Thursday, April 19, 2012

The Passing of Dick Clark

The entertainment world is definitely in a big state of mourning today over the news of Dick Clark's passing.  He passed away yesterday from reportedly a heart attack at the age of 82.  What can you say about Dick Clark?  He did so much for the industry.  He did so much that when you look at his resume, you tend to be reminded of things that he was involved with.  Case and point for me was seeing the Pyramid game show listed.  Wow, I watched that just about every morning when I was a kid with that syndicated show.  I think we all tend to focus more on American Bandstand and New Year's Rockin' Eve and forget some of the other things he was involved with.   Dick Clark launched so many music careers over his many decades in the business.  The outpouring from the music industry has been amazing to follow with all the tributes.  American Bandstand was a show that people just piled around the TV to watch every single day.  It was such a huge part of America.  Again, if you think about Dick Clark, you often are going to think about him and Times Square.  Seeing him for New Year's Rockin' Eve is one of the biggest traditions that you are going to have for New Year's Eve.  He still continued to appear on the show for the last several years despite his health troubles that he battled.  There is definitely going to be sadness at the end of this year with him not being there.  I expect a huge tribute to him on the show that will be amazing.  Of course, I have to mention one of my favorite shows of all time that he was behind and that is American Dreams.  The show focused on the Bandstand era and took us through a history lesson of what was going on during the 60's while tying it to music and the story of the Pryor family.  I consider it to be one of the most underrated shows ever so to see it getting some media attention this morning makes me smile.  I still miss that show terribly.  Hey NBC, we're still waiting on that extended series finale that you never aired!  Dick Clark's legend in the industry spanned a bunch of decades, launched so many careers, and touched many lives.  He is going to be missed deeply.  Thank you Dick Clark for everything that you gave us to entertain us through your life. 

Thursday, April 5, 2012

One Tree Hill Series Finale Gives Closure and Perfection

Good night Tree Hill.  "It's the oldest story in the world.  One day you're 17 and planning for someday.  Then quietly and without ever really noticing, someday is today.  Then, someday is yesterday.  And, this is your life."  The final scene of the series finale had everything that you could ask for last night. We're back where it all started inside the gym at Tree Hill High School.  Getting ready for the opening tip of yet another Ravens basketball game.  The setup was perfect. We suddenly realized that this wasn't the present day that we had just seen in the previous scene.  Reveals started to be made.  Kids growing up, a baby on the way, a couple back together, dreams realized, wishes coming true, and another Scott becoming a Tree Hill legend.  We're in another flash forward at the end of the episode.  This final scene had everything in it that I have loved about this show for nine years.  The surprises, the inspiration, the music, the flashbacks, the feel good moments, and it was perfect.  U2's "One Tree Hill" finished it out as the perfect song for this scene.  There is no adjective I can use other than perfect for this scene.  I've since went back and watched this scene over and over.  One Tree Hill came to a close last night giving fans what the producers had been saying all along.  This finale was a thank you to all of us.  All of us that have been with the show these amazing nine years.  A cast and crew of this amazing little show that could that just kept going and we kept loving it.  Make no mistake about it.  That line that Haley gave at the ten year anniversary celebration concert was a thank you message to all of us, the fans.  After a season that has been drama filled and most times sad, we got a finale that left us smiling and knowing that these characters that we've grown up with are going to be ok.  Not just ok but they're going to be great.  This episode had everything with the flashbacks whether they were major things such as the moment with Haley and Jamie and the wishes up on the rooftop. Flashbacks of just subtle things just as that shot of that intersection and seeing that stop light changing making you think back on Peyton from early on in the show.  Fun cameos that made us cheer such as seeing Bevin at the office and the feel good moment of her and Skillz ending up together.  A marriage and a family that had become separated now becoming an even stronger union with Quinn now helping Clay and his son.  Brooke's dreams coming true and living in a house that she loved growing up in.  Only thing missing was a real family and Julian made that happen for her.  Nathan and Haley continuing to grow and realizing that their someday was happening.  Nathan making it clear to Jamie that he could do whatever he wanted in his life.  Not putting pressure on him like Dan did with Nathan.  Jamie deciding that he wanted to be a basketball star like his dad and one of his wishes to be breaking his dad's scoring record.   Mouth getting the support to do what he wanted to do with the help of the Dan Scott estate.  I loved the whole deal with Dan basically saying what Mouth does matters.  Then, Mouth opened up the scholarship deal in Jimmy and Dan's name and also started his sports program.  Don't forget the baby on the way for Mouth and Millie too.  Chris Keller getting the big comeback in this episode and giving us a really fun and nice closure for him and Chase also.  There had been a lot of noise being made about the music on this episode especially with a retro feel.  We had that for sure with a lot of the songs being played.  Can I say that Tyler Hilton and Bethany Joy rocked with the songs that they performed for the concert scenes?  So good!  Gavin DeGraw returns to play at the show and we, of course, close his part of the show with "I Don't Wanna Be" with a fun scene of seeing these characters that we love all interacting and having fun with one another as we see what their lives have become.  The topper for me again is that final scene.  I pondered how they could top last season's ending with Jamie Scott running across that bridge dribbling the basketball channeling Lucas.  They did just fine as that final image of seeing a high school basketball superstar version of Jamie Scott running out onto the Tree Hill court was just awesome.  Awesome, awesome!  What a way to close the show especially as that scene continued and we learned more and more of where we were and when we were in time.  Perfection.  We've been saying thank you to everyone involved with One Tree Hill all along during this final scene.  With this last episode, we got a big thank you from them.  We got closure. Past, present, and future.  It has been an incredible ride over these nine seasons and it's sad that it is over.  Thank you to everyone involved on the show.  Thank you to every single person that has had a part of this amazing show over the nine seasons.  Good night Tree Hill and thank you.

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

One Tree Hill Series Finale Airs Tonight, Veronica Mars On SOAPnet, Survivor, Smallville, & More

Tonight is the series finale of One Tree Hill at 7pm central time on The CW.  2 hour finale.  I don't really know of much else to add that I haven't already written on the site in the last few weeks.  I'm going to miss this show tremendously.  Really looking forward to seeing how the show closes.  As far as looking back on the show, you can read this look back on my favorite episodes and memories from Tree Hill's past at this link.  Here is a sneak peek of tonight's finale which looks like will have a lot of fun retro feel moments on it.  I'm very curious to see what the final shot is going to be of the show.  Last year was perfect with the shot of Jamie on that bridge channeling Lucas Scott.  If that had been the ending of the show last season, it would have been perfect.  So, what is the final shot going to end up being now?  I'm excited to find out.


Veronica Mars is back.  Ok, that is unfair to say it in that way.  It's back in reruns.  SOAPnet has picked up the show to run on their network.  Veronica Mars will launch on Sunday, April 15th with an eleven episode marathon beginning 7am-6pm central time.  It's regular time slot will be Monday through Friday from 4pm and 5pm central time.  It will air on weekends from 12pm-3pm on Saturdays and then 9am-12pm on Sundays.  I'm very excited for this.  I'm curious just how many favorite shows of mine that SOAPnet can possibly air.  If you've never seen the greatness of Kristen Bell on this show, you need to tune in.  Great show and you will be hooked quickly.  So, about that movie????  LOL.  Joking but obviously seriously too.

Survivor returns tonight with another new episode.  Do you just feel like you walked into some bizarro world of Survivor this season?  It just doesn't make any sense what is going on.  I seem to just shake my head every week wondering what these people are doing.  LOL.  I haven't really decided on whether I like this season or not so far.  It's just been so strange of the happenings going on.

Season eleven of Smallville in comic form is not far off.  If you prefer it digitally, it is very close as chapters will be available beginning April 13th.  The first print edition of the chapters put together will be released on May 16th.  I will likely wait for the comic form and then happily review it for the site.  I'm really excited for the Smallville stories to continue on.

Don't forget that season five of Chuck will be released on DVD and Blu-ray on May 8th.  Highly recommend the last season.  It was a great wrap up of the show and I loved the finale.

That is it for today!  Enjoy the OTH finale tonight! Take care and God bless!!

Big Brother Over The Top - Week One Thoughts

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