Over Labor Day hanging out with family, after talking about all the Olympics I watched over the two weeks, someone asked what I was doing to fill that void and really the Democratic and Republican Convention in back to back weeks to fill my around the clock coverage fix because politics are like sports to me to the point that on election nights I pick up a twelve pack, park on the couch and watch the results come in.
Of course when I say I watched the convention, I only watch talking heads talk about everything and nothing at all talking over basically anyone who hadn’t previous run for president before. I want to hear Bob Casey instead I am stuck listening to some nut job analyzing Hillary Clinton’s body language. I ended up watching most of the RNC on C-Span just so I could watch it unfiltered.
Maybe it was all the long hours, but there is issue after issue of the press being unprofessional, and there was no one more unprofessional than Keith Olbermann who sounded like Gus Johnson during March Madness after Barack Obama’s speech, even admonishing an Associated Press writer, not for being factorially incorrect, but for not calling the speech a symphony instead calling it bland and just the same speech every Democratic nominee has given.
On the other hand the only thing missing from his commentary the next week was the Debbie Downer soundtrack. After everyone was glowing over Sarah Palin’s speech, all Keith had to say was that Abraham Lincoln didn’t created the Republican Party (cue the Debbie Downer look). Hey moron, you open any high school history book and it will tell you that he was the first Republican, and you are just nick picking with that. Of course there is probably a reason Olbermann was stuck by himself in New York, because while in Denver both Chris Matthews and Joe Scarborough publicly mocked Keith on air at different times (which isn’t the first time, Scarborough once said Olbermann was “too stupid to be on TV” live on air).
Then Olbermann had the audacity to rip into the Republicans for showing a tribute to 9/11. This would have been like Bill O’Reilly saying that the Democrats were exploiting Martin Luther King Jr. For showing a tribute to him at the DNC. What’s worse is that this came a week after Keith laughed when Michael Moore said on his show that God must be a Democrat because Gustav was starring down on New Orleans days before their convention. So let me get this straight Keith, honoring the brave men and woman who lost their lives during one of the worst attack in American near its anniversary: tacky, implying that God is going to kill Americans to disrupt the RNC two year after one destroyed the same city: funny.
With that said, it is safe to assume I agree with the McCain campaign that the press has been unfair covering Sarah Palin. Case in point, they spent two days debating whether or not they were in fact bias and unfair. Naturally O’Reilly and Sean Hannity came to the conclusions that they were unfair. Morons, you are the press. But the press isn’t complete in the Obama camp as the McCain campaign would have you believe. I missed the first half of Obama’s speech because of the Brown’s preseason game, but NBC cut into the end of the NFL opening game to carry McCain’s speech. Granted preseason was most like an affiliate decision while the next week was the network’s.
There in lies the problem with modern journalism, there are more concerned with making the press than reporting the press which led to debating if they were or were not unfair. Not to the press, if you are talking about the press, you have failed. And these people are just plain lazy. All these shows do anymore is left some right wing nut job and liberal communist spout their talking points on a subject while us in the middle just sit there scratching are heads wondering what the real truth.
Anyone who is listed as a “Republican or Democratic strategist” should be banned from television. Or at the very least call them out when they do just go down their lists of talking point. Seriously, aren’t these guys tired of hearing Joe Trippi saying McCain voted with Bush 90% of the time five times per appearance. And since when does being 0-5 in presidential campaigns makes you a worthy commentator. Just once I would like some respond to that by asking either, “what time frame does that 90% include” or “name one piece of legislation that he sided with Bush” because lets be real, there are a lot of worthless bills Congress votes on like changing French Fries to Freedom Fries. Of course this is why Bush manages to have an approval rating three times that of Congress.
That is when host even invite, Olbermann, hasn’t had anyone on his tow in over two years that disagrees with him, is the second most partisan on television (Glen Beck would be the first). And when legitimate newsmen like Howard Fineman corrects Keith on his lies, Keith is right back to saying the same things the next segment. Yeah Bill O’Rielly is a humongous tool, but at least he invites people with different opinions than his on the show. Granted think he may just do this for the sole reason he has someone to yell at.
But I should applaud Chris Matthews for calling someone out on the crap. Rachel Maddow tried to repeat one of the many lies about Sarah Palin live on air when Matthews actually called her out on it asking her what her source was which she didn’t want to give up until Matthews pressed her four or five time when she finally got her information off the internet. Seriously, the internet was her source. If you get caught referencing the internet for a high school English class you get an automatic “F” on your paper. Yet if you use the internet as a reference on television, apparently you get your own show on MSNBC. But really, how entertaining is the MSNBC company picnic is every year. What does it say that Pat Buchanan gets along with the most people over there.
One thing I did not hear at all about the last two week from either the Democrats, the Republicans, or the press was our national debt which currently sits at 9.7 trillion dollar. $9.7 trillion and not a word about it. To put that in perspective if we paid it off today each American would have to pay $31,000. If you include the implicit debt (which is everything we own plus money we have already pledged to spend) that would come up to $53 trillion. And all these economic problems can be tracked back to the debt, it has destroyed the dollar leading high gas prices, that leads to high prices of consumer goods which leads to foreclosure and failing small businesses that ups the unemployment rate.
Sorry Keith, but this is why the Obama speech failed. His only way to bring in money was to tax the top five percent (which would put the death nail in all the small businesses), but unless that tax rate is 90%, it won’t put a dent into the deficit. And let us not forget, not only does he have no plan to bring in more money, he want to add to the debt by paying college tuition, health care, and other spending that could increase the deficit to the point we might as well be annexed by China we will owe them so much. And he want to give us a rebate, you know, because that worked so well when George Bush did that. (Obama: more Bush failed policies, see I can be a cable news commentator)
And about that free college, what ever happened to “Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country”? Obama is twisting that and is straight up bribing people to get off their butts to make the world a better. What kind of warped world do we live in when it was the Republican that actually channeled John F. Kennedy by imploring anyone who finds faults with the country to make it better by becoming a teacher, join the armed services, feed a hungry child, defend the rights of the oppressed and if you do so the country will be better and you will be happier.
Not that McCain gets off the hook on the deficit either. He didn’t propose any programs that would increase the budget ten fold like Obama, but he doesn’t have a plan that will put much of a dent into debt. Yeah his energy play should spur the economy if implemented properly and we need to put an end to needless earmarks, but even those are only increasing the debt by only a couple tens a millions a year. You know something wrong when someone says something like “only tens of millions.”
At the current debt I realistically cannot expect either candidate to get the debt erased by the second term let alone their first, but I would at least like to see a plausible pln to get the debt halved by the time they leave office. We are eighteen days away from the first presidential debate but it isn’t until the third that will be focusing on domestic and economic policy and hopefully the moderator Bob Schieffer peppers the candidates on the national debt. But I have learned not to expect much from the press.
In conclusion, I would like to say Go Brown!
Scooter Update 9/8: Apparently someone over at MSNBC read my diatribe because it was announced today that Keith Olbermamm has been yanked from anchor chair on further presidential events replaced by David Gregory. In a story by the New York Times they say, "Tom Brokaw and Brian Williams have told friends and colleagues that they are finding it tougher and tougher to defend the cable arm of the news division" with Brokaw saying Matthews and Olbermann have, "gone too far." (see: MSNBC Takes Incendiary Hosts From Anchor Seat). While on MSNBC.com's on website said, "Olbermann began to have difficulty keeping his opinions in check, or simply stopped trying." Oh, snap. Bt my favorite part is when they quoted John Stewart brought up MSNBC in an interview with Brian Williams:
"Is there no control?" Stewart asked him. "‘Is it ‘Lord of the Flies?’"
A sheepish Williams said that every family has a dynamic of its own.
"But does MSNBC have to be the Lohans?" Stewart said.
Quote of the Week: The reporting of the past few days have proven tackier than a costume change at a Madonna concert. (Mike Huckabee, RNC)
Song of the Week: Just Stand Up! - Mariah Carey, Beyonce, Mary J. Blige, Rihanna, Fergie, Sheryl Crow, Miley Cyrus, Melissa Etheridge, Ashanti, Natasha Bedingfield, Keyshia Cole, Ciara, Leona Lewis, LeAnn Rimes, and Carrie Underwood
Big New of the Week: Let the Fall Season Begin: A couple weeks ago Hey Nielson invited me and some television bloggers to help them with their fall preview. They had us rank each show on a one to five scale. Also be on the lookout for which of my quotes they used in their preview. Click the banner below for details and clips of over twenty new shows and a chance to win a HDTV.
Coalition Links of the Week: Buzz launched a printable night-by-night TV calendar so you can know when your favorites are on. Pretty! (BuzzSugar)
With everyone complaining about how terrible the new 90210 is, Marcia made the point that the old one was pretty damn awful when it started, too. (Pop Vultures)
WWE Diva Mickie James makes a guest appearance as a derby girl on this week's Psych and we spent some time chatting with her about the experience. (RTVW)
Vance finally has time to start posting about the Fall TV Preview. (Tapeworthy)
This week, Jace found that he was less than thrilled with the CW's relaunch of 90210, complete with overplayed songs, one-dimensional characterization, and found it to be much less fun overall than Gossip Girl, The O.C., or Skins. (Televisionary)
TiFaux never got around to watching TNT's premiere of Raising the Bar, but Dan had some very important things to say about Mark-Paul Gosselaar's new shaggy mane. (TiFaux)
Never miss your favorite show this fall! Download and print theTVaddict.com's Ultimate Fall 2008 Season Premiere Calendar. (The TV Addict)
We gave you our take on summer's TV landscape -- and it wasn't pretty. (TV Filter)
I Love Money: Megan continues to amaze me week after week. Again escapes an elimination getting the Entertainer to get rid of hid only ally and keep her. How does this keep happening? You can download episodes of I Love Money on iTunes.
The Middleman: When Manservant Neville showed up I predicted that he would turn out to be the opposite of the Middleman, an archnemesis as you will, but I guess since they are an evil empire in the other dimension I am wrong with that prediction. I have to nick pick with that other dimension, specifically when Noser was quoting Shaft, should be have done something like Barry Manilow? But anyways. I saw next Monday ABC Family is running a Secret Life of the American Teenager marathon so we may have seen last of The Middleman. You can download episodes of The Middleman on iTunes.
Greek: I would like to thank the show for the greatest pick-up line ever. Ever. For dudes out there that missed it, if you are sitting around waiting somewhere and see a cute girl and say to her how about you save me from reading whatever is in you hands (in this case the pregnant man) and tell me your life story. Brilliant. You can download episodes of Greek on iTunes.
Stand Up 2 Cancer: I would like to thank NBC, ABC, CBS, and E! (as Brad Garrett said while receiving a prostate exam live on camera, I can’t believe Fox is counter programming this) for dedicating an hour of prime time programing to focus on raising funds for cancer. If you missed it, of course you can head over to SU2C.com to donate or to see Dana Delany get a breast exam and Charles Barkley get a colon cleaned out. Also check out the Song of the Week to download the charity single.
Free Downloads of the Week: Rain of Madness (iTunes): For those that could not get enough of Tropic Thunder here is a behind the scenes look at the movie.
Mr. Rock and Roll (Borders): Another week another free song by Amy MacDonald, at this week you may have the album free by Christmas.
Also if you missed any of the speeches from the DNC or RNC, you can download them all over at iTunes for free:
Promo of the Week: Aside from the Hey Nielson I have also be enlisted in Oprah digital network (no seriously) which may include giveaways (no word if you get a car and you get a car just yet). Monday sees the 23rd season premiere where Oprah will be welcoming home over 175 Olympic medalist (sorry women’s field hockey team, no car for you). Some technical difficulties are keeping me from posting the promo but if you check back later I hope to have it up soon.
Pick for Next Week: 102 Minutes that Changed the World, Thursday at 9:00 on History: The seventh anniversary honored by History (the channel) in this commercial-free retrospective on the time between when the first tower was hit and the second tower fell.
The most interesting part about the press release for Samurai Girl is not what it says but what it doesn’t say. For mini-series namesake Jamie Chung is touted as a guest star to such shows as Veronica Mars and Greek, yet I implore anyone to remember her appearances on those shows. Certainly when you saw her in the preview and though “I know her from somewhere” it is not from those show but instead the only thing people will recognize her as cast member of Real World: San Diego and the spin off Inferno II.
But anyways. Samurai Girl is a story you have heard before. But before her marriage, a Japanese princess and her marriage is attached, both her father and brothers are targeted. She escapes only to find out that not only is she a princess but a warrior princess. Or should I say a samurai girl. The story deviates from a modern day Japanese fairytale when Chung crashes a party in her bridal wear. Lucky for her it is a costume party so she fits right in.
That is until the party host finds Chung in her closet the next morning. This begins a relationship with housemates played by Saige Thompson (who also lists Veronica Mars on her resume but try remembering who she was) and Kyle Labine (no Veronica Mars appearances by Kyle), ambiguous roommates than aren’t live in partners but never explained how they came together but play like the Samurai Girl’s own Scoobie Gang.
Keeping with the Buffy theme, Brendan Fehr (Final Destination) would be the Giles figure guiding Chung through her training taking her raw talent into something to use in the field. The mini-series is at the very least watchable if you have nothing better to do this weekend as it premieres tonight at 8:00 with another two hours Saturday and closing on Sunday. But for anything with “Samurai” in its title, the fight scenes should be cooler than they are. Maybe as the girl grows and learns more on the craft it will get better, but I am not holding my breathe.
Also, the moderately attractive Stacy Keibler is supposable is in the cast as Chung’s rival, but sadly she won’t be showing up tonight. If you cannot wait to watch it tonight, you can download the first hour of Samurai Girl on iTunes for free.
There have been no more soother musician this decade than Jack Johnson becoming this generation’s James Taylor with a surfboard. So hearing that the Handsome Boy Modeling School, which features producers Prince Paul (Del La Soul) and Dan the Automator (Gorillaz), remixed the song for one of their album didn’t sound like it would work, but surprisingly managed to update the song and making it just as good, if not better than the original.
You would think a movie called Nick and Norah's Infinate Playlist would be right up my alley and you would be right. First you got George Michael Bluth and then Kat Dennings who is moderately attractive in a goth chick kind of way. Below is my own personal infinate playlist present in no perticular order and just random songs that randomly came across my brain.
If you have no idea what I am talking about, here is the trailer of the movie that opens October 3rd:
Kids today may not remember, unless they saw Hal Sparks wax poetic about them on I Love the 90's, but in the middle of that decade, there were few bigger bands on the planet than Oasis. Please remember they were so huge that an argument of the brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher even charted on Billboard. (What’s the Story) Morning Glory managed to the pinnacle of their career (which why it is this month’s induction into the Scooter Hall of Fame) and the point where the band started their went in a tailspin.
But lets start with te good, and the good is really good as Wonderwall is easily one of the top twenty-five songs of all time. It is one of those songs that no matter who sings it or how it is preformed it will still be a great song. Where Wonderwall is a sit you’re your room alone in your room with just an acoustic guitar, Don’t Look Back in Anger is a sing a long be it in a stadium or along with the jukebox at your local bar. And on songs like the title track and the opener Hello, Oasis show they could still continue their rock swagger like on their debut album.
For a band that wears their influences on their sleeves (then completely tear them down) Champaign Supernova seems like a blatant attempt at The Beatles psychedelic era and even starts with the two untitled tracks on the album that just enhances the bloated album closer. That is not to say the song in all its overwrought glory isn’t great in its own right but its success let to more over reaching songs like the first single off the next album, D’You Know What I Mean just went too far and led to the downfall. But Oasis has show flashes of brilliants over the decade since Morning Glory which hint that the band could mount a comeback at any time.
Quote of the Week: It was a bold choice, interesting background and a potential Hot for Teacher situation, don’t ya think? (Tony Kornheiser, Pardon the Interuption)
Big New of the Week: John McCain Picks for His Vice President, Wait, Who?: Just an addendum to yesterday’s post, the more I think about the more brilliant the pick of Sarah Palin is for John McCain. After a day of seeing talking heads blast her inexperience you can almost see the democratic strategist realize right after doing so that their candidate is not that much more experience. And having your inexperience at the bottom of the ticket is better than having it at the top. Granted Palin has more executive experience than Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and McCain combined.
And it didn’t take long for the liberal communist of the left to start their smear campaign hitting the internet to make people believe that Palin has had multiple affairs and that Palin faked her last pregnancy and that her eldest daughter is the real mother of her youngest (I even had a couple hits to yesterday searching for Bristol Palen pregnancy) like a bad plot line out of Desperate Housewives. Just because she lives in Juno doesn’t mean all the teenagers are pregnant. This rumor is as truthful as Obama being a Muslim, McCain fathering a black baby, and Biden, well Biden isn’t interesting enough to spread falsehoods about.
(Scooter's Update: More proof that Brisol is not the mother of Trig: she is five months pregnant accorfing to a press release from the Palen clan. Read more about it over at MSNBC.com. This makes my Juno crack a little less funny. Well, it still is pretty funny.)
Coalition Links of the Week: Buzz chatted with 90210's Shenae Grimes about the responsibilities of being "The new Brenda." (BuzzSugar)
Marcia returned from the Edinburgh TV Festival with tales of Heroes and Doctor Who, straight from the showrunners' mouths. Also, new site design! (Pop Vultures)
Rae's spent the summer with her nose buried in a book and it's finally paying off for us with her review of the Burn Notice novel The Fix. (RTVW Online)
Vance loves Gavin & Stacey and insists that you all watch it too so that you too can fall in love. (Tapeworthy)
This week, Jace took an early look at the first three episodes of the new season of Gossip Girl and offered up which new and returning series he'll be watching this fall. (Televisionary)
Before the conventions started and we got all partisan, Sara got all "thinky" and discussed the optimistic nationalism of the Olympics. Never fear, we'll soon return to our guttural reactions on Project Runway. (TiFaux)
The TV Addict had the time of his life at Fox's Fantastic Fringe series premiere party in New York City. (The TV Addict)
Raoul got excited about the possibility of a (re)animated Buffy Summers. (TV Filter)
I Love Money: How can no one see that Megan is playing everyone. It doesn’t get more transparent than”backstabbing” people she is supposed to be aligned with right in front of them. Yet even with that blatant going aganst her alliance’s wishes, she was able to talk her alliance out of voting off White Boy even though they had just seen her align herself with him against their wishes hours before. I am begining to wonder if Megan is the smartest dumb person ever. You can download episodes of I Love Money on iTunes.
The Middleman: It seems like every week I throughly enjoy The Middleman, but for some reason when I sit down to write 57 Channels I rarely have anything interesting to say about the episode and that pretty much sums up the most recent one. And if I am not mistaken, next week s the season (series?) Finale. Hopefully it goes out with a bang. Literally and figuratively. You can download episodes of The Middleman on iTunes.
Busted: I typically do not flip through channels, but flipping through all the NBC networks during the Olympics had me do it a little lately, that is how I found this gem on MTV. For those that haven’t seen it, Busted is basically Cops for the college age set. So you get a lot of under age drunks and stoned morons. Man, I miss college. My personal favorite segment has to be the two girl who get pulled out of a club and when the cops say they were accused of solicitation, one of the girl, who had the most possible amount of clevage possible without being techincally naked, yells at the cop, “Do we look like prostitutes?” Sadly the cop didn’t say when everyone had to be thinking, yes. Nonetheless, highest of high comedy.
Promo of the Week: Last year was a bit of a down year for My Name Is Earl. This could have been due to the writer’s strike, but Earl spent way too much time in jail or a coma and really didn’t cross much off his list. As the new season suggests, Earl is back to the list, but first, here is a recap for last year.
Pick for Next Week: Stand Up to Cancer, Friday at 8:00 on NBC, ABC, and CBS: It is cliched to say that we all know someone with Cancer, but sadly it is unavoidable with one presidential candidate a Cancer survivor with the other who lost his mother to the disease, granted one would rather give a speech to a bunch a Germans than to show up to Lance Armstrong’s LiveStrong Cancer forum. With that in mind it looks like Cancer may be overlooked in whoever is elected’s budget (not so fun fact, our government has spent more in a month on Iraq than all the years combinded since Nixon declared war on Cancer) on so it is again up to the individual to fund a cure. So the big three are banding together (Fox would rather air Guess the Lyrics) for a telethon which includes performance by Mariah Carey, Beyonce, Mary J. Blige, Rihanna, Fergie, Sheryl Crow, Miley Cyrus, Melissa Etheridge, Ashant, Natasha Bedingfield, Keyshia Cole, Ciara, Leona Lewis, LeAnn Rimes, and Carrie Underwood. And those are just the people who will be preforming together. Head over to StandUp2Cancer.com for more information and to donate or buy the charity single below.
Every Friday on Race for the White House, the panel picks the winner of the week. And after all the hoopla of the Democratic National Convention that on Friday, the only thing people were asking about was not Barack Obama’s speech but Sarah Palen. Will that turn into a win in November? We will have to wait and see.
But the pick works for this reason, no one vote for a Vice President, but when over twenty percent of Hilary Clinton supporter have switched their support to John McCain, obviously some women are voting with their hearts not their minds as Clinton and Obama are the same people politically, I cannot count the amount of time either of them said I agree during their debate. It should be noted that when Palin name dropped Clinton in her speech yesterday it got a loud cheer and not a single voice was in baritone.
And as a women, Sarah Palen is much more of one than Clinton, a self described hockey mom with five kids, one still in diapers (and I am not referring to John McCain) with down syndrome. In fact Palin was still pregnant when McCain was already the presumptive nominee. And in turns of stories, Palin’s rivals that of Barack Obama, and Palin’s youngest bot in curls rivals the Obama children in terms of cuteness.
Of course the negatives is that Palen could turn out to be Dan Quayle in a pantsuit. There are some ethics questions, but that could end up being a net positive for that important women demographic because that ethics stemmed from firing her ex-brother in law who was accused of beating her sister. But you can’t talk Alaskan ethics without bring up senator Ted Stevens. But not so fun fact: Palin is one of those gun nuts.
Another negative is the former mayor whose residents were half of the number of the people in the arena she was introduced in is that she will be crushed in the debate against Joe Biden in their debate in every category. But keep in mind that of everyone on the presidential tickets, the one with the most executive experience is Palin. And with the Congress, which McCain, Obama, and Biden are part of, and their eight percent approval rating, Palin has an eighty percent approval rating as governor.
Just how much of an outsider is Sarah Palin, MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell admitted see had to look up Wikipedia just to have something to say about her, where you can learn such nuggets that unlike Bill Clinton, she did inhale when it was legal to smoke week in Alaska. And if you missed it in her speech, her five kids are named Track, Bristol, Willow, Piper, and Trip. Oh those wacky Alaskan.
But it was the Democrats that dominated the news cycle the first four days of the week. Going back to Clinton, her actions spoke much more than her words. In fact I have a shirt the same color as as the pantsuit Clinton wore of which only comes out of the closet on Halloween and whenever I want to annoy people. I wonder if Clinton does the same things. But it is times like this that I am glad that I don't have HD.
One more fun fact about Palin, when pregnant with her most recent child, here water broke at a convention in Texas. She then gave her speech and then flew back to Alaska because, really, who wants to have their kid born a Texan. No offence to Jo. Okay, that was meant to offend Jo because she is my week one opponent in my fantasy football league and I plan to beat her like a red headed step child.
Checking out the cast photo for the latest TNT show Raising the Bar there is one thing that sticks out more than anything else, not one, but two Saved by the Bell alums smiling back at you. Yep that is Zack Morris and Lindsay Wagner, who never actually passed through the halls of Bayside High at the same time, sharing screen time on Raising the Bar. Granted it is neither of Mr. Belding’s favorite students that gets mention in ads for the shows but creator Steven Bochco who also created LA Law, NYPD Blue. Although conspicuously missing in those ads was his involvement with Commander In Chief and Cop Rock.
Zack and Lindsay play public defenders in New York City who routinely go against district attorneys whom happened to be their classmates in law school. Their boss happens to be Gloria Reuben (ER). On the other side of the courtroom include Melissa Sagemiller (Sorority Boys) and J. August Richards (Angel) yet they still get together at the watering hole when the final gavel is hit. Of course every court needs a judge and the young lawyers routinely run into Jane Kaczmarek (Malcolm in the Middle) who is a little off kilter.
There is something to say that in the first two episodes each main court cases included a African American and a Hispanic. Then the first Caucasian defendant just happens to have a mental illness and his actual crime was a non violent robbery. Of course one of those African Americans on trial is one Wallace Fennel who beat up the boyfriend of the spiky hair chick Landry Clarke dropped when he hooked up with Tyra. And of course it is nice to see Wallace in something other than a Hot Pocket commercial.
The cases are your run of the mill procedurals you have seen in every other lawyer show before except when Kaczmarek pulls some absurd rulings in her case. Where the show tries to set itself apart is the after hours aspect that was also tried on the short lived Conviction (that Richards also starred in) and the pilot ends in some plot twist with two character who may or may not be shacking up together and one character who may or may not be gay and may or may not hook up with another nineties afterthought in the second episode. And I may or may not be overdoing it on saying may or may not.
If there is a reason to stick with Raising the Bar is to see if any other Bayside graduates show up like Lisa Turtle as a welfare mother or Mr. Belding as someone who gets caught up in a Chris Hansen sting after trying to solicit one of the Chinese gymnast. Personally I cannot wait. Although Zack needs to cut his hair because follicles have not been this distracting since Tom Hanks in The Da Vinci Code. Raising the Bar premieres this Monday, September 1, Labor Day, at 10:00 on TNT.
You know the story: a band tolls around in obscurity for a decade, becomes an overnight success then collapses under the weight of its own ego. Then has one of two endings: reunited after anyone stopped caring for a tour of state fairs or hope that VH1 lets them be on one of their celebreality show. Then there is The Verve who managed to make an album as good as before the original break up, almost a decade after the band ended with a broken hand and a sore jaw.
For their reunion album Forth, The Verve expands on their space rock set up on the previous three album. And expand being the key word as only one song on the album clock in at under five minutes with the album as a whole comes in at just over an hour for the ten track set. But where some band make long songs in hopes to be epic, very few notes are wasted on any of these songs, from the sweeping Judas to the melancholy closer Appalachian Song or the slow burning I See Houses. Unless you are looking at the clock, you won't even notice the length of the song.
The band really comes together on Love Is Noise with its wall of sound that fills your ears from the start with eerily oooh's and aaah's that haunt you throughout the song and rivals Bittersweet Symphony in terms of sonic brilliance. No matter what Vegas sets the line for another fist o' cuffs, hopefully manages the over or at least until there is a Fifth.
Greek put on a surprisingly good first season by flipping stereotype on the ear by including a engineering nerd and a gay homosexual into the rush family. Through in the Confederate flag loving evangelical roommate the round out the third musketeer who is willing to put aside their differences even if he doesn’t agree with them. That is not to say there is plenty of soap opera moments including the initial love triangle of Cappie/Cassie/Evan that ballooned into a pentagon swallowing up Rebecca and Frannie in the process.
All you need to know about the new season of Greek that debuts tonight at 9:00 is that Frannie appears in almost nothing but knee high socks.
If you are interested in a little more information, the premiere takes part during Greek Week for those going through Olympics withdrawal with those classic Greek events dude cheerleading, powder-puff football and lip syncing. All the competition flares up the males segments of the previously mentioned love pentagon.
And despite the old adage of what happens at Spring Break stays at Spring Break, naturally someone caught Rebecca’s attempted strip tease on their camera phone and posted it on the intertube. This leads to an appearance from someone who made a cameo in the first season. And after the events of the episode, it is safe to say we may see another appearance from the guest again this season.
- Since I have been asked multiple time, the Nike commercial that repeats the chorus, "I got soul but I'm not a soldier" that uses throughout the Olympics is All These Things That I've Done by the Killers.
- For all the lead up to the first ever BMX race in the Olympics, it was pretty short. And it was won by a Latvian of all people.
- In case you missed it, it should be noted that the USA Woman's Soccer gold medal was America's 1000th medal ever.
- I cannot believe the interviewed the nut job priest who disrupted the marathon in Athens for years ago. Another thing I cannot believe, on a perfect August Saturday night, I stayed indoors to watch a two hour Marathon.
- Possibly my favorite human interest story of the games is of Shannon Rowbury, a Irish Dancing turned 1500 meter runner.
- After two weeks of doing everything short of anointing Michael Phelps new dictator of the Olympics, I was surprised that they still called the decathlon the competition for the title World's Greatest Athlete. Which begs the question, why isn't the aquatic version of the decathlon?
- The best thing about the closing ceremonies is that it seems like the host counties do not care anymore. It all seems so lax and is more about the next host than the current. But leave it to the Chinese to insert some more pomp and circumstance in before the games leave their nation.
- I would say Jimmy Paige playing with Leona Lewis is a low point in Led Zeppelin history, but nothing can touch Paige okaying the Puff Daddy sampling of Kashmir.
- Jackie Chan singing? What?
- For those keeping score, eighteen months until the start of the Winter Olympics, and to those over at NBC, if you need a correspondent, I am sure I can clear my schedule. And I promise not to call any of my female co-workers a word you are not supposed to say on television.
A plethora of cool press releases have been flooding my inbox recently that you may find interesting. This post will include blurbs on The Closer, America’s Toughest Jobs, World’s Funniest Commercials, The Office, Dexter, and Valerie Bertinelli
- Tomorrow on the latest episode of The Closer Lyra Sedgwick will be directed by her husband Kevin Bacon, his third time behind the camera for the show. The episode focuses on Det. Julio Sanchez who brother is fatally shot at the beginning of the powerful episode. Look out for that at its regular time on TNT.
- Also tomorrow is the start of NBC’s fall season with the premiere of America’s Toughest Jobs from the guys that have brought you Ice Truck Truckers, Deadliest Catch and Black Gold. Here is a preview of what you will see if you turn in at 9:00:
- Then on Tuesday there is the latest installment of TBS’s World’s Funniest Commercials at 9:00. This show is hosted by Kevin Nelson (Weeds) and Susan Yeagley (Coyote Ugly). Keeping with the Olympics spirt, Scott Hamilton will be announcing the gold medal ad.
- Just over a month until the season premiere of The Office on September 25 at 9:00 on NBC. To tide the fans over, here is the newest clip of Adventures with Angela when she visits Oscar’s house:
- The second season of Dexter was released last Tuesday and if you head over to DexterTherapy.com where users can take inkblot tests to find out if they have a serial killer instinct.
- Valerie Bertinelli is coming back to television sometime soon on TBS. The show will feature the former One Day at a Time actess will play a single mother running a business and will be produced by Dave Caplan whose credits include The Drew Carey Show, The George Lopez Show and The Bill Engvall Show. Even though it is currently untilted, one can assume The Valerie Bertinelli Show is a frontrrunner.
Quote of the Week: You're a total medal (expletive deleted). (Tiki Barber, Olympics Recap)
Big New of the Week: The Return of The Banana Splits: I may be showing my age, but my favorite show as a kid is returning to television courtesy of The Cartoon Network. For those too young to remember the show, that is what YouTube is for.
Coalition Links of the Week:
Buzz got a great interview out of the young actor Tristan Wilds on moving from The Wire's Baltimore to 90210's, well, 90210. (BuzzSugar)
My favorite comedy, The Office will be returning in just a few short long weeks. I'm passing the time by watching season 4 on DVD. You can too. GMMR is giving away a copy of Season 4 of The Office on DVD. (Give Me My Remote)
Vance checks out the new contestants on The Amazing Race (Season 13) and makes gloriously uneducated preconceptions about all the teams. (Tapeworthy)
This week, Jace reviewed Season One of the adorable, charming, and wickedly funny British comedy Gavin & Stacey, which launches on Tuesday evening on BBC America. (Televisionary)
Is Dan overreacting? He was a bit put-off by the teaser for CBS's The Mentalist which employs some gay stereotypes. (TiFaux)
Raoul gave you his honest take on America's Greatest Dog...and so did Beth Joy. (TV Filter)
I Love Money: Megan's power is so great now, that she can just make everyone beg to her dog in order to stay and use that as her way to choose on who she would send packing. I am not sure if this is genius or the dumbest thing ever in reality history. You can download episodes of I Love Money on iTunes.
The Middleman: If this wasn't the best episode since the pilot, than it was easily the funniest thanks in no small part to evil puppets. Evil puppets rule. And the episode begs the question, who is The Middleman's other true love? My money is on the succubus. You can download episodes of The Middleman on iTunes.
Pick for Next Week: Greek, Tuesday at 9:00 on ABC Family: Let the fall season begin. Greek starts right after Spring Break and I should have a preview in the next couple days. And for those that fear going through Olympics withdrawal, try switching over another wall to wall coverage this time of the Democratic National Convention which goes from Monday until Thursday on all the cable news networks as well as an hour a day on the major networks at 10:00.
- The clear winner of the NBC coverage team this year has been Jenna Wolfe who has been part of the Olympics roundup show everyday on MSNBC. This is really because she obviously doesn’t know anything about sports and doesn’t even bother to pretend. And if you have to be good if you are able to your co-host, in this case Tiki Barber, call you a word on television that George Carlin told me you couldn’t say on television. See you in London Jenna.
- Poor Ping Pong player, not only do no one actually come to see them play, even in a country that is supposed to big on the sport yet couldn’t fill out the area, the sport doesn’t even have ball boys and the athletes have to chase down their own balls like they were playing in my basement.
- As a former huddler myself who also tasted rubber, my heart goes out to Susanna Kallur of Sweden who tripped over the first hurdle of her preliminary race and American LoLo Jones (who should have Rashida do a bio pick on her) who couldn’t quite make it over the eighth hurdle dashing each hope for a medal. If either needs a shoulder to cry on, shout me a holla.
- Do they really need to say it was a clean start on every sprint?
- The gymnastics announcing team has been announcing and I couldn’t quite figure out why until I was flipping back between the competition and Monday Night Football to realize why. The football announces spent three quarters with the second and third strings and treated them with respect though many would be cut within a week or two. Yet the gymnastics would crush these sixteen year old girls saying things like they have “absolutely no chance to medal.” If they have no chance why should we bother to watch? They are dashing the hopes of young girls and their families and friends watching at home, acting like judges on some crappy Bravo reality show caring themselves with no class or professionalism and should be fired on the spot. They didn’t even know the rules and we didn’t even learn what a tie breaker was until Bob Costas broke in and told us. Which begs the question, why wasn’t Béla Károlyi commentating?
- And if we are firing NBC personal, add Andrea Kramer to that list, not only did she suck the life out of the swimming competition, she made a fifteen year old diver who failed to make the finals cry and then just stood their and watch her cry. Andrea, there is this thing called a hug, try it sometime.
- There is no cooler camera use in sports than the diving cam that follows divers into the water.
- Back to Gymnastics, it was nice to see Nastia Liukin actually where a red white and blue get up in the individual competition.
- The Beach Volleyball final in the rain is the reason HD was created. Or so I assume, I am too cheap to buy one.
- Who knew guys played Field Hockey?
- Just to show you how far Boxing has fallen, when it was being shown on CNBC, I chose to watch Synchronized Swimming on Oxygen. And where was all the programming on Oxygen, it seemed like almost every time I flipped on the channel it was always showing Tori and Dean. Which begs the question, who is sitting around all day watching Tori and Dean? Who is watching one episode of Tori and Dean?
- Let the Michael Phelps backlash begin, and naturally it was Best Week Ever who led the charge asking, Is Michael Phelps a Douche?
- Speaking of douches, did anyone else notice that Usain Bolt does the same hand spasms complete with finger kisses that Flavor Flav does? Next thing you know dude will be racing with a Vikings cap on.
- Those not on Michael Phelps overload be sure to head over to NBCDVD.com to purchase Michael Phelps: Greatest Olympic Champion...The Inside Story. Also available are 2008 Beijing General Highlight DVD and 2008 Beijing Opening Ceremony 2-Volume DVD.
There is no band that shaped my formative years more than the Dave Matthews Band. A high school buddy bought me Under the Table and Dreaming back in 1996 and since than I have amassed over thirty of their albums. In the post grunge era they were a breathe of fresh air and that was due in large part to LeRoi Moore, the multi instrumentalist who added an extra level of musicianship with his classical jazz background to the band. His presence was sometimes subtle on the studio albums but it was the live shows where he really shined and thanks to Dave Matthews Band gracious live releases, there is plenty to choose from (I listed my Favorite Live Dave Matthews Band Albums a couple years ago). Below are three of those songs where Moore really shines:
There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I though 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 not the link goes to YouTube where you can watch the video in full screen). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.
Lucky Japanese, they go to a Coldplay concert and out comes Alicia Keys. Although all she does is play some piano, chords that I can play (no, seriously, I can), and it sounds like she played an octave too high. Great nonetheless.
There has been a retro renaissance coming out of Great Britain as heard from the voices of Amy Winehouse and Duffy. In the northern part of the British Isles there seems to be a rock resurgence from the lasses of Scotland. First there was the Bo Diddley honoring KT Tunstall with her Black Horse and the Cherry Tree. Now the land of kilts and bagpipes brings us Amy MacDonald, another guitar toting singer with her debut This Is the Life.
Unlike Tunstall, whose formative years were spent in New England, MacDonald is Scottish born and bread leaving her with a thick accent that can even be heard in her singing voice that hasn’t been heard since the chick from The Cranberries. The differences to Tunstall also draw a line in musicianship where MacDonald really has only one gear, where Tunstall could craft many different tunes, each as good as the previous.
But that one gear is pretty good, the showstopper being the title track, an upbeat Celtic folk song about going down to your local pub for some ale and a band. That same esthetic goes the same for Mr. Rock and Roll and the ode to Pete Doherty Poison Prince. The slow, strings laden Footballer’s Wives also get a sarcastic song on their behalf.
Also on the disk is the Mexican horns opening for Let’s Start a Band that conjures up images of the previously mentioned small town pub that quickly morph into stadium with Amy telling Rolling Stone and Glastonbury to get ready. It could make any Guitar Hero to put down a plastic toy and pick up a real ax. The variety may not be as wide on This Is the Life but keep in mind Tunstall has more than a decade on the twenty year old, with age, maybe MacDonald Rolling Stone cover premonition could come true before she hits thirty.
- How does the Women’s Team Sabre team grab a Bronze after sweeping the individual medals? But anyways. The most interesting thing that came out of the Bronze Medal match was that actually have redo. Not only was there was a redo, it was for the deciding point and this is even with instant replay. Imagine if that happened in the Super Bowl, fourth quarter, less than ten seconds and they review a touchdown where the receiver may have been out of bound and the referee comes out of his little viewing station and announces, “Yeah, I have no clue, why don’t we just do that play over.”
- The only rule that may be more silly, and by more silly, I mean secretly brilliant is the baseball rule that if the game goes to eleven innings, both teams start off with runners on first and second. Too bad Bud Selig couldn’t have thought of this instead of that stupid Home Field advantage in the world series crap for the All-Star Game.
- If there were an anti-Michael Phelps it would have to Kate Hoff who seemed to rack up the fourth place finishes. Okay, I may have been a little bitter because she was on my fantasy Olympics team.
- In the rare moment when they were at the Water Cube and not crushing on Phelps, all the inner dating that is going on in basically every country but ours. The most salacious being the tale of Laure Manaudou who left France after winning Gold in Athens, making her a national star, to be with her swimmer boyfriend only for him to break up with her, date one of her rivals, and post the types of pictures to the internet that are typically reserved to beauty queens and Paris Hilton.
- I turned on the television the other day to a soccer game between the United Stated and Canada, the problem being it took me way too long to figure out who was who. Ever since the beret debacle of the Opening Ceremonies, there has been some questionable wardrobe choices for what should be the red, white and blue. But there was no hint of blue in the soccer uniforms. Then there is Nastia Liukin who opted for a pink number in the all around competition. Okay, this was all a ruse just to post of pictures of Heather Mitts and Liukin in that pink leotard.
- Pardon the Interruption had an interesting discussion on if she would become the next America’s Sweetheart. The easy answer is no as it is hard to be America’s Sweetheart with a name like Nastia. Name aside she certainly has the looks; the biggest problem though is that American hasn’t had a real sweetheart since Reece Witherspoon circa Legally Blonde. Sadly the only way females today can get America’s attention for more than one day is for being infamous as seen in the past five years with the parade of Paris, Britney, Nicole, Amy, Lindsay and the chicks from The Hills. Even the Disney stars these days have problems keeping their cloths on.
- Watching the Women’s Marathon I was struck that near the twentieth mile mark, the commentator said that the top woman were running 5:30 mile. I’m not sure I could run just a single mile at that time.
- Nothing says it is time to go to bed than it is 2:00 AM and they are showing the 20K Walk Race. Isn’t a speed walker an oxymoron?
A plethora of cool press releases have been flooding my inbox recently that you may find interesting. This post will include blurbs on Into the Unknown, Sons of Anarchy, The Closer and House of Paine marathons, Eli Stone, Greek, Samurai Girl, and Raising the Bar:
- Discovery’s new show Into the Unknown starts tomorrow at 10:00. The show is described as, “International explorer Josh Bernstein travels the world on epic quests for knowledge and discovery. Inspired by deep mysteries and burning questions, he takes a series of unforgettable journeys into the unknown; no location is too remote, no culture too exotic, no goal too ambitious. Each quest sparks new revelations and incredible insights as Josh takes us on a thrilling hunt for answers.” Below is a promo:
- More video is coming out of FX’s new show Sons of Anarchy, debuting September 3, here is a behind the scenes look:
- When I got a press release from the Turner networks of their Labor Day plans I thought that was a little early. That was until I looked at my calendar and saw that it is in two weeks. Boo. But anyways. TNT will be running thirteen episodes of The Closer starting at 9:00 AM capping with the series premiere of Raising the Bar at 10:00. Over on TBS, a ten hour, twenty episode marathon of House of Paine starting at 10:00 AM.
- In a story I broke yesterday, ABC.com is hosting Starter Kits for their returning shows, here is the one for Eli Stone:
- ABC Family is getting a jump on the new fall season with the season premiere of Greek on its new day and time of Tuesday, August 26 at 9:00. Then there is also the network’s mini-series Samurai Girl starting September 5 starting the moderately attractive Stacy Keibler (not as the title character, that is instead goes to Real World alumni Jamie Chung). I should have a preview of both in the next couple weeks as well as the previously mentioned Raising the Bar.
and 
, yet I implore anyone to remember her appearances on those shows. Certainly when you saw her in the preview and though “I know her from somewhere” it is not from those show but instead the only thing people will recognize her as cast member of Real World: San Diego and the spin off Inferno II.
) would be the Giles figure guiding Chung through her training taking her raw talent into something to use in the field. The mini-series is at the very least watchable if you have nothing better to do this weekend as it premieres tonight at 8:00 with another two hours Saturday and closing on Sunday. But for anything with “Samurai” in its title, the fight scenes should be cooler than they are. Maybe as the girl grows and learns more on the craft it will get better, but I am not holding my breathe.
alums smiling back at you. Yep that is Zack Morris and Lindsay Wagner, who never actually passed through the halls of Bayside High at the same time, sharing screen time on Raising the Bar. Granted it is neither of Mr. Belding’s favorite students that gets mention in ads for the shows but creator Steven Bochco who also created LA Law, 
. Although conspicuously missing in those ads was his involvement with 
and Cop Rock. 
). On the other side of the courtroom include Melissa Sagemiller (
) and J. August Richards (
) yet they still get together at the watering hole when the final gavel is hit. Of course every court needs a judge and the young lawyers routinely run into Jane Kaczmarek (
) who is a little off kilter.
who beat up the boyfriend of the spiky hair chick 
dropped when he hooked up with Tyra. And of course it is nice to see Wallace in something other than a Hot Pocket commercial.
(that Richards also starred in) and the pilot ends in some plot twist with two character who may or may not be shacking up together and one character who may or may not be gay and may or may not hook up with another nineties afterthought in the second episode. And I may or may not be overdoing it on saying may or may not.
. Raising the Bar premieres this Monday, September 1, Labor Day, at 10:00 on TNT.
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on my 
to put down a plastic toy and pick up a real ax. The variety may not be as wide on This Is the Life but keep in mind Tunstall has more than a decade on the twenty year old, with age, maybe MacDonald Rolling Stone cover premonition could come true before she hits thirty.
over at Amazon MP3 for free.)
. Sadly the only way females today can get America’s attention for more than one day is for being infamous as seen in the past five years with the parade of Paris, Britney, Nicole, Amy, Lindsay and the chicks from