Showing posts with label Friday Night Lights. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Friday Night Lights. Show all posts

Monday, January 01, 2018

The 10 Most Anticipated Moments of 2018



Before I get into the best things to look forward to in the next twelve months, let me highlight a few things not on my list. First off, there is the World Cup which will not be featuring the United States of America on account they failed to qualify this year. Then there is Marvel’s New Warriors that was supposed to debut on Freeform this year except they passed on the show. We may still get to see the show this year as Marvel is still shopping it around. Um, now that Disney who own Marvel and pretty much owns Hulu, after purchasing Fox’s shares, totaling sixty percent, seems like a good spot to me. They already have Marvel’s Runaway. Really, I just want to see the AT&T Girl and Squirrel Girl sooner than later.

Another possible event this year I have zero interest in is the potential reboot of the XFL. Recently Vince McMahon sold off a bunch of WWE stock and is reportedly going to use that money to get his failed football league up and running again. Hard pass. I, like much of America, watched the first game, laughed, and stopped after that. Why someone would think it could work a decade and a half later has to be senile. Sure some people have lost interest in the NFL, and I am one of them but my disinterest is in not wanting to watch people get brain damage anymore, a presumably more violent XFL is not going to help that.

10. Wako (January 22 on the Paramount Channel) – Poor Tim Riggins, he was pegged to be the breakout star from Friday Night Lights but followed the show up with being the lead in two historic bombs (and that does not include X-Men Origins: Wolverine where he was not asked back to be Gambit in future films). This will be his first major lead role since. Notorious Nineties nostalgia was big last year with OJ, the Menendez Brothers and Tonya Harding getting stories on the big and small screens, and now Riggins is playing cult leader David Koresh. Then there is also Michael Shannon as one of the Feds and Melissa Benoist as one of the cultist (yes Zod and Supergirl on the same show). Now I am sure your first question is, what the fork is the Paramount Channel? Now it is not a new streaming service, it is not really even a new cable channel, it was Spike, and before that Spike TV, and before that The New TNN, and before that The National Network, and before that The Nashville Network, which I believe was the last time I watched the cannel back when it aired Dukes of Hazard reruns.

9. Game Night (February 23) – Really any cast that boasts Rachel McAdams, George Bluth, and a Friday Night Lights reunion of Coach Taylor and Landry Clarke is must see in my book. But the trailer makes the movie look forking hilarious. From the trailer, it looks like an action comedy where a group of couples are brought together to solve a murder mystery, except the host gets captured for real (maybe), but everyone still thinks it is part of the game. Awesome.


8. Ruins - First Aid Kit (January 19) – Folk rock may be my favorite genre of the decade and First Aid Kit has had a few songs that have made my year end lists, but It’s a Shame released last year is by far my favorite from the band so far. Hopefully the album lives up to the single.


7. Titans (TBD) – Okay, we need a new streaming service like we need a hole in the head, but it seems like every content maker is going to have their own standalone service rather than selling it elsewhere. It started last year with CBS All Access. Next DC is starting their own. And Disney has one slated for 2018. But the DC streaming service will at least get me to do a free trial just to check out Titans whom are apparently not going to be teenagers (at least not most of them). But most importantly, Lyla Garrity was cast in a supporting role with potential for her own spin off. No word on when this will air or when the DC streaming service even starts, but the only other show announced, a Young Justice reboot, does have a vague release date of "Fall 2018".

6. Golden Hour - Kacey Musgraves (TBD) / Untitled Vampire Weekend Album – Kacey Musgraves released one of my favorite debut albums of the decade and my favorite country album in over a decade. There was a sophomore slump for the follow up but I am still looking forward to it. In other Musgraves news, lead singer Ezra Koenig said the next Vampire Weekend album is inspired by the country singer which made me that much more interested in a new album by the alt-rock band.

5. Women’s Royal Rumble (January 28) – I watched wrestling as a kid and then again in college, but again fell off slightly after that. Do not ask me why, but I started listening to the Grantland wrestling podcast, probably because I listened to them all. And when David Shoemaker bolted with Bill Simmons to the Ringer, I ended listening to two wrestling podcast. I did start tangentially following sports entertainment because of it. Then last year Alexa Bliss and I became instantly interested in the Women’s Division as she quickly became the second best bad guy ever (after the late great Rowdy Roddy Piper).

Growing up, women were just arm candy for the men. They started wrestling again in the nineties, but it was not much better as they just hired fitness models and actual models; Trish Status actually was the head of a team called T and A. WWE tried to legitimate them with the Women’s Revaluation, even retiring the Diva’s Title in 2015, but it was just the same three factions of three wrestling the same matches over and over again. But with the brand split, the two main shows need more bodies and Bliss was one of the call up.

After Survivor Series, the WWE called up five more women (along with the returning Paige) and now we are getting an all-female Royal Rumble, which was always my favorite match since WWE started it back in 1988. It is vague on the rules. The men’s is a thirty men over the top rope competition where a new competitor comes down to the ring ever two(ish) minutes with the winner getting a title match at Wrestlemania. The title match is the only stipulation. Currently right now, there are only eleven women on both Raw and Smackdown (but that is including Lana who has not wrestled in months and Nikki Bella who has not been seen since Wrestlemania). And wo of them are currently champions who are typically in the Royal Rumble. But there are ten women currently in NXT which brings you to 29 non champions’ women employed by the WWE. Of course the Royal Rumble is known for its surprise returns, you have to imagine, there are plenty of retired wrestlers who would like to be in a Rumble, and a few shocking debuts (Ronda Rosey has been teasing her involvement in the WWE for years). I may actually have to take the WWE up on their free trial to watch history.

4. More Marvel Movies (Various dates) – We are getting our fair share of Marvel movies this year but what makes things more interesting is Disney recently announced they are buying 20th Century Fox movie studios which means Disney now owns all things Marvel including X-Men and Fantastic Four (well Sony still technically owns the rights to Spider-Man but he has shown up in a couple Marvel movies after the last film reboot failed). Could those universes collide this year? Doubtful they will be included in the already bloated Infinity War, but maybe they add something to the end credit scene to tease their inclusion in Phase Four (which comes after the next Avengers movie next year). Here is the rundown of all eight (!) movies based on Marvel properties: Black Panther (February, 16), The New Mutants (April 13), Avengers: Infinity War (May 4), Deadpool 2 (July 1), Ant-Man and the Wasp (July 6), Venom (October 5), X-Men: Dark Phoenix (November 2), Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (December 14; note this is an animated movie that does not seemed to be tied to any live action universe). Oh yeah, they also have new television show Cloak and Dagger coming to Freeform sometime this year too while Runaways has its season finale next week and, again, there is a chance New Warriors finds a home this year.

3. Rise (March 12 on NBC) – They had me at from the producer of Friday Night Lights and Parenthood, but throw in a producer of Hamilton, a live action Moana, and, welcome back Marley Shelton. It seemed like she was the next big thing at the turn of the century but other than Sin City, it is hard to think of anything she has done since Sugar and Spice. I think there was a one and done Lifetime show.


2. The XXIII Olympic Winter Games (February 9) – It is the end of an era as for the first time since 1988, an Olympic Games will not be hosted in prime time by Bob Costas (unless you count when he came down with pink eye at the last winter event). Instead Mike Tirico will oversee the proceedings after being ESPN’s/ABC’s lead host. Ironically also absent these games will be the last Winter host Russia who was ban after state sponsored doping scandal (Russians not tested positive can participate under an independent flag). Also not taking the trip to South Korea will be NHL players who will not participate for the first time since 1998. But hey, it will be the only time in four years we get to watch curling on television and Costas may be gone but I am sure Mary Carillo, who only seems to pop up during Olympics, will have a special interest story or two.

1. Black Manta (in Aquaman, December 21) – I audibly laughed when I heard DC was making a live action Aquaman movie. Aquaman is lame and always has been (with the lone exception of the over the top version from Batman: The Brave and the Bold). The green and orange color palette is hard to look at. But then I got actually kind of excited because that meant we might get a Black Manta, my personal favorite supervillain, sighting. As some who grew up with a heavy dose of the Super Friends, I gravitated to the villain in the Legion of Doom who would beat the crap out of Aquaman. The problem is that Ocean Master was first announced as the film’s antagonist. But it was later announced Black Manta would also be in the film.

Of course Black Manta could play a bigger role moving forward… if there is a DC movie universe. Aquaman could be a make or break point. All the movies sans Wonder Woman have been received as mediocre at best while Justice League bombed at the box office. Then nothing after Aquaman has even started filming (yes, there are eight Marvel movies this year but only one DC movie) even though thirteen other films have been formally announced, If Aquaman under performs, that could be the end of the DC Movie Universe (for now at least). But if they do move forward, my sources tell me that Justice League teased the Legion of Doom while a Flashpoint movie is also on the DC docket and Black Manta is featured in the comic version of that. Plus Flashpoint could serve as a hard reboot to get rid of everything that has not worked (Batfleck, sullen Superman, Leto's Joker). But again, if Aquaman fails, we may just get Wonder Woman throughout history films for the next decade until DC can figure things out.


Since tonight marks the return of television (seriously, too soon networks, can we have more than a week and a half break?), here is what I will be watching while trying to avoid going outside in the cold. Seriously, I saw a few negative lows this week.



Mondays
8:00 – Lucifer (January 1, FOX)
8:00 - Supergirl (January 15, The CW)
9:00 – The Gifted (January 1, FOX)
9:00 – The Alienist (January 22, TNT)
10:00 – Good Girls (February 26, NBC)

Tuesdays
8:00 – The Middle (January 2, ABC)
8:00 – Shadowhunters (April 3, Freeform)
9:00 – Black’ish (January 2, ABC)
9:00 – Rise (March 13, NBC; first week at 10:00)
9:30 – The Mayor (January 9, ABC)
10:00 – The Challenge: Vendettas (January 2, MTV)
10:00 – Kevin (Probably) Saves the World (January, 2)
10:30 – The Detour (January 23, TBS)

Wednesdays
The Path (January 17, Hulu)
Hard Sun (March 7, Hulu)
8:00 – The Librarians (Already Started, TNT)
8:00 - The X-Files (January 3, Fox)
8:00 – The Blacklist (January 3, NBC)
8:00 – The Goldbergs (January 3, ABC)
8:00 – Grown-ish (January 3, Freeform)
8:00 – Survivor (February 28, CBS)
8:00 – Modern Family (January 3)
10:00 – Waco (Paramount Network, January 24)

Thursdays

8:00 – Superstore (January 4, NBC)
8:00 – The Big Bang Theory (January 4, CBS)
8:30 – The Good Place (January 4, NBC)
9:00 – Nashville (January 4, CMT)
9:30 – Great News (January 4, NBC)

Fridays
8:00 – Blindspot (January 12, NBC)
8:00 – XXIII Olympics Winter Games Opening Ceremony (February 9, NBC)
8:00 - Once Upon a Time (Match 2, ABC)
9:00 – Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD (January 5, ABC)

Saturdays
9:00 – Eric Clapton: Life in 12 Bars (February 10, Showtime)

Sundays
The Looming Tower (February 18, Hulu)
8:00 – Jesus Christ Superstar Live! (April 1, NBC)
9:00 – Homeland (February 11, Showtime)
10:00 - The Chi (January 7, Showtime)

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

I Want My Television Trailers: 2/17/16



I usually save my television trailers for upfronts because, well, that is when the vast majority are released. But two just dropped last week that got me very excited (and two that raised my eyebrow) that they are definitely worth sharing.

The Path


The Path had me at "From the executive producer of Friday Night Lights and Parenthood." Heck, I even watched every episode of About a Boy despite some poor casting decisions. Clearly Jason Katims strong suit is drama and he is back at it with this show and much better casting. First off: welcome back Lyla Garrity, where have you been since Charlie's Angels got axed after three episodes? All I remember seeing her in was a horrible Hallmark Channel movie with Earl Hickey (which I highly recommend if you do enjoy extremely cheesy Hallmark Channel movies). Also in the cast is Will Graham straight from Hannibal except he looks like he may be the sociopath this time around. The trailer is very vague, so I could be wrong but he looks to be like some sort of cult leader. Then throw in Lily Kane's husband from Big Love (screw that other overrated show he was in) and the hot chick from Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Color me excited. And since Katims does like to recycle his actors maybe Lyla will not be the only familiar face, could Buddy Garrity and Landry Clarke be far behind? How about getting Haddie Braverman some work after sending her off the college. Just do not bring in anyone from About A Boy.

Roadies


I am an absolute Cameron Crowe supporter, I will defend Elizabethtown and even enjoyed Aloha despite its nonsensical plot (seriously, how can anyone trash a movie that features an Emma Stone / Bill Murray dance sequence). So naturally I got extremely excited when Showtime announced Cameron Crowe would be creating his first television show called Roadies. It does seem safe to assume that it will just be Almost Famous set in modern times. And it also has a pretty stellar cast: the better Karen Sisco, the better Wilson brother, the always reliable Luis Guzman. And sure Imogen Poots may be the worst name ever for a hot chick but name a female lead in a Cameron Crowe movie that you did not fall in love with? Seriously, he has been the only person to ever make Kate Hudson likeable. Imogen is already on that list based on the trailer alone, which of course, features a great Eddie Vedder song.

House of Lies


Andy Greenwald likes to joke that Showtime shows go on forever so it is sometimes easy to forget they even exist. Like, oh yeah, House of Lies is still on. But really the big takeaway from the trailer of its fifth (fifth!) season was the inclusion of Vinnie Van Lowe. So for those keeping track at home, on her new show, Veronica Mars has hooked up with Vinnie, Dick Casablancas, and gone on a date with Mercer the rapist. You know Sheriff Lamb is just sitting by his telephone right now. Maybe in the eighth season Don.

Roots


No big surprise that Roots is getting remade, it is getting to the point that is is surprising any big event older than a decade does not get remade or rebooted. Ironically right after watching the trailer for the History remake I was flipping around on television and landed on the CNN The Seventies miniseries right in the middle of the Roots segment where they were talking about how powerful that they cast all the evil while plantation owner with beloved television dad. Compare that with the new one where the only one who gets mentioned in the credits is Johathan Rhys Meyers (The Tudors) who always seems to play horrible people.


Saturday, February 15, 2014

Best of the Week:2/15/14



Quote of the Week: You’re Indian? The feather not the dot? (Frank Gallagher, Shameless)

Song of the Week: She Will Be Loved – Maroon 5 (House of Lies)

Big News of the Week: Let the Games Begin: Amidst threats of terrorism, gay propaganda, and shorts weather in Sochi, the Winter Olympics somehow kicked off without a hitch this week. Well unless you are Bob Costas’ eyeball. Or the dude who had to kick himself out of his bathroom. But still it is hard to get excited for this year’s games. Maybe it is the tape delay or many US disappointments, no Lindsey Vonn, Shawn White does not medal, Bode Miller chocks again. Sure the new slopestyle competitions were entertaining (the new team ice skating event, not so much). But things hopefully pick up today when the United States have their second hockey game against Russia (the last time we played theb home nation, it was one of the most competitive hockey game ever) and yet another one tomorrow. Then the tournament portion starts on Tuesday.

Preview Picture of the Week:

“Free Fall” Pretty Little Liars, Tuesday at 8:00 on ABC Family

Free Download of the Week: Bridges – Broods (iTunes)

New Album Release of the Week: Lions - William Fitzsimmons

New DVD Release of the Week: Game of Thrones: The Complete Third Season

Video of the Week: I have long called Parenthood the blue state version of Friday Night Lights. Jason Katims is the guy behind both and has even recruited a few Dillon alums to hang with the Bravermans (Lyla, Vince, Luke, and Jess). Except they all played new characters. Now for the first time, a former Coach Taylor player has found their way to California when Landry and his band Crucifictorious are recording at the Lunchenette with Amber after hours. Below is the first of four webisobes which has a few FNL references: “Lance,” Becky referred them (though it is not known how Amber knows her aside from her ex-fiancé’s doppelganger knocked Becky up), and even am East Dillon t-shirt makes an appearance. The next three episodes will hit the internets sometime next week and will feature another familiar face from Dillon.


Next Week Pick of the Week: Woman’s Gold Medal Curling Match, Thursday at 5:00 on CNBC: I was a bit disappointed with the curling coverage this year, maybe I am remembering it wrong, but I thought there was a dedicated curling channel last time. This time around there is a match at 3:00 AM, another one around mid day, and a final match at 5:00 PM (with bonus curling if time permits). Even more disappointing was the American play. The woman’s team gave up the first ever seven point end in Olympics history; I do not even remember any team scoring more than four in an end. Scoring seven can sometimes win you a match. The men have not fared much better (my theory is their uniforms are not cool enough). So I have switched my allegiance to Great Britain, at least on the sheet, for now mostly because of skip Eve Muirhead.


Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Feed Your iPod vol. LXXIV: If its the Beaches



The last album from The Avett Brothers may have just come out last November but the group is gearing up for another release when Magpie and the Dandelion dropping the Ides of October and will be their third straight produced by Rick Rubin. The quick turnaround is not surprising because the album was recorded during the same sessions as The Carpenter. The first time I ever heard The Avett Brothers was during the second season of Friday Night Lights when Landry finally chose Trya over the weird math chick, which, let’s face it, was not much of a chose at all, with If it’s The Beaches playing in the background. (Jason Katims, who was the showrunner for Friday Night Lights also really likes The Avett brothers too because he has already put two of their songs on his other show Parenthood, I wonder how long until they show up at the Lunchenette). To this day, If it’s the Beaches remains my favorite song by the group (with The Battle of Love and Hate a close second, but that is a story for another day) and if you just discover The Avett Brothers when they started working with Rick Rubin, you should go back and check out some of their more passionate earlier work. And if you have never heard of them up to now, you will want to send the next day on their Spotify page. You will not be disappointed.

If it’s the Beaches – The Avett Brothers


Tuesday, August 13, 2013

A Very Spoilery Review of the Red Dawn Remake



Red Dawn

I have a kinship towards the alumni of Dillon High School so I will support their movies no matter how crappy they are (*cough*The Roommate*cough*). So this past weekend I had a Tyra Collette double feature of G.I. Joe: Retaliation and Red Dawn. I did not have high hopes going into either of them but G.I. Joe was enjoyable, it had Trya, The Rock, Channing Tatum died early on and there was a really cool fight scene on the side of a mountain, so it was an enjoyable two hours for the most part. Sure the film suffered from Blockbuster fatigue where every summer movie for the last five years has to feature at least one city blow up.

Full Discourse Notice: I should not before going into deal about the updated version, I have never seen the 1984 original of Red Dawn and really all I know about the film is from what I learned from the I Love the 80’s segment which was basically telling a story about how much Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey hated each other on that set and how ironic they went on to star together in Dirty Dancing. So if you have not seen the Red Dawn reboot (or The Avengers or Terminator 2), stop reading now or you are about to be spoiled.

Red Dawn started out enjoyable enough, it had Trya, Tim Riggin’s father, Thor, and some cool fight scenes. Sure the plot was flimsy, the way the North Koreans were able to invade an American city with no U.S. military backlash was a little silly and I never figured out why some Americans were in detainment camps while others were able to come and go in the city as they pleased.

But the movie moved into guilty pleasure territory when Jeffery Dean Morgan showed up with his Navy Seal buddies showed up and added some much needed comic relief. They also set up the climactic battle which came to a satisfying finale when Thor killed the big bad Korean who killed his father at the end of the first act with his father’s gun. So all is well, the Wolverines make I back to the base with the piece of technology that will help rid America of the Koreans, Thor goes over to Tyra for a celebratory make out session… and gets shot in the face. What the frack!?!

Obviously the writers wanted to go for a shocking ending and killing off the main protagonist does the twist. But where the surprise twist at the end of, say, Memento, makes you instantly want to watch the movie again as soon as the credits roll, the shock ending only makes people irate. It is bad to kill off the main protagonist just minutes before the ending but you certainly do not kill him off in a surprise attack, at least give him an honorable death like, well, I was going to say Agent Coulson in The Avengers, but he may not have actually died. The only example that is coming off the top of my head was the time The Terminator melted himself down for the good of mankind at the end of T2.

The writers apparently did this so Thor’s douchebag little brother would have this grand transformation from selfish douchebag at the beginning of the film to the leader of the insurgency at the end. But you know what writers; I still did not care about the douchebag brother by the end. If you really needed the douchebag brother to have some grand transformation, how about just shooting Thor in the leg? Then the ending is douchebag brother giving his big speech, then walk off the stage where Thor is in a wheelchair and says to his douchebag brother, “Dad would be proud of you. I am proud of you.” End Movie.

But no, you have to go with the stupid ending. There is a reason no other film kills off the main protagonist a minute before the credits run, because the audience does not want to see it. Instead of the audience telling their friends, “You should go see Red Dawn because of the surprise ending,” they are going to tell them, “Avoid Red Dawn at all costs, it has one of the worst endings of all time.”

Red Dawn gets a Terror Alert Level: Guarded [BLUE] on my Terror Alert Scale.


Wednesday, December 28, 2011

The 100 Most Entertaining People of 2011


Emma Stone1. Emma Stone

2. Adele

3. Kyle Chandler

4. Margo Martindale

5. The Civil Wars

6. Ryan Gosling

7. Timothy Olyphant

8. Mike Judge

9. The Black Keys

Adele10. Dia Frampton

11. Michael B. Jordan

12. Kaitlyn Dever

13. Raphael Saadiq

14. Connie Britton

15. Norm Macdonald

16. Donald Glover

17. Jim Parsons

18. The Roots

19. Allison Brie

Kyle Chandler20. Emily Van Camp

21. Bryce Dallas Howard

22. Fleet Foxes

23. Kanye West

24. Michael Wilbon, Tony Kornheiser & Statboy

25. Jane Levy

26. Lana Parrilla

27. Ginnifer Goodwin

28. Jason Segal

29. Ariel Winter

Margo Martindale30. Stephen Colbert

31. Joel Kinnaman

32. Kat Dennings

33. Mireille Enos

34. Viola Davis

35. Taylor Swift

36. Rosa Salazar

37. Octavia Spencer

38. Melissa McCarthy

39. Mae Whitman

The Civil Wars40. Saoirse Ronan

41. Norman Reedus

42. Peter Krause

43. Rockmond Dunbar

44. Eric Stonestreet

45. Carly Chaikin

46. Kaley Cuoco

47. Bill Simmons

48. Jeremy Davies

49. Emmy Rossum

Ryan Gosling50. Erika Christensen

51. Jurnee Smollett

52. Michael Fassbender

53. Madison Burge

54. Sara Bareilles

55. Monica Potter

56. Walton Goggins

57. Eliza Coupe

58. Jason Gann

59. Brad Leland

Timothy Olyphant60. Cee Lo Green

61. Ashley Benson

62. Madeleine Stowe

63. R.E.M.

64. Jesse Tyler Ferguson

65. Alexandra Chando

66. Ben Folds

67. Hugo Weaving

68. Ed O'Neill

69. Adam Baldwin

70. Katie LeClerc

71. Eddie Trunk

72. Foster the People

73. Seth Rogen

74. James McAvoy

75. Dartmouth Aires

76. Robert Carlyle

77. Nathan Fillion

78. Beyoncé

79. Lykke Li

The Black Keys80. Silas Weir Mitchell

81. Ryan Adams

82. Sofia Vergara

83. Neil Patrick Harris

84. Beastie Boys

85. Vanessa Bayer

86. Jessica Lea Mayfield

87. Stana Katic

88. Chris Evans

89. Reg E. Cathey

Dia Frampton90. John Cochran

91. Simon Pegg

92. Kristen Wiig

93. Phillip Sheppard

94. Aldis Hodge

95. Sarah Ramos

96. Ellie Kemper

97. Liam Neeson

98. Benjamin "Coach" Wade

99. Afro Blue

100. Timothy Hutton