Previewing Aloha Vet

If you like any of Nat Geo Wild's veterinarian show, you will want to check out its latest Aloha Vet. As the title suggest, this show takes place in Hawaii and you guessed it with the exotic location there are going to be some exotic patrons to the vet's office. Dr. Scott Sims treats both domestic and wild animals and has no problem making house calls be it by riding a horse, scuba diving, or even flying his own plane.

As Nat Geo Wild describes the show:Island hop with one of Hawaii's best known veterinarians Dr. Scott Sims, as he treats animals on the go. Unlike most vets, Dr. Sims sees animals both wild and domestic, large and small, and he's known to o whatever it takes to give them the care they need. He even built his own private plane to go on house calls.

A true adventurer, he'll perform procedures on beaches, mountaintops, near waterfalls, and even on the tailgate of a truck. Watch Dr. Sims rescue a sea turtle in a fishing line, save an unconscious horse stuck in a riverbed and bring sight back to a pig blinded for years. Don't miss Aloha Vet as he ventures across the rural islands of Hawaii, doing whatever it takes to help all creatures great and small.

Aloha Vet airs Saturdays at 9:00 on Nat Geo Wild.

Around the Tubes: 3/20/15

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 Blues Traveler, Backstrom, Idiotest, It Takes a Church, Deep Web, StarTalk, CPO Sharkey, Broadchurch, Loaded, and VH1 Save The Music Foundation.

- The legendary, Grammy-winning Blues Traveler have just finished recording a highly anticipated new album via Loud & Proud Records, and have turned to direct-to-fan platform PledgeMusic to allow fans to pre-order and interact with the band leading up to the album release. A clever collaboration between various artists, Blow Up The Moon sees Blues Traveler keep an open-minded perspective on making music and enlists an eclectic mix of songwriters. For Blow Up the Moon, featuring "Castaway", the first track premiered, the band collaborated with respected musicians such as Thompson Square, Plain White T's, 3OH!3, Hanson, Jewel, Secondhand Serenade, Dirty Heads & Rome Ramirez (Sublime), JC Chasez (*NSYNC), Bowling for Soup, New Hollow and Thomas Ian Nicholas. Plain White T's, Secondhand Serenade, Thomas Ian Nicholas and Bowling for Soup have also used PledgeMusic to release their music.

- This Saturday, March 21 from 11pm – 2am FX will air the first three episodes of FOX’s new crime series Backstrom. Backstrom stars Rainn Wilson as Det. Lt. Everett Backstrom; Genevieve Angelson as Det. Nicole Gravely; Dennis Haysbert as Det. Sgt. John Almond; Kristoffer Polaha as Sgt. Peter Niedermayer; Page Kennedy as Officer Frank Moto; Beatrice Rosen as Nadia Paquet; Thomas Dekker as Gregory Valentine.

- GSN is dishing out the laughs and plenty of April Fool’s-themed fun for the Season 2 premiere of hit game show Idiotest, on Wednesday, April 1 at 8:00. Comedian Ben Gleib (“Chelsea Lately”) returns as the wildly witty host dishing out even tougher brainteasers to contestants competing for a $10,000 cash prize. Gleib will also play an integral role in the season two premiere which will feature some April Fool’s-related stunts being kept under wraps. The remainder of the season will feature new types of tests and rivalries, as well as a variety of themes amongst the competitors.

- GSN’s hit matchmaking show, It Takes a Church returns for a second season on Thursday, March 26 at 8:00. Each week, It Takes a Church visits a congregation from across the country to surprise one unsuspecting single with the news that they’re about to be saved from the dating world. The church's Pastor will task their congregation of aspiring matchmakers, to find the best possible catch for our dater, but in the end, our single will decide which suitor to put their faith in. The congregant who brought the chosen suitor will make a difference to their church by winning a donation on its behalf.

- Reunited for the first time since working together on the Bill and Ted film franchise, Keanu Reeves joins Alex Winter's documentary Deep Web as the narrator. Y ou can hear Keanu's voice in this NEW Clip explaining what the Deep Web really is! This upcoming documentary premieres at SXSW this Sunday March 15 with a world television premiere following on EPIX in Spring 2015!

- National Geographic Channel took SXSW-goers on a deep dive into outer space last night during a sneak peek presentation of its first-ever late-night talk series StarTalk, where show host and prominent astrophysicist Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) — joining via Skype — answered fan questions and revealed the series premiere date of Monday, April 20, at 11 p.m. ET/10 p.m. CT (with encores each Friday at 7 p.m. ET/6 p.m. CT). World-renowned cultural luminaries across science, entertainment and politics, like President Jimmy Carter, Richard Dawkins, Chris Hadfield, Norman Lear, Christopher Nolan, George Takei and others, were announced as guests.

- This May, the TV DVD archivists at Time Life invite home audiences to enlist for high seas hilarity and military madness with a never-before-released television classic: CPO Sharkey: The Complete First Season. Previously unavailable on any format, the '70s-era sitcom was a showcase for iconic comedian Don Rickles, who played U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officer Otto Sharkey, an abrasive, sharp-tongued veteran in charge of a company of new seaman recruits on a San Diego naval base. Setting sail on May 19 and sure to thrill any fan of classic comedy or television, the 3-disc set ($29.95srp) will feature all 15 30-minute long episodes from Season One, along with a special Johnny Carson clip from "The Tonight Show".

- Called "a bona fide national obsession", the critically acclaimed second season of the top-rated British mystery series Broadchurch returned to the U.S. airwaves this March on BBC America. And on May 19, mystery buffs, TV DVD aficionados and anglophiles are invited to return to the stunning Dorset coastal town of Broadchurch for more mystery, heightened drama, and taut thrills with Broadchrurch: The Complete Second Season, a 2-disc DVD set from Entertainment One.

- It’s a different kind of road trip in Loaded, starring Patrick John Flueger (Chicago P.D., Brothers, Scoundrels), Kumail Nanjiani (HBO’s Silicon Valley, which returns for season 2 on April 12, and co-host of Comedy Central’s The Meltdown with Jonah and Kumail), Andrew W. Walker (Wedding Planner Mystery, Against the Wall) and Alexandra Holden (In a World…, Rizzoli & Isles), when two estranged friends come together under the pretense of moving a third back home, who desperately needs an intervention. The unexpected reunion turns bitter at times, as past wounds are revealed, and they’re forced to confront the choices they made leading to the current direction of their lives. Stranded overnight, the strain comes to a head in an explosive night of drinking and purging. Set along the California freeways, Loaded takes the audience on a funny, but prickly trip in which lost friendships are found again. The journey will change each of them, and their lives will–hopefully–never be the same.

- This week, Ian Axel and Chad Vaccarino, members of the songwriting duo A Great Big World, joined forces with the VH1 Save The Music Foundation to announce their participation in the second annual Keys + Kids initiative open to K-12 public schools. The program was created in response to the growing need for high-quality, functional pianos in schools, and to provide students with an opportunity to have their school be an environment where their talent can shine. Beginning March 16th and through April 17th, interested K – 12 public schools can submit their application at h1savethemusic.org/keyskids to receive one of ten packages valued at $10,000.  Each grant includes a Kawai piano to support their music and arts program. A Committee made up of members of the Foundation’s Board of Directors, VH1 Senior Staff and patrons of the Keys + Kids Leadership Circle will judge applications. Grant winners will be announced on the Foundation’s website on May 20, 2015. For more information, contest rules or to see how you can get involved please visit www.vh1savethemusic.org.

Previewing Barely Famous and Walk of Shame Shuttle

We live in a country that reveres one hit wonders in pop music. There are lists made, radio stations devote entire weekends to them, Dexy's Midnight Runners have been living off of Come on Eileen for three decades while bands that stupidly achieved a second trip on the charts end up getting day jobs. There is really no equivalent for movie stars that are known for only one film, they are not even famous enough to get an invite to Dancing with the Stars which routinely recruits "stars" over half the country have never heard of.

It was over a decade ago when Sara Foster was poised for a star turn opposite Luke Wilson in The Big Bounce. The only problem was the movie bombed and was critically panned. In the eleven years since, her IMDB page touts three television episodes, a stint on the 90210 reboot, three movies you have never heard of and one you never knew exist (wait, there was a second Bachelor Party movie?).

Since the acting career never really took off, Sara looks to be joining the family business. Nope, she is not going into music production like her father David who was probably the second most famous one of the eighties after Quincy Jones. Nope she is taking on her father's latter day career as reality star. He starred in The Princes of Malibu with third wife Linda and most recently on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills with fourth wife Yolanda.

Now Sara stars in the appropriately titled Barely Famous with her little sister Erin who is dubbed a writer on the show. According to IMDB her lone writing credit was for the horrible NBC sitcom The New Normal. Though she actually does have more acting credits than her sister popping up on twelve different shows as well as a few movies you never heard of.

This probably will come as a shock to nobody, but in recent court deposition, it came out that Love and Hip Hop, as well as pretty much every VH1 reality show, is a complete fake. Not that the Fosters mind that one bit because they are going out of their way to make sure everyone know Barely Famous is not a "real" reality show. Of course Erin receive a James Franco booty call every episode, even in the middle of a date with an Apple employee, is fake.

But the thing is, Barely Famous is actually kind of funny. The big problem is that it has been down before and done in the more reasonable web series form. A mockumentary on not really being a star is not a television series, it is better served in bitesize, five to ten minute intervals no matter how many celebrity cameos you get (Kate Hudson and Nicole Richie in the first, Jessica Alba in number two, Courntney Cox in the third; presumably Franco will pop up in the finale because James Franco has never said no in his career).

Remember how I said Love and Hip Hop, and basically every VH1 show was outed as fake? Well The Walk of Shame Shuttle is extremely fake too. Sure, like Love and Hip Hop, it wants you to think it is real, but there is no way that is true. One big red flag is they actually air the address of the walk of shamees, many of who are clearly actors. Sure there are a few that are plausibly real because we clearly live in a TMI society, but it is hard to believe they found enough to air their dirty laundry on basic channel to fill a series.

The Walk of Shame Shuttle is basically Taxicab Confession set during the morning. The enterprising Kellyann Wargo, who came up withe the idea in college, is one of the drivers along with comedians Jordan Pease and Michelle Collins. But it is Kellyann who is the star of the show, where the other two try to upstage their fairs, Wargo says more with her reaction shots. Yeah the passengers may or may not be fake, but Kellyann's facial expressions to the craziness are priceless. Neither The Walk of Shame Shuttle or Barely Famous are must see television, or even worth space on your DVR, but if you find yourself flipping through your channels and happen on either, you may actually be entertained for a minute or two before moving nto the next channel.

Walk of Shame Shuttle airs at 9:00 followed by Barely Famous airs Wednesdays at 9:30 both on VH1.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 3/15/15

Once Upon a Time: So Snow White had something to do with Malicifant losing her baby and she had something to do with Cora's death... are we sure he is really pure at heart?
You can download Once Upon a Time on iTunes.

Shameless: Considering all the horrible things Frank has done, I am not sure this tops the list, but getting your grandson arrested by selling out your son at the same time is pretty high on the list. I have long advocated for a Justified spinoff starring Dewey and Dicky in prison, but a Shameless spinoff with Chucky and Uncle Carl in prison may just be as entertaining.

House of Lies: As soon as Clyde hooked up with Kelsey after Doug got there first last week my first thought was, oh no, we are going to have to sit though a threesome of them. Kelsey quickly brought it up shortly afterwards, joking or not, but I really fear they will go through with it. You know Doug will have no qualms about it, no will Clyde just talk himself into it.

Revenge: So the chick from Firefly is Victoria's ex-mother-in-law... What? It is really time for this show to end.
You can download Revenge on iTunes.

The Returned: As I teased in my preview, the sisters turning out be twins was extremely freaky. Twins are kind of freaky on their own but this takes it to another level. And to tease upcoming episodes, their twin connection get only more freaky in upcoming episodes. I did not get to bring it up in the preview, so just let me now point out just how wrong having sex with a "psychic" to connect with your daughter is. And if you are a fake physic, why add they sex part to it?
You can download The Returned on iTunes.

Pretty Little Liars: I was expecting the trial to be a little more explosive than that. Sure it came out that Mama Marrin hooked up with Jason and the prosecutor theorized that Alison was never kidnapped without any actual proof. Hopefully they are much more fireworks in the season finale which promises another "A" reveal which I think with be the fifth in the show's history. Let me go and predict a not so dead Mona is pulling the strings.
You can download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.

Marvel's Agents of SHIELD: If ABC decides not to bring Agent Carter back, they should definitely go with a Lady Sif spin-off for a mid season filler for SHIELD. Or even better, cut SHIELD to ten episodes, then ten of Agent Carter and Lad Sif.
You can download Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on iTunes

Switched at Birth: Whoa, Bay, of course Emmett is going to break up with you when you go all crazy girlfriend on him, interrupting his movie not once but twice. But very smooth for Emmett to pull they maybe we can hook back up after college if I cannot find anything better while I am here ploy. Has that actually ever worked for anyone?
You can download Switched At Birth on iTunes.

Justified: What a weird ending to the episode as Raylan gets Shakespearean with his father in his old hiding space which turned out to be as empty as Al Capone's vault. Just a weird departure for a show with about a month left before going off the air.
You can download Justified on iTunes.

The Challenge: Battle of the Exes II: At the beginning of the season TJ asked Nany which of the guys was going to be her partner and she mentioned it could have well been half of them. For the inevitable next Rivals season, there are just as many possibilities and it looks like you can add Nia and Sarah to that list. Of course Sarah made the right decision, you eliminate a strong team right before the finals. If Bananas or Leroy think they deserve to be in the finals, they should have won the last challenge, and they definitely should not have lost it.
You can download The Challenge: Battle of the Exes II on iTunes.

Survivor: White Collar vs. Blue Collar vs. No Collar: zit seems like I say this every season, but the show really needs to bring back the Reward Challenge, with only one challenge per episode we get way too much filler, like watching monkeys having sex.
You can download Survivor: White Collar vs. Blue Collar vs. No Collar on iTunes.

Hindsight: So Lolly, who was okay with Becca hooking up Kevin, now thinks its is an unforgivable act because a Lolly in another timeline shunned future Becca for it. Chicks, man, chicks. What a depressing way to end a season, Becca pretty much screwed everything up, her future husband ended up marrying someone else, her brother, and possibly father, are going to jail, she ruined her friendship with Lolly a whole decade earlier. Really, they only one whose life improved was her ex-husband who managed to sell some paintings. Then the ending was pretty vague, clearly she went into the elevator hoping to be transported back to current day. The musical cue of Numb would have us to believe that there was some time traveling involving involved but I would be surprised if she ends up back in 2015. Of course I would be more surprised if there is a second two. But if there is I would guess Becca wakes up in a different year, maybe 2005. The Killers! Jack Johnson!! Gorillaz!!! A sane Kanye West!!!! Sure I'd watch that.
You can download Hindsight on iTunes.

The Americans: This is beginning to be one of those show where the promos are more entertaining than the actual show. Last week they made it seem like Martha was going to confront Clarke, this week she realized that the spying equipment was inadvertently brought in by her, but she never ended up confronting Clarke about it. And wasn't Paige supposed to confront her parents this week? Are they really going to drag this out for the rest of the season?
You can download The Americans on iTunes.

The Blacklist: Odd to have a glorified clip show at this point in the second season. And did we really learn that it was Red who hired Tom to get close to Lizzy instead of Berlin like we were told earlier? I guess that is why that interaction they had before Tom disappeared was weird.
You can download The Blacklist on iTunes.

King of the Nerds: Finally, at long last, gender equality has become a reality now that a dude has actually been crowned King of the Nerds for the very first time. I was rooting for Kaitlyn, but it is hard to justify having a King of the Nerds be someone who works with NASA and cannot get a sun question right that even I guessed correctly.
You can download King of the Nerds on iTunes.