Best of the Week - 3/17/12

Quote of the Week: Now I am off to lead a pack of tiny testosterone animals to victory. Got to warm them up and give them my best Friday Night Lights speech about hearts or eyes or some (expletive deleted). (Steve, Shameless)

Song of the Week: King of Rock – Run-DMC (Happy Endings)

Scene of the Week:



Big News of the Week: It’s March Madness Baby!: The first round is less about how many games you won but how many teams you have going deep in your bracket still around. And when one half of your Final Four is out on the first day really is not a good sign. Thanks Missouri and Duke. But like it is the last couple years, the big story is Barack Obama’s bracket which surprisingly is not completely chalk this year and even has an eleventh seed in the Sweet Sixteen. Sure his other three regions are pretty much chalk and has the overall top two teams in the finals.

Preview Picture of the Week:

Pretty Little Liars Season Finale

Most Worthless The Walking Dead Character of the Week: T-Dogg (so when they are rounding up a posse to hunt down an armed dude, they choose the ten pound Asian Glen who got trigger shy a couple episodes back over T-Dogg; which begs the question, who else is above T-Dogg in the hunting queue? Maggie? Hershel? Carl?)

Free Download of the Week: Beautiful Day - U2 (Google Play)

New Album Release of the Week: Tuskegee - Lionel Richie

New DVD Release of the Week: The Muppets

Video of the Week: I gave up on spoilers almost a decade ago after finally realizing they were ruining my television experience, but the one concession I make is that I still watch the promos that follow the shows which are like my nicotine patch that keeps me from spoiler site. Granted I should just turn off my television when the credits run because the promos routinely spoil the show anyway or are just misleading. With all the crap I do give to the promo monkeys, the promo for next week’s Justified is the single greatest promo ever in the history of television. “Why wait?” More like “Can’t wait!”



Next Week Pick of the Week: Pretty Little Liars, Monday at 8:00 on ABC Family: Monday is the big day when we will finally learn who A is on the season finale of Pretty Little Liars. Check out my odd of who is behind the texts here: Oddsmakers: Who Is A?

Around the Tubes - 3/16/12

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 Make it or Break It, Game of Thrones, Finding the Lost da Vinci, Archer, My Strange Addiction, Peter O'Toole, Pretty Little Liars, Titanic’s Final Mystery, and 17 season premiere dates.

- The new season of Make it or Break It returns a week from Monday at 9:00 on ABC Family and for those that need a refresher, check out the video below:



- Game of Thrones released another fan poster (Spoiler Alert!) and you can gaze upon it below. Also the show will have a booth (#438) at the upcoming WonderCon in Anaheim this weekend (March 16-18) where you can get your head on a spike like below for free. Well, a FX artist will create a photo of it for those that do not want to be beheaded.



- The Battle of Anghiari vanished 500 years ago and not scientist and art enthusiast Maurizio Seracini has spent 36 years trying to track down the missing mural as documented in Finding the Lost da Vinci, premiering this Sunday on the National Geographic Channel at 9:00. Check out a preview below:

The Real Life Da Vinci Code


- Next Thursday, Byran Cranston will be lending his vocal talents to Archer as an astronaut with the International Space Agency. Take a look at his animated self below:



- Nothing like the subject “Addicted to Drinking Urine” to catch your attention. Yep, that is the affliction for the season finale of My Strange Addition airing Sunday at 10:00 on TLC.



- On Wednesday, April 11, TMC will premiere Peter O’Toole: Live from the TCM Classic Film Festival at 8:00 where TCM host Robert Osborne will interview the legendary actor in front of a live audience. The special will be followed by The Lion in Winter, Lawrence of Arabia, and The Day They Robbed the Bank of England.

- Pretty Little Liars in the New Jersey era, tonight at 7:00 Shay Mitchell will be signing copies of her Seventeen Prom issue at the Barnes and Noble at 765 Route 17 South in Paramus, NJ.

- The Smithsonian Channel will be celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Titanic disaster with the two hour special Titanic’s Final Mystery premiering Thursday, April 5 at 8:00.

- A couple different networks announced the premiere dates for their show recently and here they are in chronological order:

Sunday, April 1 at 10:00 on the National Geographic Channel: New series Wicked Tuna following fishermen trying to catch bluefin tuna

Friday, April 6 at 10:00 on Nat Geo Wild: Python Hunters season 3

Tuesday, April 17 at 10:00 on the National Geographic Channel: New series Amish: Out of Order that follows former Amish members in the “real world”

Wednesday, May 30 at 8:00 on ABC Family: Melissa and Joey second season with back to back episodes

Tuesday, June 5 at 9:00 on TNT: Rizzoli and Isles season 3

Tuesday, June 5 at 10:00 on TNT: Franklin and Bash season 2

Wednesday, June 13 at 9:00 on TNT: New show Dallas, a reboot of the 80’s classic with original cast members Larry Hagman, Patrick Duffy and Linda Grey

Sunday, June 17 at 9:00 on TNT: Falling Skies, two hour second season premiere

Sunday, June 24 at 10:00 on TNT: New reality show The Great Escape from Ron Howard, Brian Grazer and the creators of The Amazing Race

Sunday, July 1 at 10:00 on Showtime: Weeds season 8

Sunday July 1 at 10:00 on Showtime: Episodes season 2

Monday, July 9 at 9:00 on TNT: The final season of The Closer

Monday, July 9 at 10:00 on TNT: New series Perception starring Eric McCormack as an eccentric neuroscience professor who is recruited by the FBI

Sunday July 15 at 8:00 on TNT: Leverage season 5

Monday, August 13 at 10:00 on TNT: The Closer spin-off Major Crimes starring Mary McDonnell reprising her role as Police Captain Sharon Raydor with other The Closer vets G.W. Bailey, Tony Denison, Michael Paul Chan, Raymond Cruz and Phillip P. Keene also in the cast with guest appearances by Jon Tenney and Robert Gossett.

Sunday, September 30 at 9:00 on Showtime: Dexter season 7

Sunday, September 30 at 10:00: Homeland season 2

Lyrics Quiz: Shamrocks and Shenanigans

St. Patrick is in two days away, and what better way to celebrate that with a little House of Pain (maybe Dropkick Murphys). So I thought I would put their Shamrocks and Shenanigans (natch) through iTunes’ Genius function and here are the twenty-five songs it gave back. As always leave your guesses, both artist and song title, in the comment section or e-mail me. If you are correct I will un-bold the lyric and give you credit. Please keep in mind the lyrics quiz is for entertainment purposes only so please only use your own meandering mind to guess them.

1. Hey yo kids, remember when I used to be dope? I owned a pocket full of fame. But look at what you’re doing now. (Fallin' - De La Soul and Teenage Fanclub; guessed by Doug)
2. I can only guess what’s happening. Years ago he would have been the ship’s captain. Getting me bruised on a cruise, what else I gotta lose?
3. I got a squad with a list of complainers. I should’ve started R.A.P.E.: Rappers Against Phony Entertainers.
4. Sleep on silk like a politician, my Uzi is my best friend, cold asd a mortician. Lock me up, it’s genocidal catastrophe, there’ll be another on after me. (New Jack Hustler (Nino's Theme) - Ice-T; guessed by Doug)
5. You’re about to witness the strength of street knowledge. (Straight Outta Compton - N.W.A.; guessed by Doug)
6. I gotta get my props; cops come and try snatch my crops. These pigs trying to blow my house down. (Insane In the Brain - Cypress Hill; guessed by Doug)
7. Now I rock a house party at the drop of a hat, and I’ll beat a biter down with an aluminum bat.
8. Recruiting suckers, Mac and Mike, and making men of ‘em. Tears and Fears were my peers, they ripping. You think that it is, it is, if not it isn’t. (Down With the King - Run-DMC; guessed by Doug)
9. I was on 1-2-5 and St. Nick, waiting on a cab, standing in the rain. Under my heart: big clouds of pain. (Sometimes I Rhyme Slow - Nice and Smooth; guessed by Doug)
10. Don’t punch girls and we don’t punch a clock. Gotta go, gotta go, see you later by the cat and you can’t beat that with a bat. (The Choice Is Yours - Black Sheep; guessed by Doug)
11. You gotta gave heart, son, if you wanna go. Watch this sweet chariot swing low. Ain’t nobody crying, ain’t nobody dying, ain’t nobody worried, everybody’s trying.
12. Fools get foolish neither them or Parker Lewis knew us. You could have crews wit shoes and can’t step to us. (Hip Hop Hooray - Naughty by Nature; guessed by Doug)
13. They say you look like MC Hammer on crack. (The Humpty Dance - Digital Packets; guessed by Doug)
14. Calvin Klein’s no friend of mine so I don’t like Marky or the monarchy. (On Point - House of Pain; guessed by Doug)
15. Just then a figure had caught my eye, a man with a sombrero who was four feet high. I pulled over to ask where we was at. His index finger, he tipped up his hat…
16. No I’m not a sucka sitting in the house of pain. And no I’m not the butler, I’ll cut ya. You say you can’t touch this and I wouldn’t touch ya. (Check Yo Self - Ice Cube; guessed by Doug)
17. I’m causing more family feuds than Richard Dawson. And the survey said: you’re dead. (Wu-Tang Clan Ain't Nuthing ta F' Wit - Wu-Tang Clan; guessed by Doug)
18. Gap teeth in your mouth so my (expletive deleted)’s gotta fit. (Dre Day - Dr. Dre; guessed by Doug)
19. Then she lost her mind and did the ultimate: I asked for Adidas and she bought me Zips! (Parents Just Don't Understand - DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince; guessed by Doug)
20. I’ll chill like Pacino, kill like DeNiro, Black Gambino, die like a hero, living on shaky ground too close to the edge. (Juice (Know the Ledge) - Eric B. and Rakim; guessed by Doug)
21. You start to shiver, then you scream, my friend. You wake up Muttley, because you’re dreaming again.
22. Slide ‘em across from New York down by your Virginia. Tickling you around Delaware before I enter. (Rump Shaker - Wreckx-n-Effect; guessed by Doug)
23. Stop, drop, shut ‘em down, open up shop. (Ruff Ryders Anthem - DMX; guessed by Doug)
24. Take it off the rack, if it’s wack put it back. I like the Whopper, (expletive deleted) the Big Mac.
25. I don’t have no trouble with you (expletive deleted) me but I have a little problem with you not (expletive deleted) me.

Oddsmakers: Who Is A

After two long, and at time excruciating, seasons, we will finally learn who A is on Pretty Little Liars (assuming the promo monkeys are not playing with us). Sure the show has some issues, but one thing the show has gotten right is setting up the mystery of who A is. (S)He could be anyone who has walked the streets of Rosewood and it would not shock me. Seriously, they can dig up a long dead character and I could totally buy it, nor be that surprised. The intelligently impaired Hanna can beat Emily over the head with a folding chair, rip open her shirt to reveal another that reads “I’m A Snitches” well yelling I am not as dumb as you all thought and I’d go, sure, why not. Since we are just five days away from learning who the infamous texter is I thought I would dust off the old Oddsmakers game so you can place your bets on who A is (or are if my one my main theories of multiple A’s is correct).

Aria (503:1) - Her first name starts with A, how has no one pointed this out yet? And why is she the one that does the shhh-ing sign in the title sequence?

The Liars’ Fathers (150:1) - One of the few people that would shock me if one of them turned out to be A would be the Liars’ mothers. They have even talked with each other about their children being bullied. The father’s on the other hand are highly suspicious and shady with the exception of Mr. Fields who has been off in the military for most of the show. Mr. Montgomery and Mr. Hastings on the other hand seem to like to manipulate their daughters. Of course some of A’s demands have hurt the fathers like ruining a wedding and blackmailing an adulterer.

The Liars’ Boyfriends and / or Mya (68:1) - With the exception of Toby, the other three, Ezra, Caleb and My just happened to show up in Rosewood right around the time the Liars started receiving texts from A. Coincidence? Plus Caleb has the technical knowhow to spy on the girls. And who better than Erza to pull off something so devious? The big question though is motive.

The Field (50:1): Everyone not mention elsewhere in this post. So lay your money here if you think A will be Detective Wilden, Hanna’s half sister, the English doctor, the crazy lesbian with bad hair, or even Dr. Sullivan who somehow kidnapped herself.

Melissa Hastings (25:1) - She looks so guilty even her father hired a private investigator to spy on her.

Jason DiLaurentis, Garrett Reynolds, and / or Ian Thomas (13:1) - A plausible group of A’s who even listed one of their high school activities as part of the “We See All” club. Sure, A (presumably) killing Ian may hurt my theory that the band got back together, but that is not to say that Jason and Garrett got back together to torment the Liars and killed Ian to keep their secret under wraps.

Jenna Marshall, Mona Vanderwaal, and/or Lucas Gottesman (5:1) - A seems to be everywhere which makes multiple people acting as A a very plausible possibility and all three could have started up an I Hate Alison fan club that went too far. Plus it has long been assumed that the final scene of every episode is A scheming and Lucas admitted to destroying Alison’s memorial, something we saw A do in a final scene episodes earlier. They all seemed to have a moment at the Halloween flashback special. I also find it suspicious that this season all three have been targeted by A, giving them all an alibi.

Alison DiLaurentis (3:1) - My very first suspect while watching the Pilot was Alison. Of course by the end of the episode, they found her body and laid her to rest putting a crimp into that theory unless the show went supernatural. But who else but Alison would know all of the Liars’ deep dark secrets? Then recently Alison was found to be using an alias. But what is Vivian Darkbloom was not just Alison in a wig but a totally different person or a long lost twin, the DiLaurentis family has been known to hide the true identity of a child, and the real Vivian is the one under Alison’s headstone?

I Want My Music Television - 3/13/12

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.

Everybody Talks - Neon Trees



A month ago Neon Trees released an animated version for this video, but I definitely the Zombie Bikers from Hell version much better. But this begs the question, why are there not any drive-in movie theaters with roller skating waitresses?


Is Anybody Out There? - K'naan



Another week, another new K'Naan music, this time with 100% more Nelly Furtado. And I am all for anti-bulling sentiment, but how about not defacing property with profanities?


Drive By - Train



As a dude, I have naturally never seen an episode of The Bachelor, but I guestimate that the latest Train video is basically every episode of the reality show but with twenty extra chicks hanging around.


Co-Sign - SWV



Who knew that Survivor: Tocantins could actually sing?

It's March Madness Baby! 2012 Edition

It is time of year again, that time where you suddenly get that mid-march flu that keeps you bed ridden for four days with nothing but a remote control and a six pack of Shamrock Shakes. Yep, it’s March Madness. Last year was the first time that every game aired on television, so it will still take some time to get used to navigating between games. Of course the best part of the week leading up to the actual games is filling out your bracket (or in many cases, brackets), and here is a guide to what mine looks like (or at least the first one I filled out):

South
Finals: Duke over Indiana
Upset Special: Xavier over Notre Dame

West
Finals: Missouri over Michigan St.
Upset Special: Long Beach State over New Mexico

East
Finals: Ohio State over Wisconsin
Upset Special(s): Harvard over Vanderbilt, Texas over Cincinnati, Kansas St. over Syracuse

Midwest
Finals: Georgetown over North Carolina
Upset Special: Ohio over Michigan

Final Four
Ohio State over Georgetown
Missouri over Duke

Finals
Missouri over Ohio State 69-60

57 Channels and Only This Is On - 3/11/12

Once Upon a Time: Congratulations Amy Acker, you are the first actor to appear on both OUaT and Grimm. And as two very different characters, some spiderwoman and a non-descript fairy Godmother. Interesting that all the fairies turned into nuns. And who knew dwarfs are hatched out fully formed? Even more surprising that Grumpy turned out to be one of the more interesting characters on the show.
You can stream current episodes on Hulu. You can also download Once Upon a Time on iTunes.

The Walking Dead: Finally they are starting to kill off the main characters. Hopefully Lori, Carol, T-Dogg, and Shane are taking in quick secession before the end of the season. I am actually hoping the Randall does go on a killing spree and kills of the entire cast and season three will be him and Maggie reminiscent of their high school days. Which begs the question, why has no one talked to Maggie yet to see if the guy can be trusted?
You can stream recent episodes over at amc.com. You can also download The Walking Dead on iTunes.

House of Lies: I really did not need to see Veronica Mars riding some old dude.

Pretty Little Liars: I was always suspicious of Mona being targeted by A and I would not at all be surprised if Mona was A and sent her the message to throw the scent off of her. But it is a little more farfetched that Jenna would do the same thing by placing herself in a burning building. At least we only have two weeks until we learn for sure who A is.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.

The Voice: A couple slight changes to the Battle Rounds this season, one for the better the other for the worse. I did like last season when the mentors watched the battles last season and gave their feedback right there. Sure they looked like schoolchildren sitting next to the coaches in their chairs. And it seems really unfair that the contestants saw different mentors. You are a major disadvantage when you visit Jewel and your opponent gets to hang out with Lionel Richie. On the flipside, I do like how they gave the family and friends front row seats instead of sticking them in the backstage where they interrupt the performances with their thoughts. It is also interesting that this season, only the winners get to sing on the studio versions of the songs that are sold on iTunes.

I am really disappointed that we did not see Tony Lucca and Alanis Morrisette did not trade war stories of their teen sketch days on The Micky Mouse Club and They Can’t Do That on Television. I usually find it distracting whenever singers change the gender of the lyrics (see Jordis Unga) but it was really distracting when in a duet, the two singers sing different lyrics at the same time because of their gender like when Chris Mann and Monique Benabou sang. Was it too obvious to just have them trade of lines? And if Ironic (or Adam Lavine for that matter) is what Blake Shelton comes to his mind when he thinks of when it comes to “rock” someone needs to give him a Pantera album.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download songs from this episode on iTunes in the widget at right.

Switched at Birth: I am surprised it took this long for someone to complain how Daphne kept on switching teams. She should not have been let to switch teams in the middle of the season, let along go back to his original team in the middle of the season. And the fact it was allowed simply because the other coach was fine with it was kind of laughable.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Switched At Birth on iTunes.

The River: I wish they would have just gone all the way with the Emmitt-centric episode and cut out all the reaction shots from the rest of the crew would have been more powerful.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download The River on iTunes.

Justified: A rare almost self contained episode of Justified. Year we saw a couple characters outside the law house (including the first and second meetings of Quarles and Limehouse which were a bit disappointing), and Raylan even made it outside but most was Raylan being investigated twice over leading to some very entreating wordy scenes including my favorite with the detective getting excited of Raylan’s story of how he dropped a bullet on Wynn and told him the next one would come faster. And how brilliant was it that Quarles used said bullet to frame him.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Justified on iTunes.

Survivor: One World: I am just dumbfounded at what happened this week. When the boys were talking about giving up immunity I figured it was just manufactured drama by the editors to make it more serious than it really was. Then they actually show up at Tribal Council. This is the second time they had to angered the Survivor Gods after cowardly taking immunity during the first challenge. It looks like I am going to have to update my list of the Dumbest Survivor Contestants Ever list. But I must say Bill is a bigger man than I am because I am punching Colton on the way out.
You can stream recent episodes over at cbs.com.



The Challenge: Battle of the Exes: Did The Challenge really break out the “tow days ago” place card? Of course the big set up was to reveal Emily in blackface. Usually I cannot get behind other white people’s faux outrage over blackface, but yeah, using chocolate was your makeup is pretty offensive.
You can stream recent episodes over at mtv.com. You can also download The Challenge: Battle of the Exes on iTunes.

Awake: I thought they set up the series as two parallel timelines that split after the accident, so it is a little weird that the dead guy was a doctor in one and a homeless guy in another. So apparently they two worlds are more different than I originally thought. And with all the multiple realities, I am not sure if I am ready for a conspiracy theory brought in by the chick from ER this soon considering I spend about a minute at the start of every scene trying to figure out if which world it is (I have started a good memory tool where the muted blue colors means it’s the Boy World).
You can stream current episodes on Hulu. You can also download Awake on iTunes.