Burn Notice

Burn Notice: Psychological Warfare

With the final episodes of series coming soon the cast has been giving an excellent performance. Each week we see Michael Weston getting deeper undercover and losing himself. This week while being tortured he finds his center and we learn how messed up he may really be. The team tries to help but they must learn how far they can go.

This entire season has been less funny and more dangerous which I enjoyed. Even Sam has done things that he considers are horrible. As we get close to closing this final case I can only hope that tragedy does not follow everyone involved. Unfortunately it looks like their enemy this season is much more sinister than all the others out together.

Breaking News: Cablevision Ads (Update)

For the last three Breaking News / Special Report interruptions Cablevision / Optimum has played a commercial after 30 seconds.

It must be something with transferring the signals but if there were some kind catastrophic event it would be nice to be informed. I just want to put it out there that Cablevison / Optimum has yet to fix or even notice the problem.

Update: There has been 5 more unnecessary breaking news stories and luckily none were interrupted by the Optimum ads so thanks for listening Cablevison.

Emmy's Inside Joke

Emmy nominations are out and as usually the voting actors are voting for themselves. Actors live, work, and have relationships on the set so it is no surprise that the only they vote for is shows that reflect that. Not having normal jobs or going out in bigger circles they cannot relate to comedy from any other point of view. that explains Episodes. Louie and Girls are more about the real life stars not that actual shows.

OUTSTANDING COMEDY - Really does not matter as none of these shows are laugh-out-loud
30 Rock - Funny
The Big Bang Theory - Funny
Girls - Not Funny
Louie - Not Funny
Modern Family - Funny
Veep - Funny

OUTSTANDING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY
Laura Dern, Enlightened - Never seen
Lena Dunham, Girls - Not Funny
Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie - Funny but more of a drama
Tina Fey, 30 Rock - Funny
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep - Funny
Amy Poehler, Parks and Recreation - Funny should win

OUTSTANDING ACTOR IN A COMEDY
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock - Funny
Jason Bateman, Arrested Development - Funny
Louis CK, Louie - Funny-ish
Don Cheadle, House of Lies - Funny more of a drama
Matt LeBlanc, Episodes - Funny
Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory - Funny

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY - The best acting is in this category
Mayim Bialik, The Big Bang Theory - Funny should win
Jane Lynch, Glee - Funny
Julie Bowen, Modern Family - Funny
Merritt Wever, Nurse Jackie - Funny
Jane Krakowski, 30 Rock - Funny
Sofia Vergara, Modern Family - Funny
Anna Chlumsky, Veep - Funny

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY
Adam Driver, Girls - Not Funny
Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Modern Family - Funny
Ed O’Neill, Modern Family - Funny
Ty Burrell, Modern Family - Funny
Bill Hader, Saturday Night Live - Funny should win
Tony Hale, Veep - Funny

OUTSTANDING GUEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY
Molly Shannon, Enlightened - Never seen
Dot-Marie Jones, Glee - Funny
Melissa Leo, Louie - Never saw
Melissa McCarthy, Saturday Night Live - Funny
Kristen Wiig, Saturday Night Live - Funny
Elaine Stritch, 30 Rock - Funny

OUTSTANDING GUEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY
Bob Newhart, The Big Bang Theory - Funny should win
Nathan Lane, Modern Family - Funny
Bobby Cannavale, Nurse Jackie - Serious drama
Louis CK, Saturday Night Live - Funny
Justin Timberlake, Saturday Night Live - Funny
Will Forte, 30 Rock - Funny

Now while the comedies are more dramatic the dramas are deep dramas.

OUTSTANDING DRAMA-As long as Mad Men does not win I will be happy.
Breaking Bad - Yes
Downton Abbey
Game of Thrones - Yes
Homeland - Yes
House of Cards
Mad Men

OUTSTANDING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA
Connie Britton, Nashville - Yes
Claire Danes, Homeland - Yes
Michelle Dockery, Downton Abbey
Vera Farmiga, Bates Motel - Yes
Elisabeth Moss, Mad Men - Yes
Kerry Washington, Scandal - Yes
Robin Wright, House of Cards
 
OUTSTANDING ACTOR IN A DRAMA
Hugh Bonneville, Downton Abbey
Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad - Yes
Jeff Daniels, The Newsroom
Jon Hamm, Mad Men
Damian Lewis, Homeland - Yes
Kevin Spacey, House of Cards

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA
Anna Gunn, Breaking Bad - Yes
Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey - Yes
Emilia Clarke, Game of Thrones - Yes
Christine Baranski, The Good Wife
Morena Baccarin, Homeland - Yes
Christina Hendricks, Mad Men

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA
Bobby Cannavale, Boardwalk Empire
Jonathan Banks, Breaking Bad - Yes
Aaron Paul, Breaking Bad - Yes
Jim Carter, Downton Abbey
Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones - Yes
Mandy Patinkin, Homeland - Yes

OUTSTANDING GUEST ACTRESS IN A DRAMA
Margo Martindale, The Americans - Yes
Diana Rigg, Game of Thrones - Yes
Carrie Preston, The Good Wife
Linda Cardellini, Mad Men
Jane Fonda, The Newsroom
Joan Cusack, Shameless - Yes

OUTSTANDING GUEST ACTOR IN A DRAMA - No one stands out
Nathan Lane, The Good Wife
Michael J. Fox, The Good Wife
Rupert Friend, Homeland
Robert Morse, Mad Men
Harry Hamlin, Mad Men
Dan Bucatinsky, Scandal

The View: Blonde Ambition

The View like most talk shows goes for controversy not actual intelligent conversation. When they first announced Sherri Shepard and Whoopi Goldberg I was excited because I thought two comediennes meant more discussion and logical arguments. I was so wrong.

It turned out Whoopi hardly joins in especially in interview segments. On the other Shepard is constantly jumping in showing how ignorant she is on most topics. Her blind faith dulls her logical side to the point she has made some amazingly stupid quotes that should not be repeated.

That leads us to Jenny McCarthy the replacement for Elizabeth Hasselback. McCarthy is from that funny and talented McCarthy clan and she has hosted many other things before. The fact is she has a great TV personality and her comic timing is great but she is also as ignorant as 80% of The View's former hosts.

McCarthy mistakenly believes vaccines are bad and other ridiculousness about autism. While she has a right to her opinions that does not mean her opinions are right. Just the opposite many of the claims she makes are scientifically inaccurate. What I like about Whoopi is that if she is provided more information she will adjust her opinions which is how science works. McCarthy like Hasselback has chosen a side and set a belief system to it and will never budge even when hard evidence is presented, that is the definition of ignorant.

Hopeful for the seasons without any original members but bracing for a storm of ignorant quotes, like Juror B37.

Café

Café was a movie with then couple Jennifer Love Hewitt and Jaime Kennedy that I just saw on TV. With the exception of Jaime Kennedy trying to play a tough guy everyone else was believable.

The movie centers around an incident in a Café and what happened the days before that led up to the fateful day. The twist is that this is also a sci-fi fantasy. In the style of The Matrix we are told that what is real may not be. The ending was less than satisfying but in all the movie was enjoyable. As a short movie I think this would have worked better. Several characters were not needed and nothing.

That unwritten rule of you should never act on screen with your girlfriend/boyfriend because it will break you up seems to be in effect.

Remembering Joe Conley

Joe Conley spent 50 years on TV playing different characters but he will be best known or his role on The Waltons as Mr. Godsey. As the gentle shopkeeper on Walton's Mountain he brought humor and sympathy to a non-starring role.

Conley was a great character actor during a time where if you started on TV you stayed there. He had dementia during the last ten years and passed away in a elder care home. For those too young to have seen his work a quick Waltonsmarathon may help you appreciate what a good actor can do with a small role.

Frontline: Two American Families

Another great documentary from PBS, available free online. In Two American Families Bill Moyers and the Frontline crew chronicle two families over 22 years starting with their unemployment in 1991.

The personal struggles of each family is powerful but the underlying cause is much more important. These families had male head of household who got non-college degree jobs at $18.00 an hour back in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The head of these companies decided to make a larger profit and either moved thier jobs or reduced the pay to $7.50 an hour.

Throughout the next 22 years more companies hired women at lower pay and offered only part time positions. This made the executives of the companies richer but destroyed the middle class. The mother in one of the families got a job at an armored truck company for $7.50 and hour but she only stayed for 2 years leading me to wonder what guy lost his job at a high pay while the company got a bonus for hiring a woman in a male dominated industry.

Look I am all for equal rights for equal pay but not at $7.50. These women should be making the $18 the husband made 22 years ago but they are so desperate that they always take less. I always remember that college was not needed in America as long as you work hard. Today so many people have degrees that they are almost useless. 

The kids in these family are fairing worse but it mostly to their own mistakes/choices but in the old America you could redeem yourself by getting a 9 to 5 job and support a family or two. Even at their relative success now these families cannot support more than themselves.

Sunday Night Round-Up 07/07/13

The Simpsons: What Animated Women Want
While I have been an irregular watcher of The Simpsons I still enjoy watching it. This one has Homer trying to please Marge and Milhouse trying to displease Lisa. The whole episode tries to peek into the minds of women and does it very well. After 20+ years The Simpsons still no how to balance adult and kid cartoons well.

Under The Dome: The Fire
After ranting about missing last Monday's episode they repeat it tonight. The townspeople are begin to crack. The villainous types are working hard to try and cover their secrets while the heroic types are moving slow to understand the scale of the problem.

Falling Skies: Be Silent and Come Out
The Masons just cannot catch a break. Fallout from another mind-bug puts everyone in jeopardy but as you know the Masons are a tough bunch. A nice look at new technology for fighting the aliens probes is explored. This show is more of a family drama than a sci-fi or political show.

True Blood: At Last
The obvious Ben/Warlow connection is made but is it too late. Poor baby vamp Jessica cannot control her urges and the funny 4 fairies may have to pay the price. Next week is going to be a tough one to watch. 

All that and I still need to watch Dexter.

This Week in Whoops

I posted about Under The Dome and the I completely forgot to watch Monday's episode. Then I decide to wait until Friday to watch it on CBS.com when suddenly they pulled it off and now it is being sold on Amazon, Under The Dome Online.

Honestly the lack of free repeats in this day and age is annoying.

On the Fourth of July I went to a backyard barbecue and recorded the Macy's Fourth of July Fireworks on NBC. Unfortunately it is 2 hours long and I am already out of the celebration mood. As long as I can remember I never missed one but should I spend the time watching it. Even in fast-forward it is a bit long.

Then I checked my TiVo and was upset that none of my weekly show like Burn Notice were not recorded and then I spent some time searching for them. Well it turns out since it is the holidays that all shows took a week off.