I Want My Music Television: 4/2/14

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


Empire - Shakira


I may be reading into it too much but the whole runaway bride could explain why Shakira has yet to walk down the aisles with her baby daddy. And I usually do not comment on these sorts of things, but whoever the cinematographer Shakira has been working with needs some sort of award because her last two are just absolutely beautifully shot.


Supernova - Ray LaMontagne


Listening to the new Ray Lamontange song and its seventies pop-rock vibe and hearing that he brought in The Black Keys Dan Auerbach to produce made me think that the singer is finally trying to be an actual rock star. He even released his very first music video. Sure it has the production value of your average lyric video, but hey, its baby steps.


Gulls – David Gray


Recently Coldplay went full Bon Iver for the first song off their upcoming album and it sounds like David Gray has been listening a lot to the Minnesota woodsman too. He even combined that sound with a trippy music video. Coldplay quickly followed up that Bon Iver sounding song with a more traditional sounding song, I hope the same goes for David Gray, but I am not really digging this new musical path.


High Ball Stepper – Jack White


As previously mentioned, I thought Coldplay releasing a Bon Iver meets Radiohead type song was a weird first impression to make. But at least it had words; the first song we get to hear off the upcoming Jack White album is an instrumental. But the paint and glitter in speakers motif of the music video is all sorts of awesome.

A Long, Long, Long, Long Time Ago, Before the Wind, Before the Snow

A year after the release of Blood Sugar Sex Magik, this month's induction into the Scooter Hall of Fame, the Red Hot Chili Peppers’s prior record label released a greatest Hits package entitled What Hits!? (the second most self aware greatest hit package after Jimmy Buffett's Song(s) You Know By Heart). It was a sly nod to the fact that their first four albums could at best be considered a modest success and a cheap way to cash in on the band’s new found stardom on a different label. Back during those eighties albums, the Peppers were lucky to get played during 120 Minutes but in the post-Nirvana world, videos from Blood Sugar Sex Magic were in heavy rotation on MTV and alternative radio that popped up in the early nineties.

Unlike some grunge coattail-riders like Stone Temple Pilots and Bush, the Chili Peppers may gave benefited from the music that came out of the Pacific Northwest, but they were something entirely different, a mix of rock, funk, and rap, with three musicians that pushed every boundary and a lyricist that poured his whole heart on the page. John Frusciante created some of the most inventive riffs of all time which played off well with Flea’s funky bass and his rhythm section partner, the underappreciated Chad Smith.

Even though Frusciante and Smith were on their second album with the band, but the missing ingredient may have been producer Rick Rubin. As he tends to do, Rick took the other the top, hyperactive group and focused them leading to a more cohesive and more easily accessible sound. Rubin also famously found Anthony Kiedis’ poetry book and convinced him to take one entitled Under the Bridge to the band. Of course that song ended up being the album’s breakout hit and remains one of the biggest in the band’s history.

Under the Bridge may have broke the band in a big way, but first single Give it Away opened the door. The song was just pure focused energy, punk rock mixed with a funky bass line which makes it danceable if mosh pits are not your thing. Then there was the Anton Corbin music video, filmed in black in white in the desert with each band member with an increasingly epic hairdo.

And the album is not just pure funk with the random power ballad in the middle; the Peppers pushed their sound with songs like Breaking the Girl. An acoustic track with weird percussion and other instrumentation that sounds like it came from a medieval fair, and somehow it worked completely. The album concludes with Sir Psycho Sexy (not counting quick hidden Robert Johnson cover), weird song that sounds like it was built around a pig inspired syth patch where Kiedis goes on for over eight minutes about a freak in the Garden of Eden and being stopped by lady cops in an explicit fashion.

A decade after the first greatest hits, the Red Hot Chili Pepper released a new best of album that is actually worthy of the title with many legitimate hits from subsequent albums. Well many legitimate hits and one song from the Dave Navarro era that most people would like to forget.

The Voice Season Six Battle Rounds I Power Rankings

I hate the Battle Rounds with a fiery passion. There may be four great performances in six season (none of which happened this season) and many more bad ones. It seems like best case scenario is that you get a complete train wreck. I thought the advent of the Steal in season three would make things better but it is now worse. Things have gotten even more predictable, I guessed 22 of the 24 winners before the contestants took the stage, one of the two I got wrong ended in a Steal anyway so it did not matter much. Plus it has become clear that each episode will end in a Steal so there is really no reason to watch it. And worse now that they are montaging Battle, that means no more train wrecks. Blake apparently forgetting the Erin Martin / The Shields Brothers debacle of a season two gave a female / male duet What’s Love Got to Do with It which may not have been as big a train wreck as the first time, but we will never know because it was montage. And in possible the worse rule change in the history of the show, they are actually adding a second Battle Round. Ugg. Hopefully they do more than three Battles per hour. Or just montage the whole round. But anyway. Here is my updated Power Ranking:

1. Sisaundra Lewis (Team Blake): Just like the coaches mentioned, let me bring up that note at the end: that was otherworldly. My goodness.

2. Madilyn Paige (Team Usher): I found it interesting that right before picking her, Usher talked about her maybe thriving on Blake or someone else’s team. When Usher said that it did give me pause that he may have picked the other guy even though this Battle seemed like the second most obvious winner of any Battle and that Madilyn deserved it. But could Usher’s comment be foreshadowing for the next round? I kind of hope so because I always thought she would be better off on Blake’s team.

3. Sam Behymer (Team Adam): I wanted to like Sam’s Blind Audition but it sounded like she was trying to add too many moments and when you try to make too many parts of a song a moment, nothing ends up being special about it. After the round I hopped that Adam would iron out those issues (the studio version of Royals was significantly better and maybe my favorite studio recording of the round). Thankfully on the rehearsals Adam and Aloe really hammered those out unnecessary moments and Sam ended up having one of the standout performances of the Battle Rounds. And since she had more control, when she hit the line, “give a little time to me we’ll burn this down” really stood out as a defining moment.

4. Audra McLaughlin (Team Blake): The Battle Round is my least favorite part of the show; it is really hard for anyone to stand out unless you completely blow your opponent out of the water. It is even worse when you go up against a duo and there were times when Audra felt like a third wheel and other times when she tried too hard to out[-sing two voices which ended up being too loud. But she clearly has one of the best voices in the competition and the studio version is significantly better than the live performance. Unfortunately there is another Battle Round this season, but on the bright side, there are no more duos left on Team Blake.

5. Josh Kaufman (Team Adam): I am under the assumption that singers get montaged for one of two reasons, because they were simply not good, or because they go up against a frontrunner in the Battle Round and maybe should have won. Even though Josh has the much better voice, I thought Austin Ellis may have actually had a slightly better performance. But I do think the song was more in Austin’s wheelhouse, and Josh has a much higher potential. The question is will Adam be able to find better songs that suit Josh from here on out that are better for him than Happy was.

6. Kaleigh Glanton (Team Blake): Is a familiar Battle Round scenario, coach pairs two singers of different styles, gives them a song that is in one of the singer’s wheelhouse, and then picks that singer as the winner. So when Blake gave Kaleigh and lounge singer Noah a Michael Buble song, I figured Carson might as well have raised Noah’s hand right then and there. Except Kaleigh amazingly did the lounge song better than the actual lounge singer.

7. Clarissa Serna (Team Shakira): It became apparent to me during the behind the scenes package that Clarissa should go with the straight hair more often.

8. Brittnee Camelle (Team Usher Adam): I did not think much of her Blind audition; probably that most had to do with the horrible song selection. But give this girl an actual good song and, wow. I do not know what Usher was thinking about letting her go. It may have been smarter to go with Shakira who took both her Steals to the Live Show last year while Adam, who did take three Steals to the Lives the first two seasons, dumped both his Steals in the Knockout Round last season even though they were probably better. Hopefully Adam gives her more sexy RnB and no cheesy pop songs but she is much better at the former.

9. Ddendyl (Team Shakira): Montage win… yawn.

10. Tess Boyer (Team Usher Blake): I have never been a fan of Janis Joplin so I definitely liked Tess’ more subtle approach to the song.

11. Morgan Wallen (Team Usher): Montage win… yawn.

12. Dawn and Hawkes (Team Adam): I talked earlier how it is hard for Audra to go up against a duo but it is also challenging for duos to go against a singular artist. You have to present yourselves as individuals, as a duo, and then force yourself into a trio for parts of the song. The performance was a bit sleepy which worked well for their first performance, but I wanted more during this round.

13. Patrick Thompson (Team Adam Shakira): When Adam did not choose him, I figured if anyone, Blake would steal him, possibly even Usher since he was similar Ryan Innes. I did not see Shakira being the only one to push her button.

14. Biff Gore (Team Usher Blake): I would have given Biff the slight edge in his battle but the song did benefit him a bit more because he can let go in the way that the song need.

15. T.J. Wilkins (Team Usher): I would have given the Battle to Biff, but T.J. may be around longer because while he is too clean to properly sing a song like Ain’t too Proud to Beg, he seems to be more versatile and with the right songs, he could be a dark horse this season.

16. Bria Kelly (Team Usher): I found this performance less annoying than the very shout-y Blind Audition, but she still remains a little too much for me. Unfortunately shout-y females (Juliet Simms, Jackie Lee) have done well on the show.

17. Kat Perkins (Team Adam): I had to laugh when Adam said, “It’s a shame that they are both together.” Hey idiot, you were the one that put them together. If you think they are both top five artists then why put them together. Unless you think the other three are also on your team. Granted Adam’s hubris probably thinks that. Even though I thought Patrick was better this round, both were definitely two of the top thirty-two singers this season and should have advanced. I would not go as far to say both, or either, are top five like Adam did.

18. Melissa Jimenez (Team Usher): A couple seasons ago, Loren Allred got montaged twice and then somehow advanced to the next round because she hit a note at the end her performance even though her opponent was much more consistent. Personally I would have taken Britnee who was much better throughout the battle than Melissa who only hit one great note.

19. Stevie Jo (Team Usher): I would have given Stevie Jo the win too, but mostly by default. Instead of both advancing, if I had the decision, I would have been content with both going home.

20. Delvin Choice (Team Adam): There were a few times this season where I would have been content if both would have been sent home, this was at the top of that list. If one had to advance, I guess Delvin was the right, I hate to do this, choice, because it sounded like Caleb Elder was singing “I’m a man.” Seriously, how do you mess up the lyrics in the title of the song?

21. Cierra Mickens (Team Shakira Usher): It is interesting that Shakira put Ciera and Emily together because for both singers I liked their Blind Auditions but wondered if I liked them because they picked songs that are hard to screw up. I did not like their Battle Round, but again, I wonder if it had more to do with the song selection, Brave is kind of boring and bland and there really is not much you can do with it. I guess I will have one more round to figure out if I like either.

22. Emily B (Team Shakira): Basically what I said about Cierra applies here.

23. Jake Barker (Team Usher Adam): I am surprised anyone wanted to Steal him, let alone all three. Grated it could have been very well that only Adam wanted him and Shakira hit her button because she always has to press her button second and Blake, well Blake just did it to irritate Adam. But in a season filled with unworthy four button pushes, it is only apropos that there was also an unworthy three button Steal.

24. Ryan Whyte Maloney (Team Blake): Yeah, not that surprising a dude singing What’s Love Got to Do with It got montaged. Oh Blake, what were you thinking? The Shields Brothers are the only dudes that should sing that song.

25. Jake Worthington (Team Blake): I have long assumed that performances get montaged because they were not good, if that is the case, I wonder how bad the montage Battles were that they did not shown so this Battle was. One of the worst Battles the show has ever aired.

26. Deja Hall (Team Shakira): Winning the least entertaining (shown) Battle does not make me think she will be going much further.

27. Josh Murley (Team Adam Shakira): Not the most head-scratching Steal ever, but you have to wonder what Shakira was thinking unless she has started to use the philosophy of the other coaches to treat their Steals like fodder. But that would be weird for Shakira whose best performer last year was a stolen artist. She would have been much better off stealing Alaska and Madi.

28. Christina Grimmie (Team Adam): Montage win… yawn.

29. Dani Moz (Team Shakira): There was a Battle last season when it seemed pretty clear that Shakira picked someone based solely not on who she thought was better but on the assumption that someone would steal the loser. I wonder if that was her thinking with Dani and De'Shawn Washington because my jaw dropped in shock when she picked Dani. Did she think just because Blake and Usher thought DeShawn won (Adam was indecisive) that one of them would steal him? If that is the case she may be overtaking Christina as the worst coach on the team.

30. Music Box (Team Shakira) Usher): I am all for pseudonyms, but Music Box does not work for a singular person. But this is not a reality show trying to find the greatest nom de plume, and her voice was way too over the top the whole time and was the main reason why this was the worst Battle of this round. And for the first time in the history of the Steal, Blake was not the coach who made the dumbest Steal of the season.

31. Kristen Merlin (Team Shakira): So after her big pitch to her two country artists that she secured this season was that Shakira would bring in Miranda Lambert to mentor them, they ended up montaging their battle. Alrighty. Maybe Miranda was not that good of a mentor.

32. Megan Rüger (Team Blake): Montage win… yawn.

As I always do, it is fun to see who has the strongest team. So I rank each contestant, giving one point to last place and thirty-two to number one and add up each team and here is how they stack up after the Battle Round:

Blake – 148
Adam – 148
Usher – 132
Shakira – 100

After the Blind Auditions, Shakira had a slight lead and now way at the bottom. It certainly did not help that she does not have anyone in my top eight. Bad pairings, bad picks, and some bad song selections did not help her. It is amazing that she got anyone to steal one of her artists when Blake was not poached once. Blake jumped from third to tied for first with Adam who was fourth and far behind after the Blind Auditions. Adam did have the best of the lackluster steals this season. But who care what I think? Here is how the iTunes buyers rank the Battle Round winners (and Steals) by how high they charted in the top 1500. I also included Blind Auditions that charted during the Battle Round to give you an idea of who may have some staying power this season.

1. Madilyn Paige (142)
2. Josh Kaufman (168)
3. Sam Behymer (266)
4. Kristen Merlin (371)
5. Jake Worthington (399)
6. Jake Baker (429)
7. Christina Grimmie (450)
8. Madilyn Paige – Titanium (455)
9. Stevie Jo (457)
10. Bria Kelly (459)
11. Clarissa Serna – Zombie (501)
12. Dawn and Hawkes – I’ve Just Seen a Face (507)
13. Kaleigh Glanton (507)
14. Christina Grimmie – Wrecking Ball (603)
15. Dawn and Hawkes (597)
16. Sisaundra Lewis (611)
17. Jake Worthington - Don’t Close Your Eyes (634)
18. Josh Kaufman – One More Try (742)
19. Kat Perkins (943)
20. Clarissa Serna (1111)
21. Morgan Wallen (1193)
22. Audra McLaughlin (1291)
23. Dani Moz (1314)
24. Bria Kelly – Steamroller Blues (1397)

The first thing I noticed from the iTunes list is how many contestants did not even show up in the top 1500: only 17 of the 32 advancing made the list. For comparison, last season 27 charted somewhere including three in the top 100. If you count the Blind Auditions, 36 songs charted sometime during the Battle Rounds. The second thing that jumped out at me was how high Kristen Merlin charted being montaged. Sure there have been a few that were montaged during the Battles that charted fairly high, Cassadee Pope made the Overall Top 200, last season, Holly Henry made the Top 100 Pop Charts. But those two had good selling Blind Auditions, Kristen’s Battle Round song charted 300 spots higher than her Blind Audition. Kristen even out charted Christina Grimmie despite the latter being touted as a YouTube star. I guess when your fan base is used to streaming your music for free, they are not that inclined to buy it. But it did help make Team Adam have 6 of his 8 member on the chart. Shakira only had three, even worse; one of those was the montage Kristen so six of her contestants who performances in full did not make the top 1500. To give a better idea of who is the most popular this season, I took the average of how high their first two songs charted and here is how those artists rank.

1. Josh Kaufman (152)
2. Madilyn Paige (158.5)
3. Chistina Grimmie (261.5)
4. Jake Worthington (269.5)
5. Bria Kelly (292.5)
6. Dawn and Hawkes (310.5)
7. Sam Behymer (408.5)
8. Stevie Jo (480)
9. Kaleigh Glanton (495)
10. Kristen Merlin (529.5)
11. Jake Barker (591.5)
12. Clarissa Serna (598.5)
13. Sisaundra Lewis (675.5)
14. Morgan Wallen (688.5)
15. Kat Perkins (697)
16. Audra McLaughlin (771.5)


Again, not an impressive showing compared to last season where 23 of those advancing to the third round had both their songs make the top 1500. Also, number one on this list, Josh, would have been the fourth highest on last season’s list behind Holly Henry who did not even have her second performance aired. Making things worse, last season had to compete with multiple marquee albums that come out in the fall, there still has not been a big name album to come out this year so far so you would think it would be easier to chart.

Now it is time some spoilery talk. The Battle Round II preview spoiled almost all the pairing except four, but two of those could be figured out by process of elimination, so there are only two Battles that are completely unclear (but can be assumed because of like genres). Looking at the Battle Round II match ups, some coaches made some dumb matchup because some of the higher iTunes charters are going up against each other. The other coaches may be wise to do some stealing, but I fear they will just go with more fodder. Here is the match ups, I listed who I think will win first and ordered the teams with how confident I am with my picks

Team Adam
Christina vs. Sam (S to Shakira)
Josh vs. Delvin (S to Usher)
Dawn and Hawkes vs. Kat
Jake vs. Brittnee (interesting that Adam would have his two stolen artists going against each other)

Team Blake
Sissaundra vs. Biff
Audra vs. Megan
Jake vs. Tess
Kaliegh vs. Ryan

Team Shakira
Clarissa vs. Dani (S to Adam)
Emily B. vs. Kristen
(Here are the two that are unclear but I am assuming these are the matchup based on similarities; again it will be odd that Shakira is pairing her two stolen artists)
Ddendyl vs. Deja
Patrick Thompson vs. Josh Murley

Team Usher
Melissa vs. Music Box
T.J. vs. Ceirra
Morgan vs. Stevie Jo
Bria vs. Madilyn (S to Blake)

So thanks to Usher and Adam, four of the top seven best selling singers on iTunes this season will be going up against each other. Since Bria is getting a major push (she closed out two episodes including the season premiere which is what I consider the pimpiest of the pimp slots) she is likely to win and despite being montage, I would still consider Christina the favorite in her second Battle (though it is entirely possible she got the Holly Henry treatment this season: heavily featured in first promo, early four chair turning Blind Audition, late Battle Round montage, out in the third round). If that is the case, that means the coffeehouse singer contingent, which has done fairly well on the show, especially iTunes, will be completely gone. Hopefully I am either wrong or coaches actually use their Steals wisely on Madilyn and / or Sam otherwise the show may see another dramatic drop in the rating again this season. I do not think it is a coincidence that the rating went way down the last two season when the coffeehouse singer fan favorites Caroline Glaser and Holly Henry went home prematurely. But the thing is as the ratings tanked the last two seasons as the show went on, the overall view ship stays mostly the same meaning the show is getting progressively older, much like American Idol in its middle seasons. Of course few people, young or old watch that show anymore these days . If The Voice keeps eliminating fan favorites before they can vote for them, they may quickly match American Idols in the ratings sooner than later.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 3/30/14

Shameless: Good news and bad news for Frank, he is now at the top of the liver donor list, bad news, he had to lose a kidney to get there. But since there are still two episodes left, there may still be some time for him to completely bottom out. But hopefully the episode is a lesson to anyone who thinks about turning to the black market for a vital organ.

The Walking Dead: Wow, we actually got our first glimpse of Terminus and it is not even the finale. I thought like the previous seasons, we would only get a glimpse of the next season’s setting with the last scene. So Maggie and Glen’s groups finally met up and made it there, I am guessing Tyrese and Carol will not be far behind. The big question is if Rick will make it with Darryl’s new buddies hot on their trail. It is probably nice that Rick has a man on the inside of the group. The other big question, will we actually learn what happened to Beth this season?
You can download The Walking Dead on iTunes.

Crisis: So the bad guys might not be all that bad as it looks like they are avenging some evil deeds by the CIA. They are just going with the any means necessary to expose the conspiracy instead of simply calling some new media to cover the story.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Crisis on iTunes.

Revenge: There are few things I hate more than the “x amount of time ealier’ place card at the beginning of episode, and Revenge is the worst at doing them because almost everyone makes you think Emily is in dire straits but by the time the scene plays out at the end of the episode, it always turns out that was her intent the whole time. So I knew as soon as we say Emily storm out the opera, she planned the whole thing, and yep, she planted the news of her fake pregnancy.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Revenge on iTunes.

The Voice: I am a big proponent of the Steal and in fact I am going to go ahead and take credit for the idea after pitching the idea during season two. Unfortunately except in the few rare exceptions (Amanda Brown, Caroline Glaser) the Steals are mostly wasted on fodder for the next round. I did find it interesting this season coaches started complaining when their talent did not receive a Steal. Shakira looked generally shocked that nobody picked up De'Shawn Washington (it seemed to me that she only picked Dani because she assumed DeShawn would get stolen). Then Adam physically got out his chair to call Usher an idiot for not stealing Alaska & Madi (Adam, maybe you should not have wasted a Steal on Jake Barker). I would have like to have seen one of the coaches steal both arists and I am not just saying that about the latter because Alaska looks like a combination of Selina Gomez and Victoria Justice (okay, I am mostly saying it because Alaska looks like a combination of Selina Gomez and Victoria Justice).

Both times, Usher explained his lack of a Steal on “waiting on something specific.” Then he stole Music Box. Yes, the same Music Box you missed if you blinked during her montage. Yes the same Music Box who was on the losing end of the worst battle that actually showed this season (which was hard to choose because there multiple stinkers this season which again makes me wonder just how bad the six montaged Battles were). And Usher followed that up by Stealing another female RnB singer who lost a lackluster Battle. So was the something specific that Usher was looking for were singers who had no chance of upsetting one of his original singers in the Battle Rounds II?

As it usually is with the Battle Rounds, there were none that I would classify as great and really only two that I would even call good, both that happened this week. There was the cuteness overload that was Madilyn Paige and Sam Behymer who had a breakout moment during her Battle. The rest this season ranged from average to why was this not montaged. At least now we can move onto the Knockout Round. Oh wait, those have been replaced with the Battle Rounds II. Ugg. Can they just montage the whole round and move straight to the Live Playoffs? Wait, the Playoffs are no longer live? Double ugg.


You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download songs performed this week with the widget at right.

How I Met Your Mother: For an entire season that took place on the weekend of a wedding, they sure skipped over the actually ceremony fairly quickly. I think Marshall and Lilly’s wedding got more screen time this week. Not that I am complaining, ever wedding should fly through the ceremony to get to the open bar.
You can stream recent episodes over at cbs.com. You can also download How I Met Your Mother on iTunes.

The Blacklist: When the old guy showed up as Ivan, I thought to myself, this old dude is the big hacker? I was expecting some teenager. It turns out I was on to something because Ivan was just a patsy. I actually liked that the villain of the week turned out not to be some supervillian that crossed path with Red and was instead just a lovelorn teenager. More importantly, Lizzie finally found out about her husband. And he was found out by some silly elephant instead of fingerprints I figured were left behind since he did not have time to destroy all incriminating evidence. But he has to know that is the case so it will be a little silly if he stickls around next week as if nothing happened.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download The Blacklist on iTunes.

Castle: Wait, Captain Gates has a family? Who knew?
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Castle on iTunes.

Justified: When Boyd continually insisted on smoking despite not actually being a smoker and being in a non-smoking room, I knew something was up. Did he sneak something sharp in the box? Did he poison all but one of the cigarettes in the pack? Nope, he packed it with explosives. Awesome. But the bigger news of the week: Kendall shot Art? Okay, it is obvious that he did not do it because his story did not line up with what we saw. Now the question is just how will Raylan prove that Daryl was the actual triggerman. I am guessing Wendy and Dewey will have something to do with it.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Justified on iTunes.

Survivor: Cagayan: Ugg, someone seriously quit to keep themselves punching someone, how lame. How about pulling yourself out before Cliff Robinson gets booted?
You can stream recent episodes on cbs.com. You can also download Survivor: Cagayan on iTunes.

The Americans: I could never be a spy (or healthcare provider) because there is no way I am wiping another dude after they go to the bathroom. I would just sooner untie him and hope he does not attack me.
You can download The Americans on iTunes.

Hannibal: I guess I was a little off guessing that Hannibal may keep Beverly alive in his torture basement. I was also completely wrong that it was Hannibal that killed the bailiff. But I guess it is still probable that Hannibal killed the judge.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Hannibal on iTunes.

Best of the Week: 3/29/14

Quote of the Week: I guess this hotel takes that non-smoking policy pretty seriously Mr. Duffy. (Boyd Crowder, Justified)

Song of the Week: The Gambler – Kenny Rogers (The Americans)

Scene of the Week:


Big News of the Week: People Are Still Talking About the Lost Plane: When the Malaysian plane went missing a couple weeks ago I just assumed it was at the bottom of the ocean somewhere and moved on. Yet here we are and it is still a top of the hour news story with some pretty absurd theories getting floated on these twenty-four hour news channels: suicide pilots, it hid from radar by hiding behind other planes, aliens, and of course this is Lost come to life. But new came out this week that wreckage likely from the plane is floating in the Indian Ocean perpetrating my original thought that it sitting at the bottom of the ocean. But just like the JFK assassination, the moon landing, and 9/11, you still hear people clinging to their absurd theories.

Preview Picture of the Week:

“Tale of Two Confessions” Twisted Season Finale, Tuesday at 9:00 on ABC Family

Free Download of the Week: Lake Street Dive Album Sampler (NoiseTrade)

New Album Release of the Week: A Dotted Line - Nickel Creek

New DVD Release of the Week: Knights of Badassdom

Video of the Week: John Carney wrote and directed Once on a shoestring budget and cast Glen Hansard of the Irish band The Frames who were big in their native country but unknown in most of the rest of the world, and newbie Marketa Irglova. Once would bring in almost $20 million more than it cost and garnered an Oscar. Not surprisingly Carney’s follow up Begin Again is a bigger affair with singers that American would recognize, especially if they turn into The Voice every week with coaches Adam Levine and Cee-Lo Green (Mos Def also makes a cameo with probably the best line of the trailer). But the load of the singing looks to be going to Keira Knightley as Levin’s ex who turns to music herself to cope with the break-up and gets spotted by down on his luck former record executive Mark Ruffalo. Will Begin Again match the charm of the lower key Once? Probably not, but it is always nice to see Knightley wearing modern clothes which is a rare sight.


Next Week Pick of the Week: How I Met Your Mother, Monday at 8:00 on CBS: After nine season, Ted is finally going to tell his kids just how he met their mother. Sure we met her at the end of last season and everyone else in the group met her this season (except maybe Barney; I do not remember that happening yet). We even know when and where it is happening and what happens afterwards. With all the returning guest stars they pulled the last couple episodes, I wonder if they will bring back the kids one last time even though the then teenagers are in the mid-twenties by now (the show has been showing stock footage of the duo since the first season). Even though I could have done without maybe the last five season, for those that cannot get enough of stories of parents meeting, you are in luck because How I Met Your Dad will likely be on the CBS schedule next season. Starring Greta Gerwig of all people.

Around the Tubes: 3/28/14

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 Helix, Rosemary's Baby, National Geographic Channel, Spooksville, Warehouse 13, Seven Deadly Sins, MTV Movie Awards, Music Mavericks, and Rising Star.

- Tonight is the season finale of Helix, take a first look below:


- Get ready for a special delivery this summer… Zoe Saldana stars in the miniseries event Rosemary's Baby – check out this exclusive teaser below.


- Don’t be alarmed when you turn on National Geographic Channel (NGC) on April Fools’ Day and see a mantis shrimp talking about its dinner or bloodthirsty monsters being compared to celebrities. We’ve just decided to have a little fun this year. For the first time, National Geographic Channel has teamed up with RiffTrax, the movie and television commentary group created by the guys responsible for Mystery Science Theater 3000. So what does this mean? Your favorite Nat Geo programming with some unconventional commentary worked in around the narration and dialogue — three hours of it. Total Riff Off premieres Tuesday, April 1, from 8:00 to 11:00 only on NGC.

- The producers of “Spooksville,” Jane Startz Productions and Front Street Pictures, invite parents and kids (ages 13+) across the country to participate in the “Monster Dress-up Photo Giveaway.” Participants will be able to like or follow the show’s social media platforms as well as submit a monster photo using #SpooksvilleMonster. One (1) potential winner will be drawn for a chance to receive a giveaway goodie basket provided by the producers of “Spooksville, ” Jane Startz Productions and Front Street Pictures. No purchase necessary to enter or win. Subject to Official Rules. Sponsor: Jane Startz Productions and Front Street Pictures. This giveaway is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by or associated with Hub Television Networks, LLC., Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or any of their affiliates. How to Enter: Beginning at 9:00AM ET on 3/22/14 until 5:00PM ET on 4/4/14 (the "Submission Period"), participant may enter into the “Monster Dress-up Photo Giveaway.”

- With the warehouse about to close its doors, you won't want to miss this season’s earth-shattering revelations! Save the date because Warehouse 13 returns Monday, April 14 at 9/8c, only on Syfy. Check out the season five trailer below:


- Showtime will take an in-depth look at the weird and darkly comic world of sin in the documentary series Seven Deadly Sins, from Oscar®-nominated executive producer Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me), under his Warrior Poets production banner (Inside Man, One Direction: This is Us), along with his producing partner Jeremy Chilnick. Hosted by Spurlock, this stylized documentary series will explore each of the seven deadly sins -- one per episode -- and will be told through Spurlock’s unique and extreme lens. Seven Deadly Sins will debut on Thursday, June 19 at 11:00 on Showtime.

- The 2014 MTV Movie Awards will be hosted by comedian and late night host Conan O’Brien and will air across MTV's global network of more than 60 channels reaching more than half a billion households around the world on Sunday, April 13, 2014, with the pre-show at 8:30 and main telecast airing LIVE at 9:00. Voting for the “2014 MTV Movie Awards” is open at MovieAwards.MTV.com through Saturday, April 12. Voting for Movie of the Year will continue throughout the live broadcast of the show.

- Ovation is proud to present the latest episode of Music Mavericks, featuring Pearl Jam. Often credited with founding the “grunge rock” sound, Pearl Jam formed in Seattle in 1990. The band broke into the mainstream in 1991 with their album Ten, but became equally famous for their refusal to adhere to traditional music business practices. This profile looks at how, despite their resistance to fame, they went on to sell 60 million records worldwide and is considered one of the most influential bands of the decade. Music Mavericks airs weekly Sunday nights at 7:00.

- ABC’s innovative new series Rising Star, which opens the gate to a new era in reality competition, kicks off its nationwide search for talent on Saturday, March 29th. The U.S. series is helmed by executive producers Ken Warwick (American Idol) and Nicolle Yaron (The Voice). Aspiring singers are encouraged to visit abc.com/risingstar for more information on the audition process. Solo vocalists, duos and vocal groups (up to five members) can register to audition in person, online or nominate a friend/family member.

I go Back Again, Fall off the Train, Land in His Bed, Repeat Yesterday's Mistakes

Poor Shakira, during her first season on The Voice no one wanted to join her team and ended up with arguably the worst team in the history of the show (though Christina Aguilera’s first and third season teams were just as bad). Though better this season, she is still looking at a last place finish. More importantly, the first single off her new album did not really set radio on fire despite having the biggest radio star of the last five years Rihanna on the track. But other than Maroon 5, none of the coaches on The Voice have gotten much of a bump from the show (at least in terms of pop radio, Blake Shelton is still ruling country radio but still lacks a crossover hit). Christina’s album bombed, Cee-Lo’s Goodie Mob comeback was met with a resounding yawn. Ironically many of the guest performers get a good boost after appearing on the show; Robin Thicke shot to number, and Christina, despite not being able to kick start her own career on the show, managed another hit via guest spot on the show with A Great Big World. Granted it is possible Shakira will get the big break when she performs the song on the show (but will Rihanna show up for anything short of the finale which is still two months away).

Granted the reason why Can’t Remember to Forget You is not a hit is most likely has less to do with some sort of The Voice coach curse and more with pop radio itself. If you listen to a top radio station you will hear mostly watered down EDM or folk rock songs (or in the case of Wake Me Up, both). Soul is making some inroads thanks to Aloe Blacc (getting some Wake Me Up rub) and Pharrell Williams (who has been placed in multiple advertisements in the last couple month). But it is very hard for different sounds making it on to pop radio. Case in point Lorde released Royal in March of last year but it did not become a hit until the fall. So it is not very surprising, even with Rihanna’s name attached, that the ska-rock from the nineties vibe of Can’t Remember to Forget You is having a hard time breaking through even with a music video that could have passed for softcore porn when ska last had a moment.

But at least you can easily classify Can’t Remember to Forget You, second single Empire is much harder to pin down. It definitely has an epic, rock tinged power ballad feel to it, but more Céline Dion nineties type power ballad than eighties Bon Jovi type with weird auto-tune in the chorus. And there may be the problem with Shakira. (yes, the album title has a period in it) it tries to be everything at once. She tries to cram Latin, pop, rock and many other sub genres into the same song. Instead of the songs sounding eclectic, they just come out sounding jumbled. The worst case is the duet with Black Shelton which adds country to her musical jumbo which finds Shelton singing lines like “p-p-p-p-popping the pills.” Blake duet with Christina Aguilera was significantly better.

But these genre mash-ups are not all jumbled messes, when she infuses some reggae into Cut Me Deep which features some Canadian reggae band named MAGIC! (yes their band has an exclamation point and all caps and no I will not be making a Snow joke), it turns into one of the better tracks on the album. Another standout is the new wave meets rock sounding Spotlight (which was actually written with the same Nashville based team that also co-wrote the Shelton assisted song but not nearly as embarrassing). And showing that less is sometimes more, the acoustic 22 is better than most of the overproduced songs on the album.

Song to Download – Cut Me Deep

Shakira. gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.

Previewing Brothers in War

“Having spent the last two decades researching and writing about the Vietnam War, I must say ‘Brothers in War’ is one of the finest documentaries about that conflict ever produced, featuring razor-sharp editing, masterfully restored archival footage, and a powerful yet understated musical score. The narration by Charlie Sheen is first-rate, as are the interviews conducted with members of Charlie Company, 4th Battalion, 47th Infantry, who offer compelling testimony about the harsh realities of combat and the bonds of brotherhood forged in war. A must-see.” -Dr. Erik B. Villard, Military Historian

There have been countless movies made about the Vietnam War covering probably every angle in the nearly forty years since the last Americans left the country. Of course the best stories are the ones told by those actually there and Brothers in War features one of the last combat infantry companies to be drafted, trained, and sent to fight together in Vietnam. The movie features interviews with those that put boots on the ground and featuring their own home movies and personal audio tapes from the era.

Narrated by Charlie Sheen, who long before infusing himself with tiger blood, rose to fame starring the Vietnam era Platoon, the movie follows a yearlong combat tour that took 26 of their own and wounded another 105 soldier in the Charlie Company. The fist hand account of their time in the foreign country are gut wrench as they mourned their own while trying to kill the guys on the opposite of the battlefield who were not above setting traps at night. We may not need another movie based on Vietnam, but hearing stories firsthand makes Brothers in War one of the few exceptions.


Brothers in War premieres tonight at 8:00 on the National Geographic Channel.

I Want My Music Television: 3/25/14

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


She Used to Love Me A Lot – Johnny Cash


It is weird that after two decades of Rick Rubin produced albums, that a long lost song from Johnny Cash that he recorded in the early eighties sounds as if it could have easily has been an outtake from one of the American albums series. The dark music definitely fits in with some of his later music videos.


Bridges - Broods


Tt is easy to compare Broods to their fellow Kiwi Lorde (teenage singer, same producer) and their first official music video also take look at suburban youth, but Broods take a more romantic look with what seems to be the New Zealand equivalent of McLovin and Hit Girl.


Girl You Look Amazing - Nicole Atkins


Sure dating an invisible man is simple and silly, but I laughed through the new Nicole Atkins music video.


Stay – tyDi featuring Dia Frampton


After Avicii had a smash hit with the folk infused EDM track it was only a matter of time before another producer would do the same thing. Australian DJ tyDi (yes, that is how he stylizes his name) is the first to try and not surprisingly it sounds very derivative. The post-chorus bites the cords from Philip Philips’ Home (which itself was a complete rip-off of Mumford & Sons). And just like Wake Me Up, I hope that Dia Frampton eventually releases an acoustic version of the song.

Previewing None of the Above and The Numbers Game

What will happen if you drop seven Mentos into a two liter bottle of your favorite carbonated soda? A) Nothing, just fizzle out; B. Soda erupts into the air; C) The soda will anticlimactically spill over; or D) None of the Above. Science fans and fans of arguing in general will want to check out None of the Above where host Tim Shaw takes to the streets to test the knowledge of normal people to see if they can guess the outcome of simple, and sometimes not so simple (some are only tested with a fire truck standing by) experiments such as the one posed above.

In the first couple episodes you can lean what happens when you mix melted ice cream with flour, how many balloons can hold yup his car, try to deep-fry a frozen turkey in seconds using one barrel of oil heated above 400 degrees (hence the fire truck since explode is one of the choices). Tim even tries the age old magician trick of pulling a tablecloth out from under a fully set table foot twenty-four… with a stock car travelling 115 miles per hour and a quarter mile-cord. None of the Above is good family fun that is only enhance if you watch with friends or family and try to see who get the most right every episode.

None of the Above airs Mondays at 9:00 on National Geographic Channel.

If None of the Above is for the science geek in your family, The Numbers Game is not surprisingly for the stats nerd. The show with host Jake Porway, a data scientist and National Geographic Emerging Explorer, takes a numerical look at aspects of life you would not think would have numerical value and breaks them down by the numbers. Case in point tonight’s episode take a look at how many of are heroes (one in five will be a hero during their lifetime) and how you can increase your odd of being a hero. Next week Jake takes on the old adage that there is a sucker born every minute and sees if maybe being a sucker could be a good thing. Future episodes will ask are you desirable? Are you a jerk? And are you a big liar.

The Numbers Game airs Mondays at 9:30 on National Geographic Channel.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 3/2314

Once Upon a Time: So if Regina and the witch are sisters, does that make her the Wicked Witch of the East? She surely is not Glinda.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Once Upon a Time on iTunes.

Shameless: Oh no, there is a female Carl. This probably will not end well. And by not end well, I mean it will end awesomely. But is a shame that Fiona finally realized she should have given up the drug addict brother to get herself off. I have a sinking suspicion he is going to help get her job back at Cups Inc. despite how irate his sister is. It is the least he could do.

The Walking Dead: What the Frack just happened? We all knew that Lizzie was going to go off the deep end eventually but killing her sister so everyone can see that dead can come back and not be evil? Not cool. And the episode just ended up being one big homage to Of Mice and Men, heavy on the mice and low on men. She even murdered rabbits a couple of episodes ago. That was when Darryl and Beth walked by the carnage and it seem safe to assume that the billow of smoke they saw was from their moonshine cabin. When Tyrese came upon the Grove, I actually initially thought maybe it was going to be the same funeral parlor.
You can download The Walking Dead on iTunes.

Crisis: I was not expecting much from a show that prominently features Rachael Taylor as a law enforcement agent (and an American one at that since she still has yet to master the accent yet). But it was surprisingly entertaining in a best case scenario for a network ripping off Homeland kind of way. You had two pretty good major plot twists (there would have been a third had the promos not already told us that one of the Secret Service guys was bad). Surprisingly the relationship with Taylor and Sully is compelling along with the father / daughter which got even more interesting especially with the plot twist. Though we probably will not see them paired off again, the Secret Service newbie and the fat kid’s time together was probably the best part of the premiere. The show could go off the rails like Homeland, and even quicker, but I was at least intrigued by the start.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Crisis on iTunes.

Revenge: So to cure her loss of time, all Emily had to do is be near drowned to remember some horrible memory. Ugg.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Revenge on iTunes.

The Voice: The first week of the Battle Round reminded me of the Blind Audition, there was a lot of cool song selection (the underappreciated Melanie Fiona song, the okay to appreciate now Steve Winwood song, the rare actual duet sung during the duet stage of the show) but the performances were just lackluster. There were three Battles (Jake vs. Lexi, Stevie Jo vs. Jake, Delvin vs. Caleb) where I would have been content if both singers when home. It just makes me wonder just how bad the montaged battles were that they were not shown over the clunkers that were.

The most notable event did not happen on stage but via press release when the show announced another change to the show because no two seasons can be the same. The Knockout Rounds are gone and are replaced by The Battles: Round Two which, as the name suggests is just like The Battles: Round One but instead of the coach picking the song, the duet partner performance will perform an agreed upon song. And instead of individual coaches for each or none at all, Coldplay’s Chris Martin will serve as the Key Adviser for all teams. And yes, The Steal will be returning, one for each coach.

Unfortunately it was also announced that the Instant Save will be also returning. But this time the bottom three will get a Last Chance Performance (which I assume will be like season two) before a small portion of the internet decides on which one advances. One more small change, the Playoffs will not be live this season, which means the coaches will trim their teams from five to three and American will not be voting until the top twelve this season.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download songs performed this week with the widget at right.

How I Met Your Mother: Wow, they sure were able to get a bunch of guest stars to comeback for that parking lot montage, who even knew Sally Draper’s teacher was Blah Blah?
You can stream recent episodes over at cbs.com. You can also download How I Met Your Mother on iTunes.

The Blacklist: It has become more clear that they should not do a Ressler-centric episode. That was just bad. At least we got a bit more about Tom’s secret life. Note to everyone out there, when someone tells you not to make a call because they will kill you both after you hang up, do not make the call, or at the very least do not turn your back on the guy.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download The Blacklist on iTunes.

Pretty Little Liars: I was excited for the “Ali Tells All” episode thinking we would finally get song ago asked questions answered. I quickly realize there was plenty that even Alison does not know like she does not know who tried to kill her. But considering that her mother tried to cover it up, that pretty much has to mean that her brother is A, right? Who else would she lie to the police for? Erza knows who A is except he was shot before he could tell anyone. I would rather he die than learn who A is at this point. But knowing this show, Ezra will probably pull through but have selective amnesia after surgery.

It also seemed like the writers forgot their own mythology. I could have sworn that Ali and Melissa’s husband taped their rendezvous in the woods with it ending with Alison saying, “I know you want to kiss me” before the camera hit the ground and she was dragged away. And how did Jenna and Garrett figure into that whole night? I thought they did something with a shovel but it has been left vague. Did they have something to do with Spencer’s shovel? Oh well, maybe we will get an “A Tells All” episode in a season or four.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.

Justified: When the promos hyped that Danny would attempt the 21-Foot Rule on Raylan it was pretty obvious it would not end well for Danny. But I could have never guessed that it would end up that way. Even though it exceeded my already high expectations for the scene, I am still slightly disappointed that after three teases we never got to see Danny attempt the 21-Foot Rule. But on the bright side: holy Dickie Bennett sighting! It has been way too long. The show figured out a way to get Dewey out of prison, it is a shame they could not do the same of Dickie. But it was nice to see Dickie completely selling out Dewey in hopes in getting sent to Club Fed. I am still hoping we will finally get a Dewey / Dickie in jail spin-off. You can now add the Harris brothers to that cast. It will probably be much better than Ava’s Caged Heat storyline.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Justified on iTunes.

Survivor: Cagayan: Right before this episode it seemed that some of my early favorites were on the chopping block so I hoped the merge would put them in a better position (and hopefully in the same tribe and in an alliance). But unfortunately Morgan looks to be back on the bottom and even worse Cliff Robinson got booted ruining the Clif Robinson and Wooooooooooo buddy comedy. It is amazing after how poorly they performed, The Brain tribe is sitting the prettiest as the other faction implode on each other on the two tribes. One of the Brains could actually win this season, possibly even be the final three, if they finally live up to their names.
You can stream recent episodes on cbs.com. You can also download Survivor: Cagayan on iTunes.

Community: Just like the second Paintball episode, the second Dungeons and Dragons was not as great but still pretty entertaining, especially with the triumphant return of Hector the Well endowed.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Community on iTunes.

Hannibal: Oh Abigail Hobbs, at least you still survive in Will’s fever dreams. I wonder if anyone else will show up in those eventually. It seems like Beverly will be available. Though it is very well possible that Hannibal keep her alive down in his dungeon and that is what Jack was doing there at the beginning of the season.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Hannibal on iTunes.

Best of the Week: 3/22/14

Quote of the Week: I don’t care if the Lollipop Guild are guarding her, I can lower that shield on my own. (Regina "The Evil Queen" Mills, Once Upon a Time)

Song of the Week: Nothing Else Matters – Vienna Boys Choir (Crisis)

Scene of the Week:


Big News of the Week: Brackets Busted Already: This year, Warren Buffett was going to give away $1 Billion to anyone who had a perfect bracket for this year’s NCAA Tournament. But probably about 99% of brackets filled out were already out of the running after day one when two twelve seeds, ND State and Harvard, upset their fifth seed counterpoints. There was also a sixth seed that went down to an eleven. And those brackets that were not busted on Thursday burst on Friday when Duke (3) went down to Mercer (14) and FS Austin (12) took down fifth seed VCU. So now there are no perfect brackets left in the Warren Buffett challenge after just the first round.

Preview Picture of the Week:

"On The Carpet" Archer Vice featuring the voice of Christian Slater, Monday at 10:00 on FX

Free Download of the Week: Woo Hah!!! Got You All in Check – Busta Rhymes (Google Play)

New Album Release of the Week: Out Among The Stars - Johnny Cash

New DVD Release of the Week: The Wolf of Wall Street

Video GIF of the Week: This is now my everything:

Next Week Pick of the Week: Switched at Birth, Monday at 8:00 on ABC Family: At the end of last season, Daphne got caught blackmailing a state congressman which sent her to do community service at a health center. It may have been worth it for her because it landed her smack dab in the middle of a love triangle. And where Daphne spent most of her time sending her time thinking about two boys, it looks like Bay may be juggling more boys in the season finale. There is current boyfriend, the frat boy with the heart of gold. But her old boyfriend is still in the picture and may need some comforting conserving it looks like he may have gotten Catfished. And she just found out that the other boyfriend that cheated on her was actually faithful and lied about the affair so she would forget about him. But those are just silly school kid crushes compared to Toby whose marriage may already be over after about a month.

Around the Tubes: 3/21/14

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 Safecrackers, Pioneers of Television, Ray Donovan, Master of Sex, Lindsey Stirling, The Bright Smoke, Lorde, and Conan.

- When truTV debuts its brand new series The Safecrackers, the fascinating pair of Alabama locksmiths at the center of the show won't be the only ones on the hunt for hidden treasures. truTV is inviting viewers to put their own safe-opening skills to the test for the chance to win cash and prizes through the The Safecrackers Sweepstakes. During each of the first three episodes of The Safecrackers, which premieres on truTV Monday, March 24, at 10:00, truTV will reveal a four-digit combination. Viewers will then have until 4:59 a.m. (ET) the following morning to tweet that week's combination with the hashtag #ImASafecracker in order to be entered for the chance to win one of 30 weekly prize packs (10 each week) filled with cool truTV swag. Viewers who enter the correct codes for all three episodes will be entered for the chance to win the Grand Prize of $5,000. Complete rules and promo for The Safecrackers Sweepstakes are available here.

- Explore trailblazing moments of television history when Pioneers of Television returns to PBS, Tuesday, April 15, 2014, featuring standup comedians who landed sitcoms, TV doctors and nurses, standout comedic actors and those who broke the color barrier on television. Offering inside stories from some of America’s most beloved television stars, the fourth season of the Emmy-nominated series reveals intriguing behind-the-scenes stories and fascinating facts about television’s best-known and influential celebrities. The fourth season combines new interviews with legendary stars, such as Ray Romano, Bob Newhart, Robin Williams, Jimmie Walker, Leslie Uggams, Roseanne Barr and Dick Van Dyke, with never-before-seen images and timeless footage that continues to entertain TV viewers’ decades later.PIONEERS OF TELEVISION’s first-hand look at the medium is guided by the stories of television icons and their reminiscences about the iconic genres they helped popularize.

- Mark your calendars, Showtime announced its premiere date of its two sophomore programs. Ray Donovan will premiere Sunday July 13 at 9:00 followed by Masters of Sex at 10:00.

- For her upcoming album, Lindsey Stirling, a classically trained violinist who blends electronic beats, dance, animation, theatrics and visuals, chose PledgeMusic's direct-to-fan platform to take her fans on an incredible journey as she completes her highly anticipated collection of songs. Fans can pledge support to receive exclusive items such as signed posters and t-shirts and unique experiences such as a Google hangout on the set of her new music video, a personalized video and a Skype chat with Lindsey.

- Hailing from NYC, Mia Wilson and Quincy Ledbetter of The Bright Smoke create unique noir-blues inspired tunes, that combine influences ranging from Patti Smith, to Leonard Cohen, to Cat Power. God Willin’ is a powerful and emotional track, complete with a heart-pounding beat and an escalating intensity, is the first track off of the band's recently released EP, Virginia Et Al., the follow up release to their first full-length album Late For War. Take a listen below:



- The innovated hybrid publisher Riverdale Avenue Books is proud to publish the first book on Grammy winning artist Lorde. Lorde: Your Heroine: How This Young Feminist Broke All the Rules and Succeeded by New York Times bestselling author, Marc Shapiro examines the career of this 17 year-old New Zealand musician who just won her first two Grammys for her hit song Royals.

- Conan has announces Guest Line-up for Week of Shows from Dallas March 31-April 3. Check them our below:

Monday, March 31 – Adam Sandler and comedian Tig Notaro
Tuesday, April 1 - Seth Rogen and musical guest Phillip Phillips
Wednesday, April 2 - Simon Helberg and musical guest Eli Young Band
Thursday April 3 – Charles Barkley

Previewing Wild Hawaii

Ever since Planet Earth, there has been a steady stream of beautifully shot nature mini-series. Until most of these have transverse the globe highlighting little scene wildlife. Wild Hawaii is the first of these nature shows to take the micro approach to the nature show focusing on one very small part of the globe: only 1,500 miles in length featuring eight major islands as well as one hundred and twenty-four smaller ones (which begs the question, why hasn’t Survivor taken up shop on one of the smaller islands yet).

Despite taking up a small part of the globe’s surface, Hawaii is a great place to film because of its isolation 2,400 miles from the nearest continent. And where else on the globe can you go snowboarding, travel a couple miles and go surfing minutes later? And that isolation has created a diverse array of species that would likely not see anywhere else on the planet, at least not evolved in the same way.

Wild Hawaii takes you from the top of the still active volcano all the way under the ocean just of the shore (you even get to view the ocean via seal cam). The special is made up of two episodes: Land of Fire will explore the fiery heart of Hawaii, explain how the lava shaped the islands and how the animals have adapted around the lava. That will be followed by Secrets of the Deep which will go to undersea rivers to see the fish that thrive in the rare waters just off the shore. The scenes are as beautiful as you would come to expect from these types of show and should be check out by any nature lover.

Wild Hawaii premieres Sundays at 8:00 on Nat Geo Wild. Check out the trailer below:

Previewing The Safecrackers

It seems like once a month a get a new screen for a job related reality show that makes me think they have finally run out of professions to follow around for television. Then a couple months later a new one comes that makes me say the same thing. The latest is premiering next week entitled The Safecrackers which follows around two locksmiths. After the show arrived I came to the realization I should stop saying television executives have finally run out of professions to exploit until one finally greenlights a reality show on waste management. That would quite literally and figuratively be scraping the bottom of the barrel.

The Safecrackers follows Phil Crawford, who has “888” tattooed on the knuckles of one hand, and “RIP” on the other, and his buddy Blaze as they travel the south (the map covers basically every Confederate and Border state) to unlock some of the hardest long lost safes. In the first episode they are tasked with opening up three different locks, well the first one leads to the second one when keys are found in the first safe.

To give you a sense of how one makes it as a locksmith, the first safe, which is an very small floor safe set back the owner $250. A larger job could put you back four digits. And in a rare (and more interesting) instance, they will open a safe for a percentage of the value inside. This is much more interesting because you can find very rare valuables inside or it could be a Capone’s vault situation which only ended up to housing dirt and empty bottles.

Phil and Blaze are your typical reality television southern goofballs you see on these types of show (there is a humorous scene where Blaze goes through Phil’s CD collection in the car), and the moments leading up to the unveiling of what is inside are gripping. Anyone who likes these kinds of profession based reality shows like Pawn Stars and Storage Wars will certainly enjoy The Safecrackers.

The Safecrackers airs Mondays at 10:00 on TruTV.