Here’s the massive list of episodes I watched this weekend in my pathetic effort to free up some much needed space on my DVR box:

The final four episodes of “Doctor Who”. The season finale was rewarding since the Torchwood gang, Rose, Martha, and Sarah Jane Smith all made appearances. The poor Doctor, he’s all alone again.

Robin Tunney and Simon Baker in"The Mentalist"

The first two episodes of “The Mentalist”. Simon Baker is cute and does a good job on the show, but somehow I feel it’s too darkly themed for the CBS crowd.

The “Personae Non Grata” episode of “Law and Order” from last season. Yeah, I keep shows forever and they re-run L/O all the time. But this time it was worth it and not just for the Jeremy Sisto scenes.

Law & Order (2008)

A mother poses as her daughter on the girl’s Bspace (i.e. myspace) page to con a guy into giving her $60,000…oh and getting said guy to commit murder later on. And then turns out, she’s more than just a sociopathic manipulator (well, duh). She’s a bonafide murderer! She killed the daughter she was impersonating like two years before! And buried her in her unsuspecting boyfriend’s cellar. That’s just plain demented, L/O.

The first three episodes of this season of “Lipstick Jungle”. Boy is that dialogue terrible. But that Kirby (Nico’s boy toy) is cute and the fashion designer character, Victory Ford, is actually funny and realistic.

Victory Ford

And can you believe Wendy got fired over insurance fraud?! Oh well, I never liked Brooke Shields character all that much. It was a bit over the top with the “world is falling down around me” camera effects on Wendy. She’s all melodramatically standing in the street alone (in NYC?), looking up at the sky as she realizes her life is pretty much screwed.

“Eleventh Hour”, cloned babies, Rufus Sewell as quirky scientist, tough FBI agent Marley Shelton…zzzzzz.

I like to give my undivided attention to “It’s Always Sunny”, so I finally got to watch the “Mac and Dennis: Manhunters” episode. It was crude beyond belief - gorilla mask/teabag pranks, cannibal jokes, and Frank confusing his life with the plot of Rambo:First Blood. Oh, how I missed the “Sunny” gang so much. I plan to watch the rest of the season tonight.

Col. Shepherd and Dr. McKay in "Stargate Atlantis"

Next, I watched the latest eps of “Adventures of New Christine”, “Heroes”, “Stargate Atlantis”, and “Sanctuary”, which is actually way better in the second episode. That pilot was redundant, but once the show focused on a specific story and no exposition, I liked it.

Gee whiz! How the heck is my DVR still at 69%?! Oh wait, because I still have entire seasons of “Burn Notice”, “Psych” and “New Amsterdam” on there!

“Kath & Kim” with Molly Shannon and Selma Blair. A US version of the Austrialian series (haven’t they figured out they usually don’t work out?) - 8:30/7:30 on NBC

The original Las Vegas version of “CSI” premieres at 9pm followed by the premiere of “Eleventh Hour” with Rufus Sewell in the role originally played by Patrick Stewart on the BBC version.

On ABC, after new episodes of “Ugly Betty” and “Grey’s Anatomy”, we’ve got the series premiere of David E. Kelley’s take on the original BBC show “Life on Mars”. This remake wins the award of the stuffing as many talented film actors as possible into one show (after firing 90% of the actors from the original pilot) to make it look good: Harvey Keitel, Michael Imperioli, Gretchen Mol, Lisa Bonet, and Jason O’Mara as the time-traveling cop Sam Tyler.

If you haven’t visited ABC today, check out the 1970s computer terminal re-design they put up in honor of the new show. Or if you’re lazy, just look at the screenshot on TV Squad. Watch the “Life on Mars” promo below to get the gist of the show.

I have no idea how I’m gonna watch (or even DVR record) all these shows tonight!

In an uncharacteristic bout of good judgement, I’ve decided to continue avoiding the wasteland of bad television this weekend, taking refuge in some old favorites from the “TV– No Wait, DVD” genre.  Last weekend, I got my cartoon fix with some “Clerks” The Animated Series,” but today is going to be all about “Freaks and Geeks.”

The most cursory internet search of “Freaks and Geeks” will undoubtedly provide a bounty of blogs praising this show– and likely some pornography too, so make sure you have “Safe Search” turned on, kiddies.

Where was I? Oh, yes. “Freaks and Geeks” is about high school kids in Michigan during the 80s, centering around a sister and brother who fall respectively into the social castes of– you guessed it– freaks and geeks. They laugh, they live, they love. This series was on NBC in 1999, and like so many other great shows, simply didn’t catch on quickly enough for the network suits. So, they yanked it. Good job, guys.

“F&G” was one of Judd Apatow’s greatest creations though, so it herewith gets the official Television Revival thumbs up. Plus, it’s got Seth Rogen, James Franco AND Jason Segel, so if you liked Pineapple Express and/or Forgetting Sarah Marshall, you’re going to lurve this. So rent it, or buy it, or do whatever it is you do to watch new stuff that is actually old stuff that is good. End of dispatch. I’m off to buy another box of wine.

[Picture source: NBC]

For reasons I am not going to get into, I had to watch NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” this week.

Sweet. Fancy. Moses. If David Hasselhoff isn’t back on the sauce, you could have fooled me. Between his slurring to a 4-year-old girl “You should run for President!” and Sharon Osbourne, who has had enough work done at this point to be a prime candidate to play Jocelyn “The Cat Woman” Wildenstein in a Lifetime biopic, I barely had enough energy left to hate Jerry Springer properly.

By the time the show got to an act called “The Zooperstars,” which is a bunch of jerks in inflatable mascot costumes who formed a dance team, I was genuinely concerned I had unwittingly slipped myself a lethal dose of PCP. The fact that there is an act on this show where people dance around a stage– and quite enjoyably, sometimes fall off the stage– in duck and monkey costumes to an old “Jock Jams” CD is more than enough explanation for NBC’s standing as a fourth place network. Abandon all hope for humanity, and check out this clip.

[Picture source: NYMag.com]

Pop Candy reports that Seth Green (Oz in “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”) will have a guest stint on the third season of “Heroes”!

I actually love Seth Green* (even tho “Robot Chicken” is very hit or miss!), especially his guest appearances on television shows. He was hilarious on “Entourage” as the wannabe it guy who tries to out-cool Vince. He even was a breath of fresh air on “Grey’s Anatomy” this past season, even tho they totally killed his character off! Guess that’s the chance you take when you take a guest role on a hospital drama. Hopefully, Seth Green’s addition will be lengthy, which can only help liven things up on the newly subtitled season, “Heroes: Villains”.

Not caught up? Check out G4 TV for re-runs or buy the extras filled “Heroes” season two dvd on August 26th.

*Airborne and Can’t Hardly Wait gave him a pass from me for life!

I spent a good portion of my weekend delving into NBC’s 2008 Olympic coverage. I missed the opening ceremony, but luckily my friend tivo-ed all 4 hours of it for me!

Even when I left the house, everywhere I went people were talking about or watching the Olympics. I attended a birthday party yesterday and most of the guests (including the birthday girl) were huddled around the Samsung lcd television. We were mesmerized by the events, even the ones I didn’t care for like kayaking and water polo. Typically, I only make a point to watch the gymnastics, swimming, and diving events. But force me to watch Olympic sports on an HDTV, and I’m glued to the screen for the rest of the day!

Related Links:
BWE’s Top 8 Photos from the Opening Ceremony
Large high resolution photos of the Opening Ceremony (Boston.com)
Official Beijing Olympics coverage at NBC

I awoke this morning to a “Kingdom Hospital” marathon on SciFi channel.

It took me quite a few minutes to realize what I was watching. At first, I assumed it was just some whacked out episode of “The Outer Limits” that took place in a hospital. It was a really eerie scene of homeless men cackling at a doctor parking his car. But then in the next scene, I saw Andrew McCarthy’s doctor character appear and I knew exactly what it was. No TiVo information button necessary. =)

“Kingdom Hospital” is Stephen King’s take on the danish television mini-series, “Riget” and “Riget II” , which was created by Lars Von Trier. Trier later went on to garner international exposure from his next project, Breaking the Waves, which probably led to King discovering the series. King’s adaptation was criticized by viewers of the original. Apparently he trimmed all the humor bits and emphasized the mystery/horror elements. But would you expect anything less? I suppose not.

I tried to watch a few episodes when it premiered on NBC in 2004, but I ended up distracted and bored. Now, thanks to SciFi channel, viewers can give “Kingdom Hospital” another go. I swear if it’s got anything to do with sci-fi or horror, that channel will add it to their programming, even if it didn’t make the cut on network television. Sometimes I love their choices, while others I’m just kind meh about like this show.

You can rent or buy “Riget” and “Kingdom Hospital” on dvd today, if you’re curious to find out more.

Just yesterday, I was trying to convince my friend to give “Chuck” a chance when it returns this fall. I couldn’t believe he hadn’t watched it, esp since it’s produced by the creator of “The OC”, a show my friend desperately tried to get me to watch. My friend said he just hadn’t made it around to it. Thus, I proceeded to give him a brief overview of why he should.

I described “Chuck” as a geekier, more tongue-in-cheek version of “Alias” meets “30 Rock”. Chuck (Zachary Levi) works at the Buy More as the leader of the computer repair department, Nerd Herd. He’s the typical geek slacker, living with his sister, playing video games and discussing the merits of Metal Gear Solid with his best friend Morgan.

Then, one day, he accidently has all the top secrets of the C.I.A. downloaded into his head and he’s forced into working for the government. He’s protected by Sarah, his potential love interest and friend, and Casey (Adam Baldwin) , the hard nose agent who would kill Chuck on the spot if the order came down.

The best part of the show is def not the stupid love triangle or the spy stuff. It’s all about the comic performances at the Buy More. Casey works there to keep a closer eye on Chuck, so seeing a spy forced to work retail is quite hilarious. But really it’s the Nerd Herd and other Buy More characters that keep me laughing and coming back for more.

I wouldn’t go far as to say it’s one the best comedies out there, but it’s certainly entertaining and worth space on my dvr.

And I love that these Hellboy II viral videos gave me a legitimate reason to discuss the awesomeness of “Chuck” on this here blog.

“Chuck” returns to NBC on September 29th, 8/7c.

Source: /Film VOTD

What is the deal with this “Baby Borrowers” show? Teens are put through the ringer and given real babies to take care of, all too prove that child rearing is really difficult.

I don’t need a tv show to tell me that! Plus, hasn’t like every sitcom done the kid-parent switcheroo? It totally reminds of that episode on “Saved by the Bell: The New Class” where Mr. Belding makes them take care of an realistic baby doll.

Bring teenagers and babies together and hilarity ensues, right? I disagree, but all this buzz about the “Baby Borrowers” proves that some people find this premise entertaining. Watch it on Thursdays on NBC.

If you prefer your teens only in nineties sitcoms, check out the original “Saved By the Bell” on dvd.

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.