57 Channels and Only This Is On: 9/5/15

Hannibal: I was unfamiliar with most things Hannibal before watching the show so they actually did fool me of the Red Dragon shooting himself in the face. But as we come to the end of the season and quite possibly the season I am almost glad it is over because they really laid on the homoerotic codependency way too heavy this season. The which side is Will on last season was fascinating but it was just eyerolling this season with Will flinging himself over the cliff in a loving embrace. An FBI falling in love with the serial killer he is trying to catch sounds like the conceit of a bad Lifetime movie. Still if Bryan Fuller manages to revive the series, I would still watch because I am still very interested to see where this is going especially if Will rides off into the sunset (though it sounds like Fuller plans to use Will if the show continues in any form) as I believe he is completely absent from future books. And of course what was up with Sully's leg on a platter after the credits?
You can download Hannibal on iTunes.

Ray Donovan: I usually complain about the "x amount of time" title card that start episodes because I find it lazy writing, but it actually worked in this case because it teased a murder mystery. Sure it was clear right off the bat that the red herrings were just that, I never thought that the government lady was going to die or that Ray would kill yet another priest, but it was shocking that Al Swearengen killed his son-in-law / lover. The show even upped that tease with the eventual inclusion of Avi. I am not sure if I can believe that Ray would finally accept his apology like that, but Ray has seemed to be a bit more forgiving this season.

Fear the Walking Dead: Okay, this show is just trolling us. One of the biggest complaints of the flagship show is they cannot have two black dudes on the show at the same time, they have to kill one before bringing on a new one. So the new show actually looks a bit more diverse, except the three black dudes they introduced in the premiere are (un)dead by the end of the second episode. Okay the boyfriend is not (un)dead yet, but he was just left to turn and we will probably have to wait for the girlfriend to bash his head in next week. But the most disappointing part of the episode was that the fat pimply kid did not go with Matt Saresen's mom he is the only person that has been on either show that apparently knows what a zombie is.
You can download Fear the Walking Dead on iTunes.

Masters of Sex: Holy Beth Greene sighting! After being the best part of The Walking Dead in the last season or two, it is nice she can still get work, even if it as just a sex surrogate who has to sleep in the surrogacy room at night. But with Virginia hooking up with the fragrance king I hope she does not become a personal surrogate for Bill even though it is clear she has a crush on her former neighbor (it would also be the second time someone way too young for him hits on him this season. But as usual, the episode belonged to the staff of the office be it Betty failed attempt to get her girlfriend pregnant or Lester being the lone male in the surrogacy program just to irk Jane.

Falling Skies: On one hand, the new queen was the creepiest of all creepy aliens in the history of the show, but on the other. that was a pretty anti-climatic ending with Tom just touching the bomb thingy and the queen dissolving like a vampire on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. And of course Anne was not going to actually die after telling Tom she was pregnant again. Of course I was wrong to turn my back on my do not believe anyone is dead on television until you see the body (and even then am still a little suspicious) as I thought Pope was really dead last week. He might as well have been because their final talk was just as anticlimactic. And they must have spent all their CGI money on dissolving aliens because that crowd at the end looked about as really as crowds in Playstation 1 sports games. Oh well.
You can download Falling Skies on iTunes.

The Strain: Hopefully now that the young Goodweather saw his mother try to kill his father he can stop moping around because that kid is seriously dragging the show down. But at least we got a great passive-aggressive conversation between the old dude and the Nazi vampire this week.
You can download The Strain on iTunes.

Tyrant: Sure the first sixty minutes were boring but what a final scene. After actually seeming contrite and humbled by all he horrible past deeds, Jamal gets on camera and goes full Trump and denies everything and does not give an inch. And then it managed to get even more shocking when his daughter in law shoots him. Wow. Sure I am guessing he will survive (he did survive driving off a cliff while getting his manhood bitten off) but the fight for power has only begun (well if there is another season).
You can download Tyrant on iTunes.

Mr. Robot: What a bizarre way to start and end the episode. It opens with the cheater from the first episode taking about bringing down Elliot for his crime (and how he was part of the extremely timely Ashley Madison hack) and is not seen again in the episode, but I guess he is one of numerous people knocking on the door. Except that was not the end as we get a scene of (presumably) The Illuminati with the Evil Corp head and B.D. Wong. It took me a while to put two and two together and figure out that was also B.D. Wong that met with Elliot earlier this season (I was wondering why that scene was included in the "Previously On" montage). So are these two in cahoots and the Evil Corp dude condoned the hack? Mmmm. We may have nine and a half months to find out.

But the part that struck me the most coming out of the finale (other that how perfect playing Got Your Money at an end of the world party after a financial collapse is) is how I am starting to believe that Elliot and the American Psycho dude may actually be the same person. In a episode of bizarre things, Elliot talking with American Psycho's wife may have been the most bizarre. She seemed to know more than what she was letting on, so maybe she knows her husband has a split personality and known not to bring one up to another. To the best of my recollection, they only had three scenes together, American Psycho offering Elliot a job, the time they ran into each other at Steel Mountain (what a coincidence they were there at the same time), and last week when he barged into Elliot's apartment (again, conveniently waiting until Dalia Royce left). Of the big flaw in my theory is that Elliot could not have a job at All Safe and Evil Corp at the same time without anyone noticing. But maybe American Psycho never worked there and that delusion was just Elliot there in an All Safe capacity. Mmmm, I may have to watch the first season again looking for clues. I am still guessing the better theory is that everyone is a delusion inside Elliot's head and the real Elliot is staring at a snowglobe in some mental health hospital somewhere.
You can download Mr. Robot on iTunes.

Under the Dome: So the new queen is same actress as her mother but in a bad wig and blue contacts. This show is so horrible. Thank goodness CBS finally canceled it.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 8/29/15

Aquarius: Even for the season finale and the most interesting part of the show did not happen on screen. It is a bit odd that they would preempt the show for gymnastics the week before the finale. And instead of debating what will happen on screen next season (I particularly do not care if the gay daddy or his buddy died in the car or what is going to happen to Fox Mulder's son) the big question is how NBC will release it. Will they again stream all episodes on line, if so does the show get a mid week timeslot or start out in the Saturday deathslot? Will NBC quietly dump it or move it to another network? Wait, I do care about one thing that happened on scree: what the frack happened to the chick with the historically bad accent?
You can download Aquarius on iTunes.

Hannibal: I was going to start off by saying poor Dr. Chilton but the dude is extremely slimy. Kurt Sutter on Sons of Anarchy is the only character I can think of that has been tortured more than Chilton. Except Sutter did that to himself. What did this actor do to Bryan Fuller to piss him off. Someone removed his organs in the first season, got shot in the face last season, and now was set afire. I guess it is good for him that the show was cancel because I do not want to think what else Fuller had in store for Chilton in the four other seasons he had planned.
You can download Hannibal on iTunes.

Ray Donovan: I am beginning to wonder who made the worse business partnership: Ray with Al Swearengen and family or Mickey with the Armenians (we soon may have to add Bunchy with his luchadora bride). But c'mon Mickey, bringing a lead pipe to a meeting with the guys that just pistol whipped your son (key word: pistol) was not the brightest idea. Unfortunately the rest of the episode dealt with Ray and his priest problem which has always been the weakest part of the show. Hopefully now that he has been excommunicated, there will be no more religious figures on the show, but sadly I fear we probably have not seen the last of that priest.

The Last Ship: Holy Ben Linus daughter sighting! Was she really just hanging out on an oil rig this whole time all alone? And is this going to be the every episode from now on? The navy rescues someone who bought into Immunes propaganda and bring them on the ship to show them they are the good guys?
You can download The Last Ship on iTunes.

Fear the Walking Dead: Well that was kind of boring.
You can download Fear the Walking Dead on iTunes.

Masters of Sex: As soon as you hear the female ape wrangler was given the boot, you knew what was coming, but, boy did Virginia cross the proverbial line this week made worse by Bill egging her on. But the most interesting part of the episode was Tessa's interactions with the scent guy. Interesting that she just outted the affair between her mother and Bill and nothing came about it.

The Strain: After all the trouble getting to Washington, it seemed like Eph had no problems getting back to NYC even with a bullet in his shoulder. Alrighty. And I have spent a lot of time making fun of the Muppet looking Master, but at least that was a distinct look, rocker star Master looks like every other cheap vampire on screen. And that was a weak attempt to kill the Master, c'mon Fett, if you are going to bring down the building, bring down the building.
You can download The Strain on iTunes.

Falling Skies: So no one thought to check to see if hot alien daughter had black blood like the army lady? That would have been high on my list if I suggested Lexi was a plant. And is Pope really die (I have said it before I never believe someone is really dead until I see the body and even then I am still a little suspicious; but this was the penultimate episode)? That was kind of an anti-climatic way to die. It seemed like the writers had this big story line for him this season but by the time they got to the finale they realize they did not have the time for it and just decided to blow him up a week before. They might as well just killed him off during the fight at Lois Lanes.
You can download Falling Skies on iTunes.

Murder in the First: Well the second season was better than the first but that was an odd ending. First I barely remember the head man up until this point. And the hypothetical scene was just silly. Then they kill some random black dude, wasting screen time, just to make us think that it was Sugar who just ended up on a beach with the hot cop. But hey, it is summer, I have watched worse this season.
You can download Murder in the First on iTunes.

Tyrant: It has been clear that the firs two seasons that Jamal was the titular character, but he cannot possibly end the season still in power. But who will? Barry seems like the obvious choice along with Ahmed and the illegitimate son. But my money is on his scheming wife. And if he is outted where does that leave Jamal, is he exiled (his adviser plated that seed this week), rots in prison, or executed, or "executed" like he did his brother.
You can download Tyrant on iTunes.

Under the Dome: Julia pushing down on Barbie's baby mama's stomach to force labor was probably the funniest thing on television this season. You have to wonder if the writers are even trying at this point or are basically seniors with just a week or two left of school assuming there is no way the show is getting another season. I am pretty sure I have caught some of the actors rolling their eyes at their dialogue this season.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 8/22/15

Hannibal: Oh Hannibal, telling the Red Dragon "They're listening" and dropping the phone (though I am a bit surprised he did not say "They know" calling back to his conversation with Jacob Hobbs). And I know the Red Dragon is evil, killing people and all, but did he really have poison the Graham's dogs?
You can download Hannibal on iTunes.

Ray Donovan: I really hate Chekhov's Gun an annoying cliche that any gun introduced in the first act has to go off in the third. Though the gun did go off shockingly no one actually died. I though BunchyBrendan's new girlfriends would be the one that bit the bullet even though I doubt anyone with Parkinson's would be a very good shot. I still think she will not be long for this world (surely the Ayrian Brotherhood who may or not be stalking Terry will not like her presence). We actually got the Deadwood reunion and it was as anticlimactic as expected (what was not expected was that word leaked this week that HBO is in early stages of a Deadwood movie, a decade after it aired; it is official, no media property will ever die; here is hoping for a Rome revival too).

Masters of Sex: For the last two months or so I have been complaining Pretty Little Liars teased Allison becoming a youth soccer coach to never bring it up again. But Masters of Sex almost made me forget my disappointment by having Bill start coaching pee-wee football. Awesome. Though I cannot imaging many things being more entertaining than that, Bill new gorilla patient that presumably he will treat next week will come close.

The Strain: Poor Nazi Vampire, not only does the Master not choose you as his new vessel, he forces you to watch him transfer into the some cheep Marilyn Manson wannabee. I wonder if this will make him switch sides and actually team up with the Jew (as he likes to call him). That seems slightly unlike since the Master has a thrall over all his underlings though maybe the Ninja Vampires have some cure for that that will allow the Nazi join their cause against the Master.
You can download The Strain on iTunes.

Falling Skies: When they started the episode with the execution I thought great, we will not have to wait the entire episode with the Masons trying to escape because we all know that none of the Masons will ever die (um, unless you do not count Lexi). Then they flashed the dreaded "eight hours earlier" tile. Ugg. I hate "X Amount of Time Earlier" tiles. At least the show did come up with a creepy twist behind the evil lady's plans: she was some sore of body snatching decoy with black blood (I told them to check that thing on her neck).
You can download Falling Skies on iTunes.

Tyrant: The show has done a somewhat decent trimming some of the useless characters from the first season, the journalist buddy fled the country (granted Barry ended up killing his daughter which would have actually made an interesting plot if he was still around), the daughter is home alone back in American. I do not even remember Justin Kirk being mentioned this season. The matriarch was also pretty much worthless but at least she went out with a literal bang thanks to possibly Jamal's dumbest plan to date (which says a lot). It will be interesting to see where everyone's loyalties lies as both his wife and son look like they may join the bastard son's side realizing Jamal actually killed his mother. Then there is also Barry and as the promo monkeys would have use to believe more people will learn next week just how not dead he is. The first season was a drag, but season two has really picked up steam as it has gone along and for the first time in two seasons I am kind of excited to see what happens next.
You can download Tyrant on iTunes.

Mr. Robot: The ending of the last episode really kind of hurt my brain and left me pondering for days what exactly just happened. Anything seemed on the table. So it was a bit of a let down that it turned out that the big twist this was something I, and pretty much everyone else predicted from the first episode: Mr. Robot is just in Elliot's head. I did go away from that theory when Mr. Robot started having conversations with other people. My working theory was the more Mr. Robot interacted with people, the more delusional Elliot was, though I have to wonder if the rest of fsociety are even real. But I still have to wonder, what was up with the scene with Mr. Robot and American Psycho dude last week? Was that actually Elliot thinking he is Mr. Robot? Did it not really happen, Elliot just thought it did? Even though I was a bit let down this week, I am still extremely excited for the finale next week. I hope we learn more about the Elliot / American Psycho relationship and maybe a flashback on how they met. And faux Lily Kane definitely will be taking that job with Evil Corp, right? That has to be the big plot point, division, with Elliot next season.
You can download Mr. Robot on iTunes.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 8/15/15

Hannibal: More filler flashbacks this week but I did not even realized that was the patient Hannibal got Bedilia got to kill until she reached down Sylar's throat.
You can download Hannibal on iTunes.

Ray Donovan: Oh Ray, getting in the middle of this family's civil war is going to be a stupid idea. Of course if he and his family did not do stupid things, there probably would not be a show, or at the very least a much more boring one.

Masters of Sex: So Tessa brings in grandma to have her catch Virginia's affair with Bill (him falling out of the window was a great scene) only for grandma o try to get Ginnie to get Bill to leave his wife. Poor Tessa, nothing is going to work out for that girl. Also for the record, I have no problem with what Bill did to the school bully.

The Strain: When the show premiered it seemed like the only thing anyone wanted to talk about was Corey Stoll's really bad anime type wig covering his usually bald dome. It overtook the conversation that the creator had to come out and say that the wig was a plan and Corey's character would lose his hair at some point. That point came this week and how disappointing that instead of being so scared his follicles fell out, he voluntarily shaved his head so he could leave the city despite being wanted by Homeland Security. And then he still got recognized (seriously Eph, but a newspaper to hide behind like every other person ever who tried to go unrecognized on a train). At least Eph got his revenge by throwing the guy from the train. But then at the end we were introduced to a new character, someone who looks like the ninja vampires that the old dude outsmarted a couple weeks ago but with what looked to be a bone handle strapped to his back.
You can download The Strain on iTunes.

Falling Skies: So what is up with the lady's bleeding neck? It has to be some new Espheni mind control bug right? The cut to the Overlord after her decree certainly made it seem that way.
You can download Falling Skies on iTunes.

Pretty Little Liars: Wait, what? Ever since we learned A was Charles, Aly's older brother, I have come up some out there theories, like her was a not so dead Wilden (most of the characters old enough to be Charles were dead), Jason with a split personality, last week I even predicted (okay, mostly hoped) for a triumphant return of Hermie the Hermaphrodite. Apparently my multisex A theory was not that far off because Cee-Cee (nee Charles) was the person tormenting them all along (or at least since Mona gave up the gig). Yes the same Cee-Cee who dated Jason... her half-brother. What the frack? I am sure anyone who rewatches the series will find plenty of plot holes with this revelation. And if Cee-Cee did not kill her mother, than who did? But what an anticlimactic finish with Cee-Cee running to the roof only to jump back down. But hey, now we get a five year jump with (presumably) a new A to torment the Liars and (presumably) married Allison who is now a teacher. Maybe a bigger question than who killed her mother is who would hire Allison to teach children? I just hope she is also the soccer coach.
You can download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.

Mr. Robot: Speaking of mind blowing episodes, what the frack happened on this show this week? When Dalia Royce was kept asking Elliot who she was I was convince he was going to admit she was just a figment of his imagination (I have had a working theory fsociety was all in his head). But no, Dalia Royce is Elliot's sister and Mr. Robot is his father... what? I was wondering when Dalia Royce was in a ballet class (which is probably the greatest Suburgatory episode that never aired) with faux-Lily Kane (Elliot's childhood friends looks just like her right?) when did they became friends? (I thought there was an episode where they went out and got drunk together but later remembered that was Shayla, not Dalia Royce). And so I am again completely unclear what is real and what is not.
You can download Mr. Robot on iTunes.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 8/1/15

Hannibal: Well that was an odd way to start off a new episode, dialogue free with a character we have never seen before. Then we get to learn what has happened since Hannibal turned himself in three years ago, he has pleaded guilty but is eclipsed by a new serial killer. Will now has a wife and a teenage son and of course is talked into working on the new case, the first time since Lecter was locked away. Really other than Hannibal, I do not think he has worked on a case since season one (except I guess when he was wheeled in to consult on cases while in the prison for the criminally insane). It is nice to see him back at work.
You can download Hannibal on iTunes.

Masters of Sex: I figured they were not going to go with Hef, but was still a bit disappointed that it did not go that way. It is amazing to think that The Playboy Club failed spectacularly, but if my memory serves me correctly, that did not have much, if any Hef on that show either. But poor Tessa, having an absentee mother who is best known for writing a sex book is going to be rough.

The Strain: The kid was annoyingly precocious last season in a oh yeah Eph has a kid kind of way whenever he popped up on screen, but not with the recast, the kid is just downright extremely annoying in a I really hope his mom turns him so we do not have to listen to him anymore kind of way. But the UV security system was pretty cool, I did not see the ninja vampires going out like that.
You can download The Strain on iTunes.

Falling Skies: By far the best part of the episode was whoever named their bowling alley Lois Lanes. Awesome.
You can download Falling Skies on iTunes.

Pretty Little Liars: Wait, Red Hood is back? I thought we already learned that CeCe was Red Hood. Or is this an A situation where we learn who it is only for the writers to go, nope, that was not A because we need to stretch the story out another couple seasons so here is another A to torment the girls? Meh. It may be time to end the show.At least Hannah and Spencer commented on how much the scholarship guy looked like Jason because I actually thought that was Jason when he walked into the room for a couple seconds. But alas, I fear the cop will no longer what Allison to coach church girls soccer after she stole his pass key, that was not very Christian of her.
You can download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.

Tyrant: It only took half a season but finally someone recognized Barry even with the beard. You would think someone in the second biggest city would recognize him considering we saw his face plastered all over the place in the season premier. Of course the one person who recognized him ended up dying, and really for no good reason either. But since her father left the show, there was no reason to keep her around either even though that was one of the more interesting relationship in the first season. But now that his son is on the way to the city, I wonder how long it will take for Barry to run into him (but seriously, who gets ten million dollars and then decides to drive to a war zone, take the money and run young gay dude).
You can download Tyrant on iTunes.

Mr. Robot: I spent the first couple episodes assuming Christian Slater was a figment of Elliot's imagination only to have some very distinctive interactions with many other characters the past two week. But this week he is back to just randomly showing up out of nowhere (on the steps of Elliot's apartment because Dalia Royce told him about it? Alrighty). But this episode felt like the show's first misstep going back to the drug dealer who I am still not entirely sure how he figured out Elliot was behind his incarceration. It just felt like a very long excuse to put Shala's death on Elliot's conscience.
You can download Mr. Robot on iTunes.

SexAndDrugsAndRockAndRoll: I usually talk about how the behind the scenes aspects of Aquarius are more interesting than what actually happens on the screen and that may be the same for the new Denis Leary Show (I probably will not be writing it by name because of the overabundance of ampersands in the title and for some reason Blogger does not like displaying them properly). I went to watch the second episode of the show On Demand this weekend and found it interesting that there were four different versions of the episode. Most episodes typically have two version in my On Demand folders, SD and HD (TNT is the only channel I watch regularly that annoyingly does not offer their shows in HD On Demand) but the new FX show also had SD and HD version for the broadcast version and an uncensored version. Then again yesterday there were all explicit versions. I did not noticed anything naughtier than I am used to seeing on FX except Joan Jett dropping an F-bomb in the two episodes (other FX shows have used plenty of non-F expatiates and I have seen Jax Teller's naked backside many more times than I ever wanted too). Maybe this may be where television is headed. I know Aquarius has an uncensored version but was used for the On Demand release (at least the version I have watched. Mr. Robot had some F-bombs in this week's episode that were noticeably edited out (I think Mad Men pioneered the using F-Bombs that are edited out unless you count nineties rap videos). If only the actual show was as interesting as it is being distributed.
You can download Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll on iTunes.

Twinning: I found the premiere cheesy fun but nowhere near as good as other competition shows that it rips off. Then something caught my eye this week in that I kind of recognized a pair of the twins Roxanne and Nicole. I could not find confirmation anywhere on the internet that they are the same set, but the duo do share the same names are the twin who appeared in the seminal bad movie The Real Cancun a decade ago so I am just going to ahead and assume they are the same twins. (Fun fact: current VH1 star of Hindsight Laura Ramsey also got her start on the first, and probably only, so called reality movie). As for the actual episode, this week's challenge was slightly better but that wall seriously limits having any good challenges. I wonder at what point, if ever, do the change the game and merge the houses and take down the wall. And the Twin Off continues to be stupid. You can grab two random friends from any high school in the nation that could do just as well if not better at these questions.
You can download Twinning on iTunes.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 7/18/15

The Strain: The first season it seemed like the show really had a hard time finding the right balence and tone. On one hand the vampire were the creepiest creatures on television with their tongue claw things. On the other, their Master looked like a Muppet. It is hard to figure if the show is actually getting on the right track or not but there it looks to be. It looks like we will be getting a new Master, at least that is what I took out of the scene with vampire mom getting her voice back though it will is yet to be seen if she will be going back to her old form or will be fitted with a Muppets mask of her own (the former Master in the flashback look more like the lesser vampires on the show so maybe she will be fitted with a latex suit). We also learned more backstory and it turns out the Master went rouge from his kind of which there are seven of (no word on what is up with the three other yet) which is kind of interesting. The least interesting part continues to be the science behind the show with them trying to "cure" vampireism..
You can download The Strain on iTunes.

Falling Skies: So Anthony's girlfriend dies in the premiere and this week Pope's lady friend gets stuck in some sort of alien quicksand... it looks like no one is going to get a happy ending in the final season. Well except the Mason family, they always get their ways.
You can download Falling Skies on iTunes.

Murder in the First: Wait, so you are not allowed to plead guilty without being considered insane despite multiple eye witnesses and overwhelming physical evidence? Seemed like an open and shut case. Take the win and move on guys.
You can download Murder in the First on iTunes.

Pretty Little Liars: Oh that lab scene was glorious, Hannah learning she was chipped, they stupidly freeing the animals including a wild raccoon that she has to give her dinner to appease. And of course Mona showing up to almost makes sense. It almost made me forget the Allison coaching youth soccer story line. Almost.
You can download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.

Tyrant: It only took five episode but Barry has finally decided to fight for his country. Let the season finally begin.
You can download Tyrant on iTunes.

Mr. Robot: Finally an episode featuring Dalia Royce in more than two scenes. And she was a nice diversion to the extremely trippy Elliot story line. From the start I have assumed Christian Slater was a figment of his imagination but he did talk to a couple other characters this week and gave money to the drug dealer so maybe I am wrong.
You can download Mr. Robot on iTunes.

Under the Dome: I finally caught up with the early season and though the second season was completely dreadful I actually like the season premiere with the alert=native reality. But since that ended this invasion of the body snatcher lite story line is almost as dreadful as last season.
You can stream current episodes of Under The Dome for free with Amazon Prime.


Aquarius: Once again the most interesting aspect of the show did not happen on the show this week because there was no way it could because the show has not aired this week yet. That is because NBC announced this week that it is getting moved to Saturdays (along with Hannibal) starting tonight. This has to be the first time a show that has been renewed but banished to the death slot less than a month later.
You can download the entire seaaon of Aquarius on iTunes if you do not want to watch television on Saturdays.

Previewing Falling Skies: The Final Season

Last week The Last Ship premiered with a two hour premiere pushing the new season of Falling Skies to tonight. I found this odd considering it seemed like every other season premiere for Falling Skies itself opened up with back to back episodes and it is weir that it would stop that streak for its final season. I guess the TNT action baton has been passed early.

The penultimate season of Falling Skies ended with a bang as Tom destroyed the alien power source on the moon with the help of his two year old Khalissi like daughter who sacrificed herself to save her father. Expect his Beamer was sent into space without any power. The new season starts up with a dream sequence ... or something like it with Tom's dead wife giving him a pep talk. It is unclear what is going on or how he gets back on Earth but it is clear that these "dreams" will have a big bearing on the new season.

Once reunited with the 2nd Mass, Tom uses these dreams to wipe out the remains of the Espheni fighting force left on the planet including wild roaming Skidder no longer linked to the Overlords. And what would a new season would be without a new alien creature harassing them and this season introduces a new mutated wasp which only becomes more creepy when they get it under a microscope. Though it it remains unclear in the early episodes who created them or what they were created for. My money would be whoever saved Tom.

Falling Skies airs Sundays at 10:00 on TNT. You can download Falling Skies on iTunes.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 8/10/14

Ray Donovan: It looks like we may have finally learned Cochran's vice, and, umm... does that mean his "Scrabble" parties are actually swinger's parties?  I really could not tell if the chick he groped was fazed or not.  If not, that lends to my swinger theory.  I also figured that Ray would bed the reporter eventually, just not after one episode.  Interesting that he would intercept her from meeting with Mickey knowing her life would be in danger if she really learned what went down on the docks the night Sully died.

The Last Ship:  Did no one really not think to have the captain disguise his voice or let a female talk on the com just in case the Russians were listening?  I have when I am much smarter that characters that are supposed to be the smartest people in the room.  But then again, just how smart am I for watching a Michael Bay show?

Masters of Sex:  I am glad I did not look up the William Masters biography in between seasons because I was extremely shocked that he ended up punching out his boss and then ended up at a black hospital.  Makes me wonder if his nanny will somehow end up in his study now.  You know Bill wants to know if races react differently to sex.

The Strain:  A couple years ago, it seemed like every show had someone getting eletroshock theraphy, this year it is vampire autopsy.  And this one ended up being grosser than the one on Penny Dreadful.  You would think that after seeing just how long that biting thing was, they would not enter a house where another suspected infected person was without a way to block it.  Well at least the CDC seems to finally be teaming up with the old vampire slayer.  Though my favorite part may be the vampire in the shed (how very Shawn of the Dead) and the wife willing to feed the annoying neighbors to him.
 
Falling Skies:  So Lexi spends all that time in the cocoon and come out virtually unchanged (except appently for her eyes which I would not have noticed had it not been brought up), well at least physically.  She is apparently telekinetic now.

Switched at Birth:  Wow, out of control Daphne went dark this week.  C'mon, you cannot try to make out with Travis on the Ferris Wheel.  I am guessing a mother / daughter trip to AA will be coming sooner than later this season.

Pretty Little Liars:  Well at least drunk Hanna is still entertaining.  Granted she has not gotten into cocaine yet like Daphne.  But the big new is that my lesbian Swimf@n dream may actually be coming to fruition.  Though it is unclear if the new girl likes Emily or like likes her.  But unsurprisingly we did learn she has a sordid past and of course it involves Jenna.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 7/20/14

Falling Skies: Juts when I thought it was unnecessary when they killed off the old dude last week, they brought back Weaver’s daughter only to have her in the middle of a skitter transformation (that is happening quick now) and just when I thought they would just bring her to Lexi to “cure” her, they just kill her off. What?!? This show is just getting too depressing.
You can download Falling Skies on iTunes.

The Strain: I had high hopes going to the show and it came very close to meeting those. The old dude is all sorts of awesome and he owing Weevil was a great introduction to the character. The CDC guy was a bit much in the court mandate therapy but was much better when he got on the job. And those the show had been pitched as a vampire project, these are definitely not your father’s vampires (or little sister’s for that matter). They kind of seem like zombie vampires which manage to be scarier than both originals. Especially with those worm infested hearts (so that is what was in the old dude’s mason jar which he creepily feeds with his own blood). The first episode does ask a very interesting question, at what point do you believe the crazy old dude with the snake handled sword who wants to burn everyone who was on the plane, even the four “survivors.” Of course, we the viewers know they should have done as he said, but the characters do not have the same information as we do. You really cannot take him at his word at first, especially considering if you did, there probably would not be a show. It seemed like the CDC guy was coming around when he say the worms in the dirt. And if not then, when you learn all the corpse up and left the morgue, that is indefinitely time to start believing the crazy old dude. So I guess the show from here on out will be the CDC guy, his team, and the old dude going around killing everyone on the plane. But who will be the one to chop off the little girl’s head? Samwise better take that one for letting the coffin leave the airport.
You can download The Strain on iTunes.

Switched at Birth: Was no one at all suspicious that Clarence Weidman was Angelo’s doctor. I personally would not have trusted that guy to do brain surgery on a loved one. Granted Clarence did us all a favor because Angelo could have been killed off a long time ago.
You can download Switched At Birth on iTunes.

Under the Dome: I think I said this when he was on Wilfred, but Dwight Yoakam without the cowboy hat is extremely creepy. Somebody give him his own horror franchise. And now he apparently has some of the answers but of course did not spill any yet. Instead we got the start of quite possibly the lamest love triangle of all time between the teenagers. At least we got one answer in that the new girl actually went to Chester Mills High back in 1988, probably not so coincidently the same year the picture of Junior’s mother, uncle, and Dwight Yoakam was taken. Wait, are we really supposed to believe Dwight Yoakam was a teenager in the eighties? (a quick scan of Wikipedia… Dwight Yoakam turned 32 in 1988.)
You can stream Under The Dome on Amazon Instant Video, free for Prime users.

Pretty Little Liars: Mona always seemed like the most likely candidate to be the latest incarnation of A, if she ever really stopped but considering the height of the attacker and her wanting Ali to leave and A making Ali stay I guess we can rule out Mona out (though I bet whoever was under the mask was probably a random stunt person and not the actor who will turn out to be A; and Mona vocally wanting Ali gone could just be her misdirecting everyone from thinking it was her). That would leave Melissa and a not so very blind Jenna as the prime suspects. Also Paige has been extremely squirrelly this season two, there is definitely something going on there (plus she wanted no part of Mona’s let get Ali to leave town cabal).
You can download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 7/13/14

Falling Skies: C’mon, did they really have to kill the old dude in front of his old wife? Couldn’t they just kill a nondescript Red Shirt instead? Seems a little cruel. Well at least we know now just how exactly Lexi came to have alien DNA too, that was a creepy scene.
You can download Falling Skies on iTunes.

Switched at Birth: As I have stated multiple time I have when episodes start in the third act and flashback. It was bad enough last week’s promo said this is how the episode ends as someone is rushed to the hospital. From the promo, my instant prediction was that it had to be Angelo with an outside chance of Toby or some minor character no one cared about. Nothing happened during the episode that made me think I was wrong that is was Angelo so I was not at all surprised when it was him in the car accident. Now the question is if he will survive, not that it matter. The reason I always thought I would be Angelo because he was the most expendable so it does not really matter if he dies or not.
You can download Switched At Birth on iTunes.

Pretty Little Liars: After a lackluster start of the season, I assumed they were saving any big plot twist until the one hundredth episode. Except the hundredth episode started out pretty boring unless you have a vest invested in seeing the Liars reunite with their longtime beaus (except for Emily and Alison who hocked up with each other). It was so uneventful, we did not even get to meet Hermie’s new girlfriend and Caleb, who cut off his faux-Riggins haircut, basically yadda-yadda-ed how he got out of Ravenswood.

But finally something happened at the end of the episode when they quite literally blew up a house. Oh snap. And of course A is back because anyone who thought Shawna was the A is a moron. Since she just returned, Jenna has to be on the top of the list… except that would involve blowing up her own house. And if she was in it, that would make it slightly less likely that she would be A (although Alison faked her own death so even if Jenna’s body is found I still would not count her out). And just like that, I am almost back in on the show.
You can download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.

Perception: The vision’s Dr. Pierce sees usually are the best part of the show and Lionel Luther as the Devil may have been the best one yet.
You can download Perception on iTunes.

The Bridge: The first season felt really disjoints and when you learn that one of the writer wanted to make a serial killer procedural while another wanted to look at the underbelly of the border it made perfect sense. The writer that wanted the show to be a procedural is not gone and the second season, for at least one episode, is much better for it. The show got weird, and essentially more entertaining. With a serial killer you knew where the show was going (he would be eventually caught), now I have no clue where the second season going. That is something to look forward to.
You can download The Bridge on iTunes.

Previewing Falling Skies:Season Four

While the middle of the seasons can get meandering, Falling Skies can produces some very thought provoking season finales. At the end of season four, Tom was finally reunited with Ann and their weeks old daughter who has already grown into the size of a gradeschooler. The previous season finale introduced a new player, the Volm, who we later learned have been in an intergalactic war with the Espheni and helped the 2nd Mass beat back the original invaders. By the end of season the 2nd Mass learned that Cochise’s father wanted to keep the humans out of the war and ship them to the safe haven of Brazil.

Apparently the 2nd Mass decided they did not want the free trip to the World Cup (I assume that would still go on even after an alien invasion) and instead split with the Volm and go back to Charleston on their own. We meet back up with them twenty-two days after the end of last season as they arrived on the outskirts of Charleston. Being Falling Skies, this is not a warm welcome as they are greeted with an attack by the Espheni that separates the group and we are introduced to a new kind of skitter which somehow manages to be significantly scarier than the kind we have already seen.

Four months later, the 2nd Mass is now in four smaller groups. Most importantly, over those four months the gradschooler sized Lexi has now grown into an absurdly attractive woman with strikingly white hair (as played by new cast member Scarlett Byrne from the Harry Potter movies). She is clearly from the house of Targaryen but without the dragons or nudity, but she does have some special powers of her own. One o my main problem with the show are no characters worth caring about but Lexi shoots right up to the top of the Most Interesting Characters Power Rankings for the show. And with the plot twist at the end of episode two, she only gets even more interesting.


Falling Skies airs Sundays at 10:00 on TNT. You can download Falling Skies on iTunes. For those that cannot wait until Sunday, the season premiere is currently available on iTunes for free.

Best of the Week: 4/26/14

Quote of the Week: She has plans, look at her calendar: February 14: (expletive deleted) gloomily. (Michael Ginsberg, Mad Men)

Song of the Week: Love You Like a Love Song - Selena Gomez and the Scene (Suburgatory)

Scene of the Week:

Big News of the Week: WEIRD AL IS CAREFULLY WEIGHING HIS OPTIONS AND ISN’T ENTIRELY SURE WHAT HE’S DOING AFTER HIS NEXT ALBUM!: The internet seems to be like the telephone game from childhood, after reported a couple times, the story gets a little distorted. Last week a headline read, “WEIRD AL SAYS HIS NEXT ALBUM WILL BE HIS LAST!” Expect it is not (barring him being dismembered in a freak accident). In a humorous blog post, Al clarified… well his fake headline which I co-opted above explains it fairly well. His post also mentioned he is halfway done with his next album and if he is dismembered in a freak accident tomorrow, it would make a nice final EP. It is about time, I have been waiting for a Call Me Maybe parody for two years now. Add that to Royals, Somebody That I Used to Know, Ho Hey, We Are Young, he should have plenty material to get his album finished quickly before any freak accidents may happen. And hopefully after that album is delivered, he can finally start releasing parodies straight to the internet right when the songs are still hot, not waiting until he has enough to fill out an album. In a perfect world, there is no reason why we cannot be enjoying a Happy within the week.

Preview Picture of the Week:

“Yousaf” The Americans, Wednesday at 10:00 on FX

Free Download of the Week: Avant Gardener - Courtney Barnett (Amazon MP3)

New Album Release of the Week: Supernova - Ray Lamontange

New DVD Release of the Week: Hill Street Blues: The Complete Series

Video of the Week: TNT released its first full trailer for the fourth season of Falling Skies. It heavily features a striking new blonde chick who it seems by the final scene is Tom’s daughter who started last season as a baby and finished as a tween. Yeah, she is not ominous or anything.


Next Week Pick of the Week: The iHeartRadio Music Awards, Thursday at 8:00 on NBC: CBS has the Grammy’s, ABC has the Billboard and American Music Awards, NBC is finally getting into the music awards game this week with the first annual iHeartRadio Music Awards. Unfortunately since it is based on radio, the music being honored is not that interesting. Case in point, up for Artist of the Year are Rihanna, Maroon 5, Justin Timberlake, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, and Imagine Dragons. The performers include Drake, Pharrell, Blake Shelton, Kendrick Lamar, Pitbull, Shakira, Thirty Seconds to Mars, Ariana Grande, Luke Bryan, Arcade Fire, and Ed Sheeran. This looks like it could be the Billboard or AMA’s. Yawn, the CBS comedies may be better alternative.

Best of the Week: 10/12/13

Quote of the Week: Normally we have naked cootchies lined up on the sink… but its slow. (Betty DiMello, Masters of Sex)

Song of the Week: Hey Man, Nice Shot – Filter (The Blacklist)

Scene of the Week:


Big News of the Week: A New Low: During the Republican primaries, as the candidates tried to out-crazy each other (I’ll see your Herbert Cain and raise you a Michelle Bachman) I floated a conspiracy theory that some of them were actually Manchurian Candidates placed by the Democrats to make the Republicans look unelectable except to the crazies in the south. And it worked, even though Barck Obama did a poor job in his first term, a poor Obama seemed more palatable than the crazy courting Mitt Romney.

You would think after the loss, the Republicans would disown the crazy wing of the party, but nope, they doubled down as if they want another four to eight years of President Clinton. They spent years of complaining that Obamacare would destroy the economy, and instead trying to fix it, waited their time trying to defund it over seventy times (you know, because fifty just is not enough) and even shut down the government which actually is hurting the economy months before Obamacare even goes into effect. So Obamacare did ruin the economy, but instead of being Obama’s fault, it lies at the feet of the Republicans. And now the Republican party has the lowest approval rating (28%) ever reported by Gallop since they started asking the question back in 1992. They also have a record high disapproval rating at 60%. For comparison the Democrats are at 43% approval and 49% disapproval. (All ratings have a margin of error of +/-4). So Republicans, stop being idiots, it is getting you nowhere. You have two years to shape up so we do not get stuck with a President Clinton because as we saw with President Bush’s, the sequel is significantly worse than the original.

Preview Picture of the Week:

“Salvage” Sons of Anarchy, Tuesday at 10:00 on FX

Free Download of the Week: Broken Over You – Vertical Horizon (NoiseTrade)

Deal of the Week: The Zombie Sale: Up to 51% Off: Zombieland, multiple Resident Evil movies, Zombie Strippers

New Album Release of the Week: Magpie And The Dandelion - The Avett Brothers

New DVD Release of the Week: Pacific Rim

Video of the Week: You will have to wait about another nine months until the season four premiere of Falling Skies, but you can check out the first look now which features even more bad apocalypse hair, a creepy military school, a new creepy hot blonde now that Karen is presumably dead, and what sound like a new enemy for the humans to fight (which may have something to do with the new creepy hot blonde) . The only thing missing is the creepy baby turned creepy grade schooler. Granted by the time the season starts, she may be a creepy teenager.



Next Week Pick of the Week: The Walking Dead, Sunday at 9:00 on AMC: During the boring farm season, everyone who read the graphic novel kept saying, wait until they get to the prison and meet the Governor. We got a glimpse of the prison at the end of season two and meet the governor shortly into the third season. And it really was not worth the wait. But as long as there are some gruesome zombie deaths, it is hard to get too disappointed with The Walking Dead.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 8/11/13

Falling Skies: Did they not just kill Karen two episodes ago? Being a sci-fi show I would not be at all surprised if we see her again. Maybe the Karen we saw die was not the real Karen and she was just some sort of real life robot the aliens were able to produce just to mess with the humans. I do not remember if it was ever explained why she still worked with the aliens without the harness on. And I wonder if there will be any resentment from Hal that Maggie killed Karen. Hall did seem shocked by the action even though that was the humane thing to do and really if Hal should be mad at anyone over Karen’s death it should be at his father.

And as creepy as baby Lexi was, school-girl Lexi is even creepier. I thought it was callous of Tom to shot Karen without trying to barter a way to get the bugs out of her, but I turned out Tom has his own creepy witch doctor in the family. I wonder if she will be a gull teenager by the start of next season. It may only make it even more creepy.
You can download Falling Skies on iTunes.

Ray Donovan: One of my longstanding pet peeves on television are dream sequences and drug trips are a corollary to that, but really, even I cannot hate a drug trip that features a monkey. But I was a bid disappointed that the cop that pulled him over did not morph into The Terminator as he was talking to the agent. And I did complain at the start of the show that I feared it would devolve into cheesy fake celebrity problems that Ray would have to solve every week (which thankfully for the most part it has not) that NBA lottery plan was disturbingly brilliant.

Under the Dome: So at the center of the town (which for some reason is a secluded wooded area, not downtown like normal cities) is a mini dome which encases an egg. Alrighty.
You can stream Under The Dome exclusively on Amazon Instant Video, free for Prime members.

Siberia: It is a little bothersome that the show does not notice the little things. There was an actual scene where the one chick is hunting for deer with the cameraman walking right in front of her. Seriously. No cameraman on a real reality show would walk directly in front of someone with a bow cocked back. At least the show moved the plot forward with the disappearance of everyone on the crew, aside from the cameramen on duty. But then that begs the question, what happened to the faux lesbian who “left” earlier in the day. Did she really make it out just before everything went down, or was she just wondering around for the day? Granted it is highly suspicious that we did not get to see her leave, so I have a feeling she may have been captured by the creepy kids lurking around.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Siberia on iTunes.

Pretty Little Liars: It looks like I was right, that Mona would essentially plea insanity and find herself back at the mental institution. I wonder if they will heighten security this stay after she admitting to sneaking out multiple times during her last stint.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.

The Bridge: Wow, that discussion on serial killers was profound. Too bad I had to read it. And as much as I find that Sonia lives somewhere on the autism spectrum, that meal with the family was actually entertaining in its uncomfortableness. Poor Marco, you really cannot come up with a good example as to why your wallet falls out of your pants innocently. The best thing I could come up with would be to cut a hole in your back pocket and hope she buys it just happened to bust while at the home of another woman to have her sign documents.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download The Bridge on iTunes.

The Challenge: Rivals II: The biggest problem with shows like this is that voting is extremely predictable (Survivor tried to shake things up with the addition of the Hidden Immunity Idol, but it really has only affected the outcome of a Tribal Council three or four times; I am pretty sure more people have gone home with an Idol in their pocket then have been saved by one) so it is always entertaining when a vote goes disastrously bad like when Teresa “threw away” her vote on her hook up LeRoy only for half the people after her following her lead and also voting for LeRoy, sending him into The Jungle. Not that it ended up mattering because LeRoy was saved by an even more rare occurrence with a disqualification in an elimination round (the only other time I remember this happening was to CT who crushed someone as he usually does, only to be sent home on a technicality).
You can download The Challenge: Rivals II on iTunes.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 8/4/13

Falling Skies: So Tom was able to figure out who the mole is because someone said something similar to what he remember Lourdes said hours before but did not realize it did not make sense to him when she first said it? I hate when writers continually put these kinds of revelations into scripts. Way too cute, just have someone walk in on Lourdes trying to kill Cochise. The reveal would have been more satisfying and less absurd.
You can download Falling Skies on iTunes.

Ray Donovan: I wonder what exactly Ray’s wife thinks he does for a living. Is she just a she no evil her no evil, blind to the fact who just does not ask as long as there is food on the table. Or the kind that does know deep down, but will not say anything because she has grown accustomed to her lifestyle. Or does she really know, does not care, and is just mad that he may be cheating on her and that is the preverbal line.

Switched at Birth: ASL karaoke: who knew? And I am not sure if I should have laughed at all the cheesy ASL pick up lines that Travis was trying. It should be interesting to watch his date with MaryBeth which I have a feeling may devolve into the episode of The Big Bang Theory where Raj went on a date with the chick who plays Daphne with Howard as the interpreter.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Switched at Birth on iTunes.

Siberia: When the show first appeared I theorized that it would turn out to be a rip off of The Cabin In The Woods, and if that is the case, the Powers that Be sure pumped in the pheromones this episode because there were people hooking up all over the place. I also had to think of another horror movie, Evil Dead, when the Serbian dude found the book. I was screaming at the dude, you do open up creepy books that are hidden. But at least he did not try reading from it. Yet.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Siberia on iTunes.

Pretty Little Liars: Oh Mona, you sneaky devil. But did she fall on the sword to make it up to Hanna for all the A stuff, or does she have a devious master plan that she is not letting on. Either way, she probably could get off, she worked out the self defense claim with Hanna, and worse case scenario, she could just e declared insane again and go back to Bradley, which may very well be her masterplan.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.

The Bridge: So not only is the creepy trailer dude not a murderer, he is actually coyote for Mexican prostitutes trying to get up from under the thumb from an evil sex trafficking drug lord(who can easily get a million dollars to Marco to pay for his other stolen property). Oh yeah, and he is so compassionate, he will even help snakes across the street. Alrighty. And it took me about half the episode to realize that was a clean shaven and fully functioning Johnny Crowder as the FBI agent. Considering what happened to him, it may have been better had I not recognized him.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download The Bridge on iTunes.

The Challenge: Rivals II: When I saw the title of this episode was Mortuusequusphobia‬, I got excited because I assumed it would be another spelling challenge this week. Silly me, they would never use a word longer than five letters in the spelling challenge. I guess it is safe to assume that mortuusequusphobia‬ is the fear of ketchup or condiments in general. But as great as the Jemmye mental breakdown was, the Jungle was as equally disappointing. C’mon promo monkeys, you do not hype the most dangerious elimination round ever only not to have one.
You can download The Challenge: Rivals II on iTunes.

The Hero: Patty?!? Seriously America? Apparently the only people who watched (and or voted) besides me bored housewives who thought they were Patty. And Patty winning is probably the best reason why there will not be a second season. If only the casted the inaugural season better.
You can download The Hero on iTunes.

Best of the Week: 8/3/13

Quote of the Week: Who the (expletive deleted) are you Ray? (Abby Donovan, Ray Donovan)

Song of the Week: Bad Things – Meiko (Pretty Little Liars)

Scene of the Week:


Big News of the Week: If You Use the N-Word at a Kenny Chesney Concert, You May Be a Redneck: Last week, I have never heard the name Riley Cooper, but the guy ended up leading Pardon the Interruption three straight days this week (and may continue into next week) after using the derogatory term at security guard at a country concert. But to Cooper’s credit, he quickly apologized and took full responsibility for his drunken stupidity (unlike other racists this summer). But how does the NFL not give the guy an obligatory one game suspension? Hopefully the “sizable fine” he received was at least one game check.

Preview Picture of the Week:

“There’s No Place Like Home” guest starring Tim Conway, Paul Dooley, Ron Glass, Marion Ross, and Doris Roberts, Major Crimes, Monday at 9:00 on TNT

Free Download of the Week: Best Day Ever – Bob Schneider (NoiseTrade)

Deal of the Week: 100 Albums for $5 Each: This month’s discounted albums include greatest hits from U2, The Beastie Boys, James Brown, and Tears for Fears.


New Album Release of the Week: The Civil Wars - The Civil Wars

New DVD Release of the Week: Community: The Complete Fourth Season

Video of the Week: Bad Milo is a movie which features Ken Marino with a killer tumor that comes out of his butt. Why is this movie not out now? Please not below is the red band trailer, so you may want to avoid watching it at work, around your family, are around anyone without a sense of humor.


Next Week Pick of the Week: Falling Skies, Sunday at 10:00 on TNT: It seems like the third season of Falling Skies just started up, but here we are at the finale already (will the fall season just next month, I guess all the summer shows will be winding down soon). This season was all about spies and double cross with two (and maybe more) humans with bugs controlling them and we still not know what the Volm are really up to (but the promo monkeys would have us believe they are up to something). Hopefully the show can come up with another finale like last season that saw the introduction of the Volm.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 7/28/13

Falling Skies: When Tom shot Karen my first thought was oh my God, they killed Karen! My second thought was, wait, she did not say that line they repeated over and over again in the promos, they must have Inceptioned Tom putting him in a dream inside a dream. Stupid promo monkeys spoiling the episode. But I wonder how many people spotted Cochise in Tom’s dream. If you missed it, that was Doug Jones without his Chochise costume talking to Gloria Rubin in the teacher’s lounge.
You can download Falling Skies on iTunes.

Ray Donavan: There are very few things I need to see less than Jon Voight dancing to Now That We Found Love in a gay bar.

Under the Dome: An interesting question of what would be on your playlist if you only have a half an hour before being nuked by your own government. The DJ went with the soothing tones of Mozart. I think I would embrace the impending doom and put on It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine) or maybe War Pigs. And all it took for the dude to care about his sister was a MOAB. Though odd it took Big Jim a whole day to decide he should release her. But will Junior just drag her back down next episode after he realizes the bomb failed? At least the preacher finally died. It was pretty obvious after the pacemaker took out the sheriff that the preacher’s hearing aid would do him in.
You can stream Under The Dome exclusively on Amazon Instant Video, free for Prime members.

Pretty Little Liars: So we got our first confirmation that Red Coat is Cece, assuming that hanger dude was not told to give that name by the real Red Coat if pressed. I am thinking that is the case because that is kind of an underwhelming reveal and shows like this love big reveals. I am still betting Allison is actually alive and pulling the strings.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.

The Bridge: My biggest complaint about the Pilot was that I do not really like when there are random characters that seem to have no connects but undoubtedly will end up intercepting by the end of the season. Thankfully we only had to wait three episodes before the three random storylines started to intercut as the police had to inform Charlotte of the ransom and Steven became the chief suspect of the investigation. Now I just wonder how long they stay in each other’s path or how long before we get a connection between Charlotte and Steven.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download The Bridge on iTunes.

The Challenge: Rivals II: That was one solid episode even if both challenges were kind of lame (remember the good old days when they had to melt blocks of ice with only body heat?). You had Marlon open up the episode by hooking up with a dude and closed it out with hooking up with a chick (this season needs more Nanny who along with Frank was the breakout star last season). He even got in a shouting match with Knight after a game of charades got out of hand (which may be the first time ever anywhere; Hollywood Game Night certainly would be more watchable if a brawl broke out after a game of charades). And that was not even the best fight of the night which went to Anessa and Trashelle which featured Trashelle hitting Anessa’s elbow with her face which was enough to make Trashelle quit which, of course, pissed off T.J (and inadvertently sent Sarah packing for the second time simply because of the partner she was paired with). And an annoyed T.J. is an entertaining T.J. This gave me the idea of an entire season made up exclusively of people who have quit in the past. It would be awesome to see T.J. tear down these contestants week after week.
You can download The Challenge: Rivals II on iTunes.

The Hero: Of course the two people I was thinking of voting for ended up going home in the last episode. Really, all the talk of what it means to be a hero got extremely annoying this season. Seriously, you not a hero for electing to go home yourself, you are a moron. Even worse, Charles probably had the best chance of the final six to win. I hope for Charles’ sake, whoever win thinks it is heroic enough to throw him some dollars for his stupid selfish act.
You can download The Hero on iTunes.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 7/21/13

Falling Skies: I never thought Hal was the mole, just too obvious. But do you know who was not at all obvious: Lourdes. Certainly did not see that coming. And that face worm scene was extremely creepy. But how exactly did she know all the strategic planning? Not really something a doctor would be privy two. As for the Masons, all the counter attacks really started to border on absurdity. There had to be about six in one episode lone.
You can download Falling Skies on iTunes.

Ray Donovan: The first two episodes were good, but the show was just missing something to get me invested in it. That may have finally came when the dude who got Papa Donovan out of prison showed up and we ended the episode in his dark basement with Ray and all his friends posted on his wall. This scene really should have been the final scene of the premiere.

Switched at Birth: Bay and Daphne’s talk about sex may have been the most uncomfortable thing I have seen on television in a long time.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Switched at Birth on iTunes.

Under the Dome: So the brother finally asked someone about his sister. That only took three days. Not that he cared all that much because it look like he is already renting out her room. But just what is Big Jim going to do with her? If he lets her go, he will have to send his son, who just did not disappoint him for the very first time in his life, to jail. Since it is flooded, he really cannot keep her in the bunker. So it is either lock her up in the house or kill her.
You can stream Under The Dome exclusively on Amazon Instant Video, free for Prime members.

Siberia: It is annoying on competition reality show when contestants talk about “playing the game” and it is even more annoying on this show because there really is no “game” to play. There are no competitions, not elimination, the only thing they have to do is not die, that really is not a game.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Siberia on iTunes.

Pretty Little Liars: When Spencer drove into that town I thought she drove into a different show. It turns out I was right. For the unaware, Ravenswood is an upcoming Pretty Little Liars spin-off show (do not get too attached to the Hanna / Caleb relationship because is joining that cast). If the show is as creepy as these segments would suggest, it may be worth watching.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.

The Bridge: I do not know what I would do if a woman who looked like Diane Kruger walked up to me in a bar and propositioned me for sex right off the bat. I do not know what I would do if any woman walked up to me in a bar and propositioned me for sex right off the bat. I would probably be too paranoid that I was on a hidden camera show or that she is just luring me back to her place to harvest my organs that I would end up passing up the opportunity. It may not be a good thing that this was my big take away from the episode why my biggest question would be is a hostess really an upgrade over a waitress?
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download The Bridge on iTunes.

The Challenge: Rivals II: Seriously producers, if all you can get on short notice was Cara Maria, just send Cooke home. No one wants to see her ever again (including the contestants). It is not even a hate to love thing, it is a wants to turn the channel thing. And a note to any newbies to the Challenge, watch previous seasons. I had to shake my head when Anastasia got mad at CT for using her as her own personal plaything. Had she watched the show before, she would have known that is his M.O. with the exception of Diem. Not watching the previous seasons would be as dumb as training by smoking cigarettes and not eating (God bless TJ).
You can download The Challenge: Rivals II on iTunes.

The Hero: I was really hoping they were going to vote Patti into the Hero’s Challenge, I could have done without her for the final episode. And again it is annoying they are going make us wait a week to find out who gets voted off, really unnecessary. I really doubt there are many people out there that were thinking of not watching next week but will turn in just to see who will be voted off.
You can download The Hero on iTunes.