Game of Thrones

I came late to The Game of Thrones on HBO but all the talk about Peter Dinklage's performance made me check it out. Turns out he was not the only great thing. As the season just finished on Sunday let me summarize what happened.

Oh, aah, eww, aha, OMG!, ooh okay.

An expanded summary is more about how people are battling for leadership of an entire world. This world has many kingdoms, magic, the walking dead, and even a few dragons. While all the people are killing each other a powerful evil is coming from the far north.

After the first few episodes you should refer to the cast guide as you may need it. 

Now that you got the faces straight now try and get the houses and orders sorted out.

If there is ever a show to watch in marathon form it is this one. I do admit the first season is slow and mostly uneventful until the end. They hint at magic but it is not confirmed until the last episode. After that the show picks up with the Red Wedding being the cherry on an awful sundae.

Channel 157: The Blaze

Where do bigots and the narrow minded have the backward ideas confirmed? At The Blaze a new channel by Glenn Beck.

Everything about the channel including the commercials are targeted those who fear those and who want a Christian theocracy. The Blaze is in direct response to Muslim extremist. The Christian extremist have matched one evil with their own brand of evil that comes in the form of far-right values.

Just like Islamic extremist and their TV this channel confirms fears and tries to urge violence without ever saying it directly. They are like the kid next to a bullying yelling to fight and hit him and escalting things only to runaway when the troubles start.

While you have the right to say what you want that does not mean you are correct. Even bad people can be heard but should be ignored. If I can erase this channel I would but blocking is also good. Lies have no place in the media.

Oh brother!

Soap operas were always filled with drama but that is on screen for General Hospital it has also been behind the scenes. When One Life to Live was canceled some characters went to General Hospital.

Then came the lawsuit.

Apparently One Life to Live (OLTL) and All My Children found a home online at Hulu. This meant the characters were still in rotation on their original shows. So on General Hospital all the characters from OLTL were literally recalled. Yet the actors are still under contract. What to do?

Make them brothers! Of course some have become long lost family members while the girl has just been recast as a new girl that no has noticed looks just like the old girl. Oh and she was sleeping tih one brother and is doing the other brother.

The world of soaps is collapsing but the crossovers are getting ridiculous, this time I do not blame the writers since they had no other options.

So much for our Happy Endings...

While most of those canceled were justified the saddest was Happy Endings (ABC). The constantly changing time slot doomed any chance this show had for gaining a mainstream audience.

Another great comedy is gone but I have no doubt we will be seeing this cast around fr years. There is still a small chance TBS will pick it like they did with the awsome show Cougar Town.

Also the Kiefer Sutherland show Touch was also canceled. While a bit silly with the whole numbers hold secret magic plot it was still a good project to see Sutherland at his best.

Jodi Guilty...of What?

Again another alleged high profile trial interrupting regularly scheduled TV. Just like the others they are West Coast based and not much talk over in the East especially NYC. Apparently the woman, Jodi Arias, on trial is camera friendly so they made a national case out of this non-story. The only people who should have cared was the victim's family.

As with car chases, celebrity troubles, and hot chick murder trials the west coast has been exporting nothing but time wasters. Since cameras are allowed in courts they change the course of the trial from evidentiary to overly dramatic. NYC has generally barred cameras so we have never been fascinated with the trial just the verdict.

I did not even know about this until a month ago when Dr. Drew kept mentioning it on Loveline. He said people out there were on the edge of their seats about Jodi Arias mostly because there were sexy photos involved. Of course I and most East Coaster could care less since we having constant threats of bombings, Hurricane Sandy, and the Sandy Hook massacre. Things like a domestic murder was low on the list of things to pay attention to at the moment. I watch news every day and it was mentioned maybe a few times over the last couple months and always as the 10th or later story.

So she was found guilty and that changes my life how? The large soda ban will affect me more than any west coast trial.

Wanted: America's Most Wanted

Looking at the news coverage of the three kidnapped women that included Amanda Berry. Thinking about all the years the women were missing and even the fact that no officials cared that Michelle Knight was missing is sad.

There is a glut of TV channels and reality shows with "celebrity" judges yet none of these guys lend a voice to find the millions missing in America and throughout the world.What we need is an all-star version of America's Most Wanted.

Whoops it was canceled on March 28, 2013 yet there are 4 Kardashian shows on. If the power of people can find two bombers in the middle of Boston then imagine what a TV show with an online component can do. Having famous people pleading for information on the missing would help. People forget the power of TV and it still can do better things than the internet. Since it was fools on the web that kept finding false leads in the Boston bombing case.

Broadcast Delayed

Finally saw Happy Endings last Friday after it was not shown the week before because of coverage of the Boston bombers chase. The whole coverage lasted a few days and ninety-five percent was useless.

This is another reason TV is dying because the soaps and daytime shows were interrupted five or six times just to say nothing new was happening in Boston. I would rather wait until all the facts are in before getting any updates. My knowing that some Russian bomber's mom is nuts makes no difference to the case.

I would rather laugh watching the best show that is about to be canceled.

50th Anniversary of General Hospital

It has been 50 years of soapy goodness. This year long celebration included 50 hours of episodes on Soapnet . Many of the key and older characters have been making an appearance. The apex should be the Nurse's Ball this week.

While I have not watched it from the beginning I have seen most episodes since 1991 when Luke & Laura made their original comeback. I wanted to see what the big deal was and became hooked. Mostly with the young character at the time. It was not until years of watching hat I appreciated the older characters.

Drama and ridiculous situations are common place but it is a fun entertaining show. The other alternatives like games show and talk shows all are horrible in comparison for daytime viewers. I know eventually this too will end as cheap low brow TV takes over.

My suggestion is to watch at least a weeks worth of episodes before passing judgement but keep in my this is about fantasy not reality.

Not so action packed Tuesday nights

Tuesday once was filled with lots of shows worth watching. Unfortunately most were on NBC and currently that channel is a wastebasket of reality shows, as is many channels.

This is what I am left to watch.

Cougar Town cast source TBS/Cougar Town

New Girl: 9pm on Fox
Jess is in love with her roommate and he loves her back but since they are both so awkward they cannot make it a happy time. The show is okay but I prefer Happy Ending. There are some clever situations.

The Mindy Project: 9:30pm on Fox
Mindy gets into incredibly awkward situations and still manages to keep a great attitude.

Cougar Town: 10:00pm on TBS
Great ensemble cast the only awkward moments are between mother and son, everything else is pure comedy. The romance in the show is sweet and should be applauded.


The oldest show is Cougar Town and is a true comedy. New Girl is half of a comedy but it also relies heavily on cringe worthy moments. The Mindy Project is nearly all cringe worthy which seems to be a trend among the internet/reality show generation. I do not mind if funny but like Girls it is less funny and more laughing at others tragedy.

Save Our Shows: 2013 Edition

Some of these show are on the drink of cancellation. While some most have been granted an extra season it still would be nice if more people can see them and appreciate great television.

Image source: YahooTV

Happy Endings: ABC Fridays 8PM & 8:30PM
Possibly the best comedy on TV right now. Unfortunately the constant time changes will lose the small audience it has. Originally up against New Girl on Tuesday it was switched to Sundays and now Fridays.  Damon Wayans Jr. had two pilots this and New Girl he choose to stay with this one. A brilliant choice for the comedy but New Girl is more popular. It is the reason I stopped watching New Girl since they were on at the same time I chose the funnier show which is Happy Endings. It is a show about friends and relationships but the comedy is multi-layered and you should watch it more than once to get every joke.


Parenthood: NBC Tuesday 10PM (EST unless otherwise noted)
They will be back as the critics and fans continue to support the show. The show centers around a close knit family that has minor problems but good writing makes every small ting a huge drama. Trust me it is worth watching even if a bit slow.

The Following: FOX Monday 9PM
Probably coming back. Former FBI agent must track a serial killers loyal followers. The show is made well and has great suspense. The problem it is on Mondays against my sitcoms and sci-fi shows. As the newest of all my shows it gets pushed to back of the TiVo list.

Community: NBC Thursday 8PM
Canceled. Due to its unfortunate time slot against Big Bang Theory it never has a chance. Still any adult college student would have related to this show on a deep level. Theshow could go crazy at times but it was always funny and brilliant. Zombies, crossovers with another networks show, and tons of smart refernces made this an A-list show.

Raising Hope: FOX Tuesday 8PM (moving to Fridays)
They are playing the moving game with this show meaning it might get axed soon. I have raved about this show before and I will continue to do so. It is a great comedy in line with Married with Children the difference is this family tends to be sweeter, less of cruel streak. Hope is the daughter of a serial killer and a not-smart guy she is raised by him and the entire Chance family. The ways the family gets into and out of trouble each week is to much and both well written and acted. Inside jokes are plenty with My Name is Earl and other little things from guest actors and regulars.

NBC the 5th Network

At least for the February sweeps NBC is in 5th place behind CBS, ABC, Fox, and Univision. Sweeps is a period of time that the networks showcases their best episodes in order to promote the advertisers.

Let's see how many shows I watch on NBC.

• Law & Order: SVU
• Parenthood

That's it. Worst part is these two shows were not on during sweeps or conflicted with other better shows on my preferred networks. 

Let me break down my primetime viewing habits by day.

I = 30 min.	CBS	ABC	FOX	NBC	SyFy	WB	TBS	AMC	HBO	SHO
Monday	III		IIII		IIIIII
Tuesday		IIII	II	II			I
Wednesday		II		II		II
Thursday	IIII
Friday									II
Saturday									IIII	IIII
Sunday		IIII	I					II	II	IIIIII
TOTAL	3.5 HRS	5 HRS	3.5 HRS	2 HRS	3 HRS	1 HR	0.5 HRS	1 HR	4 HRS	3.5 HRS

As for Univision I never watch it unless I am channel surfing looking for nothing.

This is not all if I expand it past primetime I would add several more hours to ABC for the news and various shows. Add a few more hours for FOX and CBS because of football and baseball seasons. Other regular channel like TNT, CineMax, FX, and a few other only makes NBC seem less relevant.

My suggestion is to stop all the reality crap like Trump's show and all the singing competitions. Refocus on sitcoms like Community and stop halting shows mid-season.