Previewing Lights Out

If you didn’t go into Lights Out knowing that it was about a boxer, you may mistake the opening scene for yet another medical show with a lifeless, bloodied remains of a man laying in a solitary room. But the beaten body is that of Holt McCallany (Three Kings) as Patrick Leary, you can call him Lights, after his last fight as a boxer who is only accompanied by his wife, Catherine McCormack (Braveheart) who waives off the doctor to sew up his cut herself.

The show quickly jumps five year and Lights living almost every ex-boxer cliché, he squandered it all away by lavishly living, gifts to his family: wifey gets a medical degree, pops gets a gym, sister gets a diner, and his brother gets an MBA to manage his finances which he poorly invests away, leaving Lights to appear at bingo parlors and cheesy local advertisements; but he hasn’t quite hit rock bottom just yet because he has yet resorted to the one place careers go to die: Dancing with the Stars.

With his wife in school, Lights has because Mr. Mom to his three daughters, Meredith Hagner (Royal Pains) is the materialistic oldest, Ryann Shane (Amelia) is the middle studious one (which reminded me of Modern Family in the first episode), with Lily Pilblad (Fringe) as the runt of the family who is too young to remember daddy as a fighter and wonders why he is getting punched by other dudes whenever old fight footage comes on television. Lights also has an obligation to his father / trainer Stacy Keach (Titus) who seems to care more about his failing gym than his own failing health. And he does not seem to get any help from his brother Pablo Schreiber (Vicky Christina Barcelona) who has put him in his financial troubles.

It is a good thing for Light Out that the boxer stays out of the ring because it is very hard for sports stories to work (there were only four sports movies released in 2010) when you can flip on ESPN at any given time and see something more amazing than anything a writer can dream up. Friday Night Lights didn’t hit its stride until it focused most of its storylines off the field. When Light Out does focus on the sport is some of its weakest spots like a training montage in episode three that you cannot help but think of Rocky or Lights encounter with a Mixed Martial Arts fighter which may be the most unbelievable part of the show, which says a lot considering the lead character is a Caucasian American former Heavyweight champion (something that hasn’t happened in my lifetime).

Light Out is reminiscent to Men of a Certain Age in that it is depressing to watch. But where there is a glimmer of hope for Ray Romano and his buddies, it seems like things get progressively worse for Lights with every passing episode trying to dig himself out of his hole, only to find himself deeper in it as he has runs in with Bill Irwin (Rachel Getting Married), a shady businessman, Billy Brown (Race to Witch Mountain) as the man who took his title five years ago, and Brown’s fight promoter Reg E. Cathey (American Psycho) who would like to see that rematch finally take place.

Lights Out airs Tuesdays at 10:00 on FX. You will be able to stream episodes on Hulu after they air.

The 25 Best Movies of 2010

Due to my dislike of movie theaters, it should be noted my best movies list is compiled of movies released on DVD in 2010.

1. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

2. Zombieland

3. Inception

4. (500) Days of Summer

5. Kick-(Expletive Deleted)

6. Shutter Island

7. Toy Story 3

8. Hot Tub Time Machine

9. Easy A

10. Up in the Air

11. 2012

12. She's Out of My League

13. The Hurt Locker

14. Moon

15. Predators

16. The Crazies

17. The Losers

18. Iron Man 2

19. Sherlock Holmes

20. Get Him to the Greek

21. The Jones

22. Couples Retreat

23. Frozen

24. Grown Ups

25. The Men that Stare at Goats

57 Channels and Only This Is On - 1/9/11

How I Met Your Mother: Well that was depressing. I don’t remember the last time a sitcom killed off a character, or at least did so and didn’t play it for laughs (remember when George Costanzia’s fiancé died licking stamps). Even weirder is that right after that announcement, they played the credits (where Neil Patrick Harris was listed as a guest star playing the doctor) with the chirpy theme music. You can stream recent episodes over at cbs.com. You can also download How I Met Your Mother on iTunes.

Pretty Little Liars: I remember this show being a guilty pleasure in the first half of the season, but I am beginning to forget what was so pleasurable about the show and it is starting to become tedious. Like whenever anyone brings up a guy’s name, I have no clue who they are talking about because most of them look the same, or were not very memorable to begin with. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.

Greek: When reviewing the previous season, I thought The Truth Is You Can’t Go Back so Enjoy it While You Can was apposite with half of the cast being seniors. What I didn’t realize when I wrote that was that almost all of them wouldn’t actually leave. And if Vegas would actually put odds on these sorts of things, I bet they would have the over/under on Ashleigh returning to Cyprus Rhoades at 2.5 episodes. And sometimes I wonder if the writers bother to watch their own show. Like shouldn’t have Heath graduated too? He was supposed to last semester but bombed his midterms when his brothers got expelled. We do not even get an explanation this time around why he is still an undergrad. And I am pretty sure they established last season that Betsy (who is looking real good with the short hair) was a senior also. But the show does get points for the great use of the little bit softer part of Shout and we finally got a Rebecca / Dale showdown. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu.



Castle: I didn’t get excited when they announced Laura Prepon whould be playing Nikki Heat, but her method acting was thoroughly entertaining. But two people shadowing Beckett was a little much. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Castle on iTunes.

No Ordinary Family: Holy Ricky Schroder sighting! You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download No Ordinary Family on iTunes.

Glory Daze: More evil Leprechaun please. His mental beat down of Stankowski was hilarious. And it turning out to be a decoy Leprechaun was even better. Here’s hoping the show throws reality out the window more often. You can stream recent episodes over at TBS.com. You can also download Glory Daze on iTunes.

Modern Family: I have considered Luke a throwaway character for most of the series, but his water gun motivation is right up their as one of the funniest sight gags the show has ever done. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu.