Ray Donovan: This show is moving just too slow. Ray hires James Woods last episode and he just leaves Boston at the end of this episode. The show seems to somehow stretch three episodes of plot across eight episodes so far. And it may even move slower next week which is entitled “Road Trip” so Woods may not even making it to Los Angeles until the end of that episode. Doesn’t Ray have access to a private jet? They really could have done without the lesbian punching because I could care less for that character, she maybe has shown up for a combines five minutes so far this season, so when she gets mad at her faux lesbian love, it is hard to care at all.
Switched at Birth: I have always asserted that Daphne’s bomb was bigger than Cota’s, but I was surprised she actually launched hers in a preemptive strike. I would eb easy to say this will ruin Coto’s career, but Republicans have an uncanny resilience when it comes to sex scandals, Mark Sanford recently got elected after stepping down as governor after being revealed he had a Brazilian mistress. And not only did friend of the family David Vitter not step down after he got caught up in a prostitution ring, he got reelected and is still a Congressmen. Just as shock was that Toby and Nikki called off their wedding after having sex only to get married down at the courthouse without anyone knowing. Did not see that swerve coming.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Switched At Birth on iTunes.
Under the Dome: Hopefully Winona Hawkins livens thing up inside of the dome because the last couple episodes have been becoming increasingly boring.
You can stream Under The Dome exclusively on Amazon Instant Video, free for Prime members.
Siberia: I live in Ohio so I am used to some weird weather occurrences, but two feet of snow as the first snowfall of the year would not even happen here. And where exactly did the people in the helicopter go? I was waiting for the faux lesbian and the pilot to show up at some point.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Siberia on iTunes.
Pretty Little Liars: Come on, they had Red Coat in the back of the hayride and still were unable to catch her? Something better happen on the summer finale.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.
Perception: So is Kate going to be the crazy one in the duo next season with Pierce playing the straight guy? It does seem like Kate entered crazy town this week obsession over the Senator’s son. I do not see how she gets away with killing a dude even if he turns out to be a rapist. I guess Pierce could diagnos her with temporary insanity.
You can download Perception on iTunes.
The Bridge: Initially I was with Sonya in thinking this may not be the guy, but not because he seems to crazy to pull this off but because we are only half way through the season and how do they fill the rest of the season when they have the culprit already in custody? But then again, earlier this year, on this very network I wondered what they would possibly do after we found out who Drew Thompson was a couple episodes before the finale but still turned out its best episodes after that. Plus this always felt like a multiple man job so they could have caught the person making the calls but there are other co-conspirators out there wrecking havoc.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download The Bridge on iTunes.
The Challenge: Rivals II: God bless TJ for holding that dog for the whole challenge for no apparent reason. It made an otherwise boring episode watchable. At least it looks like Mount Camilla will finally erupt for the first time this season next week if the promo monkeys are to be believed.
You can download The Challenge: Rivals II on iTunes.
Ray Donovan: That fake movie, Black Mass, was one of the funniest fake movies I have seen in a while. Someone needs to rush it into production. Get Robert Rodriguez on the phone. It is nice that Ray named his daughter after his dead sister, but it can get distracting on a shown when he starts talking about his sister and I spend a couple weird moments wondering why he is talking about his daughter like that.
Switched at Birth: I feel cheated that we did not get to witness Travis and MaryBeth’s first (or second or third) date. That had to be highly entertaining. Certainly more entertaining than Toby’s bachelor party at the free clinic.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Switched at Birth on iTunes.
Siberia: It is nice that they tried to explain why the cameramen would not just put the cameras down and start helping out. Of course if I were the cameraman tasked with following the group to the tower, I would have passed, or at the very least asked them to take turns filming stuff. Of course if this really was real, the battery would have died a long time ago without the ability to recharge at the base camp. I also had to laugh at how everyone was complaining about how hard it would reach the tower ten miles away. Colin Ferrell starred in a movie not too long ago about a group of prisoners who escaped a Siberian prison camp, in the dead of winter at that, and managed to walk all the way to Tibet and that was based on a real story. Okay, I think half the people ended up dying, but ten miles should not be that bad in the fall. Unless of course you come across ground zero of what may very well be nuclear testing.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Siberia on iTunes.
Pretty Little Liars: Just last week I rejoiced that Ezra’s baby mama was moving to Washington because there would be no way Ezra would not follow the child he just found out about. Fast forward to this week and Erza’s kid is not actually his kid. What!?! Which means he will probably go back to having sex with his student. Chris Hansen really needs to pay the writers room a visit.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.
The Bridge: A lot of back-story this week, we learned that Sonya’s sister’s murder was handed by her now boss (and she does not know… yet) and she still visits her sister’s murderer in prison even his diminutive mental state. While we also learned that Marco’s father had ties to Fasto’s father who started Fasto’s current business. So did Marco go into law enforcement to rebel against his father or to be a mole for the family business? And it did cross my mind that the two back stories could have intertwined somehow and maybe Sonya’s sister’s killer may have worked for Marco’s father and this whole mystery has been about Sonya and Marco this whole time.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download The Bridge on iTunes.
The Challenge: Rivals II: I have been watching the show live the last couple of weeks and the frequency of the commercial breaks is really distracting. It seemed like the girls half of the challenge had three breaks itself. It just ruins the flow to have an ad every four to five minutes. I really need to go back to watchjing the show OnDemand where I can fast forward through the commercials even if MTV does not offer HD on their OnDemand channel and I am stuck watching in standard definition.
You can download The Challenge: Rivals II on iTunes.
Quote of the Week: She trusts me. I’m a cop. (Sonya Cross, The Bridge)
Song of the Week: Ain't No Sunshine – Bill Withers (as sung by Bridget Donovan and Marvin Gaye, Ray Donovan)
Big News of the Week: The Return of Crappy Music: 2013 has been a bad year for music. And not only has there been a lack of great music, there really has not been any horrible music either. Unfortunately we will have to wait a bit longer for some more great music, but horrible music came back with a vengeance this week when both new songs from Katy Perry and Lade Gaga leaked last week and then both rushed to iTunes on Monday.
Both made grand preoccupations of growth and expansions of their sound, Perry even went as far as burning relics from her California Gurls days George Michael style, except when Roar came out, it did not sound all that different from Firework (or Sara Bareilles’s Brave as everyone has pointed). While Lady Gaga has spent the last month trying to out hyperbole Kanye West but where Yeezus actually pushed the envelope for better or worse (I would argue worse) Gaga’s Applause is a crappy disco song that sounds like it got rejected from her first album for not being good enough. It does look like Perry is easily winning the battle of bad music as Roar has kept Applause out of the top slot all week and by Friday Applause had dropped to four after Blurred Lines and some country song.
Thankfully there is some good music on the way to join the stellar album by The Civil Wars next month by Janelle Monáe, Jack Johnson, Elvis Costello & The Roots, and for those looking for pop music that isn’t cheesy and boring, Haim and Lorde are both dropping their full length debut album on the 31 of September.
Preview Picture of the Week:
“Bring Down the Hoe” Pretty Little Liars Tuesday at 8:00 on ABC Family
Free Download of the Week: Pilot - Veronica Mars (iTunes): For those that have wonder what the whole Veronica Mars thing is about since a movie got Kickstarted, you can now watch the Pilot for the low, low price of free. And once you get addicted by watching the first episode, iTunes also currently has all three season at a discount. There is plenty of time to catch up by the time the movie is released.
Deal of the Week: Get twenty-five debut album for a discount including the first albums from Beastie Boys, Counting Crows, Norah Jones, and The Black Keys:
Video of the Week: This week TNT released its first trailer for the upcoming Mob City (formally Lost Angels), the first post-The Walking Dead show from Frank Darabont, which also stars that show’s Jon Bernthal. The fist look makes it seem very stylized, but I could not help but thinking about the underwhelming Gangster Squad while watching this. Still I am still skeptically optimistic. Mob City premieres December 4 on TNT.
Next Week Pick of the Week: Switched at Birth, Monday at 8:00 on ABC Family: It is wedding day on Switched At Birth and I put the odds at the wedding actually happening at fifty-fifty. Maybe the better question is who will be the one to call it off or who will be the people to finally reason with Toby or Nikki that getting married this early may not be the best idea. It probably will not be Daphne who is walking down the path of mutual destruction with Chip Coto. But what bomb could he lob at Daphne that could be as bad as knocking up with an intern? I am guessing her father's heart attack will be coming back into play.
Quote of the Week: Entonces sólo eres un asesino en serie si te gusta. (Fausto Galvan, The Bridge)
Song of the Week: Get Lucky – Daft Punk featuring Pharrell Williams (The Colbert Report)
Scene of the Week:
Big News of the Week: Do Not Piss Off Stephan Colbert: Stephan Colbert has been hyping a Daft Punk appearance for a while now which was a pretty big deal considering the robot duo does not do much television. They have not done anything since releasing their last album in May. But Tuesday came and went and no Daft Punk. The reason was not some canned excuses like illness and Stephan was more than willing to tell everyone the real reason Daft Punk did not show up: they were already booked exclusively to make a surprise appearance on the Video Music Awards sometime in September on VH1 hosted by Chris Brown (at least according to Colbert). So, surprise.
Sure the controversy does not quite pass the smell test considering Viacom owns both Comedy Central and MTV and it took an entire month to notice the conflict of interest. Not to mention Colbert says he did not learn of Daft Punk’s cancellation until Monday but had enough time to book Robin Thicke, who has that other massive summer hit, to replace Daft Punk (oh yeah, and it turns out he taped that segment last week) and create a video featuring Hugh Laurie, Jeff Bridges, Jimmy Fallon, the cast of Breaking Bad and America’s Got Talent, Jon Stewart, Matt Damon, and Henry Kissinger. But hey, Daft Punk is essentially confirmed the VMA’s which means there will be at least one reason to watch it. That is one more reason that last year’s show.
Video of the Week: We are seven week out until the third season premiere of Homeland and the series premiere Masters of Sex and Showtime recently released full trailers for both. Not that surprisingly the Homeland trailer features bombings, congressional hearings (they blew up the CIA last season all), a crazy wall map, and Brody sheering his signature ginger hair (although the only people that will not recognize him are the same people who do not recognize Superman when he is wearing glasses). And as I predicted way back in the first season, it looks like Dana may finally be converting to her father’s religion. But also a few shockers most notably Carrie in a hospital gown and handcuffs. Uh oh. And Dana texting seems like a creepy storyline. But then again it cannot be worse than the hit and run storyline. Feel free to watch the trailer on a loop for the next seven weeks, I probably will.
Showtime also released the first full trailer for Masters of Sex, but to be honest, they already had me at Lizzy Caplan starring in a show called Masters of Sex.
Next Week Pick of the Week: Franklin and Bash, Wednesday at 9:00 on TNT: Another TNT shut up for the summer next week and Franklin & Bash will be going out with a bang as the promo monkeys promise a guest star so big they cannot tell you who it is. Um, I hate to break it to you promo monkeys, but anyone who watched last week already realize that it is Rob Lowe. Pinder has been stalking him all season and even popped up at the end of the last scene, just seconds before you hyped a guest star so big you cannot tell us who it is. I really hate promo monkeys.
Falling Skies: So Hal was the mole? I still do not buy it (and the promo monkeys would seem to agree with me). I still find Gloria Rubin the most likely culprit although the bigger question to me is does the mole have a bug in their ear or are they doing this under their un volition?
You can download Falling Skies on iTunes.
Switched at Birth: It was only a matter of time before the show did an alternative timeline episode but I am a little surprised this was the route the writers took with the new timeline starting if Regina told the Kennish’s about the switch as soon as she figured it out. I assumed we would get a what if the girls were never switched to begin with timeline. Instead we get a Jon fever dream of a worse case scenario where everyone is much worse off had the switch happened earlier (what does it say about Jon that he killed off Regina). I kind of laughed when the end of the dream, Jon ended up dying because Regina was not there to give him CPR and is now glad that she is around all of the sudden. It is a little absurd.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Switched at Birth on iTunes.
Defiance: Since it premiered during the end of the spring season, I was behind on the show from the start and finally got caught up in time for the finale. Kind of a middling season at best. It is weird they killed off the main antagonist a couple episodes before the finale and never really replaced her (unless the white dude is supposed to be the main villain but I always found him more of an annoyance that scary). I am also not a fan of shows that leaves everyone in the cast in peril at the end of the season (Smallville was always the worst at this), and the only way they can make it worse is if everything is back to normal by the second episode (which was always the case on Smallville). I will not be surprised if the hooker turns up alive next season or the white people end up not being exiled. Hopefully the video game is better. Not that I will be playing it.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Defiance on iTunes.
Under the Dome: So the one kid is telling everyone he is living alone? Um, is he ever going to notice that his sister is missing? By my count she has not been home for two days, it is about time he starts noticing her absence.
You can stream Under the Dome exclusively on Amazon Instant Video, free for Prime members.
Siberia: I was going to complain at how stupid some of these characters are like the computer nerd going into the forest to see how that one dude died violently or trying to hide bullets under your mattress. But this is supposed to be a reality show, and there are plenty of stupid people who populate these type of shows to the extent that I made a list of the 25 Dumbest Survivor Contestants Ever and that list is not even five years old and I could easily already expand it to 50.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Siberia on iTunes.
Pretty Little Liars: Oh Hanna, you really need to leave the thinking up to someone else because you are no criminal mastermind. You really should have just stayed home and had more Melrose Place flashbacks (sure it was a different character but I am sure that is what they were going for). And should I have recognized who the den mother in the picture from the end of the episode was?
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.
Perception: Apparently I am not the only person watching Brain Games because that unintentional blindness as the basis of an episode earlier this year (where they managed to have a cheerleader strip in front of me without me even noticing). But the ended was such a stretched I could not help think of the South Park episode where the one dude had sex with chickens as a way to get people to read.
You can download Perception on iTunes.
The Bridge: The show is as good as I expect coming from FX, but much like the last show they launched, The Americans, it is just missing something to make it great. Most notably being that I am completely worn out on television characters that fall somewhere on the autism spectrum. I had to roll my eyes when Diane Kruger had her first moment of social awkwardness. I also do not like it when it has random characters that are seemingly unrelated storylines that end up intersecting much later in the show. After one episode, I already do not care about Annabeth Gish or the creepy kidnapper. Hopefully the show finds its footing and soon.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download The Bridge on iTunes.
The Challenge: Rivals II: I thought the inception of Redemption Island to bring back Boston rob and Russell Hantz was the dumbest way to pair off any two reality contestants, but Johnny and Frank’s Twitter war just beat that. If the show really wanted to bring back those two, they should have paired CT with his backpack Johnny (which was the greatest moment ever in The Challenge history) and had Frank team up with the gay porn star from last season (and as a bonus, that would have meant no Wes this season). And there are a lot of boring people on this season, they could have eliminated both teams in The Jungle and I would not have mind. Really all the rookies are worthless up to this point. They really need to step their game up. And I have absolutely no clue who Zach’s partner is and I watched that season. Hopefully things get more interesting from here. Otherwise it might be time for another Fresh Meat season.
You can download The Challenge: Rivals II on iTunes.
The Hero: Wow, those eliminations were really lame. C’mon, you got to add some pomp and circumstance to them. Have them in the war room with The Rock there to ask questions before the decision. Just having a dude come back, say "Shawn", and be done with it is a little lame. I was really hoping Patty would have been eliminated second because you have to take the money. It is not being a hero to pass up $30,000 and get tear gassed for it, that is stupid plain and simple.
You can download The Hero on iTunes.
Hollywood Game Night: Darn you Kristen Bell, making me turn into this crap. Alright, it turned out not to be completely horrible. It reminded me of all those cheesy game shows I grew up on. The different being those were only a half hour and this would benefit from chopping it in half. If they did that, this show could be a good fill in whenever their new sitcoms inevitably fail this fall.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu.
Falling Skies: C’mon boys, you should not be fighting to the death over a snake. And could they rescue team really be able to tell it was Anne was abducted by Skidders just by footprints? You are really giving up after finding footprints?
You can download Falling Skies on iTunes.
Switched at Birth: Sign Language fights are always really weird to watch and a little hard to follow along reading the translation.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Switched at Birth on iTunes.
Under the Dome: It only took two episodes but there were people finally doing what would have been high on my priorities list if a mystical dome fell down around my hometown: start digging and spray-paint it (granted I would not have done that for graffiti but to look for holes). And now that I know that the dome goes over a lake, I would see if I could swim under it next. But now I have to wonder when is the one dude going to realize his sister is missing? It is not like she could go anywhere. And why is The Lawnmowerman in the credits for the main cast? Is he going to come back to life? Is there as unseen to us twin brother on the other side of the dome? Reanimated corpse? Bodynatcher? Or are we just going to get a lot of flashbacks so the producers wanted him on the permanent payroll like Alison on Pretty Little Liars?
You can stream Under The Dome exclusively on Amazon Instant Video, free for Prime members.
Siberia: If Under the Dome was the most anticipated show of the summer with CBS promoting it for months and had it in development for even longer, Siberia may have been the least anticipated. It seemed like NBC just green lit the show last month from someone no one has heard of, cast nobodies, barely bothered to promote it, and then put it up against the previously mentioned Under the Dome. But I was intrigued by the fake reality show concept (SPOILER ALERT! the show is not real) and the premiere did look like a first episode of Survivor: Siberia (of course this is something Survivor would never do because it would eliminate scantily clad hot people) but still missed the feeling (I am guessing it is the soundtrack). Instead the show came off as a mix between two one and done shows Persons Unknown and The River. Two shows that had intriguing ideas but failed in execution. Hopefully Siberia can break that trend.
I do have two working theories as to how the season (probably series) ends: 1) it is a fake reality show and everyone who “dies” is really just an actor but I doubt any write would have the guts to do this so it is more likely 2) this is part of a ritual killing every one hundred years and the “contestants” were just brought in as a sacrifice (be it known or unknown to the producers). Of course that would kind of make it just a complete rip off of The Cabin in the Woods. But people have ripped off worse ideas.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Siberia on iTunes.
Pretty Little Liars: So Melissa is not on the A-Team and has been protection Spencer this whole time and it was Wilden under the Queen of Hearts mask the whole time? What? This is starting to get too convoluted for a show of this quality. It may be time to just end this whole A stuff by the end of this season and start up a new mystery next season.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.
Mad Men: Oh my god! They killed Kenny!!! Oh wait, never mind, he just got Cheneyed. Yeah I would want off that account too. I do not see how anyone can get hard feelings if you leave after getting shot in the face. And Don was really on point this week, giggling like a baby, saving, then humiliating Ted, gets caught nailing a neighbor by Sally last week and this week she ships herself off to boarding school. I wonder how long until he asks Megan to wear that wig in bed. But I was really disappointed that Bob Benson juts turned out to be another Don Draper, but possibly gayer. I wonder if there s another shoe to drop. And I do not mean the heavily rumor that he is the love chick of Don and the hooker from the flashback earlier in the season. But that still was not more disappointing that the unnecessary return of Creepy Glen. That had to have been the worst choreographed fight scene ever put to film.
You can download Mad Men on iTunes.
Switched at Birth: Ouch, Daphne really looked hurt when Regina told her not to clean up because she was “a guest.” And it only got worse when she caught the Vasquez clan dancing together at the end of the episode. I have a feeling she will be taking out that frustration on the tennis court this season.
You can stream recent episodes on Switched At Birth on iTunes.
The Voice: I skipped out on the show after the egregious elimination of Caroline Glaser but tuned into the finale because I figured she would pop back up and of course the awesomeness of Bob Seger and the first live performance from Cher in over a decade which turned out to be the worst live performance since the Britney Spears VMA debacle. The finale was pretty befuddling; I get Danielle Bradbery, not the greatest voice but was always in my Top Ten Power Rankings this season and rates very high on the likeability scale. But how did the other two turn out to be The Swon Brothers and Michelle Chamuel made it that far? I thought Michelle benefited from being on the worst team and would not have even made the Live Shows if she was on any other team, instead she benefits from being the anti-country choice this season. While The Swon Brother lucked through on Blake’s Team taking a spot in the Live Shows that should have gone to Caroline, Savannah Berry, Grace Askew, or even Luke Edgemon. I thought for sure after the first Live Show, they would be one of the first three acts voted out with Josiah Hawley and Garrett Gardner.
After the lackluster second season, I was inspired to write 10 Ways to Fix The Voice and two seasons later the implemented four of them the next season and three more this season (well Shakira was closer to a “rock” judge than they have had before but they came close to banning Adele, the only person who sang one of her songs did not get any of the coaches to turn around for her and I do not recall anyone annoyingly screaming “I Love You” while Adam was talking). Even the sob stories seemed to be toned down this season. Still season four was the worst season yet, I stopped watching season two just short of the finale, but was out this season after the first live shows. But unlike after season two, the fixes are easier and really only need three.
1) Tweak the Voting System Again: One of my biggest complains about season two was how Chris Mann made it into the finals when Lindsey Pavao crushed him on the iTunes Charts every week (and to a lesser extent RaeLynn and Jermaine Paul). In season three they introduced the iTunes Bonus where if an artist reached the top ten on the iTunes Overall Chart their iTunes votes would be multiplied by 10. Trevin Hunte advanced further than his iTunes sales would have suggested but for the most part I think every week but one where the lowest selling artists were voted off.
Fast forward to the first live show of this season, Caroline and Sarah Simmons are the only two artists to have all four of the songs enter the iTunes Overall chart after they were released, that week Caroline was the only contestant to have all four of her songs on the Overall Chart at the same time (to put this into perspective, no one else this season did this until they started releasing two songs per week a month later), all four of which were higher than Josiah’s highest charting song. Despite being the two best selling contestants overall up to that point, Caroline and Sarah ended up in Adam’s bottom two while Judith Hill inexplicitly went through even though she was over fifty spots behind them on the iTunes charts. It did not help there were voting irregularities that week where they threw out all the internet and texting votes. That meant there were a lot of phone calls for Judith to make up the difference. I can buy if someone is within ten or so spots on the iTunes charts can overcome someone by other methods but not fifty spots, especially during a week with “voting irregularities”.
So the show really needs to tweak the voting system again to put more say into the hands of the music buying public because those are the people who are going to buy the albums after the show, not the people who just vote on the internet for an hour trying to stuff the ballots. Even though I like the iTunes voting, it is a bit arbitrary and clunky. I believe there was a time last season where Amanda Brown sold more copies of a song than a previous week but it was the previous song got the iTunes bonus because it just so happened to chart higher despite selling less songs. They could maybe change that to a fixed number like say if you sell over 25,000 songs you get the bonus. Or if they are really like having it fixed to the iTunes Charts, expand the iTunes Bonus to something like top ten gets a x10 multiplier, top 25 gets a x5 multiplier, top 50 gets a x2 multiplier. The more the show lets the music buying public decide who advances and wins, the better chance that artists has of becoming successful and more credible the show is.
2) Make Sure the Live Shows Are More Diverse: If you remember back to the first Live Show, America saved only country and RnB artists (again Michelle was extremely lucky to be on a team with only one RnB sing and no country) while the rockers, pop singers, latin, and folk artists were stuck hoping their coach saved them. Country ended up overtaking the RnB singers with four of the last six contestants. In comparison, here is the breakdown of the final four contestants’ genres of the four seasons:
Season One: pop dude, indie-folk chick, pop rocker chick, and classic rock chick
Season Two: RnB dude, rocker chick, folk-rock dude, opera dude
Season Three: pop rock chick, rocker dude, blue eyed soul man, RnB dude
Season Four: three country singers and whatever Michelle was supposed to be
Really last season, each team was super diverse with the exception of Christina and her Mini-Me’s (who were not surprisingly quickly eliminated). Blake even said he only wanted to take one country singer last season because he did not want them to siphon each other’s votes. But that is not clearly the case. When fans of Danielle were done voting for her, they would then vote for Amber. Then the Swon Brothers. Then Holly Tucker creating a coattail effect where all the country artists benefited from being alike. I guess it would be easy to limited people to only ten votes per person per method (with the exception of iTunes) where voters would have to chose if they want to give all ten votes to Danielle, or if they want to go 3-3-2-2 to Danelle, Amber, Swons, and Holly.
Of course it would be much easier just to tell the coaches to make sure they have a more diverse team next season because have two genres takes up over half of the live shows (nine of the sixteen spots) really hurt the quality of the show. It is very telling that as the Live Shows went along the ratings in the much coveted 18-49 demo crashed and burned, breaking record lows multiple times during the Live Shows yet the overall viewers stayed about the same, and even had the most watched finale. This says that the audience got really old really quick over the course of the season. It almost turned into American Idol overnight which was helped by being dominated by two genres that skew old and this season of The Voice going against a season of American Idol where even the most loyal viewers were jumping ship to avoid Nicki Minaj. To think how much more entertaining and diverse the top twelve could have been had it included Caroline, Luke, Jess Kellner, and Mary Miranda instead of eight country and RnB singers.
3) Put a Moratorium on Songs: Thankfully were not stuck listening to singers trying to out-Adele Adele this season, but there were still way too many recycled songs. Case in point when Judith sang Feeling Good. Not only had the song already been performed this season during the blind auditions, but it has been performed four times on the show over the past year. That is overkill. I Have Nothing has been performed each of the last three seasons. There really needs to be a moratorium on singing a song on back-to-back season if not a full year ban. It is time for the song selection to be more diverse. Seriously people, Tom Petty is one of the greatest artists of all time but if you watch the show you would think his only songs were American Girl and Won’t Back Down, both repeat song this season. I would make an exception if the singers switch up the arrangement. Like how Seven Nation Army was performed each of the last three seasons too (I would have thought if there was on The White Stripes song that would become a standard it would have been We’re Going to Be Friends), but Jamar Rogers did a more straight forward version while Melanie Martinez did a folky version and Garrett Gardner went with a reggae arrangement. But that is the only exception. I am sure The Voice has a couple thousand, if not million, songs available to license, they should not be recycling songs so often, especially in the same season. If you need help selecting some new song, my services are available.
The show took my advice after the second season and the third turned out to be the best yet. It was just followed by the worse of the four. But these are easy fixes that the show really needs to implement especially when it comes to a diverse Live Show where the show quickly became American Idol this season. And if The Voice does not make these easy fixes, it will quickly go the way of American Idol where old people with their telephones determine who advances and the boring winner if forgotten by the time the next season starts up.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can buy my ten favorite performances this season with the widget at right.
Pretty Little Liars: I love Hanna, where all the other girls are calculating and plotting, Hanna just does not care. Her best moment was last season when she confronted Jenna about being able to see. Her confronted the rival swimmer was not as epic because I am still not entirely sure who she is. It seems like just through that character in because neither Jenna nor Melissa were available for stretches of time. But Hanna just went ahead and put her on blast with little to no evidence. Love it. Then randomly she just takes Allison’s old parrot just because it may remember something Allison could have said two years ago. But I really hope they do not wait until the end of the season to reveal that Allison is still alive, it just seems inevitable at this point, so why drag it out.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.
The Hero: Everyone was really altruistic the first week, but after Shaun screwed over his team last week, the floodgates were opened this week with both Athena and Darnell taking the money. We have to wait until next week to see if Darnell actually tells anyone he took the money or lie and say he lost. But the house really crushed Athena unfairly. When Patty turned down the offer (by a hilariously disguised The Rock), I thought she was an idiot. Then more people turned him down until Athena said yes. Personally I would have said yes in a heartbeat and would not have begrudged anyone who would have. During the first two episodes I really did not have any rooting interest in any of the contestants, but after seeing everyone gang up on her unfairly, I will probably vote for Athena at the end of the season.
You can download The Hero on iTunes.
Hannibal: I have longed assumed the season would end with either Hannibal or will in jail. A great finale that tied (quite literally) everything in the season together. Cannot wait until next season to see how long until Will is able to clear his name and at the same time prove that it was Hannibal that set him up. Complicating things is that Hannibal knows that Will knows. Hopefully people will be able to find the show in its second season so there will be a third.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Hannibal on iTunes.
Falling Skies: Wow, that baby is extremely creepy. And why is it taunting Anne? I am guessing she is not really hallucinating or gone crazy and we are seeing her crazy. So why is it advancing faster than normal and only revealing her skills to Anne? Is she really an alien like Anne suggests? Is it an alien implant? Did Karen or the mole do something to her? Speaking of the mole, I did not want to theorize in my preview of the season for the spoilerphobes out there, but I am guessing that it will not turn out to be the obvious choice Hal. I have a feeling it will turn out t be Gloria Rubin’s character.
You can download Falling Skies on iTunes.
Mad Men: Sally really needs to stop going into the city. This week she catches her dad “comforting” a neighbor with his man region. Add that to the time she caught her step-grandmother “comforting” Rodger with her mouth, her black grandma who robbed her, the Martin Luther King riots, and, um, when she became a woman at the museum. And to think, I spent most of this episode thinking I would spend all my time talking about how they actually brought up Peggy and Pete’s love child for the first time in four or five seasons.
You can download Mad Men on iTunes.
Switched at Birth: It was only a matter of time before the daughters started migrating to their original parents now the question is who will get jealous first? Probably Regina, if there is someone to be offended, it will be Regina.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Switched at Birth on iTunes.
Pretty Little Liars: The writers are just taunting me at this point. I was cheering when they were finally leading Mr. Fitz away in handcuffs, something that should have happened back in the first season. But of course that was just a fracking dream sequence. But at least the writers admitted how wrong their relationship is, a felony in the state, and acceptance is the first step. And I would just like to go ahead and predict Paige will not be making it out of the season alive. C’mon, like A will really let her take Emily to California. She is totally going to die.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Hannibal on iTunes.
The Hero: We have our first temptation of the season. And so we can basically write him off as the winner of the season because I do not see America voting for someone who sabotages his team. If they were stupid enough to cast me on the show, I would seriously consider sitting my cast mates down and say I believe in us, if we are ever offered a temptation, take it because I believe that we can overcome any obstacle. But if we do not complete the challenge in time, whoever took the money has to pledge $10,000 to the Red Cross they would have gotten if we won. It is really a win-win for everyone except for whoever would end up winning the whole thing who would probably have a much smaller pot because of all the loss challenges.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.
Hannibal: I have long thought that we would not be seeing Abigail Hobbs next season, she would either move back to Minnesota, college, or would be dead. Sadly it was the latter. I usually do not believe someone is actually dead until I see a body, and sometimes not even then, but I believe that Hannibal will live up to his word and kill her just to make Will look even guiltier. Sad because I found her the most interesting character on the show. Even more sad is that Hannibal (presumably) killed Georgia in the same episode. I was really hoping Georgia and Abigail would become roommates in the second episode.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Hannibal on iTunes.
The Walking Dead: One thing I really hated about Lost is that they would set up something, forget about it, and they finally pay it off long after everyone stopped caring. That was the case this episode when Rick finally ran into the dude who saved him in the series premiere. This meeting should have happened late in the first season or early in the third. But it was still one of the better episodes in the show as Rick finally met someone crazier than he is, but you got to love all the booby traps that crazy dude set up for the walkers and the barely living.
You can download The Walking Dead on iTunes.
Shameless: I was wondering when Karen would pop up again. I figured after Lip gave her a call it would not be long. Though I cannot image she will stick around that long after learning how much it will take to care for her son and just let the grandparents fight over him.
Vikings: It dawned on me about half way through the episode it may not have been the best idea to do a basic cable version of Game of Thrones set in the real world. But the “This season on” package did leave me intrigued so I probably give the show another episode or two to win me over.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Vikings on iTunes
House of Lies: I never thought anyone could ruin a Kristen Bell Sex Tape, but they somehow managed to do that. Thanks House of Lies.
Switched at Birth: It is brave to try an all ASL episode, but I think it could have been better conceived. I thought maybe they would have a national day of silence in protest of the closing of Carlton. Or maybe follow a day in the life of Daphne or even Emmitt for a day. The way they did it seemed a little to force to avoid any spoken dialogue.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Switched At Birth on iTunes.
Dallas: It does not really mattered what happened in the first fifty-nine minutes, something about a silly car race, and the third Ewing brother made his first appearance in Dallas in about three decades, all that matters is the two gunshots that ended the episode. Any other show, it may have been in bad taste to murder off the character of an actor who died in real like, but in the case of Larry Hagman, it seems like a fitting tribute to send off J.R. Ewing with a murder mystery considering Who Shot J.R. was one of the biggest storylines ever in the history of television. I am sure next episode we will get a fitting tribute, but after that we will start for the hunt for J.R.’s killer. Since he was (supposedly) half the world away when he was shot, that rules out everyone in the main cast unless there was a time jump we are unaware of. Your probably have to put Cliff Barnes at the top of the list (but would he be so brazen, as the promo monkeys would have suggest, show up and taunt the death of his rival at his own funeral after killing him). Could Sue Ellen’s sister, who originally shot J.R., come back to finish the job? Um no, it turns out she overdosed and drowned in a pool during the original run. But maybe her son, Christopher finished what his biological mother started. Maybe Gary showing up in Dallas was not a coincidence. Or to tie it back into the modern day version, maybe one of Vincente’s buddies are set to avenge his death.
You can download Dallas on iTunes.
Pretty Little Liars: Well that was a completely random and completely shoehorned in celebrity cameo. At least tease that it would be possible that Missy Franklin could be A, put her in a red coat or something. But even worse, are they actually going to let Ezra teach again… in high school? What, what?!? Apparently even the principal knows something went on, how could he let this happen? Why will Ella work with a dude who sleeping with her high school daughter? These are the worst administrators and parents ever.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.
The Lying Game: So the dude in the black hoodie had to be Thayer right? Everything points to either Rebecca or Alec being the one who killed the one dude and kidnapped (and looks also killed) Teresa, but could Thayer be behind it the whole time? But then the question is why.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download The Lying Game on iTunes.
Justified: Where most law enforcement shows are about who did it, Justified has almost always been a show where we knew who the criminal was early on with the show being much more about the chase. So it is not surprising that the show would unveil its first real long mystery with three episodes to go, maybe it is surprising they did not reveal who Drew Thompson was earlier. Although some could argue that they revealed that Sherriff Shelby was Drew last week when his conversation with Ellen May made it so obvious that I assumed it was going to be a red herring. So now Raylan, and Boyd and Theo Tonin, have three episodes to hunt down Drew. Oh, and Boyd has extra incentive to find him too because it looks like he took Ellen May with him.
It was surprising how funny this episode was considering it came in the wake of Arlo death. The shootout between Constable Bob and the white collar criminals was hilarious, Art’s tirade the kicked off the episode, Raylan still had his trademark wit, and of course all of Wynn Duffy’s reactions were priceless (I bet he did not think a federal agent would be making a house call with a federal prisoner). I was also surprised that the preacher’s sister finally reappeared and it did not involve her teaming up with Ellen May, instead she teamed up with Tim. Is Gutterson finally going to get some love on the show?
You can download Justified on iTunes.
Survivor: Caramoan: What a crime against humanity that the Fans voted out the three hot chicks right in a row. And it was completely short sided to get rid of Laura now, she definitely had the better argument in that you cannot trust Fratboy #1 or Fratboy#2 if they switch things up and keeping them will no way guarantee winning any challenges (and it was hypocritical of the Fratboys for saying they needed to keep a stronger team yet voted for Shamar, probably the strongest person on their team, twice in a row). And more importantly, how do you vote off the three hottest chicks in your tribe in your first three Tribal Councils? I am beginning to worry about the longevity of Andrea now.
You can stream recent episodes over at CBS.com. You can also download Survivor: Caramoan on iTunes.
The Neighbors: I feel bad for Jackie if the only song she has found on the planet Earth has been Semi-Charmed Life.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download The Neighbors on iTunes.
The Americans: Holy frack, Felicity just beat the crap out of Mags Bennett!!! Did not see that coming. I did see that they were being interrogated by the KGB, that was pretty obvious, it is way too early to for the United States government to be on to them (I will be surprised if that happens sometimes before the season finale).
You can download The Americans on iTunes.
King of the Nerds: A couple weeks Jeff Probst did a podcast with Chuck Closterman when Chuck asked Probst if Survivor rewarded mediocrity. His reasoning was simple: all the weak players get eliminated first, and then all the strong people get voted off after the merge, leaving the mediocre to win most seasons. I could not help think of that conversation while Celeste got crowned King of the Nerds. Going into the finals I thought Genevieve would sweep the vote, she was her team’s leader and won three Nerd Off’s while Celeste did not have one signature moment on the show, but mediocrity was awarded (two people weirdly mentioned Celeste’s “growth” as the reason for voting for her). Yawn.
You can download King of the Nerds on iTunes.
Once Upon a Time: Wow, eyeless girl was creepier than anything on The Walking Dead this week. Although will Mr. Gold be willing to get rid of his grandson just because he will be his downfall? Stupid question, this is a guy who let his son slip through a portal alone just to keep his powers.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Once Upon a Time on iTunes.
Revenge: It was pretty obvious that the person at the bottom of the boat would turn out to be the evil dock guy, but I never would have guessed that he would take Amanda down with him. After she had Jack’s baby, I assumed she would be here for the long haul of the show. Hopefully this inspires Emily to get back to taking people down again and stop with all this slow and boring cooperate espionage that has gone on this season.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Revenge on iTunes.
The Walking Dead: I thought crazy Rick stopped after he realized he was getting phone calls from beyond the grave. Ugg. And all the zombies that came out of that delivery truck might as well all had wigs on because that was essentially a clown car.
You can download The Walking Dead on iTunes.
Shameless: Of course child services shows up at the most chaotic time ever on the show. It will be hard for to get the Gallagher’s to get out of this one, but I have a feeling the inept worker will help them out inadvertently or not. And can you really get pregnant with a turkey baster? I always that that was an urban legend.
House of Lies: Uh, oh, Veronica Mars went on a blind date with the Hearst rapist this week. Hopefully she will be back next week with all her hair.
How I Met Your Mother: I am too lazy to even bother to think about it, but I am pretty sure the show has done the three stories from three perspectives before, probably multiple times, and it it gets less interesting every time. With that said, I kind of want to watch this episode again just to see of Barney’s Austrian king actually shows up in the background somewhere.
You can stream recent episodes over at CBS.com. You can also download How I Met Your Mother on iTunes.
Switched at Birth: I had the new girl pegged to be a mole, she was acting a little too weird, but I would not have guessed that she would turn out to be the opponent’s daughter. But will Toby be able to use that to his father’s advantage?
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Switched At Birth on iTunes.
Bunheads: I did not think the show could top the weirdness Istanbul dance from last summer, but I think they may have done so with the dancing miners.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Bunheads on iTunes. 2 Broke Girls:
Castle: I was going to take this time to make numerous Taken jokes, but the promo monkeys already beat me to it with the previews showing an upcoming Liam Neeson joke. Hurmph.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Castle on iTunes.
Pretty Little Liars: Do people in the suburbs really have shower / spas like that in their homes? I defiantly need one.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.
Go On: I am really ready for Simone to go back to wherever she came from.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Go On on iTunes.
Justified: The video that Jody made for Raylan (with the aid of Paul Kinsey!) was so entertaining I will completely ignore that he really never had the time to make said video (or how implausible that basically every episode this season so far took part in less than a week). Also the show could use more Jackie Nevada. I take her over Ava, Wynona, or the barmaid from earlier this season. If you cannot get enough of Nevada, I highly recommend Raylan the book (see my review here), this episode is basically the end of the book, except there was no doubt if Raylan got any. Then again, in my experience, whenever a girl leaves the bathroom door open when she takes a shower, it is a sign she wants you to join her. Okay, that has never actually happened to me.
You can download Justified on iTunes.
Survivor: Caramoan: I really like the trend of people outing other people at tribal council who have a Hidden Immunity Idol. I do not like the trend of people claiming that they are going to use said Idol but keep it in their pocket. I also do not like how the “Player of the Week” commercial is almost always spoilery. When both Laura and Douchebag #1 (not to be confused with Douchebag #2 whose name I also have no desire to learn) were up for the award, you knew they were going to do something but they did nothing interesting before then. I am usually good at skipping the ad, but the show really needs to move it to the last commercial break to avoid such spoilers.
You can stream recent episodes over at CBS.com. You can also download Survivor: Caramoan - Fans vs. Favorites on iTunes.
Modern Family: Holy Bud Bundy sighting! T is a shame that it took Al this long to get his son some work.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Modern Family on iTunes.
The Americans: It is weird watching this episode with all the paranoia that the Russians were behind the shooting of Ronald Regan when we now know that some crazy dude did it just to impress Jody Foster (I hear she’s currently single). I guess the closes thing similar that I can think of was when the power went out here and most of the northeastern part of the United States right after 9/11 and everyone thought it was another terrorist attack, but just turned out that our power grid just sucks. And a decade later, they still have not fixed it.
You can download The Americans on iTunes.
Community: I am now convinced the new showrunners are just fracking with us between the Stockholm Syndrome attempt and Luke Perry and Jennie Garth ruining Inspector Spacetime. This is going to be a long final season.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Community on iTunes.
King of the Nerds: It is weird that for a show entitled King of the Nerds, that there is only one guy that remains even though the game started out with more guys than girls. I guess it may not be all that surprising that a bunch of male nerds would get flustered with chicks around, losing ever head to head gender battle in the Nerd Off. Now will the chicks band together to make sure Ivan (like when Parvati won Survivor) or with the self implode and let the guy win (like that season with Eliza)? Actually come to think of it, has there ever been an all male final on Survivor? (Researching… It has happened three times out of twenty-five seasons; five were all female)
Once Upon a Time: So Jack of the beanstalk fame was a chick? Alrighty. About as realistic as watching Hurley trying to run. I also like the promo monkeys making it sound like the reveal of Mr. Gold’s son is going to eb a shocking reveal as anyone who has watched has already figured out that his son is also Henry’s baby daddy.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Once Upon a Time on iTunes.
Revenge: It is common knowledge that the second season of the show just is not as entertaining as the first. I would argue that the Jump the Shark moment was when it was revealed that it was not Daniel who died as witnessed during the series premiere but the Rent Boy instead. And it looks like the show is going to pull that cheap storytelling again this season as it was teases that Jack would end up at the bottom of the ocean at some point but will not actually pull it off as I bet the evil dock owner is the one that will end up dead. Hurmph.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Revenge on iTunes.
The Walking Dead: So after coherently invading Woodbury and successfully saving Glen, Maggie, and then Daryl, Rick is bat-ish crazy again. Yep, seems right. Welcoming back The Walking Dead.
You can download The Walking Dead on iTunes.
Shameless: Just when you think the show has run out of new ways to offend the audience, a third Malkovich child shows up with an extra package. Apparently nothing came out of Frank calling child services a couple weeks ago, but I am beginning to think maybe a representative should start showing up on set.
House of Lies: I try to avoid anything that involves Matt Damon and got tired of actors playing a douchebag version of themselves a long time ago, but this may have been the most entertaining episode of the show yet.
Switched at Birth: Is it wrong that I started yelling “Deaf Fight!!!” during this episode? Please do not answer that, I already know the answer.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Switched At Birth on iTunes.
How I Met Your Mother: Just when you think this was going to be another episode where the writers beat an already not very funny joke into the ground, out walks Mike Tyson. Well done writers, well done.
You can stream recent episodes over at CBS.com. You can also download How I Met Your Mother on iTunes.
Dallas: I wonder why Ryland and his mother are perpetrating Bobby lie that he shot him. Does Ryland actually not remember and his mommy told him who shot him? As much as they hate Anne, why not let her rot in jail?
You can download Dallas on iTunes.
Deception: O wow, I was actually right that the dude from the John Laraquette Show was actually Mia father. And now I am beginning to think he killed Edward’s one night stand to have leverage over the Bowers family. But even if the statute of limitations of statutory rape runs out after five years, would accessory to murder still get him jail time. I may just have to move him up on my list of suspect to number two after step-mommy.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Deception on iTunes.
Pretty Little Liars: Huh, it looked like Jason’s flashback was going to show what happened after Mr. Montgomery got threatened by Allison and then Spencer’s sister walked out of her house, but instead of Allison, Jason saw… CeCe? Huh? Maybe it is CeCe is the red coat that is the Master A. And where did Jason go? Unles the Liars are that unobservant that h would just slip by, did he really jump out of the window after falling down an elevator shaft?
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.
Justified: I guess I was not the only one who thought Major Dad was also Drew Thompson. Granted until I see his high school wrestling pictures under the name Josiah, I would be highly suspicious that he still is. But if Major Dad is not Drew Thompson, who is? Since the show like to recycle its guest stars, I have a feeling we have already met him (for half a second, I actually thought that Arlo may be Drew Thompson, but Raylan is too old to not know his father changed his name). Could it be the half naked judge from News Radio? Sherriff Shelby? Constable Bob? Wynn Duffy? Please oh, please let it be Dewey Crowe.
You can download Justified on iTunes.
Nashville: I wonder if Gunner and Scarlett ditch Avery’s band just like Avery did. They get wind that Rayna may want to sign them, and no mention of the other guys. I guess with a show with this name, someone needs to stay in Nashville.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Nashville on iTunes.
The Americans: Holy Mags Bennett sighting! You knew when Mags showed up in dinner, she was not going to be just some random creepy chick; the only question would be if she were KGB or FBI (or some other three letter agency). It turns out she is the new KGB boss and has no problem killing a chick. But I guess that was the only reasonable outcome (again showing again just how soft the Jennings are getting), with the kid going to his grandparents in Mother Russia.
You can download The Americans on iTunes.
Community: Note to the new showrunner: no more Scary Annie please. It is not brain surgery, put her in highly GIF-able situations. No need to over-think things when it comes to her.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Community on iTunes.
exclusively on Amazon Instant Video, free for Prime members
.
- John Mayer
show from Frank Darabont, which also stars that show’s Jon Bernthal. The fist look makes it seem very stylized, but I could not help but thinking about the underwhelming Gangster Squad while watching this. Still I am still skeptically optimistic. Mob City premieres December 4 on TNT.
- Washed Out
and the series premiere Masters of Sex and Showtime recently released full trailers for both. Not that surprisingly the Homeland trailer features bombings, congressional hearings (they blew up the CIA last season all), a crazy wall map, and Brody sheering his signature ginger hair (although the only people that will not recognize him are the same people who do not recognize Superman when he is wearing glasses). And as I predicted way back in the first season, it looks like Dana may finally be converting to her father’s religion. But also a few shockers most notably Carrie in a hospital gown and handcuffs. Uh oh. And Dana texting seems like a creepy storyline. But then again it cannot be worse than the hit and run storyline. Feel free to watch the trailer on a loop for the next seven weeks, I probably will.
was always the worst at this), and the only way they can make it worse is if everything is back to normal by the second episode (which was always the case on Smallville). I will not be surprised if the hooker turns up alive next season or the white people end up not being exiled. Hopefully the video game is better. Not that I will be playing it.
flashbacks (sure it was a different character but I am sure that is what they were going for). And should I have recognized who the den mother in the picture from the end of the episode was?
. Two shows that had intriguing ideas but failed in execution. Hopefully Siberia can break that trend.
. But people have ripped off worse ideas.
jokes, but the promo monkeys already beat me to it with the previews showing an upcoming Liam Neeson joke. Hurmph.