57 Channels and Only This Is On: 3/17/13

Once Upon a Time: It was pretty silly that they tried to make us wonder who in the cast was going to die when it was quite obvious that Cora would be the one that perished. And that was before the flashbacks featured her (anyone who watched Lost knows if someone was going to die, it would be whosever flashbacks were that week).
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Once Upon a Time on iTunes.

Revenge: Emily claimed after Amanda’s funeral there would be no more distractions, the promo monkeys even made a marketing campaign around the saying, but it is hard to take the writers at their word when her foster brother shows up to her doppelganger’s funeral which I assume will be a pretty huge distraction next week. He better be gone soon some Emily can actually take down some more people this season. Come to think of it, I think the Grayson’s have taken down more people this season than Emily.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Revenge on iTunes.

The Walking Dead: It is too bad that the summit did not involve Hershel and Milton because their conversation was much more interesting. Adn I like how the two henchmen knew they were going to end up killing each other soon enough.
You can download The Walking Dead on iTunes.

Vikings: There are plenty of ways to show just how evil a character is, but offering up your wife to someone to see if he is dumb enough to take you up on the offer is a new one. I kind of like it.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Vikings on iTunes

Dallas: I know some grumbled about disrespecting the memory of Larry Hagman by having fights breakout during the J.R. Ewing memorial and going the Who Murderer J.R. plotline, but the guy played J.R. Ewing, it would seems more disrespectful to not send him out with a bang. And I doubt Patrick Duffy and Linda Grey would have been a part of anything that would have disrespected Hagman’s legacy.
You can download Dallas on iTunes.

Deception: The big question going into the finale is that Robert have Julian’s girlfriend killed because he thinks she killed his daughter or did he kill his daughter and she made a good scapegoat who now cannot defend herself in court, essentially closing the case. But Robert never struck me as someone who would kill his own family considering the lengths he went through to keep his son out of jail and to hide her pregnancy. I have pretty much thought from the beginning and still believe his wife was the one who killed Vivian because she threatened to tell Mia who her real mother was. Hopefully we get a definitive answer and not some lame fake out like The Killing because unlike The Killing, there will probably not be a second season.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Deception on iTunes.

Pretty Little Liars: Wait, what? Spencer joined the A Team?!? Sure I have a feeling she just joining to be a mole to bring down the A Team from the inside, but still shocking nonetheless. But I still do not believe Toby is dead until I see something more than a fading tattoo. And why is it the only time the Liars are candy stripers is when they sneak into the morgue.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.

The Lying Game: I pretty much figured Thayer last week was behind the murders last week when he had to be the guy who burglarized Rebecca’s place, I just have not figured out why. Does the dude just have serious rage issues; killing Derek and then killing Teresa because she somehow found out? Then had the hubris to think he could pin it in Alec (who in turn thought he could pin it on Rebecca who herself thought could pin it on Alex; what a marriage). I also cannot figure out why Rebecca would throw Alex through the skylight. Unless she did not and Alec actually went so far as to throw himself through the skylight to make sure Rebecca gets pinned for all three murders. This is getting confusing.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download The Lying Game on iTunes.

Justified: A bit of an anti-climatic episode after learning that Sherriff Shelby is Drew Thompson though it was nice to see Limehouse again. But I am intrigued about the next episode with the final line, “We just have to get out of Harlan alive.” Maybe they can sneak out in Wynn Duffy’s Wynnabego.
You can download Justified on iTunes.

Survivor: Caramoan: Note to CBS: Stop it with the Hantz family. This is the second time a tribe threw a challenge just to get rid of a person with the last name. The Favorites did not even go through the motions of throwing; they just showed up to the Immunity Challenge and said just take us to Tribal Council, something that has never happened before. I actually feared for the safety of the tribe, you could have told me Brandon raped Andrea, pushed Philip into the fire, or harmed himself in some way and I would have believed you. Seriousyl CBS, no more Hantz’s
You can stream recent episodes over at CBS.com. You can also download Survivor: Philippines on iTunes.

The Neighbors: Usually television shows wait until they run out of ideas to do a musical number so I am a little worried about the quality of the rest of the season.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download The Neighbors on iTunes.

The Americans: The length spies will go through to get their way. You had Philip’s former flame telling him he had a son just to manipulate him, Beeman’s asset sleeping with him, telling him there were no strings when there were strings all over the place. Who would have guessed Elizabeth’s crotch grab would be the tamest way of getting things done this week? And I have a sinking suspicion that, much like on Justified, Mags Bennett will only last one season.
You can download The Americans on iTunes.

The Big Bang Theory: Speaking of running out of ideas, I really hate when comedies try to force heavy subjects into their plots which always seems to happen. Although I would not mind a Very Special Episode like the ones in the eighties. There really are not any Very Special Episodes anymore.
You can stream recent episodes over at CBS.com. You can also download The Big Bang Theory on iTunes.

Community: C’mon, if you are going to reference Memento, just go ahead and do a full Memento parody. Hopefully it was a hint of what is to come and Chang Kevin will be covered in tatoos next episode.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Community on iTunes.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 3/10/13

The Walking Dead: One thing I really hated about Lost is that they would set up something, forget about it, and they finally pay it off long after everyone stopped caring. That was the case this episode when Rick finally ran into the dude who saved him in the series premiere. This meeting should have happened late in the first season or early in the third. But it was still one of the better episodes in the show as Rick finally met someone crazier than he is, but you got to love all the booby traps that crazy dude set up for the walkers and the barely living.
You can download The Walking Dead on iTunes.

Shameless: I was wondering when Karen would pop up again. I figured after Lip gave her a call it would not be long. Though I cannot image she will stick around that long after learning how much it will take to care for her son and just let the grandparents fight over him.

Vikings: It dawned on me about half way through the episode it may not have been the best idea to do a basic cable version of Game of Thrones set in the real world. But the “This season on” package did leave me intrigued so I probably give the show another episode or two to win me over.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Vikings on iTunes

House of Lies: I never thought anyone could ruin a Kristen Bell Sex Tape, but they somehow managed to do that. Thanks House of Lies.

Switched at Birth: It is brave to try an all ASL episode, but I think it could have been better conceived. I thought maybe they would have a national day of silence in protest of the closing of Carlton. Or maybe follow a day in the life of Daphne or even Emmitt for a day. The way they did it seemed a little to force to avoid any spoken dialogue.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Switched At Birth on iTunes.

Dallas: It does not really mattered what happened in the first fifty-nine minutes, something about a silly car race, and the third Ewing brother made his first appearance in Dallas in about three decades, all that matters is the two gunshots that ended the episode. Any other show, it may have been in bad taste to murder off the character of an actor who died in real like, but in the case of Larry Hagman, it seems like a fitting tribute to send off J.R. Ewing with a murder mystery considering Who Shot J.R. was one of the biggest storylines ever in the history of television. I am sure next episode we will get a fitting tribute, but after that we will start for the hunt for J.R.’s killer. Since he was (supposedly) half the world away when he was shot, that rules out everyone in the main cast unless there was a time jump we are unaware of. Your probably have to put Cliff Barnes at the top of the list (but would he be so brazen, as the promo monkeys would have suggest, show up and taunt the death of his rival at his own funeral after killing him). Could Sue Ellen’s sister, who originally shot J.R., come back to finish the job? Um no, it turns out she overdosed and drowned in a pool during the original run. But maybe her son, Christopher finished what his biological mother started. Maybe Gary showing up in Dallas was not a coincidence. Or to tie it back into the modern day version, maybe one of Vincente’s buddies are set to avenge his death.
You can download Dallas on iTunes.

Pretty Little Liars: Well that was a completely random and completely shoehorned in celebrity cameo. At least tease that it would be possible that Missy Franklin could be A, put her in a red coat or something. But even worse, are they actually going to let Ezra teach again… in high school? What, what?!? Apparently even the principal knows something went on, how could he let this happen? Why will Ella work with a dude who sleeping with her high school daughter? These are the worst administrators and parents ever.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.

The Lying Game: So the dude in the black hoodie had to be Thayer right? Everything points to either Rebecca or Alec being the one who killed the one dude and kidnapped (and looks also killed) Teresa, but could Thayer be behind it the whole time? But then the question is why.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download The Lying Game on iTunes.

Justified: Where most law enforcement shows are about who did it, Justified has almost always been a show where we knew who the criminal was early on with the show being much more about the chase. So it is not surprising that the show would unveil its first real long mystery with three episodes to go, maybe it is surprising they did not reveal who Drew Thompson was earlier. Although some could argue that they revealed that Sherriff Shelby was Drew last week when his conversation with Ellen May made it so obvious that I assumed it was going to be a red herring. So now Raylan, and Boyd and Theo Tonin, have three episodes to hunt down Drew. Oh, and Boyd has extra incentive to find him too because it looks like he took Ellen May with him.

It was surprising how funny this episode was considering it came in the wake of Arlo death. The shootout between Constable Bob and the white collar criminals was hilarious, Art’s tirade the kicked off the episode, Raylan still had his trademark wit, and of course all of Wynn Duffy’s reactions were priceless (I bet he did not think a federal agent would be making a house call with a federal prisoner). I was also surprised that the preacher’s sister finally reappeared and it did not involve her teaming up with Ellen May, instead she teamed up with Tim. Is Gutterson finally going to get some love on the show?
You can download Justified on iTunes.

Survivor: Caramoan: What a crime against humanity that the Fans voted out the three hot chicks right in a row. And it was completely short sided to get rid of Laura now, she definitely had the better argument in that you cannot trust Fratboy #1 or Fratboy#2 if they switch things up and keeping them will no way guarantee winning any challenges (and it was hypocritical of the Fratboys for saying they needed to keep a stronger team yet voted for Shamar, probably the strongest person on their team, twice in a row). And more importantly, how do you vote off the three hottest chicks in your tribe in your first three Tribal Councils? I am beginning to worry about the longevity of Andrea now.
You can stream recent episodes over at CBS.com. You can also download Survivor: Caramoan on iTunes.

The Neighbors: I feel bad for Jackie if the only song she has found on the planet Earth has been Semi-Charmed Life.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download The Neighbors on iTunes.

The Americans: Holy frack, Felicity just beat the crap out of Mags Bennett!!! Did not see that coming. I did see that they were being interrogated by the KGB, that was pretty obvious, it is way too early to for the United States government to be on to them (I will be surprised if that happens sometimes before the season finale).
You can download The Americans on iTunes.

King of the Nerds: A couple weeks Jeff Probst did a podcast with Chuck Closterman when Chuck asked Probst if Survivor rewarded mediocrity. His reasoning was simple: all the weak players get eliminated first, and then all the strong people get voted off after the merge, leaving the mediocre to win most seasons. I could not help think of that conversation while Celeste got crowned King of the Nerds. Going into the finals I thought Genevieve would sweep the vote, she was her team’s leader and won three Nerd Off’s while Celeste did not have one signature moment on the show, but mediocrity was awarded (two people weirdly mentioned Celeste’s “growth” as the reason for voting for her). Yawn.
You can download King of the Nerds on iTunes.

Best of the Week - 3/9/13

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

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

Scene of the Week:


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

Preview Picture of the Week:

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

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

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


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

New DVD Release of the Week: Sound City

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


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

57 Channels and Only This Is On - 3/3/13

Shameless: When Papa Milcovich called in “The Russian” I thought, uh oh, those boys are in some real trouble. Nope, the Russian was just a prostitute brought in to sex the gay out of them. And that did not even rank in the top two most offensive parts of the show this week. Number one would be having sex with your mother-in-law while your wife gets you aroused because a turkey baster did not work. And then there was Frank holding his clean urine in his mouth for who knows how long.

House of Lies: I used to think the pre-teen stripper routine would be the most offensive dance sequence from Little Miss Sunshine would be the most offensive dance I would ever see involving kids, but now Roscoe and his posse takes the top spot. Congratulation… I think?

How I Met Your Mother: I really hope that some savvy producer saw this and realizes it is about time for a Weekend at Bernie's reboot (something I have pushed for the last couple years). Maybe even Judd Apatow who would go ahead and have Jason Segal play the Andrew McCarthy role (though it would be better to have someone like Seth Rogan take on Jonathan Silverman part instead of Ted Mosby). Then just bring in Jim Carrey as Bernie. It is a surprise no studio has yet hired me to run their reboot department.
You can stream recent episodes over at CBS.com. You can also download How I Met Your Mother on iTunes.

Dallas: Only the Ewing’s would know the best way to overcome armed thugs would to fake(?) a fight with each other.
You can download Dallas on iTunes.

Bunheads: It was a little weird that after an entire episode about a group of girls thinking about losing their virginity, they choreograph a big dance sequence around Makin' Whoopie. And for those not sure what the difference between boys and girls, the girls plan for weeks, if not month or years, like in the episode, guys just want it to happen anywhere with anyone, preferably as soon as possible.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Bunheads on iTunes.

Castle: Not as cool as Liam Neeson’s “skills” speech, but I liked the French dude’s speech to the microphone on the wall. Too bad he turned out to be a chicken and had to die. And we finally got to meet papa castle (shame on the promo monkeys for spoiling that reveal last week), it was teased a couple seasons ago that he worked deep cover. And really, if Stana Katic ever got bored with the show, I would not a mind a Castle and Castle spy spin-off. Or throw in Alexis and make it Castle Cubed.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Castle on iTunes.

Deception: I really hope that it does not turn out that Julian’s booty called turned out to be Vivian’s murderer. That would be as dumb as Rosie Larson’s aunt accidentally killing her.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Deception on iTunes.

Pretty Little Liars: Plaster all those annoying phrases with the pound sign on the screen as much as you want, I do not believe that was Toby out in the woods until I see a face. I am more inclined to believe that was Detective Waldon under the cap. But my favorite part of the show was when Hanna pushed the cop car into the lake. I was really hoping that it would sink about a foot before she realized that lake was not deep enough to cover an entire car.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.

The Lying Game: I am not surprised Ted would place flowers on the grave of someone who is blackmailing him, but I just do not see him as a murderer / kidnapper. I have a feeling it will turn out the Ted feals responsible for the death, he just did not do it himself.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download The Lying Game on iTunes.

Justified: Wow, they actually killed Arlo off. And what a way to go… out fighting but hanging on long enough to tell his son to kiss him somewhere unsanitary one last time. Awesome. So if you had Arlo in your Who Is Drew Thompson Office Pool, you may want to stop planning your cruise you were going to purchase with winning (which is probably for the best). Granted Arlo was always the least likely to be Drew. So that leaves (or the people we have seen this season) the three white collar criminals that Boyd is shaking down and Sherriff Shelby. But I do not know why they are spending so much time having the ex wife looking at pictures because wouldn’t Drew have had copious amounts of plastic surgery by now? Wait a second, could Wynn Duffy be Drew Thompason?
You can download Justified on iTunes.

Survivor: Caramoan: I wonder if there was some heavy editing during the Immunity Challenge because why did they let Fratboy #2 to continue to try to throw the hook and keep missing when Fratboy #1 got it on his first try, and Shamar was also able to get it fairly quickly. But his inability was never brought up (which makes me think that it was heavy editing). Speaking of creative editing, I think it may have been some foreshadowing editing that Andrea talks about not telling the wrong person her plan to oust Corrine followed by her telling Brandon the plan. Did she not see his season? He blabbed his alliance’s secrets, what made her think he could keep a secret by someone he hates: i.e. absurdly attractive chicks.

Poor Shamar, he dumped on throughout Tribal Council, and probably rightfully so, but he was right in his memory of his conversation with Hope and all she had to do was just vote for Fratboy #2 and she would have stay. Granted it would had been awesome if there was a three way tie, and after a revote, a two-way tie which would had led to another revote.
You can stream recent episodes over at CBS.com. You can also download Survivor: Philippines on iTunes.

Modern Family: The neo-folk revival of Mumford and Sons have gotten so big that even Alex Dumphey is in a knockoff band. Actually I would not mind hearing more of the Eclectic Light Dorchestra.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Modern Family on iTunes.

Nashville: I feel as if I just complained about this, but what chick really gives guys, “I am sorry someone close to you just died” sex? C’mon, this just does not happen. It was almost as weird as Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys showing up for Deacon’s birthday party to hit on Rayna fresh off her divorse.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Nashville on iTunes.

Community: It may be a long slog to the inevitable death of this zombie show, but at least we got to see Annie in an Octoberfest costume before it was thankfully put out of its misery.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Community on iTunes.

King of the Nerds: As a stats nerd, I have to call shenanigans. The probability is astronomical that every time someone had a clear advantage (like Moo in both challenges this week as a NASA employee) throughout the show has lost. Every single time. Either the show is playing up the strengths of each contestant or there is some manipulations going on behind the scenes. As for a prediction for who will win next week, I am going with Genevieve.

57 Channels and Only This Is On - 1/27/12

Once Upon a Time: I do not understand why Belle does not remember who Mr. Gold is, I thought if they cross the city line they only forget the fairytale land but still remember Storybrooke. I guess I should not assume that the writers of Lost would remember their own rules. Also, no one cares about Dr. Frankenstein.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Once Upon a Time on iTunes.

Shameless: It looks like we are going to get a power struggle within the Gallagher family as Fiona tries to do things the right way while Lip continues to do it the way the family always has, stealing and scamming. Being that this is Shameless, I have a feeling Lip’s way will win out because I really doubt that Fiona will continue at a loss just to try to dig her way out of her situation. When Frank came back from Mexico I wondered where he landed because he already got kicked out of Sheila’s, his family would not take him back, and the last person he cohabitated with died. Apparently it is back to Shelia’s house, but I still do not see that lasting long.

How I Met Your Mother: Wait, Barney’s half sister is Hanna from Pretty Little Liars? Was this common knowledge? I vaguely remember Barney learning his dad was John Lithgow but I do not remember ever meeting his sister. And how did Lithgow possibly produce someone who looks like Hanna? But I have to admit, I kind of would like Hanna to be the mother.
You can stream recent episodes over at CBS.com. You can also download How I Met Your Mother on iTunes.

Bunheads: I do not really care about what happened this week because all I can remember is the promo for next week featuring roller derby. Awesome.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Bunheads on iTunes.

Castle: Hasn’t the show already done a Girls Gone Wild episode? Or is it just every other crime show has done one and it just seems like everyone has done one at this point?
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Castle on iTunes.

Pretty Little Liars: Allison was extremely busy on her last day (assuming that Aria was hallucinating and really is dead). She had a sleepover with the Liars, met with that dude who is now dead, had a run in with Jenna and Garrett, blackmailed Mr. Montgomery, and now Melissa is the last person to see her alive. At least until Melissa saw Allison with someone else. I am sure at some point we will learn she had a run-in with Ezra who was not even living there at the time before meeting her demise.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.

The Lying Game: I feel a little cheated we did not get a full tennis match between Emma and Sutton, that could have been the whole episode and I would have been fine with it. On the bright side, no more Thayer, he overstayed his welcome a long time ago.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download The Lying Game on iTunes.

Justified: So it turns out Robert Quarrels’ Detroit boss has been taking some trips down to Dixie because his name interestingly came up during the interrogation scene this week. One thing that is not interesting is the whole snake preacher storyline. I am ready for the to end anytime now.
You can download Justified on iTunes.

Parenthood: Those Braverman’s are really a fertile bunch (except for Julia of course). That makes nine grandkids for Zeke (not even including Drew’s mistake). That makes three pregnancies and an adoption in four seasons. I would project Sarah gets knocked up next season, except she picked the dude who went to Minnesota (seriously, who goes from California to Minnesota, the Lakers made the right transition). Maybe Amber is up next.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Parenthood on iTunes.

Nashville: I really liked seeing Rayna and Juliette going at each other on tour these last couple episode, but it is only get better throwing Deacon in the mix… in Juliette’s band. The only way it could get better if they hired both Avery and whatever they are calling Scarlett’s new band as opening acts.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Nashville on iTunes.

Last Resort: I guess you really cannot say the ending was rushed because it obviously was as they had to cram an entire series into the last couple episodes. But I am still a bit disappointed we never learned of the conspiracy as to why the president did what he did. Was he just an evil Neo-Con? But it is clear that the that the show would have benefitted had it just been a six episode or so miniseries because it started out strong and came on at the end when they realized it would be canceled, but really dragged in-between.
You can stream recent episodes on Last Resort on iTunes.

57 Channels and Only This Is On - 1/13/13

Once Upon a Time: If Ruby speaks wolf, why not ask her to speak to the dog because it did seem that the dog knew that it was not really Regina in Dr. Hopper’s office. I guess that would have been too easy.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Once Upon a Time on iTunes.

Switched at Birth: Hey Angelo, how about setting aside some of your winnings for one of your kid’s college fund? The way he is spending it will all be gone by the end of the month. Maybe that is the best thing, spend it all before baby mama number two comes for half (or more) of it.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Switched At Birth on iTunes.

Bunheads: I forgot how awesome the mascing teenagers scene was. Hopefully that shows up on all the “previously on” segments. But I am a bit disappointed that ABC Family did not release the full vial video.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Bunheads on iTunes.

Pretty Little Liars: So was the hand that came out of the ground last episode just a cheap scare for the Halloween episode or is there really a walking dead out there somewhere? We did get two suspects as to who Aria stabbed, although maybe they should not have waited weeks to try to figure out who that was. Again these are not the smartest junior detectives that have ever been on television. But I have decided after this episode the show needs much more slightly crazy Mona (hopefully they do not go the Homeland route and have her on too many crazy pills making the character much less entertaining).
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.

The Lying Game: So Rebecca has another kid who looks around the same age as the twins. I vaguely remember theorizing they were actually triplets sometime during the first season but I am too lazy to look this up. Although the show is still missing something. Maybe it is time to kill someone (and someone more important that Derek) to raise the stakes. I wonder if having one actress playing the twins hurts the show because of logistics it is hard to have them go at it very often.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download The Lying Game on iTunes.

Happy Endings: I have noticed that the show really likes to make bad jokes that the characters like to point out as being bad. I guess it makes writing easier when you can keep all you stinkers by pointing out they are bad.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Happy Endings on iTunes.

Justified: With Homeland giving a slightly disappointing second season, I have high hopes for Justified to take back the title of best show on television. And the season premiere set it up to be that way. But it is a slightly odd that it went back to a procedural type episode like from the first season and did not introduce a new Big Bad in the line of The Crowders, the Bennetts, Robert Quarles, or Ellstin Limehouse (unless the new preacher in town is less Godly than he leads on). Granted Also went from mild nuisance to full on evil. But he is locked up so how much trouble can he get in (hopefully he has a run in with Dicky and Dewey and maybe I can finally get my prison spin off I have been hoping for). And the premiere will probably turn out to be less procedural than it let on because it seems safe to assume the bag in the wall is related to the dead parachute guy and we will spend the season figuring out who it was, who the bag belongs to, and how is Arlo involved. I am sure it will be a fun ride.
You can download Justified on iTunes.

Parenthood: This may be the episode where Max goes from annoying little kid to quirky mini-Sheldon Cooper. Unfortunately just as Max becomes entertaining, Victor quickly raised the annoying kid quota. Suck it up Victor, you won the lottery. You went from dirt poor with a deadbeat mother to upper middle class in a loving family. So you have to eat some Brussels sprouts everyone and a while. Sure it is a little creepy that your new mom is extremely hot but you could have been in much worse situations.  With all the trouble they are having, I knew Joel and Julia should have adopted Zoe and her baby instead.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Parenthood on iTunes.

Nashville: I know the show, along with every other on television, lives in a hyper reality, but can you image if, in the middle of the season, Tim Tebow announced his engagement to Taylor Swift in a ceremony that would happen later that week, a day before a game in Cleveland only to be left standing alone at the altar? Skip Bayless’s head would literally explode. Stephan A Smith would have to be admitted to a mental health facility. Pardon the Interruption would just be shocked silence for the entire half an hour for a full week. Basketball would just cancel their games because there would be no coverage of them.

I was surprised they finally brought back the paternity issue with Rayna which the alluded to in the premiere and I do not remember being mentioned since. Almost as surprising was that her husband already knew. Hopefully we do not have to wait another ten episodes for it to be brought out again.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Nashville on iTunes.

The Big Bang Theory: I am morally opposed to GPS’s because they are for the stupid and the lazy, two things I pretend that I am not. But if I were to get a GPS, I would want a Sheldon Cooper voiced one. Either that or one with Snoop Dogg.
You can stream recent episodes over at CBS.com. You can also download The Big Bang Theory on iTunes.

57 Channels and Only This Is On - 1/6/13

Quote of the Week: I both hate you and want to be you. It's Ryan Gosling all over again. (Raj, The Big Bang Theory)

Song of the Week: Rapper's Delight – Sugarhill Gang (Parenthood)

Scene of the Week:


Big News of the Week: Television Is Already Back: Even though many shows just had their “Winter Finale” less than a month ago, most are already returning as soon as tonight. And here is what I will be watching while trying to stay warm over the next couple months (new shows I hope are worth watching in italics):

Sundays
8:00 – Once Upon a Time (Tonight)
9:00 – Revenge (Tonight)
9:00 – Shameless (January 13)
9:00 – The Walking Dead (February 10)
10:00 – House of Lies (January 13)
10:30 – Californication (January 13)

Mondays
8:00 - Switched at Birth (January 7)
8:00 – How I Met Your Mother (January 14)
8:00 – The Voice (March 25)
9:00 – Bunheads (January 7)
9:00 – Dallas (January 29)
9:00 – 2 Broke Girls (January 14)
10:00 – Deception (January 7)

Tuesdays
8:00 – Pretty Little Liars (January 8)
8:00 – The Voice (March 26)
9:00 - The Lying Game – (January 8)
9:00 – Go On (January 8)
9:00 – Happy Endings (January 8)
9:30 – Don’t Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 (January 8)
10:00 – Justified (January 8)
10:00 – Parenthood (already back)

Wednesdays
8:00 - Survivor: Fans vs. Favorites II (February 13)
8:30 – The Neighbors (January 9)
9:00 – Modern Family (January 9)
9:30 – Suburgatory (January 9; moving to 8:30 April 3)
10:00 – The Americans (January 30)
10:00 – Nashville (January 9)

Thursdays
8:00 – The Big Bang Theory (already back)
8:00 – Community (February 7)
8:00 - Last Resort (January 10)
10:00 – Do No Harm (January 31)
10:00 – King of the Nerds (January 17)

Fridays
9:00 – Grimm (March 8)


Preview Picture of the Week:

Pretty Little Liars returns with a bang Tuesday at 8:00 on ABC Family

Leverage: It was cheap of TNT to announce that it was not going to renew Leverage just days before the season finale which also happen to air on Christmas night. At least the writers had already wrote the finale like a series finale and the team was able to go out with one last entertaining job.
You can download Leverage on iTunes.

Parenthood: Thankfully my New Year resolution was not to tear up during Parenthood because I would not have made it a full day without breaking it. Really heartbreaking when Kristina shaved her head. The show when from heartbreaking to shocking when Victor shatters the window with his bat. Should be interesting to see how Julia and Joel react to that.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Parenthood on iTunes.

The Big Bang Theory: For anyone who want to give me a belated Christmas present, a life-sized Jenga game will do. Either that or a Sheldon Cooper’s Council of Ladies t-shirt.
You can stream recent episodes over at CBS.com. You can also download The Big Bang Theory on iTunes.


Free Download of the Week: Sooner the Sunset – Sooner the Sunset (Noisetrade)

Deal of the Week: 2,000 Albums for $5.00: Need to spend those Amazon gift cards you got for Christmas, Amazon MP3 has 2000 albums for only $5.00 each including a few albums that made my Best Albums of 2012 list like The Lumineers, Fiona Apple, John Mayer, and Cat Power:


New Album Release of the Week: SIGNED and SEALED in BLOOD - Dropkick Murphys

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

Video of the Week: Whenever you do a list inevitably something is going to be left off. This Is the End just missed my list of the 13 Events That Will Make 2013 Awesome because even though it features numerous comic geniuses from the Judd Apatow phylum: Seth Rogan, Jay Baruchel, James Franco, Jonah Hill, Danny McBride, Craig Robinson, and a dead Michael Cera all playing themselves. And even though the trailer is hilarious, I feel the actual movie will just be one big in joke and an excuse for everyone involved to sit around and get high. Plus had I included one apocalypse themed movie on my list it would have been the end of Edgar Wright’s disaster trilogy: The World’s End described as “Five friends who reunite in an attempt to top their epic pub crawl from 20 years earlier unwittingly become humankind's only hope for survival.” Since that does not have a trailer yet, here is the trailer for This Is the End.


Next Week Pick of the Week: The Lying Game, Tuesday at 9:00 on ABC Family: Let’s face it, the first season of The Lying Game was a bit of a bore. But when Sutton turned around and said, “Hi mom” the show got way more interesting. Except we had to wait ten months to see what exactly the mother and daughter knew and when they knew it. I would not mind at all if the first episode (or some episode this season) is a flashback at how they got together, devised their scheme, and put it in motion.

The Eighth Annual Scooter Television Awards

Welcome to the 8th Annual Scooter Television Awards honoring show that aired a majority of their season between July2011 and June 2012. Without further ado, here are the winners of the 2012 STA's:

Best Scripted Show: Homeland

Best Sitcom: Suburgatory

Best Basic Cable Show: Justified

Best Reality Show: Survivor: One World

Best Animated Show: Beavis & Butthead

Best Talk Show: Pardon the Interruption

Best Talent Competition: The Sing-Off

Best New Show: Homeland

Best Mini-Series Hatfields and Mccoys

Guiltiest Guilty Pleasure: Pretty Little Liars

Best Awards Show: 2012 Grammy Awards

Best Hour of TV: Pilot - Homeland

Best Half Hour of TV: Werewolves of Highland / Crying – Beavis and Butt-Head

Biggest Shocker: Brody was working with Abu Nazir all along (Homeland)

Worst Idea: Bringing back The Killing for a second season

Worst Moment: Daniel not turning out to be the dead body on the beach (Revenge)

Best New Title Sequence: The Lying Game



Best Song Placement: It Was a Good Day – Ice Cube (Happy Endings)

Best Karaoke: Take On Me – Jeffster (Chuck)

Best Singing Competition Performance: Say Aah – Lindsey Pavao (The Voice)

Best Dance Sequence: Megan Draper’s Zoo Be Zoo Dance (Mad Men)

Best Promo: The Lying Game - Rumour Has It



Hottest Token Hot Chick:







Best Character: Raylan Givins (Justified)

Best New Character: Dalia Royce (Suburgatory)

Best Recurring Character: Neal McDonough (Justified)

Best Guest Appearance: Carla Gugino as Karen Sisco Goodall (Justified)

Best Duo: Rumpelstiltskin / Mr. Gold and Regina Mills (Once Upon a Time)

Most Entertaining Reality “Star”: Kat Edorsson (Survivor: One World)

Most Annoying Reality “Star”: Colton Cumbie (Survivor: One World)

Best Quote: “You know what they say: getting old ain’t for pussies.” (Raylan, Justified)

Show That Should Be Brought Back: The Sing-Off

Most Anticipated New Show of Next Season: Masters of Sex (Showtime)

Biggest Question for 2011-2012: What does the purple mist mean for Storybrooke on Once Upon a Time

Best of the Week - 3/10/12

Quote of the Week: How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. (Lionel Richie, The Voice)

Song of the Week: Time After Time – Cindi Lauper (as sung by Jody, Shameless)

Scene of the Week:



Big News of the Week: Mediocre Tuesday: I do not know what it says about the candidates that are still in the race, but when I went to the polls this past Tuesday, I ended up voting for Jon Huntsman since his name was still on the ballot. Not that my vote would have meant much either way because there was no knockout punch during the shrinking Super Tuesday. Well Newt Gingrich was all but eliminated and now Rick Santorm now needs about two-thirds of the remaining votes if he was to get the Republican nomination. Of course if they continue to remain the thorn in Mitt Romney’s side that may mean the brokered convention that Hilary Clinton robbed me of four years ago.

Preview Picture of the Week:

Wild Justice, Sunday at 9:00 on Nat Geo Wild

Worthless Walking Dead Character of the Week: T-Dogg (Seriously, had I have done this segment since the inception of the show T-Dogg would by far have won this award every everyone else, aside from being beat up by a redneck and cut his arm open, dude’s done nothing)

Free Download of the Week: Can't Go Home – Good Old War (iTunes)

Deal of the Week: $3.99 Albums on Amazon: Every month Amazon releases a hundred albums you can download for $5.00, but if you look closely they actually have better deals than that periodically on their site unadvertised. I do not know how long it will last, but as I write this there is a bunch of albums for only $3.99 including The Black Keys, N.W.A., U2, and the forty song Deluxe Edition of Nirvana’s Nevermind which comes out to ten cents per song by my math.



New Album Release of the Week: Delta Spirit - Delta Spirit

New DVD Release of the Week: American Pie 2 (Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy)

Video of the Week: I am not sure if we should read anything into Community returning on the Ides of March, but the show will be returning to its 8:00 timeslot this Thursdays. No word yet on if Annie’s Boobs shows up. To honor of the occasion the cast is getting animated and not stop motion animated like last Christmas but more traditionally this time around. Check out all three parts below.







Next Week Pick of the Week: March Madness, All Day, Thursday through Sunday on CBS, TNT, TBS, and TruTV: Brackets are being released tomorrow, so do not expect any work to get down this week on Monday or after noon on Thursday and Friday. Look out for my picks on Monday.

It's All Working Perfectly Sutton, Just as We Planned

 
Pretty Little Liars hit television as one of the guiltiest Guilty pleasures of all time so it was not much of a surprised when ABC Family ordered up another television show based on another book series by the person who wrote Pretty Little Liars. Sure, at the time the book version of The Lying Game had not even hit selves yet but Hollywood is not known for its patience. What was surprising was in its original run, they did not pair The Lying Game with its predecessor. That was remedied when the show returned earlier this winter to finish out its first season.

That was not the only change in story for the second half of the season as Annie was replaced on the show, except instead of the old soap opera trick of announcing the new Annie would be now portrayed by Charisma Carpenter, but as it turned out she is an different character, yet shared most everything with the other Annie that we learned in the first half to the point it was clear that they could get an actress with name recognition to play the role and just shoe-horned in a new character instead of just replacing the old actress.

Ironically just as her aunt showed up Char was shipped out of town, trimming some of the fat off the show. She started off what seemed like the comedic relief, but that really did not go anywhere and the character. Also gone from the second half (and really most of the first) was Nisha which seemed for the best because Alec was a much better antagonist from the beginning.

The big mystery from the first half, who is the twins’ mother, took a backseat to two mini mysteries: who was in the proverbial backseat when Sutton took the plunge and who killed Derek. Neither turned out to be all that compelling because it was pretty easy to figure out who was the culprit: Alec by proxy and Alec respectively. That is the problem with only one bad guy on the show, everything bad that happens, you always point to him and always turn out to be right. We have seemed sparks of it so far this season, but hopefully Sutton goes full evil sometime next season, kind of like how she sounded to act before the show began, to spice things up. Or at least bring in another foil or two.

But the last ten seconds gave us a reason as to why the search for the mother went on the backburner the last couple episodes when Sutton greeted Rebecca with, “Hi mom” which already made a potential second season much more interesting than the first one. Now the question is what do they know and when did they know it. And what is their master plan? Presumably we already saw part of it go into motion when Alex was hauled out of his wedding (conveniently right after it was made official) for the murder of Derek. And the dissolving marriage of Ted and Kristen may be another piece.

Even though I just said how Alec was the obvious suspect to the Derek murder, but after the last ten seconds I am not entirely sure. Maybe Rebecca was correct when she told Emma that the photo was doctored, and am now suspicious that Rebecca was the one that murdered him. Those ten seconds put a lot of my previous assumption in doubt (except Ted is totally the father). Just prior to the finale I was talking to someone who mentioned how evil Sutton can be, but I complained that the show would be much better if Sutton went full evil and it looks like she finally did and the second season should be much better because of it. Now if only How I Met Your Mother can have a reveal of the mom as awesome as The Lying Game did.

The Lying Game 1.x gets a on my Terror Alert Scale. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download The Lying Game on iTunes.