Quote of the Week: I Googled “disaster” and “woman,” had to wade through hundreds of sites of Sarah Palin and Brittany Spears. (Eli Stone, Eli Stone)
Song of the Week: Brand New Day – Joshua Radin (Eli Stone)
Big News of the Week: The Emmy Nominations Announced: Yawn. Wait they nominated Sheldon Cooper. Still every other category is mostly laughable.
Coalition Links of the Week: This week, Jace had an advance review of the five-episode event Torchwood: Children of Earth, airing every night on BBC America this coming week, and had an exclusive interview with Torchwood executive producer Julie Garner. (Televisionary)
The TV Addict offers up his take on the 2009 Emmy Nods: The Good, The Bad and the Who Does BSG Have to Frak to Get Some Emmy Recognition! (The TV Addict)
Matt is 29 years old and a male. But he's seen the first episode of The Vampire Diaries and is a major fans. (TV Fanatic)
Kate wondered which season of The Bachelor was the most boring. (TV Filter)
Buzz took a break from all the Emmy mania to check out the models who will appear on the Project Runway companion series, Models of the Runway. (BuzzSugar)
Kings: I really didn’t care for the whole trail aspect and arresting Mr. Boston for treason, but there were sure some jaw dropping moments. Like the princess got knocked up. Or the minister finally teamed up with the evil beotgher only for Mr. Boston to turn down their offer. Oh, and that ending. Although I was a bit disappointed with the wording. If the King was going to use a homosexual slur, why not use Al Swearengen’s favorite slur? You can stream current episodes over at NBC.com. You can also download Kings on iTunes.
Eli Stone: Holy Ephram Brown sighting! Although by the time I figured out it was him (it was hard to place the voice without his incessant whining) he was gone. And in the end, so was the show. It deserved a better ending then the one we got. You can stream current episodes over at ABC.com. You can also download Eli Stone on iTunes.
Rescue Me: I was a little disappointed that we didn’t get more fallout from the stolen fire truck, but I loved the trashing the break room and making the probie clean it up even though saw it coming early on during the trashing. You can stream current episodes over at Hulu.
Free Download of the Week: PM Yoga (iTunes): I decide a couple weeks ago that I would start doing yoga in hopes of receiving some aches and pains. Unfortunately I have come to the realization there are very few yoga positions in my flexibility range. I downloaded this for free recently and hopefully it is something up my alley.
Video of the Week: I know I just showed this a couple days ago (see Buster Bluth Wants Us to Watch CTRL), but I thought I would show it again just in case anyone missed it.
Next Week Pick of the Week: ESPY Awards, Sunday at 9:00 on ESPN: The most reliable award show this decade hosted once again by Samuel L. Jackson. I just heard an interview with the Jimmy V Award on Mike and Mike, and hearing his story (he got hit by a truck, during his surgery they discovered inoperable cancer, and he still coached the following season in a wheelchair for his basketball team) will be worth tuning in.
Remember back in your youth of all the television shows that you could watch with your family. ABC even gave its block a name: TGIF. Really everything at 8:00 was family friendly. Then all that changed earlier this decade a shift came where everything had to have some kind of edge to it, no there is nary a television show that is suitable for the under fifteen crowd even at 8:00. It seems like the only shows that don’t feature anything offensive is on the Disney Channel.
So what is a family to do to see television that won’t corrupt the minds of the little ones but can still appeal to the parents: well there is always The Bill Engvall Show. If it weren’t for the references to iPods and other millennium devises, you could mistake the show for something rerunning on Nick at Night. And despite also appearing on the Blue Collar Comedy Tour, this isn’t a Jeff Foxworthy show retread full of redneck jokes, the show takes place in Colorado.
The third season starts up tonight with back to back episodes with the show tackling ripped from the headlines subjects as money getting tight and the family having to make some expense cuts. But apparently their neighbor Mr. Faulkner isn’t feeling the pinch because he has just installed a hot tub that unfortunately for Bill can be seen from his bedroom window.
The Bill Engvall Show airs Saturdays at 9:00 on TBS. You can stream recent episodes over at TBS.com. You can also download The Bill Engvall Show on iTunes.
Just how much does Buster Bluth want you to check out his new webseries CTRL, well he sent along this message:
Yep that was Buster giving me a shout out and apparently we are so close we are just on a first name basis. The CTRL that he speaks of is a ten webseries that follows an office worker drone as he figures out that his keyboard has special powers after it gets dosed with liquids. Most notably is the first couple episodes is the CTRL-Z, or redo button. Sure we have seen redo done before (most notably Groundhog Day) but here Buster is controlling when and how far back he resets to humorous results. In the second episode, Buster utilized the CTRL-B (i.e. bold) function.
Along for the ride are Steve Howey (Reba) as Buster’s tool of a boss and his love interest in the form of Emy Coligado (Malcolm in the Middle). Where CTRL excels is that the five minute runtime is a perfect length. But don’t take my word for it, check out the first episode:
As you can tell by the embedded video, you can watch CTRL on Hulu (there are two other episodes currently available) but you can find the videos almost everywhere: stream it at NBC.com, USANetworks.com. Via mobile on NBC Wrap, AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and MobiTV. Find it on your Video on Demand channel for Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Charter, Dish Networks, Verizon, AT&T, and Cablevision. You can even download it through Xbox, Zune, Amazon Video on Demand, Sony Playstation Networks, and iTunes (the last of which you can download for free). Seriously, you have no excuse not to check it out. Plus Buster asked nicely.
It was four years ago this month that I posted my first Lyrics Quiz and since has hosted one every month (sans one) since. To celebrate I thought I would give a little something back in the form of a $5 gift card from your choice of iTunes or Amazon MP3 to pick up a few songs. What I have done is put a popular song by a popular artist or band through iTunes Genius feature and composed the quiz with lyrics from the first twenty-five songs listed in order (note: I skipped over songs that repeated artists already used for this quiz). Place your guesses in the comment section (or e-mail me) with both artist and song title. If you are correct I will un-bold the lyrics and give you credit. For the theme you can guess once a day until the next quiz is posted on August 15. You must correctly the artist and song title to win the gift card. If you guess via the comment section, be sure I know your e-mail so I can contact you if you win. Now onto the quiz:
1. Yeah, she tells you she’s an orphan after you meet her family. (She Talks to Angels - The Black Crowes; guessed by Curtis) 2. Can you see them on the porch? Yeah, but they don’t wave. (Yellow Ledbetter - Pearl Jam; guessed by Curtis) 3. I’m a devil on the run, a six gun lover, a candle in the wind. (Blaze of Glory - Bon Jovi; guessed by Curtis) 4. Never opened myself this way. Life is ours: we live it our way. All these words I don’t just say. (Nothing Else Matters - Metallica; guessed by Curtis) 5. Now maybe I didn’t mean to treat you oh so bad, but I did it anyway. 6. Feeling uninspired, think I’ll start a fire. (Creep - Stone Temple Pilots; guessed by Curtis) 7. I want to hold the hand inside you. I want to take a breath that’s true. 8. My heart’s like an open book for the whole world to read. (Home Sweet Home - Mötley Crüe; guessed by Curtis) 9. Babe, you know you’re growing up so fast. And mama’s worrying that you won’t last to say “Let’s play.” (Sister Christian - Night Ranger; guessed by Curtis) 10. It's gonna take a little time, time is sure to mend your broken heart. Don’t you even worry pretty darling. 11. Give me a warning, give me a sing. Show me where to look, tell me what will I find. (Shine - Collective Soul; guessed by Curtis) 12. Right behind the rear-view mirror now. Got the feeling, power steering, pistons popping, ain’t no stopping now. (Panama - Van Halen; guessed by Curtis) 13. Ain’t found a way to kill me yet. Eyes burn with stinging sweat. Seems every path leads me to nowhere. 14. I'm not scared. Light my candles. In a daze cause I’ve found God. (Lithium - Nirvana; guessed by Anonymous) 15. In the midnight hour she cried more, more, more. (Rebel Yell - Billy Idol; guessed by Curtis) 16. Saying I love you is not the words I want to hear from you. (More Than Words - Extreme; guessed by Curtis) 17. And the embers never fade in your city by the lake. The place where you were born. 18. Think about how many times I have fallen. Spirits are guising me, larger voices calling. What heaven brought me and you cannot be forgotten. 19. At night I wake up with the sheets soaking wet and a freight train running through the middle of my head. (I'm on Fire - Bruce Springteen; guessed by Curtis) 20. Heard it from a friend who heard it a friend who heard it from another you’ve messing around. (Take it on the Run - R.E.O. Speedwagon; guessed by Curtis) 21. And the greatest of teachers won’t hesitate to leave you there, by yourself, chained to fate. 22. I’ve been singing with my band, across the water, across the land. I’ve seen every blue eyed floozy on the way. (Fat Bottomed Girls - Queen; guessed by Curtis) 23. 'Til now, I always got by on my own; I never really cared until I met you. (Alone - Heart; guessed by Curtis) 24. Now I’m walking again to the beat of a drum and I’m counting the steps to the door of your heart. (Don't Dream it's Over - Crowded House; guessed by Curtis) 25. This mountain I must climb feels like the world upon my shoulder. Through the clouds I see love shine. It keeps me warm as life grows colder.
There has been every variation of cop shows, all of which of which have been overdone many times over. Except for one, cops that go deep cover. Sure we have seen it on the big screen multiple times, but not much on the small one; until now. Wednesday sees the premiere of Dark Blue that follows a undercover team that is so covert that only one person in the LAPD knows about them, not even the FBI, in the form of Lily and Duncan Kane’s father, knows about them. Naturally that causes some problems for those under cover when they show up on the FBI’s radar.
The team is headed up by Dylan McDermott (The Practice) who doesn’t seem to sleep ever, and his body and demeanor defiantly shows wear, but still gets his job done. Omari Hardwick (Next Day Air) is the good boy of the group who has a wife to go home to when the case is over but is starting to have problems to keep his cover and real lives separate.
On the other end of the spectrum is Logan Marshall-Green (Traveler) who his team members sometime even are not sure whose side is he on. And as good of an actor and as intense as he gets in his scenes, it is still hard to think “is that Kevin Federline” whenever he is on screen. And what cop show would not be complete without a rookie, and for Dark Blue that quota is filled by Nicki Aycox (you probably know her better as Carol Vessey’s kid sister Stella) who may have more than a few skeletons in her closet. And that may be why she gets picked.
What may be a problem with the show is that it looks like it will feature a case of the week and how can a case that needs deep cover be solved in about forty minutes? Although if the show focuses more on the characters and how being deep cover affects them, it may end up being something worth checking out. And maybe having a Kevin Federline look-a-like will stop being distracting after a few episodes.
Dark Blue airs Wednesdays at 10:00n on TNT and is preceded at 9:00 by Leverage. If you cannot get enough of the show after it premieres tomorrow, head over to DarkBlueUndercover.com to play a game based on the show.
Leverage was the surprise hit of last year and really the only new watchable show of last season that didn’t involve a bunch of tools. No these were a bunch of thieves hit with a touch of the Robin Hood syndrome when they realized they could make as much money stealing from the rich and corrupt and giving back to the poor and needy and live off their cut of the profits. Granted the end of last season saw the group going their own separate ways.
Naturally by the time the second season starts up this Wednesday at 9:00, the gang will somehow find their way back to each other, this time in a new town and even a new coast three months after the events of last season. The first case back is ripped from the headlines. Well sort of in that it involves evil bankers who put both hand out to the government after their ineptitude. But there is definitely a twist that you won’t see in any newspaper.
Leverage airs Wednesdays at 9:00 on TNT and is followed at 10:00 by new show Dark Blue. You can stream recent episodes at TNT.tv. You can also download Leverage on iTunes or Amazon Video on Demand (see below). If you cannot get enough Leverage, head over to LeverageHQ to play the Get Ready to Get Even game.
When I talked about the second season of Locked Up Abroad I suggested they profile Michael Fey, the dude who got a bunch of lashes for graffiti in The Philippines in the nineties. Unfortunately that incident isn’t features for the third season starting up this Wednesday at 10:00 on the National Geographic Channel.
The season does starts off with something a little more topical these days than Fey with a couple of journalist getting captured by insurgents in Iraq. Since both war reporter Scott Taylor and Turkish journalist Zeynep Tugrul are both interviewed about their experienced, it is obvious that both make it out of the country unscaved after five days of capture, it doesn’t make all the twist and turns of their journey any less exciting as there were a good four times one, or both, could have easily been killed by somehow escaped the predicament they were in.
Later in the season, Locked Up Abroad travels to Barbados, Ecuador, Jamaica and India. Like previous season, the episodes are heavy on drug smuggling, be it knowingly or unwillingly. Seriously, if you or one of your friends are offered to go to a tropical location all expense paid and then some, you really want to watch an episode of Locked Up Abroad before accepting. The season also features a Royal Marine caught in the middle of a civil war of Sierra Leone.
For those not familiar with Locked Up Abroad, it is a documentary style program that features no narrator or anyone else except the voices of those captured in a strange country while actors recreate the trials they went through during their ordeal. Below you can check out a behind the scenes preview of the season premiere.
Locked Up Abroad airs Wednesdays at 10:00 on the National Geographic Channel. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu.
(300, Planet Earth, Black Hawk Down)
, Sony Playstation Networks, and 
) who doesn’t seem to sleep ever, and his body and demeanor defiantly shows wear, but still gets his job done. Omari Hardwick (
) is the good boy of the group who has a wife to go home to when the case is over but is starting to have problems to keep his cover and real lives separate.
