57 Channels and Only This Is On: 6/8/13

Quote of the Week: Sometimes all we can do is watch. (Dr. Bedelia Du Maurier, Hannibal)

Song of the Week: Harper Valley P.T.A. – Jeannie C. Riley (Mad Men)

Scene of the Week:


Big News of the Week: I Watched the CMT Awards Again This Year: Kristen Bell has gotten me to watch some horrible crap like Heroes, Pulse, Burlesque, but the worse of them all was the Country Music Television Awards last year. I audibly groaned when it was announced she would host again this year, but something surprising happened this year, it was actually enjoyable. For some reason Lenny Kravitz of all people kicked off the show, the opening skit was funny, some random country band did a solid version of The Chain originally by Fleetwood Mac (when a guitarist was raiding out of the floor, I thought, oh goodness, they really got Lindsey Buckingham to do the solo, unfortunately it turned ou just to be Keith Urban), Kristen sang Human league, the was the completely random presenting team of Ed Sheeran and Lisa Marie Pressley, the dude from Nashville got to present with a chick in a see-thru dress (and humorously tried not to get caught on camera peaking at her), and the performances were by artists I actually like: Kacey Musgraves, Miranda Lambert, the dude from Hootie & The Blowfish, Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood. There was even a couple good unintentional funny segments with Cassadee Pope (she sings two country songs on The Voice and apparently she is country now) and her hyping Twitter. Is 100,000 tweets over the course of a three hour telecast really that impressive? But this year's CMT Awards was better than any Video Music Awards show from the past decade. Which I guess really does not say much.

Preview Picture of the Week:

Mother and Child Divided, Switched at Birth Monday at 8:00 on ABC Family

Mad Men: After about four episodes, we finally get a name: Sterling Cooper and Partners. And who would have guessed that Pete would be the only one to sniff out the “and Partners” alternative motives. I thought when Pete went to creative after the meeting he was going to try and steal Ginsberg and start his own agency. But I wonder if we are in for a repeat of season three where Sterling Cooper Draper and Pryce move in the middle of the night and start a new agency after a hostile takeover from the British with the dude from Veronica Mars taking over for the dude from The Nanny. And I am a bit disappointed that Jane’s cousin was the token person from the agency’s past that was at the Hollywood party and not the new Star Trek writer Paul Kinsey.
You can download Mad Men on iTunes.

The Voice: Ever since Caroline Glaser was speciously voted off, I swore off this season, but every Monday I still log onto iTunes to see what the contestants were singing to see if I should have a change of heart, but never do. This Monday was actually worse, not only is two-thirds of the singers left bland country artists, but the two non-country artists performed songs by country artists. And then I saw Amber Carrington would be singing I Remember You. Wait, what? The Skid Row song? That was not enough to get me to turn in but I definitely checked out the video the next day her country-fied version of the classic power ballad (which was number 80 on my list of The Greatest Power Ballads of All Time) was as awesomely bad as I expected.


You can stream recent episodes on Hulu.

Hannibal: The puzzle of the first season is coming along nicely. There was a great dichotomy of Dr. Chilton being accused of planting the idea of Dr. Gideon being the Ripper in his patient’s mind when Dr. Lecter has been pulling Will’s strings this season. Will and to an extent Dr. Gideon thought that the Ripper would kill Gideon, but Gideon is beneath Hannibal, he just had Will do it for him. Brilliant. I assume that within the final two episodes, Will will start realizing what Hannibal is doing.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Hannibal on iTunes.


Free Download of the Week: Family Reunion – Wu-Tang Clan (Band Camp): The Wu is back to make you go boom boom like you’re Super Cat. The new song features verses from Masta Killer, Method Man, and Ghostface Killah and samples The O’Jay’s song of the same name. You can get the song for free, it is a name your own price so you can pay for it if you like. But if you know you are going to buy the album when it comes out, you can get the song now for free and not get charged later when you grab the full album later this summer.

Deal of the Week: Albums as Low as $2.99: Get deeply discounted album from Fleetwood Mac, Jessie Ware, Stone Temple Pilots, and the Very Best of Prince.


New Album Release of the Week: Damage - Jimmy Eat World

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

Video of the Week: While watching the trailer for Getaway, you can almost hear the pitch meeting:

Executive 1: We need to find a way to capitalize on the success of the Taken franchise.
Executive 2: How about we combine it with Fast & Furious and make the lead a race car driver.
Executive 1: Great, except all we can get for the Liam Neeson role is Ethan Hawke, he will need someone to help bring people to the theater, preferably the younger demographic.
Executive 2: How about one of the Disney girls who are trying to shed their goodie-goodie image and make her a carjacker who, for some silly reason, has to stay in the car.
Executive 1: Great, let’s get a screenwriter on this.

And of course the twist at the end will be Selena Gomez was working for the disembodied voice the whole time and right after she gets paid and walks away leaving Hawke to fend for himself, has a change of conscious and comes back to save Hawke and his wife and promptly gets adopted by them in the epilogue.


Next Week Pick of the Week: Pretty Little Liars, Tuesday at 8:00 on ABC Family: Pretty Little Liars fluctuates every ten episodes or so from guilty pleasure to just plain guilt watching. It seems like we are heading into a period of the former after the season finale where we learned that Alison was Red Coat (sort of, it could have been all a dream). And what is in Waldon’s trunk? I am guessing that since the Liars are all decked out in black in the promos there is probably a body in there but whose? Waldon? Cece? Could it be Melissa?

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 6/2/13

Quote of the Week: That poor girl. She doesn't know that loving you is the worst way to get to you. (Betty Francis, Mad Men)

Song of the Week: (There's) Always Something There To Remind Me – Lou Johnson (Mad Men)

Scene of the Week:


Big News of the Week: The Summer Season Begins: Unlike the Fall when most everything premieres in mid-September, the Summer television season tends to tinkle out. TNT gets a jump this week with its two new reality series, 72 Hours and The Hero on Wednesday and Thursday respectively while its first scripted show starting up Sunday. Here are the shows I will be watching as I try to avoid the heat and allergens as well as when they debut.

Mondays
8:00 – Switched at Birth (ABC Family, June 10)
10:00 – Under the Dome (CBS, June 24)

Tuesdays
8:00 – Pretty Little Liars (ABC Family, June 11)
10:00 – Perception (TNT, June 25)

Wednesdays
9:00 – Royal Pains (USA, June 12)
9:00 – Franklin and Bash (TNT, June 19)
10:00 – The Bridge (FX, July 10)

Thursdays
8:00 – The Hero (TNT) (June 6)
10:00 – Wilfred (FX, June 20)

Fridays
10:00 - Continuum (Syfy, June 7)

Sundays
10:00 - Falling Skies (TNT, June 9, two hour season premiere starts at 9:00)
10:00 - Ray Donovan (Showtime, June 30)


Preview Picture of the Week:

The Fosters premiering Monday at 9:00 on ABC Family

Mad Men: The show gets a lot of criticism of nothing happening (mostly by me) but this episode was jam packed with action. Don gets another mistress: his ex-wife (ironically he never saw her brunette phase considering she is the only blonde he has been with on the show, unless you count the prostitute that k is virginity, actually just realizing that makes that relationship even more interesting), the return of Duck Philips to tickle the balls of Harry (thankfully off screen) and Pete), Joan and Bob Benson are apparently a thing now (even if Vegas puts the over / under of how long it takes Roger to fire Bob Bunson at one episode, I would still take the under), and Peggy stabbed a dude (I actually had an inkling that the relationship was just a sham when it started but after lasting a couple years I forgot about it but it turns out Abe was just writing a story all along).
You can download Mad Men on iTunes.

The Voice: I stopped watching after Caroline Glaser was erroneously voted off the show after the first live week, but has caught the elimination each week before turning into Grimm every Tuesday. I have been a bit surprised that The Swon Brothers are still in the competition, I always thought they would be the first one out when the quotas were done. So now there are four country artists in the final six, half of which are young blond country-pop singers, after Adam’s team got decimated this week with Judith and Sarah getting the boot. I have to wonder if Caroline would have fared better; Judith and Sarah have been trending down since their heavily buzzed about Blind Auditions while selling consistently every week. Plus she still remains the only contestant this season that had four song simultaneously in the iTunes Top 200 (and she did it with her the only songs she recorded while the top eight have not been able to do it with seven they have sung). And with country dominating this season, maybe the folkier Caroline could have ridden that coattails further than Adam’s non-country acts.

Without Grimm on this week, the only reason I knew who went home was because the firestorm Adam Levine started when he was caught saying, “I hate this country” on live television when his contestants Judith and Sarah joined Holly in the bottom three with two getting the ax. I actually watched it and I originally thought Adam said “I hate country” referring to the genre that inexplicitly dominated this season (do we really need half of the top six to be young blonde country-pop singers?). Of course the statement made xenophobes head’s explode even though anyone with half a brain cell watching knew what he meant was he hated how America voted this week because he was going to lose one or possibly two of his singers who he thought would win. Anyone who got mad at what Adam said should just relax by listening to Caroline’s latest cover she posted on YouTube.


You can stream recent episodes on Hulu.

Hannibal: I have to rethink the entire series of Dead Like Me now. Did George really die or did she just have Cotard’s Disease, which apparently a real thing, the whole time? Georgia actually kind of looked like the chick that George saw when she looked in the mirror. And would that mean her fellow Grim Reapers also had Cotard’s Disease or was just a figment of he imagination? Sure I would like to think the Dead Like Me movie did not exist, but I did love the original run of episodes. I would have also liked more Georgia in the episode but I have a feeling we will see more of her. Certainly Hannibal will have to check up with her to see just what she remembers from when she walked into the doctor’s office. Hopefully next season, Georgia and Abigail Hobbs become roommates in the psych ward. This could happen because the show has been renewed for a second season. The most interesting part of the press released was how well the show does with rich people. Apparently that is how Friday Night Lights keep getting renewed (with an assist from DirecTV). It is a shame that I am bringing down that average.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Hannibal on iTunes.


Free Download of the Week: Elle Michelle – EP (Noise Trade)

Deal of the Week: Albums $2.99 and Up: Get extremely cheap albums from John Mellencamp, Fatboy Slim, live Coldplay, and Neil Diamond’s greatest hits.


New Album Release of the Week: Grinning Streak - Barenaked Ladies

New DVD Release of the Week: Warm Bodies

Video of the Week: The first Machete was sort of fun, but I am not sure we really needed a sequel. We certainly do not need a sequel featuring Lady Gaga or Charlie Sheen Carlos Estevez. Eh, I will still see it.


Next Week Pick of the Week: The Hero, Thursday at 8:00 on TNT: The Rock opens up The Hero calling it “The greatest adventure competition you’ll ever witness from you couch.” Check back later this week for m full review to see if The Rock is speaking in hyperbole or if The Hero really better than Survivor or The Challenge.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 5/25/13

Quote of the Week: She said she knew you. I asked her everything I know, and she had an answer for everything. And then I realized I don’t know anything about you. (Sally Draper, Mad Men)

Song of the Week: Nothing In This World Will Ever Break My Heart Again – Hayden Panettiere (Nashville)

Scene of the Week:


Big News of the Week: Tornados in Oklahoma: If you want to help the relief efforts for the tornado victims in Oklahoma, you can text REDCROSS to 90999 to donate $10 instantly, or donate on the Red Cross site, right here.


Mad Men: What the frack just happen? I knew were were in for a wild ride after the opening with Ken Cosgrove and some distractingly bad camera work in the car. What I was not expecting was another drug trip, this time with the whole office (oddly, Roger went M.I.A. after going into the doctor’s “office” to get his shot; I guess after dropping LSD, some “vitamins” just do not have much of an effect). We also get our second whore house flashback because apparently Don / Dick was have some minor medical issues back then too, though much like the previous flashback, I could have done without it. And just when you thought the episode could not get any trippier, Don’s “grandmother” shows up to rob him blind. Alrighty. At least we got to hear Bobby say, “Are we Negros?” Who knew Bobby could be entertaining? I think he has had more lines in the past three episodes than all the previous ones before.
You can download Mad Men on iTunes.

Grimm: You would think after that one dude spit in his face that made him go blind, Nick would be very weary of vessin that spray stuff on their victims. Oh well. I knew something was going to happen to him after he gave his key to Rosalie earlier in the episode. But now that the season is over, I have to look aback and see just how slow this season went by. Juliet lost all memory of Nick at the start and took her all season to regain that memory. Then you had Adalind who spent almost all the season in Romania and even though she got knocked up early in the season still is not showing at all. Hopefully season three moves a little faster.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Grimm on iTunes.

Nashville: If only the whole season was as good as the finale two episodes: murder suicide, Maddie learns of her paternity while her two dads get in a fistfight (or would have if one was not too drunk to land a good punch), a sex tape, an engagement, a family feud, a surprise pregnancy (or so Peggy says, he could be lying and maybe Teddy is not even the father which of course would be ironic), and an epic car crash. Granted I really doubt either Deacon or Rayna will be fatally injured in the accident. And it looks like next season will be a reversal of the beginning of the series where Gunner gets jealous of the time Scarlett. Hopefully the second season moves at the pace of the final two episodes.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Nashville on iTunes.

Hannibal: I have longed for a reboot of My Two Dads, but I never thought I would get one with the fathers being Hannibal Leckter and Will Graham with Abigail Hobbs playing the daughter. Maybe if this show does not get picked up, they can repurpose the show as a comedy next season.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Hannibal on iTunes.


Free Download of the Week: Boy – Emma Louise (iTunes)

Deal of the Week: Up to 64% Off HBO Complete Series: Rome, Deadwood, Big Love

New Album Release of the Week: Currents - Eisley

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

Video of the Week: Just early this week I was talking about the lack of General Zod in the Man of Steel trailers (see the 10 Most Anticipated Movies of 2013) and wouldn’t you know it, hours after I posted that we get a very Zod-centric trailer. Well at least we get to hear him, the glimpses of Michael Shannon add up to about five seconds. But still, consider me placated.


Next Week Pick of the Week: Veronica Mars, All Day Memorial Day, SOAPnet: Memorial Day is Monday which means cookouts and fireworks, or for those of you that hate to go outside, all day marathons on various cable channels. On SOAPnet, starting at 10:00 AM, they will be airing the first nine episodes of Veronica Mars, just days before they start filming the movie. In the first nine episodes you will get to see guest stars like Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty), Harry Hamlin (Mad Men), Melissa Leo (Oblivion), Jane Lynch (Party Down), Paula Marshall (Gary Unmarried), Lisa Rinna (The Celebrity Apprentice) and Amanda Seyfried (Les Miserables), and, um, Paris Hilton (Paris Hilton’s My New BFF). I was actually thinking of starting my Veronica Mars re-watch this weekend, but luckily I have all the DVD’s so I can watch without the commercials, but for those that missed the show, these first nine episodes are a good primer which will get you ready for the movie and your eventual purchase of all three seasons on DVD.

The 10 Most Anticipated Movies of 2013-14

Yesterday I created ten fake movie remakes (see 10 Remakes I would Pay to See) and today I come back to reality with ten movies that I will actually get to see over the next year or so.

10. Inttersteller (November 7 2013) – Not much is known about this movie based on a treatment from theoretical physicist Kip Thorne, something about wormholes, maybe, but it will be directed by Christopher Nolan who will team up with The Dark Knight Rises collaborators Anne Hathaway and Michael Caine along with Jessica Chastain and Matthew McConaughey. There is a good chance this will be much higher, if not number one by the time I do my next Most Anticipated Movies list.

9. The Wolf of Wall Street (November 15): Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio team up for the fifth time and considering the previous ones include Gangs of New York, The Aviator, The Departed, and Shudder Island, this should be another good one. And that is before you add in the co-stars Kyle Chandler, Johan Hill, Matthew McConaughey, Jon Favreau, along with Margot Robbie who was last seen filling out a Pan-Am uniform very well.

8. Now You See Me (May 31) – I am always done for a good magic movie, and though this may not be as good as Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige, the trailer makes it look really good with the magician robbing a bank thousands of miles ago in front of a studio audience. Bonus points for reteaming Zombieland’s Jessie Eisenberg and Woody Harrelson.

7. Man of Steel (June 14) – I am still tepidly optimistic for the latest Superman movie. None of the trailer have given me goosebumps yet, but then none of them really give us much of a glimpse of Michael Shannon as General Zod, and lets face it, superhero movies are only as good as their antagonists and very people do creepy scary like Shannon does.

6. Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (October 11) – The first Sin City was a visual masterpiece and Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller have teamed up again for the sequil that will see Jessica Alba, Rosario Dawson, Jamie King, Powers Boothe, Mickey Rourke, and Bruce Green reprising their roles with Eva Green, Josh Brolin, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt adding new flavors to four shorts that will comprise the movie. If this is good as the first, hopefully we will not have to wait another eight years for a third installment.

5. Thor: The Dark World (November 8) – Phase 2 of The Avenger’s saga kicked off earlier this month with the third Iron film but for me, of the four precursors to the second Avenger’s film, I am most looking forward to the net Thor movie (Captain America: The Winter Soldier arrives April 4, 2014 while the new kids on the block Guardians of the Galaxy featuring a gun toting raccoon and a talking tree debuts in August of next year). The original was my favorite solo film and Natalie Portman (along with sidekick Kat Dennings) is back along with Loki, who Thor actually calls on for help in the trailer. This should be interesting.


4. This Is the End (June 14) – This may very well be one of those comedies where all the funny bits are in the trailer, but then again, this trailer has more laughs in it than most comedies. And the Apatow family tree rarely disappoints. And speaking of the Apatow family tree, basically everyone associated with him appears in the movie, it is brimming with so many collaborators, most of them do not even make it out of the trailer alive: Aniz Ansari, Jason Segal, David Krumholz, Michael Cera: dead, dead, dead, and dead. And with everyone dead, they will need someone to replace those friends, and so Emma Watson enters with an ax. Awesome. There is no way this ends badly, at least for the viewers.


3. Kick-(Expletive Deleted) 2 (August 14) – Hit-Girl was one of the most memorable characters of the past decade and sure a fifteen year old girl may not be as entertaining as a twelve year old with a mouth of a sailor, but the sequel looks just as fun as the hero formerly known as Red Mist build an army of supervillains to combat Hit-Girl and her ever-growing posse of superheroes which includes Jim Carey doing his best Marry Hamlin impression.


2. The World’s End (July 19) – Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg, and Nick Frost kicked off the zombie crazy with Shaun of the Dead, lampooned the police with Hot Fuzz, and will end their trilogy with aliens with what will probably be the greatest drinking movie ever in the history of time.


1. Veronica Mars (Early 2014) – Rob Thomas almost destroyed the internet when he created a Kickstarter campaign for the prematurely canceled Veronica Mars. A month later it broke the record for fastest to $1 million dollars (four hours), $2 million (11 hours), most backers ever (by over four thousand), and was the highest funded film on the sight (it more than doubled Zach Braff’s film that was launched after Veronica Mars) and was third overall. Filming starts next month, and as of now only Kristen Bell and her on screen father Enrico Colantoni are officially signed on (along with the waiter who got his role through Kickstarter) but you can expect Logan, Dick, Wallace, Mac, Weevil and surprisingly Rob said there is also parts in the outline for Piz and Parker will not be far behind (here are ten other Neptune residents I hope pop up in the movie). Even though the show has been off the air for six years, if the movie is half as entertaining as the Kickstarter video, it should be thoroughly entertaining.

10 Remakes I Would Pay to See

It was announced this week that Warner Bros. was moving forward with its reboot of Gremlins which was met by everyone over thirty with a resounding, “Noooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Now I do not have a blind hatred of remakes but you have to be weary of them because it is clear that the movie executives put no thought into these movies other than, “people love the original so we can con people into watching a newer version even if it sucks.” So they usually spend their entire budget on acquiring on the rights to the original subject and put little time and effort into the writing, directing, or the casting which is how the Footloose remake ended up with a lead that had about a tenth of the charisma that Kevin Bacon had. Or they take what was great in the first film and replace it with something lame like changing the tractor duel to a bus derby duel (to be fair, Julianne Hough was an upgrade over Lori Singer). I have just resigned to the fact that the Gremlins reboot will be in CGI when the charm of the original was they looked like something you could have gotten down at Toy’s R Us. And this is why the Star Wars prequels did not work, why you CGI everything to death you take the heart out of the story.

What movie executives do not realize, if they actually take known properties that people love and give them to directors who know what they are doing and cast it with actors people know and actually like, they could make a lot more money. Just look at what Christopher Nolan did for the Batman franchise or Sam Mendes with James Bond. Now I really am not much of a behind the scenes but I do spend way too much time thinking up fake movie casting. Yeah, a Gremlins remake may sound horrible at face value, but how about a Gremlins reboot starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Phoebe Cates, Adam Brody as Zach Galligan, and Mr. Wu from Deadwood as the creepy Asian dude? I’d watch that. And maybe even enjoy it if they opt for animatronics over CGI (get Guillermo del Toro to direct or produce and he will definitely avoid CGI).

Periodically I come up with fake movie casting and share them on Facebook, unfortunately this has not led to some studio hiring to head me for their Reboot Department (even though they have taken my advice when it came to casting Tyra Collette as Wonder Woman, Lyla Garrity in the Charlie’s Angels reboot, and hiring Sara Bareilles as a judge on The Sing-Off). So I thought I would round up a list of my favorite fake remakes for you. And for any movie studios out there, I have many more ideas and I am still available to head up your Reboot Department.


1. A female version of Lord of the Flies starring Loretta McCready (Justified), Arya Stark (Game of Thrones), Hit Girl (Kick-(Expletive Deleted)), Alex Dunphey (Modern Family), Sally Draper (Mad Men), and Dana Brody (Homeland). Movie executives will have to come up with a better title than Lady of the Flies on their own.

2. Against All Odds reboot staring Ryan Gosling as Jeff Bridges, Emma Stone as Rachel Ward, and Joseph Gordon Levitt as James Woods with John Mayer covering the theme song. (Honestly about ninety percent of my fake movie ideas involve Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone.)


3. Three Men and a Baby reboot with Barney Stinson (How I Met Your Mother), Steve Stifler (American Pie), and Dick Casablancas (Veronica Mars).

4. A gender bending reboot of Spies Like Us starring Kristen Bell and Alison Brie with Adele covering the Paul McCartney theme song.

5. Swimf@n reboot starring Haley Dunphey (Modern Family) as Erika Christensen, Tessa Altman (Suburgatory) as Shiri Appleby, and Jason Street (Friday Night Lights) as the boring dude.


6. The Cannonball Run reboot featuring the teams of Adam Sandler and Chris Rock, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, Trya Collette and Lyla Garrity, Charles Barkley and Shaq; oh yeah, and Norm McDonald as Burt Reynolds with teammate Burt Reynolds.

7. Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead remake starring Ashley Benson (Pretty Little Liars) as Christina Applegate, Dylan from Modern Family as the older brother, Loretta McCready (Justified), Brick Heck (The Middle), Luke Dunphy (Modern Family), and Mrs. Blankenship (Mad Men) as the dead babysitter.


8. A gender switching reboot of Weekend at Bernie's starring Emma Stone, Haley Dunphy and Kristin Wiig as Bernadette.

9. Innerspace reboot starring McLovin’ (Superbad) as Martin Short, Kristen Bell as Meg Ryan, and Ryan Gosling as Dennis Quaid.


10. Two of a Kind reboot starring Nathan Fillion as John Travolta, Hilary Duff (who would also remake Twist of Fate for the soundtrack) as Olivia Newton-John, Ernie Hudson as Ernie Hudson and Olivia Newton-John as God.

Best of the Week: 5/11/13

Quote of the Week: You could be my bodyguard and I could be your Whitney. (Nolan, Revenge)

Song of the Week: Baby Jane (Mo Mo Jane) – Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels (Mad Men)

Scene of the Week:


Big News of the Week: Miracle in Cleveland: No, a Cleveland sports team did not win a sports championship for the first since 1948 (unless you count the Cleveland Crunch, but I bet the vast majority of people reading this could not even name the sport), not even divine intervention could make that happen. Instead three long ago missing women escaped from a house where they were being held in Cleveland. The tenth anniversary of the first girl being kidnapped actually just a couple weeks ago and I remember sitting on the couch thinking that a decade is about the time to accept the sad reality. Apparently I was extremely wrong. Being that I live in the Cleveland television market, both How I Met Your Mother and 2 Broke Girls were “joined in progress” after breaking news (which was not so much breaking, but a rehash of the earlier story which really could have been resigned to a scroll on the bottom) and then Grimm was preempted entirely for a special report.

Preview Picture of the Week:

"The Bon Voyage Reaction" The Big Bang Theory, Thursday at 8:00 on CBS

Free Download of the Week: Current and More Sampler – Eisley (NoiseTrade)

New Album Release of the Week: Modern Vampires of the City - Vampire Weekend

New DVD Release of the Week: Dexter: The Seventh Season

Video of the Week: The World’s End had me at from the guys that brought you Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. Although with a title like The World’s End, I was hoping for a disaster movie but the start of the trailer makes it look a pub crawl with the title coming from the name of the last bar they would patron. Then half way through, people’s eyes start glowing. Be it alien invasion or body snatching, I am all on board this movie.


Next Week Pick of the Week: Survivor, Sunday (Tomorrow) at 8:00 on CBS: For all intents and purposes, this season of Survivor ended when Andrea was unceremoniously vote off two weeks ago, but apparently they are still going ahead with the finale tomorrow which of course will be followed by the Live Reunion. After decimating the Fans all season, the Favorites surprisingly let two of them in the final five, which could be the downfall of the Favorites because the Fans may have better chance with the jury than the Favorites. And it looks like Sherri is part of the Dawn / Cochran so she could make it while Eddie could take the next two Immunity Challenge to secure his spot in the finals. It also looks like the finale will feature the attest ever in the game medical evacuation. Me, I will just be tuning into to see what Andrea wears in the final three Tribal Councils.

Best of the Week: 4/6/13

Quote of the Week: USE THE LADIES ROOM! (Jack Crawford, Hannibal)

Song of the Week: You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive – Brad Paisley (Justified)

Scene of the Week:


Big News of the Week: A Melancholy Happy Trails to Roger Ebert: Every critic of every medium, amateur of pro, holds Roger Ebert in high regard. For people of my generation, there was a good chance that he, along with his partner Gene Siskel, were the first critics we ever saw growing up. And they made it look so easy, when it came to it, a movie was given a thumbs up or a thumbs down, no shades of grey (well the thumbs would go way up or down occasionally) or extremely specific grades like Pitchfork’s decimal system. But his actual reviews were anything but simple, it was clear he really loved watching movies and never got tired of it, giving critiques right up to the end.

Preview Picture of the Week:

Archer "Sea Tunt Part 2" featuring Jon Hamm, Thursday at 10:00 on FX

Free Download of the Week: Hurricane – Charles Bradley (iTunes)

Deal of the Week: Great Albums On Sale for $3.99 or Less: Get albums on the cheap from A Tribe Called Quest, Ray Lamontange, Rage Against the Machine covers, and Bill Withers Greatest Hits.


New Album Release of the Week: Paramore - Paramore

New DVD Release of the Week: Boss: Season 2

Video of the Week: Ever want to see Ryan Gosling pull somebody on the floor by their teeth? Get you tickets for Only God Forgives now. Or just watch the red band trailer.


Next Week Pick of the Week: Mad Men, Sunday (Tomorrow) at 9:00 on AMC: When we last saw Don Draper, a young lady asked him if he was alone before the season faded to black with Don looking into the camera. We did not get to see the answer which meant Don managed to make it through an entire season without committing adultery (unless the fever dream where he killed his former conquest was not actually a dream like I theorized). Elsewhere Peggy left Sterling Cooper Draper Price, as well as Lane who left in a completely different circumstance. But he did get to punch Pete Campbell, who got a love shack in the city, before leaving this mortal coil. And Roger Sterling discovered LSD. In true Mad Men fashion, we know absolutely nothing going into season because creator Matthew Weiner like secrecy as much as forcing his son into his show.

Best of the Week - 3/9/13

Quote of the Week: Nothing works under water, it’s a scientific fact. (Hannah Martin, Pretty Little Liars)

Song of the Week: Semi-Charmed Life – Third Eye Blind (as sung by the cast of The Neighbors)

Scene of the Week:


Big News of the Week: Fun with Fillerbusters: There has been talk of reverting the fillerbuster, which now only takes forty votes to do, back to the old time having to read the phone books to block a law from passing. I doubt it will ever happen because yeah it will force the other side to talk for hours on end to block your bill, but then you would have to do the same for bills you do not like. But it was clear we need to reinstate the talking fillerbuster after Rand Paul talked for about thirteen hours to protest the nomination of John Brennan for the director of the CIA and his use of drones. Sure we are living in some bizarro world where Republicans are protesting the use of drones while democratic still by idly because you know if there were a President Mitt Romney, the Republicans would call the drone strikes patriotic while the Democratic would call Romney a war criminal, but it is always entertaining watching a dude talk for thirteen hours straight. To put that in perspective, Paul could have spent his entire fillerbuster quoting all the dialogue from all six Star Wars movies. fun times.

Preview Picture of the Week:

The Lying Game season Finale "To Lie For" Tuesday at 9:00 on ABC Family

Free Download of the Week: Cercas Blancas EP – Needtobreathe (Noise Trade)

Deal of the Week: 100 Albums for $5: This month’s five dollar deals include albums by Al Green, Jack White, Run-DMC, and Willie Nelson.


New Album Release of the Week: Old Sock - Eric Clapton

New DVD Release of the Week: Sound City

Video of the Week: The Hangover came out and was universally loved. Then The The Hangover Part II came out and was universally hated because it was just the first movie all over again, just set in Thailand. Even though no one wants a third one, I am sure even the people who were vehemently against the second one will still go see the “epic conclusion to the trilogy”. Supposedly there will actually be no blackouts in this movie where the Wolfpack has to piece together last night’s even while trying to hunt down Justin Bartha but there really are not many clues to what is going on in the new trailer. And poor Justin, he is always getting lost and does not even get one shot in the trailer, even his wife is in scene.


Next Week Pick of the Week: Dallas, Monday at 9:00 on TNT: An end of an era comes Monday with the funeral of J.R. Ewing. The episode will bring out some characters not seen since the original run including his half-brother (do not hold your breath that his other sons other than J.R. Jr. bother to show up) and to prove that all his exes still live in Texas, Sue Ellen has a powwow with some of J.R.’s other leading ladies. Even some of Dallas’s real life elite comes to pay tribute to the oilman including a returning Jerry Jones. And as the promo monkeys teased, even Cliff Barnes show up to pay his disrespect. Some will deal with the elder Ewing’s passing with alcohol, some with drugs, others with sex, while some will fight away the pain , while others will do all four. And do not turn off the episode after J.R. is lowered into the ground because one of the great characters in the history of television left his family with a couple of bombshells, the kind you do not put in a public will. All a fitting tribute to one of the greatest characters in the history of television.

Best of the Week - 1/19/13

Quote of the Week: But I don't even trust the way you just now said I could trust you. (Winn Duffy, Justified)

Song of the Week: (They Long to Be) Close to You – Carpenters (as sung by the Bee Girl, House of Lies)

Scene of the Week:


Big News of the Week: Lance Armstrong Is a Lying Liar: Also how bizarre is the Notre Dame Football player / fake girlfriend story? Way too many inconsistencies to believe. Just a bad week for sports as a whole especially considering the AFC will be sending to the Super Bowl one of my three least favorite teams. Guess I will be rooting for the NFC like usual.

Preview Picture of the Week:

Bunheads "I'll Be Your Meyer Lansky" Monday at 9:00 on ABC Family

Free Download of the Week: Introduction – Holly Williams (Noise Trade)

Deal of the Week: $2.99 Albums: Amazon is having an unadvertised sale with a lot of classic albums for only $2.99 including Thiller, Born in the U.S.A., At Folsom Prison, and Under the Table and Dreaming. So stock up while you can because thesale may end as soon as it started.


New Album Release of the Week: 12-12-12 The Concert for Sandy Relief (2 CDs)

New DVD Release of the Week: The Men Who Built America

Video of the Week: Almost two decades ago Harmony Korine wrote a warped script about kids in America called, well, Kids. He was not far removed from being a kid himself at a time. Now forty, he has written (and this time directed) another film about kids, but instead of casting relative unknowns, this time around he raided the Disney line up with Selena Gomez (Wizards of Waverly Place), Vanessa Hudgens (High School Musical), and Ashley Benson (Pretty Little Liars, which airs on ABC Family which is also owned by Disney). Spring Breakers looks glossier than Kids, but looks like it will be just as warped. Oh yeah, it also stars a cornrowed James Franco.


Next Week Pick of the Week: Parenthood, Tuesday at 10:00 on NBC: If it seems like every season of Parenthood gets shorter and shorter, you are not paranoid, this season comes to a close this week after only fifteen episodes, three less than last year and seven less than season two. But as the cable model shows longer is not necessary better and the show remains the best drama on network television and hopefully returns next season to defend its title.