Showing posts with label The Path. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Path. Show all posts

Sunday, February 26, 2017

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 2/26/17



Mercy Street: When the show opened without dialogue, I thought it was some artist thing, well if the soldier cannot hear, we the audience will not hear what is being said to him. A scene later I realized nope, there was some glitch where I can hear the background sound and music but not the actors. Then after five minutes watching with the closed captioning on I realized, oh yeah, I get two PBS channel and flipped of and lo and behold, sound. Geez. And is Ramona Flowers gone? There is only one episode left this season (bizarrely they are taking a week off next week, I guess for the Oscars yet why skip that week and not the Super Bowl) so I wonder if we will see her then.
You can download Mercy Street on iTunes.

Homeland: Well that escalated quickly. Poor Quinn, maybe should have let him die, instead he pushes a reporter and shoots a protester. Of course that was just a destraction to the bigger reveal of the episode that some mysterious source got that tape to Carrie. But who? My first thought was Dar. But it does seem like an inside job to discredit the president-elect, even purposely exploding the bomb to minimize casualties just minutes from her location.

The Walking Dead: So those trash people are… interesting. But hey, they are well chorography which definitely needed when trying to take down evil.
You can download The Walking Dead on iTunes.

Supergirl: Put aside the offensiveness of Mister Mxyzptlk being played by a full sized male model, who did not even wear a bowler hat, I actually kind of enjoyed the little imp. Or really, I just enjoyed him annoying Mon-El who is really ready for a heel turn.
You can download Supergirl on iTunes.

Timeless: Wait, we go through the whole season and Lucy does not even get her sister back? What the fork? And what was going on with Jiya, why is she the only one now with powers? How did the Lifeboat know she was the fourth member? I think I might be fine with this show not coming back.
You can download Timeless on iTunes.

The Challenge: Invasion of the Champions: Walking upstairs has to be up there with lamest Elimination Round challenges. Hopefully the Champions spice things up next week.
You can download The Challenge: Invasion of the Champions on iTunes.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: A room full of Daisy Fem-Bots? Yes please. I really hope fake May did not blow all of them up, wait a waste. Of course the joy of all thoe Daisy’s was ruined by the return of Ward. What the fork?!? They killed him off…twice. Why do they keep bringing him back? And if Simmons is dead in the framework, what happens to real Simmons when she tries to enter it?
Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on iTunes.

The Path: Wait, gay marriages still has ugly bridesmaids dresses, who knew? But at least Hawk is finally cutting off his hair, unfortunately it turned into a weird Ghost moment with a chick too old for him. But Richard finally learned Eddie was in Peru and assumes that he pushed the leader over the cliff. But what exactly happened? Did he actually do it? Did the leader jump? Was Cal secretly there and did it?
You can stream The Path on Hulu.

Legion: Okay, so far the show has distracted me with a random dance sequence and gratuitous nudity, but I am beginning to realize nothing is actually happening. I know it is a superhero cliché, but I could even go for a destroyed city right about now.
You can download Legion on iTunes.

The Blacklist (Redemption): When they hyped a two hour Blacklist event I thought they would set of the latter I the first hour. Except Tom was not even in the first hour. Actually has he even been in any recent episode. I vaguely remember his father dying which I was correct in him not actually being dead. But that second half was a bit of a bore, I was more interesting in Red’s man servant seemingly turning on him.
You can download The Blacklist on iTunes.

Emerald City: So that is why the princess wore a mask, because she was a robot and wants to hide her not aging? Alrighty. But if she was a robot, why did she “die” when getting hit by a bullet?
You can download Emerald City on iTunes.

Saturday, February 18, 2017

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 2/18/2017



The 59th Annual Grammy Awards: I figured this year’s Grammys would suck because music last year sucked. Except, it ended up not being as bad as I expected. Granted about half of the performers did not actually perform songs that were even eligible this year. By my count The Weeknd, Ed Sheeran, Metallica, Bruno Mars, Katy Perry, and A Tribe Called Questall performed songs that were released after this year’s deadline. Which means many of this year’s nominees got the shafted. It used to be if you were nominated in the big four you were automatically got to perform. Rihanna, Drake, and Kanye West all had the second most nominations while Justin Bieber also was up for Album and Song but none performed (I do not think the latter three even showed up; weirdly Rihanna was scheduled to perform last year but pulled out due to illness). Mike Posner, was not seen despite a Song of the Year nomination. Lukas Graham, up for Record/Song and Best New Artist was forced to mash up their song with fellow Best New Artist nominee Kelsea Ballerini which ended up being the worst of the night. Other Best New Artist nominees The Chainsmokers I do not think were even there while Anderson .Paak was barely noticeable in the A Tribe Called Quest set. And I am not a big fan, but twenty one pilots got a bunch of nominations (five, same as Adele), including Record of the Year, yet only hit the stage to accept an award in their underwear. While Bruno Mars, who was not nominated this year, got to perform twice. To put this in context, last year, only Adele performed despite releasing music too late to be eligible (although you can also count Rihanna who pulled out; Justin Beiber also performed Love Yourself but as part of a medley with a nominated collaboration with Skillex and Diplo). Of course not that I am complaining, just next year are they going to ask back all of those six performers if they are nominated? Obviously yes concerning Bruno Mars and probably Ed Sheeran. I just hope Tribe goes on an award tour next year with a bunch of nominations in the major categories.

Mercy Street: That dude was a she, did not see that coming.
You can download Mercy Street on iTunes.

Homeland: After Carrie got that guy out, I figured he would eventually carry out a terrorist attack, except instead he just made a video. TThen just when I thought Quinn was just being paranoid about the guy across the street, he follows him to a shipping yaarrd of whick Saku just happened to woeked. When he turned the key, I thought, oh, this is going to explode. Then when he put it in the reverse, I thought, oh this is going to explode. Then when he turned on the radio I thought, oh this is going to explode. Then when I figured, oh maybe he is just delivering something, the van is not actually going to explode, then it exploded. Okay, this season just got interesting.

The Walking Dead: So Rick heads out to that boathouse and no one was there. He goes back this week and there is a whole hoard of people who, to my knowledge, we have never seen before.
You can download The Walking Dead on iTunes.

Supergirl: Mmm, The Luther’s are easily the most interesting part of the show (of course villains usually are). I would not mind a spinoff. And expect a lot of complaining next week, but why the fork is Mister Mxyzptlk being played by an Abercrombie model? We hear a lot made of cultural appropriation and white washing, but where is the outrage that Mister Mxyzptlk is not being played by an actual imp?
You can download Supergirl on iTunes.

The Challenge: Invasion of the Champions: Cory made an interesting decision this week by offering himself up for elimination. It is the easier way to get to the Oasis, you have a fifty-fifty chance to make it, which is better than one in eight the other way. But if you lose a challenge, you get another shot next week, you lose the elimination, you have to wait a year and hope to be asked back. Of course the easiest way to make it into the Oasis is to go against someone who quits. C’mon buddy, climbing up the mountain seems like the hard part to me. Might as well jump at that point.
You can download The Challenge: Invasion of the Champions on iTunes.

The Path: Wait, did FBI guy really plant a burner phone to set up the doctor? Obviously a great way to get Cal to trust you is to find the mole and obviously you cannot turn yourself in, but that was cold. And the FBI could also try to turn her. Speaking of sadistic acts, harsh for someone poisoning thousands of people (and cows) to increase her company’s bottom line calling someone else sadistic. But what I am interested in is how the social black warrior will figure back into the show. The head guy just did not seem like a one off character.
You can stream The Path on Hulu.

Blindplot: Rich Dot Com is always a welcome site, but him picking Kurt as his date may have made this the best episode in the show’s history.
You can download Blindspot on iTunes.

Powerless: Holy Black Manta sighting!!!!! Finally he gets his first live action appearance. Well even if was just a mention, not actually appearing on screen. But it is a start.
You can download Powerless on iTunes.

Emerald City: So who exactly is the Cowardly Lion? At first I thought it was the boy/girl. Then I thought it was the quit girl. Maybe neither. I still doubt boy/girl who is apparently a princess is really dead.
You can download Emerald City on iTunes.

Sunday, February 12, 2017

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 2/12/17



Mercy Street: Right before halftime of the Super Bowl (ad winner has to be Mexican Avocados for trolling the President during the first commercial break of the most watched American show of the year) I actually posted on social media that I might as well just watch Mercy Street. The game was a blowout, the Lady Gaga halftime show was coming up (congratulations Black Eyed Peas, you are no longer the worst halftime show of all time). For some reason I did not turn over and ended up seeing another bunch of corrupt individuals win and ruin an American institution. Due to PBS’s lack of On Demand channel I had to stream it on their website. Despite PBS being commercial free, there were actually ads on streaming. Except where five commercial breaks were marked, only one actually stopped the play. Weird. As for the actual episode, are they actually going to transport a typhoid patient by boat? No wonder so many people died back then.
You can download Mercy Street on iTunes.

Supergirl: Alex’s favorite band is Barenaked Ladies? C’mon writers, we get it, she is a lesbian now, let’s move on.
You can download Supergirl on iTunes.

Timeless: Couldn’t they bring back Ernest Hemmingway Bill and Ted style to the present and add him to the team, he can be the new “muscle.” He would instantly be the most interesting character.
You can download Timeless on iTunes.

The Challenge: Invasion of the Champions: No wonder they did back to back episodes because those first fourty minutes were extremely boring. But I did like that first challenge, individual but you needed a lot of help to complete. But after two hours, we still do not know how the “Champions” are coming back or what is going on with The Oasis. Or even what if someone who has punched their ticket to The Oasis goes home first.
You can download The Challenge: Invasion of the Champions on iTunes.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Oh hey, real Ada. It never really crossed my mind that there was an actual human that looked like that.
Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on iTunes.

The Path: Wait, the new hot blonde was involved with Eddie’s brother? I completely missed that. But her kid is not Eddie’s nephew, right? But hopefully things get interesting now that Cal knows there is a mole in the mix.
You can stream The Path on Hulu.

Legion: Um, alrighty, so that was… interesting. And I kind of hope we get a random dance sequence every week.
You can download Legion on iTunes.

The Blacklist: Wait, was that John Locke as Tom’s father? Sure looked like it to me and pretty much would confirm that he father is not really dead..
You can download The Blacklist on iTunes.

Emerald City: Wait, Scarecrow has been a secret spy for Glenda the Good Witch this whole time?!? Huh?!? Sure I did not think Dorothy was going to kill her, but I did not see that coming.
You can download Emerald City on iTunes.

Sunday, February 05, 2017

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 2/5/17



Mercy Street: Oh no, Ramona Flowers may have Typhoid? They better not kill her off, she is basically the main reason I watch.
You can download Mercy Street on iTunes.

Homeland: I was going to scoff at the new president keeping Dar on at the CIA but Trump just announced that James Comie was going to continue to lead the FBI so I guess that is one of the more probable plot twists on the show. How depressing that the plots on Homeland have become more believable than real life? And of course Dar tapped the president, how long until he lets Saul in on this information? And what exactly is Saul doing?

The Affair: So after the big reveal last week that Noah stabbed himself, this week he is now in post coital bliss with Juliette in Paris like nothing happened. Then we get o see her deal with her life even though I do not think we have seen her since the second or third episode. Meh. As usually, Noah’s act was much better especially running inti Furcat. Too bad they did not have a time to work in an episode that featured Furcat’s perspective. And what was so bizarre about this episode was after such a bizarre season, the finale was kind of just normal people doing normal things. Then no Cole or Allison and I am not entirely sure what exactly their purpose were this season.

Conviction: Never a good idea to wait until your last to make a good episode. Incompetent first year lawyer Hayes would have been a much better show than what we had been watching.
You can download Conviction on iTunes.

Gotham: I thought we were going to have a repeat from early in season one when Gordon took the Penguin to the docks, and in lei of killing him, said never come back to Gotham, except The Riddler actually did shoot Penguin in the gut. Ouch, I guess not potentially fatal but it s not like he would be the first to ever come back to the dead on this show.
You can download Gotham on iTunes.

Supergirl: Oh wow, second episode in a row when I did not absolutely hate Mon-El. But I still loved the very appropriate frat boy dig.
You can download Supergirl on iTunes.

Lucifer: Wait, so why can the lord of the underworld not allowed to go back and forth freely? Especially leave, he already left once.
You can download Lucifer on iTunes.

Timeless: What the fork?!? Army guy kills the father of his wife’s killer and still does not manage to change the future (or least that we get to see). Why do I know have the feeling the Riddenhouse was involved in her death?
You can download Timeless on iTunes.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Oh wait, Patton Oswalt also has a twin sister? Where exactly has his characters been anyway, the show needs to work them back into the show more often.
Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on iTunes.

The Path: Wait, did she really just drink contaminated pod water?!? If you really want to walk a mile in their shoes, just drink from their tap. And is Steve not in the light because Eddie is the true leader?
You can stream The Path on Hulu.

Emerald City: Wait the Wizard of Oz want Dorthy to kill… Glinda the Good Witch!?!?!? Huh? And when is she actually going to team up with the Tin Man? Shouldn’t that have happened before she arrived at the Emerald City.
You can download Emerald City on iTunes.

Wednesday, January 25, 2017

Previewing The Path: Season Two



I wanted to love the first season of The Path, I really did, everything was in place, produced by the Friday Night Lights guy, starring the guy from Hannibal. There was even a guest spot from Lyla Garrity. But the shoe just did not completely gel for me. I think maybe it is the whole cult theme but I spent most of the first season hoping for something more that never came. I still hold out hope the show can find its footing.

There are some changes in the second season, mostly by subtraction. Gone is Hawk’s high school crush which is understandable as the cult alienated her mother (Hawk gets a new love interest this season, a fellow level one rung member). Also gone is the hot blonde deserter. I vaguely remember her walking onto a frozen lake at the end of last season. I guess we are led to believe she fell in. Maybe? (I will say we do see one of these two ladies at some point in the second season.) On the bright side there is a new curly haired hot blonde this season to entice Eddie.

I guess the new season started off five months after the last season when Eddie went to Peru and saw the supposedly dying leader of the Mierist movement rising from his deathbed (there are flashbacks to that moment in the first episode. I guess five months because Mary is now five months pregnant and we are led to believed that the father can either be Sean’s (who has been promoted to the main credits) or Cal’s. There is a humorous scene early on where she asked Sarah’s adoptive Asian sister how likely her mixed raced kids look like her. Apparently she missed that day in biology class or has never heard Public Enemy’s Fear of a Black Plant where they talk about the dominant and recessive genes.

That is about as entertaining a moment in the two episodes that are uploaded to Hulu today. Yes the show is sticking to its weekly schedule even though Hulu has since experimented with Netflix season dump with their latest show Shut Eye. Still the most interesting part of the show is the war between Cal, the true believer who wants more than anything to be the next leader and will do anything to obtain power, and Eddie, the nonbeliever who may actually be the chosen leader but wants nothing to do with it.

But the thing is, as the second season progresses, the most enthralled I got into it as it really build to something which was lacking in the first season. Okay, I did not care that much for the resolution of this build, but I will say it sets up an interesting plot for a potential season three.

The Path releases new episode every Wednesday on Hulu, the first two are available today.



Sunday, May 29, 2016

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 5/29/16



House of Lies: This was the second time this season the group got high to close a deal. Nice work if you can get it.

Penny Dreadful: So we do get a full flashback episode with Vanessa in the mental hospital and it was Frankenstein’s monster as the orderly. Kind of horror movies set up, girl in mental hospital and orderly learn to accept each other, a quick scare in the middle, and then at the end we finally see the Lucifer.. and then his brother… Dracula? And Lucifer is scared of Dracula? Mmm, alright. I kind of wish this was mixed in with other character’s segments because there was not much going on to fill an entire hour.

Gotham: I think I actually liked Clayface as Gordon more than I liked Gordon himself. Of course none of the guys figured out it was an imposter and it took Barbra only thirty seconds spot that it was not him. Speaking of doppelgangers, that last person out of the bus certainly looked a lot like Bruce with Edward Scissorhand hair.
You can download Gotham on iTunes.

Blindspot: So just who is Jane Doe? Taylor Shaw was a very compelling story arc that apparently is not who she is (though this is television, they can always have a twist next season and be like, nope, she really was Taylor, the bones were planted and Kurt’s dad was brainwashed; and of course my clone theory could still be in play). So Kurt arrests Jane, who surprisingly goes willingly. Sure he does not even give a reason, what exactly is she under arrest for? He does not know she killed a dude. She did not still someone else’s identity, it was assigned to her by the FBI themselves. I do have a sinking suspicion that the start of the next season, one of her tattoos will be integral to a case Kurt is working on and he will begrudgingly let her out of custody.

The Path: So the season ends where the first episode did, but instead of Eddie hallucination the leader dying with a snake slithering on him, he actually sees the cancer stricken leader up and walking around… or did he? A pretty vague ending. Still some other plot points things left unresolved. I spent most of the season wondering if certain characters were going to leave the cult while other would join. It seemed like the husband died under iffy circumstances yet that was not brought up this week and it seemed that the FBI guy may actually be back in, especially if he starts to believe Eddie’s prayer helped. And I am not entirely sure what I saw at the end. Cal spoke of a miracle a couple episodes ago, is the leader now cured and that is the miracle? Is Eddie hallucinating the leader, who is already dead, and the leader came to him in a passing of the torch situation?
You can stream The Path on Hulu.

The Americans: If one would flip, I always thought Philip would be the one as he actually seem to have empathy for his victims while Elizabeth is more single minded at her tasks. Last week was the first time I remember seeing empathy from her asking out of her con on the Asian people and then again when she got a call from the wife. Of course all that went out the window when she stabbed a dude in the neck in front of her daughter. Hard to claim to be a non-violent spy when you can kill a man that easily and not blink.
You can download The Americans on iTunes.

Nashville: The show was a late cancel and it did seem like there was a good chance it was coming back (they just hired a new showrunner for a potential next season) but it did seem like they rushed to put a nice bow on every storyline (well, except Juliet’s plane going missing and of course Layla can never end up happy). Especially the Maddie, she gets mad when Deacon tries to save her from a skeevy dude at a concert caressing her leg, but is glad when he is there when a skeevy producer does the same thing. But it was definitely time for this show to go, probably could have ended last season.

The Challenge: Rivals III: So this is the fourth episode and we still have had only one elimination. As much as I enjoy see Camillinator just going H.A.M. on everyone, let’s cut some of that down and get back to one elimination per episode. Or cut down on time spent on challenges by getting rid of heat based challenges. Sure I enjoy seeing people dropping from heights into water, but we only saw three heats this week and we still have three or four left to get through. (also ending on a is Camilla hurt cliffhanger loses its suspense when we see her at the elimination on the promo for next week, stupid promo monkeys.) Figure out how to have everyone go at once because these heat based challenges are getting too repetitive. Or do a spelling bee, c’mon, who’s against a spelling be challenge (except the actual contestants)?
You can download The Challenge: Rivals III on iTunes.

Orphan Black: The Donny getting arrested scene was great, probably the most entertaining this season, but why did Allison not go down for the drug business too? As great as Donny in jail will likely be, Allison in prison would be so much better.
You can download Orphan Black on iTunes.

Sunday, May 22, 2016

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 5/22/16



Once Upon a Time: The best part (and really, increasingly the only good part) of the show is the pre-tease break. Except this season they defeated Hades in the anti-penultimate episode and we got a two hour tease of what is to come next. Color me uninterested already. So we meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde who split themselves into two different entities which was just introduced to have the Evil Queen and Regina at the same time. I am guess they are going to explain the Evil Queen did not die from her heart being crushed because she is so evil she does not even have a heart. And how good is purely good Regina if she is willing crush someone’s heart? I was more in in the quick page flip in the books in the library where we saw Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox. I would rather take a trip through American folklore than a severely watered down version of Penny Dreadful.
You can download Once Upon a Time on iTunes.

House of Lies: It was pretty clear that movie producers in the eighties were doing copious amounts of cocaine by the types of movies they greenlit: a mannequin romantic comedy, one with a dead guy as the main character, both inexplicably got sequels. But the most shocking movie that got made with 20/20 hindsight was the feel good racist comedy Soul Man where noted white dude C. Thomas Howell takes tanning pills to get a scholarship for African-Americans. With all the outrage of blackface and cultural appropriation these days I thought we would never see that storyline ever again. It probably also lessens the outrage by having black guy (with a white mother) play the faker as white people do not care much about whiteface. Though I still do not know how there was not more outrage surrounding White Chicks.

Penny Dreadful: So Vanessa has met Dracula before. I thought we would get a lengthy flashback in a future episode; instead we get a one minute scene tacked on the end of the episode. Maybe it is just a tease for a lot more flashbacks next week. And was that even Dracula? It looked more like Frankenstein’s monster in his previous life without hair. And about Frank, was that remembering his younger self? Bu it looked like that kid was near death. Unless Dr. Frankenstein implanted a child’s brain into the monster’s body. Or maybe he has residual memories of all his body parts. As for his creator, we did learn his buddy’s experiment is only temporary. The question now is has Dr. Jekle already taken his cure or does that come later?

Quantico: No wonder Asher could not make it at Quantico, dude was not even smart enough to jump out of the car before it went over the bridge. But then again, how smart am I for making it all the way through the season?
You can download Quantico on iTunes.

Gotham: How disappointing that Hugo Strange is implanting new personas in the people he resurrects but Fish Mooney remembers who she was. I thought we were finally going to learn what Batman villain she turns in to. But we did get Clayface… I think.
You can download Gotham on iTunes.

Blindspot: Wow that was the worst death scene in recent memory. But I guess when you are killed off a show, why bother trying anymore (well except if you hope to get more work somewhere else). But maybe the bigger bombshell was that Kurt’s father confessed to killing Taylor Shaw like everyone thought prior to Jane Doe showing up with markers saying she was and was not Taylor. We do have to wait until the finale to see if this was the ratings of a delusional man or a real bedside confession, but you have to assume it is the latter. Unless, could this be an Orphan Black situation and Jane Doe is a clone of Taylor? That could be really interesting and explain the DNA inconsistencies.
You can download Blindspot on iTunes.

Castle: It was probably for the best that ABC canned this show, most shows have a shelf life of five seasons if they are lucky so eight is enough (bad old person’s pun intended). But oh, was that final scene crammed in. I guess we can assume had the show been renewed and Kate was not returning, she does not survive the gunshot. Actually that scene seemed crammed in to as if they tacked that on after learning Stana Katic was not coming back.
You can download Castle on iTunes.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Gee, and I just got done talking about the worst death scene, this one came pretty close with Hive and low rent Electro bro-ing down before their inevitable deaths. And this is exactly why I hate it when shows open up X amount of time in the future before flashing back, we knew someone die and Yoyo’s cross had something to do with it and then in the last episode five different characters played hot potatoes with it. But of course Electro ended up with it because there can be no happy couples on a Weadon show (Really the only fake out they had was when Fitz had the cross for a scene). But hey at least we finally got rid of Ward… unless he turns out to be what the Irish doctor was working on. Please no. That body did look feminine. A mate for Vision? Also six months in the future Daisy has gone rouge and Coulson is reporting to a director (is that Talbert or is there a new head of SHIELD). And why six months? The show seems to move in real time and six months puts us in November when presumably the season will start in late September. Doctor Strange comes out in November but I doubt there will be much cross over with that movie. I wonder if we will have to wait a month or two until we see that scene and prior to that is Coulson searching for Daisy or in that basically where the season will start?
You can download Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on iTunes.

The Path: All season I have ping-ponged back and forth predicting this character is going to join the cult while that one would be joining. Here we are with one episode left and it looks like I was wrong every time. There was a time I thought FBI guy would join, but after his diatribe with Eddie, that is never going to happen, especially after learning Allison’s husband did die under suspicious circumstances. And Allison looks to be coming back into the fold (although that may not last long after she sees the autopsy. I thought the teens would run away together, and Hawk actually did leave, but sneaky Cal nipped that in the bud. But the biggest transition is Eddie. They teased his moments of doubt early in the season, but mostly re-found his way after time in the program in the room. Was that punch his way of exiting the cult?
You can stream The Path on Hulu.

Survivor: Brains vs. Brawn vs. Beauty II: Usually I have a good sense of how the winds are blowing going into the finals but I was a bit shocked at how Aubrey did not win and it was not even because of that silly evict a jury member (worst twist since Redemption Island). Sure her Final Tribal was less than stellar (how do you not play up how well you adapted after your two biggest allies were pulled from the game?). But congratulations to Michele who did a much better job playing up her underdog role than Aubrey. Poor Tai, does not even get a pity vote. I originally thought it was a bad decision to split the votes and not take Cydney to the final three but in retrospect, I am not sure it matter with Michele winning either way. Maybe Cydney wins the Jury Veto (which is a stretch because for a Brawn, she was not that great in challenges) and bans Julia, then maybe Tai could have gotten Aubrey, Joe, Neil, and Debbie, but I think instead, Michele wins by a larger margin.

But Michele winning was not the biggest shock of the night, seriously, what was Sia doing there? And was that even really her? In real time it sounded to me her accent was coming and going. If it was, Sia just continues to get weirder. Wow. Then we got a tease for next season: Millennials vs. Gen X. Meh. Didn’t the last time they separated end up being an epic fail (that would be the Jimmy Johnson season that was won by Fabio). Probably one of the bottom five seasons of all time. And just by the trailer the Millennials were getting on my nerve already. If they are going to divide by age, I wish they would have done three of four tribes: people in the their twenties, thirties, and forties plus, and maybe fifties plus.
You can download Survivor: Brains vs. Brawn vs. Beauty II on iTunes.

The Americans: Kind of a throwaway episode because I never thought Reverend Tim was ever in much danger. Really having an emotionally pregnant woman now knowing their secret was the bigger danger. The more ingesting part of the episode was Stan’s old boss getting approached by the KGB. I kind of wanted him to take the offer. Instead he runs through a glass door. Not the best escape plan. It will be interesting how this effects the main storyline.
You can download The Americans on iTunes.

The Challenge: Rivals III: The first challenge really suck, now this, this is the challenge I have come to know and love, grinding on a bar of soap. Awesome. Not so awesome is replacing LeRoy with some nobodies. Actually worse than nobody, somebody who thinks acting crazy will get them more screen time. More annoying was T.J. canceling the Jungle for no good reason. So that is two of three episodes where no one when home.
You can download The Challenge: Rivals III on iTunes.

The Blacklist: There was never a point where I thought Lizzie was dead, the only question I had was who helped her. I had thought it was whoever was trying to kidnap Lizzie but it ended up being Tom and Red’s henchwoman. And I long assumed the person that was trying to kidnap was her not so dead mother. Nope, wrong again, it was her dad, or someone claiming to be her dad. That puts a crinkle in my long theory that Red was Lizzy’s dad. After the chunkiness of this season (somewhat reasonable due to a real life pregnancy) this sets up a very interesting season four.
You can download The Blacklist on iTunes.

Orphan Black: Crystal is quickly moving up my Clone Power Ranking. She almost made me forget there was no Allison this week. Almost. Seriously, do not make me go a week without an Allison fix.
You can download Orphan Black on iTunes.


Saturday, May 14, 2016

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 5/15/16



Once Upon a Time: So as predicted Robin Hood died and Captain Hook made his way back to Storybrooke. The only question now is what are they going to do in the final two episodes now that Hades was defeated? The only unresolved issue is that Belle remains under her sleeping spell. Maybe we will get more than the usual tease of the next Disney property they exploit. When do they go to Tron?
You can download Once Upon a Time on iTunes.

House of Lies: Oh, no, not the Douchebag Twins. And yet, even with an episode that saw the not so triumphant return of the Douchebag Twins, they did not even give us the most disturbing scene, that was instead Clyde and Doug chugging Jennie’s pump and dump.

Penny Dreadful: Dorian and Lily were wholly absent from the premiere and that was a quite unexpected way for them to return to the show. I fully assumed that that was the type of show they would enjoy but I guess it makes more sense that they would rather participate than just watch. I fear (and would be kind of disappointed) that she will end up like the transvestite from last season. Then you have Dr. Jekyll who has a formula that can turn a criminally insane person into fully functioning human being. Of course there are going to be side effects, the question is has he tried it on himself yet or not. Dracula again is resigned to the final scene again. Last week I feared when we did not get to see him it was going to be a Master on The Strain situation who ended turning out to be a not very scary looking Muppet, but we did get to see Dracula who ended up looking like a low rent Matt Dillon which I guess is better than a low rent Muppet.

Quantico: So it turns out the football player was yet another pawn though the whole using his voice on the phone with Alex was a bit of a stretch. Instead the traitor was the Quantico teacher because… oh who know. Even when he eventually gives his Bond villain type speech I doubt it will make any sense.
You can download Quantico on iTunes.

Gotham: I guess I was wrong with Galavan killing the Captain. It turns out Galavan is really bad at killing people. Tabatha also landed in the hospital and not the morgue. Alfred gets thrown out of a window and was still able to walk away to fight some more. I was going to say Galavan was as good at killing as everyone was at trying to kill him; just how many bullets can that guy take? Then Penguin and Butch show up with a bazooka. Awesome.
You can download Gotham on iTunes.

Blindspot: Can we get more drugged up chick in the elevator? She was by far the best part of the episode.
You can download Blindspot on iTunes.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: I have an irrational hatred of movie theaters so naturally I did not see Captain America: Civil War prior to this episode so I guess I now know who wins. Yeah, D.C.’s movies may have sucked but their separating television from the movies is looking better every time SHIELD spoils a movie. Granted really they have only spoiled the last two Captain America movies. Oh yeah, and they killed off Peggy Carter. Booooo. I was really hoping she would get some anti-aging serum like the Nazi got last season. What a shame that they may possibly kill off her character and cancel her show in the same month. Hopefully ABC finds a way to keep that show going. Oh well. Sending Lash after Hive seemed like a great idea but they kind of overlooked two huge plot point. Okay, Lash, the Inhuman killer can ward off Hive’s parasites, fine, whatever. But why did he not kill Daisy, and not only did he not kill her, he actually helped her and saved her from Hive’s trance? Andrew’s last sliver of humanity was kind of a big stretch.
You can download Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on iTunes.

The Path: Last episode, Cal mentioned before killing a dude that the next leader would perform a miracle, could Sarah saving the baby be that miracle? Certainly Cal would no be too happy he is not the chosen one. Maybe that is why he tried to hook up with her.
You can stream The Path on Hulu.

Survivor: Brains vs. Brawn vs. Beauty II: I have long thought that winning Individual Reward was advantageous to your game, especially in a case where you pick two people and then there are four people made at you back at camp. But I never thought winning a Reward would turn out as badly as this. To have to be pulled from the game because you ate too much meat, ouch. And we have known this for a while that this was bad. How many times in the early seasons did we see people get Rewards only to spend a lot of time in the woods with a pile of leaves? Seriously people, Reward Challenges are not worth it. At least we did not get the stupid Survivor Action where morons bid on food instead of waiting for an advantage. And that was the second pull out this season which negated what could have been a fascinating Tribal Council. On one side you had a strong Joe/Aubrey alliance. On the other was Michelle. Then there is Cydney in the middle but seemed to be leaning Michelle. Then you had Tai and his Idol so he was not going anywhere. When he and Michelle were alone I was waiting for someone to come up with a plan where he give her his Idol because no one would vote for him because of it. But then he seemed to make up with Aubrey. Really what it may have come down to it is who talked to Tai last. Instead we had our third unplayed Idol, one that went home with someone being pulled, one that went home with someone because he did not play it expecting a SuperIdol, and one that did not get to played because the last Tribal that it could have been played at never happened. Kind of sums up this lackluster season.
You can download Survivor: Brains vs. Brawn vs. Beauty II on iTunes.

Black-ish: Isn’t it too early for the show to bring in a baby? Usually sitcoms do that when they run out of ideas, it should be too early for that, it I only season two. At least wait until season five.
You can download Black-ish on iTunes.

The Americans: There are few thing lis scary than watching The Day After thirty plus years later. I kind of had to laugh at everyone's reaction. Interesting Philip's reaction was maybe we should not give that destructive virus to their government after watching. It is about time for a shajke up in the show. Maybe instead of the FBI finding them out as tradors, maybe the twist could be Philip becoming sympathetic to Americans.
You can download The Americans on iTunes.

The Challenge: Rivals III: Poor Leroy, that is two straight seasons he goes home early for medical reasons. But we essentially had a two and a half premiere episode. I guess that is needed to get to know the new cast and introduce the season, except the two people who went into The Jungle I had no clue they were even on this season until they got picked to go in. Hopefully we go back to one elimination per episode because there was just too much filler in these first two episodes.
You can download The Challenge: Rivals III on iTunes.

The Blacklist: There was a point when I thought Scottie was going to turn out to be Lizzy’s mother, but no, she is Tom’s… or least that is what Red told him. The episode was alright but as a backdoor Pilot, I am not ready to watch another show which is just The Blacklist with the gender of the two leads being swapped. Maybe I will watch if the show is filler between a break of the ordinal.
You can download The Blacklist on iTunes.


Sunday, May 08, 2016

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 5/8/16



Once Upon a Time: Learning how Emma got that silly Thriller jacket is the Jack’s tattoo episode on Lost. It I time to give this show an end date and wrap it up. The promo monkeys also teased a death, it is not Regina or Emma, my first thought was Robin Hood, but then I thought could that funeral we see be just be a cheap ploy and they are just having one for Hook after the fact? I do have a sinking suspicion that whoever does die will be the key to get Hook back to the land of the living.
You can download Once Upon a Time on iTunes.

Fear the Walking Dead: When Strand was carrying that dude back to his hotel, I thought he was holding him a little too cloe and actually thought he might take advantage of him. Strand did, just not in the way I was thinking. Except, flash-forward to the end and he actually does make out with the dude. But why exactly did he run when the other people boarded? Actually, I spent most of the episode thinking I missed something. I rven went back to see if I missed an episode. But no, maybe jut bad editing.
You can download Fear the Walking Dead on iTunes.

Quantico: C’mon, you cannot have a pedophile character on the show and them name him after a sitting governor who was running for president. I do not care about your politics, that is just wrong and really kind of appalling. Then the promo monkeys promised that next week we will learn who the traitor is. Um, did they not reveal that this week? It seemed pretty clear the former football player was the traitor. Unless he had an accomplice.
You can download Quantico on iTunes.

Gotham: Has Galavan’s ears grown since he died? But anyway. We also got a tease of the Mad Hatter with Hugo Strange choosing Alice in Wonderland as a persona for one of his resurrected patients. I wonder if we already met who he read the story to or if we actually get to meet him. Well Captain Barnes needs a way to get back on the show now that he is dead.
You can download Gotham on iTunes.

Blindspot: Oh my, Chrissy Seaver went full MacGyver defending thee cottage. Although I guess you can say she went full McGruber by blowing it up. Was that really necessary.
You can download Blindspot on iTunes.

Castle: Kind of disappointing that they brought in a Firefly co-star only to be a run of the mill killer of the week. Adam Baldwin really set the bar for shameless guest spots. Actually, since Backett seems like she will not be back next season, how about bringing Baldwin back full time? Oh yeah, I guess his TNT boat show is still on the air.
You can download Castle on iTunes.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Holy Billy Riggins sighting! Although I could have sworn he has been on the show before and if my memory serves me correctly (which it rarely does anymore) he was some random civilian in a restaurant a couple seasons ago. I kind of thought he was going to be a red shirt but he actually made it through the episode. But what was with the lack of fire power in fighting Hive? How about taking a grenade or a rocket launcher, or some alien tech left by the invaders from the first Avenger’s movie? All they brought was regular guns and some laser blaster.
You can download Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on iTunes.

The Path: Alright, things are finally starting to come to ahead. Cal caught Eddie aiding Allison, Mary confronted Cal, Hawk’s girl’s family left the cult, and then Cal up and killed a dude after leaning The Path is a scam. Now Eddie and Hawk are out on a two-hundred and fifty mile walk. Should be interesting to see wear all this goes as the season starts to conclude. I still think Hawk will chose the girl over the cult, Eddie will chose Allison over the cult too. Then there is FBIC guy who may just picked the cult over work, especially if they help his daughter.
You can stream The Path on Hulu.

Survivor: Brains vs. Brawn vs. Beauty II: I knew they really should have gotten rid of Tai last week, now he is guaranteed the final four with his Idol. Although after irking everyone this week, I do not think he is as likely to win if he makes the final. They should have blindsided him this week except Joe and Cydney (I think this is the first time I even mentioned either of them; not good for someone who makes it to the final five) were dead set on Jason. So who goes home next week, Tai has the Idol and this is the last he can use it so unlikely he gets any votes. Michelle does look like to be on the bottom but the promo monkeys make it look like she buddies up with Tai. That would be awesome if he give her his Idol and sends home one of the other three. The only thing better would be Michelle laying Ti to get his Idol and then everyone votes him out. Tai does seem that gullible.
You can download Survivor: Brains vs. Brawn vs. Beauty II on iTunes.

The Americans: So Martha is actually going to make it to Russia. I wonder if we will actually follow her there or that is the last we see of her. If Nina was still around I figure they would run into each other but no fish out of water buddy comedy scenes for those two. Kind of an odd ending, it almost felt like a series finale. Instead it will likely be the calm before the storm.
You can download The Americans on iTunes.

The Challenge: Rivals III: We usually only get one Challenge per year but when the last season sat nicely in between the Survivor hiatus I suggested that the shows should always alternate. Apparently someone was listening because just as Survivor is running down, we get a surprise season of The Challenge. Rivals and Exes has been some of the most entertaining recent seasons of the show and they sort of combined them with the first ever co-ed version of Rivals (alternating boys and girls eliminations was always silly especially when we are supposed to be considered equals these days). Unfortunately that was one of the most boring first challenges ever. The first time someone dropped their partner was kind of entertaining, but they did not even drop into water (a Challenge staple). And then it just kept on dragging on. I thought around the time Johnny Bananas went, well at least he is the last one, but then there were about four more rounds after that. Ugg. Hopefully they have something better planned for later in the season.
You can download The Challenge: Rivals III on iTunes.

The Blacklist: So this was essentially an introduction for the proposed Tom Keene spin-off with presumably Famke Janssen playing the Red part. We will get more next week, but that better get much interesting because I was kind of meh on the idea so far.
You can download The Blacklist on iTunes.

Sunday, May 01, 2016

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 5/1/16



Fear the Walking Dead: So Junkie Riggins learned that zombies cannot tell you are living if you are covered in zombie guts. But we have known that for a long time, so what a boring episode. Is this just what the show is going to be, discovering things we already know?
You can download Fear the Walking Dead on iTunes.

Lucifer: So Lucifer dies, goes to Hell, finds the gates are locked and gets to come back to Earth. Alrighty. And then later he says his father gave him the get out of Hell free card that he gave the crooked cop. Huh? But at least we got some intrigue for the next season. At first I thought they were going to pull the annoying fade to black ploy when Lucifer took a dramatic pause when his brother asked who escaped from Hell as for the reason God let him back to Earth. But we did get the one word answer before the season ended, “Mum.” Mmmmmm. Who knew angels had a mother? Unless it is more of a metaphorical mum. I am guessing this “mum” who gave the lady cop her powers to make Lucifer more human.
You can download Lucifer on iTunes.

Blindspot: The show actually managed to combine my two least favorite plots these types of shows do: the school shooting and authoritarians taking advantage of kids.
You can download Blindspot on iTunes.

Castle: Having a guy cheating death was entertaining, but c’mon, surviving a bullet to the head? That was a bit much. I did peg the crush as the baddie of the week, she was way too quick to accept a date and then plan it for a half an hour later.
You can download Castle on iTunes.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: So we got to learn the power of the Australian dude this week: he is some sort of microwave man who can turn anything into a bomb. I guess that is kind of cool for a bad guy but the idea of a superpower was always going to be more interesting than whatever you actually get. But that was really the only interested thing that happened this week. Seriously, how anticlimactic was the team taking down Hydra?
You can download Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on iTunes.

The Path: Oh yeah, Hawk is leaving the cult for the chick. Except the only problem is that her family might be joining. This may be a runaway situation by the end of the season.
You can stream The Path on Hulu.

Survivor: Brains vs. Brawn vs. Beauty II: And here in lies the big problem with recent seasons of Survivor, contestants have learned not to vote out the annoying people because you can win against them in the finals. So Jason gets a pass despite being the obvious choice while the tribe cuts loose the eye candy. Hurmph. But really what should had happened was when whoever broached the subject (I think it was Aubrey but am too lazy to look it up) everyone else should have realize, she is going to take Jason to the finals instead of me, we should get Aubrey out, and then I can take Jason to the finals. But the editors actually got me to think Cydney and other hot chick were going to flip. That was the right choice in my eyes. It is better to be in a four person alliance with someone who has no chance of getting any jury votes besides Scot than possibly fourth and fifth in a five person alliance with two people likely to beat you in the finals (Tai and Aubrey) especially since one has an Idol and an unknown to you advantage. Sure worst case scenario he plays the Idol and then uses his extra vote to break a three-three tie next week, except he did not play his Idol and you could have gotten him out.
You can download Survivor: Brains vs. Brawn vs. Beauty II on iTunes.

The Americans: Meh, we basically ended where we started, Martha back in the safe house with nothing changed except Henry getting his first beer. Something better happen next episode.
You can download The Americans on iTunes.

The Blacklist: Very noticeable that Lizzie had a closed casket. It was also interesting that Aram was talking about standing over an empty grave with Red. So are we going to have to wait until the season finale to see a not so dead Elizabeth? Only three episodes to find out.
You can download The Blacklist on iTunes.

Sunday, April 24, 2016

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 4/24/16



Once Upon a Time: When they said Dorothy did not have anyone to give her true love’s kiss, my first thought was, are they really going to turn red Riding Hood lesbian? But then I vaguely remember Mulan being into chicks, so maybe it would be her. For a fleeting moment I thought true love’ kiss would come from Toto, but no, they actually turned Red Riding Hood gay. Alrighty.
You can download Once Upon a Time on iTunes.

House of Lies: So did the cobra and lion fight or have sex? But they could have had a longer “previously on” segment because I barely remember who Steven Weber or that other guy talked to were. Then I completely forgot Clyde and the weird chick was still a thing.

Fear the Walking Dead: I am they guy who always thinks the people on these show should be more trusting and should be taking in as many people as they can to ward off the zombies, but even I would say no to taking in someone else’s kid. I may take kindness on an orphan but survivalist dad and grown son can take care of the two small children
You can download Fear the Walking Dead on iTunes.

Supergirl: This show is cheesy, and I am fine with that, but there is cheesy fun and eye rolling cheesy and Surpergirl being able to break the mind control with some speech about hope was eye rolling cheesy. But I did like that it did not work completely and Non still had the ability to explode every human’s skull even if they were no longer under his spell. Of course the big question was who, or what, was in pod at the end? I vote for Krpto.
You can download Supergirl on iTunes.

Gotham: So we actually learned who killed Bruce’s parents: Hugo Strange. Maybe it is because I have seen the Wayne’s die so many times in my life; the reveal was not the biggest reveal. The bigger Hugo Strange reveal of the week was he was finally able to resurrect someone and that someone was Theo Gallavan. Just how many more will he be able to resurrect before Jim is able to shut him down? I think we have seen bodies that liik like Fish and Jerome in those floating tanks.
You can download Gotham on iTunes.

Blindspot: Oh wow, what a great plan by Rich Dot Com. Get that guy his own spin off.
You can download Blindspot on iTunes.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Early in the series, Skye wad the clear weakest link in the acting department but over the seasons became more comfortable in the role. But goodness, evil Daisy was hard to watch. They need to cure her quick, or at the very least do what they did in those early episodes and have her jump in a swimming pool while wearing a red dress to distract from her acting.
You can download Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on iTunes.

The Path: So the cult may be a drug smuggling front, I guess that make the whole Peru trips make more sense. If true, the question is who knows? Will Eddie learn of the drugs when he gets to 7R? Is Cal one of the few because he is 10R? Are the drugs they get people off other drugs what they are smuggling or are they also smuggling other more conventional drugs. And I am starting to thinking the FBI guy might be buying into some of this. Mary’s story last week was convincing and itb is weird to open up about your real life problems while undercover.
You can stream The Path on Hulu.

Survivor: Brains vs. Brawn vs. Beauty II: When they introduced the SuperIdol I was a bit skeptical because someone only has two Idols at the same time about once every four seasons, and though it does not look like it will be used this season, the SuperIdol did play a huge part in the episode when Tai refused to Voltron his Idol with Jason’s to save Scot. We have had wild Tribal Councils but that was the first wild post vote Tribal with Hot Chick #3 imploring Tai to use his Idol to save himself, the two douchebags being over confident when Tai did not, then Scot gets the most votes, asks Tai for his Idol, and Tai was just like, “Nope.” And just when you think it could not get any better, in Scot’s goodbye at the end of the episode, he mentions he went home with Jason’s Idol in his pocket. Awesome. So Jason goes from thinking he has a clear path to the finale with an Idol in his pocket, his buddy has another that can form a SuperIdol and a mole in the other alliance to hiss only true ally getting voted out with his Idol in his pocket. I guess we are going to get more fires getting put out next week.
You can download Survivor: Brains vs. Brawn vs. Beauty II on iTunes.

The Americans: Leaving Martha along in a house with an old man and a cane was not the smartest idea the Russians ever had. So who is going to get to her first? Probably the Russians, but do not think she will be getting that trip to Moscow. Although that would have been a fun fish out of water story had Nina still be around to be Martha’s escort.
You can download The Americans on iTunes.

The Blacklist: Interesting the episode after they killed Lizzie (or so we are led to believe) with a very introspective episode with very little dialogue. And was the supposed to be Lizzie’s mother? With Red reenacting their first meeting? Or was she just a completely delusion?
You can download The Blacklist on iTunes.

Orphan Black: We did get some more Beth but they already got to the point where she steps in front of the train, or presumably the point where she left her apartment on the way to the train station. As much time they spent in the premiere, I thought we would get a full season of flashback. Back in present day, Sarah learns she has some biotech living in her check. Creepy. Just how many of the clones have that?
You can download Orphan Black on iTunes.

Vikings: So Ragnor was gone for “years” but looking at his eldest son’s hair, and his youngest sons who are now teenagers, it seems like he has been gone at least a decade. Which begs the questions just how long has it been since the first season. It seemed like they already jumped a decade when they first aged up the eldest son who went from pre-teen to twenty-something in between seasons. It has to be at least twenty-five years. And just where was Ragnor? I wonder if we will get flashbacks of his pilgrimage when the show returns.
You can download Vikings on iTunes.

Sunday, April 17, 2016

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 4/17/16


The Girlfriend Experience: Awe, free preview weekends, three days when I plop myself on the couch and am reminded why I do not watch many movies anymore because there are not that many being made. Except when I went to check out Starz free preview last weekend they had taken all but one movie off their On Demand channel. It is one thing to waste an entire weekend watching crappy movies On Demand, but I am not sitting around waiting for them to start (well, except Ant-Man so I am now caught up on Marvel movies… which will last less than a month).

But while Starz took off all their movies from On Demand to keep people like me from exploiting the free weekend, they did upload the entire first season of The Girlfriend Experience the day it premiere. I was not expecting much since the movie was horrible. Yet is was surprisingly compelling and actually the prostitution part was the least interesting as the lead character as an intern stumbling on some shady dealing at the law firm she is at was much more fascinating. The show kind of reminded me of last year’s best new show Mr. Robot in the show is very cold, you could sub in the shady law firm with Evil Corp. Both the leads sever mental issues but as introverted as Elliot is, Christine is that much more an extrovert. And where Elliot had friends, family, a therapist, and some drugs to keep him grounded, Christine lives in a world where being an extrovert is encouraged and even rewarded.

Unfortunately after six and a half hours on the couch Sunday, the show ended with a huge thud. I would even say it was the worst season finale of a great first season of a show since Lost (if you saw the entire first season too, insert your own, both seasons ended with the camera panning into a deep dark hole here). Really the season finale was basically everything that was wrong with the movie. I do not know where the show goes in season, but if the season finale is any indication, I was a lot less interested had they ended the season an episode earlier. Granted I probably will not see it until the nest Starz free weekend, and that is only if they do not take the season off On Demand.

House of Lies: Oh Veronica Mars, you had to know Vinnie Van Lowe would do something sleazy. But you had to know, just like every other time the group gets split up, they would end up back all together, I am just a little surprised it happened as early as the second episode.

Fear the Walking Dead: Could they have come up with a more boring season premiere? It is becoming pretty clear why the flagship show flash forward a couple months and went straight into the middle of the zombie apocalypse.
You can download Fear the Walking Dead on iTunes.

Billions: At the start of the season, Showtime, of all the networks, had to know they could not keep Sargent Brody on the show too long. The season had to end with him get arrested. They just could not do a cat and mouse game for multiple season. Maybe season two is the trial, but there had to be some payoff. Yet here we are at the end of the season and the biggest thing that happened in the season finale was Wendy quitting (and getting a very nice severance package). What is worse it seemed like the writers had this big plan to end the season with a big show down between Axe and Chuck (okay the Axe tearing up Axe Capital and then “going deeper” was pretty cool) but we already had that scene in the season premiere and again in the middle of the season and really all I came away from that scene is, goodness both of these people are really horrible people who deserve to lose.

Quantico: So the big twist at the end was Shelby was driving the van. Meh, it seemed pretty obvious she was doing this against her will so it was not as if the big twist was she was the one behind the phone call.
You can download Quantico on iTunes.

Supergirl: This is the second time the show ended an episode with Supergirl charging an antagonist. Not cool. Also not cool was having Martian Manhunter show up in the Next Time On promo even though I never thought he was actually dead. I do think he is playing possum and this was his and Alex’s plan all along to make Non think she was a mindless drone. Also not cool, Superman as a mindless drone so he cannot help his cousin. Seriously, having him off the planet presumably helping the Green Lantern Corp. (though I doubt he will ever hear that term on the show) was good enough, having him join the mindless drones way off in the distance was really cheesy. Really my big takeaway from the episode was Maxwell Lord calling the president “she.” I guess it should not be that surprising that there was not a president Lex Luther in this universe. I wonder if we will get to meet her, if it is someone from the comics, or it was some cheap, hey a woman can be president Hollywood ploy.
You can download Supergirl on iTunes.

Gotham: I thought Penquin killing the dog was going to be the most despicable thing he did this week but feeding his step-brother and sister to his step-mother… that is some Eric Cartman level evil right there.
You can download Gotham on iTunes.

The Voice: During my last Power Rankings I mentioned hoe diverse the top twenty was, but for some inexplicable reason, all four Coach’s Comeback were boring white dude and of course the bored housewives ate that up and two got voted through making half of America’s Saves white males. I looked back and in the Live Playoff seasons, white guys have made up at least half of America’s saves five of seven seasons (interesting enough, not one white guy was voted through by America in season four). I do not understand why the producers are letting bored housewives to run the show into the ground the way they did America Idol and their obsession with WGWG over there. It was pretty appropriate that The Voice hit a series low in the ratings for the results show. Count me as one of the many they have lost for the season because I have no interest in another boring white dude dominated season.

Lucifer: Well that was an interesting twist that Lucifer can only be hurt when the lady cop is around. So what exactly is her deal? We already know the Jedi mind tricks thing does not work on him and now she can hurt him. Was she sent, or blessed, by God?
You can download Lucifer on iTunes.

Blindspot: Oh Chrissy Seaver, your boyfriend dies going after a clue on his own, why are you doing the same? And if you are going to have Chrissy talking to people in her head, at lead make her Mr. Robot level paranoid about it.
You can download Blindspot on iTunes.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: I had to laugh when the guy Daisy was hunting down commented on her partner’s “boy band hair.” Well that was until we actually got a good look at the guy and he looked even more like a male model. And that is pretty cheap to offer a trade and then renig. I actually want to know what his power is now.
You can download Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on iTunes.

The Path: I have a long standing rule to never believe someone is dead until you see the body (and even then still be suspicious), but I was pretty confident that Lyla Garrity was dead at the end of the last episode. Apparently not and not only that the Kool-Aide is strong because not only did she not call the police when she went to the hospital, she went even deeper down the rabbit hole and now is taking a bigger opposition within the cult out west. As much as I enjoyed Hannibal, I thought its cancelation was probably a good thing for Hugh Dancy’s mental health, but his new role is pretty dark too. That one scene in the bedroom was almost as disturbing as anything he did on Hannibal. And I wonder if 7R is just an excuse to torture Eddie. Then after Mary’s story, I wonder if FBI is more reluctant to take her back to her father.
You can stream The Path on Hulu.

Survivor: Brains vs. Brawn vs. Beauty II: In the two seasons they have done this gimmick, one running theme is that everyone on the Brains tribe just completely overthinks everything. Aubry targeting the hot chick was just a really bad idea. If she is wrong, hot chick loyal, now you do not have the ability to split your votes, if you are right, the other alliance has two Idols to play with. Aubry lucked out that hot chick won Immunity, except Aubry came up with a dumber idea; vote out Debbie simply for telling hot chick the plan. Oh, and it gets dumberer, when the old dude tells Aubry how dumb the idea is and he will not vote for Debbie, Aubry tries to recruit hot chick, the person she originally wanted to get out, the person she was now targeting Debbie for because she did not trust with the vote splitting plan, to get the deciding vote. What?!?

That was just comically stupid. Now Aubry loses a loyal member of her alliance, is stuck with a potential flipper in the hot chick, the douchebag alliance still has two Idols, and now you do not have enough people to split the vote. Had Aubry just stuck with the vote splitting, best case scenario, they pick right, one of the douchebags go home; worst case scenario, both Idols get played, they chose the wrong two people to place votes on, and body builder goes home, but both Idols are at of play. Of course it seems like Aubry does not know what exactly the SuperIdol does so she may not realize that whoever they split their votes for could Voltron the two Idols after the votes are read, but still, even if that happens, both Idols are flushed and they are still down an alliance member.
You can download Survivor: Brains vs. Brawn vs. Beauty II on iTunes.

The Americans: Nina got the ax last week, will Martha be joining her soon? It does not seem like she can keep things up like they are for very much longer.
You can download The Americans on iTunes.

The Blacklist: Well that was unexpected. That is not to say that it crossed my mind that Lizzie faked her death to get away from Red. It was noticeable that she said something to extent that she thought that doctor was going to be the one on call. Did she make a plot with him? It would be weird to kill Lizzie now, basically killed by the guys who were being very careful not to harm her. And he never learned who hired them. Maybe it was Lizzie who hired them as part of the decoy.
You can download The Blacklist on iTunes.

Orphan Black: There is nothing more annoying on television these days than the proliferation of hashtags blanketing the screen. Just the show’s name is annoying enough, but it is worse when they try to create new hashtags for specific scenes. Though I kind of liked when Orphan Black let me know to the effect they were going #BackToTheBeginning because it may have taken longer for me to realize they started the season with a flashback. I wonder if we will get more Beth this season, since the flashback did not go all the way up to running into Sarah, I have a feeling we may see her again.
You can downloadvOrphan Black on iTunes.

Saturday, April 09, 2016

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 4/9/16



Once Upon a Time: Did we ever meet Dorothy when the show first introduced Oz. Weird that she barely shows up when she is the star of that movie. But right now we are in Hercules’ movie and he was just in one episode and seems to be written off the show already.
You can download Once Upon a Time on iTunes.

Shameless: You know a show is messed up when someone crashes a wedding to reveal the groom’s heroin stash and you are a little disappointed that that is all that happen. I was expecting the huge massive screwed up wedding and that was pretty tame for a show like this. And as much of a cliché it is, I was a bit disappointed that Chekov’s Gun never came back up. But at least the end scene was entertaining.

The Walking Dead: My favorite part of the episode: right before what looked to be a very large Mexican standoff, Savior dude just whips out a spray paint bottle and marks the dude. My least favorite, obvious the ending, as if last week’s cliffhanger was not annoying enough (and no one ended up dying; not that I thought Darryl had died anyway). Ugg, so the question is, who did Negan bludgeon to death (presumably, we did have two fake out cliffhanger deaths this season). Obviously not Rick because Negan wants him to watch the death as punishment for killing his people. I am also crossing out the females and Carl because Rick is not standing by and watching that. We already had fake out deaths of Daryl and Glen so why kill them now? That leaves Eugene, Abraham, and Aaron. Aaron is the odd man out because he is the newest to the group, but I am going to predict Abraham, he does seems like someone who would talk a beating like that for the team.
You can download The Walking Dead on iTunes.

Billions: With one episode left I was expecting some big lead up to an epic finale, but instead we get a holding episode where the case was still in limbo. Instead we got weird scenes with Axe and Wendy playing basketball games, Lara and her sister paying a lot of money to shoplift jewelry again, and the DA’s setting off fireworks, we get reminded Chuck is into kinky stuff (Red is kind of a boring safe word). There was a small moment when I thought Axe was leading Wendy out to the middle of nowhere to kill her, or at least try to hook up with her, but alas, they could not even kiss when Chuck spied on them. At least in the final moments we got some movement in the plot, first Chuck catches someone taking pictures of him. Obviously Axe comes to mind first as who put the photographer up to it, but the more I thought about it, Axe won, sure having extra leverage is always nice, but I would not rule out someone else like Chuck’s father or maybe even Rob Morrow. Then, after a season of diligently keeping their private and professional lives separate, finally one of them actually broke that trust with Chuck snooping on Wendy’s computer, finding wrong doing of Axe. So just what is Chuck going to do with that information? And will Wendy realize that Chuck got that information from her?

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Fitz’s explanation of the fourth dimension just made things more confusing, and it even made my understanding of Intersteller more confused too. Then their big plan to keep the future is to make sure Daisy does not leave the base and Coulson vows to not pick up a gun until that future had passed. You just cannot keep her there indefinitely; you do not know how long in the future that happened. Then Lash show up and everyone is like, oh well, I guess Daisy should go to what may be her inevitable death, and Coulsen was quick to end his no gun vow. And why did Abercrombie model whose name I still have not bothered to learn even show up, just to get his face bloodied? But we got another glimpse of presumably will be the season finale but we do now know that is someone’s death and it is of a SHIELD agent… or t least someone wearing a SHIELD uniform.
You can download Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on iTunes.

The Path: I wonder who is going to stray from the cult first, the father and son. And it will likely be for the same reason: a hot chick. I guess Lyla Garrity is currently Schrodinger’s Cat until the next episode when we get confirmation but she seems pretty dead. But what did Sarah think would happen. To me there were only three outcomes after kidnapping her: the release her and she goes to the police for kidnapping, they brainwash her and bring her back into the fold, or she dies, which seemed like the most likely outcome to me. And is there something in door number four? That last shot lingered pretty long on it.
You can stream The Path on Hulu.

Survivor: Brains vs. Brawn vs. Beauty: We already had the worst meltdown in Tribal Council history this season, so Gay Asian’s faux pas does not look that bad in comparison, but c’mon, why are you leaking the Super Idol info? Information is the biggest currency in this game and he blabbed to his second tribe he had an Idol which he did not even use for his advantage, now everyone knows there is some sort of Super Idol floating around. Now I have to wonder if the girls flipped because of that or if they made a last minute decision because of that information. And if that slip was not head scratching enough, Gay Asian then goes and randomly votes for Jason. What!?! I guess the best explanation (other than dude is just completely clueless) was the girls decided to flip pre-Tribal, fed him false information because they did not trust him not to tell Nick and Gay Asian ended up doing what the girls told him. Should be interesting what happens next as two Idols are in position of the guys in the minority. Does Jason play his Idol next week, can Scot convince him to hold on to it and then convince Jason and Gay Asian to form a Super Idol after one of them is voted out?
You can download Survivor: Brains vs. Brawn vs. Beauty on iTunes.

The Americans: Oh man was that a cold ending. Sentencing someone to death, say it will be carried out shortly and just bang. Cold, man, even for the Evil Empire.
You can download The Americans on iTunes.

The Blacklist: Since they were not going to kill her, maybe giving up Lizzie would have been the right play and just try to get her back later. But Red seems to protest too much for her mother being dead, it is almost as much as he tries to makes everyone think he is not her father.
You can download The Blacklist on iTunes,


Saturday, April 02, 2016

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 4/2/16


Shameless: You had to know Frank paying for the wedding was too good to be true, something bad had to happen, it just had to. But murder for hire? Oh Frank. And it just has to happen at the wedding right? Should make for a memorable season finale next week.

The Walking Dead: After the crap they pulled with Glen, I juwst cannot believe they would kill Daryl like that. And not to get too Zeputer film, the blood does not even look like it came from Darul’s direction.
You can download The Walking Dead on iTunes.

Billions: Man, these guys are cold, and this is the very reason I could not make it in the financial game or politics. On one side you got Axe exploiting the health of an employing for financial gain while Chuck just goads Anthony Edwards into retirement, and then still sends the FBI after him… while singing He’s a Jolly Good Fellow at his retirement party. Double ouch. Still I am more fascinated by the silent war being waged by the wives than the manhood measuring contest of the men. It seems like Wendy figured out there was something else going on behind Donnie’s death while Lara seems to figured out that Wendy know knows Donnie was being used as a pawn. I am beginning to think one of these wives are going to bring down the other man’s husband, the big question is who.

Quantico: Well I was totally wrong about the terrorist attack being a sham. Oh well.
You can download Quantico on iTunes.

Supergirl: Nice crack at The CW but kind of a useless cameo by The Flash. Supposedly he beats a supervillain that can harness electricity but gets knocked out by one on this Earth. When Supergirl saved the helicopter, I actually thought they were going to go Spider-Man 2 with the crowd caring her. Oh well. All the racially diverse CW cast members can stay on their Earths now.
You can download Supergirl on iTunes.

Lucifer: That was not Rebecca De Mornay as Chloe’s mother. I saw her name in the credits, but I just do not believe that was Risky Business / The Hand that Rocks the Cradle Rebecca De Mornay. Nope.
You can download Lucifer on iTunes.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Holy Smash Williams sighting! (I am sure there is a Hulk joke in there somewhere.) That is two this month. And it came at the right time jut as Trya Collette got written off the how. Hey, maybe Smash can help out on that show.
You can download Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on iTunes.

The Path: They danced around the word in the premiere but the non-members really liked using the “Cult” word in the second episode. Within seconds of meeting them, the hedge fund manager, the hot classmate (the only thing more persuasive than cults are hot chick; Lyla Garrity could certainly get me to do more than eat meat), and the law enforcement guys all used it. But the episode basically ended the same way as the first, Eddie has weird visions of the ill leader (which we do learn is real), and Cal showing his dark side after spending most of the episode being the cheery cult leader.
You can stream The Path on Hulu.

Survivor: Brains vs. Brawn vs. Beauty II: The merge is supposed to be the most important episode of the season, the point where two tribes come together and try to figure a way to get rid of the other side. But the thing is, you kind of know how the vote is going to go down about ninety percent of the time before the title sequence runs. This is one of the few times there has been actual intrigue going into the merge with the Brains on one side, the Brawn on the other, and the Beauty in the middle. Oh, and there were three Idols floating around, as well as the slim chance two would be combined to create a Super Idol. Then, what seemed to be right before Tribal, the two waffling Beauties decided to side with the Brawn to blindside a Brain, which made me think, oooo, if they are giving that away, something big is about to happen. And something big did, just not what I was hoping for. You never want to see someone pulled from the game, and certainly not before what looked to be an explosive Tribal Council. Since they told us, we can guess that Aubrey would get seven votes, Scot or Bounty Hunter gets four, so the big question, would have Neil played his Idol? Would he have guessed right? Had he and Scot gets the most votes that count, could he have been able to convince Gay Asian and Bounty Hunter to give up their Idols to save him? Le sigh. We will never know. And poor Aubrey, her clostest ally gets pulled and he does not even give her his Idol. But at least she is getting some antibiotics. If I am Scot, I am wondering why she gets some, but not me?
You can download Survivor: Brains vs. Brawn vs. Beauty II on iTunes.

Vikings: Um, so was that Floki dreaming of having sex with Ragnor’s wife, and occasionally morphing into the mysterious dude who only hows up when Ragnor is gone, or was that Ragnor’s wife imagining having sex with two different dudes who is not her husband? It is kind of weird either way.
You can download Vikings on iTunes.