Quote of the Week: Rob Thomas is a whore. (Piz - Veronica Mars)
Song of the Week: Bad Day - Daniel Powder (as sung by Ronnie, Veronica Mars)
Big News of the Week: Scooter Loosens His Dislike for All the New Fall Shows: For those that saw My 2006-2007 Television Schedule you would have noticed there were absolutely no new shows on it. But after reading Herc from Ain’t It Cool most anticipated list I have warmed up a little, and by a little, just one show: Pushing Daisies. The whole dude reanimating dead people just didn’t sound very good to me until I saw it was created by Bryan Fuller who just so happened to create the number one reason why I no longer watch Fox: Wonderfalls. Not so coincidentally. One of the two episodes he wrote for Heroes, Company Man, was the best of the first season. Then the show stars Lee Pace, the male lead from Wonderfalls as the guy with the magic touch, Chi McBride, another one of my favorite who also stared in a show that Fox prematurely gave the ax Boston Public as a private investigator who looks to be more Vinnie Van Lowe than Keith Mars, as well as Anna Freil who, surprised, was star of the short lived Fox show, but nonetheless great The Jury, as Pace’s first kiss who happens to be one of the dead he brought back to life. Luckilt the show doesn’t air on Fox but you can instead watch Pushing Daisies this fall Wendsdays at 8:00 on ABC. Here’s a clip:
Celebrity Fit Club: Men vs. Women: Usually I am a casual viewer of this show, but I have turned in every week and finally the moment I have been waiting for when Screech made the karaoker cry and almost got Harvey to kill him. Now that’s television. Also be sure to hunt down the extended uncencored version where Harvey, after threatening Screech tells everyone to “put that on V-Spot.” Classic. But I have to wonder why after they switched up the teams last week they are still calling this installment Men vs. Women.
Heroes: Last year I declared the last Supernatural (see Dad's on a Hunting Trip) episode the worst season finale ever and even though the Heroes finale didn’t change that assumption, it came pretty close thanks to the completely inane ending. I understand why Nathan would sacrifice himself for his brother but Peter should have turned around and sacrificed himself because Nathan has more to live for, a wife, kids, one of which he just met, and his new public office. But really, it never came across Nathan’s mind to just tell Peter he should fly out of the atmosphere? But my biggest complaint is that Mohinder, Nikki and Noah (yeah that was uber-lame) were in New York even though they were alive in the future yet nothing happened that would lead them to being at that place at that time unlike Nathan and Hiro who knew the future and knew something needed to change. But the show did get some things right, I liked the introduction of next season’s Big Bad when the locator system said he can see her when she thinks about him. I wonder if we have met him yet. Unfortunately this season’s Big Bad will still be lurking around. Bad idea. Check out the latest episode over at NBC.com.
Veronica Mars: One thing I forgot to mention in my original post (see: I Like This Show, it’s Tawdry or Rob Thomas Is a Whore) was how the first episode eerily mentioned two subjects from the two classes I took during the spring semester. First one of the fake ID’s used the name Leonardo Fibonacci and I spend time studying Fibonacci Numbers (don’t ask) and I learned how to encode things, in fact I can play a game of head or tails over the phone without either player cheating (again, don’t ask). Check out the latest episodes over at cwtv.com or download the whole season at iTunes.
Lost: One thing I forgot to mention in my original post (see: Guys (Dramatic Pause) Where Are We) and surprisingly I didn’t see this anywhere else so maybe I was just seeing things, but if I wasn’t then either Carol Vessey is getting chunky or Jack’s ex-wife is pregnant. Check out the latest episodes over at ABC.com.
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip: It was hard getting back into this show after so long without a Matt, Danny, or Jordan sighting. And even though I love the “Rob Thomas is a whore” line, Aaron Sorkin’s self deprecating The West Wing humor just fell flat. Well except the drunken lines from Jack. Seriously, he is at his best when inebriated (see also The Wrap Party). Check out the latest episode over at NBC.com.
This Summer’s Pick: Friday Night Lights, Sunday’s 9:00 NBC: Here is your chance to catch up on the best new show from last season that is actually returning for a sophomore season. or those that a already into the show, be sure to head over to Give Me My Remote where you can win a script from the show signed by the cast. Now my TV Guide says that tomorrow’s episode is the Homecoming game so I’m not sure if they are showing the episodes out of order, or if they are just waiting to start with the Pilot next week, which isn’t part of Memorial Day weekend. Speaking of which I hope everyone thanks a veteran or two sometime this weekend and I’ll be back Tuesday and sometime next week I will be unveiling the Third Annual Scooter Television Awards as well as the Top Ten Best Shows of 2006-2007.
I have an admission to make. Since the inception of this blog I have made fun of MySpace and whenever anyone asked me if I had one I would retort, “guys my age on MySpace all end up on Dateline NBC.” But secretly a couple months ago I went ahead and got my own Myspace basically for the sole reason so I could tell people that Snoop Doggy Dogg was a friend. I went threw a list of celebrities and musicians and even a couple imaginary people and some of them actually accepted my friends request. I even quietly put a link to my MySpace (or can I drop the first my?) on the sidebar here and there were some people who read this blog who clicked through and requested my friendship.
Aside from the rare person who found MySpace from here, I occasionally get request from your token spammers. But yesterday I opened up my inbox to see yet another rare friend request but this time it was from one Mandy Moore. Yes that Mandy Moore. I’m not sure how she came across me, but I would like to thank her for thinking enough of me to ask to be my friend. And I wonder if she remembers me because we actually met once. Back in the late nineties I was working at the local amphitheater and I was hanging backstage at the *NSYNC concert when this random hot chick came over and I started to chat her up. Later I look on the stage only to see the girl who I was talking to on the stage as the boy banders opening act. Then a couple weeks later I see this very person on MTV with her own video and that person turned out to be Mandy Moore. I knew I should have gotten her number. Oh well.
But now that we have reconnected via the internets, maybe we can do so in person again. So Mandy, feel free to shout me a holla the next time you come around northeast Ohio and I can show you around the town, maybe check out the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and grab something to eat afterward. Also if there are anymore hot celebrities out there, feel free to send me a friends request (guess none hot celebrities can send me one too, but I reserve to save the top spaces for celebrities because I’m shallow like that).
If you missed last night’s season finale of Lost, be sure to head over to ABC.com to stream the episode or download Through a Looking Glass at iTunes.
The people behind Lost got a lot of grief after the season one finale because it was slow moving and at the end, we didn’t get to see what was down the hatch and they actually seemed to take note of that. Yet oddly, the season finale have the same feel as the first one as Jack takes a Rousseau led trek through the island but instead of The Black Rock we get the radio tower. Charlie goes on a suicide mission this time with Desmond instead of Sayid in tow (plus he actually succeeded this time). To their credit, the things they did different were great as in Hurley playing bumper cars with one of The Others.
Since most everything in the first one hundred and fifteen minutes were ho hum (possibly thanks to what seemed like a commercial break every five minutes) let me flash forward to the last five (yes, the cheap pun was intended). I have been against Jack flashbacks since around the second season because there are many Other (again, cheap pun intended) flashbacks I would rather see and once again the ones in this episode was boring to the point of tears. At the end when someone pulled up, I said to the person next to me, “That has to be Penny, no one else it could be.”
Holy frak I was wrong. My first thought when Kate came into the light was, “they must have been brainwashed, and that is why they didn’t recognize each other on the flight.” Well actually my first thought was actually “just like many of the chicks from Survivor, she looked a lot better when she hasn’t showered in weeks,” but anyways. And with the reveal that this was a flashforward, we got three major questions that won’t be answered in a long time:
Whose obituary led Jack to almost commit suicide and be the only one to show up at the viewing hours? (My lead candidates are Sawyer, Locke, Ben, and Michael but really you could make a case for almost anyone we have met)
Who did Kate have to get back to? (Sawyer would be the easy choice but that would be too easy, and almost as big a question is why isn’t Kate locked up? I doubt the statute of limitations is up and murder and fleeing the country would keep her in jail long after her looks have gone)
Is Jack’s dad still alive or be alive in the future? (Jack trying to get drugs with his dad’s prescription could be easily discounted, but when he told the chief of surgery to go get his dad and if he was drunker than him, he could fire him isn’t as easily explained. I long believed that Jack’s dad was behind this all and this may once again help my theory)
Elsewhere in the previous one hundred and fifteen minutes, Charlie dies. Yawn. A poor ending to a lame storyline. What makes it worse was there was no reason for Charlie to lock himself in the room. And why would he, in his final moments be so worried that Penny didn’t know the name of the parachuter? Plenty of bosses don’t know the name of their underlings. But it did pretty much cemented that either she wasn’t who she said she was, not that we would find out because Locke killed her (although the last person he “killed” didn’t stick), or she was mislead by whoever was really in charge of her search team (Penny’s dad? Dharma?) Speaking of the person whose death didn’t stick, Eyepatch dude is one creepy dude. He come back from getting thrown into the forcefield only to say the voltage must night have been high enough, then he takes a spear to the chest only to swim around with a grenade. And I’m not even sure if that will be the last of him we see.
Even though most everyone else was morning the demise of Charlie, I was most sad to see Zeke take the bullet, I was always hoping for a Zeke flashback, not that we won’t see one in the future just because he died. Interesting though that Sawyer told Zeke the bullet was for taking the boy, not for shooting him back at the end of season one. I wonder with the Others getting depleted, if Ben is once again switching sides to the winning team and that is the real reason he trekked to the radio tower.
Of course no question asked last night will be answered for at the very least eight months because of the new deal the show made with ABC which is the dumbest idea that ends all dumb ideas as I bet the show will hit yet another all-time low much like it did when it came back from hiatus this year. If there were ever a show that shouldn’t take long breaks it is Lost. But again, what do I know? If I were to run a network, Veronica Mars, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and Let’s Rob Ray Ramono would have been on the fall schedule.
Have to make this quick and in list form because I spent most of the day performing hard manual labor and have to devote three hours tonight to the Lost finale. If you missed the finale two episodes of Veronica Mars, Weevils Wobble But They Don’t Go Down and/or The Bitch Is Back, head over to cwtv.com to scream them or you can download them via iTunes or Amazon Unbox.
I’ll be back with more on the show later when I get a chance to re-watch them. I was taken a little out of them in the first viewing because it took me a while to get situated in a state of mind where I could enjoy it without being sad about it being the last episodes I would see and the last couple minutes getting taken out of the episode because I realized that I wasn’t going to have the show resolved to my satisfaction.
- Like the episode title said, the bitch was back and I couldn’t be happier (and more depressed as the same time but for different reasons). The second episode was very season one with Ronnie being disgraced in a sexual way along with the return of Jake Kane and Clarence Weidman. Plus the first part had a very A Trip to the Dentist feel to it while the second part was very Clash of the Tritons.
- Speaking of Jake Kane, despite seeing Kyle Secor’s name in the title sequence, I was still jaw on the floor, much like Vee, when she saw the picture of Lily and I didn’t put two and two together until he actually showed up on screen. But it is reasons like this that I try to avoid reading the guest star list and really wish television shows would move them to the end credits because it can really ruin surprises within the show.
- I wonder if it would have been a coincidence that Jake Kane and Dick Sr. both came back to Neptune around the same time, sadly we may never know.
- Glad we got a couple last Dick/Ronnie scenes; the best is when she confronted him about sharing the sex tape (also loved how he sheepishly showed Logan). It was great that Ronnie didn’t even bother to get made at Dick for forwarding the movie to everyone in his address book.
- The beach scene was possibly the best one all season and Dick’s apology to Mac may have been the oddest scenes (in a good way) since the space elevator.
- Keith should have had Vee take his place in the debate because she was able to win it without saying a word. I was waiting for one of them to bring up their involvement in the Duncan export plan behind closed doors only to realize that it would have just implicated them too.
- But these episodes were far from perfect, as soon as the stalker came on screen, it was pretty safe to assume that it was him who planted the camera.
- Was a little disappointed that in the last two episodes Parker just got one scene. Yeah she turned out to be a throwaway character who didn’t get much screen time in the first arc even though she was the catalyst but she, as well as Julie Gonzalo, deserved better. Along those lines, Deputy Leo shows up just once in the finale just to fetch evidence. Something must have ended up on the cutting room floor because certainly that was more of a Sachs type role.
- Was this the first ever sex tape not to feature sex? That seemed like too much of a cop out to appease those annoying people who are obsessed with Logan and Vee being together. And what dude, with his naked girlfriend in front of him, not be able to seal the deal?
Okay, enough nitpicking because the last two episodes rank at the top of this season along with Mars Bars. I really loved where the show looked like it was going with Ronnie taking on the castle, and certainly Logan didn’t make friends with them either. Again, they would be back at season one with Ronnie being an outcast with everyone thinking she was morally loose. And as I said earlier, I doubt Dick Sr. and Jake coming back at the same time may not have been a coincidence and that could have been another clue to what could have been. Unfortunately we won’t be seeing that on television and I highly doubt a movie with only an outside chance of a book. But I really hope the FBI trailer makes the light of day whether it is on the DVD or “leaked” to YouTube.
Oh, and one more thing, I am glad the show got in one Matchbox Twenty reference before closing up shop. The very first question I ever asked Rob Thomas when I met him was how much was he sick of Matchbox Twenty jokes. Surprisingly he said no one makes them (I guess it is good to be the boss). Personally if I had his number, whenever I found myself drunk and awake at 3 A.M. I would call him up to ask him if he was lonely. Oh well, for more on this conversation with Rob, check out No, Not That Rob Thomas.
Maroon 5 created some of the best pop songs this decade with their four single of the debut album Songs about Jane selling over four million copies to date. As great as those for songs were, take them away from the album and what you are left with is a mediocre at best album aside from the great album closer Sweetest Goodbye. But the band has taken its time to record the follow up which was released back in 2002, three years before they picked up the Grammy for Best New Artist.
In the interim, lead singer Adam Levine took over John Mayer role as go to white boy for rappers, appearing on tracks by Kanye West and the Ying Yang Twins, as well as taking part in the Hollywood party scene, being link to more than a few “it” girls of the moment. Despite the long lay off between albums, the band’s sophomore effort, It Won’t Be Soon before Long could as well have been called Songs about Jane (or Jessica, Lindsay, etc.) II as the album again is very relationship heavy, leaning again towards the negative sides of them. There are a few quasi-political messages throughout the album, most notable in the first single, Makes Me Wonders, with lines like, “Give me something to believe in ‘cause I don’t believe in you anymore,” but too many people are reading into the political themes consider the lines, “Struggled to memorize the way it felt between your (suggestive lyric deleted),” also appear in the song.
The band also lets its influences shine threw more this time around as there are a few Studio 54 era dance tracks that sound like Michael Jackson through the Justin Timberlake filter (If I Never See Your Face Again, Makes Me Wonder) populate the album. Won’t Go Home without You could have been what She Will Be Loved may have sounded like had the band had been listening to Every Breath You Take on a loop while recording. Kiwi could be their tribute to early Prince complete with sexual innuendo this time with fruit instead of a car. And I dare you not to think of 3 Doors Down’s Kryptonite when listening to the opening chords of Goodnight, Goodnight.
Still nothing here comes close to the upper-echelon of the first record. Harder to Breathe remains the only good fast song the band has done. The band is still at its best when they slow things down like on Nothing Lasts Forever which is built around Levine’s vocals from Heard ‘em Say but the words fit much better here than backing a rap track as well as one of the nicest break up songs ever (take that Clarkson) with Better that We Break. Of course that was most likely just lip services as Levine probably just moved on to the next party girl.
All reality show are dependant on good casting but if there is one that hits or misses depending on its new castmenbers it is The Real World. Since they have upped the token frat boy quotient to two per season, the show has been unwatchable (granted the most recent season in Denver was its best in a long time thanks to the clinically insane, and I mean that in a good way, Brooke). But Survivor is a close second. The problem though is that most contestants know they can’t act like a nut job because they would leave the island just as quick as they got there. Somehow the producers of the show seemed to find the few people who have never seen the show and didn’t realize that acting a fool wouldn’t endear them to their tribemates.
Number one on the clinically insane list was the Sylvester Stallone without the steroids looking James “Rocky” Reid, your obligatory bartender from Los Angeles this season. How he stayed while a bunch of soft spoken (i.e.: boring) tribe members got voted off before him was a miracle even publicly berating Anthony Robinson multiple times and somehow made it as far to make it on the jury where, even though not allowed to speak, he still got enough screen time thanks to his non verbal.
Even more shocking than Rocky making it to the jury was cheerleading coach Andria “Dreamz” Herd actually sitting across from Rocky as one of the finalist. Here is a guy who would have been on the chopping block had his team would have lost early on, and then was the odd man out in his alliance where he was on the chopping block from week to week again. After turning on that alliance at the merge he still made it to the final three possible just because he made a deal with Yau-Man Chan to exchange the truck Yau-Man one for immunity if Dreamz would win at the final four.
And poor Yau-Man, played the best game this season, but Dreamz pulled a WWF type swerve when he reneged on their agreement. This was befuddling because it is one thing to go back on your word if you have an actual chance of winning, but Dreamz should had know by doing so there was no way he was going to win so he basically traded his word to finish third instead fourth. For me that is just not worth it. Not only did Dreamz not win, he didn’t even get a single vote as all went to Earl Cole (I believe I called that, see: First Impressions Survivor Fiji). For those keeping track at home, in the two times they have had a final three, three of the six finalists have received no votes. Hopefully they go back to the final two next season.
Speaking of which, for the first time in a while, Survivor is going to be land locked next season as the show will be the first American show to ever film a whole season inside China. Odd choices as it would have made more sense to hold off a China season until 2008 to capitalize on the Olympics, but who am I to comment on how networks should make their schedule as I would have kept Veronica Mars, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and Knights of Prosperity around.
Quote of the Week: I can still do long division but I can’t quite remember all the continents. (Ronnie when Mac mentioned that love kills more brain cells then crystal meth - Veronica Mars)
Song of the Week: I Feel it All - Feist (as performed on a traveling bus, Jimmy Kimmel Live)
Flavor of Love Girls: Charm School: Okay, it is pretty much assumed that nineties percent of realty television is rigged and/or staged, but the judging on this show is just absurd, you have some girls going home because they need to much help, then Goldie Courtney goes home because the other girl need more help. With that said, I’ll still be tuning in next week. Download this episode on iTunes.
Survivor: I would just like everyone to check out my First Impressions: Survivor Fiji to see who I predicted back then who would win (let me give you a hint, it was Earl). Check out the latest episode on Innertube.
How I Met Your Mother: After seeing the last two episodes I understand why CBS was considering canceling the show. Way to save the worst two episodes for the end of the season. Were we actually supposed to believe that Robin and Ted were getting married, with child, or moving to Brazil? It didn’t take too long to realize that the big news was they were breaking up. Check out the latest episode on Innertube.
Heroes: Usually I can put two and two together especially on a not so cleavarly written show like this, but I never realized that the locating that Mr. Bennett was going to “shut down” was going to be the little girl. If the future episode is any indication, sign says that something happens to her otherwise Nathan/Sylar would have used her power to locate all the Heroes. Almost as shocking was the demise of Linderman at the hands, literally, of DL, who may or may not have been healed by Linderman as he killed him. If I’m not mistaken, he was supposable killed in the nuclear blast with Micah, although why wouldn’t Nikki be with them? Maybe we will find out next week but if I were a betting man, I would put my money on no. Check out the latest episode over at NBC.com.
Lost: Wow, an actual good episode, and I’m talking late first season good. This is surprising considering I stopped caring about the Desmond/Charlie storyline right around the time it started. The only problem I had with the episode was with Charlie’s long goodbye to Claire when I just sat there saying, “Just give her the ring to give to Turnip Head and get going.” Then we have the big shocker at the end with there is a tribe of Amazon women who are currently habituating The Looking Glass station. Are they Others? Dharma? Part of Rousseau’s team? Someone completely different? Check out the latest episodes over at ABC.com.
Smallville: The big rumor was that someone was going to die in the finale but two of the characters looked like they won’t be back next season with Lana’s car exploding and Chloe’s uber-lame superpower being if she cried on someone, they would switch mortal wounds. My guess is if one actually survived it was Lana who actually got in the van that passed by preventing Lionel (who may or may not be in on it) to reach her, and then remotely blew up the car to fake her own death.
Next Week’s Pick: Veronica Mars, 8:00 Tuesday, The CW: The last Veronica Mars ever as well as the last time anyone will have a reason to watch the CW, the show goes off in fashion with two hours, starting at 8:00 so all you losers who will be watching the national karaoke championship, be sure to set your VCR’s (or for you pretentious types your Tivo’s). From the promo (see below), it looks like Ronnie will getting back to her bitter and vengeful self not fully seen since season one.
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