Quote of the Week: Truth is, I was an idiot back then. You saw the goatee. (Ted, How I Met Your Mother)
Song of the Week: Centuries – Stars of Track and Field (Greek)
Big News of the Week: The Olympics are Heading to Rio: It is probably a slow news week when the big news is something that won’t happen for another seven years. But the Olympics will be heading to South America for the first time ever beating out Chicago despite the presence of the Big O’s. I never really understood the Chicago nomination because as a resident of the Great Lakes, I cannot imagine anyone wanting to do any open water swimming in Lake Michigan and when I think summer, The Windy City never has ever crossed my mind. Instead the games will be heading to the sandy beaches of Ro de Janeiro which may be the most visually striking games since Barcelona. And as an added bonus, it is only one hour ahead EST so none of the silly tape delays that plague NBC whenever the Games are held in the other hemisphere.
Coalition Links of the Week: Vance ranks the new shows he's checked out from best to worst. Where did you think he put Glee and Modern Family? (Tapeworthy)
In the wake of the much ballyhooed Jenny Slate controversy, Kyle examined indecency, SNL, the FCC and drew one conclusion -- who cares? (TiFaux)
As the third season of Mad Men rolls on, BuzzSugar's got the rundown on what other projects the talented ladies of the show have lined up. (BuzzSugar)
This week, we took a first look at Al Pacino in HBO's new original movie, You Don't Know Jack. (Daemon's TV)
Free Download of the Week: Trauma (iTunes): I was lukewarm on the premiere (see First Impressions: Trauma) and I cannot imagine the explosions and helicopter crashes will look better on an iPod, but for those interested you can download the episode for free.
Deal of the Week: Halloween Sale (Shaun of the Dead, Beetlejuice, Freddy vs. Jason, Ghostbusters)
Video of the Week: As a straight man, I am a huge fan of breasts and feel obligated to promote breast health every once in a while and have even participating in a few Relay for Life walks and the like. Being Breast Cancer Awareness Month here is a public service announcement featuring Minka Kelly, Alyson Hannigan, Emily Deschanel, Jamie King, and Katherine McPhee. The clip may be from Funny or Die, but early detection is no laughing matter.
Next Week Pick of the Week: 30 for 30, Tuesday at 8:00 on ESPN: No one does self congratulatory like ESPN, their 25th anniversary seemed to last five years. For thirty years on basic cable, the network is handing the reigns over to thirty directors to do a documentary on a story of the past three decades including Barry Levinson (Colts leaving Baltimore), Steve Nash (Terry Fox), John Singleton (Marion Jones) and Ice Cube (the Raiders in LA). The celebration kicks off Tuesday with Friday Night Lights creator Peter Berg looking into Wayne Gretzky’s trade to Los Angeles.
I have gotten a plethora of cool press releases have been flooding my inbox recently that you may find interesting. This post will include blurbs on In Gail We Trust, Mercy, Trauma, Yo Gabba Gabba, The 20 Most Shocking, Poliwood, Episodes, and 15 Duo Who Should Do It.
- Right off of the success of CTRL, NBC’s latest foray into digital programming is In Gail We Trust starring Eliza Donavan. The ten part series is already up to its sixth episode, but for a primer, here is a trailer for the show:
- After this week’s episode, I think we can go ahead and firmly put Mercy in the guilty pleasure category. I think I actually laugh more at Mercy than any of the comedies that aired this week. And that unintentional comedy isn’t exclusive to the television as the character Chloe (You may know her better as Dawn Summers) has started a blog over at nbc.com which is pretty nonsensical. In other NBC blog news, the real Aimee Garcia has one taking you behind the scenes of her show Trauma also on nbc.com.
- Here’s one for those that have kiddies, Yo Gabba Gabba is heading out for its first tour with tickets currently on sale for American Express users (the rest can get theirs October 6). Head over to their website for times, dates and locations.
- On TruTV tomorrow in the premiere of new series The 20 Most Shocking at 8:00. The show will feature some of the most shocking things ever caught on film like practical jokes gone wrong and after-hour misadventures.
- The press release for Poliwood that looks into the convergence of politics and Hollywood actually has a line in it that says, “The film gives the viewer a front-row seat and backroom access to the most significant presidential campaign of the 21st century.” You know, of the two presidential campaigns we have had so far in the 21st century. But anyways. The documentary airs Tuesday November 2nd at 7:30 on Showtime, a week before people forget to go out and vote. In other Showtime news, Matt LeBlanc will star in Episodes about a show within a show set to air sometime in 2010.
In Hollywood’s never-ending quest to avoid coming up with new ideas, A Nightmare on Elm Street is the latest slasher film to get “re-imagined” after Rob Zombie’s Halloween (which is already onto the sequel) and the horrible reboot of Friday the 13th earlier this year. Of course it is almost an insult to Freddy Kruger to call his movie a slasher flick because he was much more cerebral than the slow and stalking killers of his ilk which made him the scariest of the genre. Of course this begs the question how soon until the second scariest, Pinhead gets his own millennium makeover?
Unlike the unwatchable reincarnation of Friday the 13th (except of course for that one “stupendous” scene), the new A Nightmare on Elm Street may live up to its legacy. C’mon, it stars Tami Taylor and Beaver Casablancas. Although I have never heard of the girl who updates the chick from Just the Ten of Us. Where they may lose me is that they did not bring back Robert Englund as Freddy instead opting for Rorschach from Watchmen. Are you telling me even a sixty-plus Englund still couldn’t still pull Freddy? This is almost as egregious as not bring back Mr. T for The A-Team movie. Englund may not have been included in the new movie, but his version of Freddy Kruger is being inducted into the Scooter Hall of Fame. And here’s hoping if the long rumored Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash ever comes to fruition Englund gets the nod.
But what do I know; check out the Englund-less trailer below for yourself:
The real question though with the new Elm Street coming April 30, 2010 is which rapper is going to update DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince’s A Nightmare On My Street for the film?
There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I thought I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.
Wow. I had Carrie Underwood at 8 on my Most Anticipated Albums of Fall 2009 list, but after watching this video I may have to bump that up a couple notches. Well maybe not because there won’t be in videos included.
This year’s VMA’s have come and gone and the token buzz band Muse failed to impress. But band continues their penchant for weird videos with this Staypuff Marshmallow inspired by way of a teddy bear theme. Alrighty.
Well the Kanye West exile lasted just about as long as the death of auto-tune. Can’t say I am surprised about either even though I wished both would have lasted a little longer.
How long has it been since we have had a pop star with glasses? I’m thinking mid-nineties. Gary Go wants to buck that trend with his ultra-catchy tunes. And if you like Wonderful, you can download it for free over at Borders.com as I write this.
When the new shows were announced last May, one show stood out from the rest for me: Trauma. This says something as I stay away from medical shows due to my dislike of the sight of blood. But the show came from Peter Berg, the guy who gave us the second greatest television show of the 00’s, Friday Night Lights. Berg even pulled Herc from his wheelchair for the new show as one of the paramedics on the show. A finger-less Buddy Garrity even makes an appearance in the premiere.
Trauma also produced the best promo of the season with its mid-air helicopter collision that was even more jaw-droppingly looking in its entirety. That accident sets up the rest of the show as the plot then goes forward a year and everyone still seems shaken up. Anastasia Griffith (Damages) lost her partner / lover and naturally she is struggling with the fact she was supposed to be on the chopper that crashed. She was kept off from the flight by Cliff Curtis (10,000 B.C.) who may or may not also had a relationship with Griffith and somehow survived the crash when he was thrown from the cockpit onto a rooftop.
After some time in a coma Curtis return to the job just son happens to be the one year anniversary. His first day back is also the first day coincides with the first day on the job Aimee Garcia (George Lopez) who had been flying in Iraq because what show these days wouldn’t be complete without a war veteran in its cast? Filling out the cast are Derek Luke (Notorious) as Herc’s partner who can’t get over that day a year ago and Jamey Sheridan (Chicago Hope) who seems to be in charge of the paramedics. While Griffith’s new partner may or masy not be the long lost Jonas Brother.
Verdict: The crashes were visually stunning but one has to wonder how a show could keep that up in this economy. And aside from a few scenes like the Garrity car crash, the show wouldn’t have been that special without those crashes. But then again, if you check out my First Impressions of Friday Night Lights, I was not keen on the first episode and just look how that show turned out. And since they have graduated and Berg is fond of nepotism, I would not mind seeing, Smash Williams, Jason Street, Lyla Garrity and / or Tyra Collette make an appearance on Trauma.
Trauma airs Mondays at 9:00 on NBC. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Trauma on iTunes (as I write this, you can download the Pilot for free).
It seemed like someone made a conscience effort to make Pearl Jam’s last album, the self titled one, a comeback album with a full media blitz behind its release (or as full as the media shy band has had in a while). The band even appeared in their first music video fourteen years. But the album just didn’t stand out from their other four albums since they were last a cultural phenomenon with the release of Vitology. The band’s ninth studio album Backspacer may not be getting the comeback buzz the last one did, but it is actually better and possibly their best this decade.
What may or may not be coincidentally, this is the first time the band worked with producer Brendan O’Brien since 1998’s Yield. And the album is better for it with much of the songs short and to the point with eleven songs crammed into thirty-six minutes. And you can tell that from the beginning with the rapid fire beginning of the first three tracks Gonna See My Friend, Got Some, and The Fixer barreling through in less than nine minutes and you will be surprised it took that long after listening to them in a row. It is like the band reminding everyone they are a rock band first and foremost.
That’s not to say the album slows down with the next track Johnny Guitar slows things down that much sounding like Eddie Vedder singing over lost track from Bruce Springsteen’s seventies catalogue. Things do get slowed for Just Breathe which may be the most melancholy song the band has ever recorded. Backspacer may not get Pearl Jam back to their former glory (granted the record business isn’t creating many cultural phenomenons anymore) but it should get some of the fans that wrote off the band earlier this decade back.
Please note, if you buy Backspacer on CD or through iTunes, you can download two concerts from the band in their entirety from a virtual vault that features eleven concerts spanning from 2005-2008. Also the only big box retailer selling the album is Target (you should also be able to find it at your local record store with a different cover than the one at Target) and the only online store you can find it is iTunes where it is available in its new iTunes LP format (see banner below).
Tool Academy: This episode made it clear that the show should never have a competition between just the guys. C’mon, wouldn’t the farming challenge have been more entertaining if the females were helping out? But therapy more than made up for it. They always make the females on the show seem like angels, but when two were outted as strippers you can see things a little more clear from the tools perspective. And I totally have to back Shannon on her observations of strippers. You can stream recent episodes over at vh1.com. You can also download Tool Academy on iTunes.
Greek: I am never a fan of dope humor and the wingman metaphors just fell flat, but this episode was saved by three things, Laura’s adventures in karaoke, Rebecca’s reaction to finding out her boyfriend was gay and professor Homer Simpson’s curmudgeoness. And with Frannie apparently no longer at Cypress Rhoades, Laura is been slowly becoming my favorite character on the show after landing last week’s quote of the week and this week’s musical interludes. Now if only she starts making geo-political references she will make my favorite character’s list. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu.
Castle: You have to admire any woman who carries around a slutty outfit in her purse just in a case where a situation where one is needed. Too bad we didn’t get more with Castle commenting on Beckett’s outfit. And just when you thought the case was a simple someone gets thrown of a building kind, the ambulance gets attacked. Can’t say I saw that coming. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Castle on iTunes. Also be sure to check out my chat with Stana Katic.
Sons of Anarchy: I am not sure what I laughed at more, Bobby Elvis singing Jewish tunes or the Mad Men porn. Well, Bobby singing had a much less disturbing ending to it. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Sons of Anarchy on iTunes.
Gary Unmarried: Interesting that Gary’s dream job is a sports radio host considering he has guest hosted the Jim Rome Show and even participated in a few Smack Off’s. The cast overhaul continues for anyone without the last name Brookes as both love interests are gone as well as Gary’s Hispanic buddy who is traded in for a black one. The class warfare with the station manager, albeit extremely clichéd, should induce some laughs. But Louise still remains the star of the show. You can stream recent episodes over at cbs.com. You can also download Gary Unmarried on iTunes.
Survivor: Samoa: I literally cringed when Russell found the immunity idol. He isn’t the love to hate kind of person, he is a loathe that I even know who he is kind of person. On the bright spot, he is so conceited he may not see a blindside coming. And this season is dying for a blindside. Maybe I am just spoiled from all the blindsides last season. You can stream recent episodes over at cbs.com.
Community: It is clear that Annie is going to be the reason to watch the show, she stole every scene she was in and actually really the only good scenes beside the montage at the end. Hopefully next semester we can get her a spinoff. You can stream current episodes on Hulu. You can also download Community on iTunes.
(Shaun of the Dead, Beetlejuice, Freddy vs. Jason, Ghostbusters) 
(which is already onto the sequel) and the horrible reboot of 
earlier this year. Of course it is almost an insult to Freddy Kruger to call his movie a slasher flick because he was much more cerebral than the slow and stalking killers of his ilk which made him the scariest of the genre. Of course this begs the question how soon until the second scariest, 
gets his own millennium makeover?
and 
. Although I have never heard of the girl who updates the chick from Just the Ten of Us. Where they may lose me is that they did not bring back Robert Englund as Freddy instead opting for Rorschach from 
. Are you telling me even a sixty-plus Englund still couldn’t still pull Freddy? This is almost as egregious as not bring back Mr. T for The A-Team movie. Englund may not have been included in the new movie, but his version of Freddy Kruger is being inducted into the 
for the film?
) lost her partner / lover and naturally she is struggling with the fact she was supposed to be on the chopper that crashed. She was kept off from the flight by Cliff Curtis (
) who may or may not also had a relationship with Griffith and somehow survived the crash when he was thrown from the cockpit onto a rooftop.
) who had been flying in Iraq because what show these days wouldn’t be complete without a war veteran in its cast? Filling out the cast are Derek Luke (
) as Herc’s partner who can’t get over that day a year ago and Jamey Sheridan (Chicago Hope) who seems to be in charge of the paramedics. While Griffith’s new partner may or masy not be the long lost Jonas Brother.
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on my 
