tv

next week 12/17

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Monday

  • Clash of the Choirs (NBC, 8pm – m-th) Premiere – Some songsters take some choirs and get them geared up to let loose like only a choir can do.
  • Duel (ABC, 8pm – m-f and sun) Premiere – Six part series of game shows where people compete against each other in some sort of trivia.

Tuesday

  • The Biggest Loser (NBC, 9pm) Season Finale – The final weigh in will tell us who has won the most by losing the most.
  • Saving Grace (TNT, 10pm) Season Finale – Didn’t I just write about this show coming back?

Wednesday

  • A Holiday Celebration at Ford’s Theater (ABC, 10pm) – Apparently this is an annual event where the first family watches some folks like Wynonna perform.
  • Frosty the Snowman/Frosty Returns (CBS, 8pm) – Just can’t get enough of that snowman.

Thursday

  • CSI (CBS 8/9pm) – On a night of mostly repeats you can get reacquainted with this season’s opener of the miniature killer taking Sara.

Friday

  • Home for the Holidays (CBS, 8pm) – This one has Fergie, James Blunt and Sheryl Crow singing to raise awareness for foster care.
  • The Next Great American Band (Fox, 9pm) Season Finale – No matter what, those Clark Brothers have a great career ahead of them!

Saturday

  • Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events (ABC, 8pm) – Jim Carey helps bring this children’s book to life.
  • Elf (CBS, 8pm) – Will Farrell is endearing and funny in this fish out of water tale of an elf hitting the real world.

Sunday

  • Elmo’s Christmas Countdown (ABC, 7pm) – Celebs and muppets, how could that be bad?
  • Story of Santa Claus (CW, 8pm) – An animated telling of Nicholas Claus.
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tv

next week 12/10

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Monday

  • The Hills (MTV, 10pm) Season Finale – So the people on this show are the ones that I don’t recognize in all the tabloid magazines.
  • I Want a Dog for Christmas Charlie Brown (ABC, 8pm) – Linus and Lucy’s little brother hangs with Snoopy and his brother Spike.

Tuesday

  • Shrek the Halls/Winnie the Pooh and Christmas, Too (ABC, 9/8:30pm) – Shrek again, then Pooh and the gang have some snow time fun.
  • Life on Mars (BBC, 8pm) Season Premiere – This is apparently the second and final season of a guy thrown back in time trying to get home kind of show.

Wednesday

  • ANTM (CW, 8pm) Season Finale! – Who will it be? I still say Saleisha, but let’s be serious I only care about the journey.
  • Kid Nation (CBS, 8pm) Season Finale – I haven’t heard anything about this show since the start so I think maybe no kids were maimed.
  • Kitchen Nightmares (Fox, 9pm) Season Finale – I didn’t really follow how this worked so I’m not sure what the finale involves.
  • Crowned: The Mother of All Pageants (CW, 9pm – future 8pm) Series Premiere – A house full of mother/daughter beauty contestants, Queer Eye’s Carson is one of the judges as one team gets voted of each week.
  • Dirty Sexy Money (ABC, 10pm) – Catch it if you missed the pilot of the best soap in night time tv, they do the cheese factor to a T (what does that actually mean?).

Thursday

  • Saturday Night Live Christmas (NBC, 9:30pm) – As they keep moving with the compilation shows the holidays seem like a logical choice.

Friday

  • It’s a Wonderful Life (NBC, 8pm) – This holiday classic always gets a showing, well, around the holidays.

Saturday

  • Chuck (NBC, 8pm) – Catch the pilot episode if you didn’t get on board from the start of this fun series.

Sunday

  • Survivor: China (CBS, 8pm) Season Finale – Followed by reunion show at 10pm, this ultimate tribal council will crown a new ultimate Survivor.
  • Dexter (Show 9pm) Season Finale – So this serial killer series comes to the end of season 2.
  • Extras (HBO, 9pm) Series Finale – With Ricky Gervais, he is a wannabe actor trying to make it, and how does it all end?
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tv

real life?

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So as the strike takes off we might need to get a little more comfortable with reality shows. Now before you groan, some of them are pretty entertaining, you just have to be a little discerning about it and you have to know what you like. And you have to be forewarned that even the bad ones can suck you in. Here are some of my rules of thumb on how I pick ‘em.

There are basically two main criteria of reality show. Straight up competitions where we might get to know the folks onstage but they don’t have to suffer through living together, or if they do we don’t see it. Think American Idol and Dancing With the Stars. And there are the ones where we get to see the behind the scenes action, either competition prep and/or interaction with the other contestants. America’s Next Top Model and Survivor both have this angle.

Now unless you are interested in the category of competition, the first style of show doesn’t quite do it. A recently launched Phenomenon where contestants compete with their magic couldn’t make this clearer. That’s not to say that behind the scenes is enough to keep it interesting, Big Brother somehow shows people in a house voting against each other for two to three nights a week, really?

So other than category what makes it interesting? I like a mix of an challenge or skill and personal dynamics. I like it when there is the possibility for an upset, we want someone to win but when it’s not a sure thing it’s much more rewarding. Good perm cast doesn’t hurt, Dave Navarro surprisingly entertains on Rock Star and though I can’t stand the Simon, Paula, Randy & Ryan group they’ve got enough going on to make their own interest. Call me un-American but I like it when someone other than America is voting, or they do a combo. And I have to admit I like the crazies, it always amazes me how real people can act more bizarre than anyone would ever believe in a fictional character.

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tv

next week 10/21

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This is the last week we seem to have new stuff so I’m throwing in some other items that may or may not be of interest…

Sunday

  • Viva Laughlin (CBS, 10/21, 8pm) – This is the regular timeslot for anyone who made it through the premiere or doesn’t believe everyone that it’s just plain bad, it is.

Monday

  • Heroes (NBC, 10/22, 9pm) – I’m actually behind on this, but this week Kristin Bell (Veronica Mars herself for those of you who missed my earlier notations) is starting her run and I’m dieing to know what her power will be, I’ve been avoiding all references to the show.

Tuesday

  • Damages (FX, 10/23, 10pm) Season Finale – I did watch the first couple of episodes as they replayed on network and couldn’t get into it but some folks do, it’s been renewed for another season.

Wednesday

  • Phenom (NBC, 10/24, 8pm) Series Premiere – Ok, this is where Uri Geller and Criss Angel, two people that I really don’t get, look for more people that, what? do some sort of magic-like things.

Thursday

  • Scrubs (NBC, 10/25, 8pm) Season Premiere – At the end of last season JD was stressing over fatherhood and Elliot was stressing over getting married, so as she and JD got cot cozy, we were left wondering will they or won’t they, again.

Friday

  • Las Vegas (NBC, 10/26, 10pm) – Apparently TC and Rick from Magnum are making a guest appearance now that Tom Selleck has joined the cast, but where is Higgins?

And we’re also getting going on the World Series (Fox, 10/24, 10/25, 10/27, 10/28, 10/29*, 10/31*, 11/1* – check your local listings) I don’t actually watch or follow baseball, though I’m not opposed to drinking a beer at a game, but thought I’d throw this in the mix.

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tv

next week 10/14

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We’re almost done…

Sunday

  • Samantha Who? (ABC, Mon 10/5, 9:30pm) – Pilot. Christina Applegate wakes from a coma not knowing who she is, but maybe that’s a good thing as she starts to discover the not so nice gal she was.

Monday

  • The Price is Right (CBS, Mon 10/15, check your local listings) – I’ve never been a real watcher but Drew Carey taking over seemed noteworthy.

Thursday

  • Viva Laughlin (CBS, Thurs 10/18, 10pm – preview, second ep as official premiere on 10/21, 8pm) – Pilot So this is the one where they sing along to popular songs whilst dealing with gambling and at least one murder mystery…

Friday

  • Next Great American Band (Fox, Fri 10/19, 8pm) – Pilot American Idol but for bands, I am mildly interested in this, was initially into Idol and was a big fan of Rock Star, shouldn’t stick with it but maybe worth a glance.
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tv

next week 10/7

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So the big launches are tapering off, good thing I have a lot of back logged tivo…

Sunday

  • Life is Wild (CW, Sun 10/7, 8pm) – City family moves to safari style living, I’ve heard this referred to as the next 7th Heaven in a way that as a non 7th Heaven watcher makes me want to avoid it, but I’ve also heard there are lots of lion cubs in the first episode so I will tune in.

Friday

  • 20/20 (ABC, Fri 10/12, 8pm) – Um, it’s a news features show right?
  • Women’s Murder Club (ABC, Fri 10/12, 9pm) – Angie Harmon is one of four professional gal pals, detective, medical examiner, da, and reporter, who solve cases and have drinks.
  • Men in Trees (ABC, Fri 10/12, 10pm) – I heard that this show got better last season, Ann Heche as love expert/city gal goes to Alaska after her love life crumbles, but I really didn’t like the Ann Heche character, or maybe I just didn’t like Ann Heche
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tv

next week 9/30

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Well it’s tough to keep up but my schedule is finally starting to settle into place, one more wave of shows (and then perhaps a smattering) to consider…

Sunday

  • Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (ABC, Sun 9/30, 7pm) – I’ve never watched a full episode of this, but spastic/cute Ty Pennington leads a crew to totally build/rebuild the house of someone with an undoubtedly touching story.
  • Desperate Housewives (ABC, Sun 9/30, 9pm) – I watched, and enjoyed, this show for the first season but the freshness of the amusing nighttime soapy ladies on Wisteria Lane wore off for me.
  • American Dad (Fox, Sun 9/30, 9:30pm) – One of the animated shows that I never got into.
  • Brothers & Sisters (ABC, Sun 9/30, 10pm) – So the Walkers are a mess and I think new additions from last season illegitimate daughter/homewrecker and presidential candidate/fiancé are sticking around to stir the pot.

Monday

  • Everybody Hates Chris (CW, Mon 10/1, 8pm) – A fictionalized and theoretically more amusing look at Chris Rock’s childhood wasn’t ever quite funny enough to me to keep tuning in.
  • Aliens in America (CW, Mon 10/1, 8:30pm) Pilot – A kid not fitting into high school could be funny but maybe adding a Pakistani muslim kid can make it funnier.
  • Girlfriends (CW, Mon 10/1, 9pm) – I actually kind of like this gal pal, plus a guy pal, show with their various messed up relationships and jobs and you know, lives.
  • The Game (CW, Mon 10/1, 9:30pm) – So the girlfriend of a football star hangs out with the wives of football stars, and I’m not sure what else ‘cuz it didn’t quite grab me.

Tuesday

  • Cavemen (ABC, Tues 10/2, 8pm) Pilot – Ok, whatever.
  • Carpoolers (ABC, Tues 10/2, 8pm) Pilot – Jerry O’Connell, and three other guys, talk about their varied lives on their way into their varied jobs.

Wednesday

  • Pushing Daisies (ABC, Wed 10/3, 8pm) Pilot – This whimsical, comedic, fantastical, romantic murder mystery, where a guy brings the dead back to life to help solve their murders is supposed to be a gem.

Thurday

  • 30 Rock (NBC, Thurs 10/4, 8:30pm) – Tina Fey and her crazies in her show behind the show started to get a good groove last season.
  • Supernatural (CW, Thurs 10/4, 9pm) – Hunky yet one dimensional brothers hunt the supernatural, and the couple times I watched argued a lot.

Friday

  • Friday Night Lights (NBC, Fri 10/5, 9pm) – This show is reportedly great, but even with great writing and characters and whatnot they are still so focused on football that I couldn’t quite deal.
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tv

judging a pilot

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Now one of the things I love about television is that I can be as judgmental as I want, but often when my critical eye comes out I need to remind myself of all that a pilot is trying to do, introduce all the characters, the one or multiple situations, plus tell a story. Sometimes you find a true gem and sometimes you find the opposite (I stand behind my decision to not watch another episode of K-Ville) but sometimes it takes at least a second episode to get the feel for where a show is going. Plus who knows how long before the regular season the pilot was shot, could be some time to step back and make some adjustments. So as I watch the first episodes of Gossip Girl and Back to You and wonder if they’re really worth adding to the lineup, I try to remember whether The OC had struck its self deprecating humorous stride on day one, and remind myself that Friends didn’t delight me with its hilarity when Rachel first walked into the coffee shop. I guess each of those shows had a decent set up with some characters that could be interesting and good enough writing that I was willing to see more. Sometimes you just have to trust your gut, plus you just have to know your own tastes. So Gossip Girl may be stupid, but it’s my kind of stupid, so I’m going to give it another shot. Plus television doesn’t always have to be amazing, though thankfully sometimes it is, but sometimes all I want is to tune out and tune in and it’s nice to know there are some shows good for that too.

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tv

next week 9/16

27 Comments

Ok now we’re cooking with gas (I’ve never used that expression before in my life)…

Monday:

  • Deal or No Deal (NBC, Mon 9/17, 8pm) This is the one with Howie Mandell and the chicks with briefcases, I’ve never cared enough to figure out how it really works.
  • Prison Break (Fox, Mon 9/17, 8pm) Ok I loved, loved, loved this show the first season and I could write an entire post on how bad it was in season 2. I watched the first 17 minutes, or whatever they showed online, and am not, I repeat, not going to watch another season.
  • K-Ville (Fox, Mon 9/17, 9pm) Pilot – I guess it’s just wait and see about whether this is more than an average cop show set in a less than average recovering from Katrina New Orleans setting.

Tuesday:

  • Beauty and the Geek (CW, Tues 9/18, 8pm) I have watched an episode or two of this show and was mildly amused by the fish out of water challenges that make people look dumb.

Wednesday:

  • America’s Next Top Model aka ANTM (CW, Wed 9/19, 8pm) There is a true addictive quality to this and although I can’t for the life of me remember who wins from year to year I dig the journey. The first episode isn’t the best because there are just too many girls to get a real sense of who’s who, so stay tuned.
  • Back to You (Fox, Wed 9/19, 8pm) Pilot – This has decent buzz, and I like a decent sitcom, but it is opposite ANTM and Pushing Daisies so it might just get a week or two to woo me.
  • Kid Nation (CBS, Wed 9/19, 8pm) Pilot – So if kids ran their own town would it break child labor laws? That seems to be the question put to courts. Is the show interesting enough to merit the pain CBS is going through? Time will tell.
  • ‘Til Death (CBS, Wed 9/19, 8:30pm) This show about two couples, one newlyweds and the other not, with Brad Garrett, wasn’t quite funny to me, paired with Back to You it could get a fresh wind.
  • Gossip Girl (CW, Wed 9/19, 9pm) Pilot – I have mentioned that I’m looking forward to this show so hopefully it’ll have enough trash as we meet our previous queen bee, who spent a mysterious year at boarding school, when she returns to of course find her old best friend has taken her place.
  • Kitchen Nightmares (Fox, Wed 9/19, 9pm) Pilot – It looks like mean guy who had reality show where he tormented wannabe chefs might now just torture full restaurants, not interested.
  • Plus they are doing a recap show for Grey’s Anatomy that focuses on Addison before she moves on to Private Practice (ABC, Wed 9/19, 9pm)

Thursday:

  • Survivor: China (CBS, Thurs 9/20, 8pm) I watched this show for the first few seasons and am actually kind of a fan. They have a really good formula of alliance building and challenge winning to keep the outcome up in the air, and since the decision is really up to the other contestants there’s no weird judge or America votes thing.

procrastinator’s picks are underlined.

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tv

new fall tv

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It’s time. Let’s see what folks are saying about new fall television. Of the critics picks these are the names that seem to come up.

  • Aliens in America (ew) – CW, Mon 10/1, 8:30pm
  • Back to You (ew, ms, tv) – Fox, Wed 9/19, 8pm
  • Bionic Woman (ew, a, tv) – NBC, Wed 9/26, 9pm
  • Cane (ms, tv) – CBS, Tues 9/25, 10pm
  • Chuck (a, tv) – NBC, Mon 9/24, 8pm
  • Dirty Sexy Money (a, ew, ms, tv) – ABC, Wed 9/26, 10pm
  • Gossip Girl (a, tv) – CW, Wed 9/19, 9pm
  • Journeyman (ms) – NBC, Mon 9/24, 10pm
  • K-Ville (tv) – Fox, Mon 9/17, 0pm
  • Private Practice (tv) – ABC, Wed 9/26, 9pm
  • Pushing Daisies (a, ms, t, tv) – ABC, Wed 10/13, 8pm
  • Reaper (ew, ms, tv) – CW, Tues 9/25, 9pm
  • Samantha Who? (ms) – ABC, Mon 10/15, 9:30pm

(a) AOL – Fall Best New Shows, (ew) Entertainment Weekly Pick, (ms) Newsweek/MSNBC – Fall Preview, (t) Time – What to Watch for Fall Arts Preview, (tv) TV Guide – Shows With Buzz (buzz doesn’t necessarily equal best)

Touted as perhaps the worst shows – Viva Laughlin: preposterous murder mystery with folks singing over pop songs at key plot points. Big Shots: four good actors but this ‘sex and the city for men’ show is reportedly painfully bad. Cavemen: updating the bad ad concept of cavemen in society being discriminated against, really?

So I can’t predict what my new favorites will be (I do try to watch all new comedies and dramas) but here’s what I’m most looking forward to:

  1. Bionic Woman – For nostalgia sake alone I’m looking forward to this. The show is getting a serious update by the creators of Battlestar Gallactica (I haven’t seen but hear nothing but great things). Though not sticking strictly the old plot Jamie Sommers is getting bionic and of course being asked to put her new abilities to use, expect more conflict with the government agency that rebuilt her and more personal struggle.
  2. Pushing Daisies – I’ve actually heard the most positive buzz about this show. What if you could touch someone to bring them back to life but with your next touch they’d die again? Well of course you’d help a PI solve murders. And of course you’d bring a woman you love back to life and never be able to touch her again. It’s got a good cast and supposedly a great look. It’s being touted as things like whimsical and delightful so it probably won’t be for everyone but it’s definitely worth a watch.
  3. Dirty, Sexy, Money – Ok so this title is almost so over the top it’s good but it wasn’t until I started hearing positive things about this satire that I started to believe that they might be doing it right. The return of Peter Krause (of HBO’s 6 Feet Under – though I’m only on about season 4 of on dvd) as a reluctant attorney to a powerful and of course scandalous family headed by Donald Sutherland.
  4. Gossip Girl – So not only is it done by Josh Schwartz (the creator of the OC that at least started with an excellent dose of wit and sudsy drama) but the VO of blogger/narrator is being done by our beloved Veronica Mars’ Kristin Bell. It’s based on a series of books set in uber elite New York private school so hopefully they’ll have enough fodder to keep it lively for at least a couple of seasons.
  5. Chuck and Reaper – Ok these both just feel similar to me. Likable guy gets thrown into unusual situation. Chuck (also by Schwartz) has been described as The Office meets Alias. Can’t beat that, right? A computer nerd (Less Than Perfect’s Zachary Levi) gets all of America’s intelligence downloaded to his brain. And in Reaper the guy (Brett Harrison of Grounded for Life and The Loop) has to be bounty hunter for Satan since his parents sold his soul to the devil, with the first episode being directed by Kevin Smith. Both are being touted as smart and funny so hopefully at least one of them’s a keeper.

Of the others…

Sitcoms – With sitcoms I’ve learned to adopt a wait and see stance but Back to You and Samantha Who clearly have potential with the casting of Frasier and Mrs. Ray Romano as newscasters and the adorable Kellie Bundy as amnesiac. And I guess Aliens in America could be amusing bringing a Pakistani foreign exchange student to small town America to focus on high-school misfits.

Dramas – Cane has good casting including Jimmy Smits and Hector Elizondo in this Cuban-American family/business drama but I’ve seen about a million previews and am not all that excited. Journeyman shows a man going back in time to change something and again just no real pull yet. K-Ville is a cop show set in New Orleans but I haven’t really heard anything else about it. And Private Practice’s Grey’s spin-off backdoor pilot wasn’t astounding, but we’ll see what they do with it.

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