Best of the Week vol. XLIII

Quote of the Week: You’re just coitusing with me aren’t you? (Penny, The Big Bang Theory)

Song of the Week: Come on Eileen – Dexy’s Midnight Runners (Parenthood)

Big News of the Week: NBC Already Picks Up Four Shows: We are two weeks away from networks officially announcing their schedules but for the second year in a row, NBC has jumped the gun, last year they had an “in front” and earlier this week they greenlit four programs. First came word of Undercovers early pick up. The show is from J.J. Abrams which I am going to pass on because I am tired of all his high concept, low reward projects.

Later in the week NBC also picked The Event is “is an emotional high-octane conspiracy thriller” starring Jason Ritter (Joan of Arcadia), who hopefully shaved unnecessary facial hair he was sporting on Parenthood, the moderately attractive Sarah Roamer (Disturbia), Blair Underwood (Set it Off) as the president, and Laura Innes (the doctor with the limp on ER) as “the leader of a mysterious group of detainees.” The characters and “Their futures are on a collision course in a global conspiracy that could ultimately change the fate of mankind.” If NBC brings back Heroes, they can have this and Undercover as a night of high concept low rewards.

Outsourced is about an American transferred to India and hilarity ensures. I don’t think anyone in the cast was in Slumdog Millionaire so no one will recognize anyone in the cast except The Drew Carey Show’s Diedrich Bader. The third is Love Bites which thankfully not another lame vampire show but a romantic comedy anthology starring Becki Newton (Ugly Betty), who made my list of the Hottest Hot Chicks of the 00’s and Jordana Spiro (My Boys) who didn’t.

Can’t say I am exited excited about any of these though I may change my mind when I actually see some sort of promo that will presumably come during the upfronts.

Gratuitous Token Hot Chick Picture of the Week:



Free Download of the Week: Merge Records 2010 Digital Sampler (Amazon MP3): This includes songs from Spoon, She and Him, and twelve others.

Deal of the Week: Save up to 58% on Blu-ray Discs (Iron Man, Forrest Gump, Sons of Anarchy)

Video of the Week: For those that cannot get enough Betty White this weekend between her hosting gig on SNL and the WE Golden Girls marathon will want to check out the trailer for You Again, also starring Kristen Bell, Kristin Chenoweth, Victor Garbor, Jamie Lee Curtis, Sigourney Weaver and that hot chick from the Weezer video.

You Again Trailer


Next Week Pick of the Week: Survivor, Thursday and Sunday at 8:00 on CBS: We have hit the home stretch with the final six that have out witted, out smarted and out lasted the likes of Boston Rob, Amanda Kimmel (who was voted off for the first time in three tries) and two previous winners, Tom Weston and J.T. Thomas. Can Parvati Shallow or Sandra Diaz-Twine manage a repeat win? Will remaining Heros Rupert or Colby, who even checked out of the game even before the merge, pull out a win? Can Russell weasel his way into the final tribal just to lose to a lesser player like Jerri because he is the dumbest player in Survivor history? Will The Dragons play the reunion show? If you do not know who The Dragons are, you much watch their music video.

Around the Tubes vol. XLIX

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 Friday Night Lights, Saturday Night Live, Golden Girls, Hot in Cleveland, TNT's 100 Days of Summer, and DVD2Blu.

- It has been 390 days since Friday Night Lights has been on network television, and finally the wait is over for those of us with DirecTV with the premiere. For those that have never watched the show, there is no better time than tonight to see why it was number two on the 100 Greatest Television Shows of the 00’s and landed three inside the top ten of the 100 Greatest Characters of the 00’s. For those that are already fans and cannot wait, below is a preview of Coach Taylor’s first speech to the East Dillon Tigers:

Clear Eyes, Full Hearts


- In honor of her hosting duties on Saturday Night Live tomorrow, WE tv is paying tribute to Betty White by running a Golden Girls tribute from 6:00 PM to 1:00 AM (though keep in mind the episode will focus on the relationship between Dorothy and Sophia with Mother’s Day Sunday). Betty White is also getting her own TV Land show Hot in Cleveland (which is obviously not a reality show because there is nothing hot about Cleveland), below is a preview:

Hot in Cleveland Preview


- After Betty gets off the stage, Alec Baldwin is on the clock as the host of the the season finale of Saturday Night Live with musical guest Tom Petty. Lesser people will make 1990 jokes of the pair but not me. Not gonna do it.

- Last week I mentioned TNT’s 100 Days of Drama, and here is a little video hyping the event:



For those that have a huge DVD collection and find it too price to convert that collection to Blu-Ray will want to check out DVD2Blu where you can trade in your DVD’s for Blu-Ray’s for as low as $4.95 (plus free shipping for orders over $35). They just added 85 Warner Bros titles Pan’s Labyrinth, Corpse Bride, Troy, The Departed, The Shining, Ocean’s Eleven, V for Vendetta and Superman Returns.

Previewing World's Toughest Fixes

Maybe the last play you would expect to see Sean Riley, host of World’s Toughest Fixes would be at Cirque du Soleil, but when an eighty ton rotating stage starts making noises, Riley arrives in Las Vegas to lend his hand in trying to fix the stage to keep the hundreds of acrobats that do their stunts on the stage safe. And Sean couldn’t help himself and tests it out himself complete in a sparkly costume. But that episode doesn’t air until May 20.

For tonight’s season premiere of World’s Toughest Fixes at 9:00 on the National Geographic Channel, Sean (who will be live blogging over at NationalGeographic.com during the premiere)heads to Cody Wyoming as the town tries to rebuild the ski lift there by recycling the old parts because the town doesn’t have money to bring in all new part. The money constraints also means they have to haul all the parts in place in under an hour because that is the entire budget can afford for the helicopter rental. Anyone that partakes in the activity will want to see just exactly what it takes to get you up a mountain including a job that only ten people in the whole world can do (no Sean isn’t one of them).

Next week Sean hops the pong to help get three England bridges cleaned (no, the London Bridge is not one of them). You know you are in for something when Sean utters a very rare phase to cross his lips about having never seen anything like it. And as cleaning bridges were not hard enough, they have to make sure the lead based paint that they are blasting doesn’t getting the Thames.

Also this season, Riley tries to fix the X-Sream thrill ride in Vegas (5/27), a leaky cruise ship (6/3), the Philly Mega Transit (6/10), and the San Francisco Bay Bridge (6/17). While you are waiting for tonight’s episode, you can head over to NationalGeographic.com to play their Ski Lift game. You can also check out a preview below:

I Want My Music Television vol. LXXXI

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.


Next Girl – The Black Keys



Frank the Funknosaurus Rex is back for the latest Black Keys video and those the boys in the band don’t seem to like him (I am just hoping that was a pretencious musician meta joke), but I am glad he is back and better than ever.


Not Myself Tonight – Christina Aguilera



Had Christina Aguilera made this exact video a decade a decade ago I may have thought it was the greatest music video ever in the history in the world. But since then she got the most unnecessary breast augmentation ever in the history of the world, started looking more like a contestant from RuPaul’s Drag Race than the girl from Genie in a Bottle, got married, had a kid and now knowing all that, watching the video now just feels, well, dirrty.


Rewind – Diane Birch



Not the head scratcher of her last video, but when Diane Birch writes a song as beautiful as this you do not need all the bells and whistles (or whips and gags).


Rise Up – Cypress Hill featuring Tom Morello



This may not Prince, but Cypress Hill teaming up with Tom Morello makes me want to party like its 1999. I am not sure that is a good thing. The video even looks very 90’s.

Music Will Lead Her Away; Her Heart Will Bring Her Home

Casting movies that rely heavily on music can be a sticky situation because there are very few actors that are great actors and great singers. So do you cast an outstanding singer with nominal acting ability, or do cast a great actor who may not be best at carrying a tune. Preacher’s Kid did both. For the former there are the LeToya Lukett (she was one of girls kicked out of Destiny’s Child about ten years ago) and Durrell “Tank” Babbs (who had a number one R&B song with Please Don’t Go), while gospel artist Kiki Sheard also has a smaller role in the movie. On the other side of the coin is Sharif Atkins (ER) who has someone else sing and play piano for him.

With the music sung mostly by professionals, the songs are a stand out for Preacher’s Kid, especially the ones that open and close the movie, to the point you wonder why an accompanying soundtrack album wasn’t released s it would have don’t pretty good in the Christian and gospel charts.

But when the music stops, things tend to drag on until the next musical moment. We have all seen this story before, this time from first time director and writer Stan Foster (who also wrote the stage play Daddy Can I Please Come Home which serves as the backdrop for Preacher’s Kid), the prodigal son (or daughter in this case) leaves home against a parents blessing to experience the big bad world alone while fighting the temptation to give up to return to the comforts of home even if they got the dreaded, “If you walk out that door” speech.

Even though the two leads are novices, the supporting cast is solid most notably Clifton Powell (Next Friday) as the shifty producer of the play that Luckett runs off to join. Gregalen Williams (Baywatch) is convincing behind the pulpit as Luckett’s bishop father. While Essence Atkins (TBS’s upcoming sitcom version of Are We There Yet?) provided some nominal comedic relief as Luckett’s lone friend on the traveling play. But still Preacher’s Kid feels like a Lifetime movie for the large majority of the film.

As for the extra on the Blu-Ray (which is part of a combo pack that includes a Blu-Ray, DVD, and Digital Copy version of the film; you can also buy the DVD version separately or a digital download, all available today) you mostly have your standard issue fair. There are four featurettes (a making of, music of the film, and bios of Luckett and Atlanta, where the movie was filmed) which combined total around twenty minutes. Then there is another twenty minutes of deleted scenes including a storyline about how Powell got money to put on the play. You can also check out the official site at PreachersKidMovie.com.



Full Disclosure Notice: This Blu-Ray was given to me on behalf of Warner Brothers Entertainment for the sole purpose of reviewing the movie.

Feed Your iPod vol. XLIII: 40 Dogs (Romeo and Juliet)

Here’s a song that I have been listening a lot to for no specific reason, just has a high repeatable to it.

40 Dogs (Romeo and Juliet) - Bob Schneider

57 Channels and Only This Is On vol. CXXVIII

Quote of the Week: I guess I was just grossed out that I had to hear, like, fifteen billion poems about my mother’s vagizzle. (Amber, Parenthood)

Song of the Week: Leaving On a Jet Plane – John Denver (as performed by Jeffster, Chuck)

Big News of the Week: Oil Slick: As someone who lives by a river that caught fire all by itself, it is weird to see someone purposely set the oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico on purpose. And as sad as it is, leave it to the conservative nutjobs who think it is an environmental plot to stop offshore drilling. And the liberals are not without their nutjob conspiracy theories when they ponder if a border patrol agent in Arizona getting shot just after the passed a controversial immigration law was a coincident. God bless nutjobs, because without them, how could get a laugh out of truly horrible situations.

Gratuitous Token Hot Chick Picture of the Week:


Chuck: I am a little wishy washy on the whole Chuck and Sarah romance. Sure all the duel fighting with handcuff was fun, but I am not entirely sure how that can sustain the relationship. One thing I am not wishy washy is that Morgan needs to be caught in some friendly fire, or unfriendly fire, I really do not care, but the more screen time he gets, the less I care if the show gets renewed or not. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Chuck on iTunes.

Parenthood: Another daughter / parent showdown with the former refusing to leave her boyfriend’s house. And almost word for word to point that I hope it was intentional. All it was missing was the parent personally dragging the daughter out of the house (which it came close to). You can stream recent episodes on Parenthood on iTunes.

Mercy: So a chick you had sex and didn’t talk to since after you told her you were gay casually mention she has a kid and you do not ask how old the kid is? That would be the first question out of my mouth. And that doesn’t even crack the top five most absurd plot points of the episode. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Mercy on iTunes.

Happy Town: After a slow start, the show did give reason to check out another episode with the ending where we learn that the Ashley Greene look-alike’s name is actually the same that the dude from Lost kept repeating and has the brand of the Magic Man on her shoulder (although if you are using a alias, shouldn’t you go with something less Googleable as Henley Boone? Wouldn’t something like Sarah Brown be more conspicuous? You know the first thing Root Beer did when he got home was Google the new hot chick in town to get her vital stats.). So here is my theory on the show, Henley’s “mom” is not really her mom but the Magic Man who kidnapped her years ago, brainwashed her to think she is her mother (she branding her with his symbol upon the kidnapping) and now needs her to get something out of the third floor that can get her powers back (that kept the Magic Man from doing his yearly kidnapping). And it will turn out that Henley is Steven Weber’s daughter.

The Challenge: Fresh Meat 2: I have witness quite a few fights in my life and even broken up a few (though I tend to go with the hockey referee approach where I just circle around until the guys (or gals) get tired) but never I have I seen someone go with the fontal bear hug technique that Wes employed. You can stream recent episodes over at MTV.com. You can also download The Challenge: Fresh Meat 2 on iTunes.

Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains: Just the other day I was debating with someone if you were allowed to steal someone’s Hidden Immunity Idol (I took the affirmative because if you are dumb enough to leave it where someone could find it then you deserve to lose it) and here we a similar situation with Danielle finding the clue to the Idol and Amanda stealing it leading to the least entertaining cat fight in the history of television. Then Colby, in what would have been the dumbest move on almost any other season (seriously, why are these supposed All-Stars making so many stupid moves), rules that clue is the sole possession of Danielle even though she is in the opposite alliance. Moron. And how do you not follow Danielle around knowing that she had the clue and the resign to the fack she would just find it herself. You can stream recent episodes over at cbs.com.



Community: Was there really no one on the show or at the network that didn’t realize that characters mockingly repeating everything for half an episode does not make for a good episode? It, at best, is a 1:00 hour Saturday Night Live sketch, not a prime time full episode. You can stream current episodes on Hulu. You can also download Community on iTunes.

Free Download of the Week: Jackal Onassis Backstage - Party Down (Amazon Video on Demand): The new season of the Starz comedy recently started and those that want to test out the show without subscribing can do so. You also check out the first season of Party Down as recently released on DVD. And those with On Demand features may want to check out to see if the episode is available to preview (it is here on my Time Warner Cable) along with two first season episodes and the upcoming extremely hilarious episode, Steve Guttenberg’s Birthday which features, besides the title character as himself, McLovin’ as Bill Haverchuck’s writing partner, a pairing made in Judd Apatow casting heaven.

Deal of the Week: Save up to 58% on TV Shows (Sons of Anarchy, How I Met Your Mother, Pee-wee’s Playhouse)

Video of the Week: Friday Night Lights is back this week and here is an interview with new cast member Madison Burge who I take it is the new Lyla Garrity.

Next Week Pick of the Week: Friday Night Light, Friday at 8:00 on NBC: The wait is finally over for those of us without DirecTV as we get to see Coach Taylor take the reins of the East Dillon Lions.