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Getting Nerdly With The New Fall Season

2008-09-03T12:27:00.001-04:00

Well, folks, the new fall season is about to start and unlike you guys, I am a nut for television. Sometimes I am that nerd that knows so many details, you can’t talk to me about it and sometimes I’m that girl that’s crying because Izzie and Denny didn’t end up together. I run the gamut. Anyway, I’m picking the shows that will succeed or fail based solely on the previews (I mean, hell, that’s what you use to pick the shows you’ll watch) and I always give every new show at least 3 episodes to prove me right.

The new fall season will not be as full of new shows as the past seasons, mainly because of the writer’s strike, which was totally worth it because now they make a whole dollar on new shows after the first week of viewing, which, as you all know, is about a week after we’ve watched them.*

So, if you want to know what’s going on for the upcoming fall season, read on. Well, sometimes I’ll tell you about the show and sometimes, I’ll just talk out of my ass. That’s what I’m good for.

CBS

The Mentalist - Simon Baker is Patrick Jane, a detective and consultant with the CBI with a razor sharp skills of observation. He’s also a jerk, which seems to work when guys are smarter than you want them to be. If he’s not better than Shawn Spencer, I’m writing in for this show to be cancelled. Sept. 23 - This is getting cancelled.

The Ex-List - Elizabeth Reaser is Bella Bloom, and instead of being Alex’s one true love on Grey’s Anatomy, she has her own show and is searching for the ex that is “the one”. Well, at least that’s what her psychic said. Oh, yeah, and she has a year to find him or lose him forever - which makes me wonder… have the writers figured out how to keep this concept going? Instead of being a comedy, this is a one hour dramady. Oct. 3 - This is getting cancelled

Worst Week - One man wrecking crew? We like the sound of that! A guy tries to impress his girlfriend’s parents and fails miserably. Which is what normally happens when a guy falls for a girl and tries to impress her family. A new CBS comedy? We can’t wait. Sept. 22 - This is not getting cancelled

Gary Unmarried - Jay Mohr is a single father of two who must deal with being divorced and finding love again. Sounds boring, but we hope Mohr can keep it going. We don’t think he will. Sept. 24 - This is getting cancelled

Eleventh Hour - Ahhh, someone has said, “screw supernatural crime! People are committing scientific crimes everyday!” And sometimes, those scientific crimes can be very supernatural in nature. Stars Rufus Sewell, who is very smart, but apparently not as big a jerk as Simon Baker’s character. Oct. 9 - This is not getting cancelled

Harper’s Island - Technically a midseason show, Harper’s Island is some kind of murder mystery. A destination wedding on a picturesque island that was once the site of a homicidal maniac’s murderous rampage leads to more murder. Is the killer one of the group? Midseason - This is not getting a full season pickup.

ABC

Life on Mars - Based on the BBC series of the same name, a cop chasing a serial killer gets hit by a car and wakes up in 1973. Is he dead, is he in hell, is he in a coma? We don’t know. Hopefully, we will care or that show is out of here! Oct. 9 - This is not getting cancelled

Pushing Daisies - Returning series that only got out half a season before the writer’s strike. A hilarious season with nice comedic turns by Chi McBride and Kristin Chenoweth. It’s 9 episodes in - which is new enough. You should watch it. Oct. 1 - This better not get cancelled

Scrubs - Not appreciated by NBC audiences, the funny show is moving to ABC. Let’s hope the humour stays the same. Midseason - This is not getting cancelled

NBC

My Own Worst Enemy -Christian Slater is a spy who has a chip planted in his brain (a la the Manchurian Candidate) that separates his suburban father alter ego from his superspy alter ego. The drama unfolds when the chip begins to malfunction and his identities begin to slap fight. Oct. 13 - This is not getting cancelled

Knight Rider - The not so great made for tv movie was a backdoor pilot for the new series. May eventually contain the Hoff himself - which makes me breath a nerdly sign of relief. The cheese returns! Sept. 24 - This is not getting cancelled

Kath and Kim - a comedy about a dysfunctional mother and daughter and their adventures in suburbia. Starring Molly Shannon and Selma Blair, I’m interested in seeing how they make Molly Shannon look old enough to have given birth to Selma Blair. Oct. 9 - This is getting cancelled

Heroes 3 hour premiere event - which usually means a one hour “how did we get here” special, the last episode and the new episode. Hopefully, it’s not a pop up video. The Lost one was annoying as hell - but that was Disney owned ABC. Sept. 22

SNL Weekend Update Thursday - The SNL comedy series takes on the 2008 presidential elections. Yippee. I thought we got enough presidential election humour from CNN and Fox. Oct. 9

Crusoe - The classic Lost tale is brought to life for NBC. NBC pulled out all the stops to make this series. I wonder if he will get off and if they will discover what the smoke monster actually is, because Lost really let me down in that respect. Oct. 17 - This is getting cancelled (thanks to nymag.com for the scoop - I still think Knight Rider will succeed because people like procedurals)

Fox

Bones has 2 hour premiere Sept. 3 - I love this show, worth a mention and a look, plus they will be in London for the premiere. *waggles eyebrows suggestively*

Prison Break 2 hour premiere Sept. 1 - I could give a fuck about this show, but it is one that people like. Strange, crazy people.

Fringe - J.J. Abrams has a new sci-fi thriller drama. Fringe has found the Lost Plane. I’m sure it will all tie in together. Despite the fact that Joshua Jackson from Dawson’s Creek is in it, I think it will succeed! 90 minute premiere Sept. 9 - This is not getting cancelled

Do Not Disturb - A comedy starring Jerry O’Connell about a ritzy hotel run by a sleazy womanizer and a black woman, each having a totally different take on running a hotel and who totally fall into stereotypes we hoped we’d grown to avoid. Sept. 10 - This shit is getting cancelled

The CW

90210 - Reimagined or 2.0, this series is about a family who moves to the ritzy zip code after the father gets a job as principal at West Beverly Hills High School. Two hour season premiere, September 2 - This is not getting cancelled

Privileged - A girl becomes the tutor to two spoiled twins. It looks stupid, but so did Gossip Girl and I still watch it with a warm bowl of popcorn like it’s porn. (that means I will probably be ashamed of myself for watching it). Sept. 9 - This is not getting cancelled

Surviving Surburbia - Bob Saget vehicle about new neighbors who immediately sue their neighbors. I assume it’s a comedy. Midseason - This is nonsense

Valentine - Greek gods in disguise bring people together without revealing that they are deities. Sept. 21 - This was a book

Easy Money - A drama about a family that runs a shady high interest loan business and the son that wants to make it legit. Lauri Metcalfe of Roseanne fame stars. Sunday, Sept. 21. - This looks idiotic

Midseason

Bad Mother Handbook (ABC)

Mugan Mullally, Alicia Silverston, Alia Shawkat - A mother must take care of her teenage daughter and her mother. Where’s George Michael created sexual tension when you need him?

Dollhouse (Fox)

Penikett finds a new show now that Battlestar Galactica threatens to end and shoots itself in the face with that god awful non revelatory midseason finale. Joss Whedon returns to television (but not with Firefly like we wish. And by “we” I mean me) with Eliza Dushku for a show about human beings who have no memories and are programmed to be whatever the lab wants. January 2009 - This will become a full season show.

Kings (NBC)

A modern day retelling of David and Goliath (and we know how that ended for Goliath) about a soldier who saves a king and has his life inextricably intertwined with the king and his daughter. Which sounds exactly nothing like David and Goliath, but does sound a lot like David and Saul.

*This information is totally not true. I’m picking at the drama as well as how little they got while at the same time applauding them for standing up for themselves as writers.

Trailer Trash Does Drugs

2008-07-12T00:51:00.004-04:00

College - I thought there would be drugs in this one, but there was only stupidity. Moving on!

The Wackness - You know how you always knew the guy selling ice cream in December was really selling drugs? This movie proves it - on a smaller scale. Ben Kingsley loves drugs.

Kabluey - I think I should be taking drugs to understand this movie. However, if things hold true to course, Jeffery Dean Morgan will die in this movie too (cf. Grey's Anatomy, Supernatural).

Burn After Reading - Someone was on drugs when they did Brad Pitt's hair. Spies from different spy movies star (George Clooney, Tilda Swinton). It's supposed to be a comedy, but I'll bet James Bond was mad as hell he didn't get asked. And Jason Bourne, although he is trying to get out of the game.

Transsiberian - This movie has drugs in it, but it also has Woody Harrelson, which means it isn't as good as the drugs imply. It does have Ben Kingsley, and you know that means he's coming with the good ish.

The House Bunny - Another movie in a long line of "had to be on drugs to make this movie"

Choke- Maybe it's because I like Rockwell or hate Kelly McDonald or think Chuck Palahniuk is just okay or really like the song by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Satan Said Dance. I don't know, but that Satan character is most assuredly on drugs.

Pineapple Express - I know Pineapple Express conjures images of choo-choo trains and Kung Fu Panda, but in actuality, this is a movie about weed. And not the kind you have to pull from the ground, but the kind you want to pull from the ground, roll up and smoke. Still, Trailer Trash says stay off the pot, kids, or you could end up like James Franco. Hot as hell.

Psych: Ebony and Ivory

2008-07-11T22:04:00.003-04:00

When Psych debuted in the summer of 2006, I thought it could be an interesting show. As the season continued, snarky 80s pop culture references, an excellent but barely use Dule Hill (who plays Gus), and an interesting father (Corbin Bernson does crotchety well)/young Shawn dynamic did very little to make the childish antics of an older Shawn (played like a bottle of shaken up pop by James Roday) funny to me.

Because I have a slight obsession with watching series I start all the way through (unless they are rubbish) I finished out the Psych season (which only lasted like 13 or 15 episodes). I was sure would not be following James Roday into a second season.

Yet on a particularly boring Friday in the summer of 2007, I found myself turning back to Psych. The second season presented a toned down Shawn, more of an appearance from Gus as he moves into the Psych offices, an expansion of the other characters (played with silly charm by Kirsten Nelson, Timothy Omundson, and Maggie Lawson) who received an extra dimension, bringing them each to 3 dimensions total, and a storyline that forced Shawn to contront his own childishness (don't worry, he didn't change). Without Shawn acting like he was auditioning for the next Bozo (God rest his soul), the humour became funnier, subtler, bearable. It is still, at best, a mediocre show, yet is deserves the space on your DVR for a lazy Sunday afternoon viewing. Psych Season 3 premiers Friday, July 18, 2008 at 10pm.

Swingtown

2008-07-03T18:37:00.001-04:00

CBS has a new show called Swingtown. Starring Jack Davenpart and Molly Parker, Swingtown tells the story of Bruce and Susan Miller who move on up out of their first small surburban home to that big surburban home by the lake. Yes, Bruce got a raise and moves his family, leaving behind his wife's best friend, Janet and her husband Roger. It is a clash of cultures and the willingness to experiment that has the Millers getting it on with pilot Tom Decker and his wife Trina as the true nature of the show's name exhibits itself. It's not just about the adults, but also the burgeoning relationship of the children as well. Smart Laurie Miller wants her summer school teacher and young BJ is falling for the enigmatic young girl next door who makes a habit of running away.

That's the storyline in a nutshell, but the show tries to explore the effects on the characters of the excesses and flaws of the 70s. The show takes place in 1976. In 1976, I was only a few months old - far to young to know what was going on in the world. Thanks to CBS' acquisition of last.fm, I get to hear the songs of that period, most of which I am already familiar with, anytime I want to online. Yet despite it's trendy references to Dylan, the show feels as if it has been hamstringed in what it's trying to do.

The show was originally created to be on HBO, but because it was already filled with intimacy ladened shows (Californication, Big Love and a new show in development called Hung), HBO passed and CBS swooped in for the kill. The creator, Mike Kelley, and director, Alan Poul feel the move made the show better. "When we sat down to rewrite the script, it was actually less difficult, less painful and more rewarding than we'd anticipated," says Poul. "We came out with something stronger." Kelley adds: "It just allowed us to be freer to explore the characters without having to make as much happen in the bedroom. It's about the relationships that develop outside of the sexual moments. It's refreshing, frankly." (quote via Newsweek online)

So, with a show so free to show the emotions involved, why does the show feel so stilted. It's taking too long to get to some moments (I feel this way particularly about the relationship between Laurie and her teacher) and it's too top heavy on the honesty part, making me know that at some moment in the show, honesty will not be involved and this whole thing will crumble like the bad idea it is to invite someone other than your spouse in the bed with you.

But in the name of good natured fun, let's take a closer look at the show.

I finished watching Cabin Fever, the fourth episode of the 13 episodes ordered for this series and I'm sorry to say that not enough sex was had. And the sexual tension between Roger and Susan needs to come to a... head. No pun intended, but now that it's out there, I actually like it. Bruce seems so dorky and I suspect a bit insincere, but I like the fact that when asked by his beautiful neighbor Trina how many women he'd been with, his response was 2 (if you haven't watched it, that's his wife and Trina from their foursome of the first episode). In this day and age, how many people can say that? Very damn few. Of course, they didn't have the STD worry we have now, but I digress. Also, the Janet character is so uptight that making her friends with

I read Alan Sepinwall's post and his main complaint is that the psychological consequences are not fully explored because the sexual sequences are not fully shown. I mean, can you imagine, you and your spouse in bed for the first time with another couple? Him touching another woman with her watching? Him watching another man touch his wife? The first time she sees him kiss another woman or another man, feeling someone elses hand on your body...

Is it getting hot in here?

What I'm saying is seeing that and how you react, even if you're into it, reveals a lot about the characters and not being able to show that someone cheapens the show.

And what the hell is going on with little BJ and the neighbor girl? And does BJ's best friend, Rick (the son of neighbors left behind) have a crush on him or something? There is just an awkwardness to how that relationship and interaction is being written/directed. And how in the hell did the name BJ get by everyone who looked at this script about a show dealing primarily with sex?

I just don't know.

Will I keep watching Swingtown? Yes, mainly because I hate most reality shows (unless it involves cooking or superheroes) and there isn't much to hold my attention at the moment. Also, because I'm hoping to see something different. Where we are now is a direct result of what we did then. How will they connect the past with the future? Will they even try? Or will this be more or less a dry hump of a show, trying to get us there, but never really satisfying? Unless they get cancelled, only time will tell.

Who is the 5th and Final Cylon? Part 2

2008-06-27T12:29:00.002-04:00

After some discussion with my crew, we've decided that this whole midseason finale thing is just wrong. Sci-Fi should be taken out back and shot and some other entity steps in and brings our show back after a SHORT hiatus for the purpose of refining the remaining episodes.

Because they need to refine.

I don't know what that shite was that they showed us on that last Friday, that Friday that was supposed to keep us in suspense for nearly half a year. What I do know is that they didn't tell us a gods damn thing we didn't already know. And what the FRAK is that Earth they took us to. I mean, by the time I saw the devastation, I didn't care.

So, as a final check, did we:
1. Learn who the 5th Cylon was? No
2. Get to Earth? Check
3. Like the Earth they got to? No
4. Care if they lived or died at this point? No
5. Feel like Unboxing the Deanna was pointless? Check
6. Still believe Doc Cottle is the 5th Cylon? Check
7. Watching when they bring the show back after an unusually long hiatus (in which they might as well have said we're going to be like Lost and divide this last season into two seasons?) Hells Frak YEAH!

I mean, Check.

Who is the 5th and Final Cylon?

2008-06-13T10:18:00.004-04:00

Neo ain't got nothin' on this one! (There be spoilers, people)

The final Cylon is the biggest question resting on my mind tonight. Everything I do today is just me in holding pattern until 10pm when Sci-Fi plays the midseason finale of Battlestar Galactica. It's going to be a big event - though there is only one other person that I hang around that enjoys it as much as I do. So the two of us will be in my living room, eating chips and dip and drinking sodas as we watch and discuss for 2 hours after that this mid season finale.

Speaking of mid season finale, what the frak is up with that? How can you say, "final season" and then split the season in half, ending the season now and starting a new season in 2009? That is a low blow Sci-Fi director of programming and it should be rectified! /rant

So, there are some major names up for the 5th Cylon. Some people thought it might be Laura Roslin, but I believe that her cancer coming back puts her out of the picture. Also, last week's episode had the 3 (a brilliant job from Lucy Lawless by the way) disabusing Roslin of that notion. I said that it HAD to be Adama because that would be the only way that Cylon and Human could get along on the planet Earth now that the Cylons seem to procreate quite regularly (that's 3 skinjob youths on board). However, Ronald Moore said that the 5th Cylon is not a major character. Which makes me glad because I couldn't stand the thought of Gaius Baltar being the last Cylon. We've decided that Gaeta is not the last Cylon, after the whole leg thing and all. (By the way, is ANYBODY going to say something to Anders? A hand slap... anything? And is Starbuck no longer crazy?)

We've decided it's Doc Cottle. He's perfect! He has access to all the blood for testing, he let them get away with getting film of Sharon's baby, he has exclusive access to every single person... I have a feeling we will find out tonight.

So, if you're reading this and you actually watch BSG, what's been your favourite moment so far?

You Won't Like Me When I'm Hungry!

2008-06-13T09:57:00.004-04:00

Watched the new Hulk last night. Besides the fact that there was still some old school comic book writing thrown in there, it was amazing. Not as good as Iron Man, but definitely a continuation of how good that movie was overall. The action was unbelievable. My dance crew was laughing at how animated I got. One guy leaned over and said, "It's okay, he lives." It was brutal, in a good way. Plus - Edward Norton, Tim Roth, William Hurt. Minus: Liv Tyler - unless you just wanted eye candy. But I guess if you can't find anyone better to say "Bruce" over and over again, then I can deal! Although the scene with the taxi - now that's what I'm talking about. A friend of mine said that he liked the drawing/cgi of the 2003 Hulk better than this one, but now that I've looked at pictures, I disagree. I mean, it is possible that the 2003 Hulk looks like something someone could turn into, but the 2003 Hulk also looks like somebody's big head in a foam rubber muscle suit. I'm just saying. Anyway, this is a must see, especially if you're getting all excited about that Avengers movie coming out in 2011.

So, if you saw the Hulk, what was the cheesiest moment for you?

A Send Up For a Send Off

2008-06-11T10:07:00.003-04:00

A eulogy for a comedian shouldn’t be a serious thing. It should be full of something and that something should make me laugh. Of course, it’s hard to laugh when someone dies, but not when they’re as funny as Harvey Korman.

Dueling Pianos

The thing about Harvey Korman was that he could never keep it together. I used to watch the Carol Burnett Show just for the fun of seeing him laugh at Tim Conway. I watched a PBS special on Carol Burnett and she said that Tim Conway would ad lib once everyone was in front of the audience and so no one knew what to expect when they were live. Harvey Korman never knew what to expect and it got him everytime.

On her PBS Special, Carol Burnett talked about how she almost fired Harvey Korman, but if she had, we would have missed the genius that he was.

I found this one too and it made me laugh knowing the true nature of what was going on.

I remember Harvey most from the Carol Burnett show, but that wasn’t all he did. He was with the Danny Kaye show (Danny Kaye of Court Jester fame: The pellet with the poison's in the vessel with the pestle; the chalice from the palace has the brew that is true!), did a stint as the voice of the Great Gazoo (when I was a kid, I thought that little cartoon alien was sarcastic as hell, but just like Thunder Cats, the reality of it as an adult disappoints - were we just stupid when we were kids?) Anyway, here he is, being interviewed and here's a Great Gazoo treat!

One thing that was true then and is true now, death and all, Harvery Korman was funny and hell and I will miss him.

If You're Watching BSG...

2008-05-14T14:20:00.005-04:00

A friend asked me when BSG would be starting again. I feel like I failed him.

For those of you who don't know, this Friday Sci-Fi will air the 7th episode of the first half of the season. The writer's strike delayed the start of the BSG premiere and the break will give the writers time to end the series on the right note.

So where are we, for those of you who haven't been watching? Spoiler Alert for the purpose of catching you up.

Starbuck returns good as new - not dead as a blown up doornail, as you would expect from her demise in the middle of last season. She's returned and she knows the way to earth. It is a distant sound in her head, a sound that makes President Roslin fear she may be a Cylon.

Speaking of Cylons, Chief, Colonel Tigh, Anders, and Tory are trying to figure out what it means now that they know they're Cylons. Anders starts freaking out immediately and gets recognized by a raider, who refuses to shoot him. They have their, what appears to be daily, meetings and Callie, who is afraid Chief is having an affair with co-Cylon Tory, follows them to the meeting where she hears that her husband is a skinjob. She wants to throw herself and her half-Cylon (yes! there is another one) out the Airlock, but Tory talks her out of it, gets the baby and then proves herself to be a raving bitch by airlocking Callie by herself. (Yes, true believers, Callie is gone). Chief goes mad with it, cuts off all his hair, yells at Adama until he demotes him (I believe to keep his Cylon ass from destroying any more ships) and is afraid to touch anything until Baltar's asking for forgiveness touches something in him. Also, there is a Civil War going on between the one group (1, 4, 5 and one 8) and another group (2, 6, and the rest of the 8s). It went so far that group one decided to destroy all of group two.

Starbuck - who is probably not a Cylon - was almost shot by Laura Roslin after Starbuck took her hostage to make her choose whether Laura believed she was a Cylon or herself miraculously returned. This hostage taking upset Adama, but he got over it and put her on a ship to find earth. On that ship, she proceeded to go crazy, scaring her crew. A 2 (Leoben) gets captured with tales of Cylon genocide and a helping hand extended by the remaining Cylons, who are so far from a resurrection ship that death is death now. Starbuck, Sharon (now Athena), Anders and a few others go to the baseship and talk to the Hybrid (see Prophecies below). Meanwhile on the ship that Starbuck left, Helo is hoping they will get back soon while Gaeta (shot by Anders when he was going to jump against Starbuck's wishes) is hoping Doc Cottle won't have to cut off his leg. Just as Helo was going to have to jump, he heard the sweet, sweet sounds of his precious Athena and, as Alan Sepinwall writes, all your basestars are belong to us!

Meanwhile, back at the Galactica, Roslin has lost her hair and is beginning to believe Baltar's BS without the Baltar BS. Baltar is becoming a guru and you would almost believe he's part of the Hybrid's Prophecy (see Prophecies below), except it's much too obvious. Oh yeah, did I mention that Baltar's not only seeing Head 6, but he also saw Head Baltar? He's frakkin' insane with all this one God nonsense.

One Eye Tigh keeps seeing his dead ex-wife everywhere, including in the 6's face, where he lets her beat the ever lovin' hell out of him right before making out with her. Yeah. He's hiding that he's a Cylon real well.

Hybrid Prophecies:

From Razor - At last they've come for me. I feel their lives, their destinies spilling out before me. The denial of the one true path, played out on a world not their own, will end soon enough. Soon, there will be four, glorious in awakening. Struggling with the knowledge of their true selves. The pain of revelation bringing new clarity. And in the midst of confusion, he will find her, enemies brought together by impossible longing, enemies now joined as one. The way forward, at once unthinkable, yet inevitable. And the fifth, still in shadow, will claw toward the light, hungering for redemption that will only come in the howl of terrible suffering. I can see them all. The seven now six self-described machines, machines who believe themselves without sin. But in time, it is sin that will consume them. They will know enmity, bitterness, the wrenching agony of the one splintering into the many and then they will join the promised land, gathered on the wings of an Angel. Not and end, but a beginning.

Kara Thrace will lead the human race to its end. She is the herald of the apocalypse, the harbinger of death. They must not follow her. As my own existence comes to a close only to begin anew in ways uncertain. All this has happened before and will happen again. Again. Again. Again. Again.

From season 4 episode 6, Faith - Thus it will come to pass. A dying leader will know the truth of the Opera House. The missing Three will give you the Five who come from the home of the Thirteenth. You are the harbinger of death, Kara Thrace. You will lead them all to their end. End of Line.

Well, what the hell is that supposed to mean?

If my "synopsis" didn't do it for you, you can watch the episodes for free online at scifi.com.

Online Television, Part Deux

2008-04-29T17:10:00.002-04:00

I want to convince everyone to watch tv online. Yes, I know you have a DVR. I know you can watch television anytime you want. But can you watch your DVR when you're having a slow day at work and want to pass the time? Can you watch your DVR in the Doctor's office - especially if the thought of watching Dr. Phil with these ladies makes you want to vomit?

The answer to that is a resounding no.

Oh, I'm not advocating throw away your tv. As an avid sports fan, I'm all about big HD tvs that show you every hit, every bead of sweat, every signal in a crisp clarity that only going to a game can provide. I love the television set.

But I love the convenience of watching television online even more. If I want to know what's going on with those girls at the Pussycat Dolls Present: Girlicious house, all I have to do is skip over to http://cwtv.com and check it out. If I want to know what Barney is doing on How I Met Your Mother, I type in http://cbs.com (actually, I just do cbs.com - these sites know my ip address by heart now). Want to catch up on Pushing Daisies? abc.go.com. It's not hard people. All it takes is a set of headphones, a fast internet connection, and a love of television that means you can take it where you go instead of waiting until you get home.

So which sites help you enjoy watching television on the computer and which site makes you want to throw your internet connection out the window? I have a little more research to do before I can let you in on my television on the computer knowledge.

Online Television

2008-04-28T17:04:00.002-04:00

I was nearly fed up with CBS because, for the last few weeks when I've tried to catch up on How I Met Your Mother on the website, it would crap out on me right before the video. Fortunately for me and all other online tv viewers, CBS and others have revamped their site to include some very important new features.

Important New Feature #1 - Pause during commercials. Don't tell the sites, but this is the best feature they could have come up with. Oh, you still have to watch the commercial, but gone are the days when running to get a glass of water and coming back to catch your show on time was dangerous (hint: them bitches are 30 seconds long at most). Now, you can pause commercials, get your water (or gin and tonic), and come back safely. Viva la pause button.

Important New Feature #2 - Browser window pause. You know how when it takes too long for a video to load, you go check Gmail or Facebook and can miss the first part of the show while you look through all your tabs for the last location? Well no longer! If you move to another window, you can chat to your heart's content knowing that when you go back to your favourite tv website, it will start for you. Note: Browsers do not pause after that section of the show has started.

Important New Feature #3 - Synchronicity. Previously, each site was different and hoped to become the leader in online tv viewing. But that just made things difficult as you tried to figure out if actually clicking on the name of the show would take you somewhere or if you had to find the words "full episodes" before you could watch your favourite show online (and not the frakkin' clips). Now, each site has a hover menu clearly delineating which shows have full episodes and which you can ignore. The viewing windows are roughly the same size and most network sites have full episodes of nearly all of their primetime shows online.

Important New Feature #4 - HD viewing. While this is not technically a new feature, this is a benefit if you want to go full screen.

All in all, watching tv online is getting so much better. There are, however, a few sites that are making this whole online viewing thing a pain in my ass. More on that tomorrow.

Getting Up To Date

2008-03-12T02:19:00.004-04:00

This television season hasn't really gone by fast. It's been short, that's for sure, but it's gone at its normal speed.

No, I'm the one that's been slow. When you miss one episodes, suddenly it steamrolls to 13 and with the short season, it's the end and you didn't know it. Where did all the time go?

I have excuses. I was getting ready for Europe then I was in Europe, then I got back and was sick because it snowed in London, or we had to let someone go at my paying job and I have to take up the slack or gas is 3 dollars and 33 frakkin' cents. Whatever causes our heads to explode (whether with excitement or frustration), that's my excuse.

Now that I've told you the excuses, I have to say, I don't make excuses. Those things are what happened and I'm sorry that I haven't talked about New Amsterdam, American Idol, Pussycat Dolls Presents: Girlicious, America's Next Top Model, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Saturday Night Live, Lost, Cashmere Mafia, Lipstick Jungle... I wish the list was endless, but I'm just biding my time until we get the final 2-5 shows from our old favourites.

New Amsterdam - Basically, New Amsterdam is the story of a Dutch "raider" who tries to stop some of the other "raiders" from killing the women and children of the Native American tribe that lives on the island that becomes Manhattan and gets stabbed for his efforts. One of the women brings him back to life and tells him he will not die until he finds "the one". So he's lived many lives over hundreds of years (and he's not a vampire) and uses that knowledge to help out present day NYPD. In the premiere, he has a heart attack after chasing a suspect and dies at the hospital but then comes back to life when he's sent to the morgue, prompting him to think that the doctor that worked on him might be "the one". The story has so many good elements, but the pace is too slow. The lead actor, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, is better than I expected, even though I don't like the accent he has at times, but he's okay. The other actors are boring and one dimensional. What they discover about the people who have died is much more interesting than what is written for the main characters. But I watch anyway because I want to see what happens if she is "the one" or if we are watching him go through the same cycle all over again.

American Idol - This is the first year that I've watched all the way through, from the gag show to the auditions in Hollywood, to culling down from 24 - 12, and presumably to the end. Apparently, this is a great season. There were a few people that should have left the show early on (I'm talking to you Luke Menard), but at the same time, they all had very interesting voices and many of them are even very good. I think the people who have been voted off so far (except for Danny Noriega and Alexandrea Lushington during the weeks of culling from 24 - 12) has been right on target. It will be interesting to see what happens, but my favourites right now are David Cook (I did like David Archuleta, but I am entertained every week by David Cook) and Carly Smithson.

Pussy Cat Dolls Presents: Girlicious - What can I say, this is the most entertaining train wreck I've ever seen. My husband made the mistake of working in the living room that night and ended up watching the entire show, not because it was really good or interesting, but because he couldn't believe that the show existed. His belief? Some of the girls will grow up an be embarrassed they were ever on the show.

America's Next Top Model - A whole bunch of girls living in the house makes for more drama than we can handle - as they all vie for supermodeldom with us cheering them on. I like it because I like the drama. In the same vein, Make Me A Supermodel also did well, but I didn't like that who stayed and who left was up to the public. I wish that the experts in the field, not the people who were just picking people they liked, not people who did particularly well, would have chosen who stayed and who left. However, America did well by picking the model that actually had talent, Holly.

The Sarah Connor Chronicles - This was a midseason replacement, so it started with a limited amount of shows. However, what it did have was a great plot, a lot of action, and some twist and turns along the way. I loved both Summer Glau and Lena Headey in their roles. Nearly everyone else did a great job as well notably Brian Austin Green at Derek Reese, Kyle Reese's brother. The Sarah Connor Chronicles follows the events at the end of T2, offering an alternate timeline to T3. For those of you who missed the show, download it from iTunes (or somewhere) or buy it when it comes out on dvd. Just make sure you're prepared when Season 2 comes.

SNL - It's actually got some really funny parts this year. I haven't watched the Christopher Walken one yet (it's waiting), but if you can find it on youtube.com, you should try to check it out. The video shorts (NOT the tv funhouse ones) are pretty funny, especially Ellen Page's one. Also, the I'm Dating Your Dad skit with that guy from Superbad...

Lost - What can I say? We are still not getting much more information, but we now know who the Oceanic 6 are, and with the show ending in 2010, we know that each episode has some meaning in the hierarchy of the show and no episode is stalling for time. I can't wait for the final 5 shows and to find out how they got to where they are now.

Cashmere Mafia/Lipstick Jungle - So, Cashmere Mafia was cancelled and Lipstick Jungle was renewed. They both should have been cancelled, but I digress and hope that a writer's strike free season next year will help me see why LJ is still on our screens.

Bitch is the New Black

2008-02-29T14:17:00.004-05:00

Okay, who didn't like SNL's return last Saturday? Tina Fey - Barack Obama - Spoofing There Will Be Blood and No Country For Old Men - Annuale - I laughed my ass off!

When Tina Fey got on to the American public for calling Hilary a bitch, I laughed. "Bitches get things done. She's a bitch!" Fey said, pointing to Amy Poehler who said, "Yeah, deal with it." before going on to add that Bitch is the New Black.

I loved that. I'm not a bitch per se, although I can see why some who know me would snicker at that, but I get things done. Sometimes that means inhabiting the space of "bitch" for a few minutes (or days) so that what needs to happen happens, but in the end, I'm a pretty nice person. But Hilary being (or not being as the case may be) a bitch was not where the controversy was.

Controversy started with the opening sketch, a pretty funny look at how nice the media has been to Obama (makes you think they're setting him up for something - like the fact that Bush just increased the deficit times 50) with hard hitting questions like "Is Senator Obama okay? Can we get you anything?" Obama was played by Fred Armisen and, as I watched, I found his look, his gestures and sometimes the words that he said were creepily close to Obama's. The problem? Armisen is not black. Check out this Washington Post article for more info and a clip of the sketch.

So, is it important? I found Armisen's impersonation funny and I realized, with the cast they have, that he was most likely the best choice. They added a new girl, so I believe Lorne Michael's assertion that they auditioned for the best Obama. While SNL is about being political and being edgy and being on top of pop culture, in the end, they care the most about being funny.

Do you think SNL was trying to comment on Obama's "blackness"? Does this highlight the lack of black cast members SNL has? If it does matter that the person portraying Obama isn't black, how much does it matter? Is it worth not being funny to be accurate?

Despite the word being thrown around, Armisen's impersonation was not close at all to going blackface.

So yeah, I found SNL's first outing after the writer's strike to be both controversial and funny. And for a comedy show, what more can you ask for?

Knight Rider

2008-02-25T22:43:00.004-05:00

I love television, a little too much, sometimes. Sometimes, that's a good thing and sometimes, that a bad thing. It's really a bad thing when I like a show that my common sense tells me is not good.

And that's the case with the new Knight Rider

Cons:

No Will Arnett, which threw Val Kilmer in at the last minute and he was stiff, even for a talking car.

Michael Knight may be the new Anakin Skywalker as portrayed by Hayden Christiansen (that is, he is a little baby when it comes to making man-like decisions)

Horrible storyline - How did Michael get involved in this? What did the billionaire's daughter and the bastard child have in common? And the excuse for not being with her? Lame! And the guy that's his mechanic? Comedy? Tragedy? I don't get it.

David Hasselhoff - It looked like they dragged him out of jail, threw him in a suit, and gave him his lines, then told him to get his ass off the set as quickly as possible. I mean, The Hoff is no DeNiro, but damn, he was at least believable once upon a time.

Pros:

The story is interesting, if not well written - Michael will travel all over the world stopping crime. I think that could take us, as viewers, to some interesting places.

KITT - all I have to say is DAMN! - Renewable outer shell nanobytes technobabble. I like it. And I like that we now have the technology to weaken KITT - people can hack into his system if need be. It's an interesting concept.

The Focus commercials - The commercials were well written. They were good. They gave KITT an electronic snarkiness we old fans of the original have come to love. Plus, they made Michael seem like less a degenerate and more like a man who makes decisions, but who doesn't mind being bested by a car - sometimes. And the concept of KITT being jealous of a focus and stalking Michael was too hilarious. I stopped to watch every commercial. The commercial gives me hope, even though I'm pretty sure they were written by ad execs rather than show writers. A girl can wish, can't she?

Okay, so there are more cons than pros. But I would still watch it for the same reason I watched the old one. For it's warm, cheesy, goodness.

You Know You Want To Be On Television!

2008-02-22T12:42:00.003-05:00

Two Casting Calls just went into effect...

If you love Bobby Flay and were a fan of his show Throwdown with Bobby Flay, then you might want to try out for the spin off of Throwdown, Grill It! - Bobby Flay is looking for male and female master grillers to cook alongside him. It is a non-competitive show and grillers from across the country are welcome to apply. If you think you have what it takes, go to bobbyflay.com and learn how to make your 3 minute tape. You will send personal stories detailing your grilling skills to grillitwithbobbyflay@gmail.com. Applications must be received by March 15.

I know there are a few of you out there with Top Model potential. I've seen you! So if you want to try out for Cycle 11 (Cycle 10 just began this week), then head to one of the try out cities. Casting begins in Boston on Saturday, Feb. 23 then moves to San Francisco on Feb. 26, Dallas - March 1, Atlanta - March 5, Chicago - March 8, New York - March 15, Miami - March 22 and Los Angeles - March 29. They are casting females age 18-27 of diverse backgrounds, shapes and sizes. You must be 5ft7in or taller. Go to cwtv.com for full details

American Idol and BBC

2008-02-19T20:28:00.006-05:00

What do they have in common? I would like to say nothing, but right now, it looks like they will both be selling shows on iTunes for the first time.

In a move that will prove to be a moneymaker for the reality show, each song that is performed by a hopeful singer will sell for $.99 and a video for each one will sell for $1.99. I wonder if they will be making an album out of each night's performance? That would be two albums a week for the group until they stop having same sex performance. For the show, this is a great idea. It will give people who missed their chance another opportunity to gripe and complain when Sanjaya makes it through another week. (Wait, that was last year?)

Which brings me to another question... will any of them be this year's Sanjaya?

BBC will be putting select shows on iTunes, although I'm not sure which shows will make it to the store... I'm hoping that my Saturday favourites, Doctor Who and Torchwood will make it. I mean, I DVR the shows, but it is nice to be able to own their seasons. I know a few people that hope Top Gear will make it. They've been following the show on YouTube. What BBC show do you hope will make it to iTunes USA?

So We're Back... But When?

2008-02-14T13:18:00.006-05:00

Well, for all of you who are just chomping at the bit for new episodes from your old favourites, the networks have given out a few dates for returning series, so mark your DVRs. It's show time!

CBS returns so far include:

March 17 - The comedies How I Met Your Mother, The Big Bang Theory and Two and a Half Men with 9 remaining episodes (eps) each

March 24 - CSI: Miami with 8 eps

March 30 - Cold Case with 5 eps

April 2 - Criminal Minds, CSI:NY with 7 eps each

April 3 - CSI, Without a Trace with 6 eps each

April 4 - Ghost Whisperer, Numbers with 6 eps each

April 8 - NCIS with 7 eps

April 11 - Moonlight with 4 eps

April 14 - Rules of Engagement with 6 eps

Shark, The Unit and Cane will remain on hiatus for mid season show launch, which include Dexter (YAY! - although I'm not sure how a butchered Dexter episode will compare to the real thing because you won't get to see any... butchering that is.), Big Brother, and Jericho. They did begin production again for Swingtown, though it is still not scheduled.

NBC also announced return dates:

April 3 - My Name is Earl with a one hour episode

April 10 - 30 Rock, The Office, Scrubs and ER

April 15 - Law & Order: SVU

April 23 - Law & Order

Medium will keep it's current slot and finish out it's season. Other announcements are forthcoming. By the way, NBC did pick up Chuck and Life as well as Heroes for next season. All three will relaunch in the fall.

Fox's premiere of New Amsterdam is slated to start March 4 and based on website dates, looks like its second episode will be just two days later. From there, it will air every Monday, possibly to replace Prison Break...

USA Network will premiere In Plain Sight with Mary McCormack - from the commercials, it looks to be a more humourous rendition of TNT's Saving Grace about a hard drinkin', hard lovin', hard ass police woman. In Plain Sight seems to be about a hard drinkin', hard lovin', hard ass US Marshall in the Witness Protection business. If it's anything like Burn Notice, you'll love it.

For Those of You Who Were Worried...

2008-02-12T13:36:00.005-05:00

Networks have already announced the shows being picked up for the 2008-2009 season.

Heath, you'll be glad to know that Pushing Daisies made it through the strike, though new shows will likely wait until next season. Other shows that are coming back will be Brothers & Sisters, Desperate Housewives, Dirty Sexy Money, Grey's Anatomy, Lost, Private Practice, Samantha Who? and Ugly Betty. Grey, Desperate and Ugly will have new episodes this season, but Practice and the above mentioned Daisies will likely get a proper relaunch next season.

The CW has also decided to begin shooting and airing new episodes of One Tree Hill, Gossip Girl, Supernatural, Reaper and Smallville. These episodes could be back as early as late March or early April. Gossip Girl will get an expanded order and a summer relaunch. Aliens in America and Everybody Hates Chris will not get new episodes - Chris completed their 22 episodes before the strike, Aliens completed 18. Girlfriends didn't survive the strike, The Game will get about 8 more episodes to finish out the season and Life Is Wild won't go back into production nor will it be returning next season.

Boston Legal will likely return by next Wednesday. If it does, it will be the first show to return after the strike and if it does, it will likely finish out it's regular season.

Lost will most likely not be able to complete the 8 remaining episodes that's left to shoot for this season. They will be able to complete more like 5, but the crew at Lost feel like they can complete the storyline creatively and add the remaining shows into the next two seasons.

CBS will be moving forward with all the CSIs, NCIS, Without a Trace, Cold Case, Numbers, Criminal Minds, Ghost Whisperer and Moonlight. Comedies coming back on screen include Two and a Half Men, How I Met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory (GACK!). CBS hopes to get the comedies out by mid March and the dramas by the first of April, producing 8 shows for comedies and 6-7 for dramas. Moonlight, being a new show, will likely have fewer episodes.

So far, Shark nor The Unit have received episode orders. They may just wait until next season. Cane will not resume production, but is positioned for renewal next season. Midseason drama Swingtown is set to undecided. Only a couple of episodes were produced. No word on The New Adventures of Old Christine or Rules of Engagement. CBS could air a few shows as late as June but nothing is set in stone.

Fox, of course, being the network it is, is pulling full steam ahead with scripted shows, honoring remaining shows and playing them into the summer. Serialized dramas like Prison Break will come back in the fall and 24 will start in January of next year. The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Canterbury's Law, mid season shows, will not shoot any new episodes but will finish out their episodes for the season.

NBC should bring back it's Thursday lineup of My Name is Earl, The Office, and 30 Rock - Scrubs is ending this season, so the network may order up a shortened episode count, but the show will wrap. ER will produce more episodes because of contractual obligations, airing in April. Law & Order: SVU will resume with new episodes and Medium will finish its season. Chuck will return, but not until later summer or early fall. Heroes will return in the fall. Bionic Woman and Journeyman will not resume and are considered cancelled. Life will probably start again in the fall.

Friday Night Lights - a show that SHOULD continue, is up in the air, as well as Las Vegas. Las Vegas won't produce any new episodes, but could be renewed. NBC execs are still trying to figure out what to do with Friday Night Lights (KEEP IT, YOU IDIOTS).

It's exciting to get our shows back, isn't it? Now, we no longer have to languish in the murky pool of mediocrity that most of the midseason shows offered us, eagerly hoping for Doctor Who re-runs and some hot man on man action on Torchwood. BBC America, you're the only thing that kept my hopes alive! Welcome back, American writers. We missed you.

Also File Under Music To My Ears

2008-02-11T12:29:00.000-05:00

The writers may be reaching an agreement with the AMPTP which could get us the rest of our season back for some shows.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008, writers are voting whether or not they will end the strike during the ratification process. The voting is between 2-6pm at the WGAW and between 4-7pm at WGAE. If there is a majority yes vote, production of shows could begin as early as Wednesday, February 13.

The vote does not end the dispute that is going on between the writers and the companies of the AMPTP. The contract that has been drawn will require that every guild member read and vote on it and even the contract itself is not firm as writers and studio execs try to hammer out the language of the contract. While shows may be ongoing, any hitch in contract negotiations could result in halting the season again.

So, for the sake of television and so I don't have to watch such dross as both of the Sex In the City clones (Lipstick Jungle, you gave me what I expected and Cashmere Mafia, I expected better from you!), so I can see all of LOST and the Sarah Connor Chronicles, I say hurray for working during ratification... but for the sake of getting paid for the work you do, I say, take your time writers, take your time.

Music To My Ears!

2008-02-11T10:53:00.000-05:00

I've been hearing some rumbles that Battlestar Galactica (BSG) would play its last full season online, which would have been wrong, just wrong.

Fortunately for us, BSG will get started Friday, April 4 at 10pm on the SciFi Channel. The week before, March 28, they will do a "catch up" show for those of you who want to get into the show, but have never watched it. Of course, the catch up isn't as good as watching the miniseries and the first three seasons, but I would definitely recommend it.

BSG doesn't do anything that other science fiction in outer space shows didn't do. It fictionalizes contemporary issues to give us a different view of what it means to be at war. Because, on the surface, BSG is about war, the consequences of war, and starting over when the enemy is among you and around you. But ultimately, it is about how we handle war and whether we preserve or lose our humanity in it. There are big picture and small picture things, humour mixed in it all and whether you find yourself avidly against or on the fence when it comes to the "bad guys", you have to admit that this is one entertaining show.

Super Bowl 42... Commercials

2008-02-03T18:32:00.001-05:00

The Super Bowl can either be exciting or a dud. Whichever it chooses to be can't usually be helped, but it is a crying shame when the commercials are bad. I mean, advertisers know that the Super Bowl is coming. It only happens once a year. To have a bad commercial seems to be asking for lack of success for the rest of the year. This year's commercials were fair, better than last year at least. I laughed at a couple, chuckled at a few, scratched my head at most and wrote almost all of them down.

1. Bud Light and the ability to breathe fire - it was funnier when Dairy Queen did it
2. The new Audi R8 killing old luxury's grill and putting it in that guy's bed a la the Godfather... okay, I laughed at that scream, but it wasn't that great.
3. Diet Pepsi Max, "What is Love" commercial was really dumb
4. Sales Genie.com - Ummmmmmm
5. Sarah Connor Chronicles - Kick Ass!
6. Bud light cheese run - Lame
7. UnderArmour - What the Hell?
8. House after the Superbowl - YES!
9. Bridgestone - Animals Screaming - Dumb
10. Doritos - Message From Your Heart - She crashed the SuperBowl, but I know female singer songwriters right here that sound better. (You know who I'm talking about Macon!)
11. Unhitched - Oh.My.God. Dumb.
12. Sarah Connor Chronicles - The Terminator Robot beating up the NFL Robot - Kick Ass!

Touchdown Patriots - Boo!

13. Gatorade - They figured out a way to get Peyton Manning into the game...
14. GoDaddy.com - Danica Patrick Exposure. Sex continues to sell domain names
15. Buy Dell. Join (RED). Save Lives. Have people pat your butt as you walk by!
16. Giant Carrier Pigeon - Let's choose FedEx - scary.
17. So unfunny, I immediately forgot it while watching the next commercial (later learned it was cars.com and the Plan B circle of fire)
18. Stain on the shirt commercial - Tide To Go - hilarious!

FRAKKIN' Turnover! Patriots now have the ball.

19. Anheuser Busch Horse training - Animals getting along. Cute.
20. IronMan Trailer - YES!

21. Corolla forocious badgers - Ummmmmmm
22. Leatherheads - George Clooney movie. More to come.
23. Garmin - Napoleon commercial. Next.

24. Career Builder follow your heart commercial. Somewhat gross.
25. Life Water - Thriller Dancing lizards. WTF?
26. Anti Drug commercial - dealers are usually people kids know, not some joker on the street.

27. A hybrid Yukon from GMC commercial that started out as an inspirational, never give up, pep talk.
28. Bud Light Commercial - Accents are sexy, but commercials about it are not. Why is Carlos Mencia still doing commercials?

29. Chronicles of Narnia - Prince Caspian - Hottie.
30. Planters.com - Cashews make anyone sexy.
31. Charles Barkley put Dwayne Wade in his fave five and is annoying. Mildly amusing, causing a chuckle.
32. Tom Brady - United Way - Get Fit.

33. Justin Timberlake - Pepsi Commercial. Every drink brings him closer. Or a big screen TV. Which you want depends on who you are.
34. Doritos Mousetrap with the first song from the opera Carmen in the background - I laughed because a giant rat burst through the wall and I didn't expect it.

What did you think of the halftime show? A friend said that he liked Tom Petty and will stop and listen if he hears one of his songs, but that he has never once intentionally played a Tom Petty song.

35. Cars.com commercial Plan B- Head Shrinker. The only interesting thing about this commercial is that T.J. Thyne, Dr. Jack Hodgins on Bones, was the car buyer.
36. Sales Genie.com panda bear
37. Shaquille O'Neal riding Chunk of Love by Vitamin water - more butt slapping
38. Terminator Robot vs. Fox NFL Robot - Awesome

39. Caveman bud light commercial - Boo
40. Carmen Electra Ice Cubes Gum - I don't even know why this commercial was made.
41. Bridgestone - Possibly hitting Richard Simmons with the car was only slightly more funny than almost hitting that squirrel earlier.
42. Career Builder Spider eats the singing cricket. Jiminy Cricket!
43. Sarah Conner Chronicles - Good place to advertise for tomorrow
44. Hyundai Genesis
45. Wall-E - ???

46. Jumper - That trailer is so bad...
47. E-Trade Baby - I laughed at the spit up part.
48. Bud Light - The ability to fly no longer available - C'mon Bud Light!

49. Sunsilk - Make Hair Happen... I'm pretty sure Marilyn Monroe had nothing to do with Sunsilk.
50. Stewie vs. UnderDog for the Coke only to be beaten out by Charlie Brown - Something good happened to Charlie Brown...
51. Terminator Commercial - ingenious

52. Bill Frist, James Carville share a coke and get along, for a change, all over Washington D.C.
53. Toyota Sequoia

54. You Don't Mess with the Zohan - Interesting...
55. Mother! - Sarah Connor Chronicles - Alright! YES, there is a new episode tomorrow after last week's re-run (a re-run after only THREE episodes aired???), so watch it!
56. New House after the game - Again, YES!

57. Baby E-Trade Rents a Clown - Confirms clowns are creepy.
58. Taco Bell - Fiesta Platters - Accents are sexy.
59. Man's best friend Gatorade commercial - are we to assume the dog was eagerly scarfing Gatorade? Gross.

60. Bud Light - Jackie Moon of Semi Pro messing up the lines... My favourite? Bud Light - Suck on it!
61. Hyundai Genesis
62. Ocho Cinco helps advertise the Moment of Truth a new show that looks like a reason for people to get more embarrassed on television for money

63. Victoria Secret - sexy woman holding football and don't forget Valentine's Day (GACK!)
64. Amp - A guy starting a car by attaching jumper cables to his nipples, dancing and starting a car up. I am not really sure what to say about that.
65. Ben Rothlisberger ruining The Pina Colada Song - American Idol commercial

And that's how the Giants win the SuperBowl - The biggest game of the year, frakkin' up the Patriot's perfect season.

You can re-watch any of the commercials at myspace.com/superbowlads

LOST Returns! (there will be spoilers)

2008-02-01T12:40:00.000-05:00

The biggest event in television history happened last night and because I believe everything I hear on television, I thought that there would be a two hour season premiere.

So I decided to have a premiere party; a few close friends, some Doritos, Dharma Initiative beer (which turned out to be Taproom 21, Red Stripe and Bud Light, of all things), and a lot of excitement as we gathered around the television hoping at least ONE thing from last season would be answered.

ABC lied. There was no 2 hour season premiere. The first hour was a recap of the last 3 seasons. If you're a real fan, you've been watching. If you're not, it will be awfully hard to catch up. And did anyone else see the Pop Up Video last season finale they played on Wednesday? What did you think of that? The consensus around the telly last night was that it was annoying.

So, once we got over the disappointment of losing an hour of our finale, we got back to excited that it was finally on! We see an interstate police chase. When the police chase the car down, out jumps Hurley. The police tell him to get on the ground. He tries to outrun them. He doesn't make it. We find out only 6 returned. The police question Hurley back at the station, he sees water crashing through the viewing glass, with Charlie trying to swim in, "They Need You" written on his hand. The officer who tried questioning him says he could put him in the mental institute and Hurley hugs the angry cop (who was Anna Lucia's partner once) as we flash back to the Island, where everyone finds out Charlie died, Hurley sees Jacob's house - and possibly Jacob - meets up with Locke, who gets the cold shoulder from everyone but Hurley. Jack and company finally meet up with Sayid and company and Locke. Jack tries to shoot Locke in the head, but Locke apparently carries a gun with no bullets.

Now we flash forward again (or is the island now the flashback of the current, present story?) to Hurley in the mental institute, a creepy black guy (Lance Reddick) is trying to get him to a "better place", but Hurley gets suspicious. Before the guy leaves, he asks, "Are the others alive?" Hurley jumps up and runs away, screaming that the guy is bothering him. Creepy black guy sneaks off as if he was never there.

Hurley sees dead Charlie, who tells him that he's trying to avoid his responsibility, but Hurley makes him go away. Back on the island, Hurley chooses to follow Locke, trusting Charlie's warning, along with Claire and the baby, Sawyer, Rousseau, Alex, Karl, and Ben. Everyone else stays with Jack, although Kate worries that Sawyer doesn't. Jack and Kate go back to the plane to meet the person coming to save them.

Flash forward to the future, Hurley is shooting hoops, not missing and Jack shows up. Although he claims to want to know how he's doing, he's really there to see if Hurley "told". Hurley says he didn't, but he thinks the Island wants them to go back. He also apologizes for going with Locke, saying he should have stayed with Jack.

Now, I didn't tell the sequence of events the way they happened, just how I remembered them, mainly to bring up some interesting points. Now, I haven't gone to all of those LOST sites that popped up when the series began in a long time (although I did get a "happy birthday" email from The Fuselage), but I have not lost that sense of trying to figure out what the hell is going on. While last night's premiere felt more like a commercial for the show and brought up more questions and no answers, we still sat around trying to figure things out like:

1. Who are the 6 that returned? We know that Kate, Jack and Hurley are back, we presume Claire is (and would they count baby Aaron as one as well?) because of Desmond's prediction, but who else? And if only 6, what happened to the others AND the Others? Are they all now just the Others?

2. What is Hurley supposed to do? How did Hurley, who went with Locke, end up rescued when they were going to hunker down at Camp Others? Why is dead Charlie trying to get him to go back? Who is creepy black dude?

3. If Hurley is sorry he went with Locke, what in the hell happened when those people came down. At the end of last year's finale, Jack says they never should have left the Island. Yet something terrible must have happened to the people who wanted to stay if Hurley is sorry he went with Locke. Which one is it for frak's sake?

4. If the people who found them weren't searching for them and wasn't Penny, why are they there?

5. What exactly happened with Locke? Will he be the next Ben?

6. Who is Jacob and why is he also in Hurley's imagination? (I have to admit, I jumped when the eye popped up in front of the hole Hurley was looking through and then again when he ran for the hills only to find himself back at that spooky cabin.)

We all sat in silence staring at the screen as the word LOST flew towards us, knowing that's how we all felt: Lost. We didn't learn anything more - yes, it was nice watching the characters and getting excited about the story and seeing Jack almost shoot Locke in the head - but this did us no good because we have to come back next week and pick up on a story that is only 8 episodes long at the present time and as chock full of information as the previous 3 seasons have been.

I am glad they have an ending date. The storytelling this season, while lacking information, was crisp and didn't drag even as they withheld infomation. Season 3 had many more episodes that dragged as the show tried to work out what it's future would be. Once they knew that there were only 48 episodes left (three short seasons of 18 episodes that play back to back with no breaks) ,they were able to put the story in perspective and now, the writing for the premiere makes me think they are back on track.

If you haven't gotten into Lost, I recommend you record the current season and just do marathon sessions of the first 3 seasons. I think it would be worth your time to do so.

The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Part 2 - Tin Man

2008-01-15T02:40:00.000-05:00

"A shooter with some kind of robot leg."

My husband watched last night's premiere of The Sarah Connor Chronicles with me. He thought there were a lot of corny lines in the premiere, like the one above. Too many corny lines in the premiere means not a very good series, he thought, since the premiere is usually the best episode of a given season.

John struggles with being cooped up, everyone is suffering "time lag" (like jet lag, but from traveling in time), and Sarah is wanting to remain anonymous as long as possible. Other than a completely innocuous scene where John can't find the turkey (such a TRUE stereotype) in the fridge, even though it's right there, had me scratching my head. Did they want us to know that he was the son and she was the mom? Uh, got that one.

I wonder how, in chase scenes like the one where Cameron (Glau) is chasing the unknown Terminator through the alleys, that Sarah (Headey) could drive around and come out perfectly in front of the guy ? I drove for about 15 miles to go in a circle the other day, only to end up about 1/2 a mile from where I started. Bleh, I wish I had tv's sense of direction.

So John decided to read about what happened to them and ends up at the home of his mom's ex fiance, although, can you be ex if you never official broke up, even though you officially left?

I think my next answering machine message is going to be "You've reached the future of mankind. Leave a message!"

Oh well, the second episode dragged a bit all over with a few good parts in the middle. I liked the head and the body coming back online and the body stealing the head of a dead Chet. I think the worse scene, even including the turkey scene, is when cyborg body with Chet head walks into the junkman's "home". I will continue to watch a) because of the potential and b) because of the strike.

P.S. Spotted: Penny from lost as EMT's Charley's wife.

P.S.

2008-01-15T02:23:00.000-05:00

Michael Lopez from Fox 24 scares me just a little bit.

Kyle XY - The Return of the Thing

2008-01-15T02:17:00.001-05:00

So, Kyle XY finishes up this summer's storyline which starts right after Jessie jumps. Kyle wants to save her, but he can't because Foss stops him. We quickly wrap up Baylin's possible recovery and getting Foss out of the picture before we head to the heart of the matter. Madacorp.

But first, Kyle has to tell the Tragers all. And like any tv family, they are very understanding and right away craft a plot to take down Madacorp. Of course, the plan fails and... well, SURPRISE.

There are a lot of banal bits in this... is it a premiere? half-miere? season 2.5? Anyway, it's the set up, wrapping up the summer season's plot line and starting a new one. If the rest of the season plays like this... season 2.5 miere... then I'll only be watching because it's something new in the midst of the strike, but if it plays like the "coming up on Kyle XY", it will be good.

We Interrupt This TV Blog...

2008-01-15T01:23:00.000-05:00

For the DSRL... Okay, I know Peyton Manning is in a few too many commercials, but I have to say, the 2 sport Peyton and Eli Manning are funny in this one. Not only are they playing in the National Football League, but also in the Double Stuf Racing League. In the middle of an empty football field, Eli and Peyton are licking the crap out of a double stuffed oreo (Peyton gets called for a violation) when Eli wonders, "Are we making a big mistake?" As far as comedic commercials about cookies go, this was too funny by far. I think the best part is the mom clapping while the dad looks completed befuddled. She sure loves her boys!

Okay, back to Kyle XY and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

Veronica Mars: FBI

2008-01-13T22:26:00.000-05:00

I was one of those people who checked every tv site daily at the end of last season to see if Veronica Mars would have a 4th season. Even if it was another year at college, which did not have the same pop as her high school years, but which did have all the things I loved, the sarcasm, the wit, the truisms, and Kristen Bell, it would still be great - the writing was always great. I didn't fall in love with LoVe, (although I did fall for Piz and followed him over to the frothy Private Practice) but I did like the Logan/Veronica dynamic and I have to say, even at its most awkward, I missed it. Then we hear that it was possible they would skip many years (many being, like, 6) into the future with Veronica as an FBI agent and I knew there was no way we wouldn't see THAT in this current season on the CW.

But CW proved me wrong and with its head stuck up its butt, chose the "fast forward to the future" version of One Tree Hill. Now, since I judge books by their covers and movies by their trailers, I also judge tv by its "on the next [insert show name here]" and there's no way I could imagine watching One Tree Hill. Yes, Chad Michael Murray was charming as the prep snob who falls for Rory in Gilmore Girls, but not charming enough for me to following him to OTH. But the Legion of the Young have spoken and One Tree Hill stayed on the air while our insightful, delectable, and owe so deliciously cynical Veronica Mars (I miss you Enrico Colantoni) was given the boot.

Youtube. It's pretty much everybody's friend. I don't play on youtube as much as my fellows, I don't get a video of the day, I check my digg feeds on my phone so it's as simple as possible. I used to watch shows on their websites and anything I want to watch, I record. I watch so much video, I felt I didn't need to become addicted to youtube as well. So, forgive me if you've already seen these but:

AND

How in the WORLD could you not pick that show up?

The Sarah Connor Chronicles

2008-01-13T20:00:00.000-05:00

I have a bit of a Firefly bias. So when I see that any of the cast are going to be in something, I make sure to set the DVR to record. The Sarah Connor Chronicles was one of those shows, starring Summer Glau, who played River Tam in the Firefly series and in the movie Serenity.

Looking a little too old to be a school girl, with a bit of the amygdala stripped River in her eyes, she plays artificial intelligence well. But The Sarah Connor Chronicles is not as much about the action as it is about the relationship between mother and son when the worst is expected at every turn. Oh, the action is great. Glau's performance as the butt kicking ultimate weapon from Serenity comes into play here as well (we love those high kicks) as Cameron, the butt kicking ultimate protector created by Future John Connor to protect Past John Connor. Lena Headey, as Sarah Connor, does a good job of being a bad-ass too and you almost don't miss Linda Hamilton. Almost. John Connor, played by Thomas Dekker, does not act like a kid that has been hunted and knows he will continue to be hunted. But he does act like a kid, and his reactions, at least from the 1st hour, ring true. Richard T. Jones plays FBI agent James Ellison, who has been tracking Connor since Dyson died at the end of T2, believing her to be Dyson's murderer. Owain Yeoman plays the bad terminator, although I hear that he will be replaced by Garrett Dillahunt, most recently seen as Matthew Ross on the 4400. I liked Owain Yeoman in The Nine as the more sympathetic brother of the robber pair that trapped everyone in the bank.

Yes, the action was great. Lots of explosions, chases, fights, Terminators destroying bank vaults, Terminators getting hit by trucks, Terminators pulling guns from their legs and shooting other Terminators... yes, there was action. But I think that the story for The Sarah Connor Chronicles will be more about the relationship between mother and son, a mother who loves her son so much, she will do anything to save him, even if that means that he hates her now, rather than see him not be aware and die. It will be an interesting dynamic between this family, with the mother not sure if she can trust the female Terminator, the son not sure if he wants to be or can be the resistance leader everyone says he will be, and a Terminator who is more human than we might know.

The Sarah Connor Chronicles, on Fox Mondays at 9pm... after Prison Break... where they try to break out of prison... again... bleh.

11 Days In...

2008-01-11T22:45:00.002-05:00

Well, I made it to the 11th Hour's Readers' Choice Awards and here's what I saw:

Chris Horne looking silly in a frilly shirt, then looking crazy in an ugly shirt, then looking damn good in a suit and tie (you clean up good, son!)

Dusko Wo turning downtown into Mac Town Down. It was live up in the Capitol!

Jared Wright throwing down when it was his turn to play in the singer songwriter showcase. I will definitely be checking Red Swill out on January 24 at 550 Blues.

UFOs Over Denmark killing the stage. Those guys really rocked my socks off.

Market City Cafe and Marco (my two favourite restaurants) winning awards!

Ben Jones' relative humidity joke in front of a rabbi

The list could go on. Tonight, it will not.

So the "unofficial" after party was at the Red Eye Tavern, but I'd already made the decision to finally check out the Dirty Iguana. First of all, the prospect of the Dirty Iguana was kind of daunting. It's way the heck out of walking distance and though I love my downtown and feel comfortable walking just about anywhere, walking from the lights of Cherry Street to the almost forbidding and industrial looking Plum has stopped me until I had this resolve. So I do it up Doctor Who style. I throw on a suit, put on my converse and I head to the door.

The bouncer turns me away. He doesn't like my shoes. Fortunately for me, the other guys did and because I'm such a lovely girl, I get to go in, converse and all. I mean, don't make me pull out my sonic screwdriver. I'll make my own door! For the 1 person that got that joke, thank you. I definitely watch too much tv. When I got in, I was like, "Why in the heck is he turning people away? Nobody's here!" Of course, I broke the cardinal rule of clubbing, which is showing up at 10. Everyone knows you don't get to the club until 2 hours before it closes. But that's okay though. I had the bartender all to myself.

Of course, I'm meeting new people left and right and I am finding out interesting things about the club, insight into the keen minds of the owners and their staff. I also put dollar bills in dancing girls' socks, but that's a story for another time.

I really enjoyed myself at the Dirty Iguana. If you're not self conscious (and who wouldn't be with the world standing in a big circle staring at anyone who dares to dance?) this place is great. Every place I've been has a small ass dance floor that, when the party gets going, you start elbowing people in the face because it's so crowded. And I'm tall. And sometimes, when I'm not wearing converse, I'm wearing heels. But this place has a LOT of space, so it's fun for those of us who are freaks, or married, or both, who like to just get out and dance. And the DJ was phenomenal. I would say DJ Andre rocks my world, but there's a certain Honey that wouldn't like that, so I'll say DJ Andre rocks my dance floor.

The drinks were good and the tender remembered my propensity for sweet and kept them coming. And by them, I mean the 3 drinks I had because I'm a lightweight.

I'm glad I didn't miss the Awards or this night. Dirty Iguana has a $5 cover charge,$6 dollar drinks (at least on Thursdays, I'll find out about Saturday) and a whole lotta fun, after 10. (Did you catch my tv reference, since this is a tv blog?)

We Now Interrupt This Schedule...

2008-01-10T16:38:00.000-05:00

Tonight is a night that we won't see in a long time. A night when our old favourites are all new, episodes held back to tide us over in the new year while the Writer's Strike is on-going.

Tonight, we'll have new episodes of Ugly Betty, Grey's Anatomy, and Big Shots (bleh!) on ABC. CBS will have new episodes of CSI and Without a Trace, while NBC has My Name is Earl, 30 Rock, and ER. Grey's shows the aftermath of "The Kiss" but will be the last show until the writers finish striking. CSI has Shooter Jennings, Jewel, John Wayne's grandson and illegal bull breeding (if that doesn't make you want to watch, I don't know what will). On 30 Rock, Kenneth gets hooked on coffee (and if that isn't a laugh riot, I don't know what could be!)

For me, though, I will be watching the music and the rockin' the vote - well, I already voted - at the 11th Hour's Readers Choice Awards. Starting at 7, January 10, 2008, and for only 5 bucks, we get to hear the sweet sounds of Hank Vegas, Dusko Wo, 2 Finger Jester (rad band from a hot 80s birthday party earlier this year), Scott Baston, Aaron Irons, Magnificent Bastard, UFOs Over Denmark, and more and more at Cox Capitol Theatre. Doors open at 6:30pm.

MerDer, Kenneth and Betty will have to wait for me, crowded on the DVR with Torchwood, Cashmere Mafia and the Desperate Housewives that I still haven't caught up with. I'll see you at the Reader's Choice Awards.

Going Crazy

2007-12-21T10:52:00.000-05:00

I'm ready for new content. Oh, I know this is not the time to complain, but the AMPTP needs to get their act together and pay these writers what they're worth so I can find out what the FRAK is happening on that Island!

So, I wanted to nerd out with my little sister and have a BSG marathon (she's never seen it). We'd make Chief Tyrol hooch (or pomegranatinis, whichever tastes better), watch the miniseries, watch key episodes that tell the story, watch Razor and then complain that, after watching 3 seasons in 24 hours (over two days of course) that there is no more BSG until next year. However, when I went to iTunes to download said episodes, I find that not a one of them is up for sale. More use of the word "frak" as I try to figure out what happened and I'm embarrassed to say that I missed the news that, since NBC is no longer satisfied with the pricing system that iTunes set up, all NBC owned stations (Sci-Fi, USA and others) shows were pulled. Zhe shi shen me lan dong xi!? So we watched Firefly instead (which still involved hooch (Kaylee's this time), with the space adventures we longed for, and the weekend was saved by Joss Whedon.

This just in: Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report will both resume production January 7, without their writing staffs. This return date follows a scheduled two-week, end of year hiatus. Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert issued this statement about their announced return: "We would like to return to work with our writers. If we cannot, we would like to express our ambivalence, but without our writers we are unable to express something as nuanced as ambivalence." (emphasis mine)

The response from WGA: "Comedy Central forcing Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert back on the air will not give the viewers the quality shows they've come to expect. The only way to get the writing staffs back on the job is for the AMPTP companies to come back to the table prepared to negotiate a fair deal with the Writers Guild."

The same thing happened with Conan O'Brien and Jay Leno. It will be very interesting seeing where these shows go.

As networks have been gearing up to sit it out for the long haul with midseason shows and reality shows, I find that the different descriptions of the same shows are making me curious. Of course, I'm going to watch the new American Gladiators, the cooking shows, maybe the design shows, but I'm not sure if I want to venture into the singing show territories now that even American Idol are running out of good singers... To the one person reading who I seem to always piss off about The Big Bang Theory, what shows do you think I should check out as reality becomes the nature of the tv beast?

I Know Hasselhof's Not Gonna Do It 'Cause He's A Drunk!

2007-12-13T15:50:00.001-05:00

That was my boss's reaction when I told him that they were remaking Knight Rider.

So, Knight Rider, huh? It was a pivotal show from my past, a show I could still watch now (and I did when it was on one of the HD channels this past summer). Unlike Thunder Cats, which I won't get into.

Michael Knight will be played by Justin Bruening except his name will be Mike Tracer and he'll be MK's son. He's an ex-soldier, bitter, disillusioned, jaded, lost, etc., etc. KITT is a Mustang Shelby GT500KR when he's driving around like normal, but he can also "transform" into other looks, the no driver look and the "attack" mode. In "attack" mode, he looks kind of Fast and Furious ricer-ish.

And there's a girl who seems, based on the premise, as if she will be an integral part of the show. So, will Mike Tracer be as much of a ladies man as his old man, who, coincidentally, will be a special guest star on the series? I wonder how long it will be before they have Hasselhof on full time because he's a train wreck and we like watching collisions?

The one aspect of all of this that keeps my attention is the fact that KITT will be voiced by Will Arnett. G.O.B. from Arrested Development! The man who is in love with Kenneth from 30 Rock... That makes me know one thing. KITT will definitely be a smartass.

How will it do as a show? Here is the premise: The inventor of KITT is attacked by men sent by "The Client" but suffers a heart attack. KITT is activated in order to protect the daughter of the inventor when the men lose their one hope of deciphering something with the inventor's heart attack and also programmed to find the one man that could help them both. Mike Tracer. And of course Mike and the daughter, Sarah, played by Deanna Russo, have a history. But KITT is nigh invulnerable, so be prepared for some remote access action.

I think it will do as well as the first Knight Rider. I mean, Knight Rider wasn't exactly the cream of the crop of television. We liked it, some elements lasted, but in the annals of television history, Knight Rider lingers at the bottom of the top 200. Knight Rider Redux (although I guess we'll know if it's redux or just part... what, 3, cause we all remember Knight Rider 2020, right?) will be okay... but only if they actually have writers.

If You Wanted To Know...

2007-12-06T15:02:00.000-05:00

This guy keeps a list of people, as they come in, who are out of work because of the writer's strike. That list is in no way comprehensive.

Mutant Enemy Day will be the time when fans of Joss Whedon will join the picketing writers to show their support for the strike. Whedon is the creator of shows like Buffy, Angel, and Firefly. Joining the fans will be Whedon himself, as well as a few writers, Tim Minear, Jane Espenson, Ben Edlund as well as a few actors, Eliza Dushku, Alexis Denisof, Nathan Fillion and Summer Glau. (I'm a bigger Firefly fan - maybe if I watched the whole Buffy/Angel series, I would change my mind...) If I could get on a plane to Los Angeles right now, that's where I would go.

Wow, That's A Good Idea

2007-12-05T12:32:00.000-05:00

In a move that falls under "fantastic idea", CBS President and CEO Les Moonves says that CBS plans to integrate some Showtime series into the current primetime schedule at midseason if the strike continues. Shows they are thinking about include Dexter, Weeds and Brotherhood - edited for broadcast tv of course. I would love to watch the first season of Dexter again and get caught up and I'm sure there are a few who would like to check it out for themselves, as well as Weeds and Brotherhood. Not only will it give viewers new, non reality, content, but it will possibly also encourage more people to pay for Showtime when the strike is over and the shows move back to their homes.

For more information on the on-going writer's strike, check out this summary by United Hollywood.

Tanya Huff's series Blood Ties, about Henry VIII's illegitimate son, Henry Fitzroy, an ex cop, Vicki Nelson, and the complicated relationship they have solving supernatural crimes together in Canada, plays on Lifetime. The real Henry Fitzroy died of consumption, but in Tanya Huff's Blood series, she theorizes that he did not die at all, but was turned into a vampire. It's an interesting series. Lifetime, though, decided to offer the last two shows of the season for download only. With the writers striking primarily for their stake in the future of online media, it was a pretty brash move for Lifetime to make. Tanya Huff thought so as well. She normally writes about the show for Lifetime, but she refused to do so for the final two shows and goes so far as to mention torrenting the show (though doesn't encourage it) so that fans still get to watch it, but the networks don't make the money off of it.

That writers are even mentioning torrents is something else altogether. Torrents are files you download to watch or listen to anything from movies to music. That's all part of the illegal downloading saga that has been going on since Napster. TV shows are a bit more sketchy, since they start out free. You only have to pay if you want to get them all at once without commercials. While torrenting may make networks mad at the moment, this may be something that could come back and bite the writers on the ass later. I mean, there is a bit of a convenience thing to watching shows online - and you can deal with 4 30 second commercials in a 30 minute show or up to 8 in an hour. While torrents allow you to watch any show, whether online or not, commercial free, it takes a little time to download them and you could be done with the online version of 30 Rock before you finish downloading. The disadvantage to networks concerning the whole torrenting thing is that they usually air shows the next day and torrents are available within the hour after the show has finished airing. So people who work nights can come home, download their shows and watch them all before the first synopsis hits the internet or they get spoiled by ESPN's Colin Cowherd on their morning drive. But for writers, if they start making money on webisodes and online downloads, then torrenting will cut into their bottom line - so suggesting torrenting (they couldn't be encouraging something illegal, could they?) is something that should be done lightly. And maybe it was done lightly, but in the end, some people will do it and find their lives tremendously streamlined for it.

The rest of us will just watch last season shows from Netflix and by the time we're ready for this new season, the strike will be over.

When the Talks Progress

2007-11-30T16:25:00.001-05:00

The news blackout has been lifted and statements were released late Thursday by both sides - the AMPTP and the WGA. The AMPTP offered a new contract to the WGA containing clauses covering several areas of new media including streaming, content made for new media and programming delivered over digital broadcast channels. The AMPTP claims the entire value of the "New Economic Partnership" will deliver more than $130 million in additional compensation, though it's unclear whether that's per year or over the 3-year life of the contract. WGA is taking a close look at the proposal, but initially has categorized it as a "massive rollback." Meanwhile, WGA also presented the justification for their economic proposal on Wednesday which could cost the industry $151 million over three years, representing what WGA says is a 3% increase. More on all this when the talks resume on Tuesday. Here are excerpts of the statements provided by both sides:

AMPTP:

The AMPTP today unveiled a New Economic Partnership to the WGA, which includes groundbreaking moves in several areas of new media, including streaming, content made for new media and programming delivered over digital broadcast channels. The entire value of the New Economic Partnership will deliver more than $130 million in additional compensation above and beyond the more than $1.3 billion writers already receive each year. In response, the WGA has asked for time to study the proposals. ... talks [resume] on Tuesday, December 4.

WGA's responds first to the AMPTP proposal and then talks of their proposal presented on Wednesday:

Thursday morning, the first new proposal was finally presented to us. It dealt only with streaming and made-for-Internet jurisdiction, and it amounts to a massive rollback.

For streaming television episodes, the companies proposed a residual structure of a single fixed payment of less than $250 for a year's reuse of an hour-long program (compared to over $20,000 payable for a network rerun). For theatrical product they are offering no residuals whatsoever for streaming.

For made-for-Internet material, they offered minimums that would allow a studio to produce up to a 15 minute episode of network-derived web content for a script fee of $1300. They continued to refuse to grant jurisdiction over original content for the Internet.

In their new proposal, they made absolutely no move on the download formula (which they propose to pay at the DVD rate), and continue to assert that they can deem any reuse "promotional," and pay no residual (even if they replay the entire film or TV episode and even if they make money). ...

On Wednesday we presented a comprehensive economic justification for our proposals. Our entire package would cost this industry $151 million over three years. That's a little over a 3% increase in writer earnings each year, while company revenues are projected to grow at a rate of 10%. We are falling behind.

For Sony, this entire deal would cost $1.68 million per year. For Disney $6.25 million. Paramount and CBS would each pay about $4.66 million, Warner about $11.2 million, Fox $6.04 million, and NBC/Universal $7.44 million. MGM would pay $320,000 and the entire universe of remaining companies would assume the remainder of about $8.3 million per year. As we've stated repeatedly, our proposals are more than reasonable and the companies have no excuse for denying it.

Conan O'Brien will pay the salaries of his nearly 80 non-writing staff members of his show for the immediate future out of his own bank account. David Letterman's company Worldwide Pants likewise is paying the non-writing staffers of The Late Show with David Letterman and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. Staffers at NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, however, will be laid off as of today. NBC had agreed to pay Tonight Show non-writing production staff through the end of November. As to the production staff of Saturday Night Live were laid off in the third week of the strike. Information via Cynopsis.

Wow.

So I guess we'd better be prepared for the slew of reality tv that is going to emerge in the next month or so. To note, though: Lipstick Jungle will be debuting earlier to fill in for the writers strike stopped ER. The reality show I'm looking forward to is the new American Gladiators. Starting Sunday, Jan. 6, it will play in Chuck's Monday 8pm timeslot on NBC.

Speechless

2007-11-30T00:16:00.000-05:00

Video... who needs it on their page?

I wanted it... I didn't have it... so I am providing a couple of links for actors in support of the Writers Guild Strike

Speechless: http://www.brightcove.tv/title.jsp?title=1323277051&channel=1321270825

http://www.brightcove.tv/title.jsp?title=1328166657&channel=1321270825 (this one goes on for way too long, but it's funny, especially when they start arguing. "Call for quotes.")

Are You Ready?

2007-11-29T04:29:00.000-05:00

I love television. I like the excitement of it, I like the humour and drama in it, I love the escapism of it, but most of all, I love the entertainment of television. Lately, however, it seems that the lives of writers is garnering much more entertainment value, almost more than tv itself.

3 weeks now the writers have been striking. They've been striking for their own work, work that is receiving awards and page views and advertising. But everyone is losing. The non writerly people who have no show to run and who are losing pay because of someone else. The studio execs who are resting a little easy now because shows are still on and people are still checking out the shows on the web, but if they don't come to a decision, that will end very soon. The writers who are not getting paid and who, if they cave now and back down, will have had a pointless strike, wasted everyone's time as well as not having gotten at least one thing they did deserve, a piece of their own internet pie. The viewer who, very soon, will be forced to look at reality tv or go back to paper (I will be reading if there's not tv). I suppose I could write about reality tv - I like a few... food ones and that crazy Who Wants To Be A Superhero - but in the end, reality tv just doesn't provide the pure escapism I want.

Which means I will probably submerge myself in last season's DVDs. Maybe I will rewatch the last 3 seasons of Veronica Mars. Maybe I will re-watch 30 Rock. For some of you who are just catching up to TV, I have a few titles you should check out, but that will be for another time. So enjoy the remainder of your new shows and remember that you want the writers to get some of what they ask for. I know I do.

With the Strike Underway...

2007-11-09T17:35:00.001-05:00

Now that the Writer's Strike is under way, here are more shows and what they are doing once they run out of episodes.

Dirt (FX) has up to script #7 for their 2nd season written. They are prepping #206 for a late November shooting.

Dirty Sexy Money (NBC) - They are shooting #11 for season 1, prepping for episode 12 and they have other scripts written, but it's unclear if production will go on.

Eli Stone ( a midseason show) - are prepping for episode 11 of season 1. It's unclear if there are other written scripts.

Ghost Whisperer (CBS) - shooting episode 12 of their third season but have not additional scripts written.

Heroes - Production has shut down

K-Ville - The finished shooting their 10th episodes. It is unclear whether they have other written scripts or if they will continue production.

Numbers is propping episode 12 of season 4 but have no additional scripts.

October Road (midseason) is shooting episode 10 of season 2. They have written scripts to episode 13.

Ugly Betty is shooting two more scripts and then they will be out of scripts.

Fox is creating a new lineup for January. Of course, if the strike ends, they may go back to before, but like I said before 24 is out and other shows will start earlier. The Sarah Connor Chronicles will start Jan. 13, Prison Break will return on Mondays as well on the 14th of January, American Idol will start on the 15th of January. A new reality show I hadn't heard about The Moment of Truth, will start on the 23 of January and House will follow the Super Bowl (as opposed to 24, I assume) February 3rd.

ABC will show the first 8 episodes of Lost, but beware, episode 8 is a cliffhanger and it will not be resolved until after the strike, unless the strike resolves before episode 8.

If you know of any other shows/networks that are making changes because of the strike, then let me know in comments.

Writers Strike

2007-11-06T13:25:00.000-05:00

I don't know if I've always been a union girl. I never really had a reason to think about it.

I lived in California during the public transportation strike and when the local grocery store workers were striking for better benefits. Despite the inconvenience, I found myself really pulling for these workers and hoping that by staying away (even though it meant spending way too much at the gorgeous Whole Foods and Trader Joe's), I was doing a good thing for their negotiations.

Now that the Writers are striking, I am torn. I guess torn is not the right word, since I am 100% for the writers standing for their rights. There is no way in hell that internet downloads of shows should not be adding money to the pockets of the people who write them. Writers just want their fair share. As much as I want shows to continue, I want writers to get their fair share. As much as any of us can complain about content (or lack thereof), there are a lot of shows we like and anyone who's tried their hand at writing knows that it is hard work to come up with new content every week.

I listen to ESPN Radio incessantly. It's almost an obsession. Colin Cowherd was talking about the WGA strike and how important writers were to the process. They are like the offensive line. The less you hear about the offensive lines, the more touchdown passes Brady has thrown was his example. If writers weren't important, he stated, then De Niro would win an Oscar every year. But good acting can be eclipsed by bad writing. Jon Stewart is funny, but his writers help make him brilliant. Pretty much every late night show is going to reruns because of the strike.

Anyway, just so you know the status of some of your shows, here's an abbreviated list:

* 30 Rock is shooting it's 10th episode for this season through November 9th and then will shut down

*Big Bang Theory, Carpoolers, Desperate Housewives, The Office, The New Adventures of Old Christine, Rules of Engagement, Samantha Who?, Two and Half Men, and Without a Trace have shut down.

*Show runners that share writing duties for shows are also walking (Shonda Rhimes of Grey's Anatomy and many SAG members are also in support of the WGA strike). Studios are threatening the pay of anyone non-writing related or who have non-writerly duties who are stopping work in support of the striking writers.

There are plenty of video about people who are striking and why they are striking...

There are plenty of websites that are talking about the details of the strike...

While we, as tv viewers, won't miss much for the remainder of this month, we will start to feel the pinch, especially as the new year starts. First off, no 24 until the strike is over. The show runners don't want to run it if the episodes currently recorded will end before the strike does. Lost, however, will play their current 8 recorded shows starting in February. They realize that most of their fans are willing to wait for the remaining 8 shows.

The thing I dread is that tv will become over populated with reality shows. What reality show would you like to see? Which show do you never hopes sees (or re-sees) the light of day?

Joss Whedon and Writer Strikes

2007-11-01T11:38:00.000-04:00

The last time Joss Whedon had a show on Fox, the network and the viewers didn't get it and it only lasted a few episodes. In fact, they got it so little, that they aired the shows out of order.

I was one of the viewers who didn't get that show. It was Firefly. Firefly was a space western, full of grit and glory, thievin' and whor.... well, you get the drift. I had no clue that it would become one of my favourite shows long after it had ceased to exist on the networks. It was Serenity, the movie based on the show that would close out some of the storylines for many fans, that captured my attention. I watched the series from that and now I wish that I had been among the few who trusted Whedon to do something grand with this odd storyline.

Now, Fox has ordered a series from Whedon called Dollhouse. From the information: The scifi project is about a group of men and women used for different assignments and between those assignments their minds and memories are wiped and they live in a dollhouse type environment. One of the women, Echo, played by Eliza Dushku, tries to find out who she was before her memory was wiped. I've been waiting for Joss Whedon to do something else for so long that I hope this one stays on the air... 7 episodes have been ordered.

In other news, news that affect those who write or want to write but should also make the television fans nervous, is that the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers have still not come to an agreement about amending the antiquated DVD distribution compensation for writers, that is, raising residual rates for writers based on sales of DVD, including download sales. That seems to be the roadblock for the AMPTP, who don't want to compensate writers for download sales.

And what's this I hear about NBC pulling out of iTunes, not just because they wanted to vary the prices of shows or bundle shows together, but also because they wanted a piece of Apple's hardware sales? Wow. That took a lot of cojones to even ask for something like that.

So, what do you think about the strike, or NBC's need of apple hardware sales? Are there any other Joss Whedon fans out there and what do you think of this new show? Do you think Fox will be willing to stick by it for the full seven episodes?

TV Casualty

2007-10-23T15:02:00.000-04:00

Bye bye Viva Laughlin, we hardly knew you and apparently, we did not love you.

I think the stories and the idea of the show was good and so did the talent hired for it. I missed it myself, saving it for an online viewing because the previews with singing and dancing didn't seem so great.

I wrote my predictions for the fall television premiere season here and I had a feeling Viva Laughlin would go down.

Other shows I don't expect to be renewed after this season?
Fox
Unhitched (which hasn't premiered yet)
The Return of Jezebel James (not yet premiered)
I thought K-Ville would be good, but it should not be renewed.

NBC
Journeyman (although I actually like the show once I understood the premise)
Chuck (slightly interesting upon further watching, but completely preposterous)
Lipstick Jungle (yet to premiere)

ABC
Caveman (duh)
Carpoolers
Dirty Sexy Money
Big Shots (I'm glad I guessed Cancelled on this one because it is a completely skeezy show)
Miss-Guided (yet to premiere)
Eli Stone (yet to premiere)

CBS
The Big Bang Theory (just got picked up for remaining 2nd half of the season episodes)
Viva Laughlin
Swingtown (yet to premiere)
Moonlight (just got picked up for 4 more episodes - I was wrong and it is slightly interesting)

Of course, statistically, only 30% of shows make it to a new season. I picked Fox to have the biggest number of new show make it to a second season, but they've pushed back a few of their shows, notably New Amsterdam, and they have a lot of mid season premieres and reality shows (although I think Nashville was cancelled as well).

So go over here to check out my fall 2007 premiere predictions and tell me what you think.

(and yes, anonymous Big Bang Theory lover, I know nothing - but that's the fun of writing in this medium.)

The Big Bang Theory

2007-10-19T11:36:00.001-04:00

Proving that I do know what I don't like, but proving that I don't know what others like, the horribly unfunny Big Bang Theory has just received renewal notices for the 2nd half of the season.

bleh!

In other news: CMT has ordered 6 episodes of Gone Country, scheduled to debut in January. Rather than depending on amateur performances, this show takes 7 established performers from a variety of entertainment and music, and see if they can become the next big country superstar. Production is currently underway in Nashville. Agreeing to participate are Bobby Brown, Carnie Wilson, Dee Snider, Diana DeGarmo, Julio Iglesias Jr, Maureen McCormick and Sisqo.

Ummm, this is the show that CBS should have renewed. I think this will definitely be worth tuning in to in the comedy department while it will be funny to me, I commiserate with those who truly love country music.

What Are YOU Watching?

2007-10-04T04:16:00.000-04:00

As the second week of premieres comes to a close, what are you watching? What does your week look like? If you were nerd enough to put it on a calendar, what does that look like? Inquiring tv mind want to know. And by mind, I mean me. So spill!

You Don't Know Jack

2007-10-04T01:08:00.000-04:00

Of all the things you should be playing today, you should be online playing You Don't Know Jack. (<---here's a hint, click the link). If you've never played this game, it's a way to test just how much useless knowledge resides in that old noggin'. Now, I know most of you brag about how useless the knowledge living in your brain is, ...Jack just helps your prove it. And although the Jellyvision writes are obviously quite cheesy, they will coax a laugh out of you. And if you're a bit competitive like I am (although I seem to be getting about half the score of the high scorer, which makes me want to smash things) then this well definitely get your heart racing, your blood boiling and your useless head trivia in a knot. It's like true love, with right and wrong answers!

Aye, Aye, Aye

2007-09-27T22:20:00.000-04:00

I love the smell of premieres in the evening!

Believe it or not, writing about television isn't my normal job. In the course of traveling, dealing with hotels with internet access that doesn't work or cost more to access a day than what I pay in a month, I am pitifully less punctual with posting my premiere previews.

Do you know what I'm doing right now? Watching my DVR, that's what I'm doing. I have 4 days to move out of my apartment and I'm curled up on my couch with an afghan, boxes and sundry strewn around me, catching up on all the shows I missed.

It's hard when you regularly watch television with someone. You have to save certain shows to watch with them. And if they read your blog (they do) and they find out what happens and realize that even though you said you only watched it with them, you weren't watching it for the first time. (Women! We're such liars!) Of course, the shows you regularly watch with others are the good ones, like The Office or Lost or Battlestar Galactica (yes, big fat tv nerd right here) so you're left with the shows that have been on for so long, even if they are good, they no longer warrant comment or procedurals that, even if you watch a different one on a different night and enjoy them, they're all really the same thing. This, however, is not my biggest problem.

My biggest problem is trying to figure out a way to watch every show I want to watch. If I add up the hours, watching television is a full time job. Too bad no one pays me to do so. It would be so gratifying if watching television and writing about it was my life, but, as I've already been told in comments, there are other much more qualified people writing about the same thing. Oh, my little television parlour tricks work on The Honey, who is a newbie television watcher, but they don't fool "others", who shall remain nameless... oh, wait... But I digress.

It gets very hard when you can't afford the million dollar Tivo that records every show in the world and makes you an espresso every morning, so you have to stick with the Cox (GLOOOOORIOUS) HD DVR which will get you two HD shows recording at the same time. But what happens when you have more than 2 shows that you want to watch in the same hour, like that hour when Reaper, House, and The Unit (or something like that) are all on... or Private Practice, Bionic Woman, and something else on the CW (Gossip Girl?) and you have to choose and you pick Bionic Woman because of Katee Sackhoff even though you've been an Addison Montgomery Shepherd fan from the beginning?

These are just scenarios (I haven't even checked to see if they actually are on at the same time) that happen to all of us tv addicts. We have to get creative because the DVR/Tivo will hold only so much. Fortunately for us, we can watch certain shows online, buy them on iTunes, and still have space for recording purposes. Not only are most of our favourite shows online, which would minimize the cost of buying from iTunes, but it also helps us stay honest when it comes to downloading shows. Of course, I'm not sure of the legality of downloading shows from torrent sites since they're on tv for free, but the increase in last season dvds for sell before or right at the current season makes it a grey area.

Next, we'll talk about exactly which shows should go where...

Kid Nation

2007-09-23T22:57:00.000-04:00

It's seems sort of semi-tragic to put a bunch of kids in a town with the hopes of doing something that adults couldn't do, but not because they won't be able to succeed where adults have failed. They seem like a plucky bunch who probably won't back down easily. No, the tragedy is that they believe they can come to some sort of consensus better than adults can. It is a grand experiment, but an experiment that will ultimately fail, simply because the hand of adults is so firmly in it. Maybe if they had a year, the kids could come up with some sort of system of working that would be better. But just like other reality shows, they are divided into teams, given some sort of hierarchy and given meaningless tests (the "fill the bottles with water" challenge while in some ways useful - the kids learned to rely on each other and work together- but isn't because it doesn't accomplish anything else) to determine where they work and what "class" of people they were for that week. Yet it is this very reason that the show is interesting. Watching kids come to adult realizations and watching kids just be kids. It is a very big social experiment done by someone whom I'm not really sure cares that the kids get something out of it.

Tuesday Premieres - New and Returning

2007-09-22T09:19:00.000-04:00

Reaper (CW 9pm) and Cane (CBS 10pm) have their series premiere this upcoming Tuesday and the buzz on both is very good. Personally, I like the wacky/spooky vibe that Reaper gives off as it begins the tale of a guy who finds out his parents sold his soul to the devil. Wackiness ensues, supernatural powers are discovered and demons are captured. Fans of the show Supernatural, also on the CW, thought that Reaper would siphon ratings from Supernatural. However, Reaper is very different in scope and tone from Supernatural, so fans should have no fear. I'm pretty psyched about this show.

Cane is also an anticipated premiere. The story of the rivalries inside and outside of a Cuban-American family running their sugar cane and rum dynasty sounds completely delicious. And of course the talented Jimmy Smits heads the cast, and his track record says we should expect good things from the show.

My most looked for premieres, though, are the season premiere of Bones and House. I mean, yes, I want to see NCIS because of how things ended with Tony and I want to check out The Unit to find out what happened to our favourite secret military men who were hung out to dry by the gov't they serve, but what I really want to know is how House is going to cope without Doctors Cameron, Foreman and Chase. Are they really off the show? Oh, I know the House haters have absolutely no interest in this show (every episode is the same!!!), but I love Hugh Laurie in this role and pretty much eat every show up.

Of course, my interest in House pales in comparison to how much I can't wait to see Bones. Every single character is adorable to me. I love Brennan and Booth as a team and individually. I definitely have a girl crush on Emily Deschanel's Temperance Brennan and I love how different David Boreanaz is as the Booth character. And you gotta love a guy who can wear funky belt buckles and socks as a G-man. Of course, the very cute couple of Angela Montenegro and Jack Hodgins finally decide to get married and what happens? They can't, so they run off to their honeymoon anyway. When Bones returns, will the honeymoon be over? How will Booth's and Brennan's relationship progress? What other rubbish will happen that only romantic hearted girls like? Yeah, that's me and I can't wait for this rubbish to return! Bones is a smartly written, funny, and insightful character driven show. You should be watching.

The Fall Season Is Here

2007-09-20T19:25:00.000-04:00

These next few weeks are a tv nerd's wet dream as every single show we've been obsessing over FINALLY returns. This season slate of new series also show real promise.

My DVR is holding a few shows, like Kid Nation (8pm CBS), which premiered this past Wednesday, along with America's Next Top Model and Gossip Girl on the CW. The return of Kelsey Grammar in front of the camera along with Patricia Heaton promises good things (Fox 8pm) followed by Chef Ramsey's potty mouth and oh so fun bullying of some poor saps in his new series Kitchen Nightmares (Fox 9pm). The Honey and I watched the British version and we. can't. wait!

The new season kicks off in earnest next week with new and returning shows overflowing the hours everyday but Saturday.

Fox brings back its Animation Domination. The CW premieres CW Now and Online Nation and CBS uses Cold Case and Shark as their Sunday anchor.

The much anticipated return of How I Met Your Mother as Ted and Robin have broken up on good terms, Marshall and Lily are married and since all last season we knew Robin was not the Mother from the title, now hopefully we get to get a glimpse at who the "mother" might actually be.

Heroes (9pm NBC) returns as well with Hiro transplanted in ancient China, Sylar escaped and the guy who is worse than Sylar, the real boogey-man, is out there... waiting... watching. Oh, and Veronica Mars' Kristen Bell will be on the show, which guarantees my butt in the seat for this one.

Three new shows, Chuck (8pm NBC), The Big Bang Theory (8:30pm CBS) and Journeyman (10pm NBC) round out the Monday premiere night. Chuck's premise is a little rough but somehow this computer ~~geek~~ nerd ends up with all the secrets of the government in his head. He is first a target, then an ally to the government. Chuck will get a look because Firefly alum Adam Baldwin has a role as an agent. I miss him as Jayne. The Big Bang Theory is basically science ~~nerds~~ geeks looking for sex. Get it??? Big BANG Theory!!! . It will probably not get past episode 3 (if it makes it that far) and if it stays as funny as the teaser makes it out to be, it will not be renewed if it goes the full season. Journeyman is about a guy who can go back in time and change things. But I think he has no control over when he goes back in time. Riiiiiight. I guess we all are going to have to find out about this one.

Tomorrow, we talk about 2 new show, Reaper (9pm CW) and Cane (10pm CBS) as well as a few of my most anticipated returns.

My Emmy Picks

2007-09-14T20:27:00.000-04:00

Some categories are easy. Some are harder and others are just plain impossible. To see the nominations list, see this post (or just scroll down).

Best comedy series: 30 Rock. I have to say that I anticipated and enjoyed the stories told by the office, but 30 Rock really surprised me this year. I mean, I thought I would like it, but I found it a little slow initially. Then one day, it was just hilarious. If I had to go with the most consistently funny, I would pick The Office, but the show that caused the most surprised laughter moments, it was 30 Rock. However, if The Office wins, I will not be made.

Best Drama: House. I was never a Sopranos watcher. I tried to watch an episode when it moved to A&E, but just gave up on it. Hugh Laurie, to me, is a compelling man to watch and the fact that the show was the same every week and yet I still couldn't wait to catch an episode tells me that, as a drama, it was very impactful. Now, the most drama filled show is Grey's Anatomy and just because I'm a sappy girl and like my soaps, I wouldn't be mad if GA got it. House deserves it.

Lead Actor in a Comedy: Alec Baldwin. I think Ricky Gervais is funny, so if he gets it for Extras, I will be happy for him, however, I haven't seen a full episode. I will make up for that oversight this weekend. I also like Steve Carell, but once again, it is about who had the best laughs overall for me.

Lead Actor in a Drama: Denis Leary. Last season of Rescue Me was very intense. Denis Leary's Tommy Gavin was both strong and weak, fully realized in a person and realistically so.

Lead Actress in a Comedy: Tina Fey. 30 Rock was the best comedy because of Tina Fey's Liz Lemon. Everything about this character is hilarious. And she interacts hilariously with every single character on the show. No one on this list is as funny as Tina Fey. And for the record, all of the desperate housewives had too much drama to be nominated for lead in a comedy series, but Teri Hatcher's Susan Mayer...Delfino would have been a better choice.

Lead Actress in a Drama: Kyra Sedgwick. The Closer is the best drama to me. I never could get into Brothers and Sisters and although I like SVU, it gets old. I hear Mariska Hargitay had some very good storylines last season, but I didn't really catch them. The Closer anchored my summer viewing schedule and I know if it were a fall season show, I would skip another show to watch it. Edie Falco will probably win it though. I hear she's a powerhouse when it comes to the acting game.

Supporting Actor in a Comedy: Rainn Wilson. Dwight Shrute is the funniest human being on the planet. Neil Patrick Harris as Barney is a close second. Jeremy Piven will probably win. Unless Entourage really sucked... which I heard it did. Ed Helms' Andy Bernard should have gotten a nomination. That would have made this category really hard with Rainn Wilson still winning hands down.

Supporting Actor in a Drama: Masi Oka. Hiro worship aside, I really enjoyed Hiro, from the excited man-child who discovered he could bend time and space to the sad man-child who loses the woman he comes to love and loses his powers, to the triumphant man who is the only one that can truly beat Silar... aww, it's all Hiro worship. Otherwise, I would be gnawing my nails to nubs over whether it should go to John Locke or Ben from Lost. I think John Locke had the best most interesting journey that was more than ably portrayed by Terry O'Quinn. Ben was more than creepy and Michael Emerson does a good job making us fear him and want to believe the words that are coming out of his mouth. T.R. Knight will probably get it because he was involuntarily outed.

Supporting Actress in a Comedy: Jenna Fischer. Conchata Ferrell is the funniest thing about Two and a Half Men, a sitcom I do not like. Jaime Pressly is hilarious as Joy and I think Vanessa Williams plays one of the most interesting characters on television, yet Jenna Fischer had the funniest character this past season. I'm surprised that 30 Rock's Jane Krakowski didn't get a nomination nod. She is what pushed the show over the edge for me (the botox episode - I laughed so hard I thought I was going to die; Rural Juror... oh my word, she was funny).

Supporting Actress in a Drama: Sandra Oh. The Grey's girls had a really good season of acting and storylines. I like Rachel Griffiths and her character on Brothers and Sisters, but I did not like the show, so I didn't watch. Not a Sopranos fan, so my pick is Sandra Oh's Christina Yang. She was the character I most rooted for. I think it was because her tact and drive were compelling to me.

These picks are not perfect, but at least they're mine.

As for the writing, the best writing in a comedy category had two scripts from 30 Rock, two from The Office and one from Extras. If one of those doesn't win best comedy category, then there is something legitimately screwed up with this voting process. The Office chose Gay Witch Hunt, the first episode from the third season where Michael outs Oscar, and The Negotiations where Michael finally gets a raise for himself. 30 Rock's offering, on the other hand, is Tracy Does Conan, where Tracy Morgan goes off his meds and is basically crazy on Conan O'Brian's show, and Jack-Tor, where Jack has to act on The Girl Show and where Tracy refuses to read the cue cards (Alec Baldwin was hilarious as someone who couldn't act his way out of a paper bag), two very funny episodes. I haven't seen the Extras, but it was the Daniel Radcliffe episode. 30 Rock should win it and Jack-Tor should get it.

In the best writing in a drama category, there are 3 nominations for The Sopranos, which I will ignore, a Battlestar Galactica episode, the season 3 opener which was a 2 parter and a Lost episode, the season finale, which was a hell of a shocker. If they'd nominated the BSG season finale, I think it might have beat Lost. I think the Lost finale should win it all!

Primetime Emmy Awards

2007-09-11T15:41:00.000-04:00

On September 16, when I'm trying to figure out where I can run at a conference in Florida, you will be watching the gala affair that is the Emmy Awards.

For those of us who love television, the Emmy's mark that much looked for and much detested time of the year. That's because we have our favourite shows that we think should be awarded, but we see them get run over by bigger, longer running shows or be pushed aside to make up for not awarding someone else the year before. The nomination is a long, drawn out process that is not enlightened by those who watch a lot of tv... us.

So what I'm going to do is give you a list of nominees and then see about creating a poll so that you can pick your favourites.

Maybe next year, we can have an actual poll with results and people who win things. But for now, it will be pure tv nerdly fun.

Best Comedy Series
30 Rock
Entourage
The Office
Two and a Half Men
Ugly Betty

Best Drama Series
Boston Legal
Grey's Anatomy
Heroes
House
Sopranos

Lead Actor in a Comedy
Alec Baldwin - Jack Donaghy in 30 Rock
Ricky Gervais - Andy Millman in Extras
Tony Shaloub - Adrian Monk in Monk
Steve Carell - Michael Scott in The Office
Charlie Sheen - Charlie Harper in Two and a Half Men

Lead Actor in a Drama
Kiefer Sutherland - Jack Bauer in 24
James Spader - Alan Shore in Boston Legal
Hugh Laurie - Dr. Gregory House in House
Denis Leary - Tommy Gavin in Rescue Me
James Gandolfini - Tony Soprano in The Sopranos

Lead Actress in a Comedy
Tina Fey - Liz Lemon in 30 Rock
Felicity Huffman - Lynette Scavo in Desperate Housewives
Julia Louis Dreyfuss - Christine Campbell in The New Adventures of Old Christine
America Ferrera - Betty Suarez in Ugly Betty
Mary Louise Parker - Nancy Botwin in Weeds

Lead Actress in a Drama
Sally Field - Nora Walker in Brothers and Sisters
Mariska Hargitay - Detective Olivia Benson - Law & Order: SVU
Kyra Sedgwick - Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson in The Closer
Minnie Driver - Dahlia Malloy in The Riches
Edie Falco - Carmelo Soprano in The Sopranos

Supporting Actor in a Comedy
Jeremy Piven - Ari Gold in Entourage
Kevin Dillon - Johnny Drama in Entourage
Neil Patrick Harris - Barney Stinson of How I Met Your Mother
Rainn Wilson - Dwight Shrute in The Office
Joh Cryer - Alan Harper in Two and a Half Men

Supporting Actor in a Drama
William Shatner - Denny Crane in Boston Legal
T.R. Knight - George O'Malley in Grey's Anatomy
Masi Oka - Hiro Nakamura in Heroes
Terry O'Quinn - John Locke in Lost
Michael Emerson - Ben in Lost
Michael Imperioli - Christopher Moltisanti in The Sopranos

Supporting Actress in a Comedy
Jaime Pressly - Joy Turner in My Name Is Earl
Jenna Fischer - Pam Beesly in The Office
Conchata Ferrell - Berta in Two and a Half Men
Vanessa Williams - Wilhelmina Slater in Ugly Betty
Elizabeth Perkins - Celia Hodes in Weeds

Supporting Actress in a Drama
Rachel Griffiths - Sarah Whedon in Brothers and Sisters
Sandra Oh - Christina Yang in Grey's Anatomy
Chandra Wilson - Dr. Bailey in Grey's Anatomy
Katherine Heigl - Izzie Stevens in Grey's Anatomy
Lorraine Bracco - Dr. Jennifer Melfi in The Sopranos
Aida Turturro - Janice Soprano in The Sopranos

Of course, in anything where you have to pick a best, someone gets left out. Michael C. Hall's Dexter Morgan in the serial killer drama, Dexter, should definitely have gotten a nod. I haven't quite enjoyed an actor making me like the "bad" guy, who is really a good guy, but still a serial killer, as much as I've liked what Michael C. Hall is doing with the Dexter character.

While Ugly Betty is funny, I can't believe that it got the nod versus How I Met Your Mother. I mean, season two got off to a really weird start with Marshall and Lily split, but I am sure I laughed harder at HIMYM than I did at Ugly Betty. It should have been in the drama category.

Rescue Me should have gotten a nom for best drama. It's good to see Denis Leary's Tommy Gavin in the best actor for a drama category.

Even though Everybody Hates Chris wasn't as funny in the 2nd season, I'm surprised that Tichina Arnold or Terry Crewes, who play the mom and dad of Chris, weren't nominated in the supporting actress and actor category in comedy. As the show goes on, these two characters have gotten better - which means funnier.

Why in the HELL is there no nominations for Friday Night Lights???? Every frakkin' person on that show deserves a nom. If I had to choose ONE person, I couldn't. Connie Britton as the coach's wife, Tami Taylor, stands out in a reprisal of her role from the movie is particularly noteworthy, but so is Zach Gilford's Matt Saracen and Kyle Chandler's Coach Eric Taylor. I particularly love the character of Buddy Garrity played by Brad Leland just because he incites the most emotion. This show held my attention, made me tune in in real time as opposed to watching it Saturday from my DVR.

Speaking of "frak", BSG did get a nom in the writing category for the Occupation/Precipice episodes (the opening episodes of season three), but there really should have been some kind of nomination for the last two shows, Crossroads 1 & Crossroads 2. I admit that season three had a few missteps, but Crossroads 1&2 really did a good job of reinvigorating my interest in the story the writers were telling.

Masi Oka is my favourite. He made me enjoy Heroes, a show that was not as well written as it could have been. He was a definite favourite from that show, even though the writers wanted us to like other characters as well, but I'm not sure if he should win over Lost's Terry O'Quinn or Michael Emerson.

So, what about you? Do you have a character or show that you thought was exceptional last season that deserved a nomination? What about actors? Who should NOT be on the list? Don't be shy, leave your comments. Good healthy debates are more than welcome.

Tomorrow, my Emmy predictions in the main categories and why we should care about the best writing in a comedy or drama series.

Who Wants It More?

2007-09-08T00:39:00.000-04:00

I have always been passionate about football.

Well, really, it started with basketball. I come from a basketball family.

So I played soccer. Because I couldn't play football.

So I was mildly (MILDLY?) excited about the first game of the season. The defending champions, the ~~New England Patriots~~ Indianapolis Colts go against the team I wanted to go all the way, the New Orleans Saints.

Don't get me wrong, I am a Falcons fan. But once the Falcons were out and the Saints were still in it last year, that's who I wanted to see win. Maybe it was because of Katrina. Maybe it is because of Drew Brees. When he messes up and gets mad at himself, he still looks like a cute puppy. A cute, angry little puppy.

But... thanks to WMGT, the first 5 minutes of the first game of this new season was in SD. Standard Definition???? C'mon, 41!

I always thought that paying that much for a television was idiotic. Until I saw a game in HD. Oh, yeah. hhgregg knows what they're doing. All the screens filled with college football, beckoning to me so that the idea of "saving up" for what is basically a television was not ridiculous.

Until we got that sucker home. We plugged in our wires and our cable box and watched crazy shows about nothing. The sun rising. Animals just sitting and staring. Slumberous narrations, all for the sake of a pretty picture. But what a pretty picture it was. For us, more than worth it.

And football looks fan-freakin-tastic!

I thought for sure the Saints would be hungry to rectify last year's miss of the Superbowl. Alas, those jokers were not. However, since I have both Reggie Wayne and Reggie Bush on my fantasy football team, I was a confusing mass of cheering. Since I was rooting for the Saints, my husband kept wondering why I would raise my hands in victory at an Indianapolis touchdown. Fantasy football makes you cheer for crazy things.

Finally, WMGT got their act together and for the most part, the game was in GLOOORIOUS HD.

Because that's how you have to say it.

Go American Football!

BBCAmerica... We Will Be Assimilated!

2007-09-06T00:44:00.000-04:00

The first and last time I saw Doctor Who was in the 80s. He had this curly mop of hair and the most fantastic scarf I want to knit now. Last weekend, by chance, I noticed that they were showing the first televised season of Dr. Who recorded in 16 years. Christopher Eccleston was our good Doctor (the ninth) and he was, in a word, Fantastic. It turns out he only intended to play The Doctor for a year. David Tennant took his place as the tenth Doctor.

Christopher Eccleston also played Claude, the invisible guy who helps Peter Petrelli in Heroes.

If you want to learn more about Doctor Who, check it oBut here.

Of course, when you watch a different channel, you find yourself paying attention to the other things that are on. So, as of this Saturday, my DVR will be full of Sci-Fi Saturday offerings. First, it will be the next season of Doctor Who. It is not the current season, which shows on the Sci-Fi channel, but it is a way for me to catch up with this new Doctor. Also, I will be watching Torchwood, a spin off of Doctor Who starring Captain Jack Harkness, a fellow who traveled with the Doctor and Rose towards the end of the season.

I've been hearing good things about Jekyll, a series that just ended here.

I am in love with British shows that way. They have short seasons, yet they tell so much story and though they leave you wanting more, it is very satisfying how they end.

But it is more than being able to watch shows like Coupling, Footballers' Wives, Life on Mars. It's also that a lot of these shows are heading stateside, most particularly as American remakes.

One notable show is The Office, which is a remake of a British show of the same name. It took until the end of season 2 and all of season 3 before the American version began to have the same squirm factor as the original, and that squirm factor is what adds to the sense of humour to me. But other shows like Big Brother (not British, but European) and Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares are imports that have proven or will prove successful.

So, in a couple of years, will we see the success of British television translated into American for our viewing pleasure? Coupling was made and canceled after 4 episodes, Life on Mars is slated to be remade, and several shows premiering this fall season owe a debt to their own British show... Viva Laughlin to Blackpool, Life is Wild to Wild at Heart, The IT Crowd, which will be a midseason replacement, to a show of the same name, Life on Mars, Football Wives...

But there is a lot of cancellation as shows that jump the ocean don't always succeed here. Sometimes, the re-creators don't trust the views and take away many of the things that made the shows good in the first place. The Office was lucky enough to have the writers of the original show be writers and producers as well.

The funny thing is, British viewers like American shows and will often import the American remake of their familiar British shows. And for those of us who can understand the accent, if not always the innuendo, we do our own importing of British shows, hoping to catch the original even as we hope the shows are not forever scarred in our mind from their remake.

Kyle XY

2007-09-04T02:04:00.000-04:00

It surprises me how much I get into sci-fi. After all, I'm more interested in a good story, not a peak into what could possibly be living in the vast outer reaches of space or what new technology a few years will bring. I just finished watching the 2005 season of Doctor Who on BBC America and I'm super excited about the tenth Doctor. I haven't watched Doctor Who since I was little when it was the Fourth Doctor.

But this post is about Kyle XY. Kyle XY tells the story of a boy who has no memories but does have the love of a family who eventually adopts him. The thing is, he was allowed to develop in utero until his 16th year. That gave him a higher capacity/higher functioning brain that any other person his age. But this is more than a sci-fi tale of a super brain; it is the story of a family trying to get along with a new member and making the most of the situations that come because of what he knows. In turns hilarious and poignant, it is a most enjoyable way to relax on a Monday night.

What I like most about this show is that Kyle is a do-gooder. His word can be believed. But in this season, he keeps a lot of secrets and breaks a lot of promises for the sake of those he loves. Yes, there's teen angst. Laurie dealing with losing Declan, Declan becoming reclusive because Kyle suddenly stops trusting him, but in answer to that angst, Kyle finally being with the girl of his dreams, Amanda. Even little brother Josh gets some action as a cute gamer chick enters his life.

Yes, Jessie, the super smart, unloved "sister" of Kyle - since they both came to life the same way - whose bouts of darkness coincide with computeresque mind adjustments made by Emily, the tracker pretending to be Jessie's sister and the corporation Madacorp, who have their hand in trying to gather and destroy what is hiding in Kyle's brain. But when Jessie begins to discover the truth, what she's learned from being around Kyle and his peeps pushes her over the edge... figuratively and literally.

It's a show worth getting into, Season one is out on DVD and Season 2 can be purchased on iTunes. And if those shows are part of the half priced group, well, then, lucky you.

Meet Me At the Tube... It's Goin' Down

2007-09-01T21:19:00.000-04:00

NBC and iTunes... get ready to RUMBLE!

According to several sources, NBC may be leaving iTunes. Or Apple may be letting NBC go. Whatever. To some people, this news is "so what?" Who pays $1.99 for a show that's free anyway? Well, fortunately for iTunes and NBC, the answer equals moola because more than 50 million shows have been sold through the iTunes Music system so far (EDIT: As of Sept. 5, 2007, it is 95 million shows sold), between 30-40% of which belongs to the Universal NBC TV family. You know, NBC, USA, Sci-Fi, etc.

Oh, NBC, you cheeky monkey, why are you so stubborn. Let's see, tv is free, yet somehow, iTunes has convinced us that paying 1.99 for a television show if we missed it, if it isn't free on your site, or if we just want to watch it again is a good thing, even though we grumble because we shouldn't have to pay 1.99... I mean, there are so many ways to get a television show for free, you'd think that we would ignore iTunes. Yet we don't because it is easier. Easier until that season comes out on hd dvd and then we buy it from you. So why would you, NBC, want us, the viewers, to pay up to 4.99 per show, or to bundle shows together where we would have less control over what we get. And it would be sad if someone had to steal all of their BSG episodes from their DVR when they could have paid iTunes and you for the episode. You're counting on your viewers not being technologically savvy and I'm sorry to say they're not. I guarantee you, if you sell your shows yourself for higher than we could have gotten on iTunes, I'm pretty sure you'll have a wide variety of technogeeks, wanting to be honest, who will forever be upset that you forced them to get your shows dishonestly. What I don't understand is why you can't keep your shows on iTunes and do your own thing. Because you're know you're wrong, NBC!

Dexter Season 2 will be out soon. Of any show that I've decided to watch, this was the one I was initially the least interested in watching. I heard of this show with a serial killer as the main character and I couldn't imagine how I would be okay with rooting for a serial killer. In my tv world, you root for and care for the main character. How could a serial killer be sympathetic? Well, Dexter Morgan (played exquisitely by Michael C. Hall, whom you may best remember from Six Feet Under) has proved that a serial killer can be a sympathetic character. Many people have decided against watching because it seems as if there could be nothing redeeming about the show, yet somehow, it is. Maybe you shouldn't watch it. Maybe you should hold on to your... whatever it is you want to hold on to by not watching a show about a serial killer. You may find yourself rooting for him in his kill, laughing as he remembers his first kill, or even hoping he doesn't get caught - which I think we who are fan will be hoping for this next season. Check out tvguide.com for the Dexter Season 2 trailer and if you want to have a bit of fun, scare the crap out of your best friends by sending them kmail (that's kill mail) from Dexter Morgan.

My friends loved it!

The Case for a Big Fat TV Nerd

2007-08-30T17:28:00.000-04:00

Television.

Some people want to get rid of it because it keeps them for living their lives. Television is to blame when we don't spend time with our families, is the impetus for water cooler talk (in fact, revived the term water cooler talk) and is the reason why some of us get lost in the lives of others.

Television is my escape. Although I have never dressed up or attended a convention, my television fanaticism is not far from it. I've tried to deny it sometimes, I guess, though I have been in love with television from the first show I ever watched.

So my prejudices will come out. My favourite shows may be talked about ad nauseam. My least favourite genres may be put down, even if you like it. But your comments are welcome as long as they are either productive, funny, or informative. Or anything else that moves this television conversation along.