Why am I not surprised?

ABC has temporarily halted production on sci-fi drama "FlashForward.":

"An Alphabet spokesman says the move was built in to the schedule from the beginning of the season and was positioned early on to 'boost the writing. … They want to maintain he high quality of the show, and this gives the writers the opportunity to do so.'"

Uh, yeah. Good luck with that!

New York is about to have a really bad day.

The New York Post has a picture preview of the new season of 24. Woo!

Today's Tweets

Via @hulu - So I Married An Axe Murderer, which I recommend purely for the scene at the Mackenzie house.

Via @MarthaStewart - Martha Stewart Living Sirius Radio Thanksgiving Hotline Cookbook (free PDF)

Via @sepinwall - This is fabulous: Muppet Bohemian Rhapsody:

Busy Busy Busy!

I had a very busy weekend. On Saturday I spent the day in NYC with a very good old friend and I saw the Radio City Christmas Spectacular for the very first time. In fact, that was the first time I had ever been to Radio City Music Hall. Then yesterday I went to a local parade that's like a mini-Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade (very mini), with giant balloons and everything! It was so cool.

Hopefully I'll get some photos posted tonight. And I'm working on a "Things on TV that make me thankful" post that I'll be getting up soon.

In the meantime, a silly cat video:

Let the countdown begin!

We have a LOST premiere date:



At first I was like, "Tuesday? WTF? Why Tuesday?" Then I stopped spazzing long enough to realize that Tuesday night at 9:00 is PERFECT for me. I broke up with American Idol a long time ago, and I don't watch anything on Tuesday nights at 9:00 right now, so there's nothing to conflict with; and if V stays in the 8:00 slot, that'll be an awesome 2-hour block.

Yay!

The worst actor of his generation.

Those of you who know me and know how I feel about Nicholas Cage (hate him!*) will not be surprised by how much I LOVE this:

"Nicolas Cage is completely broke. One theory is that he spent money more frivolously than the people who paid to see Wicker Man in theaters. Our theory at Gawker.TV is that he is the worst actor ever. Here's proof."

* With the notable exception of Raising Arizona

TV Talk: A re-assessment and a couple of re-affirmations.

V - This week's episode was so much better than the previous that it renewed my interest to the point that I actually can't wait until next week. That's amazing considering I was ready to give it up altogether a week ago. Even the reveal of Lisa being Anna's daughter and their implied plans for Tyler has made the "rebellious teenage son" storyline palatable. All it took was some good writing, better pacing and a plot that move forward. Of course, now that it's getting good there's only one episode left until the show goes on hiatus until March of next year. I hope the new showrunner is able to continue with the increase in quality, and then some.

Tuesday's episode of Sons of Anarchy was the best of the series so far (I know! I keep saying that!), and that is saying something. It was all about coming clean, with Gemma getting the ball rolling last week with her sit-down with Clay and Jax (I won't say what they talked about, in case you haven't seen the show). It was as if her courage, her willingness to bare her soul and risk injury to her pride, set an example for the rest of the Club, as secrets were spilled and enemies faced and revenge was taken in the most surprising of ways. Please watch this show.

Modern Family continues to be my favorite new show. Last night's episode was laugh out loud funny: I loved Manny drinking his espresso and getting spritzed in the face by Jay, Phil's list of gifts he wants and Mitchell and Cam burping Sal, and -- Oh, don't take my word for it, just watch it!

Today's Tweets

Via @popcandy - Tim Burton exhibit at MOMA!

Via @ebertchicago - How much did CNN want to get rid of Lou Dobbs? Oh, about $8M much.

Via @moryan - The geekiest desk EVER.

TV Talk: They're making their lists already.

With the end of the 00's fast approaching, a lot of television critics and pop culture aficionados have gotten a head start on compiling their "Best of the Decade" lists. The Onion's A.V. Club has theirs, including a list of the best TV series of the past ten years. It's a great list, but I was a little shocked that, while I feel like I watch a lot of TV, I've only seen 13 of the 30 shows (not even half! although those 13 are my favorites). For a few of them (Six Feet Under, Dexter and The West Wing), my interest (and/or ability to watch) waned before they wrapped up.

Of the shows that I haven't seen, The Wire (#1) and Mad Men (#5) are definitely on my Watch-on-DVD-Next-Summer List (I don't have the time I'd like to dedicate to it until summer), Breaking Bad and Venture Bros. intrigue me, and I may eventually check them out, but I'm OK with missing the rest.

How about you? How many on this list have you seen? Were there any shows that you feel were overlooked?

Grover the Hill

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Pigeon Impossible

Mickey likes to do background checks on all of his new friends.

Mickey likes to do background checks on all of his new friends., originally uploaded by gina64.

Scenes from the dog park, 11/8/2009.

TV Talk

V - So, what did I think of V? Well, if you had asked me that last week, after the pilot, this is how I would have responded (from an e-mail I wrote to friends):

I liked it. I liked the way they cut to the chase, dispensing with most of the major plot points of the original miniseries in the first episode - they're lizards, they're up to no good, etc., there are rebel/good Vs - instead of dragging out what a lot of people who watched the original series already knew. I thought the opening was very effective. Even though I knew what was coming, I was still on the edge of my seat. I think the cues to 9/11 and Erica's "Counterterrorism Unit" FBI badge got me in the right frame of mind.

I'm very happy with the cast, too. Elizabeth Mitchell is great, of course, and Alan Tudyk and Morena Baccarin from Firefly, and Tom from The 4400 (Father Jack) - love them all. Scott Wolfe has never done anything for me, but he's a good choice for the news anchor type. Morris Chestnut's a good actor, too.

But today is a different day, the second episode aired last night, and overall I'm pretty disappointed. Not enough to stop watching, but enough to make me think about it. If last night's episode is anything to go on, this is just a whiff of a show, with no depth whatsoever, terrible dialogue and even some pretty bad acting from some pretty good actors. I'm hoping for better next week.

FlashForward - I'm still struggling with this show, and I won't bore you with repeating the same criticisms over and over. The problems are still there, but they keep doing things with the overall mystery that keep me coming back. Last week's was one of their better episodes, mostly because of the game-changing death of Agent Gough, who had a flash forward and so according to the show's mythology so far, is supposed to be alive on April 29, 2010. He was able to take control of his fate (sadly), so what does that mean for everyone else? Does Demitri have to die? Is Olivia pre-destined to cheat on Mark? (do I care? NO.)? It's an interesting wrinkle.

Fringe - Not much to say about last week's episode except that it was a solid stand-alone that provided a more in-depth look at Broyles, which included the fact that he was married and has kids (or a kid, not sure). If you ever find yourself thinking, "Agent Broyles needs to smile more", you're wrong. He really doesn't. Oh, and that ash effect was AMAZING.

Sons of Anarchy - With the airing of last night's exceptional episode, Sons of Anarchy officially joined the ranks of the absolute best dramas on television. I'm going to cheat here and share a quote from Alan Sepinwall's review:

"Balm," the best episode so far of this exceptional second season of "Sons of Anarchy," comes along at a perfect time. "Mad Men" has just gone on hiatus. "Breaking Bad" won't be back until sometime in 2010. If you don't have DirecTV, "Friday Night Lights" won't be on TV until next summer. So "Sons of Anarchy" is, at the moment, the best drama on television, and an episode like "Balm" makes it clear the title shouldn't just be by default. Pound-for-pound, this series is as engrossing, as funny and as moving as all those others.

I don't know how the writers manage to juggle all of the intricate plot threads they have going on, and do it so well. When one of those threads pays off big time, like it did last night, it's a beautiful thing. The final scene was a long time coming, and when it did, it was so surprising, so moving, that I was in tears. Season 1 just came out on DVD. You should check it out.

Sammy Sosa is white now.

Former Cubs slugger Sammy Sosa denies suffering from skin condition that plagued Michael Jackson

You know what? People are weird.

Not a profound sentiment, no, but sometimes that's all I'm left with when I read about this kind of stuff.

People are weird.