When I was a kid Satellite Hotstove was the most boring 15 in the entire world. It was the time to get up and play mini sticks, go make popcorn, grab a bowl of ice-cream, anything but stay infront of the TV.
For those of you unaware, Satellite Hotstove is the piece that airs in between the second and third periods of Hockey Night Canada on CBC.
The first intermission was great. It was Coach's Corner. This was a simple time for me. Hockey is the religion and for a young kid who wants to be a tough player Don Cherry is God. I watched Rock 'Em Sock 'Em like it was the bible on tape. Now I know this is essentially like someone coming out and saying "Ya I always wanted to be a bounty hunter so Dog is my god." Its insane. Don Cherry, much like Dog the Bounty hunter is a nutjob. He is a racist. I always knew this but as a kid it never quite registered that the way he talked about "those damn Russians" was incredibly prejudice. But now to hear him speak is just ridiculous. He loves to cry on air about soldiers that have died and complain about whining players. Still he has a wonderful sense of fashion.
But when it came to the second intermission it was awful. SOOOOOOOO boring. To the point where I don't think I have watched a second intermission broadcast in years. Apparently, after just googling it CBC dropped Al Strachan from the broadcast in 2009. I was convinced he was still on it. He went away for a few years but then came back, this time without a moustache. So its been atleast a year and a half since I have watched a satellite hotstove. When I was a kid, they used to all be in different cities (hence the name I am assuming) and they spoke about issues going on in the league. But there was something about it. It just didn't work. There was no heated discussion, they just droned on about whatever was happening in the city they were in. This was not the kind of television I wanted to watch.
I just watched my first Satellite Hotstove in who knows how long and I found it mildly entertaining. It seems like CBC has updated itself and made the broadcast much more current. The satellite connection is gone. There is now a news bench much like every other halftime show in sports and 4 guys discussing the game. How did Hockey not do this sooner? Football has always had this as far as I can remember. Its just the most intuitive way of doing it.
They now have Ron McClean play the Chris Berman role and anchor a panel of "experts" who discuss the game. Its pretty good. They are all there in person so they can get heated and really get into it.
But its far from perfect. They need to drop Mike Milbury. He's nuts. Atleast as far as I have seen (one show). They also need some big, yet reasonable personalities... the Keyshawn Johnson of Hockey. I am thinking Mark Messier. I also saw Mike Peca on TSN, he wasn't bad. Get another coach in there, Mike Milbury is not enough if you are really set on keeping him.
Thats all...
Oh wait... its no longer called Satellite Hotstove... now its just "The Hotstove"
Also I can't find an image of the old Hotstove logo. Its like the CBC wants to delete it from history... or I am making up its existence and it was nothing like this at all...
So... This is me giving my congratulations to CBC for creating an intermission show I actually want to watch.
Keep improving it and maybe hockey will grow in popularity south of the border.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Football Streaming Online
I have been watching football streaming online off of a fabulous website which will remain nameless... but you all know what I mean.
The streaming picks up feeds from god knows where. Some are German. Some don't seem to have commercials and just have this weird narration of important events in the previous week's games.
But every week there will inevitably be a moment where the feed cuts back to the people in the booth but they have no idea it is there. It is very bizarre. Listening to Al Michaels and Chris Collinsworth discuss what video they want to throw to and show. They hum to themselves and discuss what types of things they should talk about in the next series.
It is like a look into the minds of the broadcasters.
Just now I saw them discuss whether to do a comparison of Phillip Rivers throwing motion with Michael Vick's Collinsworth said something about "look at the torque on that arm" in reference to Vick. I think they are kind of making fun of Rivers.
I can't wait to see the version they actually want to air.
The streaming picks up feeds from god knows where. Some are German. Some don't seem to have commercials and just have this weird narration of important events in the previous week's games.
But every week there will inevitably be a moment where the feed cuts back to the people in the booth but they have no idea it is there. It is very bizarre. Listening to Al Michaels and Chris Collinsworth discuss what video they want to throw to and show. They hum to themselves and discuss what types of things they should talk about in the next series.
It is like a look into the minds of the broadcasters.
Just now I saw them discuss whether to do a comparison of Phillip Rivers throwing motion with Michael Vick's Collinsworth said something about "look at the torque on that arm" in reference to Vick. I think they are kind of making fun of Rivers.
I can't wait to see the version they actually want to air.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Super Troopers - A viewing blog
Yesterday during Monday Night Football my friend Kyle made a Super Troopers joke. I did not get it and told him as much, since I have never seen the movie. Now I don't think that not having seen super troopers is anything like not having seen Anchor Man but he DEMANDED that I watch it.
So here I am. Watching super troopers. So far the only thing of note is that this is a "Jersey Shore Production" I wonder how this company feels about the horrible show that now exists.
1. This movie should be the official movie of Movember. WHO WANTS A MOUSTACHE RIDE????
2. The line "Bear-Fucker do you need assistance?" made this movie worth watching.
3. This movie would be awesome if one were to be stoned.
4. I think I've actually seen this movie before. I've done this once before. The movie Serenity which is the movie that culminates the show Firefly. I somehow thought I had never seen it. That was untrue. I realized about half way through that I knew the plot and that I had in fact seen it. Same thing with this one. But I remember even less of this one.
Final Verdict: This movie was decent. I recommend it to people who are really high, from Vermont, make maple syrup or anyone participating in Movember.
So here I am. Watching super troopers. So far the only thing of note is that this is a "Jersey Shore Production" I wonder how this company feels about the horrible show that now exists.
1. This movie should be the official movie of Movember. WHO WANTS A MOUSTACHE RIDE????
2. The line "Bear-Fucker do you need assistance?" made this movie worth watching.
4. I think I've actually seen this movie before. I've done this once before. The movie Serenity which is the movie that culminates the show Firefly. I somehow thought I had never seen it. That was untrue. I realized about half way through that I knew the plot and that I had in fact seen it. Same thing with this one. But I remember even less of this one.
Final Verdict: This movie was decent. I recommend it to people who are really high, from Vermont, make maple syrup or anyone participating in Movember.
Sitcoms Part 1 - Rethinking the Rankings
When I woke up this morning I thought I had this list down. I have been watching sitcoms for the past few weeks trying to decide how to rank the current comedic state of affairs on Network television. I have laughed, I have been bored, I have been annoyed at how far certain shows I loved have fallen. I have been amused at slapstick and satire, animation and arguments. And after all of this I thought I was ready to make a verdict. This morning I watched an episode of Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia and last night's HIMYM to get myself prepped for this entry. And everything changed. But lets go back to how this all started...
Kids, in the fall of 2010 I was enrolled at the Ontario Veterinary College in Guelph. I was living on a student's budget and could not afford cable. I watched all my shows via downloads and Rogers On Demand Online. It was actually quite perfect for me. With a fairly heavy workload from my classes, it wasn't easy to watch shows when they aired. So with Rogers On Demand Online and the occasional torrent I could enjoy my shows when and how I wanted.
I started blogging and writing so that the world could be improved by my opinions. It was a great time.
One day while sitting alone in my kitchen and laughing out loud at "Troy and Abed in the Morning" and the hilarity that is Community I posted on Facebook that Community was the best sitcom right now. I had read some interesting things online about the subtle humour of the show and started to look for it while watching. I really enjoyed what I was seeing and it enhanced a show that I already thoroughly enjoyed. But somehow this post started something major. It was as though the entire social network jumped on my words.
This is what I wrote:
"Community is the best sit-com right now. Sorry HIMYM but Neil Patrick Harris can only carry you so far."
The responses were immediate. 3 Likes, 9 comments and people were only partially in agreement.
There was some support for Community.
A huge fuck you to HIMYM:
"HIMYM blows :P
NPH is moderately cool.
It's all about Breaking Bad, 30 Rock, True Blood, and that new one from David Simon"
I think now is as good a time as any to address Sunny in Philli. I'll start by telling you how I started watching this show. My girlfriend had it on DVD, I had heard about it and suggested we watch. It was fucking hilarious. "The gang goes Jihad" is an amazing episode. I laughed so hard. I don't think I have laughed that hard since highschool. I was literally buckling over and falling off the couch. My stomach hurt and the end because my abs had been flexing the whole time. As I said, this was the hardest I have laughed since highschool and really, that makes sense. This is what would happen if my highschool friends and I never grew up. If we never matured. And if we were always wasted. Like really fucking drunk. Unfortunately I had to stop watching because one of the discs was missing from the set.
The "It's Always Sunny Christmas Special" episode includes the word f--k in addition to the words above. Again, this so-called "f-word" is used frequently by most characters.
The characters discuss many controversial subjects in a politically incorrect light, such as homosexual behavior, abortion, women's rights, etc. This show isn't for the politically correct types.
Kids, in the fall of 2010 I was enrolled at the Ontario Veterinary College in Guelph. I was living on a student's budget and could not afford cable. I watched all my shows via downloads and Rogers On Demand Online. It was actually quite perfect for me. With a fairly heavy workload from my classes, it wasn't easy to watch shows when they aired. So with Rogers On Demand Online and the occasional torrent I could enjoy my shows when and how I wanted.
I started blogging and writing so that the world could be improved by my opinions. It was a great time.
This is what I wrote:
"Community is the best sit-com right now. Sorry HIMYM but Neil Patrick Harris can only carry you so far."
The responses were immediate. 3 Likes, 9 comments and people were only partially in agreement.
There was some support for Community.
A huge fuck you to HIMYM:
"HIMYM blows :P
NPH is moderately cool.
It's all about Breaking Bad, 30 Rock, True Blood, and that new one from David Simon"
That person clearly missed the point. 30 rock is the only Sitcom on his list. Treme is nowhere near a Sitcom, I've never seen True Blood but I'm sure its not a Sitcom and Breaking Bad is nowhere near it.
Modern Family received a couple votes of confidence and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia seems to have a large fan base, at least amongst my highschool friends.
I think now is as good a time as any to address Sunny in Philli. I'll start by telling you how I started watching this show. My girlfriend had it on DVD, I had heard about it and suggested we watch. It was fucking hilarious. "The gang goes Jihad" is an amazing episode. I laughed so hard. I don't think I have laughed that hard since highschool. I was literally buckling over and falling off the couch. My stomach hurt and the end because my abs had been flexing the whole time. As I said, this was the hardest I have laughed since highschool and really, that makes sense. This is what would happen if my highschool friends and I never grew up. If we never matured. And if we were always wasted. Like really fucking drunk. Unfortunately I had to stop watching because one of the discs was missing from the set. This show is awesome because it subscribed to the Trey Parker/Matt Stone theory of comedy. Make fun of everything equally and its ok if its inappropriate. Its always Sunny is the real life version of South Park. There is no topic they won't tackle. Its not as satirical as South Park since SP actively will attack religions, ideas, beliefs, whatever but its still approaches relevant issues in a very funny way.
HOWEVER...Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia cannot be included in my ranking of shows. It would be like putting Lost in a rankings list with all the seasons of Survivor. Its a completely different monster.
This is what IMDB says about the show in its parental advisory section:
Profanity:
Frequent usage of strong language that includes s--t, b---h, ass, goddamn, hell, etc, none of which are censored on cable TV. These words are said often and openly, and by all characters in the show.The "It's Always Sunny Christmas Special" episode includes the word f--k in addition to the words above. Again, this so-called "f-word" is used frequently by most characters.
The characters discuss many controversial subjects in a politically incorrect light, such as homosexual behavior, abortion, women's rights, etc. This show isn't for the politically correct types.
Great deal of racist dialogue and discussion. Although the characters are not racists, they buy into every stereotype that they hear and they frequently discuss different races according to their stereotypes. Not a racially responsible show, but none of the discussion is actually racist.
Alcohol/Drugs/Smoking:
The characters own a bar, so they frequently get drunk and watch others get drunk.
Characters often drug each other in order for personal gain.
Every character in the show abuses drugs and alcohol; these drugs include glue, weed, cocaine, paint, and various other drugs.
Characters often drug each other in order for personal gain.
Every character in the show abuses drugs and alcohol; these drugs include glue, weed, cocaine, paint, and various other drugs.
Can you imagine other shows going this route?? Just picture Friends with Paddy's rather than Central Perk. How about if HIMYM characters got drunk and tried to kill each other or called Ranjit (their cab driver) a terrorist. No, that could never happen. It wouldn't fly with the networks. Instead they just get silly, fall down, and slur their words, the typical network TV picture of drunk.
Sunny in Philli uses form of comedy that cannot be attempted by your average Sitcom. In the same way that Survivor cannot have a smoke monster or a group of Island inhabitants intent on killing the survivors, regular Sitcoms cannot have characters drop F-bombs, go Jihad on their neighbours or fake their own deaths to avoid their drug dealing, murdering, ex-con father from killing them.
I love this show. Its hilarious for all the reasons I cannot include it in the list. I have watched 3.5 seasons of it and I'm definitely not tired of their antics.
I like that Charlie never showers or brushes his teeth.
Best character: Mac (followed closely by Frank)
Best Episode: The Gang Goes Jihad (only from the first 3.5 seasons - I am in the middle of season 4 right now)
Final Vedict:
This show should be watched by anyone with a sense of humour. If you are overly sensitive about issues of race, creed, gender or any other aspect of humanity please stay out of Paddy's pub.
Now why do I have to rethink my rankings you ask?
Because of this weeks episode of HIMYM. Season 6 Episode 10 if AMAZING. I was all ready to write about how HIMYM lost its touch. How the days of The Play Book, The Bracket, and Legen...dary episodes are gone. But last night they brought it all back. Adding the LOST references sealed the deal for me personally but even if you have no idea why 481-516-2342 is a hilarious phone number this was a great episode. So now I need to watch for a bit longer before the official rankings can be made.
Currently:
1. Community
2. 30 Rock
3. HIMYM
4. Modern Family
5. The Big Bang Theory
Tonight I watch The Event and maybe The Walking Dead depending on my work load.
And I thank you very much.
Its Always the Vice President
When the Vice President accussed Director Sterling in Episode 2 or 3 of being behind the attack on the President I should have known it was him right away. Its too predictable.
1. Its always the Vice President. Didn't 24 have entire seasons where the Vice President was just an evil conniving bastard? OH YA THE ONE STARRING ALAN DALE aka CHARLES WHIDMORE!!!!!
2. When is the person first accused ever the one who did it? That would be too easy. Can you imagine if House got the diagnosis right on the first try. BORING!!
3. The person doing the accusing is normally the one to do it.
Ergo, everyone should have known it was the VP.
This show is starting to piss me off. Its too much like 24. I need more to happen in an episode. Gain some traction. Have Sean Walker actually sleep. This is getting dumb.
We need a really solid episode from The Event or I'm getting off the Island.
Tune in later today for my rundown of current sitcoms.
1. Its always the Vice President. Didn't 24 have entire seasons where the Vice President was just an evil conniving bastard? OH YA THE ONE STARRING ALAN DALE aka CHARLES WHIDMORE!!!!!
2. When is the person first accused ever the one who did it? That would be too easy. Can you imagine if House got the diagnosis right on the first try. BORING!!
3. The person doing the accusing is normally the one to do it.
Ergo, everyone should have known it was the VP.
This show is starting to piss me off. Its too much like 24. I need more to happen in an episode. Gain some traction. Have Sean Walker actually sleep. This is getting dumb.
We need a really solid episode from The Event or I'm getting off the Island.
Tune in later today for my rundown of current sitcoms.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
People From The Future? People From Pluto?
So today is going to be again about The Event. In fact, I think that the only shows I will review week to week will be The Event and Fringe. Other shows will get touched on. I will probably write posts on why they are good, why they are bad, how they compare to shows from the past. But lets be realistic. The things I have to say about this weeks HIMYM are pretty close to what I would say about it from last week. Its still funny. But as noted by the wise Spicy Apple, mostly being watched to see what comes next. I posted on Facebook this week that I think Community is the best sit-com out there right now, only to start a massive row of feedback with one person in agreement, atleast 2 for Its always sunny in Philadelphia and another couple for Modern Family. This tells me that I better think about writing a Sit com comparison to settle the debate once and for all. So If you have a Sitcom that you want me to look at as one of the best (ON TV RIGHT NOW... I will not be looking at shows that are off the air that can be a different post) put it in the comments.
The following piece contains spoilers. Please do not read if you want to watch The Event at a later date and not know what happened.
Now down to business. Where are we at with Sean, Layla, The President, Thomas, Sophia etc. Lets look at the big reveals from Monday. 1st, Vicky's daughter is not her own flesh and blood. That kills my theory from last time. But still pretty cool. For those of you keeping score I am 0-1 at this point on predictions. However, we find out that Vicky has a heart, that she is getting herself into loads of trouble here. Look for Vicky to change sides or die by the end of the season. Dying seems unlikely since she is a mad-hot character. So unless they go LOST on us and kill her like they killed Shannon, then I'd say change sides is most likely. She helped Sean and Layla escape, which was an interesting turn of events. I honestly thought she was a cold hearted killer so seeing another side to the character really promotes more character like-ability and attachment. Which is one of the things I said that The Event will need to do to survive. So we know Vicky was a contract killer, but she has a heart.
We also learnt more about the Inostranka people. The crash and Thomas' leadership. Two really important scenes come out of these back stories I think. The first is right after the crash, when they find the empty research station (which looks shockingly like a dharma research post) and Thomas says to Simon "They're still using vaccum tubes" I believe this helps my from the future theory. There is no reason aliens would have ever used vaccum tubes. And why would he use the word "still" Why would aliens evolve their technology in the same way we do?
Furthermore, the scene where Simon hunts down Thomas to New Mexico we see that he has joined the Manhattan project and was instrumental in helping to develop nucelar technology which the Inostrankans need to get home. Good stuff. Again, if they are from another planet, why is nuclear technology their fuel source? We are limited here by what kind of fuel we have. If they are from another planet couldn't they have a more powerful source of power (I would like to envoke logic from previous SciFi shows. Naquadria from Stargate, that weird red ball thing from Star Trek. I know this does not mean that in The Event the aliens would hail from a place where they had some kind of super awesome power source, just that the knowledge it would take to make OUR nuclear power seems likely to come from OUR planet. Not another. )
The last thing I thought was cool about the episode was the look of extreme anxiety that Sophia had while on the train. I think the train, or Sophia herself will probably go the way of the plane and Thomas will transfer her out. But why is she worried. What does she know that we don't? Will Thomas keep her alive? This is why I will watch next week.
In looking up a couple names/things for this post I came across these sources. Kinda cool. Both published by NBC but still.
Anyone know why 5314 is important? I know its Avias 514... but what about the 3? Post in comments. Maybe its a date? March 5 2014? May 3 2014? Could this be the end date for the show? Could this be the day of The Event? I shall think about this and make a concrete theory next week.
http://www.truthseeker5314.com/
http://www.theeventiscoming.com/map.shtml
Until next week. Namaste and have a good week.
Apples
P.S.
CommonSenseCool clearly has some well thought out ideas
http://boards.theeventiscoming.com/index.php?/topic/4-what-is-the-event/
I obviously like his theory the best. It is closest to mine. Altered timeline/future-present shift seem pretty close. But either way, the Inostrankans cause the event, it involves them, maybe it is their creation, maybe they are here to observe it.
Also I hate shadow government conspiracies. I hope this show changes my mind.
The following piece contains spoilers. Please do not read if you want to watch The Event at a later date and not know what happened.
Now down to business. Where are we at with Sean, Layla, The President, Thomas, Sophia etc. Lets look at the big reveals from Monday. 1st, Vicky's daughter is not her own flesh and blood. That kills my theory from last time. But still pretty cool. For those of you keeping score I am 0-1 at this point on predictions. However, we find out that Vicky has a heart, that she is getting herself into loads of trouble here. Look for Vicky to change sides or die by the end of the season. Dying seems unlikely since she is a mad-hot character. So unless they go LOST on us and kill her like they killed Shannon, then I'd say change sides is most likely. She helped Sean and Layla escape, which was an interesting turn of events. I honestly thought she was a cold hearted killer so seeing another side to the character really promotes more character like-ability and attachment. Which is one of the things I said that The Event will need to do to survive. So we know Vicky was a contract killer, but she has a heart.
We also learnt more about the Inostranka people. The crash and Thomas' leadership. Two really important scenes come out of these back stories I think. The first is right after the crash, when they find the empty research station (which looks shockingly like a dharma research post) and Thomas says to Simon "They're still using vaccum tubes" I believe this helps my from the future theory. There is no reason aliens would have ever used vaccum tubes. And why would he use the word "still" Why would aliens evolve their technology in the same way we do?
Furthermore, the scene where Simon hunts down Thomas to New Mexico we see that he has joined the Manhattan project and was instrumental in helping to develop nucelar technology which the Inostrankans need to get home. Good stuff. Again, if they are from another planet, why is nuclear technology their fuel source? We are limited here by what kind of fuel we have. If they are from another planet couldn't they have a more powerful source of power (I would like to envoke logic from previous SciFi shows. Naquadria from Stargate, that weird red ball thing from Star Trek. I know this does not mean that in The Event the aliens would hail from a place where they had some kind of super awesome power source, just that the knowledge it would take to make OUR nuclear power seems likely to come from OUR planet. Not another. )
The last thing I thought was cool about the episode was the look of extreme anxiety that Sophia had while on the train. I think the train, or Sophia herself will probably go the way of the plane and Thomas will transfer her out. But why is she worried. What does she know that we don't? Will Thomas keep her alive? This is why I will watch next week.
In looking up a couple names/things for this post I came across these sources. Kinda cool. Both published by NBC but still.
Anyone know why 5314 is important? I know its Avias 514... but what about the 3? Post in comments. Maybe its a date? March 5 2014? May 3 2014? Could this be the end date for the show? Could this be the day of The Event? I shall think about this and make a concrete theory next week.
http://www.truthseeker5314.com/
http://www.theeventiscoming.com/map.shtml
Until next week. Namaste and have a good week.
Apples
P.S.
CommonSenseCool clearly has some well thought out ideas
http://boards.theeventiscoming.com/index.php?/topic/4-what-is-the-event/
I obviously like his theory the best. It is closest to mine. Altered timeline/future-present shift seem pretty close. But either way, the Inostrankans cause the event, it involves them, maybe it is their creation, maybe they are here to observe it.
Also I hate shadow government conspiracies. I hope this show changes my mind.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Week of October 10th 2010 - Reviewing Monday's TV
So this post is quite a bit late but its been a busy week. I have finally gotten through my Monday shows and now have the chance to write about them. Lets start with the shorter two and move on to what I believe can be a mammoth new show and consume much of my time.
***NOTE: Spolier alert... this post may contain content specific to the episodes and therefore should not be read by those who are going to watch the shows in the future... unless that is you want to know what happens... or if you were one of the people who ruined the 6th sense for people I hope you read this and have the shows ruined for you...***
How I Met Your Mother
This weeks episode was par for the course. It had some seriously funny moments including the Marshall vs The Machine song, The flashbacks as to why everyone needed a win and the bit about what it takes to be a New Yorker (should this post be read by anyone living in New York can you please confirm or deny what it takes to be a member of your city. All I know is that your baseball team has way more money than mine... the Mets are not your team... the Yanks are New Yorks team lets not kid ourselves). I was talking with my brother this weekend since it was Canadian thanks giving and we both went home to visit our parents (side note: canadian thanks giving is never celebrated on TV. There are always thanksgiving episodes but Canadian characters never celebrate seperately. Chandler never did, Robin doesn't and I'm at a loss for other Canadian characters but seriously we are underappreciated on TV). My brother and I got down to discussing what shows we are watching and he was saying how he had to cut down his TV content. I recommended adding the Event but he did not feel that he had a spare 45 min to fill with a show (what a sucker). But that is inevitably the case with most people. As priorities change the wonderful medium of television gets pushed aside. Very sad. However, 20 min shows (half an hour if you watch them live) are fairly easy to fit into one's schedule (I recommend watching over a meal, socializing with family or roommates is overrated anyway). OK, enough brackets, what I am trying to say is that my brother made the interesting point that he is still watching HIMYM but only because he put so much time into it that he doesn't feel he can give up now without meeting the mother. We have seen her calf, when will we see her face? Does this make HIMYM more like LOST than I originally realized? I was theorizing the other day about whose wedding we saw earlier in the season with a buddy of mine. Okay enough about HIMYM. I give this episode 7 smoke monsters out of 10.
Castle
I love Castle. I think it is because I really want to see Nathan Fillion succeed. Firefly was such an amazing show, and FOX fucked it up. I mean FOX took a broom and violated this show. It had so much potential. It was a Western in Space for gorram sakes. I wrote an essay for a class once as to whether or not Firefly adequately fills the Western and SciFi genres. I think I will post it some time. So with that in mind I will watch anything that Whedon, Fillion, or Adam Baldwin get their hands on. I went back and watched some of Buffy and I actively anticipate The Avengers movie. I watched Chuck seasons 1 and 2 only for Baldwin and now I am engrossed in Castle. But not just for Fillion's sake. This show is cool. Fillion is funny, Stana Katic (Kate Beckett) is mad hot and those two guys who play the cops add some great comedic relief. Add in the great chemistry bewteen Beckett and Castle and we have a winner. If you like cop shows, dramedies, or shows revolving around a love affair that never seems to go down, watch Castle. This episode was a cool one. Some kind of weird club (as their often is) where people dress up like they are in Victorian (or some period like that, I can't remember for certain) England, and of course someone gets killed. Some good twists as usual, a great piece with Ryan and Espisito where Espisito keeps getting hurt and the revitalization of the Castle-Beckett love affair as Beckett has her new man pick her up at the end of the episode. The previews for next week showed Castle telling Beckett he loves her. INTERESTING. Also I want to throw this out there so that I get credit for it if it ever goes down:
There is a series of books, very popular with teenage girls, that I read because I was bored, I needed an easy read because I was writing the MCATs and it has enough similarities to Harry Potter that I mindlessly lost myself in them for a short period of time. The series is called the Mortal Instruments and I just googled it and found out that there are 6 books, not 3 as I originally thought (I have only read 3 and the story seemed to end there so I guess she just wrote epilogue type stuff for three books). It is by Cassandra Clare and the main character is a 16 year old read headed girl. If they ever decide to make the books into a movie (which may not happen any time soon since a graphic novel deal is currently in the works according to the website) I think that Molly Quinn (Alexis Castle) NEEDS to play the part of Clary the main character. She fits the part. You heard it here first. Hollywood, I expect my name to get put in the casting credits.
This week's Castle gets 8.5 reavers out of 10
Well those two took way more time than I thought, now on to...
The Event
This show has me hook line and sinker. I am in. It definitely gets a full season. As I mentioned, this is my LOST replacement and along with Fringe is doing a nice job of filling that void. This show is great, it has me theorizing already. It is a bit more simple than LOST but that is OK because I don't need a show to be exactly the same, just needs to have elements that help me through my grief at the loss of LOST (ya I went there... you should know that I gave a eulogy the night my friends and I watched the Finale). The elements I like... this show has "Others" I don't know what to call these people who have kidnapped Layla other than that. I am not convinced that they are the Inostronka (sp??) people, something tells me that they might be a third faction, potentially quasi governmental. This show is also character driven, this week gave us some back story on Sean and Layla and left us with a twist that keeps us rooting for the two of them to end up back together, regardless of the fact that we know that it might be far away. Good luck Sean, don't get killed. The pseudoscience behind the plane crash victim's rise from the dead is very cool, I would like to see where they take this. And finally I like the way they tackle one issue each episode but still move the plot forward. For example: this week the issue was Layla's kidnapping but we still got to see the plane crash victims move forward as well as the President's storyline move forward, but the focus lay with Sean and Layla. This is a great setup. It means that week to week the story can move slow enough that they fill a whole season, but we still get answers each week. I like the "flashbacks" or the backstories they are helping to get me stoked about the characters and not just what is happening in the plot. That is going to be vital for the show to continue.
The Event is not out of the woods yet on getting people hooked and keeping itself around. Heroes did this for me and then started fucking around with plot points and I was done after season 2. Needless to say Heroes got cancelled. Moral of the story, if you can't keep my interest your show will get thrown off the air (counterpoint: all reality TV). So the Event needs to stick to a story arc (assuming they have one, and I assume they do, because it is just plain stupid to not have a story arc at this point, viewers of these types of shows expect a certain level of sophistication, they can deal with outlandish plot premises but dont lose your plot line, it will be the death of you).
Here are my first 2 ideas/predictions about the Event (please take these with a grain of salt, I desperately want to theorize on something and may be grasping at straws, that being said, if I'm correct you all will bow down to my plot predicting greatness):
1. The "aliens" are not aliens. They are humans....................... FROM THE FUTURE! And what is "the Event" you might ask? I am guessing it is something that "makes" these people special. So if you follow that logic, some time in the future there will be an event that makes some humans change to have advanced abilities (slower aging, potentially a link to the paranormal or just really advanced science), then something happens and they have to travel back in time (maybe they try space travel at light speed and get thrown back in time... i don't know its not a fully formed idea yet) and then of course they get captured and inevitably cause an event that leads to their own formation... cool no?
2. Vicky Roberts is an "alien" her son his half and half... that means she had a child with a regular dude... that kid should play an important Walt like role... I hope he doesnt grow up too fast...
This weeks episode gets 9 Sawyer Nicknames out of 10.
Keep up the good work EVENT.
As a last thought, if you like post-apocalyptic anything try watching "The Colony Experiment." It is the only reality show I will watch. I was flipping channels on Sunday and found it. Kind of cool. People are thrown in to mock apocalyptic scenario and they have to survive. Its Urban Survivor with no annoying "challenges" or getting voted off the island.
Have a good one. I'll be back to review some other shows later this week/this weekend.
***NOTE: Spolier alert... this post may contain content specific to the episodes and therefore should not be read by those who are going to watch the shows in the future... unless that is you want to know what happens... or if you were one of the people who ruined the 6th sense for people I hope you read this and have the shows ruined for you...***
How I Met Your Mother
This weeks episode was par for the course. It had some seriously funny moments including the Marshall vs The Machine song, The flashbacks as to why everyone needed a win and the bit about what it takes to be a New Yorker (should this post be read by anyone living in New York can you please confirm or deny what it takes to be a member of your city. All I know is that your baseball team has way more money than mine... the Mets are not your team... the Yanks are New Yorks team lets not kid ourselves). I was talking with my brother this weekend since it was Canadian thanks giving and we both went home to visit our parents (side note: canadian thanks giving is never celebrated on TV. There are always thanksgiving episodes but Canadian characters never celebrate seperately. Chandler never did, Robin doesn't and I'm at a loss for other Canadian characters but seriously we are underappreciated on TV). My brother and I got down to discussing what shows we are watching and he was saying how he had to cut down his TV content. I recommended adding the Event but he did not feel that he had a spare 45 min to fill with a show (what a sucker). But that is inevitably the case with most people. As priorities change the wonderful medium of television gets pushed aside. Very sad. However, 20 min shows (half an hour if you watch them live) are fairly easy to fit into one's schedule (I recommend watching over a meal, socializing with family or roommates is overrated anyway). OK, enough brackets, what I am trying to say is that my brother made the interesting point that he is still watching HIMYM but only because he put so much time into it that he doesn't feel he can give up now without meeting the mother. We have seen her calf, when will we see her face? Does this make HIMYM more like LOST than I originally realized? I was theorizing the other day about whose wedding we saw earlier in the season with a buddy of mine. Okay enough about HIMYM. I give this episode 7 smoke monsters out of 10.
Castle
I love Castle. I think it is because I really want to see Nathan Fillion succeed. Firefly was such an amazing show, and FOX fucked it up. I mean FOX took a broom and violated this show. It had so much potential. It was a Western in Space for gorram sakes. I wrote an essay for a class once as to whether or not Firefly adequately fills the Western and SciFi genres. I think I will post it some time. So with that in mind I will watch anything that Whedon, Fillion, or Adam Baldwin get their hands on. I went back and watched some of Buffy and I actively anticipate The Avengers movie. I watched Chuck seasons 1 and 2 only for Baldwin and now I am engrossed in Castle. But not just for Fillion's sake. This show is cool. Fillion is funny, Stana Katic (Kate Beckett) is mad hot and those two guys who play the cops add some great comedic relief. Add in the great chemistry bewteen Beckett and Castle and we have a winner. If you like cop shows, dramedies, or shows revolving around a love affair that never seems to go down, watch Castle. This episode was a cool one. Some kind of weird club (as their often is) where people dress up like they are in Victorian (or some period like that, I can't remember for certain) England, and of course someone gets killed. Some good twists as usual, a great piece with Ryan and Espisito where Espisito keeps getting hurt and the revitalization of the Castle-Beckett love affair as Beckett has her new man pick her up at the end of the episode. The previews for next week showed Castle telling Beckett he loves her. INTERESTING. Also I want to throw this out there so that I get credit for it if it ever goes down:
There is a series of books, very popular with teenage girls, that I read because I was bored, I needed an easy read because I was writing the MCATs and it has enough similarities to Harry Potter that I mindlessly lost myself in them for a short period of time. The series is called the Mortal Instruments and I just googled it and found out that there are 6 books, not 3 as I originally thought (I have only read 3 and the story seemed to end there so I guess she just wrote epilogue type stuff for three books). It is by Cassandra Clare and the main character is a 16 year old read headed girl. If they ever decide to make the books into a movie (which may not happen any time soon since a graphic novel deal is currently in the works according to the website) I think that Molly Quinn (Alexis Castle) NEEDS to play the part of Clary the main character. She fits the part. You heard it here first. Hollywood, I expect my name to get put in the casting credits.
This week's Castle gets 8.5 reavers out of 10
Well those two took way more time than I thought, now on to...
The Event
This show has me hook line and sinker. I am in. It definitely gets a full season. As I mentioned, this is my LOST replacement and along with Fringe is doing a nice job of filling that void. This show is great, it has me theorizing already. It is a bit more simple than LOST but that is OK because I don't need a show to be exactly the same, just needs to have elements that help me through my grief at the loss of LOST (ya I went there... you should know that I gave a eulogy the night my friends and I watched the Finale). The elements I like... this show has "Others" I don't know what to call these people who have kidnapped Layla other than that. I am not convinced that they are the Inostronka (sp??) people, something tells me that they might be a third faction, potentially quasi governmental. This show is also character driven, this week gave us some back story on Sean and Layla and left us with a twist that keeps us rooting for the two of them to end up back together, regardless of the fact that we know that it might be far away. Good luck Sean, don't get killed. The pseudoscience behind the plane crash victim's rise from the dead is very cool, I would like to see where they take this. And finally I like the way they tackle one issue each episode but still move the plot forward. For example: this week the issue was Layla's kidnapping but we still got to see the plane crash victims move forward as well as the President's storyline move forward, but the focus lay with Sean and Layla. This is a great setup. It means that week to week the story can move slow enough that they fill a whole season, but we still get answers each week. I like the "flashbacks" or the backstories they are helping to get me stoked about the characters and not just what is happening in the plot. That is going to be vital for the show to continue.
The Event is not out of the woods yet on getting people hooked and keeping itself around. Heroes did this for me and then started fucking around with plot points and I was done after season 2. Needless to say Heroes got cancelled. Moral of the story, if you can't keep my interest your show will get thrown off the air (counterpoint: all reality TV). So the Event needs to stick to a story arc (assuming they have one, and I assume they do, because it is just plain stupid to not have a story arc at this point, viewers of these types of shows expect a certain level of sophistication, they can deal with outlandish plot premises but dont lose your plot line, it will be the death of you).
Here are my first 2 ideas/predictions about the Event (please take these with a grain of salt, I desperately want to theorize on something and may be grasping at straws, that being said, if I'm correct you all will bow down to my plot predicting greatness):
1. The "aliens" are not aliens. They are humans....................... FROM THE FUTURE! And what is "the Event" you might ask? I am guessing it is something that "makes" these people special. So if you follow that logic, some time in the future there will be an event that makes some humans change to have advanced abilities (slower aging, potentially a link to the paranormal or just really advanced science), then something happens and they have to travel back in time (maybe they try space travel at light speed and get thrown back in time... i don't know its not a fully formed idea yet) and then of course they get captured and inevitably cause an event that leads to their own formation... cool no?
2. Vicky Roberts is an "alien" her son his half and half... that means she had a child with a regular dude... that kid should play an important Walt like role... I hope he doesnt grow up too fast...
This weeks episode gets 9 Sawyer Nicknames out of 10.
Keep up the good work EVENT.
As a last thought, if you like post-apocalyptic anything try watching "The Colony Experiment." It is the only reality show I will watch. I was flipping channels on Sunday and found it. Kind of cool. People are thrown in to mock apocalyptic scenario and they have to survive. Its Urban Survivor with no annoying "challenges" or getting voted off the island.
Have a good one. I'll be back to review some other shows later this week/this weekend.
Friday, October 8, 2010
Shows I am watching this year.
LOST is gone. This hurts me more than you can imagine. I was a LOST fanatic. I was one of those people who would spend time at parties talking about the show. I would tell non-LOST fans they were stupid for not watching. I loved the show, and I am one of the few who loved the ending.
I have come around in my feelings about other people and LOST. I really do feel that if you give it a chance LOST will provide you with 6 solid seasons of entertainment. However, I recognize that it will frustrate the shit out of many people and therefore is not for everyone.
Enough about LOST though, I really only use it as an example of the fact that my shows are quickly and quietly dropping off the air. The Wire has been gone for some time, with no more DVD seasons for me to whip through. Battlestar Galactica ending two years ago leaving in its wake the promising Caprica (a pilot I actively anticipated, enjoyed, and never followed up on). I need to fill the voids that these shows have left in my heart. Luckily this year a number of shows have come out that have the potential to fill those holes. Now three weeks into the season we have seen some shows get cancelled already and others gain ground as likely candidates to be staples in my watching schedule. Lets take a look at the new shows I am giving a chance:
The Event
Here is a show that has the potential to replace LOST. Now I don't think that any show can really do that entirely but I do need a show that I can theorize about on a regular basis. And here is my first prediction. They aren't aliens, they are people from the future. If you liked LOST give it a shot. The main character is very much a young Jack Shepard. Except he is a hacker and not a doctor, he doesn't sweat in a weird semicircle below his neck and he bangs a girl EVEN HOTTER than Evangeline Lily. The Event seems to have a good thing going. Hopefully they can keep it going. The one thing that will make this show for real is if they can figure out a legit story arc. If they start to fuck around like Heroes they will quickly lose me (like Heroes) and the audience will fall apart leading to cancellation. Good luck NBC you need a solid show like this.
Boardwalk Empire
Scorsese and Wahlberg come together on HBO to bring us the Sopranos of the 20s. I like booze, I like mobsters, I like morally inept protagonists that I can root for despite their obvious lack of good guy stature (Cite: Tony Soprano, Hank Moody). A young Al Capone makes an appearance in Episode 1. Steve Buscemi is amazing as always and OMAR (Michael K. Williams) of The Wire fame is a gangster. How can this be bad? So far I am definitely all in after 3 episodes. A few things I suggest you look for while watching the show: 1. Their use of language (Michael K. Williams character uses the term "motherfucker" in episode 3 and Steve Buscemi turns to his friend and says "What's a motherfucker?") 2. The way the show is framed in the wake of the War (one main character is a war vet) and 3. if you are from Canada like myself you can enjoy the use of Canadian Club Whisky in each and every episode. I highly recommend this show for anyone who enjoys anything (especially The Sopranos).
Running Wilde
I have given this show 3 episodes and I will give it a few more. Arrested development creators bring our favourites back to the screen in a very similar style show (narrarated by a little girl, same humour, the auxillary characters are the funniest parts).
I continue to watch The Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother and The Mentalist. I am also flying through a few back episodes of Fringe, Criminal Minds and Community so that I can pick them back up this season. More on those shows next time.
I have come around in my feelings about other people and LOST. I really do feel that if you give it a chance LOST will provide you with 6 solid seasons of entertainment. However, I recognize that it will frustrate the shit out of many people and therefore is not for everyone.
Enough about LOST though, I really only use it as an example of the fact that my shows are quickly and quietly dropping off the air. The Wire has been gone for some time, with no more DVD seasons for me to whip through. Battlestar Galactica ending two years ago leaving in its wake the promising Caprica (a pilot I actively anticipated, enjoyed, and never followed up on). I need to fill the voids that these shows have left in my heart. Luckily this year a number of shows have come out that have the potential to fill those holes. Now three weeks into the season we have seen some shows get cancelled already and others gain ground as likely candidates to be staples in my watching schedule. Lets take a look at the new shows I am giving a chance:
Here is a show that has the potential to replace LOST. Now I don't think that any show can really do that entirely but I do need a show that I can theorize about on a regular basis. And here is my first prediction. They aren't aliens, they are people from the future. If you liked LOST give it a shot. The main character is very much a young Jack Shepard. Except he is a hacker and not a doctor, he doesn't sweat in a weird semicircle below his neck and he bangs a girl EVEN HOTTER than Evangeline Lily. The Event seems to have a good thing going. Hopefully they can keep it going. The one thing that will make this show for real is if they can figure out a legit story arc. If they start to fuck around like Heroes they will quickly lose me (like Heroes) and the audience will fall apart leading to cancellation. Good luck NBC you need a solid show like this.
Boardwalk Empire
Running Wilde
I have given this show 3 episodes and I will give it a few more. Arrested development creators bring our favourites back to the screen in a very similar style show (narrarated by a little girl, same humour, the auxillary characters are the funniest parts).
I continue to watch The Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother and The Mentalist. I am also flying through a few back episodes of Fringe, Criminal Minds and Community so that I can pick them back up this season. More on those shows next time.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Why Now? Why TV?
You may be asking why I would decide to start writing a blog now. Blogs are no longer popular. No one reads blogs. In fact the 'you' at the beginning of the sentence may be NOONE at all. That being said, over the past 5 years I have watched more television than most people I know. It started in my undergraduate degree where I downloaded EVERYTHING. Movies, TV shows, whatever. And I was not very discriminating. I gave everything a shot. Not everything made the cut and I stopped watching much of what I started. But that is what this blog is about. It is a comprehensive, completely subjective list of what I think to be the best TV shows, why you should watch them, what shows they are similar to and why they will positively impact your life.
I truly believe that being addicted to TV has made me a better person. Or at least better at making pop cultural references. And so with that in mind, I invite you to my blog.
I truly believe that being addicted to TV has made me a better person. Or at least better at making pop cultural references. And so with that in mind, I invite you to my blog.
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