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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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


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

The 25 Contestants Who Most Deserve a Second Chance on The Voice

Tonight is the season finale and unlike last season where I checked out early but still tuned back in for the finale, there is really no reason to watch tonight. The finalists are all lackluster and even the musical guest are just as uninteresting (when will programmers learn Lady Gaga makes more people turn off the television than actually tune in to see her). And it is clear as why the last two seasons were not as good as the first three: a lack of talent. Those first three seasons saw a slew of semi-professionals (and a few actual professional) but the last two seasons have been for the mostly armatures. I do not know if they are just unable to recruit the semi-professionals (although I sure there are still some Warped Tour veterans and Alicia Keys backup singers out there even though there were none of them for the very first time this season) or if they are making a conscience effort to pluck someone straight from their bedroom (which is a horrible idea; let American Idol be the amateur hour). If there is a lack of talent out there, the solution is simple, start bringing back contestants from previous seasons that should have gone further than they did. Mark Burnett loves All-Star seasons; six of the last eight Survivor seasons featured returning players. Unfortunately the Blind Auditions for season six have already filmed, but here are twenty-five contestants that deserve a second shot at being The Voice sometime in the near future.

1. Holly Henry (Team Blake, Season 5): I thought Cee-Lo picking Erin Martin over The Shields Brothers was an untouchable dumbest move in The Voice history, but Blake, who was the smartest coach on the show, managed to take that title this past season. How she did not make the Live show was befuddling enough but to lose to some dude singing Genie in a Bottle who would go on to ruin Blurred Lines worse than Miley Cyrus and her foam finger was just a crime against humanity. Adding insult to injury, Adam mentioned he did not Steal her because she did not live up to early performance who then picked James Wolpert, someone who also did not live up to his Blind Audition, over Juhi who was significantly better that round. Holly was Blake’s best chance of winning this season and not surprisingly because of his blunder he is without a finalist for the first time ever this season. And I was not the only one who thought this because not surprisingly the ratings tanked the episode after Holly was eliminated with the most lost viewers for performance episodes in the history of the show (not counting season 2 when it had numerous big drops after starting right after the Super Bowl.)

2. Caroline Glaser (Team Blake and Adam, Season 4): You will not see too many people who made the live shows on the list because if you are rejected by the voters, that is that, but there were a few extraneous situations. Caroline gave my favorite Blind Audition that season and at the time it seemed like she wisely picked Blake as her coach considering how well he did other young female singer-songwriters like Dia Frampton and Cassadee Pope. But unbeknownst to Caroline and the viewing public at the time, Blake for the first season decided to pit all his country singers against non-country singers in the Battle Round with all the country singers moving on. Caroline went up against Danielle Bradbery and I would have given the match to Caroline (and I am not the only one, Caroline’s version of Put Your Records On outperformed Danielle’s. But Caroline did get Adam and Usher to fight to Steal her and despite Adam had the much stronger team, Caroline did manage to make it to the Live Show. And when she got there, Adam stuck her with The A-Team (a subdued, somewhat obscure song about a heroine addicted hooker; not something that would be endearing to potential voters) yet still was the fifth or sixth best selling song of the round. The only problem was two of the singers that outsold her were on Team Adam. Except it was Amber Carrington, who was the best selling of the bunch, and Judith Hill, who barely cracked the top 100 on iTunes were America’s Saves and Caroline, who was probably sold the second most songs on iTunes through the first four rounds (and the only person that week who had all four of their songs on iTunes Overall Chart), was stuck in the bottom two with the only person who outsold her up to that point that season, Sarah Simmons. Adam saves Sarah, Caroline goes home, and yet ten contestants she out sold that week advanced. And let us not forget the “voting irregularities” that happened that week. On a none-country season, Caroline could have been a real contender.

3. Jesse Campbell (Team Christina, Season 2): Another singer who made the Live Shows except Jesse went home not because the voters did not save him. Season two saw the advent of the Instant Elimination where during the second week of the Live Shows, after every performed, each coach would eliminate one of their contestants before they have the chance of being saved by the voting public. Blake went diplomatic, sending Jordis Unga home because she did not relieve the fans votes the week before. Cee-Lo and Adam cut their weakest performers James Massone and Pip respectively. Christina had a couple option, she could have, like Blake, sent home Ashley De La Rosa who she had to save the week before. I was hoping she would send Chris Mann packing because he was utterly boring. She could have even cut Lindsey Pavao loose after giving an uninspiring performance of a Katy Perry song. Nope, Christina cut her frontrunner leading to GIF-able reactions from her fellow coaches. This started off a chain reaction that put Chris Mann into the finals and was the weakest finalist in the show’s history until Michelle Chamuel unseated him. And the conspiracy theorist in my would hypothesize that all the RnB singers voted for Jermaine Paul out of spite of Jesse’s premature ousting leading to a lackluster winner. And I am pretty sure Jermaine and Chris making the finals despite being crushed by RaeLynn and Pavao every week had something to do with the addition of the iTunes bonus starting the very next season.

4. The Shields Brothers! (Team Cee-Lo, Season 2): I feel bad for the Shields Brothers, they seemed to revel in being on the losing end of the worst decision ever in the history of The Voice, but now have to settle for number two. But where Holly could have went on to win, the Brothers Shield probably go out the very next round. But still, they did not deserve to lose to Erin Martin. No one deserves to lose to Erin Martin. A dying cat should not have lost to Erin Martin. But The Shields Brothers can rest in the solace of still being the most entertaining contestants in the history of The Voice.

5. Rebecca Loebe (Team Adam, Season 1): Adam has stated in interviews that he sabotaged his own team the first season to make sure Javier Colon had an easy path to the finals. With that knowledge, it is hard to not think of Rebecca. She gave the most interesting Blind Audition of the first season with a haunting rendition of Come as You Are. She seemed poised to win her Battle Round, but Adam chose the unmemorable accountant looking dude (I cannot even remember his name and do not even care enough to look it up but think may have changed his name to James Wolpert and tried out again this season).

6. Ducky (Team No One, Season 2): One thing the show is missing is a legitimate rock judge. Adam is supposed to be the toke rock judge, but he rarely turns around for any rockers; really none of them do except occasionally Cee-Lo and Shakira will take a flyer and promptly dump them a round or two later. Ducky broke out a cool song by The Black Keys and yet not one pressed button. Making this worse, starting in season three, the show started bringing back people who were rejected the season before, but instead of bringing back Ducky for season three, they brought back the still pitchy Daniel Rosa and extremely bland Dez Duron.

7. Jamie Lono (Team Cee-Lo, Season 2): Sometimes it seems like makes his decisions by just flipping a coin. The pairing of Jamar Rogers and Jamie Lono maybe the dumbest pairing in Voice history. I do understand pairing two strong contestants together to keep your team diverse, but Jamie and Jamar shared nothing in common except their boy parts. Making things worse is that Cee-Lo Live Show team featured Erin Martin, Tony Vincent, James Massone, and Chessa, who made it two rounds before being eliminated. With no team quotas, they may have been the first four out that season. Jamie was way better than those four. And since there was no Steal back in season two, Jamie went home way sooner than he should have.

8. Nelly's Echo (Team Christina, Season 3): Christina’s team the third season was laughably bad, they just were all boring pop singer. The two exceptions were De'Borah and Nelly’s Echo. Of course she paired them together. And though De’Borah deserved the win, Nelly’s Echo deserved a Steal. Though I am not sure there were any left because if my memory serves me correctly Carson did not give his obligatory, “Let me remind you coaches, Nelly’s Echo is available for a Steal.” I do have a suggestion how to get around the lack of Steals for latest Battles below.

9. Jane Smith (Team No One, Season 4): Despite the plain name, Jane was anything but, she gave a fun performance of a Florence + The Machine song. Usually Florence should be a stay away for karaoke performance, but Jane did a great job. I fully expected to see her back for season five because Cee-Lo would have been a much better fit than any of the coaches from season four. Except instead they only brought back the unmemorable Matt Cermanski and James Irwin. Really, aside from Daniel Rosa, the only people that have gotten a second chance were cute boys.

10. Charlotte Sometimes (Team Blake, Season 2): Another iTunes head scratcher, for the first Live Show of the season, Charlotte was just spots behind RaeLynn on the charts, yet when America’s Saves were announced, RaeLynn was joined by Jermaine Paul and Erin Willett who barely even made the charts that week. Then for some reason Blake decided to save Jordis Unga over the much more interesting Ms. Sometimes.

11. Juhi (Team Cee-Lo and Adam, Season 5): Juhi was one of the rare singers on the show who improved in each of her first three performances. Her version of Heard it through the Grapevine was sassy, fun, thoroughly entertaining, she was the first stolen artist to ever perform a song specifically aimed at their former coach (and Cee-Lo seemed to eat it up). She ended up losing to James Wolpert who could not hit the most important notes during his cringeworthy rendition of More than a Feeling.

12. Emily Earle (Team Cee-Lo, Season 3): Emily was montaged during her Blind Audition and when that happens I assume it is for one of two reasons: 1) the performance just was not good, or 2) they are about to lose to someone they should not lose to. I am inclined to believe Emily got the montage treatment for reason two. She was at a disadvantage forced to sing a cheesy pop song but she bought in one hundred percent and wiped the floor with MacKenzie Bourg who squeaked through the whole performance. Adam and Blake thought Emily was better, Christina just talked about how MacKenzie looked, yet Cee-Lo in another stupid decision picked MacKenzie. Maybe he thought the teen girls would vote for MacKenzie, but as soon as the public got to vote for him, he was gone.

13. Lelia Broussard (Team Blake, Season 3): Lelia does not have the kind of voice you would expect to find in a singing competition which is exactly why the show needs her voice. Unfortunately she got montaged and was put up against stiff competition in the Battle Round and disappointingly did not get stolen despite deserving to get stolen over everyone else that did that season not named Amanda Brown.

14. Nicole Nelson (Team Adam, Season 3): As I stated earlier, Adam has admitted to sabotaging his own team and that may be the only reason Nicole, who was one of his best singers that season, got sent home prematurely by a fodder contestant who got montaged twice. Had there been steals in the Knockout Round that season Nicole would have undoubtedly been snatched up. (Well she should have but the coaches have made some head scratchingly bad steals before).

15. Elenowen (Team Blake, Season 1): This duo shocked everyone because, well, they were a duo. But the problem with duos is they make the Battle Rounds awkward (or even more awkward then they already are) which may be why only two have ever won their. I thought Elenowen deserved to win theirs.

16. Caitlin Michele (Team Adam and Cee-Lo, Season 3): You have to wonder if things would have been different had Caitlin just went with Blake in the Blind Audition. Instead she went with Adam who cut her loose in the Battle Round. Blake tried to Steal her, but she instead went with Cee-Lo who then dumped her in the Knockout Round (for the uninspiring Diego Val). And there was no Steal in the Knockout Round that season for Blake to finally pick her up; though she may have chosen Christina instead).

17. Kameron Corvet (Team No One, Season 3): Here is a guy who did a cool version of Seal’s Crazy but for reason he did not get anyone to turn around. And he definitely deserved a second chance more than Garrett Gardner, who was the only season three reject asked back.

18. Suzanna Choffel (Team Blake, Season 3): For the first three seasons I agreed with Blake almost one hundred percent of the time (the last two, not so much). And though you cannot fault Blake for choosing Cassadee over Suzanna since she went on to win the whole season, but these two should not even been put together. Suzanna could have easily went further than some of the people who made Blake’s Live Show that season including Michaela Paige, Julio Cesar Castillo and Liz Davis who were all eliminated in short order. What is worse there was no Steals in the Knockout Round this season so reprieve for Suzanna.

19. Julia Eason (Team Christina, Season 1): Christina’s team during the first season is quite easily the weakest team in the show’s history in part because she took the girl from Jersey Girl over Julia, who gave a bluesy twist on Mercy during her Blind Audition. Of course Christina picked the poppier Rachel who then performed Ke$ha (seriously, Ke$sha was sung for a singing competition) and was off the show right after that. Julia would have been better diversity for Christina’s team and the show that season.

20. Whitney Myer: (Team Adam, Season 2): Another early front-runner that just got railroaded by Adam in the first two season, losing a Battle Round to someone who made a quick exit but should have gotten a Steal if there was one in the second season.

21. Alexis Marceaux (Team Cee-Lo, Season 3): A lot has been made about Blake’s all country season, especially by me, but in season three, Cee-Lo pitted all his females against dudes in season three and picked guys every time. Stole two females, they sent five guys to the Live Rounds. Alexis was paired in the Battle Round with Daniel Rosa who was all over the place. Blake and Christina picked Alexis, but Cee-Lo went against the grain yet again and went with Daniel.

22. Ryan Innes (Team Usher, Season 4): Most everyone on this list were screwed by the coaches, Ryan’s wound was self-inflected. After one of the best Blind Auditions and best Battle Round performance, for his Knockout Round, Innes sounded drunk and his soulful voice turned into shouting which resulted in one of the most cringeworthy performances of the season. Usher then dumped who I thought at the time was Usher’s best chance of winning that season for Cáthia who made a quick exit at the Live Shows. Mark Burnett has done few seasons of Redemption Island on Survivor and if there is anyone one on The Voice that needs redemption, it is Ryan.

23. Malford Milligan (Team No One, Season 5): The only reject this past season that is worthy of a second chance, unfortunately he probably is not young enough to get one.

24. Savannah Berry (Team Blake, Season 4): Another self infected wound. When I thought Blake would still go with only one country singer in the Live Shows that he had done with the previous three seasons, I gave Savannah the slight end over Danielle Bradberry for that token spot because her Blind Audition was much stronger. Then she chose to sing Justin Bieber. Never chose to sing Justin Bieber if you are given the choice in a singing competition. Ever. lBake instead picked some dude who gave a lackluster performance over her and Danielle went on to win season four. Again, never pick a Justin Bieber song. Ever.

25. Mary Miranda (Team Shakira, Season 4): I never at any point thought Mary would actually win The Voice, but no one that season, or maybe any season, had more star power and Mary had it in a Selena Gomez clone kind of way. She seemed poised to be Shakira’s pet project that season, picking her other the other Latina on the team Cathia in the Battle Round even though I thought Cathia was slghtly better. Then in the Knockout Round she got paired with Kris Thomas, another stand out on the team. Even Blake mentioned his surprised that Shakira put who he thought were her favorites against each other. The pre-package explained why: Shakira hated her song selection of Every Breath You Take. While not as good as Kris, Mary was significantly better than Garrett Gardner and Karina Iglesias who made quick exits when they went to the Live Show, a place where neither had any business being. If you have learned one thing from the last two singers on this list: the coaches on the show want you to stick with the genre you auditioned with.


For the other stats junkies out there here is how they all break down by Team and season.

Blake – 7
Adam – 6
Cee-Lo - 6
No On - 4
Christina – 3
Shakira – 1
Usher – 1

Season 1 - 3
Season 2 - 6
Season 3 - 8
Season 4 - 5
Season 5 - 3


I also have one for tweak to suggest. I was a big proponent of The Steal since a lot of talent was let go in the Battle Rounds during the second season. And though the Steal has saved a few worthy singers, Amanda Brown, Caroline Glaser, Cole Vosbury, but most seem to be wasted (Nic Hawk, MarissaAnn, Chevonne, Anthony Paul, Lina Gaudenzi, Collin McLoughlin, Alessandra Guercio, C. Perkins, Amber Nicole, and Karina Iglesias all should have gone to singers much more deserving). There is always coaches saying I wished I had a Save for so and so, but I am out. The fairest way is to gather all the losing contestants after each round and have each coach fight for two. But that may not be as good of television as pushing a button in the moment. So here is a suggestion to keep the Steal as it is and make it even more unpredictable and a bit fairer: give coaches unlimited Steals. Of course the catch is they will only take two from the Battle Round and one from the Knockout Round. So if they have more than two (or one) Steals at the end of the round, they will have pick who they want to take. Everyone (should) win, the singers going late in the rounds are not penalized, the coaches can take the strongest singers to the next round and not be stuck with a Steal they regret, and the audience wins because they will get to see the coaches fight over contestants because as constituted, as the Steals dwindle, the less likely coaches are going to fight over contestants. And of course with only one Battle left, everyone knows a Steal is coming next ruining the suspense. The show can even bring back the Last Chance Performance from the second season.

Or go completely radical and get rid of the Steal completely. But then when the Live Show starts, open up the show with five chairs as Carson tells to the coaches, “As you may have noticed there is a fifth chair on the stage. It is there because a lot of people on the internet thought you made some horrible decisions in letting go some of their favorite. So did Miranda Lambert* who has agreed to come on the show and coach some of the singers you rejected who are now officially back in the competition.”

*I picked Miranda because she was the first person who came to mind. Who would have not liked to see Miranda last season come on the show and beat her husband with Holly Henry on her team? If Miranda is unavailable, I would also suggest John Mayer, Alicia Keys, or Norah Jones (really if the show wants to completely reboot its judging crew, which it probably should do because the original four are getting stale and Usher and Shakira did not really do a very good job last season, this would be a great foursome). I would suggest bringing back contestants should be based on iTunes sales (maybe even start selling losers songs on iTunes from the Battle and Knockout Round or even the Blind Auditions of those who did not turn a chair), and maybe give Miranda or whoever one coach’s decision save. Just do not let Twitter decide who gets to be brought back. Just do not let Twitter decide anything ever again.

I Want My Music Television: 12/16/13

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.


Beautiful War - Kings of Leon


I got excited when I saw one site said the new Kings of Leon video features a Friday Night Lights star. Is it Coach Taylor? Riggins? Smash? QB1 or 2? Maybe even Landry? Nope, it turn out to be the guy from the Friday Night Lights movie. Booo. Can we just call the guy the dude from the Tron reboot instead?


Holding on for Life – Broken Bells


Broken Bells recently released a short film for the upcoming album After the Disco (see part 1 and part 2) which recently got pared down for the music video of the first single. Both star Kate Mara who was the subject of a couple internet discussions of the Mara family Power Rankings. How that was even a debate I do not even know? Picking Kate over Rooney would be like picking Tito over Michael.


Over It – The Chrystal Method featuring Dia Frampton


My first thought when I heard Avicii’s Wake Me Up was I really would rather hear an “acoustic” version of the song. Same with the new Chrystal Method song. But where the originally Wake Me Up was still listenenable, the computer burps just run Over It. But it is nice seeing Dia Frampton smack a dude with cake.


Follow Your Arrow - Kacey Musgraves


I swear the new Kacey Musgraves music video is just a cuter, more colorful version of The Killer’s All These Things That I've Done.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


You can stream recent episodes on Hulu.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Best of the Week: 12/14/13

Quote of the Week: Nick, I don’t even begin to defrock until its 98 degrees. (Ben Folds, The Sing-Off)

Song of the Week: Hit Me With Your Best Shot – Pat Benatar (as sung by Haley Goldberg, The Goldbergs)

Scene of the Week:


Big News of the Week: Golden Globe Nominations Announced: Do not care. The Golden Globes are a sham. Moving on.

Preview Picture of the Week:


Free Download of the Week: 25 Days of Free - It is that time of year again when Amazon MP3 gives away a new free holiday song every day in December until Christmas day. Right now you can get one from Ronnie James Dio. Seriously.

New Album Release of the Week: The Voice concludes is second lackluster season in a row on Tuesday. But on the bright side the two most entertaining singers from those two season are releasing new music this week. Holly Henry from the most recent season has a five song EP hitting iTunes Tuesday which has a Bon Iver feel to it. On the same day, season four’s Caroline Glaser has a three sing EP which will be available on Bandcamp which you can bundle with a t-shirt or signed picture. Caroline’s EP features Money Tree which is super catchy while the more melancholy Rosalee was co-written by one of the Pistol Annies that is not married to her former coach Blake Shelton. There is also a cover of I Will Follow You into the Dark originally by Death Cab for Cutie. Both are available for pre-order now by clicking their names.

New DVD Release of the Week: Justified: The Complete Fourth Season

Video of the Week: The first two trailers for The Amazing Spiderman 2 were released in consecutive week. Both could have used more Emma Stone (granted everything could use more Emma Stone). The domestic trailer featured blink and you will miss them cameos from Doc Octopus and The Vulture (Sony announced yesterday they are moving forward with a Sinister 6 movie) while the international trailer, below, focuses more on Spidy’s witty dialogue.


Next Week Pick of the Week: Too Much TV Tomorrow: Fall television pretty much comes to a close tomorrow (there are still CBS comedies Monday a well as the conclusion of Mob City, and even more The Sing-Off with its finale next Monday) but is not going out with a whimper. Tomorrow sees the season finales of Masters of Sex, Homeland as well as the two hour finale of Survivor and its reunion special. Tomorrow also sees the fall finale of what may be the greatest night of hate watching of all time on ABC with the back to back to back episodes of Once Upon a Time, Revenge, and Betrayal. But can you really call something a “finale” when there will be new episodes in less than a month?

Around the Tubes: 12/13/13

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 Community, Haven, 24/7 Red Wings / Maple Leafs: Road to the NHL Winter Classic, Syfy holidays, 24 Hours of A Christmas Story, The Incredible Dr. Pol, Episodes, Califonication, ABC Family holiday movies, Julia McKinnis, and King of the Nerds.

- It looks like the darkest timeline will return when Community does January 2. Could season 4 just have been the darkest timeline?


- Tonight is the season finale Haven where William continues with his plan to turn Audrey back into her original self, meanwhile the rest of the gang find out that some doors are better left unopened. Check out a preview below:


- HBO Sports’ groundbreaking “24/7” reality franchise, which has captured 17 Sports Emmy® Awards, will again join forces with the National Hockey League for 24/7 Red Wings / Maple Leafs: Road to the NHL Winter Classic. Taking viewers inside a historic NHL matchup between Original Six™ rivals Detroit Red Wings® and Toronto Maple Leafs®, this innovative four-episode, all-access reality series debuts Saturday, December 14 at 10:00, exclusively on HBO.

- Syfy will celebrate the holiday season with a Christmas Day movie festival, a marathon of the hit series Being Human and the traditional New Year’s Eve celebration of Rod Serling’s iconic series The Twilight Zone, which will take viewers into a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. The Wednesday, December 25 movie festival, airing 9AM-3AM (ET/PT), will specialize in Christmas and wintry-themed films such as Snowmageddon, Ice Quake, Snow Beast and Yeti. The Being Human Season 3 marathon will run Monday, December 30 from 8AM-3AM. The popular series will return for its fourth season on Syfy Monday, January 13 at 9PM. The Twilight Zone marathon will start Tuesday, December 31 at 8AM, concluding New Year’s Day at 4:30AM. Fans can win fun Twilight Zone prizes by testing their knowledge of Twilight Zone trivia through the social media challenge at Facebook.com/Syfy and @Syfy.

- One of television's most popular holiday traditions will be back this year as TBS presents the 17th Annual edition of 24 Hours of A Christmas Story, beginning Christmas Eve at 8:00. Making this a particularly special year, the movie A Christmas Story is celebrating its 30th anniversary.

- You would think that after more than 30 years of practicing veterinary medicine, raising three kids, maintaining a bustling practice, and eating all the fresh farm steak he can get, this senior would slow down. Nope, not Dr. Pol! He’s a rare breed that thrives on helping all creatures great and small. And lucky for us, he’s still going strong with his down-and-dirty approach to veterinary medicine. And we get to join him once again as Nat Geo Wind’s #1 series The Incredible Dr. Pol returns with an all new season Saturday, Jan. 4, 2014, at 9:00.

- Season three does not premiere until January 12, but Episodes has already been renewed for a fourth season. Showtime also announced that the upcoming seventh season of Californication, to premiere sometime in April, will be its last.

- If you like ABC Family’s holiday movies but do not want to watch them on your coach, now there is an app for that. Get it here.

- Texas-born singer/songwriter Julia McKinnis releases her new single “Knack for Love”, which is the third track off her debut album The Good Has Won, which she plans to release on February 4, 2014. The 10-track album features Julia’s lilting vocals and ukulele that represent her upbeat outlook on life. Take a listen below:



- The King of the Nerds trailer for season two has finally arrived and let me go ahead and predict the token hot chick wins for the second straight season. To see iof I am right, mark your calendars for January 23 on TNT.

Previewing Another Day/Another Time: Celebrating the Music of “Inside Llewyn Davis”

Thirteen years ago, The Coen Brothers teamed up with T.Bone Burnett for the soundtrack for their film O Brother, Where Art Thou?. That album went on to sell almost eight million copies and picked up Album of the Year at the Grammy’s (along with two other statues for songs from that album) and some would argue launched the folk rock boom that has crashed the mainstream earlier this decade. So it was not surpising when the brothers wrote another music heavy script, T-Bone was their first call to produce the soundtrack.

The result is Inside Llewyn Davis, the titular character is a Bob Dylan type if Dylan had originally been in a Simon and Garfunkel type duo where the Garfunkel half died before they could break big. But unlike O Brother, where Dan Tyminski stood in for George Clooney in the recording studio, Inside Llewyn Davis actually features the cast including Oscar Isaac, Justin Timberlake, and Marcus Mumford as Davis’s dead partner.

Inspired by the film, T-Bone brought together a gathering of some of the biggest names in folk for a one night only concert performance which is documented for Another Day / Another Time: Celebrating the Music of “Inside Llewyn Davis”. The film, inspired by and including music from the forthcoming Coen Brothers film Inside Llewyn Davis, which is set in the Greenwich Village folk scene of the early 1960s was shot live and includes performance by legends and rising stars from both folk and contemporary music— including Joan Baez, Patti Smith, Jack White, Marcus Mumford (without his sons), the Avett Brothers, Rhiannon Giddens (lead sing of Carolina Chocolate Drops), Punch Brothers, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, Willie Watson, The Milk Carton Kids, Colin Meloy, Lake Street Dive, as well as the star of Inside Llewyn Davis, Oscar Isaac. (Timberlake is consipciously absent; but then again, no one needs to hear a folk version of SexyBack). The soundtrack to Inside Llewyn David may never get the acclaim that its predisessor did, but he documentary is a must watch for anyone who enjoys folk music, or just good music in general.

Another Day / Another Time: Celebrating the Music of “Inside Llewyn Davis” premieres Friday at 10:00 on Showtime. Check out a preview below:

Previewing Ultimate Survival Alaska: Season Two

In the early days of Survivor, there were some people who suggested they should do Survivor: Antarctica. Twenty-five seasons in and the show has stuck to warmer climates for one simple reason: hot chicks will not wear bikinis in the arctic. For those looking for a competition series that took place at the 66 parallel or higher, you were in luck when the National Geographic Channel greenlit Ultimate Survival Alaska. Granted despite having a similar name with Survivor, the show is much more The Amazing Race: Alaska Edition. The big difference is that these are teams of three and there are not automatic eliminations for last place, you just have to cross the finish line in the allotted time.

In all the seasons of Survivor, Michael falling into the fire back in season two remains the closest anyone on the show has come to a near death experience. In just the first episode alone, there are three moments when I thought there was a legitimate chance one of the guys were going to die on camera, or in the case of a kayaker capsizing and swept underwater, happing off screen. Capsizing in your local creek can have fatal consequences, doing it in glacier water just add in the risk of hyperthermia. And just to just how dangerous this can be one of the contestants recalls the time of his buddies fell into a crevasse and though they could hear him, they never saw him again as they were unable to get him out.

Ultimate Survival Alaska consists of eleven legs and each team has sixty hours to make it to the extraction point otherwise are eliminated from the competition (unlike The Amazing Race, there are no instant eliminations if all the teams make it on time). The four teams this season are made up former military members, endurance athletes, mountaineers, and woodmens which have the lone female in the competition who would make Sue Hawk look like a Victoria Secret model in comparison. I probably should not second guess these people from my couch but I had to question when one team skips the dogsleds to compete on foot and in next week’s episode when someone shots a fish in their boat (I will say I was right about one of these and wrong with the other). Ultimate Survival Alaska is premiring just as the most recent season of Survivor is coming to an end and if you need another competition series to tide you over until the next season to start up; you should definitely give Ultimate Survivor Alaska a look.

Ultimate Survival Alaska airs Sundays at 9:00 on National Geographic Channel. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu (if you cannot wait until Sunday, the season premiere is available to stream in its entirely as well as every first season episodes). You can lso download Ultimate Survival Alaska on iTunes.

I Want My Music Television: 12/10/13

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.


Team – Lorde


Earlier this year Macklemore and Ryan Lewis broke big with the ode the frugality Thrift Shop and then broke the bank with their world traveling Can’t Hold Us video. Lorde also broke with an anti-materialism song, but now as the biggest new artist of the year got a sizable budget for her next video too with an urban Lord of the Flies type video with her playing the queen bee (natch).


Rap God - Eminem


A lot of reviews of The Marshall Mathers LP 2 focus on the retro feel right to the lyrics about Monica Lewinski. But considering that Eminem also on the album admits he does not know how to download Ludacris and get on social media maybe he is actually stuck in the last century where Max Headroom is still a thing. But as long as he can still slay futuristic beats like this, The Marshall Mather LP 3 may be worth looking forward to even if it does not come out unto 2025.


Just Another Girl - The Killers


C’mon Teh Killers, the reimagining the band’s history with a hot female lead singer was already done by Weezer. And if you are going to do it, you at least have to get an actress that will not get out acted by Elisha Cuthbert.


Instant Crush – Daft Punk featuring Julian Casablancas


Just the other day I was suggesting that someone should remake the Mannequin movies where the titular character comes to life but only in the eyes of one dude. I wonder if the Daft Punk video is the closest I am going to get.

The 25 Best Performances from The Sing-Off

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

1. Ignition (Remix) - Darthmouth Aires


2. Sledgehammer - Nota


3. Put Your Records On - Afro-Blue


4. Wake Up - Season 3 Contestants


5. Gernade - Delilah


6. King of Anything - Sara Bareilles featuring The Backbeats

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

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

9. Queen Medley - Darthmouth Aires

10. Under Pressure - Season 1 Contestants

11. American Boy - Afro-Blue

12. Breakeven - The Backbeats

13. Motownphilly - Boyz II Men featuring Committed

14. Dream On - Delilah

15. The Lazy Song - North Shore

16. Sweet Caroline - Beelzebubs

17. Mercy - Jerry Lawson and Talk of the Town

18. Poison - Urban Method

19. All Night Long - Season 3 Contestants

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

21. Down on the Corner - Streetcorner Symphony

22. If I Were a Boy - The Backbeats

23. Love the Way You Lie - Urban Method

24. Come on Eileen - Streetcorner Symphony

25. The Show Goes On - The Yellowjackets

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 12/8/13

2014 Grammy Nomination Special: It is odd to have your nominations at 10:00 on a Friday considering the weekend tends to be a wasteland for news. But after the nominations I understand why they had it on a day when most people deliver bad news. After last year when I actually enjoyed all five Album of the Years and was content with most everything in the big four. Well except that Call Me Maybe was was nominated for a songwriting award along with Kelly Clarkson’s Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You) which re-appropriated the Nietzsche saying for the umpteenth time in song.

The biggest shock of the night was Sara Bareilles getting Album of the Year nod for the underwhelming The Blessed Unrest, her weakest album to date. She shares the nomination with Macklemore and Ryan Lewis who somehow ranked up the second most nomination with seven including three of the big four. Not bad for the second coming of Vanilla Ice.

As for the snubs, Lorde seemed like the biggest lock for Best New Artist, yet when the nominees were announced, not surprisingly Macklamore and Ryan Lewis were joined by Kendrick Lamar (who grabbed the same amount of nominations as the duo), and country upstart Kacey Musgraves. The other two were a bit shocking especially considering they took the spot of Lorde who was arguably the most buzzed about new artist of the year and was peaking as the nominations were being decided.

First there was James Blake who is virtually unknown stateside (or very well in his native England) and was getting no buzz at all during awards season. No shots at James Blake because Retrograde will probably make my Best Songs of 2013 list (okay, one irrational shot, whenever I see his name I think of James Blunt which is a big negative), but he does not belong here. But Blake is not even the least deserving artist in the category; that honor goes to Ed Sheeran. Ed even seemed embarrassed when the camera cut to him after announcing he was nominated. Again, no shots at Ed, but he is not new. And not even in the way that Kacey Musgraves is technically on her fourth album kind of way. The guy was nominated for Song of the Year just last year and even performed at the award show. This year, his is up for nothing else (same as James Blake; though technically Ed is nominated for being on the Taylor Swift album) while Lorde is up for four awards including Song and Record of the Year. But I guess you cannot get too upset for Lorde not also getting the Best New Artist nomination, she will probably get one next year.

Once Upon a Time: Thank goodness, we are finally out of Neverland (so what if they did not bother to explain how Prince Charming is allowed to leave without dying). Oh wait, Pan is now in Henry’s body so that storyline will continue. Ugg.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Once Upon a Time on iTunes.

Homeland: I actually cheered when the roadside bomb went off. I should have known Brody would crawl out, the guy is a cockroach.

The Walking Dead: My favorite part of the episode is everyone saw Rick skitter behind the bus, and yet the Governor’s whole army marched right past him without even bothing to look to see if he was still there so Rick could tackle the Governor after every passed. There is nothing more entertaining than television characters that are AI video game dumb. My second favorite part was the mom who was so fixated on the water even though someone told her that walkers avoid water, keeping her back on her child and the big wooded area that could actually have walkers in it.

But it is time to say R.I.P. to Hershel. When the Governor captured him and Michonne it was pretty clear one of them would be assassinated by the Governor if not both. And Michonne actually has both of her legs. The Governor also became zombie chow but surprisingly it was not at the hands of Rick, Michonne (though she did leave him for the zombies, presumable, when she had the chance to finish him) but by the mother who we just met two episodes ago. I do wonder if we will see her, or her sister, again. I think they were the only two of the Governor’s army who ended the episode alive. I would not be surprised if they were the ones that took the baby and will raise them as their own until Rick happens across them at some point.
You can download The Walking Dead on iTunes.

Masters of Sex: I was wondering when the study start if they were using any sort of contraception and finally got my answer: apparently only a diaphragm which only has about a 95% success rate. I am not sure I like those odds.

The Blacklist: In an interview with one of the dudes behind Homeland, I remember him talking about how smart viewers are now and you can never surprise them with what happens, you can only surprise them with when it happens. I think about that a lot when watching The Blacklist. Most people had Lizzie being Red’s daughter as early as when NBC released its first trailer. I began to think that maybe Red may be the father of Lizzie’s husband instead when it was revealed her father was alive and well (as far as she knew) in the series premiere. But as time went on, I went back to thinking that it was Lizzie who came from Red’s loins, a fact that was all but confirmed when Red killed Lizzie’s “father” when her “father” wanted to tell her some big secret. So the question is not if Lizzie is Red’s daughter but when the writers let us in on this fact.

Being one of those “smart” television watchers that the Homeland dude spoke of, the winter finale seem like the most logical. Lizzie’s “dad” was killed by Red two episodes and the last promo suggests that the baddie was going to assassinate Lizzie next if Red did not plead for his daughter’s life? Except that “fact” ended up not coming to light and Red got that other dude from Homeland to give up the code. But the evidence was mounting so high that even Lizzie started to suspect that Red was her father that at the end of the episode she straight up asks him if it were true. Her it comes, and his answer was… no. What?!?

So either two things are going on: 1) Red is telling the truth. Then what was this big secret that he killed her father over about (could she be Alan Alda’s kid and she is the big thing Red has over Alan for the last twenty years that has kept him alive)? Or 2) Red is lying and the writers are prolonging the obvious even longer. I am not sure I like either scenario going forward.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download The Blacklist on iTunes.

The Goldbergs: The second Legend of Zelda game was the bane of my existence as a kid and to this day I never finished it. Now in the age of YouTube, I may have to dig out the Nintendo and see if I can finally conquer it.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download The Goldbergs on iTunes.

Sons of Anarchy: I have this fear that the show is going to just reset and have Tara get back with Jax. But I really cannot see her go into wtnes protection because then we will just have another season with Jax trying to find his kid. They already did that back in season three which was the worst season of the series. Plus I have a feeling now that Jax has killed Clay, one of the few things the show has left to do is have Tara kill Gemma.
You can download Sons of Anarchy on iTunes.

Survivor: Blood vs. Water: Stupid promo monkeys ruined the surprise that the votes would be deadlocked but I was surprised as who it was flipped. I assumed it was Monica that Hayden got to flip convincing she was on the bottom, but nope, Ciera for some reason decided to flop after making a big deal about not turning on their alliance last week. So not only did she flop, someone she voted with someone who ended up drawing the short straw. Bad move Ciera. So that was only the second tie since the show went to picking rocks and I find it interesting this week Probst clarified on Twitter that at final four if there is a tie, the players make fire. I wonder if we get another tie this season.
You can stream recent episodes on cbs.com. You can also download Survivor: Blood vs. Water on iTunes.

Nashville: Layla is quickly moving up the Nashville Power Rankings with each passing episode and now has positioned herself at number three. And Juliette will probably not be very happy that she is close to being overtaken by Layla. The show this season has been at its best when one storyline focuses on their feud. Hopefully Layla gets upgraded to series regular soon. She could take the place of the gay cowboy who has been worthless since he has joined. Either out him to the general public now or just write him off the show (when Layla called TMZ I actually thought she was going to out him).
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Nashville on iTunes.

The Sound of Music Live!: About an hour in I wrote “I was not expecting Julie Andrews but wow, Carrie Underwood is getting out-acted by a bunch of minor. Hopefully someone falls down the stairs soon.” But really aside from the wooden performances from the two big named leads, it was an entertaining production. Sure I have some complaints: having a live production that is not in front of a live audience just felt weird. Same goes for the obviously taped orchestration. I was expecting applause in-between acts but you could hear a pin drop. It was also a weird that the cast did not get a curtain call (granted it would have been even weird to take a bow in front of an empty soundstage). And of course it would have been a lot more memorable had someone fallen down the stairs. But since it was a rating bonanza (it had two million more viewers than The Big Bang Theory during the same half hour), I suspect another live production will happen again next year and may I suggest A Christmas Carol. Just do it in front of a live audience. I even have the casting: Kelsey Grammar as Ebenezer Scrooge, Ted Danson as Jacob Marley, Neil Patrick Harris as Bob Crachet, and Emma Stone as the Ghost of Christmas Past (just without a bad eighty’s wig).