Friday, September 29, 2006

Premiering Tonight - Shameless Plug

Degrassi: The Next Generation Season 6 Starts tonight on The N at 8pm!

More drama happens as Marco, Ellie and Paige are off to university. Sean is back and after Emma. Trouble brews for Peter and JT, and love triangles abound all over. Craig will be back but is he okay? Ashley will be back. And is Paige really over Alex? Marco moves in with Dylan but is everything as it seems? How is Liberty coping post baby? Does Toby ever get the girl? Any girl? Does Manny ever stay single?

Stay tuned!






also, Everybody Hates Chris returns on The CW at 7pm / City TV at 6:30pm on Sunday. New time.

Global will air Heroes Sunday at 7pm as well.


More After the Jump...

Grey's Anatomy - Complications of the Heart

Since all of Canada saw this last week, I'm not sure what more I can discuss or tell, but if you did miss it, basically Callie saves Meredith from embarrassment when Bailey goes off on the undies posted in the hospital causing George to get jealous. Meredith is still undecided between McVet and McDreamy and decides to date both. Christina is caught by Burkes parents while she does a striptease for him at the hospital, and is subsequently told by Diahann Carroll as Burke's mom that she is selfish and the relationship won't work. Alex Karev defends Izzie to Bailey and helps out a lung cancer patient by "playing doctor", and McDreamy goes to apologize to Addison for the breakup of their marriage only to be surprised by the most disgusting scene ever.


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Thursday, September 28, 2006

Ugly Betty - America the Beautiful


Pilot

In a word? Beautiful! America Ferrera is simply FANTASTIC as Betty Suarez, or our adorable Ugly Betty and the whole show is one big ball of cornball candy confection and heartbreaking and wonderful in all the right places! Not as hilarious I thought based on the commercials but much more real emotions that I would have expected from something based on a telenovela. It's the basic tale of Betty Suarez, an "ugly" girl from Queens, who lands a job at one of the top fashion magazines in Manhattan, where the people are vicious to the non-beautiful.

Ugly Betty has a perfect balance of comedy, heart, camp and soap opera antics with a fun diva performance by Vanessa Williams as a bitch in heels, Ana Ortiz (great last year on Boston Legal) as Betty's doubtful sister, and Ashley Jensen (so hilarious as Ricky Gervais' partner in crime on Extras) as a coworker that Betty can trust. I can't believe I'm saying this but I actually REALLY enjoyed Eric Mabius (bland in Eyes, creepy The OC) as Daniel Meade, son of the magazine owner Bradford Meade played with confidence by Alan Dale (also The OC).

This is the Cinderella story that never gets old, and brought with gusto performance by America Ferrera, who, no matter what happens to her, through her perserverence and positive attitude, keeps bouncing back, and I imagine through the series will slowly makeover the others hearts and souls, as opposed to the fashion industry making over Ugly Betty.


More After the Jump...

Premieres Tonight - Thu. Sep. 28


Finally, Ugly Betty will premiere! Woohoo! Cannot WAIT for the campiness to begin! Tonight. 8pm on ABC and CityTV.



Supernatural returns (along with dead Denny but not on Grey's Anatomy but here as the brothers dying father (and along with dying in Weeds, does poor Jeffrey Dean Morgan ever get to live on a TV show?)) tonight on The CW at 9pm and CityTV at 10pm.


If they weren't playing brothers, this scene could have turned a whole other different way.


It's going to be a busy night with those two shows joining the already crowded Thurday night of My Name is Earl, The Office, Grey's Anatomy, Six Degrees, ER and Survivor: WW3. Basically, don't you dare call me between 8-11pm tonight. (and I wonder why I complain that no one calls me anymore?)


More After the Jump...

Weeds - Hail Mary


Mrs. Botwin's Neighborhood

I probably haven't written about Weeds as much as I want to mainly cause I know we are 2 weeks behind the States so I always feel like I'm playing catch up and way behind everyone else.
Can I now profess my love for Mary-Louise Parker? I mean, I've loved her since Longtime Companion and Fried-Green Tomatoes. However I can never get enough love for this girl. However, I think Mary-Louise Parker should also always work with Martin Donovan (below) (both in Saved!) and Justin Kirk (both in Angels in America). It just fits.



Anyways, here in Canada, we are only up to the point of the raid, which was hilarious. Though I'm not sure what I think about Silas going all stalker on the poor deaf girl. Loving the campaign though and almost wish there was more of that, if only to see Elisabeth Perkins bitch out some more.


More After the Jump...

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

What's more amusing?

Okay, don't bother reading anything I wrote in my last post for Jericho.

So what's more amusing? Dancing with the Stars Results Show? The over-dramatized SHOCKER when Mario, Joey Lawrence and Willa Ford performed routines that SHOCK! Broke the rules!?? Cause GODMANIT the rules in a dancing competition with C-list stars holds the integrity of the competition. With recaps that were more serious about the Scan-Daaaal than anything incriminating the Bush administration. Seeing the amazing but very very gay and campy Scissor Sisters performing (albeit a little toned down) on one of the most demographically diverse shows on television (read: people in Middle America are watching). Watching Paso Doble dancers performing to that chant used in the Stella Artois (or some red beer) commercial? Or how seriously all these "celebrities" take this competition as if there career depended on it? Oh yeah, it probably does actually. Or that Ashley is bawling as soons as we find out Harry Hamlin is the next to go (and how funny is it that I'm actually quite shocked and saddened that Mr. Aaron Echolls is gone?), and then forced to dance after even noting that its must be awkward. HILARIOUS!

OR?

on Jericho, which, in the aftermath of some sort of mushroom cloud devastation, Eric (Kenneth Mitchell, who just for having a Landscape Architect degree from the U of Guelph outside Toronto, will buy him a few more points) has enough time to give the most serious impassioned speach about how radiation will cook you from the inside, and then follow that by making out with the bar owner as the 2 hourish countdown to the impending radiation is coming? Is it the two girls, one whose mom probably just died, calmly shopping and gabbing in the grocery store like they have in a mall every other day of their lives? Plus what's up with the mysterious black guy (and the ONLY black guy in town) who shows up just as all this devastation has just happened (and using of course, the only pins around,that happenned to all be RED to pinpoint all the cities that have been devastated).

I'm not sure which show is more amusing?

Too bad because I kinda liked the pilot for Jericho but the inconsistencies in the second episode has pretty much blown it (pun intended). Too bad because Erik Knudsen (hmm... also from Toronto) as Dale, the kid that found the answering message of his mom dying in Atlanta was pretty interesting and I'm always kinda fond of Pamela Reed, if only for doing her time with Ah-nold in Kindergarden Cop (so brilliantly underated!). But don't have Skeet and the school teacher flirt as they are racing toward the fallout shelter. Don't have the silly love triangle of Eric, his wife and barchick play out with time ticking to a rain of radiation.


More After the Jump...

Jericho - Pilot


It's kinda getting repetitive isn't it? Big cast, spralling characters with some central story linking the all, klunky dialogue etc. etc.

However this one, Jericho, is NOT filmed like a movie and LOOKS like a low budget TV show however since it's about the world crumbling around a midwest town of Jericho, it kinda works. The show as a whole wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, and despite Skeet Ulrich in the lead, I kinda enjoyed the whole show of the world during some kinda disaster with this small town trying to figure out what the heck is going on in the world.

There were some stock scenes (fights over gas at the gas station, the requisite life saving heroism by Skeet on a young child, the untrusting townspeople of the mayor (Gerald McRainey)'s actions) that were just a TAD overdone (and by TAD I mean WAY OVER). Still, I found the kid finding the answering message of his moms call from Atlanta and hearing the destruction of her world entirely eerie and chilling.

At this point, it might be a good lead into Lost (though Lost is still a MUCH MUCH MUCH better show) on Wednesday nights, and since I enjoyed the pilot far more than I thought, I'll add it to my list for now and see where it goes.


More After the Jump...

Gilmore Girls - The Long Morrow

Not that crazy man David S. Rosenthal was given an easy task taking over the quick-witted dialogue of Gilmore Girls to begin with, but in the aftermath of Aprilgate, he was already working with plotlines that seemed extremely out of character for the past half season left by Amy Sherman-Palladino, the ultimate creator and voice of the Gilmore Girls. Luckily for Amy, with respect to the first 5 wonderful seasons, we gave Aprilgate a chance because maybe she just had something up her sleeve and the final result was going to be something wonderful, but man, did she tax our forgiveness a lot, but then, as we begin Season 7, she leaves us and along that any hopes for a decent resolution.

I'm wondering how much Amy has told David about what her plans for the characters were or if it is now all up to Rosenthal?

Last nights season premiere felt like every other Gilmore Girls but of course was tinged with sadness and heartbreak after Lorelai broke up with Luke and slept with Christopher. Logan was in London leaving Rory for the summer, and along that, a rocket ship gift.

I have to admit, maybe I was really tired but I got annoyed by the banter from Babette and even more annoyed with Taylor (yes, I know his whole character is supposed to be annoying) even though I usually love those two for the exact same reasons. I did however laugh and then gasp when Kirk demonstrated the new Red-Light Camera Taylor installed but got blinded by the 3 flashes and then crashing into Luke's Diner (which then seemed to spur him to return to Lorelai to ask her to elope, before she revealed her previous night's rendevous, causing Luke to storm away in his truck).

I know bad things, or not perfect things need to happen in dramas to create a STORY but we love Gilmore Girls for its coziness (in a dose of spicyness and not schlock) but while they've been trying to extend the stories for dramatic effect, it's starting to lose all of our patience as our hopes to see the happy Gilmore Girls are dashed farther and farther away. Still a great show but not at its height at this point, but I've followed the characters this long that I want to stick it out and see what happens.


More After the Jump...

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

How I Met Your Mother - The Scorpion and The Toad

The drama behind Lily and Marshall has been great at milking the emotions out of this comedy and also diverting our attention from Ted and Robin during their cutesy dating phase which could have been nauseating, but instead leave us just enough laughs (5 AMERICAN Dollars bet, Robins drunken morning state) that we still adore them (and their impending doom). I also loved seeing Lily put on a show for Ted and Robin upon her return from SF (cause that's what people from San Francisco call it) with her brave face, only to lose Robin $5USD when she broke down revealing she had the worst summer ever sans Marshall.

Meanwhile, Barney is showing Marshall the ropes to dating again, but snatching up every girl for himself in the end, sometimes using a bit of magic.

All of this worth it to bring Lily back to Marshall, only to have Marshall reject being back together with Lily, but not before having Lily help Marshall out pretending to be twins who were given an STD by Barney as Barney steals away a pair of twins from Marshall. Silly, a comical cliché but still damn funny!


More After the Jump...

Premieres Tonight - Tue. Sept 26

Gilmore Girls is back finally to answer the age old question: Can a crazy man run a show as well as Amy Sherman-Palladino? and can Gilmore Girls survive jump sharking April? Luckily I love Lorelai and Rory (and Suki and Michel and Emily and Richard and Paris and Lane and Mrs. Kim etc etc ) enough that I will still follow this show whole heartedly.

Tonight in The CW at 8pm, Global at 10pm.


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TV Schadenfreude - A letter to the network execs

Schadenfreude - noun - satisfaction or pleasure felt at someone else's misfortune.
I know. We are all bitches, but sometimes its fun to see something like Happy Hour get placed on "hiatus" and hopefully never come back. So there we have it, the season's first (kinda) cancellation. Though I'm sad to say Justice is pretty much right behind.

In defence of shows that are sinking fast with lackluster ratings, I would like to say. Um. We are only in week 2 of premiere season and Septemeber is not even over yet? Can we say "Jumping the gun" studio execs? Yes, the Fox shows have been around for a month but there was probably a reason they led right out of the gate to get people to watch while NOTHING ELSE WAS STILL ON YET. Fox had the most unimaginative new season they've had in a LONG while. However, has patience not taught you anything? If you execs had been this fast at pulling the trigger, shows like Everybody Loves Raymond, CSI, Seinfeld, would have been long gone before they became number one shows MUCH later (usually at LEAST their 3rd or 4th seasons).

Yes, there have been no breakout hits yet. It's hard when the quality of shows has gone up, and thus expectations, and factor in the diminished time periods left for viewing, there's only so much TIVOing and Taping we can all do, even from someone like me who watches TV every second I can.

With recent breakout hits like Lost, 24, the first season of Desperate Housewives, quality was always from the get go, but all the new shows so far that premiered, usually were good but not perfectly great and sometimes a little familiar looking (Jericho, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Brothers and Sisters, Six Degrees, The Class, Men In Trees, Shark, Justice, Standoff). All made with some decent quality, and really, do we all remember former seasons? There were some HORRIBLE new shows, but this year where there were really only a handful of clunkers (Happy Hour, 'Til Death, Men in Trees to most people, The Class to some people), everything else thus looks bad just because of relativity.

Of course, three shows I'm most excited about haven't even started yet, since again, WE ONLY JUST STARTED THE NEW FALL SEASON, but I'm betting on Ugly Betty being the biggest surprise hit, The Nine will do pretty good though I still think it won't have ratings that we have built expectations around, and Friday Night Lights will hopefully get an audience for what essentially is a 44 minute indie movie every week.

Since this season is the season for long serials, now that the after-effect of Lost copycats is in full effect, can people trust the execs to invest our time and emotions and viewing eyes onto a show to let it fully be explored and unravelled? Previous trigger happy execs have let people down already and we have become a little harder and embittered (see fans of Invasion, Reunion, Threshold, My So Called Life etc) so you can't blame viewers for waiting until a full season on DVD is out and ready with reliable word of mouth before getting into the game. Even 24 didn't become a full fledged hit until the DVD's came out allowing people to catch up in marathon sessions and then finally sucking them into join the live broadcasts on Fox.

So, just as soon as the TV critics and advertisers announced that this is the best fall season ever, the Schadenfreude gene in all of us have already called this season somewhat of a dude 8 days into the official new season. People and Studio Execs (they are not one and the same), be PATIENT and give the shows a chance. As I keep repeating, sometimes shows don't come into their own until a season in (Grey's Anatomy, Sex and the City, Everwood, Entourage, The Office (US)) so we need to let the show introduce themselves first and them let them grow. Not every show has an amazing pilot, but that doesn't mean it can't be an amazing show (or vice versa). However in the meantime, a dios Happy Hour!


More After the Jump...

Monday, September 25, 2006

Heroes - Pilot

Okay. I'm a geek, but I've never been a comic book geek. Never had an inkling of interest. On the other hand, I loved loved loved Buffy the Vampire Slayer because it was GREAT allegory. I thought Spiderman (1 and 2) and X-Men 2 were GREAT movies. Still, I'm a little dubious over comic book stuff.


Heroes is about regular people who discoveer they have special powers. Regular people from all over the world (though mostly America, because, well, this show is on NBC and not StarWorld or BBC). Regular people like politician Adrian Pasdar (Profit, Desperate Housewives) and his nurse brother Milo Ventimiglia (Gilmore Girls), mother of genius and stripper Ali Landry (Legally Blonde), cheerleader Hayden Panettiere, Japanese office schlub Masi Oka (Scrubs), Prof/under cover Taxi Driver Sendhil Ramamurthy and more.

There are a few moments that seem to milk the moments in a bad drama Crossing Jordan sort of way (probably because its from Crossing Jordan's Tim Kring), but as a whole, the episode was well filmed and mesmerizing and I had chills twice (which doesn't usually happen with anything outside of Lost or The X-Files).

So far in the pilot, we are slowly introduced to some of the characters as they slowly figure out their powers, some accepting/questioning it more than others, as a mysterious figure seems to be following Mohinder Suresh, an Indian prof who comes to NY and takes on the role of a taxi driver as he attempts to figure out the death of his father, a formative researcher on teleportation and other special powers that will no doubt pop up in the show.

Finally here is a show this year with another huge cast that seems to have a nicely plotted and engaging story from the get go. This could all still go to craps as some shows have proven (and again, doesn't dismiss other pilots that were slower to get the plot moving, as Everwood, Entourage or Sex and the City has clearly proven that sometimes it takes a year to takes it stride), but so far I REALLY want to see what happens next (including the introduction of another main character played by usual JJ Abrams player Greg Grunberg, finally branching away to another boss) and the pilot was exciting, moved at a good pace and revealed just enough little tidbits to sucker the viewer in.

Also, finally a role that reveals Masi Oka as a hilarious and lovable character and uses it to the story's advantage! I'm excited by this show now and cannot wait until next week.


More After the Jump...

Breaking Up - Prison Break

Okay. I think I'm officially breaking up with Prison Break because it is too exhausting to hop 2 steps forward only to fall 4 steps back and there are two other things I would rather watch in the same time slot (Corner Gas and How I Met Your Mother) and not enough effort to coordinate recording all three. And now that City is carrying Battlestar Galactica, if I had a third this one might be it.

Plus, now that they killed off Abruzzi and plan to basically kill everyone else off slowly, I just don't care anymore if Michael gets his millions of loot. The show is still exciting in bit moments but since in the end usually on an overall scale, it equates to nothing since they end up writing something silly or easy that negates the whole problem, I'm getting too frustrated to deal.

So Prison Break, I'm breaking up with you for now and at most, might catch up later on DVD.


More After the Jump...

Premieres Tonight - Mon. Sep. 25

Heroes starts tonight on NBC/Global at 9pm (NBC will repeat it tomorrow (Tuesday) night at 8pm). Another big cast. Another interesting concept (real people discover they have superpowers). Another random mix of people meeting by chance a la Six Degrees. Though one of the creators is from Crossing Jordan, I'll give this a chance, if only for Milo Ventimiglia.

Runaway starts on The CW at 9pm in the States, but the irony is, in Toronto, no channel is carrying a show that is filmed right here in our neighbourhoods so in the end, we can't see it (since the former WB channel went MyTV and we never got the former UPN station. UGH). (It was like Kevin Hill, also filmed here, never shown in Toronto). Anyways, this one is getting mostly bad reviews with a few random people like TV Gal who enjoed it. Maybe it's the Donnie Wahlberg thing? It's basically a cross of Everwood and 24, or so they say at least, but I'll never really know (and really don't care enough to download this one).


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Brothers and Sisters - Pilot

I'm going to give this a few more weeks(especially until Greg Berlanti gets to fully take over the show) before I fully decide if this is worth watching or not but from the pilot, I have to say it wasn't great, but it wasn't the mess that much of the press had been saying it was probably going to be.

The lines were clunky and everything was fully explained in verbal diarhea but when it comes from GREAT actors like Ron Rifkin (Alias) or Rachel Griffiths (Brenda in Six Feet Under), I kinda let it go and actually enjoyed watching them try to say it with a straight face. Which seems to be the trend this season.

Brother and Sisters follows Calista Flockhart's Kitty as she rejoins her family including mom Sally Field, dad Tom Skerritt, and her many brothers and sisters including Rachel Griffiths, Balthazar Getty, Dave Annable and Matthew Rhys. Theres a family business where Uncle Saul (Ron Rifkin) seems to be doing some shady accounting as we discover in the first episode, and Calista's Kitty is an Ann Coulter type conservative big mouth joining her ultra democrat mom and most of the rest of the family.

So yes, at times I felt like I was watching Alias (Ron Rifkin, Balthazar Getty, Patricia Wettig), or Ally McBeal (Calista Flockhart, Josh Hopkins). Throw in Gidget and Brenda in the mix, plus Dave Anable (likable from Reunion), and the likable requisite gay character (Matthew Rhys) and we have an interesting (if not a little white stock TV-family) family. Now let's hope the story get's going, which doesn't seem to really start until the end of the pilot when we see Tom Skerritt have a stroke (and will die since he's only a "guest star").


More After the Jump...

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip - The Cold Open

So Matt (Matthew Perry) and Danny (Bradley Whitford) have now taken over Studio 60, it's announced formally on the Monday morning, with Danny blowing the press conference by telling everybody the truth. They took the job cause he was blowing crack. Nicely done!

So 5 days left before they are to create a re-invigorated Studio 60 and Matt discovers the writers are a bunch of 30 year olds living the teenagers dream. Harry/Harriett (Sarah Paulson) discovers that Matt has something going on the side with another actress. Jordan (do all the girls have to have boys names?) stands by Matt and Danny against Jack (Steven Weber) and the suits as they lose affiliates due to a Christian magazines denouncement of the show for standing by the sketch "Crazy Christians" (which Matt supposedly wrote 4 years ago and Wes only chose to do it then?).

Again, I love television and I'm in the biz, but will anybody else really care about the creating of a show? Still, I think Matthew Perry is perfect in his role and doing a great job of obliterating Chandler (which is no small feat). Now that someone else (can't remember who) noted that Bradley Whitford is still really just Josh Lyman, all I can see is Josh Lyman. Amanda Peet as Jordan is actually quite good in this and I'm forgetting that it's Amanda Peet. Meanwhile, I continue my love for Sarah Paulson although I don't really buy her jealousy of Matt (though maybe it's because shes not so much into him as she realises hes still into her).

In the end, Matt and company are able to figure out a great opening to their first return episode of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and they close on the opening musical spoof sequence that was actually pretty great and funny and would have actually probably made a big impact if Studio 60 were for real.


More After the Jump...

Desperate Housewives - Listen to the Rain on the Roof

We are now 6 months ahead since the black population was driven off Wisteria Lane (okay. basically Betty Applewhite and family)( and along with their lone major Emmy nod). What happened in that time?

Orson Hodge we find out is a crazy perfectionist (does Kyle MacLachlan play anything other? So fantastic as Special Agent Dale Cooper, So perfectly plastic as Trey MacDougal) and possibly murdered his former wife. Last time we saw him in the finale, he was running over Mike Delfino, who now remains in a coma, with Susan caring by his side. Susan meanwhile has met Dougray Scott's Ian Kavanagh who himself is caring for a comatosed partner but this being Desperate Housewives, they flirt away and Ian asks Susan on a date.

Orson meanwhile has asked Bree's hand in marriage, and in a hilarious bout of scary over-controlling cleanliness where Orson re-washes Bree's glasses with a chemical agent even Bree hasn't heard of, Bree gets hot and handy as Orson gives what Bree discovers is her first big O.

Gabrielle and Carlos are in full separation mode but Gabrielle has become slave to surogate Xiao-Mei and threatens to send her back to the rice paddy's once the baby is born, causing her to flee the house.

Lynette continues to deal with Tom's secret child and new old mommy (played by crazy poor womans Lauren Graham lookalike Kiersten Warren).

Oh, and something about rain cleansing everything again in voice over by Sally... er... Julia Brown... er...Mary Alice Young.

I still think Eva Longoria is a comedic force to be reckoned with, that they keep popping out kids from Doug Savant's Tom Scavo to make up for his gay life as Matt on Melrose Place, and that while Felicity Huffman may be the best actress on the set (though debatable with Marcia Cross), she seems to have always been given the most boring storylines.

Bree's new storyline, while not exactly the most buyable storyline, is still the most interesting, and while the episode on the whole was better than most of last season, it was still nothing compared to anything from the first season. I know it will take more than a few eps if it is to get back on track (especially now that at least Marc Cherry is back full on being head writer again), but so far, while not bad, is not quite apointment television that Grey's Anatomy had stolen from its former lead in.


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The Amazing Race - Can Horses Smell Fear?

Apparently they can.

Finally there's a detour where both choices are actually difficult and can change the standings in the race. Watching teams try to lead the ox-like animal to the water to fill jugs of water, or taking apart a tent and folding it exactly the proper way to fit onto a camel's back (the spit take was silly and infantile yet hilarious all the same. I think it was the sound fx) which was harder than it looked (since 2 teams switched tasks after much struggle) was HILARIOUS.

Also, them riding those kinda tiny horses? Hilarious! Kimberley being knocked off the horse as a branch catches her? One of the pretty girls (I could't tell which one) falling off the horse and being dragged away? Shocking. (Though edits from the previous weeks upcoming preview made it even more gasp enducing).

It's still too early in the game but with many teams left and all arguing in frustration this week, and all the editing and cutting back and forth makes it a little confusing figuring out as to who is where doing what. Plus there were teams I could barely tell apart (Cheerleaders and Beauty pageant girls). I will say, I'm liking Barbies (Beauty Pageant) more, Ex-druggie models (or the Male Kate Mosses) are okay but I still hate them on principal, Bumpkin wife is cute as she meets ASIANS! GAYS! PRETTY PEOPLE! Too bad the Asian brothers are still idiots and Tom and Terry still do not come close to the torch that flamers Team Cha Cha Cha (Season 2) were (or as lovable and hilarious).

Alas, we are left in Mongolia and after what seems like every other Russian Jeep broke down, Cheerleaders were left in the dust by the Bitchy Black Broads and were thus eliminated from the race by our Phil.


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Guilty Pleasures - Men in Trees

Yes, I'm still watching it. Yes, for some reason, I still like it despite the bland and generic voice overs. Yes, we know Anne Heche's Marin and mountain man Jack (James Tupper) should get it on and will become an annoying will-they-or-won't-they (they will. Just when?).

And yes, it is truly sad that I'm watching this on Friday nights while I should be out there par-tay-ing (of course, I wouldn't want to be out with people that would actually say "par-tay-ing") but alas, since I usually work early on Saturday mornings, I think Men In Trees has become my brainless-cause-I'm-so-tired-by-the-end-of-the-work-week-yet-I-still-have-more-work-to-go Friday night bon bon treat.

One of the things I like best is Suleka Mathews' Sara who plays the resident "lady of the night" in the town of Elmo, Alaska. This could have been a really bad character but thankfully its played with a no-nonsense humanity by Ms. Mathews (DaVinci's Inquest, The West Wing). Suleka Mathews aged herself MANY years to play Jimi Mistry's MOTHER in Touch of Pink and only NOW did I realise that the actress is actually not that old. She had such great chemistry with Kristin Holden-Ried playing mother figure that watching her play Sara in Men in Trees is quite a turnaround and fun to watch.


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Friday, September 22, 2006

The Office - A Gay Ole' Time

Gay Witch Hunt

OMG. Jim actually took the transfer. OMG. Pam didn't go through with the wedding and is now eating frozened dinners from the wedding that they were left to pay for.

Jim's new office has someone just as bad as Dwight/Michael in Ed Helms, while Ryan is no office husband for Pam. Toby warns Michael of his homophobic slurs are offending Oscar, and then Michael in turns inadvertently outs Oscar, tries to fix it with another office meeing where things get horrible to the point or the most awkward uncomfortable kiss since Katie kissed Tom.

All in all? Hilarity to perfection! Glad season 3 is getting of to a gay ole' time! And was Kelly not the most enthusiastic (and hilarious) supporter of the mo's.


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Premieres This Weekend

Desperate Housewives is back and as I noted before, will jump a few months from the finale. Let's hope the writing quality jumps ahead as well. On Sunday on ABC/CTV at 9pm.

Brothers and Sisters will debut after. This is the show that already has more drama in the making of it, then it has in the show apparently. Still, its got another amazing cast (Calista Flockhart (Ally McBeal, Harrison Ford's floosy), Sally Fields ("you really love me"), Ron Rifkin (Alias), Rachel Griffiths (Six Feet Under, Muriel's Wedding), Patricia Wettig (Prison Break, thirtysomething), Balthazar Getty (Alias), Dave Annabelle (Reunion)) and now that Everwood creator Greg Berlanti has taken over the helms of this show, I'm going to wait until his episodes begin (apparently around the third or fourth episode) before I decide on this show. On Sunday on ABC/Global at 10pm.


More After the Jump...

Six Degrees - Missing Links

Pilot

I'm going to give this show a few more weeks before I officially decide and make a review of it because after the pilot, I'm left feeling a missed a few links. Which might have been intentional since the show is about random people connecting in different ways through different people.

None of the stories of the 6 leads really drew me in, but luckily, they had (yet another) fantastic cast (are you tired of me saying that yet for Studio 60, Smith and now this? Sorry but I'm sure it's going to be said a few more times when Brothers and Sisters, Heroes, The Nine and Ugly Betty begin) . Jay Hernandez (below) is EXTREMELY charming and likeable as a lead, though I'm a little iffy about Erika Christensen playing the girl with the mysterious past (and box). LOVE LOVE Hope Davis and Campbell Scott both doing the SAME TV show, but at this point, Campbell Scott's Steven has only photographed Hope's character in her moment of despair from a chance moment on the street.


Unlike Dalton Ross though, I DO buy the whole concept of Six Degrees. I do love watching/thinking/dreaming about the possibilities of who you might be meeting, the notion of chance encounters, whom is connected to whom etc etc, and I've always wanted a show explore that, so I'm going to give this show a chance since realistically speaking, it WOULD take a while to build credible but separate stories that will eventually intertwine. I mean, it's really like exploring the back story of a guest star on a show when they pop into a show. I always felt sometimes its too much of stunt casting or conveniently plopping a character in when it is needed, but what about THAT character and everything that would lead to them entering this world and what happens after they leave?

Or maybe between loving Six Degrees of Separation (based on the play who originated this theory), and loving JJ Abrams, I'm partially seduced by this show despite yesterday's pilot. Still, the same team also produced What About Brian (though an Everwood lead writer is apparently taking over! Thank god for that!).


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Grey’s Anatomy – Time Has Come Today

(repeats tonight on ABC at 8pm and on CTV as yet announced time)

Before I get started, let me just say that while I think this show is fantastic and has done melodrama proud, I found the post-Superbowl episodes lacking a certain something. I can buy Meredith as annoying and unlikable during her time of confusion, I can buy George with Callie, and I can buy Izzie’s love for Denny. I’m not really sure I buy both McVet and McDreamy fighting for Meredith but more on that in a sec. Plus, I LOVE Jeffery Dean Morgan as much as everyone else does but the Denny dying thing seemed a bit stretched out after a while as they tried to milk that drama baby dry. It thus only ranked 5th last year in my best series of the season list despite it being what seems like the watercooler show of the year.

Now we are welcomed back to Grey’s Anatomy now in Season 3. We ended off with Denny dying and Burke getting shot! Can you feel the excitement and happiness yet? Of course, thankfully because I usually hate it when they jump ahead in time… (though let’s hope Desperate Housewives will jump ahead in quality as well when it does that Sunday night), the premiere continues where we left of favorite residents of Seattle Grace dealing with all that dramatic aftermath. Izzie’s left completely shaken and laying on the floor of the bathroom trying to deal with the loss of Denny, Meredith still confused over her love triangle, Addison finding Meredith’s panties in the trailer, George still unable to return the profession of love to Callie, Adele Webber wants her husband Dr. Richard Webber back into her life and not at the hospital. Sadly, it was an episode we probably needed yet it was kinda of an unfun episode since we had to deal with all the hardships and misery left behind by the cliffhangers from last season before we could get back to the fun stuff we so love from Grey’s Anatomy. Still, kudos from trying to deal with the darkness with a bit of humour and some poignant moments (Bailey saying sorry to Denny’s deceased body and Christina asking Burke not to die).

On the other hand, what was the storyline about a possible Plague possibility that entrapped George and McDreamy in the staff lockerroom and left guest star Steve Harris locked in a room with Bailey trying to help? What was that all about? A better side story was when an abandoned baby was found outside a school, and it was up to Karev and Addison to figure out which of the four 14 year-old girls was the mother, allowing Karev to eventually spout out to Addison that things can suck, be you deal and survive and live on. When did Karev become the philosopher king? Cause I like it.

Flashbacks show scenes of the night the first year interns meet at the introductory party (and apparently, if you re-watch the first episode, puzzle pieces will link up according to Shonda Rhimes).

In the end, Izzie got up in time for the next episode (which apparently all of Canada except me saw. Though rumours was that it was actually SUPPOSED to be the first episode as still indicated on TV.com).

Oh yeah. And Grey’s beat CSI last night in the first nights head to head battle. There’s hope yet!


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Grey's Anatomy - Canadian Oops

So apparently it was ABC's fault and not CTV for showing the second episode of the third season of Grey's Anatomy last night instead of the season premiere. ABC has already issued an apology already (and I'm sure someone is going to get fired today). So luckily I had taped the US feed so I got to watch the opener but I'll comment more later (I've actually got work to do today...)


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Thursday, September 21, 2006

Premieres Tonight - Thur. Sep. 21

So, let the battle begin. Will CSI or Grey's Anatomy win in its first head to head battle (of new eps).

I think CSI will win but Grey's will do surprisingly well (and will gain over the course of time) and well, everyone's been talking about how they can't wait for the new season.

Either way, it will be a busy night. Premieres tonight:

My Name is Earl in its second season - NBC 8pm

The Office in its third season and I guess by default is my favorite show on television right now (in current production) since Everwood is now officially cancelled (and yes, I'm still not forgiving The CW for that). Still, this is the best comedy on TV and don't let my bitterness and sadness of Everwood lessen how amazing The Office has become. - NBC 8:30pm

Grey's Anatomy in its third season - CTV 8pm/ ABC 9pm (with a recap show at 8pm to remind everyone of where we are now).


CSI in its whatever season and guest starring John Mayer and the cast of Cirque de Soleil's KA. - CBS/CTV 9pm

ER in its whatever season with new cast member Uncle Jesse. er... John Stamos. - NBC/CTV 10pm

Six Degrees pilot from JJ Abrams and an indie movie star cast on ABC at 10pm. Sadly it's getting mixed reviews, some love it, some hate it but it's not the slam dunks JJ Abrams have had previously but I still love the cast that includes Hope Davis (About Schmidt), Campbell Scott (Roger Dodger), Jay Hernandez (Hostel) and Erika Christensen (Traffic).


Shark with James Woods as House without the labcoat and a lot of litigations on CBS/Global at 10pm.

And the big winner? CTV for having BOTH CSI and Grey's Anatomy (and will add to that The OC, another 9pm slotter in the states). At least they stopped hording everything and is letting Veronica Mars and Scrubs play simulcast on another network.


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Wednesday, September 20, 2006

The Guardian - Movie Review


I was so ready to dump on this movie. I mean, every movie I've reviewed on this blog was generally positive, so I wanted to show that I actually do dislike movies I see sometimes. hmm... maybe I do just like everything I see? Since I was generally surprised that The Guardian not only didn't offend me, I was sort of taken with it by the end of the film.

The film that basically honours the US Coast Guard with no sense of irony and plainly follows a gee-goly attitude was in no way going to be an excellent film. It stars Ashton Kutcher and Kevin Costner for goodness sake. The trailers were tedious in its faux-danger CGI'd action on the seas, the posters make it seem like a stupid Tony Scott film, the lines are clichéd and simplistic sprouting high school level psycho-babble, and worst of all, it even ends on a new Bryan Adams song over the credits.

Yet, by the time we get through Kevin Costner's curmudgeonly teaching a new batch of students, including the self assured Ashton Kutcher, a barely used (again) Dulé Hill (The West Wing), and some other non-descript though likable Abercrombie looking models, by the time we see them endure harsh training, get in trouble, learn their lessons, graduate and move on to the real world of saving people's lives, I sort of gave over to the movie and just went along with the emotions. I'm not saying this was a great movie or even a good heart-warmer yet I found myself swept up in some of the tense action sequences and by the time it came to the tearful clichéd ending, I sort of felt the movie had worked hard enough to warrant it.

Though not as smile-enducing as the two other Disney movies to come out earlier this year (Invicible and Step Up), it sure wasn't the Razzie I expected/hope for (to trash). I mean, it stars Mr. Demi Moore, but Ashton Kutcher was extremely charming (and not in the Kelso way). I've never really had any thoughts about Ashton, never hated him, never loved the Punked guy, but again, maybe my lowered expectations was taken for a loop by his dramatic acting ability. Kevin Costner meanwhile continues to charm his way through this new resurgence playing the schlupy has-been and uses his natural swagger to perfection as he did so well in The Upside of Anger and Rumour Has It.

Director Andrew Davis, who has never really lived up to his amazing remake of The Fugitive, makes a nice steady clean and basic film about regular heroes in The Guardian. Nothing spectacular or special, there's nothing in the plot you won't guess will happen but when you're in the mood for a Discovery Channel retelling with movie stars, this will make a good pic to fill the needs. Of course, the wet t-shirts probably helped.



6/10 or C+


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Let's Discuss

Since I taped Boston Legal cause I'm trying to be good about bedtime (plus I'm getting old), and watched Dancing with the Stars instead of House (I'm not sure why since this season isn't as much fun as the last on DWTS), I have nothing really to discuss about last night.

However, HOW did I miss that City TV is now showing Battlestar Galactica on Mondays at 8pm on the main station and not just on SpaceChannel(though I still need to start from the very beginning and just do a marathon to catch up).

Even worse? How did I miss Showcase showing Footballers Wives on Saturdays at 5pm? GASP! WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME? Talk about bitchfest, punchouts, gratuitous makeout sessions, black voodoo magic, dirty blackmailing, gay hustlers, sweaty men in fight clubs, and oh yeah, some soccer too. That was just in the 40 mins. that I saw too! HOW HAVE I MISSED THAT???

Okay, not much to say about Dancing with the Stars except, does Shanna Moakler seem like mini-Cathy Moriarty to anybody or is it just me?

I don't know why but I think this is really really sweet (not in a candy makes your ass fat kinda way either. pun intended).

This is also fabulous! This not so much.

and thanks to Dan (check his blog for SYTYCD tour updates) for this link of photos from the tour! only 10 more days for me!!!

I've been trying to withold reading or posting anything about Veronica Mars just so I don't spoil season 3 for myself, but to all those out there who still haven't caught this AMAZING show, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR??? I've now lent Season 1 to the fifth person to have started watching it and then finish the SEASON in 3 days because they just couldn't stop, and Season 2 is just as addicting.

Yes. I'm annoying when I'm hawking stuff at you people but I'm also always right.

Meanwhile, Company, High Fidelity, Grey Gardens, Evil Dead The Musical are all on sale! and A Chorus Line is now back on Broadway! I've kinda gone Broadway crazy again this week as I'm trying to figure out if I can squeeze out another trip to NY before the end of the season/year. If only I didn't have this damn work to go to everyday?! (Okay, I do enjoy my job and I do work for something I have discussed on this site, but still... come on... I NEED to see a Broadway musical again cause I believe people should just burst out singing at any moment in their lives!).


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Premieres Tonight - Wed. Sep. 20

Jericho on CBS/AChannel at 8pm

Kidnapped on NBC/Global at 10pm

Both don't really interest me, both have casts with people I don't really care for (Skeet Ulrich and Gerald McRaney in Jericho and Dana Delaney and Timothy Hutton in Kidnapped). Kidnapped is getting decent reviews but really... isn't it just Ransom The Series? Or Without a Trace in a serialized 24 format? I set my VCR to tape Jericho though even though along with Happy Hour and Men In Trees, it seems like one of the first shows we all guess will be axed soon. Anyways, the show that's getting the best reviews of all the new shows is The Nine will air opposite Kidnapped.


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Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Premieres Tonight - Tue. Sep. 19

The Shat is back as Denny Crane and Michael J. Fox returns again to cause Julie Bowen some more heartache on the season premiere of Boston Legal. ABC/CH 10pm

Smith premieres on CBS tonight at 10pm. Here was my little review this morning.


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How I Met Your Mother – Where We Were

Last time we saw our new friends, Robin and Ted had finally gotten together, while Lily and Marshall were broken apart. Meanwhile, Barney, was… well, just Le…gendary I guess. We continue the 2nd season straight from that point, following what happened over the summer as Robin and Ted get nauseatingly cute as Marshall wallows in sorrow. Luckily, we don’t get enough of Robin and Ted getting nauseatingly cute except when harassing Barney to lead him to his faked deaths and is nicely counterpointed by the details of the days of Marshall and his misery which helps us speed over the summer during the normally finally-got-together-romance-showkiller period.

Meanwhile, strippers, baseball and shooting don’t really get Marshall out of the funk as he daydreams Lily hooking up with the king of funk, Mr. George Clinton (you have to see it to understand). Ted learns that Robin is a gun enthusiast, and Barney, is… well, just Le…gendary! Finally, after more than 2 months have passed by since Lily’s departure to find herself, Marshall wakes up normal again and ready to be Marshall, just as Lily is seen in the background, not yet ready to rejoin her friends.


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Smith – Pilot Review


Here’s another pilot with what essentially is a top notch movie actor cast “slumming” it on TV in a new John Wells (ER) show. The pilot is filmed with film quality visuals and while it isn’t the home run the pilots for Lost or Alias were, by the end of the episode when they finally slowly revealed Michelle Hurd (Law and Order: SVU) and the dude from Third Watch (I think), it seemed to at least relieve the minute moralistic side of me that questioned what the point of this show was about.

Why did I say that? Because Smith follows a group of thieves that are not quite as nice and suave and bouncy and comedic as the Ocean Eleven’s bunch. This is a group that includes Simon Baker’s Jeff (obliterating the nice guy we love from The Guardian) who happily whistles as he shoots off some surfer dudes who gets in his way. This is a group that includes Amy Smart’s Annie (obliterating the nice girl we love from Felicity and Rat Race) who brutally knocks out and tazers a fellow pedestrian who thinks she recognizes her as an old friend. These are not nice people and here we are watching a show with this group as the leads. Why? I mean, it’s fascinating stuff and quite elegantly done, but what keeps me intrigued in Ray Liotta’s (Goodfellas) Bobby Stevens gang of thievery experts, who also includes Jonny Lee Miller’s (Trainspotting) Tom and Franky G’s (The Italian Job) Joe, is the fact that they are all still under the command of Shohreh Aghdashloo (House of Sand and Fog, 24), and that soon there will be some cat and mouse game with Michelle Hurd and Third Watch dude (which could get boring fast though too as Prison Break has proven).

However, the best part is Virginia Madsen, as Bobby’s wife Hope Stevens. Living in the cushy suburbs of what looks like southern California or Arizona with their son and daughter, Hope seems to be the loving, if slightly suspicious wife who knows nothing of Bobby’s escapades and thinks he works at some boring office job selling paper cups. Or does she? Does he know about her former drug past that’s slightly alluded to? Or that she is on parole? What does she know of his life and what does he of hers?

Virginia Madsen, whom for me, came out of nowhere to give an astounding performance in Sideways, and breathed some much needed sensual mystery in A Prairie Home Companion this summer, is perfectly used with her breathy low voice as the unknowing (?) wife to Bobby’s handsome, though not perfectly honest husband (which uses Ray Liotta’s slightly handsome yet slightly plastic and creepy face to perfection).

While Smith the show may have the most boring title possible for a show (Smith is a word used to describe an unknown culprit in an investigation apparently, and the producers also noted allows for constantly changing thieves in case any of the movie stars decides to leave again for filmwork), Smith is quite fascinating, if not entirely likeable much like the characters it intends to follow.


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Monday, September 18, 2006

Premieres Tonight - Mon. Sept 18th

Alrighty! Bring. It. ON!

Let the TV shows begin! Premiering tonight:

The Class - CBS/CTV 8pm (Review)

How I Met Your Mother - CBS 8:30pm

Corner Gas - CTV 8:30pm

Smith - CTV 9pm

The New Adventures of Old Christine - CBS 9:30pm

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip - NBC 10pm (Review)


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Canadian Idol - Finale

Was I right or was I right? Eva Avila is our new Idol girl in a low-buzz season, though I think mostly because pretty much all the contestants sucked. I mean, the guy I hated MOST, Craig, was runner up. Ugh. There was just no contest or excitement since it HAD to be Eva.

So now this is the second year in a row where someone has not only won the competition, but the heart of a fellow contestant... aw... how cute... (I'm not even sure if I'm saying that ironically or not anymore... sigh...).


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Sunday, September 17, 2006

The Amazing Race 10 - First Impressions

Real Fast! Quack, Quack!

First impressions:

Peter and SarahBlonde couple. Looks generic until the whole leg thing which surprised me but automatically makes me like them already. Kinda cute. Could be a little self-righteous though

Muslim team. Bilal and Sa’eed Yeah! finally! They don’t shake women’s hands? Boo.

Generic dating brunette couple. Rob and Kimberly. Who?

David and Mary the Rednecks Coalminer and wife… could be annoying. Okay. Definitely. Already annoying. And CBS thought the controversy would be in the stereotyping of the coloured people? I feel bad for the wife though, I like her feistiness and watching her open her eyes to the world beyond Kentucky.

Blonde Miss America’s. Dustin and Kandice. – um. I can’t tell the difference between them and the Cheerleaders at this point. (cause you know, all white people look the same).

Asian brother team (and I mean that as actual related brothers. Not "brothers"). Erwin and Godwin. Yeah Finally! – Great… too bad they’re a bunch of dumbasses. Waterguns in an airport? I knew something had to be up with names like that. You KNOW those parents spoiled them rotten.

Father Daughter team Duke and Lauren– father is disappointed cause daughter is lesbian. Daddy cries. He could be an asshole but hopefully could be a surprise too. Daughter seems nice. Um, if my dad was like that too? I'd be lesbian too.

Indian couple – Yeah. Finally! Vipul and Arti

Cheerleaders – considering I just rewatched Bring It On! Bring it! Kellie and Jamie

Male Models –Tyler and James. Druggies. Recovery. Models. Oh god… seriously? Wait. This isn't the gay team? From the way they act together, are you sure?

Single Mother friends. Lyn and Karlyn. Alabama. Loving the back-Black woman talk already. Could rival the gay team in bitchiness.

Boyfriends Tom and Terry– let the bitchyness begin. Reichen and Chip they are not, but at least they don’t seem like Team Guido either.

Whoa, that was fast. Elimination already at a NON-Pit stop?
Hmm.. so what does this say about God now that the Muslim team is gone? (Or was this some big conspiracy from the producers to seem diverse but really not?).

As I've noted before, love that they are heading to China first letting the most teams dealing with the language, the craziness and good lord... chinese people. (Before you go writing back remarks, I am chinese, so I'm entitled to make fun of my people, as Survivor apparently showed).

Oh well, we barely knew you Vipul and Arti. You seemed cute if undistinctive other than being Indian. Is it worse to be known as the Asian team? or Indian team based on the colour of your skin? Or the Coalminer and wife or the Cheerleaders? I'm not really sure what all the ruckus might be about cause it could be worse. Recovering drug-addict models, I'm speaking to you.

So 2 of the 4 coloured teams are already gone. So much for diversity. Since Asian brothers annoy the hell out of me, I won't be rooting for them either.

Next week's clip looks terrifically terrifying!


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Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip – Pilot Review


Okay, I’ve lost count of how many mini backlashes have occurred about this show, but the general critical consensus seems to be that this highly anticipated show is still a good show but doesn’t live up to it’s high pedigree and that there are better shows this fall season. I’m then even more excited about this great fall TV season than before, since the pilot for Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip is a beautifully filmed breezy and whirlwind look into the behind-the-scenes of a network weekend comedy variety show (not so thinly veiled Saturday Night Live-ish show called “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip” on a not so thinly veiled network NBS).

The excitement over the new show from The West Wing and Sports Nights creative duo Thomas Schlamme and Aaron Sorkin came from their teaming up with Bradley Whitford (again, The West Wing) and the return of Matthew Perry, one of our very best Friends. Then added to that, they kept adding to the cast, with names like Steven Webber (Wings), Sarah Paulson (Down with Love, Leap of Faith), Amanda Peet (Perry’s castmate on The Whole Nine Yards), D.L. Hughley (The Hughleys), Nate Corddry (The Daily Show), and Timothy Busfield (thirtysomething, Ed), with possible re-occurring characters played by Judd Hirsch (Dear John), Donna Murphy (The Joan Cussack Show and Broadway veteran), Evan Handler (Sex and the City). Guest stars already announced include Felicity Huffman (Desperate Housewives, TransAmerica) in the pilot and an upcoming appearance by Lauren Graham (The Gilmore Girls). Enough cast members yet? Not all might be household names yet but they are an interesting mix of actors that make it even more exciting and all have had previous success on television before. I mean, D.L. Hughley? Sarah Paulson? Nate Corddry? Steven Webber? I’m glad that these actors finally are given the chance to prove themselves as the interesting actors they are, and not end up in some drivel. I wanted to hate Amanda Peet as I have never been a fan but found her fine as the role of the incoming president of the network who may end up being the show (Studio 60)’s best ally.

The basic premise follows as Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (the show within the show) showrunner Wes (Judd Hirsch) stops his live show to rant about the loss of artistic license on TV (the irony that in current times, we finally seem to have more quality on TV than ever). Steven Weber as Jack Rudolph, a head honcho at the network NBS, fires Wes, while new president Jordan (Amanda Peet) decides their best course of action is to rehire Matt and Danny, two now successful writer/director team that Jack had fired 4 years ago. Danny and Matt take the deal despite being on the verge of a movie career, a movie career that was about to be derailed by Danny’s cocaine use and thus, failure on an insurance medical exam thus entrapping themselves into this deal. Meanwhile, actress Harriet Hayes Sarah Paulson) from the show, is Matt’s ex, but now will be under his command.

The pilot for the show about the making of a comedy show, is not as funny as we had anticipated, perhaps a bit too much expectation from the team that brought us the great Sports Night, but the drama moves along swiftly and the fast paced witty dialogue that we expecting from the creative team of Sorkin and Schlamme was still top notch. Half the fun is watching some of the actors we probably had written off due to past projects, work on a show with great dialogue and turn out great performances. Steven Webber is fantastic as the asshole network honcho and I’ve always been a fan of Sarah Paulson’s since I saw her in Leap of Faith, but finally here she’s been given a chance to shine.

Meanwhile, teaming Bradley Whitford and Matthew Perry may be a match made in television heaven since their natural banter makes them feel like they’ve been doing this longer than Friends had run on TV. I hope this show doesn’t get as idealistically perfect as The West Wing did (which I found as it’s downfall since everything seemed to happen so perfectly and smartly, and it made it ring a bit false), but Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip certainly makes for fun and engaging drama that I’m looking forward to watching.


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Friday, September 15, 2006

Project Runway - Finalist Spoilers

Thanks to Give Me My Remote for this posting about the finalists of Project Runway.

Just looking at this finalist gave me chills... goodness that designer is AMAZING! CHILLS!

though ALL the designers are quite gorgeous. Gorgeous dahling I say!


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So You Think You Can Dance Tour Begins!

The So You Think You Can Dance Tour begun on Tuesday starting in Seattle and reviews are coming in and sounds like its going to be a great one! (I'm loving the fact that many of the fans going are around 30 and over and going with no sense of irony! woohoo!!!).

I would recommend you all get tickets but since it's all sold out... AHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA... Sucks to be you!

Only 2 more weeks before they come around my area to see Travis Wall!, No-longer Jailbait Ivan!, Benji!, Natalie!, Donyelle!, Martha!, Dimitri!, Ryan! and Heidi!


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Premieres This Weekend

Well, officially (although, who makes this official anyways?) the Fall season starts Monday, but since Fox has already gotten a jump start, why not everyone else?

Men In Trees OFFICIALLY premieres tonight (!?!) on ABC/City at 8pm with the pilot followed by episode 2 at 9pm. Again, I liked it far more than I thought I would despite the predictability.

The Amazing Race begins Sunday the 17th on CBS and CTV at 8:30pm for a 90 minute season premiere, and apparently this time, for the first time, they are headed west to the far east first which means more teams lost in Asia where languages will really be a problem. WOOHOO!!!


Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip premieres on CTV at 10pm on Sunday following TAR (NBC officially premieres it the next day on Monday).


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Thursday, September 14, 2006

Survivor: Cook Islands - Representin'/Natural Bonds

Hmm... I wonder what the NAACP will say tomorrow morning?

So let's break it down...
White hippie girl accidentally releases the chickens.
Asian-Americans win the immunity/reward challenge that had a nice combo of skills, puzzles and athleticism.
African-Americans lose and are sent to tribal council.

Let the overthinking stereotyping begin!
Meanwhile, I'll just enjoy the gratuitous skin shots while everyone else just bickers. I'm easy to please that way!:P Let's just say I'm not racist that way, cause every team (has someone that) looks GOOD!


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Premieres Tonight - Survivor: Cook Islands


It's time to get racist people and support the tribe of your choice while taunting the others. Seriously, Russell Peters called it out. We have now scared the whites so much in being called out as racists, meanwhile, everyone else goes on their merry own racists way (especially the asians, we will call out anybody and usually in front of your FACE! (As the goddess Margaret Cho would say)). Plus, as the puppets on Avenue Q sang it best, "Everyone's a Little Bit Racist".

Okay. Seriously, I'm not sure what the big deal is about the MOST CONTROVERSIAL SURVIVOR EVER other than it allows for more PR. In the past, there have sometimes been tendencies to pull together unions that were of similar races, and to be honest, sometimes it's just natural that we automatically connect with someone we feel is similar. Whether they are similar or not is another deal and thats when the fun begins when you discover that you probably can't stand the person and the only thing relating you to the other is the fact that you both have similar type skin.

I'm probably being optimistic but I'll give Mark Burnett the benefit of the doubt that this was the reaction he was hoping for and not an all out battle (we have enough of that in the real world). As like the NAACP, I'll pretend that I'm above it all and reserve the right to judgement until after the first episode of Survivor: Cook Islands at 8pm tonight on CBS/Global. Anyways, it might be the only full episode I watch since Ugly Betty, Grey's Anatomy and comic duo of The Office and My Name is Earl will be starting soon and I just cannot wait!


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Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Bones - The Boy in the Dark

What's with the new darker look on Bones? Three episodes in and I'm still distracted by the darker lighting. I know it adds "moooooooood" and makes it look slicker, but now it just sorts of cements it as CSI: Young People. Which is too bad because last year Bones managed to step away from the rest of the procedurals with hilarious dialogue between Bones, Booth and the Squints and some interesting personal stories amongst the bones of the week cases.

This years new attempt to throw some extra stress in Bones with the addition of another female superior Dr. Camille Saroyan has only become annoying fast, so thank goodness they just ended with the reconcilliation scene so that we can move back to the good stuff with Bones and her lovely team. I'm still not sure if Hodgins and Angela's impending romance will be a good thing but at this point, their flirtations are basically the only thing giving us some good laughs right now (particularly when Zach wondered if they just had their little "moment"). The cases have so far been a little hohum so between the weaker cases (because they were trying to force us with the new power/inert love triangle of Booth, Brennan and Saroyan), and this darker moodier direction (as in, cinematography and the director) is slightly boring me a little. BRING BACK THE Bleached out white overlit sets and the banter of the squints and bring back Jonathan Adams and tell Tamara Taylor to get Lost so that we know what happened to Michael and Walt.


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Dancing with the Stars - What a Tucker!

Okay, so we've been spoiled with the amazing dancing on So You Think You Can Dance this summer and now we have to take a step back to watch "celebrities" trying to dance again, which is sad and of course, thus totally entertaining.

Still, can we ever really go back? After last night? Not quite, but this is still totally not a write off.

I thought Dancing with the Stars Season 2 was particularly GREAT but I kinda knew it was partially due to the casting of Drew Lachey, Stacy Keibler and Lisa Rinna who we all fell in love with and had THREE people to root for. They danced far better than we could hope for, and their pairings, with Cheryl, Tony and Louis all had CHEMISTRY.

This season? Well, it's hard to tell after just one show, with only a few easy standouts like Mario Lopez and Emmitt Smith. Still, except for early lead Mario, everyone seems so far away from dancing well that they all had better improve quick or else there's only so much mockery one can sustain before I move on. Vivica A. Fox was passable but I think more I just feared she would kick anybody who knocked her down. I do find it funny that Harry Hamlin is there, since mini-Harry Louis Van Amstel is there too and I actually get confused as to who I'm watching when they pan to either one.

Oh and Springer and Tucker Carlson? I'm actually kinda wanted Tucker to remain. I'm not sure if it was because he was so bad, the fact that I usually hated the little pundit prick, or that it was actually fun to watch him have fun embarrasing himself. Oh well, he had his little bowtie and tossed it away, and now, we toss you away.


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Rock Star: Supersomething

OMG, they really did pick Lukas... like the rumours had said...Where the HECK did those rumours come from considering this was live (it was LIVE wasn't it?).

Of course, now the band has to find a new name since the judge is forcing the show to pick a new names since some Cali punk band had the name Supernova first.

Wow, so a Canadian has won again! Woo us! Man, maybe the Horseshoe Tavern is good luck...


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Guilty Pleasures – Passing the Baton: Men in Trees

So I thought it would be Big Brother 7: All Stars passing back the guilty pleasures baton to Dancing with the Stars, but it kept going past 10:02pm right to Men in Trees. Remember yesterday when I asked if ABC thought we were idiots to not be able to turn the channel at 10:02 pm and avoid Men In Trees? Well, apparently I’m one of those idiots and ABC was right. Cause I stuck around for the new show and guess what? Despite the lukewarm reviews (at best), and the fact the show has been done before as Northern Exposures meets Sex and the City, I kinda like it actually. Must be the Sex and the City part since I was never a big fan of Northern Exposures (but I might have been too young at the time to understand it) and from memories, Men In Trees doesn’t seem Northern Exposures to me except the whole Alaskan town thing.



Men In Trees follows Anne Heche’s character, a famous relationship expert/writer (a la Carrie Bradshaw) who discovers on her speaking engagement trip to Alaska, that her fiancé is cheating on her (a la Ed), and through the first episode, ends up in an isolated little northern town full of quirky characters (like men, literally in trees) (a la Northern Exposures?) and decides to stay. It’s full of stock characters, though Derek Richardson is adorable as the cute naïve innkeeper/radio host and it’s good to see Sarah Strange get another part after making a mark in Life As We Know It, and it’s nice to see Abraham Benrubi in an actual role (ER was fine but who would have thought he would be the one to still be around from the Parker Lewis Can’t Lose cast?). Anne Heche is pretty enjoyable as the lead, and uses her kookiness (a nice way to say CRAZY) and her authoritative speak (used well in Wag the Dog) to perfection in this role, and if she had to leave Everwood, Colorado, it may have well been here. Yet, I’m willing to go on a limb here and say that the stock characters seem to have more behind their pasts and aren’t just simpletons, but I guess we need more than just the pilot to get into all that.

The plot is contrived and predictable and while it’s not quite up to the TV making standards that make TV nowadays feel more like movies, more than movies feel like movies do, it has a nice TV movie romantic comedy feel that might just be a nice balance to all the stress related shows (see Lost, 24, Justice, Standoff, House, Bones, CSI etc. etc.). It’s not quite a great show but its likeable and kinda addictive like those cream puff balls you swore you would never eat again.


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Tuesday, September 12, 2006

FOX's New Drama's - Vanished, Standoff, Justice

Shall I add Kidnapped and Runaway to this lot since they all kinda sound the same? So of Fox's three new hour dramas, I suprisingly like Justice the most, the one non-serialized show (and other than Without A Trace, I'm kinda over Procedurals after CSIL&O:SVUCILVNYMiami took over half of TV. You have got to hand it to Jerry Bruckheimer though, he makes bad movies but knows the right balance of entertainment slickness with just enough smarts to keep it floating.

Justice follows lawyer Trott and his team of defence lawyers on criminal cases, shows their lawyer stategies with all the usual Bruckheier technical CGI, and finally, what actually happened, which is a nice touch actualy for some closure finally (cause their's only so much Lost one can handle). It's all done very well and makes for some nice one hour procedurals but the best thing going for this show is our favourite Spy Daddy Victor Garber who milks every dramatic moment and takes reign of his power-attention grabbing lawyer Trott. It's House as a lawyer, and I would fault Victor Garber for this if he wasn't so entertaining and showed some of this already in Alias. Jack McPhee (Dawson's Creek's Kerr Smith) makes a nice young protogé, and while Rebecca Mader looks annoying in the opening credits, she's affective in the show. Eamonn Walker balances out the team with nice stern control and authority.

Speaking of Lost, we have Vanished, the first of this years serialized season-long mysteries. It's too bad I forgot what it was after watching the pilot and couldn't really care less. Plus, I kept thinking of Gale Harold as his Queer as Folk character since he basically plays him the same way (although rumour is Eddie Cibrian was brought in to REPLACE Harold).

Standoff, with Gina Torres and Rob Livingston is not a bad show but you sort of feel underwhelmed and wasting of great talents. Watchable but with the current state of TV, not Tapeworthy since there's too much other stuff.


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Summer Reality Finals Week - Big Brother 7: All Stars, Rock Star: Supernova, Canadian Idol

So the final of Big Brother 7: All Stars was pretty much 56 minutes of terrific, if not horrific revealings, with the show taking no holds bar and showing the backstabbing directly to the offended and watching the honest reactions of Janelle, Erika, James before they could readjust to put on their PR face, and then the two minute let down when Boogie won All Stars. I mean, Mike Boogie, the overgrown Vanilla Ice wannabe (not even the real thing. just a Wannabe) is the Big Brother All Star winner? The early evictees had it right. Erika and Boogie weren't deserving to be the final 2, Janelle and Will did, but alas, that's the problem with this game. Sometimes we are left with two losers in the winners seats (see last years Yvette or Maggie).

Canadian Idol. Well, at least ONE of the two are deserving to be in the finals. We have Eva Avila in one corner, the one I noted from the very start to win this thing (or at least deserving to win this thing), and Craig, possibly the most annoying contestant since William Hung. Who will win it Sunday (with another appearance by Nelly Furtado? and how did they get Tony Bennett and Cyndi Lauper earlier this season?)? Please, if you're going to give me Boogie, at least give me Eva on this one.

Over on Rock Star: Supernova, I've been enjoying Jason Newsted's comments, but I'm getting mighty tired of Dilana. She may have peaked too early and her attitude stayed (despite her meltdown and then apology). Toby is still my fav as a person and he is enjoyable to watch but his singing is still decent if lackluster in a Nickelback kinda way. It would be cool to have another Torontonian win this thing two years in a row, but Lukas is good but I can only take so much. That leaves Magni who slowly won me over and seems the most professional and ready to take on the lead role. Who will win? If rumours are true, Lukas, personally, I really have no idea and not really sure I would care whichever way it went.


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iPod Playlist This! - I take it back (mostly because of So You Think You Can Dance) Edition

Okay. So I was wrong about these songs cause now I love them. Foot. In Mouth. (and no, not cause I have some foot fetish or anything). Although mostly I'm loving these songs cause it still evokes the memories of Ivan, Travis, Donyelle, Benji, Dimitri, Heidi, Martha, Natalie, Allison and Ryan (uh. So You Think You Can Dance Top 10 people... have you forgotten already?).

Justin Timberlake - SexyBack (see previous entry)
Panic! At the Disco - I Write Sins Not Tragedy (yes, I know. it's now old, and I still think they are Fallout Boy 2 but I'm now addicted)
Ne-Yo - Sexy Love
Fallout Boy - Dance Dance
KT Tunstall - Suddenly I See
Matt Goss - It's the End of the Road
Corinne Bailey Rae - Put Your Records On (okay. this one I was just wrong about since it wasn't because of SYTYCD)

Also listening to:
Snow Patrol - Chasing Cars
John Mayer - Waiting for the World to Change
Orson - No Tomorrow
Five for Fighting - The Riddle
Scissor Sisters - I don't Feel Like Dancing

Still listening to:
The All-American Rejects - Move Along album (but LOVE LOVE LOVE Move Along the song)
High School Musical soundtrack
Rob Mills - Every Single Day (which sat on my iPod for over a year before I heard it and now I've repeated it to death all summer)
Keane - Under the Iron Sea album
The Fray - How to Save a Life album
Josh Turner - Your Man album
Embrace - The New Day album
Shayne Ward - Shayne Ward album (think Westlife. EXACTLY like Westlife only without the harmonies)


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Premieres Tonight - Tue. Sept. 12th

So just as I'm about to give up on Big Brother 7: All Stars on its final episode after Janelle got voted off, leaving the two most boring annoying players (Erika and Boogie) as the final two smooching alone in the house (yech), Dancing With the Stars will premiere to fill my guilty pleasure void!

Tonight on ABC/CTV at 8pm, the 2 hour premiere of the third season of Dancing with the Stars! With "celebrities" like Mario Lopez (Saved by the Bell), Jerry Springer, Joey Lawrence (Whoa!), and Sara Evans (with controversy already brewing by block voting support rallied by someone I just don't even want to name cause it's so pathetic).

Also tonight, ABC/City previews Men in Trees at 10:02pm (why "previews"? if you're showing it, then aren't you premiering it? why 10:02? You think just cause we are watching Dancing with the Stars, we can't switch channels 2 minutes later) starring Anne Heche. I have nothing against her and actually kinda like her (bonus points for being on Everwood) but word out is that this is (cough RIPOFF) Northern Exposures type show just doesn't really feel real and seems way too contrived. I already have too much so this is not really calling me but I might check it out when it repeats Fridays since theres nothing else to tape that day.


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New boy music - Justin Timberlake and John Mayer


John Mayer and Justin Timberlake are both dropping new discs today. While I still enjoy John Mayer's more poppy stuff from his first album Room for Squares, his new album Continuum seems pretty good so far from what I've heard, if not a little James Taylor-y (not necessarily a bad thing).


Justin Timberlake releases Futuresex/Lovesounds and while some songs tend to go on a bit too long, there are some amazing beats on the track that you just want to get your Ivan on and dance to it. I'm still not sure if I love it or hate it, but I will admit (and about to post a separate posting about retracting) that I'm LOVING Sexyback now, though mainly cause I still think about that Wade Robson choreographed routine.


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Monday, September 11, 2006

September 11th

There's nothing I can really say that would soften the memories of 5 years ago but now that we are upon the 5th anniversary of that horrific day, are we really ready to actually deal or relive it through all the documentaries and films coming out?

I tried to watch Path to 9/11 last night on ABC but found myself bored, and while I'm dubious of any Nicolas Cage movies nowadays, World Trade Center seems to be getting pretty good word, and seems the least Oliver Stone movie for Oliver Stone.

However, I'm here to recommend again the smaller movie that came out earlier this year (now on DVD), United 93. It was brilliantly directed by Paul Greengrass and fascinating and cathartic and horrible and moving and emotional and almost scientific and cold in its analysis of the events leading up to Flight 93 on that day.

At this point in time, it has been by far the best movie I have seen this year, and will probably remain within the top 5 or top 10 of the year. I know many people have said to me its horrendous that they have made a movie of it, and that Hollywood is trying to make money out of the tragedy. Maybe. I don't know how I feel about all that at this point. I do know that watching United 93 was horrible yet extremely cathartic and was a beautifully made film and I highly recommend seeing it. Stephen King actually has an interesting argument that I completely agree with. Okay, I guess I do have an opinion about it then.


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