Hell Hath No Fury Like a Twin Scorned

There should be a workshop that every writer for serial television shows should go to. And the 101 class has to arcing a season. The number one rule in the class is set up the mystery, ask questions throughout the season, answer them by the end of the season, and then set up some new questions for the next season. For reference, watch any of the seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Veronica Mars. For what not to do, watch the first season of Lost which spent the final three hours of the show figuring out a way to open the hatch and then nothing. Or go back and reread all the hate surrounding the recent The Killing season finale.

I bring this up for my season wrap-up of The Lying Game because I went into the finale expecting some of the big questions to be answered. Why did the Mercer’s only adopt Sutton? Why did Annie take back Emma after she was adopted? How do Ted and Alex fit into this? What is Justin hiding and does it have to do something with the twins? And what the frack is The Lying Game which was mentioned early in the season, but never actually explained? Then an hour later and not a one of those big questions were answered and in a Lostian tradition, the set up a few more questions like who was in the car with Sutton, was that really Annie at the party, and where did Alec disappear to (assuming he was not telling the truth).

I originally thought it was Annie in the car, but if that really was her at the party, the only other serious possibility was Char’s boyfriend. If it was him, that would explain where Alex was, he was getting him in the car to do more undercover work for him and really the only other character we know that was not at the party was Ethan’s brother and though he seems he may also have some shady history with Alec, I doubt it was him.

But I guess it may have been too much to ask when the show was created from the books that were also authored by another criminally bad question answerer Pretty Little Liars. And the episode breakdown and pacing for The Lying Game seemed off all season. It took them way too long to get Sutton in Emma’s shoes, which turned out to be way more entertaining than the vice versa (WAY OFF TOPIC ALERT! remember the great Judge Reinhold / Fred Savage movie, you know, back when body switching was fun; ah the good old days).

It did not help that aside from Alexandra Chando, who lit up the screen in the dual roles, the rest of the cast were utter bores. The second most interesting character was that of Alec but he was relegated to recurring status which makes me think he may be found out for his misgivings sooner than later. But then again, that would assume they answer some questions in the near future. That is not to say I will definitely stop watching, but hopefully if I do continue to watch when it returns in January, they figure a way to work in more Becky Sproles, she could replace any of Sutton’s friends and I do not think any viewers would care, or even notice.

A quick prediction for season two (besides a lack of answers): Emma continues to be Sutton while Sutton sits in a coma as Emma because she still has her ID when brought to the hospital. Unless season two is too early for an amnisia plot.

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

57 Channels and Only This Is On - 10/16/11

Pan Am: The sixties seem so long ago, and WWII even longer it is hard to put the two in perspective for one person’s lifetime. It never really dawned on me why Collette would avoid Berlin up to this point, and when she said why I did not realize why it would hit her so hard until she told her story at the end of the episode.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Pan Am on iTunes.

How I Met Your Mother: C’mon Marshall, the second season of Friday Night Lights was not that bad. If FNL were U2, season two would be Pop, yeah it is not as good as the rest of their catalogue, but it is still better than ninety percent of music out there.
You can stream recent episodes over at cbs.com. You can also download How I Met Your Mother on iTunes.

The Sing Off: First off, it is time to retire “pitch” from the judges vocabulary, they all use it way too often. Sonos really got a bad rap for their version of I Want You Back. You want an example of the song that does not share the iconic hook but is still great check out The Civil Wars version. I would have had them above The Collective and Pentatonix (who continued their streak of horrible songs this week) and maybe even the Deltones. The stand out performance (and I cannot believe I am saying this considering the show featured Antoine Meriwether singing about balls that inspired Shawn Stockman to talk about ding dings) was the old dudes doing The Dougie in lounge chairs. And not to get too Adam Levine on you, but I have never heard The Rocketeer song before, is that really considered a hit? But anyway. Here is my Power Rakings for the second week (and their movement from last week in parentheses):

1. Dartmouth Aires (-)
2. North Shore (-)
3. Afro Blue (+1)
4. Urban Method (+2)
5. The Yellowjackets (-2)
6. The Deltones (-1)
7. Vocal Point (+2)
8. Delilah (-)
9. Pentatonix (+2)
10. The Collective (-)



You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download songs from The Sing-Off on iTunes.

The Lying Game: They really did a poor job braking down the story because they took way too long to get Sutton to Las Vegas because Sutton in Sin City is way more enjoyable than Emma in Phoenix. And unfortunately Sutton only stays there for one episode. But it should be an interesting reaction from Sutton when she realized someone took over her life and none of her friends and family noticed but Becky Spoles knew she was not Emma right away.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download The Lying Game on iTunes.

Castle: The was a nice trick to have someone in witness relocation fake their own death to make the transition easier, but how do you avoid the family from seeing the body before the funeral? I am also trying to figure out who looked sillier this week, Detective Esposito or Adam Braverman.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Castle on iTunes.

Parenthood: It is about time someone called out Jason Ritter for whatever that is that is sitting on his face. Many cite poor writing and bad acting that sank The Event, but it is clearly his choice of facial hair that doomed that show. A note to every guy out there, if you cannot connect your goatee with your moustache, then you should really shave every day. But anyway. In the least surprising turn of events, the latte girl decided to give Julia her baby. I wonder if there is a chance they also adopt the latte girl and make her an official Braverman too.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Parenthood on iTunes.

Sons of Anarchy: Gee, if a porn star and a gang member cannot make it after about a month, what chance do the rest of us have? Onto more surprising news, was it common knowledge that Tig had two daughters? I vaguely remember it being alluded to but I do not actually remember either of them ever show up before.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Sons of Anarchy on iTunes.

Survivor: South Pacific: That has to go down as one of the most disgusting, and evil challenges ever (making contests bite down on protein but making them spit it out). And Keith may have to be a late addition to my list of The Dumbest Survivor Contestants Ever because his voting strategies may be the dumbest in the alphabet one. Instead of choosing side (and essentially controlling your tribe) now both Ozzie and Jim’s new alliance cannot trust you. Going into the merge with a tribe fractured like this spells certain doom (unless Brandon goes Brandon again messing with the Coach alliance). Even though he has the hidden immunity Idol in his back pocket, I wonder if Ozzie’s best strategy is to allowed getting voted out next, go to Redemption Island and hope to win, come back into the game with his Idol in tack and assess the situation then.
You can stream recent episodes over at cbs.com.



Modern Family: The four guys tackling the fake ID guy may be the funniest sight gag since Cameron hoisted baby Lily to the sounds of The Lion King back in the very first episode.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu.



Revenge: What a letdown Hamptonsexposed.com is. They just have the same videos we saw in the episode and dummy links that lead to the show’s Facebook, Twitter and ABC pages.
You can stream current episodes on Hulu. You can also download Revenge on iTunes.

Community: If it wrong that the Troy getting the pizza was the only timeline that I actually laughed during?
You can stream current episodes on Hulu. You can also download Community on iTunes.

57 Channels and Only This Is On - 10/9/11

Pan Am: I wonder if we ever seen the former spy again? If there were a real spy show, I’d put the over/under at Christmas, but this show seems to be taking a more realistic approach, so she may be stuck in Kansas for the rest of her life.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Pan Am on iTunes.

How I Met Your Mother: Again, the writers are just messing with us with actual characters saying they are talking way too long to get to the end of a story. That is the second time this season.
You can stream recent episodes over at cbs.com. You can also download How I Met Your Mother on iTunes.

The Sing Off: Scanning the playlist prior to the show I was dreading the “current hits” but give it up to a capella music to make most of them at the very least listenable, although how does Whataya Want From Me qualify as a hit if Adam Levine had never heard it before? Naturally the second half was way more enjoyable with Urban Method pulling out the best performance of the night with Dance to the Music, a song I could have sworn only had one line and one note, but they killed it (I feel as if I should give TJ Lavin royalties for saying that). And a not to future Sing-Off contestants, unlike Kingfolk 9, do not hold your best performance for your Swan Song. Then next week on The Sing-Off, Antoine Meriwether and his boys sings a song about balls. Blaine Edwards has to show up for some commentary on that.



You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download songs from The Sing-Off on iTunes.

The Lying Game: Holy Beck Sproles sighting! To think how much better the show would have been had she shown up much earlier. Hopefully she follows not-Emma around for a while. But I am beginning to wonder if Laurel’s boyfriend in part of the twin’s mystery, he was nosing around the photo book a while, and maybe Sutton and Emma are actually not twins, but actually triplets. Dude being a blonde kind of hurts this theory especially if my other theory that either the adoptive dad or the guy from Heroes is actually the biological father of the brood.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download The Lying Game on iTunes.

Castle: Frozen heads and no Futurama references? Boooooo.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Castle on iTunes.

The Playboy Club: I have long asserted that the show was not a Mad Man rip off (despite Eddie Cibrian stealing everything from Don Draper) but American Dreams for adults. Case in point: the first guest singer on American Bandstand on the show was Leslie Gore. Not that any of this matters anymore. Although I hear that NBC is shopping the show around to other, possibly more skin friendly, networks, but I think “we’re shopping it around to other networks” is code for “please do not send us crap in hopes that we revive the show.”

Parenthood: It is not enough to make a drinking game out of, but this show really enjoys making Michael Cera references, two by my count in this episode along. “You’re like my musical soulmate” was a direct line from Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Parenthood on iTunes.

Sons of Anarchy: I completely forgot the Tom Arnold storyline even existed. Seems a little random to bring it up now.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Sons of Anarchy on iTunes.

Survivor: South Pacific: First off I would like to apology to Brandon for repeatedly calling him a psychopath, it was wrong of me and hopefully he forgives me as I try to become a better man. Look out for next week when I end up apologizing to Stacey for laughing at how she said she did such a great job at the challenge when she could not outlast the scrawny Dawn at a weight holding challenge.
You can stream recent episodes over at cbs.com.



Happy Endings: When I was previewing the season I mentioned that Megan Mullally shows up at some point as Penny’s mom. Well, that episode is coming up this week and will also feature one hundred percent more Natalie Imbruglia.

Revenge: I was a little disappointed that Amy Abbott waited until off screen to release the love child to the press, c’mon, make it part of his speech where the viewer can see the embarrassment.
You can stream current episodes on Hulu. You can also download Revenge on iTunes.

The Big Bang Theory: My favorite part of the episode was when Penny had to explain to everyone that the handicap were inherently nice people. Though I am not entirely sure why Raj could talk in front of the deaf chick, I thought the mere presence of them made him mute; the ability of not being able to hear him just seems silly. But not silly good.
You can stream recent episodes over at cbs.com. You can also download The Big Bang Theory on iTunes.

Community: It is a surprised with all its homages; it took them to the third season for a “noir” episode.
You can stream current episodes on Hulu. You can also download Community on iTunes.

57 Channels and Only This Is On - 10/2/11

How I Met Your Mother: Wait, Ted cheated on Victoria with Robin? Did this actually happen and I just forgot (it would have been about six years ago I think) are did they do some revisionist history on it? But I did like how Victoria totally called out Ted’s creepy threesome relationship with Robin and Barney. But I still wish Victoria would stick around longer.
You can stream recent episodes over at cbs.com. You can also download How I Met Your Mother on iTunes.

The Sing Off: It is hard not to get behind a group that features Antoine Merriweather, which is why I have them number one on my first ever The Sing Off Power Ranking below. As for the other performances, I am still trying to figure out what was more bizarre, a bunch of high schoolers doing an acapella version of a Ozzy Osbourne song (which followed a Hair medley) or the acapella dance version of Wicked Game. But anyway, here is my power ranking from the first round.

1. Dartmouth Aires
2. North Shore
3. YellowJackets
4. Afro-blue
5. The Deltones
6. Urban Method
7. Sonos
8. Delilah
9. Vocal Point
10. The Collective
11. Pentatobix
12. Kinfolk 9

You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download songs from The Sing-Off on iTunes.

The Lying Game: I loved how Sutton basically explaining the plot of the show got her locked up in the loony bin. That is always a good sign for a guilty pleasure.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download The Lying Game on iTunes.

Castle: I am surprised the show missed an opportunity at a meta moment when Castle did not say the superhero he most wanted to be was Green Lantern (he lent his voice to the recent animated film Green Lantern: Emerald Knights). You cannot blame ABC’s affiliation with Marvel because his chose ended up being DC’s Batman.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Castle on iTunes.

Weeds: I could have sworn the creator said that she planned on this season to be the show’s last (though the network disagreed) because that finale was pretty cliffhangery. Unless she meant it to be some sort of Tony Soprano fade to black situation.

Parenthood: Wow, they actually gave Drew something to do. I do not think he has had a storyline since playing baseball and I think that only lasted an episode or two. And for anyone who wonder what I looked like when trying to flirt with a girl in high school (or in college, or last week at the grocery store) refer to the scene when Drew was “returning” the hedge clippers.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Parenthood on iTunes.

Sons of Anarchy: I wonder if the murdered club member connected to the leaving member is foreshadowing for something that will happen with SAMCRO this season.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Sons of Anarchy on iTunes.

Survivor: South Pacific: I have said this before and will probably have to repeat it every week until he gets kicked off, but Brandon has some major issues. His “apology” to Mikayla involved him shouting here, then calling a tribe meeting solely to air his dirty laundry. I do not see how he sticks around once his tribes loses another immunity challenge.
You can stream recent episodes over at cbs.com.



Modern Family: Fun fact: I actually shared a math class with my older sister in high school. And it was as awesome as Alex would have you believe.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu.



Revenge: Much more entertaining episode then the first. Once they got past the exposition that had to be done for the Pilot, it looks like we have settled in to Amy Abbott taking down a new person every week. But am annoyed in the back my mind knowing what happens later in the season, although I might be wrong of when that is. If this episode was “twelve weeks ago” I wonder if every episode is a week and the engagement party happens midseason. I could also do with the “this is how she did it” scene at the end of episode. Personally I had already figured out Amy stole the password from the massive clues that camera gave us, same with the poisoning last week.
You can stream current episodes on Hulu. You can also download Revenge on iTunes.

Community: Holy Bill Haverchuck sighting! More Annie on Annie violence this season or just Annie temper tantrums will do just fine.
You can stream current episodes on Hulu. You can also download Community on iTunes.

57 Channels and Only This Is On - 9/25/11

How I Met Your Mother: The writers are just messing with us. Multiple time future Ted said they were close to the end only to pull a “psych!” But the end of the second episode did give me some hope. I have long asserted that the show has not been consistently good since Victoria went off to Paris so hopefully she sticks around for the whole season even if she still turns out not to be the mother.
You can stream recent episodes over at cbs.com. You can also download How I Met Your Mother on iTunes.

The Sing Off: Watching Sara Bareilles in her debut makes me wonder why anyone would tune into a show featuring a Pussycat Doll as a judge. She knocked it out of the park and this show clearly has the best and most entertaining judging panel of any show currently on television. My early favorites are Urban Method and Yellowjackets.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download songs from The Sing-Off on iTunes.



The Lying Game:As I long suspected, all the parents of the main cast knew the twins mother, now I just need conformation that one of the dads is actually their birth dads. Otherwise a fairly boring episode until the dude punched the other one.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download The Lying Game on iTunes.

Castle: Even though I knew there was no chance Beckett was not going to make it, those first couple minutes were still pretty intense. As for the case of the week, I almost buy why dude stayed in the room, but why ball up under the bed right where the blood was seeping through, are why hide under the bed at all?
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Castle on iTunes.

Parenthood: I really don’t understand why the parents of the boy Vince assaulted are pressing charges. Doesn’t the district attorney turn around and arrest the parents for having teen drinking at their house? Maybe it is not in California, but that is a pretty big offence that will get you a couple weeks in jail for. But I really like the pregnant latte girl, the rejection scene was one where you keep on rewinding with saying no, just more heartbreaking the previous time. Her facial expressions just sold the scene. Is it too late to get this actress her own show for midseason?
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Parenthood on iTunes.

Sons of Anarchy: There is a reason why I never watch any of those torture porn films like Hostel and when the only thing I can think about from this episode is the fire ant scene is the very reason why not.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Sons of Anarchy on iTunes.

Survivor: South Pacific: We got a small preview of it last week, but Brandon is clearly certifiable. The way he looks and talks about Mikayla (dude blamed her for him being attractive to her) is beyond creepy and if one of them is not voted out soon I fear for her safety. If Coach were smart he would cut Brandon loose as soon as he can (and replace him with Edna in his alliance) because you cannot have a guy like that around. But this is Coach we are talking about so we will have to see.
You can stream recent episodes over at cbs.com.



Modern Family: Nooooooooo!!! They cannot leave Dylan in Colorado, I would rather have him marry Hayley then have him left a hundred miles away.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu.



Revenge: Longtime readers of the 9th Green know how much I hate when episodes start off in the third act before flashing back to the beginning moments later. It shows lazy writing and they are basically saying to the audience “the first part of the episode is boring so we are going to start the episode off with the most interesting scene instead.” So image how my head almost exploded when Revenge started off the season with what I am assuming is the season finale (if the story starts on Memorial Day, it makes sense it will end on Labor Day). If it were not for Amy Abbott I may have turned the television off right then.
You can stream current episodes on Hulu. You can also download Revenge on iTunes.

The Big Bang Theory: When Penny slept with Raj last season I really thought that that really rued her character by doing so. Apparently someone on the show figured that out over the summer hiatus and revised that Raj had some performance issues which I guess is better than a dream sequence. But I did find the discussion of who Penny would have slept with first had Howard not had a fiancé funny.
You can stream recent episodes over at cbs.com. You can also download The Big Bang Theory on iTunes.

Community: Yeah, this show completely went off the deep end.
You can stream current episodes on Hulu. You can also download Community on iTunes.

57 Channels and Only This Is On - 9/18/11

Quote of the Week: I know there’s alcohol at high school parties, I watched Friday Night Lights. (Max, Parenthood)

Song of the Week: Everlasting Light / Tighten Up – The Black Keys (Free Agents)

Big News of the Week: The Fall Television Season Starts this Week: I am still trying to figure out how I am going to watch six hours of television on Monday alone. Here’s hoping something gets canceled.


The Lying Game: I guess it is not that surprising, I guessed it early on, but we actually got confirmation that the parents knew the twins mother who is now in some mental hospital. Now I wonder if maybe if Heroes guy or the other guy will turn out to be the father. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download The Lying Game on iTunes.

Weeds: It has so long since they talked about him, I completely forgot Stevie even existed. But then again the show likes to randomly bring up characters they forgot about like when Heilia showed up a couple weeks ago.

Parenthood: I am not one to comment on people’s looks, glass houses and all, but whoever is the hairstylist on the show needs to be fired for whatever she put on top Haddie’s head. And if that was the actress’ decision, they should kill her off for that. There is no excuse for a bad perm mixed with a Jheri curl in 2011. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Parenthood on iTunes.

Sons of Anarchy: Holy Machete sighting! The Sons better okay that deal because that is one dude I do not want on his bad side. Interesting both Clay and Jax are using the deal to get themselves out of the crew, even more interesting would be if the rest of the club kills the deal as I am not sure they have the votes right now. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Sons of Anarchy on iTunes.

Survivor: South Pacific: Last season, Survivor brought back two of my least favorite contestants of all time and ended up with the worst season ever in the history of the show. So this season at least had to start out better, right? Except the brought in one of those hated contestants nephew and I could have listed a hundred Survivor contestants before I would have guessed they would bring Ozzy back. But I guess I have to admit this season got off to a more entertaining start even if the eye candy was significantly down this season. Unfortunately the focus was still focused on the returning Survivors with only the unlikeable pot dealer and Cochran, who tries way too hard the only ones sticking out so far. Them and Russell’s nephew who weirdly is holding a grudge against the lingerie football player (wait, did I really write that as a profession) simply for being hot. You can stream recent episodes over at cbs.com.



Free Agents: A solid start, but the show really needs more Giles in future episodes. As for the show that preceded it, I refuse to watch anything called Up All Night that does not involve Rhonda Shear. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Free Agents on iTunes.

Free Download of the Week: Bonus EP - Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band (iTunes): Bob Seger is one of the last iTunes holdout, though only a pair of live albums are the only things available to download from him currently, there is also this free six song EP.

Deal of the Week: Wilco Albums for $5 Each: With their new album The Whole Love being released later this month, for the month of September you can get every previous Wilco studio album for just five dollars (even though A Ghost is Born is not on the page, it is also that price, you just have to search for it).

New Album Release of the Week: Pearl Jam Twenty (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

New DVD Release of the Week: Happy Endings: The Complete First Season: Since Sony Television was nice enough to send this set along, let me saw a few things about it. First, for those that watched the first season and wondered why Dave was still moving out of Alex’s apartment in the middle of the season, the episodes on the DVD are ordered the way they were originally intended to air including the mysterious thirteenth episode that did not air during the first season but ABC randomly aired a couple weeks ago. Extra include some pre-air specials from abc.com and about ten minutes of deleted scenes including one where it tells you why the wedding crasher showed up half naked and in rollerblade. Also the Osama bin Laden joke, that was removed when the episode aired a week after he was killed, has been restored.

Video of the Week: New episode of Border Wars tonight on the National Geographic Channel at 10:00. Check out a preview below:

Smuggler’s Tunnel


Next Week Pick of the Week: The Playboy Club, Monday at 10:00 on NBC: I recently received a press release claiming The Playboy Club is receiving the least amount of buzz of shows airing on network this fall (along with Glee and Charlie’s Angel; while Chuck, Supernatural, and Fringe are the most buzzed about according to this list, alrighty) so let me give it a little love before joining the long list of failed NBC shows. Though I do not know how a show that is probably going to be heavily promoted during Sunday Night Football the night before and features hot chicks in bunny outfits can fail. But then again NBC could not use SNF to turn Friday Night Lights into a hit, so it is possible.

57 Channels and Only This Is On - 9/10/11

Quote of the Week: This ain’t a job. It ain’t an occupation. It's a calling. (Tommy, Rescue Me)

Song of the Week: In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida – Iron Butterfly (as played on the bagpipes, Rescue Me)

Big News of the Week: GOP Debate: I really do not pay too much to debates until about a month before people actually start voting, but I usually still tune in to the early ones. But this year’s Republican debates have been excruciationing to sit through I finally figured out why: where is Jimmy McMillan? I thought he was going to run as a Republican nominee for the president this election cyce yet he has yet to eb invited to any of the debates. Sure I do not actually pay it, but is the rent still not too damn high?


The Lying Game: Wow, the I accidently tipped the guy a fifty instead of a five and no do not have to pay the bill was the greatest move ever. And if it was not clear enough that the dude was poor, hustling at golf pretty much sealed it. But what made me laugh the most was when the dance instructor stopped things because of statutory reasons. It was almost a direct shot at the other show created by the same writer, Pretty Little Liars, with it’s icky teacher / student relationship. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download The Lying Game on iTunes.

Sons of Anarchy: And fears I had about the show continuing its slump from last season were quickly laid to rest because it was back to its season two glory right from the start. It was nice to see the dude from Terriers take up shop in Charming, adding a nice wrinkle to the town, although it took me a while to recognize without the beard. Also taking a while to place was the new assistant U.S. attorney. I recognized him right away, but could not remember what he played. The second scene I remembered he was a priest, then the third time he appeared I finally remembered he was on Deadwood (yet another actor from that show that made its way to Charming). You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Sons of Anarchy on iTunes.

Also check out my season (series) review of Rescue Me.

Free Download of the Week: Little Lie – Lindi Ortega (Spinner)

Deal of the Week: Save up to 57% on Blu-Ray Favorites & More (Inception, The Dark Knight, 300)

New Album Release of the Week: Wynton Marsalis & Eric Clapton Play The Blues

New DVD Release of the Week: Star Wars: The Complete Saga (Episodes I-VI) [Blu-ray]

Video of the Week: Henry Kissinger arguably had more to do with shaping the post-war policy of the United States than anyone else and Monday he sits down with the National Geographic Channel at 8:00 to talk about it. The two hour special comes from twenty-five hours of interviews and below is a sneak peak:

Kissinger


Next Week Pick of the Week: Parenthood, Tuesday at 10:00 on NBC: With Friday Night Lights ending its run this summer, Parenthood inherits the title of best show on network television (not surprisingly they share producers). If my memory serves me correctly, Adam quite his job just after knocking up his wife even though it was his sister Julia that was trying to get pregnant. Both Crosby and Haddie had sex with FNL alum to disastrous consequences. While Amber decided college was not for her much to the distain of Sarah. While Drew continues to stay in the background.


With 9/11 tomorrow, if you already inundated with retrospectives, here is another one to check out: Beyond 9/11: Portraits of Resilience which will debut tomorrow at 8:46 A.M., ten years to the minute the first airplaine hit the World Trade Center on HBO in association with Time magazine. Check out a trailer below:

57 Channels and Only This Is On - 9/3/11

Quote of the Week: Does anybody know what tonight is… Lower your hand if you are going to say the season finale of Glee, I (expletive deleted) hate that show. (Captain Dashall, Death Valley)

Song of the Week: Someone Like You – Adele (Video Music Awards)

Big News of the Week: Video Music Awards Still Make Me Feel Old: I actually missed watching the show live because when I tuned in I thought the MTV feed somehow got mixed up with a local access channel airing the worst community theater version of Streetcar Named Desire ever. So I went ahead and watched Leverage instead. I realized my mistake when I watched a re-air of the show. Oops. Here are some thoughts:

- Best performances of the night in this order: Adele, Kanye West and Jay-Z, Young the Giant, Beyoncé.

- Oddest moment of the night goes to Britney Spears who in lieu of giving an acceptance speech for the Video Vanguard Award just introduced Beyoncé.

- I feel as if we failed as a society if Chris Brown is allowed to perform on a national stage. Dude should be trolling in relative obscurity by now; it is not like the guy has much talent to get away with all the crap he has pulled. And who does he think he’s fooling by wearing the drive thru microphone? A four year old could tell he was not really singing.

- The Amy Winehouse tribute was weird all around considering she never once appeared on the show (she was set to appear with the house band during the disastrous Las Vegas experiment but had her visa rejected) and rarely even appeared on the channel and just released one album anyone cared about. Then Bruno Mars chose to perform an obscure (at least here stateside) Mark Ronson cover of a Zutons song that Winehouse sang on instead of one of her own songs.

- Lastly, and this is for all award shows, not just the VMA’s, stop inviting artists to perform if every third word you are going to bleep out anyway. And if you are an artist who curses every third word, either chose a different song or change your lyrics, because it may seem like artistic integrity to perform your song as is, but it just comes off as a really crappy performance on television.


Leverage: Holy Dr. Abbot sighting! But I am disappointed in myself that I did not realize the chick was Sterling’s daughter, they really beat you over the head with those hints. You can stream recent episodes on TNT.tv. You can also download Leverage on iTunes.

The Lying Game: The dude from Heroes remains to be the most interesting character on the show (how he was not in the Pilot is befuddling), him showing up in Los Angeles was really creepy. And I am beginning to wonder if either of his kids are his, neither of them look much lke him (but that could just be casting directors not caring). You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download The Lying Game on iTunes.

Pretty Little Liars: I cannot believe I just made my first ever Better Than Ezra joke during my mid-season wrap up of the show (see Two Can Keep a Secret if One of The Is Dead). I rally dropped the pop culture ball on that one. I promise when the show comes back, I will make at least one Better Than Ezra joke for every episode he is in. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.

Rescue Me: I have longed believed that Tommy would not make it to the end of the show and that one other fireman would die this season. But it never crossed my mind that they would kill off the entire crew. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Rescue Me on iTunes.


Free Download of the Week: Ghost on the Canvas - Glen Campbell (iTunes)

Deal of the Week: 100 Albums for $5: This week you can get albums by Mumford and Sons, Coldplay, Eric Clapton, and Carrie Underwood for five dollars.



New Album Release of the Week: In The Grace Of Your Love - The Rapture

New DVD Release of the Week: Community: The Complete Second Season

Video of the Week: Mel Brookes and Dick Cavett have been chatting it up for four decades and now they are doing it one more time for an HBO special to air this Friday at 9:00. Here is a sneak peak:



Next Week Pick of the Week: Rescue Me, Wednesday at 10:00 on FX: It is an end of an era Wednesday as Rescue Me finishes it run just days before the tenth anniversary of 9/11.

57 Channels and Only This Is On - 8/27/11

Quote of the Week: I didn’t kill you, God killed you. I just made sure it took. (Nate, Leverage)

Song of the Week: Poison and Wine – The Civil Wars (Pretty Little Liars)

Big News of the Week: A Melancholy Happy Trails to Jerry Leiber and Nick Ashford: We lost two songwriting greats on the same day this week. Nick Ashford wrote some of Motown’s greatest hits including Ain’t No Mountain High Enough which was made famous by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell. But Nick may most be famous for the awesomely cheesy song Solid which he recorded with his wife as Ashford and Simpson. Jerry Leiber was also famous as part of a duo, he and Mike Stoller wrote some of the biggest songs of early rock and roll including Jailhouse Rock, Hound Dog and Ben E. King’s Stand by Me, one of the few songs I can play on piano.


The Lying Game: My biggest problem with the Pilot is that there seemed to have all the elements of an underlying conspiracy theory, but there were no clues or hints that there was any. Like I doubt it is a coincidence that the Mercers would adopt just one of the twins but the writers did not throw anything in to back up my suspicions. We finally got some of that this week in spades when the dude from Heroes showed up and mentioned something ambiguously shady with papa Mercer then turned out to be the one that was behind Sutton’s missing laptop. I also like how “The Lying Game” plays into the story. I was so bored after the first episode I did not bother to come up with any theories, but this episode gave me hope that the show may be salvaged. I even came up with a wild conspiracy theory: we learned that that mama Mercer and Char’s mom went to high school together and I bet all the parents go all the way back to school together and they somehow tie into Sutton and Emma’s parents. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download The Lying Game on iTunes.

Weeds: Apparently Silas is as dumb as he looks. I had Dawn Summers as a double agent right when she talked about how unhappy she was. What I did not see coming was her being the big bad or that she would clean him out that quickly.

Pretty Little Liars: I knew I should have put money on head shrinker dieing before she could tell anyone who “A” is. Why is it in every television show or movie whenever somebody calls someone to tell them a deep dark secret, they do not just tell them there so there is time for whoever is hiding the secret to do something to them? The head shrinker could have easily told Emily, “Hey, I know who “A” is, it is Bob the Bus Driver, tell your friends to meet me in my office to discuss. Oh and call the police just in case Bob the Bus Driver kills me before you get here.” You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.

Free Download of the Week: Pumped Up Kicks (Chrome Canyon Remix) - Foster the People (Rcrd Lbl): Ever wonder what the summer jam Pumped Up Kicks would sound like if it were reimaged as a early nineties slow jam? Wonder no long, just download this remix.

New Album Release of the Week: I'm With You - Red Hot Chili Peppers

New DVD Release of the Week: Parenthood: Season 2

Video of the Week: When you have George Harrison and Martin Scorcese in the same sentence, you know you are in for something. The former is the subject and the latter is the director of the documentary George Harrison: Living in the Material World which will air in two parts October 5 and 6 on HBO. Check out the trailer below:



Next Week Pick of the Week: George W. Bush: The 9/11 Interview, Sunday at 10:00 on the National Geographic Channel: With 9/11 tributes I full gear, National Geographic Channel has the biggest get, an exclusive interview with former president George W. Bush taking about the day for the first time since he left office. Look for my full preview tomorrow.

First Impressions: The Lying Game

I am probably too old and too male to be watching anything on ABC Family, but really, what else was I supposed to watch this summer: Breaking Bad? I have better things to do than watch the dad from Malcolm in the Middle cough a hundred times in the span of an hour (okay I obvious do not have better things to do because I still find time to watch ABC Family, I still choose not too).

The latest show on ABC Family comes from the same pedigree from the channel’s biggest breakout hit. The Lying Game is based on the Sara Shepard books, who also wrote the series that Pretty Little Liars is based on, though The Lying Game got optioned as a television show before the books even hit the shelves.

The story follows twins that were separated at birth (not to be confused with the show whose timeslot The Lying Game took over), one who grew up in privilege, the other in foster care and both played by Alexandra Chando (Rockville, CA). They found out that each other exist when one went searching for their birth parents and circumstances brings them together when the one from the wrong side of the tracks gets in trouble and turns to her newfound sister to help. The rich one takes the opportunity to have the poor one take her place so she can follow a lead on their mother in Los Angles.

Things naturally go wrong when the rich twin does not return two days later like she said she would. And much like the pretty little liars who never bother to ask the police or even their parents for help with the crazy stalker, the poor one thinks it would be best to continue to poise as her missing sister. But at least her lie comes with a BMW.

Rounding out the cast include Chando’s adopted parents Helen Slater (Supergirl! Wow did I have such a crush on her in my youth) and Andy Buckley (The Office), and their bratty biological daughter Allie Gonino (10 Things I Hate About You). Then there are the rich girl’s rich friends Alice Greczyn (The Dukes of Hazzard) and Kristen Prout (My Super Psycho Sweet 16: Part 2) and rival Sharon Pierre-Louis (Fame). And what show would be complete without a secret boyfriend, this time played by Blair Redford (The Day the Earth Stood Still).

If you noticed, I did not describe any of the supporting cast members because none of them were even strongly written. Prout is apparently the quintessential dumb blonde, but the rest are really not given any insight of them from the writers who do not even bother to make any of them easy stereotypes, they all are just bland. But the biggest fail on the part of the writers is they did not set up a compelling mystery. By the end of the first episode of Pretty Little Liars, they set up a laundry list of questions that the viewers were left wondering, but there really are none there for The Lying Game. I guess I am supposed to wonder what happened to the rich girl, but I really do not. This is really poor writing because there is plenty of mysteries that could have been put in place even if they would have turned out to be red herrings. Luckily for The Lying Game, there is still a month left until the networks launch the fall programming giving it time to set up compelling plotlines. Because what else am I going to watch until then: Breaking Bad? I am not that pretentious.

The Lying Game airs Mondays at 9:00 on ABC Family. You can stream episodes on Hulu. You can also download The Lying Game on iTunes.