Around the Tubes, 2/8/13

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 Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome, The Song That Changed My Life, Grimm, Banshee, Men At Work, Who Gets the Last Laugh?, Robot Combat League, Out There, In Our Nature, Weeds, Nurse Jackie, Swamp People, Whitney Houston: Legend, Being: New Edition, Rizzoli and Isles, Perception, The Fosters, Twisted, and Town Hall with Tony Bennett.

- Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome may have already premiered online, but for those that prefer watching shows on your television it will be airing on Syfy tomorrow at 9:00. Check out the trailer below:


- Sara Watkins, formerly of Nickle Creek, will be on Wednesday’s episode of The Song That Changed My Life. Spoiler Alert! It’s Señor (Tales of Yankee Power) by Bob Dylan.

- I cannot even remember when the last episode of Grimm was and we still have to wait until two more mouths until it returns, but NBC has just released a new promo to get you ready.


- If you are enjoying Banshee on Cinamax, you will be getting even more of it next year because it has been renewed for a second season. Episode four of this season airs Friday at 10:00.

- TBS recently announced the premiere date of a couple of their programs including the second season of Men at Work Thursday April 4 at 10:00 and new show Who Gets the Last Laugh? Tuesday April 16 which is a new competition program hosted by Donald Faison and from the guys that brought you Punk’d.

- Syfy has a new show called Robot Combat League premiering Tuesday, Feb 26 and is exactly what it sounds like. Check out this interview with host Chris Jericho:


- IFC announced earlier this week a roster of notable voices guesting on the network’s upcoming original animated series, Out There. Selma Blair (Anger Management, Hellboy), Jemaine Clement (Flight of the Conchords), Nick Offerman (Parks and Recreation), Ellen Page (Juno, Inception), Stephen Root (King of the Hill, Office Space), Jason Schwartzman (Moonrise Kingdom, The Darjeeling Express), Sarah Silverman (Wreck It Ralph, The Sarah Silverman Program) and Christian Slater (Breaking In, Robot Chicken) will voice a variety of characters in the coming-of-age comedy. Created by Ryan Quincy, two-time Emmy®-winning animation director and producer of South Park, Out There premieres Friday, February 22 at 10:30pm ET/PT with two back-to-back episodes.

- John Slattery (Mad Men), Zach Gilford (Friday Night Lights), Jena Malone (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire) and Gabrielle Union (10 Things I Hate About You) star in Brian Savelson’s candid, delicately observed family portrait of couples at a crossroads. In Our Nature is out now on DVD.

- Also out on DVD over the next two weeks include Weeds: Season Eight, Nurse Jackie: Season Four, Swamp People: Season 3.


- Moving into the second week of Black History Month, Centric TV continues to celebrate some of African American’s greatest musical talent this weekend. To kick off February 9-10, Centric TV will feature interviews about the legendary Whitney Houston in a never-before seen documentary Whitney Houston: Legend and new exclusive interviews from R&B group New Edition in Being: New Edition, which takes center stage Saturday and Sunday, February 9-10, starting at 9:00PM ET.

- No return date yet other than “summer” but the Rizzoli and Isles team was back to work this week and started production on the fifteen episodes of season four while Amaury Nolasco (Prison Break) is set to be a guest star. Perception will also start production its season for a summer premiere and it was just announced that Scott Wolf has signed on to a recurring role as a charismatic, fast-rising Assistant U.S. Attorney recently transferred back to Chicago. Oh yeah, and he is also the soon to be ex-husband of Kate.

- Also coming this summer but to ABC Family will be two new shows The Fosters from executive producer Jennifer Lopez, and Twisted, from executive producer Gavin Polone (Gilmore Girls). Check out the cast photos for both below:




- Sirius XM Radio announced this that legendary recording artist Tony Bennett will sit down for an intimate Q&A session with an audience of SiriusXM listeners, moderated by Alec Baldwin (who humorously parodies Bennett on Saturday Night Live), at the SiriusXM studios in New York City as part of its Town Hall series. SiriusXM’s Town Hall with Tony Bennett, which will take place on Wednesday, February 13, will air on Valentine’s Day.

Previewing Inside Comedy

Showtime is launching its second season of Inside Comedy Monday with a new lineup of comedians that sit down and chat with director David Steinberg. This season will feature Judd Apatow, Carol Burnett, Jim Carrey, Louis C.K., Susie Essman, Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, Bill Maher, Mike Myers, Bob Newhart, Ben Stiller, Lily Tomlin, Keenen Ivory Wayans and Betty White, among others.

The season opens up with Bob Newhart and Louis C.K. but the most interesting of the first couple episodes is the one with Jim Carrey and Keenen Ivory Wayans because of their shared history and even though each comedian is interviewed separately, their crossed paths does get brought up as well as what Carrey thought about being “The White Guy” on In Living Color. It is unclear when these interviews were tapped by Tina Fey mentioned a film she is filming with Steve Carell which I assumed was 2010’s Date Night.

Some highlights from the first couple episode includes C.K. talking about Pootie Tang and why you should never ask him for a picture, Newhart talks about who gave up with the iconic series finale and also puts country music fans on blast. Fey talks about portraying Sarah Palin while Apatow talks about his time being roommates with Adam Sandler. Drew Carey talks about how he missed his first chance to be on The Tonight Show and Wayans reminisces on his first gig… which was at a Racquetball convention.

Inside Comedy airs Mondays at 11:00 on Showtime. You can download the previous season of Inside Comedy on iTunes.

Previewing Alpha Dogs

If you happen to wonder what I do with my free time, it is mostly spent thinking of possible Hollywood reboots like Turner and Hooch with Steve Stiffler filling in for Tom Hanks, Ramona Flowers as the vet love interest and Carl Winslow would naturally get promoted to chief (surprisingly no studio executives have hired me as a consultant for their reboot departments yet). Despite all the time I have devoted to resurrecting the dog cop classic, I never gave much thought about how you train a K-9 unit.

That is until I saw Alpha Dogs which premieres this Friday at 9:00 on Nat Geo Wild. The new series follows the trainers at Vohne Liche Kennels located in Indiana, one of the largest K-9 kennels in the world which provides law assisting pups to local police, SWAT teams, border patrol, and every branch of the military, including some outfits us average citizens are not privy to. They even have top security clearances and some of the people they train to use their dogs have to have their faces blocked out “for national security reasons”. The team teaches handlers and dogs to leap from helicopters, rappel down buildings, search buildings and cars for explosives and drugs, and chase down human targets. The dogs can even be trained to find illicit cell phones in prison cells and money being brought through airports as part of laundering schemes.

The show, brought to you be Jack Osborne (before you scratch your head, if I am not mistaken, Jack starred in a misguided celebrity police show that also took place in Indiana so he obviously made some connections), is full of a couple characters that you would expect on a show like this, really anyone willing to play a bad guy decoy for dogs or hang out with live explosives is probably going to be an interesting person (or just really hard up for cash). These are the type of people where you are going to see more mullets than sleeves and go turtling in their down time. If you want to know what turtling is, you will have to tune in to find out. I will give you a hint by saying it is something you will never see me doing.

Alpha Dogs airs Friday at 9:00 on Nat Geo Wild with back to back episodes.

The 20 Greatest Charity Supergroups of All Time

In honor of one of the most charitable Super Bowls ever where the referees gave the championship to the Baltimore Ravens in the second most lopsidedly officiated Championship Game in my lifetime (the first being the Steelers over the Seahawks which gives me a little satisfactions that the refs love the AFC North so much if the Browns miraculously ever make a Super Bowl appearance in my lifetime). More on the game in my Best of the Week roundup on Saturday. As for the Greatest Charity Supergroups of All-Time, unfortunately there are not a lot of them; I found a little fewer than thirty. Seriously, why there are not more of them, there should be one after every tragedy in addition. And I am sure there is still plenty of famine still left in Africa, where half of these charities went to, a favorite cause in the eighties which kicked of the charity supergroup trend. Oh well, here is my list.

1. We Are the World – USA For Africa (1985)
Raised Money For: Famine relief in Ethiopia
Best Line: Bruce Springsteen singing the chorus
Weirdest Transition: Dionne Warwick to Willie Nelson
Who Invited: Dan Aykroyd


2. Do They Know It’s Christmas – Band Aid
Raised Money For: Famine relief in Ethiopia
Best Line: Well tonight thank God it’s them instead of you - Bono
Weirdest Transition: Sting and Simon LeBon
Who Invited: Spandau Ballet


3. Just Stand Up – Stand Up 2 Cancer
Raised Money For: Stand Up 2 Cancer (2008)
Best Line: You don’t gotta be a prisoner in your mind, you can live your life (yeah) let your heart be your guide – Mary J. Blige
Weirdest Transition: Beyonce to Carrie Underwood
Who Invited: Miley Cyrus


4. We’re All in the Same Gang – West Coast Rap All Stars
Raised Money For: Promoted an anti-violence message
Best Line: Don’t you know we got to put our heads together – Michel’le
Weirdest Transition: N.W.A. to Young MC
Who Invited: Humpty Hump


5. What’s Going On – Artists Against Aides Worldwide (2002)
Raised Money For: AIDS programs in Africa and other impoverished regions, 9/11 Relief
Best Line: Oh my father, father, we don’t need to escalate – Nora Gaye
Weirdest Transition: Gwen Stefani to Aaron Lewis
Who Invited: Fred Durst… rapping

6. Voices That Care – Voices That Care (1991)
Raised Money For: U.S. troops involved in Operation Desert Storm
Best Line: You are the voice and the guiding light. Feel in your heart how our love burns bright – Warren Wiebe
Weirdest Transition: Ralph Tresvant to Randy Travis
Who Invited: Mike Tyson (seriously, who put him next to Debbie Gibson)

7. Stars – Hear n Aid
Raised Money For: famine relief in Africa
Best Line: The epic guitar solos as a whole
Weirdest Transition: None, a very homogeneous group
Who Invited: Spinal Tap

8. Wavin’ Flag – Young Artists for Haiti (2010)
Raised Money For: People of Haiti after the 2010 earthquake
Best Line: If you weren't involved before it's never too late to start - Drake
Weirdest Transition: Drake to Nicki Yanofsky
Who Invited: Tom Cohrane

9. Self Destruction – The Stop the Violence Moment (1989)
Raised Money For: National Urban League
Best Line: I never ever ran from the Klu Klux Klan and I shouldn’t have to run from a black man – Kool Moe Dee
Weirdest Transition: Ms. Melodie to Doug E Fresh
Who Invited: Tone Loc

10. Give Peace a Chance – The Peace Choir (1991)
Raised Money For: In response to the imminent Gulf War
Best Line: Liberation ahhhhhhhhhh – Rev Run
Weirdest Transition: LL Cool J to Iggy Pop
Who Invited: Dweezil Zappa

11. Sun City – Artists United Against Apartheid (1985)
Raised Money For: protest apartheid in South Africa
Best Line: We’re stabbing our brothers and sisters in the back – Bruce Springsteen. Bono
Weirdest Transition: George Clinton to Joey Ramone
Who Invited: The Fat Boys (did one of them seriously get kissed by Bono?)

12. Across the Universe – 2005 Grammy’s
Raised Money For: Tsunami Relief
Best Line: Something’s gonna change my world – the choir
Weirdest Transition: Alicia Keys to Scott Weiland
Who Invited: Steven Tyler’s maracas

13. Give a Kidney – Kidney Now (2009)
Raised Money For: National Kidney Foundation
Best Line: Listen, when someone starts talking in the middle of a song, you know it’s serious – Elvis Costello
Weirdest Transition: Wyclef Jean, Steve Earle, and Michael McDonald
Who Invited: Clay Aiken

14. Do They Know it’s Hallowe’en – The North American Hallowe'en Prevention Initiative
Raised Money For: UNICEF
Best Line: Don’t know
Weirdest Transition: Take your pick
Who Invited: Elvira, Mistress of the Dark

15. Sing – Annie Lennox featuring Various Artists (2007)
Raised Money For: HIV/AIDS
Best Line: Sing my sister sing – Annie Lennox
Weirdest Transition: None because of only two lead vocals
Who Invited: Madonna

16. Tears Are Not Enough – Northern Lights (1985)
Raised Money For: famine relief in Ethiopia
Best Line: It’s the time to take our message everywhere, ya know! – Cory Hart
Weirdest Transition: Cory Hart and the French people
Who Invited: Eugene Levy

17. H.E.A.L. Yourself – Human Education Against Lies (1991)
Raised Money For: H.E.A.L. Project
Best Line: Before you’re a color, first you are a human – KRS-One
Weirdest Transition: None, a very homogeneous group
Who Invited: Freddie Foxxx

18. Perfect Day – BBC (1997)
Raised Money For: Children in Need
Best Line: Just a perfect day, drink sangria in the park – Lou Reed
Weirdest Transition: Tammy Wynette to Shane MacGowan
Who Invited: the dude from Fun Lovin’ Criminals

19. Beds Are Burning (TckTckTck) – Time for Climate Justice (2009)
Raised Money For: Climate Change
Best Line: Now this village lives and breathes in forty five degrees – the dude from the Scorpions
Weirdest Transition: pretty much everyone in the Hodge podge of world artists
Who Invited: Talia al Guil

20. What More Can I Give - Michael Jackson and Friends
Raised Money For: Victims of 9/11
Best Line: We should give over and over again - Michael Jackson
Weirdest Transition: Reba McEntire to Aaron Carter
Who Invited: Billy Gilman


Honorable Mention
Let It Be - Gylne Tider: This did not make the list on account that it is not an actual charity single, but some Norwegian television hosts that tricked a bunch of long forgotten stars into thinking they were recording a charity single. No “Who invited…” because I would just end up writing every name of everyone involved.


Dishonorable Mention
We Are the World 25 – Arists for Haiti: Just a complete abomination

Previewing Monday Mornings

I like to complain that the only shows on television these days feature cops, lawyers, or doctors but with House and Private Practice ending last year, if I am not mistaken one of the few doctors left on television last fall was Dr. Sheldon Cooper and as a theoretical physicist, he faints at the sight of blood so he won’t be performing surgery anytime soon. For those that miss the more traditional doctors, tonight sees the premiere of Monday Mornings created by David E Kelly, his first trek back into the operating room since creating Chicago Hope in 1994, and based on the book of CNN’s chief medical correspondent (and almost Surgeon General of the United States) Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

What sets Monday Mornings apart is at the start of every week the chief of staff Alfred Molina (Spider-Man 2) sits down with his surgeons and makes everyone who made a mistake the previous week come up to the front of the lecture hall to explain in agonizing detail just what wrong in the operating room and what they should have done differently. These meetings are painful and Molina is relentless and scary in his line of questioning it is surprising he has not made one cry (yet). These scenes are so great that if these meeting made up the majority of the show I would be tuning in every week.

Unfortunately much like Dr. Sheldon Cooper, I hate the sight of blood except when it is cartoonish horror movie blood. But for those that do like medical porn, you will see inside a person’s brain within the first minute of the show. And since there are a couple neurosurgeons on the show, you will be seeing inside the skulls of many of patients throughout the series. Other cases you will see this season is a woman with incontrollable (except when consuming wine) hand tremors, a thirteen year old who refuses surgery, and a schizophrenic (played by Once Upon a Time’s Jiminy Cricket) who cannot provide the consent for life-saving surgery.

Joining Molina is Ving Rhames (Con Air), the Trauma Chief who is about as menacing as Alfred. The always intimidating Bill Irwin (Hot Shots!) is the local Chief of Transplantation who gets under the skin of the other doctors who thinks he just stands around hoping for their patients to die so he can harvest their parts. With all that hardheadedness, Jamie Barber (Battlestar Galactica) is the complete opposite of his co-workers who gets way too sensitive whenever he loses a patient (and my bet for the first doctor to cry at a Monday morning meeting). His partner, in possibly more ways than one, is Jennifer Finnigan (Committed) a neurosurgeon just as compassionate as Barber.

But my favorite character, which is saying a lot whenever Ving in a part of a cast, is Keong Sim (The Last Airbender) as a Korean emigrant and English speaking challenged who gives simple blunt answers like when asked what the worse case scenario is, “worse case: dead.” The rest of the cast includes Sarayu Roa (Lions for Lambs) who dates Finnigan’s real life husband Jonathan Silverman (Weekend at Bernie's) and Emily Swallow (Southland), the most inexperienced doctor on staff.

Monday Mornings airs Mondays at 10:00 (in the evenings, not the mornings) on TNT. You will be able to download Monday Mornings on iTunes.

57 Channels and Only This Is On - 2/3/13

Shameless: The show has had some pretty immoral storyline (like this week when Frank tried to scam the Make a Wish Foundation) but they did do something right by organizing a mob to give a beating to a child rapist, a group of people that certainly deserve a ritual beating by the general public. Of course this being Shameless, the perp ended up being a hot chick. But I guess Lip was right that they need scorned too.

Bunheads: I would have absolutely no problem if they shifted the show away from ballet to roller derby. Not at all.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Bunheads on iTunes.

Deception: I am ready to fast forward to the part where we learn the mother killed Vivian. She seems like the only plausible person at this point (except maybe the sister in law who looks keen on skipping town).
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Deception on iTunes.

Pretty Little Liars: So Allison may have been pregnant before she died and may have been killed because of it (and not so coincidently the detective assigned to her murder who is eager to blame it on the Liars happened to be in the vicinity during the conception). Not that I am one to believe CeCe, but an interesting turn of events nonetheless. Not so interesting is Spencer’s spiral this week. Just tell your friends your ex-boyfriend is part of the A-Team and get on with it. And is it not obvious that the key goes to the creepy motel when the A-Team hung out in? That would have been the first place I looked.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.

Justified: This was an odd episode. No mention of the skydiver plotline and it kind of wrapped up two other plots with Raylan’s girlfriend going into the wind with her husband going back to Florida in restraints. It was even more shocking that they abruptly ended the preacher who I thought would be a thorn in Boyd’s side all season (granted it is probably not completely over with his sister still around and I have a feeling she will reunite with Ellie May at some point). But the sandbag shotgun may have been the greatest invention ever.
You can download Justified on iTunes.

The Americans: I had high hopes for this show after the lackluster offering there was this Fall (the best new show, Last Resort, has already aired its last episode) and though it will under up being the best new show of the season (with all due respect to The Neighbors) the premiere was missing something. I went into the show thinking it would be Justified meets Homeland with Russians. But it misses the subtle humor of Justified (which like The Americans is produced by Graham Yost) and misses the manic craziness of Homeland (though the kids on the show manage to be even more clueless than Chris Brody). And I felt a little creepy seeing Keri Russell get violated multiple times over the course of an hour. I also found it a little weird, and obvious, that the new FBI anti-communism task force member just happened to move across the street (which begs the question, who hangs out in the corner of their garage with a silencer). With that said, I am still on board for a full season. And I have a feeling that the season finale will be the two KGB agents turning themselves in and season two will be them acting as double agents.
You can download The Americans on iTunes.

The Big Bang Theory: I had the exact same response Penny had when Sheldon admitted there was a possibility that he may at some point make coitus with Amy at some point.
You can stream recent episodes over at CBS.com. You can also download The Big Bang Theory on iTunes.

King of the Nerds: Note to producers: during the explanation phase, do not show the actually players scoring because it ruined the suspense of the Nerd Off. If you show the red ball go into the goal and then the pink haired girl gets the red ball we know that she would get at least one goal and would probably win.

Best of the Week - 2/2/13

Quote of the Week: I am just here to look my enemy in the eye and since your daddy is two feet shorter than I am, I guess you’ll have to do. (J.R. Ewing, Dallas)

Song of the Week: In the Air Tonight – Phil Collins (The Americans)

Scene of the Week:


Big News of the Week: Deer Antlers Are the New Cow Steroids: It is clear that athletes will do anything to get ahead. A week after Lance Armstrong admitted that he was doping during all of his Tour de France championships, possible double murderer Ray Lewis (just ask Wes Welker’s wife) was accused of injecting himself with deer antlers which apparently are the fastest growing animal part in the world. Despite denying it, it seems plausible because, well, all athletes clearly cheat now a days, there is no way to test for deer antler juice, and Lewis got back from an arm injury a couple months ahead of schedule. So for those unsure of who to root for this Sunday, you probably should not root for the murdering cheaters.

Preview Picture of the Week:

Morning Mornings premieres Monday at 10:00 on TNT

Free Download of the Week: One – U2 (Google Play)

Deal of the Week: 100 Albums for $5: This month’s five dollar album deals include Prince, R.E.M., Jewel, and Ctpress Hill:


New Album Release of the Week: Smokey Mary - Harry Connick Jr.

New DVD Release of the Week: Peter Pan (Two-Disc Diamond Edition Blu-ray/DVD Combo in Blu-ray Packaging)

Video of the Week: Last year History broke records with their Hatfields & McCoys miniseries and in a month from now (3/3/13) they look to keep that momentum going with their next dramatization of historical events with the nine episode scripted series Vikings starring Gabriel Byrne and Jessalyn Gilsig. Check out the latest promo below:


Next Week Pick of the Week: Community, Thursday at 8:00 on NBC: NBC seems to be cleaning house in the comedy department this year canceling The Office, 30 Rock, switching Up All Night to being filmed in front of a studio audience and the green lighting broader comedies like Go On and The New Normal. So canning its creator, being relegated to Fridays before getting an early February premiere date, it may be safe to assume that Community will not be featuring fifth year seniors next season. Chevy Chase has even already folded up shop a couple episodes early. So enjoy these last thirteen episodes before the show likely joins 30 Rock and The Office in the Peacock dustbin. Hopefully Alison Brie will have already have a new show or two lined up for next fall by then because with no more Community and Pete Campbell getting an apartment in the city, I fear there may not be much Alison Brie on my television come 2014.

Some of Those that Wear Forces Are the Same that Burn Crosses

Back in the post-Nirvana wild west of early nineties MTV, it seemed like anyone could get their fifteen minutes of fame no matter how weird they were (seriously, remember Ween?). Thinking back it is amazing that a band like Rage Against the Machine could get so big: two number one albums and three multi-platinum albums. Sure they did not invent the rap-metal fusion, which probably goes to Faith No More (unless you count the time Run-DMC teamed up with Aerosmith). But as good as Faith No More was, their rapping always seemed like a novelity, and I am sure in some circles they are just considered a one hit wonder.

Even more amazing was how Rage became such pioneers in the musical landscape (just do not blame them for the blasphemy that turned out to be Limp Bizkit, the douchebag you knew in college with the “Free Mumia” sign in his window even though he could not tell you the difference between Mumia and Mustafa, or Paul Ryan) was there was a very strong message which can been seen right on their debut album cover, this month’s induction into the Scooter Hall of Fame, which depicts a monk who set himself on fire protesting an anti-Buddhist regime. It was only highlighted by the opening track Bombtrack which repeated the line, “Burn, burn, yes you’re gonna burn.”

Rage Against the Machine even had their breakout MTV moment when the former music channel picked up their most politically charged song and video Freedom as a Buzzworthy selection and put it into heavy rotation. In-between a vigorous live show, featuring a very sweaty fat young kid, the video gave us a history lesson about Leonard Peltier who did not receive a fair trial when convicted of killing two FBI officers. But for the most agro for your buck, there is Killing in the Name Of which builds and builds until lead singer Zack de la Rocha (and pretty much every male under the age of forty within earshot) starts screaming “(Expletive deleted) you I won’t do what you tell me.”

Rage Against the Machine (WARNING: the next line will make you feel old) turned twenty late last year and included the prerequisite rerelease with plenty of different version that includes demo full DVD of a concert and music videos (the most bare bones version you can currently download for only $2.99) which will have frat boys and Paul Ryan raging for another twenty years.

Previewing Do No Harm

Sometimes it seems like the only drama on network television are about cops, doctors or lawyers. Last year NBC tried to shake up one of those genres with Awake where a cop lived two separate lives, one where his wife survived a car accident, the other his son. I pondered at the time who would watch the show? Procedural fans would be scared off by the weird sci-fi element and sci-fi fans would stay away from a procedural. It turns out I was right as the show died a slow and little watched death before being canceled.

Not to be deterred, NBC announced another Awake sounding show last fall and will be airing it at the same day at the same time of the year that Awake aired. But instead of living in two different realities, the main character in Do No Harm lives two different lives. Yep he has a split personality. And instead of being a cop, it is another television trope of being a Doctor (this is a updated version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde).

Steve Pasquale fills the shoes of the brilliant neurosurgeon and his evil counterpoint. He was arguably the most consistently entertaining actor on Rescue Me always ready for some great comic relief but really does not pull off the dual role on the show. The best parts are when he is the evil version which tends to be humorous for the most part, but I am not entirely sure if that is intentional. Also included in the cast are the underused (at least in the premiere) are Phylicia Rashad (The Cosby Show) as his boss and Samm Levine (Not Another Teen Movie). The always attractive Alana de la Garza (Law and Order which means she is now a cop away from hitting the procedural trifecta) as a fellow doctor who catches the eye of both personalities.

Do No Harm starts off with the good doctor keeping his alter ego suppressed for the past five years with medication. The only problem is that the evil half has built up immunity to the drug and has five years worth of debauchery to get to. With the drugs no longer working, the good doctor homes to make a truce with his bad half to do no harm, which I do not think will go over well. And do not ask me why the doctor does not lock himself up every night like a werewolf. The two switch places at 8:25 in the morning and the evening each day (there is a humorous suggestion about moving across the globe so they can experience different times of the day).

Like Awake, Do No Harm has an interesting concept, but much like Awake, it is doubtful Do No Harm gets a second season, and I am not sure it will end up all of its episodes.

Do No Harm airs Thursdays at 10:00 on NBC. You will be able to stream recent episodes after they air on Hulu. You will also be able to download Do No Harm on iTunes where you can currently download the premiere already for free.

I Won’t Treat You Like You’re oh so Typical

When you hear the name Tegan and Sara you probably conjure up adjectives like folky, moody, and / or lesbian. But like indie queen Liz Phair before them, being indie darlings does not do a very good job at paying the bills. Despite six well received albums, the sisters never managed to have a hit songs on the charts here stateside and were not even able to get one until their last album in their Canadian homeland. They look to change that with the release of the decisively more poppy seventh album Heartthrob.

Much like when I first heard Phair’s no longer being exiled in guyville pop turn with Why Can’t I, my first thought when I heard Closer, the first single off of Heartthrob, was, this is catchy, but I feel a little dirty considering the source. But where Phair when full mainstream on those album with songs of the chick rock pop of the early 00’s, Tegan and Sara travel back to the syth-pop mainstream of the 80’s (and carried on today by bands like Metric).

To get this sound they brought in producer Greg Kurstin of The Bird and the Bee who gave a similar sound to It's Not Me, It's You - Lily Allen’s sophomore album. The problem though is the album sounds too homogeneous and even at just over a half an hour it starts to drag on eventually with the lack of diversity. Heartthrob manages to draw the line very well where they are poised to pick up more pop minded fans without alienating their core fan base, but I’ll probably continue to walk with the ghost instead.

Song to Download – Closer

Heartthrob gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.

Previewing Diggers

After the History mini-series, the Hatfields & McCoys are having a big comeback of sorts into pop culture. The feud’s biggest climax, the New Year’s Day Massacre where the Hatfield’s burned down the McCoy homestead in the hopes of killing the patriarch celebrated its 125th anniversary this year. Surprisingly in those 125 years, no one has found where the two story McCoy house once stood. In fact no artifacts have been dug up before. Until now.

The new National Geographic Channel show Diggers are traveling to the Kentucky / West Virginia border to uncover long lost artifacts from the time of the feud including where the former home of the McCoy’s once stood. The diggers in the title are George “KG” Wyant and Tim “Ringy” Saylor are amateur scientists. Indiana Jones these guys are not, as they are armed with nothing but metal detectors and a shovel. But they are easily excited but each and every find and have created their own lingo for when they are out digging (do not worry, they definition pop up on the screen to help you out).

Ironically the land where the McCoy’s once lived is now owned by a descendant of the Hatfeild’s. Wyant and Saylor do find a bunch of bullet fragments that they believe could have been from the New Year’s Day Massacre and think they have found where the house of the McCoy’s once stood. You will have to turn in to see if actually archaeologist confirm that they found are the remains of the McCoy homestead.

Diggers airs Tuesdays at 10:00 on the National Geographic Channel with back to back episodes.

Previewing Dallas 2.x

Let’s go ahead and get this out of the way first: the great Larry Hagman passed away in the middle of filming the second season of Dallas. Which means this will be the last time we will see one of the great all time television villains of all time on screen. My sources tell me that the funeral for J.R. Ewing will be held during the eighth episode of the season, set to air March 11 which will feature many Dallas vets, some of which have yet to appear on the new version.

No word on how they will deal with J.R.’s death on screen (or if we will be getting another Who Shot J.R. mystery), but the character certainly is not going out with a whimper. Like last season the elder Ewing still has the best lines (like his distaste for the amount of male secretaries at Ewing Enterprises) and is still doing plenty of double dealings and manages in a couple blackmails for good measure just in the two hour premiere tonight.

When we left off, Christopher learned that his wife as not the Rebecca Sutter he thought he married and we learned that she was the real offspring of the Ewing’s bane Cliff Barnes (which would have made the newlyweds, if I am reading the family tree right, cousins by adoption). Christopher reluctantly teamed up with his other cousin (in a less skevy way) when him, J.R. Jr. and Bobby created Ewing Energies.

The new season starts up a couple weeks later, Rebecca (get ready to call her by a new name this season) has been in hiding ever since Christopher learned she was not who she seemed. It is on the eve of the election and by the end of the night you will learn if Sue Ellen will be the next governor of Texas. But the most interesting part of the new season involves Assistant Director Walter Skinner, who was promoted to the series regular this season, who pulls something tonight that is more shocking than anything that happened in the first season (which is saying a lot). And just when you wonder how someone could get so evil, we meet his mother, Judith Light, who is definitely the Boss in the family.

Dallas airs Mondays at 9:00 on TNT. You can download previous episodes of Dallas on iTunes.

57 Channels and Only This Is On - 1/27/12

Once Upon a Time: I do not understand why Belle does not remember who Mr. Gold is, I thought if they cross the city line they only forget the fairytale land but still remember Storybrooke. I guess I should not assume that the writers of Lost would remember their own rules. Also, no one cares about Dr. Frankenstein.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Once Upon a Time on iTunes.

Shameless: It looks like we are going to get a power struggle within the Gallagher family as Fiona tries to do things the right way while Lip continues to do it the way the family always has, stealing and scamming. Being that this is Shameless, I have a feeling Lip’s way will win out because I really doubt that Fiona will continue at a loss just to try to dig her way out of her situation. When Frank came back from Mexico I wondered where he landed because he already got kicked out of Sheila’s, his family would not take him back, and the last person he cohabitated with died. Apparently it is back to Shelia’s house, but I still do not see that lasting long.

How I Met Your Mother: Wait, Barney’s half sister is Hanna from Pretty Little Liars? Was this common knowledge? I vaguely remember Barney learning his dad was John Lithgow but I do not remember ever meeting his sister. And how did Lithgow possibly produce someone who looks like Hanna? But I have to admit, I kind of would like Hanna to be the mother.
You can stream recent episodes over at CBS.com. You can also download How I Met Your Mother on iTunes.

Bunheads: I do not really care about what happened this week because all I can remember is the promo for next week featuring roller derby. Awesome.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Bunheads on iTunes.

Castle: Hasn’t the show already done a Girls Gone Wild episode? Or is it just every other crime show has done one and it just seems like everyone has done one at this point?
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Castle on iTunes.

Pretty Little Liars: Allison was extremely busy on her last day (assuming that Aria was hallucinating and really is dead). She had a sleepover with the Liars, met with that dude who is now dead, had a run in with Jenna and Garrett, blackmailed Mr. Montgomery, and now Melissa is the last person to see her alive. At least until Melissa saw Allison with someone else. I am sure at some point we will learn she had a run-in with Ezra who was not even living there at the time before meeting her demise.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.

The Lying Game: I feel a little cheated we did not get a full tennis match between Emma and Sutton, that could have been the whole episode and I would have been fine with it. On the bright side, no more Thayer, he overstayed his welcome a long time ago.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download The Lying Game on iTunes.

Justified: So it turns out Robert Quarrels’ Detroit boss has been taking some trips down to Dixie because his name interestingly came up during the interrogation scene this week. One thing that is not interesting is the whole snake preacher storyline. I am ready for the to end anytime now.
You can download Justified on iTunes.

Parenthood: Those Braverman’s are really a fertile bunch (except for Julia of course). That makes nine grandkids for Zeke (not even including Drew’s mistake). That makes three pregnancies and an adoption in four seasons. I would project Sarah gets knocked up next season, except she picked the dude who went to Minnesota (seriously, who goes from California to Minnesota, the Lakers made the right transition). Maybe Amber is up next.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Parenthood on iTunes.

Nashville: I really liked seeing Rayna and Juliette going at each other on tour these last couple episode, but it is only get better throwing Deacon in the mix… in Juliette’s band. The only way it could get better if they hired both Avery and whatever they are calling Scarlett’s new band as opening acts.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Nashville on iTunes.

Last Resort: I guess you really cannot say the ending was rushed because it obviously was as they had to cram an entire series into the last couple episodes. But I am still a bit disappointed we never learned of the conspiracy as to why the president did what he did. Was he just an evil Neo-Con? But it is clear that the that the show would have benefitted had it just been a six episode or so miniseries because it started out strong and came on at the end when they realized it would be canceled, but really dragged in-between.
You can stream recent episodes on Last Resort on iTunes.

Best of the Week - 1/26/13

Quote of the Week: Break out the white sunglasses and the Dane Cook CD because you and I are going out raging tomorrow night with the Douchebag Twins! (Marty Kaan, House of Lies)

Song of the Week: One Week – Barenaked Ladies (as sung by Sheila’s Pets, Suburgatory)

Scene of the Week:


Big News of the Week: Barck Obama Inaugurated... Again: Can someone explain to me why a sitting president needs to be swore in again at the beginning of his second term? Is once not enough? Just seems like a waste of time and money. But if there is one thing the government is good at it is wasting time and money.

Preview Picture of the Week:

Dallas Season 2 Premiere Monday at 9:00 on TNT

Free Download of the Week: True North – Bad Religion (iTunes)

Deal of the Week: Babel (Deluxe Edition) by Mumford and Sons for only $3.99.

New Album Release of the Week: Heartthrob - Tegan and Sara

New DVD Release of the Week: Pan Am - The Complete Series

Video of the Week: A week and a half until the triumphant return of Community (sans creator Dan Harmon and Chevy Chase who followed him out near the end of filming the season). To tide you over the final twelve days of its hiatus, here is a musical mash-up from the show.


Next Week Pick of the Week: The Americans, Wednesday at 10:00 on FX: As we enter this cold winter without Homeland, we have to find something to keep us warm until its return in September. Hopefully The Americans can fill the void even though instead of the CIA, it is the KGB… in the eighties. But if it is half as good as Homeland, or network-mate Justified, I will be happy. I just have a fear that Keri Russell will have me rooting for the Russians by the end of the season.

Around the Tubes - 1/25/13

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 The Abominable Snowman, Conan, Adam Ant, House of Cards, V, The Eagles, The Cold Light of Day, That Obscure Object of Desire, Bangkok Assassins, The Liability, Silver Rush, Doomsday Preppers, and Upload with Shaquille O’Neal.

- It has been bitterly cold here for the last week and that looks to continue through the weekend, so if you are wisely staying in, the latest Syfy movie The Abominable Snowman premieres tomorrow at 9:00. Check out the trailer below:


- If you remember a couple weeks back I mentioned that Conan would be doing an all crowd sourced episode, well a date for air has been set so tune in January 31 to see if your submission made it to air. You can also follow along with Conan O’Brien who will blog live during the episode through the Team Coco Tablet App.

- You cannot have an eighties party without playing Goody Two-Shoes and now Adam Ant is finally entering the new millennium with his first album in seventeen-years this week: Adam Ant Is the BlueBlack Hussar Marrying the Gunner's Daughter. You can also check out his music video for the lead single Cool Zombie.

- Netflix famously rebooted Arrested Development, but their first attempt at original content hits the streaming site February 1. And by hit, I mean hit, all thirteen episodes of House of Cards will be available to stream next Friday. Based on the BBC miniseries of the same name, this wicked political drama starring Kevin Spacey, Robin Wright and Kate Mara, slithers beneath the curtain and through the back halls of greed, sex, love and corruption in modern Washington, D.C.

- Cee-Lo’s protégé V has just released a video for Free Bird (yes, that Free Bird) in honor of the recent inauguration. The song will be on her upcoming Visitors Collection EP.

- The Eagles documentary History of the Eagles just premiered at Sundance and for those that could not make it to Utah, Showtime will be airing the film in two parts, part one will debut Friday February 15 at 8:00 while part two will air the following night at the same time.

- Out on blu-ray and / or DVD next week include The Cold Light of Day starring the future Superman Henry Cavill, That Obscure Object of Desire co-written and directed by two-time Academy Award nominee Luis Buñuel, Bangkok Assassins choreographed by famed stuntman Somchai Munma, and The Liability starring Tim Roth.


- Film crews for the Discovery Channel series were onboard Odyssey's ships during 2012 operations and captured the record-breaking recovery of 48 tons of silver bullion from the Gairsoppa site. Silver Rush Premieres February 12 at 10:00.

- Who says you cannot find love at the end of the world? Just in time for Valentine’s Day, the February 12th episode of Doomsday Preppers will feature Jeff, a bachelor on the lookout for love, not only work on his bunker, but also go on multiple dates to find his prepper mate.

- New show alert! Upload with Shaquille O’Neal is set to launch February 21 on TruTV where the basketball great will put his own hilarious spin on online videos. Each week on the show, Shaq and his comic friends – co-hosts Gary Owen (Think Like a Man) and Godfrey (The Mr. Men Show) – will scour the internet looking for the funniest online videos and comment on them.