Quote of the Week: (Expletive deleted), I was in the proximity. (Emerson, Pushing Daisies)
Song of the Week: Bad Reputation - Freedy Johnson (Journeyman)
Big News of the Week: Friday Night Lights Moving to Mondays? : I am part of a NBC Panel Group and yesterday I got a survey about Friday Night Lights and the first episode. The questions were pretty run of the mill, rating each character, whether the show focused too much on football, high school, say what you like/dislike, but stuck in the middle of this survey in the agree/disagree portion of the survey was the statement, “I would be more likely to watch if FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS followed HEROES on Monday.” They already tested this scenario once last season garnering the series its highest rating and supposedly Journeyman has gotten disappointing numbers (although if any can explain to me how that can be when more people watched it than Chuck yet Chuck has been said getting good rating) so this may be a reality. Granted if I were running NBC, I would move the show to Sunday once Sunday Night Football is over. If anyone wants to join this panel shout me a holla and I will drop NBC your e-mail.
Also do not forget that this is the last week to enter my Win Nip/Tuck 4.x on DVD Contest. You have until this Friday to enter.
Chuck: Please, please, please, never have the Token Hot Chick fired from Wienerville. And while I am making suggestions, every episode the Token Hot Chick should be required to jump over the counter at least once while at McWieners. And to all the females out there, with Halloween creeping up on us, might I suggest you go as an employ of Wienercabana. In fact, anyone who swings by my pad at the end of the month wearing a company issued Wienertown uniform will get an extra package of raisins. (Yes I give out fruit for Halloween. If you do 50 sit ups maybe I’ll give you a Kit-Kat bar.)
Wieners-R-Us aside, I am really disappointed they kept up the agents trying to kill each other plotlines. Yeah there is animosity between to the two agencies, but having them try to kill each other goes way too far, not too mention it is getting tired already. Just play up the easy Odd Couple angle, no need for the two to come to blows. And I like pretentious music as much as the next musical snob, but did they really need to spin Don’t Make Me a Target by Spoon during each segment? Not too mention the multiple times they played Gnarls Barkley’s version of Gone Daddy Gone. Check out the latest episodes over at NBC.com. You can also download Chuck on iTunes.
Everybody Hates Chris: Man did it take some time to get used to Chris’ voice change. I got to imagine it has to suck to have your voice change on national TV. Hopefully Chris Rock (the current day version) shows up more times this season because it was great to see him work off his younger alter ego. But hopefully Greg’s diaper doesn’t make another appearance. You can download this episode of Everybody Hates Chris for free on iTunes.
How I Met Your Mother/The Big Bang Theory: There is something to say that this week one of rare time I noticed How I Met Your Mother had a laugh track yet didn’t remember hearing one on The Big Bang Theory this week. It is clear in the year of the nerds this television season; Sheldon is the early favorite as break out star. Granted it doesn’t bode well for the show that I only laughed at one non-Sheldon joke, the sarcasm sign. But the Lois Lane debate is definitely like an inane arguments I routinely have with anyone willing to engage me in a debate of absurd proportions. And if for some reason someone from CBS or the Barenaked Ladies happen upon the 9th Green, in the past two weeks I have gotten an absurd amount of hit looking to download the theme song so I highly recommend getting that on iTunes ASAP. Check out the latest episodes over at Innertube. You can also download How I Met Your Mother or The Big Bang Theory on iTunes.
Heroes: Not nearly as funny as last week, mustache dude was MIA, drunken samurai didn’t get much screen time. But it was nice to see Noah and the Haitian reunite even if it were pretty obvious that Mohinder was faking the memory loss. Wonder Twins meet X-Files storyline is still a bore. And unfortunately they still haven’t decided to kill off Absorbing Dude and Hearing Guy once and for all this week. Yawn.
When is Kristen Bell showing up again? Check out the latest episode over at NBC.com.
Journeyman: Still undecided on this show. I hope that he gets to journey outside of San Francisco one of these days because his near misses with friends and family could get old soon. Also getting old fast is the ex-girlfriend vague responses whenever Dan tries to get answers out of her. Could she be Al to his Sam but in the flesh? But any show that plays former Feed You iPod song, Bad Reputation gets another look in my book. Check out the latest episode over at NBC.com. You can also download Journeyman on iTunes.
Bionic Woman: Still not sold on the show. Jamie was a little more likeable this week, but still comes off as wooden most of the time. And I’m not sure if it was a shout out to the observant viewer or not, but Jamie’s comment of her sister being a cliché sums up my thoughts of the sister over the past two episodes. They need to get her an interesting storyline and do it soon because I am giving the show only another two week trial run before I drop it for good. Check out the latest episodes over at NBC.com.
My Name Is Earl: For most of the summer I was hoping that it wouldn’t take long for Earl to get parole, but after the first two episodes of the season I wouldn’t mind that all if he take the whole season to get out because it looks like there are plenty of ways for Earl to do good deeds on the inside. The inept Coach as the warden just adds to the hilarity of it all. Check out the latest episodes over at NBC.com. You can also download My Name Is Earl on iTunes.
Survivor: Well my prediction of a one tribe sweep got crushed this week. But how do you let someone who weighs about as much as a machete wield one in an immunity challenge? And the reward challenge was pretty cheap letting the challenge be decided by letting the females go an extra time. The tiebreaker should have been let everyone compete at once. Now that would have been interesting. Check out the latest episode over at Innertube.
Smallville: Wow, what an auspicious start by Supergirl. No, it wasn’t in the way they wrote the character it is that girl just can’t act, which says a lot considering usually girls that are moderately attractive like this can blind me to some iffy acting skills. Hopefully this was just first episode jitters because if she doesn’t get better I’m not sure I could watch a whole season if she is part of it. Well unless I utilize the mute button.
Next Week’s Pick: Hip-Hop Honors, Monday 10:00 VH1: Monday is a pretty crowded day for television, but all the shows will be put on the back burner (luckily there is nothing worth watching on Tuesday so I can catch up) for what has become the third best award show after the Grammy’s and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony (well next year may not be as good if they let Madonna in). For the previous three shows I have said, “Great, but where is A Tribe Called Quest?” Well Tribe will finally getting their just dues this year along with Snoop Dogg, Kool G Rap, Whodini, Missy Elliot, New Jack Swing and Wild Style.
Quote of the Week: Who else thinks the Civil War ain’t over, it’s just half-time? (Earl, My Name Is Earl)
Song of the Week: Look After You - The Fray (Journeyman)
Big News of the Week: New CW Shows Tank: Congratulations The CW you just spent millions of dollars promoting a show in Reaper, including paying off critics to make people believe the show was worth watching, only for it to debut with numbers worse than Veronica Mars scored in its first week last year in the same timeslot; a show you promoted with about as much money as you found in your couch cushion. Then to add more insult to injury, your other “show that will bring viewers to The CW,” Gossip Girl almost scored almost a full million less viewer in its first week with any competition this week too compared to that Veronica Mars premiere. So The CW, you may want to get on the phone as soon as possible and beg Rob Thomas and Kristen Bell to get Veronica Mars: The FBI Years ready for the 2008 season and hope all the bridges you burned for canceling the show the first time will be rebuilt by then. Because if you are going to put on shows that get low rating, at least put on one with a loyal fan base that doesn’t cost you as much money. (Full Disclosure: The Nielsen Rating are a sham and I tend not to believe any of the numbers used to make the argument above, but since The CW are stupid enough to think the numbers are accurate it works in the aurgument.)
Speaking of Nielsen, as I mentioned earlier this week, I am up for their TV Blogger of the Year Award despite actually being a TV blog. It was somewhat prestigious when they first made me award of the award being one of about ten blog including actual credible blogs like Television Without Pity and Brilliant But Canceled (okay, I missed how either were actual blogs themselves, but that would be like the story of the kettle and the pot), but now the contest has ballooned up to about a hundred. Yawn. And I realized their whole voting system is pretty hard to figure out. And their website, which was interesting when I had an exclusive beta invitation, has just turned into a place for spammers for their favorite crappy shows. But if you have too much time on you hand, or have already signed up for the site, feel free to head over and give me a pity vote (I have pretty much given up on winning a t-shirt). Also don’t forget to check out my contest where you can win the fourth season of Nip/Tuck on DVD.
How I Met Your Mother: Better than most of the second season, but something just felt off. Maybe it was the recycling of the lower back tattoo that played out two years ago. Maybe it was they didn’t spend enough time with the special guest stars Mandy Moore and Enrique Iglesias (who shouldn’t quit his day job). Of course maybe it was because they totally stole my break-up beard routine. Granted I typically demoted my beard from goatee to fu Manchu to Charlie Chaplin moustache before going bare. And I don’t want to seem as obsessed with hair as Tony Kornheiser, but what was with both of the female’s hair. It is time to fire the show’s stylist. But we are one step closer to meeting the mother, although it was a little insulting to the intelligence to end the show with all black umbrellas with one lone yellow umbrella(ella, ella, eh,eh,eh). Check out the latest episode over at Innertube. The show also showed up in iTunes this week and you can download the last two episodes from last season for free as I write this, but be warned, those were two of the worst episodes in the series history.
Heroes: Darn you Heroes for once again teasing me that you killed off Absorbing Guy just to reveal once again that he wasn’t in fact dead like everyone think. For the love of good acting, the next time you kill him off make sure he stays dead. Of course it would be pretty apropos if Kristen Bell is the one that finally does the deed having one of the best actors today kill off one of the worst. But anyways.
Horrible acting aside, I could also complain how uninteresting the Spanish people are or how they have created so many Heroes that they have already started to recycling abilities (flight) but I want to talk about how funny the premiere was. No seriously, I think I laughed more during Heroes that I did How I Met Your Mother, The Big Bang Theory, and Chuck combined. First, despite starting to be grating during the end of last season, Hero meeting his hero, who just happened to be a drunk British guy. Yeah the premise sounds like a cheesy blockbuster film that should star Martin Laurence or Tom Cruise, yet somehow the actor somehow made it work. Then there was Noah’s boss whom I hope turns out to be a hero himself and much like Samson have his powers being drawn from his moustache. And I’m not even sure why I found it funny but the Bennet family dinner, complete with Mr. Muggles, was so inane I just busted out laughing the whole scene. Check out the latest episode over at NBC.com.
My Name Is Earl: A strong start and it was nice to see that Earl could still cross off things on his list while in prison. But I still prefer my sitcoms in half hour portions and some of the jokes started to get stretched too long. At least the new guy at NBC said he was getting rid of those stupid Supersized episodes, so we don’t have to worry with those anymore. The best part of the episode though was Joy taking in Randy and trying to teach him how to fend for himself. Check out the latest episode over at NBC.com.
Survivor: Wow, I can’t believe they actually let the wrestler get voted off, but I guess when someone goes unanimously, it is hard to swing some votes to keep her on. But I wouldn’t be surprised if they bring back the castoff survivors like they did in the Panama season. We also get to see the big twist this season with the winning reward challenge tribe getting to kidnap an opposing tribe member who in part gets to give a hint to the not so hidden immunity idol. Should be interesting who tells who about what is going down. And I am beginning to think that my prediction of the one tribe never winning anything is actually going to come true. Check out the latest episode over at Innertube.
Smallville: Nobody does season finale/premieres quite like Smallville. In the finales almost every character is in some dire situation and everything is somehow back to normal by the end of the finale. We even had two deaths in the finale, and both were seen alive and kicking by the final scene of the premiere. Of course if you actually thought Lana was dead, you weren’t paying attention (and I not just taking about her still being in the credits); let take the time machine back to May 20th, “Lana who actually got in the van that passed by preventing Lionel (who may or may not be in on it) to reach her, and then remotely blew up the car to fake her own death.”
Also check out my First Impressions of these shows:
Chuck (where you can also check out a Bloggers Must Watch Guide at the bottom)
You can also check out my season review of Dexter: In the Blood (everyone got the Better than Ezra reference right? Anybody? Anybody at all?)
Promo of the Week:
Next Week’s Pick: Friday Night Lights, Friday 9:00 on NBC: A new day for last year’s best new show. I still have avoided temptation from watching the premiere episode on Yahoo, but from the promo above, you can tell at least one of Dillion’s finest who will be showing up in swimwear in the premiere. I would be remised if I also didn’t mention Pushing Daisies which has its series premiere on Wednesday at 8:00 on ABC. Let’s hope that it lives up to the hype.
Check out some of the shows mentioned above on Amazon Unbox which you can transfer to you Tivo (if you are one of those pretencious types, everyone else will have to watch on theor computer; also notice how How I Met Your Mother is currently 0.00 which all the math classes I have taken in taken in my life would have me believe that makes the show free for download):
My sources tell me that long before the Bionic Woman debuted tonight that there was another version of the television show that was on the air decades ago. But since I have a hard time believing anything interesting or important happened before my birth, I have tended not to listen to these sources which is good thing because then I can go into watching this show with any predisposed thoughts on the show.
For those also born sometime after the original, the plot is devised a of a woman who after a life threatening accident is kept alive by replacing some vital, and not so vital organs with machine parts including an eye, and ear, an arm, and both legs. This is all thanks to her boyfriend who works for some secret government agency that may or may not be in charge with creating cyborg type soldiers. And of course instead of testing the procedures on mortally wounded soldiers, they instead perform clinical trials on two random chicks. Yeah, okay.
There are major flaws with the first episode the lesser being for a science fiction series there are way too many long stretches of boredom and sci-fi shows should never be boring. C’mon, they exist out of the realm of possibility, if you notice a lull in the script; just start shooting flames out of their eyes. The problem with this is the show looks like it wants you to think that show could possibly be happening as we speak so except for some super hearing, strength and speed there really isn’t anything out of the ordinary.
Okay, maybe there are some things out of the ordinary like before a big showdown, the evil doer calls timeout to explain everything is Austin Powerian type fashion with the good guy just standing there, letting her. And so what during the fight the Bionic Woman has her none bionic arm broken but shakes it off like it were a WWF match.
But the biggest flaw is that none of the character we are introduced are all that likeable. The boyfriend, who moonlights as a college professor, comes off as creepy by dating someone old enough to be his student and selfish foe what he has done. All his coworkers are cold and without emotion and pretty much all have the same personality but are just of a different age and sex. The little sister is just your token teenage brat. Worst of all is the Bionic Woman herself considering she has all the trapping of someone we should care about, someone who works hard to take care of her sister after her patents left them only to be part of a horrific accident. Yet with all that I could care less about her and that should never happen even with the most flawed main character.
Verdict: There are some major wrinkles in the show that need to be ironed out but for some reason it could turn around quickly. I am currently putting the show on a week-by-week basis before giving it up for good. Bionic Woman airs Wednesdays at 9:00 on NBC. You can download future episodes on Amazon UnBox (see left). You can also stream episodes after they air over at NBC.com.
One more thing that has nothing to do with the Pilot, but there is something else about this show that is really bugging me. You cannot see a Bionic Woman review these days without the obligatory Isaiah Washington bashing and I just want to say to everyone still piling on him almost a year later, seriously, lay off the guy. Yeah the dude said something stupid, but he didn’t electricity your dog, eat your kids or used the word it in a tirade after getting pulled over for drunk driving. The guy has a family to feed and if you think someone should get fired and not be able to provide for his family for saying something you are just as bad as Washington himself or Don Imus for that matter. Seriously, if everyone got fired for saying something stupid the unemployment rate in this country would be as high as Iraq’s.
I hate to go all third grade teacher on you but sticks and stones may break your bones but words should never hurt you. I get called the name in question on a monthly basis (back in college it was up to a weekly basis) but instead of whine to their superiors to get that person fired I just insult them right back with something like, “Wow, you just used the go to insult that every fifth grader uses. Congratulations, you are as smart as a fifth grader.” (I have yet to have an opportunity to break out my latest insult in my arsenal in these situations, “If you hate gay homosexuals so much why don’t you just move to Iran?” Feel free to try it out and tell me how it goes over if you can use before I can.) And then the person always goes away mad because they know I’m right, because only juveniles and the unintelligent use those types of words.
Big News of the Week: The New Television Season Starts This Week: Or so I’m told. There is only one show on my schedule this week. Only one hour of network television: I guess I can catch up on my reading. Naw, I’ll waste it playing video games. Of course if you cannot wait for some of the new shows, many of them have popped up on Amazon’s Unbox. But be warned for those new to Unbox as the DRM is more strict that iTunes (or so my token geeky friend would have me believe) and has an excruciatingly long download time (seriously five hours for a twenty minute show is way too long), but hey, they are free. Here is a rundown of all the shows you can get and links to where you can download them:
And not to be left out, iTunes is offering up Gossip Girl. Although oddly the show’s page is no longer link from the TV section in iTunes but you can get there by following the link on the name. Now I’m not entirely sure why shows about bored rich kids who have nothing better to do but have sex, do drugs, whiled being followed around by crappy music (see Beverly Hills 90210, The OC, Laguna Beach, The Hills, New Port Harbor, any E! new special on Paris Hilton) but I would sooner watch the Britney Spears performance from the VMA’s on a loop than watch another second of this show. And any fan of Veronica Mars may stick a pencil in their ear hearing Kristen Bell talk like someone who is bitter that they weren’t picked for MY Super Sweet 16. So watch at your own risk and do so without any access to sharp objects.
Greek: You think that an episode featuring Cameron Frye, Cordilia Chase and Kendall Casablancas would be a can’t miss but the finale was, in a word, underwhelming. The one saving grace was Frannie who is quickly moving up my favorite characters on television list (granted over half of them were on shows that were axed so I do a complete repopulating of the list). Her Ronald Reagan reference had me on the floor for a while. If you know anyone like Frannie, have her shout me a holla. Download the current season of Greek on iTunes.
Rescue Me: Speaking of underwhelming, that is the best word to describe the whole fourth season of Rescue Me. There we rumblings of this season ending up as just a figment of Tommy’s imagination but that may have been for the best, just take a mulligan and start over again next season with Tommy being pulled out of the beach house fire. And the ending storylines were just inane, Franco allowing Rich to get married, Lou’s cousin setting him up with the fat black chick for the revenge sex, Shawn and Maggie giving up on their marriage for I believe the fifth time this season, and the death of Tommy’s dad, who just popped up for the first time this season not too long ago just continued everything.
Promo of the Week: Last week I mentioned the Mandy Moore promo for the season premiere of How I Met Your Mother and in my neverending quest to find it (which I still haven’t) I came across this video hyping a December (although the Grammy homepage says November 30th) special celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Grammy’s. You can head over to Grammy.com to vote for your favorite; presumably the top vote getters will be counted down in the special. Not surprisingly all the performances you can vote for are post-1980 and there are some questionable inclusions in the 50 you can choose from (seriously Seal?). I may have to do some research and come up with my definitive list one of these days.
Pick of the Week: Survivor: China, Thursday at 8:00 on CBS: As you may heard this is the first time any major television show has been allowed to film in the country. But if you look back at the past Survivor seasons, the some of the worst have been the land locked ones (see Africa). And CBS had the unfortunate luck of including a WWE wrestler not foreseeing the Chris Benoit incident and the ensuing steroids in pro wresting scandal. But hey, at least the is a chicken farmer named Chicken. Mmm, I wonder how he got that nickname. And what the hey, I’ll go ahead and say Chicken is my pre-season pick to win it all.
And now here is my official watching schedule of Fall 2007. Please note that either Chuck or The Big Bang Theory with likely be dumped. Chuck is currently leading just because the have the hotter Token Hot Chick. Also I may watch Journeyman if NBC.com streams the episodes.
Monday 8:00 - How I Met Your Mother (CBS September 24) 8:00 - Chuck (NBC September 24) 8:00 - Everybody Hates Chris (CW October 1) 8:30 - Big Bang Theory (CBS September 24) 9:00 - Heroes (NBC September 24)
Tuesday Since network television didn’t bother putting on anything worth watching on this night I’ll take this time to continue watching some shows on DVD including the second season of Rome and the first of Big Love. Anyone have any other suggestions?
Wednesday 8:00 - Pushing Daisies (ABC October 3)
Thursday 8:00 - Survivor (CBS September 20) 8:00 - My Name Is Earl (NBC September 27) 8:00 - Smallville (CW September 27)
Big News of the Week: NBC Really Want You to See Their New Shows: Last week I mentioned that NBC would be offering up three of there new shows, Chuck, Journeyman, and Life, to rent through Blockbuster. Then a couple days ago I mentioned that starting tomorrow, you could download those three shows as well as Bionic Woman through Amazon’s UnBox (if it is already Monday when you read this check the sidebar for a banner that will take you to the site). Then yesterday I was wondering through my On Demand feature on my television and saw an ad saying you can watch those four shows on the Entertainment On Demand channel as well as the High-Def on Demand channels up to two weeks before the shows even air (since the shows weren’t up yet when I checked yesterday I assume they won’t be available until tomorrow, but then again they may be there already and am just a moron when it comes to technology). Scooter Update: See below for the Amazon links to the shows:
For those of you that are too cheap to shell out the extremely low sticker price of twenty dollars for the best new show of last season, Friday Night Lights, the good people over at GiveMeMyRemote are giving away a copy of the first season for free.
Greek: Last week I forgot to complain about this week’s promo where the announcer said there was going to be a twist that no will see coming followed by an Cappie and Rebecca Logan in what looked like a compromising position. I was going to complain the whole twist was completely revealed last week only to find this week that the twist was that they didn’t hook up. Or was it that Cappie used the money to pay Casey back? Or did I miss the surprising twist altogether. Which may be plausible because if I’m not mistaken I was in a drug induced haze while watching the episode. And why was there even a new episode on Labor Day? Download the current season of Greek on iTunes.
Rescue Me: Another strange storyline with Tommy breaking out his dead cousin’s uniform to go on jobs when he was off duty. I guess it makes sense that without alcohol he goes out and does the only other thing that makes him feel anything. And it is a good thing he is still sober because the school room scene was another instant classic. Not so much a classic was the cheesy sitcom type storyline with Garrity’s little beer goggles bit with two different actresses. And I’m sure I would have laughed at the new phrase I learned, Beer Queer, had it not hit a little too close to home.
Promo of the Week: Don’t you have it when you see something on television, go to look for it on YouTube only not to be able to find it? It was watching the Browns opener, who got for the seventh straight year embarrassed… at home… to the evil empire Steelers, so that meant an onslaught of CBS promo. (On a side note, if any of you watch Kid Nation, you, my sir, are a moron.) One that caught my eye was the How I Met Your Mother season premiere with Mandy Moore talking about her involvement followed up by Neil Patrick Harris, in full Barney mode, telling the audience she would be appearing naked. And when Mandy disagree Neil told her to check her contract. I don’t know why the networks don’t instinctively put all their promos on YouTube, it is free advertising. When someone finally decides to le me run its network it will be the highest rated network ever (well at least in the cable and internet era).
Pick of the Week: Greek, Monday 9:00 ABCFamily; Rescue Me, Wednesday 10:00 FX: A rare double Pick of the Week from two shows that really couldn’t be more different, both of which end their seasons this week. Greek spent its solid first season riding somewhere in between a guilty pleasure and quality program but never really hit its stride thanks to a bad love triangle storyline. Then there is Rescue Me, after three great seasons of the best show on basic cable, it all came crashing down with its first shaky season of the series run. There were plenty of bright spots like a guest spot from Amy Sedaris, anything involving Garrity, and the Gavin family AA meeting, but there were more than enough uninteresting storylines and just off the deep end moments involving Tommy that just brought the season down as a whole. Let’s hope both show ends on a bright spot.
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