00.000-08:00

So I started watching the office again. I watched the first season but I had to stop. The level of Sitcom Embarrassment Syndrome, or SES, was very high. Probably the highest in the histoy of TV. But this season I saw clips of the ends of episodes going into 30 Rock and they were very funny. Plus my friend Jeff kept telling me I should watch it, and he suffers from SES too. Last week was the one hour Baby Birth Episode. And for the first time ever The Office beat Greys Annotomy in the ratings. I think the bit with the ice cream cake was one of the funniest jokes on tv this whole season. However I could see the very uncomfortable joke about the other mothers baby coming and I had to scan through it. But other than that issue, I found the entire episode very good and I'll continue to watch this season and next.

LOST 6.03 - I'd Better Put On Some Pants

2010-02-23T18:29:00.000-08:00

Yay for LOST on Tueday! Last week was a great episode. Much better than the disappointing second episode. I think I didn't like that episode because it was all about Kate and Jack and those are my least favorite characters. Last week was about Locke and Smokey-Locke. We learned a big deal about why these people are important. The numbers showed up again but no real reason on the power behind them. I have a new theory now on why Sun crashed with Flight 316 instead of flashing to the past like Jack, Kate, Hurley, and Sayid. I think it is because she wasn't the Kwan written on the wall. If Jin had been on the flight, I think he would have flashed to the past. I think that makes sense. Except Kate isn't a candidate so who knows. Either way I hope Hurley is the final candidate.

I'm having a problem with something else said last week. Illana said that Smokey-Locke was stuck in the guise of John Locke. If that were true, why did Smokey-Locke appear as Alex to Ben last season? That was when we were first clued in that new Locke might be Smokey with the great Clark Kent-Superman disappearance of Locke in that scene. "I'll go get some rope"..."What'd I miss?" But I don't think he has been appearing as Jack's dad. Wasn't he in Jacob's cabin with Claire in the 4th season? The cabin is inside the ash line. But he could be him too. I want more of Claire.

Here is what we learned:

Jack, James, Hurley, Locke, Sayid & Jin (maybe Sun) are candidates to take over for Jacob
Kate is not a candidate
Illana, Sun, Ben, and Frank are heading to the Temple
James is choosing to follow Locke-Smokey
Richard doesn't know anything about the candidate search. This means none of the others knew until Dogen split open Huley's guitar-ankh.

New Questions:

Who is the blond child Locke-Smokey sees?
Why can James see him but not Richard?
Who are the other names on the wall?
Is "Kwan" Sun or Jin?
Who or what is Jacob protecting the island from?

In the alternate universe:

Locke and Helen are engaged
Locke and his Dad are still speaking (Helen suggested he would be at the wedding)
Locke and Ben are colleagues
Rose works for Hurley
How did Locke end up in the wheel chair?
How did Ben get off the island?

LOST 6.01 - Let's not resort to name calling

2010-02-04T18:53:00.000-08:00

LOST is back and I'm super excited. I wasn't exactly sure where they were going with this season after the bomb explosion. I figured they would time flash back to the future. But with spoilers about the 815 survivors landing in LAX, I didn't know who it was going to play out. I had a dream over the summer that the 815 people would land at LAX with all the memories of the previous 4 years. However, then they would have no need to return to the island. The two divergent timelines was unexpected. While the on island story is the most interesting, I'm still interested in seeing where this story goes over the course of the season. Having two timelines is a very advanced SciFi concept, especially for such a mainstream network show.

I'm also noticing a lot of similarities between LOST and Supernatural. In Supernatural, demons and angels need to possess humans to have a physical presence. In non-corporeal form, demons are represented by black smoke. Angels are blinding light. Demons can't cross lines or circles of salt, similar to the ash. But smokey can pick up things and made short work of Ilana's team. Jacob may be more like the angels and can possess bodies too, which is what I think happened with Sayid.

So anyway, here's what we learned:

Fake Locke is the man is black and the smoke monster.
The ring of ash seen in past episodes keeps the smoke monster out.
The others have a magic crap colored hot tub which can heal people. Although before Jacob died it wasn't filled with poo.

Questions from the island:

Where did Jacob's body go? It wasn't in the fire in the first scene.
What was on the note inside Hurley's ankh?
Why was Richard in chains?
What did the Others want to talk to Jack about and why in private?
What really happened with Sayid?
Who is the new Kung Fu Other leader? How does he rank against Ben?
If they shit pool can heal a gun shot, why couldn't it heal Ben's cancer?

Questions from the alternative universe:

Why did the island sink?
Why did Jack have blood on his collar?
Did Jack and Desmond meet in LA? If so why didn't Jack recognize him like he did at the Swam station? Was Desmond really on the flight?
If the island sank in 1977, then Hurley's friend would never have picked up the transmission with the numbers. So how did Hurley win the lottery? Why did Hurley go to Australia then? Hurley seems to be the only one of the survivors who has a different back story before flight 815.
Why didn't Shannon return with Boone?
Why was Jack's father's coffin not loaded on the flight 815?
Why was Locke's bag of knives not on the flight?
If the plane wasn't going to crash, why was Claire on the flight? Did the psychic tell her to in the altered timeline.
And the big question: if the island sank 27 years ago, then the entire course of the world would be quite different. Widmore Industries wouldn't exist. The resources pouring into the Darma Initiative would have gone elsewhere. The Darma people evacuated would have pursued lives and wouldn't have been killed in the Purge. Others recruited (like Juliet) would never have left the mainland. In other words, the entire course of history would have changed and it would have been highly unlikely that any of the the survivors would have been on the new flight 815. So how did they get on it?

Mysteries Of The Universe: The Dharma Initiative

2010-02-01T08:19:00.000-08:00

On the ABC website you can watch a fake documentary show about The Dharma Initiatize. It's very well done to look like it was made in the early 80's. No spoilers, just fun.

Watch it here.

LOST starts tomorrow!!!

Seven Days Until LOST

2010-01-26T08:14:00.000-08:00

Here's some fun stuff to get you through the week:

Leslie Knope and Tammy, It's a Trap

2010-01-23T18:27:00.000-08:00

Watch it!

Better Off Ted

2010-01-23T18:05:00.000-08:00

I caught up with Better Off Ted this week. My favorite was the episode where a botched memo makes the employees think they need to use offensive and insulting language in the workplace. They made some additional not safe for TV scenes which are hilarious. Watch it here:

Spy vs. Spy vs. Spy

2010-01-21T17:34:00.000-08:00

Tonight is the return of one of my favorite shows: Burn Notice. It's a story of a spy who got fired and now works as a private investigator in Miami. Lots of guns in the sun. Unlike another show with "Miami" in the title that is filmed in Long Beach, CA, this show is actually shot in Miami. It's a great show with great stories and great characters. I love it.

There sure are a lot of spy show on right now. Chuck started up again last week. The new "Chuck 2.0" is really working for me. Now he not only has super brain with all the super criminals in the world programmed, but he can access other super abilities like Kung Fu or speaking Cambodian, etc. Go Chuck!

However, the funniest spy show ever just started on FX. You really need to watch this. This show is filthy, and since its animated they seem to be able to get away with some of the nastiest dialog I've heard on TV. Sterling Archer is the main spy of the spy organization called ISIS. The main joke is this show is really just an office comedy, but the company is a spy company. Jessica Walter who played Lucile on Arrested Development is the voice of Archer's mom/boss. Somehow with just her voice she manages to steal every scene like in AD. This show is also on tonight. Don't miss it.

Life After People

2010-01-05T10:15:00.000-08:00

Season two of Life After People starts tonight on The History Channel. This great docu-series hypothesizes on the fate of human creations if all people in the world disappeared at once. Last year the series followed a pattern of aging a couple cities with CGI and interviews with scientists and other experts. They also find places around the world that have been abandoned and show what nature has done over the years. They often explain the fates of dogs and other domesticated animals. The first episode of this season is focusing on churches and next week is about toxic waste. Plus all day they are running episodes from last season. Don't miss it.

Forget the Bachelor, watch A Basement Affair

2010-01-04T19:59:00.000-08:00

Tonight the newest season of The Bachelor begins on ABC. They take themselves way too seriously. The hunky pilot is shown sans shirt all over ABC promos. The women are still skanky hos. EW quotes one of them saying, "You can land your plane on my landing strip anytime." Whore. Instead of watching this trash which pretends to be culture, flip over to VH1 and watch their new trashy dating show which doesn't pretend to be anything thing it isn't, Frank the Entertainer in a Basement Affair. Frank is just as hunky as the Bachelor pilot but he is also hilarious. This show is a spin-off of I Love New York which was a spin-off of Flavor or Love which was a spin-off of Strange Love which was a spin-off of The Surreal Life. Frank failed to win Tiffany "New York" Pollard's love, mostly because he was over 30 and still lived in his parent's basement.

There are two reasons this is my favorite dating show in a while. First they are not in a mansion in the Hollywood Hills or a resort in Hawaii. Instead all 15 women are staying in Frank's parents house. They ladies are crammed into three guest rooms: the blue "boys" room, the pink "girls" room, and "grandma's" room. The girls and boys rooms are decorated like a model home, while grandma's room is lacy and very Jesusy.

The second reason I love this show is the real star: Frank's mom. She's a ball-busting New York Italian mother who is very loud and opinionated. She is around all the time and sits by during elimination, when Frank gives out keys to his basement to those who stay around for another episode. This is was Mama's Boy should have been, but it kinda sucked. I love Frank's mom.

So if you think about watching The Bachelor, check this out instead.

Mario Cantone

2009-12-26T17:54:00.001-08:00

Here's a wonderful post-Christmas gift from The View and Mario Cantone. This segment was worth sitting through Barbara Wawa and Elisabitch Hasslecunt for the last couple months.

Tiger Talk!

2009-12-19T16:45:00.000-08:00

My favorite Chelsea skit this week:

Merry Christmas Charlie Brown

2009-12-08T21:12:00.000-08:00

Quite by accident I caught most of the Charlie Brown Christmas Special tonight. I've watched this so many times throughout my life. I never understood the whole aluminum tree lot thing. Why were they being sold outside like live trees? Why was the only live tree the "Charlie Brown Christmas Tree"? Of course all it takes is a bunch of kids waving their hands up and down to turn the almost dead tree into the coolest tree ever.

It is debatable which is more popular, the Christmas special or "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown!" Strangely enough both specials have completely contradictory messages. When Charlie Brown yells, "Can anyone tell me the true meaning of Christmas?!" Linus steps into a gospel monologue about the arrive the "The King". But the message of the Halloween episode is "faith is stupid". That same Linus is mocked by everyone for his belief in the Great Pumpkin. So Christmas is for faith but Halloween is for skeptics.

Chelsea's In Australia This Week

2009-11-25T08:41:00.000-08:00

Although last night's interview with sexy Jason Stackhouse was a total fail, her skits have been great.

Last Night On The Prisoner...

2009-11-17T08:14:00.000-08:00

Andy Cohen is a Giant Gay Douche

2009-11-05T09:39:00.000-08:00

Season two of Real Housewives of Atlanta has ended and VP of Programming for Brave Andy Cohen is hosting the reunion show...again. This one is so big and boring they had to make it two nights long so part two is tonight. Somehow TV producer Andy has fashioned himself into a TV personality by hosting all the reunion shows. But that wasn't enough and he had to created a talk show just for him called Watch What Happens Live. It's just awful. He tries to talk about current pop culture and politics. Please stop, you are such a self absorbed douche.

Anyway, The Real Housewives of Atlanta is just fascinating. First off, only one is a housewife. Sheree is a NFL divorcee and a wannabe fashion designer, not a housewife. Kim's husband just left the NFL and he seems to be taking care of the kids while she runs several businesses. Kandi is a never married songwriter who used to be in Escape. And then there's Kim. She's got that Big Papa money but she's certainly not a housewife. I don't really know what she does all day. Only the chemically imbalanced Nene is actually a housewife. Most of the episodes had to do with someone having a big party or event and then one of the other women making it all about herself. They are awful. I can't wait for season three!

BTW, I bought Kim's Tardy for the Party from iTunes this weekend. I'm just supporting bad behavior. Sorry.

Comedies

2009-11-04T08:17:00.000-08:00

It's hard to say what are my favorite comedies this season. 30 Rock is as funny as even and Parks and Recreation is getting really good. Community is a great addition to the Thursday night line-up. Last week Parks and Recreation was particularly good. The show could be about a bunch of characters who work together but don't like each other but instead it's a lot more fun with them being slightly annoyed at each other but not hating each other.

CBS has the good Monday night shows. HIMYM is great because the cast is so good. I love all the Robin Canada jokes. Big Bang Theory is always a laugh.

But the best new shows are on tonight on ABC. Modern Family is hilarious and Cougartown is a hot laugh riot with Courtney Cox even funnier than she was on Friends. I've skipped the other two and I've heard they suck. Here's the full video from the song the teenage boyfriend sang on the Shelly Long episode.

Vee

2009-11-03T10:30:00.000-08:00

The new reboot series "V" starts tonight on ABC. It stars Juliet from LOST as the lead FBI investigator, Scott Wolf from Party of Five as the intrepid report, and Inara the prostitute from Firefly as Anna, the leader of the Vistors. I was a big fan of the original mini-series and one-season show. In my defense I was 12. Remember when there used to be mini-series? They were cool. North and South, The Last Days of Pompeii, The Stand. And Roots. I never saw that one. Anyway, I digress. V is back and I like the new look. The old one had some core problems with the premise. There is so much easy water to get in the universe than the high gravity well of a planet with a population that might not want their water supply shut off. Also I can't imagine taking people as food is a good idea either. They should have stuck with the story that everyone taken was being reprogrammed to serve as soldiers to fight the Visitors enemies. But no, they stuck with an absurd premise and put the protagonist in an unwinnable situation that only biological warfare would solve, something so repulsive to most modern civilization. Hopefully they will drop the cannibal part of the story like they are dropping the Nazi parallel of the first series. Instead they are more like Fox News and the Bushies, a far more relatable bad guy in our times.

Full Frontal Battlestar Galactica

2009-11-02T16:52:00.000-08:00

Last night I watched the direct to DVD follow-up movie to Battlestar Galactica called The Plan. It was an interesting back fill story which shows alternative views to many of the events from the first two seasons starting shortly before the attack on the 12 Colonies. There's not much new info but it is great to see how Brothers Cavil's "Plan" hits one snag after another. Since it is a direct to DVD movie, there is some nudity. First we see the boobies from the stripper/bartender on Picon as Ellen meets Brother Cavil shortly before the attack. Later there's a most gratuitous hot Galactica bathroom scene with a hot naked ass and a full frontal shot of the same extra with very nice bait and tackle. But the attack on the 12 Colonies is the best part of the movie. We get to see more of the planets before they are engulfed in flames. So overall I give the movie a thumbs up. Get it now.

My Friends Were On Tosh.0 This Week

2009-10-31T16:21:00.000-07:00

This week I was watching Tosh.O and was surprised to see my friends Joe and Evan in the audience. I did a screen grab. Tosh.0 is an Internet clip show. Daniel Tosh was showing a particularly disgusting video and filming the audience reaction. There is the second row are my friends. The video was about a massive puss flow. I don't recommend it, but here it is. Evan and Joe are in three shots.

30 Rock is back

2009-10-17T11:13:00.000-07:00

Yay, it's Tennis Night!

Forgotten Cliffhanger

2009-10-12T09:39:00.000-07:00

There is a common new device used this year on two shows, it's the I-saw-something-important-at-season-ending-cliffhanger-but-now-I-forgot-it thing. It happened with Olivia on Fringe and also with Lois Lane on Smallville. Yes I still watch Smallville, deal with it. Olivia went to Spock's universe and didn't remember her conversation until the fourth episode. Lois went into the future and saw some shocking important but she is only now starting to remember flashes of it. Whatever she saw the future seems to be bright yellow like it is on fire or something.

I've been trying to think of other cliffhanger amnesia. With two this season there have to be other instances. In the first season of Babylon 5, the security guy figured out the plot to kill the president but was shot and in a coma for the first few episodes of the next season. It's not quite the same but it did take a few episodes for the information to disseminate. Daniel Jackson died and ascended at the end of Season 5 of Stargate: SG1. He returned in Season 7 with no memory or the place he had gone in the intervening season or the advanced information he learned while there. It's sort of the same thing but not really since we weren't given the expectation of new information at the end of the previous season.

But this is such an easy device for drawing out a cliffhanger over several episodes I'm sure it has been used before.

Across The Universe

2009-10-11T11:21:00.000-07:00

The new Stargate premiered last week and I really love it. The premise is similar to the other Stargate shows, teams of military and civilians go through the stargate to different planets to get things and battle evil. While Atlantis had a similar premise to to SG1 with a big common evil group to battle with. But there doesn't seem to be a specific evil alien group yet and even if there were it would be had to fight them and rather easy to avoid them. It also seems to be also a lot darker than the other shows. Here are some other bullets points why I love the show and you should watch it.

They are lost in space with a hotline to Earth. Even though they are several if not dozens of galaxies away, the ancient communication stones allow for real time communication with Stargate command on Earth and the primary contact Colonel Lou Diamond Phillips.
They have the classic SciFi device of the outside man. The guy who played Mark's boyfriend on Ugly Betty is the new guy on the team who only got through one of the orientation videos before the incident sent them across the universe. He asks the questions the audience may not know.
The driving force at least in this season is the struggle to survive. It kind of has the urgency of the first season of Battlestar Galactica where they are making due with what they escaped with. But the ancient ship holds lots of promise if they can fix the broken parts. First they needed air. Now they have to figure out the water, food, and power issues. I like struggling to survive shows like elements of LOST and BSG.
I think one of the characters is a lesbian. A first for this franchise.
The characters are great. As I always say the characters make the show. The lead scientist is kinda crazy and most people don't trust him. The outsider is a slacker who makes pop culture jokes. The three military people all have very distinct personality and their own issues. The Senator's daughter has great potential.
There are still some mysteries. What was the dust devil? Who took the shuttle? Why are some planets locked out of the dialing device? What happened to the other team members who went to the other planet? What wonders does the Destiny hold? Are there other aliens in these other galaxies?
You don't had to have watched the first 15 seasons to enjoy it. It's really good SciFi.

You can watch the first episodes on Hulu and the first two are free on iTunes.

Promises Broken, Promises Kept

2009-10-10T19:24:00.000-07:00

Before the new season started there were two shows I was most looking forward to. Those were/are Glee on Fox Wednesdays and Flashforward on ABC Thursdays.

Glee has kept its promise of being the funniest new show of the season. The characters are wonderful, from the main kids, to the background kids, to the teachers, and even the crazy wife. The story is moving along very fast. They could easy drag things out but they are really pushing the story on with the Invitationals, the upcoming Sectionals, and the Regionals off at some point in the season. I'm super excited that Cindi Lightballoon is now directly involved Glee. I really hope she sings sometime. And I can never get enough of the mohawk guy. He is delicious. This show exceeded expections and kept its promise of being awesome.

Then there is Flashforward. This promised to be am engaging mystery show that the whole world wound experience together. After three episodes I'm ready to drop this. I'll give it another chance since Charlie is joining the cast in the next episode or the one after. So before I get to the whole causality problem, the show is just boring. As I always say, it's the characters that make a show interesting. None of the FBI characters are interesting. Dr. Penny isn't interesting. The alcoholic utility guy looking for his daughter isn't interesting. All boring. What happened to the babysitter and the suicidal doctor? They had potential. The black fiance seemed interesting but she's only been in one episode. The next topic is the disaster cleanup and recovery. First up I don't think every building would be slightly damaged. I think some buildings would be undamaged, some would have some damage, and some would have burned down. With the streets impassable and dozens of fires going, at least one high-rise would have a big fire that would have burned all day to the point of structural failure. Twenty years ago the tallest building in L.A. at the time had a fire that lasted four hours and nearly took down the building. It was in real danger or shearing off the upper floor. It took 64 fire companies to battle this fire. In the chaos in the day of the blackouts it's far more likely that dozens of fires would have destroyed a lot of buildings around the world, not just L.A. And the cleanup seemed to happen very quick. The alcoholic utility guy would be working 16 hours shifts to fix all the problems. He wouldn't have time to get fill out exhumation paperwork much less hang around a bar in the middle of the day. I lived in Northridge during the 1994 quake and there was debris (mostly from fallen cement fences) on the streets for months. The time it would take to clear up every single freeway and major streets in L.A. would take weeks. It's not just a big accident, it's every mile of every freeway and every block in every direction. There's no plan in place for that kind of cleanup. It would take a few days to just come up with a plan. On to the investigation. It seems like the only people in the government investigating the incident is a same team in Los Angeles. There should be every government and military agency working on it. They should be a small team, not the leaders in the investigation.

But the causality issue is the biggest problem. If I had a vision of the future I would be very interested in seeing if it came true or not. And as the date and time became more known from the mosaic experiences, I would be very interested in that date/time. I wouldn't go about as business as usual. I'd be hanging out at a party celebrating a flash forward party. I wouldn't be in the bathroom. I wouldn't be having an ultrasound (who has those at 10pm?). I wouldn't be in a morning staff meeting in London. I wouldn't be at my own wedding. So either the future is what it is because I knew it was coming or the future is a possibility that could change. I know I would try to change it just because I could.

If I was running the show I would have kept at least the first few episodes heartpounding exciting. I'd start each episode with different disaster scenes from the blackout. I'd have characters that were interesting. I'd make the causality more of an issue. I'd spend more time to the clean-up effort instead of the far to slow moving investigation. And then I make the investigation more interesting. I'll give the show one more episode before I drop it.

The Emmy Post

2009-09-21T19:56:00.000-07:00

I rarely ever watch award shows. I didn't have much else on the TiVo last night so I tuned in to watch Doogie host. He was awesome and everyone told him so. He made a gay joke right in the opening song. I also counted three Kanye West jokes. Here are some of the highlights:

30 Rock won for Best Comedy. Yay, 30 Rock! Also Alec Baldwin won, but not Tina Fey. Boo!
Mad Men won for Best Drama. It's a great show but I'm not sure if it's "Best Drama" material. I went to bed before this award was given out.
Kristin Chenoweth won for Pushing Diasies. She started to cry and so did I. I love her.
Grey Gardens won for best TV movie. I loved this movie. Is it available on DVD? If so, go watch it.
Amazing Race won again for Best Reality show. Does this win every year? Yes it does.
Kathy didn't win, instead it went to Intervention.
South Park won for the episode about the economy. Stan's dad's blender was financed but they sold the debt and repackaged it, just like mortgage-backed security bonds. It was great.
One of my favorite moments was the list of names for best variety show, especially Conan's Facebook gag.

OMFSM! Kanye West doesn't like white people!

2009-09-14T00:30:00.000-07:00

Earlier tonight one of my friends broke into the normal conversation of the night to tell us something one of his friends posted on Facebook. It was a super-slam against Kanye West. Among other things his Facebook friend said, "It's a good thing your mother is dead so she didn't have to see what you did tonight." I thought this was extremely harsh. Nothing could deserve such and awful statement!

Then I saw what he did. Here is the clip, although I think this will be disabled in a short time:

So here is what happened. Taylor Swift won a video award for Best Female Video. During her acceptance speech Kanye West rushes the stage and grabs the mic from her. He congratulates her for winning but says Beyonce had one the best video of videos of all time. effectively saying her win was worthless and it belong to Beyonce. Beyone did have a great video and she did go on to win the Video of The Year Award. But I love the You Belong with Me video. It's all about how the nice, unpopular girl should really be with the super hot neighbor guy. She has won several Country Music awards but this was her first big mainstream award and Kanye ruined it. It looks as if she is about to burst into tears...and who would blame her. Beyonce is laughing nervously. I wouldn't know what to do if I were her either. Afterward the crowd erupts in applause and I have no idea if it is in support of Kanye or Taylor. I'm still confused but I want to cry for Taylor.

Really Kanye, I too am happy your mother died before seeing this deplorable behavior. It's just not right.

Here is the video. Go buy the song right now.

New Shows I'm Not Watching

2009-09-10T16:35:00.000-07:00

Tonight is the debut of Vampire Diaries. I will not be watching it. And it's not because the vampire landscape is totally over full with True Blood and Twilight. It's because I refuse to accept that this love triangle with two vampires and a human could ever exist. I'm 38 and I would probably take the opportunity to have sex with an 18 year old. But I could never have a relationship with him. So these vampire brothers are like 80 years old or what ever? How could they possible want to have more than a brief affair with this teenage girl? It's just weird. At least Sookie is in her 20s on True Blood. Other than the love triangle, there's also Buffy elements of demons and supernatural stuff. Hasn't this all been done to death, so to speak. One good thing is has Boone from Lost.

Accidentally On Purpose. I find a show about a baby crazy women ruining the life of her frat boy baby-daddy so repulsive. Really, this show makes my skin crawl.

Trauma. It looks kinda like Third Watch which I enjoyed. There's no real reason not to watch other than I'm already watching too much.

The Jay Leno Show. I didn't watch him when he was on The Tonight Show so why would I watch this now?

The Forgotten. Another procedural show, this time investigating unknown victims. Nothing about this excites me.

NCIS: Los Angeles. What is NCIS? There's a spin-off now? Who watches this?

The Good Wife. I find the concept good but the execution awful. So a disgraced politician's wife must go back to work after her husband is put in jail. Sounds good. But she chooses a cut-throat trial law firm with lots of hungry 20-somethings. It would make a lot more sense and be a lot more original if she became a lobbyist. Lame, don't watch.

Melrose Place. I was going to watch until I heard two words: Ashley Simpson. I boycott her like I do Scientologists. I wonder if she is a Scientologist? That would make a lot of sense.

Hank. I love Kelsey Grammar but stop making new sitcoms. He should do something different like NCIS. What is NCIS?

The Middle. I can't watch every new comedy, sorry.

Mercy. Again with the nurses. This is the third new nurse show this year. This one has Buffy's sister. If I didn't make it through more than two episodes of Nurse Jackie, why would I watch this?

The Beautiful Life. I thought Mischa Barton was dead. Who knew? This will be as huge as Models, Inc.

Brothers. Ex-NFL player has to move back home, blah, blah, NCIS, blah, blah.

Three Rivers. This sounds good but Sundays are already full. It's not just a medical show its a medical show about organ transplants. Neat.

New Fall Shows 2009

2009-09-10T10:45:00.000-07:00

The new fall season started last night with the debut of Glee. Here are the new shows this season I plan on watching:

Glee, 9/9/2009 on FOX
This premiered back in May and I love this show. Love it. Love it!

Community, 9/17/2009 on NBC
Joel McHale from The Soup is the star of this new sitcom about a bunch of characters at a community college. It looks like the best new comedy of the season.

Parenthood, 9/23/2009 on NBC
The movie was great and like 20 years old but I look forward to the very few episodes I expect out of this.

Modern Family, 9/23/2009 on ABC
Why watch Parenthood, which was about family life in the late 80s, when you can watch a total new and original show about three different families. One of them is a gay couple with an adopted baby

Cougar Town, 9/23/2009 on ABC
I love Courtney Cox Arquette although I don't think this show will be success. Maybe 6 episodes I guess.

Eastwick, 9/23/2009 on ABC
This could be this year's Ugly Betty or Desperate Housewives. I think it will be a big success. It's my number three show this year after FlashForward and Glee.

FastForward, 9/24/2009 on ABC
I'm looking forward to this show more than anything. Everyone blacks out and has a vision of the future. The future vision is for April 2010 so we can expect the show to catch up with its future before the end of the season. I'm worried that Penelope is in this. She needs to be on Lost more for the finale season.

V, 11/3/2009 on ABC
We have to wait until November but we get: Inara/Adria, Agent Baldwin, and Juliet all in the same series! I'm happy they are remaking this classic show from my childhood. I just hope they don't do the whole stealing-the-water story. There's so much water in the galaxy, there's no need to pull it out of our gravity well. Go gerbils!

Ellen Idol

2009-09-10T08:17:00.000-07:00

The big news of the day is Ellen is joining the cast of Idol. I love Ellen and this is totally going to get her Giraffe money. Long ago on her talk show she said how Michael Jackson was so rich that he could afford a private zoo with a Giraffe. That's rich. She is totally on her way there. She also signed up for many more talk show years, to at least 2014.

I'm sure she will be great during the regular Idol season. I'm not sure how she will make it through the city audition phase. She is so nice I can't see her sitting there day after day while people have their dreams crushed in front of her. I know the other judges have all come up through the music industry so they are used to this. It might have been as hard for her in the comedy circuit. Although she was the first female comic on the Johnny Carson show to be called over to the couch after her routine. That was very big.

I've really gotten into Idol in recent years and this is just another great reason to watch!

GLEE

2009-09-09T17:57:00.000-07:00

Today is the official start of the new fall season with the debut of Glee on FOX. Fox seems to always be the first one to start the season. Glee did have a preview back in May and it was great. I missed it and had to watch it on Hulu. I really love the idea of a preview and I really hope each network decides to run a preview of one new fall series during the season finale season. It really gets people excited for a show. In addition to the preview, Glee has released short episode clips all summer to tease us with. I missed a few but I did see Gold Digger which was hilarious.

Way back in May, I was visiting Paramount Studios with my friend Jason and our mutual friend Gary gave us a personal tour of the studios. They had several active sets going on, some back Nickelodeon sit-com, Nip/Tuck, and Glee. Nip/Tuck was shooting that day so we couldn't get in to see most of the sets. Glee however was clear and we were able to wander through. Here I am sitting at the Principal's desk. This was before I had seen the preview so I wasn't to super excited about walking though the set. We also walked though the classrooms, halls, the teachers apartment and the locker room. They didn't have any showers on the set. They have to do those scenes on location since there was no plumbing built into the set.

Don't miss Glee tonight. I surely won't.

I Remember: G.I. Joe

2009-09-07T11:16:00.000-07:00

I recently saw the new G.I. Joe film. It was really cool. Lots of great special effects and cool gadgets and weapons. It got me thinking about the original cartoon from the 80s which I watched, and the comic book which I read for about 5 years.

The TV show started with a mini-series. GI Joe and Cobra went on a global hunt for three special ingredients to a special doomsday machine. It eventually went into a daily series where each week Cobra was foiled by Joe is they quest to take over the world. It was never really clear where Cobra got all they funding and how they could afford to buy all the choppers that the Joes shot down each episode or pay the mercenaries who bailed out of the choppers that the Joes shot down every episode. The comic book went into a lot more detail about their organization but the back story was never really explored that well. They also had to cool Cobra Island story where the Joes were tricked into detonating a ton of underwater explosives triggered a tectonic event which created a new island. At which point the secret Cobra organization became a nation recognized by the U.N. That was pretty cool.

The movie had the predicable one-liner references to the show, "He's a real American hero" and "Knowing is half the battle." But it also had a completely plausible origin story for the well funded terrorist organization Cobra. An super smart scientist stumbles across some groundbreaking nono-technology and he is able to adapt it to use for mind control and facial reconstruction. This guy goes on to become Cobra Commander. The mind control technology explains the source of the power, both money and man-power. It is very powerful technology for whoever first masters it and could easily turn someone into a very powerful threat. I'm not sure if I like the change of the Baroness from just evil villainess to the unwilling mind controlled sister of the Cobra Commander and ex-fiance of Duke, the newest member of the G. I. Joe team. Woman can be beautiful and evil. It made for a good love story though. Pretty much all of the characters Destro, Zartan, Snake Eyes, Storm Shadow had their origin stories presented in the film. Something I never got in the show. Even if the movie had been a flop (it wasn't so expect more) it would have been great for me to know the back stories of the characters I've known for so long. And knowing is half the battle.

I Remember: Santa Barbara

2009-09-06T11:30:00.000-07:00

This is a new recurring kind of post for me, the "I Remember" post. I'm going to talk about shows I used to watch long ago without doing any research. It's just the show as I remember. So there will be some missing and incorrect information.

When I was a child I used to watch Days of Our Lives and Another World. The latter was since canceled but DOOL is still limping along as NBC's only remaining soap. I have a vague memory of another NBC soap called The Doctors. Then in high school there was Generations, the first soap with a significant African American cast, instead of the two token characters who have no choice but to get married, until a third black person moves into town. Finally NBC had Passions which I watched a few times at the gym and was thoroughly confused why anyone would watch it, and I love bad television. But my favorite soap opera was called Santa Barbara. And a few weeks ago when driving through Santa Barbara, I started to remember a lot of this show.

The show started with the return of some guy who used to be engaged to The Princess Bride. He was in prison for killing her brother. Upon parole he was released and returned. I don't remember much of this story line other than the not really dead Capwell mom was the real killer, but it was an accident. The two main families were the Capwells and someone else. They were modelled after the Capulets and Montegues from Romeo and Juliet. So the guy coming back from prison was probably a member of the other family. I didn't watch it for a while and then they had a big earthquake and stuff. I watched it regularly in high school. It was the time of two super couples, Mason Capwell and the character played by Nancy Lee Grahn and Cruz and Eden Capwell. Cruz was the successful Latino police detective and Eden was the daughter of the wealthiest family in town so this was a problem. But eventually everyone was happy with their relationship. And they were happy until the rape. Eden was violently and realistically raped in a very emotional storyline. She was smashed into her glass coffee table by a man dresses all in black, one of the many reasons never to have a glass coffee table. She recovered and they found out it was gynecologist. Gross. That character fell of a cliff or something. Apparently they liked the actor because they recast him as the new D.A. with the crazy wife. Mason and Nancy's character (I can't remember her name) had an on-again-off-again relationship. They were both lawyers and much of the time they were dealing with Mason's alcoholism. Often they were the comic relief with one mad capped adventure about a missing body they put in their garage freezer. I don't remember why they had a body, but it was funny.

I stopped watching when I went off to college and the show was eventually cancelled. It ended well though. Someone got married and all the couples got back together to celebrate at the wedding. There was some gunfire, but in the end all the couples danced happily off the air. I wonder if they are showing old episodes on the Soap Opera Network. I'll have to take a look.