Around the Tubes: 5/30/14

I have gotten a plethora of cool press releases have been flooding my inbox recently that you may find interesting. This post will include blurbs on Chasing Life, Jayhawks, Affluenza, Funniest Wins, Queer as Folk, The L Word, 7 Deadly Sins, and Sons of Anarchy.

- ABC Family is thrilled to announce an early sneak peek of the newest original series, Chasing Life, before it makes its network premiere on Tuesday, June, 10 at 9:00 following Pretty Little Liars. Chasing Life will be available to viewers two weeks early via its authenticated WATCH ABC Family service now until Monday, June 9. The premiere of Chasing Life can also be seen on all participating TV providers’ On Demand Services starting Tuesday, June 3 and on the Chasing Life Facebook page starting on Sunday, June 8. Please share the below information with your readers and be sure to tune-in to the series premiere of Chasing Life!

- Hailed as pioneers of the alt-country/Americana sound, the Jayhawks emerged from Minneapolis' mid-'80s scene with a soaring combination of folksy harmonies and power-pop melodies. The band's status as a major influence, as well as that of being one of the best bands of its generation, are richly deserved. The July 1st release of expanded versions of 1997's Sound of Lies, 2000's Smile and 2003's Rainy Day Music complete the band's remastering of its entire back catalog. All three American Recordings/UME releases contain bonus tracks, new liner notes and expanded booklets. The albums also chronicle the band's evolution into crunchier rock, purer pop and a sort of twangy, psychedelic vibe before coming full-circle with a spare country-rock sound. Sound of Lies, Smile and Rainy Day Music will also be released August 5th as deluxe, 2 LP vinyl editions to ensure maximum fidelity. The deluxe vinyl reissues will be remastered on 180 gram heavyweight vinyl and also include the bonus tracks.

- These teens have it all -- hot summer hookups, wild parties and family money. Until they don't. On behalf of FilmBuff we're excited to share the just released trailer for the new film Affluenza! This films stars hot up-and-comers Nicola Peltz (Transformers: Age of Extinction, "Bates Motel"), Grant Gustin ("Glee," CW's "The Flash"), Gregg Sulkin (MTV's "Faking It," "Pretty Little Liars") & Ben Rosenfield ("Boardwalk Empire") and veteran actors Steve Guttenberg & Samantha Mathis. Watch the trailer on EW.com.

- TBS has unveiled the 10 talented comedians slated to compete against one another in Funniest Wins, a new series that's all about the laughs. Set to premiere Friday, June 20, at 10:00, Funniest Wins comes to TBS from comedy heavyweight and WhatTheFunny.com founder Marlon Wayans (Scary Movie, A Haunted House, The Wayans Bros.) andEyeworks USA. In the series, Wayans, along with some of his comic friends and family, will put the comics through the ringer to find the funniest multi-talented comedian working today.

- Showtime is bringing back its groundbreaking series Queer as Folk and The L Word in June in honor of gay pride month. All seasons will air on Showtime® Showcase from June through November. From June 2nd through June 30th, back-to-back episodes of both critically-acclaimed series will be offered Monday through Friday at 8:00. Then, starting on July 3rd, back-to-back episodes will air every Thursday night through November 13th. Subscribers can also catch up on the full five seasons of Queer as Folk and the six seasons of THE L WORD on Showtime on Demand® and the network's authenticated service Showtime anytime® starting this summer. These iconic series were hailed for tackling important issues and shattering stereotypes, and were both honored by the GLAAD Media Awards for Outstanding Drama Series. Viewers can expect more from THE L WORD executive producer and creator Ilene Chaiken in the form of a documentary which will premiere on Showtime this summer.

- Showtime will take an in-depth look at the weird and darkly comic world of sin in the documentary series 7 Deadly Sins, premiering Thursday, August 7th at 11:00. Executive produced and hosted by Oscar®-nominated filmmaker Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me), the stylized series will explore each of the seven deadly sins – gluttony, sloth, envy, pride, wrath, greed and lust -- one per episode and told through Spurlock’s unique and extreme lens.

- Marilyn Manson has been cast in FX’s hit show Sons of Anarchy as “Ron Tully,” a white supremacist prison shot-caller who Jax uses to expand his power base.

Feed Your iPod LXXXIII: Banditos

The music industry printed money back in the nineties when a song on MTV would guarantee at least a gold record. It did not even have to be on heavy rotation, all it need was to be made fun of by Beavis and Butt-head. Seriously, Rob Zombie owns his whole career to the duo. It did even matter how weird you were. I lived through a time when Ween was actually a thing (again, with some help to Beavis and Butt-head). Even though how easy it was to break band back then, there were some act that never broke as big as they should have. One of those bands was The Refreshments who put out to very good albums in the mid-nineties headlined by the song Banditos, a catchy alt-southern rock song. In a time where most of the big hits were self loathing, The Refreshments dreamed of going on a robbing spree because, the world is full of stupid people.” There was also a funny music video that accompanied by there is currently only a low quality version currently on YouTube (seriously, it is 2014, how is every music video ever produced not have an official YouTube video yet?). Though I do not recall the band ever getting the Beavis and Butt-head treatment, If you only known one song by the band it is probably from Mike Judge’s other show as the wrote King of the Hill Theme. Their lack of hits may have been because no one wanted the alternative rock of the time mixing with country music or maybe it was bad timing as the band predated the alt-country boon that came a couple years later with bands like Old 97's and Whiskeytown. But if you did miss The Refreshments the first time around, give them a try as they would fit better in the current folk rock boon. Except these guys had a sense of humor.

Banditos - The Refreshments

I Want My Music Television: 5/28/14

There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I thought I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.

Sing – Ed Sheeran


I liked Ed Sheeran’s first album as much as every other sensitive dude of the nineties. Sure the faux rapping got a little silly. Following that sensitive singer-songwriter esthetic with a dance track over a Doobie Brothers type acoustic guitar produced by Pharrell may be the most head scratching turn since U2 launched their Pop album with Discotheque. But hey, puppets in your music video make everything more palatable.


Let Me Down Gently – La Roux


I sometime wonder why artists that you obviously know will be one hit wonders do not just drop their mic and walk off like the dude from the New Radicals. I was pretty content putting La Roux on my list of The 100 Greatest One Hit Wonders of the 00's despite their one song only being a couple months old at the time. It seemed like the duo did drop the mic and walk away considering it has been five years since they released Bulletproof. Oddly enough for their follow-up to the dance song, they went with a melancholy track. It is catchy, but I do not think I will need to update that One Hit Wonder list just yet.


Double Bubble Trouble – M.I.A.


I do not get it, what exactly is M.I.A. trying to say mixing 3-D modeled firearms with twerking and crappy EDM infused reggae?


Pittbull Terrier – Die Antwoord


Speaking of controversial music video, the weird South African rap duo Die Antwoord apparently does not like Pitbull like pretty much everyone else in the world. But at this point, isn’t taking down Pitbull, who at this point is just the Hispanic Vanilla Ice, a little too easy?

I Haven't Been Gorged, Drowned, Plucked, and Roasted, Not Yet

Sequels get a bad rap but there are plenty of good sequels out there. Good prequels on the other hand are far and few in between. Patton Oswalt has a great bit on prequels equating them to being shown a picture of Jon Voight’s man region for those who think Angelina Jolie is attractive. Yet prequels, the ultimate where do we go next when we have run out of ideas solution, are still getting made. Just last year there were television shows that served as prequels to two horror icons. Surprisingly one of them did not suck. The other featured Norman Bates listening to Taylor Swift.

The other show, Hannibal probably should not have worked. In fact the previous prequel, Hannibal Rising focusing on a teenage Hannibal in Lithuania, was a commercial and critical flop. I know I had no desire to see yet another show about a serial killer especially since I have not seen any of the movies or read the books. Plus could such a story as gruesome murders and cannibalism be told on network television? Apparently yes as NBC somehow clawed its way back to the top of the ratings charts mixing the biggest draws (Sunday Night Football, The Voice) with low rated critical darling (Hannibal, Parenthood) and the show that is both (The Blacklist).

NBC gets plenty of credit for renewing Hannibal not once but twice. So for those that do not start watching shows fearing they will be canceled, it is time to catch up. Season one is currently streaming on Amazon Instant Video which is free for Prime members and season two will probably be available with enough time to catch up before season three premieres sometime in 2015. Although I never understood not watching a show because it may be canceled. I would rather a quality show that may end after thirteen to twenty-two episodes then one that will go on for around a hundred with diminishing returns. Just image how much more fondly we would remember Lost if it got canceled after one season. But anyway.

As I stated above, I had no interest in seeing a Hannibal Lecter prequel, but I still tuned into the series premiere for one reason: Bryan Fuller. This is the guy who gave us three of the greatest television shows of this millennium: Dead Like Me, Wonderfalls, and Pushing Daisies. Sure those three shows ran for a total of five seasons (and a movie!) but again, would it not have been better if Homeland only lasted a season or two? Those three shows all had their whimsy even if they dealt with death and sanity. Hannibal is completely without whimsy and is set in a very real world yet Fuller’s warped eye still seeps through with the death tableaus that are the focal point of each season one episode.

Plus this Hannibal, Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen (Casino Royale) subtlety chews the scenes just as much as he eats on the show. Which is quite a lot, foodies will surely enjoy the show. Well once they get over the fact that much of the meat he prepares comes from rude people. Then there is Hugh Dancy (Ella Enchanted) who seems to go through a major mental breakdown each and every episode to the point you fear for the actor’s sanity for the number of times his character goes down the preverbal rabbit hole as Hannibal toys with him.

If you are not caught up on Hannibal, this is where you should stop reading because I am about to spoil the second season; but before you go, let me just say the second season finale was one of the finest and shocking hours of television I have seen in a while.

Okay, last spoiler warning. Turn away now if you do not want to know what happened this season.

I have never seen a movie featuring Hannibal Lecter or even read the books, but I still have an idea where the show is going since he is one of the most famous antagonists in pop culture history. So it was not that shocking when Will ended up in a mental hospital for the criminally insane. Nor I was when he was eventually release considering his role in the overarching narrative of the story. But this season’s finale that was a completely different story.

Though I know that Will Graham is the one that eventually catches Hannibal, the show did a very good job making me wonder if Will was on Hannibal’s side or on Jack’s. Even at the end of the season I still question Will loyalty (but after the events of the finale, it seems clear where Will falls). Of course for weeks we have known what was about to go down. In the season premiere we saw Jack enter Hannibal’s kitchen and met with one of his knives before ending out in the wine cellar with a shard of glass in his neck.

So for weeks we had to wonder who would come to Jack’s rescue. We got that answer last week when the promo monkeys showed us Alana showing up to the Lecter estate gun in hand. Of course Hannibal took the bullets out a long time ago. Which leads us to the first big shock of the episode: Holy Abigail Hobbs sighting! I do remember giving thought to the possibility that Hannibal did not kill her, just cut her ear off and force it down Will’s throat. But that theory faded a long time ago. But I did kept looking for the missing ear which was covered by hair until her final scene where she clearly was missing it.

So Alana goes out the window just in time for Will to show up (by taxi?). Well this has to be where Will finally captures Hannibal, catching up to the books. Nope. Hannibal guts Will then, while he is helpless, slashes Abigail’s neck with Will unable to stop him much like he did Jacob Hobbes. Then, as Bryan Fuller says in an interview, Hannibal drops the mic and leaves. Jack is lifeless in the wine cellar. Will is bleeding out his abdomen while trying to stop Abigail bleeding out her neck in the kitchen. And Alana, barely still conscience, is outside in the rain, laying in glass form a two story drop. I guess it is easy to predict that the main players will eventually pull through while Will is going to be haunted with Abigail’s death.

Oh, but that is not it, we did get a tease for season three with Hannibal taking a flight… with Dr. Du Maurier. Oooo, so what happened there? Earlier in the season, Hannibal arrived at Bedelia’s house in his clear murder lab coat just after she left town. The FBI later found her. I am guessing that she knew if the FBI could find her, so could Hannibal, so she told him of the FBI’s plan as a measure of self preservation. It will make for an interesting third season, the first ever for a Bryan Fuller show. Hopefully it does not turn out like the third season of Homeland.

Hannibal 2.x gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 5/25/14

Mad Men: After Pete missed her twice, I was beginning to fear that we not get to see Trudy this episode and after Community got canceled, I need my Alison Brie fix anyway I can get it. I even sit through her vodka ads. But anyway. Every since Bob Benson creepily touched Pete’s thigh, people questioned his sexuality and this week we got a definitive answer as to just how he swings, going as far as to ask Joan to be his beard. Poor Joan, actually thinks she can still find love as a single mother pushing forty. Her best, and probably only hope is her baby-daddy Roger who has the maturity level of his kid.
You can download Mad Men on iTunes.

Penny Dreadful: I was beginning to think the second episode was going to enter into a sophomore episode slump after a fairly uneventful first half of the episode (consumption sex notwithstanding). But things really picked up in the second half. The séance scene was more disturbing than anything on The Walking Dead while the first Frankenstein Monster reintroducing itself to his father was just as creepy. Still the second episode felt more like an extension of the Pilot where we are introduced to two or three main characters. Now that we have met all the players, hopefully the show starts to pick up next week.

The Voice: I checked into the finale for a couple minutes and quickly realized that I wisely checked out somewhere between the first and second Battle Rounds. Somehow they found singers more boring and bland than last season’s final three in Christina and Jake. At least Josh won, though I not sure if he could have even sniffed the semi-finals in the first four seasons. This is usually where I make a long list of ways to fix the show, but I have only one right now: find better talent. I thought season four was pretty weak talent wise compared to the first three and the last two have gotten significantly worse talent wise. It is time to bring in more ringers. And good ones, not silly YouTube “superstars,” ones with actual talent and entertainment value.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu.

Survivor: Cagayan: Sometime I just have to scratch my head at how some people vote. After three jury members attacked Tony for lying after swearing on his badge, wife and kid, and even his death father’s grave, I actually though Woo had a chance of winning, yet all three of those players ended up voting for Tony. I do not mind lying and cheating to advance in the game, but who gives a million dollars to someone who reigns on the memory of their dead father? What’s worse is that Tony did not even gain anything from voting for Trish. Ugg, so after such a promising premise, Brains vs. Beauty vs. Brawn, this season ended up being in the bottom five of the series.

Undoubtedly there will be an all-star edition of the format in the near future (they are already recycling Blood vs. Water), so here is my suggestion for the cast. I did fill the Beauty tribe with all hot chicks because I do not think anyone wants to know my thoughts on the subject. Plus, let’s be honest, the idea of a “beauty” tribe is that the members use their looks to advance and guys just do not do that. Look at this past season, two of the male beauties looked like they could have very well been on the Brawn tribe.

Brains
Ciera Eastin (Blood vs. Water)
Kim Spradlin (One World)
Sophie Clarke (South Pacific)
Rob Cesternino (Amazon)
Stephen Fishbach (Tocantins)
Todd Herzog (China)

Beauty
Parviti Shallow (Cooke Island)
Andrea Boehlke (Redemption Island)
Morgan McLeod (Cagayan)
Natalie Tenerelli (Redemption Island)
Chelsea Meissner (One World)
Mikayla Wingle (Phillippines)

Brawn
Kat Edorsson (One World)
Cliff Robinson (Cagayan)
Jeff Kent (Philippines)
James Clement (Blood vs. Water)
Stephenie LaGrossa (Palau)
Abi-Maria Gomes (Philippines)

You can stream recent episodes on cbs.com. You can also download Survivor: Cagayan on iTunes.

The Americans: With teaser at the end of the first season finale it seemed obvious that Paige would learn of her parents other lives sometime this season. And with Larrick hot on their trail, it seemed likely that he would kidnap and she would learn that way. Oops, got that totally wrong. It turns out it was the other kid who learned of his parents extracurricular activities. And then killed his parents. Alrighty, that was a bit rushed. But it did set up would could be a fascinating third season where Paige has to find out about her parents… right?
You can download The Americans on iTunes.

The Challenge: Free Agents: I have to grown whenever a new cast is announce and Johnny Bananas is once again a part of the season. And I have done a lot of growing because this is his tenth Challenge (he, along with C.T. and Anessa have tied Paula for the most appearance; and since I was on the Wikipeia page, I was flabbergasted to see Cara Maria just tied Sarah for most consecutive Challenges ever with seven, who keeps asking her back). So it says a lot that for the first time ever I was actually rooting for Bananas in an elimination round. That shows you juts how much of a douche Jordan is. And really there are very few things more entertaining than Jordan calling his shot against Bananas and then lose. And not just lose, but fail epically, falling of the wall. Good riddance Jordan, here is hoping you do not reach Johnny’s record.
You can download The Challenge: Free Agents on iTunes.

Hannibal: Well, frack, that is how you do a season finale. It may take me a couple days to fully compute what just happened.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Hannibal on iTunes.

Best of the Week: 5/24/14

Quote of the Week: The New York Athletic Club frowns upon people making advances in their steam room. (Roger Sterling, Mad Men)

Song of the Week: Twilight Zone – Golden Earring (The Americans)

Big News of the Week: Summertime: Monday is the unofficial start of Summer but unlike the fall season where ninety percent of seasons premiere within a two week period, new shows will dribble out from now until August. NBC is out of the gate first debuting new seasons every day next week day except Wednesday. Not that I plan on watching any of them. Here is what I do plan to watch over the next three months as I try to avoid the heat and allergens.

Mondays
8:00 – Switched at Birth, ABC Family (June 16)
9:00 – Dallas, TNT (August 18)
10:00 – Under the Dome, CBS (June 30)

Tuesdays
8:00 – Pretty Little Liars, ABC Family (June 10)
9:00 – Royal Pains, USA (June 10)
10:00 – Perception, TNT (June 17)
10:00 – Tyrant, FX (June 24)

Wednesdays
9:00 – Legends, TNT (August 20)
10:00 – Wilfred, FXX (June 25)
10:00 – The Bridge, FX (July 9)
10:00 - Franklin and Bash, TNT (August 13)

Thursdays
8:00 – Defiance, Syfy (June 19)
9:00 – Dominion, Syfy (June 19)

Sundays
9:00 – The Last Ship, TNT (June 22)
9:00 – Ray Donovan, Showtime (July 13)
10:00 – Falling Skies, TNT (June 22)
10:00 – Masters of Sex, Showtime (July 13)
10:00 – The Strain, FX (July 13)


Preview Picture of the Week:

“Who Shaves the Barber?” Fargo, Tuesday at 10:00 on FX

Free Download of the Week: The Furthermost of Mike Doughty (Noisetrade)

New Album Release of the Week: A Letter Home - Neil Young

New DVD Release of the Week: The Bridge: Season 1

Video of the Week: Sure Christopher Nolan is best known for his The Dark Knight Trilogy, but he cut his teeth making high concept films like Memento. With the success of Batman, he is now able to do big budget, high concept movies like Inception. Little was known about his latest movie Interstellar except that it may or may not have to do with worm holes. The first teaser basically just featured Matthew McConaughey driving a beat up truck down a dirt road; not very spacey.

Now we have an official first trailer which is still pretty Earth bound considering the title but we do learn that the Earth is running out of food (despite the numerous corn field backdrops). And McConaughey is tasked to either find food outside the solar system or maybe somewhere to live. There are a couple blink and miss them cameos in the trailer from Michael Caine, John Lithgow, Jessica Chastain, and Anne Hathaway (at least I think that is her in the video's thumbnail). Knowing Nolan, this may be the most we learn about the film until it is released in November.


Next Week Pick of the Week: Mad Men, Sunday at 10:00 on AMC: Yes the new season of Man Men just premiered less than two months ago, but thanks to the penny pushers over at AMC who want to milk as much out of the show until it is over, the final season is being split in two with the final episodes not coming until 2015.

Around the Tubes: 5/23/14

I have gotten a plethora of cool press releases have been flooding my inbox recently that you may find interesting. This post will include blurbs on The Wil Wheaton Project, Heroes of Cosplay, Wicked Tuna, Spartacus, Falling Skies, D-Day Sacrifice, Bonnie Raitt, B.B. King-The Life Of Riley, Motor City Masters, and Deal with It.

- In one week, actor Wil Wheaton will join the Syfy channel for a weekly round-up on all things pop culture and sci-fi. Watch the trailer below, and make sure to mark your calendars for the Tuesday night premiere on May 27 the same day Heroes of Cosplay returns for it's second season.


- The heart-pounding Wicked Tuna season three finale premieres Sunday, June 8, at 9:00, followed immediately by the debut of National Geographic Channel’s first live talk show, Reel Talk Live, at 10:00 (tape delayed on the West Coast). Fan-favorite captains and crewmen join host Mike Salk (@TheMikeSalk; sports radio host and Boston area native) before a live audience to answer fan questions, reveal behind-the-scenes scoop and look ahead to the future of the successful Wicked Tuna franchise.

- Continuing to expand its roster of diverse domestic and international programming, Syfy today announced it is acquiring U.S. basic cable rights to all 39 episodes (three seasons and the six-part prequel) of the popular swords and sandal series Spartacus. Spartacus will make its basic cable premiere on Thursday, June 26 at 10:00, rounding out the channel’s potent primetime lineup of original series Defiance at 8:00 and Dominion at 9:00.

- As excitement builds for the fourth season of TNT's hit drama Falling Skies, the network is giving viewers the chance to binge-watch the entire third season on Memorial Day. TNT will present all ten episodes of season three in a 10-hour marathon slated to begin Monday, May 26, at 10 a.m.

- The day is June 6, 1944, and World War II has entered its fifth year of combat. Thousands of allied paratroopers storm the northern coast of France in what became the largest military invasion fleet in history, striking the unsuspecting German defenses by land, sea and air. In an epic battle stretching across five heavily guarded beaches, the allied troops are besieged by enemy fire, bracketed by artillery and facing almost certain death. Years of meticulous planning and countless casualties have come down to this historic moment. This is D-Day … and it’s only day one. In commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the historic storming of the beaches at Normandy, National Geographic Channel (NGC) takes viewers to the front lines for a look at the most crucial moments of World War II in a dramatic special, D-Day Sacrifice, premiering Wednesday, June 4, 2014, at 9:00. D-Day Sacrifice also premieres globally on NGC beginning in June 2014, in 171 countries and 45 languages.

- On June 24, Capitol Records/UMe will release a special vinyl-only edition of Bonnie Raitt's classic Nick of Time in honor of the album's 25th anniversary. The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer's tenth album still stands as her signature work and as a turning point in her legendary career. It topped the Billboard 200 album chart, sold five million copies, and won three GRAMMY® Awards, including “Album of the Year.” Rolling Stone ranked NICK OF TIME as number 230 on its list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time."

- B.B. King-The Life Of Riley is a powerful, insightful and heart-warming feature documentary about legendary Blues man, B.B. King. The film is narrated by OSCAR® winning actor Morgan Freeman and features never-before-seen interviews with music icons Eric Clapton, Bono, Ringo Starr, Carlos Santana, Slash, Bonnie Raitt, Buddy Guy, Ronnie Wood, Mick Jagger and longtime blues fan and supporter, Bruce Willis. The film will play in movie theatres across the United States, starting May 21st. Tickets for the theatrical screenings are on sale now, only at bbking.com.

- truTV has unveiled the slate of guest judges and competition themes for the first season of Motor City Masters, the search for America's next great car designer. Produced in collaboration with Chevrolet, the new competition series is set to feature such celebrity guest judges as actress and producer Melissa Joan Hart (Melissa & Joey,Clarissa Explains It All), actor Jesse Metcalfe (Dallas, Desperate Housewives), Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz, baseball great David Justice and former NASCAR driver Robby Gordon. Also serving as guest judges will be celebrity dog trainer and bestselling author Tamar Geller, vice president of design, Mattel Hot Wheels Division, Felix Holst, model and surfer Malia Jones, this summer’s Transformers: Age of Extinction’s Master Mechanic and Fabricator, Specialty Cars Trevor Mann and GM vice president of global design Edward T. Welburn Jr.

- TBS has extended the second season of Deal With It, adding 10 episodes to the hidden-camera competition series, which returns this fall. The series from executive producer Howie Mandel and hosted by Theo Von (Primetime in No Time, Last Comic Standing, The Half Hours) currently airing Wednesdays at 10:30, puts a unique spin on friendly dares by giving them the ultimate twist.

Previewing The World Wars

Monday, people across the country will be firing up their grill in memory of the great men and women who gave their life for their country. Many of those lives were lost during the two great wars that were waged in-between 1914 and 1945. All told, over 100 million people across the globe died in combat during those thirty years coming out to about 230 deaths per hour. On Monday, History will premiere a three part special The World Wars to air on consecutive days next week.

The first part opens in a trench in Germany of all places where one of its soldiers is struggling to put on a gas mask over his bushy mustache. Of course when the soldiers shaves his upper lip down, it becomes clear why they started here. The World Wars follows all the big players from the time, men like Roosevelt, Hitler, Patton, Mussolini, Churchill, Tojo, DeGaulle and MacArthur, many who were mere foot soldiers in the First World War, their rise to power in between and their major roles in the Second.

The first installment takes us through the First World War all the way up to the Treaty of Versailles. The second episode opens up in 1929 and deals mostly with “peace time” and does a really good job explaining the failures of Treaty of Versailles and how it lead to the start of the Second World War. The third installment starts with Pearl Harbor in December of 1949. Throughout the three installments we witness the introduction of many new military innovations created for the wars like Guns on motor vehicles, trench warfare, tanks, mustard gas, and of course the atomic bomb.

The World Wars does not uncover any new information or even any new footage, but the six hours may be the most comprehensive special on the subjects to ever air on television. The special does feature new interviews with politicians and military men of today like John McCain, Sir John Major, Colin Powell, Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, Stanley McCrystal, Leon Panetta, Joe Liebermann, and numerous historians and biographers. The whole series is narrated by The Hurt Locker’s Jeremy Renner.

The World Wars airs Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday at 9:00 on History.

You Breathing to the Choir That Prayer's the Drug Game

Having a day job apparently has upped the productivity of The Roots. Since becoming Jimmy Fallon’s house band five years ago, the group has released six albums which includes duet albums with John Legend, Betty Wright, and last year’s Wise Up Ghost with Elvis Costello (and people that the Lou Reed / Metallica pairing was odd). More surprising than the output is that spending their days with the annoyingly chipper Fallon has gotten increasingly moody.

The Roots never were a party group, always focusing on the underbelly of hip-hop but 2010’s How I Got Over saw them collaborate with indie artists like Dirty Projectors, Joanna Newsom and repurposed the Monsters of Folk song Dear God. That was followed by undun, a concept album about the life of an urban youth told in reverse chronological. Now the band is back with ...and then you shoot your cousin and with a tite like that, you can guess no one will ever pick one of these songs in a lip sync battle with Fallon anytime soon.

The new album is another concept album, but much looser than the last but still touching on recurring themes like urban plight and thoughts on God with a soundtrack more foreboding than the previous album. After a Nina Simone song plays, the album starts up with a haunting choir on Never setting mood very well for what is to come. That is followed by When the People Cheer which sounds like old school The Roots. Black Rock hit like classic nineties rap, taking back the genre from the hip-pop that has littered the radio over the past decade.

Understand follows Dear God to church, this time with gospel type organs that shakes the pew and features the chorus, “People ask for God, 'till the day he comes. See God’s face; turn around and run. God sees the face of a man. Shaking his head, says ‘he'll never understand’” As moody as the album gets, it does end with the hopeful Tomorrow which even open up with some whistling which you can also find yourself smiling during. The song is a satisfying ending to maybe the tightest album the band has produced yet.

Song to Download - Understand

...and then you shoot your cousin gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.

Though I Try My Heart Stays Still, it Never Moves

In the post Beyoncé world, I have become fascinated with album rollouts. Sure there are only a small handful of artists that could also pull off a surprise album (Kid Cudi, the only recognizable artist who has tried since turned out to not be one). Coldplay is probably one of them. Much like Beyoncé they were the biggest act in their respective genre about a decade ago but each successive album was selling less and less while younger act stole their crowns.

But that did not happen. Instead they released they released Midnight with nothing more than a weird video at midnight in Ulan Bator, Mongolia of all places. After being considered the pop version of Radiohead, Midnight sounded like actual Radiohead if they were fronted by Bon Iver. Was this a new direction for the band? Nope. A week later the band released Magic, a more traditionally sounding pop song even if it sounded like the least Coldplay single they had ever released with a bouncing bass and Chris Martin not singing in his traditional falsetto voice.

With the release of Magic came a traditional album rollout, the album Ghost Stories would be released two months later. In the meanwhile the typical promotional campaign would happen, talk show appearances, NBC special, Target ads. Then came a non-traditional, and probably inadvertent bit of promotion for the album: Chris Martin announced a “conscious uncoupling” from his wife Gwyneth Paltrow.

Duran Duran lead singer Simon LeBon was once asked why rock stars date supermodels to which he replied, because they can. The only problem is dating the most beautiful women sometime makes for bad music especially in the hands of singer-songwriters. John Mayer worst album Battle Studies was the concept album about dating and then breaking up with Jennifer Aniston. So it is hard to listen to Ghost Stories without looking through the prism of the conscious uncoupling. It is the most evident on the opening track Always in My Head. It seems pretty clear with this and the subsequent songs, that the conscious uncoupling may not have been his idea and there will be no spiteful breakup songs here. The song is even followed up my Magic with its chorus, “I don’t want anybody else but you.”

Those songs also set a musical mood that is much more moody and airy compared to their grand stadium anthems of the past. Magic is not the only song where Martin opts not to go in his signature falsetto which leads to more honest song. And the drum machine sound from that sound also permeates the whole album. The only song that sounds out of place is A Sky Full of Stars. The song, produced by Avicii, sounds it would have been a better fit on their more dance leaning album Mylo Xyloto. But then again it may sound way too much like that album’s Every Teardrop I a Waterfall to the point you have to wonder if A Sky Full of Stars is just the Avicii remix of Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall.

Song to Download – Magic

Ghost Stories gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.

I Want My Music Television: 5/19/14

There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I thought I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.

Part II (On the Run) – Jay-Z featuring Beyoncé


Okay this is less a music video for the Jay-Z song and more a teaser for the upcoming Jay-Z / Beyoncé summer tour. And for those that did not stick around for the end, the movie is “coming never” but I actually enjoyed the generic trailer if just for Rashida Jones and Kat Dennings as a police officer. Oh, wait, that was Emmy Rossum? Ooops.


Understand – The Roots featuring Dice Raw and Greg Porn


I do not sure if it is true or not, but I am just going to go ahead and believe the latest The Roots music video is an homage to two great 80’s videos Rockit by Herbie Handcock and Sledgehammer by Peter Gabriel.


Appreciate – Paul McCartney


So the I, Robot robots really do take over the world and then create own Night at the Museum scenario with Paul McCartney.


We Exist – Arcade Fire


So in the last month, Spider Man has dressed in drag for Arcade Fire and made out with Chris Martin… is he trying to say something? I hope he is trying to say Gwen Stacey is available, I personally would be happy to take her off his hands. I hope he is not saying he wants to star in a Flashdance remake even if he’s about a good a dancer as Jennifer Beals. But if it did happen, who should sing the theme song? Keeping with the gender bending theme maybe Ed Sheeran.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 5/18/14

Once Upon a Time: C’mon, you cannot have a Marty McFly reference and not have Emma’s hand start to disappear after she keeps her parents from meeting. And I thought after they made a big deal about Charming falling in love with Snow White after seeing the ring on her finger, I thought when Emma found the ring, she would put it on and her father would fall in love with her kind of like when Marty’s mom tried to have sex with him. But that is one of those only in the eighties type storyline.

It seemed pretty obvious to me the unnamed prisoner would end up being what fairytale property the show would exploit next season. Being that she was slightly ethnic, I was thinking Jasmine from Aladdin except Once Upon a Time: Wonderland went there and I doubt the writers will want to return there after it bombed massively. I was way off; she turned out to be Maid Marian and will just be a catalyst to turn Regina slightly evil again. The big surprise to me was that Emma told Rumplstiltkin that his son dies in the future and he does not do anything about it (that we know of yet), he just drinks his forgetful drink and makes a funny joke. So Neil may actually stay dead even though it does not seem like Rumplestiltkin to let that stand.

So I wrong the person that Emma brought back from the past would predict where the show is going next season (it turns out the actress has been on the show in a previous season, but just did not leave much of a mark), the actual tease for season four turned out to be, um, I had to look it up, Princess Elsa from Frozen? Alrighty. Have they really run out of fairytales to exploit, they have to do one that is not even a year old?
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Once Upon a Time on iTunes.

Mad Men: A couple weeks ago a hot blonde approached Don saying she knew him but he had no clue who she was. I originally thought that was his “niece” up until she started to hit on her. I still assumed the resemblance was not a coincidence. The niece actually showed up this week for the first time in a long while, which of course make me think of her doppelganger a couple weeks ago. Was the other more together the idealist version of her than Don remembered and the knocked up hippie was the reality? Granted that juxtaposition does not really work because Don did not actually see the new “niece” but that could be because he can still remember her the way she was. Not that any of this mattered because Ginsberg cut off his nipple to keep the computer from communicating with him. What the frack!?!
You can download Mad Men on iTunes.

Revenge: After a pleasurable, albeit guilty type of pleasurable, first season, this show hit a sever sophomore slump due in part to the lack of takedowns. I also blamed the lack of enjoyment of the inclusion of Aiden. Every ten episodes or so he would have a spat with Emily, leave the Hamptons, but would always find his way back after a episode or two. After two seasons they finally pulled the trigger on Aiden who I am guessing will not be returning from death anytime soon, unlike someone else.

The show teased that someone would die and with Aiden out of the way halfway through, I figured that was it. Nope, it looks like Conrad will join Aiden in, well, wherever those two may be going. But the second death was not the shocker, this time it was the murderer that was the surprise, the not so dead David Clarke. The show has teased this a couple times, but it would always go nowhere.

So this opens a whole new can of worms. Where has David been all this time? Why chose this very moment to kill Conrad? Who else knows? Nolan? Was he helping Emily from the shadows (aside from providing her with the infinity box) all this time? Will he come out of the shadows now that his name is cleared? How will Emily react to him still being alive (she just wasted a decade of her life avenging his death that did not actually happen)? And maybe most importantly, why was this not the finale for last season, or even season one? We really wasted two worthless seasons to get to this point.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Revenge on iTunes.

The Blacklist: Shows that have a stellar first season but cannot stick the landing have me a bit worried moving forward. Call it the Lost Paradox. And The Blacklist actually made me think of a worst case: The Killing. At the end of the first season, we leaned that the mayoral candidate did the killing. But wait in the last scene the evidence against him turned out to be tampered with. I had the same reaction with Berlin, Red kills him, but wait, that was not really Berlin. Worse, I say the ending a mile away, when the other passengers were saying “He cut of his hand” I originally did think they meant Berlin cut off his own hand. And I guy we are now to assume Lizzie is Berlin’s daughter, right, and Red was the one that stole her from him?
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download The Blacklist on iTunes.

Castle: It was a little convenient that a room full of bikers and mobsters did not start shooting at each other. But I guess we are supposed to spend the summer thinking Castle is dead despite being the titular character. Now that Kate’s mother’s murder is closed, this will probably be the start of the next lengthy case the duo undertakes.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Castle on iTunes.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: I thought the show stalled out a bit after the Captain America premiered but that was a thoroughly entertaining finale. It seemed pretty obvious to me that Joss Weadon himself wrote those Colson / Fury scenes. I am really glad they never even tried to turn Ward good again, but I have a feeling that there will be a Loki in Thor 2 situation sometime in season three. I hope they instead use him as more of a Hannibal Lecter situation if they do bring the character back. I just do not think there is a way they could ever redeem Ward. My only disappointment with the finale (other than they let Ward live) is we did not get any more information about Skye’s origins other than her father is still alive and he has a thick bloody hand.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on iTunes.

Survivor: Cagayan: I had to laugh at Trish saying she was a good person in the game after the blow up with Kass. She was so unliked that someone rather quit the game than be around her for fear she would start punching her. With or without her, this is a lackluster final four. Woooooo is the only person worth rooting for but he will probably be out first unless he wins Immunity.
You can stream recent episodes on cbs.com. You can also download Survivor: Cagayan on iTunes.

Nashville: So Will actually admitted to his wife that he was gay, unfortunately for him, it looks like his reality show producers were listening. But it is about time this news came out, it hopefully will make the character interesting for once. The rest of the episode was pretty meh for a finale.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Nashville on iTunes.

The Big Bang Theory: I would actually watch a show where Sheldon rides the rails.
You can stream recent episodes on cbs.com. You can also download The Big Bang Theory on iTunes.

The Challenge: Free Agents: Nothing better than trivia week on The Challenge, T.J. clearly enjoys it two. Australians speaking Dutch had to be my favorite answer.
You can download The Challenge: Free Agents on iTunes.

Hannibal: Will says he knows how to set a trap, I wonder if he is actually using Jack as the bait (as seen in the season premiere and the next promo). You can also add Hannibal having Mason feed Will’s dogs with his own face to the most disturbing scenes list.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Hannibal on iTunes.

Best of the Week: 5/17/14

Quote of the Week: How would I know to get back to the future? Who do I look like, Marty McFly? (Emma Swan, Once Upon a Time)

Song of the Week: Add It Up – Violent Femmes (Suburgatory)

Scene of the Week:


Big News of the Week: Michael Sams Gets Ready for His Close-up: As a Cleveland Browns fan I am happy for Michael Sams because his presence in the league because it is keeping Johnny Football from going full Tim Tebow on ESPN. And unlike Sams, Johnny Football does not have his own reality show. Yep, the first openly gay football player is getting his own reality show on the Oprah network. Sure the Rams are alright with Sams being homosexual, but I wonder how they feel about a seventh round draft pick getting a reality show. Not good I am assuming, an unnamed source already said as much and the team is banning camera from team facilities. Not only is the team reportedly unhappy, I am guessing the league is not thrilled considering they have their own reality show, Hard Knocks, and are not thrilled with the competition. Being one of the last picks in the draft means you will be battling for a spot on the roster, I wonder if the extra scrutiny surrounding the reality show means it will be more or less likely Sams will make the team.  Scooter Update:  New broke late Friday that OWN is postponing the show which to me means it is quietly going away for good.  Apparently even Oprah cannot cross the NFL.

Preview Picture of the Week:

“Echo” The Americans Season Finale, Wednesday at 10:00 on FX

Free Download of the Week: Klapp Klapp – Little Dragon (iTunes)

New Album Release of the Week: Ghost Stories - Coldplay

New DVD Release of the Week: Pompeii

Video of the Week: It is that time again, time for the Gathering of the Juggalos. No, not because I am interesting in going, nope I am only interest because there is a new Gathering of the Juggalos infomercial. Cypress Hill! Shock G!! Gilbert Gottfried!!! Mick Foley!!!! Ninja Olympics!!!!!


Next Week Pick of the Week: Survivor, Wednesday at 8:00 on CBS: It is rare that the Survivor finale actually airs in its regular day instead of Sunday, in fact, I do not remember the last time it happened. I cannot comment much on the final four considering I have yet to watch the episode yet because the penultimate episode here was preempted for tornado warning and therefore do not know who is even left (aside from Tony who seemed pretty invincible with the Special Idol). I just hope Woo is still around and somehow lucks into the win because no one else is really worthy of winning at this point.

Around the Tubes: 5/16/14

I have gotten a plethora of cool press releases have been flooding my inbox recently that you may find interesting. This post will include blurbs on Coldplay, The Americans, Secrets of Underground London, Orange Is the New Black, Ray Donovan, Conan, and Hash at It.

- Who’s up for a good ghost story? Gather ‘round the TV this Sunday at 7:00 for the hour-long Coldplay: Ghost Stories special. A blend of live-performance footage and cinematic film, the cutting-edge special will feature impressive and innovative 360-degree imagery – around, above and below the band. Get your first taste of the immersive blend of storytelling in the trailer below.


- On the season finale of The Americans, no one is safe as Philip and Elizabeth evacuate their children while trying to complete the mission. Stan holds Nina's future in his hands.


- Following the success of the previous behind-the-scenes looks at England’s most notable landmarks, Secrets of Underground London premieres Sunday, June 22, 2014, 8:00-9:00 p.m. ET.The special precedes Materpiece Mystery! “The Escape Artist” starring David Tennant. On the surface, London is a buzzing, modern metropolis — but underneath lies a hidden world, all but forgotten by the millions of people above. From ancient caves and preserved Roman remains to mysterious rivers and plague pits, Secrets of Underground London uncovers 2,000 years of subterranean history.

- Orange is the New Black returns June 6 and here is Crazy Eyes herself, Uzo Aduba talking about her favorite scenes from the first season.



- The highest-rated freshman series in Showtme history, Ray Donovan: The First Season was released simultaneously on iTunes, Google Play, Amazon Instant Video, Vudu, Target Ticket, Sony Entertainment Network and Verizon FiOS earlier this week. Season one of Ray Donovan will also be released on DVD and Blu-ray on June 10, in time to catch-up before the broadcast premiere of the second season, which returns to SHOWTIME on Sunday, July 13th at 9:00.


- TBS and Conan O'Brien are continuing their partnership as the network has renewed the late-night series Conan through 2018. Since it premiered in November 2010, CONAN has been a hit with TBS's core audience of young adults, scoring a younger median age than any other hour-long talk show in late night.

- HashAtIt.com is set to sponsor former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Tito Ortiz in his first fight since July 2012, in the inaugural Bellator pay-per-view, scheduled for May 17, 2014. Officially launching last week, HashAtIt.com is the first social media search engine that gives users a way to gather information on any metadata tags (#hashtags) from popular social networks such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest, collecting all the results in one place.

The Five Most (and Least) Anticipated New Shows of Fall 2014

Two major themes among the new shows for the upcoming season. First the most obvious, after dominating the cinemas the past decade, comic books are about to take over the small screen with five new shows based on comic books to add to the two that are already there. Another big trend is diversity. Kerry Washington and Omar Epps are currently the only top line star on any network show right now that are not white (unless you also count Neil DeGrass Tyson of Cosmos; also Hallie Berry is starring in the upcoming Extant). Next season high profile non WASPs Craig Robinson (The Robinsons), Octavia Spencer (Red Band Society), Terrence Howard (Empire), Viola Davis (How to Get Away with Murder), Anthony Anderson (Black-ish), Maggie Q (Stalker) all lead new shows. Add to that two ABC comedies based around Hispanic (Cristela) and Asian (Fresh off the Boat) families and a FOX show Hieroglyph that takes place in Egypt. Granted that last show is headlined by a white dude and the Egyptians in the cast are vaguely ethnic.

After pointing out how diverse the new shows are this season, I kind of feel bad that none of them made my Most Anticipated list which is mostly filled up with superhero shows, all of which are all white. Sorry Apache Chief, no show for you yet, maybe there will be a place for you in the Justice League movie. But hey, one has a female lead, so that is progress and it is not even Wonder Woman who NBC and The CW have tried to get on the air for years. And none of the minority led shows made my least anticipated list, so there is that. But anyway. Here is my Most Anticipated list:

1. Marvel’s Agent Carter (Midseason, likely Tuesdays at 9:00 on ABC when SHIELD goes on hiatus): A show with “Marvel” in the title occupied this spot last year which turned out to be mediocre to start but built to a entertaining climax around the Captain American movie so I should be a bit weary to put another one on top again this season. Especially considering there is no trailer yet (unless you count the One Sheet that was on the Iron Man 3 DVD and only the titular character is currently signed on for the show. Howard Stark was mentioned in the press release so it seems Dominic Cooper will be around in some capacity. If the One-Sheet is considered cannon, hopefully the newly unemployed Bradley Whitford can reprise his role as Agent Carter’s boss. Of course everyone can agree Neal McDonough would be a great addition as Dum Dum Dugan. One would also assume since he was mentioned on SHIELD, Agent Triplett’s Howling Commando could also play a role. But what could make Agent Carter better than SHIELD (aside from Hayley Atwell in period costumes every week) is that since it takes place in the past, it does not have to shoehorn in everything else that is currently going on in the Marvel Universe.

2. Gotham (Mondays at 8:00 on FOX): I already talked at length about the show when the trailer was released last week (see Best of the Week: 5/10/14), so just let me reiterate, this better be worth lifting my eight year ban on Fox.


3. Constantine (Friday at 10:00 on NBC): I vaguely remember the Keanu Reeves based on the same comic book and somewhat remember being ambivalent to it. Plus the show gets the Friday death slot right out of the gate. But if NBC give the show the leeway that current inhabitant Hannibal gets, the show could do the comics justice. I am caustically optimistic.


4. Manhattan Love Story (Tuesdays at 8:30 on ABC): One more minor trend this season, there are three sitcoms this season that are basically televised versions of romantic comedies filling the void of How I Met Your Mother (ironically one of them is not How I Met Your Dad which was not picked up by CBS). The most blatant rip off is A to Z which actually stars the titular mother from How I Met Your Mother and features narration for another former sitcom star, Peg Bundy. Marry Me had me laughing a few time during the trailer, and it is always nice to see Vinnie VanLowe more often, but created by the creator of Happy Endings gives me pause. Manhattan Love Story is the one I am looking more forward to mostly because of Analeigh Tipton who ranks fairly high on the likeability scale, it is about time someone gave her a starring role in something. Unfortunately the douchebag from Greek is not. And I have to admit I was disappointed that the trailer used Aretha Franklin’s Think instead of The Gas Face by 3rd Base. I cannot be the only person who think Gas Face first when her hears that piano intro right?


5. iZombie (Midseason, The CW): Gone in one season may be eight year ban on FOX and my five year ban on The CW. After creating Veronica Mars, I am willing to give the new show from Rob Thomas a shot even if it is a zombie show on The CW starring Tinkerbell. Trailer will probably not be out until later today and I will probably update this space then once I actually get a look at it.  Scooter Update:  The CW schedule was released and iZombie was resigned to midseason and they did not even release a trailer.  Not very promising.


As the great philosopher Butt-Head once pondered, “If it weren’t for things that sucked, how would we know if something was awesome,” here are the least anticipated shows of the season (click on their names to check out their trailers if you dare). And you know there are some stinkers when a Katherine Heigl show cannot even crack the bottom five.

1. Galavant (Midseason, likely Sunday at 8:00 on ABC during the Once Upon a Time hiatus): It is rare that I would watch something on my least anticipated shows list; actually this is the first time. In a time where marketers can make anything look watchable, the Galavant trailer looks epically bad. I am talking Cop Rocks bad. Sure, best case scenario it could turn into Robin Hood: Men in Tights, but I doubt it will last that long. But I will watch all two episodes that air.
2. The McCarthys (Thursdays at 9:30 on CBS): The show is a multicamera sitcom (strike one) about a loud, sports crazed Boston family (strike two) starring Joey McIntire (strike three). No, no, and no.
3. Jane the Virgin (Monday at 9:00 on The CW): A show called Jane the Virgin on The CW… do I need to say more?
4. Selfie (Tuesdays at 8:00 on ABC): Just when you though Jane the Virgin would win the Better Off Ted Award for worst show name of the season, here comes Selfie. I dare you to watch the trailer and not think to yourself, “They canceled Suburgatory and The Neighbors for this.” The trailer is so bad, I even found myself wondering, “They canceled Mixology for this.” That is how bad the Selfie trailer looks, it made me miss Mixology.
5. NCIS: New Orleans (Tuesday at 9:00 on CBS) and CSI: Cyber (Sunday at 10:00 on CBS): CBS is just Punk’ing us at this point, right?


Of course the most fun part of the schedule release is guessing which shows will be canceled first and here are the five most likely candidates.

1. Utopia (Tuesdays at 9:00; Fridays at 9:00 on FOX): Okay this may not get canceled out right, but it will be off Tuesdays very quickly.
2. Selfie (Tuesdays at 8:00 on ABC)
3. Bad Judge (Thursdays at 9:00 on NBC)
4. A to Z (Thursdays at 9:30 on NBC)
5. Scorpion (Mondays at 9:00 on CBS)


And here is what I will be watching next far including the new shows in italics that I will at least check out once or twice.

Mondays
8:00 – Gotham (Fox)
8:00 – 2 Broke Girls (CBS)
10:00 – The Blacklist (NBC)
10:00 – Castle (ABC)

Tuesdays
8:30 – Manhattan Love Story (ABC)
9:00 - Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (ABC)
9:00 – Marry Me (NBC)
9:30 – About a Boy (NBC)

Wednesdays
8:00 – Survivor (CBS)
8:00 – The Middle (ABC)
8:30 – The Goldbergs (ABC)
9:00 – Modern Family (ABC)
9:30 – Black-ish (ABC)
10:00 – Nashville (ABC)

Thursdays
8:00 – The Big Bang Theory (CBS)
8:30 – The Millers (CBS)
10:00 – Parenthood (NBC)

Fridays
9:00 – Grimm (NBC)
10:00 – Constantine (NBC)

Sundays
8:00 – Once Upon a Time (ABC)
9:00 – Resurrection (ABC)
10:00 – Revenge (ABC)

Previewing The Carbonaro Effect

For fans of magic and hidden camera show are in for a treat with the premiere of The Carbonaro Effect where actor / magician takes over jobs like checkout clerk at a grocery store and help desk at a hotel and pulls magic tricks on unsuspecting patrons. Unfortunately like a good magician, Carbonaro does not reveal how he does his tricks so you will be guessing along with his marks. We do not even get to see Carbonaro explain to the marks that he is a magician except once which is usually the best part of hidden camera shows.

Michael Carbonaro is a magician by trade, but he's a prankster at heart. In each episode of The Carbonaro Effect, he will perform baffling tricks on people in everyday situations, all caught on hidden camera. Posing as an ordinary bartender or a seemingly unremarkable salesman, Michael astonishes marks by turning a tuft of hair into a puppy or pouring 12 pints of beer from an ordinary bottle. Whether the marks are alone or with their friends, everyone is left stunned and delighted, even though they have no idea what just hit them.

Actor, magician, comedian and improv artist Michael Carbonaro is a familiar face to television viewers thanks to his appearances on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. He has also played roles on Happily Divorced, The Newsroom, 30 Rock, Wizards of Waverly Place, CSI: Miami and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Michael hosts and performs shows of comedy, magic and other weird acts at various clubs around New York and Los Angeles, including Joe's Pub, Caroline's On Broadway, The Box and Hollywood's Magic Castle. Michael is an OutFest Best Actor Award winner, as well as a two-time nominee for the Academy of Magical Arts "Magician of the Year" Award.


The Carbonaro Effect airs Thursdays at 10:00 on TruTV. If you want to know more about Michael Carbonaro, he will be a guest on Hallmark Channel’s Home and Family this Thursday at 10:00 AM.

Acting Right Is So Routine, Fever Let Me Live a Dream

Not that long ago I was talking to someone about who the biggest rock band in the country was. After morning the slow decline of the genre we decided that The Black Keys held that titled depending on if you consider Mumford and Sons a rock band or not. It is amazing to think that considering that when they started they were either considered a more pure version of The White Stripes or a complete rip-off (I was in the former camp).

But with their past three albums, the Keys sounded like they were actively looking for rock stardom making short and compact rock songs like a modern day Creedence Clearwater Revival. And they achieved just that with back to back platinum album, an increasingly rare feat these days, with instant earworm guitar riff like on Lonely Boy. They even managed to cram a Led Zeppelin song into three minutes on Little Black Submarines.

So what you do when you are not the biggest band in the country? You go weird just like U2 did on Achtung Baby or Metallica with Load. After all the great riffs the duo came up with on previous albums, the first single off of Turn Blue, Fever featured a fuzzed out bass and keyboards that sound like they came from a sixties garage band. And Fever ended up just being a transition song to ease you into the new Keys, the rest of Turn Blue gets much weirder.

The album starts off with Weight of Love where the nice compact songs the duo has been crafted built around tight riffs turns into an extended near seven minute jam with multiple and lengthy guitar solos. You do not even hear Dan Auerbach’s voice until the two minute, the then the mood it set. Danger Mouse has co-produced two of the last three albums by the band, but Turn Blue is the first time his influence is truly felt as Turn Blue (I have a feeling the multiple bass grooves that populate the album are by his design) feels more like Mouse’s Broken Bells project, moody and psychedelic that seems influenced by early Pink Floyd, but the Black Keys sound is much more complete than either of the Broken Bells albums.

The best parts of Turn Blue is actually when the goes in near ballad mode. Bullet to the Brain sounds like a moodier version of Never Gonna Give You Up from Brothers. And where Broken Bells tried for a hippie version of the Bee-Gees on Holding on For Life, the Keys do a much better job at that with back to back songs Waiting on the Words and 10 Lovers.

The album closer Gotta Get Away reminded me a lot of Bound 2. No, not that I could envision Dan and drummer Patrick Carney recreate the video Seth Rogan / James Franco style, but after such a sound departure of Yeezus, it seem like Kanye West put the song at the end of the album as to say, “yeah this album may have been rough, but here is one for the long time fans who were with me back when all my songs had sped up soul samples.” For the Black Keys, after an album filly with trippy psychedelic sounds and lengthy guitar solos (the longest coming at the end of the second to last song In Our Prime), it ends with a song for those who jumped on the band’s bandwagon on the previous three albums as Gotta Get Away is their most Creedence sounding song yet. Turn Blue may not be the band’s best (and it certainly will not be its most successful), but it is definitely an album where you cannot wait to hear where the band goes next. Keep in mind Achtung Baby and Load were followed up by ever weirder Zooropa and Reload. Unfortunately both of those were followed by Pop and St. Anger.

Song to Download - Weight of Love

Turn Blue gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.