Ray Donovan: This show is moving just too slow. Ray hires James Woods last episode and he just leaves Boston at the end of this episode. The show seems to somehow stretch three episodes of plot across eight episodes so far. And it may even move slower next week which is entitled “Road Trip” so Woods may not even making it to Los Angeles until the end of that episode. Doesn’t Ray have access to a private jet? They really could have done without the lesbian punching because I could care less for that character, she maybe has shown up for a combines five minutes so far this season, so when she gets mad at her faux lesbian love, it is hard to care at all.
Switched at Birth: I have always asserted that Daphne’s bomb was bigger than Cota’s, but I was surprised she actually launched hers in a preemptive strike. I would eb easy to say this will ruin Coto’s career, but Republicans have an uncanny resilience when it comes to sex scandals, Mark Sanford recently got elected after stepping down as governor after being revealed he had a Brazilian mistress. And not only did friend of the family David Vitter not step down after he got caught up in a prostitution ring, he got reelected and is still a Congressmen. Just as shock was that Toby and Nikki called off their wedding after having sex only to get married down at the courthouse without anyone knowing. Did not see that swerve coming.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Switched At Birth on iTunes.
Under the Dome: Hopefully Winona Hawkins livens thing up inside of the dome because the last couple episodes have been becoming increasingly boring.
You can stream Under The Dome exclusively on Amazon Instant Video, free for Prime members.
Siberia: I live in Ohio so I am used to some weird weather occurrences, but two feet of snow as the first snowfall of the year would not even happen here. And where exactly did the people in the helicopter go? I was waiting for the faux lesbian and the pilot to show up at some point.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Siberia on iTunes.
Pretty Little Liars: Come on, they had Red Coat in the back of the hayride and still were unable to catch her? Something better happen on the summer finale.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.
Perception: So is Kate going to be the crazy one in the duo next season with Pierce playing the straight guy? It does seem like Kate entered crazy town this week obsession over the Senator’s son. I do not see how she gets away with killing a dude even if he turns out to be a rapist. I guess Pierce could diagnos her with temporary insanity.
You can download Perception on iTunes.
The Bridge: Initially I was with Sonya in thinking this may not be the guy, but not because he seems to crazy to pull this off but because we are only half way through the season and how do they fill the rest of the season when they have the culprit already in custody? But then again, earlier this year, on this very network I wondered what they would possibly do after we found out who Drew Thompson was a couple episodes before the finale but still turned out its best episodes after that. Plus this always felt like a multiple man job so they could have caught the person making the calls but there are other co-conspirators out there wrecking havoc.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download The Bridge on iTunes.
The Challenge: Rivals II: God bless TJ for holding that dog for the whole challenge for no apparent reason. It made an otherwise boring episode watchable. At least it looks like Mount Camilla will finally erupt for the first time this season next week if the promo monkeys are to be believed.
You can download The Challenge: Rivals II on iTunes.
Ray Donovan: That fake movie, Black Mass, was one of the funniest fake movies I have seen in a while. Someone needs to rush it into production. Get Robert Rodriguez on the phone. It is nice that Ray named his daughter after his dead sister, but it can get distracting on a shown when he starts talking about his sister and I spend a couple weird moments wondering why he is talking about his daughter like that.
Switched at Birth: I feel cheated that we did not get to witness Travis and MaryBeth’s first (or second or third) date. That had to be highly entertaining. Certainly more entertaining than Toby’s bachelor party at the free clinic.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Switched at Birth on iTunes.
Siberia: It is nice that they tried to explain why the cameramen would not just put the cameras down and start helping out. Of course if I were the cameraman tasked with following the group to the tower, I would have passed, or at the very least asked them to take turns filming stuff. Of course if this really was real, the battery would have died a long time ago without the ability to recharge at the base camp. I also had to laugh at how everyone was complaining about how hard it would reach the tower ten miles away. Colin Ferrell starred in a movie not too long ago about a group of prisoners who escaped a Siberian prison camp, in the dead of winter at that, and managed to walk all the way to Tibet and that was based on a real story. Okay, I think half the people ended up dying, but ten miles should not be that bad in the fall. Unless of course you come across ground zero of what may very well be nuclear testing.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Siberia on iTunes.
Pretty Little Liars: Just last week I rejoiced that Ezra’s baby mama was moving to Washington because there would be no way Ezra would not follow the child he just found out about. Fast forward to this week and Erza’s kid is not actually his kid. What!?! Which means he will probably go back to having sex with his student. Chris Hansen really needs to pay the writers room a visit.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.
The Bridge: A lot of back-story this week, we learned that Sonya’s sister’s murder was handed by her now boss (and she does not know… yet) and she still visits her sister’s murderer in prison even his diminutive mental state. While we also learned that Marco’s father had ties to Fasto’s father who started Fasto’s current business. So did Marco go into law enforcement to rebel against his father or to be a mole for the family business? And it did cross my mind that the two back stories could have intertwined somehow and maybe Sonya’s sister’s killer may have worked for Marco’s father and this whole mystery has been about Sonya and Marco this whole time.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download The Bridge on iTunes.
The Challenge: Rivals II: I have been watching the show live the last couple of weeks and the frequency of the commercial breaks is really distracting. It seemed like the girls half of the challenge had three breaks itself. It just ruins the flow to have an ad every four to five minutes. I really need to go back to watchjing the show OnDemand where I can fast forward through the commercials even if MTV does not offer HD on their OnDemand channel and I am stuck watching in standard definition.
You can download The Challenge: Rivals II on iTunes.
Falling Skies: Did they not just kill Karen two episodes ago? Being a sci-fi show I would not be at all surprised if we see her again. Maybe the Karen we saw die was not the real Karen and she was just some sort of real life robot the aliens were able to produce just to mess with the humans. I do not remember if it was ever explained why she still worked with the aliens without the harness on. And I wonder if there will be any resentment from Hal that Maggie killed Karen. Hall did seem shocked by the action even though that was the humane thing to do and really if Hal should be mad at anyone over Karen’s death it should be at his father.
And as creepy as baby Lexi was, school-girl Lexi is even creepier. I thought it was callous of Tom to shot Karen without trying to barter a way to get the bugs out of her, but I turned out Tom has his own creepy witch doctor in the family. I wonder if she will be a gull teenager by the start of next season. It may only make it even more creepy.
You can download Falling Skies on iTunes.
Ray Donovan: One of my longstanding pet peeves on television are dream sequences and drug trips are a corollary to that, but really, even I cannot hate a drug trip that features a monkey. But I was a bid disappointed that the cop that pulled him over did not morph into The Terminator as he was talking to the agent. And I did complain at the start of the show that I feared it would devolve into cheesy fake celebrity problems that Ray would have to solve every week (which thankfully for the most part it has not) that NBA lottery plan was disturbingly brilliant.
Under the Dome: So at the center of the town (which for some reason is a secluded wooded area, not downtown like normal cities) is a mini dome which encases an egg. Alrighty.
You can stream Under The Dome exclusively on Amazon Instant Video, free for Prime members.
Siberia: It is a little bothersome that the show does not notice the little things. There was an actual scene where the one chick is hunting for deer with the cameraman walking right in front of her. Seriously. No cameraman on a real reality show would walk directly in front of someone with a bow cocked back. At least the show moved the plot forward with the disappearance of everyone on the crew, aside from the cameramen on duty. But then that begs the question, what happened to the faux lesbian who “left” earlier in the day. Did she really make it out just before everything went down, or was she just wondering around for the day? Granted it is highly suspicious that we did not get to see her leave, so I have a feeling she may have been captured by the creepy kids lurking around.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Siberia on iTunes.
Pretty Little Liars: It looks like I was right, that Mona would essentially plea insanity and find herself back at the mental institution. I wonder if they will heighten security this stay after she admitting to sneaking out multiple times during her last stint.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.
The Bridge: Wow, that discussion on serial killers was profound. Too bad I had to read it. And as much as I find that Sonia lives somewhere on the autism spectrum, that meal with the family was actually entertaining in its uncomfortableness. Poor Marco, you really cannot come up with a good example as to why your wallet falls out of your pants innocently. The best thing I could come up with would be to cut a hole in your back pocket and hope she buys it just happened to bust while at the home of another woman to have her sign documents.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download The Bridge on iTunes.
The Challenge: Rivals II: The biggest problem with shows like this is that voting is extremely predictable (Survivor tried to shake things up with the addition of the Hidden Immunity Idol, but it really has only affected the outcome of a Tribal Council three or four times; I am pretty sure more people have gone home with an Idol in their pocket then have been saved by one) so it is always entertaining when a vote goes disastrously bad like when Teresa “threw away” her vote on her hook up LeRoy only for half the people after her following her lead and also voting for LeRoy, sending him into The Jungle. Not that it ended up mattering because LeRoy was saved by an even more rare occurrence with a disqualification in an elimination round (the only other time I remember this happening was to CT who crushed someone as he usually does, only to be sent home on a technicality).
You can download The Challenge: Rivals II on iTunes.
Falling Skies: So Tom was able to figure out who the mole is because someone said something similar to what he remember Lourdes said hours before but did not realize it did not make sense to him when she first said it? I hate when writers continually put these kinds of revelations into scripts. Way too cute, just have someone walk in on Lourdes trying to kill Cochise. The reveal would have been more satisfying and less absurd.
You can download Falling Skies on iTunes.
Ray Donovan: I wonder what exactly Ray’s wife thinks he does for a living. Is she just a she no evil her no evil, blind to the fact who just does not ask as long as there is food on the table. Or the kind that does know deep down, but will not say anything because she has grown accustomed to her lifestyle. Or does she really know, does not care, and is just mad that he may be cheating on her and that is the preverbal line.
Switched at Birth: ASL karaoke: who knew? And I am not sure if I should have laughed at all the cheesy ASL pick up lines that Travis was trying. It should be interesting to watch his date with MaryBeth which I have a feeling may devolve into the episode of The Big Bang Theory where Raj went on a date with the chick who plays Daphne with Howard as the interpreter.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Switched at Birth on iTunes.
Siberia: When the show first appeared I theorized that it would turn out to be a rip off of The Cabin In The Woods, and if that is the case, the Powers that Be sure pumped in the pheromones this episode because there were people hooking up all over the place. I also had to think of another horror movie, Evil Dead, when the Serbian dude found the book. I was screaming at the dude, you do open up creepy books that are hidden. But at least he did not try reading from it. Yet.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Siberia on iTunes.
Pretty Little Liars: Oh Mona, you sneaky devil. But did she fall on the sword to make it up to Hanna for all the A stuff, or does she have a devious master plan that she is not letting on. Either way, she probably could get off, she worked out the self defense claim with Hanna, and worse case scenario, she could just e declared insane again and go back to Bradley, which may very well be her masterplan.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.
The Bridge: So not only is the creepy trailer dude not a murderer, he is actually coyote for Mexican prostitutes trying to get up from under the thumb from an evil sex trafficking drug lord(who can easily get a million dollars to Marco to pay for his other stolen property). Oh yeah, and he is so compassionate, he will even help snakes across the street. Alrighty. And it took me about half the episode to realize that was a clean shaven and fully functioning Johnny Crowder as the FBI agent. Considering what happened to him, it may have been better had I not recognized him.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download The Bridge on iTunes.
The Challenge: Rivals II: When I saw the title of this episode was Mortuusequusphobia, I got excited because I assumed it would be another spelling challenge this week. Silly me, they would never use a word longer than five letters in the spelling challenge. I guess it is safe to assume that mortuusequusphobia is the fear of ketchup or condiments in general. But as great as the Jemmye mental breakdown was, the Jungle was as equally disappointing. C’mon promo monkeys, you do not hype the most dangerious elimination round ever only not to have one.
You can download The Challenge: Rivals II on iTunes.
The Hero: Patty?!? Seriously America? Apparently the only people who watched (and or voted) besides me bored housewives who thought they were Patty. And Patty winning is probably the best reason why there will not be a second season. If only the casted the inaugural season better.
You can download The Hero on iTunes.
Falling Skies: When Tom shot Karen my first thought was oh my God, they killed Karen! My second thought was, wait, she did not say that line they repeated over and over again in the promos, they must have Inceptioned Tom putting him in a dream inside a dream. Stupid promo monkeys spoiling the episode. But I wonder how many people spotted Cochise in Tom’s dream. If you missed it, that was Doug Jones without his Chochise costume talking to Gloria Rubin in the teacher’s lounge.
You can download Falling Skies on iTunes.
Ray Donavan: There are very few things I need to see less than Jon Voight dancing to Now That We Found Love in a gay bar.
Under the Dome: An interesting question of what would be on your playlist if you only have a half an hour before being nuked by your own government. The DJ went with the soothing tones of Mozart. I think I would embrace the impending doom and put on It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine) or maybe War Pigs. And all it took for the dude to care about his sister was a MOAB. Though odd it took Big Jim a whole day to decide he should release her. But will Junior just drag her back down next episode after he realizes the bomb failed? At least the preacher finally died. It was pretty obvious after the pacemaker took out the sheriff that the preacher’s hearing aid would do him in.
You can stream Under The Dome exclusively on Amazon Instant Video, free for Prime members.
Pretty Little Liars: So we got our first confirmation that Red Coat is Cece, assuming that hanger dude was not told to give that name by the real Red Coat if pressed. I am thinking that is the case because that is kind of an underwhelming reveal and shows like this love big reveals. I am still betting Allison is actually alive and pulling the strings.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.
The Bridge: My biggest complaint about the Pilot was that I do not really like when there are random characters that seem to have no connects but undoubtedly will end up intercepting by the end of the season. Thankfully we only had to wait three episodes before the three random storylines started to intercut as the police had to inform Charlotte of the ransom and Steven became the chief suspect of the investigation. Now I just wonder how long they stay in each other’s path or how long before we get a connection between Charlotte and Steven.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download The Bridge on iTunes.
The Challenge: Rivals II: That was one solid episode even if both challenges were kind of lame (remember the good old days when they had to melt blocks of ice with only body heat?). You had Marlon open up the episode by hooking up with a dude and closed it out with hooking up with a chick (this season needs more Nanny who along with Frank was the breakout star last season). He even got in a shouting match with Knight after a game of charades got out of hand (which may be the first time ever anywhere; Hollywood Game Night certainly would be more watchable if a brawl broke out after a game of charades). And that was not even the best fight of the night which went to Anessa and Trashelle which featured Trashelle hitting Anessa’s elbow with her face which was enough to make Trashelle quit which, of course, pissed off T.J (and inadvertently sent Sarah packing for the second time simply because of the partner she was paired with). And an annoyed T.J. is an entertaining T.J. This gave me the idea of an entire season made up exclusively of people who have quit in the past. It would be awesome to see T.J. tear down these contestants week after week.
You can download The Challenge: Rivals II on iTunes.
The Hero: Of course the two people I was thinking of voting for ended up going home in the last episode. Really, all the talk of what it means to be a hero got extremely annoying this season. Seriously, you not a hero for electing to go home yourself, you are a moron. Even worse, Charles probably had the best chance of the final six to win. I hope for Charles’ sake, whoever win thinks it is heroic enough to throw him some dollars for his stupid selfish act.
You can download The Hero on iTunes.
Falling Skies: I never thought Hal was the mole, just too obvious. But do you know who was not at all obvious: Lourdes. Certainly did not see that coming. And that face worm scene was extremely creepy. But how exactly did she know all the strategic planning? Not really something a doctor would be privy two. As for the Masons, all the counter attacks really started to border on absurdity. There had to be about six in one episode lone.
You can download Falling Skies on iTunes.
Ray Donovan: The first two episodes were good, but the show was just missing something to get me invested in it. That may have finally came when the dude who got Papa Donovan out of prison showed up and we ended the episode in his dark basement with Ray and all his friends posted on his wall. This scene really should have been the final scene of the premiere.
Switched at Birth: Bay and Daphne’s talk about sex may have been the most uncomfortable thing I have seen on television in a long time.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Switched at Birth on iTunes.
Under the Dome: So the brother finally asked someone about his sister. That only took three days. Not that he cared all that much because it look like he is already renting out her room. But just what is Big Jim going to do with her? If he lets her go, he will have to send his son, who just did not disappoint him for the very first time in his life, to jail. Since it is flooded, he really cannot keep her in the bunker. So it is either lock her up in the house or kill her.
You can stream Under The Dome exclusively on Amazon Instant Video, free for Prime members.
Siberia: It is annoying on competition reality show when contestants talk about “playing the game” and it is even more annoying on this show because there really is no “game” to play. There are no competitions, not elimination, the only thing they have to do is not die, that really is not a game.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Siberia on iTunes.
Pretty Little Liars: When Spencer drove into that town I thought she drove into a different show. It turns out I was right. For the unaware, Ravenswood is an upcoming Pretty Little Liars spin-off show (do not get too attached to the Hanna / Caleb relationship because is joining that cast). If the show is as creepy as these segments would suggest, it may be worth watching.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.
The Bridge: I do not know what I would do if a woman who looked like Diane Kruger walked up to me in a bar and propositioned me for sex right off the bat. I do not know what I would do if any woman walked up to me in a bar and propositioned me for sex right off the bat. I would probably be too paranoid that I was on a hidden camera show or that she is just luring me back to her place to harvest my organs that I would end up passing up the opportunity. It may not be a good thing that this was my big take away from the episode why my biggest question would be is a hostess really an upgrade over a waitress?
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download The Bridge on iTunes.
The Challenge: Rivals II: Seriously producers, if all you can get on short notice was Cara Maria, just send Cooke home. No one wants to see her ever again (including the contestants). It is not even a hate to love thing, it is a wants to turn the channel thing. And a note to any newbies to the Challenge, watch previous seasons. I had to shake my head when Anastasia got mad at CT for using her as her own personal plaything. Had she watched the show before, she would have known that is his M.O. with the exception of Diem. Not watching the previous seasons would be as dumb as training by smoking cigarettes and not eating (God bless TJ).
You can download The Challenge: Rivals II on iTunes.
The Hero: I was really hoping they were going to vote Patti into the Hero’s Challenge, I could have done without her for the final episode. And again it is annoying they are going make us wait a week to find out who gets voted off, really unnecessary. I really doubt there are many people out there that were thinking of not watching next week but will turn in just to see who will be voted off.
You can download The Hero on iTunes.
Falling Skies: So Hal was the mole? I still do not buy it (and the promo monkeys would seem to agree with me). I still find Gloria Rubin the most likely culprit although the bigger question to me is does the mole have a bug in their ear or are they doing this under their un volition?
You can download Falling Skies on iTunes.
Switched at Birth: It was only a matter of time before the show did an alternative timeline episode but I am a little surprised this was the route the writers took with the new timeline starting if Regina told the Kennish’s about the switch as soon as she figured it out. I assumed we would get a what if the girls were never switched to begin with timeline. Instead we get a Jon fever dream of a worse case scenario where everyone is much worse off had the switch happened earlier (what does it say about Jon that he killed off Regina). I kind of laughed when the end of the dream, Jon ended up dying because Regina was not there to give him CPR and is now glad that she is around all of the sudden. It is a little absurd.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Switched at Birth on iTunes.
Defiance: Since it premiered during the end of the spring season, I was behind on the show from the start and finally got caught up in time for the finale. Kind of a middling season at best. It is weird they killed off the main antagonist a couple episodes before the finale and never really replaced her (unless the white dude is supposed to be the main villain but I always found him more of an annoyance that scary). I am also not a fan of shows that leaves everyone in the cast in peril at the end of the season (Smallville was always the worst at this), and the only way they can make it worse is if everything is back to normal by the second episode (which was always the case on Smallville). I will not be surprised if the hooker turns up alive next season or the white people end up not being exiled. Hopefully the video game is better. Not that I will be playing it.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Defiance on iTunes.
Under the Dome: So the one kid is telling everyone he is living alone? Um, is he ever going to notice that his sister is missing? By my count she has not been home for two days, it is about time he starts noticing her absence.
You can stream Under the Dome exclusively on Amazon Instant Video, free for Prime members.
Siberia: I was going to complain at how stupid some of these characters are like the computer nerd going into the forest to see how that one dude died violently or trying to hide bullets under your mattress. But this is supposed to be a reality show, and there are plenty of stupid people who populate these type of shows to the extent that I made a list of the 25 Dumbest Survivor Contestants Ever and that list is not even five years old and I could easily already expand it to 50.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Siberia on iTunes.
Pretty Little Liars: Oh Hanna, you really need to leave the thinking up to someone else because you are no criminal mastermind. You really should have just stayed home and had more Melrose Place flashbacks (sure it was a different character but I am sure that is what they were going for). And should I have recognized who the den mother in the picture from the end of the episode was?
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.
Perception: Apparently I am not the only person watching Brain Games because that unintentional blindness as the basis of an episode earlier this year (where they managed to have a cheerleader strip in front of me without me even noticing). But the ended was such a stretched I could not help think of the South Park episode where the one dude had sex with chickens as a way to get people to read.
You can download Perception on iTunes.
The Bridge: The show is as good as I expect coming from FX, but much like the last show they launched, The Americans, it is just missing something to make it great. Most notably being that I am completely worn out on television characters that fall somewhere on the autism spectrum. I had to roll my eyes when Diane Kruger had her first moment of social awkwardness. I also do not like it when it has random characters that are seemingly unrelated storylines that end up intersecting much later in the show. After one episode, I already do not care about Annabeth Gish or the creepy kidnapper. Hopefully the show finds its footing and soon.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download The Bridge on iTunes.
The Challenge: Rivals II: I thought the inception of Redemption Island to bring back Boston rob and Russell Hantz was the dumbest way to pair off any two reality contestants, but Johnny and Frank’s Twitter war just beat that. If the show really wanted to bring back those two, they should have paired CT with his backpack Johnny (which was the greatest moment ever in The Challenge history) and had Frank team up with the gay porn star from last season (and as a bonus, that would have meant no Wes this season). And there are a lot of boring people on this season, they could have eliminated both teams in The Jungle and I would not have mind. Really all the rookies are worthless up to this point. They really need to step their game up. And I have absolutely no clue who Zach’s partner is and I watched that season. Hopefully things get more interesting from here. Otherwise it might be time for another Fresh Meat season.
You can download The Challenge: Rivals II on iTunes.
The Hero: Wow, those eliminations were really lame. C’mon, you got to add some pomp and circumstance to them. Have them in the war room with The Rock there to ask questions before the decision. Just having a dude come back, say "Shawn", and be done with it is a little lame. I was really hoping Patty would have been eliminated second because you have to take the money. It is not being a hero to pass up $30,000 and get tear gassed for it, that is stupid plain and simple.
You can download The Hero on iTunes.
Hollywood Game Night: Darn you Kristen Bell, making me turn into this crap. Alright, it turned out not to be completely horrible. It reminded me of all those cheesy game shows I grew up on. The different being those were only a half hour and this would benefit from chopping it in half. If they did that, this show could be a good fill in whenever their new sitcoms inevitably fail this fall.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu.
Video of the Week: Amanda Seyfried is way too attractive to play Linda Lovelace. They certainly could have gotten Lindsey Lohan to play this part, even if she is a significantly worse actress than Amanda. I really have no desire to see Lily Kane in this. But much like all her horrible chick flicks she has been in over the past decade, I probably still will.
Next Week Pick of the Week: Deal with It, Wednesday at 10:30 on TBS: The Challenge is getting a little competition in its timeslot this week with a former contestant when Theo Von (who started his Road Rules career way back in 2000 and last appeared on The Challenge in 2006) hosts the latest hidden camera show which is being executive produced by Howie Mandel. Of course if the show does not work out, Theo can always go back to The Challenge which welcomed Trishelle back for the past two seasons after an eight year hiatus.
Quote of the Week: What are you even doing here? Why don’t you go live with that crazy woman and leave alone. (Dana, Homeland)
Song of the Week: Good King Wenceslas – Sheldon Cooper (The Big Bang Theory)
Scene of the Week:
Big News of the Week: Four years ago there was a boost of gun sales among the gun nuts fearing that the newly elected Obama would take away their guns or at least make it harder to purchase guns. Except he did not introduce one anti-gun legislation and even ignored a question asked at the debate. Not after someone shot up a mosque. Not after a nutjob dressed up like The Joker and shot up a theater in Colorado. Someone even shot one of his colleagues in the Congress in the face and he did nothing. So I doubt that a bunch of school children will even get Obama to become the anti-gun president that the gun nuts feared. But something needs to be done. Can we please at least reintroduced the bill to again ban assault riffles and other guns that make it easy to kill hundreds of people without even reloading. I am sure that arming school children like some of the gun nuts suggest is the solution.
Preview Picture of the Week:
Homeland: Sure Carrie is clinically insane, but I just do not understand how this Carrie, who absolves Brody of the murder of the Vice president of the United States of America, is the same Carrie who ignored her superior’s order so she could stand over Body and tell him he is a disgrace to his country while detaining him for being a terrorist. But anyway.
So now the biggest boogyman of the series, Abu Nazir, is dead but we still have one more episode left. I know I said this prior to the first season, but Brody cannot make it to the next season, right? I do not see any way out of it for him except if Saul goes to the press with Estes assassination of a sitting Congressman plot. Even then, Brody would end up in jail with a mountain of evidence (and certainly someone will realize that he was along with the Vice President when he died and get suspicious). Granted, why is Brody not dead already? Why did Quinn not kill Brody in between his house and Carrie’s? Seemed like a good time for a “car accident” which makes me think Brody will inexplicably make it to season three. Either that or Carrie will kill him when she realizes Brody is still a terrorist.
The Voice: Somewhat uneventful week because it was clear it was time for Trevin Hunte to go and he did (not that it always works out that way because Trevin should have went home two weeks ago instead of Amanda Brown). I guess the most shocking revelation was that the show would have a final two. Sure Mark Burnett has an unhealthy obsession with final threes even though everyone watching hate them (see Survivor) but me thinks that they made have done it this way so Blake would be the only coach with a contestant in the finals.
Speaking of Blake’s final two, when Carson first said they were going to sing Little Talks, my first thought was, is there some classic rock song I am forgetting that is called Little Talks (this is Terry McDermott who was singing) because they certainly are not going to perform that weird indie pop song. But they did sing the weird indie pop song which was very high on my list of songs I never thought I would hear on a karaoke show. And just when you think it would not get any weirder, Carson announces Of Monsters and Men were randomly in the audience (which begs the question, why did they have them sing the song).
This week we also got to see the triumphant return of RaeLynn although, I much prefer when she is stomping around like a grown up version of Toddlers and Tierra’s. No more mid tempos and ballad RaeLynn. If Cee-Lo is managing Juliet Simms, she needs to find new representation because her new song was a train wreck. And Chris Mann still sucks massively. Christina’s claim of him being the most commercially successful when the song he performed could not even crack the top 100 on iTunes when RaeLynn made it into the top 25. Even Juliet’s train wreck got into the 40’s. But I did predict last season that RaeLynn would be the most successful of the first two season and it looks like I am going to be right.
No Power Rankings this week because Cassadee Pope is the inevitable winner, the only question is who is second (I am hoping for Nicholas David).
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download songs from The Voice by clicking on the artist’s name.
How I Met Your Mother: The show has had some pretty bad ideas in its run, but family with benefits has to be the worst hands down.
You can stream recent episodes over at CBS.com. You can also download How I Met Your Mother on iTunes.
Parenthood: Of course they did not let Kristina die because I would have started a riot. I now it is not realistic, but they better they better just cure her in the next episode because I am not sure I can deal with it anymore.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Parenthood on iTunes.
Survivor: Philippines: After one of the best season in recent memory, it is kind of a boring foursome for the finale. Sadly nobody believed Abi-Maria’s fake Immunity Idol story. But do know what Abi, it may not have been the best strategy to call someone who hope to vote with you a moron and an idiot multiple times.
You can stream recent episodes over at CBS.com. You can also download Survivor: Philippines on iTunes.
The Challenge: Battle of the Seasons: I was three episodes behind because Time Warner Cable and / or MTV forgot to add that episode to the On Demand which finally was uploaded this week. And of course the episode they waited three weeks to upload was not only the best episode of the season, it may have well been the single greatest episode ever in the history of The Challenge. Seriously, the whole house got in a twenty minute fight culminating in what is now my favorite insult of all time when Frank said Dustin just has “porn Muscles”. Awesome. Not so awesome was the following week when Marie tried to get in on the action, clearly doing it solely for the cameras. Hopefully she never gets asked back because faking crazy for the camera is not entertaining. Whereas Nany is legitimately crazy should be asked back to the next five seasons. And it is amazing over the course three episodes that Trishelle went from certainly going home because her partner Alton basically quit to probably going to win the whole thing (I really doubt Devyn or Sam will be able to make to the end).
You can download The Challenge: Battle of the Seasons on iTunes.
Deal of the Week: Best Selling MP3 Albums for Just $2.99: Amazon MP3 announced their latest batch of super cheap albums, and there are a bunch of soft rock hits from the 00’s including John Mayer, Coldplay, Jack Johnson, and Taylor Swift.
Video of the Week: I love the Nolan The Dark Knight Trilogy, but to be honest, I prefer my superheroes with a side of kitsch so I am not sure if we really need a super serious, super dark Superman series. We definitely do not need a Superman with a Ben Affleck in Argo beard. With that said, superheroes are only as good as his nemesis so the trailer did need more Zod in it so I should hold my judgement until we se more of him. And it definitely needs more Amy Adams as Lois Lane. But I have a feeling this will be another one and done movie from the Superman franchise. I hope I am wrong.
Next Week Pick of the Week: Homeland, Sunday (tomorrow) at 10:00: Abu Nazir is dead, Vice President Walden is dead, Roya is in prison. But we still have one more episode left so there will be one more explosion left. Will that explosion go thanks to Brody or will Quinn explode Brody’s head first. And let’s not forget that Brody also blamed Estes for Issa’s death so his safety is not guaranteed especially after blackmailing Saul. And I have not even brought up crazy Carrie yet, I have long stopped trying to guess what she will do.
Once Upon a Time: Is this the first time seeing the King in Storybrooke? I remember not seeing and thinking he must had died in the fairytale world.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Once Upon a Time on iTunes.
Revenge: So this was Emily’s grand plan for Mason Treadwell: set him up to make it look like he set up Conrad Grayson so he would be convicted for a crime he did not commit (much like her father) and he will admit to it if she promised to come clean after her master plan has been executed where she will then admit to the killing of the white haired man and give him the exclusive story. What? Unless she plans for Mason to also die in prison much like her father. But would it not have been much easier, even if it were less poetic) to just let Amanda bash his skull in?
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Revenge on iTunes.
The Walking Dead: With the new season, they have really up its, Did That Really Just Happened moments be it impromptu leg amputations with an ax, or c-section deliveries with no medication. But they may have out done themselves this episode with the Governor brushing his zombiefied daughter’s hair, the zombie Thunderdome, and the zombie who apparently ate Lori whole. It will take a while for me to decide which scene grossed me out the most.
You can download The Walking Dead on iTunes.
Homeland: Oh snap! The warden totally called out Saul for his beard! But I was extremely disappointed that Saul (and the guards) let Eileen alone. As soon as Saul left the room, I screamed at the screen, “Do not leave her alone with the wine bottle!” Sure I was wrong with the suicide method as it looked like she somehow killed herself with Saul’s glasses (because who does not walk around with an extra pair of reading glasses that make anyone see well?), but the sediment remained. And that was not the only false ending for the episode, just when you think Dana and Brody were going to report the hit and run, Carrie stops them at the last minute. Ugg. I do have a feeling Dana will be calling a press conference sometime in the next episode just to screw everything up. One last thing, Estes is the worst baby sitter ever. He lets Brody talk along in the sables with the party host and then sneak off to meet Carrie.
The Voice: I have joked a couple times this season that the producers read my post 10 ways to Fix The Voice, but after this week I am now convinced that they did. Previously they have implemented my suggestions to breeze through some Battle Round performances by montage, expand the Live Rounds (there will be eight performance episodes up from six last season and four the inaugural season), more Blind Auditions, they initiated The Steal, banned Adele (only one song this season, now they need to ban Katy Perry for next season), and got rid of the Product Placement I Refuse to Acknowledge (unless they pay me) Lounge (granted it got replaced by the Product Placement I Refuse to Acknowledge Skybox). They have even cut down on the annoying crowd screaming a little bit (though not completely). That is seven, and this week they added an eighth suggestion I made.
Cason Daly announced yet another new rule, that any artist who reaches the top 10 on the iTunes charts will have those votes multiplied by ten. Of course anyone who reaches the top 10 (which no one has done this season) probably is not in trouble of being voted out anyway, but I like the new wrinkle. iTunes success is a better indicator of future success but it accounts for the least amount of votes because people may make ten phone calls and vote ten times over the internet (or more with phony e-mail accounts) But no one, expect maybe family members, are buying ten sons on iTunes. The Top 10 may have been to altruistic and may should had gone with Top 25 instead. Apparently they quickly realize that the new rule did not do much (only two songs cracked the top 50 and not even close to the top 10) because the very next day they announced all music bought on iTunes this year will count for the finalist. Here is the Power Rankings for the top 10 and some thoughts on their performances:
The Voice Top 10 Power Rankings
1. Cassadee Pope – Cassadee has been number two a couple times on my Power Rankings and finally found herself this week with her best performance since her Blind Audition. Though after five straight pop-rock songs I would like to see her get out of her comfort zone next week even if it is taking a song from another genre and making it pop-rock.
2. Nicholas David – It is about time someone on one of these karaoke shows gave Huey Lewis & The News his proper due. I really liked when Nicholas went back into his Barry White voice halfway through the performance.
3. Trevin Hunte – Someone pointed out to me that this was the second week doing a Michael Bolton song (sure When a Man Loves a Woman is really a Percy Sledge that Bolton covered) and he loses some points for that. Plus this make have been his weakest performance. Much like Cassadee, Trevin needs to branch out and soon.
4. Amanda Brown – Amanda went bold last week and knocked it out of the park, she went big again this week, but did not quite reach the same heights.
5. Terry McDermott – I could not help but think back to Amanda last week who also closed the show with a seventies stadium anthem, but where Amanda nailed the notes at the end, Terry noticeably could not hit the signature high notes in More than a Feeling where Brad Delp original seemed to go higher and higher.
6. Cody Belew – Last week I thought he did a very Elvis Presley performance of One More Try and did a very Elvis performance of The Best this week. Maybe he should just do an Elvis song next week.
7. Sylvia Yacoub – Every time Sylvia showed up during the earlier rounds I thought, she is still on the show? Then she gave the most surprising performance last week, sitting down at the piano. She was back to she is still on the show status after a wobblely performance. Maybe she should had stayed behind the piano instead of having a creepy dude in a white suit on a creepy white piano instead.
8. Bryan Keith – He took a great song full of pathos and self loathing and turned it into a lounge act. Color me unimpressed.
9. Dez Duron – Again, Dez has impeccable taste in music, but his voice is just so boring and bland. He may have made the finals with the old rules, but I am not sure he even makes the top eight under the new system. He definitely should not.
10. Melanie Martinez – Oh Melanie, cool song choice, but I think this will be your last week on the show unless Christina’s final two contestants are eliminated in on swell swoop.
The results show was fairly uninteresting (Cee-Lo’s disco party notwithstanding). Adriana Louise (I wonder if she gets to come back for a Team Christina performance or if she is out of luck because they did not perform this week) and Michaela Paige were clearly on the bottom of the pile. Next week will be about as suspenseful as two by two every twenty minutes someone is saved before Cody and Sylvia get the ax. Maybe they should go back to having the teams battling themselves to be a finalist; those eliminations were much more suspenseful.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download songs from The Voice by clicking on the artist’s name.
How I Met Your Mother: Did we really spend a whole month having all the main characters break up with their significant others? Yeah, the show has officially run out of ideas.
You can stream recent episodes over at CBS.com. You can also download How I Met Your Mother on iTunes.
Castle: As everyone is moving onto the new found footage craze, the show went back to the ol’ early ’00 documentary footage route. And it was probably for the best.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Castle on iTunes.
Go On: Can they please add the hot station mascot to the cast please? Maybe her dad can die and join the support group for more airtime.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Go On on iTunes.
Parenthood: Why is grief the biggest aphrodisiac in Hollywood? It seems like whenever a guy on television show or movie has a lost in his life, the closest female to him is willing to have sex with him the cheer the dude up. Seriously, Drew is talking about his aunt that has cancer which makes his ex-girlfriend, with a college boyfriend, rip off all his clothes. Does this actually happen in real life because I have had a lot of loss and hardship in my life and not once has any chick had sex with me to console me.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Parenthood on iTunes.
Sons of Anarchy: There are so many moving pieces on the chess board this season I have no clue where this season is going. Actually I am not entirely sure if I understand what is actually going on right now. So many deals on the table, double and triple crosses it is hard to keep track.
You can download Sons of Anarchy on iTunes.
Survivor: Philippines: When the votes were revealed to be tied 4-4 I knew that Penner would be going home because I figured that Skupin and Blair would vote together. So I was shocked to see Artis go home and even more shocked that it was Skupin that flipped his vote. I thought if only one flipped it would be Blair after being berated by Abi at Tribal. I was also surprised that Malcolm did not play his Idol. You can only bluff once and why hang onto it when everyone know you have it, an you alliance needs the numbers. Either play it for yourself so you do not get blindsided or give it to Penner just in case Skupin did not flip. At any rate, I cannot wait to see Hurricane Abi next week. Between her and Camilla from The Challenge, it is clear these reality shows need to recruit more Brazilian woman to these competition shows.
You can stream recent episodes over at CBS.com. You can also download Survivor: Philippines on iTunes.
The Challenge: Battle of the Seasons: Watching Hunger Games I have to wonder why Survivor ever stopped their gross food challenges. Quality entertainment. But you have to feel bad for CJ, dude somehow managed to beat the behemoth Zach at the physical challenge three out of five times but still went home. And fewer things are more entertaining than a crazy person acting all crazy while shouting, “I not going to make to look like a (expletive deleted) crazy person.”
You can download The Challenge: Battle of the Seasons on iTunes.
Last Resort: I do not understand, if someone stole Marcus’s key, why even dock the submarine. Search everyone before coming up for air. And just how many crew members have to be captured before they realize they should travel the island in pairs, or even groups?
You can stream recent episodes on Last Resort on iTunes.
The Big Bang Theory: I was expecting that the number 43 to not live up to expectation that I was kind of hoping they would leave it unexplained. Yet they managed to come up with two extremely funny ideas, the fake Sheldon looking for life in other dimentions, and the real Sheldon trying to break his own hackeysack record.
You can stream recent episodes over at CBS.com. You can also download The Big Bang Theory on iTunes.
Grimm: Even though I hate when episodes, especially episodes before a long break, end with “…To Be Continued” but I did have to laugh the show had a sense of humor enough to add “Sorry” to it.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Grimm on iTunes.
Quote of the Week: I got a pretty weak stomach especially when it comes to gross things. In the middle of the intestine is a chunk of fat that big. So it is a (expletive deleted) tube wrapped around fat… and topped with a testicle. (Zach, The Challenge: Battle of the Seasons)
Song of the Week: Pure Imagination – Willy Wonka (2 Broke Girls)
Scene of the Week:
Big News of the Week: More Drama with Army Men Than on Army Wives: To be honest I have tried to avoid the David Petaeus scandal because I am just waiting for the inevitable Lifetime movie to get the full story, but apparently there are sordid e-mails, shirtless pictures, and of course, twins. When will people learn they should not transmit their dirst laundry across the internet because it will always come out eventually. Seriously, I learned this lesson from Vanessa Hudgens five years ago, how could the CIA director not figure that out yet?
Video of the Week: This week ABC debuted The Gift of Revenge which had the characters of Revenge (not surprisingly minus the two leads) being led to a party hosted by Nolan for no apparent reason. Okay it turned out to be an extremely long commercial for… um, I do not remember. But it reminded me of the revolutionary “pods” that were going to air instead of commercials which, if I am not mistaken, only lasted a week before they went back to normal commercial breaks. So apparently The CW were just ahead of their times (maybe it is time for a Farmer Takes a Wife reboot). But I wonder just who wrote The Gift of Revenge: the normal Revenge writers? An ad company? Are the ads supposed to be considered cannon? Suburgatory also has its own in show sponsor, which begs the question what is next? Are we going to learn the aliens from The Neighbors are actually the alien race from Halo? Are the doctors of Grey’s Anatomy going to play the kids game Operation?
Next Week Pick of the Week: Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, Thursday at 9:00 AM on NBC: Thanksgiving morning for me is putting some cinnamon rolls in the oven and turning on the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Sure in recent it seems like I know less and less of the performance. Case in point this year: Cody Simpson, Megan & Liz, The Wanted, and Jennette McCurdy. The festivities will also include Carly Rae Jepsen, Flo Rida (because who says turkey more than Flo Rida), Neon Trees, Colbie Caillat, Karmin while the Olympic Gymnastics team, Jimmy Fallon and The Roots will jump on the floats.
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, and if that is the case, the Powers that Be sure pumped in the pheromones this episode because there were people hooking up all over the place. I also had to think of another horror movie, 
, when the Serbian dude found the book. I was screaming at the dude, you do open up creepy books that are hidden. But at least he did not try reading from it. Yet.
was always the worst at this), and the only way they can make it worse is if everything is back to normal by the second episode (which was always the case on Smallville). I will not be surprised if the hooker turns up alive next season or the white people end up not being exiled. Hopefully the video game is better. Not that I will be playing it.
flashbacks (sure it was a different character but I am sure that is what they were going for). And should I have recognized who the den mother in the picture from the end of the episode was?
going on a loop. They totally saw the dome coming. (Ben Drake, 
)
- Sara Bareilles
reboot.
, but to be honest, I prefer my superheroes with a side of kitsch so I am not sure if we really need a super serious, super dark Superman series. We definitely do not need a Superman with a Ben Affleck in Argo beard. With that said, superheroes are only as good as his nemesis so the trailer did need more Zod in it so I should hold my judgement until we se more of him. And it definitely needs more Amy Adams as Lois Lane. But I have a feeling this will be another one and done movie from the Superman franchise. I hope I am wrong.
- Kate Earl