Big News of the Week: A Melancholy Happy Trails to Roger Ebert: Every critic of every medium, amateur of pro, holds Roger Ebert in high regard. For people of my generation, there was a good chance that he, along with his partner Gene Siskel, were the first critics we ever saw growing up. And they made it look so easy, when it came to it, a movie was given a thumbs up or a thumbs down, no shades of grey (well the thumbs would go way up or down occasionally) or extremely specific grades like Pitchfork’s decimal system. But his actual reviews were anything but simple, it was clear he really loved watching movies and never got tired of it, giving critiques right up to the end.
Preview Picture of the Week:
Archer "Sea Tunt Part 2" featuring Jon Hamm, Thursday at 10:00 on FX
Free Download of the Week: Hurricane – Charles Bradley (iTunes)
Deal of the Week: Great Albums On Sale for $3.99 or Less: Get albums on the cheap from A Tribe Called Quest, Ray Lamontange, Rage Against the Machine covers, and Bill Withers Greatest Hits.
New Album Release of the Week: Paramore - Paramore
Video of the Week: Ever want to see Ryan Gosling pull somebody on the floor by their teeth? Get you tickets for Only God Forgives now. Or just watch the red band trailer.
Next Week Pick of the Week: Mad Men, Sunday (Tomorrow) at 9:00 on AMC: When we last saw Don Draper, a young lady asked him if he was alone before the season faded to black with Don looking into the camera. We did not get to see the answer which meant Don managed to make it through an entire season without committing adultery (unless the fever dream where he killed his former conquest was not actually a dream like I theorized). Elsewhere Peggy left Sterling Cooper Draper Price, as well as Lane who left in a completely different circumstance. But he did get to punch Pete Campbell, who got a love shack in the city, before leaving this mortal coil. And Roger Sterling discovered LSD. In true Mad Men fashion, we know absolutely nothing going into season because creator Matthew Weiner like secrecy as much as forcing his son into his show.
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 50 Children: The Rescue of Mr. and Mrs. Kraus, Counting Cars, Being Human, Esquire Network, The King’s Skeleton: Richard III Revealed, Going Blind, Cycling High: Doping to Win, Nine Days, Lyfe Jennings, Mad Men, Conan, and Siempre Mujer.
- HBO will be premiering its latest documentary Monday at 9:00 50 Children: The Rescue of Mr. and Mrs. Kraus which tells the dramatic, previously untold story of Gilbert and Eleanor Kraus, a Jewish couple from Philadelphia who followed their conscience, traveling to Nazi-controlled Vienna in spring 1939 to save a group of children. Amidst the impending horrors of the Holocaust, they put themselves in harm’s way to bring what would become the single largest-known group of children allowed into the US during that time. Check out the trailer below:
- The second season of Counting Cars returns to History Tuesday at 9:00. This season, the heat is on as the boys buy, trick out and re-sell classic cars, bikes and more. Danny’s love for cars and his eccentric personality are on full display this season as he works with people from all walks of life – from Ziggy Marley to a custom car for our troops. Check out a preview below:
- Stephen Sondheim, Liza Minnelli, Angela Lansbury, Christine Ebersole and other great stars of American music and musical theatre share the spotlight with the country’s most passionate music preservationist as Michael Feinstein’s American Songbook returns to PBS for a new star-studded, three-part season tonight at 9:00.
- Monday is the season finale of Being Human on Syfy and here is a preview to hold you over until then:
- Later this month, G4 is turning into the Esquire Network and the new channel has some new shows already lined up including The Getaway: “Anyone can be a tourist, But to experience a city like a local? That takes a great guide. Created by executive producer Anthony Bourdain, The Getaway explores the world's most amazing cities, guided by a revolving cast of travel-loving celebrities. Honk Kong with Aziz Ansari. Belfast with Joel McHale. Paris with Aisha Tyler. And that's just the first leg of this worldwide adventure.” And on Tuesday April 23, new cooking show Knife Fight is premiering at 9:00. Here is an extrended first look:
- Smithsonian Channel has secured the exclusive North American program rights to tell the inside story of the astonishing discovery of Richard III’s remains, recently found just a few feet under a parking lot in central England. Considered one of the great villains of history, the notorious king of England’s gravesite was a mystery for more than 500 years, until the unearthing of his remains made international news when revealed in February. The King’s Skeleton: Richard III Revealed is produced by the only team allowed access to the scientists, the archaeological dig, and the scientific tests to determine the skeleton’s identity, which were carried out in complete secrecy. The new two-hour special will premiere on Smithsonian Channel on Sunday, April 21 at 9.
- Going Blind is a unique documentary about sight loss and low vision issues told through the personal story of Joe Lovett, a Peabody Award winning director and journalist who discovered he has glaucoma, a disease which robs 4.5 million people of their vision worldwide. It will be available in most of the country on Public Television World channels. A complete list of stations airing the film can be found at: goingblindmovie.com.
- Profiling one of sports’ most high profile scandals that created a media frenzy, National Geographic Channel, along with Peacock Productions, dissects the story of the science and scheming behind the saga of what’s been called “the most sophisticated and successful doping scheme in all of sports.” Premiering on NGC on Sunday, April 21 at 7:00, Cycling High: Doping to Win documents Lance Armstrong's epic fall from grace, using infographics, re-creations, archival footage and new interviews.
- Long Island, NY's own Nine Days, best known for their smash hit song Absolutely (Story of a Girl) which hit #1 and topped the radio charts back in the year 2000, has just announced that the five original members of the band who performed on their classic Gold sales certified album "The Madding Crowd" (Epic) have reunited to play a string of East Coast dates this Spring and Summer 2013. The band has also been working on songs for a new album which is set to be recorded in Nashville, TN this Summer and is scheduled for a Fall release. For more information on ninedays please visit ninedaysmusic.com.
- Want to name Lyfe Jennings upcoming summer album? Follow him on Twitter and tweet him your title suggestions. One lucky winner will have the chance to meet Lyfe and hangout at an upcoming concert.
- In renewal news, Conan has been extended by TBS through 2015.
- The April issue of Siempre Mujer (on stands April 10) contains a candid conversation with Natalie Morales about motherhood, her path to journalism, and the importance of her Latin roots.
The first season of Men at Work did not win any awards, get any critical acclaim, or create a rabid fan base, but I have to admit, I did laugh occasionally during some of the episodes I watched. Even more so then some award winning, critically acclaimed comedies with rabid fan bases. It reminded me of the sitcom I grew up with which put the situation in sitcom. Sure it seemed a little silly to set a modern day television show in a magazine office, but shouldn’t sitcoms be silly?
There are no major changes going into the new season except Peri Gilpin (Frasier) has been brought in as the magazine’s new editor, but her presence is not felt that much after she is hired. Other guests who pop up this season include Seth Green as a homeless nemesis for Milo, Jason Lee as an annoying office mate, whle J.K. Simmons reprises his role as the magazine owner and father Neal’s girlfriend Amy.
Some of the other situations the boys get themselves into include Milo trying to scam a girlfriend with a misleading online personal ad. Tyler dates a single mom, but ends up bonding with her ex-husband. But the best episode of the season, which I believe is also the season finale (assuming there are only ten episodes this season), involves two wedding, moonshine, and Zach Morris.
Men at Work airs Thursdays at 10:00 on TBS. You can download Men at Work on iTunes. Check out a preview of the second season below:
In this month’s induction into the Scooter Hall of Fame, I only talked about “Weird Al” Yankovic’s parodies and the polka because many of his originals are pretty forgettable. But there are a few good ones like You Don’t Love Me Anymore about a a boyfriend that just not get a clue that his girlfriend does not want to date him anymore (making fun of break up songs is a Al specialty because One More Minute is his second best original). But for the video, Al does get to parody one of the bigger videos of the time, Extreme’s More Than Words which features the janitor from Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit video (and Al’s parody Smells Like Nirvana). So if you only know “Weird Al” for his parodies, you should check out some of his originals too.
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.
A couple weeks ago on Community, Chang Kevin revealed some Memento-style tattoos which made me wonder why the show never did a full Memento homage, telling a story backwards. Really no one has tried the telling a story in reverse until the Yeah Yeah Yeahs latest music video. You would think it would be more popular type of storytelling than it is. On a side note, Lily Cole should be a bigger star than she is.
When watching their comeback video, I was thinking to myself, I really wonder how Fall Out Boy got in the back of that van, well now I know. Okay, I did not really care. And how do you do a prequel without 2 Chainz?
Rilo Kiley recently went on hiatus, possibly a permanent one depending on which member you ask and when you ask it, but if this is the end, the band is cleaning out their vaults for a album full of rarities including this catchy track which is good enough that it could have made one of their proper albums.
There are fewer artists with better timing than "Weird Al" Yankovic. A novelty act who made funny parodies about food. His first album was quality entertainment by lampooning the likes of The Knack and even landed him a couple minor hits. But instead of becoming a musical footnote like the guys who sang My Sharona, his second album launched at a time when two cultural phenomenons collided, and he benefited from both. In 1984 MTV finally started airing music videos by black artist, most notably Michael Jackson whose video took him from being that cute kids from the Jackson 5 to the biggest act in music since The Beatles.
Enter “Weird Al” Yankovic to who took Jackson’s Beat It and, like My Sharona before it, turn it into an anthem about food. It was catchy as the original, but what made Al a household name was the accompanying music video with Al visiting the same tropes that Michael did in his video, ending up at the same West Side Story knife fight at the end, but all down with a Weird bent and rubber chickens. It became a template for Al where the video was almost important as the parody itself.
The only other music video Al made from "Weird Al" Yankovic In 3-D, this month's induction into the Scooter Hall of Fame, was almost as entertaining and is now underrated compared to the others that came afterward. Based on his other love. television (the album also featured an ode to The Brady Bunch to the tune of Safety Dance), I Lost on Jeopardy is set to the Greg Kihn song about boring love and turned into a song about the worst contestant ever in the history of game show, a contestant so bad, he did not even get take the Home Game with him. For the video, Al even wrangled Art Fleming, the original host, Don Pardo and Kihn himself. I have no proof to this claim, but I would like to believe it was this song that led to the Alex Trebeck reboot of the game show.
In 3-D was also notable for being the first album that featured the now routine polka where Al broke out his accordion to sing a medley of song from the sixties and seventies classic from Devo to Iron Butterfly. Had there been another video made from the video, it most likely would had been for The Theme of Rocky XIII, naturally a parody of Eye of the Tiger (theme to the third movie), it is a shame that he did not dust the song off for his movie UHF and the song gets only more relevant as Sylvester Stallone inches closer to his thirteenth installment of his franchise. Being such a fan of The Police, King of Suede (a parody of King of Pain) and always been one of my favorite in Al’s catalogue. It is weir to thing that “Weird Al” Yankovic first released his first song thirty-five years ago next year. Hopefully we do not have to wait until then to hear what food will inspire his parody of Call Me Maybe.
: Get albums on the cheap from A Tribe Called Quest, Ray Lamontange, Rage Against the Machine covers, and Bill Withers Greatest Hits.
- Paramore
-style tattoos which made me wonder why the show never did a full Memento homage, telling a story backwards. Really no one has tried the telling a story in reverse until the 
and the song gets only more relevant as Sylvester Stallone inches closer to his thirteenth installment of his franchise. Being such a fan of