57 Channels and Only This Is On: 5/12/13

Once Upon a Time: I am okay with poetic license so if the show wants to turn Rumplestiltkin into the “Beast” or make Jack of the Beanstalk fame a chick, fine (though turning Captain Hook into a J. Crew model is a little silly) but I really do not like that they turned Neverland into Siberia for Lost Boys. Neverland may be the most magical land in the Disney library and to turn it into a living hell take poetic license too far. But being from the writers of Lost, I have a feeling in three seasons (if the show gets that far) we will learn Bay is Peter Pan who rescues the Lost Boys from the Shadow, who is probably being controlled by Captain Hook. I would not be surprised if Bay ended up back in Neverland through the portal he slipped through and now is living a Hook
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Once Upon a Time on iTunes.

Revenge: I was really hoping that it would be Takeda killing Aiden because the show took a dive in the entertainment department right around he showed up. His character just made the show too complicated and muddled, and with him gone, I hoped they would go back to Emily taking people down again out of revenge for her father next season. That is if there is a next season.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Revenge on iTunes.

Mad Men: On any other show, when Peggy left SCDP, the question would not have been if she would ever end up working with Don, but when. But considering this show has no problem segregating its cast (I cannot remember the last time Betty interacted with anyone else, Gene’s birthday party maybe) or just cut ties with them completely (I wonder if Paul Kinsey ever got to write for Star Trek) I figured they would just stay their separate ways from the rest of the show. So it seemed a little cheesy that Don proposed a merger with Peggy’s current firm.
You can download Mad Men on iTunes.

The Voice: Well that was a weird way to start a results show, “hey, we are throwing out half the ways you were allowed to vote… but do not worry, even though we discarded those votes, we still got the same result anyway.” What? When Carson first announced this, my second thought was this is what they are going to use to bring back whoever drew the short straw on Adam’s team because they probably would have been one of the top two vote getters on any other team (my first thought was the irrational Michael Jackson fanatics, which there are still plenty around, stuffed the internet voting and possibly the texting which I am not entirely sure how you manipulate texting but I am morally opposed to texting so I really do not know much about it).

But alas the resurrection of Caroline Glaser, who was voted off Adam’s team, due to “voting irregularities” did not happen unless there is a shocking twist coming Monday (and we are still owed a shocking event from when they hyped one in the Battle Round that never happened). And the show should want to give Caroline a reprieve because she was one of the two best selling artists on the show this season (baffling the other person, Sarah Simmons, is the other one). Caroline and Sarah were the only two contestants whose four songs all charted this season, while Caroline was the only one who had all four of her songs on the Top 200 Overall iTunes chart this week. Not only that, all four of her songs charted higher on Monday than Josiah Hawley who inexplicably is in the final 12 while Caroline is going home. (Even as I write this, all four of Caroline's songs are charting higher than one song by Judith.  The Voice should feel really embarrassed by this.)  During Usher’s save, I was hoping he would say, “Instead of saving these two who are a lock to go home anyway, I am going to wait to use my Save on whoever Adam gets rid of.” That would have been worthy of the move we were promise in the Battle Round that “shocked the other coaches and producers.”

What makes Caroline and Sarah, the two top sellers, being in Adam’s team worse is that America’s Save went Judith Hill. The other save went to Amber Carrington, who hit the teens on the charts, but Caroline and Sarah were not that far behind in the thirties while Judith barely cracked the top 100. Considering they threw out online voting and texting, there had to be an overwhelming amount of phone calls for Judith to catapult Caroline and Sarah. Combine that with the “voting irregularities” this just does not pass the smell test. How are there that many people who said, Judith’s performance was not good enough to buy, but I am going to vote for her anyway?

Judith of course is an RnB singer while Amber is a country artist. You know else sings RnB and country: everyone else America voted for not named Michelle Chamuel (I guess she should be happy that Usher did not have another RnB singer or a country artist on his team). That really makes for a boring final 12. And it will get even more homogeneous because I suspect rockers Josiah and Garrett will be gone within the first two weeks, if not the first two gone. Not that I will find out, because unless they bring back Caroline, there really is no one to get excited for unless you are a country or RnB fanatic. I doubt anyone this season could have made the top five last season.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download songs from The Voice with the widget at right.

How I Met Your Mother: Have we always known that Robin has a sister? When her father first mentioned the younger Serbowski, my first thought was, well she will turn out to be the titular Mother. Except it would make no sense, we already no the mother has been in New York City for a while, she partied with Sarah Chalke, roomed with Rachel Bilson, and sat in on Ted’s lecture. If Robin’s sister has been in the city this whole time, how have we never met her yet?
You can stream recent episodes over at CBS.com. You can also download How I Met Your Mother on iTunes.

2 Broke Girls: Not that Pierce Morgan had much integrity in the first place, but how do you go on a show as yourself and comment on the size of another man’s junk on your own television show (which actually airs opposite the same program)? Larry King would never have done that.

Castle: It seems like whenever the show has these big government conspiracy cases, it always turns out to be a very pedestrian killer like a relative or scorn lover (with of course the exception of whenever it involves their own family). And I actually kind of hope Beckett takes the Washington job, then maybe Castle can go back to following around Adam Baldwin’s character.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Castle on iTunes.

Grimm: I have always liked Nora Zehetner going back to her Everwood days but unfortunately a decade later she really has not gotten her big break yet. She was unfortunately shuffled off that show after her onscreen brother died. She was the most interesting character on the early episodes of Heroes but was quickly killed off. The only thing I remember seeing her in since was one of the hundreds of Hey I Know That Person cameos on Heroes but she did not stick around long enough to get bedded by Don Draper (but at least she was not sullied by Pete Campbell). I was actually hoping that her character on Grimm would cause Nick to kill Juliet and she would become the new love interest because Juliet is clearly the weak link on the show. The only problem is Nick is the second weakest link.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Grimm on iTunes.

Survivor: Caramoan: Note to self: whenever you go on Survivor, tank any Individual Reward Challenges. Much like I am shocked that anyone would actually buy food at the action because the money would be better spent on the “advantage’ and Jeff will always have one covered dud and another time he will pull the you can have this for yourself, or something for the tribe thing. It is also becoming more frequent that at least once a season, Jeff will do the you can keep the prize for yourself or everyone else can get it thing and that usually happens during the Loved Ones Challenge. This week had to easily be the cruelest of Jeff’s ploys. He actually let Brenda choose Dawn, THEN said their was a second Loved One hiding on the island, AND THEN gave her the option of everyone but her AND Dawn the loved ones time. And then to make things worse, they actually had the barbecue within shouting distance. That was just cruel Jeff. And then Brenda learned the hard way why you do not want to win these challenges. It is a lose-lose situation. If you chose your Loved Ones, everyone will hate you and will not win if you make it to the finals. If you give up your Loved One, everyone will view you as a threat to win and try to vote you out, which actually happened to Brenda hours after her good deed. Though that was a stupid vote, I would much more worried of Eddie going on an Idol run than Brenda, and like I explained last week, Eddie already had three automatic votes on the jury. Oh well. We did finally get a first look of Andrea on the jury, and I am not sure who packs a cocktail dress when going on the show, but I am glad she did. Wow.
You can stream recent episodes over at CBS.com. You can also download Survivor: Philippines on iTunes.

Nashville: Of course Juliette has a sex tape. But I take it they are going to save the reveal of Maddie’s paternity for the season finale to Deacan, and maybe Maddie herself. I guess the question is how they will find out? Will Rayna finally confess after all these years? will Teddy let it slip in a jealous rage? Will it be released in a tabloid? For the entertainment value, let’s hope it is the third option.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Nashville on iTunes.

The Big Bang Theory: That was the most disturbing sex scene I have ever seen.
You can stream recent episodes over at CBS.com. You can also download The Big Bang Theory on iTunes.

Community: Well this season of Community written fan-fic is finally over. At least we got one last glimps of Evil Annie in a tight red dress before it was thankfully put out of its misery, so it made the season worth it. Wait, it was renewed? Oh goodness.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Community on iTunes.

Hannibal: So a therapist has his very own therapist. Though I have a feeling Hannibal just goes to Scully just to play with her. And what is going on with Abigail Hobbs? She was just resigned to a dream sequence this week, but I would really like to see her in the middle of the Hannibal / Will tug of war for her soul.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Hannibal on iTunes.

Best of the Week: 5/4/13

Quote of the Week: Nobody’s been probed… yet. (Sergeant Wu, Grimm)

Song of the Week: The Stroke – Billy Squire (Castle)

Scene of the Week:


Big News of the Week: Jason Collins Is a Gay Homosexual: Monday, Jason Collins announced Monday that he was gay and after everyone got done asking, “Who is Jason Collins” it turned out he was the first current professional male athlete to publically announced his homosexuality (although he currently is not on a team and as an old journeyman, it may actually stay that way, though I am sure David Stern will make sure he is employed by someone next season). But the most interesting part of his story was that the guy who backed him up at center in high school was Jason Segal. Yes, that Jason Segal.

Preview Picture of the Week:

2 Broke Girls "And the Tip Slip" Monday at 9:00 on CBS

Free Download of the Week: 21 Years of Music – Hanson (Noisetrade)

Deal of the Week: 100 Albums for $5 This month’s five dollar deal over on Amazon include Norah Jones, Counting Crows, Bruce Springsteen, and Weezer.


New Album Release of the Week: Annie Up – Pistol Annies

New DVD Release of the Week: Superman: Unbound

Video of the Week: The Walking Dead bad lip reading video is about as well written as the actual show. The best part is when it turns into a musical.


Next Week Pick of the Week: Locked Up Abroad, Sunday (tomorrow) at 10:00 on the National Geographic Channel: Now that you have seen the movie, now it is time to hear the real story of Argo from the people who lived it. And unlike the movie which featured Ben Affleck saving diplomats in Iran, tomorrow’s special episode of Locked Up Abroad features mostly testimonials from those who needed the rescuing. The real Ben Affleck character does not even show up for the first twenty minutes, but when he does show up, he had the best line, “This was the best bad idea we had.”

Best of the Week - 3/2/13

Quote of the Week: Why do they all have mustaches? (Carl, Shameless)

Song of the Week: I Swear – All-4-One (House of Lies)

Scene of the Week:


Big News of the Week: The Oscars, Yawn: I have only watched the Oscars once in my life (the Chris Rock year) and I certainly was not going to tune in for Seth McFarlane. I did flip over during the commercial breaks of The Walking Dead to see Les Misérables win the award for Best Hair which I found odd because they kept showing Anne Hathaway getting her hair chopped of; that does not seem very hard or award worthy. Then I saw McFarlane talk about John Wilkes Booth was the only person that truly got inside Abraham Lincoln’s head which he must have known was going to bomb because he had another lame follow up joke after everyone groaned. Can they please give Rock another chance? Actually do not, that way I do not have to watch the borefest ever again.

Preview Picture of the Week:

The Lying Game "The Grave Truth" Tuesday at 9:00 on ABC Family

Free Download of the Week: Four Songs - Myla Smith (Noisetrade)

Deal of the Week: $2.99 Greatest Hits: Pick up Best Of packages from Hootie and the Blowfish, Prince, The Eagles, JamesTaylor and more.


New Album Release of the Week: The Stand-In - Caitlin Rose

New DVD Release of the Week: The Bay

Video of the Week: Last year History debuted the very well done Hatfields & McCoys and now they are trying to transition that to a full series with the debut of Vikings this Sunday. Hopefully it is just as good. And if that is not enough Vikings for you, in two weeks History is releasing The Real Vikings Collection with three of its special programs. Look for my review of the set around the time it is released.


Next Week Pick of the Week: Grimm, Friday at 9:00 on NBC: I vaguely remember there was once a show called Grimm who had its mid-season finale around Halloween thanks to it pre-Olympics early start. Even fuzzier was what was going on prior to the hiatus. The promos would suggest that Juliet was hooking up with Nick’s boss and Nick just found out (I think it had to do with the sleeping beauty storyline from the premiere). Hopefully there is a lengthy “Previously On” segment.

57 Channels and Only This Is On - 11/4/12

Once Upon a Time: After a year of wondering, it turns out Dr. Whale is… Dr. Frankenstein? Alrighty. When he was first introduced as a wizard, I actually thought he would turn out to be the Wizard of Oz (okay, my first thought was, oh goodness, he is not going to be Harry Potter is he) when they talked about his ability to transport to places without magic. So what world exactly does Dr. Frankenstein live in, one where all the classic horror monsters live: Dracula, Wolfman (who I assume would end up being a love interest to Little Red Riding Hood), The Mummy, The Invisible Man. And I know they live in a world where Captain Hook looks like an Abercrombie model who does not think there is such a thing as too much eyeliner, but how can you have Igor without a hunchback?
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Once Upon a Time on iTunes.

Revenge: I thought for sure Amanda was not going to make it through surgery. I guessed she made it so Mason Treadwell could come back to cause more havoc. Of coutrse if Mason knew what was best for him he would stop snooping because the last time he got on the case, his house burned down. But I wonder if they are going to put a burn scar on Emily’s back even though I am pretty sure we have seen her in a bikini without one.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Revenge on iTunes.

The Walking Dead: The infamous Governor has finally appeared and he and his wall of floating zombie heads lived up to the hype. Of course without television in a zombie apocalypse, what else are you going to stare at hours on end than a wall of illuminated zombie heads? Oh yeah, and Mearle! And I have to wonder if this is the rape camp that Randell came from. I have a feeling Andrea will find out sooner than later.
You can download The Walking Dead on iTunes.

The Voice: Last week I wondered how they could get forty songs into two hours, I assumed they would just montage half of them, it turns out instead they just gave everyone about a minute of screen time with some really bad editing as they cut down songs. And it turns out the much ballyhooed Steal ended up being a major flop. I got a sense when lesser talent got stolen that coaches just did not want someone who would end up replacing an original tram member. Only Adam is taking a saved member to the Live Shows Playoffs even though Caitlin Michele and MarissaAnn clearly won their Knockout pairings.

That was not the only really bad decision from Blake Shelton. Even though he was the best coach when it came to making decisions in the first two seasons, he made some really bad pairings this season decimating his team. After pairing up two of his three best singers in the Battle Rounds with Suzanna Choffel and Lelia Broussard, he then paired his best two in the Knockout Rounds when he put Suzanna up against Cassadee Pope especially when Michaela Paige and Julio Cesar Castillo advanced. When it got down to the final four on his team I thought he was going to pair MarissaAnn with Cassadee and Michaela with Suzanna. Maybe Blake tipped his hand when he said the reason he paired Liz Davis and Gracia Harrison was that he did not want the two to siphoned votes from each other so he was only going to take one, so he took some weak singers (Michaela and Julio) to the Live Shows Playoffs to make it easier for his stronger singers (Cassadee and Terry) to advance.

If anything, the Knockout Round showed just how important song choice is. And for all the dude karaokers out that did not know earlier; never ever ever ever ever sign a Taylor Swift song. Like ever. Dare I say you would be much better off with some indie record that is much cooler than hers. And this week we actually had two dudes try to sing a Taylor Swift song. It was actually a big week for guys singing chick songs, which I rarely think works. Also, do not sing songs but dudes who beat on women. I thought Avery Wilson had a chance to win the whole thing but after a poor song choice, he danced himself off the show.

Even though the Steal ended up flopping because no none but Adam wanted to take them to the Live Shows Playoffs, I do wish they were still allowed one more steal during the Knockout Round. Blake could have finally gotten Caitlyn (assuming she did not reject him for the third time), Adam would finally gotten Gracia, maybe Cee-Lo takes a flyer on Suzanna, and Christina… who knows what stupid decision she would have made. Maybe Kayla Nevarez or steal MarissaAnn back. Really Caitlin was part of my favorite thing that happen this week when she was caught dancing to Nickolas performance.


You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download songs from The Voice with the widget at right.

Castle: Stupid credits. I actually did not think much when I saw Michael Mosley’s name at the beginning of the show, but as the evidence started to mount against Catle, I remembered, oh yeah, he was the serial killer that was never caught and he is totally setting him up. At least he showed up on screen shortly after I figured it out. But seriously, they really need to figure a way to keep the guest stars out of the beginning of the episode.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Castle on iTunes.

Don’t Trust the B---- in Apartment 23: It was nice to see someone finally put fans of The Wire on blast. I will never watch the show because I never want to turn into one of those pretentious jackasses.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 on iTunes.

Sons of Anarchy: After Gemma talked about overcompensating after losing a child, I thought for sure Able was a goner, and was a bit surprised with all the shocking deaths this year they stopped short of killing a kid.
You can download Sons of Anarchy on iTunes.

Survivor: Philippines: I was a big Astros fan back when I actually paid attention to baseball so I know how big an idiot Jeff Kent is so it is not surprising he has a horrible game plan on the show. Seriously, if you were so keen on getting rid of Penner, why not do it last week? Then had you stuck with him this week you would have had been the leader of the majority alliance with two former players that would be bigger targets. Now you need someone to make a dumber move than you made to get back in control of the game.
You can stream recent episodes over at CBS.com. You can also download Survivor: Philippines on iTunes.

Subugatory: I was super disappointed that after this episode when I went to iTunes, Tessa’s version of Sussudio was not there yet.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Suburgatory on iTunes.

Grimm: Last week when the promo monkeys said there was a new, more violent, Grimm was coming to town, I thought, this is just going to be a retread of the other Slayers on Buffy. I do like that it turned out to be a Vessin who hated who he was. But you know there have to be other Grimms out there somewhere.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Grimm on iTunes.

57 Channels and Only This Is On - 9/9/12

Quote of the Week: Ask Osama bin Laden if he is better off than he was four years ago. (John Kerry, The Democratic National Convention)

Song of the Week: Ronan – Taylor Swift (Stand Up 2 Cancer; proceeds of the song go to cancer research)

Big News of the Week: The Democratic National Convention: It is weird to hear every talk about how great a president Bill Clinton was, even may conservative talking heads considering the guy was so toxic back in 2000 Democratic nominee Al Gore treated his boss like, well, like Mitt Romney treated George W. Bush at his convention. Seriously people, if you have forgotten, go Google Monica Lewinski, Paula Jones, Vince Foster, and / or Marc Rich.

I have a longstanding voting strategy to never vote for incumbents because the longer politicians stay in office, the more corrupt they become. But I would have totally voted for Barack Obama had his convention speech just been him walking up to the front of the stage, say, “I shot Osama bin Laden in the face.” Drop the mic and watch off the stage while Bob Marley’s I Shot the Sheriff played in the background.

Preview Picture of the Week:


Switched at Birth: I actually thought they were going to have Bay forgive Emmitt in less than one episode. That should be unforgiveable, especially for a teenage and ABC Family is not known for its eaklthy relationships (*cough*Aria/Ezra*cough*) so thankfully they have Bay a backbone (for at least one episode). But speaking of unhealthy relationship, that cannot possibly have Daphne hook up with her boss (who I swear is the Kennish’s lawyer with a haircut) can they? Ew.

Grimm: The episode featured a zombie virus that makes you horny. Awesome.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Grimm on iTunes.

MTV Video Music Awards: This year has to rival the painfully bad Vegas year (the one where Britney Spears laughably started the show) as the worst VMA’s ever. Really the only thing worth talking about is how the botched the MCA tribute. C’mon, last year Amy Winehouse gets a ten minute tribute including a performance even though she released just one great album and no memorable videos and never received a VMA or even performed on the show. But the Beastie Boys were one of the top five video artists ever (arguable number two behind Michael Jackson), gave one of the most memorable VMA performances ever with Sabotage, and was one of only a handful of artists to win the Video Vanguard Award. But all MCA gets is about five seconds of No Sleep to Brooklyn played over the loud speaker. MTV should be ashamed.


Free Download of the Week: Everything Is Embarrassing – Sky Ferreira (Rcrd Lbl)

Deal of the Week: Big DVD and Blu Ray Sale: The Big Bang Theory, New Jack City, Gremlins 2

New Album Release of the Week: Away From The World (Super Deluxe Limited Edition CD/DVD) - Dave Matthews Band

New DVD Release of the Week: The Big Bang Theory: The Complete Fifth Season

Video of the Week: It seems like every couple months a new movie trailer pops up that makes me go, that has to be a fake Funny or Die trailer because no way anyone would actually make that. When I saw the title Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters I assumed it would be a trailer parody of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, but then Jeremy Renner pops up and I realize this is an actually serious movie. Alrighty.


Next Week Pick of the Week: Parenthood, Tuesday at 10:00: NBC’s staggered start of the fall season with the debut of its Monday and Tuesday lineups (sans Revolution which gets its premiere next week so they can air The New Normal and Go On pilots which are both currently online if you cannot wait; same with Revolution and Animal Practice). And the best show premiering this week is easily Parenthood. If my memory is correct Crosby and Jasmine got married, Julia and Joel got a kid (but sadly they did not adopt the coffee girl and her baby like I hoped), and Adam thankfully did not fire the absurdly hot secretary even though she kissed him. I am most interested in which Friday Night Lights alum pops up this season following in the footsteps of Lyla Garrity and Vince Howard. What is Becky Sproles up to these days?

This Is No Fairytale, the Stories Are Real

Grimm finished up its early Monday run this week before returning to its regular Friday timeslot on the 28 (your TV Guide may say there is a new Grimm this Monday but it is wrong, NBC will be airing the Pilots of The New Normal and Go On at that time). If you need a Grimm fix over the next twenty-four days until a new episode airs, you can relive the first season on DVD or Blu-Ray on shelves now. Of course for those interested in give the show a shot, you can pick up the first season, then watch the first four episodes of season two, and be caught up by the time it returns (that is just over an episode a day).

For the unaware, Grimm was created by David Greenwalt who was a writer for Buffy the Vampire Slayer before going on to co-create the spin-off Angel with Joss Whedon. Grimm is very similar in tone to Angel in that is dark, creepy, with flashes of humor. But instead of a vampire, the lead is a Grimm, a descendant of the guys that wrote all the fairytales, except all the stories turned out to be based in reality and the Grimm’s were tasked to hunting down all the big bad wolfs and the like (Grimm’s have the ability to see the creatures in their true form when humans cannot) before they attack young girls wearing red.

But like his previous show, not everything that goes bump in the night is a bad guy. The Grimm even teams up with a modern Big Bad Wolf, known here as a Blutbad (all the creatures, or Wesen, have a German sounding name) that helps the Grimm identify everything he is up against and the sidekick turns out to be the best part of the show. And the Grimm has to do this while trying to keep his new reality from colliding with his life as cop (with a very shady boss who know more than he is letting on) and his long time girlfriend. Some of the other fairytales tacked in the first season include Goldilocks and the Three Bears, The Three Little Pigs, Rapunzel, Big Foot, and The Pied Piper.

Both the DVD and Blu-Ray are filled with extras including deleted and extended scenes from 13 episodes that add up to about and extra 30 minutes including a scene from the Pilot that shows Juliette in a very different job then she ended up having on the show. There is also a featurette The World of Grimm where you can learn the inspirations behind the storylines, characters and creatures. There is another one that focuses how the team brings the monsters to life. There is also a gag reel, highlight reels, and audition tapes which includes Reggie Lee (who would go on and be cast as Sergeant Wu) auditioning for the role of Hank. I also like that each episode includes its “Previously On” clip which is inexplicably not standard on all television box sets.

The Blu-Ray set is well made and even includes a glossary printed inside of all the monsters on the show (which I assume are also printed on the DVD set). I do like that the fold out box set comes with a Velcro type substance that holds it together when closed. I do not like that the disk are pulled out of a sleeve making it easier to scratch instead of the safer pop out version. For a limited time, each set comes with two collectable trading cards (I got the Blutbad and Hexenbiest) as well as an UltraViolet code which you have until 2015 to redeem by if you want to put off buying the season until later. The big reason to pick up the Blu-Ray over the DVD for those with HD capabilities is that the Blu-Ray version includes an Interactive Grimm Guide which look like pages out of the Grimm family books with a page dedicated to each Wesen from the first season (sorry, no previews of baddies to come or just hinted out in the first season) but also includes a video of each creature transforming from human to it true form.

Grimm returns Friday, September 28 at 9:00 on NBC. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Grimm on iTunes.


Full Disclose Notice: This Blu-Ray was given to me by NBC.

57 Channels and Only This Is On - 9/2/12

Quote of the Week: Things just went from worse to worser. (Hanna, Pretty Little Liars)

Song of the Week: In My Veins – Andrew Belle featuring Erin Mcarley (Pretty Little Liars)

Big News of the Week: Lying Liars and the Lies They Tell: I am a big fan of Pardon the Interruption and one aspect of the show I really like is at the end of the show, Statboy pops up and cleans up all the errors Tony and Mike make even though it is a silly sports show and who really cares if they are off by .005 on someone’s batting average? I watch a lot of political show and have always wished that after these shoutfests they would bring in their own Statboy to tell you what the talking heads got wrong.

I bring this up because Vice Presidential nominee Paul Ryan managed to tell only two true statements during his speech at the Republican National Convention according to professional fact checkers. In comparison, FactCheck.org found five flat out lies. Everything else was your run of the mill politicians stretching the truth or conjecture. Unfortunately with no Statboy, you have to wait until the next day to sort these things out. C’mon, it is 2012, how can we not have real time fact checks on screen Pop-Up Video style?

Of all of Ryan’s lies, his most egregious was his claim that an auto plant in his district that Obama promised would stay open. Except it turned out that the president did not make any promises and was not even the president when it closed, that happened under George W. Bush. You can read all about this particular lie on Politifact. To give Ryan some credit, he did back off a little on this lie by saying that maybe, kinda, it might be possible that it could be that jut maybe Barack Obama may not have, possible, not the reason the plant closed. Almost.

Please note I am not trying to pile on the GOP (I am a registered Republican, or as Rush Limbaugh would call me a RINO), and there will be plenty of lies and mistruths next week at the Democratic National Convention, so be sure to bookmark Politifact and FactCgeck.org to get the real truths. And please stop it with the “You didn’t build that” crap, that was also given a “false” by all the fact checkers and anyone who listened to Obama’s full speech with a least one full brain cell can tell the thing that you did not build were the roads and other infrastructures.

Oh yeah, and Clint Eastwood talked to a chair.

Preview Picture of the Week:


Leverage: When Sophie stood at the “real” DB Cooper’s grave who died during Vietnam, I thought, c’mon, dude totally Don Drapered somebody, just check who else was in his platoon. Apparently the writers thought the exact same thing.
You can download Leverage on iTunes.

Grimm: As I have started way too many time, amnesia is one of my three least favorite plot devises on television. The only thing worse is selective amnesia. So Juliet remembers some random dog from her office, even remembers Monroe as if he is some great friend even though she has only met him about three time, but does not remember her fiancé. Alrighty. Hopefully they whip up a potion soon because I really hate amnesia.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Grimm on iTunes.

Perception: Just when I starting thinking out just how bad Eddie Furlong is looking these days, in walks Tom Sizemore.
You can download Perception on iTunes.


Free Download of the Week: Amber Waves – Erin McCarley (iTunes)

Deal of the Week: 100 Albums for $5: It looks like Amazon’s weekly $3.99 deals are being retired with summer so you will have to pay an extra dollar (and a penny) for the music deal, which this moth include Scooter Hall of Fame inductees from Eric Clapton and Pearl Jam, John Mayer’s latest, and Sam Cooke’s Greatest Hits.


New Album Release of the Week: Sun - Cat Power

New DVD Release of the Week: Safe

Video of the Week: I am not the biggest fan of medical dramas because I am not very good with blood especially the realistic kind (humorous excessive blood in horror movies do not bother me that much) so not surprisingly I did not make it very far into the reality show Chicago Medical premiering this Tuesday at 10:00 on the National Geographic Channel. It did not help that the first patient came in with bullet wounds to his thigh, scrotum and penis. Ouch. If you can make it through the clip below (it should go without saying, with a title like Penis Bullet Wound, viewer discretion is very advised), maybe you will enjoy Chicago Medical more than me.


Next Week Pick of the Week: Stand Up 2 Cancer, Friday at 8:00 on NBC, ABC, Fox, and CBS: One again this year, all the major networks and a couple cable channels will be devoting an hour to cancer awareness and telethon where you can donate to cancer research and maybe even talk to Julia Roberts, Samuel L. Jackson, Emma Stone and more if you call in to donate. There will also be performances by Alicia Keys, Taylor Swift, Coldplay, and Tim McGraw.

57 Channels and Only This Is On - 8/25/12

Quote of the Week: You are not the first girl to fall for Downton Grabby. (Spencer, Pretty Little Liars)

Song of the Week: Rainbow Connection – Weezer and Hailey Williams (Bunheads)

Scene of the Week:


Big News of the Week: Legitimate Rape: Remember the good old days when the political buzzwords were things like “Aqua Buddha”? Instead this cycle we are forced to debate things like “legitimate rape”. Didn’t we decide in the eighties that “no means no”?

Preview Picture of the Week:


Leverage: When I learned that the Leverage team would be going to Washington, it never crossed my mind that the reason they tried to “steal a congressman” would involve cheerleading. And after this episode I really hope they do a whole season in the capital next season. The storylines are endless.
You can download Leverage on iTunes.
Weeds:

Grimm: We may have learned more about the Captain in this episode than in the entire first season. So he is a bastard prince (charming?) who is barely human and very far from pure at heart who looks kind of like Jonah Hex in his pure form. Alrighty.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Grimm on iTunes.

Pretty Little Liars: How dare Erza’s brother besmirch the good name of Hootie & The Blowfish? Blasphemy. And how dare Erza defile Alex Mack? Can we just kill off the entire Fitz(Gerald) Clan please?
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.


Free Download of the Week: Year of the Dragon – Busta Rhymes: Yes you can download the entire new album from Busta Rhymes for free. Sure it is essentially a mix tape which means you will delete all but one or two songs after one listen, but hey, what do you expect for free? Quality?

New Album Release of the Week: Welcome To: Our House - Slaughterhouse

New DVD Release of the Week: Homeland: The Complete First Season

Video of the Week: Someone actually made a movie about butter carving. Welcome back Alicia Silverstone.


Next Week Pick of the Week: Pretty Little Liars, Tuesday at 8:00 on ABC Family: After a month of hyping, the BetrAyal is finally happening this week in the summer finale. The last couple episodes have focused on Paige who was found to be in possession of the missing casket earring and even the shady Jenna warned Emily about her. Of course all that means is that Paige is probably just a red herring. Other likely candidates are the growingly violent Maya’s cousin and Erza who could dump Aria and get back with his baby mama Alex Mack. But that would be more of a run of the mill betrayal, not much of a betrayal (unless Alex Mack joined the A Team to get back at Aria for dating her baby daddy). I m still hoping that Aria goes full WWF heal turn, smacks Spencer over the head with a folding chair, rips off her blouse to reveal a t-shirt underneath that reads “I’m the A-Team”. It is really a shame the how has not hired me as a writer yet.

57 Channels and Only This Is On - 8/18/12

Quote of the Week: No One Takes Khaleesi's Dragons. (Michelle, Bunheads)

Song of the Week: One Day – Matisyahu (Covert Affairs)

Scene of the Week:


Big News of the Week: Paul Ryan: A couple Fridays ago, AMC announced just hours before the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics that they were not renewing The Killing for a third season. It is common practice to release bad news late Friday in hopes that people will forget to be angry by the time the weekend concludes and to do it as the Olympics starts helps to bury it further. I bring this up not because I enjoy pissing on The Killing (even though I do) but I found it a bit odd that Mitt Romney chose Saturday morning on the last weekend of the Olympics to announce his running mate. What exactly was he hiding (besides what is in his tax returns), making the announcement at a time when most people are trying to bury news? Why not wait until Monday when you can own the new cycle instead of a time when people would rather talk about Usain Bolt or why didn’t Noel Gallagher jump out of the crowd during the Closing Ceremonies to punch Liam in the face when he was performing Wonderwall? Sometimes I wonder if Romney really wants to be president or if he has already resigned himself to losing.

Another sign that Romney may not want the presidency was his selection for Vice President. Paul Ryan is a super wonk who’s claim to fame is his budget that is supposed to save the country from financial ruin by slashing Medicare, lower taxes (mostly for the uber-rich) but will actually increase the debt according to a non-partisan economist. The guy is part of the most hated Congress in the history of polling and one of the bigger reasons why the country hates this Congress. This was clearly a pick to shore of the base of the party, but if you need to shore up your base by your vice president pick, you have pretty much already lost (see 2008). But on the bright side Ryan is a fan of Rage Against the Machine who will hopefully be invited to play the Republican National Convention later this month. Not surprisingly Tom Morello is not fond of his latest fan calling Ryan “the embodiment of the Machine our music Rages against”.

Preview Picture of the Week:



Leverage: Hardison biting that one dude (after actually warning him he was not above biting) has to be the funniest scene in the history of the show.
You can download Leverage on iTunes.

Falling Skies: I was all excited about the trip to Charleston this season, but I did not like all the politics when they got there (a dictatorship overthrown by the military; yeah). And even with running, heated water (which is not explained how they could keep the electricity going for an underground mall 24/7) Tom decides to keep the ratty beard. Alrighty. And wasn’t Weaver’s daughter going north to the mountains? How did she beat them to South Carolina?
You can download Falling Skies on iTunes.

Grimm: Where most people spend up-fronts hoping the shows they watch get renewed, I secretly hope they all get6 canceled. I really did not need a second season of Grimm, but here it is and a month before everything else. I always liked the idea of the show way more than the acting (the dude from Road Rules? The chick from Quaterlife?). They need to find some compelling leads and quick.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Grimm on iTunes.

Pretty Little Liars: With her absence this week, I have come to the realization that CiCi is my favorite character on the show. Granted it does not take much to be the best character on the show. All she has to compete with is whenever Hanna goes H*A*M on people., which is not nearly enough
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.


Free Download of the Week: Go On / Animal Practice (iTunes): If you missed their preview during the Olympics, you can download the new comedies for free.

Deal of the Week: Blu-Rays Under $10: The Expendables, Total Recall, The Terminator)

New Album Release of the Week: Last of a Dyin' Breed - Lynyrd Skynyrd

New DVD Release of the Week: Revenge: The Complete First Season

Video of the Week: The season two trailer of Homeland was just released and not surpisingly it looks all shades of awesome. Despite being unceremoniously booted from the agency, Carrie is back, in some cases with new hair and eye color, but unfortunately it looks like she is back on her meds. And just when you thought things could not get any more moody, they had to go and add a children’s choir to make it more epic. Remember The Social Network with Creep? And yes the Scala & Kolacny Brothers version of Every Breath You Take is available to download. Hopefully that does not last long. Homeland returns Sunday September 31 at 10:00.


Next Week Pick of the Week: Falling Skies, Sunday (tomorrow) at 9:00 on TNT: The first season was a bit rough at times and tiresome at others, but it seemed to hit its strike this season as it finally had a direction (and that direction was towards Charleston). But now there are there, now what? Apparently political drama as the series closes out its sophomore season.

Speaking of rocky first seasons, Bunheads also draws to a close this week. Hopefully it finds its foot too in the next season (it was recently renewed along with Melissa and Joey and Baby Daddy).

57 Channels and Only This Is On - 11/6/11

Once Upon a Time: I was a little surprised that we did not see Maleficent in the real world. At first I thought it was because the Evil Queen was going to remove her heart for the spell as I was unaware that the old dude was her father. I thought it was just her man servant. But the most interesting scene was The Evil Queen and Rumplestiltskin talking in the real world. Sure the kid thinks everybody in town is walking around in a haze, but you have to wonder who exactly knows what, and these are the two leading candidates to actually have memories of fairytale land. Snow White’s grandkid just does not happen to get adopted by her archnemesis in a town populated by fairytale characters.
You can stream current episodes on Once Upon a Time. You can also download Once Upon a Time.

The Walking Dead: Sure Shane is a jerk and all, but I did not see him leaving the fat dude for dead (morally aside, how was he going to be able to get back to the truck and then the farm without him, and in the dark at that). I just picked up my jaw at that scene about an hour ago.
You can stream recent episodes over at amc.com. You can also download The Walking Dead on iTunes.

Pan Am: This may be the episode where the show finally turns the preverbal corner as it was the first one I whole heartedly enjoyed if it were not for the pilot subplot. Hopefully he gets fired because the pilots have never quite fit in to the show very well. But Christina Ricci’s back-story was extremely enjoyable. Note to self: start tipping waitresses three cents and if they call me on it, tell them it is to get them from getting complacent in a no end job. Brilliant. Bonus points for next week when Smash Williams makes his return to television.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Pan Am on iTunes.

How I Met Your Mother: Seriously, the Slutty Pumpkin? Wasn’t that season one? Just because everyone complained that Lost did not tie up most of it loose ends does not mean that this show does. If everyone has forgotten about the storyline, you really do not to bring it back up even if it is unresolved.
You can stream recent episodes over at cbs.com. You can also download How I Met Your Mother on iTunes.

The Sing Off: With three all-male college groups left in the competition it is not surprising they finally gave one the ax, but after giving the best Swan Song of the season, is it too late to give the University of Rochester YellowJackets a reprieve? Maybe they should start rewarding the group that gives the best Swan Song performance and let them back in the competition at some point. The Dartmouth Aires regain their spot on the top of my power rankings this week for the first time since the second week thanks to a rousing Queen medley (insert your own Antoine Merriweather singing Queen joke here), but it was still disappointing that Bohemian Rhapsody got resigned to a medley, they should have just performed that because it is basically three different songs in one anyway.


The Sing-Off Week Five Power Ranking (change from last week in parentheses)
1. Dartmouth Aires (+1)
2. Afro Blue (-1)
3. Delilah (+3)
4. Urban Method (-)
5. Vocal Point (-)
6. Pentatonix (+1)



You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download songs from The Sing-Off on iTunes.

Castle: Early on I actually pegged the one hostage as an inside man until he had a seizure then I just figured I had too big of an imagination. I guess maybe they should have sent in an actual medical examiner instead of Beckett and maybe they would have know he was not epileptic.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Castle on iTunes.

Parenthood: Julia kind of overreacted a bit with the sushi. Really having her doctor explain to her baby mama what she could and could not eat would probably have been a better idea.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Parenthood on iTunes.

Survivor: South Pacific: First off: bad promo monkeys who spoiled the merge. I was eagerly hoping that there was not going to be a merge to see Ozzy’s face when he learns he would have to spend a couple days at Redemption Island, only for it to be ruined for me on Sunday. Booooo. With that out of the way, I never understood why there are not more people flipping votes after a tie. I would much rather bail on my alliance than go to rocks even if there is a Redemption Island safety net. Though I have to question Coach for not using his Immunity Idol to try to save himself or somebody in his alliance.
You can stream recent episodes over at cbs.com.



Revenge: I still hate the start of the series and really do not care for any of the characters beside Amy Abbot, but gosh darn is this show getting good. Two major what the frack moments this week. I have long pegged the annoying little frat boy as a gay homosexual con man, but what I did not see coming was the computer nerd blackmailing him for sexual favors. Then the other was Not-Amy Abbott bashing in the skull of the bodyguard then showing up all happy, happy, joy, joy on Amy’s doorstep. I cannot wait until the next episode (which sadly I will have to because of some study country music award show next week).
You can stream current episodes on Hulu. You can also download Revenge on iTunes.

Grimm: I originally thought this episode would be about Hansel and Greta, thankfully I was wrong when they started having sex and it ended up being the Goldilocks and the Three Bears. But they really took way too long to have the only interesting character in the cast to show up. The Big Bad Wolf did not even make an appearance until over half way through. But it was worth the wait when he hysterically tore some dude’s arm off.
You can stream current episodes on Hulu. You can also download Grimm on iTunes.