Inexplicably Scarlett Johansson of all people will soon be releasing an album of Tom Waits covers. Thankfully my personal favorite song of his didn’t make her cut. I Hope That I Don’t Fall in Love with You always remind me of closing time circa college in the winter. There is a very cold feeling to the song that really hits on the loneliness of the winter months which we are smack dab in the middle of right now.
Got a few press releases from TBS and The Sci-Fi Channel, combined they are too long so here is a shorter, bulleted version in Laymen’s Terms:
- My Name Is Earl goes into syndication on TBS Mondays at 10:00 and 10:30 starting March 3rd. As I have stated before, the pilot of My Name Is Earl is the funniest half ever in the history of television and the second season’s Our Cop’s is On isn’t that far behind. So if you haven’t seen the show before or a late comer, here is the best way to catch up from the beginning. Of course if you perfer to watch the episodes whenever you want without commercials, you can buy them on iTunes or Amazon Unbox.
- TBS ordered up eight more episodes of the variety show Frank TV which is slated to return later this year. I don’t know about you, but I can’t get enough of fat versions of Jack Nicholson and George Bush. You can download the first season of Frank TV on iTunes.
- Ellen DeGeneres has signed up to host variety specials for both The Comedy Festival, set for November in Las Vegas, and the new five day festival, Just for Laughs: A Very Funny Festival set for Chicago summer 2009 with specials airing on TBS.
- Over on the Sci-Fi Channel, March 5th at 9:00 sees the return of GhostHunters where Jason and Grant investigate the legendary Fort Mifflin in Philadelphia, once the site of bloody battles in both the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. But my personal favorite part of the press release is where it says, “Ghost Hunters is also very successful with young female viewers – on average, the Fall 2007 season outperformed new episodes of CW’s Gossip Girl in over the same 6-week period in Adults 25-54.” Isn’t Gossip Girl what The CW was hoping to be its flash ship program? You can download episodes of GhostHunters on Amazon Unbox
- Premiering right after GhostHunters at 10:00 is Destination Truth where Josh and team set out into the mountains of Nepal to uncover the truth behind the infamous myth of the Yeti, and make the remarkable discovery of what could be three separate footprints left by this elusive creature.
- Then there is BattleStar Galactica which returns April 4th. You can check out the sneak peak for season four over at its YouTube page. Also be on the look out for a special clip with celebrities talking about their favorite BSG moments coming in early March. You can download episodes of Battlestar Galactica on Amazon Unbox as well as the Razor movie.
Oh Mandy, you came and you gave without taking, so I watched License to Wed. And boy did that suck massively. I mean seriously, was I really supposed to laugh at anything in that movie? But anyways. Luckily Ms. Moore redeemed herself with the much more watchable Dedication where Mandy plays an illustrator picked to work with a children’s book writer, Billy Crudup (Almost Famous) with a massive case of OCD whose longtime illustrator, Tom Wilkerson (Michael Clayton) is no longer able to perform the task.
In Dedication, Moore was handpicked to get Crudup to deliver a new book within a month’s time. The relationship between the new partners isn’t a smooth transition as does all he can to break her while the publisher does all he can to make sure she gets the book done on time. And a tall task that is as Crudup doesn’t function well around others. Wilkerson was his best friend and a very loose phrase as theirs was mostly a working relationship.
The film is a romantic in the simplest sense as sparks fly the more time the two spend together, but Crudup’s eccentricities keep you wondering if the two could actually be compatible. Moore, who doesn’t show up in the film for some time, isn’t really the model of normal either as she deals with her mother/land lord (Dianne Wiest) who seems to want to be the latter more than the former. And the shady ex-boyfriend throws in a monkey wrench too. Dedication is much is a much more jarring than most romantic comedy fair in terms of writing, acting, and directing, but it is much easier to sit through than License to Wed.
There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I though I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form so here they are courtesy of YouTube. I advise you to watch them before you read my reviews if you don’t want me to spoil things. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available, if not the link goes to YouTube where you can watch the video in full screen). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.
Every new Kanye West video has become a major event almost like when you ran home from school to catch the latest from the likes of Michael Jackson which MTV would air hourly for the entire day. But I haven’t decided if his latest, directed by Spike Jones of all people, is a case of him being too high concept or not high concept enough. And yes, the video was supposed to stop like that and no, there won’t be a sequel or any further explanation (or so ‘Ye would have us believe).
It has been awhile since I took the record industry to task, but this may be up their as one of the dumbest. So R.E.M. has a new video out except you can’t embed the video from YouTube. Yet there is a site where you can edit the video at Supernatural Superserious and upload your version to their YouTube page. Except you can embed those (one of which is above) using the same song and much of the same footage. Seriously, why allow one but not the other? But anyways, the song reminds me of something circa the Monster era which coincidently was the last time I was really big into R.E.M., that’s not to say they haven’t has some great songs since.
Hands on Me - Vanessa Carlton
This video from Vanessa Carlton hopefully brought to you from Purell.
If there ever a reason not to let a seventeen year old borrow your camcorder, here is the directorial debut from Taylor Swift. And is she really doing the Soulja Boy dance in the video? It may be time to raise the minimum voting age back up.
Cover albums are always a shaky proposition, especially when artist try to go outside their comfort zone or genre. Just because you like a song doesn’t necessarily means you can do as good a version yourself (anyone remember the Duran Duran version of White Lines). And it I typically a rule of thumb to stay away from iconic songs as no one what to her a piano version of Smells Like Teen Sprit. Yes I’m talking to you Tori Amos.
For Allison Moorer, she mostly stays away from the most recognizable songs on her album of covers, Mockingbird, with two exceptions. Most notably is Johnny Cash’s Ring of Fire where Moore takes the song back for women (the song was written by Johnny’s future wife June Carter), but it still takes some time getting used to a slowed burning version sans a mariachi band instead replaced by an organ. The other song being Dancing Barefoot, the Patti Smith classic, a song that Moorer can’t quite do justice to a song that mentions heroin.
Moorer does much better with the lesser known songs on the album. Nina Simone’s I Want a Little Sugar in My Bowl is right up her wheelhouse and really lets loose at the end. Same goes for the bluesy Daddy Goodbye Blues (which is extra haunting considering her family history) and the folksy Orphan Train. But she really excels at songs that are closest to her own like the title track and her take on Joni Mitchell’s Both Sides Now.
Before I get into the best in television from the last week I would like to point out the lack of any correct answers so far in this month’s Lyrics Quiz. I guess since it is guilty pleasures some of you may be embarrassed to admit you know the lyric, but if I can admit that they are on my iPod, you can at the least admit you know the lyrics. Anyone? Anyone at all? I even added hints.
Quote of the Week: Here’s an idea, why don’t we take a gun point it to his big toe, send that little piggy to market. If he still doesn’t want to tell us, move on to the roast beef. Why don’t we do that? (Sawyer, Lost)
Song of the Week: Wait, no George Michael on Eli Stone this week? Did they already bust their music budget on Faith and Freedom?
Big News of the Week: The Writer’s Strike Is Over: Well that was anti-climatic especially since we won’t see any new episodes until at least late March for sitcoms and mid April for dramas. And all seems to be for not as my sources say the writers got a crap deal. But take note to all other union members out there, before you go on strike, think to yourself, “Would Upton Sinclair write about my plight if he were alive today?” If the answer is no, it really isn’t a good idea to go on strike.
Coalition Links of the Week:
Buzz is pitting all of this season's Project Runway looks against each other to figure out which is the most fab. (BuzzSugar)
Eric came up with the Top 5 TV Villains on television today. (Daemon's TV)
With all of this early news about the Fall 08 season, Mikey wonders why How I Met Your Mother still hasn't found an audience after three years on the bubble. (Mikey Likes TV)
Marcia celebrated Valentine's Day by remembering some of television's greatest kisses. (Pop Vultures)
After attending the taping of MTV's America's Best Dance Crew premiere episode, Spads shared tidbits from her conversations with judges JC Chasez, Lil Mama, and Shane Sparks. (RTVW)
Last week, Vance bawled while watching Friday Night Lights. Now he may bawl at the thought of NOT being able to watch any more new Friday Night Lights. (Tapeworthy)
Dan took some time to think about whether he actually liked Eli Stone, or whether it was just the best scripted show still in new episodes. Either way, Jonny Lee Miller's dreamy. (TiFaux)
Jennifer pondered why everyone falls for Boston Legal’s Shirley Schmidt and gushed about Scott Bakula’s visit to the firm. (Tube Talk)
Kate came up with a Gossip Girl drinking game. (TV Filter)
Taking a page from How I Met Your Mother's Barney and his Hot/Crazy Scale, the TV Addict is proud to introduce the Lost Quality/Question Scale! (theTVaddict.com)
Flavor of Love 3: For the previously seasons, the only episodes worth watching were the premiere and the reunion show. But this was by far the least entertain premiere of the three season. Hopefully there will be a Charm School around the corner. You can download Flavor of Love on iTunes.
Welcome to the Captain: Yeah, this isn’t going to get much better. Check out the latest episodes over at Innertube. You can also download or Welcome to the Captain on iTunes.
Survivor: Wow, that may set the record for shady business for the show. What really makes it interesting, not only did the Incredible Hulk looking dude conspired to out Mary, he ended up voting for the old chick. It should be really interesting with the two different tribe members from opposing tribes going to Exile Island this time. This is setting up to be the best season in a long time. Check out the latest episode over at Innertube.
Lost: After seeing the episode I have absolutely no clue what is going on with Sayid’s flash-forward. And that was even before we learned that he is working for Not-Henry. I guess what is really bugging me is that how does a celebrity able to become an assassin? And who is the German chick’s boss? The black dude who approached Hurley? Then is Not-Henry part of the Oceanic 6? I mentioned earlier this week that I bet he got off the island but I am not sure he counts as one on account that he wasn’t on the plane. I also guess that this rules out Not-Henry as my original guess that it was his funeral that Jack attended. From the promo it looks like we may get an answer to how Kate managed to avoid prison which bugged me last year. But considering Sayid large sum, I am going to assume that the combination of celebrity and money is what keeps her out of jail. Check out the latest episode over at ABC.com.
Eli Stone: I never saw the husband and son in on getting the mom out of the National Guard. But one thing that bothered me is that if you are trying to get custody to the mom, why would you let the husband hire the high powered lawyer while the mom is stuck with the incompetent one? Check out the latest episode over at ABC.com. You can also download Eli Stone on iTunes.
Next Week’s Pick: Eli Stone, Thursday at 10:00 on ABC: The episode is entitled Wake Me Up Before You Go Go although after last week’s musicless episode I’m not sure if the song will actually be featured or not. Hopefully they work it in somehow.
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