Friday, February 29, 2008

LOST BREAKDOWN: Lost Momentum (pun totally intended)

The reviews are mixed, the feedback is mixed, and now my head is mixed...up.
I think I liked this episode. I want to like this episode. In fact, I believe the episode will be vindicated when it is viewed in the greater context of the season, but as a stand-alone, it was a bit of a buzz kill.

The first four episodes have been building some serious momentum. The freighter folk have landed on the island, the camps are split, we know they are here for Ben, and we know that one way or the other - 6 815 passengers were 'rescued' off the island. We know that Ben is off too, and Aaron is with Kate now. We are still two 'Oceanic 6' members short, so it was tough to sit through an episode that breaks from the 'conspiracy and rescue' plot line to go back to the 'supernatural what the f*ck' plot lines.

Let me try to break those down very simply:

CONSPIRACY-RESCUE PLOT:
-Plane Crashes on mystery island containing 'Others' and 'Dharma Initiative'
-Whats up with Others, Dharma, and more island goings-on (black rock, etc..)
-Survivors trying to stay alive, fighting amongst selves for leadership
-Survivors waiting to get rescued
-Penny looking for Desmond who crashed on island
-Who is Ben Linus?
-Who are the freighter folk?
-Why did only 6 people get rescued / who rescued them?
-Where is everyone else?
-Why is Jack crazy?
-Who is in the coffin?
-Why does Claire have Aaron?
-Who else might be off the island too?
and much, much more....

SUPERNATURAL WTF PLOT:
-smoke monster
-Locke walking again
-Jacob
-That eye-patch guy who never seems to die
-all the weird coincidences that tie the people to the island
-time/space issues (30 minutes behind or more)
-Desmond's time travel
-mothers unable to give birth on island if conceived on island
-and a lot more I can't think of right now

This episode was from the latter plot line which is fine, its just that maybe the timing was off since we get so few episodes this year as it is and we are still waiting on the remaining Oceanic 6 folks to be ID'd.

So regarding the 'main' plot line, what did we learn that is of value to us?
-Desmond FINALLY reaches Penny. That was an awesome moment and should really help to move the show ahead in terms of her trying to rescue him. They have now spoken -- remember, this is a BIG DEAL and we have been waiting a long time for this moment. I thought it was really well done.
-They made it to the freighter -- so we can now move forward with figuring out who these people are and what their story is.

And...scene.

The rest of the episode was very well done, very well written, very well acted, and Lost continues to surprise and impress me every week -- but we did have a lot of the WTF moments...

-So Faraday wrote in his journal 8 years ago that Desmond is his constant, which means his time travel really did happen. Even though Farraday doesn't recognize Desmond when he first meets him (which in theory he should since he told Desmond you don't change the future). To be honest, I don't do well in time travel scenarios ever since Back to the Future 2 really screwed me up, so I am going to leave this one to you dear reader(s).

-Here is one thing that does bug me though. Jack and team said they hadn't heard from the chopper in a whole day. The freighter folk said it should have been only 20 minutes but there is a time issue (which they did not explain of course). So lets say it took them an hour with the bad weather and Jack thought it was a day. Might that mean that the island folks have only been there for 100 hours in the 'real world' and not 100 days? At first I thought yes!!!! Then I realized that Des called Penny on Christmas Eve 2004, about 90 days after they crashed -- so the timing is actually the same, or about the same....anyone? anyone?

Score for this week...
Stand-alone episode: A
Timing of episode: C+
How it fits into the big picture: N/A

Sometimes I wish I had the pleasure of watching this show on DVD as a whole season. In this case, I would have stayed up to watch the next one...can't wait until next week.

Thursday, February 28, 2008

And we are all better for it...

FROM TVGUIDE.com:
"According to the Hollywood Reporter, in a speech at the Harvard Business School's Entertainment & Media conference, ('Quarterlife' creator) Herskovitz told a group that the drama about a blogger and her group of twentysomething friends "never should have been a network show. It's too specific."

The show's premiere was the network's worst performance in the 10 pm time slot in at least 17 years, averaging 3.1 million viewers overall. No official cancellation has been announced, but sources believe it's likely the show's second episode — set for this Sunday — will never make it to NBC's air.

AT LEAST NBC STILL HAS LAW AND ORDER
You may have heard that Tom Collins, I mean Jesse L. Martin is hanging up his shield (I hate when people write things like that..Anthony Edwards is hanging up his scrubs, Dennis Franz is turning in his badge...) and is calling it quits after something like 9 years on Law and Order. He is to be replaced by the star of 'Kangaroo Jack' and several sexual harrassment lawsuits, Anthony Anderson. Anderson does look a little like Jesse Martin, if Martin ate Lt. VanBuren. Twice.
Anywho, that was snarky. But I chuckled inside a little. I just wanted to say to say that this show is better than ever this year. The cast is doing an excellent job - I like Jeremy Sisto and the new DA who played Bruce Wayne's dead father in the new Batman installment - Linus something-or-other. The stories are finally well written and compelling again, and I recommend if you need a tightly packaged hour - this is the one. My apologies to David Caruso, Vince D'Nofrio and their acting coaches, but I give my thumbs up to this crime drama above all others. It has now passed all the CSI shlock and Law and Order:Rape, Torture, and Sodomy.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

8 years past Quarterlife...

What happened? I'm not saying I was ever hip or cool, but at least I knew what it was to be. I could identify all the major pop culture players in music, tv, and film. I could name every video on MTV before the song information appeared in the bottom left corner.
I gave up on popular music after college. I just pretty much stopped listening to the radio and only picking new artists who were recommended to me by people, not SoundScan playlists. I stayed with TV natch, but even I can't even begin to tell you anything about most niche cable or urban CW-based programming.
And now -- I couldn't watch Quarterlife on NBC last night - and these kids are only supposed to be 25! I know this generation, I am related to members of this generation, I work with some folks from this generation -- but that doesn't mean I get it. I felt so old last night watching these self-important, pour out your heart to the whole world on the internet, youth trying to make their way. They spend way way way too much time concerned with their place in the world and where they belong. And way way way too much time trying to rebel against ideals that I am pretty sure my generation and the rest of the X'ers before me just dealt with.
We took jobs and said please and thank you. We were happy with raises and promotions, and came into this world with some semblance of loyalty. We went into the machine to make our way, we didn't expect the machine to re-program itself for us.
Sorry, for a minute there I thought I was writing for Rolling Stone. All I meant to say is that I didn't like the show Quarterlife. And according to ratings, neither did anyone else. Only 3+ millions self-important 20-somethings tuned in for their version of 'Reality Bites'. And as I remember, even Winona didn't take herself too seriously.

Also - we turned off 'New Adventures of Old Christine' the other night. Julia's character has officially jumped from funny but sad to downright annoying and unwatchable.

Monday, February 25, 2008

Weekend Rewind

For 'just another regular weekend' at home, this one was pretty epic. There was some TV involved, so it comes full-circle.

Friday night I tried to watch TV, but Tessa and her nightmares (probably about the distinct possibility that the new Knight Rider will get picked up as a series) had other plans and instead I watched Disney Princesses over and over until 1 AM.

Saturday made up for it though because I had lunch at the new Mongolian BBQ in Maple Grove (love it), had dinner at the new Seven Sushi (frickin awesome), and the rocked out the 10:30 Lisa Lampanelli show at the State Theater.
First of all, the food at Seven is only rivaled by the people watching -- insane. I recommend the White Ninja roll and not getting busted staring at the 6 foot blondes who think its July outside right now. Good times for all. The service, food, decor and people were great -- I hope this place makes it for a long time.

But then there was the late show. Lisa Lampanelli is not for everyone. You have to know what you are getting yourself into and be ready for it.
if you were black, gay, jew, asian, or hispanic, fat, white, or a woman -- you took a verbal beating based on 100's of years of stereotypes opened up wide with some of the collective nastiest, and funniest jokes I have ever heard. And it works because everyone is in on it, everyone gets it equally, and for some reason this woman is so disarming and clever on stage that she can play it off as 'lets laugh at ourselves' -- but she pretty much made it clear that it doesn't open the door to take her jokes out onto the street and just repeat them. There is good comedy and then there is racism. Laughing out loud was very uncomfortable for the first few minutes, then you look around and realize the room is full of all the people she is ripping and it seems to make it ok. If I was in a theater with only white people, it would have been weird -- but the place was a veritable melting pot, almost begging her to go after everyone just to see how funny she can make it.
I will repeat one joke that was mean, clever, non-racist and she was told NOT TO USE in the upcoming Comedy Central roast of Gene Simmons that she just completed. I am paraphrasing of course: Gene Simmons plastic surgery work is so bad, Kanye West's mom got a better outcome.

Sunday involved more eating of course -- great brunch at Good Day Cafe -- and snow tubing with Max, father, and brother at Elm Creek Park in Maple Grove which is just an incredible hill. The Badgers won a nice game on national TV in the late afternoon courtesy of the TIVO so I didn't have to sit and listen to Billy Packer for 2 hours and I could enjoy it all in about 44 minutes.

Finally the Oscars -- I was very happy for Diablo Cody and her screewriting win, she deserved it and handled the award with more class, shock, surprise, and genuine emotion that I expected. I feel like a lot of people cried last night. Watching the Oscars live would have made me cry -- wow, that was a super long love fest and those people take themselves way, way too seriously. I get that movie making is about art and politics and sending a message. But if these people looked around at what unfortunately pays the studios bill's - it is about boobs, farting, falling, killing, torture, and spoofing. Lighten up fellas.
I watched it via DVR in about 65 minutes and stopped only for major awards and Jon Stewart. Jonah Hill and Seth Rogen playing Jack Black and Will Ferrell were cute. Stewart was good. Happy for the Coen brothers. That's about it on that front.

Final note: Return of SNL, the report card:

D: Opening Skit, sucked. Terrible. Not creative. Not funny.
C: Every other skit or segment not mentioned below. A nice skewing of NBC and Celeb Apprentice, but not much else to laugh or smile at.
B+: Fake commercial for once-per-year period. Very clever.
A: Tina Fey overall.
A: Weekend update very well done, Huckabee was great, Fey was great. I used to hate her on Weekend Update, now I realize what we are missing.
A: Skit at end of the evening with the best man's toast -- I love when this is done well, and this one was. Its been done 1000 times before which made this one that much better.

Friday, February 22, 2008

LOST BREAKDOWN: Week 4

I saw it coming. I really did. Right away. I never do usually, but for some reason this one seemed fairly obvious to me. They tried to throw it off with some hot Sawyer-Kate action and pregnancy talk, but they milked the whole 'please hold my baby kate....I'm not good with kids' bit a little too close together from when Kate said 'her son' could not testify.
Either way, still chilling, still interesting, still awesome.

My assumption/hope is that at some point in the last season we will be all caught up to the flash forwards. And then a boy can dream, but it would nice if Hannibal, Face, and BA join up with the Oceanic 6 to go back to the island, or wherever, and get the rest of the lostaways. I picture a heart-breaking scene where a hand-cuffed and sad Claire makes her Sophie's choice and hands Kate the baby as she is boarding a chopper saying "take care of m'baby! tell 'em I luv 'em!
I assume they are all still alive somewhere.

Interesting to see Jack under oath talking about there being only 6 survivors.
Interesting that Ghostbuster guy wants $3.2 million from Ben Linus. His story is going to be so awesome when it all plays out. This is one path I believe the writers have carefully carved out and it looks very intriguing.
We will know the remaining 2 Oceanic 6 survivors within the next two weeks. I wonder if its going to be Sun and Jin -- because Locke most likely won't be one, I doubt it is Rose and Bernard...Claire isn't for sure...Desmond and Juliet were not on the plane. Charlie, Boon, Shannon, Ana Lucia, Libby, and others are dead. Am I missing anyone of value here? Sawyer? Maybe...
I love that John Locke cooked a chicken and invited everyone over to dinner.

It was a good episode overall I thought, with a nice finish. I actually didn't start watching until after 1 AM last night (buddy in town.drinks), so unfortunately I was super tired and probably missed some things here or there, but I might give it another run this weekend.

What else did you notice? Let me know...

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Lost Primer

Last week I said that the two bracelets on Lost must be the same or be connected since they focused on it so much. Turns out, I was wrong....it was just a style 'thing'

DAMON LINDELOF: Naomi's bracelet in the Sayid episode is a key point here. I got some e-mails from people who wondered if there was a connection between Naomi's bracelet and the bracelet worn by the woman Sayid killed in his flash-forward. There is no connective tissue. Sometimes a bracelet is just a bracelet. We just thought it would be a cool emotional touchstone for Sayid; Elsa's bracelet reminds him of Naomi. But some people interpreted that, ''Is there something more there?'' We might need to address that.

To read the entire EW.com interview with Damon about last week and this season, paste this link into your browser -- spoilers are saved until the end so you can read the interview and not get screwed:

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20179125_2,00.html

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Romantic Comedy Update

I saw one. In the theater no less. But its ok, my parents had the kids, so I didn't have to justify the price of the movie, an 88 oz. Diet Coke, and a babysitter -- just the tickets and the texas-sized thirst quencher.

Breaking news: I no longer can drink 124 ounces in one movie sitting like I used to.

We saw 'Definitely, Maybe' and I am going to recommend it - to boys and girls. Here is why:
1. As far as this genre goes, its not very sappy
2. Abigail Breslin from Little Miss Sunshine is great
3. Ryan Reynolds is normal-enough that he doesn't chew up the scenes and is actually pretty good in this film. The last time I saw him was 'Van Wilder' - so this is an improvement. Actually, that's a total lie -- he was also pretty good in 'Smokin Aces' which is a total guy film and kind of rocked.
4. 2 of the 3 love interests are pretty frickin hot. Obviously Isla Fisher is great to watch on screen. How that woman ended up with Borat is beyond my comprehension, but I know she looks good in a mini-skirt circa 1992. Rachel Weisz looks great as an academic...I can do without the girl who plays J.D.'s baby-mama on Scrubs. Don't like her here, don't like her there.
5. Reynold's character went to UW-MADISON....Hello gratuitous movie scenes 'in Madison' with Bucky all over the damn place followed by Reynolds wearing a Badger T-shirt in pretty much every scene when he is casual. Yeah, I was the ass hole clapping in the movie theater when the screen said 'Madison, WI'. You bet.
6. Good music.

That is my review. Take it or leave it.

Here are some TV Notes as well kind readers:
-'Welcome to the Captain' is a terrible show. One and done.

-Lauren says 'Lipstick Jungle' sucks. We'll take her word for it. She had a great observation the other day. She said, "look at the screen -- its not a pretty show. Its not colorful, its not fun. Its dreary and it sucks." I am paraphrasing.

-'Notes From the Underbelly' continues to suck, BUT...if you have kids or had kids, the stories ring kind of true which makes the show half-endearing. I equate this show to car commercials. When you need a car, you start to notice every single commercial. When you don't need one, you probably don't even notice when they are on. This show is the same way...if it makes sense to you, then its worth watching. If kids are not your bag, then you might as well be watching 'Dangerous Catch'.

-The 'Las Vegas' season finale was stupid. Yes, that was the season finale. I do want this show to come back because like all my ladies, its easy and pretty. But I guess I won't miss it all that much if I never see it again.

-Still haven't started Eli Stone, but it stares me down every night on the DVR. At this point its almost starting to feel like work.

-Why am I up? Because Tessa is watching Aladdin at 12:36 AM because somehow she slid herself under the bed tonight and has no interest in going back to sleep or watching Keith Olbermann or tonight's 'New Adventures of Old Christine'

Monday, February 18, 2008

You Had Me at Hello...Michael

You see, it had all the makings of a nostalgia camp classic. Reinvented for the modern-day CGI-craving, short-attention-span carrying teenage idiot set, but packed with enough history and wink-wink tongue-in-cheek shout outs to the 30-somethings...and you would have had magic. Instead you had crap on a plate. S.H.I.T. Shit.
Knight Rider Sucked. Hard.

Hot girl? Check.
New version of KITT? Check.
Decent enough guy to play the new Michael Knight? ahhhh....check.
Script? Nope.
Proper musical tribute with Knight Rider song? Nope.
Commercial cut-aways 80's Knight Rider Style? Nada.
Val Kilmer at KITT? Brutal.

Here is all I am trying to say: I am OK with the butchering of the theme song. It felt like Moby and the Chemical Brothers bailed out at the last minute and Moby's retarded cousin Squeaky took over.
I wasn't expecting much from the plot -- in fact I was hoping it would be classic Knight Rider cheesy, and it was. But I did want those classic Knight Rider commercial breakaways where Kitt takes off into the sunset and the theme music takes us out. And I did want maybe a little better continuity between new Michael Knight and the old...It turns out Michael Knight left his family behind to come Michael Knight -- he had a duty, and duty calls. I wonder if old Michael Knight was thinking about them when he was making out with all those classic 80's women - all in the name of crime fighting of course.
Well anyway, it turns out he had a family and now 25 years later the new KITT is programmed to look for Michael's son, and he finds him, and he doesn't know about his dad or what he did or who he was until later. Then they finally meet:

HASSELHIZZY: My name is Michael. Michael Knight. I am your father.

NEW GUY: My name is Mike. I know.

wow -- I waited 20 years for that? That was pretty much the extent of the conversation then Hasselhoff leaves to collect his $50,000 for the day and the kid asks if he'll ever see his old man again. The Hoff says, "I hope so".

Final scene: Michael getting briefed on his next mission, setting up a TV show for the fall. The whole cast falls into place as his support staff...it's all there. 2 hours of crap for this setup. Then I turn to Lauren and say..."If they are in a truck and Michael rolls off the back onto the highway and the original theme music plays...I am in."

Nope, the back opens up and he is dropped onto a runway from a big plane and there is no music, just a cut to credits. What a piece of shit waste of time that was.

Friday, February 15, 2008

Paging Dr. Linus, Dr. Benjamin Linus

LOST RECAP #3
So what did we learn this week?

-Naomi had a bracelet that was given to her by R.G. or R.C.

-'Regina' from the boat - her voice sounds just like Naomi IMHO - maybe twin sister?

-We are reminded that the island still has a strange force about it. The rocket sent from the ship to the island as an experiment took about 30 minutes longer than it should have to get there, but according to the rocket's internal clock, it got there when it should have. The rocket's clock was about 30 minutes behind the real time.

-Sayid is one of the Oceanic 6 -- there are two left. He is a hitman working for none other than our good friend Ben Linus. It's all interconnected to the boat because the woman Sayid fell in love with, then killed, wore the same bracelet as Naomi -- they made sure to show us that. It seems Sayid is doing this for Ben in order to protect his friends - either the Oceanic 6 or whoever is still in hiding.

-Claire is still not sad about Charlie even though it happened about 10 minutes ago in Lost time -- they need to work on this.

-Sayid plays golf left handed and hits a nice ball.

-Locke is still crazy and the cabin with Jacob moved...ooh, how mysterious...

-Kate and Sawyer will be getting it on in Ben's bed next week

-Why didn't the survivors move to the barracks as soon as they knew that they were there? Water and showers and electricity and books and TOILETS and pinball machines...I still don't get this group of people. Sometimes I try not to think about it because its frustrating behavior on their part.

-Sayid is on the chopper on his way to the boat

I don't think we learned anything else of value this week. Sayid being part of the 6 and working for Ben was an awesome revelation. As I have stated before, this show is just great. So well done.

My people tell me we will probably see four more in a row which takes us to seven episodes. Then a 4 week break while they make 5-6 more this year, and they will kick off that run with already completed 8th episode. Good times.

What did you think? What did I miss?

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Lost Update - Post Strike...

From a TV Guide interview today with Lost producers....the long and short of it is that we are getting 5 more episodes this season after the initial 8. They will wrap up this year's story into the final 5, and will still plan somewhere down the line to produce the other three. There will probably be a gap of four weeks after the finished eight are done and before the new five hit the air.


I have more to say about 'other tv shows' but duty calls -- more later.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Save Friday Night Lights

You want to talk about quality on television? Then save this show. Even if you don't watch every week (I don't) -- its the kind of show that you'll be happy was made and was available as a whole season on DVD one day...

Click the link, sign the petition:

CLICK HERE

Showing Restraint?

Today I was planning to post about some positive things that could come from the strike. The NY Times has scooped me, which is ok, because they are better than me. So I will begin with an excerpt from a column today, and then go from there...

"Will the studios stick to their new vows of restraint? Perhaps there’s an instructive comparison with another business run by big egos in search of talent, Major League Baseball.

Every few years, the baseball owners announce that there’s a new austerity in the air and that they won’t overspend on players. But just before spring training starts, they get nervous and suddenly a pitcher like Ted Lilly — the baseball equivalent of an assistant gag writer on “Two and a Half Men” — gets something like $10 million."
Article: Who Won the Writers Strike?


With the writers taking more of the back-end cut, and getting better deals up-front for the first two years (or however this thing works), the studios are going to feel the pinch - whether or not its actually true. This should become a time when they stop green-lighting pilots like 'Cavemen' and 'Carpoolers' and 'Viva Laughlin' just to see if they stick and find an audience. This should hopefully start a creative boon in Hollywood where a pilot and an idea might actually have to have some long-term creative merit behind it. In the end, it should mean more strong, well-written, and solid Fall premieres, and a push for writers to do a better job turning out quality. Let us hope so. Or, Carlos Silva will get a long term deal from Seattle for like $11 million per season. Puke.


So what does Bill Simmons think? I pulled this from his column today on ESPN.com -- and even though I ripped him for incessant columns about Boston sports, I like when he hits other topics...

That reminds me, it looks like the writers' strike is finally over: A three-year deal that looks a lot like the DGA deal that was banged out without a strike. My only question/hesitation is this: What happens when the deal ends? Do we just go through this whole debacle again? There's no way the writers can make up in residuals over the next three years what they just lost in three-plus months of striking, so I'm guessing the "success" here is that the writers are on the books with a certain level of entitlement to DVD and Internet residuals for the next time negotiations unfold. But what if Hollywood says after three years, "Crap, we gave too much away the last time" and puts the screws down again. Then what? Where are the assurances this can't happen again? I still don't see how it was worth it to give away three-plus months of paychecks so Hollywood could save itself billions from bad deals and reconfigure the way it approaches upfronts and pilot season. But what do I know?

Monday, February 11, 2008

Strike Update!

Since we can now breathe easier that a deal will be in place soon, we can start to direct our attention to our returning shows -- when and will they be back?

Michael Ausiello over at TVguide.com has begun to assemble some information based on his insiders. Here it is...

Keep in mind that the following information remains extremely tentative and is subject to change (and probably will). In other words, I strongly suggest you refresh your browser at least once an hour to ensure that you're getting the most up-to-date scoop possible.

24
Expected to return this fall or January '09.

30 Rock
Expected to shoot 5 to 10 new episodes to air in April/May.

Back to You
Two pre-strike episodes remain. Future TBD*.

Battlestar Galactica
Returns April 4 with first half of 20-episode final season. Production on second half could start as early as March. Airdate for those TBD.

The Big Bang Theory
Expected to shoot 5 to 7 new episodes to air in April/May.

Big Love
Expected to go into production on Season 3 in March. Airdate info is TBD.

Big Shots
No new episodes expected. Ever.

Bionic Woman
No new episodes expected. Ever.

Bones
Four pre-strike episodes left. Unclear whether additional episodes will be produced for this season.

Boston Legal
Expected to shoot 4 or 7 new episodes to air in April/May.

Brothers & Sisters
One pre-strike episode remains. Expected to shoot 4 or 5 additional episodes to air in April/May.

Burn Notice
Production on Season 2 expected to get underway in late April. New episodes could start airing as early as July.

Chuck
No new episodes until fall.

The Closer
Expected to kick off its fourth season this summer.

Cold Case
Expected to shoot 4 to 7 new episodes to air in April/May.

Criminal Minds
Expected to shoot 4 to 7 new episodes to air in April/May.

CSI
Expected to shoot 4 to 7 new episodes to air in April/May.

CSI: Miami
Expected to shoot 4 to 7 new episodes to air in April/May.

CSI: NY
Expected to shoot 4 to 7 new episodes to air in April/May.

Desperate Housewives
Expected to shoot 4 to 7 new episodes to air in April/May.

Dirty Sexy Money
No new episodes planned until fall; three remaining pre-strike episodes will undergo some tweaking and kick off fall run.

ER
TBD.

Everybody Hates Chris
Twelve pre-strike episodes remain. No additional episodes expected for this season.

Friday Night Lights
No new episodes expected for this season. Future TBD.

Ghost Whisperer
TBD.

Gossip Girl
Expected to shoot up to 9 new episodes to air in April/May/June.

Greek
Kicks off second half of Season 1 on March 24. Still awaiting Season 2 pickup.

Grey's Anatomy
Expected to shoot 4 to 7 new episodes to air in April/May

Heroes
TBD.

House
Expected to shoot 4 to 6 new episodes to air in April/May.

How I Met Your Mother
Expected to shoot 5 to 7 new episodes to air in April/May.

Jericho
Seven episodes remain. No additional episodes expected for this season.

Journeyman
No new episodes expected. Ever.

Las Vegas
Two pre-strike episodes remain. No additional episodes expected for this season.

Law & Order
TBD.

Law & Order: CI
TBD.

Law & Order: SVU
Production resumes in early March. Remains unclear whether episodes produced will be for this season or next.

Life
No new episodes expected until fall.

Life Is Wild
No new episodes expected. Ever.

Lost
Six pre-strike episodes remain. Six additional episodes could air this season.

Medium
Six pre-strike episodes remain. Expected to shoot additional episodes for this season.

Men in Trees
Eleven pre-strike episodes remain. No additional episodes expected this season.

Moonlight
No new episodes expected until fall.

My Name Is Earl
Expected to shoot 8 to 10 new episodes to air in April/May.

NCIS
Expected to shoot 5 to 7 new episodes, only three of which may air this season.

The New Adventures of Old Christine
Seven pre-strike episodes remain. No additional episodes expected this season.

Nip/Tuck
Season 5 concludes Feb. 19. Production on the show's eight-episode sixth season expected to start up this summer. Airdate TBD.

Numbers
Expected to shoot 5 to 7 new episodes, only three of which may air this season.

October Road
Five pre-strike episodes remain. Future beyond that TBD.

The Office
Expected to shoot 5 to 10 new episodes to air in April/May.

One Tree Hill
Six pre-strike episodes remain. Future beyond that TBD.

Prison Break
Two pre-strike episodes remain. Future beyond that TBD.

Private Practice
Slim chance it could return with 4 or 5 new episodes this season. Either way, it'll be back in the fall.

Pushing Daisies
No new episodes until fall.

Reaper
Three pre-strike episodes remain. Future beyond that TBD.

Samantha Who?
Three remaining pre-strike episodes remain. Expected to shoot an additional 4 to 8 episodes to air after the new season of Dancing with the Stars.

Saturday Night Live
Could be back on the air as early as Feb. 16.

Scrubs
Four pre-strike episodes remain. Four additional episodes will likely be shot; unclear whether they'll air on NBC or go straight to DVD.

Smallville
Four pre-strike episodes remain. Expected to shoot 3 to 5 additional episodes to air in April/May.

Supernatural
Two pre-strike episodes remain. Expected to shoot 3 to 5 additional episodes to air in April/May.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Five pre-strike episodes remain. Future beyond that TBD.

Two and a Half Men
Expected to shoot 5 to 7 new episodes to air in April/May.

Ugly Betty
Expected to shoot 4 to 7 new episodes to air in April/May.

Without a Trace
Expected to shoot 4 to 7 new episodes to air in April/May.

Women's Murder Club
Shocking development: A deal to bring the show back this season is being hammered out as I write this. Stay tuned...

Friday, February 8, 2008

I'm Lost...

And that's a good thing...
If you watch the show you know what I am talking about. It's that feeling that every time you take one step forward on this show, you always seem to be taking two steps back. But this time, we know there is an end-point. We know that we have seen 2 of 48 episodes under the heading 'The Beginning of the End' (last weeks episode). We know that everything we are learning has a purpose and a reason, and isn't just there to fill space to fill a season with an unforeseen ending. This is new territory for television.
You see a lot of stories about writers and producers who are informed that there show will be not renewed -- sometimes they have a season, sometimes they have a few episodes - and they always say that 'this will let them go out their way'. That statement has never been truer than it is now with Lost -- and the viewer benefits the most. I can comfortably sit back, enjoy the ride, and watch this unbelievable break-through television show unfold in front of us.

Sorry, I am just giddy. This show is so damn good. It really is. Sometimes I just pause the show, rewind a bit, watch some scenes over again and yell to Lauren, "this show is so good!". She usually responds back, "Great. I don't Fu**ing care." Her loss, not mine.

So here is what I think we know going-forward:

-Flashbacks are still in-play. Now we'll get to guess each week whether what we are seeing is a flashback, flashforward - and how 'forward' it is compared to other flashforwards...

-We know Kate, Jack, and Hurley are part of the Oceanic 6. We need 3 more.

-We know that other survivors were left behind or something like that and its tormenting Jack

-We know that Hurley is still crazy

-We know that going with Locke will become a bad idea -- but eventually they will have to come back together as Hurley gets 'rescued' too and he was with Locke.

-We know that the 'rescue' team was organized by the dude from The Wire and Oz who also pretends to be an Oceanic lawyer later. He wants Ben Linus.

-We know that the plane was found -- and everyone thinks the passengers are dead. And we know there is some conspiracy behind it because someone actually found the whole plane and its not their plane....hmmm....

-We know that Dharma did some work with Polar Bears in the desert

-We know from bloggers that the man in the rocking chair in the cabin that Hurley saw was Jack's dad.
----I know that information like that is fodder for the internet, but I am not going to worry about the fantasy aspect of the show at this point. I am locked into the conspiracy, the rescue, and the Oceanic 6. If they want to resolve the supernatural parts at some point too, that's fine with me. For now I will just assume Hurley is crazy and the island has unexplained powers which is what drew Dharma to it in the first place. Oh yeah, and who the hell were/are the settlers that Ben became a part of? And where the hell is Richard? I know in real life he is with Jimmy Smits on 'Cain' -- but what about on the island -- solve that mystery please...

I am sure there are 100 other things we know that are worth talking about - please leave them in the comments section as I would love to read them.

Long story short...I love this show. If you are not watching - get the DVD's, get going. It is just so good.

Thursday, February 7, 2008

Soneone Didn't Do Their Due Dilligence...

So I didn't blog about Lost. Turns out I have a lot to say but haven't felt motivated to sit down and write any of it. Maybe I will wait until tomorrow after 2 episodes are under our belts. If you give a crap what I thought about episode 1 and 2, then come on back tomorrow before noon and I will have some earth-shattering opinions for you.

Here are some other things in the TV World you might want to know about:

1. Critics and sometimes-reader SDR say AMC's 'Breaking Bad' is a pretty good show. I am looking forward to checking it out.

2. Mixed reviews all around for HBO's 'In Treatment'. My issue with the show is the time commitment -- 5 nights a week, 30 minutes, multiple weeks -- its like a having a job, and that's no fun. My dad always says having season tickets is like going to work because you are obligated to attend games instead of the excitement of getting to go to games when you want to. I can buy that argument. But that's pretty big talk from a guy who was a lifelong NorthStar and Gopher football (at Memorial Stadium) season ticket holder.

3. Lipstick Jungle premieres this week to worse reviews that Cashmere Mafia did. Can't wait....

4. The writers strike might come to an end soon. But they still have to agree on Saturday to the deal on the table, then hammer it out over the next few weeks. This season is lost, let's just hope Pilot season can be saved so we can have our old and new shows back in the Fall.

5. The local Dairy Queen ad where the shrimp finds out he is eating popcorn shrimp, then his wife asks where the kids are is borderline uncomfortable. I am still avoiding talking to the kids about what happened to Nemo's mother and siblings. They still think she is on vacation. Seriously.

6. T-Wolves playing Friday night against Boston. KG NOT PLAYING. Good investment Edward. Caveat Emptor they always told me.

And now my favorite story of the day for so many different reasons....

Will Arnett (Arrested Development, Blades of Glory, 30 Rock) was going to be the voice of KITT in the new Knight Rider TV movie in a couple of weeks. I am assuming the movie was finished as was Arnett's work. But guess what....
You see, Arnett had done voice-over work for General Motors in the past, and the new KITT is a Ford. So Arnett is out. Seriously. Out. For that....
And to make the story even more odd, Val Kilmer is in. Really? Val Kilmer coming in to be the voice of KITT at the last second makes me wonder what the hell happened to the former Batman and action star of the 90's...

Either way, should still be one hell of a TV movie with probably no cheesy dialogue or poor special effects. It's going to be great.

Friday, February 1, 2008

Living Spoiler Free...

Didn't get to Lost last night as my evening was spent on the town. When I got home I needed to watch the Badgers game on TIVO as they dismantled the Hoosiers of Indiana. This was hands-down their best overall game of the year on both ends of the floor. Even though Butch couldn't find the basket from 2 feet away, he made two key three-pointers and Krabbenhoft, Landry, and Hughes just keep getting better. It was a great game (unless you are a Hoosiers fan or someone who likes to watch teams score more points than 49 (sorry we brought out the good defense TV-watchers of America).

So Lost will wait until tonight. Seriously can't wait. No articles, no reviews, no comments, no nothing...it's like I am living with blinders on - since everyone and their mother on the internet has something to say about it today. I will stick to sports scores, work, and blogging until I get to it tonight.

Did I mention I was on the town last night? Oh yeah - red carpet, searchlights and all...Lauren and I were invited to the grand opening of the new R.Normans Steak House and Seven Sushi Lounge on 7th and Hennepin last night. We know all the right person to get into this event...
The sushi was awesome, the beef was cooked medium, the crowd was swanky and self-important, and the musical performer was Paris Bennett. I believe if you watch American Idol that this is a sort of a big deal. I don't. I thought she was fine.
The sushi was great though. I am sure Lauren and I will turn up on the who's-who page of many fine Twin Cities publications -- the cameras were all over us. Then again those might have been security cameras and no I didn't put any sushi-rice-ice cream balls in my pockets.