57 Channels and Only This Is On - 8/13/11

Quote of the Week: You know what's sad: him being gay is the least of our public relations problems. (Needles – Rescue Me)

Song of the Week: Sometime it Takes Balls to be a Woman – Elizabeth Cook (Weeds)

Big News of the Week: A Melancholy Happy Trails to Jani Lane: I missed the original Warrant run because at their height I was going through my hardcore gangsta rap phase, but I have to admit whenever Cherry Pie would come on MTV I would not change the channel for obvious reasons (or the vastly underrated Uncle Tom’s Cabin which featured banjo two decades before it became en vogue). Of course by the time I got back into rock music, grunge had come and swept hair metal bands off the charts, but I can still look back and call Heaven one of the top five greatest power ballads ever in the history of the world. Sadly the world last saw Jani Lane, a guy who at one post landed one of the hottest token hot chicks ever to appear in a music video, an overweight drunken mess on the second season of Celebrity Fit Club on VH1.




Pretty Little Liars: Aria kissing a dude who takes pictures of her while she is sleeping unbeknownst to her is still not as creepy as the writers trying to make us think that her affair with her teacher is some grand love story. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.

The Nine Lives of Chloe King: So was the date that turned over the pictures a My turncoat or is dude going to show up dead soon because he made out with one? Seems weird for a My to give up the Uniter to someone with plans to kill her. But I was a little surprised that mom’s boyfriend did not turn out to be evil. They always turn out to be evil. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download The Nine Lives of Chloe King on iTunes.

Rescue Me: They could have devoted a whole episode explaining all the dirt they could have dug up on the firehouse. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Rescue Me on iTunes.

Also check out my season reviews of Falling Skies and Switched at Birth.


Free Download of the Week: Invisible - Skylar Grey

Deal of the Week: Blu-Rays for Under $10 (The Dark Knight, Watchmen, Office Space)

New Album Release of the Week: Jeff Bridges - Jeff Bridges

New DVD Release of the Week: Dexter: The Fifth Season

Video of the Week: Next up on HBO’s summer documentary series id Gloria: In Her Own Words. The Gloria in question is feminist icon Gloria Steinem who in interviewed (natch) from her Manhattan apartment as well as archival footage of her being interviewed by Barbara Walters, Helen Gurley Brown, Phil Donahue, and Larry King. Check out a trailer below:



Next Week Pick of the Week: The Lying Game, Monday at 9:00 on ABC Family: Based on the books written by the same author of Pretty Little Liars, The Lying Game also looks to offer up some of its own teen intrigue of its own. Hopefully it does not follow its predecessor by taking a promising plot and make it cumbersome to watch at times. Two things The Lying Game has going for it is the highly likeable lead actress Alexandra Chando as twin sisters separated at birth (not by a hospital mistake, but by foster care) and the best use of music in a promo in recent memory when it used Adele’s Rumour Has It for its ad campaign. Take a look at an extended promo below.

The Lying Game: 60 Second Preview

Around the Tubes - 8/12/11

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 Strike Force, Haven, Weird Vibes, Pretty Amazing Contest, Teh Big C, Nurse Jackie, California DMV, and American Horror Story.

- Cinemax may be best known (well only known) for its late night programming but the premium channel is finally starting up an original program in primetime with Strike Force about charismatic former U.S. Special Forces operative joins forces with a stealth British military unit they stop a terrorist plot. The premieres tonight at 10:00 and you can check out the first six minute below:



- Also on tonight is a new episode Haven which promises to have the first fully integrated storyline with Twitter which will last for seven episodes. As the perss release says, “In the story, Vince (Richard Donat) and Dave (John Dunsworth), who run the newspaper in Haven, join Twitter as newcomers to the medium. Viewers who follow their characters (@VinceHaven, @DaveHaven) will see them interact with a mysterious Twitter user (@ColdInHaven) who knows more about Haven – and Vince and Dave – than anyone should.” But do not worry if you are like me and find Twitter a complete waste of time, viewers unfamiliar with the micro-blogging site will still be able to enjoy the episodes.

- MTV Hive yesterday launched a new internet only show Weird Vibes and the inaugural episode profiles the hardships of being in a buzz band and features interviews with Best Coast, Au Revoir Simone, Small Black, Tanlines, Beach Fossils, Frankie and The Outs; as well as music videos from Team, Friends, Wu Lyt, Shabazz Palaces, Grimes and Vivian Girls. You can watch the full episode below:

Get More: Weird Vibes, MTV Hive

- In other MTV news (you hear it da da da, da da da, first; sorry I watched too much of the MTV Anniversery special last week), the channel has teamed up with Seventeen Magazine to honor five young woman in a half hour special premiering Tuesday August 30 at 8:00. The winner of the Pretty Amazing content will land on the cover of the October issue of Seventeen.

- If you missed some or all of the new season of The Big C, you are in luck because Showtime will be airing all seven episodes back to back starting Sunday at 2:30. In other Showtime comedy news, Nurse Jackie will be welcoming Bobby Cannavale for its fourth season in all ten episodes as a hospital administrator. Look for the episodes to air in 2012.

- Just when you thought basic cable networks have run out of menial jobs to exploit for reality television, TruTV has announced they will be setting one in a California DMV. Keep in mind this is from the Ashton Kutcher production company so this may just be the most elaborate Punk’d ever.

- Last week I shared the first two “clues” for the upcoming American Horror Story, since then FX has released a bunch more, here are the links. And for anyone wondering who that is singing Tainted Love, her name is Hannah Peel.

Clue #3 – Couple
Clue #4 – Coffin
Clue #5 – Lying Down
Clue #6 – Fire

Jay is Chillin’, ‘Ya Is Chillin’, What More Can I Say?

Jay-Z and Kanye West first teamed up when West produced Jay’s Izzo off the original Blueprint album and the decade long partnership saw West produce at least one track on all of Jay’s albums since while Jay has jumped on multiple of Kanye’s songs. This included four songs recorded for West’s recent My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, two that made the album, two relegated to the free G.O.O.D. Friday downloads on Kanye’s website.

The duo parlayed that output with a new group The Thone and the appropriately titled Watch the Throne album. If you forget the album title, do not worry, Kanye mentions it in about every other song. The collaboration continues that pattern of both rappers embracing indie rock, Justin Vernon (aka Bon Iver), who was all over Fantasy contributes to one song on Throne. And it is also felt right off the bat with the menacing No Church in the Wild featuring an auto-tuned Frank Ocean, despite Jay declaring its death just two years ago. Ocean (no relation to Billy) also shows up for a heartfelt chorus on Made in America (which may or may not be a epilogue to West’s Who Will Survive in America that closed out his last album).

It is not all doom and gloom like their last solo albums; the duo goes old school, really old school, on Otis, which has less to do with the late singer than the pair trying to out-boast each other. Jay-Z starts things off by trying to convince us that he invented swag (a reanimated corpse of Frank Sinatra may have something to say about that) while Kanye thinks he is going to have a get out of hell free card because he performed Jesus Walks. Even with all that over the top braggadocios, the true star of the track remains the Otis Redding sample of Try a Little Tenderness that overshadows the two rappers and is automatically in the discussion of greatest use of a rap sample of all time. OF ALL TIME!!!

If Try a Little Tenderness is the best sample on the album, the weirdest goes to Will Ferrell, no, not Anchorman, or even Ricky Bobby, but (Expletive Deleted) in Paris lifts lines from the ice skating comedy Blades of Glory and Kanye places them over Dr. Dre style staccato beats. Really, the production is the all-star on the album. RZA flips Nina Simone’s Feeling Good into a haunting chorus on New Day. West and Q-Tip create some fuzzy drums out of the classic sample Apache from the Incredible Bongo Band for That’s My (Expletive Deleted) and is taken to another with a chorus from La Roux’s Elly Jackson. While Swizz Beats makes the most out of a weird “la la la” chant for Murder to Excellence. It is a shame the rapping does not live up to the production. Even the usually quoteworthy West seems to be overwhelmed to trade verses with his mentor Jay-Z who has been living mostly off of great production since his unretirement.

Song to Download – Otis

Watch the Throne gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.

I Want My Music Television - 8/10/11

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.


Cry Baby – Cee-Lo Green



My favorite part of the new Cee-Lo video: when not-Laura Winslow gets a befuddled, why did Urkel just break out in song and choreographed dance with a street full of people face.


Moves Like Jagger – Maroon 5 featuring Christina Aguilera



When I first heard this song by Maroon 5 I thought do any chivks really want a dude with moves like Jagger? I always though why chick went for Mick Jagger was because he was rich and famous. I don’t Bob the bus driver who can move like Jagger is not getting many more chicks because of it. But anyway. For all the pervs out there that would get excited over a couple half seconds of naked women, there is an unedited version of this video.


Rise Above 1 – Reeve Carney featuring Bono and The Edge



The U2 Spiderman musical has been universally panned but you would figure at the very least the music would be good, but I am not sure if their collaboration with Spiderman himself Reeve Carney is even good enough to be on the Pop album. Hopefully their album with Danger Mouse comes out sooner than later so I can forget about this song.


Comeback Kid (That's My Dog) - Brett Dennen



Is it too late to nominate Comeback Kid by Brett Dennen the song of the summer? It is absurdly catchy and the video even features baseball. Plus how can you not get behind a white dude with thick read hair who turns That’s My Dog into a catchphrase?

This Is the Most Rocking Game of Charades Ever

Aw, summer television. When else can a show entitled Switched at Birth become a viable option to watch? The title alone makes it sounds like it would be better suited to be a Lifetime movie than an actual series. But considering that I am deaf and was switched at birth (okay, only one of those is remotely true) I felt obligated to tune in. Plus I wanted to see how, or even if, they would explain how someone did not realize that their kid was of a different ethnicity (granted I am still waiting Big Love to explain how the original Hendrickson’s managed to have three kids with three different hair colors).

As it turns out, at least one of the parents actually realize that the blonde kid may not actually be his which means the others are pretty much idiots. Not that I expect someone who tried to hook up with her son and JD McCoy’s father to be a MENSA members but just because a distant relative was Italian does not explain a half Italian half Hispanic daughter when you are both very WASPy.

Bad parenting aside, Switched at Birth managed not to so bad its good, or really even just plain bad at times. Sure there were some overtly primetime soap clichés like gambling additions, the warring mothers, the boy from the wrong side of the tracks, and the most egregious soap cliché which went into high gear in the finale and will no doubt carry into the next season: the love triangle between the girls that were switched at birth. But the show managed to find a heart that other new shows this summer never found (see yesterday’s Falling Skies season review). Katie Leclerc (who’s first acting gig was ironically on the episode of Veronica Mars where Mac learned she was switched at birth with Madison Sinclair) was a great find as the deaf Daphne and it is hard not to root for her on the show. While Vanessa Marano is, well, entertaining in a mini-Eliza Dushku kind of way. Hopefully ABC Family is smart enough to hold off new episodes until next summer because much like last year’s Pretty Little Liars, the show probably is not good enough to catch when it is up against real competition.

Switched at Birth 1.x gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.

Being the Leader of a Post-Apocalyptic Gang of Outlaws Has Been Exhausting

Spielberg! Aliens! The Dude from ER! It was hard not to get excited for the Falling Skies (well maybe not the Noah Wiley part) as producer Steven Spielberg made the most beloved alien movie of all time. Of course the aliens in Falling Skies did not come in peace or for Reese’s Pieces. But the problem with the television is that unlike the eighties movies, he was unable to create any likeable characters. Ten episodes later and the only one I can name off the top of my head is Pope (even worse, I do not even care enough to look the other ones up), yet almost thirty years later I can still recall Elliot and Gertie.

Where Falling Skies lacked in character development, it almost made up for with its sci-fi parts of the storytelling. The skidder upped the creep factor whenever crawled across the screen with their menacing four legs and only became creepier when we saw them cuddling with the children they kidnapped (which it looks like the harnesses that are put on the kids are turning them into skidders, which begs the question, will they grow two more legs or are the skidders a different entity). Then you had the nearly indestructible mechs with their sonic boomsticks. Although the aerodynamic aliens shown to be controlling the skidders like pets: not so scary looking.

Watching the final two episodes of the inaugural season of Falling Skies, I could not help but think about the first season finale of Lost where we spent two hour trouncing around the island looking for dynamite and kidnapped Aaron only for the episode to end with us not being able to see what was down the hatch. The first hour of Falling Skies seemed like a stall tactic while we are forced to watch a power struggle between Noah Wiley and the commanding officer while we are left screaming at the television, just bomb the alien structure already. And much like Lost, we leave the season with the biggest question unanswered, in this case why are the aliens here? I was expecting the chick from Veronica Mars to interpret their masterplan James Bond villain style in that last scene but it never came.

But it was that last scene which will be the reason to tune in next season (well that and much like this year, it’s not like there is anything much better on in the summer). What do the aliens want with Noah? How long do they plan to keep him? Will the resistance try to rescue him? Will they tell him their masterplan Dr. Evil style? Will we care about them more any anyone else in the cast? I am almost excited for next season. Almost.

Falling Skies 1.x gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.

57 Channels and Only This Is On - 8/6/11

Quote of the Week: How accurate was The Wire? (Student – Weeds)

Song of the Week: Alien – Carey Brothers (Pretty Little Liars)

Big News of the Week: The Debt Ceiling Raised: Since Republicans do not want to do anything to help the economy in hopes of taking back the White House next year and Democrats do not have the marbles to push legislation without compromise through like Bush did last decade, we were stuck hearing about the debt ceiling while our congressmen played political chicken with the word’s economy. Considering it would be a lose-lose-lose type situation if the debt ceiling limit was not raised, it was done at the last minute. All this led to an all time 14% approval rating of Congress which puts them somewhere between LeBron James and Casey Anderson.


Leverage: Oh you silly promo monkeys making us think that Eliot gets shot during the episode, but never actually gets caught in the cross hairs at all. But I did like the ingenious way of getting the daughter’s breath to open the panic room. You can stream recent episodes on TNT.tv.

Falling Skies: I swear those creatures controlling the Skidders are those long necked creatures from Star Wars on the planet where the clones are being made. We also get some interesting exposition that if you have a harness on for so long, you may turn into a skidder. But I still do not particularly care much about any of the characters. You can stream recent episodes over at tnt.tv.

Switched at Birth: I wonder if Deafenstien is an actual movie because I think I may want to add it to my queue. You can stream the show on Hulu.

Pretty Little Liars: I have long questioned Big Head Barry’s assertion that he did not knowingly take steroids, but after seeing Emily was tricked by “A,” maybe Barry Bonds too was stalked by an omnipresent person that tricked him into using The Cream, The Clear and Beef Roids. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu.

The Nine Lives of Chloe King: I am beginning to think that empathy thing that Chloe does may be the most worthless superpower ever. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu.

Rescue Me: It is a shame that Mike and White Shawn are not featured in more scenes because even seven years later they are still comedy gold. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu.


Free Download of the Week: Dawes / Blitzen Trapper Tour Sampler (dawestheband.com): Dawes and Blitzen Trapper are hitting the road starting tomorrow in Petaluma, California and going through November. Head over to Dawes website to get the full list and while you are there you can download a sampler from both bands which includes Blitzen Trapper’s Furr which it worth the download by itself.

New Album Release of the Week: Watch the Throne - Jay-Z and Kanye West

New DVD Release of the Week: Paul

Next Week Pick of the Week: Falling Skies, Sunday at 9:00 on TNT: Stop me if you have heard this one before: a sci-fi show that sounds great on paper but ends up being mediocre in practice. And that was the same for Falling Skies. Things did start to build up in the last episode so hopefully the season can go out with a bang with their two hour finale. Also, star Noah Wiley will be live tweeting during the episode @fallingskiesTNT.

Around the Tubes - 8/5/11

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 Friends with Benefits, Teen Spirit, True Blood, Selected of God Choir, M.A.S.K., The Voice, Southland, Redbook, Good Housekeeping, and Wipeout.

- In other debut news, ABC Family’s latest original movie, Teen Spirit, premieres Sunday at 7:00. Check out the poster below:


- Remember the universally praised Imported from Detroit Super Bowl ad? Well now they have released the choir version of the song (sans Eminem) which you can download on iTunes with all publishing proceeds going to a number of Detroit based charities. Check out the full music video below:



- 80’s children take note, M.A.S.K.: The Complete Series is hitting shelves this Tuesday. The 12-DVD box set will include all 65 episodes as well as a retrospective featuring writers on the shoe and other bonus content.

- A wise man once said there were fifty-seven channels and nothing’s on. Well now a days you can put two zeros at the end of that and it will still be the same. Cabletvproviders.net recently counted down the ten most useless channels on your cable box.

- In casting news, Lucy Liu has joined the cast of TNT’s Southland as a special guest star as a member of the LAPD. Look out for the new season to start in January.

- As seen below, Modern Family’s Sofia Vergara will grace the cover of the September issue of Redbook where she talks about being a young mother and her hit show.


- Mark your calendars, Wipeout will be premiering on TruTV September 2 at 8:00.

I Want My Music Television - 8/4/11

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.

Our Deal – Best Coast

Get More: MTV Supervideo, Music, Best Coast

MTV has released its latest so called Supervideo for the low-fi girl group Best Coast and it is the first that actually has somewhat of a sensical narrative: West Side Story by way of Grease starring Hit Girl, Maeby Fünke, Troy the Wonderboy and the girl from School of Rock with an ending so lame you wonder how the writers of Lost did not come up with it first.


The Death of You and Me - Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds


Noel Gallagher recently poked fun of his former band (now calling themselves Beady Eye) for the poor showing on the chart, but if this song is the best a solo Noel has to offer, he may want to put down the stones before breaking his glass house.


The Book of Morris Johnson - Zee Avi


Zee Avi is signed to Jack Johnson’s record label and you can tell because she definitely has that mellow vibe (despite the dancing in the video), even uses the mellow instrument of choice of the day, the ukulele, and who knows, maybe she will even pop up on the next season of The Mellow Show.


Lost in My Mind - The Head And the Heart


If you are like me and are going through withdrawals waiting for new music from The Avett Brothers and Mumford & Sons (both that may have new music out by the end of the year at the earliest) may I suggest to you The Head and the Heart that run in that same passionate folk / Americana of the previously mentioned bands.

The 10 Most Anticipated Movies of 2011-12

It has been a while since I counted down what upcoming movies I am looking forward to so here are my most anticipated films that will hit theaters sometime before the world ends (You don’t think Roland Emmerich would lie to us, do you?). Click the movie names to be taken to their trailers.


10. The Muppets (November 23, 2011) – There has been a run of movies that want to bastardize why childhood, CGI Smurf and Transformers, live action Scooby-Doo, it is only a matter of time before Jerry Bruckeimer ruins He-Man too, but at least Jason Segal had the common courtesy of not messing with TheMuppets formula and keeping them as puppets and corny, just like I like them.

9. Tower Heist (November 4, 2011) – This is purely wishful thinking because Eddie Murphy has not been in a funny movie since I was in grade school and not allowed to actually see his movies, and Ben Stiller recently has only been funny when he writes and directs his movies, but I did laugh more times at the trailer than I did in the last ten live action movies Murphy has been in. And it is hard not to think 48 Hours when Murphy shows up in jail.

8. The Help (August 10, 2011) – I do not know about her hair in the movie, but Emma Stone is the best comedic actress of her generation and it looks like she will be able to stretch her drama chops in this film too which will give us a sense of how she might fair in the upcoming Spiderman flick (where she takes Gwen Stacy over from Bryce Dallas Howard who is also in The Help).

7. 30 Minutes of Less (August 12, 2011): Danny McBride, Aziz Ansari, the director of Zombieland and the dude from Zombieland? Yes please.

6. 50/50 (September 31, 2011) – If there is one thing we learned from Funny People, also starring Seth Rogan, cancer can make you laugh. It also helps that the movie co-stars the highly likeable Anna Kendrick.

5. The Ides of March (October 14, 2011)

4. Drive (September 16, 2011)



I have a kingship to Ryan Gosling every since I constantly being told I looked like the dude from The Notebook. Apparently nobody knew his name probably becaude besides The Notebook, Gosling has been in some heavy and weird films like the drug addled teacher in Half Nelson and the doll lover from Lars and the Real Girl. Now he is making some assessable movies like the recent Crazy Stupid Love and the upcoming political thriller with George Clooney and action flick with Carey Mulligan.

3. Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter (June 22, 2012) – No trailer for this yet, but this is one of those movies, much like Snakes on a Plane, that you can tell will be awesome by title alone. And the movie gets bonus points for featuring Ramona Flowers herself as Mary Todd.

2. The Avengers (May 4, 2012): I am more of a DC guy, but I am interested how they are going to fit all these Superheroes, most that have their own standalone films, into one movie. Hopefully it will lead to a Justice League movie.

1. The Dark Knight Rises (July 20, 2012) – Seriously, does this really need an explanation?

Ephram, I am Going to Miss You and Your Sullen Ways

It only took five years, but starting today you can down own every season of Everwood (which came in at number 30 on my list of The 100 Greatest Television Shows of the 00’s) with the Complete Fourth Season out now, own it on DVD now. The groundbreaking family drama was one of the casualties when UPN and The WB merged to form The CW and not only can you now watch every episode ever aired whenever you want on DVD, for the first you can take a look at what might have been as Everwood: The Complete Fourth Season also includes an alternative ending of the show which would have aired if the last episode would have been the fourth season finale, not the series finale which includes a hundred percent more Madison (you will have to pick up the set to how and why she reappeared) and tweaked Hannah’s last scene which put her college plans up in question. Including the alternative ending, the DVD set features about an hour of deleted scenes.

The four season of Everwood saw both the Brown boys pine over not so attainable girls; Andy professed his love for Nina only for her to choose Scott Wolf while Ephram did the same to Amy only for her to chose no one over him. The youngest Brown, Delia spent the season turning into a mean girl. But not all love was lost, Hannah and Bright found love at the end of last season which went strong for most of the final season. It was the same for Edna and Irv who got back together at the end of season four and stayed strong to the end even with Irv on a book tour. Dr. and Rose Abbott continued to be a rock on the show while Rose beat cancer and decided to adopt.

The final season also saw a couple recognizable faces pass through the small Colorado town including Justin Kirk (Weeds), Keith David (Barbershop), Leslie Hope (24), Nia Long (Friday), Simon Rex (MTV VJ), Margo Harshman (Even Stevens), Charles Dunning (Tommy’s dad on Rescue Me), and Kelly Carlson (who returned an episode after Scott Wolf decried how Nip/Tuck was an insult to plastic surgeons). And it is known that Everwood launched the career Emily Van Camp (the upcoming Revenge), Chris Pratt (Parks and Recreations), Gregory Smith (Rookie Blue), and Sarah Drew (Grey’s Anatomy), the final season of Everwood also featured early acting credits from Brooke Nevin (Breakout Kings), Victoria Justice (Victorious), Christopher Egan (Kings), and Steven R McQueen (Piranha 3D) had a recurring role as Ephram’s moody piano prodigy he helped try to get into Julliard. And yes, he got his name from his grandfather.

If you already own the first three season of Everwood on DVD, the fourth season is a must, and even if you do not own the rest, fans of the show may want to pick up this set just to see what might have been with the alternate season ending. While for those that missed the show the first time around, it is worth starting from the beginning because it is one of the best small town family dramas ever to hit the small screen (it was in the discussion for best ever until the Taylor family moved to Dillon Texas, putting that category out of reach of any other small town family dramas). Check out a synopsis of the DVD set below:

The final season of the series set in a welcoming town in the Rockies is all about finding oneself… and finding each other. Here, in the 5-Disc, 22-Episode Season Four, the unforgettable people of Everwood test the ties that bind them together in joy and tears, friendship and love. Drawn by his feelings for Amy, Ephram returns home and mentors a troubled piano prodigy. When Nina chooses Jake over him, Andy struggles to remain friends with the woman he loves. Bright and Hannah make their unlikely romance work. The Abbotts open their arms to a new child. Intriguing characters arrive and beloved characters depart. Say goodbye to the place and the people that won your heart - and discover how everything turned out!

Full Disclosure Notice: This DVD was given to me on behalf of Warner Bros. for the purpose of reviewing the season.

Kenny Wasn’t Like the Other Kids, TV Mattered, Nothing Else Did

I am not one of those people the bemoan that MTV does not play music videos because I bet most of the people who do complain would not bother to sit through an hour of Lady GaGa and Katy Perry videos in hopes they may play the latest from Mumford & Sons when you can just go on the internet and see it on demand. But watching the channel’s retrospective on VH1 Classic all weekend (apparently the actual channel is too busy with a Jersey Shore marathon to get nostalgic) I realized just how horrible the channel’s line up these days compared to the classic days when even non music video shows did not suck.

If I am not mistaken, Remote Control, this month’s induction into the Scooter Hall of Fame, was the first show on MTV that did not resolve around music videos except for the lightning round where characters who have a wall of televisions in front of them and had to name the music videos that were playing on the ten screens. As the name suggested, Remote Control had a much more focus on television than music with many categories devoted to classic television shows like Leave it to Beaver and The Brady Bunch (Jerry Mathers even made an appearance while Barry Williams, Eve Plumb, and Susan Olsen actually played).

The game was simple, three contestants would come to the basement of Ken Ober, sit in easy chairs and buzz in for point with bizarre characters (my favorite being Dead or Alive, where contestants would have to guess, well, you know). In between commercials there would be a snack break, which was delivered from above the contestants. And when a contestant was eliminated, they were yanked “off the air” through a brick wall where they were tormented for all damnation.

Remote Control was surprisingly a launching pad for many of the cast. Ken Ober, rest his soul, would go on to star into the original Parenthood television show before returning to MTV in a trio of Blues Traveler videos. Co-host Colin Quinn would parlay the gig into a cast member on Saturday Night Live. While token hot click Kari Wurhrer would go on to be a staple during the Skinamax block of movies throughout the nineties. Ever her replacement Alicia Coppola would go on to have many recurring roles on shows like American Dreams, Jericho and most recently popped up on The Nine Lives of Chloe King.

But the most surprising breakout stars of the show included Adam Sander, who beat Quinn to Saturday Night Live by a half a decade before going on to become the biggest comedic actor for a decade and a half. Also performing skits on the show was another comic who would eventually make it huge, Denis Leary, including some famous commercials he would go on to film for the network.

Watching classic bits during the MTV of Remote Control like celebrity edition where LL Cool J goes head to head with (not Downtown) Julie Brown and "Weird Al" Yankovic and another featuring the Red Hot Chili Peppers (where Anthony and Flea played as a Two Headed Monster)makes me wish that MTV would add Remote Control to the list of shows the channel is rebooting along with Beavis and Butt-Head and 120 Minutes. If only for selfish reasons because I would be the Ken Jennings of the show.

Feed Your iPod vol. LXII: Stomp (Remix)

The late nineties was a weird time for music. The two biggest musical movements from earlier in the decade grange and gangsta rap seemed to die with Kurt Cobain, Tupac and Biggie while teen pop did not start its domination until the last year. So there was a short period where weird songs from Cake and Harvey Danger crept into the public consciousness. Maybe the most surprising song to get played on MTV at the time was a straight ahead gospel song by Kirk Franklin. This was not a pop artist touching on religious themes like Kanye West and Jesus Walks or a Christian artist like Amy Grant crossing over by making secular music. Kirk Franklin was a gospel artist making a gospel song that was getting legitimate airplay at the time. Religious themes aside, Stomp was just a fun song which worked in the church and dance club and even featured a guest appearance from Salt of and Pepa fame, a group that had some very non churchly type songs. Which may have made the song that much more fun to listen to even today.