Posts from — June 2008

Season 4 of “The Closer” on TNT (July 14 9/8c)


Season 2 of “Saving Grace” with the excellent Holly Hunter (July 14 10/9c)

Season 7(!!!) of “Monk” on USA (July 18 9/8c)


Season 3 of “Psych” on USA (July 18th 10/9c)

Was I the only one confused with last night’s episode of “Fear Itself” called In Sickness and In Health?

I usually don’t like serial type shows like “The Outer Limits” or “Masters of Horror”, but when I saw that Maggie Lawson and James Roday from “Psych” were featured, I gave in.

It was also quite curious to see them play a bride and groom, especially since I just learned they are dating in real life. The episode was quite eerie and broken up with abrupt scenes of humor. Maybe that’s director John Landis’ influence? His movies to have a aura of camp to them.

*SPOILERS*
The episode follows their wedding, which is tainted by a note given to the bride (Lawson) claiming that Carlos (Roday) is a serial killer. Throughout the ep, she gets increasingly more freaked out and paranoid, especially when Carlos starts acting weird and hurting her. So at the end of the ep, the audience believes the note is true. But the twist is, the note was meant for Carlos! Meaning…she’s a serial killer? WTF?

If she was the killer, why did she act so freaked out by the note until she realized the mistake? Was it cause she thought he might actually be one too? Did it hit too close to home? I dunno, but it didn’t really translate on screen. We got the twist and she just smiled. The End.

And what was with her brother being the one who passed on the note (but in DRAG)? That was just plain creepy, esp since his apartment was filled with body parts in jars. If the brother is a killer, along with his sister, why would he warn the groom? Why not just kill him if he gets too close? Maybe he just wanted his sister to himself.
*END SPOILERS*

The whole thing assumes the audience can figure all this out in less than 30 seconds. Not sure if this an easy task for the summer viewer. I don’t think I’m going to be watching next weeks episode. Maybe this horror is simply too cerebral for my tastes.

Watch the episode on NBC and decide for yourself.

In the summer, many channels schedule marathons and reruns to fill up those empty blocks. Holidays and warmer weather create significant drops in viewership, which leads to less advertising dollars. Thus, networks can be more creative with the schedule.

There is the new trend of showing smaller budgeted shows during the summer as mid-season or summer only programs. I’ve discovered quite a few gems during this so-called down period like “Burn Notice”, “Mad Men”, “Eureka”, “Weeds” and “In Plain Sight”. As you may have noticed, mostly cable network or premium channels can so freely funnel money into summer shows, since you have to pay to see those channels anyway.

Here’s a list of reruns, premieres and marathons for July:
“Burn Notice” - Season 2 premiere on July 10th, 10pm (mini marathon on July 3rd)
“Weeds” - Season 4 already up and running, Mondays on Showtime at 10pm
“Mad Men” - Season 1 marathon on July 20th at noon, Season 2 premiere on July 27th (Thanks Whitney for the heads up!)

“Eureka” - Season Premiere on July 29th, 9pm (watch reruns online here)
“Supernatural” - Season 3 encore, Thursdays at 9pm
“Rescue Me” minisodes started on Tuesdays on F/X, but you can catch them online as well at Crackle.com

Don’t waste the day away in your sofa hammock, stay cool and catch up on all that great tv you missed earlier in the year.

Hasbro Toys is coming out with a new line of My Little Ponies to celebrate their 25th anniversary. Some of the ponies will be designed by celebrities (like James Spader?). Who knew so many people loved plastic pony dolls?

I can’t remember whether I loved the dolls or the “My Little Pony” television show first, so I guess the cartoon worked its magic on me.

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After learning the title of the new dvd movie for “Futurama”, The Beast with a Billion Backs, I thought to myself that those crazy kids must really love alliteration!

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“Undeclared” was Judd Apatow’s next foray into television after the demise of “Freaks and Geeks”. He even cast a few familiar faces in the pilot. The show follows the hilarious adventures of a group of college freshmen. Much of the dialogue was improvised, so I think that really heightened the humor.

Some people say it wasn’t as good as its predecessor, but I love both shows. It was the American debut of Charlie Hunnam, star of the British version of “Queer as Folk”, so I watched “Undeclared” first (and thus without predjudice for F&G). Not that it mattered much, since in typical Fox fashion, the show was short lived.

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The cast of the “Golden Girls” were honored at the TVLand Awards. Presenter Steve Carell introduced a touching montage of celebrities praising the show as a pop culture icon.

I never thought of it as a ground breaking show, but I suppose it did paint elderly people as fun and interesting subjects. Over the years, I became quite familiar with the adventures of Blanche, Sophia, Rose, and Dorothy. My favorite character is Blanche. She’ll do and has done just about anything. However when I think back, all the characters had their fair share of outrageous moments.

All seven hilarious seasons are available on dvd today.

The original “Dragnet” ran for a whopping eight seasons from 1951 to 1958. Jack Webb, wrote, starred and directed the cop drama that centered on the LAPD and his character, Sgt. Joe Friday. And then, in 1967, they revived the classic series, entitled simply “Dragnet 1967″. The four season run paired Jack Webb with Harry Morgan, who played Officer Bill Gannon.

I had no idea there were so many episodes out there. But it makes sense, since it was able to spawn that movie with Tom Hanks & Dan Ackroyd . I thought that movie was pretty cool back in the day. What wasn’t cool was the cheesy remake they tried to do back in 2003. Don’t bother watching a second of that permutation.

Find “Dragnet” and other tv shows from the 50s and 60s streaming for free at Oldies Television. The quality isn’t the best, so if you need crystal clear resolution for your Sharp Aquos tv, maybe you should go for the dvd collections.

Since hearing from Pajiba that they’re remaking “The Prisoner” with Jim Cavezial and Ian McKellan, I decided that I should get familiar with the original. The 1967 “The Prisoner” series starred Patrick McGoohan as an ex-spy who is kidnapped and taken to The Village, a lavish but dangerous prison where he’s held until he gives his captors what they want. At first glance, it sounds like “The Fugitive” crossed with Escape from Alcatraz or something.

I feel like television could benefit from a new version that has thought provoking writing. It’s a perfect vehicle to explore current social and political themes such as the power limits on certain government agencies. “24″ before it got ridiculous was an excellent show to question the methods of how governments protect our freedoms. With the idea of an indefinite prison, one can easily imagine the political commentary possibilities. Here’s hoping it’s not just another throwaway conspiracy theory serial like “Vanished”.

I loved Cartoon Network’s revamp of “He-Man and the Masters of the Universe” when it aired back in 2002. I even have a few episodes saved on vhs. This version focused on the origins of the classic characters: He-man, Evil-lyn, and Skeletor. The graphics were quite fantastic as well. And Young Adam still had the magical sword, but his gang got some new fangled toys that certainly proved useful.

Check out this clip from the first episode to see for yourself:

I guess I probably liked the new series mostly because the animation beats out the original on every level. Plus, the story developments are way more engaging. If you like what you see, the entire “He-Man and the Masters of the Universe” (2002) series was released on dvd in two volumes. Guess I can finally toss those vhs recordings.