Wednesday, February 01, 2012

Your Purple Prose Just Give You Away


Schubert Dip - EMF

A couple months ago VH1 unveiled their list of the 40 Greatest One Hit Wonders of the 90’s and I kept getting more and more agitated watching it with every passing entry because 90% of the list did not deserve being on the list because they were too obscure, sucked massively, and most egregious were those song that should not even be considered one hit wonders. Seriously, if I were ever to create a list of the 100 Greatest One Hit Wonders of the 90’s (Spoiler Alert: hypothetically if I were to do so, I would post my list next Monday) I would venture to say only 15 of their 40 would make my top 100. 15 would actually be the same about that I would argue are not even legitimate one hit wonders that VH1 had on their list.

One of the additions to VH1’s list that made me the angriest was the inclusion of EMF who released quite possibly the greatest rock dance album ever in the history of recorded time with Schubert Dip, this month’s induction into the Scooter Hall of Fame. It is a shame that VH1 completely forget about Lies which was a legitimate hit or smaller hits like I Believe and Children. Sure, if there was such a thing, EMF could be considered One Album Wonders with Schubert Dip, but One Hit Wonders they are not.

Sure Unbelievable is clearly EMF’s biggest hit and deservedly so as it is one of the best songs from the decade period. It demanded your attention from the first “Oooh” and heavy use of cowbell and managed to either be the first rock song to get massive play in the clubs or the first dance song that truly rocked. The song also famously helped Andrew Dice Clay get back on MTV after getting banned a couple years earlier by sampling the raunchy comedian heavily in the song.

But with Schubert Dip, EMF showed they were no one trick pony. Children rocked with the same intensity as Unbelievable exchanging Andrew Dice Claw with police sirens. In fact other tracks like Long Summer Days, When You’re Mine, and I Believe could still keep house parties moving today and may bery well have paved way for the rock tinged techno music of the late nineties with acts like The Prodigy and The Chemical Brothers. Lies showed the band could switch gears into the more serious but still made the song danceable to that part of the fan base. It would be hard-pressed to find anyone who has listened to Schubert Dip all the way through that would call EMF a one hit wonder. Just do not ask me why a sample of Bert and Ernie opened up Girl of an Age.



Tuesday, January 31, 2012

I Want My Music Television - 1/31/12


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.

Underneath the Sycamore - Death Cab for Cutie



I was just thinking at the start of the new Underneath the Sycamore video that it looked like the animation from their Grapevine Fires video with a noir feel to it and then the dude goes in and watches that very video. I guess I was right.


When I Was Young – Nada Surf



At the start of the new Nada Surf video, I actually thought it was going to be adults being poytrayed by their kid self, but it just turned out to be two kids in school uniforms. Oh well. Still a good song though.


The Bad in Each Other – Feist



Well that is a depressing way to start a music video. Thanks for ruining my day Feist.


Don't Kiss Me - Carl Thomas



I have long bemoaned what passes as RnB these days but it is nice to see artists like Carl Thomas are still honoring the smooth side of the genre. Sure he blatantly stole Raphael Saadiq’s glasses and do not ask me why he brought Snoop Dogg along.

Monday, January 30, 2012

You're Not the Person You Were, You Are so Much More


Chuck and Sarah on the beach

Knowing this was their last season, you have to wonder if the writers of Chuck were trying to cram two to three seasons’ worth of storyline into their final season. We started off with the evil CIA dude but he was randomly killed off by the chick from The Matrix. He was replaced by the chick from X-Men, but only one episode who revealed the big conspiracy was to release Superman from prison. Except he only lasted an episode but introduced us to Sarah’s former handler who also only lasted one episode. All this lead up to a final show down with… a Horatio Sanz lookalike? Seriously?

Sarah punching Chuck


Despite a shaky lead up this season (and lets be honest, they show has been rocky for the last three seasons), it put together a pretty entertaining series finale even if I could care less about Horatio Sanz. The final two hours featured countless throwbacks from Chuck and Sarah’s first date (unfortunately they did not recreate that dance sequence, one of the greatest scenes ever in the history of television), Wienerlicious (why they ever dumped that costume is beyond me, Orange Orange was lame), Fernando getting his first lines as part of the Pervert Squad, Sarah breaking into the Intercect room was almost a shot for shot recreation of Bryce Larson breaking out of the Intercect from the series premiere (yes, I went back and rewatched the Pilot this weekend), Subway, the porn virus (of course Sarah remembered that, that plot devise was beyond obvious I knew it was the solution as soon as they uncovered the bomb), naturally the beach scene, and of course one word: Jeffster. The series finale was so well crafted for fans of the show it’s amazing how so many series screw up their finales. The only way the Chuck series finale could have been any better is if they had one final showdown with a Big Bad anyone actually cared about (it makes you wonder if they were banking on either getting the evil CIA dude or Superman for more episodes but had to scramble when they could not).

Yvonne Strahovski back in the Wienerlicious uniform


At its best Chuck mixed action, comedy and nerd culture better than anyone else. It all culminated with the finale two episodes of season two where the Bartowski clan reunited for Ellie’s wedding complete with an epic showdown with Pierce Hawthorne against Sarah, Chuck, Bryce Larson and a parachuting in Casey. And who would have guessed it would have Sam Kinison and a lesbian Indian that would save the day with a gem from the eighties?

Yvonne Strahovski back in blue


Oh Jeffster, how have you rocked us, and now you are off to rock Germany much like David Hassellhoff before you. Aside from the epic performance of Mr. Roboto, you gave us thrilling renditions of Africa, Blaze of Glory, encouraged Ellie to Push It during her pregnancy, slowed it down for Leaving On a Jet Plane and Is This Love, and ended out the series with one last performance of Take On Me. It is a shame as the series progressed, the less they used the Buymorons especially seeing what could have been happening all along had they let Jeffster in on the spying earlier than the last two weeks because the duo coming to the rescue twice were comic gold with Jeff’s flame throwing and Lester’s high notes.

Yvonne Strahovski back in black


But Chuck would be nothing without his two handlers. Adam Baldwin can do more acting with grunts than most actors have in their entire repertoire. Then there was Sarah, the single hottest token hot chick ever in the history of television (with apologies to Daisy Dukes who held the title for two decades). Sarah even took the Token Hot Chick to a whole new level and would ruthlessly kick your behind if you looked at hers the wrong way. Oh, and that Weinerlicious uniform and the editors insistence of gratuitous use of slow motion. And for a guy who was a nerd that dropped out of college, living with his sister, working a dead end job, Chuck amassed the single greatest list of girlfriends ever in the history recorded film. Seriously, name a character that had a greater foursome than Rachel Bilson, Jordana Brewster, Kristin Kreuk, and Yvonne Strahovski.

Even at its worse (where it was the last couple season or whenever Morgan was on screen) Chuck still remained at the very least entertaining and always knew the right pop culture reference to put into the dialogue. And if all else failed, they could still be able to get the Token Hot Chick into the most tasteful small clothing they could find. You will be missed. Except for Morgan, they should had left him in Hawaii after the first season.

Chuck 5.x gets a Terror Alert Level: Elevated [YELLOW] on my Terror Alert Scale.

Chuck: The Complete Series gets a Terror Alert Level: High [ORANGE] on my Terror Alert Scale.


Sunday, January 29, 2012

57 Channels and Only This Is On - 1/29/12


Once Upon a Time: Seriously, Stealthy? I guess it should not have been a surprised that he did not make it to the end of the episode. But that was not even the most absurd plot point of the episode as the super secret item the motorcycle dude was carrying around: a typewriter. At least they did not drag that out for a couple seasons for an anticlimactic reveal like Lost would have done. I wonder if Vegas will let me put money on mysterious dude being the guy who wrote Henry’s fairytale book?
You can stream current episodes on Hulu. You can also download Once Upon a Time.

Shameless: I expect Frank to do some pretty despicable things, but I never thought he would turn down the heart transplant. And we all wish of going out while having sex, but I never thought of it though the eyes of whoever is on the other end of things, so to speak.

House of Lies: The problem with this show is right there in the opening sequence every week, right where Don Cheadle tells the camera, “You still don’t know what I do?” Um no, and that is not a good thing for the audience even if it is good for business, three episodes in and I still am not sure what it is all about. All I now with every passing episode, the less and less I want to vote for Mitt Romney.

Pan Am: When Pan Am started I was hoping the Token Hot Chick from the show would fill the hole that was about to be left by the Token Hot Chick from Chuck (both from Australia, note to self: talk to a travel agent) in its last but alas, she did not even last longer. Le sigh.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Pan Am on iTunes.

Pretty Little Liars:I cannot believe they did yet another epic scene of Aria and Ezra reunited, it is definitely not only natural. I was hopping her mom would catch them so she finally would realize it is time to turn the guy over to the police.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.

The Lying Game: What? So let me get this straight: Cordelia Chase shows up as Annie, the twins’ mother, except Char’s aunt and their mother is no longer the same person. But now other Annie is no longer the twins’ mother and Cordelia is? This helps my theory that Ted is the twins’ father and it was a result of a one night stand with. Though if Annie Rebecca is the mom, how did Ted and Alex convince her to give up her kids and not tell anyone?
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download The Lying Game on iTunes.

Castle: I cannot believe it took so long to realize the boyfriend / freeloader was the murderer, I figured that out because the title screen.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Castle on iTunes.

Justified: I assume legally they are not allowed to use the name Karen Sisco (Elmore Leonard’s other famous federal marshal) but I like how they not so subtly got around it by having her married and divorced within a month. But who knew Art was so ruthless (great scene even if there were no phonebooks around). And note to self: do not get on Bubba Blue’s bad side. But it should be interesting when all the pieces they put on the board these past two weeks start to come together.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Justified on iTunes.

The Big Bang Theory: So apparently last week was not some elebroate dream sequence and Leonard and Penny are back together, but it may be even shorter this time around. But how disappointing was it yesterday when I searched for “Sheldon Cooper Fun with Flags” and there were not any videos of it on the internet. Massive fail on the CBS and / or Warner Brothers marketing department for not uploading any. (Note to self: next time you try searching for the video, make sure you do not forget the “L” again.)
You can stream recent episodes over at cbs.com. You can also download The Big Bang Theory on iTunes.

Chuck: Check back Monday for my thoughts on the series finale.
You can stream current episodes on Hulu. You can also download Chuck on iTunes.

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Best of the Week - 1/28/12


Quote of the Week: The weird thing about this is that I am scrapping honey off of no-no special places of my partner that I haven’t spoken to in over a year… and, oh yeah, she hates me. (Dumbar, The Challenge: Battle of the Exes)

Song of the Week: Take On Me - a-ha (as performed by Jeffster backed by an orchestra, Chuck)

Gratuitous Token Hot Chick Picture of the Week:

Yvonne Strahovski getting out of bed


Scene of the Week:



Big News of the Week: Newt Back From the Dead… Again: Going into South Carolina it looked like Mitt Romney was going to win the first three primaries for the first time in modern history for a non incumbent. Then Iowa finally got around to counting their ballots and realize Rick Santorum actually won their state and then the Evangelicals of SC realized they would rather vote for thrice married Catholic than a Mormon. But if there is a silver lining for Romney is Republicans are starting to remember why they hated Newt in the first place so he may just wrap up the nomination by Super Tuesday anyway.

Free Download of the Week: Gimme a Kiss - Madi Diaz (RollingStone.com): If that is not enough free music from Madi Diaz, you can also grab her Let’s Go for the low, low price of free.

New Album Release of the Week: Born to Die - Lana Del Rey

New DVD Release of the Week: Drive

Video of the Week: The premiere of The Voice is just one week away and last year’s breakout singer Dia Frampton recently went out on tour with her coach Blake Shelton and has been doing some side gigs along the road like recently in Nashville where she streamed her entire set on Livestream. Check it out in its entirety below:

Watch live streaming video from exitin at livestream.com


Next Week Pick of the Week: The Challenge: Battle of the Exes, Wednesday at 10:00 on MTV: Where Survivor pulls out tricks no one wants to see like Redemption Island and Immunity Idols, last season The Challenge cam up with its best idea ever: pair up people who hate each other for Rivals. I did not think it could get much better than that until they announced their new season: Battle of The Exes forcing past hook ups to team up with each other. Brilliant. It always seems like I miss the first couple episodes of The Challenge because it is the only thing I still watch on MTV (until the triumphant return of Beavis and Butt-Head), but there was no way I was missing the new season and it totally lived up to expectation. I do not know why Survivor does not throw money at the people who create challenges for The Challenge but they should because the Honey challenge was more creative than any challenge on South Pacific.

Friday, January 27, 2012

Around the Tubes - 1/27/12


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 Luck, Thirteen’s Great Performances, Key and Peele, Inside the NSA, Dating Rules From My Future Self, Chuck, The X-Games, Clevver Media, Dance Moms, Rehab with Dr. Drew, Ben Crane, Tanya T6, and World Poker Tour Season X.

- HBO’s much buzzed about new show Luck from Michael Mann and David Milch finally premieres this Sunday at 9:00. The show is a behind the scenes look at the world of horse racing and those that bet on it starring Oscar winners Dustin Hoffman and nominee Nick Nolte. Here is a trailer for what you can expect in the first season.



- Tonight at 9:00 PBS will be airing Thirteen’s Great Performances (check your local listings) featuring a behind the scenes look at the recording of Tony Bennett: Duet II with Lady Gaga, Amy Winehouse and Queen Latifah.

- Comedy Central’s latest sketch comedy show Key and Peele premieres this Tuesday at 10:30 after an all new episode of Tosh 2.0. Here is a sneak peak:



- For the first time since 9/11, the National Security Agency are opening their doors to documentary camera crews on Monday for Inside the NSA premiering at 9:00 on the National Geographic Channel. Aside from the inner working of the secret federal agency, the program will all show how the NSA provided critical information in the takedown of Osama bin Ladin.

- Today the season finale of Dating Rules From My Future Self hits the interwebs and you can watch all episodes over on YouTube.

- An end of an era tonight with the series finale of Chuck. Here is one last interview with the Token Hot Chick.

Yvonne on the Finale


- This year’s X-Games are fast approaching and A Bullseye View has interviews with legends Shaun White and Torin Yater-Wallace as they prepare.

- Clevver Media recently launched its seventh YouTube channel, ClevverNews which looks to attract more talent than ever, offering red carpet events, on-set behind-the-scene footage and in-person interviews. You can already find footage from the Man on the Ledge premiere.

- Enjoy Dance Moms on Lifetime? Now there is an app for that on their Facebook page.

- Even with the looseness of the term “Celebrity” apparently Dr. Drew cannot round up enough has beens and never weres because now he is recruiting regular folks for Rehab with Dr. Drew. Have an addiction, apply here: rehabcasting.com (please note Scooter McGavin nor anyone at the 9th Green encourages anyone to start taking cocaine or any other narcotics in hopes of being cast).

- PGA Golfer Ben Crane used to be a gymnast and now he is getting back to first love in the video below. As an added bonus, Farmers will donate $1000 for every 100,000 up to $5000 to charity so get to watching because it has not made any money yet.

Ben Crane – The love Lost


- Tanya T6 was so happy that her team the New York Giants made it to the Super Bowl she recorded NY (Hands Up) to celebrate and you can download it for the low, low price of free.

- Fox Sports Net is getting into the poker game with World Poker Tour Season X premiering February 12 at 8:00 and 11:00 and will air every Sunday and Wednesdays.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

I Want My Music Television - 1/26/12


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.


Look Around – Red Hot Chili Peppers



The best music videos are the ones that look simple enough but you watch them again and again because you are not entirely sure how it happened. That is exactly how I felt about the four rooms of the new Red Hot Chili Peppers video. I am also under the assumption that the rooms represent the band mate’s personalities which begs the question why is Chad Smith performing in a bathroom?


Comeback Kid – Sleigh Bells



Not as confusing but just as visually stimulating is the new Sleigh Bells who makes visual explosions for your eyes that rival the musical explosions that give your ears.


Mustache Man (Wasted) - Cake



Then there is Cake who always gives you an entertaining three minutes excursion from your day with every new music video, now with even more facial hair to look at.


Synthesizers – Butch Walker and The Black Widows



Matthew McConaughey may be two decades older, but at least high school girls have stayed the same age. I am not sure the world needed Dazed & Confused sequel (though I can hear movie executives plan a reboot right now) Butch Walker has given us one.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

When the Weather Breaks We Can Sail the Great Lakes


Voyageur - Kathleen Edwards

Over the past decade, Kathleen Edwards has built herself up as one the best female alt-country artist with breezy driving songs and a quick wit. Her fourth full length album Voyageur is a bit more somber affair as Edwards has described it as her “Divorce Album”. But do not expect any angry Since U Been Gone type break up songs as the tracks that make up the album or more introspective on the end of her marriage.

With the subject matter mixed with the melancholy music that accompanies it, it is unclear if she is her usual sardonic self like when she claims she is moving to America (she’s Canadian, do not hold that against her) on the opening track but even the title of the song lets you know it is an Empty Threat. Same goes for Chameleon/Comedian. But for the most part, with titles like A Soft Place to Land and House Full of Empty Rooms, Edwards sound more remorseful than the person who last album said that asking for flowers was like asking for a fight.

Sonically Voyager is her most adventurous album yet which may have something to do with Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon producing the album. First single Change the Sheet buzzes with an opening spacey guitar riff making it her most anthemic song to date and begs to be heard under the stars this summer. While Going to Hell is a slow burning sonic boom where you can really hear Justin Vernon’s more ethereal production. Hopefully the Edwards and Vernon collaboration can produce music this good for years to come.

Song to Download – Change the Sheets

Voyageur gets a Terror Alert Level: High [ORANGE] on my Terror Alert Scale.



Tuesday, January 24, 2012

2012 Winter Music Preview


Take Adele out of the equation and the year in music for 2011 was pretty dire. But I have some good news and bad news for what very well may be the last year for CDs ever (and I am not just talking about the Mayans being right, it looks like record labels will be phasing out the format except to pricy special editions). The good news is there looks to be a lot of great music from top names being released this year. The bad news is you will probably have to wait until after Easter to hear most of it. Of course keep in mind Adele’s 21 was released one year ago last week (and Barton Hollow by The Civil Wars was released a year ago next week), so maybe there is a hidden gen that will take the world by storm this winter. Click on the album title to preorder on Amazon or the artist name to be taken to iTunes.


Today
The Stars Are Indifferent to Astronomy – Nada Surf
The Lion's RoarFirst Aid Kit
Soul 2Seal
Clear Heart Full Eyes - Craig Finn
Plastic MoonMadi Diaz

January 31
Born to DieLana Del Rey
Making MirrorsGotye
Tomahawk TechniqueSean Paul
Beyond Magnetic EPMetallica
Human AgainIngrid Michaelson

February 7
Kisses on the Bottom – Paul McCartney
Scars & StoriesThe Fray
Popcycles and Politics – V.V. Brown
A Different Kind of TruthVan Halen
Tramp - Sharon Van Etten
Stories to Tell - Richard Marx
Be The VoidDr. Dog

February 14
As The Crow FliesAmos Lee
Sweet SourBand of Skulls

February 21
Reign of TerrorSleigh Bells
Some NightsFun.

February 28
RosesThe Cranberries
Songs from Nowheresville – The Ting Tings
All of MeEstelle
BreakfastChiddy Bang
WZRD – Kid Cudi and Dot da Genius

March 6
Wrecking Ball – Bruce Springsteen
Break It YourselfAndrew Bird

March 13
Strange Clouds – B.o.B

March 20
Port of Morrow – The Shins
The Hunger Games Soundtrack

March 27
Kids in the Streets – The All-American Rejects
Undisputed – DMX

April 10
Black Panties – R. Kelly
A Wasteland CompanionM. Ward


TBD
Songs of Ascent – U2
Born and Raised – John Mayer
West Coast Time – Michelle Branch
What We Saw from the Cheap Seats – Regina Spektor
Battle Born - The Killers
TuskegeeLionel Richie
Most of Our Heroes Don’t Appear on a Stamp / The Evil Empire of Everything – Public Enemy
Drive By – Train
Master of Make Believe - Santigold
Man on the Moon III – Kid Cudi
Picture Show – Neon Trees
Love Is a Four Letter Word – Jason Mraz
Rise of the Phoenix – Tenacious D
E.L.E. (Extinction Level Event) 2: End of the World - Busta Rhymes
G.O.O.D. Music: The Album
Mumford & Sons
The Avett Brothers
Pearl Jam
Cat Power
Fleetwood Mac
Garbage
Mazzy Star
Janelle MonĂ¡e
Rancid
Soundgarden
Sara Bareilles / Ben Folds
Frank Ocean
Phoenix
The xx
The Offspring
Wu-Tang Clan
Gary Clark Jr.
Christina Aguilera
Matchbox Twenty

And do not forget the obligatory this may be the quarter we actually get to hear Dr. Dre’s Detox. Of course if I missed anything, that is what the comment section is for.

Monday, January 23, 2012

We Use to Drive the Canyons, Get Lost for Fun


Little Spark - Jessie Baylin

When the entertainment business finds a hit, there is nothing they like better than to copy it off like they work at Kinko’s. Seriously, even years later television has been trying to recreate Lost and Friends to little avail. I bring this up because I recently read an article calling Lana Del Rey the first artist of the post-Adele era, someone who tried to gain fame solely by trying to steal Adele’s style. And much like other first retreads like Invasion and Coupling, Del Rey crashed and burned after a disastrous Saturday Night Live performance last weekend.

Of course it is much better when an entire scene is in place before one them break big like the Seattle era when Nirvana bust through the door, bands like Pearl Jam and Soundgarden were ready and waiting for their breaks and it were the post-grunge bands like Bush that came along later and sucked massively. So instead of looking for the next Adele that who tries to squeeze herself into Adele’s persona, it would be better to an artist already out there that already has Adele’s esthetic for The Next Adele.

One candidate could be Jessie Baylin who may not have the same booming voice but travels in the same jazzy-folk music (just forget the cover art which maker Baylin look more like a Joan Jett clone than an Adele sound alike). Both manage to make retro music fresh for the new millennium but where Adele has a voice that goes down with the Aretha (and other one name divas throughout history) Jessie has a softer, smokier voice along the line of Dusty Springfield. With the throwback feel, Jessie Baylin’s third album Little Spark sound like a one woman Brill Building creation with a little Wall of Sound thrown in for good measure.

Little Spark starts off with the lovely Hurry Hurry which swells with the hopeless romantic of new love. While Love Is Wasted on Lovers shows the flip side of the coin with Baylin cooing along with the best track. Then later in the album, Dancer may actual put a little pep in your step. If you are looking for something organic for the Next Adele, Jessie Baylin may be better than anything that is packaged as such.

Song to Download – Love Is Wasted On Lovers

Little Spark gets a Terror Alert Level: High [ORANGE] on my Terror Alert Scale.



Sunday, January 22, 2012

57 Channels and Only This Is On - 1/22/12


Once Upon a Time: One thin g this show has going for it that Lost did not is that it can bring in interesting characters for flash back episodes so we will not be stuck with a an episode dedicated to Jack’s tattoos or Locke at a commune that no one was looking forward to.
You can stream current episodes on Hulu. You can also download Once Upon a Time.

Leverage: It is off that everyone made a huge deal out of Nate not actually killing anyone but did not seem to mind that he put two guys in a position where they were guaranteed to kill each other. But it is always entertaining when they bring in Chaos to jaw with Hardison and I loved how they did the cartoon skeleton when Parker’s dad shocked him.
You can stream recent episodes on TNT.tv. You can also download Leverage on iTunes.

Shameless: It is weird how seamless the new Mandy is. I guess after half a season of Suburgatory I cannot even picture Tessa as anything else but an Emma Stone clone, let alone a goth chick that she was on Shameless last season. And I knew I should have taken the under on how many episode it would take Karen to have sex despite being in sex anonymous.

House of Lies: Slightly more entertaining than the previous episode thanks to the one dude trying to pick up the chick at the airport, but a lot of the flaws from the pilot remained. And are we really going to see Don Cheadle have angry sex with his ex-wife at the start of every episode?

Pretty Little Liars: So Lucas was not at the greenhouse, he was really shifty last episode because he gambled away Caleb’s money. What? Is this was the next couple episodes are going to be: the Liars think someone is an A helper only for it to be a red herring? Ugg, this may be a long season.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.

The Lying Game: I was shocked when Sutton showed up last episode (I would have guessed by the end of the season) and even more surprised when she took over her life. So if I am playing this right, Sutton now has to play Emma playing Sutton for the person who is blackmailing her / them. But the big question for the episode is where does Emma go from here?
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download The Lying Game on iTunes.

Castle: A mayor is connected to a death of a young woman in his campaign car… where have I heard this one before? At least we found out who killed her. Oh, wait, never mind.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Castle on iTunes.

Switched at Birth: If you are going to have a show with subtitles, how about not put up banners that covers the subtitles? Should that not be a no brainer?
You can stream the show on Hulu. You can also download Switched At Birth on iTunes.

Justified: With Raylan battling hillbilly families, the Bennetts and Crowders, the first two seasons, it is going to be weird seeing him go up against a big city slicker as a main antagonist. It may be more interesting watching Boyd this season. I did not realize why he would attack a federal marshal in his office space (best line: You wouldn’t like Mexico… it’s full of Mexicans) until that last scene with Dickie and Dewey. I would not mind a season of the three blind mice in prison.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Justified on iTunes.

Parenthood: It is about time something went Haddie’s way, she always seems to get the short end of the stick in the family. She even had a great line, something to the effect that she understands but she does not have to be happy about it. But she should not have been too upset, seriously, if you are from Southern California and smart enough to get into an Ivy League school, just go to Stanford instead, because school in the Northeast sucks massively. And I bet she will end up at Berkley by the end of next season anyway.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Parenthood on iTunes.

Suburgatory: Just when you think Dalia could not get any scarier, she actually makes dancing look scary.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Suburgatory on iTunes.

Revenge: So Emily had the lawyer in her back pocket the whole time, did not really see that coming. I am just wondering how she can keep up appearances sleeping a with a guy who is convinced that her father raped his mother? Seriously, when did this show stop becoming a guilty pleasure and become just pleasurable?
You can stream current episodes on Hulu. You can also download Revenge on iTunes.

The Big Bang Theory: What the frack just happened? Did the editor seriously screw things up or was this a dream sequence? I was just lost with the flashback to earlier in the episode.
You can stream recent episodes over at cbs.com. You can also download The Big Bang Theory on iTunes.

Chuck: One of the big drags on the show in recent seasons was they just did not seem to know what to do at the Buy More and its storylines kept shrinking and shrinking. At least they closed out the series with one last great Buy More plot with Jeffster saving the day with Casey’s massive stockpile of weapons of mass destruction.
You can stream current episodes on Hulu. You can also download Chuck on iTunes.