House of the Dragon:My sister changed her phone plan which means
no more HBO for Life for her, which means no more free Max for me.And of course she had to make the change just
in time for me to miss the season finale.Sigh.Adding insult to injury, it
seems like I am not eligible for the Hulu/Disney/Max bundle since I get Disney
for free and/or I am on the Hulu yearly plan.
Snowpiercer:That seemed like an unnecessary obstacle to
keep Layton from going after his kid.Of
course he was going to go.But I an
still wondering what is special about that kid.
Orphan Black: Echoes:I completely missed there was an older
version of Jessica Jones in the current timeline.But I guess that shows just how little I am paying
attention to the show.I am just
counting down until the season ends.
The Ark: Okay, so
the alternative reality part of the episode was fun.But did Cat get swapped back?And did they just lose some red shirt in exchange
for the husband?And just what happened
to the daughter?I am surprised we did
not see her.
2024 Olympic Games:There are plenty of dumb events at the
Olympics, but competitive breakdancing just may be the dumbest.The song selection was pretty weak.Most of the songs I made it through before
turning this off sounded just like generic computer generated beats.
House of the Dragon:I complained about the lack of deaths at the
end of the last couple episodes.Well,
we got more than a few this week.But of
course the two silver heads we have been randomly checking in on all season
ended up being the two that claimed the dragons.
Snowpiercer:A peacekeeping unit authorized to use
force.How ironic.Disappointing no one pointed that out to
them. But I feel we need a lot more background
on them and why they are stealing children.
Orphan Black: Echoes:Nice casual mention that we go to Mars in
forty years.But shouldn’t we colonize
the moon first?I honestly forgot what else
happened this week.
The Ark: So they are just going to end every episode
this season with a wild cliffhanger?Last
week it was the sentient lightning, and this week the Irish dude just disappears.Though the promo monkeys spoiled it is a
multiverse situation.I guess this is
how they bring back the generic hot blonde.I wonder if this is how they
introduce the one dude’s daughter that may or may not have been killed.Considering how Trust brings up his dead wife
at every chance, they will probably bring her back too.
2024 Olympic Games:It seems like every Olympics I find a new
weird sport to get transfixed by.This
time around it was Slalom: Kayak Cross.There are three to four kayaks on the course at the same time, they drop
them all from a one story building, and there is a point in the course where
they were required to capsize their kayak and go underwater.This is going on my must watch list for
future Games.
House of the Dragon:Meh, another episode where no one died at the
end.Instead Seasmoke tried to hook up
with a bastard even though supposedly supposed to be tied to a dragon until you
die.So is that just an old wives’ tale
or is that guy whose name I forgot dead?I am also getting tired of Daemon’s This
Is Your Life every episode.And really,
after forking his mom, anything after that is going to be a letdown.
Snowpiercer:I thought for sure when the bad guy pulled
off his mask, was going to turn out to be Wilford.I certainly was not expecting Phil Coulson.I wonder if Coulson has run into Wilford at
some point.Though we are really going
to need an explanation of where these dudes were hiding this whole time.I guess there might be pockets, like that one
scientist survive at her station before being rescued.
Orphan Black: Echoes:I am confused after this episode how exactly
they made a copy of an old chick that turned into a teenager.Maybe I just do not care enough to pay attention.
The Ark: Why do I
have a feeling about the talk about loyalist to the evil chick being everywhere
will have repercussions later this season?
2024 Olympic Games:I really liked the boats and the interspersing
of the parade of athletes and the show.Though
I do not understand why there were so many non-French people who participated, especially
those who carried the torch.Feels like
NBC said to the IOC, we pay the most for this, make sure you include some participants
that the American audience knows.It was
also a bit disappointed that the Assassin’s Creed guy was never explained.
10.The End of The Walking Dead (returns
2/20):It is the end of an era with The Walking Dead ending after eleven seasons.Though much like the titular characters, the
show will live on with a Carol and Daryl spinoff (spoiler alert, they do not
die… though I may actually enjoy a show following the zombified duo more than
what we will actually get) and of course there is always Fear the Walking Dead and supposedly those Rick movies, so I guess
this is not truly the end.
9.Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin: The original show had possibly the worst plot
twist in the history television when Allison’s brother turned out to be Allison’s
other brother who was about seven years too young from when they already established
the character to be.The soft reboot
with Allison and Mona was pretty bad.Still, the quick glimpse in the HBO Mas 2022 teaser got me weirdly
excited for the third go-around.
8.Single Drunk Female (January 20):I know nothing about this show, there has not
even been a trailer released yet, but based solely on the name, I will be watching.
7.Pam and Tommy (February 2):When Hulu announce they were going to do a
show about the infamous sex tape, I went, huh?Then they announce Seth Rogen as the dude who obtained the sex tape, and
again went, huh?But I was also
intrigued.This is one of those shows
you just hope completely goes off the rails.Though I really hope we do not have to see how the Winter Soldier steers
a boat.
6.Problematic Sporting Events (Maybe?):Nothing I love more than international
sporting events and we will be getting two this year… maybe.With the Omicron variant wreaking havoc all
over the world, it seems like the Winter Olympics may follow the Summer’s lead and
postpone a year (the NHL already pulled out their players).Hopefully things will be better by summer for
the Men’s World Cup.Oh wait, they
pushed that to the late fall because some shady regime in Qatar, where it hits
triple digits in the summer, presented the highest bribe and they proceed to have
essentially slave labor build the soccer stadiums.The Winter Olympics are just as problematics
because it is being held in China who has a long history of human rights
violations.Sigh.But hey, maybe both events will be canceled,
but with money to be made and them being held in places that do not care about
the well-being of people, probably not.
5.The Next Game of Thrones (Maybe?):Ever since Games of Thrones was winding down, networks and streaming serves have
been on the lookout for that elusive next Game
of Thrones.There are a few
contenders coming out.Here are a few ranked
from least likely to most likely.Halo was supposed to be Showtime’s
foray into the attempted Game of Thrones
market but their corporate daddy gave that to Paramount+ (Showtime did get The Man Who Fell to Earth, which I am
pretty confident in saying will not be the next Game of Thrones).While this
is huge IP, space stories do seems to have a ceiling and The Mount is near the
bottom of the most subscribers’ power ranking.
Next up is Lord of
the Rings which is one of the biggest IP names out that that spawn two very
successful trilogies earlier this century.Amazon has the big pocket and a large subscriber base, but as Apple has
shown with Foundation, shelling out a
lot of money on IP alone will buy you the next Game of Thrones.Plus while a
lot of people subscribe to Prime, there also seems to be a lot of people that
do not realize Prime Video comes with that two day free shipping.
So the most likely next Game
of Thrones will be… Game of Thrones.After spending a lot of money on a Pilot that
got scrapped, HBO went with another story and we will likely be getting House of the Dragon this year.But it is not guaranteed it will do as well as
the original show.House of the Dragon will have to win over a lot of fans who were
disappointed with the choppy final season and pretty bad finale.But on the bright side, this show will not have
to hope George R.R. Martin finishes the books before the get to that part of
the story
4.Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, More Star Wars and Marvel
Shows on the Ploose:I will be watching
all the shows they release but the MCU seems to be having diminishing
returns.The Mandalorian was great, but will Star Wars fatigue set in when
they start pumping out more shows too?I
was fairly meh on the first episode of the Book
of Boba Fett.Here is my power raking
of the shows that are likely coming to the Ploose this year:
1)Obi-Wan Kenobi
2)Ms. Marvel
3)Secret Invasion
4)Andor
5)Moon Knight
6)She-Hulk
3.Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (December
16) and Thor: Love and Thunder (July
8):While superhero fatigue is setting
in, the two goofier heroes of their respective cinematic universes and thus stared
in some of the more entertaining movies.
2.The Woman in the House across the Street
from the Girl in the Window (January 29):Now there is a title.But all I
need to know is the series is starring Kristen Bell so I may have to
re-subscribe to Netflix for the first time in a while.
1.The Season Finale
of Yellowjackets (January 15):Last
episode was wild, Laura Lee’s plane blew up and it seems like Adam turned out
to be the blackmailer, which could mean he could be adult Javi.Of course after Van survived being mauled by
wolf, I half expect Laura Lee to crawl out of the lake at the start of next
episode.Okay, I have actually seen the
next episode and no spoilers, but there is a very big reveal and a popular
Reddit theory gets vindicated. Okay, one
spoiler: the girls butcher a Seal. No
spoilers for the finale, mostly because I have not seen it. But considering how bat-shirt crazy things have
been I am sure there will a few more jaw dropping moment for the last
episode. It looks like the girls will be
going to a reunion. I have to image we
finally learn of some of the other crash survivor that made it to middle age. But will we see the presumed dead Jackie like
I have been predicting all season? Will
we learn of anyone else who is with Misty during the dining scene from the
premiere? Oh, and the finale is entitled
“Sic Transit Gloria Mundi” or “the glory of the world” in Latin, a phrase
spoken when anointing a new Pope. One has
to assume a new leader will be coroneted during the earlier timeline. Yeah, this is going to be wild. And since the show was already been renewed,
we may get more than three episodes this year.
Here is everything else I will be watching while trying to stay warm this winter:
Mondays
8:00 – The Neighborhood (CBS, January 3)
9:00 – Snowpiercer (TNT, January 24)
Tuesdays
How I Met Your Father (Hulu, January 18)
Dollface (Hulu, February 11)
8:00 – Young Rock (NBC, March 15)
8:30 – Mr. Mayor (NBC, March 15)
9:00 – Abbott Elementary (ABC, January 4)
9:30 – Black’ish (ABC, January 4)
Wednesday
The Book of Boba Fett (Disney+, already started)
Pam and Tommy (Hulu, February 2)
8:00 - The Goldbergs (ABC, January 5)
8:30 - The Wonder Years (ABC, January 5)
Thursdays
Peacemaker (HBO Max, January 13)
The Dropout (Hulu, March 3)
8:00 – The Blacklist (NBC, January 6)
9:00 – Ghosts (CBS, January 6)
9:30 - B Positive (CBS, January 6)
9:30 – Pivoting (Fox, preview January 9, regular timeslot
premiere January 13)
10:00 – Grown’ish (Freeform, January 24)
10:30 – Single Drunk Female (Freeform, January 20 back to back
episode starting at 10:00 the first week)
Fridays
Search Party (HBO Max, January 7)
2022 Winter Olympics (NBC, February 4)
8:00 – The Blacklist (NBC, February 25)
Sundays
8:00 – Killing Eve (BBC America, February 27)
9:00 – Billions (Showtime, January 23)
9:00 – The Walking Dead (AMC, February 20)
9:00 – Fear the Walking Dead (AMC, april 17)
10:00 - The Righteous Gemstones (HBO, January 9)
10:00 – Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber (Showtime, February
27)
10. Ghotbusters: Afterlife (July 10) / Bill and Ted Face the Music (August 21): Two ionic eighties comedies with questionable sequels will be getting a third movie almost three decades later. Ghostbusters looks like it will be a soft reboot with Paul Rudd and a bunch of kids taking the lead but the three original Ghostbusters are supposed to nr showing up (RIP Harold Ramis). While Bill and Ted now have teenaged daughters and we now live in a world where rock, which they were supposed to be the saviors of in the first film, is pretty much dead. I am cautiously optimistic of both.
9. The Return of Rock?: Or maybe the return of Bill and Ted will bring the return of rock. The fall was when all the big albums were released but with no one even buying CD’s as Christmas gifts anymore, we are getting a few big names releasing albums early this year. Green Day, Stone Temple Pilots (2/7), Huey Lewis and the News (2/14), The 1975 (2/21), Body Count (3/6), Weezer (5/15) all have release dates with possible albums by Foo Fighters, Red Hot Chili Peppers (with John Fruscianti back for the first time since… well they last had a hit song), The Killers, and The Offspring. Last decade was pretty dire for rock music with Imagine Dragons taking the top three spots with Twenty-One Pilots taking three other places in the top ten. Will any of the great rock band of yesteryear regain some traction or are we just doomed for the watered down hybrid sound for another ten years? Well at least a reunited Rage Against the Machine are headlining Cochella this year so while we may not get much great rock this year, the acts I mentioned at least have a deep catalogue to return to so I guess rock will always live on.
8. West Side Story (December 18) / High Fidelity (February 14, Hulu): Two things that may not seem like they have a lot in common but they are both IP that were adapted into all-time great movies that will be getting remakes this season that, again, will be going into the cautiously optimistic basket. At least High Fidelity is not another attempt at a movie but instead is being turned into a show starring Zoe Kravitz whose mother Lisa Bonet was in the movie.
7. Little Fires Everywhere (March 18, Hulu): Reese Witherspoon is going for the prestige TV trifecta with her third book adaptation in four years with Big Little Lies on HBO, The Morning Show on Apple+, and now her third book turned show Little Fires Everywhere. The show is set in nineties Cleveland and also star Kerry Washington. Oh, and it premiere on my birthday. Fun times.
6. Snowpiercer (TBA, TNT… maybe): What a weird trip this show has taken to make it to air and we still do not have an airdate. TNT ordered the show back in 2016. It started filming in 2017 but delays took it over a year to finish filming. Then in May of last year it was announced the show would be moving TBS because it seemed like TNT was getting out of the scripted game (another long in development show got shipped off to the upcoming HBO Max), but then switched back to TNT in October. Despite all the turmoil, the show has already been renewed for a second season which has already started filming. Now when I first saw the film, I liked it but I thought it would have been better as a television show with each episode featuring on a different car on the train so hopefully after over three years of waiting we will finally get to see it.
5. The Olympics (July 24): My favorite two weeks of every two years. Where we get to see weird sports and wonder why things like Handball do not get more airtime in off Olympic years. It is a little of a downer that much of the events will be taking place while most of this hemisphere will be asleep. Though 8:00 PM EST is 10:00 AM Tokyo time so maybe we will be getting some early live morning events in primetime. This Olympics will see the return of baseball/softball for the first time since 2008, and new events karate, sports climbing, surfing, and skateboarding.
4. How do The Good Place (returning January 9, NBC) / Homeland (February 9, Showtime) End?: It is the end of the era with two all-time great first seasons. The Good Place has been steadily good since while Homeland fell off a cliff in season three before finally finding a solid footing except for that season where we had to watch Peter Quinn slowly die (man this show waits way too long to kill off characters way past their usefulness). We last saw Carrie completely broken after months in a Russian gulag and Eleanor was last seen waking up her soulmate who is the last chance to save humanity. Should not be hard for someone who loves decisions as much as Chidi.
3. Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist (premiere January 7, then timeslot premiere February 16, NBC): It has not been a good year for the Pitch Perfect cast, Britany Snow’s Almost Family and Anna Camp’s Perfect Harmony are putting up CW type numbers, the last hope (baring some streamer saving one of those two) is Skylar Astin whose new show, like his wife’s Camp’s show, involves singing, but instead of a choir, Astin works with Jane Levy who hears other people’s thoughts through elaborate song and dance numbers. Awesome. Hopefully this survives somehow. But it will be nicce to see Suburgatory's Jane Levy going back to doing something fun after being a scream queen for the last couple years.
2. The Great (TBA, Hulu): During last year’s upfronts, Hulu showed off promos for a bunch of shows, all of which have aired except one: The Great. I would think The Great would be the next up, but Hulu has already announced its next three premieres (Shrill being the one I have not mentioned) so hopefully it is coming soon because what I saw was hilarious. The show stars Elle Fanning as Catherine (Helen Mirran played an older more serious version on HBO last fall) and Nicholas Hoult as her future husband who looks off his rocker. Hopefully an announcement will be come soon but if Little Fires Everywhere is airing weekly we may not get this any sooner than May.
1. Women Can Be Superheroes Too!!!!!!: It was pretty abysmal for the fairer sex with superpowers. Supergirl back in 1984 sucked and it wasn’t until twenty years later until we got Catwoman, which also sucked. Marvel’s first try at ladies who can fight with Elektra a year later, also sucked. It then took twelve more years after that to get another female fronted with Wonder Woman and it, wait, this one was actually good! Marvel, finally gave a woman her first solo film in the MCU with its twenty-first film. After those two movie made decent amount of bank, things are exploded with three female fronted films this year. You can say four with The Eternals staring Angelina Jolie who is the biggest name in that cast, but really no superhero movies will be headlined white dudes who have dominated the medium up to this point.
First up is the movie I am most excited about: Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) (February 7), then Black Widow (May 1) in her first solo movie after appear in the MCU eight times already (and after apparently dying… I have not watched Endgame yet, so spoiler alert to me) and the lady who started the woman can headline a superhero film trend with Wonder Woman 1984 (June 4).
But again, I am extremely excited for Birds of Prey, Harley Quinn was the best (only good) thing about Suicide Squad. And where DC has had some head scratching casting for some of their male superheroes (like, say their last two Batmen), but have had some inspiring choices for the feminine ones. Joining Margo Robbie’s Quinn is Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Huntress and Jurnee Smollett-Bell as Black Canary which is like my fantasy casting come to life. Now if only they will cast Jane Levy as Batgirl.
Then here is everything I will watch on television to start off the year:
Mondays
8:00 – The Neighborhood (CBS, January 6)
9:00 - Brain Games (National Geographic, January 20)
10:00 – Manifest (NBC, January 6)
TBD – Cosmos: Possible Worlds (National Geographic Channel, March 9)
Tuesdays
9:00 – Mix’ish (ABC, January 7)
9:30 – Black’ish (ABC, January 7)
10:00 – Project Blue Book (History, January 21)
10:30 – Miracle Workers: Dark Ages (TBS, January 28)
Wednesdays
8:00 – The Goldbergs (ABC January 15)
8:00 – Survivor (CBS, February 12)
8:30 – Schooled (ABC, January 16)
9:00 – Almost Family (FOX, already back)
9:00 - Modern Family (ABC, January 8)
10:00 – Stumptown (ABC, January 8)
Thursdays
8:00 – Superstore (NBC, January 9)
8:00 – Grown’ish (Freeform, January 16)
8:30 – Perfect Harmony (NBC, January 9)
9:00 - The Good Place (NBC, January 9)
9:00 – The Bold Type (Freeform, January 23)
Briarpatch (USA, February 6)
Fridays
High Fidelity (February 14)
Sundays
9:00 – The Outsider (HBO, January 12)
9:00 – Supergirl (The CW, January 19)
9:00 – Homeland (Showtime, February 9)
9:00 – Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist (NBC, February 16, sneak peak January 7 at 10:00)
9:00 – The Walking Dead (AMC, February 23)
10:00 – Dare Me (USA, already started)
10:00 – Kidding (Showtime, February 9)
10:00 – Good Girls (NBC, February 16)
MTV Classic: A couple years ago VH1, in honor of MTV’s anniversary they devoted an entire weekend to the channel’s history with classic episodes of its shows and a couple documentaries. It was a great watch and made me think that is what VH1 Classic should be. And how about running full episodes of Yo! MTV Raps, Headbangers Ball, and 120 Minutes instead of random blocks of music videos in the morning. But then VH1 Classic went back to its rock heavy schedule and random movies that have nothing to do with music after the weekend was over.
So I got slightly excited when I heard they were rebranding VH1 Classic as MTV Classic bringing back classic shows from the channel’s history. The lauch started off well enough with an Unplugged marathon but I have been less than enthused since. Sure they show the occasional Beavis and Butt-Head, but so far they have been all episodes from the recent reboot and none from the nineties. And is any one setting their DVR for midnight airings of Run’s House? C’mon, where is Remote Control. And still no one is taking my advice to show genre specif shows in their entirety, instead we are still getting random videos in the morning. Really not the best start when the first one I saw was Vertical Horizon’s Everything You Want. Even worse, the first time I came across Yo! Hip Hop Hits, they were showing a video by Xscape, a fifth rate nineties girl group (featuring the future Mrs. T.I.) who are neither hip hop nor classic. Le sigh.
Ray Donovan: Did we really need to start off the episode with some dude pleasuring himself to a chick playing Cat’s Cradle? And just when you thought that was gong to be the most graphic part of the episode, a minute later we get to watch s full body cavity search. And then a couple minutes after that Conner pulls out some lubricant? Then after everything he went through with the Russians to get Belikov out of jail, he kills him over the Cat’s Cradle chick. That is probably not going to go over well.
Preacher: What the frack was that? Was that meant to not be coherent and meant to be a complete mess? How does an episode like that even make it to air?
You can download Preacher on iTunes.
Roadies: In the beginning I thought it was a wise choice to keep the band in the background and focus on the titular characters (and definitely we should never hear any of their songs because the worst part of these scripted music shows is they are supposed to be superstars but their songs are mediocre at best), but after Janine went HAM on the lead singer, the band instantly became extremely interesting. I actually want to see more of Janine as she writes her tell all and Chris’s reaction to all the revelations. And just how does Bill not get fired for sleeping with the lead singer’s girlfriend even if I took place a decade or so ago?
The John Mellencamp cameo made me wonder just where do some of these celebrity cameo stories come from. Did Cameron Crowe ask them for the personal stories like the one about the hundred year old grandmother that could fit in the show? Are they strictly written for the show? Are they stories Crowe has heard and asked the celebrities if he can use it on the show?
BrainDead: I figured Laurel would find a way to get the bugs out of her head before they push out half her brain, but I thought she would simply go to the refrigerator and put some bacon on her ear. Instead we got maybe the most entertaining segment on television this year.
You can download BrainDead on Amazon Instant Video, free with a Prime membership.
Pretty Little Liars: Seriously promo monkeys, we are already to the countdown portaon of the season. I get annoyed with the “one more episode until the (insert hyperbolic adverb here) finale” promo but four more episodes is a bit much. Sad thing is, that is most of what I remember from this episode. Um, Alison got attacked by someone and it turned out to not be her dead fiancée who is still in the ground. It probably was not Sara who ended up dead. Um, evil(er) twin maybe?
You can download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.
Mr. Robot: Well at least we did not start with a cute flashback this week. And good news for anyone who was wondering what Angela’s douchebag ex-boyfriend was up to. Otherwise, meh.
You can download Mr. Robot on iTunes.
Tyrant: Oh hey Barry, you are really doing that days after your daughter died and hours after your wife checked herself into a mental institution? Cold.
You can download Tyrant on iTunes.
The Challenge: Rivals III: What a horrible ending to a horrible season. What a completely douche thing to do even by Johnny Banana’s standards. At least he cannot possibly get another invitation back after that and even so, how is he not sent into whatever they are calling the elimination round every time? What is worse was the whole point thing was kind of shady; I never really got the standing on the log checkpoint, and making things worse it was worth two points. Why not just stay on the log and refuse to leave?
You can download The Challenge: Rivals III on iTunes.
2016 Rio Olympics Opening Ceremonies: Not a very good sign for these games that I fell asleep somewhere around the M’s during the parade of nations. I am ready to call it the worse opening ceremonies of my lifetime. I know Pele was sick, but how was the biggest name at the ceremony Giselle? Was there really no one more important from Brazil? I was ready for Camilla from The Challenge or Abi-Maria from Survivor to pop up.
10. Swish - Kanye West: In previous installments I would open up with Detox saying maybe this is the year Dr. Dre finally releases his album. Dre did release an album last year though not Detox which seems will officially never see the light of day (then again Bob Dylan released The Basement Tapes forty years later so maybe someday). Kanye West may be the closest thing to a long anticipated album. Yeezus came out three years ago making it his longest wait between albums. He actually released what was assumed to be the first single New Years Eve 2014, another single came out a couple months later as well as a Rihanna collaboration (who's Anti is also oft delayed), he premiered a third song at the Saturday Night Live 40th Anniversary, and once again dropped another song this New Years Eve. Will we actually get to hear Swish this year? Will it go under another name change before being released (it was originally supposed to be called So Help Me God)? Or will it turn into the next Detox?
9. The Presidential Election (November 8): Of course Kanye may just very well forgo music and throw his hat into the race for president this year instead of waiting until 2020 like he announced last year. He might as well because this election cycle has turned into a clown show. And the Republicans said they had learned from four years ago with what was commonly referred as a clown car of horrible candidates that tainted the one guy who could actually beat Barack Obama and ended up losing in a landslide. So the Republicans conduct an autopsy, decide they need to be more welcoming to women and minorities... and ended up with a crazier group candidate with anyone who could actually win a general election languishing in single digits. I have long said I would not worry about Donald Trump until they started to vote but now that we are about a week out I am starting to get worried because Ted Cruz, who is just Trump with tact, is right behind him. Then you have the Democrats who should look at the Republicans and think they can win in a slam dunk except they rigged their nomination so someone who may be indited before the election will win with no opposition except for some guy who can be described as your crazy Jewish uncle. Seriously, people want a second Clinton as much as they want a third Bush, not at all. Yet both parties seem intent on nominating someone no one else in the country wants as president. Hopefully Canada is more open to immigrants than Trump because there may be an influx no matter who wins in November
8. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (February 5): I have not been this excited for a film based solely on its title since Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Hopefully this one is better.
7. More Live Musicals on Television!: After three tries, NBC finally got their live musical right with the Wiz. No official word if there will be another but I sure they will announce another on during May sweeps in not earlier. And now Fox is getting into the live musical business with Grease Live (starring Julianne Hough, Vanessa Hudgens, Keke Palmer, and Carly Rae Jepsen) coming January 31 and they are righting one of my major gripes with the NBC version and including a live audience. Clueless ABC is also doing a musical this year but their musical version of Dirty Dancing staring Abigail Breslin will not be live. Also not live is another Fox event who is remaking Rocky Horror Picture Show set to air this fall. I have never been much of a fan of the movie and the recent casting of Victoria Justice, who acts about as well as she sings (not very) and a bunch of people I have not heard of does not get me any more excited.
6. Billions (January 17): Paul Giamatti comes to the small screen to shout at people on a weekly basis! Sure I have no idea what is going on as he tries to catch a hedge fund billionaire with ill gotten gain (Brody returns to Showtime!). I have a lengthier write up on the show coming around the time the show premieres.
5. La La Land (July 15): When NBC announced after the success of The Sound of Music Live! that a live musical would be a yearly event, one of my first fantasy castings was Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling in Guys and Dolls. Unfortunately that is not happening (yet) but the duo is starring in a musical (albeit not live) coming out this summer.
4. Angie Tribeca (25 Hour Marathon starring January 17 at 9:00): I have a full write up coming closer to the premiere date but let me say now that this is the funniest show on television.
3. X-Files (January, 24): Reboots can be tricky, but I am cautiously optimist for the new X-Files even though the two stars jumped ship long before the series originally ended and the mediocre at best movie from a couple years back. First off they are just dipping their toe back in the water with just six hours, including four stand alone episode and plenty of fan service with the return of the Smoking Man and the Lone Gunman (despite their demise). And even if it does end up sucking, hey, it is only six episodes.
2. The Suicide Squad (August 5): Have we finally reached superhero fatigue? The Fantastic Four reboot bombed, Ant- Man was the worst performing Marvel film. Yet by my count there are seven more comic book adaptations coming this year. Marvel has two more, DC is starting their cinematic universe with two films itself, while Fox, despite the recent disaster of the Fantastic Four, is going all in with their other Marvel owned property X-Men with three movies. To be honest there is only one that has really gotten me excited; I never cared much about the X-Men, I am two films behind on Marvel, and every passing Superman v Bat Man trailer makes me less excited; and that is The Suicide Squad. Okay I want to cut off the trailer when Jared Leto's Joker shows up because he looks horrible, but sign me up for everything else about it. Just give Margo Robbie her Oscar for Harley Quinn now. Or at the very least an MTV Movie Award.
1. The Olympics (starting August 5): Always one of my favorite events every other year and plenty of story lines for this year's game which will includes Rugby Sevens for the first time: can Micheal Phelps add it his gold medals record? Can Usain Bolt go back to back to back in the Mens 100 Yard Dash? Can the US Women Soccer team be the first team to win Gold the year after winning the World Cup? Will anyone die swimming in Rio's polluted river? Okay the modern Olympics would not be complete with controversies in the lead up and this year's big one is the rivers where they plan to host the outdoor swimming events were unsafe to swim in. A previous scandal was adverted when they announced that the organizers were going to charge for air conditioning but later reversed that decision.
Big News of the Week: Blame Canada: Vladimar Putin said before the Olympics that if the Russians won gold in ice hockey, none of the other gold medals would matter. If the Russians did not win the gold, none of the other gold medals would matter. Of all the American disappointments this Winter Olympics, Shawn White, no figure skating medals since the thirties, three combined Curling wins, a short track shutout in medals, all would have been forgiven if we grabbed the gold in hockey. Unfortunately for the second straight Olympics, the Americans were eliminated by one goal by those darn dirty Canadians. Making things worse in the women’s gold medal game, Canada tied the game in the final minute (with the US hitting the post of an empty goal) and went on to win in overtime. It is enough that the banished Justin Bieber to our country, but could we at least get one hockey gold, something the men have never done on foreign soil, please.
Video of the Week: After The Avengers collected almost all the money, Marvel got cocky enough that it started greenlighting movies and television shows for even some of their most obscure properties. First up is Guardians of the Galaxies which features a talking tree and a gun toting raccoon. The movie finally hits screens in August but we finally got to see our first official trailer this week in an effort for Jimmy Kimmel Live to pull some eyeballs away from the latest iteration of The Tonight Show (bad news for Jimmy Fallon, he pulled in around the same numbers as Conan did when he took over for Leno). The trailer makes it looks like the reject version of The Avengers, and I mean that in an entertaining way. Now if only Marvel can get characters as interesting as a gun toting raccoon or a talking tree on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. they will managed to collect all the money.
Next Week Pick of the Week: Hannibal, Friday at 10:00 on NBC: With the Olympics ending this weekend, there are a glut of new and returning shows premiering next week (not to mention most that took the last two weeks off) but one of them stand above them all, the second season premiere of the best new show of last year, Hannibal. When we left off, Hannibal Lecter so toyed with Will Graham, everyone thought Will was the one that was doing all of the killing, but in a moment of clarity, Will finally realized that his physiatrist was setting him up, just as he was committed to a facility for the criminally insane. Hopefully the show does not have a sophomore slump and can prosper now that it is paired with Grimm on Friday nights. Here is a list of other premieres next week worth mentioning:
The Voice, Monday and Tuesday at 8:00 Dallas, Monday at 9:00 on TNT About a Boy, Tuesday at 9:00 on NBC (sneak peak tonight after the Olympics) Growing up Fisher, Tuesday at 9:30 on NBC (sneak peak tomorrow after the Closing Ceremonies) Perception, Tuesday at 10:00 on TNT Survivor: Brains vs. Brawn vs. Beauty, Wednesday at 8:00 on CBS The Americans, Wednesday at 10:00 on FX Vikings, Thursday at 10:00 on History
Big News of the Week: Let the Games Begin: Amidst threats of terrorism, gay propaganda, and shorts weather in Sochi, the Winter Olympics somehow kicked off without a hitch this week. Well unless you are Bob Costas’ eyeball. Or the dude who had to kick himself out of his bathroom. But still it is hard to get excited for this year’s games. Maybe it is the tape delay or many US disappointments, no Lindsey Vonn, Shawn White does not medal, Bode Miller chocks again. Sure the new slopestyle competitions were entertaining (the new team ice skating event, not so much). But things hopefully pick up today when the United States have their second hockey game against Russia (the last time we played theb home nation, it was one of the most competitive hockey game ever) and yet another one tomorrow. Then the tournament portion starts on Tuesday.
Preview Picture of the Week:
“Free Fall” Pretty Little Liars, Tuesday at 8:00 on ABC Family
Free Download of the Week: Bridges – Broods (iTunes)
New Album Release of the Week: Lions - William Fitzsimmons
Video of the Week: I have long called Parenthood the blue state version of Friday Night Lights. Jason Katims is the guy behind both and has even recruited a few Dillon alums to hang with the Bravermans (Lyla, Vince, Luke, and Jess). Except they all played new characters. Now for the first time, a former Coach Taylor player has found their way to California when Landry and his band Crucifictorious are recording at the Lunchenette with Amber after hours. Below is the first of four webisobes which has a few FNL references: “Lance,” Becky referred them (though it is not known how Amber knows her aside from her ex-fiancé’s doppelganger knocked Becky up), and even am East Dillon t-shirt makes an appearance. The next three episodes will hit the internets sometime next week and will feature another familiar face from Dillon.
Next Week Pick of the Week: Woman’s Gold Medal Curling Match, Thursday at 5:00 on CNBC: I was a bit disappointed with the curling coverage this year, maybe I am remembering it wrong, but I thought there was a dedicated curling channel last time. This time around there is a match at 3:00 AM, another one around mid day, and a final match at 5:00 PM (with bonus curling if time permits). Even more disappointing was the American play. The woman’s team gave up the first ever seven point end in Olympics history; I do not even remember any team scoring more than four in an end. Scoring seven can sometimes win you a match. The men have not fared much better (my theory is their uniforms are not cool enough). So I have switched my allegiance to Great Britain, at least on the sheet, for now mostly because of skip Eve Muirhead.
Big News of the Week: #DeportBieber: When Barack Obama was elected president he promised a new era of transparency (six years later and an NSA scandal, that is debatable). One initiative he unveiled was a petition site where if you collected 25,000 signatures, the White House would respond to the petition. This led to a bunch of Star Wars geeks to petition the government to make their own Death Star. The White House humorously responded by saying it would not be fiscally responsible to spend on trillions of dollars that "can be exploited by a one-man starship." Everyone got a good laugh and the White House soon raised the signature threshold to 100,000 and had to reach that number within a month of its launch.
Well twice that number this week signed a petition to deport Justin Bieber after his (alleged) drug filled drag race in Miami last week because, "(Bieber) is not only threatening the safety of our people but he is also a terrible influence on our nations youth." For comparison, the inevitable do not deport Bieber petition, of which there are already three of as of Friday, the most of which topped out at 3,000 signatures. Of course even though the deport Bieber petition has hit the signature threshold, do not expect much of a response from the White House other than something along the lines of not being able to comment on an ongoing investigation. It certainly will not be as entertaining as their Death Star response.
Preview Picture of the Week:
“Along Came a Spider” Ravenswood Winter Finale, Tuesday at 9:00 on ABC Family
Free Download and Deal of the Week: Halftime All-Stars (Google Play): In honor of the big game, Google Play has free songs and discounted album from halftime performers past and present including Bruno Mars and his guests Red Hot Chili Peppers as well as U2, Prince., and many more.
New Album Release of the Week: After the Disco - Broken Bells
Video of the Week: Super Bowl tomorrow which means Super Bowl commercials. Some have already hit the internet (although I refuse to acknowledge any Full House reunion that does not involve Kimmie Gibler) as well as a few that you will not (sorry Scarlett Johansson, you cannot throw other soda brands under the bus). Unfortunately we will not see Anna Kedrick in a beer commercial this year, but we can her Anna Kendrick talk about not being in a Super Bowl beer commercial.
Next Week Pick of the Week: 2014 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremonies, Friday at 7:30 on NBC: Forget the football game tomorrow (although the cold weather does make it more intriguing even though it does not look like it will snow tomorrow; but I do have a prediction: Seahawks by 10), the better sporting event will start Friday with the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics. Okay, the actually Olympics start with Figure Skating (Team Male and Team Pairs short programs) Ladies’ Moguls qualifications, Snowboard Slopestle qualifications. As for the marquee event, hockey starts up Saturday while the United States opens up its Olympic Hockey tournament February 13 against Slovakia (not to be confused with Slovenia which they take on 2/16). Host country Russia is the other team in their pool which will go down 2/15. Unfortunately Curling does not start up until Monday, but be on the lookout for the Norwegian team who will be hard to miss with their zigzag uniforms.
There will more than just sports to watch out for this year, and I am not talking about Figure Skating which not a real sport. Terrorism has hung its head over every Olympics since 9/11 but this is the first Olympics where there is a specific threat and recent attacks in Sochi. And after Vladimir Putin gay propaganda ban, it will be interesting if anyone will have a Tommie Smith / John Carlos type moment.
- Where the swimmers shave their body hair, wears swimming caps and do everything to shaves fractions of a second off their times, it is weird how none of the track runners do the same thing with jewelry, lots of hair, and even they are forced to wear a loose fitting name tag. There even someone who ran with a large flower in her hair.
- I am not going to pretend I am an expert at gymnastics, but there seems to be a flaw in the judging when someone who falls on her butt gets a silver. Either that are all the other competitors that bad?
- I played soccer all throughout my youth, was a referee in college and watch every American match in the World Cup, Olympics and other random friends, and I do not remember anyone call a goalie for holding the ball too long, seen a couple warnings (apparently the Canadian goalie was warned by the assistant referee previously), but never actually called. It is so prevalent that the networks usually aired replays while the goalies stroll around the box before getting rid of it. It is kind of like a travel in basketball where you have to take an extra step or five to get called. For the record, the rule is six seconds and the goalie held it for over ten before the penalty was called. But it is silly for Canadians to complain because it is a rarely called foul because it would be telling a judge you should have not have to pay your jaywalking ticket because cops rarely write anyone up for it. And if that is not enough to keep you Cunucks from complaining, please watch the video of Melissa Tancredi stomping on Carli Lloyd’s head which went uncalled. It was poetic that the American went on to win the gold medal on a header by Lloyd. Suck it Canada.
- There was actually belly-flop in the Olympics. And the guy advanced.
- Chris Webber may be off the hook for the dumbest timeout ever in the history of sports. That is thanks to the American Women’s Water Polo coach who called time out with one second left with his team up by a goal. Since they did not have possession, the Australians were awarded a penalty shot, which they converted. I am hesitant to call it the dumbest timeout ever because unlike Chris Weber, the Americans went on to win in overtime.
- I do not know how I am supposed to take volleyball commentators seriously when they say things like, “Hooker records her 9th kill.”
- One of my favorite stories of the Games was the high jumper who could not find his jersey, and since his time was running out, pinned his number to his polo shirt to get his jump off in the allotted time. Not only did he clear his jump, he won gold.
- After watching them play in the gold medal field hockey match; I have decided to move to The Netherlands.
- It was weird to see the East German Women still held the World and Olympic Records for the 4x100 until the Americans beat it at this games. You know when the commentators brought the record up they wanted to claim that the East Germans were known for using steroids.
- If the winner of the decathlon is the world’s best athlete, what does that make the3 winner of the modern pentathlon (fencing, 200 meter swim, show jumping, and a 3k cross country run that includes a shooting competition at the same time, kind of like the biathlon)? The most random athlete in the world?
- There I nothing I hate more in sports that replay, and having football coaches throw a red flag on the field is really silly. But I have to admit I liked the challenge brick in wrestling.
- I may update this space if anything interesting happens at the Closing Ceremonies (which rarely happens), until then, here is only last obligatory look at Alex Morgan’s ponytail.
Big News of the Week: Canada Blames: I played soccer all throughout my youth, was a referee in college and watch every American match in the World Cup, Olympics and other random friendlies, and I do not remember anyone call a goalie for holding the ball too long, seen a couple warnings (apparently the Canadian goalie was warned by the assistant referee previously), but never actually called. It is so prevalent that the networks usually aired replays while the goalies stroll around the box for a minute or two before getting rid of it. It is kind of like a travel in basketball where you have to take an extra step or five to get called (I had to laugh when Chris Paul actually got called for it not knowing NBA superstar rules do not apply in international basketball). For the record, the rule is six seconds and the goalie held it for over ten before the penalty was called. But it is silly for Canadians to complain because it is a rarely called foul because it would be telling a judge you should have not have to pay your jaywalking ticket because cops rarely write anyone up for it. And if that is not enough to keep you Cunucks from complaining, please watch the video of Melissa Tancredi stomping on Carli Lloyd’s head which went uncalled. It was poetic that the Americans ended up winning the gold medal on that very head of Lloyd.
Preview Picture of the Week:
Falling Skies: I have to wonder just how Pope knew of Maggie’s deep dark secret. Why exactly would she tell her former captor something like that if she did not want to share with someone else?
You can download Falling Skies on iTunes.
Weeds: It is a shame that Andy got himself a new show already on NBC this fall because I would have been up for an Andy and Doug, My Two Dads style spin off.
Pretty Little Liars: Did they really need to introduce yet another guy who looks just like every other guy? When Erza’s brother showed up on screen I was trying to figure out if that was the dude who ended up hosting the party or the one guy who was in the secret fight club. It turns out neither. Now usually when talking about Mr. Fitz(Gerald) I make a Better than Ezra reference, but instead suggest Aria take the advice of Steve Miller and take the money and run. That family is bad news.
But the big news was the introduction of The BetrAyal which will happen at the end of the season. Despite the stylization it is unclear if The BetrAyal will turn out to be “A”, just a member of “The A Team” or just a someone forced by “A” to betray the Liars, or just a random betrayal. ABC Family even set up a suspect tracker where Paige is currently in the lead with 34%. Conspicuously absent is my leading contender for the new A in Allison and my new favorite character CiCi. Since I am hoping that the BetrAyal is by one of the Liars, I am going to predict Aria will be doing the betraying. Her name does start with an A.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.
Deal of the Week: Hip-Hop Classics for 2.99: Amazon went for some classic rap albums for their deeply discounted albums this week including A Tribe Called Quest, Wu-Tang Clan, Dr. Dre, and Nas.
This is the first Summer Olympics I have watched in HD and it was well worth the upgrade. It even makes quite boring events like Rowing entertaining because the sight is just so beautiful. The images are so sharp you can even see sweat drip down off a ping ponger’s brow. Who knew table tennis athletes sweat? Apparently they sweat so much they have a towel off break every seven points or so. Here are some other thought on the first week of the Olympics.
- Who would have guessed one of the biggest stories of The Olympics would come from badminton? Sure we see a few athletes ever games booted from competition, but most are for trying too hard with performance enhancers. This is the first time I have ever heard of anyone getting booted for not trying. But four woman’s doubles pairs did just that and got booed then booted by a crowd that paid about $120 American for the match.
- The other big news of the week was Michael Phelps is now the most decorated medalist of all time. It is hard to argue that he is not the greatest Olympian ever even though there is a laughable amount of swimming medal (who knows how many Carl Lewis could have gotten if there was skipping, backwards, and hopping) 100 Meters) kind of like how RnB artists are always the most nominated at the Grammy’s because there is an absurd amount of RnB categories.
- I am sick of Debbie Phelps. There, I said it. They should have had more gratuitous Kate Middleton shots. And how has there not been a Pippa sighting yet?
- Gymnastics was usually when I would take my dogs for a walk every night mostly because I feared if I watched the “Woman’s” I might walk into my kitchen and see Chris Hansen. But I did get back in time for the controversies. I do not have a problem with only two gymnasts from one country in the finals, if you cannot even beat your teammates, then you do not have a gripe.
- But my favorite gymnast story was a Men’s Japanese gymnast who fell of the one thing, putting his country in fourth. His coach then slips a judge a few dollars (which thanks to my HD I am pretty sure were American, which begs the question, why does the Japanese delegation have American dollars in Great Britain), and a couple minutes later (I am not one to complain about tape delays, but if you are going to air it a couple hours later, how about cutting down the standing, and waiting around for scores?), Japan moved up to second. Awesome.
- Of course a couple days after declaring Alex Morgan having the second ponytail ever in the history of the world, she just had to come out for her very next game with her hair in a bun. Her hair magically came down minutes later, but was back up by half time where it stayed. Hurump. Thankfully her ponytail was back to its awesomeness glory for the next game where she brused her knee on the New Zealand’s goalie.
- Forget Destinee Hooker, Dutch swimmer Ranomi Kromowidjojo has the best name of these Olympics.
- Please note that trampoline is an Olympics sport; baseball is not.
- Speaking of American pastimes not currently in the Olympics, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said this week he hopes that football will soon become an Olympics sport and as the six-four countries needed to be included. As the great Michael Wilbon responded (paraphrasing), “There are only two countries that play football: America and Canada. And we are not entirely sure about Canada.” And considering it currently takes five weeks for the NFL’s twelve team playoff, how exactly does Roger plan to get an Olympics tournament done in seventeen days?
- I really do not understand the controversy of the double amputee running in the Olympics. So what if he gets an advantage from his prosthetics, dude has no legs. Until people start voluntarily amputating their legs to get an unfair advantage, let the guy run. Almost as inspiring but less reported on is the one handed Table Tennis contestant which has to be the second greatest one handed feet since Jim Abbott threw a one-hitter.
I love the Olympics. I do not care what sport. Yesterday I watched woman’s ping pong, women’s fencing, woman’s soccer, tennis, rowing, swilling, woman’s beach volleyball (where the females were not even wearing bikinis; actually the Australians for some reason wore bikinis over t-shirts), and woman’s handball. Woman’s handball that even featured two foreign teams. And of course I watched every minute of the Opening Ceremonies, all four and a half hours. Here are a couple thoughts on the first two days of the games which is my first in HD (I bought mine just prior to the Winter Olympics two years ago).
- Let’s start off with a negative. Why the frack is Ryan Seacrest on the television? The guy has already ruined music and pop culture, why is he ruining sport. And why if he bringing up foreigner Justin Bieber when talking to Americans? Very few things can get me to tune out the Olympics; he is going to be one.
- As everyone pointed out already, the Queen / James Bond skit was the highlight of the Opening Ceremony. The not so highlight: Paul McCartney bumbling the one billionth performance of Hey Jude.
- You do not equate Olympics with funny, but the Mr. Bean bit managed to be cheesy and extremely funny.
- Call me old, but I did not really get the internet love story despite the great music. Even if when I think nineties British music, The Prodigy probably would not make the top ten. Really, were there any other breakout British bands from that time other than Oasis? And while I am on the internet segment, how dare the British suggest Al Gore did not invent the internet?
- And the winner for best Olympics theme promo for a new NBC show goes to Go On.
- In other ad news, I am already dick of all the political ads.
- I am ready to declare Alex Morgan’s ponytail the second greatest ponytail ever in the history of the world (second only to Lyla Garrity). She is also in the early lead for breakout star of this Olympics. Now if only NBC gives them channel. Yesterday they were stuck on something called NBC Sports (which used to be Vs.) which is not even on my basic cable package.
- If there is one sport I could not bring myself to watch was archery. They just have way too much crap on their bow. It is like those annoying golfers that have club heads the size of their own head. Use just a simple bow and a string, and I will be impressed that you hit a bulls eye.
- The American volleyball team has a member named Destinee Hooker. Seriously. I am too lazy to fact check, but I am pretty sure someone on a season of Rock of Love with Brett Michaels had the same name.
- It is surprising that Bob Costas opening the first prime time night by saying that everything you will be watching will be taped. It is weird they were so upfront about this (although the first couple minutes are the least watch). Sure anyone with half a brain can figure out prime time on the east coast is about 1:00 AM London time.
- John McEnroe did a special interest piece. It is becoming more and clearer the Mayans were right.
Quote of the Week: I’m only going to say this once boys, give me the... teddy bear. (Eliot, Leverage)
Song of the Week: Little Boxes – Steve Martin and Kevin Nealon (Weeds)
Scene of the Week:
Big News of the Week: Emmy Nominations Announced: The only nomination Justified got was for Dickie Bennett (and his hair)? Alright, I am back to ignoring the Emmy’s.
Falling Skies: Even though I knew it probably would not be the case, I was hoping Karen would come back normal, or at least as normal as a de-harnessed kid could be. Unfortunately it looks like she is still being controlled by the Overlords somehow. Sadly I have a feeling she may go the way of the black kid whose name I have already forgotten by the end of the next episode which is a shame because she was really the only character I actually cared about from the start of the series.
You can download Falling Skies on iTunes.
Weeds: Kids playing roller derby was probably the most entertaining this I saw anywhere this week. Well it was until the great Andy slap fight of 2012.
Pretty Little Liars: I love how stupid these girls are. Of course Hanna, the police man was there because of the note. Of course Spencer, Garrett was sending you somewhere that would help him get off (although I thought we already saw him confess to killing Allison with Jenna). Then you have Aria who finds a boat load of money in Ezra’s sock drawer (not his finest hour) and instantly thinks that he collected Jason’s reward money. She is that paranoid but actually believes his I let the guy pay in cash to avoid taxes excuse. And what could he have possibly tell Jason? Then there is Emily who just happens to remember a tattoo right before seeing it on Aria’s former beard. God bless stupid people.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.
Dallas: As I mention in my initial post about Dallas, there was going to be more to Rebecca and Anne than being doting brides to the Ewing men. We learned just was hiding in Rebecca’s closet earlier this season, and we finally (kinda) learned Anne’s deep dark season besides having an evil ex-husband and it looks like she had a kid. Of course there are a couple possibilities like she gave them up for adoption, they could of died, or my current favorite theory, she thinks her kid is dead but really grew up to become Rebecca. Didn’t her parents mysteriously died early in her life? If so then we would get the awesome Springer episode with Christopher marring his step-mother’s daughter. Sometime soap operas write themselves.
You can download Dallas on iTunes.
Preview Picture of the Week:
Free Download of the Week: Fly Like an Eagle – Steve Miller Band (Google Play)
Deal of the Week: $2.99 Soul Albums: This week’s absurdly low price sale on Amazon is dedicated to soul music including greatest hits packages from Prince, The Temptations, Al Green, and the new album from Frank Ocean.
New Album Release of the Week: Handwritten - The Gaslight Anthem
Video of the Week: Apparently Mansome is a real documentary (from Jason Bateman, Will Arnett and the Super Size Me Guy) and not a Funny or Die fake trailer. Now if you excuse me, I need to go add this to my queue.
Next Week Pick of the Week: 2012 Summer Olympics: Opening Ceremony, Friday at 7:30 on NBC: I am an unabashed Olympics fan, I will watch it all, no matter how obscure, I will be even watching handball at some point probably. Trampoline? Sure, why not? (Unfortunately for the second games in a row I will not be able to watch any basketball because I cannot bring myself to root for the likes of LeBron James and Kobe Bryant). If you cannot wait a whole week for the start of the games, there are a couple preliminary soccer games starting Wednesday including the American woman (welcome back to my life Alex Morgan) playing at noon on NBC Sports Network (which used to be called Vs). Head over to nbcolympics.com to get a full rundown of what sports will be airing when and what channel.
- Beck
- William Fitzsimmons
the blue state version of 
. Jason Katims is the guy behind both and has even recruited a few Dillon alums to hang with the Bravermans (Lyla, Vince, Luke, and Jess). Except they all played new characters. Now for the first time, a former Coach Taylor player has found their way to California when Landry and his band Crucifictorious are recording at the Lunchenette with Amber after hours. Below is the first of four webisobes which has a few FNL references: “Lance,” Becky referred them (though it is not known how Amber knows her aside from her ex-fiancé’s doppelganger knocked Becky up), and even am East Dillon t-shirt makes an appearance. The next three episodes will hit the internets sometime next week and will feature another familiar face from Dillon.
- Broken Bells
: Amazon went for some classic rap albums for their deeply discounted albums this week including A Tribe Called Quest, Wu-Tang Clan, Dr. Dre, and Nas.
). She is also in the early lead for breakout star of this Olympics. Now if only NBC gives them channel. Yesterday they were stuck on something called NBC Sports (which used to be Vs.) which is not even on my basic cable package.
got was for Dickie Bennett (and his hair)? Alright, I am back to ignoring the Emmy’s.
- The Gaslight Anthem