57 Channels and Only This Is On: 4/9/16

Once Upon a Time: Did we ever meet Dorothy when the show first introduced Oz. Weird that she barely shows up when she is the star of that movie. But right now we are in Hercules’ movie and he was just in one episode and seems to be written off the show already.
You can download Once Upon a Time on iTunes.

Shameless: You know a show is messed up when someone crashes a wedding to reveal the groom’s heroin stash and you are a little disappointed that that is all that happen. I was expecting the huge massive screwed up wedding and that was pretty tame for a show like this. And as much of a cliché it is, I was a bit disappointed that Chekov’s Gun never came back up. But at least the end scene was entertaining.

The Walking Dead: My favorite part of the episode: right before what looked to be a very large Mexican standoff, Savior dude just whips out a spray paint bottle and marks the dude. My least favorite, obvious the ending, as if last week’s cliffhanger was not annoying enough (and no one ended up dying; not that I thought Darryl had died anyway). Ugg, so the question is, who did Negan bludgeon to death (presumably, we did have two fake out cliffhanger deaths this season). Obviously not Rick because Negan wants him to watch the death as punishment for killing his people. I am also crossing out the females and Carl because Rick is not standing by and watching that. We already had fake out deaths of Daryl and Glen so why kill them now? That leaves Eugene, Abraham, and Aaron. Aaron is the odd man out because he is the newest to the group, but I am going to predict Abraham, he does seems like someone who would talk a beating like that for the team.
You can download The Walking Dead on iTunes.

Billions: With one episode left I was expecting some big lead up to an epic finale, but instead we get a holding episode where the case was still in limbo. Instead we got weird scenes with Axe and Wendy playing basketball games, Lara and her sister paying a lot of money to shoplift jewelry again, and the DA’s setting off fireworks, we get reminded Chuck is into kinky stuff (Red is kind of a boring safe word). There was a small moment when I thought Axe was leading Wendy out to the middle of nowhere to kill her, or at least try to hook up with her, but alas, they could not even kiss when Chuck spied on them. At least in the final moments we got some movement in the plot, first Chuck catches someone taking pictures of him. Obviously Axe comes to mind first as who put the photographer up to it, but the more I thought about it, Axe won, sure having extra leverage is always nice, but I would not rule out someone else like Chuck’s father or maybe even Rob Morrow. Then, after a season of diligently keeping their private and professional lives separate, finally one of them actually broke that trust with Chuck snooping on Wendy’s computer, finding wrong doing of Axe. So just what is Chuck going to do with that information? And will Wendy realize that Chuck got that information from her?

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Fitz’s explanation of the fourth dimension just made things more confusing, and it even made my understanding of Intersteller more confused too. Then their big plan to keep the future is to make sure Daisy does not leave the base and Coulson vows to not pick up a gun until that future had passed. You just cannot keep her there indefinitely; you do not know how long in the future that happened. Then Lash show up and everyone is like, oh well, I guess Daisy should go to what may be her inevitable death, and Coulsen was quick to end his no gun vow. And why did Abercrombie model whose name I still have not bothered to learn even show up, just to get his face bloodied? But we got another glimpse of presumably will be the season finale but we do now know that is someone’s death and it is of a SHIELD agent… or t least someone wearing a SHIELD uniform.
You can download Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on iTunes.

The Path: I wonder who is going to stray from the cult first, the father and son. And it will likely be for the same reason: a hot chick. I guess Lyla Garrity is currently Schrodinger’s Cat until the next episode when we get confirmation but she seems pretty dead. But what did Sarah think would happen. To me there were only three outcomes after kidnapping her: the release her and she goes to the police for kidnapping, they brainwash her and bring her back into the fold, or she dies, which seemed like the most likely outcome to me. And is there something in door number four? That last shot lingered pretty long on it.
You can stream The Path on Hulu.

Survivor: Brains vs. Brawn vs. Beauty: We already had the worst meltdown in Tribal Council history this season, so Gay Asian’s faux pas does not look that bad in comparison, but c’mon, why are you leaking the Super Idol info? Information is the biggest currency in this game and he blabbed to his second tribe he had an Idol which he did not even use for his advantage, now everyone knows there is some sort of Super Idol floating around. Now I have to wonder if the girls flipped because of that or if they made a last minute decision because of that information. And if that slip was not head scratching enough, Gay Asian then goes and randomly votes for Jason. What!?! I guess the best explanation (other than dude is just completely clueless) was the girls decided to flip pre-Tribal, fed him false information because they did not trust him not to tell Nick and Gay Asian ended up doing what the girls told him. Should be interesting what happens next as two Idols are in position of the guys in the minority. Does Jason play his Idol next week, can Scot convince him to hold on to it and then convince Jason and Gay Asian to form a Super Idol after one of them is voted out?
You can download Survivor: Brains vs. Brawn vs. Beauty on iTunes.

The Americans: Oh man was that a cold ending. Sentencing someone to death, say it will be carried out shortly and just bang. Cold, man, even for the Evil Empire.
You can download The Americans on iTunes.

The Blacklist: Since they were not going to kill her, maybe giving up Lizzie would have been the right play and just try to get her back later. But Red seems to protest too much for her mother being dead, it is almost as much as he tries to makes everyone think he is not her father.
You can download The Blacklist on iTunes,

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 4/2/16

Shameless: You had to know Frank paying for the wedding was too good to be true, something bad had to happen, it just had to. But murder for hire? Oh Frank. And it just has to happen at the wedding right? Should make for a memorable season finale next week.

The Walking Dead: After the crap they pulled with Glen, I juwst cannot believe they would kill Daryl like that. And not to get too Zeputer film, the blood does not even look like it came from Darul’s direction.
You can download The Walking Dead on iTunes.

Billions: Man, these guys are cold, and this is the very reason I could not make it in the financial game or politics. On one side you got Axe exploiting the health of an employing for financial gain while Chuck just goads Anthony Edwards into retirement, and then still sends the FBI after him… while singing He’s a Jolly Good Fellow at his retirement party. Double ouch. Still I am more fascinated by the silent war being waged by the wives than the manhood measuring contest of the men. It seems like Wendy figured out there was something else going on behind Donnie’s death while Lara seems to figured out that Wendy know knows Donnie was being used as a pawn. I am beginning to think one of these wives are going to bring down the other man’s husband, the big question is who.

Quantico: Well I was totally wrong about the terrorist attack being a sham. Oh well.
You can download Quantico on iTunes.

Supergirl: Nice crack at The CW but kind of a useless cameo by The Flash. Supposedly he beats a supervillain that can harness electricity but gets knocked out by one on this Earth. When Supergirl saved the helicopter, I actually thought they were going to go Spider-Man 2 with the crowd caring her. Oh well. All the racially diverse CW cast members can stay on their Earths now.
You can download Supergirl on iTunes.

Lucifer: That was not Rebecca De Mornay as Chloe’s mother. I saw her name in the credits, but I just do not believe that was Risky Business / The Hand that Rocks the Cradle Rebecca De Mornay. Nope.
You can download Lucifer on iTunes.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Holy Smash Williams sighting! (I am sure there is a Hulk joke in there somewhere.) That is two this month. And it came at the right time jut as Trya Collette got written off the how. Hey, maybe Smash can help out on that show.
You can download Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on iTunes.

The Path: They danced around the word in the premiere but the non-members really liked using the “Cult” word in the second episode. Within seconds of meeting them, the hedge fund manager, the hot classmate (the only thing more persuasive than cults are hot chick; Lyla Garrity could certainly get me to do more than eat meat), and the law enforcement guys all used it. But the episode basically ended the same way as the first, Eddie has weird visions of the ill leader (which we do learn is real), and Cal showing his dark side after spending most of the episode being the cheery cult leader.
You can stream The Path on Hulu.

Survivor: Brains vs. Brawn vs. Beauty II: The merge is supposed to be the most important episode of the season, the point where two tribes come together and try to figure a way to get rid of the other side. But the thing is, you kind of know how the vote is going to go down about ninety percent of the time before the title sequence runs. This is one of the few times there has been actual intrigue going into the merge with the Brains on one side, the Brawn on the other, and the Beauty in the middle. Oh, and there were three Idols floating around, as well as the slim chance two would be combined to create a Super Idol. Then, what seemed to be right before Tribal, the two waffling Beauties decided to side with the Brawn to blindside a Brain, which made me think, oooo, if they are giving that away, something big is about to happen. And something big did, just not what I was hoping for. You never want to see someone pulled from the game, and certainly not before what looked to be an explosive Tribal Council. Since they told us, we can guess that Aubrey would get seven votes, Scot or Bounty Hunter gets four, so the big question, would have Neil played his Idol? Would he have guessed right? Had he and Scot gets the most votes that count, could he have been able to convince Gay Asian and Bounty Hunter to give up their Idols to save him? Le sigh. We will never know. And poor Aubrey, her clostest ally gets pulled and he does not even give her his Idol. But at least she is getting some antibiotics. If I am Scot, I am wondering why she gets some, but not me?
You can download Survivor: Brains vs. Brawn vs. Beauty II on iTunes.

Vikings: Um, so was that Floki dreaming of having sex with Ragnor’s wife, and occasionally morphing into the mysterious dude who only hows up when Ragnor is gone, or was that Ragnor’s wife imagining having sex with two different dudes who is not her husband? It is kind of weird either way.
You can download Vikings on iTunes.

Previewing The Path

House of Cards was a game changer for streaming sites; it came out a swept most of the major television awards in its first year. Sure there have been shows made for the internet since high speed internet became widespread but before House of Cards they were called webseries that looked cheap and most were under ten minutes. But House of Cards was considered a television series that you did not need a television to watch and soon every streaming site were producing television quality series to get eyeballs to their site. Seriously, Playstation Plus has its own series. Sure, like every boon, there were some high profile bust; Yahoo! Screen who resurrected Community has already folded after a $42 million write down.

Hulu started out as a place to watch last night’s episode that you missed on three of the big four networks (CBS, the ratings leader at the time skipped the partnership because they were crushing everyone else but now has its own standalone streaming site with an internet exclusive Star Trek series coming later this year). They had some of the webseries quality type shows (The Hot Housewives series is fun but it certainly is not winning any awards) but finally started throwing some real money around last year with comedies like the Billy Eichner starring Difficult People and Casual from Oscar Best Director nominee Jason Reitman.

Hulu switches its attention to drama this year with more big names. First up was the J.J. Abrams and Stephen King produced and James Franco starring 11.22.63. Since I have been J.J. adverse since the end of Lost, I was much more interesting in their next big swing at drama The Path created by Jason Katims, executive producer of Friday Night Light and Parenthood, and starring two guys coming off high profile television gigs, Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad) and Hugh Dancy (Hannibal).

I have long called Parenthood the blue state version of Friday Night Lights, if that is true, The Path may be the messed up version of Friday Night Lights. At the heart of all Katims show is family, Friday Night Lights had the Taylors, and in a macro sense Dillon football was a surrogate family. That is the case for The Path, here there is the Lane’s (Paul and Michelle Monahan, Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang) but their larger family is not football but a cult (though some would argue Texas football is very cult-like) which Dancy is running while the leader is off adding more rungs to their “ladder” which you will quickly equate to other real life cults.

The series starts off after a tornado hits New Hampshire and Dancy has come to help… and recruited and finds a lost soul and drug addict in Emma Greenwald (Mandy Milkovich number 2 on Shameless) whom he brings back to his New York compound. Early on we also meet Sarah Jones (Alcatraz) who is running from someone, exactly who you think, and by the end of the first episode runs into someone you do not expect. Rockmond Dunbar (Terriers) shows up in the second episode as an FBI agent suspicious of the group for descending on the area hit by the tornado. And since this is a Katims show, of course there is a Dillon alumni cameo, this time in the form of Lyla Garrity doing the hippy dancing (she does do more later in the season).

Netflix completely changed the way television is done, from season and episode lengths to even how the shows are consumed, just air dropping an entire season at once. Despite having the advantages of being a streaming site, Hulu wants to be an old school television network. I do appreciate they still release one episode a week (well they did released the first two episodes today, but presumable just one a week after that). It can be annoying asking people which episode of Daredevil they are before you can talk about it. But I wonder if The Path could have benefited from playing around with the format. It still feels like a Showtime show, well if Showtime had commercial breaks (of course you can pay a couple dollars extra for the ad-free version of Hulu). But really the first season of The Path seemed to go on too long with the middle episodes dragging a bit. It is really should have been a six or seven episode season that got stretched into ten because prestige cable shows run ten or twelve episode. And with those middling middle episode, the show may have been better off if you could binge watch it (of course if you wait nine weeks, you will be able to do that). Those minor gripes aside, The Path is the first show worth paying Hulu for.

The Path is currently available on Hulu with the first two episodes now and new episodes every Wednesday.

I Want My Television Trailers: 2/17/16

I usually save my television trailers for upfronts because, well, that is when the vast majority are released. But two just dropped last week that got me very excited (and two that raised my eyebrow) that they are definitely worth sharing.

The Path


The Path had me at "From the executive producer of Friday Night Lights and Parenthood." Heck, I even watched every episode of About a Boy despite some poor casting decisions. Clearly Jason Katims strong suit is drama and he is back at it with this show and much better casting. First off: welcome back Lyla Garrity, where have you been since Charlie's Angels got axed after three episodes? All I remember seeing her in was a horrible Hallmark Channel movie with Earl Hickey (which I highly recommend if you do enjoy extremely cheesy Hallmark Channel movies). Also in the cast is Will Graham straight from Hannibal except he looks like he may be the sociopath this time around. The trailer is very vague, so I could be wrong but he looks to be like some sort of cult leader. Then throw in Lily Kane's husband from Big Love (screw that other overrated show he was in) and the hot chick from Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Color me excited. And since Katims does like to recycle his actors maybe Lyla will not be the only familiar face, could Buddy Garrity and Landry Clarke be far behind? How about getting Haddie Braverman some work after sending her off the college. Just do not bring in anyone from About A Boy.

Roadies


I am an absolute Cameron Crowe supporter, I will defend Elizabethtown and even enjoyed Aloha despite its nonsensical plot (seriously, how can anyone trash a movie that features an Emma Stone / Bill Murray dance sequence). So naturally I got extremely excited when Showtime announced Cameron Crowe would be creating his first television show called Roadies. It does seem safe to assume that it will just be Almost Famous set in modern times. And it also has a pretty stellar cast: the better Karen Sisco, the better Wilson brother, the always reliable Luis Guzman. And sure Imogen Poots may be the worst name ever for a hot chick but name a female lead in a Cameron Crowe movie that you did not fall in love with? Seriously, he has been the only person to ever make Kate Hudson likeable. Imogen is already on that list based on the trailer alone, which of course, features a great Eddie Vedder song.

House of Lies


Andy Greenwald likes to joke that Showtime shows go on forever so it is sometimes easy to forget they even exist. Like, oh yeah, House of Lies is still on. But really the big takeaway from the trailer of its fifth (fifth!) season was the inclusion of Vinnie Van Lowe. So for those keeping track at home, on her new show, Veronica Mars has hooked up with Vinnie, Dick Casablancas, and gone on a date with Mercer the rapist. You know Sheriff Lamb is just sitting by his telephone right now. Maybe in the eighth season Don.

Roots


No big surprise that Roots is getting remade, it is getting to the point that is is surprising any big event older than a decade does not get remade or rebooted. Ironically right after watching the trailer for the History remake I was flipping around on television and landed on the CNN The Seventies miniseries right in the middle of the Roots segment where they were talking about how powerful that they cast all the evil while plantation owner with beloved television dad. Compare that with the new one where the only one who gets mentioned in the credits is Johathan Rhys Meyers (The Tudors) who always seems to play horrible people.