Friday, February 10, 2012

Chuck: Series Finale

So I'm slightly late, big deal thanks to downloading some people are watching the first season while others are about to see the final episode.

Chuck: Chuck Versus the Goodbye

Sarah has the intersect wiped from her head but in the process lost most of her memories of the last few seasons years. Everyone in Chuck's life gathers to help the Sarah but at the end she is still at a loss. Chuck decides that a true love's kiss will bring it all back and that is where it ends.

Spying done we are left with the notion whether or not the kiss worked these two people will be together forever.



As a whole the series was great. Very clever and well acted. Their not so subtle pop culture references were awesome. The constant struggle to stay on air was highlighted by an in-show Subway promotions but also by the cast staying together.

I hope NBC continues with the tradition of scripted shows despite the struggle with Chuck.

Thursday, February 09, 2012

The River

The River : Magus

Magus is the boat lost in the Amazon headed by some doctor of unknown degrees. This Dr Cole is also an adventurer and has a documentary show. Through clips we see the Doc and his family when they were young. There is a lot of foreshadowing leading us to think he was purposefully looking for something.

The something he is looking for seems to be magic, instead we are finding ghosts. The boat has a trapped blood drinking ghost that can be fooled by a baby's coffin. The fact everyone accepts ghosts and ignore warnings is beyond belief.


The River: Marbeley

The boat fixed the new crew of the Magus try to find the old crew. Ignoring all warning Dr. Cole sends a dragonfly to tell the new crew to get out. Even with the amazing use of dragonfly-possession to get a message through no one seems to be shocked and continues the journey. Meanwhile a ghost of a brat tries to steal a mom. Marbeley is the stuffed bear of Dr. Cole's grown son.


This show is filmed in shaking cam style that no documentary crew in real life would ever do. The people who make these shows and movies like Paranormal Activity have never seen a real documentary. Some of the best and clearest videos in the world come from documentaries.

The only people who use substandard cameras and grainy footage are fakers like Ghost Hunter or bigfoot hunters.

Also the pilot was filmed in El Yunque in Purto Rico so all the coquis and palm trees made it feel fake. Then they moved production to Hawaii. At this point you where just shouting hey isn't that where Kate hid in Lost.


Tuesday, February 07, 2012

2012 Superbowl Champion NY Giants

Nice to see my home team win the Superbowl over their evil arch rivals. The game itself was great and tense even in the final seconds.

The Giants are known for 4th quarter comebacks and they did not disappoint. Let's face it the blew a 9-0 lead yet still fought back.


The Superbowl commercials were blah. I guess since most were shown online and in the news prior to the game it made the whole thing anticlimactic. The best for me was the one with the dog losing weight to get through his doggie door to chase some car.

Halftime show was a greatest hits mash-up that proved dancing should be left to the young. The low point was when M.I.A. try to make herself relevant by flipping the bird, grinding too much and cussing.


Time for a parade.

The parade was crowded and although it is 50 degrees and sunny I did not want to take a sick day so I watched it instead. Also I tried but could not win tickets to the Key to the City Ceremony. 250 tickets were up for grabs to 8 million New Yorkers, chances of winning were slim.



Great day for fans and an honorable team

Despite what the the incredibly loud and extremely morbose governor of NJ says the NY Giants will always be a NYC team despite their playing location. Lombardi Trophy is back in Vince Lombardi's home of NYC.

Now time for the NY Rangers to step it up.

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

It Isn't What It Is!

Parenthood: It Is What It Is!

File this under "TV" People Problems.

This happens to be the 1,000th time I have seen a show where certain privileged people have their smart child get into a great school and the parents have to break the "bad: news. "Honey we can't afford it."

Ridiculous is an understatement. First if the child is smart and there will be scholarships (69% of all scholarships go to whites like this character). Second financial aid and savings in America will cover everything for everyone who wants to go to college, regardless of race (in the USA 50% of all minority funds go to white women which is what this character happens to be). Third student loans may be a lot but attending a top university will pay for itself. Fourth you have a huge family and friends borrow and beg. Fifth get a job, work-study is real and from the government and which means it will be perfect for people with financial needs.

There are too many people going to college these days. Virtually anyone who wants to go and is smart enough can go, hell a lot of them are as dumb as rocks and still go. Miss Haddie Braverman has a 4.1 GPA and she can't afford a top school! Awful parenting is no excuse, just get into the school, graduate, and payoff the loans in two with your top salary.

Okay tell him to shove it and go to your college of choice.


The one saving grace is at the end the parents decided to do everything it takes to get their kid to a decent school.



Thursday, January 05, 2012

Don't Get Robbed!

New shows are arriving and one looks particularly bad.

¡ROB!

From what the commercials shows Rob Schneider marries a extremely hot girl of Mexican descent and as he meets the family the hilarity ensues.


Now I enjoy Rob and Cheech Marin is always great but nothing else is appealing. Look the best way to judge a book is by its cover, that is why books have two covers (dust jacket).

This seems like typical bad sitcom clash of cultures that should have been relevant in the 90s or even the 70s when Mexican life was unknown to most. Plus that chica is way too young.

What would have been great is the exact same show except with a Muslim or Arab or Persian family.

Sure I have been wrong with other California centric shows like The Shield which at first I vowed to never watch but then got hooked. But this is rare and also that was a drama. Sitcom should be elevated to a higher standard and just by the ads it seems like a one joke show.

Feel free to watch a few episodes and get back to me. I am open to change.

Monday, December 12, 2011

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.

Friday, November 18, 2011

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.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

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.

.


Sunday, October 02, 2011

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.

Friday, September 23, 2011

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, September 19, 2011

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.

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TV is educational. If you can't learn something everyday your box is broken.