Best of the Week: 11/2/13

Quote of the Week: I would switch because I’m afraid I won’t do well in this duel because it’s a puzzle and I can’t even spell. But I would switch. (Kat Edorsson, Survivor: Blood vs. Water)

Song of the Week: Ghostbusters – Ray Parker Jr. (The Goldbergs)

Scene of the Week:


Big News of the Week: The Red Sox Win Another World Series: For the third time in a decade the Boston Red Sox with the face of the steroids scandal from their city winning the MVP. Wake me up when the asterisk era is finally over in Major League Baseball.

Preview Picture of the Week:

“John 8:32” Sons of Anarchy, Tuesday at 10:00 on FX

Free Download of the Week: 24 Hours – Sky Ferrera (iTunes)

Deal of the Week: 100 Albums for $5 Each: This month’s discounted albums include Johnny Cash, A Tribe Called Quest, Mazzy Star, and Passenger.


New Album Release of the Week: The Marshall Mathers LP2 - Eminem

New DVD Release of the Week: Mad Men: Season Six

Video of the Week: Sad day Wednesday when Kat was booted from Survivor. Sure I was prepared for it all week considering most of the Redemption challenges have been puzzles, and Kat cannot even spell let alone do a puzzle. It is a shame she did not make the merge to at the very least be part of the Jury because when she was voted out of One World was the single greatest Ponderosa episode ever in the history of the show. We did get Kat on the After Show and since it was Halloween, both Kat and host Parvoti Shallow dressed up like kats. Can they just make Kat the permanent co-host?


Next Week Pick of the Week: Once Upon a Time, Sunday at 8:00 on ABC: Considering mermaids showed up in the season premiere, it was only a matter of time before The Little Mermaid showed up (apparently I was wrong thinking that the mermaid they captured in the premiere was Ariel). But goodness the preview for next week looks bad, especially the poor Ursula CGI. At least it cannot be as boring as this week’s Captain Hook centric episode.

We Named the Dog Indiana

Last month apparently was Indiana Jones Month on CBS as episodes of The Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother centered on exploits of the greatest fake archaeologist ever. (Thankfully no one was forced to make homage to Kingdom of the Crystal Skull… yet.) That continues here as I inducted the original trilogy into the Scooter Hall of Fame. For men of a certain age, Harrison Ford is a god among men; the guy went from Han Solo to Indiana Jones. No one comes close to that two headed monster. The only person who comes close is Samuel L. Jackson but he was still a bit player in Star Wars and The Avengers.

Screw Amy Farrah Fowler and her silly logical takedown of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Who cares if the Nazi faces would have melted off even if Indiana Jones was not even in the film, it is the journey that matters. And what a journey it was. Indiana Jones was the first action movie I saw that was legitimately funny. There was not a one-liner Harrison Ford did not like to crew on and it was only equaled with his comical hatred of snakes (full disclosure notice: I have the same totally rational hatred of the creature). Armed with only a bull whip, Indiana Jones trotted across the globe on a race to find the rarest of artifacts before they fall into the wrong hands.

The second installment, The Temple of Doom got dark, like rip your beating heart out of your chest and you do not even die dark. The temple in question involved child slavery, black magic and ritual human sacrifice. That was even out by giving Indy a side kick Short Round (who had a nice one-two punch himself as his second movie he played Data in The Goonies but was rarely seen after that). The film also featured a very memorable mine cart chase that should have been made into a rollercoaster ride (at least one in America, there is one in Disneyland Paris).

As dark as the Temple of Doom was, they went the complete opposite route with the follow up The Last Crusade, no beating hearts being ripped, not even any melting Nazi faces. They even went so far away from the previous movie that they replaced the teenaged Short Round as the side kick with Indy’s elderly father (a very game Sean Connery). Though not as entertaining as the first two, it was entertaining to watch the two leads try to out grouch each other.

The less said about Kingdom of the Crystal Skull the better.

Around the Tubes: 10/31/13

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 True Detective, Time of Death, Ground Floor, HBO Boxing After Dark, Queen Gorya, American Masters, Against the Tide, Rickie Lee Jones, Marco Argiro, and Conan.

- HBO has released a new trailer for its highly anticipated upcoming series True Detective as well as a companion website: darknessbecomesyou.com. Check out the trailer below:


- The groundbreaking six-episode Showtime documentary series Time of Death will premiere tomorrow. It intimately follows the final days of a truly remarkable group of terminally ill people and how their imminent mortality affects their family and friends, sometimes in surprising ways, and the support their caregivers/healthcare workers provide while guiding them through the final stages of life. It’s an unforgettable, unflinchingly candid series and each unique, emotionally resonant story serves as a tangible, hopeful reminder of the finite nature of time and mortality. Check out a clip below:


- TBS is giving comedy fans the chance to preview the network's brand new original sitcom Ground Floor one week before the show's "Super-Sized" premiere on television. Starting Thursday, Nov. 7, viewers can watch the entire first episode of Ground Floor via the TBS website (tbs.com) or the Watch TBS apps for iOS and Android devices, as well as through participating TV providers' websites and apps. The episode will be available for viewing through Thursday, Nov. 14, when TBS will launch Ground Floor with two back-to-back episodes, starting at 10 p.m. (ET/PT). To view the sneak preview episode of TBS's Ground Floor, users must log in with their TV provider username and password.

- HBO’s hit late-night boxing franchise presents a twin bill of hard-hitting action highlighted by a red-hot middleweight title showdown when HBO Boxing After Dark: Gennady Golovkin vs. Curtis Stevens and Mike Perez vs. Magome Abdusalamov returns to The Theater at Madison Square Garden for an epic showdown airing Saturday, November 2 at 10:00 p.m. (live ET/tape-delayed PT) exclusively on HBO.

- Actress Haley Hudson, ("Weeds" "Ghost Whisperer") is launching a campaign to fund a pilot for a proposed TV series called Queen Gorya. Haley, who is best known for the hit films "Freaky Friday" and "Marley & Me," has joined with Canadian/Finnish actress Satu Runa to fund a horror-themed comedy series that recalls some of the characters of classic horror films. Graphic novel writer Andrew Harrison is executive producing the proposed pilot which would star Haley and Satu. Head over to Kickstarter to learn more and contribute.

- PBS and Thirteen's American Masters series present a special in memoriam broadcast of the 1998 documentary Lou Reed: Rock and Roll Heart beginning tomorrow at 10pm nationwide on PBS (check local listings).

- Did University of Alabama coach Paul “Bear” Bryant and University of Southern California coach John McKay purposefully schedule the first game of the 1970 season – the first time a fully integrated team had played in Alabama – as a statement against segregation? Or was it simply another game between two college football powerhouses whose coaches were close personal friends? What were Bryant’s and McKay’s motives for the last-minute addition of USC, a fully integrated team ranked by some as the No. 1 team in the country, to the 1970 Alabama schedule? SHOWTIME Sports® examines these questions in the film Against the Tide, a feature-length documentary from EMMY Award winning producer Ross Greenburg; premiering Friday, Nov. 15 at 10:00 on Showtime.

- Grammy-award winning Ricky Lee Jones will release a new record consisting of original material for the first time in 10 years. For the album, due next year, the legendary artist has chosen PledgeMusic's direct-to-fan platform rather than a traditional label release.

- Following a successful stint fronting Marky Ramone’s Blitzkrieg, The Killing Floor’s Marco Argiro stepped out solo with his September 2013 release Love. The title track's video takes a stand for the message, “All you need is love,” reinventing it for a new generation. Watch Love below:


- For the first time since his surprise appearance in March 2012 to announce the greenlighting of Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell) will once again appear on Conan. Burgundy, who surprised CONAN's audience with a skillfull jazz flute during that 2012 appearance, will sit down with Conan O'Brien for a much longer conversation on Thursday, Nov. 21.

I Want My Music Television: 10/30/13

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.


Reflektor - Arcade Fire


I have never been the biggest Arcade Fire fan (I do have a few songs on my library like Wake Up) because I find Win Butler’s voice a bit annoying and their new disco turn is probably not going to convert me. But those creepy masks would make for a good Halloween costume for those that need a last minute idea. Granted If I saw someone wearing one these tomorrow, I am running the other way.


All Of Me - John Legend


For his last music video, John Legend recruited a bunch of models to lay around naked. He probably saved a little more money this time around getting his Sports Illustrated bikini model wife to strip down for him.


All The Love You Got - Diane Birch


I am sure there is some deep symbolism in this Diane Birch video, white chick wearing black; black chick wearing white, but the meaning is really lost on me.


Back From The Dead - Skylar Grey featuring Big Sean & Travis Barker



Another symbolism heavy video, this time from Skylar grey, which is again lost on me. And I really wished people would stop trying to make Big Sean a thing.

Previewing Doomsday Preppers and Life Below Zero

This past weekend National Geographic Channel aired American Blackout, a fictional account of what may happen if terrorists attack out electrical grid. Of course the film featured a prepper and now their series Doomsday Preppers is returning for a new season. Unfortunately, neither preppers featured tonight, or even next week, features someone prepping for an inevitable attack on our electrical grid which seems more plausible than what a few of these people are prepping for.

First up tonight is Rodney who is actually prepping for something reasonable, a tsunami that could hit the Alaskan shoreline pretty hard. But of course the way he goes about it is off the deep end like buying an actual armored tank and sinking prepping supplies to the bottom where no one would think to look for them (unless of course they watched this episode). But the most entertaining part if his daughter who clearly has no desired to be filmed as not to be associated with these extreme views. We also get a bit of irony tonight visiting Curt who is prepping for an economic collapse, and despite the government’s best effort earlier this month, it is something that is still highly unlikely. Instead Curt, who lives in a densely wooded area of Oregon, should instead have spent his time and money prepping for a wildfire, which actually threatened his house while filming the episode.

But the real extremists show up next week. Fearing the atomic bomb dropped by our own government Chad has built an escape route via a fourteen-inch tube and the length of a football field to a bug-out vehicle. I am pretty sure one of his daughters blinked “Help me” in Morris Code. Also this season, you will meet people prepping for a domestic terrorist attack, someone who flees to Costa Rica to become more self reliant, a super tornado, a mega lightning storm, another one prepping for a financial catastrophe, and someone building booby-traps to protect his family in a Doomsday scenario.

After Doomsday Preppers, there is a new season of Life Below Zero. The show features six families in Alaska ranging from 122 south of the arctic circle all the way to 197 north of the circle; from the coastline to all the way inland near the Canadian border. This is the time of place where the inhabitants consider 40 degrees as crazy hot and the closest grocery store may be 500 miles away.

Doomsday Preppers airs Tuesdays at 9:00 on the National Geographic Channel followed by Life Below Zero. You can download Doomsday Preppers on iTunes.

The Voice Season 5 Battle Round Power Rankings

As we enter the third season of The Steal, they were one again hit or miss. I thought Juhi, Will, Monika, and Stephanie all deserved their Steals. The other four were really head-scratching. I was with Blake in that Cee-Lo should have stolen Barry Black, but then again Cee-Lo was the only one that ended up using both Steals wisely. Maybe had Blake not wasted both of his Steals on Knockout Round fodder, he would have had one to use himself on someone much more worthy like Barry. Donna Allen was the only other singer that we saw that stood out to me as Save-worthy. I did like Lupe Carroll’s Blind Audition so I do wish he would have gotten a Steal, or they should have at least shown him singing Africa which I am guessing had to be better than some of the Battles they actually showed. Oh well, here is my updated ranking of those that did move on to the Knockout Round.

1. Austin Jenckes (Team Blake): Every season there always is a Battle or two where it sound like less like a duet and more of a Motown group with a single lead singer, this was the case for this Battle where Austin was Smokey Robinson and Brian came off as one of the Miracles.

2. Caroline Pennell (Team Cee-Lo): When Cee-Lo said she had to sing Justin Beiber I feared for Caroline because Beiber (and teen pop in general) has been a curse to anyone who sings him because there is just a cheesiness to him and teen pop in general. But wow, Caroline took this corny pop song and found a beautiful darkness in it. I do not know who did the arrangement for the song, be it Caroline, Anthony, Cee-Lo, or the band, but kudos to them.

3. Holly Henry (Team Blake): I will not complain anymore about how and why Holly was montoged, I did enough of that yesterday. The five seconds we got to hear her sing Torn on the show were solid and the studio version is really good (click Holly’s name, or any contestant’s name, to buy it on iTunes). I did have to put Austin and Caroline above her because theirs were the only great Battle Round performances, but Holly’s performance of The Scientist remains the best performance so far this season.

4. Preston Pohl (Team Adam): Dude can sing MGMT, then follow that up with The Temptations, and he did them both justice. Make you wonder what else Preston has in his musical quiver.

5. Ray Boudreaux (Team Blake): There really is not much to Ray, but he is just clean and smooth and could be a dark horse when people start voting.

6. Destinee Quinn (Team Christina): Destinee has a glaring flaw during her Blind Audition with a lack of consistency. She definitely ironed that out by her, if her future performances are as good as her Battle Round performance, she could end up as Christina’s last person standing.

7. Jacquie Lee (Team Christina): When Jacquie started out, I could not help but think to last season when Amy Whitcomb sang the song and Blake said (badly paraphrasing because I am too lazy to get the direct quote), “The song ended a whole lot better than it started.” It was a rough start and it seemed like House of the Rising Sun is just a very hard song to start (especially for the ladies that cannot reach the bottom as well as Eric Burdon can) and it looks like Jacquie drew the short straw have to start off the song. But like Amy, Jacquie ended the song a lot better than it started. Briana may have been more consistent, but Jacquie at her best was definitely better than Briana at her best during the song.

8. Matthew Schuler (Team Christina): A silly song choice, but I would take it over the well worn songs that many of the coaches forced on their singers.

9. Olivia Henken (Team Christina): Well that was fun. I found her audition a little too mediocre Carrie-oke, but Done. was much more entertaining. Hopefully she sticks to more fun upbeat songs otherwise I give the edge to Destinee for Christina’s token absurdly attractive country singer.

10. Monika Leigh (Team Cee-Lo Cee-Lo): I was a little surprised that Blake paired Monika and Ray together, more than any other coach, Blake pairs his favorites with ones he is ready to dump. I thought bother were destined to at least make it to the Knockout Rounds on his team, if not the Live Shows. This ended up being Blake’s best Battle (granted half of his were montaged) and though Ray was slightly better, Monika got one of the few well deserved saved this season.

11. Juhi (Team Cee-Lo Adam): I was ready for Juhi to leave the show after her screeching during the rehearsal, but by the time she hit the stage, she was much better and definitely deserved to win her battle. She does need a little more fine tuning and I definitely trust Adam to do that better than Cee-Lo. So how the battle ended may be the best for her in the long run. I also have to say I have long thought that Twitter was the internet for stupid people. That thawed a little when Prince joined the site and it thawed a little more when Juhi tweeted this after her Battle:

@CeeLoGreen And although there's pain in my chest I still wish you the best! I'm like Forget you <3
— Juhi (@Juhix3) October 22, 2013

12. Cole Vosbury (Team Cee-Lo): I am having trouble to believe that the dude who sang The Theme to the Jefferson’s in the Blind Auditions and then sang Toto’s Africa was any worse than half of the Battles we had to sit through this season.

13. Jonny Gray (Team Cee-Lo): After his Blind Audition, I was hoping Cee-Lo would find a great song that suited him, and a little Tom Petty did the trick.

14. Will Champlin (Team Adam Christina): The most evenly matched Battle this season, maybe ever. I would have given the slight edge to Will because he has a little more something to his voice…

15. James Wolpert (Team Adam): …where James’s voice, though good, can be as bland as his look. If he is going to rock the accountant look, hopefully he just embarrasses the look and starts singing some Weezer, Ben Folds, or Barenaked Ladies.

16. Grey (Team Adam): Kind of the female version of Ray, it is hard to pinpoint what is good about her voice other it is the kind of voice you can sit back and soak in. But after two bland pop songs, I do hope she does something a little more interesting in the Knockout Round.

17. Stephanie Anne Johnson (Team Christina Cee-Lo): Every Blind Auditions there are a couple contestants who have to choose between two or more coaches and after they pick, I sit that and shake my head thinking they should have went with the other one. Then inevitably they are paired with someone during the Battles who the coach likes much better to the point they give them a song that is much more suited to the other singer and once again I shake my head thinking, you really should have picked that other coach. Stephanie was on of those contents who thought would have been much better off choosing Cee-Lo over Christina. Luckily for Stephanie, she eventually found her way to Cee-Lo’s team.

18. Briana Cuoco (Team Christina Blake): Wins the award for most improved. Although for someone whose reasoning for going with Blake because he won three straight year, I would think someone who knows the show this well would know Blake only uses his Steals as fodder I the next round. Lucky for Briana, the show has added a Steal to the Knockout Rounds. So maybe she may find her way back to Team Christina because I would be shocked if she made it to the Live Shows with Blake.

19. Amber Nicole (Team Christina): There is always a montage contestant that wins a Battle or two every season, but Amber winning was still a bit shocking because I thought the producers were setting up Timya as one of the frontrunners this season and not only did she lose, she did not get a Steal. But Amber definitely deserved to win this Battle.

20. Tamara Chauniece (Team Cee-Lo): Montage win. Yawn.

21. Lina Gaudenzi (Team Christina Adam): Lina was all over the place during her Blind Audition, she was a bit better this round, but I am not sure it was worth a steal.

22. Shelbie Z. (Team Blake): For the first three seasons, Blake only took one country artist to the Live Rounds, and only one of them advanced one round when they got there. Last season there were five country singers better than any of those in the first three seasons including Savannah Berry who did not even make the Live Shows. Shelbie reminds me of those in the first three seasons who will likely be one round and done unless Blake saves her. I would even venture to say one of Christina’s country singers may actually go further.

23. James Irwin (Team Adam): Maybe the second most even Battle of the season, but I could not help but thinking who ever won would end up being Knockout Round fodder on Adam’s team.

24. Tessanne Chin (Team Adam): I liked her Battle Round performance more than her Blind Audition, but her beating Donna was one of the most egregious decisions of the round.

25. Kat Robichaud (Team Cee-Lo): During the Blind Auditions, I feared that with Cee-Lo Kat would easily go over the top with her performances and that came to fruition with a cringeworthy performance of the severely overused karaoke staple I Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing. I could not help thinking during the performance that the montages could not have been as bad as this. Seriously, they skipped of Africa for this performance?

26. Ashley DuBose (Team Adam): You have to wonder just how bad a performance of a song that featured not one but two coaches had to be to get the montage treatment. And judging by Adam’s stinkface when Ashley told him what she will be singing in the Knockout Rounds, she will probably not make the Live Shows without a Steal.

27. Anthony Paul (Team Cee-Lo Christina): I am not entirely sure what Christina saw in this guy, when I think back to his Battle, my only memories are of Caroline who just dominated the song.

28. Josh Logan (Team Christina): During his Blind Audition, Josh sounded a lot like Alex Clare, and during the Battle Rounds it sounded like he was trying to sound like Adam Levine too, but this time around he failed massively. I really have no interest in listening to copy cats. Michael not winning this battle was the second biggest mistake made by any coach made this round.

29. E.G. Daily (Team Blake): Montage win. Yawn.

30. Brandon Chase (Team Blake): Montage win. Yawn.

31. George Horga Jr. (Team Cee-Lo): It is really never a good sign when half the coaches spend most of their time talking about a bum note (that first “Best I ever had” was really bad) and after you are gone the other three coaches talk about how shocked they were when you were picked. Cee-Lo has made some of the dumbest decision on the show and nothing will probably ever beat Erin Martin over The Sheilds Brothers, but this may very well be number two.

32. Nic Hawk (Team Adam Blake): One of the most entertaining people this season, but his voice is just too musical theater for a singing competition. Blake likes to waste his Steals on Knockout Round fodder, but Nic was the most unworthy Steal in the series history.

Now it is time to see who has the strongest team coming out of the Battle Rounds (going in I had Cee-Lo followed by Adam, Christina, and Blake pulling up the rear). I gave the person last one point and firs 32 points and added the points up by teams and here is how they stack up:

Christina – 146
Cee-Lo – 134
Blake – 124
Adam – 124

So Christina leapfrogs Adam and Cee-Lo while Adam sinks all the way to last. But who cares what I think, here is how high each singer reached during the Battle Round (I also included any Blind Auditions italics that made the charts over the past two weeks to give you a sense about who the iTunes population is most enthusiastic about). Those that are not on this list did not make the top 1500 Overall chart (at least i never saw them on it).

1. Caroline Pennell (35)
2. Jacquie Lee (77)
3. Preston Pohl (77)
4. Preston Pohl – Electric Feel (113)
5. Briana Cuoco (218)
6. Holly Henry – The Scientist (257)
7. Destinee Quinn (261)
8. Austin Jenckes (271)
9. Holly Henry (272)
10. Caroline Pennell – Anything Can Happen (273)
11. Juhi (280)
12. Jonny Grey (293)
13. James Wolpert – Love Interrupted (312)
14. Tessanne Chin (324)
15. Matthew Schuler (330)
16. James Irwin (336)
17. Amber Nicole (362)
18. Will Champlin (386)
19. James Wolpert (404)
20. Josh Logan (407)
21. George Horga Jr. (492)
22. Matthew Schuler – Cough Syrup (538)
23. Lina Gaudenzi (539)
24. Grey (569)
25. Jacquie Lee – Back to Black (589)
26. Anthony Paul (620)
27. Ray Boudreaux (628)
28. Shelbie Z. (665)
29. Olivia Henken (687)
30. Jonny Grey – All These Things I’ve Done (942)
31. Tessanne Chin – Try (1050)
32. Kat Robichaud (1090)
33. Cole Vosbury (1295)
34. Austin Jenckes – Simple Man (1346)
35. Brandon Chase (1417)
36. Nic Hawk (1418)

What is striking about this list is that three montaged contestants actually made this list (Holly, Cole and Brandon) and charted higher than three that had their full performance aired (Nic, Monika, and Stephanie). Holly alone did better than 20 other contestants that were show in their entirety. Here is how the teams shake out based on iTunes using the same methodology above:

Adam – 213
Christina – 189
Blake – 145
Cee-Lo – 120

Adam is on the top of the list followed by Christina, it helps when they had one montage Battle between them. If you are counting both the Blinds and Battles, Blake’s contestants were montaged five times, Cee-Lo four times, Christina twice, and only one for Adam. Then Adam’s contestants closed out four episodes, Christina twice, Blake once, and Cee-Lo only once, and that was the final Blind Audition. Gee, I wonder who the producers want to win. Keep in mind aside from winning the first season neither Adam or Christina finished better than third, and if there were no team quotas back in season two, they may not have finished that high. Clearly the producers have their favorites but if you want to know who the real front runners are when the Live Rounds starts, here is how the contestants rank if you average how high each of their songs charted during both rounds.

1. Preston Pohl (49)
2. Caroline Pennell (112.5)
3. Holly Henry (147.5)
4. Matthew Schuler (204.5)
5. James Wolpert (264)
6. Tessanne Chin (271.5)
7. Jonny Grey (277.5)
8. Austin Jenckes (290.5)
9. Jacquie Lee (297)
10. Will Champlin (358)
11. James Irwin (410)
12. Destinee Quinn (450)
13. Josh Logan (436.5)
14. Ray Boudreaux (489)
15. Grey (542)
16. Briana Cuoco (604.5)
17. Lina Gaudenzi (709.5)
18. Juhi (826)
19. Olivia Henken (847.5)
20. Brandon Chase (884.5)
21. Shelbie Z. (989)
22. Nic Hawk (1024.5)
23. Cole Vosbury (1191)

Despite being montage, Holly, is sitting at number three. It makes me wonder just how high she could have gotten if they showed more than five seconds of her singing. As I write this Preston and Holly are the only two that still have both of their songs in the top 1500, so those are your two front runners right now. Then really any of those in the top nine on this list I think have a chance of winning (interestingly enough, the top nine is evenly divided between the four teams with Adam getting the extra singer). Outside the top nine, I think Ray and whichever of Christina token absurdly attractive country singer makes it to the Live Shows could be dark horses. Everyone else I would put their chance of winning somewhere between slim and none. I do know the token absurdly attractive country singers are facing off in the Knockout Round because Entertainment Weekly released all the pairing. Here are who will be going against each other with who I think will win listed first and with the ones I am most confident listed in order of confidence.

Team Adam
Preston Pohl vs. Lina Gaudenzi
Tessanne Chin vs. Ashley Dubose
James Wolpert vs. Juhi
Grey vs. James Irwin

Team Blake
Holly Henry vs. Nic Hawk
Shelbie Z. vs. Briana Cuoco
Austin Jenckes vs. Brandon Chase
Ray Boudreaux vs. E.G. Daily

Team Cee-Lo
Jonny Grey vs. Cole Vosbury
Kat Robichaud vs. Monika Leigh
Caroline Pennell vs. George Horga Jr.
Stephanie Anne Johnson vs. Tamara Chauniece

Team Christina
Matthew Schuler vs. Will Champlin
Jacquie Lee vs. Anthony Paul
Josh Logan vs. Amber Nicole
Olivia Henken vs. Destinee Quinn

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 10/27/13

Once Upon a Time: Wow, these characters are stupid. You do not need Bellfire to crack the star map code: everybody knows the way to leave Neverland is take the second star to the right and go straight on ‘till morning. Now the hard part will be getting your hands on some fairy dust.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Once Upon a Time on iTunes.

Homeland: They could have easily had written out the Brody family after last season, and I am sure most viewers hoped for it, but I thought the writers had a real opportunity to look at the effects of the family left behind after learning their father and husband turned out to be a national pariah. Instead they just had Dana start up a crazy love affair with someone who may be a fratricidal murderer. I also figured that Carrie would eventually find her way back to the CIA by being a double agent against whoever the shady lawyer represented, but I would have never guessed that it was the plan from the start by Saul and Carrie.

The Walking Dead: You would think that if people know that everyone is already infected and you are living with old people that can kick it in the middle of the night, you would take more precautions to keep that from happening. Sure it would make for a less interesting show, but if I am living in a prison during a zombie apocalypse I would not be content with a sheet as a door, I would at the very least shut the door while I am sleeping or if there is a shortage of keys at the very least put some sort of noisemaker on the sheet if someone tries to stalk in at night.

We do get two mysteries during the episode, who is feeding the zombies rats at the gates, is it someone nefarious or one of the stupid kids feeling sorry for them? Then who is the person who lit the infected people on fire? Could it be the same person? I am guessing not as it seems the rat person may be a double agent for The Governor why the firestarter is just a concern, overzealous, health freak.
You can download The Walking Dead on iTunes.

Revenge: So who tried to Conrad is going to be an actual mystery complete with a silly hashtag. Alrightly. I did not give much thought to it after it was revealed that the brakes were messed with. So I guess I should guess who did it: Victoria’s other son.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Revenge on iTunes.

Masters of Sex: It may get a little weird seeing Tinkerbell on Once Upon a Time and then an hour later seeing her sans her fairy costume an hour later. But anyway.

The Voice: I am a hug fan of montages, there are plenty of performances I sit through that I wished were montage. Except this season not only was number one on my Power Rankings, Holly Henry, was montage, so number two, Cole Vosbury. I really have a hard time believing that either of their battles was possibly worse than the Kat vs. R. Anthony Battle. What made things worse there were a couple of Battles that featured Steals that would have been montaged. Did anyone really need to sit through Grey vs. Nic even if there was a Steal involved? Blake's Steal of Nic was already the worst use of a Steal when it happened, and looked even worse when three montaged contestants, Holly, Cole, Brandon Chase, all charted higher than Nic.

I do sometime wonder if The Voice even knows who their audience is. Holly was one of only two contestants to make the top 25 on iTunes for their Blind Audition (only one other person made the top 100, and three more made the top 200). And yet everyone who bought her song had to wait a full month from her audition to see she got montaged on the final episode of the Blind Auditions. It says something that the montage segment has the second most views from Battles this week currently on YouTube (and the one video with more views was from Monday which was on the internet a full 24 hours longer) while Holly and Cilla’s After the Battle video of all the Battles, even the ones from the first week and doubling all but one other video. Holly's version of Torn even made the top 100 on the iTunes pop charts, higher than all but four other Battles this season. The Voice has been spending a lot of footage this season on Tessanne Chin, Kat Robichaud, and Matthew Schuler this season, but I am willing to bet Holly, Austin Jenckes, and Preston Pohl will get a lot more votes starting next week.

The unknowing of the audience of the show extends to the coaches when you had multiple awkward situations this week where the people that got stolen actually outsold the winning. In the last two seasons of Steals, that only happened once that I am aware of when Caroline Glaser charted higher than Danielle Bradbery by only a couple spot. Again Will Champlin just barely outsold James Wolpert. But then there is Juhi who charted over 200 spots higher than George Horga Jr.

Speaking of the Juhi vs. George battle, there have been plenty of stupid reasonings as to why a coach picked someone. Blake’s I am going to stick with what I know during his country or bust plan last season being one of the dumbest. But that was overtaken this season by Cee-Lo reason why he picked George, who was so unmemorable that I originally thought his Blind Audition was montage and then he went on to hit the worst note of the season, over “Baby Einstein” Juhi because he knew this was what he was doing while Juhi was also contemplating college. Seriously Cee-Lo, do not give that boy any false hope, pull that band aid off now because music is probably not going to be George’s best option especially if you are just going to dump him in the Knockout Round. That was the second worse decision Cee-Lo has ever made on the show just behind Erin Martin over the Shields Brothers.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download songs performed this week with the widget at right.


How I Met Your Mother: Does CBS own Indiana Jones stock or something? Two weeks ago The Big Bang Theory focused an entire episode around Raiders of the Lost Ark. Now How I Met Your Mother built their episode around a scene from The Last Crusade. I assume that 2 Broke Girls will spend an episode calling Han Short Round to check off The Temple of Doom. I wonder which CBS sitcom will be stuck doing homage to Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Hopefully it was We Are Men and since it was canceled it will never see the light of day. No one needs to be reminded of Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
You can stream recent episodes over at cbs.com. You can also download How I Met Your Mother on iTunes.

The Blacklist: Really, that is where they are going to end the episode? Right when Lizzie’s husband shows her his shoe box of goodies? I hate when show like this. The only thing worse is when they do not start the very next episode where they left off and do not explain what happened until the middle or end of the next episode. I am guessing that, as I theorize when Lizzie first discovered it, that the box was planted there by Red (or maybe even those watching them) just to mess with her. If husband really is a double agent, why not bolt town after he realizes he has been made? Or at the very least kill wifey and make it look like an accident, why confront her?
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download The Blacklist on iTunes.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: One thing really missing from the show (aside from good acting; at least they got the Token Hot Chick into her underwear this episode) is a long term antagonist. I was happy to see the evil doctor back thinking she may be it. Except she quickly died. Maybe the girl in the flower dress will become that. Unless of course she dies in the next episode she appears in.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on iTunes.

Pretty Little Liars: I have predicted it from the beginning, and we finally got actual visual confirmation, no dream sequences, no speculation, that Allison is actually alive. Now why is Ezra trying to kill her? And how did he get Mona, CeCe, and the rest of The “A” Team to carry out his evil doings? And why don’t these teenage girls ever go to the police when people are trying to harm them? And why doesn’t Hanna wear a corset every episode?

Ravenswood: I actually liked the set up of the show during Pretty Little Liars, but by the time the show premiered, I got bored really quick. It may have been a better idea just to give Caleb a Ravenswood storyline in Pretty Little Liars as opposed to giving him his own show. Or maybe they could have transitioned a little better by having a Liar or two stick around a couple minutes, especially Hanna in that costume. I am one hundred percent pro corset after seeing Hanna in that dress. I am still a little confused with what the show is about. So every time a solder comes home from war in Ravenswood, five teenagers die, and all happen to look exactly like the teenagers who died previously? Huh? After that ending, if it was not for the “next week on” package, I thought Ravenswood might have been a one episode special and not an actual series.

Sons of Anarchy: So that is Tara’s master plan? Fake a pregnancy then try to get Gemma to make you miscarry, and when she does not, panic and do it yourself? Alrighty. Seems a little convoluted and evil genius from a Bond overthinking to me.
You can download Sons of Anarchy on iTunes.

Survivor: Blood vs. Water: Oh Kat, the first time you strategize in two seasons and it fails miserably. I really hope Redemption Island does not have any more puzzles so Kat has a chance of getting back in the game (granted does sorting numbers twenty at a time even quaify as a puzzle?). Either that or Hayden falls on the sword and takes her place.
You can stream recent episodes on cbs.com. You can also download Survivor: Blood vs. Water on iTunes.

Nashville: I was hoping that Layla was really going to turn out to be the oh shucks girl they introduced her as because I thought that would be the best foil for Juilette. But apparently she is undermining. I did not even realize what she did to Scarlett until Will called her out for it. If anything I thought Layla was taking pot shots at Danielle Bradbury, the most recent winner of The Voice.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Nashville on iTunes.

Once Upon a Time: Wonderland: Anastasia turning out to be the Red Queen was one of the easiest "plot twists" to spot ever. I saw thatcoming as soon as they showed just part of her back in bed. But I kind of want to see a show where Anastasia turns into the Red Queen, that would be a much more interesting show than the one they made.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Once Upon a Time in Wonderland on iTunes.

Parenthood: Let’s be honest, the beginning of this season has been mostly a bore. It did pick up a bit this week as Kristina’s conversation with Hank and drunk Joel were entertaining. But I do wonder if the dip in quality this season is linked to Camille’s new cat face which is really distracking. Seriously old people, just age gracefully, it is much better to look old than look like an alien.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Parenthood on iTunes.