Got Me Feeling Like Brody in Homeland

After their Watch the Throne album, both Kanye West and Jay-Z took unconventional routes to roll out their next solo albums. In lieu of a proper music video, West projected trailers on the side of building across the country guerilla style. Jay-Z on the other hand went the corporate route announcing his album in a four minute commercial during the NBC Finals, and just days before the release of Yeezus, of another religious inspired titled Magna Carta... Holy Grai, sponsored by a Smartphone who would give away a million downloads via an app. And instead of a single or music video, Jay-Z just released the lyrics sheet for multiple tracks which saw Jay bite not one, but two much beloved 1991 alt-rock tracks Smells Like Teen Spirit and Losing My Religion.

The anticipation was immediate because of that ad which featured Jay hanging out with producers Rick Rubin, Pharrell, Timbaland, and Swizz Beats who helmed some of Jay’s best tracks. In a later interview, Rubin admitted he had no involvement in the new album, Jay just brought him in for the documentary. As it turns out pretty much the whole album was produced by Timbaland with his hands on seventy percent of the album while Pharrell and contributed on two songs and Swizz only popped up once. So all that anticipation went out the door before the album dropped unless you had the app and would be getting an A-List album for free or if you wanted to hear just how Jay ruined the Nirvana and R.E.M. songs.

You will not have to wait to hear just how Jay-Z desecrated Smells Like Teen Spirit because it shows up on the title track that opens up the album. And just when you think it could not get worse, the “I am stupid and contagious” chorus is also sung by Justin Timberlake. Even had I had the free app, I would have deleted this track on principal alone. Heaven featuring lyrics from Losing My Religion is not much better. The track also sounds like it loops two notes from Stairway to Heaven (though not officially sampled) and it is hard not to cringe when Jay starts singing, “That’s me in the corner” off-key. It was cute when he did that to “And I wish I never met her at all” but not on a song like this.

It is apropos that Jay-Z gave away a million copies of the album because Magna Carta… Holy Grail just sounds like a mixtape which is not worth actually paying for. Half the songs sound they were created by Jay asking for song ideas in the studio, and people started shouting out random ideas: like “hey Hov, try Tom Ford… Picasso… Oceans (hey why don’t we get Frank Ocean on that track too?).” And some of the lyrics are just as puzzling like when Jay says he is “feeling like Brody in Homeland.” Huh? Is he being a traitor? Does he have crazy sex with law enforcement agents? Is he a Manchurian Candidate for a smartphone company? Does this mean Jay-Z cannot pleasure himself while in the presence of his naked wife? Did his daughter already drive over some homeless man? And why is he giving such a long shout out to Miley Cyrus? He spent more time on her than she did in Party in the U.S.A. (and then revealed she does not have a favorite song by him and does not even listen to Jay-Z). Then there is the Mommie Dearest sample in Jay-Z Blue: Blades of Glory it is not. Magna Carta… Holy Grail is just weird. But not even interesting, pushing boundaries weird, but what were you thinking weird. So congratulations to everyone who snagged the free app, because this mixtape is not worth actually putting money down for. Now if you excuse me I have a sudden urge to go buy a smartphone. Maybe an Blackberry.

Song to Download – BBC

Magna Carta… Holy Grail gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.

Scooter McGavin's 2013 Summer Jam Playlist

Last week Grantland posted their 2013 Summer Playlist and I really did not think much of as it ranged from pretentious crap to not even semi-ironic crap. My view of a summer jam playlist is something you throw on at your backyard barbecue with songs everyone will enjoy, sing, and groove along to. Realistically, I would just summer jams of the past like Summertime by DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, The Sundays, and Sam Cooke and basically the entire The Beach Boys library with a couple new songs sprinkled in. Here are a few new songs that made it in this year that would add an extra hour to your playlist which you can listen to on Spotify.

Get Lucky [Daft Punk Remix] – Daft Punk featuring Pharrell: The most egregious omission from the Grantland playlist, maybe because it is just too obvious. Not only is it wise to have this in your summer playlist, but go ahead and also add the radio edit and the ten minute remix too. And if you want to mess with your guests, play the Daughter version and wait and see how long it takes people to realize what they are listening too.

Blurred lines – Robin Thicke, Pharrell, and T.I.: It is the summer of Pharrell, just give in. Well, you can skip the 2 Chainz song but as the great philosopher Meat Loaf once said, two out of three ain’t bad.

Royals – Lorde: The only song that also appears on the Grantland, and since I have already sprayed the some hyperbolic superlatives, I may suggest you just go ahead and add her whole EP if you are going with an all 2013 playlist.

Falling – Haim: Ever wonder what Stevie Nicks would sound like if she instead of joined Fleetwood Mac, recruited two sisters and tried to be a nineties RnB girl group? Haim may just be that. It should not work, but it does. Hopefully the group has a full album out by the end of the year. No matter who is at your party, fans of RnB, Rock, Pop; they should all enjoy this song.

Little Numbers – Boy: You will be hard pressed to find a catchier song this summer. Even if they have not heard it before, they will be tapping along in no time.

The War Within – Churchill: I could have gone with this song or Change, but this is newer, more upbeat and a much more fun song.

Diane Young – Vampire Weekend: Any good summer song has a great hook and you cannot help yourself from singing along to the Baby chorus which takes you back to the summer jams of the fifties and sixties.

San Francisco – The Mowgli’s: Sure the songs veer too far in the direction of hippies; “I’m been in love with love” which I guess should be expected from a song called San Francisco but the choir sing-along is infectious.

I'm Alive (Life Sounds Like) - Michael Franti and Spearhead: I all for any song with a whistle solo as a summer song.

Pompeii – Bastille: This may be the weirdest chanting in a song that works since Hooked On a Feeling.

Bleeding Out – The Lone Bellow: For those not yet tired of the passion folk the Mumford & Sons ushered in, you definitely will want to check out this Brooklyn band.

Wagon Wheel – Darius Rucker: Darius Rucker and been making catchy songs that will never make it on pretentious music critics lists for two decades now but sing-along’s are key for summer playlist and everyone will be singing along whenever the chorus hits.

Follow Your Arrow – Kasey Musgraves: I have to roll my eyes when liberal communists try to talk themselves into that horrible Same Love song from Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. A good message does not make a good song. I would much rather listen to the anti-gay Check Yo Self (and before you call me anti-gay, I would totally push my way through a group of women to make out with Shamar Moore). For those that want a pro-gay anthem that is actually good, you should check this song. It also gets bonus points for bea pro-gay country song which should trick the conservative wackjobs at your party into liking it and also gives time to the much more important cultural issue: the ability to roll a joint if you want to

Cruise – Florida Georgia Line: Yes this song is horrible, especially the Nelly version, aand it will probably be very high on my Worst Songs of 2013 list, but the thing is, if you put this song on at your party, everyone will spend the first verse talking about how horrible the song is, but will be signing along, possibly loudly depending on how much alcohol you provided to them, by the time the chorus hits. And if you want a more palatable version of this song, you should check out the Dia Frampton, Kina Grannis more mellow, backporch version.

Come & Get It – Selena Gomez: Yeah, we have hit the guilty pleasure portion of the summer playlist, might as well just stop here.

I Want My Music Television: 7/8/13

There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I thought I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.


I Got You - Jack Johnson


The opening shot looks like a recreation of the In Between Dreams album cover. I wonder if that is a hint at what the upcoming album will sound like because that (along with On and On) were his best albums while the last two Jack Johnson albums have been, though good, a bit of a bore. But the sound of the new song, musically sounds like the last two.


It’s You – Duck Sauce


I do not care if the new Duck Sauce music video is possibly (slightly, probably) racist, it is highly entertaining. And before you go and call me racist for enjoying the video, let me defend myself by saying I have never ever dreamed of participating in a plantation wedding or claimed to use the N-work in a positive manner (unless rapping along to N.W.A. counts).


Her Favorite Song - Mayer Hawthorne


If you ever wondered what a rap video would look like if it were populated by dogs, wonder no more. I just wonder how Mayer Hawthorne came up with this idea before Snoop Dogg.


Tennis Courts – Lorde


Last week I heaped a ton of superlatives on Lorde and I like the follow up single almost as much as Royals, and I have one more possibly hyperbolic superlative for this music video: it is one of the worst music video ever made. Ever. It reminds me of the Andy Kaufman / Mighty Mouse bit but at least he was trying to be funny intentionally. This is just creepy. It was as if someone thought, her just sitting there was the best part of the Royals, how about we make that the whole video or just have her lip-sync the “Yeah”. Um no, horrible idea.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 7/7/13

Falling Skies: C’mon boys, you should not be fighting to the death over a snake. And could they rescue team really be able to tell it was Anne was abducted by Skidders just by footprints? You are really giving up after finding footprints?
You can download Falling Skies on iTunes.

Switched at Birth: Sign Language fights are always really weird to watch and a little hard to follow along reading the translation.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Switched at Birth on iTunes.

Under the Dome: It only took two episodes but there were people finally doing what would have been high on my priorities list if a mystical dome fell down around my hometown: start digging and spray-paint it (granted I would not have done that for graffiti but to look for holes). And now that I know that the dome goes over a lake, I would see if I could swim under it next. But now I have to wonder when is the one dude going to realize his sister is missing? It is not like she could go anywhere. And why is The Lawnmowerman in the credits for the main cast? Is he going to come back to life? Is there as unseen to us twin brother on the other side of the dome? Reanimated corpse? Bodynatcher? Or are we just going to get a lot of flashbacks so the producers wanted him on the permanent payroll like Alison on Pretty Little Liars?
You can stream Under The Dome exclusively on Amazon Instant Video, free for Prime members.

Siberia: If Under the Dome was the most anticipated show of the summer with CBS promoting it for months and had it in development for even longer, Siberia may have been the least anticipated. It seemed like NBC just green lit the show last month from someone no one has heard of, cast nobodies, barely bothered to promote it, and then put it up against the previously mentioned Under the Dome. But I was intrigued by the fake reality show concept (SPOILER ALERT! the show is not real) and the premiere did look like a first episode of Survivor: Siberia (of course this is something Survivor would never do because it would eliminate scantily clad hot people) but still missed the feeling (I am guessing it is the soundtrack). Instead the show came off as a mix between two one and done shows Persons Unknown and The River. Two shows that had intriguing ideas but failed in execution. Hopefully Siberia can break that trend.

I do have two working theories as to how the season (probably series) ends: 1) it is a fake reality show and everyone who “dies” is really just an actor but I doubt any write would have the guts to do this so it is more likely 2) this is part of a ritual killing every one hundred years and the “contestants” were just brought in as a sacrifice (be it known or unknown to the producers). Of course that would kind of make it just a complete rip off of The Cabin in the Woods. But people have ripped off worse ideas.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Siberia on iTunes.

Pretty Little Liars: So Melissa is not on the A-Team and has been protection Spencer this whole time and it was Wilden under the Queen of Hearts mask the whole time? What? This is starting to get too convoluted for a show of this quality. It may be time to just end this whole A stuff by the end of this season and start up a new mystery next season.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.

Best of the Week: 7/6/13

Quote of the Week: And find out what it is about those four pretty girls that attracts so many corpses. (Lieutenant Tanner, Pretty Little Liars)

Song of the Week: Waiting On the World to Change – John Mayer and the Roots (Philly’s 4th of July Jam)

Big News of the Week: MTV and VH1 Actually Played Music Videos for a Full Day: No seriously, this actually happened when you were too busy being outside eating hot dogs and looking at fireworks, the two former music television networks took time out of airing unwatchable reality shows and laughably bad scripted series to celebrate the nation’s birthday with a little music with new music of today (VH1 aired a bunch of indie artist premieres like The Lone Bellow), and summer jam classics like Born In the U.S.A. (natch) and No Diggity (one of the greatest songs ever put to wax). Though in the age of YouTube, it because clear why television music channel would be irrelevant when they played songs like Pumped Up Kicks and noticeably edited out the word “bullet”, or when they edited out the saxophone bong from Diane Young (although I think the scene missing title was a nod to Closer by Nine Inch Nails) and of course the fully clothed version of Blurred Lines is also not nearly as entertaining. Of course by Friday, VH1 went back to being the all WAG’s network while MTV was back to showing YouTube videos of dudes getting hit in the junk with various objects.

"The Pickett Line" Falling Skies Sunday at 10:00 on TNT

Free Download of the Week: Funny Heartbeat - Kisses (Amazon MP3)

Deal of the Week: 100 Albums for $5: This month’s cheap albums include Prince, Beastie Boys, John Mayer, and Simon and Garfunkel.


New Album Release of the Week: Don't Look Down - Skylar Grey

New DVD Release of the Week: Spring Breakers

Video of the Week: Kevin Hart was all ready to explode almost a decade ago, and then he was the star of Soul Plane, one of the worst movies ever made and sank back into obscurity. Ever since he has been digging himself up and is set to explode again with his biggest movie yet playing opposite to Ice Cube (who played the straight man that launched the career of Chris Tucker). And though the buddy cop genre has been way overdone, there are plenty of laughs in the trailer for Ride Along.


Next Week Pick of the Week: The Bridge, Wednesday at 10:00 on FX: FX regained its title as the next network on television launching The Americans and stellar seasons of its older show. Though it is about to enter a year of uncertainty as it splits in to two separate networks. Granted all its best stuff like its dramas as staying on FX Prime while all their not very funny comedies are being shipped off to FXX. Just before the switch, FX has one more show to launch The Bridge. The show follows two detectives investigating a murder who’s body falls on their border. Hopefully it is better than the last Norwegian murder investigation import: The Killing.

Around the Tubes: 7/5/13

I have gotten a plethora of cool press releases have been flooding my inbox recently that you may find interesting. This post will include blurbs on Defiance, Gasland Part II, Knock Knock, It’s Tig Notaro, Heroes of Cosplay, Falling Skies, and Animal Years.

- The season finale of Defiance airs Monday at 9:00 on Syfy and you can check out a sneak peak below:


- Debuting Monday at 9:00 on HBO, Gasland Part II shows how the stakes have been raised on all sides in one of the most important environmental issues facing the nation today. The film argues that the gas industry’s portrayal of natural gas as a clean and safe alternative to oil is a myth, and that fracked wells inevitably leak over time, contaminating water and air, hurting families, and endangering the earth’s climate with the potent greenhouse gas, methane. Check out a preview below:


- Showtime has greenlit a new documentary project from acclaimed comedian Tig Notaro, tentatively titled Knock Knock, It’s Tig Notaro. This August, Notaro will travel across the country in order to put on a series of private comedy performances in the homes, backyards, driveways, barns, rooftops and cul-de-sacs of her most loyal fans. These performances will be filmed as part of the documentary. As always, Notaro's nationwide performances will feature special guest appearances from some of her famous and funny friends. Earlier this week, Notaro kicked off a nationwide search for fans who are interested in hosting these home performances and participating in the film. The fans with the most creative entries and compelling “venues”" will be selected. Fans can see a video message from Tig herself below and can apply to participate in the film at tigroadtrip.com.


- Cosplayers and cosplay contests are a fixture and highlight at the many comic book and genre fan conventions around the world. These conventions provide an international stage for fans to showcase often spectacular handcrafted costumes and portray their favorite characters from sci-fi movies, video games, anime and more. In Syfy’s new Heroes of Cosplay (formerly Cosworld), nine passionate fans put their imagination and skills to the test to make a name for themselves in the competitive world of cosplay. The six-episode series debuts Tuesday, August 13 at 10:30 following the special 90-minute Season 5 of Syfy’s hit competition series, Face Off. It then moves to its regular time – 10:00 Tuesdays – starting August 20.

- We are only halfway through the third season, but TNT has already announced this week that Falling Skies will be coming back for a fourth season set to debut summer 2014.

- For those on the look out for new music, give a listen to Animal Years who sound like a mix of Augustana and Gavin DeGraw. Take a listen to their new single Meet Me below and look out for their album Sun Will Rise out September 17:

The Best Television Shows of 2012-13

I have been making top ten lists of the best television shows of the year since 2006 and this is the first time ever that all ten spots went to dramas. Comedies really need to step their game up. Of the shows that used to be on this list, Modern Family, The Big Bang Theory, and How I Met Your Mother are just getting long in the tooth, Suburagtory suffered a sophomore slump, and the Dan Harmon-less Community was a disaster while newbies The Neighbors and Go On were solid, they just were not good enough. Here were the shows that were.

1. Justified Season 4 (FX)

2. Homeland Season 2 (Showtime)

3. Hannibal Season 1 (NBC)

4. Parenthood Season 4 (NBC)

5. The Americans Season 1 (FX)

6. Nashville Season 1 (ABC)

7. Mad Men Season 6 (AMC)

8. Bunheads (ABC Family)

9. Dallas Season 1 (TNT)

10. Sons of Anarchy Season 5 (FX)



After playing the bridesmaid for three straight seasons, Justified finally topped this list for the first time ever while FX took up two spots for the first time since I declared it the best network on television back in 2010 (which was also the last time Sons of Anarchy made the list). It also lifted FX over CBS for the third most shows on my best television shows list over the past eight years (12), just short of NBC (18) and ABC (15). CBS (11) is the only other network over five shows over that time. Now here are the shows that amassed the most Quote, Song, and Scene of the Week.

Quote of the Week
Pretty Little Liars – 5
Dallas – 4
Justified – 4
Mad Men – 4
Hannibal – 3
The Big Bang Theory - 2
Homeland – 2
Leverage – 2
The Neighbors – 2
Revenge – 2
2 Broke Girls – 1
Bunheads – 1
The Challenge – 1
Franklin and Bash – 1
Go On – 1
Grimm – 1
Happy Endings – 1
House of Lies – 1
Modern Family – 1
Nashville – 1
Parenthood – 1
Shameless – 1
Suburgatory – 1
Survivor – 1
The Walking Dead – 1
Weeds – 1

Song of the Week
Bunheads – 5
Suburgatory - 4
Go On – 3
The Neighbors – 3
The Americans – 2
Castle – 2
Community – 2
Covert Affairs – 2
Dallas – 2
House of Lies – 2
How I Met Your Mother – 2
Justified – 2
Mad Men – 2
Parenthood – 2
Pretty little Liars – 2
2 Broke Girls – 1
The Big Bang Theory - 1
Franklin and Bash – 1
Last Resort – 1
Nashville – 1
Once Upon a Time – 1
Shameless – 1
Sons of Anarchy – 1
Totally Biased – 1
The Walking Dead – 1
Weeds – 1

Scene of the Week
Bunheads – 8
Suburgatory – 7
The Neighbors – 6
Go On – 3
Hannibal – 3
Community – 2
Modern Family - 2
Parenthood – 2
Pretty Little Liars – 2
Don’t Trust the B---- in Apt. 23 – 1
Castle - 1
The Big Bang Theory – 1
Last Resort – 1
Nashville – 1
The Voice – 1

The Ninth Annual Scooter Television Awards

Welcome to the 8th Annual Scooter Television Awards honoring show that aired a majority of their season between June 2012 and June 2013. Without further ado, here are the winners of the 2013 STA's:

Best Scripted Show: Justified

Best Sitcom: The Neighbors

Best Reality Show: Survivor: Caramoan - Fans vs. Favorites

Best Animated Show: Young Justice

Best Talk Show: Pardon the Interruption

Best Talk Show Host: Norm Macdonald

Best Talent Competition: The Voice

Best New Show: Hannibal

Best Mini-Series: The 80’s: The Decade that Made Us

Best Web Series: Burning Love: Burning Down the House

Guiltiest Guilty Pleasure: Dallas

Best Awards Show: 2013 Grammy Awards

Best Hour of TV: Decoy - Justified

Biggest Shocker: Langley being bombed (Homeland)

Worst Idea: Keeping Carrie on her meds (Homeland)

Worst Moment: Caroline Glaser getting voted off The Voice

Biggest Disappointment: Revenge's sophomore slump

Best New Title Sequence: Hannibal


Best Song Placement: In the Air Tonight – Phil Collins (The Americans)

Best Karaoke: Ho Hey – Lennon and Maisy (Nashville)

Best Singing Competition Performance: Dream On – Amanda Brown (The Voice)


Best Dance Sequence: Making Whoopie (Bunheads)

Best Fight (Scripted): Tessa vs. Dalia (Suburgatory)

Best Fight (Unscripted): Frank vs. Dustin and Nany (The Challenge: Battle of the Seasons)

Hottest Token Hot Chick:

Best Character: Raylan Givens (Justified)

Best New Character: Hannibal Lecter (Hannibal)

Best Recurring Character: Abigail Hobbs (Hannibal)

Best Guest Appearance: Bob Newhart (The Big Bang Theory)

Best Duo: Hannibal Lecter and Will Graham (Hannibal)

Most Entertaining Reality “Star”: Andrea Boehlke (Survivor: Caramoan)

Most Annoying Reality “Star”: Brandon Hantz (Survivor: Caramoan)

Best Quote: First thing we are going to do is acknowledge this guy is awesome. He shoots Theo Tonin, fakes his own death in a spectacular fashion, pushes a guy out of an airplane while he’s flying it, parachutes into Harlem County with enough coke and cash to kick start the economy of a small country, and then he has the balls to get a job in law enforcement, not once, but two times. He’s spends a couple days riding around with you while you’re looking for him, and now he’s run off with a hooker that’s half his age. That’s some bad (expletive deleted) (expletive deleted). (Art Mullen, Justified)

Show That Should Be Brought Back: Go On

Most Anticipated New Show of Next Season: Masters of Sex (Showtime)

Biggest Question for 2012-2013: Will The Veronica Mars Movie live up to the television show? And more importantly, will it be successful enough for Netflix (or Amazon, or any other channel or streaming site) to fully resurrect the series?

Adjust the Bass and Let the Alpine Blast

Summer officially started two weeks ago, but let’s be honest, the season does not truly start until you hear Summertime for the first time when the sun is shining in seventy-plus weather. The DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince song has been the official summer anthem for twenty-two years now so when you year the line, “think of the summer’s of the past” Summertime was probably the soundtrack of many of those most memorable moments and why it is this month’s induction into the Scooter Hall of Fame.

From the opening drums and based on a long forgotten warm weather song in its own right, the Kool and the Gang song Summer Madness, Summertime becomes the roadmap to the perfect summer day: basketball, car shows, barbecue, and a family reunion where the old folks can break out a Soul Train line. And no need to get there on time just put the cruise control at two miles an hour. And do not forget to adjust the bass and let the alpine blast while playing Summertime on a loop this holiday.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 6/30/31

Falling Skies: An interesting choice, get the harness removed or not. On one hand, you can go back to being a normal human being without worrying that you may sprout four extra legs at some point. But on the other hand you no longer are super human without having to worry about coming down with normal human diseases and ailments. Personally I would much rather go back to being one hundred percent human, but for the good of the show, it was wise that Ben kept his harness on because the guy is already pretty boring with it on and would be a worthless character without it. And we finally got conformation that Anne’s demon seed is alien. Which begs the question, is any of it even Tom’s? Was she actually impregnated by one of the alien’s tiny insect things? Will the baby start sprouting extra legs? If you pull back the baby’s skin, will she turn out to be a lizard baby?
You can download Falling Skies on iTunes.

Mad Men: When a young Dick Whitman up earlier this season it was met with a resounded “huh?” I was under the impression we resolved Dick when the original Mrs.’ Draper died never to be seen again because the audience, and it seemed even Matthew Weiner, did not want to go there again. So that is why Little Dick kept popping up this season, Don just blurted out his back-story in front of Hersey of all people (leading everyone to assume that is the moment that has been depicted in the credits all these years) before taking his children to his childhood house. But my favorite part of the episode was the fight between Don and Ted which was basically a fight between who needs to start over more.  Who would have guessed that Don would be the once who would concede?
You can download Mad Men on iTunes.

Under the Dome: I did not have much expectations of the show going into it, it was a summer show. A summer show on CBS, a network I cannot remember the last time I watched a drama on (Love Monkey, maybe). But the show looked up my alley because it did not look very CBS-like, which would not speak well for its longevity until it ended up the biggest summer premiere in a couple years. The show did quickly set up the claustrophobia of a small town literally trapped in a bubble. Although I was a bit surprise not one person grabbed a shovel to see if they could dig their way out, that would have been my first inclination when encased inside of a giant bubble.
You can stream Under The Dome exclusively on Amazon Instant Video, free for Prime members.

Pretty Little Liars: C’mon, the girls really saw the faces of Allison and Melissa in those masks? That is even less believable than a bird that memorized a phone number from over a year ago. And why is Toby still around, they should have just left him dead in the woods. He cannot act and his character serves no purpose, really all the boyfriends are fairly useless on this show and just seemed to be jammed in because every show has to have a love story attached to I no matter how lame and unnecessary it is.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.

The Hero: This show seems to be changing its rules on the fly more often than The Voice. So now the Hero’s Challenge is worth twice as much, but you can take half that and vote yourself out. But if you lose, you are gone. But if you do not take the cash, you can go back to the penthouse and vote someone out. Alrighty. And does that make anyone voted out ineligible to win the big prize at the end? By my math, if that I the case and they dump one contestant every episode until the end of the season, that will leave five contestants left at the end. I cannot believe after just crushing Shaun and Athena for taking money, everyone was just blasé this week at Darnell taking the money. As for the Hero’s Challenge I was surprised at just how hard it was. I laughed when The Rock said he had forty minutes to swim a mile. I could crawl a forty minute mile. I guess doing it against a current in the ocean is a bit harder.
You can download The Hero on iTunes.

Best of the Week: 6/29/13

Quote of the Week: Why don’t you just tell them what I saw? (Sally Draper, Mad Men)

Song of the Week: Moon River – Andy Williams (Mad Men)

Big News of the Week: Good and Bad News for Partisans: It is hard to tell if it was a good or bad week for hyper-partisans. It started out bad for progressives (and good for conservatives) when on Tuesday the Supreme Court decided 5-4 to reject parts of the Voting Rights Act (even though it was renewed with no “nay” votes by an Senators during the Bush era) and racist states hamstrung by the act was quick to act because within hours Texas already had a couple bills drafted to restrict voting rights. But things took a turn for the worse for conservatives (and turned around for progressives) when the very next day the Super Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act, again by a single vote. Which does not matter much here in Ohio where we decided not only decided to outlaw gay marriage almost decade ago but also eliminated all co-habitation rights. Sorry roommate, you still cannot visit me in the hospital.

Preview Picture of the Week:

"Face Time" Pretty Little Liars Tuesday at 8:00 on ABC Family

Free Download of the Week: Live at Tramps – Radiohead (Noisetrade): For those that liked Radiohead back when they actually used guitars will want to pick up this full length concert circa 1995 which rilies heavily on The Bends and even features their breakout hit Creep which may have very well been one of the last time the band played the song live. Even though it is free to download, you can leave a tip, 100% of proceeds will go to Amnesty International.

New Album Release of the Week: Magma Cater Holy Grail – Jay-Z

New DVD Release of the Week: Last Resort: The Complete First Season

Video of the Week: Three weeks ago, Rob Thomas started releasing casting news for the Veronica Mars Movie, one by one, there were some obvious cast members (Wallace and Mac), some welcome returns (Madison Sinclair and Corny), and a couple that made the most ardent Veronica Mars fans go “who?” (Anyone remember Susan Knight?) And then filming started two weeks ago without the man who topped my list of The 10 Things I Hoped Make it into the Veronica Mars Movie: Vincent Van Lowe. Which was a depressing thought because could they really do a Veronica Mars movie without the probable sheriff of Neptune (unless Deputy Sachs rose to the position in the subsequent years)? Finally Ken Marino signed on complete with an in character video. And if that was not enough Party Down for you, Martin Starr was also cast as a 09’er returning for the reunion, and the third cast member of Thomas’s other show (considering Adam Scott played the baby daddy of the previously mentioned Susan Knight I would put money on him showing up). That would just leave Jane Lynch (who played a teacher at Neptune High but is currently filming a soon to be unwatched NBC game show) and Lizzy Caplan as the only Party Downers not linked to the Veronica Mars movie. For the latter, may I suggest one more time in the role of oft mention and little seen Shelly Pomroy. Until then, here is Vinnie pitching his own Kickstarter movie.


Next Week Pick of the Week: Dexter, Sunday (tomorrow) at 9:00 on Showtime: The final season of Dexter premieres tomorrow, unfortunately I am woefully behind so I have to spend the season avoiding spoilers (which I have not been that good at with this show). The final season of Dexter will be followed by the first season of Ray Donovan which I am actually ahead on and you can read my thoughts on the first couple episodes here.

Around the Tubes: 6/28/13

I have gotten a plethora of cool press releases have been flooding my inbox recently that you may find interesting. This post will include blurbs on Siberia, Secrets of Highclere Castle, Gideon's Army, the ESPY's, Legends of the Old West, How the States Got Their Shapes, Why We Laugh: Funny Women, Killing Kennedy, Golovkin vs. Macklin, Sammy Hager, Kiss, India Arie, Chicago Fire, and The Story of Film: An Odyssey.

- Siberia seemed to come out of nowhere with an unknown creator and unknown cast, but it does premiere Monday at 10:00 on NBC (against the out of the gate Under the Dome). But if you are already hooked on the CBS show, you can still watch Siberia premiere now, check it out below:


- Following the success of the Downton Abbey-inspired special Secrets of Highclere Castle, PBS announced earlier this week the international premiere of three new one-hour specials that explore some of England’s other storied homes. The Sunday night lineup this summer will include Secrets of Henry VIII’s Palace, Secrets of Althorp – The Spencers and Secrets of Chatsworth, all part of the ongoing series by Pioneer Productions. Each of the three specials precedes Masterpiece Mystery! on Sundays, June 30-July 14, 2013, 8:00 on PBS.

- Next week, HBO's Summer Documentary Series rolls on with the brave story of a few southern public defenders and their struggle against injustice in Gideon's Army, premiering Monday at 9:00. In 1961, Clarence Earl Gideon was arrested for stealing soda and a few dollars from a pool hall. Unable to afford an attorney, he was convicted after representing himself at trial. Gideon appealed his conviction to the Supreme Court, which ruled unanimously that the right to counsel in a criminal case is fundamental to the American system of justice. Fifty years after the landmark Gideon v. Wainwright case, most of them will be represented by one of the United States’ 15,000 public defenders. Check out the trailer below.


- The ESPY nominations were announced yesterday and now it is time for you to vote at espn.go.com/espys. After you are done voting all you have to do is wait until Wednesday, July 17, at 9:00 on ESPN when the show airs with Jon Hamm as host.

- New to DVD next week include the History documentary Legends of the Old West, the second season of History’s How the States Got Their Shapes, and Why We Laugh: Funny Women which features in-depth interviews with the funniest women in Hollywood including Kathy Griffin, Whoopi Goldberg, Lily Tomlin, Kim Wayans, Janeane Garofalo, Rita Rudner, Kathy Najimy, Sandra Bernhard, Natasha Leggero, Aisha Tyler and many more.


- Last week we got our first look at the Kennedy’s from National Geographic Channel’s Killing Kennedy and now here is your first glimpse of Michelle Trachtenberg and Will Rothhar as Marina and Lee Harvey Oswald:

Michelle Trachtenberg as Marina Oswald on the set of National Geographic Channel's KILLING KENNEDY, premiering this November. National Geographic Channels/Kent Eanes

Will Rothhaar as Lee Harvey Oswald on the set of National Geographic Channel's KILLING KENNEDY, premiering this November. National Geographic Channels/Kent Eanes

- Boxing returns to HBO for the pulse-pounding, middleweight Championship Bout between Gennady "GGG" Golovkin and Matthew "Mack the Knife" Macklin. Destine to be an adrenaline fueled fight, will Macklin be able to stave off the lethal KO power of Golovkin's fists to claim the title or will he follow in the footsteps of his predecessors, and fall to the ferocious force? Find out when the World Title fight is televised live on HBO Boxing After Dark, beginning tomorrow at 9:45, from the state of the art MGM Grand Theater, at the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut.

- Collaborations album all the rage these days (most recently by John Folgerty), but Sammy Hagar is not bringing in other acts to re-do his (or Van Halen) songs, he is recording new songs and covering other artists like Bob Segar with the likes of Kid Rock, Nancy Wilson and his Chickenfoot bandmates Chad Smith, Michael Anthony, and Joe Satriani for Sammy Hager and Friends out September 24.

- The legendary, multi-platinum selling band Kiss bursts onto your screen as they team up with VEVO, the world's leading all-premium music video and entertainment platform, for the global premiere of the band’s explosive new Lyric Video for the song Right Here Right Now from their current release Monster.

- India.Arie’s new album, SongVersation, dropped this week and this Sunday, in an-all new “Super Soul Sunday” episode, India.Arie will give a special performance of the song ‘Break the Shell’ off of her new album. Oprah & Grammy Award-Winner India.Arie Part Two: How to Break Through’ premieres this Sunday, June 30 at 11am ET/PT on OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network.

- If you missed the first season of Chicago Fire, you do not have to wait until the release of the DVD set to catch up because you can watched the enite season currently on nbc.com.

- Turner Classic Movies (TCM) will present the U.S. television premiere of the acclaimed documentary series The Story of Film: An Odyssey this fall. The series, which tells the history of cinema through a worldwide lens, will be the centerpiece of TCM's most ambitious and far-reaching programming event ever. Over the span of 15 weeks, beginning Monday, Sept. 2, TCM will present The Story of Film: An Odyssey curated with a slate of 119 films and dozens of short subjects representing 29 countries across six continents.

Previewing Ray Donovan

We have all been there, wake up to some naked dead chick and try to figure out who to call to take care of it. For those of us with enough money, we can call Ray Donovan, the kind of guy who has another client, an action movie hero who got caught with a transvestite, who could be seen with a dead coked-up chick because that would be an upgrade in the public eye from a transvestite (although I am not sure how you have an A-lister get caught with a transvestite and not make an Eddie Murphy joke).

That is the titular character of Ray Donovan (Live Schreiber, Scream 3), he is a fixer. A fixer for high priced clients who need things done by any means necessary. One of his first “fixes” involved his father, Jon Voight (National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets) twenty years ago which landed the him in prison, and the start of the series sees papa Donovan getting released five years ahead of schedule leading the younger version scrambling to keep his father out of his life.

His bothers are more on the fence. Eddie Marsan (The Disappearance of Alice Creed) is the former boxer with Parkinson’s while Dash Mihok (The Day After Tomorrow) is dealing with his own demons that stems from his time in the Catholic church and is now a “sexual anorexic”. And like any good Irish Catholic families, there is even a bastard son unbeknownst to Ray that appears right around the time their father shows up. Home life, in Calabasas, what they call the Jersey Shore of Los Angeles, is not much better, his wife Paula Malcomson (Deadwood) begrudgingly accepts what he has to do for his job while his kids (including Kerris Dorsey who was most recently seen as Sally Draper’s violinist friend on Mad Men) are eager to meet the grandfather they never knew.

The big problem with Ray Donovan is we have seen the troubled Irish-Catholic family with major issues done many times before, and done much better than this. The scenes when Ray is working are much more entertaining but also lean on major clichés. In the first episode we meet the adulterous basketball player, the closeted gay action hero, and the horny pop star. I am guessing it will not be too long until Ray meets the gangsta rapper who actually grew up in the suburbs. And while Voight is creepy, is is not the creepy cool that Mads Mikkelsen on Hannibal plays, but in a hide your young daughters (and probably young sons too) kind of creepy. Early in the season you will get to witness Voight dancing in a gay bar to Now That We Found Love, an imagine you will instantly want scrubbed from your brain after seeing it. In the end, Ray Donovan is one of those shows that is very well done, well written, well acted, but there is just something missing.

Ray Donovan airs Sundays at 10:00 on Showtime following the final season of Dexter.

A Monster Is About to Come Alive Again

When you are dealing with a genius, you are going to have to put up with some eccentricities, be it Prince changing his name to an unpronounceable symbol or Van Gough cutting his ear off. Then there is the case of Kanye West. His trilogy school themed albums stand up against the first three albums of any artists ever. But after Graduation, West’s mother died and he broke up with his longtime girlfriend and instead on continue his college esthetics of those first three albums, he instead made an emo-rap album more depressing than any of the horrible shoe gazing of the time.

It was also around this time when even I as one of Kanye’s most ardent defenders was having trouble sticking up for the guy after stunts like the Taylor Swift incident and the ill-timed “George Bush doesn’t care about black people comment.” But after his emo opus, Kanye was back on point with My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Watch the Throne and even Cruel Summer had a couple hot tracks (if you are able to edit out Big Shawn). Apparently more accessible Kanye albums come in three because out next is Yeezus which one Rolling Stone writer said “makes Radiohead's Kid a look like Bruno Mars by comparison.” I believe he meant it like a compliment, but this listener did not take it that way.

Like most people, my first experience with Yeezus, was when West performed New Slaves and Black Skinheads on Saturday Night Live, not really the best idea considering the show’s legendary poor audio for musical guest, but considering the lo-fi feeling of the songs, it actually might have been appropriate. Based on the two songs alone, it sounded like he was trading in the annoying emo rock of the 00’s that he aped on 808’s and Heartbreaks for an even more darker time period with the new wave sound of the early eighties with bands like Joy Division.

As it turned out, those two songs were some of the most “musical” songs on the album Yeezus instead starts off with On Sight which sounds like it samples some Artari games from the eighties. And most of the songs follow that sparse industrial that throws in even weirder effect like the screaming in I Am a God or the weird almost air-horn distortion in Hold My Liqour, does turn into this psychedelic trip at the end that sounds like a hip-hop Pink Floyd (Guilt Trip also has a trippy Pink Floyd feel to it).

Yet the most surprising song on the album is the closer Bound 2 which musically sounds like classic Kanye with its sped up soul sample (looking back this was foreshadowed with snippets in On Sight and at the end of New Slave) but he still sounds as angry as he does on the rest of the album and some dark synthesizers seep through by the end of the song. I am not sure if the ending means that things are not as bad as the first nine tracks on Yeezus would suggest or it itself suggest on his next album Kanye will revisit his backpacking days. Either way, rumors suggest we will learn that answer sooner than later be it Watch the Throne II or Cruel Winter as soon as by the end of this year.

Song to Download – Bound 2

Yeezus gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.