tv

new and noteworthy tv: 6/20-6/26

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A decent amount of summer fluff to add to the queue…

Monday

  • Wimbledon (ESPN2, 4am and ongoing; NBC starting Sat) – Early round coverage kicks off, top four men look good and the Williams sisters are back!
  • Hoarders/Intervention (A&E, 9/10pm) Season Premieres – Problem behaviors in various states.
  • Rupaul’s Drag U (Logo, 9pm) Season Premiere – Who will they take to fabulous this season?
  • United States of Tara (Show, 10:30pm) Series Finale – Will any of the versions of Tara be end well?

Tuesday

  • Wipeout/101 Ways to Leave a Game Show/Combat Hospital (ABC, 8/9/10pm) Season/Series Premieres – Bad obstacles, physically crazy exits to what may be a quiz show, and the latest Canadian import hospital in a war zone.
  • History Detectives/POV (PBS, 8/10pm) Season Premieres – A look into some random historical events and artifacts and then kicking off with a look at pastry competition.
  • Hardcore Pawn/Storage Hunters (Tru, 9/10pm) Season/Series Premiere – People’s stuff and personalities.
  • Staten Island Cakes/The Cupcake Girls (WE, 9/10pm) Series/Season Premieres – People’s baked goods and personalities.
  • Nail Files (TVG, 10pm) Series Premiere – Following some celebrity manicurist.

Wednesday

  • I Didn’t Know I Was Pregnant (TLC, 9pm) Season Premiere – I guess there are enough people for another season.
  • Life on a Wire (Disc, 10pm) Series Premiere – Death defying stunts.
  • Real World/Road Rules Challenge (MTV, 10pm) Season Premiere – Folks are teamed up with rivals.

Thursday

  • Burn Notice/Suits (USA, 9/10pm) Season/Series Premieres – Michael and his campy spyness return and then non lawyer lawyer with some sort of crazy memory tries to hang with the upscale legal doers.
  • Expedition Impossible/Rookie Blue (ABC, 9/10pm) Series/Season Premiere – It’s like amazing race but with teams of three and then the rookies return and one can only hope they are more impressive.
  • Wilfred/Louie (Fx, 10/10:30) Series/Season Premiere – So is he a dog like everyone else sees or a man in a dog suit like Elijah Wood sees but more importantly is it funny enough to be a good fit with off kilter Louie?
  • Futurama (Com, 10pm) Season Premiere – More animated space adventures.

Friday

  • Rhett & Link/Young, Broke & Beautiful (IFC, 10/11pm) Series Premiere – Traveling to film commercials and traveling to uncover underground subcultures.

Saturday

  • Carson Nation (Own, 10pm) Series Premiere – Queer Eye’s Carson travels doing makeovers.

Sunday

  • Celebrity Rehab with Dr Drew (VH1, 9pm) Season Premiere – Can’t… look… away…
  • Leverage (TNT, 9pm) Season Premiere – Another season of the light but fun steal from the corrupt to make things right capers.
  • L&O: CI (USA, 9pm) Series Finale – Goodbye to the major case squad.
  • True Blood (HBO, 9pm) Season Premiere – Someday I will give this a go on Netflix.
  • The Marriage Ref (NBC, 10pm) Season Premiere – I didn’t think anyone watched this Seinfeld show of folks commenting on couples problems.
  • Extreme Chef (Food, 10:30pm) Series Premiere – Extreme food or extreme cooking conditions?

The procrastinator lists items that may not be on your regular season pass, though notation does not imply recommendation other than those underlined. Times noted are typically PST.

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new and noteworthy tv: 6/13-6/19

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Monday

  • Secret Life of the American Teenager (ABCFam, 8pm) Season Premiere – The not foolish and not secret life returns.

Tuesday

  • Cupcake Wars (Food, 8pm) Season Premiere – Kentucky Derby theme.
  • Pretty Little Liars/The Nine Lives of Chloe King (ABCFam, 8/9pm) Season/Series Premiere – The oldsters playing teens with ridiculous plots are followed by a sixteen year old who discovers she has powers, why do I feel compelled to at least check these out?
  • Memphis Beat/Hawthorne (TNT, 9/10pm) Season Premieres – Cop show and hospital show that, for me, just aren’t all that engaging.
  • Real Estate Intervention (HGTV, 9pm) Season Premiere – The intervention appears to be of the staging variety.
  • Gene Simmons Family Jewels (A&E, 10pm) Season Premiere – This is apparently in the seventh season…
  • Indoors Out (DIY, 10pm) Season Premiere – Remodeling continues.
  • Jon Benjamin Has a Van (Com, 10:30pm) Series Premiere – A comedian reports ‘mockumentary style’.

Wednesday

  • Devil You Know (ID, 10pm) Series Premiere – Are people really what they appear to be.
  • Hot in Cleveland/Happily Divorced (TVL, 10/10:30pm) Season/Series Premiere – The nostalgia style sitcom returns followed by the return of Fran Drescher in a personal inspired I married a gay man series.
  • Rocco’s Dinner Party (Brav, 11pm) Series Premiere – Would love to be the recipient of dinner party competition dinners.
  • Toddlers & Tiaras (TLC, 10pm) Season Premiere – Still bizarre to me.

Thursday

  • Yard Crashers (DIY, 10pm) Season Premiere – Decorating outdoor style.

Friday

  • Flea Man (NGC, 8pm) Series Premiere – Flea market comings and goings.
  • A.N.T. Farm/Shake it Up (Dis, 8:30/9pm) Series Premieres – Series with kids, who will be the next Miley?
  • Paranormal Challenge (Trav, 9pm) Series Premiere – Competing to collect evidence of ghosts and whatnot.
  • Swamp Loggers (Disc, 10pm) Season Premiere – Another crew member joins.

Saturday

  • Celebrity Ghost Stories/Celebrity Close Calls (Bio, 9/10pm) Season/Series Premiere – Can there really be that many celebrities with ghost stories, close calls to death, I suppose.
  • Outcasts/Inbetweeners/Come Fly with Me (BBCA, 9/11/11:30pm) Series/Season Premieres – 2040 planetary action, awkward teens, and airport mockumentary.

Sunday

  • Daytime Emmy Awards (CBS, 8pm) – Wayne Brady hosts.
  • Drop Dead Diva (Life, 9pm) Season Premiere – Model in a lawyers body returns for another season of what is surprisingly an entertaining show for a silly premise.
  • Falling Skies (TNT, 9pm) Series Premiere – Citizens holdouts against alien invaders in the latest Spielberg offering, supposed to be a good start.
  • Miss USA Pageant (NBC, 9pm) – Ladies…
  • Police POV (Tru, 10pm) Season Premiere – Of the Cops ilk.
  • Ryan & Tatum (Own, 10pm) Series Premiere – Do we need to follow more dysfunctional people?

The procrastinator lists items that may not be on your regular season pass, though notation does not imply recommendation other than those underlined. Times noted are typically PST.

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new and noteworthy tv: 6/6 – 6/12

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Monday

  • Masterchef (Fox, 8pm) Season Premiere – A few kitchen dudes look for the next amateur ready to make it big time.
  • My Yard Goes to Disney/House Hunters on Vacation/HGTV’d (HGTV, 8/8:30/9pm) Series Premieres – Outdoor spaces Disneyfied, travelers visit homes before selecting one as a vacation stay, and surprise makeovers.
  • Switched at Birth (ABCFam, 9pm) Series Premiere – It reads like a Lifetime movie but this latest fictional look at the rare familial entanglements will keep going week after week, this family channel is often too trite but sometimes worth a look.
  • Unfaithful/The Dr Laura Berman Show (OWN, 9/10pm) Series Premieres – A look at infidelities and then a camera joins the dr’s radio show.
  • Behind Mansion Walls (ID, 10pm) Series Premiere – Why just look at murders when you can look at murders involving rich people.

Tuesday

  • White Collar/Covert Affairs (USA, 9/10pm) Season Premieres – Campy spy business back to back, I’m more enamored with the likable hustler than the newest addition to the CIA.
  • 19 Kids & Counting (TLC, 9pm) Season Premiere – Please tell me these people aren’t still counting on more kids.
  • Love/Lust (Sund, 10pm) Season Premiere – The season starts out with a look at street foods.

Wednesday

  • CMT Music Awards (CMT, 8pm) – Country goodness.
  • Operation Repo (Tru, 9pm) Season Premiere – More repossessions.

Thursday

  • Nightmare Next Door (ID, 10pm) Season Premiere – Crimes in your own neighborhood, depending on where you live.

Friday

  • My Babysitter’s a Vampire (Dis, 7pm) Series Premiere – Disney’s take on vampires in our midst.
  • FBI: Criminal Pursuit (ID, 10pm) Season Premiere – Cops FBI-style.

Saturday

  • Color Splash (HGTV, 9pm) Season Premiere – A tranquil bedroom update.

Sunday

  • The Tony Awards (CBS, 8pm) – Host Neil Patrick Harris has been teasing me with glorious reviews of broadway’s best, via twitter of course.
  • Bridezillas/Amsale Girls (WE, 9/10pm) Season Premiere – Difficult brides from bride and bridal store perspective.
  • Finding Sarah (OWN, 9pm) Series Premiere – Folks like Dr Phil and Suzy Ormand help out Sarah Ferguson.
  • The Glee Project (Oxy, 9pm) Series Premiere – Real life Gleeks compete for a role on Glee, I’m mildly intrigued though don’t think I get this channel.
  • Swamp Wars (AnPl, 9pm) Series Premiere – Beheaded pythons and gator killings.
  • Keeping Up With the Kardashians/Ice Loves Coco (E!, 10/10:30pm) Season Premieres – Blah, blah, reality, blah, blah.
  • The Protector (Life, 10pm) Series Premiere – This series introduces us to a divorced homicide detective’s work and home.

The procrastinator lists items that may not be on your regular season pass, though notation does not imply recommendation other than those underlined. Times noted are typically PST.

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shows on probation…

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E! recently asked readers what shows they were retiring from their schedules (aka DVR DOA). This of course led me to wonder about my own personal cancellations. Aside from shows that have in fact been canceled I don’t know that I officially retired anything from my lineup but a few are definitely on probation, and let me tell you why:

  • American Idol (Fox) – This is the one show that I actually am planning to retire, but we’ll see how desperate I am mid-season after checking out X Factor, I find the week after week performances a bit redundant, the more interesting talent (good and bad) gets eliminated earlier than the bland but likable, and the judges lack of judging has caused my fast forwarding to become too much.
  • America’s Next Top Model (CW) – I have skipped a couple seasons and think about dropping this every year, the model wannabes and their challenges are actually entertaining, and annoying, but again the week after week format with my not actually caring (or remembering) who wins is right on the brink.
  • Chuck (NBC) – This show has been on my favorite list for many years because of the sharp wit of the juxtaposition of the spy world and the nerds of Buy More, as well as some genuine good chemistry, but I so tired of the family mythology… with that wrapped up and it extended for a final season I’ll check out the final 5 eps on TiVo (and still probably ride out the final season).
  • Hawaii 5-0 (CBS) – The problem with this show is that it just isn’t that good, I like the joking between the leads, mostly thanks to Dano, but mostly don’t really follow the case of the week or care about the characters, though most weeks I’m game enough to see them romping through paradise chasing some scum balls, though if the TiVo backs up enough I still may delete all.
  • House (Fox) – I get it, he’s curmudgeonly, and not in a ‘but he’s really a good guy’ kind of way, but he’s also a genius, but watching he and his staff almost kill or let a person die each week until they figure out the puzzle with a House a ha moment has gotten a bit redundant, with him kicking his self destruction up a notch and Cuddy exiting we’ll see if the dynamic intrigues.
  • L&O: SVU (NBC) – This will be the last of the bunch and while I have tired of Olivia and Elliot, as well as some of the ripped from the headline sexual stories, I’m intrigued as to the change in dynamic that will come with Elliot not returning, hopefully a little more time with Munch and Tutuola.

Any other casualties out there?

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new and noteworthy tv: 5/30-6/5

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It looks like summer is here, if not in weather then in the start of summer series…

Monday

  • Basketball Wives/Single Ladies (VH1, 8pm) Season/Series Premieres – Real life wives and then a fictional take with a Sex & the City-esque hang with some gal pals.
  • Cake Boss (TLC, 9pm) Season Premiere – Will the NASA cake fly?
  • Platinum Hit (Brav, 10pm) Series Premiere – Kara DioGuardi and Jewel bring us the latest singing slant on folks who write their own.
  • Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition (ABC 10pm) Series Premiere – Spending a year with one person instead of a couple weeks with a couple dozen contestants.

Tuesday

  • NBA Finals (ABC, 6pm) – Miami Heat and Dallas Mavericks kick it off.
  • America’s Got Talent (NBC, 8pm) Season Premiere – Another season of random talent.
  • Deception with Keith Barry (Disc, 10pm) Series Premiere – A ‘mentalist’ looks at the world of deception.
  • The Little Couple (TLC, 10pm) Season Premiere – Fertility issues continue.
  • Love Handles (Life, 10pm) Series Premiere – How could a mix of reality, couples, and weight issues be wrong?
  • Million Dollar Decorators (Brav, 10pm) Series Premiere – Hmm, how far does a million dollars go?

Wednesday

  • Franklin & Bash/Men of a Certain Age (TNT, 9/10pm) Series/Season Premiere – Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Breckin Meyer offer up another take on unconventional lawyering then more conventional guys.
  • Haunted Collector/Hollywood Treasure (Syfy, 9/10pm) Series/Season Premieres – Not just places but things can be haunted and this guy takes a look, then a look at items more cinematic.
  • Man v. Food Nation/Sand Masters (Trav, 9/10pm) Series Premieres – Food challenges hit the road and then sand castles get serious.
  • Sweat Equity (DIY, 9pm) Season Premiere – More home repair.
  • Love in the Wild (NBC, 10pm) Series Premiere – Think Survivor as a dating show.
  • The World According to Paris (Oxy, 10pm) Series Premiere – I am not even interested in Hilton in a trashy sort of way.

Thursday

  • The First 48: Missing Persons (A&E, 10pm) Series Premiere – Spinoff of The First 48 follows missing persons.
  • Love Bites (NBC, 10pm) Series Premiere – I believe this is a summer burn off of a romance anthology that never quite made it into the schedule.
  • NY Ink (TLC, 10) Series Premiere – A Miami Ink guys starts up in NY.
  • Children’s Hospital (AdSw, 11:59pm) Season Premiere – This is one of those comedies that is so random I kept wanting to like it.

Friday

  • French Open (NBC, 11am) – The week on ESPN2 leads up to the men’s semis, with women’s final Saturday at 6am/pst and men’s final Sunday 6am finals.
  • Whale Wars (AnPl, 9pm) Season Premiere – More anti-whaling action.

Saturday

  • NHL Stanley Cup Finals (NBC, 5pm) – Go hockey, Game 1 is Wed at 5pm/pst, games 3 & 4 head to Vs. and returns to NBC for 5 and on if needed.

Sunday

  • Food Network Challenge/The Next Food Network Star (Food, 8/9pm) Season Premieres – 80s cakes and then 15 new chef’s arrive to compete.
  • MTV Movie Awards (MTV, 9pm) – Jason Sudeikis hosts the one where they vote for things like ‘The Best Kiss.’
  • Ice Road Truckers (Hist, 9pm) Season Premiere – More ice, more trucking, more truckers.
  • Locked Up Abroad (NGC, 9pm) Season Premiere – Crimes in foreign countries strikes me as a bad idea.
  • Finding Bigfoot (AnPl, 10pm) Series Premiere – Do you think they find him?
  • Freaky Eaters (TLC, 10pm) Season Premiere – I’m glad these people are getting help even if it is through exploitation tv.
  • The Glades (A&E, 10pm) Season Premiere – I found this fluffy detective out of his element in Florida series not necessarily great but enjoyable.
  • Mancations (Trav, 10pm) Series Premiere – Man friendly getaways.
  • The Real L Word (Show, 10pm) Season Premiere – Reality show lesbian-style.
  • Teen Wolf (MTV, 11pm) Series Premiere – I can’t stop picturing Michael J Fox and Justin Bateman but this is a much more modern take on a high school werewolf.

new and noteworthy tv: 6/6 – 6/12

June 5th, 2011

Monday

  • Masterchef (Fox, 8pm) Season Premiere – A few kitchen dudes look for the next amateur ready to make it big time.
  • My Yard Goes to Disney/House Hunters on Vacation/HGTV’d (HGTV, 8/8:30/9pm) Series Premieres – Outdoor spaces Disneyfied, travelers visit homes before selecting one as a vacation stay, and surprise makeovers.
  • Switched at Birth (ABCFam, 9pm) Series Premiere – It reads like a Lifetime movie but this latest fictional look at the rare familial entanglements will keep going week after week, this family channel is often too trite but sometimes worth a look.
  • Unfaithful/The Dr Laura Berman Show (OWN, 9/10pm) Series Premieres – A look at infidelities and then a camera joins the dr’s radio show.
  • Behind Mansion Walls (ID, 10pm) Series Premiere – Why just look at murders when you can look at murders involving rich people.

Tuesday

  • White Collar/Covert Affairs (USA, 9/10pm) Season Premieres – Campy spy business back to back, I’m more enamored with the likable hustler than the newest addition to the CIA.
  • 19 Kids & Counting (TLC, 9pm) Season Premiere – Please tell me these people aren’t still counting on more kids.
  • Love/Lust (Sund, 10pm) Season Premiere – The season starts out with a look at street foods.

Wednesday

  • CMT Music Awards (CMT, 8pm) – Country goodness.
  • Operation Repo (Tru, 9pm) Season Premiere – More repossessions.

Thursday

  • Nightmare Next Door (ID, 10pm) Season Premiere – Crimes in your own neighborhood, depending on where you live.

Friday

  • My Babysitter’s a Vampire (Dis, 7pm) Series Premiere – Disney’s take on vampires in our midst.
  • FBI: Criminal Pursuit (ID, 10pm) Season Premiere – Cops FBI-style.

Saturday

  • Color Splash (HGTV, 9pm) Season Premiere – A tranquil bedroom update.

Sunday

  • The Tony Awards (CBS, 8pm) – Host Neil Patrick Harris has been teasing me with glorious reviews of broadway’s best, via twitter of course.
  • Bridezillas/Amsale Girls (WE, 9/10pm) Season Premiere – Difficult brides from bride and bridal store perspective.
  • Finding Sarah (OWN, 9pm) Series Premiere – Folks like Dr Phil and Suzy Ormand help out Sarah Ferguson.
  • The Glee Project (Oxy, 9pm) Series Premiere – Real life Gleeks compete for a role on Glee, I’m mildly intrigued though don’t think I get this channel.
  • Swamp Wars (AnPl, 9pm) Series Premiere – Beheaded pythons and gator killings.
  • Keeping Up With the Kardashians/Ice Loves Coco (E!, 10/10:30pm) Season Premieres – Blah, blah, reality, blah, blah.
  • The Protector (Life, 10pm) Series Premiere – This series introduces us to a divorced homicide detective’s work and home.

The procrastinator lists items that may not be on your regular season pass, though notation does not imply recommendation other than those underlined. Times noted are typically PST.

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looking beyond summer…

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The fall upfronts are done. ‘The what?’ Some of you may be asking… This is when the networks start pimping their fall shows to advertisers.

Personally I try not to get too invested in anything new. Most of the pilots aren’t finalized and certainly aren’t reviewed so things can change dramatically between now and then (and even go away). Though I am admittedly not immune the hope of a high concept show (Charlie’s Angels), the return of a favorite talent (Sarah Michelle Gellar in Ringer), or creators with a somewhat proven track record (Once Upon a Time from the creators of Lost and Spielberg’s Terra Nova).

What I tend to pay a little more attention to at this point are shows that have been canceled (see notations below) and shows in a schedule shootout. Every fall there is at least one time slot where something gets kicked to the curb that would normally make the cut. I do like to watch new shows at least once so thank goodness for a couple of replays and online viewing to ensure the right picks are getting the season pass. Here’s what it’s looking like for me for now:

Monday

  • 8pm – How I Met Your Mother/Two Broke Girls (CBS) vs. Terra Nova (Fox) vs. The Sing-Off (NBC)
  • 9pm – House (Fox) vs. Hart of Dixie (CW) vs. Two and a Half Men (CBS) – willing to give Ashton a try
  • 10pm – Castle (ABC) vs. Hawaii Five-O (CBS) vs. The Playboy Club (NBC)

Tuesday

  • 8pm – Last Man Standing/Man Up (ABC) & Glee (Fox)
  • 9pm – Ringer (CW) & New Girl (Fox)
  • 10pm – Unforgettable (CBS) & Parenthood (NBC)

Wednesday

  • 8pm – The Middle/Suburgatory (ABC) vs. The X Factor (Fox) vs. Up All Night/Free Agents (NBC)
  • 9pm – Modern Family (ABC) vs. ANTM (CW) vs. Harry’s Law (NBC) vs. The X Factor/I Hate My Teenage Daughter (Fox) – I admittedly can’t endorse 2 out of those 4 but I do watch
  • 10pm – Revenge (ABC) & L&O: SVU (NBC) – say goodbye to Stabler

Thursday

  • 8pm – Charlie’s Angels (ABC) vs. Big Bang Theory/How to Be a Gentleman (CBS) vs. X Factor Results (Fox) vs. Community/Parks & Rec (NBC)
  • 9pm – Grey’s (ABC) vs. Person of Interest (CBS) vs. The Secret Circle (CW) vs. Bones (Fox) vs. The Office/Whitney (NBC)
  • 10pm – The Mentalist (CBS) & Prime Suspect (NBC)

Friday

  • 8pm – Chuck (NBC)
  • 9pm – Grimm (NBC)

Saturday – Nothing

Sunday

  • 8pm – Once Upon a Time (ABC)
  • 9pm – The Good Wife (CBS)
  • 10pm – Pan Am (ABC)

And for a look at your own schedule check out TV Guide’s fall grid and for what’s been canceled (and sticking around) check out The Futon Critic’s scorecard. New shows are in italics.

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new and noteworthy tv: 5/23-5/29

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Just a few more things wrapping…

Monday

  • Bachelorette (ABC, 9pm) Season Premiere – Ashley (some girl who has done this before) returns to find her own dude.
  • Clash of the Commercials (CBS, 10pm) – Favorite international commercials.

Tuesday

  • American Idol (Fox, 8pm) – The two night finale kicks off on a special night with our two least offensive contestants.

Wednesday

  • The Oprah Winfrey Show (ABC, 4pm*) Series Finale – The queen of daytime television officially hangs up her hat, too bad I don’t get her new network.

Thursday

  • So You Think You Can Dance (Fox, 8pm) Season Premiere – More dancers and Mary Murphy is amongst the judges (she’s the loud one).
  • Secret Diary of a Call Girl (Show, 10:30pm) Series Finale – I guess one can’t be a call girl forever.

Friday

  • River Monsters (AnPl, 9/10pm) – This special installation of the monsters of the deep could be combined with the killer carp show scheduled on National Geographic tonight, happy summer swimming.

Saturday

  • Revolver Golden Gods Awards (VH1 Cl, 10pm) – Metal!

Sunday

  • My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding (TLC, 9pm) Series Premiere – This UK series follows the secretive community of gypsies.

The procrastinator lists items that may not be on your regular season pass, though notation does not imply recommendation other than those underlined. Times noted are typically PST.

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new and noteworthy tv: 5/16-5/22

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The season is wrapping up enough that I might be able to catch up on some movies…

Monday

  • Off Limits (Trav, 9pm) Series Premiere – A look at another side of Los Angeles.
  • The Real Housewives of New Jersey (Brav, 9pm) Season Premiere – More of the women who are potentially wives with houses.
  • The Best Thing I Ever Ate (Food, 10:30pm) Season Premiere – Favorite food pairings.

Tuesday

  • Tosh.0 (Com, 10pm) Season Premiere – Daniel Tosh returns to his internet shenanigans.

Wednesday

  • ANTM (CW, 9pm) Season Finale – Who will be America’s Next… woman who gets some prizes?

Thursday

  • The Mentalist (CBS, 9pm) Season Finale – The two hour finale gets to the bottom of the Red John case, ok at least who the red John mole is.

Friday

  • VH1 Storytellers (VH1, 11pm) – How sad is it that I am remotely interested in Cee Lo Green now that he’s a coach on a reality show?

Saturday

  • Saturday Night Live (NBC, 11:30pm) Season Finale – With Justin Timberlake hosting we’re sure to get a new music video.

Sunday

  • Jesse Stone: Innocents Lost (CBS, 9pm) – The next in the series of Parker books come to TV, Tom Selleck is so good at being a bummer of a dude, while crime solving and all that.

The procrastinator lists items that may not be on your regular season pass, though notation does not imply recommendation other than those underlined. Times noted are typically PST.

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i heart tivo

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If you haven’t been following my television equipment journey, I purchased a new TiVo a couple months ago. I had been struggling with this decision for a while and took a circuitous route to get there. Some time ago I was lamenting that my then current TiVo could only record one channel at a time. And we all know that just doesn’t suffice. I had a recordable dvd player that had replaced my final vhs recorder but it was time to take the next step.

I loved my TiVo and I loved the lifetime service that I had gotten with it, unfortunately it’s not transferable from one box to another. I weighed the costs of a new box and new monthly service against the monthly rental of a Comcast box, the phrase penny wise, pound foolish comes to mind when I reflect back on my decision. I should note that I was also at that time finally going to pay for cable and figured if they were already coming out it was worth a risk free month to month trial.

The problems started immediately but I can sum them up by touting my favorite feature about my new TiVo. It does not malfunction when I set it to record a show. Pretty fancy stuff, right? The Comcast dvr was so problematic that it wasn’t the interface issues that caused me to revolt, it was my desire to see the shows that I wanted to record.

So now that I’m back what else do I heart about my TiVo:

  • Ffwd/Rwd – Hit the buttons and it lands where you meant it to land without a weird jump, I missed that.
  • Incredible storage – You get what you pay for, but knowing that I can record all of the stuff I generally watch in a week, plus piling up a couple series that I can get behind on, and seeing it still at 15% makes me happy… come vacation, tennis tournaments, or Olympics I feel like I’ll be in good shape.
  • Other services – This is available on other stuff besides TiVo but I’m now streaming my Netflix with no effort, plus I have access to Amazon, Blockbuster, and Pandora among others.
  • Advanced guide – I use my guide, the search capabilities, and the episode displays as a constant research tool and the advanced features on the guide are great, did I miss an episode, let me just check the episode guide.
  • Episodes to go – So I don’t quite have this working yet but you can download shows from your TV to your computer and watch wherever you want.

I’m still playing with it so there could be more fun to be had. Though to be fair there were a couple things that I liked a little better on Comcast:

  • On Demand – I could probably still get a box but the additional shows were a nice option in addition to stuff I recorded.
  • Picture in Picture – The transition from small to full screen was just smoother on my old Comcast, for whatever reason.
  • Recording shows in guide – The old guide showed right in it that it was something being recorded (now I seem to have to select the show to tell).
  • Not recording shows in to do list – The old guide also clearly showed what items weren’t being recorded due to conflicts, but the TiVo shows each episode not being recorded including those that are duplicates or repeats (if my setting is to not record them) which makes it difficult to weed through what I’m really going to be missing.

And here’s what I want next:

  • All online video – I can watch shows for free on network and cable sites and on sites like Hulu, it would be great to have that all centralized instead of returning to my computer, all in good time I assume.
  • Ability to delete part of a recording – This goes back to the recording long shows, shouldn’t you be able to delete part of it, though I suppose now that I have so much storage it doesn’t matter.
  • Record more shows – And of course I’d like to record more than two shows, darn it if I don’t still have conflicts that make me sacrifice a recording.

So the TiVo will soon be out of date with the latest technology, and tech will always leave me wanting more… But for now I am delighted to return to see TiVo’s little smiling face.

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new and noteworthy tv: 5/9-5/15

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Another week, another batch of new and returning shows…

Monday

  • Diners, Drive-ins, & Dives (Food, 9pm) Season Premiere – Guy Fieri visits more spots.
  • Stargate Universe (Syfy, 9pm) Series Finale – I think there may be a gate still running somewhere.
  • Quints by Surprise (TLC, 10pm) Season Premiere – Can one parent deal with all five kids on their own?
  • Vanished with Beth Holloway (Life, 10pm) Series Premiere – Beth had a daughter disappear so she’s searching and will search with others for their loved ones.

Tuesday

  • Swamp Brothers (Disc, 10pm) Series Premiere – Follow the brothers as they run their reptile sanctuary and exotic reptile dealership.

Wednesday

  • Nothing new is happening but I’m still triple booked on Idol, Modern Family, and ANTM.

Thursday

  • Naked Science (NGC, 8pm) Season Premiere – Following a single oxygen molecule.
  • Swords (Disc, 10pm) Season Premiere – Reality following a boat on the hunt for swordfish, not actual swords.

Friday

  • Smallville (CW, 8pm) Series Finale – Clark becomes superman, or however they’re wrapping this up.

Saturday

  • Running Wilde (FX, 11pm) – They’re apparently running the rest of these.

Sunday

  • Jerseylicious (Style, 8pm) Season Premiere – Some people do some stuff.

The procrastinator lists items that may not be on your regular season pass, though notation does not imply recommendation other than those underlined. Times noted are typically PST.

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