Stephen King's Bag of Bones

Another Stephen King TV failure.

I missed most of it because I kept falling asleep but from what I can gather it was a ghost/curse story. It is a shame because the reason for the curse is such a powerful part but it is lost with the slow moving pace.

Pierce Brosnan does the best he can with this but without any scares there is little to work with. I guess the scenes of drowning children is meant to be shocking but if you ever been around annoying kids you have little sympathy.

This is a basically a copy of the much better Ghost Story (1981). The Bag of Bones book may have been better but I've yet to read it.

Also around Christmas come on this is a summertime mini-series.

Disorderly Emergency

There was recently a first run national Emergency Alert on the television and it left a lot of room for improvement. This is a legally mandated warning system enacted by President Bush  in 2006. Of course it was done in case of a national emergency.

While 99% of the test went on normally some stations did not press the play button on time, others did not turn it off on time, and others accidentally hit their iTunes playlist instead. The 30 second time limit also was not strictly adhered.

My problem was that this national test was not standard. Each station did it their way which was awkward and did not inspire confidence.

CBS did  a great job lasting exactly 30 seconds and bold with a simple crawl.

NBC was bland there was nothing bold or hinting at an emergency.

Fox decide advertising was more important then the actual emergency and took up one-third of the screen with their logo. Also they went way over he 30 seconds limit.

CBS set the standard and I suggest all other stations put their egos aside and just copy the CBS template.

Happy Birthday CBS

Est. October 20, 1951

Add to that they have 20 of the 30 shows on TV and CBS is riding high. I attribute the recent success to scripted shows versus every other networks reality crap.

Currently I watch:

How I Met Your Mother - Needs an ending soon.
2 Broke Girls - Funny, a bit unrealistic.
Two and a Half Men - Bring back Charlie Sheen.


Big Bang Theory - Funny but needs more science and less drama.
Rules of Engagement - Very funny, extremely underrated.


The Talk - Can only watch it once a week because Sharon and Sheryl are like nails on a chalkboard while chewing on aluminum foil.

Sunday Football - Any game is good but NY games are the best.

.

Terra No Way

Terra Nova: Genesis Part 1 & 2

Huge mistake completely took me out of the show.

People are being sent to an alternate timeline's past ( I can accept this). The young nerd of the show explains that they can kill as many butterflies they want without fearing for the future because it is not their time stream.

THEN HOW DO THE FUTURE PEOPLE KNOW IT WORKED.

If time/universe travel is one-way then how does anyone know it is working.
For example if I sent my kid to France and he never came back or wrote a letter why would I send another kid? Even if I sent a police officer to France to investigate knowing I will never find out if the cop found my kid because it's not possible to contact me why would I send more.

The old world is 70% ocean 10% unlivable so there is no way to pinpoint if they landed safely. No evil company or optimistic government would keep sending groups to the unknown without proof of life.

Overall the effects look amateurish, the set looks like a toy set, the plot is Lost with a Stargate, and the acting is underwhelming.

All My Children: Series Finale

They did it on purpose.

The ending of All My Children ended on a cliffhanger. Erica got dumped, JR is about to shoot someone, and David does not reveal which dead person he brought back to life.

Disappointing, yes but this was done in the hope that enough outrage and support from fans is generated to start on a new network or a web series. Unfortunately by air time all the deals fell through as few cast members agreed to continue.

Monday 2011 Premieres

How I Met Your Mother: The Best Man, The Naked Truth
Basically if you saw the first three episodes in 2005 then you have not missed anything.

Two and a Half Men: Nice to Meet You, Walden Schmidt
Charlie was murdered by Rose and it's all a laugh. This was a sad episode. Not because of the death but because of the lack of good jokes and a rabid audience.

2 Broke Girls: Pilot
Williamsburg, Brooklyn my backside. This is another New York City show written by someone who has never even seen Brooklyn on a map.

 GRAFFITI! Really! 

This is not the the 1980s there has not been any graffiti on L or G lines for years. Plus they treat the neighbor like a war zone when in reality thanks to hipsters it is the wussiest 'hood in all of NYC.

Kat Dennings is great as a Brooklyn waitress who takes in an upper-class girl who lost everything. Garret Morris brings down the show as the one-liner guy. Everyone in the show is incredibly smart yet oddly poor.

Castle: Rise
Det. Beckett is not dead and 2 months/15 minutes later she is back.

True Blood: Season Finale

True Blood: And When I Die 

The season of the witch is over and apparently the ghosts were just waiting to fill the gaps. This was the bloodiest, most violent episode ever and that is saying a lot for a vampire show. No shocking revelations just a bunch of dead minor characters that been dragging the show down. Hopefully they stay gone but with ghosts floating around I doubt it.

I would add the best thing about this season was Jessica, check out the shows blog http://www.babyvamp-jessica.com/ for more about her.

10 Years Henceforth

Still as painful to watch 10 years later. Never has a decade seem so short. Along with the tears the sense of anger is still there and one should not forget what 19 radical Muslim terrorists did for hateful reasons.

The horror and heroism will never be forgotten.

Rebuild and never forget.

Rescue Me: Series Finale

After waiting almost 2 years for this great tribute to New York City and 9/11 heroes we instead get a typical sitcom ending.

Don't get me wrong it was still funny and well done but nothing that couldn't be shown a year ago. Tommy is living his life and still has his ghosts to keep him company. The last episode was more of a tribute to the show itself.

The theme that firefighters were as mortal as everyone was evident when Tommy is speaking to the new recruits and we see the old timers all battered and bruised standing in the back.

Image Credit: FX

Good job Mr. Leary. I expect the same quality from your next project...hopefully soon.

iO Digital Channel Guide

iO Digital Channel Guide, Channel 100

A scrolling channel guide for those who subscribe to more than just the basic package.  On occasion they show special programming, conflicted hockey games, or other sport events.*

TiVo has its own guide and it is faster and more interactive. These old type of guides were once very useful but in this internet age it seems a bit slow.

*Correction:
Anonymous said... 
This channel guide on channel 100 does NOT show special programming, conflicted hockey games, or other sport events. This guide is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

However, The channel guide on channel 99 or 80 is the channel that on occasion shows special programming, conflicted hockey games, or other sport events. C-SPAN 2 on channel 79 or 66 shows special programming as well.

I would add that my version of Cablevision does not have channels 79 or 99.

SPEED

SPEED, Channel 99

Dedicated to racing and everything including themed game shows and reality shows about cars and trucks. I should be more into this channel since I actually built and raced a car once but honestly I can never watch it.

There is definitely a car-racing culture that is very easy to join but unless you are passionate about cars it is also easy to leave behind.

Again I maybe watched 10 minutes of this channel all year so I probably will just speed on by. Oh love those puns.