Thursday, March 27, 2008

March 27, 2008 - A Ton Of Buffy, How I Met Your Mother, Jericho, The Hills, & More

A lot of attention was on PaleyFest this past weekend for the long awaited Buffy The Vampire Slayer reunion live on stage. The proof of how anticipated this was is in the proof of how much tickets were going for on Ebay. This is something that I would have LOVED to attend. On the panel were Joss Whedon, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Nicholas Brendon, James Marsters, Emma Caulfield, Michelle Trachtenberg, Charisma Carpenter, Amber Benson, Seth Green, and executive producers, Marti Noxon and David Greenwalt. Before the panel discussion, a screening of the Buffy Musical, Once More With Feeling, was played for the people in attendance. The panel was then asked questions for a while. Here are some of the highlights of it. Sarah said that she had to read for the role of Buffy eleven times and she said that Joss told her the basic feel of the show saying "I remember him saying the basic principle of the show is you take all that is horrible about youth and all that is scary, and we literally made them into monsters. But I think anyone can relate to what high school is like and how that is the worst monster for you and the worst nightmare, and it was something that was so relatable. I think that was the whole key to the show, was yes, not everyone faced 'the hyena', but essentially we did, and I think that was what was so beautiful about the pain and about the story." The cast was asked about two of the most famous episodes of the show's run with that being Once More With Feeling and also Hush. James Marsters talked about how a lot of the cast was scared with singing in the musical but that he and Anthony Stewart Head were a little more comfortable with it because they had been recording music with their own careers. Marsters put over how great the cast was with getting the musical all together and making it a great episode. Talk turned to Hush with Sarah saying that when she read the script, she thought it would be an easy episode cause of there being no dialogue. Whedon mentioned how tough writing that episode was and how hard it was to get the timing down on scenes cause of there being no dialogue. James did say that he always said that he didn't feel like he was working hard enough if he didn't get scared badly every year with something going on with the show. Sarah was asked about what she thought of season six and the darker turn for the season especially with her character and had this to say about it: "It was definitely tough for me. It's so hard to separate myself from her, so it was tough for me to see these situations and think, 'But Buffy wouldn't do this...' And I felt pressure from the force of the fans. I know Joss and Marti both particularly talked me down from a ledge a couple of times, because it just felt so far removed for me at the time. And maybe that was the point – maybe I was struggling in the same way that she was struggling to find who she was. It just felt so foreign to me." The character of Buffy was very gloomy through a lot of season six and it appears that the decision from Sarah and the producers were made at the same time that it was time to bring her back strong from her sad state. Noxon said that season six was planned to be about the time after high school where you lose yourself as a person. A question was asked about the possibility of there ever being a reunion movie or something similar and Joss replied saying "There's so many stars that would have to align, but there's a reason I worked with all of these people for so long. They're awfully talented. Clearly, from the comic book, it's a story that I can't let go. I think it would be really cool." Charisma was asked about whether she was nervous when leaving to move over to Angel and she said "I was and I actually said that. First off, Joss asked me to take a walk with him, which is always a frightening thing." The panel discussed how Joss would joke with the cast at times saying that he wanted to take a walk claiming that he was about to kill them off or something. He offered Angel to her and she wanted to know what would happen if Angel didn't take off. She was promised a return to Buffy if things didn't work out so she was all for giving Angel a try. The producers also said that they absolutely couldn't do the spinoff without her. Joss also gave us a tip that Oz would be making a return in the season eight comic series which had Seth Green asking "Am I gonna be making out with a girl?" LOL. When talking about the relationship between Willow and Tara, Amber said that she thought they "Had the best relationship on the show. They raised or helped to raise Dawn. I think they were there for her." Sarah then spoke up saying, "Hey, I was there! I participated. I was a little dead, but I participated!" That got Seth to say back to Sarah, "you were kind of like the cool uncle who shows up. 'Hey guys, I got you guys a snow globe!'" Anyway, this is just some of the quotes. There are a ton of live reports from the event out there and it's been fun reading all of them. Just do a search for the PaleyFest show and some are bound to pop up.

How I Met Your Mother did its best ratings of the year this past Monday night. I'm sure a lot of it had to do with curiosity on how Britney Spears would do as a guest star. I thought she was really funny. If you missed it, the episode focused around Ted trying to get a date with his dermatologist named Stella played by Sarah Chalke. He was going to get his tattoo removed that he got at the beginning of this season which would take ten sessions to fully remove. That gives him ten sessions to get a date with the dermatologist. She tells him early on that there is no way that he will get her to say yes to a date. The episode sees him use many different techniques to try and win her over. One of these techniques includes trying to show what a classy guy he is to her receptionist, played by Britney Spears. Only problem is that she falls head over heels for him which brought in a lot of funny comedy. Anyway, the ending was very good where we find out why Stella was so hesitant to take Ted up on the date as she has a daughter and no time on her hands. The quick two minute date at the end was very well done and just a fun way to close the episode out. One of the best episodes of the season so far.

The week in Big Brother. Here are the happenings. Last week, Matt was evicted from the house. HOH came down to Adam and Chelsia with Adam winning. The vengeance was on for Matt's eviction. Adam put up James and Chelsia for eviction. That led to the veto competition which was hosted by Big Brother 8 winner, Dick. I've got to say that I was happy to see him cause it brought me back to last season which I really liked compared to this season which I really don't like. LOL. The veto players were picked at night leading the houseguests to think that an early veto competition could be taking place. Dick quietly entered the house as the houseguests were sleeping. My pleas were answered when he went to the kitchen to grab a pot and pan. He roamed the house waking up the houseguests banging on the pot and pan. With how I feel about this season overall, I was hoping for more of a rowdier pot and pan wake up but oh well. LOL. The houseguests had to drink several mixes of drinks of his with the more that they could get down, the more shots they got at the upcoming croquet type challenge. James got the lead getting ten shots and ended up edging Adam to win the veto. He of course used the veto on himself. Earlier, Josh had talked to Sharon about volunteering herself to go on the block against Chelsia to assure their safety and Chelsia's eviction. Sharon went to Adam and told him to put her up as the replacement to assure Chelsia would leave. James used the veto on himself and Adam replaced the nomination with Sharon. It was no secret that it sealed Chelsia's fate in the game. Chelsia was voted out on a 5-0 vote including James. Chelsia proceeded to give a final speech on the live show that was pretty much what she has been doing on the live feeds over the last few days. On the way out the door, she talked some trash on various houseguests and hugged some of them goodbye. The HOH competition was held which was won by Natalie. Natalie is the new HOH.

What You Missed On The Live Feeds:
Well, Chelsia sure didn't handle her eviction well. She had a major breakdown or whatever you want to call it saying that she just didn't care anymore and was going out with a bang. She ruined the houseguests Easter eggs that they had painted. Also, people weren't happy with her in the first place cause she hard boiled ALL the eggs instead of just doing it with two or so for them to decorate for Easter. Anyway, she smashed all the eggs and threw them in the garbage. For the next while, she proceeded to talk a ton of trash and just pretty much say whatever she felt. The look on Josh's face was priceless as this was going on as he just looked around at everyone else to see what their reaction was. A lot of it was shown on TV but just take what was shown, combine it with what you saw out of her on the live show, and imagine it being worse. LOL.

What Has Happened Since Last Night's Live Show:
SPOILER ALERT!! I haven't watched the live feeds much since last night's show. The food competition was held today and the houseguests are all on slop except for Natalie as the HOH and also Adam. Natalie has made her nominations and they are James and Josh. No surprise there. I figured it would be James and either Josh or Sharon.

The top ten performed this week on American Idol. The theme of this week was "when you were born". The contestants had to sing songs from the year that they were born. Here are the voting results of the week. The bottom three were Chikezie, Syesha Mercado, and Jason Castro. Jason was sent back to safety leaving a bottom two of Chikezie and Syesha with Chikeze going home. I thought this week was definitely better than last week. David Cook's version of Billie Jean was very good as he sang a different version of the song. I liked Kristy Lee Cook's performance of God Bless The USA. Funny comment from Simon when he said that it was one of the most brilliant song choices ever. LOL. Ramiele Malubay broke out "Alone" which has always been a tough song to compete with since Carrie Underwood's incredible performance of it back in season four. I also judge a little tougher on that song cause that performance of Carrie's is one of my favorite Idol performances ever. I guess that's really all I have to say about this week's Idol stuff.

Movie box office numbers for last weekend.
1. Horton Hears A Who! - $25.1 million. 2. Meet The Browns - $20.0 million. 3. Shutter - $10.7 million. 4. Drillbit Taylor - $10.2 million. 5. 10,000 BC - $8.7 million. 6. Never Back Down - $4.9 million. 7. College Road Trip - $4.6 million. 8. The Bank Job - $4.1 million. 9. Vantage Point - $3.8 million. 10. Under The Same Moon - $2.6 million.

Tonight's Smallville saw me react with a cheer when I heard the voice in the opening segment and the voice was of James Marsters. Brainiac returned and wanted Kara but he didn't get what he wanted. So, he made his point by hurting Lana. Kara did eventually leave with Brainiac as she was told it was the only way that Brainiac would save Lana considering he is the only that can undo the damage to her. How sad was that last scene with Clark looking at Lana and then Chloe walking in on it? I haven't been the biggest Lana fan lately but that was sad!! Two Luthors have two different keys and each of them need the others key. Showdown time. Smallville returns with a new episode on April 17th and it will probably be a big one.

After a HUGE fan campaign got the show back on the air for a second season, CBS has once again canceled Jericho. Nina Tassler, of CBS Entertainment, had these comments on the cancellation: "Without question, there are passionate viewers watching this program; we simply wish there were more. We thank an engaged and spirited fan base for keeping the show alive this long, and an outstanding team of producers, cast and crew that went through creative hoops to deliver a compelling, high-quality second season.... We're proud of everyone's efforts." Can the fans do something to keep the show going again? Anything is possible with a passionate fan base. I've never actually seen Jericho but I hear great things about it. I love it when fans pull together for a show so I'm all for supporting their efforts. Here is a site to check out if you want to get more info on the campaigns ongoing for the show.
http://www.jerichorallypoint.com/home/

Well, this looks like we may be able to count one character out of the 90210 spinoff. Jennie Garth has been signed on to star in a new CBS sitcom pilot called My Best Friend's Girl.

Fox has picked up Prison Break for a fourth season.

I had gotten behind on my Buffy season eight comics and I've got to say that I enjoyed them even more with reading five issues all right in a row. It was easy to get into the story. So, here is what has happened. What we are seeing in these issues is how the plan for all the potential slayers becoming slayers now has gone wrong. Some of the slayers are using the power for bad instead of the greater good. Faith was sent on the secret mission by Giles to take out a slayer named Genevieve. However, Genevieve has a mission of her own. Genevieve's mission is to take out Buffy so all slayers no longer have to answer to someone. Faith's mission is to take out Genevieve. However, the two realize that they are very similar and hit it off. Faith finally realizes what Genevieve's plans are and their talks have feelings of hatred toward Buffy brought back for Faith. Buffy ends up being brought into their conversation when she is magically transported. Buffy knew nothing of the mission of Faith and Giles so she is furious to see Faith with this other slayer who has killed other slayers. Faith helps Buffy in the battle with Genevieve but all gets twisted when Buffy's feeling of not being able to trust Faith are brought back. The two battle each other for a moment as Faith's feelings of always being the bad person when Buffy is around come back. Faith strangles her under the water but then comes to and releases her. Buffy is then zapped out of there as Willow brings her back to slayer headquarters. Buffy of course gives a furious call to Giles that she was not informed of this mission. Genevieve and Faith then have it out when Genevieve realizes that Faith had been lying to her. Genevieve ends up being accidentally killed in the battle and Faith pleas upon Roden, who is the power behind Genevieve, to bring her back to life using a spell. He says that there is no point cause she obviously wasn't strong enough for his plan to take out Buffy. He does offer Faith the opportunity to join with him but she turns him down. Roden looks very powerful with his spells until Giles shows up and outsmarts him. That is the end of Roden and of course Genevieve. Faith is offered a ticket out from Giles but she decides to stick around saying that she thinks she can help out slayers who have went the wrong direction and might be able to bring them back. We learned that the big bad in this season is apparently Twilight whose plan is to pit everyone against each other including the slayers and shut down the power of magic. LOVED the Faith storyline arc. Great stuff. I really enjoyed issue ten which focused on Buffy and Willow finding more info out about this war that is about to occur. It is going to be a battle between the humans and magic which puts Buffy and Willow in an awkward position. While they visit a Sephrilian, they learn of each other's secrets that are revealed to them during their visit which includes Willow's feelings of guilt over Tara's death thinking that it occurred because they brought Buffy back. If Buffy hadn't been brought back, Warren wouldn't have been there looking for revenge and catching Tara in the middle of it. Each of them have their decisions that they've made brought back to where they question whether they did the right thing. Interesting twist there. In the next issue, Buffy reveals that she knew who kissed her to bring her back a few issues ago. Remember that it had to be someone who truly loved her. Well, it was another slayer. I kid you not that they end up in bed together but the comedy that ensues when they are caught is very funny stuff and just had a classic Buffy comedy feel to it. Sarah actually had this twist revealed to her at the reunion this past week and everyone got a good laugh out of it. We learned more about this Twilight that is leading the army against the slayers. He is working on attacking the slayers by morally attacking them to weaken them. Twilight pointed out to Buffy that he sees that she was trying to do good by awakening all these slayers but that it has turned out extremely bad so it has to be stopped. Twilight knows all about Buffy and the gang so he knows that her strong point has always been that she is fighting for good but by pointing wrongs out to her that it makes her question her bigger confidence of whether she is now fighting on the right side. Xander does point out to her the confidence that has been brought to the girls that they have with them becoming slayers. She does appear to be gaining confidence as a leader but continues to realize the sadness that goes along with that. Other happenings include finding out just how Dawn got herself in trouble with being turned into a giant. It turns out that she wasn't the victim in the whole deal as she opened up to Xander about what really happened to cause all of this. It took me about an hour to read these issues and I had a GREAT time reading them. I think I almost prefer reading them in a row instead of one issue at a time.

Who do fans think Clark Kent should end up with? Here is a poll for you to get involved with where you can pick between Lana, Chloe, or Lois. I will put my vote in for Chloe.
http://www.eonline.com/gossip/kristin/detail/index.jsp?uuid=488ad5fe-0c3e-4490-8059-b43532fec1bd

I'm very interested to follow the casting news of the new Joss Whedon show, Dollhouse. The show already has former Buffy alum, Eliza Dushku, on board. Could more Buffy/Angel alums be on the way? Joss sure didn't rule that out at PaleyFest. He seems open to casting either new people or some of his valued cast members from years past. Can I please suggest Amy Acker? I miss her being on TV. There was news today on four additions to the cast of Dollhouse including Tahmoh Penikett, Fran Kranz, Dichen Lachman and Enver Gjoka.

The Kristen Bell fan in me will have me checking out that new movie, Forgetting Sarah Marshall. It does scare me though that it is likely going to be like Knocked Up as I just really didn't like that movie at all.

The only show that I watch on MTV, The Hills, returned on Monday night with new episodes. It returned big drawing the biggest ratings ever for the show averaging 4.8 million viewers. It was a fun premiere which saw Lauren and Whitney's trip to Paris, Spencer tracking down Heidi at home to try and get her back, Lauren's knowledge that Brody has a new girlfriend, and it appears that Whitney is ready to move on from her current job to do something else. Nice touch by MTV to put the titles of songs on the screen as they played during the episode. There are several times where I'll hear a song on the show that I like but don't know what it is. The music really is such a huge part of that show. There are several songs that I haven't liked in the past and then change my mind when I hear it played with a good scene in the show. The production value of this show looks amazing and I've bragged about that since the Laguna Beach days. It is always something that brings me in.

Fox has already cancelled The Return Of Jezebel James after just two weeks. This was the show written by Gilmore Girls creator, Amy Sherman-Palladino. The show just did not do good ratings but it didn't help that it was on Friday nights either. The show seemed to be doomed before it even premiered as Fox showed all kinds of signs that they had no confidence in it.

TV on DVD releases for Tuesday, April 1st.
Becker (Season One), Father Knows Best (Season One), John From Cincinnati (Full Series), Law & Order: SVU (Season Six), Martin (Season Four), Murder She Wrote (Season Eight), New Street Law (Season Two), That 70's Show (Season Eight).

TV Lines Of The Week:
From The Big Bang Theory. Leonard and Sheldon talking about Penny's singing that they hear upstairs.
"What is that?" - Leonard
"I don't know. If cats could sing.......they'd hate it too." - Sheldon


You Tube Videos Of The Week:
Missed the Buffy reunion at Paley Fest? Well, here is a little taste of it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SejSbnkQEMo - PaleyFest Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJuFDcLmT-Y - Charisma talks about the move from Buffy to Angel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyWMkZ7-Usg - Joking about Buffy in the comic
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2e8rKmP6T_A - Michelle comments on The Body episode
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erzpR6pHWt4 - The difference in age between Buffy and Angel

That is all I've got for you this week. Have a great weekend!! Take care and God bless!!

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