Showing posts with label Pretty Little Liars. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pretty Little Liars. Show all posts

Saturday, February 13, 2016

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 2/13/16



Shameless: So no one is going to think of the most obvious solution to the Gallagher's living situation: the dead Greek's house? As soon as Kev mentioned he was dead, that was my first thought. I guess it is better for them to be scattered for a little bit before realizing they need each other again. We did get two surprised returns with Lip's ex-girlfriend outting his relationship and Fiona's ex cop boyfriend outting himself. Did not see that coming. I wonder if it will turn out he is just a ringer for the gay cop team.

Billions: I have been trying to follow what has been going on with Wall Street since they destroyed out economy about seven years ago so I have hear the term "short" multiple times yet I still have no idea what it means. And now I have to figure out what a "short squeeze" is too? Though I may not know what is going on with the business side of things, but I do know music and it is kind of laughable to think Metallica who actually have a folk singer covering Ratt as an opening act. Did the guys in the band not get a full script or just got paid enough not to care?

Supergirl: The writers really need to figure out more reasons to have Martian Manhunter to stand in for Kara, that was the best part especially butting heads with Cat. Though it was weird that the actress was much better at being Martian Manhunter than she was being content Kyrptonian in the fever dream. We did get a shocking ending with Aunt Austra getting killed so I guess Non was the big bad all along (well with Maxwell Lord also an antagonist; gotta love his list of demands in exchange for helping with the virtual reality simulator). It is weird that whenever Supergirl gets preempted, it never gets a "next time on" promo even when it is just off for a week.
You can download Supergirl on iTunes.

Lucifer: Holy Jodi Lynn O'Keefe sighting! Though big in the nineties, the new century has not been kind to three named hot chicks. But really Jodi as Ray Donovan was kind of laughable.
You can download Lucifer on iTunes.

Pretty Little Liars: Um, what is up with all those fake arms? Really no one is going to talk about, just stuff it back under the bed like someone does not have a fake hand under their bed? And how Lostian to end the episode on an deep tunnel. At least we do not have to wait the summer to find out what is down their, plus it does seem like a good guess that CeCe's Radley lair is down there.
You can download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.

Marvel's Agent Carter: Oh Vinnie Van Lowe, when did you get that temper. Hopefully Peggy runs into him later in the season. Or maybe Rose, who knew she had that in her? And though you knewshe was going to do it more than once, Peggy's using the mind eraser was just comedy gold. No one does slapstick comedy these days that this show.
You can download Marvel's Agent Carter on iTunes.

The Challenge: Battle of the Bloodlines: Ugg, a two parter-finale? I am ready for this season to be over. But I had to laugh at Jenna saying so many time how she was shocked two females were leading. The female only teams dominated the first carry heavy bags challenge. Of course they would be leading as long as they did not especially mess up on the "parlor games" as Cara Maria put them. Actually they did mess up being the only team to fall off the tires and still won. I do wonder if they had more beer standing by because they almost ran out of the ones om the bar. I think I saw three left while the last team was chugging their last beer. And as luck would have it, just as when The Challenge is ending, we also get the start of Survivor next week. They really inadvertently timed that right because The Challenge started just as Survivor ended last year. Hopefully they sync this up ever year.
You can download The Challenge: Battle of the Bloodlines on iTunes.

The Blacklist: The DMV continues to be the best part of the show, the random Leslie Jones cameo was just great. I was about to suggest just adding the DMV guy to the cast and find a way to get Red into the waiting room every week but what they should really do is just give the DMV guy his own spin-off sitcom. Certainly that would be funnier than any comedy currently on NBC or any NBC comedy since the death of must see TV.
You can download The Blacklist on iTunes.

Sunday, February 07, 2016

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 2/7/16


Grease Live: My biggest takeaway from Fox's first try at live musicals is that NBC really needs to step their game up. I have been advocating NBC do it since their first one and the live audience really livened things up (granted on the flip side, it was quite glaring when you could not hear anyone laugh at most of Ana Gasteyer's joke even if her assistant was one of the standouts). And with the live audience, the cast gets a much deserved curtain call, even if there was not an actual curtain. It is always weird when the NBC shows just end, no applause, no curtain call, not even really any credits either. Sure there were some low points, seriously, no one in America cares about Jessie J (though the set up of the opening was great, especially the Motownphilly interlude with Boyz II Men and, um... Ana Gasteyer), Julianna Hough can sing about as well as Carrie Underwood can act, and the sound when out while Joe Jonas was singing (okay, that may have been for the best). Oh yeah, and the needlessly censored Grease Lightning. How can you get away with "pussy wagon" in a seventies PG movie but not on a live television event in 2016?

The big breakout star of the show was whoever played Patty Simcox, get that girl on a crappy NBC sitcom this fall (Does the already picked up Sam Malone, Veronica Mars show need an annoying assistant?). She and Lindsay from You're the Worst (the second most random casting after the dude from Treme as the coach) seemed like the only ones who ever ever been in a stage production before and brought the right amount of energy to their roles. Those two clearly were having fun; something missing from NBC's production: fun. It will be interesting to see what NBC this fall in responce, if anything. They have already announced Hairspray as their next musical (Patty Simcox for Amber Von Tussle); which come to think about it, very similar to Grease, set in the fifties, two worlds colliding, there is a televised school dance; so do they rip off Fox and bring in a live audience and a more sprawling set or do it like their previous events?
You can download Grease Live! (Music From The Television Event) on iTunes or pre-order the DVD below.


Shameless: Just when I thought Frank pimping his pregnant teenage daughter do a cancer stricken old man with a voice box would be the most shameless moment possibly of the season, if not just this episode, a wheelchair bound dude sets himself on fire while trying to hit Kev with a Molotov cocktail. I am guessing he probably is not dead just yet.

Billions: So Axe goes after Chuck's father's mistress to get to him. Has he yet to figure out that the guy's wife works for him?

Galavant: They actually gave us an ending this season (well, as long as you do not care about Madelana and her quest for ultimate evil). Of course that is not that the show is not holding out hope for a third season as Weird Al suggests even on a crappy cable channel. Maybe it was not the best idea to insult possible homes when you are on a very thin bubble. I would not mind if someone would be stupid enough to give this show another season.
You can download Galavant on iTunes.

Mercy Street: And this is why I usually do not watch medical shows, I have no desire to watch Ted Mosby chop some dude's leg off in graphic fashion, I just ended up scrolling through Anna Kendrick's delayed west coast reactions to Grease Live during those scenes. But what I do have a desire to watch is watching Ramona Flowers lay the smack down on Ted Mosby.
You can download Mercy Street on iTunes.

Supergirl: I like Supergirl and all but two Supergirl was really kind of annoying. And is Supergirl not powered by the sun in this universe? Because if Bizarro gains more power from kryptonite then shouldn't the sun weaken her? Oh well, at least they got rid of Cat's uber boring son.
You can download Supergirl on iTunes.

X-Files: During the first two episodes I came to the realization that I no longer want to believe which really hampered my enjoyment of the reboot. But you do know one thing I do want to do: laugh, and I did plenty of that in the third episode with the were-lizard. If they decide to do more episode, maybe they should do more funny episodes and less mythology ones.
You can download The X-Files on iTunes.

Lucifer: I did not think it would but I guess the show will not tie into the Constantine show from last season since Jeremy Davies played a part as one of the bigger secondary on that show. At least I am assuming he did not scrap his job as a college professor to take pictures of drunken celebrities. Shame. I think the shows would be better if they actually combined the two and get rid of the black angels that stop time.
You can download Lucifer on iTunes.

Pretty Little Liars: So they really are bringing back A (or an A). Meh. Watch it turn out to be a not so dead CECe or maybe a long forgotten twin.
You can download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.

Marvel's Agent Carter: Young Peggy! I thought young Whitney Frost would be the more interesting segments because villain origin stories are usually more interesting but her road from wanna be scientist to actress was a bit of a bore. While during Peggy' engagement party I thought, where is her brother now, bring that guy around more, only to learn why we have not seen him before in the next flashback. Well done. Also well done were all the comedic moments, the best of which was Jarvis getting tranqued.
You can download Marvel's Agent Carter on iTunes.

The Challenge: Bloodlines: This is kind of a sad final three, and it would have been even more sad had Aneesa actually one the final Pit. What a meh season which started off so great. Survivor cannot return soon enough.
You can download The Challenge: Battle of the Bloodlines on iTunes.

The Blacklist: My biggest, and really only takeaway from the episode was Monk taking a bath with his dogs. Mine would have no part in that and would quickly jump off that platform.
You can download The Blacklist on iTunes.


Saturday, January 23, 2016

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 1/23/16



Galavant: I am no medical expert, but a sword through the heart really is not a good thing. I am not sure even any of Ricky Gervas's "medicine" can help him after that. But hey, the giants vs. dwarfs song may be the best on the show yet.
You can download Galavant on iTunes.

Mercy Street: Holy Ted Mosby sighting! I fully expected to never see him again unles someone rebooted The Surreal Life in ten to twenty years. In other weird casting choices, Bill Lumbergh in period garb, alrighty; and casting Ramona Flowers as some on described as indistinguishably plain. Mmmmm, not exactly how I would describe her.
You can download Mercy Street on iTunes.

Supergirl: The character has been so inconsequential it did not really don on me until this week that Wynn shared the same name as the Toyman. Which begs the question, why is the Toyman one of the leads on this show? Of all the great characters in the DC Universe, the Toyman? Are the owners of the characters so stingy that that is one of the few characters they would allow them to use since the property is so stretched between the movie universe and four other television shows and they do not want characters to overlap unless there is a forty year difference between them? Wynn has been pretty worthless up to this point and after this week you have to wonder if he is going to turn heel soon after one of the harshest relegation to the friend zone I have ever seen. He may rather be in the Phantom Zone after that. You really cannot go back to business as usual after that. If he does turn into his father, I just hope he does not turn into this show's Ward who the writer cannot bring themselves to write off the show.
You can download Supergirl on iTunes.

War and Peace: I do not need them to sound like Boris and Natasha, but those nondescript accents everyone is using are a bit distracting. There was actually a point when I started to think the show was taking place during the Civil War before realizing, oh yeah, this is supposedly taking place in Russia even though they sound like they are from either New or old York.
You can download War and Peace on iTunes.

Pretty Little Liars: I wondered why Aria went to Fitz and told him to not be her alibi as to where she was when CeCe was killed. It turn out she was protecting him. But wouldn't the smarter play be to say they were with each other until after 4:00 instead of saying we had no alibi. And deleting the security footage will likely come back to haunt them, nothing more suspicious than missing security footage right at the time of a murder.
You can download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes

Marvel's Agent Carter: What a great start of the episode with Peggy popping out of the bank vault. But it is weird that the pin Dotty wanted to steal looks very much like the Avengers logo. And I know that the character's in the show dodo not know they are in a comic book show, but c'mon, when someone gets frozen in ice during a heat wave, how is someone named "Miss Frost" not on the top of your suspect list? But still, the show is still great with so many great moment, my favorite probably being the clown gag.
You can download Marvel's Agent Carter on iTunes.

The Challenge: Battle of the Bloodlines: It is quite amazing that John's entire alliance get eliminated and yet he still finds a way to keep him and his cousin Vinny out of the pit. I was especially disappointed because this was the pit where CT was brought in as a hired gun and I was hoping for a repeat of the greatest moment in Challenge history where CT wore Johnny as a backpack, and instead of knocking over the trashcan, turned around and body slammed Johnny into it for good measure. But alas, this did not turn out to be a physical challenge, just a silly pole pulling challenge. As intimidating as CT is, I do think Abram's cousin got the shot straw having to go against Zach who even makes CT look mortal standing next to each other.
You can downloadThe Challenge: Battle of the Bloodlines on iTunes.

The Blacklist: So Lizzy is no longer allowed in the field? That cannot possibly last long. But mostly a meh episode because it seemed pretty obviously early on faux Red was hired by the real one.
You can download The Blacklist on iTunes.

Saturday, January 16, 2016

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 1/16/16




Pretty Little Liars: Some deep allusions to the series finale in those last scene at the funeral, even with the chick in the bunker filling in for Jenna, but with two big differences. First off, unlike the first funeral where I never at any point until I was proven right, did I think Allison was dead. With an open casket, with way too much cleavage for a dead girl, it is pretty clear CeCe did not fake her death. Second, I waited and waited, but no text to the Liars after the funeral. So is there not going to be another A this season? They di do a close up on a security camera which made me believe some omnipresent figure was looking on earlier in the episode. So are they just going to do a simple murder mystery this time around, no unseen stalker? If so, let me guess the killer is Jason. I just hope we do not have to wait five seasons to find it out. And what about the scene from the last finale with the Liars rushing to Allison's classroom telling her, "he's" here? Are we going to have to wait all season to get back to that scene? And I have to say, even though she is now twenty-three(ish) and he is twenty-eight(ish), Aria and Ezra is still creepy.
You can download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.

Shadowhunters: I do not not know why anyone would make a television show after a horrible failed movie (granted I guessed it worker for Buffy the Vampire Slayer) yet for some reason, I always find myself watching every horrible show that comes after Pretty Little Liars. Buffy this show is not, it is basically the movie with worse actors and a much smaller budget. Yet I am somehow memorized by the lead's unnaturally orange hair. I just wonder if that is the actor's choice or that is what the character calls for (the mother did point it out in the premiere but Phil Collins daughter went with her natural hair color in the movie). I guess the good thing is these post Pretty Little Liars shows do not last very long. Until then, I can get a good laugh everytime one of them breaks out the faux lightsaber. Since Disney owns both Freeform (seriously, if you are going to change your name, how about picking something shorter and to the point, not extremely silly) and Star Wars, they really cannot sue themselves for content infringement.
You can download Shadowhunters on iTunes.

The Challenge: Battle of the Bloodlines: And her in-lies the fatal flaw of this season'as format, co-ed bloodlines have absolutely no incentive to try hard and actually can benefit from losing if it is the opposite gender day to go into The Dome. Granted it took this long for KellyAnne's cousin to figure this out and still failed at throwing the challenge.
You can download The Challenge: Battle of the Bloodlines on iTunes.

The Blacklist: So the Cabal is just going to let Red and Lizzie just get away with everything after they worked so hard to set them up? Mmmm. This really cannot be the end of this and if I were Lizzie I would not feel all that safe just because I signed a deal.
You can download The Blacklist on iTunes.

Saturday, August 15, 2015

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 8/15/15

Hannibal: More filler flashbacks this week but I did not even realized that was the patient Hannibal got Bedilia got to kill until she reached down Sylar's throat.
You can download Hannibal on iTunes.

Ray Donovan: Oh Ray, getting in the middle of this family's civil war is going to be a stupid idea. Of course if he and his family did not do stupid things, there probably would not be a show, or at the very least a much more boring one.

Masters of Sex: So Tessa brings in grandma to have her catch Virginia's affair with Bill (him falling out of the window was a great scene) only for grandma o try to get Ginnie to get Bill to leave his wife. Poor Tessa, nothing is going to work out for that girl. Also for the record, I have no problem with what Bill did to the school bully.

The Strain: When the show premiered it seemed like the only thing anyone wanted to talk about was Corey Stoll's really bad anime type wig covering his usually bald dome. It overtook the conversation that the creator had to come out and say that the wig was a plan and Corey's character would lose his hair at some point. That point came this week and how disappointing that instead of being so scared his follicles fell out, he voluntarily shaved his head so he could leave the city despite being wanted by Homeland Security. And then he still got recognized (seriously Eph, but a newspaper to hide behind like every other person ever who tried to go unrecognized on a train). At least Eph got his revenge by throwing the guy from the train. But then at the end we were introduced to a new character, someone who looks like the ninja vampires that the old dude outsmarted a couple weeks ago but with what looked to be a bone handle strapped to his back.
You can download The Strain on iTunes.

Falling Skies: So what is up with the lady's bleeding neck? It has to be some new Espheni mind control bug right? The cut to the Overlord after her decree certainly made it seem that way.
You can download Falling Skies on iTunes.

Pretty Little Liars: Wait, what? Ever since we learned A was Charles, Aly's older brother, I have come up some out there theories, like her was a not so dead Wilden (most of the characters old enough to be Charles were dead), Jason with a split personality, last week I even predicted (okay, mostly hoped) for a triumphant return of Hermie the Hermaphrodite. Apparently my multisex A theory was not that far off because Cee-Cee (nee Charles) was the person tormenting them all along (or at least since Mona gave up the gig). Yes the same Cee-Cee who dated Jason... her half-brother. What the frack? I am sure anyone who rewatches the series will find plenty of plot holes with this revelation. And if Cee-Cee did not kill her mother, than who did? But what an anticlimactic finish with Cee-Cee running to the roof only to jump back down. But hey, now we get a five year jump with (presumably) a new A to torment the Liars and (presumably) married Allison who is now a teacher. Maybe a bigger question than who killed her mother is who would hire Allison to teach children? I just hope she is also the soccer coach.
You can download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.

Mr. Robot: Speaking of mind blowing episodes, what the frack happened on this show this week? When Dalia Royce was kept asking Elliot who she was I was convince he was going to admit she was just a figment of his imagination (I have had a working theory fsociety was all in his head). But no, Dalia Royce is Elliot's sister and Mr. Robot is his father... what? I was wondering when Dalia Royce was in a ballet class (which is probably the greatest Suburgatory episode that never aired) with faux-Lily Kane (Elliot's childhood friends looks just like her right?) when did they became friends? (I thought there was an episode where they went out and got drunk together but later remembered that was Shayla, not Dalia Royce). And so I am again completely unclear what is real and what is not.
You can download Mr. Robot on iTunes.

Saturday, August 01, 2015

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 8/1/15



Hannibal: Well that was an odd way to start off a new episode, dialogue free with a character we have never seen before. Then we get to learn what has happened since Hannibal turned himself in three years ago, he has pleaded guilty but is eclipsed by a new serial killer. Will now has a wife and a teenage son and of course is talked into working on the new case, the first time since Lecter was locked away. Really other than Hannibal, I do not think he has worked on a case since season one (except I guess when he was wheeled in to consult on cases while in the prison for the criminally insane). It is nice to see him back at work.
You can download Hannibal on iTunes.

Masters of Sex: I figured they were not going to go with Hef, but was still a bit disappointed that it did not go that way. It is amazing to think that The Playboy Club failed spectacularly, but if my memory serves me correctly, that did not have much, if any Hef on that show either. But poor Tessa, having an absentee mother who is best known for writing a sex book is going to be rough.

The Strain: The kid was annoyingly precocious last season in a oh yeah Eph has a kid kind of way whenever he popped up on screen, but not with the recast, the kid is just downright extremely annoying in a I really hope his mom turns him so we do not have to listen to him anymore kind of way. But the UV security system was pretty cool, I did not see the ninja vampires going out like that.
You can download The Strain on iTunes.

Falling Skies: By far the best part of the episode was whoever named their bowling alley Lois Lanes. Awesome.
You can download Falling Skies on iTunes.

Pretty Little Liars: Wait, Red Hood is back? I thought we already learned that CeCe was Red Hood. Or is this an A situation where we learn who it is only for the writers to go, nope, that was not A because we need to stretch the story out another couple seasons so here is another A to torment the girls? Meh. It may be time to end the show.At least Hannah and Spencer commented on how much the scholarship guy looked like Jason because I actually thought that was Jason when he walked into the room for a couple seconds. But alas, I fear the cop will no longer what Allison to coach church girls soccer after she stole his pass key, that was not very Christian of her.
You can download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.

Tyrant: It only took half a season but finally someone recognized Barry even with the beard. You would think someone in the second biggest city would recognize him considering we saw his face plastered all over the place in the season premier. Of course the one person who recognized him ended up dying, and really for no good reason either. But since her father left the show, there was no reason to keep her around either even though that was one of the more interesting relationship in the first season. But now that his son is on the way to the city, I wonder how long it will take for Barry to run into him (but seriously, who gets ten million dollars and then decides to drive to a war zone, take the money and run young gay dude).
You can download Tyrant on iTunes.

Mr. Robot: I spent the first couple episodes assuming Christian Slater was a figment of Elliot's imagination only to have some very distinctive interactions with many other characters the past two week. But this week he is back to just randomly showing up out of nowhere (on the steps of Elliot's apartment because Dalia Royce told him about it? Alrighty). But this episode felt like the show's first misstep going back to the drug dealer who I am still not entirely sure how he figured out Elliot was behind his incarceration. It just felt like a very long excuse to put Shala's death on Elliot's conscience.
You can download Mr. Robot on iTunes.

SexAndDrugsAndRockAndRoll: I usually talk about how the behind the scenes aspects of Aquarius are more interesting than what actually happens on the screen and that may be the same for the new Denis Leary Show (I probably will not be writing it by name because of the overabundance of ampersands in the title and for some reason Blogger does not like displaying them properly). I went to watch the second episode of the show On Demand this weekend and found it interesting that there were four different versions of the episode. Most episodes typically have two version in my On Demand folders, SD and HD (TNT is the only channel I watch regularly that annoyingly does not offer their shows in HD On Demand) but the new FX show also had SD and HD version for the broadcast version and an uncensored version. Then again yesterday there were all explicit versions. I did not noticed anything naughtier than I am used to seeing on FX except Joan Jett dropping an F-bomb in the two episodes (other FX shows have used plenty of non-F expatiates and I have seen Jax Teller's naked backside many more times than I ever wanted too). Maybe this may be where television is headed. I know Aquarius has an uncensored version but was used for the On Demand release (at least the version I have watched. Mr. Robot had some F-bombs in this week's episode that were noticeably edited out (I think Mad Men pioneered the using F-Bombs that are edited out unless you count nineties rap videos). If only the actual show was as interesting as it is being distributed.
You can download Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll on iTunes.

Twinning: I found the premiere cheesy fun but nowhere near as good as other competition shows that it rips off. Then something caught my eye this week in that I kind of recognized a pair of the twins Roxanne and Nicole. I could not find confirmation anywhere on the internet that they are the same set, but the duo do share the same names are the twin who appeared in the seminal bad movie The Real Cancun a decade ago so I am just going to ahead and assume they are the same twins. (Fun fact: current VH1 star of Hindsight Laura Ramsey also got her start on the first, and probably only, so called reality movie). As for the actual episode, this week's challenge was slightly better but that wall seriously limits having any good challenges. I wonder at what point, if ever, do the change the game and merge the houses and take down the wall. And the Twin Off continues to be stupid. You can grab two random friends from any high school in the nation that could do just as well if not better at these questions.
You can download Twinning on iTunes.

Saturday, July 25, 2015

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 7/25/15



Hannibal: There has been some extremely disturbing scenes over the two and half seasons, but delivering a still born Verger baby from a dead pig takes the case even when it was being sliced with a scene with a dude's face being removed.
You can download Hannibal on iTunes.

Aquarius: Finally they gave the chick with the historically bad accent her own episode. And what a tour de force performance. Give her her own show.
You can download Aquarius on iTunes.

The Strain: I did not catch on the two old dudes knew each other until they came face to face in current times (it probably does not help that Dr. Goodweather is the only name I remember besides The Master). But still those blind vampire kids are really going to creep me out all season.
You can download The Strain on iTunes.

Falling Skies: Yep, of course Pope was not happy that Tom would not save his his girlfriends but I did not see him going all saved head vengeful. Though I doubt anything bad will end up happening to Hal.
You can download Falling Skies on iTunes.

Pretty Little Liars: How disappointing we did not get to see Hannah go amateur doctor and remove everybody's chip. Almost as disappointing that Allison did not coach any youth soccer this week.T least they did not drag out the Charles may or may not be dead and confirmed that he is still alive this week. And only two episodes until we get to see him. Um, yeah. So that will be the fifth A reveal on this show? I just if it will someone we have already met or will it just the actor playing Jason pulling double duties.
You can download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.

Tyrant: Poor Ahmed, he cut his hair to be taken more seriously only to be passed over for the new general position for the brother he first meets at the announcement ceremony. Maybe it is time to change that ring tone too Ahmed.
You can download Tyrant on iTunes.

Mr. Robot: Wait, so did the drug dealer kidnap Eliot's neighbor while he was still in prison? Does he know Eliot was involved in his incarceration?
You can download Mr. Robot on iTunes

Saturday, July 18, 2015

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 7/18/15


The Strain: The first season it seemed like the show really had a hard time finding the right balence and tone. On one hand the vampire were the creepiest creatures on television with their tongue claw things. On the other, their Master looked like a Muppet. It is hard to figure if the show is actually getting on the right track or not but there it looks to be. It looks like we will be getting a new Master, at least that is what I took out of the scene with vampire mom getting her voice back though it will is yet to be seen if she will be going back to her old form or will be fitted with a Muppets mask of her own (the former Master in the flashback look more like the lesser vampires on the show so maybe she will be fitted with a latex suit). We also learned more backstory and it turns out the Master went rouge from his kind of which there are seven of (no word on what is up with the three other yet) which is kind of interesting. The least interesting part continues to be the science behind the show with them trying to "cure" vampireism..
You can download The Strain on iTunes.

Falling Skies: So Anthony's girlfriend dies in the premiere and this week Pope's lady friend gets stuck in some sort of alien quicksand... it looks like no one is going to get a happy ending in the final season. Well except the Mason family, they always get their ways.
You can download Falling Skies on iTunes.

Murder in the First: Wait, so you are not allowed to plead guilty without being considered insane despite multiple eye witnesses and overwhelming physical evidence? Seemed like an open and shut case. Take the win and move on guys.
You can download Murder in the First on iTunes.

Pretty Little Liars: Oh that lab scene was glorious, Hannah learning she was chipped, they stupidly freeing the animals including a wild raccoon that she has to give her dinner to appease. And of course Mona showing up to almost makes sense. It almost made me forget the Allison coaching youth soccer story line. Almost.
You can download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.

Tyrant: It only took five episode but Barry has finally decided to fight for his country. Let the season finally begin.
You can download Tyrant on iTunes.

Mr. Robot: Finally an episode featuring Dalia Royce in more than two scenes. And she was a nice diversion to the extremely trippy Elliot story line. From the start I have assumed Christian Slater was a figment of his imagination but he did talk to a couple other characters this week and gave money to the drug dealer so maybe I am wrong.
You can download Mr. Robot on iTunes.

Under the Dome: I finally caught up with the early season and though the second season was completely dreadful I actually like the season premiere with the alert=native reality. But since that ended this invasion of the body snatcher lite story line is almost as dreadful as last season.
You can stream current episodes of Under The Dome for free with Amazon Prime.


Aquarius: Once again the most interesting aspect of the show did not happen on the show this week because there was no way it could because the show has not aired this week yet. That is because NBC announced this week that it is getting moved to Saturdays (along with Hannibal) starting tonight. This has to be the first time a show that has been renewed but banished to the death slot less than a month later.
You can download the entire seaaon of Aquarius on iTunes if you do not want to watch television on Saturdays.

Sunday, July 05, 2015

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 7/5/15



Penny Dreadful: Last week I was beginning to think that Sembene was special after he was able to shake Sir Malcolm from his enchantment. Well it turns out the marks on his face was because he was a slave trader and he is, as he claims, just a man. Of course if he is still around next week after surviving a wolf attack he is more than just a man. But the show did set up what looks to be a tense finale. Malcolm and Dr. Frankenstein are locked up in a room of illusion. Vanessa was introduced to a creepy doll version of herself (or I assume even though it looks less like her than the bust of Lionel Richie made by a blind woman looked like him). Then you have to wonder if Lyle is still playing both sides because he is safest of them all right now.
You can download Penny Dreadful on iTunes.

The Last Ship: The two hour premiere was pretty intense, defeating the evil dictator o Utopia. But is that going to get the whole show now that they have the cure: go into a new area, overthrow a dictator, pass out the cure? Hopefully they find something more interesting to do this season because that could get old soon. This week's searching for surviving family members was kind of boring.
You can download The Last Ship on iTunes.

American Odyssey: Oh, how did the writers think they were actually going to get a second season? There really was no need for a cliffhanger here. It really put a damper on a stupid fun season which is becoming a NBC post football Sundays tradition. But at least the show went out stupid with Aslam just running the streets of Spain looking for Odell, the weird thing in the cemetery, plus there should have been no reason for a cliffhanger because shouldn't Peter's flashdrive backed up everything Odell said? Oh well. It will not put a damper on whatever cheap Homeland ripoff NBC puts in this slot next spring.
You can download American Odyssey on iTunes.

Pretty Little Liars: Can we just please get to the point where Allison starts coaching the church's soccer team please. Forget the summer of answers, all I want this season is her coaching. For some reason we will have to wait at least two weeks or that because the show is randomly off next week. In non soccer news, let me go ahead and predict the little dancing girl is actually the younger version of Spencer.

Tyrant: So is Barry just going to spend the whole season in a desert town? Even in the middle of nowhere and with a beard, it is kind of hard to believe no one noticed the brother of the president.
You can download Tyrant on iTunes.

Mr. Robot: The show does paranoia better than I can remember being depicted on screen before. It crossed my mind last week but I am becoming more convinced that Christian Slater is just a figment of Elliot's paranoia, basically the person he want, or thinks he should be. And maybe all the hackers are parts of him. But as good the first two episodes have been, I am going to need more Dalia Royce than just one scene going forward.
You can download Mr. Robot on iTunes.

Hannibal: If Danny DeVito's momma cannot survive being thrown from a train it is hard to believe Will Graham can. And I thought European countries had bullet trains now. Oh well. At least Jack got some form of revenge on Hannibal as we know he will not be able to capture him (not that Jack looked like he had any intention of capturing). I am just hoping Hannibal's capture happens soon so they can move on to the next capture because I am not sure if I want to sit through a whole season of near captures.
You can download Hannibal on iTunes.

Saturday, June 27, 2015

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 6/27/15


Orphan Black: Season three got off to a rough start with muddling mythology and a new clone that was not very interesting. Things did start picking up around the time the killed off most of the dude clones and the female ones started interacting more again. We did get a mostly satisfying season finale even if they reintroduced the nevolutionist (those are the guys with the tails from the first season right) who I did not really care for. I am surprised that Cosima's new girlfriend did not turn out to be someone involved, those she is still on the top of my list of who killed Delphine.
You can download Orphan Black on iTunes.

Penny Dreadful: Last week's episode was kind of meh, but things certainly picked up this week with the best of the season, maybe series. We learned Lily is playing dumb and apparently Dr. Frankenstein implanted the brain of some evil megalomaniac. We finally got to see what Dorian Grey was hiding (even if everyone already knew what he was looking at). We also got the full text and that Lucifer needs Vanessa to get back into heaven and the vampire monster that was the big bad of last season was his brother that was cast out of heaven at the same time. We also may have learned what is up with Sembene who was able to break the witch's curse (unless I am reading that scene wrong but dude has to have some power right?). Should make for an interesting final two episodes.
You can download Penny Dreadful on iTunes.

American Odyssey: Oh yeah, #OdellLives was a thing before everyone except for her daughter forgot about her. And we learned by Luc is so irrational around her, he actually loves her. And could anyone have blamed her had she just stayed dead with the hot French dude instead of going home to her slubby husband?
You can download American Odyssey on iTunes.

Pretty Little Liars: I really hope this season does not devolve into Charles being alive and dead every other week. Make up you mind. Hanna should have continued digging up the grave (not that a body would have confirmed it was him; everyone thought Allison was in her grave). But I was mostly disappointed we did not see Allison coach youth soccer this week.
You can download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.

Mr. Robot: I had absolutely no interest in watching this show from the promos, seriously television and movie writers, hackers are not lead characters, the are background ones at best. Especially one who is trying to bring down some Illuminati one percent cabal which has been done to death recently. It did not help knowing Christian Slater was in the cast considering all the crappy one and done series over the past decade. Then I saw a behind the scenes package featuring Dalia Royce as one of the hacker. Awesome. That got me to watch. I was really shocked with how good the whole thing was despite the tired plot and the even more tired Christian Slater. And that was even with Dalia Royce only appearing in two scene. If they up her involvement in future episodes we may have out first contender for best new show of the television season.
You can download Mr. Robot on iTunes.

Aquarius: Again the most interesting part of the show this week happen off screen when NBC actually renew the show for a second season. Apparently releasing the whole season online was a resounding success. NBC even said it broke streaming records. I just wished NBC would have tried that once with Hannibal before canceling that show this week. Oh well, now there is the waiting game to see if anyone will bother to pick Hannibal up. As for onscreen, as much grief I gave her when the show started, the hot cop with the bad accent is the most entertaining part of the show and it was a much better episode with her back this week stupidly trying to seduce a football player who beats women before Mulder stepped in.
You can download the full season (just the televised version as of now) of Aquarius on iTunes.

Hannibal: After a month, we finally learn what became of Alana Bloom, apparently just a lot of broken bones. And we learned that Will is after Hannibal, Jack is after Will, and Mason is now also after Hannibal with a reward. Alrighty. I really do not like this non-linear storytelling this season. But it looks like we are all now caught up with everyone now so hopefully it is linear from here on out.
You can download Hannibal on iTunes.

Saturday, June 20, 2015

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 6/20/15



Penny Dreadful: I guess we should not be surprised that Lily did not come back right, but a what is up with her killing a dude during sex?
You can download Penny Dreadful on iTunes.

American Odyssey: I am not sure what my favorite part of the episode was: Luc again flipping allegiances by saving Odell by pretending to have her kidnapped and killed and not bothering to tell her the plan. Or Ruby who loves Harrison so much that she would commit suicide by cop that either kill him or get arrested (even though if her boss wants him dead can he not just hire another assassin after she dies). Nope, now that I think about it, my favorite part was Ruby having a pager. Who knew those were still around?
You can download American Odyssey on iTunes.

Pretty Little Liars: In the supposed "Summer of Answers" we still did not really get any. We did get a confirmation that Charles is a long lost brother of Allison but we essentially already knew that. But I do not really need answers this summer, really all I need from the the show this summer is multiple scenes of Ali mentoring a youth soccer team.
You can download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.

Tyrant: I was kind of hoping that this show would not be back for a second season because it was one of those post golden age shows that had a good concept, good acting, but was just missing something (usually any entertainment value). I was hoping for a hard reboot with Jamel actually going through with the execution of Barry, and was almost fooled that he did until I remembered my cardinal rule of television: no one is really dead until you see the body (and even in some cases that still does not stick), so I figured that was someone else under the hood. But if you are not going to hang Barry, why leave him out in the middle of the desert to die? Meh.
You can download Tyrant on iTunes.

Aquarius: Another week without the howling hot chick with the bad American accent? Meh. But again the most fascinating part of the show this week was something that did not happen on screen as the show did not get a "Next Time" segment instead airing a promo for I Can Do That making me wonder if they are going to pull the show. Though Hannibal did get a Next Time package which ended with the announcer saying, "after an all new episode of Aquarius." Plus my TV Guide listing does still list an all new episode next week. It would be interesting if they actually pull the show the week the streaming and On Demand full season episode were supposed to expire. Of course that would not have been the weirdest thing NBC has ever done.
You can download the full season (just the televised version as of now) of Aquarius on iTunes.

Hannibal: It is official, the show is much better as a procedural with weird cases every week instead of a stow hunt for Hannibal. At least it looks like the whole gang will be back together next week.
You can download Hannibal on iTunes.

Saturday, June 13, 2015

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 6/13/15



Orphan Black: Oh Donnie, how long until he tries to have sex with one of the clones, I thought it may actually happen this week with Helena. Then I thought he might accidentally kill another dude this week but instead just gets into a slap fight instead (where I thought he might have been dead until the promo monkeys went and spoiled that).
You can download Orphan Black on iTunes.

Penny Dreadful: Fun fact: I was once an award winning actor who once was tasked with throwing confetti on stage during every performance. After the first time I actually did it and the play was over, I went to sweep up the mess I created until the director came by and told said the star does not have to clean anything, leave that to the minions. I felt bad as someone else had to clean up after me every night. It was that thought that ran through my mind when it started raining blood this week, somebody is going to have to clean that up, wash the clothes and everything. And just for a dream sequence. Poor chaps. But I have a feeling we may never see Dorian Grey's ball room again after that.
You can download Penny Dreadful on iTunes.

American Odyssey: Of course Odell gets captured by a pre-teen army. Why would she not? Luc not selling her out would have may actual sense, he has to flip on her for no reason at all every other episode. I also liked Yucef's plan to assassinate a sitting Senator so he could go on trial and tell his story as if that really would have happened his security team would have totally shot first and asked questions later, instead of wrestling the gun toting terrorist to the ground without a shot fired by them.
You can download American Odyssey on iTunes.

Pretty Little Liars: Well that was boring. After a tense season premiere, that was really boring with the girls moping around for the whole episode. So much for the Summer of Answers.
You can download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.

Aquarius: I had spent the first two week making fun of the hot cop with the embarrassingly bad American accent but I have to admit I kind of his her and her howling this week. Oh well. But hey, Mulder rescued the runaway about eight episodes before I expected him too. And the acid trip scene was almost as entertaining as the howling.
You can download the full season (just the televised version as of now) of Aquarius on iTunes.

Hannibal: When Abigail Hobbs walked into Will's room as he was coming to I thought, she has to be a hallucination. They actually got me to believe she was real when she was still around "8 months later." Well they got me, of course no one is going to survive getting their throat slit twice. Noe she can go to that big fly fishing river in the sky. But this reintroducing only one character per episode like it is Lost is getting kind of annoying.
You can download Hannibal on iTunes.

Saturday, June 06, 2015

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 6/6/15



Orphan Black: Finally, after weeks of boring and confusing mythology, we actually got back to what made the first season so good: clones interacting with and pretending to be each other. I still think there needs to be a Donnie and Allison crappy CBS spinoff sitcom. I may bring this up every weekend until I will it into existence
You can download Orphan Black on iTunes.

Penny Dreadful: Well that was a dark montage at the end. And just when you thought it could not get any creepier, Dr. Frankenstein has sex with his creation? Ew. As for the previously mentioned montage, what is Sir Malcolm thinking? Ethan just told you to be on high alert. I would think a woman coming on to him at this very moment would be suspicious, but, c'mon Malcolm, she "accidentally" drew your blood with her ring. That might as well have been a tattoo on her forehead that reads, "I'm a witch!"
You can download Penny Dreadful on iTunes.

American Odyssey: When Bob told Harrison that he deeply cared for him I was taken about thinking that is a little strong thing to say, you might as well try to kiss him at this point. And then Bob leaned in. Oh my. I know this show is not very good, but what it lack in quality it certainly makes up for in entertainment value. And apparently Harrison was so shocked by the move and having someone's brain matter splattered on him he was stupid enough hook up with the person who was responsible for that brain matter. But hey, at least she is not a witch.
You can download American Odyssey on iTunes

Pretty Little Liars: I was kind of hoping we would get an entire season in the dollhouse. Probably not the smartest idea to set a fire when you are locked underground but again, these are not the smartest girls to ever be on television. At this point it would be out of character to do the smart thing.
You can download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.

Stitchers: Just last week I declared the chick from Aquarius to have the worst American accent put to film, but the lead on this show is pretty bad too. And what may be more annoying is the accent fluctuates constantly. Seriously casting agents either 1) let these actors use their normal accent; there is not reason the lead charterer here cannot be from Australian (okay, it would be a bit more of a stretch to have a rookie Australian cop back in the sixties; which begs the question, just how many hot Australian are there in Hollywood these days? Even Harley Quinn in the upcoming Suicide Squad is played by an Australian) or 2) just be xenophobic and cast an American.
You can download Stitchers on iTunes.

Aquarius: So having your kid run away is an aphrodisiac... who knew? As previously mention, the hot lady cop has the worst American accent put to film, but you know how to make her accent less distraction: make her howl. Wow. That was weird and random. But much like last week, the most interesting aspect of the show this week did not happen on screen but behind the scenes when the creator said there is an NC-17 version of the show floating around. He originally said it was the version on iTunes but that turned to be incorrect and revised to say it is coming soon. I did notice some kind of bad overdubs this week where they obviously replaced naughty words and once where they just completely cut out one of Mulder's words. I wonder if the edits are just auditory or if there are any missing scenes. Though I do not really need to see Charlie Manson bed Emma's dad.
You can download the full season (just the televised version as of now) of Aquarius on iTunes.

Hannibal: The show left us with three of the leads bleeding on the floor along with Abigail Hobbs. We will have to wait to find out their fates (though it is a bit of a spoiler that all three actors remain in the title sequence so Hobbs is the only one with a question mark). The show has always been a slow cooker, but with the hole episode devoted to Hannibal, it got kind of boring. Hopefully things get back on track when the people at the FBI (presumably) show back up next week.
You can download Hannibal on iTunes.

Sunday, March 22, 2015

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 3/22/15



Shameless: I was hoping for a Carl / Chucky juvenile spinoff but it looks like we will be getting that on the main show with both being sentenced to hard time. Of course Chucky ended up with the white supremacists while Carl ended up with the hood gang. Elsewhere I really liked the doctor story line, I just wonder how long it will last. On one hand, Frank needs a place to stay, on the other, the last time he took care of a dying women in hopes of being left her estate did not work out very well for him. But then again, nothing really works out for him except for his inability to stay dead.

The Walking Dead: A couple weeks ago I floated out the theory that it was not Rick and company who should be weary of the residents of Alexandria because they always run into evil doers, it should be Alexandria that should be hesitant of the new group. It looks like I am not the only one as the reverend also voiced his concern over Rick. With the death of the congresswoman's son, I am guessing the coup will be coming next week (or at the very least in two weeks for the finale).And poor young Chris Rock, but how do you let one person out power two in the revolving door? And speaking of those two deaths, the camera really lingered way too long on those death scenes.
You can download The Walking Dead on iTunes.

Bates Motel: So Norman maybe killed the token hot chick already? Bummer. But that was not her in the lake was it, it looked more like a dude, I first thought that was the creepy neighbor.
You can download Bates Motel on iTunes

Community: About a decade ago Arrested Development did everything it could to get a fourth season, they even slipped some in jokes about hoping to being picked up by HBO or Showtime into episodes. But alas, the show could not find a new home. Five years later, DirecTV saved Damages from cancellation opening up a flood gate an now five short years after that no beloved or cult television show is allowed to died because there are so many channels, band streaming sites looking for content. Even horrible shows that everyone hates like The Killing somehow manages a reprieve. Seven years later Arrested Development finally got its fourth season. So it is clear we are now living in an era when no media property will die as long as everyone involved wants it to live on (sorry Friday Night Lights fans, Kyle Chandler has no interest in reviving the series, probably for the best).

So when Community finally got the ax from NBC, the was little question on if it would get its prophetized six seasons a movie, the question would be where would it land. Hulu passed and surprisingly Yahoo! wanted to get in the streaming game. Even more surprising is that the show is basically commercial free and free to watch. I watched the first two episode and they only aired on ad before the first one. As for the content itself, it is still Community even though it is down yet another cast member (Shirley escaped to CBS multicam hell), it did not even relish in the lack of network standards and practices. Like always it is somewhat enjoyable but I really hope that this is it, well plus a movie. But even if this is it, it will probably be revived again in five years or so.
You can watch Community on Yahoo Screen.

Pretty Little Liars: I have been out on this show for a season or two now, but this episode finally pulled me back in with the characters acting like idiots (passing notes in jail with the lawyer calling them out for it; Aria's brother leaving the car after getting hit with an arrow... stay in the car and keep driving you moron, do not leave the car where there is not a windshield to protect you) and other characters just doing things for no apparent reason (Calab just sitting in the dark at the cabin) and a big plot twist: Alison gets convicted followed directly by all the Liars getting arrested. If only they had gone to the police after the first text. An let me predict one more time, a not so dead Mona will turn out to be the next A that will be revealed next week.
You can download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.

Marvel's Agents of SHIELD: So the big secret Bobbi and Mack have is they are covert operatives for "the real SHIELD." Alrighty. At least they only drug that secret out two episode. Granted if Edward James Olmos is involved, maybe it is the real SHIELD. And let me guess, he is going to want to lock Skye up but over Colson's dead body.
You can download Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on iTunes

Justified: If you are dumb enough not to assume the evil crime boss lady does not keep a gun in her purse, you definitely deserve to die. The Ava finally tipped her hand and went with Raylan this week, unfortunately for her, Boyd did not get caught red handed as he did not make it through the bottom of the floor. Yeah, it probably was not the best idea to trust the crazy explosion expert.
You can download Justified on iTunes.

The Challenge: Battle of the Exes II: So Sarah has had two of her partners leave prematurely and was sent home too as a result; Leroy had two of his sent home and both times got a replacement partner. This time he got an upgrade right before the finale. Lucky boy. Why not just hand him the prize right then and there (well probably because Sarah ends up winning anyway). But the best part of the show was the After Show with Banana's saying he would never sell out a friend / cut to him selling out Paula. Did he forget all of this was on tape?
You can download The Challenge: Battle of the Exes II on iTunes.

Survivor: White Collar vs. Blue Collar vs. No Collar: Ask and you shall receive, just last week I was complaining about no Reward Challenges and we get two this week. The show flows a lot better with two challenges per episode. Then we had a Tribe Swap which could not have ended better for Blue Collar, a majority on one tribe and a swing vote on the other. Bearded dude brought up it ended up like the swap back in One World but it was also divided by strength back in the Fans vs. Favorites II season also. Maybe it is fixed.
You can download Survivor: White Collar vs. Blue Collar vs. No Collar on iTunes.

The Americans: Wait, is Martha really going to forgive Clark? Even more surprising, how does Clark kill Martha just in case?
You can download The Americans on iTunes.

The Blacklist: Wait, so they just let Tom walk after confessing to killing harbor master just to keep Lizzy out of jail even though the AG guy could have made the whole thing go away anyway? Maybe Tom should have been taken to a black site. I really hope he does not end up joining the team somewhere down the road.
You can download The Blacklist on iTunes.

Sunday, March 15, 2015

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 3/15/15


Once Upon a Time: So Snow White had something to do with Malicifant losing her baby and she had something to do with Cora's death... are we sure he is really pure at heart?
You can download Once Upon a Time on iTunes.

Shameless: Considering all the horrible things Frank has done, I am not sure this tops the list, but getting your grandson arrested by selling out your son at the same time is pretty high on the list. I have long advocated for a Justified spinoff starring Dewey and Dicky in prison, but a Shameless spinoff with Chucky and Uncle Carl in prison may just be as entertaining.

House of Lies: As soon as Clyde hooked up with Kelsey after Doug got there first last week my first thought was, oh no, we are going to have to sit though a threesome of them. Kelsey quickly brought it up shortly afterwards, joking or not, but I really fear they will go through with it. You know Doug will have no qualms about it, no will Clyde just talk himself into it.

Revenge: So the chick from Firefly is Victoria's ex-mother-in-law... What? It is really time for this show to end.
You can download Revenge on iTunes.

The Returned: As I teased in my preview, the sisters turning out be twins was extremely freaky. Twins are kind of freaky on their own but this takes it to another level. And to tease upcoming episodes, their twin connection get only more freaky in upcoming episodes. I did not get to bring it up in the preview, so just let me now point out just how wrong having sex with a "psychic" to connect with your daughter is. And if you are a fake physic, why add they sex part to it?
You can download The Returned on iTunes.

Pretty Little Liars: I was expecting the trial to be a little more explosive than that. Sure it came out that Mama Marrin hooked up with Jason and the prosecutor theorized that Alison was never kidnapped without any actual proof. Hopefully they are much more fireworks in the season finale which promises another "A" reveal which I think with be the fifth in the show's history. Let me go and predict a not so dead Mona is pulling the strings.
You can download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.

Marvel's Agents of SHIELD: If ABC decides not to bring Agent Carter back, they should definitely go with a Lady Sif spin-off for a mid season filler for SHIELD. Or even better, cut SHIELD to ten episodes, then ten of Agent Carter and Lad Sif.
You can download Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on iTunes

Switched at Birth: Whoa, Bay, of course Emmett is going to break up with you when you go all crazy girlfriend on him, interrupting his movie not once but twice. But very smooth for Emmett to pull they maybe we can hook back up after college if I cannot find anything better while I am here ploy. Has that actually ever worked for anyone?
You can download Switched At Birth on iTunes.

Justified: What a weird ending to the episode as Raylan gets Shakespearean with his father in his old hiding space which turned out to be as empty as Al Capone's vault. Just a weird departure for a show with about a month left before going off the air.
You can download Justified on iTunes.

The Challenge: Battle of the Exes II: At the beginning of the season TJ asked Nany which of the guys was going to be her partner and she mentioned it could have well been half of them. For the inevitable next Rivals season, there are just as many possibilities and it looks like you can add Nia and Sarah to that list. Of course Sarah made the right decision, you eliminate a strong team right before the finals. If Bananas or Leroy think they deserve to be in the finals, they should have won the last challenge, and they definitely should not have lost it.
You can download The Challenge: Battle of the Exes II on iTunes.

Survivor: White Collar vs. Blue Collar vs. No Collar: zit seems like I say this every season, but the show really needs to bring back the Reward Challenge, with only one challenge per episode we get way too much filler, like watching monkeys having sex.
You can download Survivor: White Collar vs. Blue Collar vs. No Collar on iTunes.

Hindsight: So Lolly, who was okay with Becca hooking up Kevin, now thinks its is an unforgivable act because a Lolly in another timeline shunned future Becca for it. Chicks, man, chicks. What a depressing way to end a season, Becca pretty much screwed everything up, her future husband ended up marrying someone else, her brother, and possibly father, are going to jail, she ruined her friendship with Lolly a whole decade earlier. Really, they only one whose life improved was her ex-husband who managed to sell some paintings. Then the ending was pretty vague, clearly she went into the elevator hoping to be transported back to current day. The musical cue of Numb would have us to believe that there was some time traveling involving involved but I would be surprised if she ends up back in 2015. Of course I would be more surprised if there is a second two. But if there is I would guess Becca wakes up in a different year, maybe 2005. The Killers! Jack Johnson!! Gorillaz!!! A sane Kanye West!!!! Sure I'd watch that.
You can download Hindsight on iTunes.

The Americans: This is beginning to be one of those show where the promos are more entertaining than the actual show. Last week they made it seem like Martha was going to confront Clarke, this week she realized that the spying equipment was inadvertently brought in by her, but she never ended up confronting Clarke about it. And wasn't Paige supposed to confront her parents this week? Are they really going to drag this out for the rest of the season?
You can download The Americans on iTunes.

The Blacklist: Odd to have a glorified clip show at this point in the second season. And did we really learn that it was Red who hired Tom to get close to Lizzy instead of Berlin like we were told earlier? I guess that is why that interaction they had before Tom disappeared was weird.
You can download The Blacklist on iTunes.

King of the Nerds: Finally, at long last, gender equality has become a reality now that a dude has actually been crowned King of the Nerds for the very first time. I was rooting for Kaitlyn, but it is hard to justify having a King of the Nerds be someone who works with NASA and cannot get a sun question right that even I guessed correctly.
You can download King of the Nerds on iTunes.

Sunday, February 22, 2015

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 2/22/15



The Saturday Night Live 40th Anniversary Special: That somehow managed to be awesome and a complete mess at the same time. Sm basically like every SNL episode ever. The great moments were great: Bill Murray singing The Love Theme to Jaws, Emma Stone, Wayne's World, Jerry Seinfeld's Q&A, Turd Ferguson, R.I.P. Jon Lovitz. But the bad was really bad: Did anyone get excited for another installment of The Californians which was almost inexplicably saved by David Spade (I wish there were more generational cross pollination), the ESPN guys, Eddie Murphy's weird acceptance speech type appearance, and why have Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake since forty years of catchphrases when ninety percent of the people who originally uttered those phrases were sitting the crowd, yet the only ones included were Debby Downer and Mary Catherine Gallagher.

Plus all the musical performances seemed unnecessary except Paul Simon (and it was nice that they brought back G.E. Smith); did we really need to hear Paul McCartney horsely sing Maybe I'm Amazed (at least it was not Hey Jude for the millionth time; the weird country version of 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover (with no Vanessa Bayer sighting); which was only out-weirded by whatever Kanye West was doing. They could have cut those to give more time to Weekend Update, maybe all the guys could have read some fake news too even though the greatest anchor Dennis Miller was conspicuously absent from the evening, but it was funny during the retrospective that the the one Norm McDonald joke they showed was an OJ one considering it is assumed he was kicked off the show because of too many Simpson jokes.

And why have Jack Nicholson of all people introduce the political package when they could have had all the presidential impersonators intro that. I wonder if what stopped them was a lack of Ronald Reagan without Phil Hartman or Dennis Quaid (though Jim Carrey does a very good impression) or maybe they could not decide which of the five who did W Bush would represent. But overall it was an enjoyable walk down memory lane.

Shameless: Jimmy is back and of course Fiona made a bad decision because that is the only kind of decision she seems to make. Sure she kicked him out in the end, but I have a feeling that will not last long because her husband will undoubtedly walk in on them at some point. I do find it odd that there is no episode tonight, the show went head to head with the Super Bowl, but takes Oscar night off.

The Walking Dead: It is clear this show is at its best when the group is separated because this episode was quite boring until the guy at the end who knew Rick showed up. I take it he was the friend with the water.
You can download The Walking Dead on iTunes.

Gotham: Last week's promo teased the arrival of The Joker (um, his first name is really Jerome?) but we also got our first glimpse of Robin. Well, sort of, but not really. No Dick Grayson's were mentioned but I am just going to go ahead and assume that the couple who said their were going to name their first child after him will be Robin's parents. I though for sure when the female was protesting the name I was convinced she was going to say something like, "I though we decided on Richard." Oh well. But I kind of like how excited Brody's wife was about helping Gordon out with the case.
You can download Gotham on iTunes.

Pretty Little Liars: Those dance montage sequences may have been the most entertaining part of any episode of this show. Why couldn't Hanna training for a pageant be an entire season plotline?
You can download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.

Marvel's Agent Carter: I was mildly surprised when Peggy got caught last week, but the Chief throwing himself out the building was a huge shock. Guess he will not be back if there is a second season. Not that anyone but Peggy would because it seems clear this season will end with the creation of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Peggy as its first agent.
You can download Marvel's Agent Carter om iTunes.

Justified: Oh Constable Bob, where have you and your taser been all season? Though Ava trying to leave town just seemed like filler even if the taser and the cattle prod were entertaining byproducts of that storyline.
You can download Justified on iTunes.

The Challenge: Battle of the Exes II: Last week Zach almost a legitimate Of Mice and Men reference and this week he gave a, albeit warped, parable from The Bible; how did he not win the trivia challenge? But clearly T.J. enjoys trivia week way too much. I am guessing it was his idea to swaddle the contestants like babies and unwrap them when they lose. Disappointingly no one gave completely inane answers except when Leroy answered "Africa" when T.J. was looking for a country.
You can download The Challenge: Battle of the Exes II on iTunes.

Hindsight: A couple weeks ago the show highlighted one of my favorite songs of all time, R.E.M.s Nightswimming and this week they pulled out another personal top ten, All I Want Is You by U2. I will forgive that the song actually came out in the eighties (though you could argue it is a nineties song because it was on the Reality Bites Soundtrack). The rest of the episode was pretty much a filler, Becca and Australian dude broke up, again; the two boring people did not break up again, instead got married. But next they do promise all the questions will be answered, so there is that. At the very least, it will still have an awesome soundtrack.
You can download Hindsight on iTunes.

Nashville: Oh snap, Rayna just got Jeff fired (and looking at the previews, sinks the whole label in the process). And poor Layla, about to get her shot in front of the owner and the meeting gets canceled after Jeff gets fired. Nothing is ever going to go right for that girl
You can download Nashville on iTunes.

King of the Nerds: I have been out on Under the Dome for the entirely of the second season, but who knew the chick from that show was extremely cool? Get that girl on more talk show people.
You can download King of the Nerds on iTunes.

Sunday, February 15, 2015

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 2/15/15


2015 Grammy Awards: I had a feeling 2014 was not a very good year for music when I was making my best of the year list and watching this year's Grammy's verified that after seeing Sam Smith and Beck win the top four awards especially considering they were basically the best in very weak fields (well I would have given Haim the Best New Artist Award). But usually in weak musical years, the show can produce great once in a lifetime duets, but all of those fell flat. Really, a week later nothing really stands out to me this year except how boring it was.

The Walking Dead: Hold ghosts of Tyrese past! I have to admit I have enjoyed this season significantly more that the earlier ones, but why oh why had the show killed off its two most entertaining characters in back to back episodes yet Carl is still alive (thee third, Bob literally bit it earlier this season two).
You can download The Walking Dead on iTunes.

Pretty Little Liars: Oh Spencer, you are a moron. Did she really think that some college hired the dude to make a mural and to do it with spray paint at night? But I really could care less about these girls personal lives, just stick the the overly complex murder mystery of someone who probably is not even dead.
You can download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.

Mavel's Agent Carter: Whoa, they were actually able to catch Peggy, I was a assuming as soon as she went on the lamb she would stay there until she was able to clear her name. And even more shocking it was a kiss from a Russian spy that brought her down. But the most shocking was the Russian scientist ended up being in cahoots with the spy. All this intrige should make for an interesting final two episodes.
You can download Marvel's Agent Carter om iTunes.

Justified: Watching this episode and the previews for next week was a greatest hits of recurring characters past (Loretta McCreary! Dicky Bennett!! Constable Bob!!! Elmore Limehouse!!!!) and that pretty much sums it up because I think the rest are either dead or in jail. Jake Busy is already on the dead list after just one episode with yet another memorable death scene on the show. I laughed through the entire commercial break. But it was nice to see Loretta outsmart Dicky one more time, not that it very hard thing to do.
You can download Justified on iTunes.

The Challenge: Battle of the Exes II: It is time for the annual annoying "To Be Continued" episode. Usually this comes right before the final elimination challenge. So we have to wait a week to see who goes home. But this has been two straight sad challenges. Last week TJ had to admonish all the guys who were too scared to jump out the surfboard contraption challenge and this week half of the teams could not even finish at all and had to institute a mercy rule. Even more sad, Jonna's puzzle was extremely embarrassing (Zach was right to compared it to something a third grader put together which was his second best comment of the evening after his almost correct reference to Of Mice and Men) and Brittany somehow did worse than her.
You can download The Challenge: Battle of the Exes II on iTunes.

Hindsight: Of course the show eventually worked in the famous Say Anything boombox scene, but this definitely the first time anyone thought to use KWS as the soundtrack. And it only got better when the batteries ran out.
You can download Hindsight on iTunes.

The Americans: Yawn, another near miss by the FBI. At least there was that bizarre and random scene with Paige finding a picture of their neighbor in a bikini in her brother's room.
You can download The Americans on iTunes.

Nashville: Of course his niece was not a match and his sister does not want to give hers (okay that was a bit of a serve, I just thought she would not be a match), it is beyond obvious that Deacon is going to have to get a new liver from his daughter. I wonder how long they will stretch this until he asks (or more likely she offers).
You can download Nashville on iTunes.

King of the Nerds: Whoa, Moby really takes his nerd culture seriously. But you have to side with him because it is really stupid for someone to pick a fight with a judge.
You can download King of the Nerds on iTunes.

Sunday, February 08, 2015

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 2/8/15



Super Bowl: I refuse to recognize cheaters as winners because cheaters should never win and winners do not cheat. And lets be honest, the true winners of the Super Bowl was the Green Bay Packers. Seriously, very few people can outshine one of the greatest living humans Anna Kendrick in her own movie trailer. I am definitely not ready for Clay Matthews's jelly, but I cannot wait to see the full performance.


Shameless: Did someone forget to tell Showtime that the Super Bowl was on? And it ended up being the best episode of the short season so far and one of the best of the series. But I guess in the age of DVR and On Demand, I guess watching the first run episode does not really matter much for premium channels who are not selling ads. As long as the viewers watch sometime. But anyway. What a great episode for Frank in his warped The Hangover type plot of trying to figure out what happened to his insurance money. That final reveal with the prosthetics my have been the most "shameless" scene in the show's history. Now with Sheila gone and his money gone, it looks like Frank is back to square one. Does he move in with Sammi at this point?

Pretty Little Liars: Rosewood really has a never ending well of absurdly attractive lesbians. But can they bring back Mona already? The show is kind of boring without her. Because much like Allison, I just do not believe Mona is dead. Hopefully it does not take Mona four years to pop back up in town.
You can download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.

Agent Carter: As entertaining as the show has been it is disappointing that could not figure out how to make use of Dum Dum Duggan more often. Maybe if their is a season two, maybe Peggy can take up his offer of joining the Howling Commandos for next season.
You can download Marvel's Agent Carter om iTunes.

Switched at Birth: I cannot comment on this episode because I will undoubtedly offend people with my thoughts.
You can download Switched At Birth on iTunes.

Justified: I could not believe they killed of Dewie Crowe in the season premiere (that really puts a crimp into my Dewie / Dickie spin-off) but Choo Choo may end up being an almost worthy substitute. But that mask scene just showed that Raylan is still the best character on television.
You can download Justified on iTunes.

The Challenge: Battle of the Exes II: What a gutwrenching elimination, on one hand Johnny Bananas wore out his welcome five to ten seasons ago, on the other, Nana has quickly closing in on GOAT status. At least they have that silly ex-ile twist this season (is this the first time The Challenge stole something from Survivor? And now that I think about it, if The Challenge now allows Are You the One castmates, how about recruiting Survivor contestants too). If the show is scripted there is no doubt those two are the ones that make it back into the game. The stupid web show may end up being more entertaining than the actual show.
You can download The Challenge: Battle of the Exes II on iTunes.

Hindsight: Why was Becca telling the college students how great the next R.E.M. album is? Would that not be New Adventures In Hi-Fi? C'mon Becca, it is one thing to spoil the future, but is another to give people false hope of the future. But she made up for it with a great use of Nightswimming at the of episode, one of my favorite songs ever recorded.
You can download Hindsight on iTunes.

The Americans: Sure, this is still one of the best shows on television, but something needs to happen. The show is still living off close calls every couple episodes, be it the CIA almost catching the Jennings, or Paige discovering what her parents do, but they still have not pulled the trigger on either. Interesting that NBC already beat The Americans to the punch on the second point creating a show where Russians spies tell their son about themselves (or so the previews would have me believe, I did not bother to watch Intelligence). Really the best part of this season so far was the one aspect of the show that chance: Nina in Russian prison. Why did they hold that storyline out of the premiere? Well, the second best, Stan telling Olag that if he if going to shoot him, he will have to shoot him in the back. What a "G" move.
You can download The Americans on iTunes.

The Blacklist: Usually I prefer more serialized moments of television shows, but I really do not care at all about the fire Lizzie was in as a kid. And the more they talk about it, the more confused I get. So now her dad (or who she thought was her dad because it is still very plausible that Red is really her father) died in that fire. But did he not die last season when Red smothered him with a pillow? Meh, just give me the Blacklister of the week for this show. I do not care at all with the backstory.
You can download The Blacklist on iTunes.

King of the Nerds: One thing I noticed this week is there is copious amounts of cleavage this season. In previous season the girls wore a lot of t-shirts with nerd slogans on them, but there are a lot of tank tops this time around. Between that and all the partial lesbians running around it is clear the boys do not have a chance of winning yet again this season. But at least the challenges are silly as ever. Why was there a sumo wrestler in the Nerd Off? Who knows, but it was entertaining.
You can download King of the Nerds on iTunes.