Thursday, April 23, 2009

Survivor, Idol Five, Save Chuck, ABC & Millionaire, Amazing Race, 90210, & More - April 23, 2009

Down to the final five on American Idol after this week’s double elimination. Disco week provided no surprises on eliminations. Lil Rounds has taken a lot of criticism from the judges on her song choices and them wanting her to show what kind of artist that she can be. It almost became a broken record of criticism where you just expected it each week. So, she was eliminated this week. The other person came down to Anoop Desai and Allison Iraheta with Anoop going home. Whew again!! These close calls with Allison going home are annoying cause I really think she is good. She is the last female standing as well against four guys. The guys? Well, it sounded like a broken record from the judges as well with the comments for them. This is a tough top five with there not really being a clear cut favorite. I think it is between Danny and Adam though for the win. Like I said, I like Allison though.

Very good episode of Survivor tonight. The blindside was on again and the obvious one that looked to be going home got a reprieve while not even knowing it. Sierra was having to fight for her life in this episode with everyone aligned against her after Brendan’s departure last week. She pleaded her case to everyone trying to pull herself out of harm’s way of being the next to go home but nothing was working. Coach did show sympathy with her for how sad that she was but told her to own up to what she did and accept her fate. The reward challenge was won by Tyson, JT, Erinn, and Debbie. Stephen was sent to exile island to keep Sierra from possibly getting a chance at a new hidden immunity idol. Stephen arrived at exile and received clue number seven meaning that there was no new hidden idol to be had. The immunity challenge had them sliding discs to a spot in the middle of the table. The one that got it to the closest in the middle won. Jeff gave them another option. Play or eat. Coach, JT, and Stephen chose to eat. Tyson wasn’t happy about this saying in his interview that he was the one doing all the winning yet everyone else took the challenge off to eat. Things got very interesting in the last couple of shots. Sierra took out Tyson to take the lead. The last shot went to Debbie who knocked Sierra’s disc out to win immunity. So close!! That seemingly sealed Sierra’s fate. Things went very different though when Erinn, Taj, and Stephen discussed taking this opportunity to vote out an immunity-less Tyson. Stephen talked to JT about it and JT was back and forth on whether to break up that alliance of the group with Coach. One thing was clear from JT and that was that he didn’t want Sierra to know this plan was in the works. Tribal council occurred with Tyson and Sierra clashing once again. The plan as far as Coach, Tyson, and Debbie knew was that Sierra was the next to go. The blindside went into effect and Tyson got voted out on a 5-3 vote. The looks on faces was hilarious especially Tyson, Sierra, and Coach. Tyson’s face went from confidence to uh oh. Sierra’s face lit up in shock that she was staying in the game. Coach looked stunned that a blindside had just hit him. Brendan was blindsided last week and this week it went to Tyson. Very nicely played blindside. Best one of the season so far. Very entertaining episode. I was thinking tonight on trying to figure out who my favorites are this season. I have Erinn and Sierra as mine. I just really think Erinn is going to stir things up and change the game.

Who Wants To Be A Millionaire is returning in prime time on ABC for a summer run with Regis Philbin returning as the host. The show will return for two weeks beginning on Sunday, August 9 and will have a run of eleven episodes. Great to see the show returning after ABC ruined the show several years ago. Millionaire did huge ratings for ABC when it debuted and launched the return of game shows into prime time. However, ABC loved the ratings a little too much and decided, hey, let’s put it on every night. Well, not every night but it was on a ton during the week. ABC oversaturated the show and people started tuning out. Eventually, the show was pulled out of prime time. I’ve always enjoyed Millionaire and I’m a big Regis fan so it will be great to have the original version back on the air. Hopefully, ABC has learned from their mistakes of the past. Has it really been 10 years since it debuted? That is unreal that it has been that long.

ABC renewed several shows this week for another season. One on the list is Lost which is a no duh kind of deal to start with. Of course it is coming back. The other shows that have been picked up include Desperate Housewives, Brother and Sisters, Dancing With The Stars, Wife Swap, The Bachelor, America’s Funniest Home Videos, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Supernanny, Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice, and Ugly Betty.

What about NBC and Heroes? That has been talked about quite a bit lately with the show expected to be coming back. The show is indeed coming back but has gotten a shorter episode order from the network. Season four will only be 18 episodes instead of the usual 22. Actually, this season has turned out to be 25 episodes. I don’t think this will be a bad thing with there only being 18 next season. Sometimes less is more. Monday night is the season three finale. I’ve been critical of the show lately but I’ve felt it has gotten better over the last five or so episodes. The finale will focus on a shapeshifting Sylar taking on Nathan.

The fight to save Chuck is underway by the fans. I am all for a good save a show campaign as I have taken part in several over the years. Plus, it’s Chuck so I’m in anyway cause it is one of my favorite shows. The fan effort involves buying a $5 footlong at Subway on April 27 which is the day of the season finale. The plan is for customers to leave a note in the comment box to let them know that you are participating in the Finale and Footlong campaign to save Chuck. Why Subway? It is one of the big sponsors of the show. You can also write to NBC and give your pleas to the powers that be as well. For more info on what you can do to save Chuck including the Subway campaign, head over to this link: http://zachary-levi.com/2009/04/10/footlong-campaign-to-save-chuck/

Movie box office numbers for last weekend. 1. 17 Again - $23.7 million. 2. State Of Play - $14 million. 3. Hannah Montana The Movie - $13.4 million. 4. Monsters vs. Aliens - $13.2 million. 5. Fast and Furious - $11.7 million. 6. Crank High Voltage - $6.9 million. 7. Observe and Report - $4.1 million. 8. Knowing - $3.5 million. 9. I Love You Man - $3.3 million. 10. The Haunting In Connecticut - $3.1 million.

The Amazing Race got a much needed boost this week with the battle between the teams of Jen & Kisha and Margie & Luke as the teams traveled through China. I have thought that this season has just been kind of there with not much excitement. Things got intense between them when they clashed multiple times at the clueboxes. The first time had Luke battling Jen to the cluebox. Luke got to it first and then Jen ran into the back of him. Luke then threw his elbow at her while she called him a name in response of the action. Both teams fumed over the moment until the two of them clashed again battling for the next cluebox. This time, Jen got there with Luke running into the back of her. She then threw an elbow at him. This got Margie and Kisha involved with shouting over what was going on. The two teams would battle again at the finish line as the top three all arrived at the same time. Jen & Kisha finished first followed by Tammy & Victor. Third was Margie & Luke. Phil then had to play referee between Jen & Kisha and Margie & Luke when the boiling point of that leg of the race had been reached. Lots of back and forth talk. Ok, here is my point of view on it. I think that this was a lot of tension that really wasn’t necessary. It boiled over from the previous leg when Jen & Kisha told Margie & Luke’s taxi driver the wrong directions on purpose. I think that was what really fueled the anger from Luke & Margie. I didn’t think Jen ran into Luke on purpose on the first cluebox deal but that it was a momentum thing. What escalated the incident was the elbow being thrown. The second cluebox was another momentum deal with Luke carrying his momentum into Jen. However, I realize that there was some anger at that point between the two. The elbows being thrown was what really took this to a different level. The heat of the moment of the race and the stress over it. Tammy & Victor had an advantage on this leg of the race being able to speak the language in China. It was funny to see all the teams following them cause they knew that Tammy & Victor knew where they were going. The elimination was no surprise at all as Mark & Michael were eliminated. There was just no way that they were going to overcome that deficit from their penalty. Here are the standings of the final four: 1. Jen & Kisha. 2. Tammy & Victor. 3. Margie & Luke. 4. Jaime & Cara.

No Lost this week. Well, as far as a new episode anyway. I’m sure the special was probably good but I didn’t watch it. Lost returns with its 100th episode on Wednesday night. I kind of did a second take when I saw that it was the 100th episode cause it just seems like it has been around longer than that. I do find myself watching reruns of Lost quite a bit on Sci-Fi when I catch them on. It really is a show that is fun to watch over and over.

You Tube now has complete shows up on its site. A definite variety of stuff to check out. I had to check out a little of Party Of Five as season three is up on there. I loved that show back in the day. Here is the link to the shows so you can see if there are ones that you might want to check out: http://www.youtube.com/shows

The news may not be good for that Veronica Mars movie but it was announced this week that Kristen Bell has a new movie role upcoming. She will appear in a new Disney movie called You Again. She will also be appearing in a movie later this year called Couples Retreat which has a fun storyline to it. She will play the role of a sister who finds out that her brother is marrying a girl that made her life miserable in high school. Yeah, I’m up for seeing both of these. Big Kristen Bell fan if you somehow didn’t know.

It is time for another live action movie comeback return. Variety is reporting that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles will return for a live action movie in 2011. For more info including on the plans for it, head over to: http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118002745.html?categoryid=13&cs=1

90210 continued the Donna and Kelly reunion this week. Fun episode with them out on the town. Donna told of how she wanted to move back to Beverly Hills but David wanted to stay in Japan. She wanted to open up a shop and continued to look for signs of what to do on their night out. Funny scene with Donna seeing a psychic. Donna ended up seeing her sign which was “for lease” at an empty store which she said was just like she had imagined. She opened up her shop but David’s only talk was that they would have to figure out a schedule on sending their kid back and forth between Beverly Hills and Japan. Kelly and Ryan got back together. Naomi and Annie grew closer together with Annie giving Naomi the friend that she needed through a tough time. Naomi is staying at Annie’s house for the timebeing. Ethan continues to be going down the wrong path. Silver struggled with being out in public again including people teasing her from school. She decided that she couldn’t go back to West Beverly and enrolled at an all girls Catholic school. Adrianna and Navid talked to potential parents for her baby but they decided to get married at the end making it sound like Adrianna may keep the baby as well.

TV on DVD releases for Tuesday, April 28. American Dad (Volume Four), Mission Impossible (Season Six), Pulling (Season One), Rookies (Season One), Spin City (Season Two), UFO Hunters (Season Two), The Waltons (Season Nine).

TV Line Of The Week: From Survivor.
“I was like the little kid that eats pizza and ice cream and gets in the playland balls and jumps around a bunch and doesn’t understand why they threw up. It was terrible.” - Erinn commenting on her getting sick after eating a ton of food at the reward challenge and dancing after not being used to having that kind of food and activity.

Video Of The Week: If you’re a Lost fan, you’ll love Michael Emerson reading a children’s story in a way that is very Ben sounding. How creepy does this story sound!! LOL. He really is an incredible actor.


Wishing all of you a great weekend!! Take care and God bless!!

Thursday, April 16, 2009

NASA vs. Colbert/Whedonverse, Donna/90210, Idol, Survivor, Race, Lost, & More - April 16, 2009

Hope everyone is doing great!!!!! I’ll start with Lost. It really is interesting to see all the different people on the island and how they tie into the history of it. The latest was Miles who we haven’t gotten much background on over his run of the show. It turns out that he is the son of the Dharma video instructor guy. How great was Hurley in this episode with him continuing to tease Miles about his dad? The van ride was priceless. Speaking of Hurley, I loved him writing Empire Strikes Back with various changes. How cool was it to see the hatch being built??!!!! Then, Hurley has to see the numbers put on it. The end of the episode showed the return of Faraday. This is going to mean big things!!

This week’s American Idol was the week that the judges used their save option. The bottom three consisted of Matt Giraud, Lil Rounds, and Anoop Desai. Lil Rounds was sent back to safety leaving the bottom two of Matt and Anoop. Ryan Seacrest announced the voting results that Matt had the lowest number of votes and was about to go home. The judges voted to keep him around for another week. Simon then talked saying that the bad news was that there would be two people eliminated next week while also adding that it would be disco week. This week also saw a change in the judging with only two judges being allowed to talk for each singer. This was a time saving measure as the show keeps running over. Many did not even see Adam Lambert’s full performance if they didn’t watch live last week. This has stirred up quite a bit of debate among Idol fans.

Donna Martin graduates. Donna Martin graduates. Donna Martin returned on this week’s 90210. The latest original cast member to return to the show. Donna returned to visit Kelly and we learned what has happened to Donna’s character since the show ended. She has been doing very well as a fashion designer in Japan. What about her and David? Well, they are separated at the moment but have a kid together. David also is doing well as a music producer. Kelly continued to look after Silver who is recovering after leaving the hospital. Dixon and Annie took a road trip to Arizona. Unknowingly, Annie found out that the trip was for him to meet up with his birth mom. Dixon said that he had made the decision when he was eight on whether to stay with his birth mom or be put up for adoption with him choosing adoption. Annie ended up talking to his mom after Dixon wasn’t able to do so. The two had a nice conversation with Annie apologizing for Dixon like he wanted to do for choosing adoption over her. However, his mom said that it was her decision overall and thought it was in his best interests for adoption. The road trip was a nice storyline for the episode to have something good go along with the focus being on Donna’s return. Fun episode.

The Dollhouse panel with Joss Whedon at Paley Fest had his thoughts on whether the show would continue. He seemed to be optimistic while a lot of entertainment sites have said otherwise. He said that the show does have “soft” ratings but that it does very well in its demographic and in DVR numbers. It does do well in DVR numbers as I have seen that. It would be a shame if the show doesn’t continue cause the show has really hit stride once that sixth episode aired. That episode was hyped and delivered big!!

This week’s Amazing Race had the biggest penalty that I can EVER remember for a team. If I have forgotten another one, I apologize but Mark and Michael got penalized for a double two hour penalty!!! I just laughed when Phil announced it cause it was such a massive penalty. WOW. The penalty was for them using their personal belongings to settle a bill which is a big no no in the game. They did that twice so that was why they got hit so hard. They arrived in fourth place ahead of Jen and Kisha but Jen and Kisha obviously got there way before the penalty was over. However, it wasn’t an elimination round. What does that mean? Well, it means that Mark and Michael have to start the next leg of the race contining to serve out the rest of their massive penalty while also having to do a speed bump task at some point. I did laugh that the previews next week didn’t even hide the fact of who is going to make it to the pit stop. We all know that they can’t overcome that kind of a time gap unless something HUGE happens. It does look like this week’s episode will be tense between Luke & Margie and Jen & Kisha. Standings as of now: 1. Margie and Luke. 2. Jaime and Cara. 3. Tammy and Victor. 4. Kisha and Jen. 5. Mark and Michael.

Speaking of The Amazing Race, it has been picked up for a fifteenth season on CBS.

Tonight’s Survivor continued the mental game between Coach and Brendan. This battle leading up to tribal council was delayed last week with Joe’s injury departure. Not much changed this week except for an alliance being made between Brendan and JT. Would that alliance mean anything for Brendan? Not so much. Brendan, JT, and Debbie won the reward challenge and Brendan and JT hit it off. Brendan thought JT was a good guy and didn’t want to vote him out. So, Brendan worked with Sierra and their group to target Coach. However, Coach still had his plans of blindsiding Brendan. The plan went into effect with everyone talking about voting out JT. Brendan was looking to stick with that plan out in the open but was working with his group to get rid of Coach quietly. Things played out just as Coach had said. They would split the votes between Brendan and Sierra in case Brendan did play an immunity idol. The vote was three votes for Coach, three votes for Sierra, and four votes for Brendan sending him home. Brendan was blindsided and it all went according to plan. Sierra is going to have to do some major scrambling next week to save herself.

The Big Bang Theory invaded the comic book store on Monday night. The guys took Penny along as she was needing a comic for her nephew’s birthday. The reaction of Penny in the store from the regulars was much like what Claire got on a Heroes episode a few months ago. Ha ha. Penny got the comic that she needed and also hit it off with the guy that works at the store. Leonard couldn’t stand it with Penny being interested in a guy exactly like him. After seeing Penny and Stuart leaving together, Leonard wanted Wolowitz to take him to a bar to meet women. Neither night finished well for Leonard or Penny. Leonard ended up watching Wolowitz fail with women over and over. Penny ended up being an oversight after Sheldon interfered to cause a debate over Batman with Stuart. How funny was Wolowitz and Sheldon flying through issues that they had and then grabbing the one that they both needed? Funny stuff.

Nice to get some more background on Angela Petrelli on this week’s Heroes. I enjoyed the “1961” episode which had us learning the history between her and her sister along with what happened to everyone else there. Just a nice background episode. Counting down to the finale for Heroes.

Movie box office numbers for last weekend. 1. Hannah Montana The Movie - $32.3 million. 2. Fast and Furious - $27.2 million. 3. Monsters vs. Aliens - $21.8 million. 4. Observe and Report - $11 million. 5. Knowing - $6.4 million. 6. I Love You, Man - $6.2 million. 7. The Haunting In Connecticut - $5.9 million. 8. Dragonball Evolution - $4.7 million. 9. Adventureland - $3.3 million. 10. Duplicity - $2.9 million.

Here is an interesting article where IGN takes a look at the differences between regular DVD’s and high defintion DVD’s. I’ve really enjoyed watching the fans of both battling it out over what they feel is right. http://dvd.ign.com/articles/963/963916p1.html

Not sure if you heard about this but NASA did a poll where they were going to let voters decide on the name of a room in the international space station. NASA gave a list of names to vote for. For the Joss Whedonverse, Serenity was on the list and it ended up being the top vote getter of the suggested names by NASA. However, Stephen Colbert of The Colbert Report got his fans in on it and had them doing a write in vote to get it named after him. Colbert ended up winning by about 40,000 votes over Serenity. To say that NASA wasn’t amused would be an understatement and you just knew it wasn’t going to happen. NASA announced this week that they will be naming the room Tranquility which was said to be eighth in the voting. If it wasn’t eighth, it sure wasn’t one of the top vote getters anyway. NASA did say that they would be naming a treadmill by the name of Colbert in the space station. Ok, so what was the point of that poll? They ask people to vote and then don’t even take the overall winner or the vote winner of the names that they suggested. Serenity did get 70% of the vote. How great would it have been to have Serenity as a name in the space station??!!

Anyone see Jimmy Fallon take on Denis Leary in air hockey? They went at it on Monday night’s Late Night With Jimmy Fallon. I found it to be very entertaining.

The 2009 NBA Playoffs start this weekend and here are the first round matchups. In the east: (1) Cleveland vs. (8) Detroit, (2) Boston vs. (7) Chicago, (3) Orlando vs. (6) Philadelphia, (4) Atlanta vs. (5) Miami. In the west: (1) LA Lakers vs. (8) Utah, (2) Denver vs. (7) New Orleans Hornets, (3) San Antonio Spurs vs. (6) Dallas Mavericks, (4) Portland vs. (5) Houston. Some definite good first round matchups. Will Boston repeat? Boston will be hurt without Kevin Garnett as there is talk today that he may miss the whole Playoffs. Chicago has been better since their midseason trade. The Lakers are the favorite in the west obviously. It will be fun to see the MVP candidates battling it out to lead their teams through the Playoffs.

TV on DVD releases for Tuesday, April 21. Dallas (Season Eleven), The FBI Files (Season Two), Hawaii Five-O (Season Six), iCarly (Season One – Volume Two), The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (Season One), Life Of Ryan (Full Series), My Own Worst Enemy (Full Series), Rhoda (Season One), Tiny Toon Adventures (Season One – Volume Two).

TV Lines Of The Week:
From The Big Bang Theory.
Sheldon: “After the nightmare of anything can happen Thursday, this is Friday night the way it was meant to be.”
Wolowitz: “Who is up for Sheldon free Saturday?”

From Lost: Hurley baits Miles on the reunion with his dad asking Dr. Chang the name of his son.
Hurley: “What’s his name?”
Dr. Chang: “Miles”
Hurley: “Small world. That’s your name too, right Miles?”
Miles: “Yeah”
Hurley: “Are you a fan of jazz Dr. Chang, like Miles Davis?”
Dr. Chang: “My wife is. I like country.” (Miles shoots an odd look at his dad)

You Tube Video Of The Week: The clip that has been getting all sorts of air play this week from Britain’s Got Talent.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

Wishing all of you a great and safe weekend!! Take care and God bless!!

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Veronica Mars Movie, Idol, Dollhouse, Lost, Smallville, Survivor, ACM Awards, 90210, Melrose, & More - April 9, 2009

In Store Appearance From Cast Of Veronica Mars
That screaming of noooooooo that was so loud that you could have heard it from a good distance this week was me reading the news that the Veronica Mars movie isn’t likely happening. It isn’t completely a done deal that it isn’t happening but it isn’t looking good. Rob Thomas, the creator of Veronica Mars, had these comments to the New York Post: "While the pitch [to producer Joel Silver] went well and I don't think the movie's dead, right now it's looking depressing. I think honestly if we would have had the pitch ready a year earlier, it would be a go project. The hope that we would get a quick greenlight didn't materialize. This is the least optimistic I've felt in a while." http://blogs.nypost.com/popwrap/archives/2009/03/no_veronica_mars_movie.html
Ugh!!! I cannot tell you how disappointed that I am. I’m not giving up hope on this thing happening but it sure doesn’t look good. I miss that show so much. I already had a group getting together with all of us going to see it on opening day if it happened. Now, excuse me while I go crawl into a corner somewhere as I miss my Veronica Mars. Where is that DVD box set at?

This week’s American Idol theme was songs from the year you were born. Singers that got major praise from the judges this week were Danny Gokey, Allison Iraheta, Matt Giraud, and Adam Lambert (who even got a standing ovation from Simon). Who struggled? Well, the bottom three was Anoop Desai, Lil Rounds, and Scott MacIntyre. I wouldn’t say that Anoop struggled as he was given big credit by the judges for his progress. However, Lil Rounds again took criticism from the judges as they keep saying that she has the voice but they want her to show what kind of artist that she is. Scott also got criticism over his performance. He went away from the piano and introduced the guitar. The judges just weren’t into it. It ended up being Scott and Anoop in the bottom two with Scott being voted off. The judges were split on whether to save him or not. The call couldn’t be made so Simon stepped up and made the call to not save him.

Idol alum news. Carrie Underwood will be participating in this year's 19th Annual City Of Hope Nashville Celebrity Softball Challenge which takes place during CMA Music Fest week. The game takes place on Wednesday, June 7th at 7pm at Greer Stadium in Nashville, TN. For more info on the game, head over to: http://www.cityofhope.org/softball It was fun to see Kellie Pickler back on Idol this week performing her new song “Best Days Of Your Life”. If you haven’t seen the video for it, check it out as it is a good video. Katharine McPhee guest starred on this week’s episode of CSI: NY.

Smallville was a rerun tonight so I thought I'd comment on last week's episode since I didn't get to it. Smallville has had three really strong episodes in a row. I loved the tie in with seeing how things went for Davis and how he fit in with the Luthors. Lionel thought that he was the traveler and brought him into their home. When Lionel figured out that he wasn't the traveler, he sent him out on to the street. It was interesting to see the interaction between a young Davis and a young Lex. How about the flashbacks to the first episode seeing Clark being found by the Kents? That first episode is still so great!! Clark and Davis now know about the other and how they are tied to one another. Davis went to Chloe to get help and it turned out that kryptonite had an effect on him as well. The plan was for Chloe to finish him off entrapped with the kryptonite. Clark tried to stop her from doing it while also there was the fact that she didn't want to kill Davis either. Chloe had a good line of how she had to think of the greater good for Clark and overlook things that Clark would not. Problem was that we found out later that Davis was still alive and that kryptonite just fuels him. That is not going to be a good thing for Clark. The solution of Davis's was for Chloe to stay with him locked up to keep him under control. She did stay with him voluntarily. Just a really good episode that had the story of the past being brought back to light.

Another great episode of Lost this week. So, Ben was telling the truth when Alex got shot. I just assumed he was trying to do whatever Ben does and throwing out any sort of lies. We got the flashback this week that he did kidnap Alex from Danielle. The orders of Whidmore were to kill the baby but Ben wouldn't do it. We continue to learn more about the history of Whidmore, Ben, and the island. Some random thoughts on the episode. So, that is where the smoke monster lives? Hmm, who knew? I never get tired of episodes that involve Ben and Locke traveling around together. The lines that those guys have to play off of each other is just incredible. Major cliffhanger on what happened to Penny. Desmond got to Ben before he was able to shoot her and then dumped a beaten Ben into the water. What happened after that? Well, Ben did tell Sun to find Desmond when she left the island and tell him that he "was sorry"? Sorry for what? The obvious answer is that he killed Penny but I'm thinking that she may be alive and he's apologizing for what he almost did to her. Maybe he had sympathy when he saw their kid. Sympathy from Ben? Yeah, that is probably just crazy talk from me. Yeah, he probably killed her. Don't you just love how this show keeps you guessing?

Season five of Lost is still ongoing but that hasn't stopped news of a DVD release. Season five will hit stores on December 8.

Uh oh, Dollhouse fans. The Twitter world in the Whedonverse has been buzzing over posts about how Fox is not planning on airing episode 13 which would have been the finale for this season. The plan now appears to be that the 12th episode will be the last one of the season. That just doesn't sound good, does it? Here is a link to both the Dr. Horrible and Felicia Day Twitter accounts that have posted about it. http://twitter.com/drhorrible http://twitter.com/feliciaday
Is Fox about to cancel the show? There is obviously no word on it yet but these bit of items today just can't be a good sign. I've read some articles talking about how there is no need to panic just yet including talk that the episode number is completely normal with the original plan due to the pilot change. However, all of us Joss Whedon fans just get nervous when we hear stuff like this. Stay tuned for my latest rip on Fox rant that may be coming soon. Also, Dollhouse will be getting a DVD release. Season one will be released on July 28th.

Speaking of Dollhouse, I have really enjoyed the last few episodes. We’re starting to see the group having memory flashbacks. Dr. Saunders was the key to this past episode. The actives woke up starting to remember things about their past including their old lives. Echo, Sierra, Victor, and November all end up working on escaping from the dollhouse looking to get back to their old lives. It all turns out to be a plan for them to escape. Dr. Saunders was the one who suggested that the reason that they were glitching was because they needed closure from their old lives. They all end up getting free. November ends up at a cemetery where we learn that she was a mother but her little girl had passed away. Sierra wanted revenge on the guy that put her in the dollhouse. Victor wanted to just help Sierra as he is in love with her. Echo’s plan was that she wanted to free everyone. She held up Topher with a gun in the programming room wanting answers of what was going on. She ended up getting her wish of having all of the actives freed. As they were on their way out, Echo collapsed. The seditive given to them was for them to stop when they received the closure that they needed. Everyone was taken back inside and things in the dollhouse returned to normal. Very interesting episode where we got more background on the characters and how they got there.

Moving on to tonight’s Survivor. The merge happened and it had everyone scrambling to see what kind of deals that they could work out. Cracks in Timbira were definitely showing. Coach had a target on Brendan still and was lining things up to get rid of him. Tyson was also working an agenda as well. The immunity challenge was an endurance challenge to see who could stay on a pole the longest. It came down to Debra and Tyson with Tyson pulling out the win after a thirty minute plus challenge. The minutes of the episode that followed was a scrambling of people trying to get their agenda worked out so they could vote out who they wanted. However, that all was for nothing when Jeff Probst showed up at camp. Joe had continued to battle his infection in his knee. After the immunity challenge, Jeff called for the medic team to look at it. They decided to not let Joe continue cause it could become life threatening if left alone. So, Joe had to leave the game. Jeff informed everyone that there would be no tribal council. Next week’s episode shows that the exile alliance may start getting things going and make a move in the game.

The disappearing act by Silver was the story of this week's 90210. I'm still not crazy with what they have done with Silver's character but this was a good episode. Silver's well being became a major concern for the group especially when she talked about how life wasn't worth living without Dixon. Wow, they had Silver looking ROUGH in this episode. Dixon finally put it all together that Silver was manic depressive just like his mom. Silver was on her way to Kansas to try and find out more about Dixon to help get him back. She ran into a guy there who ended up contacting the group about her and her erratic behavior. Dixon and his family showed up and Dixon was able to talk her back since he knew how to deal with his mom. Kelly also showed up and took Silver off to get help. There was a nice cameo in this episode by Jackie Taylor who we haven’t seen since Kelly took Silver away to move in with her. I thought it was a nice tie for the story showing the problems that Jackie has as well. Definitley still no love between Kelly and Jackie with Jackie taking the chance to say that at least she knew where Silver was all the time unlike Kelly who had lost her. Ok, the montage of everyone finding out about the movie at the beginning of the episode was pretty funny. Very nicely put together. Like I said, good episode. Donna returns on Tuesday’s new episode.

The reset on Melrose Place continues to take shape. There was the announcement this week that Laura Leighton will return as Sydney. My first thought was how in the world can that happen??!! They killed her off in the original series. Yeah, I watched Melrose Place every week. I'll admit it!! ha ha. I fell off in the last season though and didn't ever watch the last half of it. I'm waiting to see how they are going to explain Sydney still being around. I always liked the Sydney character. Her and Michael were just ridiculous together and made for good TV. Other news on the show is that apparently Jake Hanson's kid will be in this new series. Ashlee Simpson has also been cast to be on the show.

I have to say that I'm liking Heroes more in the last few episodes. It is getting a little easier to follow and isn't as all over the place as earlier in the season.

The girls reigned at the Academy of Country Music Awards on Sunday night. Carrie Underwood took home the Entertainer of the Year award which has only been won by seven women including her. The last time it was won by a female was the Dixie Chicks back in 2000. Kenny Chesney had won the award for the last four years. She was also the only female nominated in the category. Carrie also won Top Female Vocalist. Taylor Swift along with her producer took home the award for Top Album. Julianne Hough won the Top New Artist award. Other big award winners for the night was Trace Adkins winning for Single Of The Year with "You're Gonna Miss This", Brad Paisley winning Top Male Vocalist, Rascal Flatts winning Top Vocal Group, and Sugarland winning Top Vocal Duo.

Sticking with the music theme, GAC is airing a Backstory show on Sara Evans. She is interviewed along with family, friends, and others in her life looking back on her career and life. I watched most of it and really enjoyed it. If you're a Sara fan, you'll want to to check it out. Backstory is a new show on GAC and Sara was the focus of the premiere.

Movie box office numbers for last weekend. 1. Fast and Furious - $70.9 million. 2. Monsters vs. Aliens - $32.6 million. 3. The Haunting In Connecticut - $9.4 million. 4. Knowing - $8.1 million. 5. I Love You, Man - $7.7 million. 6. Adventureland - $5.7 million. 7. Duplicity - $4.1 million. 8. Race To Witch Mountain - $3.2 million. 9. 12 Rounds - $2.2 million. 10. Sunshine Cleaning - $1.8 million.

Good news for Pushing Daisies fans. The last episodes of the show will be airing on ABC on three consecutive Saturdays beginning May 30 at 9pm central time.

TV on DVD releases for Tuesday, April 14. Knots Landing (Season Two), Malcolm & Eddie (Season One), Wings (Season Eight).

You Tube Video Of The Week: Flutter: The New Twitter. Clever video.


TV Lines Of The Week: From Lost
“This gentleman and I are taking a boat. Does anyone else have a problem with that?” – Ben to the two guys after shooting Caesar.

From Survivor:
“I can’t look him in the eye and believe a word that he says. You can look at me in my sweet blue eyes all day and I’ll tell you sweet nothings and you’ll believe all of them.” Tyson’s interview talking about TJ.

Have a great weekend!! Take care and God bless!!

Friday, April 3, 2009

Lost, My Boys Returns, Silver/90210, Murtaugh List, Andy Hallett, & More - April 2, 2009

Top downloads was the performance theme for this week’s American Idol. Just kind of an all right performance week. Nothing really that spectacular. Some were good, some struggled, and some were in that middle ground. Megan Joy struggled the most as she just continued to not be able to find a performance and song that worked for her. The bottom three was her, Allison, and Anoop. Allison was sent back to safety (whew) and then it was down to Megan and Anoop. Megan went home and didn’t even get the chance to sing for her chance of the judges keeping her. She took a shot at them earlier in the night and Simon fired back on her. It was definitely a fun results show all around with the performances and the fun that the contestants were having. Last year’s winner, David Cook, also returned to the Idol stage to perform.

Lost really is the greatest written show on TV. Just incredible with all the details of the story. Great episode this week. Interesting twist with the time travel where the Oceanic crew is actually going to help save Ben’s life. Well, not all of them but Kate and Sawyer helped take him to the others so they could save him cause the Dharma group weren’t doing anything. That definitely shows how things will work out where Ben will join up with the others and come back to take out the Dharma Intiative. The time travel stuff was very interesting and Hurley talking about and making sense of it was hilarious. Big thumbs up for the Back To The Future references in those scenes by the way!!! So, Kate told Claire’s mom and also Sawyer’s ex about the island and what happened. I guess we now know where Aaron is and that is with his grandmother. Hey Ben, Locke lives!!! How about that to wake up to?

I was very sad to hear of the passing of Andy Hallett this week. If you are an Angel fan, you will know Andy’s work as Lorne. He has battled heart disease for several years and passed away due to heart failure. If I’m not mistaken, he was having health problems near the end of Angel’s run. Lorne was a big time favorite character of mine from the Whedonverse and Andy played the part so perfectly. Andy took the time to meet so many fans as he was a regular at fan conventions. People always had great things to say about their experiences of meeting him. Andy was 33 and I’m definitely saying prayers for him and his family and friends in this tough time.

My Boys returned with new episodes on Tuesday night. We were last left with the cliffhanger of Bobby going to PJ’s room to confess his feelings for her. She was in there with his brother however and Bobby was getting married the next day. After the wedding was called off in this episode, Bobby went on to the honeymoon by himself. Major payoff at the end where Bobby returned and PJ told her feelings to him. You could say his feelings were the same when he kissed her once she finished talking. Bobby said that he felt the same and had a twelve page letter typed up telling of his feelings. Fun premiere and great to have the show back.

Friday Night Lights keeps on going. NBC has renewed it for two more seasons. You may remember that NBC and DirecTV worked out a deal to bring the show back for this current season. The show would premiere new episodes on DirecTV and then those episodes would air later in the season on NBC. They also share the cost of the production of the show as well. Each new season will contain thirteen episodes each.

This week’s 90210 was the meltdown of Silver. I read a comparison in Entertainment Weekly and I definitely agree. They are turning Silver into the new Emily Valentine. I’m thinking that it isn’t a good thing either. Silver has been my favorite character on the show since the new series premiered. She was the perfect tie in between the original series and the new series. The character was very likable and fun. Now, her character has just completely went a different direction seemingly out of nowhere. Yeah, this has been brewing for a while based on her breakup with Dixon a few episodes ago but they gotten back together. She made a movie for her class and rented out a movie theatre for the debut. What Dixon didn’t know was that she had recorded their moment of intimacy in one of the rooms at school. She put it in the movie!! Then, her and Dixon had their fight over it and she burned the movie in his garbage can outside. Following that, she broke into Mr. Matthews apartment and blamed him for the other whole thing. Yeah, just too far out there for me. I just hope that they aren’t ruining Silver’s character which has been really good.

Survivor returned tonight after a two week absence. Yeah, I don’t count a recap episode as a new episode. We now have a fake immunity idol in play. After Timbira won the reward challenge, Joe was sent to exile island. He chose Erinn to go with him. She got the clues and she told Joe what the cluees were as she was hoping to strike up an alliance with him. Erinn said that she didn’t have any alliances in her tribe so she was going to try anything. The clues pointed back to tree mail. Taj knew that Joe would have all the clues that he needed so she made a fake immunity idol and hid it in tree mail. Joe did find it and grabbed it for his own. However, while Taj was doing that, JT found Taj’s real immunity idol. Stephen went into cover mode and eventually Taj had to just tell JT about the idol to cover her own tracks. So, now JT was brought into their alliance. That alliance was in danger of holding up though when they lost the immunity challenge. Joe and Sydney wanted to target Taj. TJ and Stephen tried to talk Joe into switching against Sydney but he wasn’t having it. Joe talked of giving his idol to Sydney to save her just for him to make a point. Yeah, it would have made a point all right. Stephen and JT did think about going against Taj especially considering that Stephen had the idol at that moment. However, it was Sydney who went home on a 3-2 vote. The previews show the big merge happening next week.

I’ve been watching season four of American Idol Rewind on TV Guide Channel. It’s been fun to watch it. They have new interviews recorded with various contestants looking back on their season including Carrie Underwood, Constantine Maroulis, Bo Bice, and more. The episodes are edited from their original form and have a completely different style to them. Check it out if you’re an Idol fan. I’ve seen the original episodes but am enjoying seeing the contestants looking back on it.

This week’s Big Bang Theory was a battle to be alpha female in the building. A new girl moved in grabbing the attention of all the guys. Well, except for Sheldon who was annoyed instead as he worried about the change of a new neighbor. Penny battled back to get their attention and it was really funny. The guys talked about how she appeared to be wounded. Fun episode which resulted in a fight between the girls at the end with Wolowitz holding Leonard back cause he knew he’d try and break it up.

The Murtaugh list was the focus of How I Met Your Mother this week. What is the Murtaugh list? Murtaugh is the character from Lethal Weapon and it was pointed out how he would say he was always too old for something that he was doing. So, Ted had a Murtaugh list of things that he was too old to do. Barney didn’t agree with this and accepted the challenge of things to do to prove he wasn’t too old. The counter was challenging Ted to do things that he was too young to do as he had talked about how he looked forward to growing old. Barney had Robin joining him as his manager. Barney’s challenges included getting his ear pierced (which became infected), putting off going to the doctor, leaving annoying two person answering machine messages, going to a rave, and more. Ted’s list of things to do was yelling at neighborhood kids, eating dinner at 4:00, taking forever to answer the phone, and more. The winner was Ted as Barney finally had all he could take. How funny was it to see how the show was hiding Alyson Hannigan's pregnancy? The opening scene had her coming out of the kitchen instead of being in the living room with the group. Then, she was walking around carrying food. Funny stuff and they did a good job with it. Speaking of Alyson, it was really funny watching Lily’s storyline of the episode where Marshall was the coach of a kindergarten basketball team. He wore them out and it was hilarious stuff.

A physically exhausting leg of the race on this week’s Amazing Race. So exhausting that Margie ended up collapsing upon arriving at the pit stop. Even Phil got into action quickly trying to help her. Thankfully, she was fine but gave everyone a scare. It seemed like water was her biggest need. First place was Mark and Michael. Well, it was until they got two thirty minute penalties for a couple of wrong doings. Tammy and Victor overcame their own mistake and took first place followed by Jaime and Cara. Mark and Michael then checked in back in third place. Eliminated on this leg of the race was Mel and Mike. They have been one of my favorite teams to watch this season. Here are the standings: 1. Tammy and Victor. 2. Jaime and Cara. 3. Mark and Michael. 4. Margie and Luke. 5. Jen and Kisha. 6. Mel and Mike (Eliminated).

Movie box office numbers for last weekend. 1. Monsters vs. Aliens - $59.3 million. 2. The Haunting In Connecticut - $23 million. 3. Knowing - $14.7 million. 4. I Love You, Man - $12.6 million. 5. Duplicity - $7.6 million. 6. Race to Witch Mountain - $5.8 million. 7. 12 Rounds - $5.3 million. 8. Watchmen - $2.7 million. 9. Taken - $2.6 million. 10. The Last House On The Left - $2.6 million.

The list has been announced of the Transformers that will be included in the movie sequel. On the autobot side: Optimus Prime, Ironhide, Ratchet, Bumblebee, Sideswipe, Arcee, Jetfire, Jolt, Skid & Mudflap. On the decepticon side: Starscream, Scorponok, The Fallen, Sideways, Soundwave, Wheelie, The Doctor, Ravage, Demolisher, and Devastator. Hmm, no Megatron. Think we’re going to get a surprise? I think we will. Starscream definitely needs to be leading the group in this movie. Hope things go better for him upon taking over leadership than it did in the original cartoon movie. Ha ha. Interesting that Wheelie’s name is a decepticon as he was an autobot in the original series. The movie opens on June 24 and I plan on being there opening day. I will go into this one feeling a lot better than I did on the last one. I went into the movies on that opening weekend really worried that I was going to hate it and walked out very happy with it. Also, there is news that season one of the original 1980’s cartoon will be getting a new DVD release in stores. The 25th Anniversary Edition will hit stores on June 16.

I got this news of a new show to pass along to all of you. It is called River Monsters and airs on Animal Planet. Here is the description for it: "The show tackles such legends as: Did a large catfish attack a teenager in a German lake? Did a school of piranha eat flesh down to the bone of a busload of passengers that crashed in an Amazonian river? Host, biologist and extreme angler Jeremy Wade travels worldwide to solve these freshwater mysteries, to debunk these myths and to track down these harrowing tales. Each Sunday, he’ll come face-to-face with fear and try to understand these mysterious predators with a taste for human flesh, putting his life on the line to find truly monster-sized fish while globetrotting through Germany, Australia, Brazil and even the state of Texas. River Monsters premieres Sunday, April 5 at 10 PM (ET/PT) on Animal Planet." For more information on the show, please visit: http://animal.discovery.com/tv/river-monsters

This was huge news this week for soap fans. Guiding Light will be ending its run after 72 years on the air. The last episode will air on September 18.

TV on DVD releases for Tuesday, April 7, 2009. Beverly Hills 90210 (Season Seven), Charlie Brown/Peanuts (Snoopy’s Reunion), Deadliest Catch (Season Four), Dynasty (Season Four.

TV Line Of The Week:

From The Big Bang Theory:
Sheldon: “Did you remember to ask for the chicken with the brocolli to be diced not shredded?”
Penny: "Yes”
Sheldon: “Even though the menu specifies shredded?”
Penny: “Yes”
Sheldon: “Brown rice not white?”
Penny: “Yes”
Sheldon: “Did you stop at the Korean grocery and get the hot mustard?”
Penny: “Yes”
Sheldon: “Did you pick up the lasodeum soy sauce from the market?”
Penny: “Yes”
Sheldon: “Good. Do you see how it’s done Leonard?”

From My Boys:
“You’re all I thought about on my honeymoon”. Bobby to PJ after he got back from his honeymoon trip that just involved himself.

You Tube Video Of The Week: Finding the sound of Chewbacca on the guitar.


Wishing all of you a great and safe weekend!! Take care and God bless!!

Big Brother Over The Top - Week One Thoughts

I hope many of you have floated over to Big Brother Over The Top like I have.  Tonight, we will be one week into this game and this new plat...