Friday, July 30, 2010

Big Brother Live Feed Update - July 30, 2010

Here are some of the happenings in the Big Brother house today on the live feeds. SPOILER ALERT!! Nominations are in. The day was the usual appointment time in the HOH room with the houseguests pleading their case to the HOH, Rachel. Brendon stayed in there off and on with different ones that came in. There was a conversation between Rachel and Kristen. I'd say that they talked for probably an hour or so. It actually wasn't as interesting as expected to be. Both gave their sides on what happened and it ended peacefully. It was really bizarre with how things went all day where you just really got the feeling that Rachel was going to change her game plan and put up somebody else for nomination. For both HOH weeks of Rachel's, she has come across as very easy to persuade despite her clearly knowing that somebody is targeting her. The nomination ceremony took place and Kristen and Hayden were put up on the block. Rachel was crying afterwards and then settled down. She apparently stirred things up when she said the words "bring it on" at the end of the nomination ceremony. Brendon apparently went and apologized to Hayden and Kristen for how she acted at the end of it. That did not sit well with Rachel and led to an argument between Rachel and Brendon in the HOH room. Brendon said that they are a team and he felt that he should be informed of what she is thinking. Rachel told him that she is playing a different game than he is and wonders if he doesn't trust her with this conversation coming up. At one point, Rachel asked Brendon "am I supposed to go bake them cookies and sing kumbaya?" He is big on her not looking like a villain on TV with her side being that she isn't going to be pushed around. Brendon said that her making statements like that at the nomination ceremony puts a bigger target on them as it makes people see them as arrogant. Brendon apologized to her for what he did. I think the honeymoon is over. It is for tonight anyway. Several of the houseguests won the opportunity to see a movie after competing in a challenge earlier today. It sounds like the movie will be watched tonight. I believe that the winners were Brendon, Rachel, Hayden, and Enzo. The houseguests also got a big game board in the backyard which I'm assuming is going to be used later for the veto competition. A lot of times they'll let the house practice the night before the competition so that appears to be what is going on.

Dollhouse Lithograph, How I Met Your Mother, CW Press Tour Happenings - July 30, 2010

If you didn't get to attend Comic Con but were really wanting to get that Dollhouse exclusive lithograph, you now have a chance. If you preorder the Dollhouse season two set at this link, you can get the lithograph included while supplies last. I've seen the lithograph and it looks really cool. Great artwork on it.

News out of How I Met Your Mother this week as Rachel Bilson will be returning for the season premiere. I'm very happy about that. I like Rachel and have enjoyed her roles on several of my favorite shows. I would think that she will play a crucial role in learning of who Ted ends up with after learning last season that Rachel's character is "the one's" roommate.

The CW had their press tour yesterday promoting several of their new shows while giving news of their current shows. As always, there were odd things to come out of it. One being that Dawn Ostroff, president of the network, said that they will be adding more commercials to their online video streaming of shows. Their research shows that more people watch their commercials so they're adding more. Ok, you do realize that we are forced to watch them? It's not like we have a choice. How many times can we watch the Mary J. Blige commercial anyway on their website? The CW just seems so far behind the times every time they come out with news like this. Remember when they stopped running Gossip Girl episodes on their site because they wanted to force people to watch them on TV? That baffled me too especially at a time when streaming video was taking off. The site also only keeps up about two episodes of shows online which makes no sense to me either. So, if you get too far behind on a show then you're just in trouble. When questioned on Rosenbaum's return to Smallville, Ostroff said that "the door was open" which was the same answer given at Comic Con at the Smallville panel. She was questioned on whether there might be another DC Comics spinoff to take over for Smallville and she said that they're "going to work on it". One thing that really confused me was the One Tree Hill question. She said that they were hoping to keep it around beyond this season. Why is that confusing? The show was nearly cancelled this year. This is the same thing that The CW did with Smallville lately. There was talk a couple of seasons ago that Smallville was about to get cancelled and that the exile to Friday was the finish of it. Then, suddenly The CW started talking about how they wanted it around for a season ten. So, maybe this bodes well for One Tree Hill. It seems like if you get talked about on being cancelled and get renewed, you're good for two seasons after that. When asked about Supernatural, Ostoff said that she hoped to have it around past this season as well. That is a show too that has been on the bubble a lot.

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Ellen Leaving Idol, Big Brother 12's Big Speech Stirs Up The House - July 29, 2010

LOS ANGELES, CA - APRIL 25:  Television personality Ellen DeGeneres poses in the press room during the 'American Idol Gives Back' concert special held at the Walt Disney Concert Hall on April 25, 2007 in Los Angeles, California.  (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
Ellen DeGeneres is leaving American Idol. Fox announced the news earlier today. Ellen released a statement today basically saying that she had told the producers that she didn't think she was the right fit for the show but would wait on them to decide what they wanted to do from here. Fox put out a statement after that crediting Ellen for everything that she did on the show. All of this news is after the talk of reports of Nigel Lythgoe returning to the show. The reports are pondering that he may be making changes to the show. It will be interesting to see what happens with Idol this year. Something needs to be done with the show cause the show is losing major steam even before Simon left. I have no clue what the answer is but it will be interesting to follow the Idol story.

Carrie Underwood will be performing tomorrow morning on The Today Show's Summer Concert Series.

Big Brother fans were talking today about Andrew's revelation that he was going to make some noise tonight. I know I was really pumped for this episode with the possibility of things getting lively in the house. Andrew and Kristen had a blowup earlier this week when Andrew felt that she did not have his back while being up on the block. Andrew's veto ceremony speech backfired on him with the rest of the house now being sure that he was with Brendon and Rachel. The reason that they thought that positively was because of Rachel's fake reaction. Only problem was that it wasn't a fake reaction. LOL. She wasn't clued in on the fact that Andrew had aligned with them. Brendon hadn't told her. She wasn't very happy with Brendon later about not being told this either. So, we get to the live portion of the show tonight. Andrew calls out Hayden and Kristen on being a couple and calls Kristen out on what she had said about other people. Just flat out blows it up and it was an amazing speech. So much so that you could see arguing going on as they went to commercial. Andrew gets voted out on a 8-0 vote. The HOH competition is held and the battle is between the couples. It comes down to Lane and Rachel for the win. Rachel wins HOH. As the show goes off the air, words are already being exchanged between Rachel and Kristen. We did get the announcement of Pandora's Box returning next week saying that the saboteur may come back. They are asking fans to vote on who they would want to be in the role. If I had to guess, that houseguest with the winning vote will be offered the role and an offer of money to do it. Then, it is their call on if they want to do it. That is my guess.

SPOILER ALERT!! Here is what has happened on the live feeds since the show ended. Hayden and Rachel talked for a while about the things that were going on in the house. Kristen and Rachel stayed apart a while. Kristen and Kathy were hanging out and talking. Brendon and Rachel got together in the back yard to discuss the happenings tonight. The Brigade was talking trying to figure out their plan. Rachel went and apologized to Kristen for what happened including the celebration saying it was the heat of the moment. Kristen said that she did not accept the apology and that it wasn't the heat of the moment. Kristen continued to talk and then Rachel walked out. Yeah, I think this is a sign of things to come this week. The houseguests have done a lot of talking about the night. Kristen then ended up alone in the bedroom. She stayed in the bedroom for about three hours total including her time with Kathy. Her mic was right next to her heart and you could hear her heart racing as she laid on the bed by herself in the room. The "have nots" finally got to eat again at 9pm Big Brother time. Kristen then got up out of bed at that point to eat. The group got together and ate while sitting at the table. Really awkward meal. Kristen did say a few words but not much. She really looks like she is trying to calm down. Hayden looks pretty much miserable too.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Big Brother Recap - What Is Going On In That House??!! - July 28, 2010

What is with this season of Big Brother????!!! Have some of these people seen the show before? I have to comment on tonight's episode because I laughed all the way through it. Matt made the bizarre move earlier in the week of putting Andrew and Kathy up on the block. He did this instead of going after the ones that have been targeting him and that is Rachel and Brendon. The Brigade was stunned over the nominations and I tried looking past Matt's nominations based on his diary room stuff where he just didn't seem to care. Suddenly, he talks to the Brigade and sees that he HAS to get either Rachel or Brendon out this week. The veto competition is set to take place. The players picked besides the nominated people and the HOH were Lane and then....Rachel and Brendon. Both get to compete. So, Matt needs either himself, Lane, or the nominees to win to have a chance of a veto being played. The ones that he needs to win go down quickly including himself. The final three is Rachel, Brendon, and Andrew. Brendon wins the veto. LOL!!! I have yet to pick anybody to cheer for this season but I was cheering for Brendon to win the veto just to see Matt's "plan" blow up in his face. So, the Brigade is furious that neither Rachel or Brendon isn't going home this week. Matt keeps saying how he can't believe how this happened. I can!! You didn't put either one of them on the block!!! LOL. Has Matt even seen this show before? If you put one of them on the block, one of them is guaranteed to go home. It might not be Brendon like you want but you're going to break up the pair. LOL. Then, we get the veto ceremony and we had just seen an alliance made between Brendon and Andrew. Andrew's plan was to make a big speech at the veto ceremony where he told Brendon to use the veto on him but that he was going to target Rachel and Brendon next week. Even he looked uncomfortable with this speech as it was a plan to throw others off the track. Instead it just came across really confusing. The capper of the episode was Britney's diary room where she commented on what had just happened. I laughed big time at her. Such a bizarre episode tonight but it was so great. I don't know what Matt is thinking. I would have looked past it if Matt had stuck to his whole thing of that he is playing his own game and has a plan. However, he changed his tone of his DR stuff in the same episode with pleas of that he had to break up Brendon and Rachel. That made me not able to look past it and made him look worse. So, Kathy or Andrew will go home tomorrow night.

My Boys Is Back, Pacey Con, Big Brother, Survivor, & More - July 28, 2010

My Boys premiered this past weekend. I really enjoyed the first episode. Not as crazy about the second episode. I had gotten behind on the show but watched the marathon of episodes on TBS. Really good episodes. I laughed a lot at it. The Facebook episode was hilarious with Brendan and Mike competing over the girl. The Spring Training episode was fun with them taking the show on location. How can you not laugh at the story of Mike hyping about how he can strike out all of these baseball players? Yeah, it didn't go so well for him and it was really funny TV. The stakeout was funny with the guys trying to figure out who the new guy was that PJ was seeing. I've loved this show since the first episode. The writing is good and the casting is good as well.

Yeah, Comic-Con took place this past week but there was another even ongoing as well. Pacey Con. What is that? Well, Joshua Jackson took to the streets to celebrate the character that is Pacey Witter. Pacey is of course from the show Dawson's Creek. In a Funny or Die video, Jackson roams around the Comic-Con event thanking fans for their support of "the greatest character in television history". The video is a lot of fun and includes the famous Dawson's Creek theme song playing in the background. This is a must see video and is really good.


CBS announced on their press tour that this season's Survivor will be the older castaways against the younger castaways. I still say that CBS's decision to move Survivor to Wednesdays is insane. Insane!!

Just a few notes on Big Brother. Monet was voted out last week and the new HOH was crowned in an endurance challenge that came down between Matt and Ragan. After over two hours of the challenge, Matt won the HOH. This meant trouble for the couple of Rachel and Brendon as their power trip of a move last week to call out Matt with a house meeting blew up in their face. Matt had the power and they were back pedaling like crazy to try and fix things. Rachel and Brendon have not been very good at this game so far. The clip of Andrew continuing to walk in on them during their make out sessions was hilarious. What is the guy supposed to do??!! It's his room too. LOL. I just have to comment on Hayden and Kristen's "secret" relationship. If you're trying to hide this relationship, you probably don't want to throw the other person in there every time you make a deal with a HOH. Save me and save the other person too. LOL. I did find it funny that the Brigade thinks that they are cousins. I have still yet to pick a side on who I am cheering for in this game. I do want the Brigade to get a reality check but yet there are people on the other side that I'm not crazy about. I find Britney to be hilarious at times with her comments. The nominations of Matt's made no sense to me with him nominating Andrew and Kathy. I can't figure out Matt. Sometimes I think that he is really smart at this game and then he makes a move that leaves me thinking what in the world? I'm still waiting to see if he is this genius at this game or if it is all hype. He talked of a backdoor on Rachel or Brendon this week and it is possible with the POV coming up. I haven't been watching the feeds so I don't know how this plays out but I'll find out tonight obviously. Really enjoying this season so far.

TV on DVD releases for this week. 21 Jump Street (Season Three), Sabrina The Teenage With (Season Seven), Stargate Universe (1.5), The City (Season Two).

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Comic Con 2010 - Smallville Panel Recap - July 27, 2010

Smallville took the stage at Comic Con in preparation for its final season which premieres in the fall. They did debut the new trailer for the tenth season. It looks really impressive. It shows Lois finding a box including the super gear. We see familiar faces including Laura Vandervoort, James Marsters, John Glover, and John Schneider. Big reaction from the crowd to John appearing on the trailer. The trailer finished with Clark flying and pushing The Daily Planet's spinning planet back up toward the roof. Here are some of the happenings of the panel. On the panel were showrunners Kelly Souders and Brian Peterson along with the cast of Tom Welling, Erica Durance, Justin Hartley, and Cassidy Freeman. However, there was another surprise to the panel. John Schneider was brought out to sit in on the panel. First off, this was a very fun panel. Lots of laughs. Some of the news that was announced during the panel was that Erica will be appearing on all 22 episodes this season which is a first for her with the series. Justin will be appearing in 17 episodes and will be doing some directing. Tom is going to be directing again. Darkseid will be the big villain. Cassidy said that she will be returning and joked that her being on this panel was a good sign for her. LOL. Geoff Johns hosted the Smallville panel and said that he would be writing another episode which would be a Booster Gold and the Blue Beetle episode. Expect big things with that episode based on all of the other great episodes that he has done. We will also be seeing some superheroes being brought into the Smallville universe with some being on the first episodes of the season. A couple from the Suicide Squad were mentioned. John's intro on to the panel had him saying "rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated". Great line. He sat in next to Tom and spoke about how much it meant to work with him again. John was not expecting to be as emotional as he ended up being about returning to work with Tom and on the show. He said that he loves Tom and loves working with him. He was so classy during this panel thanking the fans saying the fans were the reason for their success. Later in the panel, a question was asked of the group about a favorite line from the show's run. John spoke up and said that it was in the scene that we would be seeing this season where he said "you could be the greatest hero that the world has ever seen" in speaking to Clark. He also said that he loved the character of Jonathan Kent saying that he wished he was more like that character. A spinoff question was of course asked with Kelly providing the only answer of "that would be great" and then leaving it at that. The next obvious question that we want answered is if there is any chance of Michael Rosenbaum returning? Kelly took that one too saying that "nothing would make us happier than to have Michael back and the door is wide open. It you want him back, let him know". Is there a bucket list of things that the writers want to do before the show ends? Kelly said that they have had a list on the writers wall of things that they've wanted to do for about three years now that they've been adding to. Talk turned to the suit that we saw in the season ten trailer and how it was the traditional suit and not the darker suit that we've been seeing in Smallville. Tom said that this was the first time that he had seen the traditional suit as it had played on the trailer. Kelly added that the dark suit was necessary because Tom was in a darker place in his life and not ready for the traditional suit. He was in the transitional phase last year. She also talked of how the traditional suit that we saw is the same exact suit used in the Superman Returns movie. A question that I as a fan am going to want to know is what about Allison Mack? Will we get a proper send off for her? Kelly says that they don't plan on sending her off and want her to be around. She said that Allison is dedicated to the show and wants to come back. We will be seeing her in some episodes this season. We also got the news that Chloe is about to debut in the comic books in the next couple of months. It will be Action Comics #892. I love that the Chloe character has become so popular that now they are having to add her into the comic books instead of the usual other way around of comic characters coming to the show. Will Clark fly? Brian says that we all know how the comics turn out so that is the answer. So, what about the finale? Kelly said that they are planning on making sure to pay homage to these iconic characters all season and having it culminate in the finale.

All of them were asked the question of what was their favorite moment or episode of the series? Tom said it was when he threw the tractor and John jumped in there with him talking about it. Justin said it was the whole episode of "Roulette". Cassidy's moment was the whole episode of "Checkmate" and getting to do something Alias like with her character. Erica couldn't pick just one moment with there being so many great moments. She said her favorite times was anytime when she got to do something comedic and not take herself so seriously while being dorky. Kelly's was an interesting answer with her saying that she'd pick the 100th episode as her favorite only because the 200th episode hasn't been shot yet. Hmm. She said that it will have moments of the past, present, and future of where they are going in it. Well, I'm excited to see what this episode turns out to be!!

The panel was asked about their funniest moment on set with Kelly saying that it usually revolved around Tom because he was such a prankster on set. Tom told the story of Michael Rosenbaum's last scene joking that he just wouldn't die. They were shooting the scene where Lex is laying in Clark's arms and he wouldn't shut up. LOL. He said that Michael was there talking to the crew saying see you later and we're going to hang out after this is over. He would go from tangents to make everyone laugh to let's hang out and then "action" and would deliver the line of "Clark, you're my brother". Really funny story. John told a story of how Tom was unable to say the name of this plant on set. They finally had to change the script to say "heavy potted plant" because Tom couldn't say the word. John asked if he could say it now and Tom still couldn't do it. There was a really funny moment when Kelly's name card was moved down to where she was now sitting since John had sat in next to Tom. John put his cup up there to replace it. Then, he took that down and placed his ID up there instead saying that's my superhero haircut on the picture. Somebody on the panel said "that's also your address" which got a lot of laughs. John pulled it down and said "I guess I'll be seeing you all". Really funny moment. Interesting moment when Tom was asked a question saying that he was Superman for a generation and if he had ever auditioned or been approached for a Superman film? Tom paused saying that it wasn't an easy answer. He said the answer is yes to one and no to the other. So, let the speculation begin on that. LOL. Really nice moment from the panel when one guy at the Q&A mic started to talk about his daughter's 18th birthday and they cut the mic off on him. Just completely rude. John would not let the moment get away and said that he knew how important that a daughter's 18th birthday can be and to please let the man say whatever it was that he wanted to say. John had the daughter pointed out and she was brought up with the dad. She got Tom's name card autographed for her. John apologized for what happened and the crowd applauded. Classy moment. Really classy.

To close out this recap, I loved what Tom had to say about Christopher Reeve. The panel was asked about their favorite scene on the show and Brian said it was the scene with Tom and Christopher. Tom was asked what it was like to work with him. This is what Tom had to say about it: "I don't think I've even still understood what it was like. He was such an awesome guy and made me feel so comfortable. From an acting point of view, he was able to do so much with what he had to use in those scenes. Obviously, his mobility was impaired and his breathing was impaired but he was there. One story that I don't think anyone knows about is he was only allowed to be there for five or six hours. His nurses or doctors wouldn't let him work any longer. I think he stayed and worked for about ten hours. He wouldn't let them take him away. It was really an out of body experience for me to be there in his prescence. He was a great guy". Kelly thanked the fans at the end of the panel for making everyone's dreams come true. Great, great panel. So much fun to watch.

Monday, July 26, 2010

Comic Con 2010 - Chuck Panel Recap, Jeffster Opens & Tops Last Year's Performance - July 26, 2010

The Chuck panel at Comic-Con took place on Saturday. How would they top last year's great start to the panel? Jeffster returns!! They opened it up with a music video into them performing to Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" on stage and it was awesome. The crowd just roared and it went up another level when the rest of the cast made their way on to the stage dancing as well. They threw out t-shirts to the crowd before sitting down. The panel consisted of executive producers, Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak, along with the cast of Zachary Levi, Yvonne Strahovski, Adam Baldwin, Josh Gomez, Sarah Lancaster, Ryan McPartlin, Mark Christopher Lawrence, Vik Sahay, and Scott Krinsky. As always, the cast and crew thanked the fans for being so great in helping them continue on with the show. I will say that the Chuck fans are one dedicated group. I am happy to be included in that group as well. When asked about how things would change this season with Chuck quitting the CIA, Schwartz said that the search for mom would be the major focus of this season. Linda Hamilton is playing the role of Chuck's mom and they said that we will see her in episode one. The way that Chuck balances the search between the spy world and his personal life is going to be the story. He also said that Chuck and Morgan would be a very bad but good spy team. Fedak said that they didn't want to split up Team Bartowski and will keep them going. When asked about how they go about picking out actors for casting, Schwartz said that they cast in a way of if the characters of Chuck and Morgan were casting the show, who would they want playing these roles? News was told of Olivia Munn, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Nicole Richie, and Isaiah Mustafa will be returning this season. The Buy More is going to be the biggest CIA headquarters which will feature Olivia Munn's character. Zachary and Yvonne were asked about the relationship of Chuck and Sarah. Zachary said that not much was different with them cause the love was always there. It's just now an official relationship. Neither thought their relationship has changed that much. Yvonne talked about how she enjoyed being in part of the happier and comedy parts of the show and is hoping for more of that this next season. Sarah also mentioned later about the comedy and how she was happy with Ellie hitting John with a frying pan. LOL. Fedak and Schwartz talked about Shaw as a villain and thought that he was great. They said that they have learned their lessons in the past about keeping Chuck and Sarah apart while saying that we, as fans, will be very happy this season. Talk turned to the duo of Morgan and John this past season. Adam and Josh joked with each other about them being in scenes together including the size difference between the two. Josh talked about Morgan being included on the inside secret now of the spy game saying how Ryan used to be on him about how his character knew the secret while Morgan didn't. Now, they're even. Adam was asked about playing the softer side of John and joked how it was shocking cause his daughter beat him up on the show. LOL. He likes the actress that plays the role and is looking forward to having scenes with her. He also said how he was used to being beaten up by females on shows which starts the Whedonverse name dropping of getting beaten up in Serenity. I have a feeling that this is going to become a tradition and they all reacted to him still name dropping old shows going into four seasons of Chuck. LOL. Schwartz and Fedak talked of how this will be a tough season for the relationship of Chuck and Ellie because Chuck has to find their mom but yet he has promised her that he was going to get out of the spy game. The Buy More crew was asked if they were nervous about their employment after the Buy More story played out at the end. Vik joked that he thought maybe he had made someone mad and they said we'll show you and burn this thing to the ground. Schwartz said that the Buy More crew was a huge part of the show and that they promised that they would be back this season. Fun panel. If you want to see the video of the Jeffster opening, here it is. It is must see!!!!

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Comic-Con 2010 Notes: Marsters/Smallville, Dollhouse, & More - July 24, 2010

Various notes on some of the happenings at Comic-Con so far. James Marsters was there as a part of the Caprica panel. He did announce that he will be returning to Smallville for the final season. The Smallville panel will be taking place on Sunday. An exclusive Dollhouse lithograph will be available at Comic-Con while supplies last to those that preorder season two of Dollhouse on DVD or Blu-ray. The DVD set will also include a comic called "Epitaphs". The book will bring the two episodes of Epitaph One and Two together. From what I understand, the comic book will be available in all the DVD sets and not be a Comic-Con exclusive. The cover of it looks awesome!! The lithograph is a Comic-Con exclusive. The Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows panel is said to have people camping out to get into it, to no surprise. I expect that will be a huge event. Felicia Day is in attendance at Comic-Con and has been posting on Twitter. She and The Guild crew will be having their panel this afternoon from 2-3pm at the Hilton, Indigo Ballroom. Panels scheduled for Sunday include Smallville, Castle, Glee, and Supernatural among many.

Comic Con 2010 - Joss Whedon & JJ Abrams Team Up With Visionaries Panel - Recap - July 24, 2010

SAN DIEGO - JULY 22: Directors Joss Wheedon (L) and J.J. Abrams pose onstage during The Visionaries panel during Comic-Con 2010 at San Diego Convention Center on July 22, 2010 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
Comic-Con is underway in San Diego, CA. Really looking forward to hearing all of the news coming out of it. The panels are underway there. Joss Whedon and JJ Abrams shared a panel together on Thursday. What a pairing that is!! They got together to talk about their shows, the state of TV now, movies, and of course their projects. Really interesting comments from both on various things. Just thought I'd give a bit of a recap. Some various notes to start with. Joss did confirm that he will be directing The Avengers. When asked about how it was going so far, he said that it was really too early to comment much on it. He did say what made him excited to do the project was "how completely counterintuitive that is, it makes no sense, these people shouldn't be in the same room together, let alone be on the same team and yet that is the very definition of family." I loved that line. Abrams talked about his new project Super 8 and also talked about his new show Undercover. Undercover ties to one of the questions that they got about serialized TV. This was a great question to ask of them because they are both very serialized type writers with them wanting to tell stories over a period of time. Abrams said that he didn't think the networks were interested in serialized TV because they want stuff that they can easily repeat and syndicate. He said that he liked the investment and anticipation of seeing how stories and characters build. Abrams feels that he thinks that the networks want it too but just don't realize it while adding that the trick is to have an ongoing story but have episodes that are self contained. Undercover was then discussed with it being a show that is more self contained but is going to have a story that develops over time. You don't have to watch episodes one through five to understand episode six. Joss said that networks will never admit that people want serialized TV and want to go for the "easy cash cows like The Mentalist" and want to make shows like it. He went on to say: "When Lost first hit and was just blowing up huge and everyone was loving it, we were all so into it. They were still like 'we don't want that'. That successful Emmy winning thing, yeah, we don't want that. They would speak against serialized story telling while it was the only thing that people were watching on television because they're thinking bottom line. It's very weird because ultimately the serial is always going to be the thing that people remember. What do people remember about Cheers? Sam and Diane. Not a great joke from Cheers. They remember that. I like both. I like to have some sort of resolve so I don't feel like I just.......I'm still angry about The Empire Strikes Back, ok? The movie doesn't have an ending. I like to split the diff but yeah, the progression is what it's all about." I was really happy to hear them asked about the evolution of producing things such as how Joss went right to the internet with Dr. Horrible and was successful at it. I know I was really hoping to see others jump onboard with it and bypass the networks to see if could be a successful alternative. Joss said he hoped it could be and talked of how he thought he may have missed his window with being too early to the party. He hoped that others were going to show up too but they just didn't. Dr. Horrible did make a profit for everyone involved saying that you can profit from a project like that although the money is going to be less. He said that the studios were very old fashioned on how such a project could work . When asked about the sequel, he said that they all have an idea on how to do it and what they want to do. Time is just keeping the project "in turnaround". Abrams said that he was planning on doing some things with Bad Robot and following Joss's lead online. Abrams said how different the world was now with technology and how he shot a commercial for the Star Trek DVD on the same camera that he uses to shoot his kids soccer games. Movies are able to be made just by the great technology that is available to consumers. Joss was asked about how he felt about TV right now after the cancellation of Dollhouse and replied saying he "must have been in the wrong place and wrong time. I definitely was trying to fit a square peg into a small hole. We both benefited from the television of the square hold of The WB where they were just interested in people like us who had a story that we had to tell and they let us do that. That is very rare. It doesn't exist anymore, literally, The WB doesn't exist anymore. My experiences at Fox have not been successful. Ultimately, it is because there is a certain amount of incompatibility that is very easy to miss because I like genre stuff and that is what they wanted. You say the word sex and they think that's sexy but can you not mention sex. I clearly have more of a cable mentality than I realized and I had been away from television for a while. I didn't know how much things had changed. I learned to know your audience and your first audience is the ones that are paying you to make the thing. That is why right now I'm at Marvel and I'm extremely happy. I'm working with Kevin Feige. It's a very different experience. Kevin and Jeremy, the executives, they're the studio, they're the producers. It's the same entity and they know what they want. Upfront, they're very clear when they don't get it and they know what they want. That's a great experience. The other is doing stuff on the internet, the smaller stuff where I'm the boss but I have to call my friend to see if he has any outfits. Both of those are great for different reasons. Television I love. I love serialized story telling. But yeah, I didn't quite think that one through." Both were asked on their thoughts on 3D movies with each having a different view of it. Abrams is not totally on board with it saying that he doesn't think things look as good through the glasses making the colors look dim. IMAX is his favorite kind of film experience. Joss loves 3D and the technology of it adding that it doesn't give him a headache watching it. He joked about "Cabin In The Woods" coming out in 2D since every other horror movie is going 3D. He wants to be the only horror movie to fully advertise that we are in 2D and how they would revolutionize the business. Both were asked if they thought 3D would continue or if it was a fad. Joss said that he thought it wasn't a fad and will continue but won't take over. Abrams wasn't sure on the future of it. A few other notes on it with them being asked questions from the crowd. When asked about whether in this day on if you should go to film school or go your own way, Abrams said "go your own way" and Joss said "do film school". It was really funny. Abrams said that he thinks that the resources available now make film school less of a need adding that he didn't go to film school. I loved the advice that he told that he got from his father before he went off to college, "go learn what to make movies about not how to make movies". Joss commented on it saying "where did you get that father? That is awesome". Joss did go to film school and studied as an undergraduate. He said that it is very tough to get in the right spot adding that you can get a teacher that takes all the complete joy out of it for you forever. They were asked a fun question on whether they keep anything from any of their projects. Abrams had some things but was starting to get scared of being a hoarder. He asked if anyone had seen that show, Hoarders, and how it completely scares him. Joss, on the other hand, doesn't keep stuff saying that he doesn't get attached to stuff.....or people. LOL. Really interesting panel and I had a great time watching it. A definite powerhouse of writers up there. I really agreed with just about everything that they said especially including the state of TV today and the troubles of it. I keep hoping for the internet to keep taking off and giving writers more options of ways to get their projects out there and make money at it.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Buffy Season 8 Motion Comic Now Available, Notes on Hulu Plus, Tonight Show, Damages, and More - July 21, 2010

Buffy Season 8 is now available in another format besides in just readable comic book form. The series has started its release as a motion comic. I have seen the trailer for it which looks very impressive along with a little preview of the first episode. I'm really happy with how it looks. I've been reading the Buffy Season 8 comic series and it has been fun to see the story pick back up from where the show left off. You should of course expect different voice actors for this motion comic series in case you didn't know. The series is being released by episode for the cost of 99 cents each over at Amazon or you can by a TV pass for it. The series is also available over at iTunes. There is also talk of a DVD release later this year. If you want to see the preview trailer for it, here is the link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003WI7O56


This is old news but Hulu unveiled what many have been talking about for a while now. A subscription service called Hulu Plus. Hulu Plus will cost $9.99 a month. It will allow you to watch content on your TV, iPhone, or iPad. Hulu Plus is also supposed to boost the available content by putting up more full seasons of shows instead of just a few episodes. One thing that has been talked about quite a bit is that you still have to watch commercials despite paying for the subscription.

The Tonight Show received Emmy nominations. No, not the current Tonight Show with Jay Leno. The Conan O'Brien led Tonight Show. NBC did submit both versions of The Tonight Show for nomination chances from what I understand. Conan's show got a nomination for best variety, music, or comedy series. Leno did not get a nomination but Letterman also was left out of the category as well for the first time since 1993. The Conan Tonight Show got four Emmy nominations overall. Conan responded on his Twitter account saying: "Congrats to my staff on 4 Emmy nominations. This bodes well for the future of the 'Tonight' show with Conan O'Brien."

Beverley Mitchell, who you'll know of 7th Heaven fame in her role as Lucy, will be playing a school counselor on The Secret Life of the American Teenager. TV Guide broke the story and Beverley posted this on Twitter about the role: "Thank you for all the love! So excited to join The Secret Life of the American Teenager!!! Be sure 2 watch in January!"

American Idol auditioning is underway. I saw a picture last week of Idol hopefuls packed outside Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. Really impressive picture.

DirecTV is becoming quite the hero to fans of cancelled shows. It was announced this week that they have picked up Damages as an exclusive series to their 101 Network. Reports are saying two seasons is the pickup.

Speaking of the 101 Network on DirecTV, I love that The Dan Patrick Show is now available for viewing on there. I have watched it quite a bit lately and really enjoy it. They've got a fun crew of people on that show that know their sports.

TV on DVD releases for this week. Being Human (Season One), Degrassi: The Next Generation (Season Nine), Gimme A Break (Full Series), Matlock (Season Five), My Boys (Seasons Two and Three), Simon and Simon (Season Five), Super Friends (Season One - Volume Two).

Sunday, July 18, 2010

One Tree Hill - Thoughts On Season Seven - July 18, 2010

WILMINGTON, NC -  APRIL 26:  Actors from One Tree Hill, including Lisa Goldstein, Lee Norris, Barbara Alyn Woods, James Lafferty, Jackson Brundage, Antwon Tanner, Michaela McManus, Sophia Bush, Joe Manganiello and Mark Schwahn during the 5th Annual James Lafferty/One Tree Hill Charity Basketball Game on the campus of Cape Fear Community College April 26, 2008 in Wilmington, North Carolina. The event included a basketball game between the 'Old Tree Hill Ravens' and the 'New Tree Hill Ravens,' as well as an autograph session after the game. Proceeds from this event benefit local and national charities and organizations, including St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.  (Photo by Logan Mock-Bunting/Getty Images)
A rebuilding year for One Tree Hill with Peyton and Lucas being gone. I thought the show did really well and I enjoyed season seven. They added some new characters and gave us some fun storylines to follow. Adding another James sister to the mix was a good decision. I want to give credit to all of those ladies that play the roles of the James sisters. The stuff that they did with the mom passing away was great acting. Bethany Joy Galeotti is always solid and I've really enjoyed watching her acting over the years. Haley had trouble dealing with losing her mom and it showed with her family life and professional life. They had Haley looking rough in those last few episodes. I thought the writers did a great job in putting emotion in on it with how anyone is going to have to deal with the loss of a loved one. I have loved the addition of Shantel VanSanten as Quinn James. Quinn had a rollercoaster of a year including her divorce and new relationship with Nathan's agent, Clay. Lindsey McKeon was really good reprising her role of Taylor with the character having to deal with losing her mom and going about it in a different direction than the other two sisters. The addition of Alex was a good one who is played by Jana Kramer. I have really enjoyed watching that character grow and change over the season. She became a strong shoulder for others including Millie after she got into trouble. Alex was of course intangled with Julian which led to some fun moments with her trying to steal Julian away. Then, we have the usual performers including Sophia Bush as Brooke. I just wait for the great angry one liners from Brooke. The line that she delivered when Brooke and Haley found out that the fortune teller had fooled them and saw the bunny in the closet cracked me up. I laughed for a while after it happened. Mouth and Millie had their problems based on Millie's problems. Mouth moved on finding romance with Skills's ex, Lauren. I really liked those two characters together. Nathan had his struggles with the blackmailing going on while trying to get a new contract. Dan ends up with a talk show and married to Rachel. Well, go figure. LOL. Dan sure is a character that is hard to read sometimes but what else is new? Then, we add in the fun stories of what is going on with Jamie and his friends. Jackson Brundage brings so much to that show and has since his addition to the cast in season five. Really enjoyed season seven and this show still has the fun factor of trying to guess how things are going to play out. One Tree Hill has of course been renewed for season eight which will premiere on Tuesday, September 14 on The CW.

Friday, July 16, 2010

Laura Vandervoort Returning To Smallville, Notes On One Tree Hill, The Hills, Opry, Lucky, & More - July 16, 2010

Remember that "no comment" thing from Laura Vandervoort and Sam Witwer at the Superman Celebration about whether they'd return to Smallville for the final season? Well, we can now take Laura off of that list as Entertainment Weekly broke the story last week that Laura will return in at least one episode. Great, great news. Really enjoyed her on Smallville and also now on V. She was a lot of fun at the Superman Celebration and I hope great things keep happening for her.


Unless you're living under a rock, you know that Comic-Con is next week. So exciting!! Plenty of great panels to check out of various shows.

I had gotten behind on a lot of my shows recently and I've been pulling some really enjoyable marathons to get caught up. I'll be posting overall thoughts on some shows in the next little while.


I watched a followup interview with Big Brother 12's first evictee, Annie, this morning. She talked about the stress of doing the saboteur tasks and more of what was her downfall in the game. I also enjoy the true/false game of letting the houseguest try to determine the happenings of the outside world since they've been in the house. Her reactions were funny. The more I see of Annie, the more I want her to still be in the house. Here is the interview video if you want to check it out.


Larry King announced recently that he would be ending his show but would be sticking around with CNN. So, that turns the question to who will replace him? My vote goes for Ryan Seacrest. He's not doing anything, is he? LOL. It would be his 500th job but I think he'd be excellent at it. The reported front runner seems to be Pierce Morgan.


So, The Hills wrapped up with a shot that had everyone talking. They pulled the camera back to reveal a set. Wow, now that is a buzz worthy way to end the show and get people talking. The finale did very well ratings wise.


If you follow any of the stars of One Tree Hill on Twitter, you know it is no secret that season eight has begun filming. I really love One Tree Hill and it is one of the most fan friendly shows that I've seen. The cast and crew really go out of their way to give back to the fans. If you want to follow some of the cast of One Tree Hill on Twitter, here are some of the account names that I know of: @RealOneTreeHill, @SophiaBush, @kramergirl, @AUS10NICHOLS, @DanneelHarris, and @allisonmunn.


Carrie Underwood has been added to the Grand Ole Opry lineup for July 27. The Opry will take place at the Ryman Auditorium that night. Others on the lineup include Eric Church, Steel Magnolia, Diamond Rio, Rhonda Vincent, Jimmy Dickens, and more. Congrats to Carrie on the recent wedding and praying for all the best to her and her husband!!


How lucky do you feel with winning the lottery? The HBO Documentary Film Summer Series is going to examine how people feel about what it takes to overcome the odds of becoming a lottery winner. It also takes a look at the after effects of what happens with the lottery winners and how their lives are effected along with the lives of people around them. The movie entitled, Lucky, premieres on Monday, July 19th at 8pm central time on HBO. For more info, here is a link to check out: http://www.hbo.com/documentaries/lucky


TV on DVD releases for this week: The Lucy Show (Season Two), Psych (Season Four), Saving Grace (Final Season), White Collar (Season One).

Back To The Future 25th Anniversary DVD Set To Be Released On October 26, 2010

CHICAGO - FEBRUARY 26: General view of atmosphere at the 25th anniversary screening of 'Back To The Future' at Hollywood Blvd Cinema on February 26, 2010 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Barry Brecheisen/Getty Images)
Back To The Future fans are finally getting the news that they've been waiting for and that is a Blu-ray release. The 25th Anniversary Trilogy set will be released on the day of the 25th anniversary of the movie's release, October 26. The set will be released on regular DVD and Blu-ray. There will be new exclusives on this set that haven't been included on the others including a 6 part retrospective on the movie including interviews with Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Robert Zemeckis, Bob Gale, Neil Canton, and Steven Spielberg. The Blu-ray release will of course have exclusive content on it that the standard DVD set won't have. This set will be a must have and I'm excited to check it out. This is going to mark the third time that I've bought these movies on DVD. LOL. For more info on the DVD set, head over to: http://www.bttfmovie.com/ The date for release is October 26, 2010.


Thursday, July 15, 2010

Big Brother Evicts Their First Houseguest - July 15, 2010

One week finished on Big Brother. Well, as far as TV time. The actual game is right at two weeks old. I'm already glued to this season. I've heard people complain online about the cast being boring on the feeds. I have not seen the feeds this year so I can only comment on what I'm seeing on TV. I am liking this season and am getting into it. I've seen houseguests already breaking my Big Brother rules. Rule number one is don't win the first HOH cause it puts a big target on you. Hayden was completely fine with it and talking about how it was dumb for others not to win it. Rule number two. Never EVER call your few day old alliance the greatest in Big Brother history cause history says it will fall apart and then you look terrible with your comments. How many early alliances have fallen apart? The Horsemen come to mind. Like I said, Hayden won HOH. He put up Rachel and Brendon for eviction looking to break them up. Brendon won the veto and took himself off the block. Things got stirred up with the Brigade alliance letting out info which led to Britney stirring up things with Annie's allegiance. Annie ended up being the replacement nominee. That put Annie and Rachel against each other on the block. Annie got upset over things as she had an alliance with Brendon and Rachel. She got offended that Brendon chose Rachel over her which is the new Big Brother showmance. Annie was evicted on a 10-0 vote even after making a big argument before her eviction to separate the couple. We learned the identity of the saboteur tonight which was....Annie. I wouldn't have guessed that but I really had no idea. I knew that the show probably wasn't going to give us any decent clues and would work the hardest to keep the identity hidden. Annie was stirring up paranoia in the house telling of there being two houseguests that have known each other for a long time and other things. I am bummed to see Annie gone cause she would have stirred things up in there. When Rachel made her comments on the exit messages and Annie got rolling, I was sitting up on the couch excited thinking, here we go. Stir it up. LOL. So, one week in and the twist is over. I think that really hurt the show but we'll see what happens from here. The HOH competition was held and was won in a tiebreaker by Rachel. It's been an entertaining first week but I'm curious to see what happens with the twist out of the game. There is talk that all houseguests this season are being sequestered. If this is true, could we see the return of the saboteur at some point? Could we see a returning houseguest period? Is the sequestering true? I don't know. On to week two.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Big Brother 12 Premieres - July 8, 2010

Big Brother 12 premiered tonight on CBS. The cast was announced last week and here is a look at the basic information on the cast.
Lane - 24 years old and a oil rig salesman from Decatur, TX
Kristen - 24 years old and a boutique manager from Philadelphia, PA
Kathy - 40 years old and a deputy sheriff from Texarkana, AR
Britney - 22 years old and a hotel sales manager from Huntington, AR
Ragan - 34 years old and a college professor from West Hollywood, CA
Andrew - 39 years old and a podiatrist from Miami Beach, FL
Hayden - 24 years old and a college student from Tempe, AZ
Enzo - 32 years old and a insurance adjustor from Bayonne, NJ
Rachel - 26 years old and a student and cocktail waitress from Las Vegas, NV
Monet - 24 years old and a model from Glen Carbon, IL
Brendon - 30 years old and a swim coach and PhD candidate from Riverside, CA
Annie - 27 years old and a bartender from Tampa, FL
Matt - 32 years old and a web designer from Elgin, IL

The big twist of the season is the "saboteur". Basically, somebody is in the house that isn't in there to win the game. Their role is to sabotage the game. The moves that they make in the house will be influenced by viewer voting. We also learned tonight that the houseguest that is in this role will win $50,000 if they are able to survive the voting to five weeks. If that person gets voted out before five weeks, they leave the house with nothing. The saboteur really is a feeling of a return of America's Player without that person being able to compete for the win. We still don't know the identity of this houseguest yet but we will find out in one week. There were moments in the episode tonight where things started happening including the lights going out in the house. Attention then turned to who was missing in the room at the time of the occurrence. The saboteur also locked the food room and the house was forced to eat slop. Paranoia was running wild including houseguests in the HOH competition which included watching players getting hurt and also who decided not to compete. After something happens, a blurred image and a covered up voice appears on the TV screen in the house talking of what is going on. As far as the houseguests, no opinions really yet. Hayden won the first HOH competition and his comments first thing kind of puzzled me during the HOH. He talked of how he paid attention to who bailed out and not competing saying that you should want to win the first HOH. Umm, has Hayden paid attention to this show? You don't want to win the first HOH competition cause you make the first decision in the house that effects people and you often become the first target in the house. So, of course Hayden won the first HOH. LOL. We'll see how that works out for him. Several houseguests did not reveal all of their details including what they do for a living to not make themselves a target. Everyone always has their strategy of what is known. Sometimes, not revealing details comes back to bite you and that worked against Natalie last year. Well, basically you can lie but don't tell people and expect them to keep it a secret. LOL. Overall, I enjoyed the premiere. Not sure about the cast yet but time will tell.

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...