Allow me to introduce the latest in the line of post Lilith Fair songstress, Sonya Kitchell. She is you token coffee house singer songwriter that would populate the second stage for the touring concert. In fact This Storm sound like a more polished version of Pieces of You. So everything you here on the nineteen year old major label debut you most likely heard before.
That is not to say there isn’t anything listenable on This Storm, but the album comes off like a Jewel album but without any really catchy songs to latch onto. Plus the songwriting is suspect at times like when she tries to rhyme “less” with “effortless.” And the passion seems to be lacking throughout the album like on Fire that should have more fire in her voice than she actually provides.
That fire does show up at time like on the album opener For Every Drop where she just lets loose on her crush to just give in. Soldier’s Lament is a sweeping song seen through the eyes of one. And Borderline (not a Madonna cover) is a minor key romp that flips into a happier sounding song. But do not consider any of these songs worthy of radio play.
Quote of the Week: It’s not bad to wear a promise ring because not everybody, guy or girl, wants to be a slut. (Jordin Sparks, MTV Video Music Awards)
Big New of the Week: NBC Back on iTunes: It was almost exactly a year ago when NBC Universal decided not to renew their contract that ended at the end of 2007 with iTunes. I predicted that it would get ironed out by the end of the year but maybe the strike put off those talk. But not only is NBC coming back in style as iTunes is now offering their shows in HD, for an extra dollar of course. Although classic episodes are available for $0.99. You will have to scroll down a little to see if NBC is offering anything for free to mark their return. Even though no free episodes, Friday Night Lights also reappeared even though it does not appear on the NBC page or even the Universal Studios page (there is no DirecTV page). And only the first season is currently available.
Coalition Links of the Week: What was in the water during 2004-05? Buzz salutes the TV season that brought us Lost, House, and Grey's Anatomy. (BuzzSugar)
To celebrate the season (and series) premieres of Gossip Girl and Privileged, we're giving away several copies of the books that started these shows. (RTVW)
Vance is excited that So You Think You Can Dance Canada has finally started AND starts off in his hometown of Toronto where apparently, Canadians really CAN dance! (Tapeworthy)
This week, Jace interviewed The Office's Amy Ryan and Paul Lieberstein and gave five reasons why he loved the latest episode of Mad Men. (Televisionary)
TiFaux got a slew of new contributors this week! To start off her blogging reign at TiFaux, Marisa did a critical analysis comparing Lost and Fringe, discussing the appearance of crazy animals and mad scientists. (TiFaux)
This week, theTVaddict.com put forth our theory as to who Kelly Taylor's Baby Daddy is! (The TV Addict)
Raoul got all the dirt on the new season of The Sarah Connor Chronicles straight from Lena Headey and exec producer Josh Friedman. (TV Filter)
Greek: Yeah, the whole counting cards thing was a stretch, even with two decks you are not going to get a good hand in a short amount of time to get big winners and certainly in a one hand playoff counting cards isn’t going to work. But it was nice seeing Casey in the bob. And is she really going to go after the RA? You can download episodes of Greek on iTunes.
ABC World News with Charles Gibson: Well that was anticlimactic. The interview wasn’t the home run Sarah Palin cheerleaders wanted not was it the disaster the haters hoped for. The interview itself was a little short and Gibson tried too many “gotcha questions” like the Bush Doctrine. Even Gibson seemed rattled when Palin asked in what respects. Count me as one of the 70% that thinks that semi-automatic riffles should be banned. (Scooter Update: MSNBC posted an article, the Many Versions of 'Bush Doctrine', claiming their are up to seven different versions.)
Free Downloads of the Week: Basically the season premiere from all of NBC’s returning shows of last season is currently free in HD and regular definition including:
Pick for Next Week: The Big Bang Theory, Monday at 8:00 on CBS: Slim Pickens a week before the new fall season launches so you can take the time to watch (or re-watch) the season finale of the funniest sitcom of last season where we learn such things as Schrodinger's Cat.
One of the greatest shows currently is Pardon the Interruption and I have shamelessly steal paid tribute to the show multiple time on the 9th Green and I am going to go to the well once again with a new running post. For those that have seen the show they have a segment called Oddsmakers which the name I have already used for something else so I went with Playing the Percentages which Statboy even admits is a more appropriate name. The kind people over at TV on the Brain will be my archenemies for this game. We will be need our own personal Statboy so if you have a question (any subject like TV, music, movies, or politics welcome) for us to talk about feel free to e-mail me that. And if you want to play the home game, just drop your thoughts in the comments. Now let gets to the game where I will be playing the role of Bernard Pollard and Jo playing the role of Tom Brady.
What are the chances Tina Fey makes an appearance on the season premiere of Saturday Night Live this week?
Scooter: 70%, in a story I broke last week, Sarah Palin is a dead ringer for Tina Fey and since Palin has been the biggest story of the late summer, they will be parodying her and it is safe to assume she is the cold open. I am not guaranteeing that Fey shows up because there might be scheduling conflicts and I actually have Palin herself making an appearance in person at 25%.
Jo: I'm gonna pull a Kornheiser and say 85%! Lorne Michaels would be nuts not to at least ask Tina Fey. Who else is going to play Palin? Kristen Wiig already does most of the journalists, including Campbell Brown. And you can't use Amy Poehler b/c we need some reaction Hilary shots for good measure.
What are the chances that either 90210 or Knight Rider last longer than the originals?
Scooter: A little background first, 90210 lasted ten season while Knight Rider lasted four. With that said, there is no chance 90210 lasts a decade, in fact I only have The CW lasting that long at 40%, so this rests on the hopes of Knight Rider which haves a 10% chance and that only hinges if Ford continues to pony up for their one hour commercial for their brand and if the rating bomb as they are likely, I wouldn't be surprised if the show gets sold into syndication.
Jo: There's a 100% chance that both of these remakes are signs of an impending apocalypse. That or just the end of original ideas in America. 90210 and Knight Rider have a 25% of getting renewed after this year.
What are the chances Opportunities Knocks is the first fall show to be canceled?
Scooter: This is brought up because this had the lowest rating for Hey Nielsen's Fall Preview (which I participated in) at 1.8. And I agree that it will be totally unwatchable to me, and if I am not mistaken Fear Factor did the whole go to people's houses before it finally ended, but I am not a target audience and families could keep this show on air so I give it 2%. As for the show that has the most chance of getting the ax first, I have Do Not Disturb first on that list.
Jo: Is Opportunity Knocks a reality show? All it needs is a regular tearjerker feature about some family's sick parakeet and it'll have a 75% chance of staying on the air.
A plethora of cool press releases have been flooding my inbox recently that you may find interesting. This post will include blurbs on Dirty Sexy Money, Raising the Bar, TV Guide, Dancing with the Stars, ION, Crash, Oprah, and Keith Olbermann.
- For those that watch Dirty Sexy Money you will want to check out Tripp Darling’s latest venture into luxury real estate, Darling Tower.
- I do not think I read a review of Raising the Bar that did not focus on the mane of Zack Morris, myself included. It looks like TNT took notice and created an interactive game that lets you change his hair-style to your heart's content. Head over to TNT.com to play.
- For those gearing up for the new fall season, head over to TV Guide.com for extensive coverage of over 113 new and returning shows, with recaps, previews, and editors’ picks as well as original videos, unique photo galleries, and four detailed ways for fans to plan their TV watching schedules.
- While at TV Guide you can find exclusive videos including Dancing with the Stars Olympian Misty May Treanor.
- The Bill Engvall Show was surpisingly entertaining and fans should be happy to learn that it has been renewed for a third season. And be on the lookout for two special episodes of the show this December just in time for the holidays.
- For those that have the ION channel, it should be noted that their new season starts up with featuring favorites Boston Legal, ER, and NCIS.
- Crash, which I called the worst movie ever in the history of the world is for some reason being turned into a television show for Starz. Here is a widget for the show that premieres Friday, October 17, 2008 at 10 p.m.
- This Friday, Tatum O'Neil gives her first interview since her drug bust with Oprah. You will hear Tatum admit, “There’s no good way to talk about what happened to me.” She adds, “I felt hopeless” and tells Oprah, “I was certainly trying to relapse.” While on Thursday the Big O goes into Why Men Cheat with author Gary Neuman. A preview: because she will do things you will not.
- A couple days ago I chided the media for spending two days debating whether or not they were bias and the unprofessionalism over at MSNBC during the conventions. Apparently someone over at the network read that post and demoted Keith Olbermann a couple days later and I added a couple thoughts about it on the bottom of the post. Check out Morons, You are the Press.
Everyone seems to be going country these days, Jewel, Michelle Branch, the dude from Hootie and the Blowfish and even Snoop Dogg hooked with Willie Nelson for a country song. Jessica Simpson being one not to ever set trends has followed suits with adding an occasional fiddle to her songs and submitting it to country radio stations.
The result is Do You Know that leans heavy on emotional ballads with the occasional upbeat song with its token banjo like first single Come on Over. The overall sound seems like Carrie Underwood light with Simpson leaning closer to the easy listening side of the musical spectrum than Underwood does (any patron of gossip rags should find the irony of Simpson once again following in the footsteps of Underwood).
Country fans already weary of Simpson just from judging her first single probably not be converted from the rest of Do You Know as it is the most “country” song on the album along with Still Beautiful. Those two are only topped by the title track that was written by and features Dolly Parton. And these two are a natural pairing Simpson could play Parton in a bio-pic. Well, assuming the casting diroctor on the film isn’y looking for someone that can act to play Parton.
The biggest problem is that most of the songs written for the album are just your run of the mill pop songs that Simpson tries to add some twang to. Country music has a long tradition of storytelling, but all these songs are the same cliche love songs that peppered Simpson’s previous albums. She didn’t even bother to put in a blatant “my dog left me, my wife left me and all I have left is beer to keep me company” tongue and cheek country song. Maybe try New Wave next Jessica because this country thing just isn’t working out.
What the frak happened to the Video Music Awards? Once the bastion of everything cool has turned into the most unwatchable thing on television. Even in the lean years, they were still able to line up legitimate stars. As much as I complained about last year’s show it still featured Kanye West, Alicia Keys, Linkin Park and Foo Fighters. This year is packed with groups that in past years would not have the resume to land them an opening show spot. Really only Kid Rock has actually sold multimillion albums. Seriously, who the frak is Tokyo Hotel? Danity Kane? Yeah, there was no blatant synergy there at all. MTV obviously knew the star power equaled that of your local public access begging to get Christina Aguilara and Kanye West to perform at the last minute pulling Kanye out of his MTV ban a year after promising never to go on the show again.
And it isn’t just the performers that were low star wattage because, the people handing out the moonmen were pretty sad too: Miley Cyrus, the cast of High School Music, the dude from Gossip Girl? You know what the VMA’s have turned into: the Teen Choice Awards. This may be my swan song for the VMA because they have decided that anyone older than fifteen and with male parts could possibly enjoy anything this crap. Here are other complaints with this year’s show:
- Instead of any music in the pre-show we get random people dancing. Um, yeah, okay. I guess that makes sense because all the pre-show quality artists were sadly invited to play on the big show. Yeah, that was the most worthless pre-show ever.
- Ooo, a new Survivor-style version of the Real World/Road Rules Challenge. Can’t wait. One thing I can wait for: another Paris Hilton reality show.
- Who invited Kobe Bryant? Aren’t there too many teenage white girls around for him to be invited to? If you invite Kobe Bryant, shouldn’t you invite Chris Hansen too?
- “Better luck next year T-Pain, if you’re still relevant,” I not sure who the dude who said that, but no truer words were spoken tonight. I bet less than half the people this year won’t warrant an invite next year.
- Britney Spears opening the VMA’s again. Yawn. Have we not learned from Crossroads that she cannot act.
- Wow, the place where the VMA’s took place looked about the size of the TRL set. This is really sad. The economy is really as bad as they say it is.
- I really dislike that Disturbia song, it is an obvious attempt at trying to recreate Thriller but it is no where near as catchy. But I did like the Seven Nation Army interlude. And can we keep the clippers away from Rihanna. It is like ever single she releases she cuts off even more hair.
- Congratulation Russell Brand, you went from hilarious to humongous tool even faster than Dane Cook. I guess I shouldn’t have expected much from a guy who dressed up like Osama bin Ladin the day after 9/11. If you can get on your knees to get Kanye West back, why can’t you do the same for Chris Rock?
- DJ AM and Travis Barker are the house band? Really? Since when is dating reality stars make you relevant?
- For those lucky enough to avoid the Jonas Brother phenomenon, they are basically Hanson but without legitimately catchy songs. That in no insult to Hanson who actually play all the instruments themselves when they play live.
- Luckily we only have to put with ten seconds of Katy Perry singing.
- Yeah, the Michael Phelps hosted Saturday Night Live isn’t going to be any good.
- Why invite Lil’ Wayne to perform if you are just going to censor every third word out of his mouth? Then you have T-Pain who didn’t bother to lip-sync half his performance.
- Did Lindsay Lohan said she had a dance off with AC/DC. When did this happen? Was Angus wearing his kilt? And is it on YouTube? And wasn’t Fannie Pack the people that did that horrible Camel Toe song from a few years ago.
- Wow, Russell Brand just got put on blast by Jordin Sparks. You go girl.
- Was T.I. just rapping over his song playing on the CD player? That’s some eighth grade talent show stuff.
- Add to my who are these guys list: Josh and Drake.
- I guess it is apropos that Brittany would win three awards at the biggest train wreck of the year.
- Kanye, don’t sing ever again. Ever.
- So there is another VMA, no big surprises and we are stuck at the watercooler again for the forth year in a row with nothing to talk about except about how bad it was.
Over Labor Day hanging out with family, after talking about all the Olympics I watched over the two weeks, someone asked what I was doing to fill that void and really the Democratic and Republican Convention in back to back weeks to fill my around the clock coverage fix because politics are like sports to me to the point that on election nights I pick up a twelve pack, park on the couch and watch the results come in.
Of course when I say I watched the convention, I only watch talking heads talk about everything and nothing at all talking over basically anyone who hadn’t previous run for president before. I want to hear Bob Casey instead I am stuck listening to some nut job analyzing Hillary Clinton’s body language. I ended up watching most of the RNC on C-Span just so I could watch it unfiltered.
Maybe it was all the long hours, but there is issue after issue of the press being unprofessional, and there was no one more unprofessional than Keith Olbermann who sounded like Gus Johnson during March Madness after Barack Obama’s speech, even admonishing an Associated Press writer, not for being factorially incorrect, but for not calling the speech a symphony instead calling it bland and just the same speech every Democratic nominee has given.
On the other hand the only thing missing from his commentary the next week was the Debbie Downer soundtrack. After everyone was glowing over Sarah Palin’s speech, all Keith had to say was that Abraham Lincoln didn’t created the Republican Party (cue the Debbie Downer look). Hey moron, you open any high school history book and it will tell you that he was the first Republican, and you are just nick picking with that. Of course there is probably a reason Olbermann was stuck by himself in New York, because while in Denver both Chris Matthews and Joe Scarborough publicly mocked Keith on air at different times (which isn’t the first time, Scarborough once said Olbermann was “too stupid to be on TV” live on air).
Then Olbermann had the audacity to rip into the Republicans for showing a tribute to 9/11. This would have been like Bill O’Reilly saying that the Democrats were exploiting Martin Luther King Jr. For showing a tribute to him at the DNC. What’s worse is that this came a week after Keith laughed when Michael Moore said on his show that God must be a Democrat because Gustav was starring down on New Orleans days before their convention. So let me get this straight Keith, honoring the brave men and woman who lost their lives during one of the worst attack in American near its anniversary: tacky, implying that God is going to kill Americans to disrupt the RNC two year after one destroyed the same city: funny.
With that said, it is safe to assume I agree with the McCain campaign that the press has been unfair covering Sarah Palin. Case in point, they spent two days debating whether or not they were in fact bias and unfair. Naturally O’Reilly and Sean Hannity came to the conclusions that they were unfair. Morons, you are the press. But the press isn’t complete in the Obama camp as the McCain campaign would have you believe. I missed the first half of Obama’s speech because of the Brown’s preseason game, but NBC cut into the end of the NFL opening game to carry McCain’s speech. Granted preseason was most like an affiliate decision while the next week was the network’s.
There in lies the problem with modern journalism, there are more concerned with making the press than reporting the press which led to debating if they were or were not unfair. Not to the press, if you are talking about the press, you have failed. And these people are just plain lazy. All these shows do anymore is left some right wing nut job and liberal communist spout their talking points on a subject while us in the middle just sit there scratching are heads wondering what the real truth.
Anyone who is listed as a “Republican or Democratic strategist” should be banned from television. Or at the very least call them out when they do just go down their lists of talking point. Seriously, aren’t these guys tired of hearing Joe Trippi saying McCain voted with Bush 90% of the time five times per appearance. And since when does being 0-5 in presidential campaigns makes you a worthy commentator. Just once I would like some respond to that by asking either, “what time frame does that 90% include” or “name one piece of legislation that he sided with Bush” because lets be real, there are a lot of worthless bills Congress votes on like changing French Fries to Freedom Fries. Of course this is why Bush manages to have an approval rating three times that of Congress.
That is when host even invite, Olbermann, hasn’t had anyone on his tow in over two years that disagrees with him, is the second most partisan on television (Glen Beck would be the first). And when legitimate newsmen like Howard Fineman corrects Keith on his lies, Keith is right back to saying the same things the next segment. Yeah Bill O’Rielly is a humongous tool, but at least he invites people with different opinions than his on the show. Granted think he may just do this for the sole reason he has someone to yell at.
But I should applaud Chris Matthews for calling someone out on the crap. Rachel Maddow tried to repeat one of the many lies about Sarah Palin live on air when Matthews actually called her out on it asking her what her source was which she didn’t want to give up until Matthews pressed her four or five time when she finally got her information off the internet. Seriously, the internet was her source. If you get caught referencing the internet for a high school English class you get an automatic “F” on your paper. Yet if you use the internet as a reference on television, apparently you get your own show on MSNBC. But really, how entertaining is the MSNBC company picnic is every year. What does it say that Pat Buchanan gets along with the most people over there.
One thing I did not hear at all about the last two week from either the Democrats, the Republicans, or the press was our national debt which currently sits at 9.7 trillion dollar. $9.7 trillion and not a word about it. To put that in perspective if we paid it off today each American would have to pay $31,000. If you include the implicit debt (which is everything we own plus money we have already pledged to spend) that would come up to $53 trillion. And all these economic problems can be tracked back to the debt, it has destroyed the dollar leading high gas prices, that leads to high prices of consumer goods which leads to foreclosure and failing small businesses that ups the unemployment rate.
Sorry Keith, but this is why the Obama speech failed. His only way to bring in money was to tax the top five percent (which would put the death nail in all the small businesses), but unless that tax rate is 90%, it won’t put a dent into the deficit. And let us not forget, not only does he have no plan to bring in more money, he want to add to the debt by paying college tuition, health care, and other spending that could increase the deficit to the point we might as well be annexed by China we will owe them so much. And he want to give us a rebate, you know, because that worked so well when George Bush did that. (Obama: more Bush failed policies, see I can be a cable news commentator)
And about that free college, what ever happened to “Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country”? Obama is twisting that and is straight up bribing people to get off their butts to make the world a better. What kind of warped world do we live in when it was the Republican that actually channeled John F. Kennedy by imploring anyone who finds faults with the country to make it better by becoming a teacher, join the armed services, feed a hungry child, defend the rights of the oppressed and if you do so the country will be better and you will be happier.
Not that McCain gets off the hook on the deficit either. He didn’t propose any programs that would increase the budget ten fold like Obama, but he doesn’t have a plan that will put much of a dent into debt. Yeah his energy play should spur the economy if implemented properly and we need to put an end to needless earmarks, but even those are only increasing the debt by only a couple tens a millions a year. You know something wrong when someone says something like “only tens of millions.”
At the current debt I realistically cannot expect either candidate to get the debt erased by the second term let alone their first, but I would at least like to see a plausible pln to get the debt halved by the time they leave office. We are eighteen days away from the first presidential debate but it isn’t until the third that will be focusing on domestic and economic policy and hopefully the moderator Bob Schieffer peppers the candidates on the national debt. But I have learned not to expect much from the press.
In conclusion, I would like to say Go Brown!
Scooter Update 9/8: Apparently someone over at MSNBC read my diatribe because it was announced today that Keith Olbermamm has been yanked from anchor chair on further presidential events replaced by David Gregory. In a story by the New York Times they say, "Tom Brokaw and Brian Williams have told friends and colleagues that they are finding it tougher and tougher to defend the cable arm of the news division" with Brokaw saying Matthews and Olbermann have, "gone too far." (see: MSNBC Takes Incendiary Hosts From Anchor Seat). While on MSNBC.com's on website said, "Olbermann began to have difficulty keeping his opinions in check, or simply stopped trying." Oh, snap. Bt my favorite part is when they quoted John Stewart brought up MSNBC in an interview with Brian Williams:
"Is there no control?" Stewart asked him. "‘Is it ‘Lord of the Flies?’"
A sheepish Williams said that every family has a dynamic of its own.
"But does MSNBC have to be the Lohans?" Stewart said.
Quote of the Week: The reporting of the past few days have proven tackier than a costume change at a Madonna concert. (Mike Huckabee, RNC)
Song of the Week: Just Stand Up! - Mariah Carey, Beyonce, Mary J. Blige, Rihanna, Fergie, Sheryl Crow, Miley Cyrus, Melissa Etheridge, Ashanti, Natasha Bedingfield, Keyshia Cole, Ciara, Leona Lewis, LeAnn Rimes, and Carrie Underwood
Big New of the Week: Let the Fall Season Begin: A couple weeks ago Hey Nielson invited me and some television bloggers to help them with their fall preview. They had us rank each show on a one to five scale. Also be on the lookout for which of my quotes they used in their preview. Click the banner below for details and clips of over twenty new shows and a chance to win a HDTV.
Coalition Links of the Week: Buzz launched a printable night-by-night TV calendar so you can know when your favorites are on. Pretty! (BuzzSugar)
With everyone complaining about how terrible the new 90210 is, Marcia made the point that the old one was pretty damn awful when it started, too. (Pop Vultures)
WWE Diva Mickie James makes a guest appearance as a derby girl on this week's Psych and we spent some time chatting with her about the experience. (RTVW)
Vance finally has time to start posting about the Fall TV Preview. (Tapeworthy)
This week, Jace found that he was less than thrilled with the CW's relaunch of 90210, complete with overplayed songs, one-dimensional characterization, and found it to be much less fun overall than Gossip Girl, The O.C., or Skins. (Televisionary)
TiFaux never got around to watching TNT's premiere of Raising the Bar, but Dan had some very important things to say about Mark-Paul Gosselaar's new shaggy mane. (TiFaux)
Never miss your favorite show this fall! Download and print theTVaddict.com's Ultimate Fall 2008 Season Premiere Calendar. (The TV Addict)
We gave you our take on summer's TV landscape -- and it wasn't pretty. (TV Filter)
I Love Money: Megan continues to amaze me week after week. Again escapes an elimination getting the Entertainer to get rid of hid only ally and keep her. How does this keep happening? You can download episodes of I Love Money on iTunes.
The Middleman: When Manservant Neville showed up I predicted that he would turn out to be the opposite of the Middleman, an archnemesis as you will, but I guess since they are an evil empire in the other dimension I am wrong with that prediction. I have to nick pick with that other dimension, specifically when Noser was quoting Shaft, should be have done something like Barry Manilow? But anyways. I saw next Monday ABC Family is running a Secret Life of the American Teenager marathon so we may have seen last of The Middleman. You can download episodes of The Middleman on iTunes.
Greek: I would like to thank the show for the greatest pick-up line ever. Ever. For dudes out there that missed it, if you are sitting around waiting somewhere and see a cute girl and say to her how about you save me from reading whatever is in you hands (in this case the pregnant man) and tell me your life story. Brilliant. You can download episodes of Greek on iTunes.
Stand Up 2 Cancer: I would like to thank NBC, ABC, CBS, and E! (as Brad Garrett said while receiving a prostate exam live on camera, I can’t believe Fox is counter programming this) for dedicating an hour of prime time programing to focus on raising funds for cancer. If you missed it, of course you can head over to SU2C.com to donate or to see Dana Delany get a breast exam and Charles Barkley get a colon cleaned out. Also check out the Song of the Week to download the charity single.
Free Downloads of the Week: Rain of Madness (iTunes): For those that could not get enough of Tropic Thunder here is a behind the scenes look at the movie.
Mr. Rock and Roll (Borders): Another week another free song by Amy MacDonald, at this week you may have the album free by Christmas.
Also if you missed any of the speeches from the DNC or RNC, you can download them all over at iTunes for free:
Promo of the Week: Aside from the Hey Nielson I have also be enlisted in Oprah digital network (no seriously) which may include giveaways (no word if you get a car and you get a car just yet). Monday sees the 23rd season premiere where Oprah will be welcoming home over 175 Olympic medalist (sorry women’s field hockey team, no car for you). Some technical difficulties are keeping me from posting the promo but if you check back later I hope to have it up soon.
Pick for Next Week: 102 Minutes that Changed the World, Thursday at 9:00 on History: The seventh anniversary honored by History (the channel) in this commercial-free retrospective on the time between when the first tower was hit and the second tower fell.
The most interesting part about the press release for Samurai Girl is not what it says but what it doesn’t say. For mini-series namesake Jamie Chung is touted as a guest star to such shows as Veronica Mars and Greek, yet I implore anyone to remember her appearances on those shows. Certainly when you saw her in the preview and though “I know her from somewhere” it is not from those show but instead the only thing people will recognize her as cast member of Real World: San Diego and the spin off Inferno II.
But anyways. Samurai Girl is a story you have heard before. But before her marriage, a Japanese princess and her marriage is attached, both her father and brothers are targeted. She escapes only to find out that not only is she a princess but a warrior princess. Or should I say a samurai girl. The story deviates from a modern day Japanese fairytale when Chung crashes a party in her bridal wear. Lucky for her it is a costume party so she fits right in.
That is until the party host finds Chung in her closet the next morning. This begins a relationship with housemates played by Saige Thompson (who also lists Veronica Mars on her resume but try remembering who she was) and Kyle Labine (no Veronica Mars appearances by Kyle), ambiguous roommates than aren’t live in partners but never explained how they came together but play like the Samurai Girl’s own Scoobie Gang.
Keeping with the Buffy theme, Brendan Fehr (Final Destination) would be the Giles figure guiding Chung through her training taking her raw talent into something to use in the field. The mini-series is at the very least watchable if you have nothing better to do this weekend as it premieres tonight at 8:00 with another two hours Saturday and closing on Sunday. But for anything with “Samurai” in its title, the fight scenes should be cooler than they are. Maybe as the girl grows and learns more on the craft it will get better, but I am not holding my breathe.
Also, the moderately attractive Stacy Keibler is supposable is in the cast as Chung’s rival, but sadly she won’t be showing up tonight. If you cannot wait to watch it tonight, you can download the first hour of Samurai Girl on iTunes for free.
There have been no more soother musician this decade than Jack Johnson becoming this generation’s James Taylor with a surfboard. So hearing that the Handsome Boy Modeling School, which features producers Prince Paul (Del La Soul) and Dan the Automator (Gorillaz), remixed the song for one of their album didn’t sound like it would work, but surprisingly managed to update the song and making it just as good, if not better than the original.
You would think a movie called Nick and Norah's Infinate Playlist would be right up my alley and you would be right. First you got George Michael Bluth and then Kat Dennings who is moderately attractive in a goth chick kind of way. Below is my own personal infinate playlist present in no perticular order and just random songs that randomly came across my brain.
If you have no idea what I am talking about, here is the trailer of the movie that opens October 3rd:
Kids today may not remember, unless they saw Hal Sparks wax poetic about them on I Love the 90's, but in the middle of that decade, there were few bigger bands on the planet than Oasis. Please remember they were so huge that an argument of the brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher even charted on Billboard. (What’s the Story) Morning Glory managed to the pinnacle of their career (which why it is this month’s induction into the Scooter Hall of Fame) and the point where the band started their went in a tailspin.
But lets start with te good, and the good is really good as Wonderwall is easily one of the top twenty-five songs of all time. It is one of those songs that no matter who sings it or how it is preformed it will still be a great song. Where Wonderwall is a sit you’re your room alone in your room with just an acoustic guitar, Don’t Look Back in Anger is a sing a long be it in a stadium or along with the jukebox at your local bar. And on songs like the title track and the opener Hello, Oasis show they could still continue their rock swagger like on their debut album.
For a band that wears their influences on their sleeves (then completely tear them down) Champaign Supernova seems like a blatant attempt at The Beatles psychedelic era and even starts with the two untitled tracks on the album that just enhances the bloated album closer. That is not to say the song in all its overwrought glory isn’t great in its own right but its success let to more over reaching songs like the first single off the next album, D’You Know What I Mean just went too far and led to the downfall. But Oasis has show flashes of brilliants over the decade since Morning Glory which hint that the band could mount a comeback at any time.
Quote of the Week: It was a bold choice, interesting background and a potential Hot for Teacher situation, don’t ya think? (Tony Kornheiser, Pardon the Interuption)
Big New of the Week: John McCain Picks for His Vice President, Wait, Who?: Just an addendum to yesterday’s post, the more I think about the more brilliant the pick of Sarah Palin is for John McCain. After a day of seeing talking heads blast her inexperience you can almost see the democratic strategist realize right after doing so that their candidate is not that much more experience. And having your inexperience at the bottom of the ticket is better than having it at the top. Granted Palin has more executive experience than Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and McCain combined.
And it didn’t take long for the liberal communist of the left to start their smear campaign hitting the internet to make people believe that Palin has had multiple affairs and that Palin faked her last pregnancy and that her eldest daughter is the real mother of her youngest (I even had a couple hits to yesterday searching for Bristol Palen pregnancy) like a bad plot line out of Desperate Housewives. Just because she lives in Juno doesn’t mean all the teenagers are pregnant. This rumor is as truthful as Obama being a Muslim, McCain fathering a black baby, and Biden, well Biden isn’t interesting enough to spread falsehoods about.
(Scooter's Update: More proof that Brisol is not the mother of Trig: she is five months pregnant accorfing to a press release from the Palen clan. Read more about it over at MSNBC.com. This makes my Juno crack a little less funny. Well, it still is pretty funny.)
Coalition Links of the Week: Buzz chatted with 90210's Shenae Grimes about the responsibilities of being "The new Brenda." (BuzzSugar)
Marcia returned from the Edinburgh TV Festival with tales of Heroes and Doctor Who, straight from the showrunners' mouths. Also, new site design! (Pop Vultures)
Rae's spent the summer with her nose buried in a book and it's finally paying off for us with her review of the Burn Notice novel The Fix. (RTVW Online)
Vance loves Gavin & Stacey and insists that you all watch it too so that you too can fall in love. (Tapeworthy)
This week, Jace took an early look at the first three episodes of the new season of Gossip Girl and offered up which new and returning series he'll be watching this fall. (Televisionary)
Before the conventions started and we got all partisan, Sara got all "thinky" and discussed the optimistic nationalism of the Olympics. Never fear, we'll soon return to our guttural reactions on Project Runway. (TiFaux)
The TV Addict had the time of his life at Fox's Fantastic Fringe series premiere party in New York City. (The TV Addict)
Raoul got excited about the possibility of a (re)animated Buffy Summers. (TV Filter)
I Love Money: How can no one see that Megan is playing everyone. It doesn’t get more transparent than”backstabbing” people she is supposed to be aligned with right in front of them. Yet even with that blatant going aganst her alliance’s wishes, she was able to talk her alliance out of voting off White Boy even though they had just seen her align herself with him against their wishes hours before. I am begining to wonder if Megan is the smartest dumb person ever. You can download episodes of I Love Money on iTunes.
The Middleman: It seems like every week I throughly enjoy The Middleman, but for some reason when I sit down to write 57 Channels I rarely have anything interesting to say about the episode and that pretty much sums up the most recent one. And if I am not mistaken, next week s the season (series?) Finale. Hopefully it goes out with a bang. Literally and figuratively. You can download episodes of The Middleman on iTunes.
Busted: I typically do not flip through channels, but flipping through all the NBC networks during the Olympics had me do it a little lately, that is how I found this gem on MTV. For those that haven’t seen it, Busted is basically Cops for the college age set. So you get a lot of under age drunks and stoned morons. Man, I miss college. My personal favorite segment has to be the two girl who get pulled out of a club and when the cops say they were accused of solicitation, one of the girl, who had the most possible amount of clevage possible without being techincally naked, yells at the cop, “Do we look like prostitutes?” Sadly the cop didn’t say when everyone had to be thinking, yes. Nonetheless, highest of high comedy.
Promo of the Week: Last year was a bit of a down year for My Name Is Earl. This could have been due to the writer’s strike, but Earl spent way too much time in jail or a coma and really didn’t cross much off his list. As the new season suggests, Earl is back to the list, but first, here is a recap for last year.
Pick for Next Week: Stand Up to Cancer, Friday at 8:00 on NBC, ABC, and CBS: It is cliched to say that we all know someone with Cancer, but sadly it is unavoidable with one presidential candidate a Cancer survivor with the other who lost his mother to the disease, granted one would rather give a speech to a bunch a Germans than to show up to Lance Armstrong’s LiveStrong Cancer forum. With that in mind it looks like Cancer may be overlooked in whoever is elected’s budget (not so fun fact, our government has spent more in a month on Iraq than all the years combinded since Nixon declared war on Cancer) on so it is again up to the individual to fund a cure. So the big three are banding together (Fox would rather air Guess the Lyrics) for a telethon which includes performance by Mariah Carey, Beyonce, Mary J. Blige, Rihanna, Fergie, Sheryl Crow, Miley Cyrus, Melissa Etheridge, Ashant, Natasha Bedingfield, Keyshia Cole, Ciara, Leona Lewis, LeAnn Rimes, and Carrie Underwood. And those are just the people who will be preforming together. Head over to StandUp2Cancer.com for more information and to donate or buy the charity single below.
Every Friday on Race for the White House, the panel picks the winner of the week. And after all the hoopla of the Democratic National Convention that on Friday, the only thing people were asking about was not Barack Obama’s speech but Sarah Palen. Will that turn into a win in November? We will have to wait and see.
But the pick works for this reason, no one vote for a Vice President, but when over twenty percent of Hilary Clinton supporter have switched their support to John McCain, obviously some women are voting with their hearts not their minds as Clinton and Obama are the same people politically, I cannot count the amount of time either of them said I agree during their debate. It should be noted that when Palin name dropped Clinton in her speech yesterday it got a loud cheer and not a single voice was in baritone.
And as a women, Sarah Palen is much more of one than Clinton, a self described hockey mom with five kids, one still in diapers (and I am not referring to John McCain) with down syndrome. In fact Palin was still pregnant when McCain was already the presumptive nominee. And in turns of stories, Palin’s rivals that of Barack Obama, and Palin’s youngest bot in curls rivals the Obama children in terms of cuteness.
Of course the negatives is that Palen could turn out to be Dan Quayle in a pantsuit. There are some ethics questions, but that could end up being a net positive for that important women demographic because that ethics stemmed from firing her ex-brother in law who was accused of beating her sister. But you can’t talk Alaskan ethics without bring up senator Ted Stevens. But not so fun fact: Palin is one of those gun nuts.
Another negative is the former mayor whose residents were half of the number of the people in the arena she was introduced in is that she will be crushed in the debate against Joe Biden in their debate in every category. But keep in mind that of everyone on the presidential tickets, the one with the most executive experience is Palin. And with the Congress, which McCain, Obama, and Biden are part of, and their eight percent approval rating, Palin has an eighty percent approval rating as governor.
Just how much of an outsider is Sarah Palin, MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell admitted see had to look up Wikipedia just to have something to say about her, where you can learn such nuggets that unlike Bill Clinton, she did inhale when it was legal to smoke week in Alaska. And if you missed it in her speech, her five kids are named Track, Bristol, Willow, Piper, and Trip. Oh those wacky Alaskan.
But it was the Democrats that dominated the news cycle the first four days of the week. Going back to Clinton, her actions spoke much more than her words. In fact I have a shirt the same color as as the pantsuit Clinton wore of which only comes out of the closet on Halloween and whenever I want to annoy people. I wonder if Clinton does the same things. But it is times like this that I am glad that I don't have HD.
One more fun fact about Palin, when pregnant with her most recent child, here water broke at a convention in Texas. She then gave her speech and then flew back to Alaska because, really, who wants to have their kid born a Texan. No offence to Jo. Okay, that was meant to offend Jo because she is my week one opponent in my fantasy football league and I plan to beat her like a red headed step child.
Checking out the cast photo for the latest TNT show Raising the Bar there is one thing that sticks out more than anything else, not one, but two Saved by the Bell alums smiling back at you. Yep that is Zack Morris and Lindsay Wagner, who never actually passed through the halls of Bayside High at the same time, sharing screen time on Raising the Bar. Granted it is neither of Mr. Belding’s favorite students that gets mention in ads for the shows but creator Steven Bochco who also created LA Law, NYPD Blue. Although conspicuously missing in those ads was his involvement with Commander In Chief and Cop Rock.
Zack and Lindsay play public defenders in New York City who routinely go against district attorneys whom happened to be their classmates in law school. Their boss happens to be Gloria Reuben (ER). On the other side of the courtroom include Melissa Sagemiller (Sorority Boys) and J. August Richards (Angel) yet they still get together at the watering hole when the final gavel is hit. Of course every court needs a judge and the young lawyers routinely run into Jane Kaczmarek (Malcolm in the Middle) who is a little off kilter.
There is something to say that in the first two episodes each main court cases included a African American and a Hispanic. Then the first Caucasian defendant just happens to have a mental illness and his actual crime was a non violent robbery. Of course one of those African Americans on trial is one Wallace Fennel who beat up the boyfriend of the spiky hair chick Landry Clarke dropped when he hooked up with Tyra. And of course it is nice to see Wallace in something other than a Hot Pocket commercial.
The cases are your run of the mill procedurals you have seen in every other lawyer show before except when Kaczmarek pulls some absurd rulings in her case. Where the show tries to set itself apart is the after hours aspect that was also tried on the short lived Conviction (that Richards also starred in) and the pilot ends in some plot twist with two character who may or may not be shacking up together and one character who may or may not be gay and may or may not hook up with another nineties afterthought in the second episode. And I may or may not be overdoing it on saying may or may not.
If there is a reason to stick with Raising the Bar is to see if any other Bayside graduates show up like Lisa Turtle as a welfare mother or Mr. Belding as someone who gets caught up in a Chris Hansen sting after trying to solicit one of the Chinese gymnast. Personally I cannot wait. Although Zack needs to cut his hair because follicles have not been this distracting since Tom Hanks in The Da Vinci Code. Raising the Bar premieres this Monday, September 1, Labor Day, at 10:00 on TNT.
You know the story: a band tolls around in obscurity for a decade, becomes an overnight success then collapses under the weight of its own ego. Then has one of two endings: reunited after anyone stopped caring for a tour of state fairs or hope that VH1 lets them be on one of their celebreality show. Then there is The Verve who managed to make an album as good as before the original break up, almost a decade after the band ended with a broken hand and a sore jaw.
For their reunion album Forth, The Verve expands on their space rock set up on the previous three album. And expand being the key word as only one song on the album clock in at under five minutes with the album as a whole comes in at just over an hour for the ten track set. But where some band make long songs in hopes to be epic, very few notes are wasted on any of these songs, from the sweeping Judas to the melancholy closer Appalachian Song or the slow burning I See Houses. Unless you are looking at the clock, you won't even notice the length of the song.
The band really comes together on Love Is Noise with its wall of sound that fills your ears from the start with eerily oooh's and aaah's that haunt you throughout the song and rivals Bittersweet Symphony in terms of sonic brilliance. No matter what Vegas sets the line for another fist o' cuffs, hopefully manages the over or at least until there is a Fifth.
![Terror Alert Level: Elevated [YELLOW]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6-iVFV0hXCTSYP16K_V0Rrxp3GqFrtBIJKeTUyQ2LpxZQ9XKHFj6QGtqqa7oxhLadLV8vUj8R84AftD8IKUSfN0u_u0CYDtJwhrpCPN2DBWquAIDv0jbVlhZL0mDFKlPKluGyxw/s400/small_elevated.png)
on my Terror Alert Scale.
![Terror Alert Level: Guarded [BLUE]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzCbHfExiuXqojow1zxkBUX6j-9BHg9IyrfzqR77jnja2Xq6dbv-7iiqMFzp_UKXGcUF9FyAHqCkNxa5uitXa5Xu2Q1OboN9-TLjsaeI1a2eoGLORU4vkTQ54l1C-_cZyn81QHyQ/s400/small_guarded.png)
on my 
and 
, yet I implore anyone to remember her appearances on those shows. Certainly when you saw her in the preview and though “I know her from somewhere” it is not from those show but instead the only thing people will recognize her as cast member of Real World: San Diego and the spin off Inferno II.
) would be the Giles figure guiding Chung through her training taking her raw talent into something to use in the field. The mini-series is at the very least watchable if you have nothing better to do this weekend as it premieres tonight at 8:00 with another two hours Saturday and closing on Sunday. But for anything with “Samurai” in its title, the fight scenes should be cooler than they are. Maybe as the girl grows and learns more on the craft it will get better, but I am not holding my breathe.
alums smiling back at you. Yep that is Zack Morris and Lindsay Wagner, who never actually passed through the halls of Bayside High at the same time, sharing screen time on Raising the Bar. Granted it is neither of Mr. Belding’s favorite students that gets mention in ads for the shows but creator Steven Bochco who also created LA Law, 
. Although conspicuously missing in those ads was his involvement with 
and Cop Rock. 
). On the other side of the courtroom include Melissa Sagemiller (
) and J. August Richards (
) yet they still get together at the watering hole when the final gavel is hit. Of course every court needs a judge and the young lawyers routinely run into Jane Kaczmarek (
) who is a little off kilter.
who beat up the boyfriend of the spiky hair chick 
dropped when he hooked up with Tyra. And of course it is nice to see Wallace in something other than a Hot Pocket commercial.
(that Richards also starred in) and the pilot ends in some plot twist with two character who may or may not be shacking up together and one character who may or may not be gay and may or may not hook up with another nineties afterthought in the second episode. And I may or may not be overdoing it on saying may or may not.
. Raising the Bar premieres this Monday, September 1, Labor Day, at 10:00 on TNT.
)![Terror Alert Level: High [ORANGE]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhebDZ0qqwOVKMZj7oFSUe8Hm3ax54U9Hp1fThJPgiddTyzcdwx_5SV6E3b7hkKyxbaDiym4COmUXT2YJnsKCUjBHI_a2xZtNoY7qFQRslP5AGO5gLkJwn2ZbO0wIF80ycbKrgPPA/s400/small_high.png)
on my