57 Channels and Only This Is On - 4/30/11

The Killing: I am a little surprised they are sticking on the teacher for more than an episode as a suspect. I wonder if the series is going to click off suspects one by one until they find the killer or will it be a suspect they looked at earlier in the season, but thought they cleared. Either way I am still enthralled. You can download The Killing on iTunes.

The Event: When the token hot chick talked about how cold it is in Siberia this time of year, I had to laugh when she said it was ten degrees. I was walking my dogs in negative wind chill this past winter, a stone cold assassin should not be complaining about double digit weather. But my favorite part of the episode was the “da, da, da” moment at the end when the creepy dude realized, after having it all day, that the coffee spilled on his shirt. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download The Event on iTunes.

Survivor: Redemption Island: I have given a lot of crap to Ometepe for keeping Boston Rob around, and he should have been the first one out on his tribe, but keeping him around now is a smart move because no one will vote for him. But the problem now, with Philip taking the other spot, you are now at Rob’s mercy to get that third spot at the final tribal (assuming there will be three). And now with all the Zapatera, the four fighting for that third and final spot are almost out of options depending when and who returns from Redemption Island. So unless Grant goes on an Immunity run, we might as well flash forward to the finale and give Natalie Tenerelli the million dollars. You can stream recent episodes over at cbs.com.



Justified: The first season really build with every episode to the season finale but this season something seemed to build to a head every couple episodes. Hopefully this season finale will have the same result: edge of your seat entertainment and one of the best forty minutes on television. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Justified on iTunes.

The Big Bang Theory: I have long believed that the show will eventually get Sheldon drunk and have him sleep with Penny (although Amy would be more likely now that she is a cast member now) and I thought that might happened this episode, but only Amy getting her drink on, then her smoke on. Oh, yeah, more smoking monkeys please. You can stream recent episodes over at cbs.com.

Community: Now I was only a math minor, but I am pretty sure if Shirley was impregnated around Halloween that her kid was early even had it been a Chang baby. And after the plotline, they probably should have retired the handshake. You can stream current episodes on Hulu. You can also download Community on iTunes.

Friday Night Lights: What a juxtaposition of Tammi spending a whole week trying to hammer it into the girls of East Dillon about making good decisions while her daughter was a couple miles away making a pretty bad decision of her own. I wonder if Julie’s affair is what was going to happen with her creepy English teacher that got interrupted by the writer’s strike in season two. But at least we were witness to another great Coach Taylor put on your bulletin board speech. I really need to upload his great quotes onto my iPod and listen to them on a loop while working out. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu.

57 Channels and Only This Is On - 4/23/11

The Killing: Sterling being the girl in the video seemed like a bit of a cop-out. Shouldn’t the detectives have figured that out that it wasn’t Rosie’s with a simple blood test? Isn’t that forensics 101? You can download The Killing on iTunes.

Chuck: From the moment Chuck proposed, my first thought was, “great, now they can bring back Gary Cole” and finally he showed back up in Burbank this week. And the episode did not disappoint unless you count at the hints that Gary may actually miss the wedding itself. And are we ever going to learn what is going on with Sarah’s mother? You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Chuck on iTunes.

The Event: Come next month at the Upfronts, this will the episode I look back on and give an indifferent shug when the show does not show up on NBC’s schedule. Seriously, Hal Holbrooke after pulling the strings all season, put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger. What the frack? Random character deaths are one of the many things that ruined Lost. I officially no longer care about this show. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download The Event on iTunes.

Parenthood: No show on television has a higher tears to laughs ratio than Parenthood. It seemed like I was alternated between the two every five minutes of the finale. With Friday Night Lights ending the season, Parenthood has to return next year. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Parenthood on iTunes.

Survivor: Redemption Island: Still waiting for something interesting to happen. You can stream recent episodes over at cbs.com.



Modern Family: Back in college I worked as rock climbing belayer for a week and actually had a guy about the size of Cameron walk in and needless to say I was not thrilled to have to spot him. Thankfully the guy did not make it more than two feet off the ground, but when he fell, it shot me about four feet off the ground. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu.



Justified: Uh oh, things between the Bennetts and Gibbons just got escalated. But is Raylan really going to take away two of Mag’s sons from her? Should make a great next episode. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Justified on iTunes.

Community: While watching the final season of Fresh Prince of Bel Air (see my review: You’re Moving in with You Auntie and Uncle in Bel Air) I was treated to a blooper show, but I wondered where a proper clip show was. Of course Community had to take the clip show and flip it on its head by only featuring clips that never actually aired. R.I.P. The Cape. You can stream current episodes on Hulu. You can also download Community on iTunes.

Friday Night Lights: When I first saw Luke take out the other quarterback in the season premiere, my first thought was back to the Pilot with Jason Street and I am a bit surprised that was never touched on so far. Was the person that took Street out suspended? And Like how Becky was glad someone cared enough about her to be angry that she stayed out too late. It is about time something went right for that girl. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu.

57 Channels and Only This Is On - 4/17/11

The Killing: Wow, that video popping up was shocking. It does help my case that the dad could be involved, getting rid of Rosie maybe to cover up such a video from getting out. You can download The Killing on iTunes.

Chuck: I am a little surprised the show didn’t go full Hannibal Lecher and wheel Volcoff in with the mask on. But this show has been much more fun this season (with the exception of the C.A.T. Squad) with Timothy Dalton on the screen. Great scenes with him and the gun runners and the chess bit. It is a shame he did not escape. Hopefully with Vivian having the weapon, they will have to wheel him back in a couple more times before the end of the season. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Chuck on iTunes.

How I Met Your Mother: As entertaining as Graduation Goggles was, the longer Jennifer Morrison sticks around, the bigger a drag she becomes. Hopefully next week is the break up episode because it is time for her to go. You can stream recent episodes over at cbs.com. You can also download How I Met Your Mother on iTunes.

Castle: Finally my theory of the most recognizable guest actor as the killer did not come to fruition because I had Erik Palladino pegged from the moment he popped up on screen. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Castle on iTunes.

Parenthood: I was surprised to look at the description for next week to see it is already the season finale. Even though we got ten extra episodes this season, it doesn’t feel like it should be over all ready. And it should be a great one with the Braverman’s coping with Amber’s accident. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Parenthood on iTunes.

Survivor: Redemption Island: Thank goodness there were two eliminations this week because watching the slow decimation of the old Zapatera tribe. Hopefully someone on the old Ometepe tribe comes up with a big play soon because this is becoming excruciating to watch. You can stream recent episodes over at cbs.com.



Justified: Somewhat of a filler episode. We did get a great scene between Raylan and Art, but everything else seemed to be a transition to the stretch run of the season. But it was nice to see Herc up and walking again. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Justified on iTunes.

Community: You really cannot go wrong with a good Veronica Mars reference. It is about time the pop culture junkies on the show finally gave her a shout out. Speaking of which, when is Community going to get around to making a noir episode? You can stream current episodes on Hulu. You can also download Community on iTunes.

Outsourced: I remember when I got my palms read back in college and how we made fun of it the whole time. But the chick did say I had a long life line and I am still alive, so she had that going for her. You can stream current episodes on Hulu. You can also download Outsourced on iTunes.

For those looking for my thoughts on the Friday Night Lights return, I wrote about them back when it premiered on DirecTV, check them out at First Impressions: Friday Night Lights: The Final Season.

Also check out my Preview of Happy Endings.

Best of the Week - 4/16/11

Quote of the Week: Because you dress like Justin Beiber and eat pork rinds for dinner. (The Killing)

Song of the Week: I Will Remember You – Sarah McLaughlin (How I Met Your Mother)

Big News of the Week: Norm MacDonald Returns to Television: One of my heroes finally returned to the small screen this week, the only problem is, I have not seen it yet. See, Sports Show with Norm MacDonald is on past my bedtime, So I figured I would head over to Hulu the next day, only it was not there. Next I tried Comedy Central.com and all that was there were five short clips. Then on to Comedy Central’s On Demand channel to no avail. As a last resort, I looked up its repeat schedule and it only reairs past midnight. Seriously Comedy Central, throw me a bone so I do not have to break out the VCR to watch the show.

Gratuitous Token Hot Chick Picture of the Week:



Free Download of the Week: I Should Have Known - Foo Fighters (AmazonMP3)

Deal of the Week: Up to 59% Off ABC TV (Castle, Lost, Scrubs)

New Album Release of the Week: Two - Lenka

New DVD Release of the Week: The Fresh Prince of Bel Air: The Complete Sixth Season

Video of the Week: After a brief hiatus, this week saw a double dose of Yvonne Strahovski with the return of Chuck and she even popped u[p in the latest College Humor video. Although I kind of wish I could unsee the second. The video lampoons the very parodyable Katy Perry, Ke$ha, and Lady Gaga and managed to come up with a song three times worse than any of the songs of the original artists (which has to be hard to do) to the point that College Humor should really think about changing its name. So be warned you may think less of Sarah Walker after watching this video.




Next Week Pick of the Week: Game of Thrones, Sunday (4/17) at 9:00 n HBO: HBO rules the early 00’s critically with show like The Sopranos, The Wire, Deadwood and Rome, but there have been chinks in the armor of late with some considering Showtime, the must subscribe channel while other consider AMC the channel with the best shows on television (I would argue that title goes to FX). With the critically mixed True Blood the only recent hit, HBO looks to reassert its dominance in terms of quality this weekend with the premiere of the highly anticipated Game of Thrones based on George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series. I know I cannot wait until the show hits DVD shelves.

First Impressions: The Killing

Dilemmas, dilemmas. Sunday night I had to decide between watching AMC’s latest series The Killing or VH1’s 40 Greatest One Hit Wonders of the 90’s. Reluctantly I choose the more scripted fair because undoubtedly VH1 would repeat it a couple hundred more times this month and sit there and scream at the television at some of their entries on the list (like when I flipped during the commercial break and saw House of Pain; has no one heard of Shamrocks and Shenanigans, Who’s the Man?, On Point; more on that later this week).

Despite not being in the can like all the pretentious television critic for AMC, I am always down for a good murder mystery, and even bad one as I made it through a whole season of Pretty Little Liars. Much like the ABC Family drama, The Killing shows the aftermath of a murder of a teenage girl, but the similarities end there. This time the detective work is left to the professionals. Taking lead on her last day of work before moving to a new city is Mireille Enos (who it takes a while to get used to watching in modern day clothes after her work on Big Love). Shadowing her on the case is her replacement Joel Kinnaman (dude’s Swedish, so I cannot translate any of his previous work).

The victim, Rosie Larsen, was killed pretty methodically, being drowned in a car that was sunk to a bottom of a lake of which she was locked in the trunk of. The big twist being that car was registered to the city councilman, Billy Campbell (The Rocketeer) who is running for mayor against the incumbent. Campbell has a few skeletons of his own has been has been hiding an affair with his campaign manager, Kristin Lehman (Tilt), and he knows a few things the Larsen family is going though, as he experienced the same thing with his late wife.

Rounding out the cast are Rosie’s parents Michelle Forbes (Battlestar Galactica: Razor) and Brent Sexton (Deadwood). If you want to be sad for hours on end, just watch their scenes after they found out their daughter died, maybe too real for television especially when they are forced to explain to their sons that they will never see their older sister ever again.

Every good murder mystery is judged by the quality of suspects and there are plenty to be found on The Killing. The two I am targeting includes Eric Ladin (Generation Kill), another of Campbell’s campaign advisor who was a bit too quick to turn the murder into political gain and could have easily been the one to report the campaign car stolen. But my lead suspect is the father of resident douchebag Jasper Ames who was even quicker to break up the questioning of his son. Of course as Aaron Echolls showed, who did not appear until the sixth episode of Veronica Mars, we may have not even met the murderer yet.

As much as a murder mystery can draw me in, the strong point of the show are the two detectives and their two very different styles. In an era where every character on television likes to take long expeditions of dialogue, Enos’s character chooses her words very carefully and doesn’t speak an unnecessary one. While Kinnaman is a very believable former undercover Vice cop as he looks like a skeevier version of DJ Qualls. And his scene with the soccer players was a marvel to watch in that you could have believed any outcome that could have happened from that meeting.

For any degenerates out there that enjoy a good drinking game, may I suggest you take a shot of your favorite poison of choose whenever the show lingers on an image of a bridge. You may get as drunk as the drinking game I invented for whenever Al Swearengen said his favorite word.

The Killing airs Sundays at 10:00 on AMC. You can stream episodes over at amc.com. You can also download The Killing on iTunes (where you can currently download the pilot for free, or Amazon Instand Video, see below, where you can get the first two episodes for free).