Thursday, May 23, 2013

Random Topics - XBox One, Kree Harrison, How I Met Your Mother Reveal, & More - May 23, 2013

First, my thoughts and prayers obviously go out to everyone in Oklahoma.  There are no words to describe the images that we are seeing from there.  Just awful.  

A few random topics today.

XBox One was a huge topic earlier this week.  I watched the live streaming event on IGN.com of the unveiling of it.  They are definitely pushing this thing as your home base for home entertainment.  Not just gaming obviously.  They are pushing it as an interactive solution to all your needs.  TV, DVD, and Skype with your friends while watching TV.  Connect through the XBox One to watch TV.  8GB of RAM and 500GB of hard drive.  Blu-ray player.  It was impressive watching the demo on how you can call out to it and tell it when to switch between TV, games, and such.  The gaming demos looked really cool.  Amazing how lifelike everything looks and a big difference in the capabilities of that between the XBox 360 and XBox One.  Sports games looked great as did the demos for the role playing games.  Going to be fun to watch the battle between XBox One, PS4, and Wii U.  

Kellie Pickler is the winner of this season's Dancing With The Stars.  She and Derek Hough teamed up this season and got the win after a lot of hard work.

I really like Kree Harrison's song "All Cried Out".  Just an awesome song and she has an amazing voice.  Ready to hear more out of her for sure.  You can download the new song on iTunes.  Speaking of Kree, she has been added to the Grand Ole Opry lineup on June 4th which will be her Opry debut.

How I Met Your Mother has finally revealed the "mother".  She will be a series regular for the final season which will be season nine.  Cristin Milioti appeared in the role for the recent season finale and will be full time.  There has been a lot of debate for sure on the delay for all of the viewers finally meeting the woman that Ted would finally end up with.  I know a lot of people are thankful that we aren't going to just meet her in the final scene of the series finale.  Myself included.  LOL.

Another big anniversary just passed for a series finale.  May 14, 1998 was the final date of Seinfeld being on the air.  15 years since that show has signed off.  That is unreal to me that it has been that long.

That is it for today.  Take care and God bless!!

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Smallville Season 11 - Guardian Thoughts, Ten Years Since Buffy Signed Off

If you are missing Smallville, you have a great option to continue on with the story.  A few months ago, Smallville season eleven started in comic form.  If you have been unable to keep up with it with each digital chapter or by the issues, the first volume named Guardian has been released capturing the first four issues of season eleven.  I just read the this and I give this thing a huge thumbs up.  I am enjoying this so much.  The comic has a great feel of the show with the dialogue and artwork.  It captures the characters and stories so well.  Season eleven picks up six months later from the TV season ten series finale.  Going to move into spoilers here so if you don’t want spoilers, you’ll want to quit reading.  Clark has emerged into Superman.  Lex has returned.  Clark and Lois continue their relationship.  Chloe and Oliver are still progressing with their relationship after getting married.  So, what do we have in season eleven?  A lot happening.  Some visitors from another planet during a storm that had a great reveal at the end of issue four making me wonder where this could possibly go.  Lex launching a space shuttle program with a new hero in charge which is Captain Henshaw.  Superman keeping an eye on Lex to see what his agenda is.  Lex getting a constant visit from an unwanted visitor.  And much more.  Now, let’s really go into spoilers.  Do not read if you don’t want to know the happenings of season eleven.  I really love how the story on the space shuttle program has evolved.  It keeps changing.  Something to protect the human race to it all going wrong.  Superman saves Henshaw who suffers severe burns from the radiation of the shuttle explosion.  Henshaw ends up trapped in his own body unable to communicate but completely conscious in his own mind.  Lex uses this as an opportunity to do something to get rid of his visitor.  Tess has been in his head through all of this so far which has to do with the memory erasing toxin that she gave to Lex.  Lex uses this situation with Henshaw to test something that occurred in the past at Summerholt.  A doctor had been murdered by a patient who was giving him the toxin.  Then, the patient kept saying that he could see the doctor in the room.  They were mentally bonded.  This is happening to Lex and Tess now.  So, Lex uses the Henshaw situation to test moving his mind to a drone.  If all goes well, he could get rid of Tess after a successful experiment.  That goes wrong of course when Henshaw is so enraged with the situation when he is brought to life of sorts in that drone.  Henshaw was already furious with Lex saying that the explosion of the shuttle wasn’t an accident and that Lex had done this on purpose.  That turned out true when Lex revealed to Superman that he had done this as a way to put a radiation trail on Superman.  Anyone with satellites with the capabilities of Lex’s could track him anywhere.  This means that Clark and Lois can not spend any time together.  They can’t be in their apartment together.  Nothing because he could be tracked and his secret would be out.  I am loving this story and the interplay with Lex and Clark.  Just like always that every time Clark gets his guard down with Lex, it comes back and bites him.  So, what is up with Chloe and Oliver?  We keep getting signs that things maybe just aren’t right with them.  Maybe their relationship isn’t as strong as it once was.  Kind of that heat is off the relationship kind of thing.  Chloe has been looking to move once the new watchtower was set up and give them a fresh start but she is having trouble moving on.  Now, they are on the trail of a visitor that came down during a solar storm.  They found that the spaceship was a ship with a Queen Industries logo on it.  Oliver knew nothing of why his company should have a logo on the ship.  One big reveal was that there were two people involved in this storm and ship arrival.  One being hunted and the other being the hunter.  They found a masked person which turned out to be Earth 2 Chloe who was shot and killed in front of them.  She had a warning for Superman of a crisis coming.  That is some of the happenings of season eleven and I’m excited to see where we go from here.  One funny thing that made me laugh immediately was the arrival of Otis right away.  That didn’t take long to get him into the story.  Otis is Otis.  LOL.  I love the scenes especially early on including the talk with Lois and Chloe.  It just felt so much like a scene that you would see between the two on a normal episode.  Bryan Q. Miller is doing a great job of picking up where the story left and writing Smallville again.  Loving his work and loving the artwork by Pere Perez.  If you have been on the fence about getting into the season eleven comic, what are you waiting for?  Get involved and start reading.  I’m loving it and you will too. 

May 20, 2003 was the date of the series finale of Buffy The Vampire Slayer airing on UPN.  It has been ten years since the Buffy finale.  Isn’t that amazing? It was that night that I sat in front of the TV stressing wondering how the show was going to end.  Would my favorites survive?  Would we get a cliffhanger ending?  How would it all resolve?  I’m still happy looking back with how Buffy ended.  I thought the show wrapped up really nicely.  We got a good closure.  With Joss Whedon, it is a definite fear among all of us fans that we just want our favorites to survive.  It is a question that he often gets asked at conventions on why he has this thing for killing off liked characters.  It has almost turned into a joke of sorts cause he knows the question is coming.  Taking heat from fans of different characters from throughout the Whedonverse.  The finish of Buffy saw her taking on what seemed to be impossible odds with the big bad. There was the big hero moment in the finale with Spike where he helped save the world.  This would also play into his return to Angel in the final season of that show later that year.  I still love the image of the Scooby gang up there standing together at the end after the slayer power had been released all over the world.  The look of peace on Buffy’s face of that everything was going to be ok.  The weight of the world was off. I was very happy with the ending of the show.  It just felt like Joss wrapped that finale and the finished story in a nice little wrapped up box and gave it to us fans.  A year later, Angel would give us a different style of finale leaving many things open ended. 

Looking At The New Fall TV Season of 2013-14 - May 21, 2013

It's that time of the year again.  Time when we all stress over our favorite shows.  Which will survive?  Which will be canceled?  What new shows are there out there that might be worth checking out?  Well, we got our answers this week.  Let's run through it.


Fox:

Returning shows: American Dad, American Idol. Bob's Burgers, Bones, Family Guy, The Following, Glee, The Mindy Project, New Girl, Raising Hope, The Simpsons, The X Factor.

Not returning: Ben and Kate, The Cleveland Show, Fringe, The Mob Doctor, Touch

New shows:
Almost Human: cop drama set in the future pairing LAPD officers and androids together.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine: detective comedy starring Andy Samberg of SNL about a detective getting a new boss with a very big clashing of personalities with the boss being by the rule book while the detective does not take anything very seriously.
Dads: comedy that stars Seth Green and Giovani Ribisi.  They play the roles of best friends from childhood who have become very successful professionally at their jobs but things go bad when their fathers move in with them.
Enlisted: Military comedy about a group of brothers.  One is put in charge of a military base which houses his brothers.
Gang Related: Terry O'Quinn stars in this drama about a gang member that is being used to see the inner workings of the San Francisco Police Department. 
Junior Masterchef: Gordon Ramsey series with kids competing in the kitchen.
Murder Police: animated police comedy.
Rake: drama about a defense attorney played by Greg Kinnear who has all sorts of problems outside of his job.
Sleepy Hollow: drama with Ichabod Crane teaming with the town sheriff to solve mysteries.
Surviving Jack: comedy about a dad who has to balance being a dad to a newborn and also a teenager.
Us & Them: long distance dating show about a couple played by Alexis Bledel and Jason Ritter having to deal with the troubles of their families in their relationship.

Overall thoughts.  Fox has a lot of success with their hit shows that they are bringing back.  We'll see how these new shows do and there are some in that mix that could be interesting. 


NBC:

Returning shows: The Biggest Loser, Chicago Fire, Community, Grimm, Law & Order: SVU, Parenthood, Parks and Recreation, Revolution, Sunday Night Football, The Voice.

Not returning: 30 Rock, Animal Practice, Do No Harm, Deception, 1600 Penn, Go On, Guys With Kids, The New Normal, The Office, Rock Center with Brian Williams, Smash, Up All Night, Whitney.

New shows:
About A Boy: comedy about a bachelor bonding with the new kid next door who just moved in with his single mother. Jason Katims is involved with this project. 
American Dream Builders: Home renovation competition show.
Believe: drama and JJ Abrams has his name on this as an executive producer.  A man is out from prison and is given the job of protecting a young girl from those that want the gift of power that she has.
The Blacklist: James Spader stars as the most wanted criminal who turns himself in and is ready to give up all the information that he knows along with everyone he has worked with as well.  The twist is that he'll only work with one particular new FBI agent whom he seems to have no connection to.
Chicago PD: drama following the stories of district 21 of the Chicago Police Department.
Crisis: drama about oliticians including the president get blackmailed into a conspiracy.
Crossbones: the legend of Blackbeard set in 1715.
Dracula: this is inspired by the novel by Bram Stoker and stars Jonathan Rhys Meyers with Dracula arriving in London in the late 19th century.
The Family Guide: comedy revolving around a family that has just been effected by a divorce.
Ironside: drama and the remake of the 1960's police drama.
The Michael J. Fox Show: comedy inspired by actor's life.  NY news anchor going back to work.  Excited to have Michael J. Fox back on TV.
The Million Second Quiz: trivia game show that will be online and also in primetime.
The Night Shift: drama with ex-army doctors working the late shift at a trauma center.
Sean Saves The World: Sean Hayes stars in this comedy as a father dealing with a teenage daughter and a new boss.
Undateable: comedy about friends named the "undateables" add another to the mix that is unlike the rest of them with being more confident.
Welcome To The Family: comedy about two families coming together with different cultural backgrounds when a couple falls in love and have an unplanned pregnancy.

New show that I will definitely check out is The Michael J. Fox Show.  Huge fan of his and I will check out his return to TV.  Here is a look at his new show.


Overall thoughts.  It is no secret that NBC is struggling.  NBC is still trying to get rolling and they have a bunch of new shows to see if they have success with.

ABC:

Returning shows: Castle, Dancing With The Stars, Grey's Anatomy, Last Man Standing, Modern Family, The Middle, Nashville, The Neighbors, Once Upon A Time, Scandal, Shark Tank, Suburgatory, The Bachelor, America's Funniest Home Videos.

Not returning: 666 Park Avenue, Apt. 23, Body of Proof, Family Tools, Happy Endings, How To Live With Your Parents, Last Resort, Malibu Country, Private Practice, Red Widow, Zero Hour.

New shows:
Back In The Game: comedy about divorced single mother moving in with her estranged father who is a former baseball player.  She ends up coaching her son's little league team and back into the world of sports that she wanted away from.
Betrayal: drama about a married photographer who has an affair with lawyer.  The lawyer ends up representing the defendant in a murder trial but the prosecutor is the photographer's husband.  Hope you can follow all of that.  LOL.
The Goldbergs: family sitcom about growing up in the 80's. Being pushed as a dysfunctional Wonder Years.
Killer Women: drama with the focus being on the only woman in the Texas Rangers.
Lucky 7: drama on a group of people that work at a service station and win the lottery.
Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: based off of the Joss Whedon Avengers.  Really excited about this one and love the trailer. 
Mind Games: drama about brothers heading an agency that deals with using science to deal with their client's problems and manipulate people.
Mixology: comedy with singles looking for love in a bar with all of this happening in one night.  Can I ask why singles shows always have to be placed in a bar scenario?  Bugs me.
Once Upon A Time In Wonderland: drama follows the story of Alice learning of this new land after going down a rabbit hole.
Resurrection: drama about people that have passed away suddenly come back to life and go about things like nothing ever happened.
Super Fun Night: comedy starring Rebel Wilson about three girl friends that have a tradition of having fun every Friday night.
Trophy Wife: comedy about a former party girl who gets involved with a man with a family of three children and two ex-wives.

My favorite of the new show list will be no surprise.  Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.  This looks all kinds of awesome and I am loving the casting.  I am definitely in for this show.


Overall thoughts:  ABC has all their hits in a row there with so many shows returning.  I was happy to see Nashville get brought back for another season.  I love the show.  I'm not crazy about all the storylines including the political storyline where I just want the focus back on the music part of the show.  I can see Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. being a bit hit and I really hope it is.  There are several of those new shows that I see either being a hit or being a big miss. 

CBS:

Returning shows: 2 Broke Girls, 48 Hours, 60 Minutes, The Amazing Race, The Big Bang Theory, Blue Bloods, CSI, Elementary, The Good Wife, Hawaii Five-0, How I Met Your Mother, The Mentalist, Mike & Molly, NCIS, NCIS: Los Angeles, Person of Interest, Survivor, Two and a Half Men, Undercover Boss, Criminal Minds.

Not returning: CSI: NY, Golden Boy, The Job, Made In Jersey, Partners, Rules of Engagement, Vegas.

New shows:
The Crazy Ones: comedy focusing on a father/daughter advertising work team starring Robin Williams and Sarah Michelle Gellar.
The Millers: comedy about a man that just was recently divorced and suddenly has to deal with his parents having their own problems with their marriage. 
Friends With Better Lives: comedy involving a group of friends who are secretly looking at the other's lives as better than their own and stars James Van Der Beek. Roswell fans will also recognize the name Majandra Delfino on the cast list.
Hostages: drama about a female surgeon who gets asked to operate on the president but it ends up putting her family into a political conspiracy.  Dylan McDermott also stars in this show and is put in the role of helping them.
Intelligence:  It's Josh Holloway of Lost starring in this show.  Almost didn't recognize him with the short hair.  He plays the role of a U.S. Cyber Command agent with a gift.  He has a microchip in his brain that helps him be able to get into any info online or through any other sorts.
Mom: comedy with Anna Faris playing the role of a single mom who recently just got sober and and battling back in her life while also having to deal with her mom who causes trouble for her in her life.  Allison Janney plays the role of the mom.
Reckless: drama of opposites attract between a man and woman involved in the legal world.
We Are Men: comedy about a group of men living in an apartment complex comparing their love lives.

New show pick for me is The Crazy Ones.  I am always going to check out a show with SMG in it and a pairing of her and Robin Williams sounds hilarious. 

Overall thoughts.  CBS is doing what is successful for them.  They've got a mix of veteran shows and new ones.  I see this lineup doing well and CBS will have another successful year.


The CW:

Returning shows: Arrow, Beauty and the Beast, The Carrie Diaries, Hart of Dixie, Nikita, Supernatural, America's Next Top Model, The Vampire Diaries.

Not returning: 90210, Cult, Emily Owens, M.D., Gossip Girl.

New shows:
The Originals: Vampire Diaries spinoff drama.
The 100: drama where 100 juvenile delinquents are sent back to Earth on a spaceship a century after a nuclear war destroyed all of civilization in an attempt to re-populate Earth.
Reign: drama where Mary Queen of Scots makes her arrival in France as a 15 year old.
Star-Crossed: This show is very Roswell like.  Aliens are put into a regular high school with everyone knowing their origins.  One of them falls in love with a girl there at the school.  Very Roswell like except for the part of everyone knowing their secret.
The Tomorrow People: drama about a group of young people with special abilities.

Overall thoughts:  Interesting what I read lately and I assume this is true that Arrow is the top rated show on The CW now.  I think that has definitely influenced some decision making on that network with the fall schedule.  I'm surprised it took them this long to figure out there was an audience there with how popular Smallville was.  Sad that the show was overlooked with promotion by the network despite being so popular.  By the way, I really miss Smallville and thank you comic books for the fact that season 11 is now underway there in comic form.  :) I wouldn't mind checking out a couple of these shows to see how they are including The 100. 

Monday, May 13, 2013

Survivor Caramoan: Fans vs. Favorites Finale Recap - May 13, 2013

Another season of Survivor has concluded after last night's finale.  Fans vs. Favorites was a very enjoyable season for me.  Lots of big moments, big game moves, blind sides, surprises, and more.  Going into the finale, we down to the final five but that ended up being a final four within minutes.  During tribal council, Erik ended up getting very dizzy headed.  Upon getting back to camp, he was in need of medical help.  After checking him out, medical pulled him from the game as his body had quit on him.  We have seen him in recent episodes really complaining about how hungry he was and it was an interesting point that was brought up among the rest of the group about how he had been on every reward.  Yet, that was not enough food.  It shows just how bad of shape that his body was in.  So, that leaves us with the final four of Cochran, Dawn, Sherri and Eddie.  The reward challenge is held with the reward being an advantage in the final immunity challenge.  It was a card stacking competition.  Cochran looked out of it from the beginning unable to get on a roll with it but he was the one who made the big comeback to win it.  That advantage would pay off in the final immunity challenge.  He won a close challenge completing his puzzle first and choosing who he would take to the final three with him.  Lots of talk about what Cochran should do.  Would he take Dawn or turn on her?  Was Eddie a better option?  Sherri was a lock no matter what to go to final three so it was between Dawn and Eddie.  Eddie was voted out and that gave us our final three.  You just knew that this had all kinds of potential to be a wild final tribal council.  The jury took their turns asking questions.  Most questions went to Cochran and Dawn as that was where the jury focus was.  Sherri did not even seem to be a consideration from the jury and her back and forth with Erik probably finished any tiny chance that she had with the jury.  She also got booted from Stealth R' Us by Phillip.  LOL.  Malcolm's motivational speech for Dawn got her rolling with him telling her to "own everything that she did".  Don't back off of it and just stand up for what she did in the game and to stick to it.  She did do that explaining why she made certain moves.  She definitely took heat from the jury as was expected cause a lot of her moves was the demise of several of those jury members' games.  Brenda was the one that we were all waiting on as she definitely had the most heat toward Dawn.  I still say Brenda being voted out was one of the coldest things I've seen in Survivor history.  I'm saying that from giving up the reward and immunity in the same episode.  That is along with the retainer incident that was brought up here.  Brenda was the one that went to the trouble to help Dawn find her retainer after it was lost in the water.  Dawn had said that she would quit the game instead of dealing with that embarrassment of being seen without it.  So, Brenda said that she wanted her to step up and even the score showing herself without the retainer.  Dawn finally did it.  Cochran did great with his jury questioning and had the right answers.  I loved his "what animal would you compare your game to" answer which was a chameleon.  He said that like a chameleon he was able to change his colors and adapt to whatever change happened with people getting voted out.  Excellent answer and the jury seemed won over with it too.  So, on to the voting itself.  Cochran wins after they show five votes sealing the victory.  Jeff Probst sent out a tweet earlier on Twitter saying that the final vote was indeed 8-0 for Cochran to win so it was unanimous.  So, there is that for anyone wanting to know the final vote.  I am very happy with Cochran winning as he played this game hard.  Seeing how much he has evolved since his other season being on the show has been amazing.  The super fan became a confident player this season and the reward was that million dollar prize.  Definitely one of the most well deserved Survivor winners ever and one of my favorite Survivor winners ever.  With the reunion show, we had some fun things in there.  A surprise with Brenda revealing that she was pregnant.  She was live via satellite cause she was due any time and couldn't travel.  Her and Dawn were put on the spot talking to one another.  Jeff pointed out that the two hadn't spoken since the finale.  Dawn asked for forgiveness and Brenda accepted.  Boston Rob was there and gave his commentary on Phillip's play.  I laughed at his comment about how he had the guidelines all right but the execution wasn't that great.  Boston Rob was pushing his Survivor and life guidelines book.  Loved having him on the finale.  The best to play the game in my opinion.  No real other surprises on the finale and it was mostly business as usual.  Malcolm's soap opera acting role was shown and he was also the winner of the fan voted money award.  The tease for next season involved "Blood is thicker than water".  This has been a major rumor for a couple of weeks now that this next season will involve something around families.  So, that is it for another season of Survivor.  Really enjoyed it.  Lots of big moments and fun.  The Malcolm, Eddie, Reynold hidden immunity idol will be something that will be played for ages in Survivor history as it was great TV.  This group all around was wild at blindsiding with what happened to Andrea and Brenda.  I was disappointed when both of them got voted out obviously.  We'll see what Survivor brings us in the fall. 

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Survivor's Brenda Gives To Her Tribe & They Give Back At Tribal Council, Carrie Underwood Gets Sunday Night Football Job, Idol Shakeup, NBC Moves, Vote For Mike Fisher!!! - May 9, 2013

This week's Survivor.  It was all about giving.  Brenda gave up the reward to be with their loved ones to the others.  She gave up her chance at immunity to Dawn.  The tribe gave back to her with....voting her out at tribal council.  Wow, that has to be one of the coldest moves I've seen in the history of this game.  Just unreal what happened.  We were down to the final six and it was time for that Survivor season tradition of the loved ones being brought in.  Each had someone there and the castaway and their loved one teamed together in the reward challenge.  It was won by Brenda and her dad.  She was given the decision of being able to bring another team with her to enjoy the reward of spending time with their loved ones on the boat along with food.  She chose Dawn and her husband.  Then came the big twist.  On the Sprint phone was something that showed that these were not the only loved ones there.  Each person had two family or friends there.  Brenda was given the decision of keeping the win for herself and Dawn or she could give it up to the other four.  My goodness, what a decision!!  She gave it up to the other four and looked like a major hero sacrificing for the others.  Now, Dawn was obviously in the bad spot of that being on the winning side with Brenda.  So, she just lost out on it and her frustration showed while Brenda encouraged her to let out her frustration and tears so it would make her stronger once she got it out.  Then, we get to the immunity challenge which was an endurance challenge.  It came down to Brenda and Dawn.  Dawn was looking to make a deal immediately saying that she wanted to have the perks of a win for the first time ever telling Brenda that the plan was as always and that was to vote out Eddie so it didn't matter who won.  They competed for a little while and then Brenda bailed on it giving Dawn the win.  The talk turned immediately between Dawn and Cochran about voting out Brenda and making that big move.  Tribal council confirmed it and Brenda was voted out.  The votes for Brenda were Dawn, Cochran, and Sherri.  Brenda was shocked and voiced her thoughts on it saying that she had been honest to them and how hurt she was.  Cold, cold, cold.  She gives up that reward and immunity and gets voted out.  The game of Survivor is a cold one and this was a shining example of it.  I checked out the Ponderosa episode on CBS.com to see her arrival.  The jury all welcomed her with opened arms saying that she had gotten done wrong.  She was obviously hurt but by the end of the night, she said she wasn't mad and that it was the game in her interview with the camera.  Phillip made a funny comment at the table as they sat there with saying "give yourself a couple of days and then you'll be mad".  It is clear that the jury isn't much of a fan of Dawn so she may have major problems getting votes if she gets to the end of this game.  Cold episode of Survivor.  I felt really bad for Brenda.  That was wrong.

Networks are making moves as we get close to the upfronts next week and we'll find out what the networks have ready for the fall.  Cancellations, renewals, and pilots being picked up.  NBC is making a lot of moves.  They have renewed Parenthood, Grimm, Law & Order: SVU, Revolution, Parks and Recreation, and Chicago Fire.  Whitney and 1600 Penn were canceled today by NBC.  Several pilots have been picked up so next week will be interesting to see where they go.

It appears that Randy Jackson is out at American Idol.  E! News has the story and official statement from Randy Jackson which you can check out at this link.

Carrie Underwood is the new musical voice of Sunday Night Football on NBC.  It was announced earlier this week that Carrie will replace Faith Hill as the singer of the theme song for SNF, "Waiting All Day For Sunday Night".  She will debut on September 8th.  In the press release put out by NBC, Carrie spoke on the announcement saying "I am thrilled to be a part of NBC's Sunday Night Football and am so honored they asked me.  I have always loved football season, and it is so exciting to now become part of it every Sunday night!" Very exciting news for all of us Carrie fans and I'm excited to see what she does with the song.  Big congrats to Carrie!

Yes, I will admit it.  I am very biased on this vote.  LOL.  The vote for the cover person of the new EA Sports NHL 14 game has been underway.  Mike Fisher, of the Nashville Predators, is one of those in the running and I say vote Fisher!  LOL.  What ideas does Mike have to gain fan support?  Here is a video to show it.  Funny stuff!  Voice your support on Twitter with #NHL14Fisher #NHL14CoverVote and you can vote here at this link.
http://covervote.nhl.com/#/ballot

CMA Fest 2013 In Nashville

CMA Fest is starting to all line up for Nashville in June.  The CMA Fest website has been updating through the last couple of weeks with all of their lineups for the shows including the nightly concerts at LP Field and also for the Riverfront concerts.  LP Field will feature four nights of big shows including these lineups:
Thursday: Luke Bryan, Eric Church, Miranda Lambert, Tracy Lawrence, Taylor Swift, and Zac Brown Band.  The Oak Ridge Boys will be performing the National Anthem.
Friday: Hunter Hayes, Lady Antebellum, Little Big Town, Kip Moore, Randy Travis, and Blake Shelton.  Gloriana will open it up with the National Anthem on that evening.
Saturday: Dierks Bentley, Kelly Clarkson, Florida Georgia Line, The Oak Ridge Boys, and Keith Urban.  National Anthem performed by Brett Eldredge.
Sunday: Gary Allan, The Band Perry, Lee Greenwood, Jake Owen, Brad Paisley, and Carrie Underwood.  National Anthem by Lorrie Morgan and Pam Tillis.

That isn't all though as the Chevrolet Riverfront concerts have been announced and CMA Fest has posted a fun video that you can watch here announcing those names of who to look for.  



Several more stage lineups have yet to be announced but will be soon and you can keep checking CMAFest.com to learn on that.

The Grand Ole Opry will be in full swing that week as well.  The Opry will kick off that week on Tuesday, June 4th with Keith Urban, Rascal Flatts, Kellie Pickler, and Lennon and Maisy from the hit show Nashville.  The Opry will celebrate Carrie Underwood's five years of being an Opry member on Friday night, June 7th with her on the lineup along with Mel Tillis and Charley Pride.  Saturday Opry at the Ryman Auditorium matinee on June 8th with Scotty McCreery, Mark Wills, Oak Ridge Boys, and Joey & Rory on that lineup at 3pm.  On Saturday night, June 8th, the Opry will be back in the Opry house with Scotty McCreery, Mel Tillis, Charley Pride, Roy Clark, and Robin Meade on the lineup.  Keep in mind that names will keep getting added to these lineups especially still being a while off from CMA Fest. Check out Opry.com for more info.

There will be lots going on so be sure to keep your eyes on CMAFest.com to get more info on lineups and additional happenings.  There will be plenty more going on with fan club parties and other shows.  No shortage of music to check out.

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Two Story Road Ready To Chase Their Dreams - May 7, 2013


Keep an eye on the duo of Two Story Road.  Who is Two Story Road?  They are the married duo of Jamelle and Brandon Fraley.  Both are no strangers to the music industry as they have been in the mix of it for many years now.  Brandon has toured with Gretchen Wilson including playing piano and being a background vocalist for her.  Not long after that, he was the band leader for Danny Gokey.  Jamelle is a very familiar face and voice for Carrie Underwood fans as she has been a background vocalist for Carrie for many years.  Carrie fans bonded with her and became a fan of hers immediately.  With the many Carrie shows I have seen over the years, I have also gotten to hear Jamelle sing and she is a big time talent.  Big voice!

That is just what the two have done separately.  The even more exciting thing is to see what they are going to do together.  Now, they are chasing their dreams and going for it.  They have now formed Two Story Road and the result has been magic.  The two sound amazing together and big things are ahead for them.  On their website, which you can check out at twostoryroad.com, they have a bunch of songs on there that you can stream and listen to.  My goodness.  This is so good is all I could think as I was listening to it.  Just hooked on their music immediately.  Their voices blend together so good and especially on those ballads.  I love every one of those songs.

The duo is ready to start their StageIt concert series in May.  They will perform on every Tuesday of the month and will be donating a portion of the proceeds to different organizations.  How much are ticket prices?  Well, that is your decision.  You can donate what you wish and there is a great incentive on the highest donated amounts.  You'll get a "Dinner Date" with Two Story Road over Skype.  Four winners will be chosen over the four StageIt shows and those winners will be announced after the final show on May 28th.  You can check out Two Story Road's Twitter and Facebook pages for links on where to purchase tickets.  The duo will be busy over CMA Fest week including a fan party and also teaming up with the Carrie Underwood Fan Club Volunteering Event at Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee in Nashville on June 5th. 

Go and check out Two Story Road.  You will not be disappointed!  Keep an eye on this duo as they are going to be doing great things!

Check them out at twostoryroad.com, on Twitter @twostoryroad or look them up on Facebook.

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Controversy On The Big Brother Canada Finale

Tonight's Big Brother Canada finale had all kinds of twists to it and the biggest part was the ending.  Earlier this week, Talla was evicted from the Big Brother house after Emmett had to break the final two deal with her.  He actually had to break it with someone cause he had a final two deal with everyone.  LOL.  Such is the game of Big Brother.  That got us to tonight's two hour finale.  Emmett, Jillian, and Gary competed in part one of the HOH.  They had to balance a bucket of red fluid which symbolized blood on their hands from the Big Brother game while there was pictures of the evicted houseguests around them.  Jillian lost after the one hour mark.  Gary then lost at the four hour and five minute mark.  That gave Emmett the part one win.  With part one being endurance, part two was a physical timed competition with Gary and Jillian.  16:20 for Jillian.  Gary's was 12:38 and that included a penalty.  Gary won the second part.  We then saw the jury house where Andrew was talking about his demise with them trying to decide if Emmett or Jillian was his downfall.  Talla then joined the party with her telling how Emmett got her out.  Good discussion among the jury as they discussed who had played the better game of the final three.  That got us to part three with Emmett and Gary having to do a true/false challenge with each having to guess what was the strategy of the evicted houseguests when they entered the house.  Gary ended up winning a close battle and won the final HOH.  Emmett was evicted from the Big Brother house.  Wow, was all I could think.  That changed the whole finish of the game with Emmett going out and sealed a win for Gary was my first thought.  No way does Gary lose to Jillian with the feelings of that jury and Gary knew that.  The jury then got their first look at the last evictee.  Emmett looked furious there and he had to take abuse from Talla and Andrew with Andrew saying, well, you should have kept me for the final three.  Peter brought the heat immediately saying that he wanted her to explain why she deserved to be in the final two and not mention Emmett or competition wins. Jillian tried her best to answer the question.  Andrew questions Jillian on the final two deal asking if their deal was a lie?  Jillian said that she did not want to see him leave the house saying she had to vote the way she voted to stay in the house.  Emmett questioned Gary on how he could think he deserved the win more than Jillian especially over Emmett sitting there on jury.  With the final speeches, Jillian seemed very panicked with her speech not knowing how to convince this jury that she knew had ill feelings toward her.  Gary's was very much a motivational kind of speech.  So, then we get to the vote.  I had a feeling that it had potential to be close but some of this jury was hard to read. Would they vote game or vote personal?  That is always the question.  So, here were the results of the voting.  Voting for Gary were AJ, Alec, and Peter.  Voting for Jillian were Emmett, Talla, Andrew, and Topaz.  Topaz's name is in there.  When that vote was read, I immediately thought, wow, I need to stop trying to predict anything on this finale.  I did not see that happening at all.  Well, it turns out that she was as shocked as all of us.  Topaz roamed up there questioning the vote and she did in fact vote for Jillian but meant to vote for Gary.  Wow!!  I have often watched Big Brother and Survivor and thought to myself about how these people vote out people all season and suddenly have to vote FOR a winner.  I have thought about whether there would ever be a time when someone might get their head out of the game on changing the pattern and mess up.  We obviously don't know the story on Topaz yet on what happened but her vote was the swing vote.  Jillian wins on a 4-3 vote and controversy ensues.  Wow, everyone just seemed stunned with how to react to the controversy.  Outside of that vote, I have to say that the Talla vote surprised me a bit.  I thought she would vote for Gary.  That is it for the first season of Big Brother Canada.  Crazy finale.

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...