Wednesday, February 14, 2007

My Wife M is a Genius. My Wife M is a Moron

Folks, this is why someone like M is so frustrating. Her post on Anthony Bourdain and the Food Network is nothing short of brilliant (well, the link is, not the actual post, but M deserves mad props for discovering it). That is the best thing I've read on the internet in the past two weeks. Anthony Bourdain pwns.

On the other hand, the BSG post is filled with so much crazy I can hardly stand it. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES should any show ever take a stand on "womens' rights, election tampering, closed war-trials" and nobody should ever watch a show and venture an opinion about it. A make believe TV show has nothing to with those issues, and yet it prompts all sorts of smoke-house sophistry from people that are not smart enough to debate those issues (not M of course, but others). It's like those people who watch 24 and then argue that torture is necessary because Jack Bauer does it and it works. How stupid can you possibly be?

Those 2 posts sum up my life more completely than I can write in words. My wife is a genius. My wife is a moron (but oh so pretty) .

Happy Valentine's Day!

What If They Just Let It Air?

Happy Lost Day!! (Oh, and Happy Valentine's Day too...)

Tonight is the second of 16 straight episodes, and again, the producers are promising to blow your mind - the 10 word clue they gave on EW.com was: "Riddle me this - when is a flashback not a flashback?" Hmm... I believe the answer is when the previous episode has a million allusions to time travel theory! Can't wait until tonight to find out exactly what it means!

And on another note, does anyone remember Daybreak, the mini-series/show that ABC was planning to air for the 13 straight weeks that Lost was going to be off air? A show that promised an answer to the mystery? A show that was cancelled 4 weeks into the mystery? A show that ABC then promised to air online? A show that just disappeared? Well... ABC is finally living up to... uh, something. Just checked out the ABC online video player and found that 11 of the 13 episodes are up to finish watching online! (And I believe the goal is to put up all 13!) Not many of you watched this show (obviously, since it was pulled off the air after 4 weeks), but for those of us who did (guilty as charged) we can get all the answers we want online (except for the teeny-tiny mystery as to why Taye Diggs is reliving the same day over and over and over....) ENJOY!

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Religion or Racism?

Got around to watching Sunday night's Battlestar Galactica... I love this show for the evolving plot and character development, but what always gets me is their take on "the issues". In the past we've dealt with genocide, womens' rights, election tampering, closed war-trials... and the writers/producers have always done a great job on making us examine the issue in context. It is so easy to stand by our opinons on the hot topics, but BSG helps us view things from a completely different side (don't worry though, I have not changed my mind on any of the aforementioned issues - but I might reconsider some of my stances should the apocolypse arrive and only several thousand humans survived.)

This week's episode dealth with religious bigotry (or was it racism?) I'm not sure - depends how the humans from the 12 planets view themselves. Are Capricans, Taurons, Sageterons... etc considered different races? Different nationalities? Or do they just have different cultures? Or religious sects? (i.e. Christian Scientist vs. Catholics?) Anyway, that's beside that point. Apparently evil Dr. Roberts was poisoning the Sageterons because they didn't "deserve" the medicine they needed, (if they asked for it, that is.) And he had been doing this since New Caprica, and likely before that, if he had a chance. Well, the show examined two viewpoints: On one hand - doctors should not be killing patients - I'm sure the hippocratic oath still stands in the world of BSG. On the other hand - the audience was asked if it was fair to use limited medical supplies on people who don't use it until the very end (and perhaps didn't need to waste the limited medication if they had just popped an aspirin early on in their illness?) Ponder that for awhile!

This episode was pretty much a standalone - not really advancing any plot unless you count the dialougue between Rosslyn and Varick on Baltar's trial. But I didn't mind the Helo episode - he's pretty good looking, and how can a girl resist a rebel? I still desperately want to understand the meaning behind Kara's prophetic graffiti. Well, next week promises to deliver - and even if not in ongoing plot, I doubt I'll be disappointed.

Anthony Bordain is An Asshole (But Makes a Whole 'Lotta Sense)

Okay, who amoung us hasn't spent a day hypnotized by the Food Network? I regulary tune in to Alton Brown's Good Eats, or watch a good food match on Iron Chef America. It's fun to watch good food being cooked (almost as good as eating it.)

Well, rebel-chef-turned-author Anthony Bordain has a lot to say about the chefs on the network. In his eyes, Batali is king and Rachael Ray should die a horrible death. Although I'll definitely keep watching the FN shows, it will never be the same after this article... click HERE to read this mean (but on point) criticism of one of the best "there's nothing else on so might as well watch this" channels. Highlights include: a breakdown of each of the main FN chefs and awesome potential matches for Iron Chef America (including a cage match I would pay good money to see!)

Monday, February 12, 2007

Mondays with M

Last Week's Leftovers

How good was Lost last week? It had everything a girl could want - and Juliet and Ben are officially my favorite characters on the show now. Also, did you catch the anagram? The company that was trying to recruit Juliet in her flashback was "Mittelos Bioscience" - Mittelos rearranges is "Lost Time"; the producers have hinted before that there might be quirkiness with time on the island, and this just contributes to that theory. Fanatics (the real Lost loonies, people who are way more obessessed than me!) also found another backwards message embedded in the epsiode which supports the weird island-time theory: apparently if you play the brainwashing video that Karl was watching backwards, you hear the message "Only fools are enslaved by time and space." Interesting... Also - what exactly did Ben say to Juliet during his surgury? I know she claimed that he told her he would let her go home, but do we believe her? We should know better at this point! Finally, does Juliet's fertility expertise have anything to do with the Others' interest in kids and pregnant people (i.e. the whole Claire kidnapping thing?) Does this mean that Sun is in trouble soon?

Oh, and I meant to write about last night's Battlestar today, but I was so tired that I didn't get to watch... keep an eye out later this week for a re-hash.

M's Weekly Spotlight

Monday: Heroes (NBC, 9pm) wins again for Mondays. "Someone flies and someone dies" is the new tagline. Speaking of taglines, I could really do without them, and I don't know who at NBC thought it was a good idea, but if it keeps viewers coming, and guarentees more seasons, I guess its tolerable! (Dis-honorable mention goes to 24, Fox, 9pm... I am already over the whole Jack's family is terrible story-line. Boo-hoo for Jack.)

Tuesday: Tuesdays are easy for me: Veronica Mars (CW, 9pm) is the only show I watch this night!

Wednesday: After last week's episode, of course the highlight for Wed's are Lost (ABC, 10pm). This week it's Desmond-centric, and we getter a better glimpse into his psychic abilities.

Thursday: The OC! (Fox, 9pm) With two episodes left, we have to see what happens with Kirsten's pregnancy, Ryan's love confession to Taylor, and of course, the aftermath of last week's Earthquake! (Honorable Mention goes to The Office, NBC, 9pm, which I seriously can't get enough of!)

Friday: Las Vegas (NBC, 10pm) because the gang deals with a polygamist and everyone is just so darn good looking!

Sunday: My beloved Battlestar (SciFi, 10pm) will always win this spot for me.

Buzz

The Aqua Teen Hunger Force saga continues... the head of Cartoon Network (Jim Samples) resigned last week due to the whole Boston "terrorism-threat" of the CN/ATHF guerilla marketing campaign. Talk about your most overrated media-craziness of the month! This makes me a little annoyed, because I think the Cartoon Network is great, and a lot of that is attributed to Samples' running of things... hopefully the programming won't go through a creative down-surge due to all this nonsense. Not that I like or watch ATHF, it's just the principle of it!

GREAT NEWS on one of my favorite failed sit-coms, Kitchen Confidential! All 13 episodes (both the 4 aired and the 9 unaired) will be released on DVD on May 22nd. The cancellation of this funny show still makes me so mad, (while they renewed that god-awful Michael Rappaport show which was just salt in the wound.) Anyway, at least we get to see how the rest of the season played out.

And finally, some bad news for all you Studio 60 fans... looks like NBC will be putting it on hiatus during sweeps, and filling it instead with a new mid-season show, The Black Donnellys, a show about an Irish-American family gang. Unlike 30 Rock, which is also going on hiatus but has a scheduled return, Studio 60's future is looking grim, although NBC did promise to air the remaining episodes (um, just like they did for Kidnapped?) I'm not feeling optimistic about the whole thing.

Happy Monday everyone - at least this week leads us to a well-deserved long weekend!

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Lost Sucks

Seriously.

That is all.

Lost Returns Tonight

Can I just say - I am EXCITED! I can't help it, I love Lost just so much! Action, adventure, mystery, romance (with a little bit of a sci-fi spin) - this show is built for people like me. In honor of its return tonight, here are a few fun Lost links to browse through (to make the count down to 10pm a little easier!)

4. Doc Jenson is back to writing Lost on EW.com; click HERE check out this interview with the producers on some of the major questions plaguing the show.

3. Think you know Lost? Well trust me, you don't! Click HERE to assess your Lost trivia on the Hardest Lost Quiz Ever!!

2. Do you see yourself in a certain character? Click HERE to take a quiz to see who YOU'D be if you were on Lost!

1. Can't wait until tonight? Need to know every detail the episode RIGHT NOW?? Then click HERE for a detailed description of Episode 3.7: "Not In Portland".

Enjoy!

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

He Sounded Famous

So 24... hmm... what to say? As we were watching last night, I did note to T that if Daddy Bauer asked for a few minutes just to kill himself, that would be the most cliched cliffhanger ever. To 24's credit, Daddy Bauer didn't kill himself - he killed his son, and Jack's brother, Graem. Even though it twisted, I still found myself bored and unimpressed. I just don't get it. So, since I started watching (I've only watched Seasons 1, 4, 5 and now 6), I tend to ask people: "What else has Kiefer Sutherland done?" From the beginning, it always sounded like he was this huge name - but what exactly earned him this fame? Well, I did some research on good ol' IMDB, and this is what I found (omitting any kind of 24 reference, including the movie The Sentinel, which who are we kidding if we think it's anything but the 24 movie in disguise):

Credits from Things I've Heard Of:

L.A. Confidential (2003) (TV) .... Det. Jack Vincennes
A Time to Kill (1996) .... Freddie Lee Cobb
The Three Musketeers (1993) .... Athos
A Few Good Men (1992) .... Lt. Jonathan Kendrick
The Lost Boys (1987) .... David
Stand by Me (1986) .... Ace Merrill

Credits from Things That Are Just Plain Funny:

Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight (2007) .... Raistlin Majere
The Land Before Time X: The Great Longneck Migration (2003) .... Bron
Cowboy Up (2001) .... Hank Braxton
Armitage III: Poly Matrix (1997) .... Ross Sylibus
Duke of Groove (1996) (TV) .... The Host
The Bay Boy (1984) .... Donald Campbell
Max Dugan Returns (1983) .... Bill

The Land Before Time 10??? This is just a small selection from a list of over 70 credits. Click HERE to check out the full list if you care.

Monday, February 05, 2007

Mondays With M

Welcome back to Mondays with M! Lots to talk about for the upcoming week...

Last Week's Leftovers

We have entered the first sweeps session for 2007! Since I just started blogging again late last week, there's not much left to talk about. The weekend was pretty much taken over by Superbowl events... the game itself was okay, the best commericial for me was a three-way tie between K-Fed's self-mocking, the dalmation-wannabe and the first Bud commercial with the rock, paper, scissors (I can't help it, I'm a sucker for throwing things at people!) Also tuned in for the beginning and end of the My Boys marathon on TBS - it really can't be said enough: what a terrific show. I love the last scene of the season finale - although, I have a feeling that the PJ/Brando relationship will be similar to the ups and downs of Ross & Rachel. The only downer for the night is that we didn't get a fresh Battlestar, meaning it will be two weeks to see the repercussions of the discovery of Kara's prophetic apartment art.

M's Weekly Spotlights

Monday: Heroes (NBC, 9pm) because we get to see Hiro interact with his Dad and Claire interact with her "real" mom. (Honorable Mention: Studio 60, NBC, 10pm, because the three-parter Harriet Dinner finally wraps up!)

Tuesday: Veronica Mars (CW, 9pm) because we get to see LoVe break-up AGAIN, this time for valid reasons (vile Madison!)

Wednesday: Lost (ABC, 10pm - note the new time!) because we finally start the real season, beginning with an amazing Juliet-centric episode! If you need a catch-up, don't forget to tune in an hour early at 9pm for a refresher on what's happened so far!

Thursday: OC (Fox, 9pm) because there are only three episodes left, and this may be the best season ever on the OC (getting rid of Marissa may have been the best decision ever!)... and also, we finally get to witness an earthquake in California! (Honorable Mention: Ugly Betty, ABC, 8pm, for the Alex(is)/Daniel relationship alone!)

Friday: Psych (USA, 10pm) because Shawn and Gus make a mystery/crime show bearable again (down with CSI!)

Sunday: Battlestar Galactica (Sci Fi, 10pm) because Baltar is finally put on trial for crimes against humanity - don't you want to see him fry???? (Honorable Mention: Desperate Housewives, ABC, 9pm, because Ian's wife finally dies!)

Buzz

In case you're the last person on Earth to have not heard this, Ed Helms got made into a series regular on The Office, which is quite exciting - who knew Dwight couldn't be the MOST irritating person on television? Although, the interesting part is that Rashida Jones (Karen) did NOT get announced as a regular... good things in store for Jim & Pam? Maybe not... Roy is playing his A game this season, and somehow got hot over the summer!

Also, in case you're one of those five people in America that doesn't watch 24, Heroes, (or in my case both), David Spade's new comedy Rules of Engagement starts this week on CBS, Mondays at 9:30. I might have tuned in if it wasn't up against good television. Also, isn't it the same premise as 'Til Death (of which, admittedly, I have only watched one episode, after which I vomitted and stay the hell away from?) New couple is all cute 'n' cuddly, old couple is jaded and sarcastic - humor ensues? I don't think so.

Friday, February 02, 2007

My TiVo Is Just Plain Mean... Or Does It Know Best?

So, as many of you out there in TiVo-world know, the Season Pass functionality has been acting up for quite a few of us, starting as early as mid-December. Nobody noticed because this programming blip occurred during a time where there was no TV to watch, so we didn't realized that things weren't being taped. HOWEVER, this problem was supposedly fixed in mid-January... although I still didn't trust it for the first few weeks, making sure that all my week's programs were scheduled to be recorded every Sunday night. However, just as I regained faith in my TiVo, the problem came back, and My Name is Earl didn't record last night.

Which gets us to the real problem: I don't care. Earl, it turns out, is not as funny as we thought it was. Especially when it's kicking off a night that includes The Office, Scrubs & 30 Rock. The only reason that Earl was funny last season, was because of all the comedies offered to us viewers, it floated to the top. But the best of mediocraty, it still medicore at best. I say get rid of Earl and fill it with something that deserves to be with the rest of the NBC thursday night comedy line up. (If only Arrested Development could come back.... dare to dream!)

In the mean time - TiVo... I've got my eye on you.

Thursday, February 01, 2007

Random (and Time-Consuming) Online Resources

Lost
Lost is finally returning for the "real season" next Wednesday (don't forget to note the new time slot at 10pm... damn you American Idol!) If you are super, super into spoilers, you should really check out this site:

http://spoilerslost.blogspot.com

It is hands down the best collection of Lost spoilers on the web - beware though! This has much more than just vague screen caps and casting notices - they have detailed episode descriptions. The nice thing, is that they also have a "Rumors" section, so they don't post to this particular site unless the rumors are confirmed. If you want just the rumors, then go to:

http://lostrumours.blogspot.com

Heroes
One of the cool things about Heroes is the online graphic novels. Do these qualify as "spoilers"? I don't think so, I think they're just online enhancements to the show. For example, the novels already give us some detailed background on an upcoming "new" Hero named Hana Giltman (aka Wireless). Novels can be found at:

http://www.nbc.com/Heroes/novels/

Also, there is a great "un-official" fan site (even though the official NBC site links to it) with great interviews, forums and cast news. If you haven't been already, go to:

http://www.9thwonders.com

The Office
Did you know that you can see longer, "director's-cut" episodes of The Office on NBC.com? Apparently, they are having a tough time with editing to their allotted 22 minutes, so they post what they consider the full episode online after the episode airs. There are some great scenes from the recent Oscar returns epidode. Use the new links on the right hand side of the page to link to The Office website to catch these gems. (Or wait for them on DVD - apparently, the DVD will be all director's-cut episodes, not the shorter versions which air weekly.)

That's it for now - enjoy!!

Wolverine Gets My Pity Vote

Happy New Year! (And no, February is not too late to say it.) What have I been up to lately? Read on to find out!

Battlestar Galactica
Wow... I don't understand how anyone wouldn't want to watch this show... is Kara a cylon? Or just a prophet? Who did D'Anna see in the final 5? Will Starbuck and Apollo ever get together? Who's going to be killed off (and removed from the credits!) in the final few episodes?? This is the most thought-provoking show I think I have ever watched.

Top Chef
You know, I really did hate Marcel all season long on Top Chef, but last night, I actually found myself rooting for him. Ilan just turned out to be so... sniveling. I mean, really, Sam should have taken it all, but in the context of the final two, I was hoping Marcel would rub everyone's face in their childish antics. Seeing Betty again almost gave me seizures though.

Ugly Betty
This show just keeps getting better and better! Alex...is Meade (Rebecca Romijn) is coming back from the dead to take over Meade publications! I read in an article somewhere that the downfall of the Ugly Betties in other countries was when Betty got a makeover and then fell inlove with her boss. I thought last week's episode was a great tribute to that NOT happening... they clearly had night of friendship and comraderie, and I'm glad the team is back together... and it's just a bonus that Amanda has decided to turn to the dark side!

Heroes
Still loving this show, but I would have to say, that it's definitely not at the same level of committment for me as Lost or Battlestar. I love every minute I watch of it, but I never feel the obsession. That being said - it's kind of nice to feel that way! They actually answer questions, but still keep the feel of the overarching mystery. There's payoff in almost every episode, which is satisfying. This is still one of my favorite things to watch every week.

24
Jack is back from China. Curtis is dead. Chloe is... being fought over by two guys? 24 for me is almost like working... I have to watch, because everyone else is watching, and I guess it was a big thing for them to explode the nuke in Valencia, or to reveal that Bluetooth guy is really Jack's brother.... but I'm just a little bit... tired.

Psych
Psych is back on USA, Friday nights! It's as funny as ever - it's super easy to just drop in and enjoy, so don't worry about having never seen an episode - they are all light-hearted and fun to watch on a whim.

Shows I Still Refuse To Watch: American Idol, Deal or No Deal, anything with CSI in the title.