57 Channels and Only This Is On - 6/9/12

Quote of the Week: You let that wax figurine discourage you? (Rodger, Mad Men)

Song of the Week: S&M – Rihanna (Pretty Little Liars)

Scene of the Week:




Big News of the Week: I Need to Stop Watch Award Shows: I grew up on MTV but I rarely even flip to the channel anymore except when The Challenge or Beavis and Butt-head are on. But for some reason I am still drawn into the channel’s award shows even though they have not been watchable in years. I talked myself into checking it out because The Black Keys and Fun. were performing and Emma Stone was getting some made up awards. But other than those three moments, the Movie Awards sucked. Where were the cool parodies? Where were the weird pairings (now every award has to be presented by the “cast” of a movie)? And teen girls are still ruining everything by voting for crappy vampire movies. Remember the good old days when nerds controlled the show? Wow I’m old. Actually I am so old I watched Mad Men live Sunday.

On the flip side I have never seen one previous CMT Awards before but only watched for one reason: Kristen Bell. Yeah, that was a bad idea. Sure the Pistol Annies skit was funny (somebody get that girl a record contract) was entertaining, but the political opening fell flat. And Barack Obama an Mitt Romney not backing Kristen is a disqualifier. Is Ross Perot still around? All was not lost though; Willie Nelson performed a song called Roll Me Up an Smoke Me When I Die God bless you Willie.

Mad Men: I never thought Mad Men would be so literal as to actually have someone fall out a window, but as Lane turned to his after Don fired him, I thought for a second that he may actually throw himself out of his. But after a failed attempted to kill himself via Jaguar that he was not actually able start (which begs the question, at what point does Jaguar sue the show for defamation?) he hung himself in his own office. Well at least Lane got to punch Pete Campbell in the face before leaving this mortal coil. So now in two consecutive episodes, Don has Lane’s suicide and Joan’s prostitution hanging over his head (and that does not take into account the other crap he has dealt with lately with Peggy leaving, his wife drifting apart, the Jewish alien becoming better than him, etc.). Last season ended with a proposal, I do not see anything as celebratory happening in next week’s finale. I would not be surprised if this season gets bookend with the dissolution of Don and Megan’s marriage. Or maybe we will get our first extra marital affair of the season (I hope everyone took the over on the number of episodes before that happened) unless of course you count the dream chick Don nailed than murdered.

You can download Mad Men on iTunes.


Preview Picture of the Week:

Dallas premiering Wednesday at 9:00 on TNT

Free Download of the Week: Daddy – Emeli Sande (iTunes): If that is not enough free from her, you can also grab Where I Sleep on Amazon.

Deal of the Week: Pop Classics for $2.99: The MP3 wars are heating up again as Amazon has deeply discounted albums from Hall and Oates and Hootie and the Blowfish and the soundtracks to Footloose and Dirty Dancing.



New Album Release of the Week: The Bravest Man In The Universe - Bobby Womack

New DVD Release of the Week: Episodes: The First Season

Video of the Week: If you are like me you were too young to watch Dallas (which is basically anyone under forty) when it originally aired. So if you need a catch up on the first run’s 357 episodes, unless you jumped in during its thirteen season run, TNT has released a refresher course on the Ewing family including what has happened at the Southfork ranch in the two decades since the show went off the air. And once you are caught up, tune into the reboot when it has its two-hour premiere this Wednesday at 9:00.



Next Week Pick of the Week: Bunheads, Monday at 9:00 on ABC Family: Sure I am too old and too male to watch yet another show on ABC Family, but besides the subject matter, the show is quick, fun, and highly entertaining. Look for a full review on Monday. And for those not quite sure what a “Bunhead” is, below is photographic evidence showing what is and is not a Bunhead.

Around the Tubes - 6/8/12

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 41, Dallas, Falling Skies, Wilfred, Veep, Mad Men, Martha Speaks, The Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan, TBS Just for Laughs Comedy Festival, Fuse, Californication, The Secret life of the American Teenager, Lizard Lick Towing, Macy's 4th of July Fireworks, and Kelly Clarkson.

- Appropriately the latest HBO 41 about George Herbert Walker Bush will be airing next Thursday, Flag Day (which will also be his 88 birthday). The story is told by the former president in his own words from his summer home in Kennebunkport, ME. Check out a trailer below and tune in at 9:00 to watch 41:



- Post-shows have been popping up more frequently these days for fans to go deeper into an episode and TNT is jumping into the fray with two webshows to air directly after two upcoming shows, both will be live (on the east coast) and fifteen minutes in length. Dallas Round-Up will naturally follow episodes of the Dallas reboot at dallastnt.com and will be hosted by Cameron Mathison. While Second Unit will come directly after new episodes of Falling Sky on fallingskies.com with Wil Wheaton as your host. Stars of both show are expected to show up throughout the season.

- Can’t wait until the Jun 28th premiere of Wilfred? Well you are in luck, FX is launching a special preview of the second season premiere two weeks earlier on Video on Demand and Hulu and you can also watch the episode that night at 10:30 on FX. Keep in mind its regular timeslot is 10:00 on Thursdays.

- The season of Veep is this Sunday on HBO, until then, here is another deleted scene to tide you over:



- In honor of the Mad Men finale this Sunday, Wordnik has put together a list of their favorite words spoken by the people of SCDP.

- On next Friday’s episode of PBS Kids’ Martha Speaks (check your local listings), Truman is going to meet one of his heroes, astrophysicist Neil Degrasse Tyson who is getting animated for the part. Check out a clip below:

Truman’s #1 Hero


- The Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan just announced its final season starting July 7 but will be going out with a bang featuring dogs owned by Kelsey Grammer, Jillian Michaels, NASCAR drivers Greg Biffle and Kevin Harvick, and Cesar will be stopping by the Playboy Mansion to help out Hugh Hefner.

- For those in Chicago next week for TBS Just for Laughs Comedy Festival, it was just announced they will be hosting a special advanced screening of That’s My Boy with star Adam Sandler in attendance at the Kerasotes Showplace ICON on Thursday, June 14.

- Fuse recently greenlit three new original series: Off Beat, a weekly show focusing on the most outrageous music themed internet videos. Warped Roadies, a behind the scenes look at the Vans Warped Tour and the young crew that keeps it rolling. And G-Life about a “family style” (it is in quotations because it is ran by Italian-Americans) run record label.

- For those that watched Lost and thought to themselves that they would like to see Shannon sans her ever-present bikini, you may be in luck because Maggie Grace recently signed on for the next season of Califorication for at least eight episodes as a groupie with an unconventional relationship with Hank. For those that watched Lost and thought to themselves that they would like to see Hurley with less clothes, you may also be in luck (but it is less likely... hopefully) because he will also show up in one episode as an old contact of Maggie’s (hopefully it is not of a physical nature that we have to witness). The new season will air in 2013 so hopefully the Mayans were wrong.

- The season premiere of The Secret Life of the American Teenager is this Monday (yes the previous season finale was earlier this week) and to commemorate the occasion, ABC Family has released an Amy and Ricky through the Years montage. Check it out below:



- Returning this Monday to TruTV is the new season of Lizard Lick Towing.

- For those staying to watch the fireworks this 4th of July, Katy Perry and Kenny Chesney have just signed up to perform during Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks Show airing 9:00 on NBC.

- Kelly Clarkson covers this month’s Redbook where she talks weight loss, Duets, and finding happiness.

I Want My Music Television - 6/7/12

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.


Gold on the Ceiling – The Black Keys



The Black Keys have released some pretty awesome videos in the past, but released a straight forward (i.e. boring) video for Gold on the Ceiling featuring road footage. Then a couple months later this happened and I have not been able to sleep since. This is some serial killer type ish.


Princess of China - Coldplay & Rihanna



Didn’t Coldplay already do the fake trailer for one of their music videos from this album already? I think I would actually like the fake elephant movie better.


No Church In the Wild - Jay-Z & Kanye West featuring Frank Ocean



Just last week I scratched my head at the random dropping of the latest Kanye West video, and a day later he released yet another video from his album with Jay-Z months after the single was released (and a week after used in The Great Gatsby trailer) featuring people raging against, um, who knows. Check back next week to see what better late than never Kanye releases.


Some Nights - Fun.



If the new Kanye-Jay-Z video is not enough violence for you, here comes fun. Ironically last week while watching the Hatfields and Mccoys miniseries, I thought to myself, “Self, do you know what this needs: an indie pop soundtrack.” Thank you fun. for giving me that visualization. But unfortunately they did not go fully into historical accuracy because there was no crappy auto-tune during the Civil War.

First Impressions: Pretty Little Liars 3.x

After deciding to reveal the identity of “A”, Pretty Little Liars hit its stride again in the second half of its second season. It finally ramped up the tension that was missing in the previous episodes and brought back the intrigue and mystery that drew in viewers at the start of the series. Like the start of the season, each of the Liars were harboring a new lie: Emily became a blackout drunk, Hannah has been visiting Mona in the mental hospital, Spencer continues to go to the “A” den to figure out who the “Black Swan” was (um, don’t we already know it was her sister?), and Aria, well no new secret but she still continues to carry on her creepy affair with Ezra (I thought he could not get a job in the area, how is he still around, Ezra should have become the King of New Orleans when he had the chance). But unlike the first season where it took a couple episodes for the secrets to come out, they actually shared them with each other from the start. But much like the start of the show, the liars inexplicably still not go to the police when they are in trouble.

In the five months that passed in Rosewood since the finale Garrett apparently did not just get pinned for the murder of Allison (which he denies even though I could have sworn he already admitted to it with Jenna) but also added another manslaughter charge (Mya’s) to his rap sheet. Mona has been in a catatonic state in a nut house only moving to acknowledge visions of Allison in a red dress (keep in mind the shadowy figure in the finale was also wearing red). Hermie the Hermaphrodite has gotten moody since the masquerade ball. And Jenna has still not been seen since we saw her seeing things unbeknownst to everyone else who thought her surgery failed.

Oh yeah, and someone dug up Allison’s body and left Emily with the shovel. Of course that is only assuming Allison’s body was actually there to begin with (yes, I am still holding onto my theory I had from the series premiere that Allison is in fact still very alive). And thanks to the pictures in the car at the end, it is safe to assume “New A” is behind everything. And since she claims that unlike Mona, who plays with dolls, “New A” plays with body parts, there is a good chance (s)he is behind the missing Allison body and Mya’s death. Hopefully, unlike the first “A”, the writers do not wait a season too late to reveal who “New A” is.

Pretty Little Liars airs Tuesdays at 8:00 on ABC Family. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.

Previewing Rizzoli and Isles 3.x and Franklin and Bash 2.x

TNT introduces its own version of Law and Order tonight when its duos Rizzoli and Isles and Franklin and Bash air back to back. Although since the cops come before the lawyers, maybe they should call it Order and Law Tuesdays. As for the former, Rizzoli and Isles returns for its third season tonight at 9:00, and when we last saw the friends, Rizzoli was shooting Isles’ biological father, gangster Paddy Doyle. The aftermath plays out tonight as Jane’s bullet puts Paddy’s life in danger with Maura in the middle (which may or may not lead to a catfight). But we do learn of the very first meeting of the titular characters tonight.

There is a homicide that does need investigating in tonight’s episode (but with Maura at her father’s bedside, that means more Ed Begley Jr. as her replacement) involving a botched convenient store robbery that ends up tying back to the events of the last episode. Other murders the girls will have to investigate this season a grad student killed in hidden tunnels under the university, a killer with a bizarre doll fetish, and homeless vets. Oh and it looks like Maura’s biological family tree will be expanding this season.

Rizzoli and Isles airs Tuesdays at 9:00 on TNT. You can stream recent episodes over at TNT.tv. You can also download Rizzoli & Isles on iTunes.


As for the lesser sex duo, Franklin and Bash return with a literal bang tonight as they open the season in court defending a magician against a deficient water trap that the boys go to their usual extreme ways to win the case. After that is resolved, the guys are up for partner at Infeld-Daniels but need two-thirds vote from the partners to join them. So the guys try to show their value by catching a big fish in the form of Kevin Nealon. Another case involves a lady cop who is welcome to arrest me any day and we learn just where Pindar’s issues really began.

Other cases the lawyers tackle this season include a wannabe crime fighter (Sean Astin), a court-martial of two Navy female sailors, a widow who tries to keep her late husband from being immortalized as a dancer in a human body exhibit, and someone who needs to prove he is a gay-homosexual to keep a softball trophy. Also showing up this season include Martin Mull, Ernie Hudson, Peter Weller, Danielle Panabaker, Tiffany Dupont, Shiri Appleby, and Chris Kline. Beau Bridges reprises his role as Jared’s father and we get to meet some other family members this season including Peter’s mom (Jane Seymour) and one of Infeld’s ex wives (Cybill Shephard). We even get introduced to a low rent version of Franklin and Bash: Jango and Rossi as portrayed by Seth Green and Eric Mabius.

Franklin and Bash airs Tuesdays at 10:00 on TNT. You can download Franklin & Bash on iTunes.

Previewing Burning Love

If I told you there was a series that reunited Veronica Mars vets Ken Marino, Kristen Bell, Ryan Hansen and also featured Ben Stiller, Michael Ian Black, Ken Jeong, and Adam Scott your first question will probably be what channel and when can I watch it. Good news is that you can watch the first episode of Burning Love right now by heading over to Yahoo’s comedy channel.

On Burning Love, Marino plays a firefighter who goes on The Bachelor style dating show to find love by dating twenty women at once with Black playing the host. The girls play all the clichés you have come to know (including plenty of grade school teachers and dental hygienists) and a few you will never see on the show, but would be hilarious if you did like a girl who does not what to be judged by her looks so she wears a bear costume (you will definitely recognize who is under the mask but it will be no fun if I spoiled you to who is it). Other girls out to woo Marino without a bear costume include Bell, Malin Akerman, Carla Gallo, and Sally Draper’s teacher that her dad nailed a couple seasons ago.

Even though I have not seen a second of The Bachelor or its many spinoffs the laughs are really universal and it is not only funnier than other The Bachelor parodies out there (Flavor of Love was a parody, not a real show, right?) but is funnier than any network comedy that aired in the past year. Thankfully the episodes are in the five to ten minute range so the jokes do not get old quick. New episodes are uploaded every Monday and Thursday at BurningLove.com (I am not sure how episodes there will end up being, but there were still about half the girls around by the fifth episode). If you are not sure about the first episode, at least stick with it until Marino takes the girls to a comedy club where Kristen Bell, who plays the religious one, has a drop the mic moment. Check out the trailer for Burning Love below:

Around the Tubes - 6/3/12

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 The Newsroom, The National History Bee, Ice Road Truckers, Cajan Pawn Stars, The Winner Is, Grimm, Veep, Miss USA, Taboo, Bill Bellamy, John Leguizamo, FEARnet, Peter Dinklage, Nurse Jackie, and Emmanuelle Chriqui.


- I think it is pretty clear that The Newsroom is the most anticipated show of the summer and arguable of all of 2012. HBO recently released a new promo and take a gander of it below:



- Tonight on History is The National History Bee hosted by Brian Unger and moderated by Al Roker for the very first telecast of the academic quiz.

- Later this weekend on History is the sixth season premiere of Ice Road Truckers at 9:00 on Sunday. Then on Monday there will be a sneak peek of the return of Cajun Pawn Stars at 10:30 before settling into its regular timeslot on Wednesday at 9:00.

- For those that still cannot get enough singing competitions, NBC recently announced another on: The Winner Is and it somehow sounds more confusing than The Voice. Here is how they describe it: The contestants will be judged by a special in-studio panel led by one celebrity judge (to be announced) as they compete for an ultimate cash prize of $1 million. In a unique twist, they will have the chance to negotiate a deal with their opponent. Before hearing their fate the contestants can choose to step out of the competition in exchange for a predetermined cash prize or continue on in the game.

- Coming to a DVD and/or Blu-Ray shelf (or Amazon) near you on 8/7 is the complete first season of Grimm. The set will come in limited edition packaging with exclusive Grimm collector cards and never before seen bonus material such as deleted scenes, Making Monsters featurette, an interactive creature guide (exclusive to the Blu-Ray) and more.



- The latest deleted scene from Veep was recently released, check it out below:



- The Miss USA pageant is this Sunday at 9:00 on NBC and the show will have more social components than ever before. You can even ask the final question via Twitter (#AskMissUsa). And of course there will be swimsuits.

- The new season of Taboo is set to hit the National Geographic Channel June 17 at 10:00 and the topics this season will include collecting murders’ memorabilia, the uncontrollable urge to one your own hair, binge drinking, teen sex, a man living without a face, an owner of 65,000 baloons, and a groom who kidnapped his bride to be.

- For those that wonder to themselves, whatever happened to Bill Bellamy, tune into Showtime Saturday at 8:00 to watch his latest comedy special Crazy, Sexy, Dirty.

- If that is not enough funny for you John Leguizamo’s one man show Ghetto Known will premiering July 13 on PBS at 9:00 (check your local listings).

- FEARnet has announced its June schedule and highlights include a Saw marathon on Father’s Day the 17th. Then on Thursday the 14th they will be presenting An Night with Bite featuring animal themed movies including The Werewolf (4:00), Bug (6:00), Red Water (8:00), Hyenas (10:00), and Boa at midnight.

- Sunday is the season finale of Game and Thrones and star of the show Peter Dinklage has already picked his next battle: saving animals. Peter, who has been a vegetarian since 16, is the national spokesman for Farm Sanctuary’s Walk for Farm Animals and filmed a new video to promote it and you can watch it over at walkforfarmanimals.org.

- This week Nurse Jackie was renewed for a fifth season by Showtime and it hired new showrunner Clyde Philips who most recently worked on Dexter. Production will begin later this year.

- Remember the seminal movie On the Line? Well the two stars of the film are finally reuniting. Emmanuelle Chriqui and Lance Bass are battling to see who can raise more money for their charities. If Emmanuelle wins, Lance will dress up as PooFu the dog (a costume he wore for one of his first jobs in Laurel, Mississippi) and Emmanuelle will walk him though LA's Runyon Canyon, the area's most popular hiking and dog walking spot. But if Lance wins, Emmanuelle will have to hit the stage and sing with Steel Panther at the House of Blues on Sunset Boulevard. For information, head over to power-of-2.org.