Quote of the Week: Who else thinks the Civil War ain’t over, it’s just half-time? (Earl, My Name Is Earl)
Song of the Week: Look After You - The Fray (Journeyman)
Big News of the Week: New CW Shows Tank: Congratulations The CW you just spent millions of dollars promoting a show in Reaper, including paying off critics to make people believe the show was worth watching, only for it to debut with numbers worse than Veronica Mars scored in its first week last year in the same timeslot; a show you promoted with about as much money as you found in your couch cushion. Then to add more insult to injury, your other “show that will bring viewers to The CW,” Gossip Girl almost scored almost a full million less viewer in its first week with any competition this week too compared to that Veronica Mars premiere. So The CW, you may want to get on the phone as soon as possible and beg Rob Thomas and Kristen Bell to get Veronica Mars: The FBI Years ready for the 2008 season and hope all the bridges you burned for canceling the show the first time will be rebuilt by then. Because if you are going to put on shows that get low rating, at least put on one with a loyal fan base that doesn’t cost you as much money. (Full Disclosure: The Nielsen Rating are a sham and I tend not to believe any of the numbers used to make the argument above, but since The CW are stupid enough to think the numbers are accurate it works in the aurgument.)
Speaking of Nielsen, as I mentioned earlier this week, I am up for their TV Blogger of the Year Award despite actually being a TV blog. It was somewhat prestigious when they first made me award of the award being one of about ten blog including actual credible blogs like Television Without Pity and Brilliant But Canceled (okay, I missed how either were actual blogs themselves, but that would be like the story of the kettle and the pot), but now the contest has ballooned up to about a hundred. Yawn. And I realized their whole voting system is pretty hard to figure out. And their website, which was interesting when I had an exclusive beta invitation, has just turned into a place for spammers for their favorite crappy shows. But if you have too much time on you hand, or have already signed up for the site, feel free to head over and give me a pity vote (I have pretty much given up on winning a t-shirt). Also don’t forget to check out my contest where you can win the fourth season of Nip/Tuck on DVD.
How I Met Your Mother: Better than most of the second season, but something just felt off. Maybe it was the recycling of the lower back tattoo that played out two years ago. Maybe it was they didn’t spend enough time with the special guest stars Mandy Moore and Enrique Iglesias (who shouldn’t quit his day job). Of course maybe it was because they totally stole my break-up beard routine. Granted I typically demoted my beard from goatee to fu Manchu to Charlie Chaplin moustache before going bare. And I don’t want to seem as obsessed with hair as Tony Kornheiser, but what was with both of the female’s hair. It is time to fire the show’s stylist. But we are one step closer to meeting the mother, although it was a little insulting to the intelligence to end the show with all black umbrellas with one lone yellow umbrella(ella, ella, eh,eh,eh). Check out the latest episode over at Innertube. The show also showed up in iTunes this week and you can download the last two episodes from last season for free as I write this, but be warned, those were two of the worst episodes in the series history.
Heroes: Darn you Heroes for once again teasing me that you killed off Absorbing Guy just to reveal once again that he wasn’t in fact dead like everyone think. For the love of good acting, the next time you kill him off make sure he stays dead. Of course it would be pretty apropos if Kristen Bell is the one that finally does the deed having one of the best actors today kill off one of the worst. But anyways.
Horrible acting aside, I could also complain how uninteresting the Spanish people are or how they have created so many Heroes that they have already started to recycling abilities (flight) but I want to talk about how funny the premiere was. No seriously, I think I laughed more during Heroes that I did How I Met Your Mother, The Big Bang Theory, and Chuck combined. First, despite starting to be grating during the end of last season, Hero meeting his hero, who just happened to be a drunk British guy. Yeah the premise sounds like a cheesy blockbuster film that should star Martin Laurence or Tom Cruise, yet somehow the actor somehow made it work. Then there was Noah’s boss whom I hope turns out to be a hero himself and much like Samson have his powers being drawn from his moustache. And I’m not even sure why I found it funny but the Bennet family dinner, complete with Mr. Muggles, was so inane I just busted out laughing the whole scene. Check out the latest episode over at NBC.com.
My Name Is Earl: A strong start and it was nice to see that Earl could still cross off things on his list while in prison. But I still prefer my sitcoms in half hour portions and some of the jokes started to get stretched too long. At least the new guy at NBC said he was getting rid of those stupid Supersized episodes, so we don’t have to worry with those anymore. The best part of the episode though was Joy taking in Randy and trying to teach him how to fend for himself. Check out the latest episode over at NBC.com.
Survivor: Wow, I can’t believe they actually let the wrestler get voted off, but I guess when someone goes unanimously, it is hard to swing some votes to keep her on. But I wouldn’t be surprised if they bring back the castoff survivors like they did in the Panama season. We also get to see the big twist this season with the winning reward challenge tribe getting to kidnap an opposing tribe member who in part gets to give a hint to the not so hidden immunity idol. Should be interesting who tells who about what is going down. And I am beginning to think that my prediction of the one tribe never winning anything is actually going to come true. Check out the latest episode over at Innertube.
Smallville: Nobody does season finale/premieres quite like Smallville. In the finales almost every character is in some dire situation and everything is somehow back to normal by the end of the finale. We even had two deaths in the finale, and both were seen alive and kicking by the final scene of the premiere. Of course if you actually thought Lana was dead, you weren’t paying attention (and I not just taking about her still being in the credits); let take the time machine back to May 20th, “Lana who actually got in the van that passed by preventing Lionel (who may or may not be in on it) to reach her, and then remotely blew up the car to fake her own death.”
Also check out my First Impressions of these shows:
Chuck (where you can also check out a Bloggers Must Watch Guide at the bottom)
You can also check out my season review of Dexter: In the Blood (everyone got the Better than Ezra reference right? Anybody? Anybody at all?)
Promo of the Week:
Next Week’s Pick: Friday Night Lights, Friday 9:00 on NBC: A new day for last year’s best new show. I still have avoided temptation from watching the premiere episode on Yahoo, but from the promo above, you can tell at least one of Dillion’s finest who will be showing up in swimwear in the premiere. I would be remised if I also didn’t mention Pushing Daisies which has its series premiere on Wednesday at 8:00 on ABC. Let’s hope that it lives up to the hype.
Check out some of the shows mentioned above on Amazon Unbox which you can transfer to you Tivo (if you are one of those pretencious types, everyone else will have to watch on theor computer; also notice how How I Met Your Mother is currently 0.00 which all the math classes I have taken in taken in my life would have me believe that makes the show free for download):
So I was perusing the iTunes for new stuff like I do every Tuesday and was extremely surprised to see Chuck front and center when I flipped the the TV section. And NBC other debut last night, Journeyman also popped up on the site. But, unless I am blind, I did not see the second season premiere of Heroes there. But the inclusion of Chuck and Journeyman of course is surprising because NBC said a couple weeks ago they were not renewing their contract with iTunes which ends in December. And since it ended in December NBC said they would not be adding any new shows because they didn't want to pull the shows from the site mid-season. But there are Chuck and Journeyman, complete with the option of buying a season pass. So either NBC and iTunes kissed and made up like I predicted it would before the television season started or someone made an extremely huge mistake. If they did make up, I wonder which side caved because, as I am writing this, I have not seen any news reports on it. Either way, if you are interested in buying either show, click the link below:
I was going to save my Heroes commentary for my 57 Channels post this weekend, but since I wrote it last night after the show and have this very special two day post, here it is a couple days earlier:
Heroes: Darn you Heroes for once again teasing me that you killed off Absorbing Guy just to reveal once again that he wasn’t in fact dead like everyone thinks. For the love of good acting, the next time you kill him off make sure he stays dead. Of course it would be pretty apropos if Kristen Bell is the one that finally does the deed by having one of the best actors today kill off one of the worst. But anyways.
Horrible acting aside, I could also complain how uninteresting the Spanish people are or how they have created so many Heroes that they have already started to recycling abilities (flight) but I want to talk about how funny the premiere was. No seriously, I think I laughed more during Heroes that I did How I Met Your Mother (you will have to wait until this weekend on my thoughts there except what was with all the bad hair on that show last night?), The Big Bang Theory, and Chuck combined. First, despite starting to be grating during the end of last season, Hero meeting his hero, who just happened to be a drunk British guy. Yeah the premise sounds like a cheesy blockbuster film that should star Martin Laurence or Tom Cruise, yet somehow the actor somehow made it work. Then there was Noah’s boss whom I hope turns out to be a hero himself and much like Samson have his powers being drawn from his moustache. And I’m not even sure why I found it funny but the Bennett family dinner, complete with Mr. Muggles, was so inane I just busted out laughing during the whole scene.
Sigh, when is Kristen Bell going to showing up again?
A couple weeks ago I realized I never got around to giving full season reviews of many of the past year’s programs. But I figured since the introduction of 57 Channels and Only This Is On this past year it seemed redundant to waste a whole post reiterating this I have probably said earlier. Even though I didn’t want to write up full reviews for each show, I did want to give each show a rating on my Terror Alert Scale. So here in a sort of television in review I’m going to give a quick though on each show (no seriously, I can write short things) and then give it a rating. If you want to go more in depth of my thoughts on each show, than click its label at the bottom of the post.
Everybody Hates Chris: One of the most consistent comedies on television, but even though that means there are no bad episodes, there really are not too many great episodes either. Plus you never know which long forgotten black actors that are going to pop up with this season seeing Jimmie Walker and Todd Bridges making appearances. Everybody Hates Chris 2.x gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.
Greek: Typically I avoid shows that can qualify as a guilty pleasure but since it aired during the summer when there is nothing else on it makes it less guilty. Plus the show is on the high end of guilty pleasures thanks to its sometimes high brow humor with jokes about Dick Cheney and Ronald Reagan (thanks to Frannie, the pseudo-conservative sorority president who is one of the most entertaining characters on television). Aside from Frannie the rest of the show was pretty hit or miss. Greek 1.x gets a on my Terror Alert Scale. Download the whole season of Greek on iTunes.
Heroes: I’m not sure what is annoying, the Lost fanboys that would have you believe the show is still as good as its first season or the Heroes fanboys who ignore some humungous flaws, most notable it is poorly written and its acting is even worse. Then some of the secondary heroes (see Radioactive Man, Invisible Dude, the Haitian) are much more entertaining than the main ones like. Hearing Cop needs to die. Split Personality Chick needs to die. Absorbing Guy needs to stay dead. And wouldn’t you know, the three worst characters were all seen in the future. Then the show went and broke the cardinal rule of shows like this and didn’t kill off the Big Bad. Shows should never recycle Big Bads. Maybe if they kill off the three characters above, have the new Big Bad kill off Sylar early (after he repents for his sins), start turning Hiro dark (because he is already starting to get annoying), and bring in Rob Thomas (no, not the dude from Matchbox Twenty) to write for Kristen Bell and maybe Heroes can finally live up to the hype it got in the first season. Heroes 1.x gets a on my Terror Alert Scale. The show also won an Scooter Television Award.
How I Met Your Mother: The show hit a big sophomore slump this year. But I guess that would happen when Ted spends the entire season tied to someone we already know is the mother in question. Added to that the show spend too much time trying humanizing Barney. I prefer my Barney with no redeeming qualities. How I Met Your Mother 2.x gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.
Knights of Prosperity: One of the biggest crimes against humanity was this show never finding an audience thanks to ABC screwing with its scheduling then saying they couldn’t find a slot for it this fall though they found one for Cavemen as well as finding a reprieve for According to Jim. The show did rival My Name Is Earl in terms of laughs most of the time although never did quite have any instant classic episodes like Earl had this season (more on that later). The absurd cast was cast of characters were instantly likeable including Rockefeller Butts who had me on the floor every time he opened his mouth. Knights of Prosperity 1.x gets a on my Terror Alert Scale. The show also won two STA’s.
Lost: The show recovered a little after suffering one of the worst sophomore slumps ever in television history. And the show looks to be curing one of its worst ills, boring flash forwards (seriously did anyone care anymore when we found how Locke got in his wheelchair), with the shocking introduction of the flash forward in the finale. And I know I may be in the majority, but the two random people-centric episode was up there as one of the best in the series history just because how inane it was. I laughed more during that episode than I did during an hour’s worth of some sitcoms. Lost 3.x get a on my Terror Alert Scale. The show also won two STA’s (five lifetime).
Big News of the Week: Friday Night Lights 1.x out on DVD Tuesday: Surprising NBC, in all their infinite wisdom didn’t decide to release the DVD on a Friday to avoid confusion. But anyways. If you were one of the way too many who skipped hands down the best new show of last year, here is your chance to check it out before the second season begins October 5 at 9:00. Of course for those that saw the first season in its entirety you may want to pick it up to relive the greatness that is Landry Clarke and the Dillon Panthers as the DVD is currently only $19.99 on Amazon, see right. Also if you are FNL fan or football fan in general, come join my fantasy football league, appropriately title Dillon Panther Football League, and take on my Landry’s Revenge. Drop me an e-mail for the League ID and password Draft is Tuesday September 4 at 9:00 PM EST.
One thing I try to avoid is to say things that have already been said. But on the other hand I am a big fan of beating a dead horse (note to self: start trying to convince people that I am bringing sexyback) so here is my obligatory “Kristen Bell signs up for a couple episodes of Heroes” comment. Certainly all the uber-nerd got way too excited about the news, but I am going to take the opposing view. As much as I would like to see Kristen again, one of the last places I want to see her is on Heroes. If I wanted to see her recite horrible dialogue surrounded by people who can’t act, I would have bought Pulse on DVD.
But one of the reasons I hadn’t dropped the show from my viewing list last year is because it always had the potential to be great but have been dogged by poor writing and even worse acting and the addition of Bell can help half of that. (Helping that even more would be if absorbing dude stays dead and kill off hearing guy and split personally chick.) Granted the other half may actually get worse as I assume Brian Fuller, who wrote by far the best episode of last season Company Man, will not be spending as much time around the show as he will be launching Pushing Daisies in the fall.
Oh and guess for my obligatory story I need a title: Kristen, Now There’s a Hero that Can Ring My Bell
Greek: The candy bar trick could quite possibly be the greatest thing ever, well assuming you have a teacher that will let you eat in class. But that brought me back to the good old days in high school when the English teacher didn’t realize why we would want to use our graphing calculator on the tests. And I have said it since the first episode, and I still don’t care at all for the Cappie/Casey/Even love triangle. Download the current season of Greek on iTunes.
Rescue Me: It is nice to see Tommy made it down off the fire escape okay. The show like to put him peril at the end of episodes only to have him safe and sound at the start of the next with little explanation a little too much. And what is Lou thing contemplating revenge sex with that ugly chick. Revenge sex is only applicable if the chick if at the very least half way decent or it is basically you losing twice.
Pick of the Week: LiveStrong Candidate Forum, Monday and Tuesday, MSNBC: I would like to pass along a time but I looked at MSNBC’s schedule and this wasn’t listed at all. I do know that the democrats meet Monday while the republican have theirs Tuesday with Lance Armstrong and Chris Matthews as your moderators. Consipciously absent although will be cancer survivors Rudy Guiliani and John McCain as well as Barak Obama who lost his mother to the disease. If anyone knows when these are airing, please drop me a comment or e-mail.
We are less than a month away from the start of the new fall schedule and every new show not named Pushing Daisies has yet piqued my interested. But I am interested on what new shows are making you excited and below is an Unspun widget you can play with. You can either give up or down votes to different show or click “Add an item to this list” to do just that or you can click here to go to the page and rank the shows yourself.
Welcome to the 3nd Annual Scooter Television Awards honoring show that aired new episodes between June 2006 and May 2007. I will save the explanation of certain winner's when I do a comprehensive review of that season in the near future (for the reviews I done already check out my Terror Alert Scale archives). Before we get to handing out the awards, let me take time out for the obligatory memoriam section, so cue up It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday and pour some chocolate milk out Randy style out for the homies that are no longer with us:
Big Chubby Charlie Pace Dean O’Dell Don Lamb Future Paining guy and his girlfriend Knights of Prosperity Linderman Mindy O’Dell Random Castaways Shaft Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip Veronica Mars Zeke
Now without further ado, here are the winners of the 2007 STA's:
Quote of the Week: Rob Thomas is a whore. (Piz - Veronica Mars)
Song of the Week: Bad Day - Daniel Powder (as sung by Ronnie, Veronica Mars)
Big News of the Week: Scooter Loosens His Dislike for All the New Fall Shows: For those that saw My 2006-2007 Television Schedule you would have noticed there were absolutely no new shows on it. But after reading Herc from Ain’t It Cool most anticipated list I have warmed up a little, and by a little, just one show: Pushing Daisies. The whole dude reanimating dead people just didn’t sound very good to me until I saw it was created by Bryan Fuller who just so happened to create the number one reason why I no longer watch Fox: Wonderfalls. Not so coincidentally. One of the two episodes he wrote for Heroes, Company Man, was the best of the first season. Then the show stars Lee Pace, the male lead from Wonderfalls as the guy with the magic touch, Chi McBride, another one of my favorite who also stared in a show that Fox prematurely gave the ax Boston Public as a private investigator who looks to be more Vinnie Van Lowe than Keith Mars, as well as Anna Freil who, surprised, was star of the short lived Fox show, but nonetheless great The Jury, as Pace’s first kiss who happens to be one of the dead he brought back to life. Luckilt the show doesn’t air on Fox but you can instead watch Pushing Daisies this fall Wendsdays at 8:00 on ABC. Here’s a clip:
Celebrity Fit Club: Men vs. Women: Usually I am a casual viewer of this show, but I have turned in every week and finally the moment I have been waiting for when Screech made the karaoker cry and almost got Harvey to kill him. Now that’s television. Also be sure to hunt down the extended uncencored version where Harvey, after threatening Screech tells everyone to “put that on V-Spot.” Classic. But I have to wonder why after they switched up the teams last week they are still calling this installment Men vs. Women.
Heroes: Last year I declared the last Supernatural (see Dad's on a Hunting Trip) episode the worst season finale ever and even though the Heroes finale didn’t change that assumption, it came pretty close thanks to the completely inane ending. I understand why Nathan would sacrifice himself for his brother but Peter should have turned around and sacrificed himself because Nathan has more to live for, a wife, kids, one of which he just met, and his new public office. But really, it never came across Nathan’s mind to just tell Peter he should fly out of the atmosphere? But my biggest complaint is that Mohinder, Nikki and Noah (yeah that was uber-lame) were in New York even though they were alive in the future yet nothing happened that would lead them to being at that place at that time unlike Nathan and Hiro who knew the future and knew something needed to change. But the show did get some things right, I liked the introduction of next season’s Big Bad when the locator system said he can see her when she thinks about him. I wonder if we have met him yet. Unfortunately this season’s Big Bad will still be lurking around. Bad idea. Check out the latest episode over at NBC.com.
Veronica Mars: One thing I forgot to mention in my original post (see: I Like This Show, it’s Tawdry or Rob Thomas Is a Whore) was how the first episode eerily mentioned two subjects from the two classes I took during the spring semester. First one of the fake ID’s used the name Leonardo Fibonacci and I spend time studying Fibonacci Numbers (don’t ask) and I learned how to encode things, in fact I can play a game of head or tails over the phone without either player cheating (again, don’t ask). Check out the latest episodes over at cwtv.com or download the whole season at iTunes.
Lost: One thing I forgot to mention in my original post (see: Guys (Dramatic Pause) Where Are We) and surprisingly I didn’t see this anywhere else so maybe I was just seeing things, but if I wasn’t then either Carol Vessey is getting chunky or Jack’s ex-wife is pregnant. Check out the latest episodes over at ABC.com.
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip: It was hard getting back into this show after so long without a Matt, Danny, or Jordan sighting. And even though I love the “Rob Thomas is a whore” line, Aaron Sorkin’s self deprecating The West Wing humor just fell flat. Well except the drunken lines from Jack. Seriously, he is at his best when inebriated (see also The Wrap Party). Check out the latest episode over at NBC.com.
This Summer’s Pick: Friday Night Lights, Sunday’s 9:00 NBC: Here is your chance to catch up on the best new show from last season that is actually returning for a sophomore season. or those that a already into the show, be sure to head over to Give Me My Remote where you can win a script from the show signed by the cast. Now my TV Guide says that tomorrow’s episode is the Homecoming game so I’m not sure if they are showing the episodes out of order, or if they are just waiting to start with the Pilot next week, which isn’t part of Memorial Day weekend. Speaking of which I hope everyone thanks a veteran or two sometime this weekend and I’ll be back Tuesday and sometime next week I will be unveiling the Third Annual Scooter Television Awards as well as the Top Ten Best Shows of 2006-2007.
Quote of the Week: I can still do long division but I can’t quite remember all the continents. (Ronnie when Mac mentioned that love kills more brain cells then crystal meth - Veronica Mars)
Song of the Week: I Feel it All - Feist (as performed on a traveling bus, Jimmy Kimmel Live)
Flavor of Love Girls: Charm School: Okay, it is pretty much assumed that nineties percent of realty television is rigged and/or staged, but the judging on this show is just absurd, you have some girls going home because they need to much help, then Goldie Courtney goes home because the other girl need more help. With that said, I’ll still be tuning in next week. Download this episode on iTunes.
Survivor: I would just like everyone to check out my First Impressions: Survivor Fiji to see who I predicted back then who would win (let me give you a hint, it was Earl). Check out the latest episode on Innertube.
How I Met Your Mother: After seeing the last two episodes I understand why CBS was considering canceling the show. Way to save the worst two episodes for the end of the season. Were we actually supposed to believe that Robin and Ted were getting married, with child, or moving to Brazil? It didn’t take too long to realize that the big news was they were breaking up. Check out the latest episode on Innertube.
Heroes: Usually I can put two and two together especially on a not so cleavarly written show like this, but I never realized that the locating that Mr. Bennett was going to “shut down” was going to be the little girl. If the future episode is any indication, sign says that something happens to her otherwise Nathan/Sylar would have used her power to locate all the Heroes. Almost as shocking was the demise of Linderman at the hands, literally, of DL, who may or may not have been healed by Linderman as he killed him. If I’m not mistaken, he was supposable killed in the nuclear blast with Micah, although why wouldn’t Nikki be with them? Maybe we will find out next week but if I were a betting man, I would put my money on no. Check out the latest episode over at NBC.com.
Lost: Wow, an actual good episode, and I’m talking late first season good. This is surprising considering I stopped caring about the Desmond/Charlie storyline right around the time it started. The only problem I had with the episode was with Charlie’s long goodbye to Claire when I just sat there saying, “Just give her the ring to give to Turnip Head and get going.” Then we have the big shocker at the end with there is a tribe of Amazon women who are currently habituating The Looking Glass station. Are they Others? Dharma? Part of Rousseau’s team? Someone completely different? Check out the latest episodes over at ABC.com.
Smallville: The big rumor was that someone was going to die in the finale but two of the characters looked like they won’t be back next season with Lana’s car exploding and Chloe’s uber-lame superpower being if she cried on someone, they would switch mortal wounds. My guess is if one actually survived it was Lana who actually got in the van that passed by preventing Lionel (who may or may not be in on it) to reach her, and then remotely blew up the car to fake her own death.
Next Week’s Pick: Veronica Mars, 8:00 Tuesday, The CW: The last Veronica Mars ever as well as the last time anyone will have a reason to watch the CW, the show goes off in fashion with two hours, starting at 8:00 so all you losers who will be watching the national karaoke championship, be sure to set your VCR’s (or for you pretentious types your Tivo’s). From the promo (see below), it looks like Ronnie will getting back to her bitter and vengeful self not fully seen since season one.
Quote of the Week: Running from the law wasn’t as easy as they made it look on The Dukes of Hazard. (Joy - My Name Is Earl)
Song of the Week: My Before and After - Cotton Mather (as sung by Desmond Fellows, Veronica Mars)
Big News of the Week: Up Fronts: All the internet gossipers with their “sources” have been speculating for weeks what is in and what is out for the 2007-08 television season but all the rumor will be put to rest this week as all the networks unveils their schedules for next season. So everyone will know for sure if their favorite shows will be coming back and which nights. I’ll have my final wrap up Friday of what I’ll be watching as well as my preseason picks for best new shows.
Saturday Night Live: the 90’s: A thoroughly good retrospective of some of the best years in the history of the show. Some interesting stories including that the original cowbell skit failed in dress rehearsal earlier that season because it was Christopher Walken who made that skit, but I wonder who the original guest host was when the skit got cut. The early years were top heavy with the like of Sandler (who was conspicuously absent), Myers, Carvey, and Rock while the last half was carried by Norm MacDonald. Surprisingly they spent a decent amount of time on his firing. It is a shame the Burt Reynolds cross over didn’t happen because of it. Now it would be too easy to say the Celebrity Jeopardy was my favorite Norm scetch so here is my favorite on:
Flavor of Love Girls: Charm School: Mo’Nique is a moron. Seriously, she had a professional Speech and Debate dude their and she didn’t even respect his decision on who won. Not to mention it was obvious to me that the right team one. Download the latest episode on iTunes.
How I Met Your Mother: From my first impression, I called the show a televised version of a chick flick that is saved by the hilarity that is Barney, but not even Barney could save this week’s episode. Although the random dude, should I have known who that was, chasing Scooter (no relation) almost did. Check out the latest episode on Innertube.
Heroes: The whole snow-globe scene was cool, the rest of the episode, not so much. So we have Peter who knows that he is going to blow up th city, who instead of high tailing it out of the city to avoid that happening, instead goes in search of radioactive man, who is the very person that would cause him to blow up the season. And the show once again teases my greatest hope for the show, that Claire puts a bullet in the back of his head, killing him for good. Please let this be real this time. Check out the latest episode over at NBC.com.
Veronica Mars: Another reason to subscribe to the Veronica Mars Podcast; you learn little tidbits like Desmond Fellows dead band mate in the My Pretty Pony video was played by Rob Thomas. Also if you are a fan of the show, be sure to check out my Win a Copy of Neptune Noir Contest. Check out the latest episode over at CWTV.com or download over at iTunes.
Lost: I totally called Juliet pulling a swerve on the Other with Jack in on it. Now with that said let move to the bulk of the episode; what the frack was that? Not-Henry and Locke talking to a fracking invisible man? Are you fracking kidding me? The reason why eyepatch dude didn’t die was because the wattage apparently wasn’t high enough? That’s fracking lame. Future obscenities aside, I guess we learned a few thing this episode like Not-Henry was, in fact, not born on the island. Apparently The Hostiles don’t age, or at the very least the Hispanic one doesn’t. The Workman in the van was Not-Henry’s dad. But there were plenty of new questions like how did Not-Henry, an outsider to the group, become the leader of The Others? Why didn’t the Hostiles purge the people in the Pearl Station? Is the little girl dead? Is Locke really dead? The show must have one frack of a finale if it expects me, along with other viewers to wait eight months before the show starts up again. Check out the latest episodes over at ABC.com.
Survivor: Yau-Man may have made the best move in the history of Survivor. With six contestant left, he set into motion a plan that very well will put him into the top three. He used the immunity idol to get himself into the top five and if he or Earl gets immunity he’ll get into the top four where if he or Dreamz gets immunity he is automatically in the final (assuming there is a three person finale again). But it will all depend on if the jury rewards him for the plan or give the vote to someone else to spite him. Check out the latest episode on Innertube.
My Name Is Earl: Much better finale than last year with Earl hitting on Joy’s lawyer and the reveal that she was actually on his list and the shocking twist the Earl threw himself on the bomb went to jail for Joy. As great as the show is with Earl crossing things off his list, an Earl in jail so could be just as funny as long as Ralph signs onto the show full time. But I suspect Earl will be out, and most likely back in the motel, by the second episode next season. Check out the latest episode over at NBC.com or download on iTunes.
Next Week’s Pick: Smallville, Thursday, 8:00, The CW: There is something big going down of the season finale of the show. Unfortunately someone’s lack of spoiler warning has, well, spoiled me, but I’ll be turning in just the same. Not to mention, no one does humongous cliffhanger like Smallville.
Download these shows on Amazon UnBox and watch them on your computer or transfer them to your Tivo:
Quote of the Week: “I've been studied up, I watched My Super Sweet 16. That reminds me, you don't know where I can get a dozen eunuchs do you?” (Logan, Veronica Mars)
Song of the Week: Hurts So Good - John Cougar Mellencamp (Everybody Hates Chris)
Big News of the Week: Gilmore Girls Going, Studio 60 Coming Back: Okay so I have never watched Gilmore Girls except maybe the last five minutes of the current season as I prepare for Veronica Mars. But with its demise you got to wonder if this gives Veronica Mars a better chance to return next season now with three extra hours than The CW had last fall. The channel did green light fifteen pilots, a third of which were reality programs. Then there is Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip which is returning May 24 in ER’s timeslot.
Everybody Hates Chris: One of the main problems about doing an episode about dirty jokes is that you can’t actually tell them on national television. But they did do a clever thing avoid the seven words you can’t say on TV especially with Craig talking about his parents going back and forth calling each other four and five. Check out the latest episode on CWTV.com.
Heroes: Okay, Hollywood, I get it, George Bush is evil and exploited 9/11 for his own political gain. There is no need to continually put these not so thinly veiled allusions to him and his administration in your movies and television show. And when Heroes wasn’t exploiting someone exploiting a tragedy this week, they were totally ripping off the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode where Cordelia wished herself into a parallel universe where Buffy never came to Sunnydale and everyone, sans Giles, ended up dieing. But will all the Heroes dieing in the future, why was Nikki the lone hero spared? What really bugged me about this whole thing is why did Future Hiro keep on going back to make sure everything happened to ensure Sylar didn’t blow up New York City but never thought to go back and kill Sylar himself? Speaking of Hiro, he gets a little to happy to see Ando when they have been apart and Future Hiro is uber depressed without him, could Hiro have a man crush on Ando? Check out the latest episode over at NBC.com.
Veronica Mars: Just an addition to I Like This Show, It’s Tawdry from earlier this week. Someone made a video of all the great elevator scenes in the show’s history (see below) and it is really interesting the elevator played a part with Ronnie catching Logan with Kendall and Logan catching Vee with Piz. On a side note, I am totally disappointed that Dick hasn’t accepted my friends request on MySpace. Check out the latest episode on CWTV.com or download it on iTunes.
Lost: Lost is really good this season for giving huge hints to their big reveals that when they are actually revealed, they are not that surprising (see Jack and Claire being siblings). After the last Locke-centric I wrote on this very blog, “how many seasons until we get the hyped, shocking revelation that the original Sawyer is Locke’s dad?” Okay so we didn’t have to wait that long, but it wasn’t any less shocking. The big new this episode was Juliet and Jack argued over whether to tell Kate something big, which of course this being Lost, they didn’t. I’m putting my money on her planning on turning on the Others and wanted to let Kate in on the kidnapping that is about to occur as Sawyer most likely impregnated her. Although assuming that Sun is also on the list, who is the third? Check out the latest episodes over at ABC.com.
Smallville: Loved the noir parts of the episode, the other part, not so much. They really should have made this more stand alone having only about five minutes of “real life.”
My Name Is Earl: Maybe I looked forward to the whole scratch and stiff way too much, or that the last two episode were two of the series best, but this episode was a bit of a let down. Sadly the funniest part of the show was in an interview the show’s creator gave complaining that he wasn’t given smell approval and not to blame him if the smells don’t quite smell like they should. Check out the latest episode over at NBC.com or download it on iTunes.
Next Week’s Pick: Lost, Wednesday, 10:00, ABC: It seems like every week I complain how useless the flashbacks are because there have been just way too many from Jack, Kate and Locke. And not so surprisingly the best episodes this season have been the Juliet and those random people centric one. Next week may top them all as we get flashbacks from a guy not named Henry.
Download these shows on Amazon UnBox and watch them on your computer or transfer them to your Tivo:
Big News of the Week: May Sweeps in Full Swing: It’s is may and the networks are bringing out the big guns: Barney appears on The Price Is Right (How I Met Your Mother), the Heroes fast forward five years, Veronica Mars returns, My Name Is Earl has Smell-a-Vision (check the latest issue of TV Guide for your sniff card), Smallville goes noir, Tyra Collette returns to Supernatural, and next Sunday NBC gives us Saturday Night Live in the ‘90s: Pop Culture Nation. With all that, there will be only one Pick of the Week which you will have to wait until the end of this post.
One thing you won’t be seeing during May Sweeps is Drive which Fox pulled. I believe I called that before it ever aired. So you can add that show to The Lone Gunmen, Undeclared, Firefly, A Minute with Stan Hooper, Keen Eddie, Wonderfalls, The Jury, The Inside, Point Pleasant, Reunion. But anyways. And the 9th Green may even get into the sweeps fever with an upcoming contest. I haven’t gotten the prize(s) yet so I don’t want to jinx it by telling you what it is, but be sure to keep a look out for it. As a hint, even though the name may fool you, the prize has nothing to do with the dude who sang 3 AM. (Scooter's Note: If the deal falls through, I will disavow that the last sentence ever happened)
Heroes: Well that sucked massively. Yeah I knew from the moment the shard of glass entered Peter’s head he wasn’t actually going to be dead, but a fan of good acting can hope that he was actually killed of the show. Then the episode ended with a potential jump the shark moment when Hiro came face to face with Future Hiro. Anyone who has seen Back to the Future if you were to meet your future self it would rip a hole in the time/space continuum. Check out the latest episode over at NBC.com.
RW/RR Challenge: The Inferno III: I probably laughed a little to long after Rachel lost to Jenn. Really, how can you lose three straight after being up 2-0? She was definitely right to leave in shame without saying goodbye to anyone. Check out the latest episode over at MTV.com or download at iTunes.
Lost: Yawn. Have Sun and Jin ever had an interesting flashback? But that’s not to say the episode was a complete wash with the return of Eyepatch dude. I theorized a couple weeks ago that Miss Cleo was a little to eager to commit suicide and that that they knew they would come back. Even as far back as season one I theorized that Boone, Ethan, and the Federal Marshall would be what was down in the hatch. But I backed off those theories realizing that then they couldn’t possibly bring everyone back. But there was Eyepatch dude and I really doubt he just so happened to have an eyepatch over the same eye.
The other big news was random chick from the skies’ reveal that the flight was already recovered with no survivors which brought back all the purgatory rumors. My theory is that whoever wanted the plane to crash in the first place staged a fake crash so no one would keep searching foe them. Check out the latest episodes over at ABC.com.
Survivor: These have got to be some of the dumbest contestants in the history of Survivor. Which is a good thing because you never know what they are going to do leading to many unpredictable episodes this season. First you had the Alex/ Mookie braintrust who, upon finding Yau-Man’s immunity idol, come up with a plan to out Yau instead of just stealing it for themselves. That may have been the dumbest move ever.
Then you have the weakest alliance ever. Yau and Earl are tight. Then you have Cassandra who is loosly ties to the Earl/Yau tandem and to Dreamz. Then there is Stacy and Boo who are complete outsiders. It should be interesting next week to see if they stick together or someone aligns with Alex to gain control of the game. Check out the latest episode on Innertube.
My Name Is Earl: Certainly there was going to be a drop off after the hilarious Norm MacDonald episode last week, but not by much. It was great to see Earl issue out his own brand of karma this week including inadvertently helping the teachers blow up a student’s care. And as grating as Randy sometimes gets, him pouring out some chocolate milk in memory of a fallen teacher was classic. Check out the latest episode over at NBC.com or download at iTunes.
Next Week’s Pick: Veronica Mars, 9:00 Tuesday, The CW: The latest talentless female with a name no one knows has been added to a group that won’t be around in two to three years so that means it is time for the best show on television to finally comeback. If you have yet to check out the show, there is no better time than this week to give it a try (you can always download the whole season on iTunes). It has been eight weeks since Ronnie has solved the Dean’s murder and Parker and Logan looked like they were becoming more than friends. And we will get are first taste of a standalone episode of the show. All leading up to the season finale which some who have\ seen it are calling the best episode in the history of the show which is high praise considering the two previous five star season finales, as well as A Trip to the Dentist and Donut Run and this years gold standards, Spit and Eggs and Mars Bars. Naturally Vee and crew are also the Promo of the Week:
![Terror Alert Level: Elevated [YELLOW]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6-iVFV0hXCTSYP16K_V0Rrxp3GqFrtBIJKeTUyQ2LpxZQ9XKHFj6QGtqqa7oxhLadLV8vUj8R84AftD8IKUSfN0u_u0CYDtJwhrpCPN2DBWquAIDv0jbVlhZL0mDFKlPKluGyxw/s400/small_elevated.png)
on my Terror Alert Scale.
![Terror Alert Level: Severe [RED]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidjcsCV5I3jWQDVTcnVoXbArSx3kHl02FZ8FkOHBBKP2w8mQulcCF614SIw1GjuB2JtKV2YcQOKXtMlnW2ulLSOvYvvXzDwZ3JF4Mlh0Dt2nfEL1oGLh0sk7O-GRHWbCPvJmMMKg/s400/small_severe.png)
on my Terror Alert Scale. The show also won two STA’s.![Terror Alert Level: High [ORANGE]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhebDZ0qqwOVKMZj7oFSUe8Hm3ax54U9Hp1fThJPgiddTyzcdwx_5SV6E3b7hkKyxbaDiym4COmUXT2YJnsKCUjBHI_a2xZtNoY7qFQRslP5AGO5gLkJwn2ZbO0wIF80ycbKrgPPA/s400/small_high.png)
on my Terror Alert Scale. The show also won two STA’s (five lifetime).
