Category — 2000s

Since the viral marketing get up worked for Cloverfield, the J.J. Abrams gang have concocted a few radio spots to promote “Fringe”.

They even have a “Fringe” blog to keep track of all this viral nonsense before the September premiere. Boy, I really hope this show airs long enough to reveal this mysterious “pattern” they’re going on about.

Pacey muses on the “pattern”.

Source: Pop Candy

As many before me have said, “The Wire” is simply one of the best television shows ever made.

David Simon and Ed Burns set out to depict the underbelly of Baltimore and managed to create a five season masterpiece. Each season is like another level of the city, revealing another layer of the tragic city. I love it for its realistic depiction of Baltimore, which the producers have gone to painstaking lengths to create.

Simon himself has said he doesn’t really care about awards. He just set out to tell a story and that’s what he did. Still, though season five was the bleakest season yet, I really think the Emmy voters should take notice. TV Addict said it’s in the top 10 of the drama category, but will it win? Things don’t look good if it’s nominated against “Lost”.

What I remember most is the acting. It is simply phenomenal, so the least they could do is nominate all or some of this fantastic ensemble.

Rent or buy this show, like now. Seriously, it may start slow, but it’s totally worth it.

The Wire - The Complete Seasons 1-4

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.

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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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.

Last summer, I stumbled across USA’s dramedy “Burn Notice” and ended up loving it. It stars Jeffrey Donovan as the burned CIA operative, Michael Weston.

A job went bad and in the blink of an eye, he was disavowed and shut out. The government marooned him in Miami, Michael’s hometown that he left in the wind many years ago. Since he basically doesn’t exist, a consequence of working black ops, Michael has no work history, money or home. Thus, he’s forced to depend on his ex-girlfriend Fiona (Gabrielle Anwar), his mom (Sharon Gless), and his friend, Sam (Bruce Campbell) for help.

Spies really hate asking for favors, so most of the humor of the show is him learning to interact with his family and the real world again. All the while, he takes odd PI jobs to make ends meet while desperately working to reclaim his CIA status.

The season 1 dvd is in stores tomorrow (source: TV Squad).

Catch the season 2 premiere on USA on July 10th (10/9 central).

Seasoned thespian and all around loveable guy Dennis Hopper started shooting “Crash” this week in New Mexico. “Crash” is the Starz and Lionsgate first foray into television drama. In Hopper’s own words, he plays a “Phil Spector type character”. Interesting…

I’m guessing it’s a spin-off of the Oscar winning movie, Crash, which I absolutely cannot stand. But if the Hopper is in it, I suppose I’ll have to give it a go. They’re shooting 13 episodes, which means the scripts have to be halfway decent.

Source: Indie 103.1 interview with Dennis Hopper (6/13/08)

“30 Rock” follows the exploits of Liz Lemon, comedy writer and producer of the fictional sketch show “The Girly Show with Tracy Jordan”. It’s an imaginative black comedy that parodies the behind the scenes antics that occur when trying to bring together coporate interest (GE) and creative expression.

The MILF Island episode:

I must own that episode on dvd ASAP! My other favorite from this season is “Subway Hero”. It features the return of Liz’s politically incorrect beeper salesman ex boyfriend, Dennis (Dean Winters) .

According to TVshowsonDVD.com, “30 Rock” season two could be out as early as September!