tv – Page 82 – procrastinationchronicles.com

next week 3/2

February 27, 2009 No Comments

New and notable in the week ahead… procrastinator picks are underlined.

Monday

The Bachelor (ABC, 8/10pm) Season Finale – Will the single father pick the blonde or the brunette? And will he change his mind, perhaps for returning Bachelorette DeAnna? After the Rose starts at 10 and continues in part two on Tuesday, will it be the most dramatic show yet?
Rules of Engagement (CBS, 9:30pm) Season Premiere – This show about folks at different stages of relationships with David Spade and Patrick Warburton among others, was one I found almost funny.
Ax Men (Hist, 10pm) Season Premiere – I think we look at more loggers… I think this is like the third logger show, maybe logging is that hot.
Harlem Heights (BET, 10/10:30pm) Series Premiere – This reality version follows folks in their twenties, in you guessed it, Harlem.
Saving Grace (TNT, 10pm) Season Premiere – Looks like Grace is still a mess and we love that about her, and now she has to break in new partner Christina Ricci, at least she won’t sleep with this partner, though I hate to rule anything out.
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (NBC, 12:30am) – Will you tune in for De Niro and Timberlake or would you tune in for Fallon alone as he takes the desk.

Tuesday

Reaper (CW, 8pm) Season Premiere – This slacker dude whose soul has been sold to the devil and now has to be a bounty hunter for said devil developed a great cast and even some intrigue last season.

Wednesday

ANTM (CW, 8pm) Season Premiere – A two hour kick off brings 34 hopefuls down to 13 house dwellers, and then the mess continues with the first standard show.
Make Me A Supermodel (Bravo, 10pm) Season Premiere – For an alternate take on model wannabes check out Tyson hosting a crop of dudes and chicks who try to be fierce, or whatever that show’s catch phrase is.

Thursday

American Idol (Fox, 8pm) – In a special additional Thursday ep, the judges pick some favorites to try it again for the wild card slots.

Friday

Say Yes to the Dress (TLC, 10/10:30pm) Season Premiere – The process of picking a wedding gown, can’t wait!
Trick my Truck (CMT, 10pm) Season Premiere – A truck tricked in tribute to speedboats, woo hoo!

Saturday

Ashes to Ashes (BBCA, 9pm) Series Premiere – I’m not sure but this show sounds like Life on Mars but someone finds themselves in the 80s, oh wait it’s a sequel, to the BBC version of course.

Sunday

Cycling (Vs, 2pm) – Check out the guys at Paris Nice.
SNL (NBC, 7/8pm) – Game show parodies is followed by commercials.
The L Word (Show, 8/9pm) Series Finale – A special at 8 reviews the past seasons getting us all ready for the finale.
Sunday Best (BET, 9pm) Season Premiere – Undiscovered gospel singers.
Breaking Bad (AMC, 10pm) Season Premiere – The school teacher turned meth maker/dealer to support his family when he learns of his terminal cancer continues as he and his partner get into more messes – marathon to catch up on season 1 starting with the pilot at 8pm on Fri.
Keeping Up with the Kardashians (E!, 10pm) Season Premiere – Does anyone really care?
Candy Girls (E!, 10:30pm) Series Premiere – Eye candy for sale, well for rent, for music videos or whatever in this latest reality show.

* Always check your local listings, all times are PST.

next week 2/23

February 20, 2009 1 Comment

New and notable in the week ahead…

Monday

The Bachelor (ABC, 8pm) – The women tell all…

Tuesday

Presidential Address (Various, 6pm) – Obama talks to a joint session of congress to outline challenges and proposed actions.
Dark Days in Monkey City (AnPl, 10pm) Series Premiere – Live action and animation for a couple species of monkeys.

Wednesday

American Idol (Fox, 8pm) – It’s on Wed and Thursday this week for the next round of twelve, so set the tivos, the results shows are definitely supposed to be fast forwarded through.

Thursday

Secrets of the Furious 5 (NBC, 8pm) – Apparently the guys from Kung Fu Panda are bringing another tale.
The Chris Isaak Hour (Bio, 7pm) Series Premiere – Trisha Yearwood joins Chris to kick off his show.

Friday

American Loggers (Disc, 10pm) Series Premiere – Timberrrrrrrr!

Saturday

America/Anacondas (Life/SciFi, 9pm) – Desperation may make you turn to an original telefilm…

Sunday

Saturday Night Live Just Shorts (NBC, 7pm) – Andy Samburg has brought some funny and hosts this compilation of the mostly not live portion of the show.
Running in Heels (Style, 8pm) Series Premiere – A look at fashion mag Marie Claire through various employees.
The Apprentice (NBC, 9pm) Season Premiere – Dennis Rodman, Joan Rivers, and a bevy of d listers take on Trumps tasks.
Jesse Stone (CBS, 9pm) – ‘Thin Ice’ has Tom Selleck as Jesse Stone in the latest telefilm based on the Parker novels.

I’m not sure whether we’re still keeping up with the Joneses or if its now the Jobses, but it’s tough to keep up with technology. I may have noted that I broke down and bought a new flat screen tv. And when I got there they were having a special deal that included a blue ray player.

Well the blue ray was basically free, so what was I going to do, not take it? I wasn’t planning on upgrading from my standard dvd player even though the blue ray is the latest superior technology and quality of picture, but I did. Though I had to buy a new fancy hdmi cable which I was able to find online for about $35 rather than the $80 that the store versions were.

And now I have lovely television but am refraining from doing the next two steps which are 1) getting hd cable ($7/mo) and 2) getting a new hd tivo ($299-599 + $12.99/mo or $399 lifetime). I have been wanting a new tivo for ages because I still have an early series edition that can only record one channel at a time. But I also have a lifetime membership that only applies to my current box so not only would I have to buy a new box but I’d have to pay for the service.

So then my friend tells me about this new Roku ($100) that she got that enables you to watch netflix streaming. Why am I just watching videos stream on my laptop when I can watch them on my new 32 inch flat screen television? Well although I won’t get the sweet wireless connection I think I can just use another one of those fancy hdmi cables (or an rgb + audio cable). Though of course the new tivos — and xbox ($200) and some blue ray players ($350-400) — can also stream.

And now that we’re switching over to the digital television apparently I’m no longer able to get tv through my old vcr. I mean I know vcrs are basically like 8 track tape players, but it was keeping me going with just that one channel recording on my tivo. So I guess I could throw down for a dvd recorder ($100-250).

So what else could there be? Well, there is the iphone ($200-300 + $75-150/mo service)… but for now I will make do with my ipod and lame mobile phone with no internet/email. That is until they introduce something new and irresistible or my old one craps out. Isn’t that the way…

sports, tv

next week 2/16

February 14, 2009 No Comments

New and notable in the week ahead… procrastinator picks are underlined.

Monday

Tour of California (Vs) – Check the week for stages 3-9, usually showing about three times a day, and get a look at some of the top cycling teams.
Little People, Big World (TLC, 8pm) Season Premiere – They’re heading to Iraq with a surgeon to help some kids.

Tuesday

American Idol (Fox, 8pm) – Time to get the speed dial ready, and remember it’s a singing competition, let’s get this down to a good top 12.
Dogg After Dark (MTV, 9pm) Series Premiere – Snoop Dogg gets a variety show.
Real Housewives of NYC (Brav, 11pm) Season Premiere – New housewife, old tension.

Wednesday

Little Miss Perfect (WEtv, 10pm) Series Premiere – Junior beauty pageants and their parents compete.
High School Reunion (TVL, 10pm) Season Premiere – After my high school was in consideration for a season of this I have almost been tempted to tune in, almost.

Thursday

Being Erica (Soap, 10pm) Series Premiere – Can you relive old moments in your life, this new series shows a gal do just that?

Friday

Mistresses (BBCA, 8pm) Series Debut – Four ladies have some drama on this new drama.
Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO, 10pm) Season Premiere -Bill has a real time.
Late Night with Conan O’Brien (NBC, 12:35am) – Say goodbye to Late Night with Conan O’Brien and hello to The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien, but not until June 1.

Saturday

Taking Chance (HBO, 8pm) – Do people still do the six degrees of Kevin Bacon, check out this flick if you want fodder.
2009 Film Independent’s Spirit Awards (IFC, 9pm) – These awards go indie style.
Aisha Tyler Is Lit: Live at the Fillmore (Com, 11pm) – I worked with Aisha forever ago at a regular office job and don’t know whether her success inspires or depresses me.

Sunday

Barbara Walters Special (ABC, 8:30pm) – Anne Hathaway, Mickey Rourke, Hugh Jackman, and the Jonas Brothers.
The 100 Most Outrageous Moments 2 (NBC, 9pm) – Outrageous home videos, that must be much better than the funniest home videos.
The 81st Annual Academy Awards (ABC, 3:30/5/5:30pm) – Silly preshow interviews, awkward host moments with Jackman, boring speeches, and noteworthy fashions, oh and a chance to win my Oscar pool.

* Please note all times are PST.

hollywood idols

February 12, 2009 4 Comments

After a couple weeks of Hollywood we’re finally narrowing things down. There are just still too many people at this point to really have heard enough of them singing to really get behind a favorite. And although I enjoy the train wreck of group night, I think it’s a ridiculous waste of energy for the kids and I don’t know how relevant it is to the solo singing they have to do on the show. Though I guess I try to block out the horrendous group numbers they do on results nights that I fast forward through.

I guess I also blocked out that the last show is just the annoying one-by-one bringing the kids into the ‘mansion’ to tell them yea or nay. I mean in theory if they’re not performing again then they could have just picked the last 36 (previous seasons only 24) when they narrowed it down by eliminating one of the four rooms. Though hopefully they at least took some time to re-review the performances, plus this time they did a couple sing offs for folks on the edge. Totally uncomfortable for them but actually seems fair enough, though how tough was it to pick the pairs.

The other thing I wonder is how much the choice of which folks they feature impacts at least the early rounds of the people voting. I know I won’t be voting for Tatiana, the featured most annoying girl in the world. The jury is still out on the dude who plays the character Norman Gentle, not sure this is the right competition for that sort of thing. But from now on let the people vote.

more stars

February 9, 2009 No Comments

I don’t even watch this show so I don’t know why I am always intrigued by the latest crop of competitors on Dancing with the Stars. Maybe because of the show’s popularity the has-beens actually get some notoriety or maybe because this show seems like one of the few that actually require the celebs to put some effort into something and be judged on that skill.

Noteworthy items: Shawn Johnson at 17 is the youngest competitor ever, husband and wife Ty Murray and Jewel will each be competing with partners, professional dance partner Julianne Hough is back and will be dancing with her boyfriend Chuck Wicks (who?), but the ‘who?’ award goes out to famed actor Gilles Marini. Though the real question is who will be eliminated first? The eldest techie Steve at 58, the big old football guy Lawrence Taylor, or reality comedian Steve-O? Tune in to see the new crop March 9 on ABC, here’s the full list:

Belinda Carlisle – The GoGos!
Stephen “Steve-O” Glover – Reality tv star
David Alan Grier – Comedian
Shawn Johnson – Olympic Gymnast
Jewel – Singer
Lil’ Kim – Rapper
Gilles Marini – Actor
Ty Murray – Rodeo Guy and Jewel’s Hubby
Nancy O’Dell – Entertainment Anchor
Denise Richards – Actress
Lawrence Taylor – NFL Player
Chuck Wicks – Singer
Steve Wozniak – Billionaire

In case you like your celebrities off the dance floor check out this season’s Celebrity Apprentice kicking off March 1 on NBC with: Clint Black, Andrew Dice Clay, Tom Green, Scott Hamilton, Jesse James, Brian McNight, Dennis Rodman, Herschel Walker, Khloe Kardashian, Joan and Melissa Rivers, Annie Duke, Natalie Gulbis, Claudia Jordan, Brande Roderick, and Tionne Watkins.

sports, tv

next week 2/9

February 6, 2009 No Comments

New and notable in the week ahead… procrastinator picks are underlined.

Monday

Presidential News Conference (various, 5pm*) – Obama talks the talk.
Top Gear (BBCA, 8pm) Season Premiere – Looks like there is some truck and porsche driving.
Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show (USA & others mon & tues, check your local listings) – Doggies!
BET Honors (BET, 6pm) – Gabrielle Union hosts the latest honors.
The Girls of Hedsor Hall (MTV, 9pm) Series Premiere – Another chance for crass girls to turn sophisticated, but this time they ship them to England.

Tuesday

TI’s Road to Redemption (MTV, 9pm) Series Premiere – Awaiting his own sentencing on weapons charges TI is clearly the model citizen to try to help some at-risk teens.
From G’s to Gents (MTV, 10pm) Season Premiere – I think they keep these bad boys away from the Girls of Hedsor Hall as they try to make them more gentlemanly.

Wednesday

Important Things with Demetri Martin (Com, 10:30pm) Series Premiere – Sketch comedy and more.

Thursday

NAACP Image Awards (Fox, 8pm) – Halle Berry and Tyler Perry host this one.
Survivor (CBS, 8pm) Season Premiere – The eliminations start early when they hit the Brazilian highlands.
Millionaire Matchmaker (Brav, 10pm) Season Premiere – I only caught one ep of this last season but it looked like an annoying owner of an ill equipped dating service helping socially inept men meat their trophy wives.

Friday

Dollhouse (Fox, 9pm) Series Premiere – I do love Joss Whedon (Buffy, Angel, Firefly, Dr Horrible) and I’m willing to give any new series of his more than a few eps of devotion, this latest brings us Buffy’s Faith/Eliza Dushku as one of a set of operatives who get new identities implanted and then wiped clean for weekly missions.

Saturday

Tour of California (Vs, 2pm, various times through next week) – They start out in Sacramento…
My Valentine Charlie Brown/A Charlie Brown Valentine (ABC, 8pm, also on previous Tues) – Romantic problems start in your youth…

Sunday

The Amazing Race (CBS, 8pm) Season Premiere – This year we’re going to see among others… the show’s first hearing-impaired contestant, along with some oldsters, some youngsters…
Eastbound & Down (HBO, 10:30pm) Series Premiere – Washed up big league baseball guy returns to his hometown to do the PE thing.

* Times noted are PST, check your local listings.

digital conspiracy delay

February 4, 2009 2 Comments

Well you may have heard rumor that television is going digital. The folks are saying it’s better technology and frees up airwaves for emergency transmissions among other things. The scheduled transition date was February 17 (which was set in 2005), after which the current analog signal was to be shut down and viewers who wanted to watch television (and isn’t that everyone!) need to be on board.

Everyone who currently has cable or satellite is already good to go, but if you’re still fighting the man on throwing down $ for your tv signal you might need to throw down a little $ for your tv equipment. New televisions come digital good to go (anything after March 2007 had to be digital), but if you have an old tv and aren’t ready to upgrade (though isn’t this is a good excuse to finally get a nice big flat screen?) you can get a digital converter box. These boxes hook into your tv and cost around $40-70. They do admit that the digital signal isn’t as strong and some users who were getting the analog (or getting it fuzzy) don’t get it or may need to upgrade their antenna to be in the clear.

Looks like apparently 6.5 million households have still yet to take the necessary steps to receive the digital signal once the plug is pulled on the analog one. These households are mostly low income, rural, and elderly folks and there is a program that offers coupons for $40 off certain models in certain locations. Unfortunately they’re out of coupons, sort of. The coupons each have an expiration date and they can’t issue new coupons until the already issued coupons expire if unused so they know they’re not going over budget. Currently there are over 3.5 million households on the wait list.

So the Obama administration encouraged congress to extend the date ’til June 12 and they somewhat reluctantly did so. Around 200 million has already been spent to make folks aware of the change so moving the date would have some implications on additional public service announcements as well as the costs to continue to output two signals. Some of the stations are dropping the analog early because of the dual signal costs, PBS estimates their costs at about 22 million alone. Fortunately it looks like the latest stimulus package includes a chunk of change to help out with the coupons at least, though that may not be approved for weeks.

Other helpful sites:
http://www.dtvtransition.org/
http://www.dtv.gov/
https://www.dtv2009.gov/
http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/welcome.aspx

next week 2/2

January 31, 2009 1 Comment

New and notable in the week ahead… procrastinator picks are underlined.

Monday

Chuck (NBC, 8pm) – Chuck goes 3d and I’m sure gets into some trouble.
I Love Money (VH1, 9pm) Season Premiere – This is the show where reality contestants compete in a reality contest.
Medium (NBC, 10pm) Season Premiere – Allison’s got a case of the visions, or something.
For the Love of Ray J (VH1, 10:30pm) Series Premiere – By now you’re probably familiar with the ‘rock star’ dating shows even if you’re not familiar with Ray J.

Tuesday

The IT Crowd (IFC, 8pm) Season Premiere – There’s a crowd and they’re in IT.

Wednesday

Katie Couric “All Access” Grammy Special (CBS, 9pm) – Katie interviews the kids with the Grammys.
Monsterquest (Hist, 10pm) Season Premiere – This ep is titled ‘Death of Loch Ness’ but let me tell you if there was a Loch Ness, and I’m not saying there was, he’s gonna be pissed if people start saying he’s dead.
The Exterminators (A&E, 10:30pm) Series Premiere – Let’s head to Louisiana to get rid of some bees and some coons.

Thursday

Gangland (Hist, 9pm) Season Premiere – We see the land of gangs.
Street Customs (TLC, 9pm) Season Premiere – We customize a ’67 barracuda.
Heli-Loggers (TLC, 10pm) Series Premiere – It’s what it sounds like, logging with helicopters.

Friday

Most Haunted (Trav, 7pm) Season Premiere – Not just haunted, but the most haunted places.
Jockeys (AnPl, 9pm) Series Premiere – We check in on the jockeys and their horses down at Santa Anita during a 30 day meet.

Saturday

Tour of California (Vs, 2pm) – This preview show will take a look at the tour and I’m sure mention Lance.

Sunday

Grammy Awards (CBS, 8pm) – Lil Wayne has the most noms and you can tune in to see him perform along with other hot hitmakers.
HGTV Showdown (HGTV, 9pm) Season Premiere – It’s a family room makeover!
Rob Dyrdek’s Fantasy Factor/The College Humor Show/Nitro Circus/How’s Your News? (MTV, 9/9:30/10/10:30pm) Series Premieres – Pro skateboarder, the guys from collegehumor.com, FMX, and reporters with disabilities…
XIII (NBC, 9pm) – Can Stephen Dorff recall whether he was involved in the assassination of the first chick prez, if not tonight check back next sunday for part two of the miniseries.
Mark & Olly: Living With the Machigenga (Trav, 10pm) Series Premiere – They start by searching for the Machigenga tribe.

sports, tv

australian open

January 28, 2009 1 Comment

Well my vow not to watch the first week of this tennis tournament was thwarted by a cold, so here I am in week two totally engrossed. Three important things to note: 1) it’s all on ESPN2 so if you’re looking for network coverage you’re out of luck 2) it is in Australia so live tv is totally out of time zone whack 3) it’s been 100-120 degrees and they’ve only shut the roof (and turn the AC on to get it down to a balmy mid 70s) for a couple of the day matches, the night matches might still be in the 100s, let’s just say there’ve been some fried folks.

So what are we looking at:

Men’s Semifinals – Thurs 1/29, 12:30am, Roddick vs. Federer (replays at noon); Fri 1/30, 12:30am, Nadal vs. Verdasco (replays at noon)
Women’s Final – Saturday 1/31, 12:30am, S. Williams vs. Safina (replays at 6am and 5pm)
Men’s Final – Sunday 2/1, 12:30am, tbd (replays at noon)

* All times are PST, check your local listings

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