57 Channels and Only This Is On: 3/8/15

Once Upon a Time: Seriously, no one noticed the smoke monster slither out of the magic hat? And if Mr. Gold is such an evil genius, why wait at the city line for a sea hag that in no way should help you get back into Storybrooke when you could just stowaway in the truck of the car? But when your adversaries are dumb enough to believe someone stole your phone and just happened to call you out of nowhere, you look like a genius next to them.
You can download Once Upon a Time on iTunes.

The Walking Dead: Last week I suggested there will end up being something nefarious about Alexandra, but watching this episode I am beginning to think that Rick and company will be the antagonists to the city folk, not the other way around. And why did no one offer Carl a haircut too?
You can download The Walking Dead on iTunes.

Marvel's Agents of SHIELD: I was hoping through Skye's transformation she would find a new hairstyle, but alas, it is for not. overall kind of a meh episode even with the Hydra take down and the new Raina. Is it possible they can get Agent Carter into a time machine and inserted into this show?
You can download Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on iTunes

Justified: So Limehouse did sell out Ava and yet Boyd does not irrationally kill her like Dewey (aside from a brief question from Raylan last week, does anyone care that he has been missing since the first episode; Dewey deserves justice). Boyd cannot possibly trust her anymore (which is why he gave her a gun with no bullets), so I wonder if he will eventually (try to) get rid of her once he knows for sure what Raylan is doing.
You can download Justified on iTunes.

The Challenge: Battle of the Exes: Welcome back Nany, who wastes no time getting into her first fight. Whoever decided to put her in slo-mo while Bananas puts a fist in his mouth deserves a Emmy for that editing.
You can download The Challenge: Battle of the Exes II on iTunes.

Survivor: White Collar vs. Blue Collar vs. No Collar: I was racking my brain trying to think of a time when an entire tribe was blindsided by a vote where an Idol was not involved. And what a horrible move, Will went from the swing vote and in control of the destiny of his tribe to the least liked person in the tribe that no one can trust. This show is at its best when it is filled with morons and this season has its fair share of them.
You can download Survivor: White Collar vs. Blue Collar vs. No Collar on iTunes.

Hindsight: You gotta love any show that starts off an episode with a Toad the Wet Sprocket deep cut. Though I do not understand why Becca just does not stop Kevin right away, she know what it does to her relationship with Lolly and it is clearly not something that lasts because she end up with Andy. But kudos to Lolly for deciphering that Letters to Cleo song.
You can download Hindsight on iTunes.

The Americans: After two and a half season, are we finally going to get two plot twists that should have happened at the very least last season? The promo sure makes it looks like Paige will finally learn about her parents' double life and that one of the Jennings will actually get caught after too many close calls.
You can download The Americans on iTunes.

The Blacklist: Television has been littered with countless characters that should have been killed off a lot earlier than they did which range from just rolling your eyes whenever they walk on screen to completely ruining a great show, something that will forever be known as "The Brody." Tom is currently closer to the eye-rolling portion of the spectrum right now, but the show should have really killed him at the end of last season, he serves no purpose now.
You can download The Blacklist on iTunes.

King of the Nerds: It became pretty obvious that I would have no chance on this show. During that name as many nerd culture things as you could, I probably only would have done good in the movies and Mario Kart categories. Though I would have crushed the Stratigo Nerd Off. C'mon, you always put the flag in the front row if you are playing someone smart.
You can download King of the Nerds on iTunes.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 3/1/15

The Walking Dead: The biggest problem with the show is that the show is predicated on the character being completely stupid for it to be any good. The smart thing to do in a zombie apocalypse would be to join up with as many living people as possible to beat back the zombie hoards. The smart thing to do back in season one would have been to join forces with the nursing home people, but had they done that, that show would have been extremely boring. So our protagonists are stupid. Which leads us to this week. The smart thing would have been to jump in the camper and ride up to Alexandra and enjoy all the homemade applesauce they would let someone else force down their throats. Instead we get an entire episode of Rick being paranoid when the alternative is that his group starves to death. Of course Rick has every reason to be cautious because the homosexuals will obviously turn out to be evil like every other group they have run into since they opted out of the nursing home: The Governor was a megalomaniac, Terminus was full of cannibals, even the cops in the hospital were basically using slave labor. Now the only question is what demented thing are these Alexandrians in to. Well, besides forcing their children to eat applesauce against their will. That is the evil cult I want to run into when their is a zombie apocalypse.
You can download The Walking Dead on iTunes.

Gotham: After The Dark Knight trilogy I was hoping for a little more lighthearted Batman adaptation as a follow up. I was not expecting The Brave and the Bold or even Adam West type cheesy fun. If Man of Steel was any indication, Batfleck will be as dour as Christian Bale and the show is not much cheerier. That is why I liked all the silly comedy associated with the Red Hood this week. Unfortunately the mail characters went to darker places this week with Alfred getting stabbed and, oh goodness, why did Fish scoop out her own eye and step on it? When she said their was a option C, how did that be the only thing that crossed her mind? Fish Mooney has quickly moved into Brody territory of why did they not kill them off much earlier then they actually did? Really she is only behind Brody and Otto from Sons of Anarchy (who also lost and eye and was into self mutilation) on that list right now.
You can download Gotham on iTunes.

Marvel's Agent Carter: It has become Marvel tradition that the final scene is dedicated to some big plot twist or recognizable star making an appearance. I figured that scene for the season finale of Agent Carter would be dedicate to her being the first S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. Nope, they went with the more shocking route with the dude from Captain America lurking in the shadows. That will be a formidable big bad team for a potential season two. Instead of waiting until next winter, how about another eight week season this summer?
You can download Marvel's Agent Carter om iTunes.

Justified: Poor Choo-Choo, it did not quite have the Of Mice and Men ending as it teased, but still sad. I thought maybe he would make it when the train stopped but alas, it looks like he is gone. And the plot twist just kept coming, it is clear the Lawnmower Man set up for Boyd to go down that hole, but why? And why exactly did Limehouse sell out Ava?
You can download Justified on iTunes.

The Challenge: Battle of the Exes: Stupid promo monkeys. From the very introduction of Ex-ile in the first episode, we have heard Sarah say, "This changes evvvvvvverything" and they play her saying that basically every week, or very least on every episode. So it was pretty clear she and Jordan would still be around by the time TJ announces the twist to the unsuspecting competitors still around. This lead to little drama in the dome as it was clear Sarah would be back. Speaking of spoilers, the promo for next week really looked like Nany's ponytail making their return inevitable (of course if the show were scripted, then Nany and Bananas would obviously be the ones chosen to get back in the game). But they do have to go through the behemoth that is Zach, but since he just lost a strength based dome, it is very possible.
You can download The Challenge: Battle of the Exes II on iTunes.

Survivor: White Collar vs. Blue Collar vs. No Collar: The show is at its best whenever it divides its tribe along specific attributes, well except the age season, that one not surprisingly turned out bad. And the show needs a good season after the disastrous last season when it became how flawed Blood vs. Water was. No one really stuck out as someone to root for, I kind of want to do that for the "hearing advocate" (hey, it is better than coconut vendor and this is the No Collar tribe) but the promo monkeys make it look like she is not long for this game.

One thing that really stuck out to me is how much this season resembles Brains vs. Brawn vs. Beauty. White Collar are the Brain, Blue Collar are the Brawn, an though they are not all that attractive, No Collar do share some attributes of the Beauty tribe. And just like the previous season, the White Collar are trying way too hard to outsmart each other early like the Brains tribe did. You just cannot take the deceit that early in the game and if you do, you better come up with a better excuse then what they did. Poor So, pretty much was voted out because of it.

Except that was a really dumb play on the White Collar tribe. The move was to vote out Carolyn, first off she seems really annoying, is old, and most importantly has the Hidden Immunity Idol. The two swing guys should had targeted her, if she does not play the Idol, a weak and annoying player is gone; if she does play it, oh well, So goes home and the Idol is flushed out.

Since I see this season playing out like Brains vs. Brawn, vs. Beauty, that means a White Collar will not win because they will try to out think each other, eventually playing themselves out of the game; the No Collar will turn on each other early and often (that love triangle cannot possibly end well); so that mean a Blue Collar wins. I just hope that the Masshole does not turn out to be this season's Tony, so I will predict Mike as the winner.
You can download Survivor: White Collar vs. Blue Collar vs. No Collar on iTunes.

Hindsight: I thought the music supervisor really screwed up when Vanessa Carlton started playing at the beginning of the episode. But they threw a curve and eventually let us know they flashbacked (or forward depending how you look at it) to 2003. Lolly's normal looking hair should have been the hint at the time. Granted later in the episode during the 2003 timeline they did use the nineties Sarah McLachlan classic, so the music survivor did much that up a little.
You can download Hindsight on iTunes.

The Americans: It seems like Philip has ninety-nine problems, and they are all (expletive delete). Two wives and two fifteen year old's. The Jennings have done some pretty morally corrupt acts on the show, but seducing a fifteen year old have to be number one.
You can download The Americans on iTunes.

Nashville: It seems like every week things go from bad to worse for Layla, but shockingly something went her way this week getting signed by Rayna (off of a kind of crappy song, but alas). But then it looks like she already sabotaged that relationship but hiring Rayna's archnemesis Jeff as her manager. Bad move Layla.
You can download Nashville on iTunes.

King of the Nerds: Well that was disappointing. I was kind of hoping that the secret six five alliance would make the wrong decision and Colby would send another one of them home. Oh well.
You can download King of the Nerds on iTunes.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 2/22/15

The Saturday Night Live 40th Anniversary Special: That somehow managed to be awesome and a complete mess at the same time. Sm basically like every SNL episode ever. The great moments were great: Bill Murray singing The Love Theme to Jaws, Emma Stone, Wayne's World, Jerry Seinfeld's Q&A, Turd Ferguson, R.I.P. Jon Lovitz. But the bad was really bad: Did anyone get excited for another installment of The Californians which was almost inexplicably saved by David Spade (I wish there were more generational cross pollination), the ESPN guys, Eddie Murphy's weird acceptance speech type appearance, and why have Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake since forty years of catchphrases when ninety percent of the people who originally uttered those phrases were sitting the crowd, yet the only ones included were Debby Downer and Mary Catherine Gallagher.

Plus all the musical performances seemed unnecessary except Paul Simon (and it was nice that they brought back G.E. Smith); did we really need to hear Paul McCartney horsely sing Maybe I'm Amazed (at least it was not Hey Jude for the millionth time; the weird country version of 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover (with no Vanessa Bayer sighting); which was only out-weirded by whatever Kanye West was doing. They could have cut those to give more time to Weekend Update, maybe all the guys could have read some fake news too even though the greatest anchor Dennis Miller was conspicuously absent from the evening, but it was funny during the retrospective that the the one Norm McDonald joke they showed was an OJ one considering it is assumed he was kicked off the show because of too many Simpson jokes.

And why have Jack Nicholson of all people introduce the political package when they could have had all the presidential impersonators intro that. I wonder if what stopped them was a lack of Ronald Reagan without Phil Hartman or Dennis Quaid (though Jim Carrey does a very good impression) or maybe they could not decide which of the five who did W Bush would represent. But overall it was an enjoyable walk down memory lane.

Shameless: Jimmy is back and of course Fiona made a bad decision because that is the only kind of decision she seems to make. Sure she kicked him out in the end, but I have a feeling that will not last long because her husband will undoubtedly walk in on them at some point. I do find it odd that there is no episode tonight, the show went head to head with the Super Bowl, but takes Oscar night off.

The Walking Dead: It is clear this show is at its best when the group is separated because this episode was quite boring until the guy at the end who knew Rick showed up. I take it he was the friend with the water.
You can download The Walking Dead on iTunes.

Gotham: Last week's promo teased the arrival of The Joker (um, his first name is really Jerome?) but we also got our first glimpse of Robin. Well, sort of, but not really. No Dick Grayson's were mentioned but I am just going to go ahead and assume that the couple who said their were going to name their first child after him will be Robin's parents. I though for sure when the female was protesting the name I was convinced she was going to say something like, "I though we decided on Richard." Oh well. But I kind of like how excited Brody's wife was about helping Gordon out with the case.
You can download Gotham on iTunes.

Pretty Little Liars: Those dance montage sequences may have been the most entertaining part of any episode of this show. Why couldn't Hanna training for a pageant be an entire season plotline?
You can download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.

Marvel's Agent Carter: I was mildly surprised when Peggy got caught last week, but the Chief throwing himself out the building was a huge shock. Guess he will not be back if there is a second season. Not that anyone but Peggy would because it seems clear this season will end with the creation of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Peggy as its first agent.
You can download Marvel's Agent Carter om iTunes.

Justified: Oh Constable Bob, where have you and your taser been all season? Though Ava trying to leave town just seemed like filler even if the taser and the cattle prod were entertaining byproducts of that storyline.
You can download Justified on iTunes.

The Challenge: Battle of the Exes II: Last week Zach almost a legitimate Of Mice and Men reference and this week he gave a, albeit warped, parable from The Bible; how did he not win the trivia challenge? But clearly T.J. enjoys trivia week way too much. I am guessing it was his idea to swaddle the contestants like babies and unwrap them when they lose. Disappointingly no one gave completely inane answers except when Leroy answered "Africa" when T.J. was looking for a country.
You can download The Challenge: Battle of the Exes II on iTunes.

Hindsight: A couple weeks ago the show highlighted one of my favorite songs of all time, R.E.M.s Nightswimming and this week they pulled out another personal top ten, All I Want Is You by U2. I will forgive that the song actually came out in the eighties (though you could argue it is a nineties song because it was on the Reality Bites Soundtrack). The rest of the episode was pretty much a filler, Becca and Australian dude broke up, again; the two boring people did not break up again, instead got married. But next they do promise all the questions will be answered, so there is that. At the very least, it will still have an awesome soundtrack.
You can download Hindsight on iTunes.

Nashville: Oh snap, Rayna just got Jeff fired (and looking at the previews, sinks the whole label in the process). And poor Layla, about to get her shot in front of the owner and the meeting gets canceled after Jeff gets fired. Nothing is ever going to go right for that girl
You can download Nashville on iTunes.

King of the Nerds: I have been out on Under the Dome for the entirely of the second season, but who knew the chick from that show was extremely cool? Get that girl on more talk show people.
You can download King of the Nerds on iTunes.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 2/15/15

2015 Grammy Awards: I had a feeling 2014 was not a very good year for music when I was making my best of the year list and watching this year's Grammy's verified that after seeing Sam Smith and Beck win the top four awards especially considering they were basically the best in very weak fields (well I would have given Haim the Best New Artist Award). But usually in weak musical years, the show can produce great once in a lifetime duets, but all of those fell flat. Really, a week later nothing really stands out to me this year except how boring it was.

The Walking Dead: Hold ghosts of Tyrese past! I have to admit I have enjoyed this season significantly more that the earlier ones, but why oh why had the show killed off its two most entertaining characters in back to back episodes yet Carl is still alive (thee third, Bob literally bit it earlier this season two).
You can download The Walking Dead on iTunes.

Pretty Little Liars: Oh Spencer, you are a moron. Did she really think that some college hired the dude to make a mural and to do it with spray paint at night? But I really could care less about these girls personal lives, just stick the the overly complex murder mystery of someone who probably is not even dead.
You can download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.

Mavel's Agent Carter: Whoa, they were actually able to catch Peggy, I was a assuming as soon as she went on the lamb she would stay there until she was able to clear her name. And even more shocking it was a kiss from a Russian spy that brought her down. But the most shocking was the Russian scientist ended up being in cahoots with the spy. All this intrige should make for an interesting final two episodes.
You can download Marvel's Agent Carter om iTunes.

Justified: Watching this episode and the previews for next week was a greatest hits of recurring characters past (Loretta McCreary! Dicky Bennett!! Constable Bob!!! Elmore Limehouse!!!!) and that pretty much sums it up because I think the rest are either dead or in jail. Jake Busy is already on the dead list after just one episode with yet another memorable death scene on the show. I laughed through the entire commercial break. But it was nice to see Loretta outsmart Dicky one more time, not that it very hard thing to do.
You can download Justified on iTunes.

The Challenge: Battle of the Exes II: It is time for the annual annoying "To Be Continued" episode. Usually this comes right before the final elimination challenge. So we have to wait a week to see who goes home. But this has been two straight sad challenges. Last week TJ had to admonish all the guys who were too scared to jump out the surfboard contraption challenge and this week half of the teams could not even finish at all and had to institute a mercy rule. Even more sad, Jonna's puzzle was extremely embarrassing (Zach was right to compared it to something a third grader put together which was his second best comment of the evening after his almost correct reference to Of Mice and Men) and Brittany somehow did worse than her.
You can download The Challenge: Battle of the Exes II on iTunes.

Hindsight: Of course the show eventually worked in the famous Say Anything boombox scene, but this definitely the first time anyone thought to use KWS as the soundtrack. And it only got better when the batteries ran out.
You can download Hindsight on iTunes.

The Americans: Yawn, another near miss by the FBI. At least there was that bizarre and random scene with Paige finding a picture of their neighbor in a bikini in her brother's room.
You can download The Americans on iTunes.

Nashville: Of course his niece was not a match and his sister does not want to give hers (okay that was a bit of a serve, I just thought she would not be a match), it is beyond obvious that Deacon is going to have to get a new liver from his daughter. I wonder how long they will stretch this until he asks (or more likely she offers).
You can download Nashville on iTunes.

King of the Nerds: Whoa, Moby really takes his nerd culture seriously. But you have to side with him because it is really stupid for someone to pick a fight with a judge.
You can download King of the Nerds on iTunes.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 4/6/14

Once Upon a Time: It is probably not a good sign when you laugh through a whole death scene, but Neil’s death was just silly. C’mon, how about at least trying true love’s kiss to revive him?
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Once Upon a Time on iTunes.

Shameless: So Frank finally got his liver and then thinks the little girl in the next bed who died is Fiona. So will that actually be the catylist for him to be a better man? I am guessing he will be back to destroying his new liver by next season’s premiere.

The Walking Dead: In the lead up to the season finale, the questioned seemed like it would not be if one of the main characters died, or even which one (Rick already being booked for Talking Dead for the very first time seemed ominous), but how many. Well it ended up being none. Sure there was a very gruesome death; Rick ripping out the neck of some dude with his teeth was nearly as gruesome as any zombie on human violence in the show, but it still was anti-climatic that the foursome all made it out with only a black eye to show for it. We also found out that Terminus was naturally not what it seemed. Glen went in the front door and Rick went through the back but still ended up in the same place. It was dark, but it I did not see Carol, Tyrese, or even Beth. Now I have to spend seven months debating if to check out the graphic novel spoilers to see what I actually up with Terminus.
You can download The Walking Dead on iTunes.

Resurrection: So is this going to turn into a new dead person a week type show? The latest zombie is the most interesting of the three we have met, one that committed suicide but no longer wants to die and kind of wants to rekindle her old flame who just so happens to be married now. That is a lot more interesting than the kid and the criminal.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Resurrection on iTunes.

Revenge: Why is every time Aiden leaves, they still find a dumb reason to bring him back? Just let him go, he brings nothing to the show. Or better yet, just kill him off so you are not tempted to bring him back.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Revenge on iTunes.

House of Lies: Finally they killed off T.I. He really dragged down this season. I am glad Marty accused Dre of setting up a gang hit so it seemed less racist when it first crossed my mind.

The Voice: So the big twist this season is that there is a second round of battles instead of the Knockout Round with the big difference being that this round the singers get to pick the song they sing. Except as we found out, the song they had to pick was from a short list of three songs. And I wonder if they really had a choice between the three because Stevie Jo and Morgan Wallen settling on One Direction looked like really bad acting.

We did not even get to learn the other two for half of the battles this week and with so many bad songs this week I have to wonder just how much worse the other were. You had Christina Grimmie and Sam Behymer doing the horrible One Republic song which was used in a Battle just last season. It’s a Man’s, Man’s, Man’s World was also used in a Battle last year. Then there was the horrible Miley Cyrus song which I think Blake included just so he could make a twerking joke. The only song choice this week that did not have me rolling my eyes was Have a Little Faith in Me, one of the greatest songs ever written.

And as bad as the song selection was, some of the coaches’ decisions were worse. I disagreed with five of the nine Battles shown (as for the one montage, I would have also would have seen Emily B advance). Personally I would have gone with Tess Boyer, Sam, and Ddendyl to win their Battles. Then there was the curious case of the steals this week. I was scratching my head when Usher and the other coaches were talking like Stevie Jo was the frontrunner when Morgan has been better (maybe he really bombed in his montaged first Battle). And then Usher let Morgan get stolen by Adam even though he could easily go further with the voter than Stevie Jo. But I am only assuming Usher let Adam have Morgan because Adam inexplicitly let Josh Kaufman go to Team Usher when Josh was Adam’s best chance of winning this season.

Now I doubt Josh and Morgan will make the Live Shows (which will not be until the top 12 this season) because I do not think any stolen contestant will make it that far except for Tess just because someone on Team Shakira has to advance besides Clarissa Serna and a third random singer who will be voted out first (I am assuming will be Deja Hall). I think we may have to pencil Blake in for a fourth win in five seasons because he is the only person that has not made a colossally bad decision so far this season and looks like he will go into the top 12 with three singers, Audra McLaughlin, Sisaundra Lewis, and Jake Worthington, that would contend to win this season. Of course there is still another round and a half for him to make a colossally bad decision himself. But this is the guy who last season dumped Holly Henry for the worst singer to ever make the Live Show.


You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download songs performed this week with the widget at right.

How I Met Your Mother: So we spent an entire weekend at Barney and Robin’s wedding just to see them get divorced about ten minutes into the series finale. But to put it in perspective, we spent nine years learning how Ted met the mother only for him to end up with Aunt Robin.
You can stream recent episodes over at cbs.com. You can also download How I Met Your Mother on iTunes.

The Blacklist: So Tom really thinks that he left behind no clues that link back to him from his evil abandoned warehouse? Maybe after his “brother” end up dead he will realize that maybe his wife may be on to him. Hopefully something finally goes down between the two in the next episode.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download The Blacklist on iTunes.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: I was going to be fairly disappointed if The Clairvoyant ended up just being Steven Hawkings but it looks like it will end up being a SHEILD agent. But I wonder if I should even watch the next episode for fear of having Captain American spoiled for me because I have an irrational dislike of movie theaters and will not be seeing it until it comes out on Blu-Ray at the earliest. Sure the post-Thor episode did not spoil anything other than London being destroyed (but you could see that in the trailer) because it mostly took place in Asgard. It is my assumption that Winter Soldier is all about the interworking of SHIELD which should have some sort of effect on a show based on the agency.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on iTunes.

Justified: Oh Raylan, you sneaky guy, you: having the judge go after Kendal as an adult to get Darryl to fess up for his crime. Of course that will not happen, but I am sure Wendy is not going to just go along with this, but who does she go after, Raylan or Darryl? But more importantly, what loophole will Dewey use to get him out of jail this time? Or are they finally going to greenlight my Dewey Dickie jail setting spin-off show. I am not sure if Ava will make it that long to star in a co-ed version.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Justified on iTunes.

Survivor: Cagayan: I have really come to dislike this cast, but that was still a pretty entertaining Tribal Council, maybe even top five of all time. First you had two Immunity Idols, that no one but the owners knew about prior to being played, being traded. You had the mad scramble by the non-Idol holding alliance to someone new. They managed to land on someone who was not saved by an Idol making the big Idol play by the minority alliance the anti-Parvati. Oh, but that is not it, when the final name is called, it turned out all this Idol madness did not even matter because in one of the dumber moves in Survivor history, Cass flipped out of what looks to be pure spite to Sarah for being a preening schmo. Awesome. So Cass went from being in what look to be an almost lock for final three with the remaining Brains to being sixth in a six person alliance. I do not think they could have cast dumber “Brains” if they tried.
You can stream recent episodes on cbs.com. You can also download Survivor: Cagayan on iTunes.

The Americans: Oh my, Elizabeth seducing Clark went as well as I thought it might.
You can download The Americans on iTunes.

Nashville: Wait, Scarett shares the same mother with Tyra Collette (who is inexplicitly now a doctor on Jason Katim’s new show; god bless him for keeping Dillon alumni employed)?
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Nashville on iTunes.

Community: I did not buy an HDTV so I could watch poorly drawn seventies type cartoons. I bought so I could see Alison Brie in all of her high definition glory. But if you must do a crappy seventies cartoon episode, at least when Jeff comes to, have Annie dress up in her cartoon outfit.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Community on iTunes.

Parenthood: Oh Julia, what have you done? Up until now, Joel was the idiot because nothing happened, but something did happen this time that cannot be unexplained.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Parenthood on iTunes.

Hannibal: When Beverly got caught in his basement, I theorized that Hannibal may keep her down there and might be saved, albeit with a few parts missing by the end of the season. Of course the very next week she was found sliced up debunking that theory. That is what makes the final scenes even more shocking, that Hannibal would keep Miriam Lass alive all this time. Up to now, Hannibal has stayed a step or five ahead of law enforcement and we have yet to see him make a mistake. So I have to wonder if Hannibal left Miriam there for Jack or is this his first mistake. Miriam does know that Hannibal is the one that did this to her but is she currently mental stable to remember what happened to her so it could go either way.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Hannibal on iTunes.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 3/30/14

Shameless: Good news and bad news for Frank, he is now at the top of the liver donor list, bad news, he had to lose a kidney to get there. But since there are still two episodes left, there may still be some time for him to completely bottom out. But hopefully the episode is a lesson to anyone who thinks about turning to the black market for a vital organ.

The Walking Dead: Wow, we actually got our first glimpse of Terminus and it is not even the finale. I thought like the previous seasons, we would only get a glimpse of the next season’s setting with the last scene. So Maggie and Glen’s groups finally met up and made it there, I am guessing Tyrese and Carol will not be far behind. The big question is if Rick will make it with Darryl’s new buddies hot on their trail. It is probably nice that Rick has a man on the inside of the group. The other big question, will we actually learn what happened to Beth this season?
You can download The Walking Dead on iTunes.

Crisis: So the bad guys might not be all that bad as it looks like they are avenging some evil deeds by the CIA. They are just going with the any means necessary to expose the conspiracy instead of simply calling some new media to cover the story.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Crisis on iTunes.

Revenge: There are few things I hate more than the “x amount of time ealier’ place card at the beginning of episode, and Revenge is the worst at doing them because almost everyone makes you think Emily is in dire straits but by the time the scene plays out at the end of the episode, it always turns out that was her intent the whole time. So I knew as soon as we say Emily storm out the opera, she planned the whole thing, and yep, she planted the news of her fake pregnancy.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Revenge on iTunes.

The Voice: I am a big proponent of the Steal and in fact I am going to go ahead and take credit for the idea after pitching the idea during season two. Unfortunately except in the few rare exceptions (Amanda Brown, Caroline Glaser) the Steals are mostly wasted on fodder for the next round. I did find it interesting this season coaches started complaining when their talent did not receive a Steal. Shakira looked generally shocked that nobody picked up De'Shawn Washington (it seemed to me that she only picked Dani because she assumed DeShawn would get stolen). Then Adam physically got out his chair to call Usher an idiot for not stealing Alaska & Madi (Adam, maybe you should not have wasted a Steal on Jake Barker). I would have like to have seen one of the coaches steal both arists and I am not just saying that about the latter because Alaska looks like a combination of Selina Gomez and Victoria Justice (okay, I am mostly saying it because Alaska looks like a combination of Selina Gomez and Victoria Justice).

Both times, Usher explained his lack of a Steal on “waiting on something specific.” Then he stole Music Box. Yes, the same Music Box you missed if you blinked during her montage. Yes the same Music Box who was on the losing end of the worst battle that actually showed this season (which was hard to choose because there multiple stinkers this season which again makes me wonder just how bad the six montaged Battles were). And Usher followed that up by Stealing another female RnB singer who lost a lackluster Battle. So was the something specific that Usher was looking for were singers who had no chance of upsetting one of his original singers in the Battle Rounds II?

As it usually is with the Battle Rounds, there were none that I would classify as great and really only two that I would even call good, both that happened this week. There was the cuteness overload that was Madilyn Paige and Sam Behymer who had a breakout moment during her Battle. The rest this season ranged from average to why was this not montaged. At least now we can move onto the Knockout Round. Oh wait, those have been replaced with the Battle Rounds II. Ugg. Can they just montage the whole round and move straight to the Live Playoffs? Wait, the Playoffs are no longer live? Double ugg.


You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download songs performed this week with the widget at right.

How I Met Your Mother: For an entire season that took place on the weekend of a wedding, they sure skipped over the actually ceremony fairly quickly. I think Marshall and Lilly’s wedding got more screen time this week. Not that I am complaining, ever wedding should fly through the ceremony to get to the open bar.
You can stream recent episodes over at cbs.com. You can also download How I Met Your Mother on iTunes.

The Blacklist: When the old guy showed up as Ivan, I thought to myself, this old dude is the big hacker? I was expecting some teenager. It turns out I was on to something because Ivan was just a patsy. I actually liked that the villain of the week turned out not to be some supervillian that crossed path with Red and was instead just a lovelorn teenager. More importantly, Lizzie finally found out about her husband. And he was found out by some silly elephant instead of fingerprints I figured were left behind since he did not have time to destroy all incriminating evidence. But he has to know that is the case so it will be a little silly if he stickls around next week as if nothing happened.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download The Blacklist on iTunes.

Castle: Wait, Captain Gates has a family? Who knew?
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Castle on iTunes.

Justified: When Boyd continually insisted on smoking despite not actually being a smoker and being in a non-smoking room, I knew something was up. Did he sneak something sharp in the box? Did he poison all but one of the cigarettes in the pack? Nope, he packed it with explosives. Awesome. But the bigger news of the week: Kendall shot Art? Okay, it is obvious that he did not do it because his story did not line up with what we saw. Now the question is just how will Raylan prove that Daryl was the actual triggerman. I am guessing Wendy and Dewey will have something to do with it.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Justified on iTunes.

Survivor: Cagayan: Ugg, someone seriously quit to keep themselves punching someone, how lame. How about pulling yourself out before Cliff Robinson gets booted?
You can stream recent episodes on cbs.com. You can also download Survivor: Cagayan on iTunes.

The Americans: I could never be a spy (or healthcare provider) because there is no way I am wiping another dude after they go to the bathroom. I would just sooner untie him and hope he does not attack me.
You can download The Americans on iTunes.

Hannibal: I guess I was a little off guessing that Hannibal may keep Beverly alive in his torture basement. I was also completely wrong that it was Hannibal that killed the bailiff. But I guess it is still probable that Hannibal killed the judge.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Hannibal on iTunes.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 3/2314

Once Upon a Time: So if Regina and the witch are sisters, does that make her the Wicked Witch of the East? She surely is not Glinda.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Once Upon a Time on iTunes.

Shameless: Oh no, there is a female Carl. This probably will not end well. And by not end well, I mean it will end awesomely. But is a shame that Fiona finally realized she should have given up the drug addict brother to get herself off. I have a sinking suspicion he is going to help get her job back at Cups Inc. despite how irate his sister is. It is the least he could do.

The Walking Dead: What the Frack just happened? We all knew that Lizzie was going to go off the deep end eventually but killing her sister so everyone can see that dead can come back and not be evil? Not cool. And the episode just ended up being one big homage to Of Mice and Men, heavy on the mice and low on men. She even murdered rabbits a couple of episodes ago. That was when Darryl and Beth walked by the carnage and it seem safe to assume that the billow of smoke they saw was from their moonshine cabin. When Tyrese came upon the Grove, I actually initially thought maybe it was going to be the same funeral parlor.
You can download The Walking Dead on iTunes.

Crisis: I was not expecting much from a show that prominently features Rachael Taylor as a law enforcement agent (and an American one at that since she still has yet to master the accent yet). But it was surprisingly entertaining in a best case scenario for a network ripping off Homeland kind of way. You had two pretty good major plot twists (there would have been a third had the promos not already told us that one of the Secret Service guys was bad). Surprisingly the relationship with Taylor and Sully is compelling along with the father / daughter which got even more interesting especially with the plot twist. Though we probably will not see them paired off again, the Secret Service newbie and the fat kid’s time together was probably the best part of the premiere. The show could go off the rails like Homeland, and even quicker, but I was at least intrigued by the start.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Crisis on iTunes.

Revenge: So to cure her loss of time, all Emily had to do is be near drowned to remember some horrible memory. Ugg.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Revenge on iTunes.

The Voice: The first week of the Battle Round reminded me of the Blind Audition, there was a lot of cool song selection (the underappreciated Melanie Fiona song, the okay to appreciate now Steve Winwood song, the rare actual duet sung during the duet stage of the show) but the performances were just lackluster. There were three Battles (Jake vs. Lexi, Stevie Jo vs. Jake, Delvin vs. Caleb) where I would have been content if both singers when home. It just makes me wonder just how bad the montaged battles were that they were not shown over the clunkers that were.

The most notable event did not happen on stage but via press release when the show announced another change to the show because no two seasons can be the same. The Knockout Rounds are gone and are replaced by The Battles: Round Two which, as the name suggests is just like The Battles: Round One but instead of the coach picking the song, the duet partner performance will perform an agreed upon song. And instead of individual coaches for each or none at all, Coldplay’s Chris Martin will serve as the Key Adviser for all teams. And yes, The Steal will be returning, one for each coach.

Unfortunately it was also announced that the Instant Save will be also returning. But this time the bottom three will get a Last Chance Performance (which I assume will be like season two) before a small portion of the internet decides on which one advances. One more small change, the Playoffs will not be live this season, which means the coaches will trim their teams from five to three and American will not be voting until the top twelve this season.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download songs performed this week with the widget at right.

How I Met Your Mother: Wow, they sure were able to get a bunch of guest stars to comeback for that parking lot montage, who even knew Sally Draper’s teacher was Blah Blah?
You can stream recent episodes over at cbs.com. You can also download How I Met Your Mother on iTunes.

The Blacklist: It has become more clear that they should not do a Ressler-centric episode. That was just bad. At least we got a bit more about Tom’s secret life. Note to everyone out there, when someone tells you not to make a call because they will kill you both after you hang up, do not make the call, or at the very least do not turn your back on the guy.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download The Blacklist on iTunes.

Pretty Little Liars: I was excited for the “Ali Tells All” episode thinking we would finally get song ago asked questions answered. I quickly realize there was plenty that even Alison does not know like she does not know who tried to kill her. But considering that her mother tried to cover it up, that pretty much has to mean that her brother is A, right? Who else would she lie to the police for? Erza knows who A is except he was shot before he could tell anyone. I would rather he die than learn who A is at this point. But knowing this show, Ezra will probably pull through but have selective amnesia after surgery.

It also seemed like the writers forgot their own mythology. I could have sworn that Ali and Melissa’s husband taped their rendezvous in the woods with it ending with Alison saying, “I know you want to kiss me” before the camera hit the ground and she was dragged away. And how did Jenna and Garrett figure into that whole night? I thought they did something with a shovel but it has been left vague. Did they have something to do with Spencer’s shovel? Oh well, maybe we will get an “A Tells All” episode in a season or four.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.

Justified: When the promos hyped that Danny would attempt the 21-Foot Rule on Raylan it was pretty obvious it would not end well for Danny. But I could have never guessed that it would end up that way. Even though it exceeded my already high expectations for the scene, I am still slightly disappointed that after three teases we never got to see Danny attempt the 21-Foot Rule. But on the bright side: holy Dickie Bennett sighting! It has been way too long. The show figured out a way to get Dewey out of prison, it is a shame they could not do the same of Dickie. But it was nice to see Dickie completely selling out Dewey in hopes in getting sent to Club Fed. I am still hoping we will finally get a Dewey / Dickie in jail spin-off. You can now add the Harris brothers to that cast. It will probably be much better than Ava’s Caged Heat storyline.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Justified on iTunes.

Survivor: Cagayan: Right before this episode it seemed that some of my early favorites were on the chopping block so I hoped the merge would put them in a better position (and hopefully in the same tribe and in an alliance). But unfortunately Morgan looks to be back on the bottom and even worse Cliff Robinson got booted ruining the Clif Robinson and Wooooooooooo buddy comedy. It is amazing after how poorly they performed, The Brain tribe is sitting the prettiest as the other faction implode on each other on the two tribes. One of the Brains could actually win this season, possibly even be the final three, if they finally live up to their names.
You can stream recent episodes on cbs.com. You can also download Survivor: Cagayan on iTunes.

Community: Just like the second Paintball episode, the second Dungeons and Dragons was not as great but still pretty entertaining, especially with the triumphant return of Hector the Well endowed.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Community on iTunes.

Hannibal: Oh Abigail Hobbs, at least you still survive in Will’s fever dreams. I wonder if anyone else will show up in those eventually. It seems like Beverly will be available. Though it is very well possible that Hannibal keep her alive down in his dungeon and that is what Jack was doing there at the beginning of the season.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Hannibal on iTunes.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 3/9/14

Shameless: The show has really gone out of its way to make Frank hit rock bottom, only to go even lower the next week, but Fiona seems to be sinking even lower every week two. But she may have bottom out this week ending a day in an empty house with all her siblings finding a new place to lay their heads for the night. Things may finally be on the upswing for her waking up to Liam’s face at the end of the episode. Of course being Shameless, something will probably still go horribly wrong next week.

The Walking Dead: When did Beth become the most interesting character on this Show? Didn’t she smart out as the other Greene sister who spent most of the second season comatose? Now she is a drunken pyromaniac who is smart enough to grab shards of glass and a broken side mirror to make fire starting easier. But I have to disagree with Daryl that Moonshine is a great starter drink. You might as well give her rubbing alcohol as a first drink. Yeah Peach Schnapps is not very good, but it is a much better starter drink than moonshine. You only give someone moonshine as their first drink to make sure they never drink ever again in their life. Maybe that was the point.
You can download The Walking Dead on iTunes.

Switched at Birth: After the failed I’m Sorry Bracelet, it was obvious that John would try to woo Katherine back with a dance, but I did not see that elaborate cheesily entertaining family hoedown coming.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Switched at Birth on iTunes.

The Voice: One of my biggest complaints of the last two seasons was that, unlike the first three seasons that raided my musical library for contestants, not one of the singer from the past two cycles were lurking on my iPod. Last week I did recognize YouTube star Christina Grimmie (but never downloaded her music before and remained less impressed than the coaches by her Blind Audition) despite not owning any of her music. This week there was an actually a auditioner who I actually had a song by. Sure Lindsay Pagano got montaged and Everything U R is one of the more embarrassing songs in my library but it is actually there.

Last week I suggested that Shakira should start taking fliers on contestants that are overlooked and this week she snatched up De'Shawn Washington who I thought gave one of the better auditions this season. Hopefully that works out for them. Granted there were a few no chair turners that she also should have picked up Allison Bray gave one of the better performances this week, yet no love (Allison was much better than the country singer Shakira picked up the previous week). I thought she could have gone far. If Shakira is out of contestants first again this season, she is going to regret not giving her a shot.

The producers really put a quick one over on me Tuesday, they were really pushing hard that Adam did not pick up any artists, or even bothered to push his button the whole hour. So the person who watches too much television in me said, of course Adam is going to get the last, and probably best singer, of the night. Naturally he turned around seconds into it and everything looked to be going towards him. But shockingly Audra McLaughlin went with Blake. So if Usher won week one, Blake seemed to be the clear winner of week two picking up the two best singers. Adam still has a solid team while Shakira pull up the rear two seasons in a row. It does not help that she half of the six montage contestants this week. Never a good sign. But she did pick up Clarissa Serna who is on my very short list of contenders this year.


You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download songs performed this week with the widget at right.

How I Met Your Mother: Oh yeah, I completely forgot that Aira Montgomery was Robin’s sister. I vaguely remembering everyone thinking she was the mother but then never showed up again (or possibly even mentioned again) until this week. Oh yeah, and then apparently Robin’s I do not remember ever being mentioned before mother turned out to be Tracey Ullman. What?!?
You can stream recent episodes over at cbs.com. You can also download How I Met Your Mother on iTunes.

The Blacklist: So they finally revealed something that was hinted out going all the way back to the premiere, that Tom Keen is not who he says he is. And his mission is to love Lizzie. And he is loosely associated with the faux substitute teacher who we also learned this week has been stalking Red. But who do they work for? Is Alan Alda too obvious?
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download The Blacklist on iTunes.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: I figured Quinn shooting Sky in the stomach and walking away was a little Bond villainy of him and there was a reason why he did not make sure to hit an organ that would kill her or at least stick around to watch her die. Nope the Clairvoyant wanted Coulsen to lead him to wherever he was revived and do the same for Skye. And that thing that kept alive was… um. I do not know. My first thought was Dr. Manhattan but that is the wrong comic universe. Then I was wondering is maybe it was one of those aliens from the attack on New York from the end of The Avengers.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on iTunes.

Pretty Little Liars: So let me get this straight. Alison disappears and turns out to be dead a year later when the Liars started getting harassing texts from “A”. And now we think that Spencer “killed” Allison and her mom is “A” and is harassing the Liars to find out which one tried to kill Allison so she can return home safely. Somehow “A” recruited Mona to torment the Liars and Ezra is just an enterprising writer looking for a big scoop. But why kill Ian, Garrett, and presumably Wilden? The Allison tells all episode at the end of the season better actually tell all.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.

About a Boy: The Lil’ Jon party had a tiger on a gold leash. Natch.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download About a Boy on iTunes

Justified: Raylan really has gotten soft after becoming a dad. How do you give your ill gotten radio winnings to a Crowe? It does say something that he would give that money instead spending it on visiting his daughter (with his new trophy girlfriend in tow). That girl is going to have some serious daddy issues when she grows up. Of course the trophy girlfriend is no longer in play. Raylan is not going to cozy up the Wendy now is he?
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Justified on iTunes.

Survivor: Cagayan: This was a pretty uneventful episode for the third hour. I am most interested with the promo where the monkeys suggested that the Brawn Tribe is debating on throwing a challenge. What a horrible idea. Every tribe that has thrown a challenge has never produced a winner (with the exception of Cochran; but when you fear Brandon Hantz is probably going to go on a murderous rampage, it probably is wise to throw in the towel to get him away from you). Presumably the Brawn will do this to get rid of Cops R Us, but this will end up even more disastrous considering he has the Hidden Immunity Idol. Though it would be highly entertaining if twom people go home in one season with Idols in their back pocket (or wherever Garrett left his because he did not bother to bring it with him).
You can stream recent episodes on cbs.com. You can also download Survivor: Cagayan on iTunes.

Nashville: As I predicted a couple episodes ago, Juliet would end up on Rayna's record label. I guess the fireworks will start next week when Rayna has to start dealing with the diva and Juliet has to deal with no longer being on a label that can shower cash down upon her. So basically it looks like we are going back to the beginning of season one. I do hope there is room on the label for Layla, I liked the Juliet vs. Layla fued more than than when she was butting heads with Rayna.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Nashville on iTunes.

King of the Nerds: Oh wow, Zack got booted from the house. I wonder if they are having the finals with the last four because he comes back next week and kills everyone, announcing him to the world as the newest evil supervillian. I am also slightly disappointed that they did not incorporate an flying objects into Nerdiocart. Zack got mad just by people spinning him out. Image how more angry he would have gotten had he been hit with a turtle shell multiple times.
You can download King of the Nerds on iTunes.

Hannibal: She has been vague since the beginning so I have long wondered what exactly does Agent Scully know about Hannibal. I think we learned this week that she does not know anything as fact but pretty much has assumed the worst (most, if not all are true) including that Will is right to think Hannibal set him up. She was also smart enough to leave town before Hannibal came to chop her up in his clear murder suit (I love how he still wears a full suit underneath). And there have been plenty of disturbing images on the show, but the dude ripping himself out of the human eye may actually be the grossest.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Hannibal on iTunes.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 3/2/14

Shameless: That was a lot more entertaining than last week’s mope fest. Who would have guess womb fratricide could be so funny? And they really should use Mickey more often. Sure he is not the best actor on the show, but he definitely delivers the funniest lines.

The Walking Dead: Where have the three amigos been all this time? As the show struggled to find characters worth caring about, these three show and are already high in the show’s power ranking (same goes with the lesbian tag along). We do learn who they are and what they are about this week. Well that is if we are to believe that the mulletted scientist (seriously, a mulletted scientist is awesome) actually does know what caused the zombie outbreak and how to cure it. Of course Glen and his irrational love ruined the trip to DC. Hey Glen, how about not attacking the military guy? That probably was not the smartest thing ever. I do wonder if Abraham is connected to the military guys The Governor killed a couple seasons back (probably not because I think that was two or three showrunners ago).
You can download The Walking Dead on iTunes.

Switched at Birth: Who knew you could mumble speaking in ASL? But enough about sign language quirks, Wallace Fennel’s mom stabbed a dude! Did not see that coming.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Switched at Birth on iTunes.

The Voice: Last year, Usher and Shakira were clearly overmatched with Adam and Blake running circles around them. I give Shakira a pass because no one great picked her over the other coaches aside from the three Latinas (none of which she took to the Live Shows). Usher on the other hand did pull in some ringers during the Blind Audition but managed to end up with a worse team than Shakira when the show went live due to some bad coaching decisions (like cutting Ryan Innes and Jess Kellner) and some horrible Battle Round pairings which led to some of the most painful to sit through performances ever (Josiah vs. Jeff may have been the worst non-montaged Battle ever).

So I was disappointed that Usher picked up four of my five favorite acts in the first week. Maybe they can be stolen before Usher ruins them. Then Shakira continued picking up the scraps with three uninspiring singers, none of which seems like Live Shows material. Since she is in his chair, Shakira really should go with the Cee-Lo philosophy of taking fliers on weirder contestants no one else wants. Adam may be the four-chair champion, but it is more impressive what Cee-Lo did when he was the only one to turn around (Jamar Rogers, Nicholas David, Amanda Brown, and Cole Vosbury among them). Shakira may have done better with Marina Mia and / or Keith Shuskie, both who seemed more promising than the three she did pick up who scream fodder to me.


You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download songs performed this week with the widget at right.

The Blacklist: Was Red’s interpolation of a gay homosexual offensive? Maybe. Was it entertaining? Very.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download The Blacklist on iTunes.

Castle: After the second person came forward and confessed, I thought for sure that the killer was a hypnotist who convinced people they were the ones to commit the murder. That would be a pretty ingenious way of getting away with it.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Castle on iTunes.

Pretty Little Liars: Oh snap, Aria went H.A.M. on Ezra’s apartment. But I am wondering if Erza really is telling the truth about not being A and is just a very overzealous writer doing anything for a story. Then again it is also plausible that he is both and the person who tried to kill Ally is someone completely different. And just how many dudes is Hanna going to awkwardly kiss? Caleb is not going to be happy when he returns to Rosewood now that his spin-off has been canceled.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.

Justified: Even though it was basically a procedural its first season, it is weird now when they have a standalone episode in the middle of the season (at least I am assuming that this case will not have any bearing on the rest of the series). Of course there was plenty of humor in Raylan chasing down a one legged computer hacker who drained his bank accounts. Although with all that was going on with the Crowders, the Crows, and the brewing feud between Alison and Wendy, the case just seemed rushed.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Justified on iTunes.

Survivor: Cagayan: A couple seasons ago I suggested that Survivor should do a Morons vs. Masterminds season and though that was a conceit for an All Star version, Brains vs. Beauty vs. Brawn may be as close as they get (as log as you assume jocks and models are not very smart). When the show was announce I originally thought that the Beauty tribe would be at a distinctive advantage because Immunity Challenges are geared to brute strength and mental puzzles, but low and behold they won the first one and came from way behind on the Brains tribe on a puzzle in the second.

That sent the Brains to Tribal for the second straight time. It has become very clear extremely soon that all of them are just overthinking everything and it seems like every master plan backfired on everyone who thought they were in control. First David targeted Garrett because he was a threat later in the game instead of the easy vote of J’Tia. Then Garrett was paranoid to not let anyone out of his sight but was not paranoid to not play his Hidden Immunity Idol. And just like that J’Tia is the Ciera of this season inexplicably surviving two votes she had no business making past (hopfully she turns out to be as entertaining as Ciera). Seriously, how do you not vote off the chick that dumped out your rice when you did not even win the fishing supplies?

But the all-stars of the first two episodes was the new budding friendship of former Trailblazer Cliff Robinson and the guy who had his basketball cards Woo (well those two and Morgan’s overworked underwear; my first impression of the “Beauty” tribe was underwhelming but I was proved extremely wrong with Morgan who sure likes bending over). Hopefully Tony, who is targeting Cliff, overplays his hand like everyone on the Brains tribe and finds his torch being snuffed out with Immunity in his pocket. Cliff and Woo would make a solid final two (and Morgan as the third for other obvious reasons).
You can stream recent episodes on cbs.com. You can also download Survivor: Cagayan on iTunes.

The Americans: The first season really launched the type of great show that has everything you should want, great acting, great writing, but it was just missing some intangible that keeps me from getting too excited for the show (FX continued that trend with The Bridge over the summer). I do have a feeling that with The Americans, it is hard to root for a couple of communist especially since we know they lost the Cold War. I am still in on the show and though I am still not waiting breathlessly for a new episode, my excitement level has raised a little after the season two premiere. I do like Paige is starting to snoop around her parents and seeing how they deal with learning her parents are Russian spies. But is she going to continue to snoop after catching her parents in the act? And now the parents have seen firsthand what can happen when he walked in on his friends murdered along with their daughter. It will be interesting to see if they are most loyal to their children or their country when it comes down to it. But when it comes down to it, I still hope they fast forward to the end of the Cold War to see how the Jennings adapt then. But that is still almost a decade away on the show.
You can download The Americans on iTunes.

Nashville: When a producer called Juliet up I was thinking they were going to go in the way of The Dixie Chicks and Rick Rubin when they were shunned by Nashville. Nope, they went completely the other way with harps and weird goth photo shoots that in no way Rolling Stone would put on their cover. Oh yeah, and Lamar died. And Teddy let it happen.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Nashville on iTunes.

Hannibal: When NBC released a promo for the new season there seemed to be a very spoilery scene of Hannibal and Jack doing battle (or as spoilery as a prequel when you knew something like that would happen), except that fight scene surprisingly ended up being the very first scene of the new season. Of course we got the dreaded “12 weeks earlier” placecard in the middle of the fight. So it may take a while for us to see the conclusion of that scene. If the show takes place in real time, we would not see it until maybe the penultimate episode.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Hannibal on iTunes.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 2/16/14

Shameless: That took long enough for the first Ian sighting of the season. I wonder if we will get a full back story of what happened since we last aw him. It is odd that they guy spent his whole life working towards getting into the armed forces and then screws it up so royally when he gets there. While it did not take long for Fiona’s world to completely fall down after having sex with her boyfriend’s brother. He breaks up with her; she gets transferred, brother leaves coke at the house which Liam gets into, which leads Fiona to jail. The Gallagher’s have gotten out of hairy situations before but it is hard to stay together after one of the kids ingests your Coke. Maybe Sheila and Chief Running Water adopts the kids is the only way I see that happening.

The Walking Dead: Whoever thought it was a good idea to spend most of an episode with Carl should be left for zombie food, or at the very least fired. Goodness that was a boring and annoying hour of television. At least Michonne when H.A.M. on her zombie doppelganger.
You can download The Walking Dead on iTunes.

House of Lies: So it looks like Clyde is getting back into the fold by bringing in Eliza Coupe (though Jennie may be counting that chicken long before it hatches) but is he also actually going to hire Monica? I could see Roscoe guilting his father into it. And it would be funny seeing Marty hire Monica as the lowest level associate. The only way it would be funnier is if Marty hired the person who stabbed her to be Monica’s direct supervisor.

Switched at Birth: Holy Wallace Fennel’s mom sighting!
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Switched at Birth on iTunes.

Pretty Little Liars: I usually hate dream sequences with a fiery passion, but the black an white noir episode was one of the better Pretty Little Liars episode in a while (although somehow Toby is an even worse actor when devoid of color). The show made it clear up front that it was all a dream and meant nothing else than it was the catalyst for Spencer to realize that A changed Alison’s diary which could be clues as to what he is hiding. She also came to the realization that now Erza knows that they know he’s A. This show may be ramping up again.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.

Justified: Poor Boyd, every time he tries to help Ava, she ends up in a worse situation. Considering how she has already taken a shotgun to one Crowder, I wonder how long she will put up with this one. But the worst of luck goes to Dewey. It always go to Dewey. He tries to sell the pool Raylan shot up, plots to kidnap Boyd only to get one of his henchmen and then, of course, the plot is happened across by Raylan.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Justified on iTunes.

King of the Nerds: Wow, is Zack actually going to win the whole thing? This is truly the origins story of a super-villain we are watching. I am guessing there is going to be a lab experiment gone wrong in the final challenge.
You can download King of the Nerds on iTunes.

Best of the Week: 2/8/13

Quote of the Week: (Expletive deleted) Obamacare, what kind of a system do we live in that you have to cripple yourself to keep you alive? (Frank Gallagher, Shameless)

Song of the Week: Kyrie – Mr. Mister (The Goldbergs)

Scene of the Week:


Big News of the Week: A Melancholy Happy Trails to Philip Seymour Hoffman: Philip Seymour Hoffman is one of the guys who you tend to forget because someones he may be fifth or lower on the marquee of the movies he is in but when you look back he is usually first or second in memorable performances from the film. But it is a shame that he will be mostly known for how he went out. So it has to be said to the kids out there do not do drugs.

Preview Picture of the Week:

"Kill the Messanger" Justified, Tuesday at 10:00 on FX

Free Download of the Week: Bloodshot Records Sampler 2014 (NoiseTrade)

Deal of the Week: 100 Albums for $5: This month’s $5 albums include U2, The Avett Brothers, The Steve Miller Band, and Beck.


New Album Release of the Week: Acoustic at the Ryman - Band of Horses

New DVD Release of the Week: The Americans: Season One

Video of the Week: Super Bowl advertising has always seemed silly to me, there has to be better ways to spend four million dollars in advertising even if this is the one time of year that people actually sit through the ads. Movie trailers seemed even sillier, spending that many dimes in January / February for a movie that does not even debut until sometime between May and July. A lot of studios wisely have pulled out of the Super Bowl recently and the few that did air this year come on during the cheaper pre-game show. One trailer we got to see was The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Quickly after the trailer aired, an extended version hit the internets which pretty much spoils Jamie Foxx’s Electro origin story in its entirety. You have been warned.


Next Week Pick of the Week: The Walking Dead, Sunday at 9:00 on AMC: Where all the other channels cower in fear of the Olympics, the most watched show on cable is actually returning on second day of competition. Of course now that the prison has fallen, now what? It is interesting that Carol show up at the cast interview on Conan earlier this week. Ever since Rick drove away from her, I never thought that was the end of her and I thought she would run into The Governor. Now that he is (presumably) dead, I think she is the leading candidate to have rescued the baby from the prison attack, either that or the sister who then run into Carol first.