57 Channels and Only This Is On: 12/18/13

Tomorrow I start my Best of 2013 lists, but before then, I thought I would have a rare mid week 57 Channels post because of all the television on Sunday that deserves some analysis. As for the best of list, you can contribute by filling out the 9th Green's Readers Favorite Songs of 2013 Poll at the bottom of this page (or just click the link).

Quote of the Week: If you had just discovered after 30 years that I was a martian, the least I could do was explain to you life on mars. (Margaret Scully, Masters of Sex)

Song of the Week: Days Are Gone – Haim (Revenge)

Big News of the Week: Hall and Oats Finally in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: The inductees for next year’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame were announced yesterday and to little surprise, Nirvana were a first ballot inductee (though I would have held off the twenty-fifth anniversary of Nevermind). After Rush was inducted this year, another long overlooked rock act with a feverish fan base Nirvana are also in. Peter Gabriel also got in for the second time, he originally was inducted as part of Genesis and this time will be as a solo artist. And things will get mellow with the inclusion of Cat Stevens and Linda Ronstadt. But for my money, the show will be headlined by Hall & Oates the greatest duo in the history of music. I am guessing the reason it took a decade and a half to be nominated (they were inducted after their first nomination) was because of those extremely cheesy eighties music video.

Once Upon a Time: After a really bad first half of the season, this show really needed a reboot, and surprisingly they actually did it, Storybrooke no longer exists, everyone is back in fairytale land where they left off with no recollection of what happened. While Emma and Henry live as is she never gave him up. Okay, this storyline reeks of the flash forwards on the final season of Lost, but as least we know now it will not all turn out to be purgatory (at least hopefully not). But why does Bae go back to fairytale land? He was in the real world when the curse went into effect. And if everything goes back to the way it was pre-curse, does this mean everyone who died will be resurrected. I am guessing that would be the best way to bring Rumplestiltkin back. Of course if that is the case then Peter Pan, the Huntsman, et al will also be resurrected.

With Neverland behind us (hopefully), we did get a glimpse of what is ahead. And no I do not really care how Captain Hook got his memory back. Nope, the real news is we got a glimpse on the next Big Bad: The Wicked Witch of the West. Get ready for some embarrassingly bad CGI flying monkeys.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Once Upon a Time on iTunes.

Homeland: The only thing I hoped for with the finale was that Brody died a horrible death and the writer finally followed through. If only two seasons too late. I was also kind of hoping Carrie would have a miscarriage but unfortunately that did not happen. But hopefully for next season grandpa and auntie take care of the Brody spawn because raising a kid in Istanbul sounds like a horrible idea. And I am guessing that Saul will be part of Carrie’s team in Istanbul. Though how Carrie got a promotion is pretty befuddling after everything she has done over the past season and a half.

Revenge: The series started off with Daniel (presumably at the time) getting shot, so I guess it is almost apropos that he ended up being on the other end of the gun for the teaser to this season. Though it is hard to believe even a drunk Daniel would shoot Emily. Unfortunately the teaser for the second half of the teaser has Emily with amnesia, one of my three least favorite plots on television. Hopefully we learn by the first episode she is faking because I really hate amnesia plotlines.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Revenge on iTunes.

Masters of Sex: Greatest colligate presentation ever. But shockingly the rainmaker got fired for it. So will another college take a chance on him or will he have to go back to running studies at whorehouses? I will be spending the next nine month trying to not go to Wikipedia to avoid spoilers. I did make it through three seasons of Deadwood without checking out history reports on the subject.

How I Met Your Mother: The Mother is so inconsequential that I completely forgot that she ran into Lily until she brought it up. The writers really should have came up with a good storyline for the Mother before actually folding her into the show because of right now, I am not sure if she even make the top 5 of the Ted Mosbey Girlfriend Power Rankings.
You can stream recent episodes over at cbs.com. You can also download How I Met Your Mother on iTunes.

The Sing-Off: Last week’s promo had me a little worried for the safety of Vocal rush and they did inexplicably end up in the Ultimate Sing-Off (even though Voice Play definitely should have been in the bottom two). But thankfully they did make it out unscaved and got two performances from the group. Though I do hope it is the last time we see the group in the bottom because they are significantly better than everyone else this season except Home Free and maybe Ten (that really should be the final three). Since only half of the groups performed, my Power Ranking has unchanged from Sunday with the exception of Element getting the ax.

1. Vocal Rush
2. Home Free
3. Ten
4. acoUstiKats
5. The Filharmonic
6. VoicePlay


Free Download of the Week: Something About December – Christina Perri (iTunes)

Video of the Week: We are a year away from Interstellar from hitting theaters, but you can have your first look now. Well, it mostly looks like stock footage except for a quick glimpse of Matthew McConaughey driving on a country road (which says nothing since the movie supposedly is about space). But that is enough for me consider the movie comes from Christopher Nolan, the guy behind Memento, Inception, oh, yeah, and the Batman trilogy.


Next Week Pick of the Week: What else is there aside from ABC Family’s 25 Days of Christmas?

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 12/15/13

Once Upon a Time: And now Greek Mythology is on the table for the show (how long until Norse mythology is tied in and Thor shows up). It was recently announced that the chick from Lost will be joining the cast as the next Big Bad, I originally thought that she may be the human form of Ursula, who was last seen as extremely bad CGI), but maybe she will be a God. As for Peter Pan unleashing another curse I do not care (but I will put ten cents on Tinkerbell earning her wings by stopping it with pixiedust; speaking of fairies, when did having your shadow ripped from you kill you). Nor do I care that The Darlings saying they are going back home even though home is nineteenth century England.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Once Upon a Time on iTunes.

Homeland: I did not think for a second that Brody had converted back to Al Qaida. It has come pretty obvious that the writers will never have Brody or Carrie turn on each other and have shown that have done the dumbest things for each other. And now Brody is in a heavily guarded compound with no way to escape (and very reminiscent to the way he assassinated the Vice President last season; why don powerful men keep inviting him into a room alone), but I am sure Carrie will still find a way to get him out even though the show would be much better without him.

Masters of Sex: Bill seeing Virginia throughout the episode seemed a little sitcom-y for me even though that last scene with them was very powerful. But it did seem apropos that Bill was obsessed with measuring phalluses considering the former and current lovers of Virginia engaged in a phallus measuring contest all episode.

The Sing-Off: Thank goodness the show is back and not a moment too soon after a lackluster season of The Voice. It has been over a month since The Voice has had a performance as good as Bottom of The River (if the girl who sang lead does not show up on The Voice next year, Mark Burnett has failed as a producer), What Makes You Beautiful or even Cruise. Unfortunately one of the groups that sang one of those songs was already sent home. It is a little weird how they split the third and four episodes especially considering what I considered the two weakest of final eight are both in the same episode. Then the two teams I thought had the best chance to advance far in the competition on Thursday both ended up in the bottom two, sadly with Street Corner Renaissance, who I had already penciled into the finals, going home. So now I am a little worried for Vocal Rush, who gave by far the best performance this season (and followed that up with my middle school jam by C+C Music Factory) even though there are two fodder teams on their episode. It also does not help that the promo makes it looks they struggle with their eighties tune.

If the two best groups from the first round do not make it to the live show I assume we have Mark Burnett to blame because the guy seems to like to have fodder in his sing shows. The other thing we have Mark Burnett to thank for is the new Ultimate Sing-Off where the two bottom teams have their own “Battle Round” with only one advancing, no Steals are in play. These were entertaining, but I am disappointed that they seem to have replaced the Swan Song. I do not see why they could not have done both (aside of course for licensing fees reasons). But anyway. Here is my Power Ranking for those still left in the competition.

1. Vocal Rush
2. Home Free
3. Ten
4. acoUstiKats
5. The Filharmonic
6. Element
7. VoicePlay


You can stream recent episodes on Hulu.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: I think I predicted this earlier, but it became pretty obvious that Sky’s mother is really Mae. But much like The Blacklist, the question is how long they will drag this out. At least in the winter finale, Lizzie came to the realization that it may be the case. How long until Sky figures this out. Mae is old enough, she is a SHIELD agent, Sky looks half Asian, how is May not her first guess. Really the only question now is, could Coulson be the father?
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on iTunes.

Sons of Anarchy: Well that was an unexpected finale. After Jax killed Clay I theorized the only thing the show had left to do was for Tara to kill Jemma. Oops. Got that one backward. Now, I guess all there is left is for Jax to kill his other parent.
You can download Sons of Anarchy on iTunes.

Survivor: Blood vs. Water: Holy Ciera! She actually won an immunity challenge. Maybe she actually is good at puzzles; it is just that her mother is just that much better. But it looks like we are going to be in for a boring finale as the final three will be Tyson beating Gervase and Monica unless Ciera miraculously manages to win another immunity challenge or two. Though it would be obvious Hayden will be voted right back out if he comes back from Redemption Island, I do wonder if Monica will be more prone to flipping if it is Laura or even Tina. Monica probably still loses, but would have much better chance with a all girl final.
You can stream recent episodes on cbs.com. You can also download Survivor: Blood vs. Water on iTunes.

Nashville: Last week I did not even mention the promo monkeys teasing someone dieing this week because it seemed so obvious that it would be Lamar, it did not seemed worth even predicting. Oops again. But I did mention last week that if Will did not come out of the closet they might as well write him off the show and promote Layla to cast regular. So it was either Will or Peggy who may have seen her last day. But like I have said before, I do not believe anyone is dead until I see a body (and even then I am sometimes hesitant) and unlike Peggy who’s lifeless body we saw, we did not see Will’s body. So as of now I am guessing Will stepped off the tracks at the last moment.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Nashville on iTunes.

The Big Bang Theory: C’mon, if you are going to do a It’s a Wonderful Life episode, do a It’s a Wonderful Life episode, not five different segments with five different narrators. I would have liked to see an entire episode of Penny trying to hook up with Sheldon.
You can stream recent episodes on cbs.com. You can also download The Big Bang Theory on iTunes.

The Michael J. Fox Show: I do not why, but I laughed hysterically through the commercial break at the King of Pain joke.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download The Michael J. Fox Show on iTunes.

The 25 Best Performances from The Sing-Off

After a year hiatus The Sing-Off returns tonight and not a moment too soon because everyone worth rooting for on The Voice is long gone. It may not get The Voice time rating, The Sing-Off is the vastly superior singing competition. Where the solo singing contest will have plenty of contestants that will have you reaching for the fast forward button, even the worst group on The Sing-Off is still entertaining. And where the wrong song on The Voice will have you sent packing, there are no such things as bad song choice on The Sing-Off (case in point on tonight’s premiere there is a group of old black dudes who makes a cheesy One Direction song awesome while another makes that horrible Cruise song listenable). So in honor of the return of The Sing-Off here are my favorite performances from the first three seasons (links will take you to YouTube and you can purchase each performance with the iTunes button).

1. Ignition (Remix) - Darthmouth Aires


2. Sledgehammer - Nota


3. Put Your Records On - Afro-Blue


4. Wake Up - Season 3 Contestants


5. Gernade - Delilah


6. King of Anything - Sara Bareilles featuring The Backbeats

7. Paradise by the Dashboard Light - Darthmouth Aires with Amy Whitcomb

8. Fix You - Streetcorner Symphony with the Season 2 Contestants

9. Queen Medley - Darthmouth Aires

10. Under Pressure - Season 1 Contestants

11. American Boy - Afro-Blue

12. Breakeven - The Backbeats

13. Motownphilly - Boyz II Men featuring Committed

14. Dream On - Delilah

15. The Lazy Song - North Shore

16. Sweet Caroline - Beelzebubs

17. Mercy - Jerry Lawson and Talk of the Town

18. Poison - Urban Method

19. All Night Long - Season 3 Contestants

20. I Still Havn't Found What I'm Looking For - Season 1 Contestants

21. Down on the Corner - Streetcorner Symphony

22. If I Were a Boy - The Backbeats

23. Love the Way You Lie - Urban Method

24. Come on Eileen - Streetcorner Symphony

25. The Show Goes On - The Yellowjackets

Best of the Week: 12/7/13

Quote of the Week: They were Kurdish , not to split hairs. But this is not something the president needs to know. (Dar Adal, Homeland)

Song of the Week: Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm – Crash Test Dummies (as sung by Alan Thicke and Wayne Brady, How I Met Your Mother)

Scene of the Week:


Big News of the Week: Veronica Mars Hitting Theaters: Forget Wonder Woman (she is moderately attractive, what more is there to say) because Veronica Mars finally has a release date. And it is not just getting your typical low budge limited theater run before being resigned to digital release, the movie will likely be coming to a theater near you. So mark your calendars for March 14, 2014 (for those that like counting down, that is only 96 days away). There is even a new clip featuring Ronnie’s first run in with Madison Sinclair for the first time in a decade over there. It also has an official name too, just simply Veronica Mars.


Preview Picture of the Week:

Sons of Anarchy Season Finale, Tuesday at 10:00 on FX

Free Download of the Week: This Christmas – Mary J. Blige (iTunes)

Deal of the Week: Greatest Hits as Low as $2.99: Get the best at a discounted price including Sarah McLaughlin, The Bangles, Harry Connick Jr., and Electric Light Orchestra.


New Album Release of the Week: Black Panties - R.Kelly

New DVD Release of the Week: Despicable Me 2

Video of the Week: Every year since 2007 DJ Earworm has taking the Top 40 from Billboards End Year list to create one huge mash-up of the year’s biggest song. He did it a little different this year, not waiting for Billboard and just going with his gut. This led to some omissions (Cups is the first to come to mind) and it is a bit surprising that the two biggest songs from the first half of the year, Blurred Lines and Get Lucky barely get any play yet the backing track is based on Don’t You Worry Child, one song I would never have associated with 2013 in either a good or bad way. The song does have a heavy dose Royals which give its this year's subtitle "Livin' the Fantasy".


Next Week Pick of the Week: The Sing-Off, starting Monday at 9:00 on NBC: The Sing-Off was a great winter break program for two seasons on NBC. It was on almost every day for two weeks and done. Then The Voice happened and NBC certainly wanted to have the show on fall of 2011 after its breakout season in the spring but since it would have been too much of a turnaround they instead expanded The Sing-Off into a weekly fall series and unfortunately it floundered. Then next spring, NBC announced The Voice would expand to two times a year while The Sing-Off was canceled outright and was not even put back to its previous pre-Christmas spot last year. Thankfully NBC had a change of heart (the surprise success of Pitch Perfect and its soundtrack last winter may have something to do with it) and The Sing-Off is getting rebooted starting Monday with the producer of The Voice, Mark Burnett taking the reins (which means the judges will take more of a m mentoring role like his other show, but no swiveling chairs… yet) and new judge Jewel (on her third reality show stint after Nashville Star and the little seen Platinum Hit) taking the spot of Sara Bareilles. Ten groups will be competing this season (same as season two) and unlike the last two season, it does not look like there will be any supergroups made up of past contestants. Here is the full schedule over the next three week and the themes:

Monday (12/9) at 9:00: Signature Songs
Wednesday (12/11) at 8:00: Party Anthems
Thursday (12/12) at 8:00: #1 Hits
Monday (12/16) at 10:00: My Generation
Wednesday (12/18) at 8:00: Movie Night
Thursday (12/19) at 8:00: Judge’s Choice
Monday (12/23) at 9:00: Finale

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

57 Channels and Only This Is On - 12/4/11

Once Upon a Time: I am not sure what made me laugh harder: Jiminy managing to grab onto Ted Mosby’s worst girlfriend with his umbrella even though there is no way his umbrella is really that long (or has a good enough grip) or learning that his real world last name is Hopper.
You can stream current episodes on Hulu. You can also download Once Upon a Time.

The Walking Dead: So we spent six whole episodes looking for Sophia, a character we barely saw in the first six episodes, two other characters get shot while looking for her and another eaten (R.I.P. Otis) and six weeks later she turns up (un) dead. What the frack? It seemed like even before it premiered, AMC was already unhappy with the show and was ready to cancel it except that it did so well in the rating, beating many network shows that there was no way they could possibly cancel it. Now the channel looks like it is trying to sabotage the show with everything that went on behind the scenes between the seasons and with this episode it looks like the writers are in on the sabotage now. Just when you think the characters could not get any more unlikeable, Shane opens up the zombie barn then everyone opens fire on Hershel’s family right in front of him. Sure they needed to be put down, but you do not massacre a man’s family while he is watching. The second half of the season can open next year with Hershel killing everyone else in revenge and I could care less because they really do need to purge the whole cast. And the writers. Basically everyone involved with the show but the makeup artists. If I were to list every show I am currently watching right now in a row, The Walking Dead would rank dead last. And I am still watching Last Man Standing.
You can stream recent episodes over at amc.com. You can also download The Walking Dead on iTunes.

Homeland: I guess the biggest question coming out of this episode was who was actually responsible for the bombing: the United States or did Abu Nazir plan it to get Brady on his side? Both are equally plausible. But the show really has been slowing down these last couple episodes. Maybe it is time to get Carrie off her meds.

The Sing Off: What is it whenever America is left to vote for something, be it a meaningless award show or lame reality series; they almost always get it wrong. It is befuddling to me that Antoine Merriweather did not get one hundred percent of the vote. I would suggest he get into the Republican primary, but I am sure Americans will still stupidly nominate Mitt Romney instead. Almost as disappointing as his loss was that Antoine did not also pull the attractive redhead from Delilah onstage during Paradise By the Dashboard Light. If I am lucky the two will join forces for a super group next season. If they need a ringer for the whistling part in an acapella version of Patience, hopefully they will shout me a holla.



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

Parenthood: We moved move step closer to my dream scenario of Julia letting the coffee girl move and raise her baby as one big happy family. And is it just me or were Haddie and Drew getting a little too close during the ED commercial than cousins should be?
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Parenthood on iTunes.

Sons of Anarchy: From the moment after I realized that the bullet went into Clay’s shoulder I knew they would manage to keep him alive now I fear that they will keep him alive another season by carting him off to jail out of the way from Jax. If Jax does not kill Clay this season, we may be in for another Ireland type cumbersome season next year.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Sons of Anarchy on iTunes.

Survivor: South Pacific: Cochran talking about the other tribe mates as a cult brought back bad flashbacks from last season when the six were a legitimate cult. Hopefully things turn out differently this time around, but since they got rid of Cochran first it looks like we may be in for another long final month.
You can stream recent episodes over at cbs.com.



Beavis and Butt-Head: I was all for the Beavis and Butt-Head movie reviews up until they actually started to show footage from Human Centipede, there are good reasons I have avoided the film and just those clips gave me nightmares. But it was nice to finally see Principal McVicker and Coach Buzzcut.
You can stream recent episodes over at mtv.com. You can also download Beavis and Butt-Head on iTunes.

Best of the Week - 12/3/11

Quote of the Week: Jeff you don't need to worry about what foreigners think about you, that's your right as an American. (Shirley – Community)

Song of the Week: Everybody Knows – Leonard Cohan (Homeland)

Scene of the Week:



Big News of the Week: Grammy Nominations Announced: The biggest shock this year is Bon Iver got nominated for three of the big four award (the most shocking of which being Best New Artist considering he released a highly regarded album in 2008 and The Civil Wars deserved a spot). The only big award he did not get nominated foe was Album of the Year which had some head scratching inclusions. Aside from obvious selection of ADELE, there was also the critically mixed inclusions of Lady GaGa (who has yet to have a smash single like her previous album and only sold a million copies thanks to a $.99 sale on Amazon MP3 when released), Foo Fighters (who many people do not even remember released an album in the past year), Rihanna (who fills her albums with a bunch of decent songs but no one has ever said, wow that is a great Rihanna album) and Bruno Mars (who only seems like he released his album around the time Bon Iver released his first one). It seems like about they made too many people say “who” when Arcade Fire walked away with the Best Album trophy by nominated the biggest pop names. Actually only Foo Fighters is not nominated in the Best Pop Album category. It is a bit surprising that they left out actual well received albums by Kanye West, Taylor Swift, Tony Bennett, Wilco, Radiohead, The Civil Wars and Fleet Foxes which were all downgraded to genre specific Album categories. But let’s keep the Grammy’s in perspective: Hilary Clinton and Milli Vanilli have won more Grammy Awards than the Beach Boys and Bob Marley. Here are some other thoughts on the lesser categories:

El DeBarge nominated for Best R&B album. Seriously. In 2011.

Tina Fey vs. Betty White for Best Spoken Word Album.

"Weird Al" Yankovic nominated for Best Short Form Video for Perform This Way; not nominated in the category: Lady Gaga.

Free Download of the Week: O Come Emmanuel - Single of the Week - The Civil Wars – The Civil Wars (iTunes)

Deal of the Week: 100 Albums for $5: A new batch of albums are on sale for $5.00 this month over at Amazon MP3 including The Civil Wars, Sara Bareilles, John Mayer and Jack Johnson.



New Album Release of the Week: El Camino - The Black Keys

New DVD Release of the Week: The Help

Video of the Week: With Friday Night Lights wrapping up its last season there is now a void for best television show on television. Justified is currently in the poll position but with Ma Bennett drinking her own apple pie and Loretta McCreary moving to the suburbs to live with Tim the Toolman Taylor, the show is going to have to refill the bench. Recruiting Carla Gugino to be Raylan’s bosses boss may help. Promos for the third season have started to air before the it returns Tuesday January 17 at 10:00 on FX and here is one of them:

The Hat


Next Week Pick of the Week: The Sing-Off, Monday at 8:00 on NBC: Antoine Merriweather may have unceremoniously denied the championship for the third season of The Sing-Off, but he and all stars from all three seasons will return tomorrow for a holiday special that will for some reason also include Flo Rida singing a non-Christmas song. But then again, when you think acapella Christmas, who does not instantly think Flo Rida?

57 Channels and Only This Is On - 11/26/11

Quote of the Week: I’m winged on inter-agency cooperation. Nothing I like better than seeing the FBI stand around with their (expletive deleted) in their hands watching us work. (Saul, Homeland)

Song of the Week: Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat) – Digital Planets (Suburgatory)

Gratuitous Token Hot Chick Picture of the Week:



Scene of the Week:



Big News of the Week: Ndamukong Suh Officially a Dirty Player: If bodyslamming quarterbacks WWF style or ripping guy’s helmets off their heads was not enough, Suh getting thrown out of a game on Thanksgiving for kicking sealed his fate as a dirty player. But the best part is that following the game Suh actually tried to convince everyone that he was not stopping on the dude but was just trying to get his balance not thinking we had slow motion, video evidence that he was trying to stomp the dude out.


The Walking Dead: I understand the sediment that you would want to keep your friends and neighbors around in case there is a cure, but there is no cure for death. I take it this is yet another zombie story where the characters live in a world where no one has ever come up with a concept of a zombie before.
You can stream recent episodes over at amc.com. You can also download The Walking Dead on iTunes.

Homeland: I knew Brady explaining everything away last episode was a bit too easy, and we finally get conformation that Brody was working with Nassir. But now that he is “out” what now?

How I Met Your Mother: Robin is pregnant? But more importantly Winston Zeddemore asked Marshall, who you gonna call?”!!!
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, please no more Mega Mix Week please, even the best performance (Urban Method) was mediocre at best. Then, with a half an hour to go, they only had one more group to performance and I wondered if they were actually going to string the elimination for twenty minutes? Apparently they would and having the bottom two perform their “best song” was really poor planning on the show’s part. Couldn’t they brought in a guest performance or just have a second group performance? It did not help that all the while I actually thought they would advance all four groups to the finale like they did last season. Even after they voted I thought Nick would chime in saying he was voting for Afro Blue forcing a tie. It is a shame that did not happen because Afro Blue was my second favorite group of the season. But Antoine Merriweather made it and head over to NBC.com by Sunday at 9:00 AM to vote for him.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download songs from The Sing-Off on iTunes.

Parenthood: Watching Kristina lose her mind over the receptionist kissing Adam was painful enough, but knowing that some of the writers were also responsible for Friday Night Lights which handled someone dealing with someone else kissing their spouse the right way (remember Glen?), made it that much more painful to sit through.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Parenthood on iTunes.

Sons of Anarchy: My first thought at the final scene was, “wow, they really killed of Clay, I thought if they were to do it, they would wait until the season finale!” But my second though was “Wait, it looks like the bullet went into his shoulder.” If it turns out to be a non fatal shooting, that would make the second cliffhanger death fake out this season which it two too many.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Sons of Anarchy on iTunes.

Suburgatory: I have long thought all the adults sans George are family worthless on this show, but this was the first episode where I actually enjoyed Dallas as she was stuck with Tessa for Thanksgiving Eve. While Dalia managed to get even scarier while planning the Thanksgiving dinner thanks to a new furry family member to torment her.
You can stream current episodes on Hulu. You can also download Suburgatory on iTunes.

Revenge: Oh snap, not-Amy Abbott just outted herself to the childhood church that she was actually Amy Abbott, or something to that effect. But hopefully Amy first deals with the annoying best friend of a troll because he wore out his welcome a month ago. Or maybe she will kill two bird with one stone soon.
You can stream current episodes on Hulu. You can also download Revenge on iTunes.


Free Download of the Week: Christmas Lights – Coldplay (iTunes): And if that is not enough free Coldplay for you, Google Music is offering up a free live EP from the band. And if that is not enough free Christmas music for you try heading over to Amazon MP3 for Eisley’s take on Oh Holy Night.

Deal of the Week: Black Friday to Cyber Monday Deals on Amazon

New Album Release of the Week: Adele Live At The Royal Albert Hall (Blu-ray/CD)

New DVD Release of the Week: Smallville: The Complete Series

Video of the Week: I have a long standing belief that Amanda Seyfried is one of the best actresses of her generation, the only problem is that she really needs to fire her agent because every movie she has been in since her first (Mean Girls) has been painfully bad and getting worse with every movie. Her upcoming film Gone does not look like it will completely buck the trend, but it has to be better than Red Riding Hood right?



Next Week Pick of the Week: Leverage, Sunday (Tomorrow) at 9:00 on TNT: The show is back for the second half of their fourth season with eight new episodes every Sunday (yes including Christmas and New Years Day but without themed episodes). Look for a full preview tomorrow.

57 Channels and Only This Is On - 11/20/11

Once Upon a Time: Do they really spoil one of the big mysteries of the show in the promo every week? It has been hinted at never outright said in the show that the Evil Queen knows of the fairytale world, but the preshow promo for the last two weeks comes right out and says she is the only one who remembers. Is this just the promo monkeys gone bad and making assumptions (which happened a couple times on Lost and the writers complained about), or are they actually spoiling the show?
You can stream current episodes on Hulu. You can also download Once Upon a Time.

The Walking Dead: We finally get a payoff at the farm with the discovery of the Walkers Barn. I take it that is the rest of his family that they are preserving in hopes that there will be a cure, though not as funny as the Shaun of the Dead ending. Which begs the question, when will Zombie Otis show up and join them?
You can stream recent episodes over at amc.com. You can also download The Walking Dead on iTunes.

Homeland: The first forty-five minutes of this episode seemed like filler, but boy did they kick it into high gear. First, Carrie come right out and accuses Brady of being a turncoat complete with a Q&A session (though some of answers seemed too convenient to be red herrings like him seeing the head terrorist and lying about it). Then we learn that his partner is actually the POW that got turned. Wow. That is really a long con to throw your scent off someone by putting it on his partner. Cannot wait until the next episode.

Pan Am: The more absurd this show is the better. Landing in hostel Haiti for a heart attack patient: sure why not. Hopefully in the near future there is an episode where someone draws landing gear onto the plane like the Amazing Stories episode.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Pan Am on iTunes.

How I Met Your Mother: The only thing that felt longer than Marshall and Ted’s trip for nachos was how I felt watching this episode. Seriously guys, it’s the comedy law of three not five.
You can stream recent episodes over at cbs.com. You can also download How I Met Your Mother on iTunes.

The Sing Off: Screw you promo monkeys who made me sweat all week thinking Antoine Merriweather might be axed this week. Turns out his group was not even in the bottom two this week. Bad promo monkeys. Of course I knew there was no way the Aires would be sent home after watch the Ignition (Remix) because that was my favorite performance of the season. With the Judges’ Pick next week, my head might exploded if they actually give them Trapped in the Closet.

The Sing-Off Week 7 Power Ranking (change from last week in parentheses):

1. Dartmouth Aires
2. Urban Method
3. Afro Blue
4. Pentatonix



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

2 Broke Girls: This was a show I was really looking forward to, and even though it has been constantly funny so far, I was hoping for more and my disappointment mostly stems from Caroline who remains one note with a borderline annoying voice, but her White-Mariah routine was hilarious.

Parenthood: Is it wrong that I laughed historically at all of Sydney’s hissy fits. Quality entertainment. Though the ending of the storyline was a bit cheesy. But I knew as soon as Adam told Crosby not to hook up with the absurdly attractive receptionist, she would come onto him instead. Hopefully they do not fire her because she can just blame it on the alcohol and seriously Adam, you only escort a girl to her door if you are expecting a kiss.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Parenthood on iTunes.

Sons of Anarchy: Wait, did they actually blow up that one dude? But it looks like they are going to spread out the someone killing Clay out for the rest of the season. I fear every new episode until them will introduce someone new as the potential killer and next season we will be stuck with a Who Killed Clay storyline.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Sons of Anarchy on iTunes.

Survivor: South Pacific: It is about time Survivor finally realize that they should go two Tribal Councils per episode after the merge. Hopefully that continues for most of the rest of the season.
You can stream recent episodes over at cbs.com.



Revenge: I have long only liked Amy Abbott on the show, but they finally introduced a second character for me to root for: her alter-ego. She looks to give Claire Danes a run for her money in the crazy department.
You can stream current episodes on Hulu. You can also download Revenge on iTunes.

The Big Bang Theory: I’m disappointed we were denied seeing Sheldon and Penny actually going on a date.
You can stream recent episodes over at cbs.com. You can also download The Big Bang Theory on iTunes.

Community: When Jeff came onscreen as the Dean I actually thought that it was really David Cross. And I am sure I have said this before, but more Crazy Annie please.
You can stream current episodes on Hulu. You can also download Community on iTunes.

Beavis and Butt-Head: Having the boys watch other television shows was mildly entertaining to begin with but they get less funny every week. I cannot believe I am actually going to suggest anyone watch Lady GaGa, but how have Beavis and Butt-Head not watched any of her videos yet? I need them to rip her to shreds.
You can stream recent episodes over at mtv.com. You can also download Beavis and Butt-Head on iTunes.

Chuck: Boo, why could they not finally kill off Morgan? And if I could actually live in a world where Indiana Jones was still a trilogy.
You can stream current episodes on Hulu. You can also download Chuck on iTunes.