12.29.2009

A new template for a new year.

Let me know if you have any trouble with it!

12.28.2009

The Great LOST Rewatch



Guess what I got for Christmas? All 5 seasons of LOST!! Thank you, Sheila!!

It's a pipe dream, I know, but I am going to try my best to watch them all before Feb. 2. Impossible, yes, but I'll have a good time trying. The Great LOST Rewatch began yesterday, when I managed to knock off the first 8 episodes while archiving photos and doing laundry. I hadn't seen the Pilot since it first aired, and a few things stood out for me:

1. Jack trying to save everyone - well established right off the bat.
2. The first 2 words out of Michael's mouth: "WALT! WALT!" Ha!
3. The music really stands out, and it continued as a character throughout the series run
4. Sayid: "You think they would have come by now." Oh, Sayid, you have no idea.
5. One of the moments that really nailed the show's tone: When Kate is removing a dead person's boots and Locke smiles at her with the orange peel in his mouth. When I watched that, I remembered thinking, "What the hell is this show?" In a good way.
6. I remembered how much I didn't really care for Shannon or Boone.

Mostly, re-watching the Pilot proved that among the many things that make LOST such a great show, the characters are probably the most important. They arrive in the Pilot almost fully formed, and are acted so well.

Only 91 more episodes to go. I'd better get crackin'!

Today's Tweets



Today, a couple of awesome fan videos.

Via @NathanFillion - A fun Firefly blooper video (I just wish I could hear what they're saying!):



Via @EW - "Battlestar Rhapsody":

12.24.2009

On the Twelfth Day of Christmas

A Christmas Eve poem from Calvin & Hobbes:



(click the image for a larger size)

Merry Christmas, everyone. I'll be back in a couple of days!

12.23.2009

On the Eleventh Day of Christmas

Dave updates A Charlie Brown Christmas.

12.22.2009

ABC is stepping up its game in the latest LOST promo.

There's still no new footage in this promo for LOST's final season (and I am more than fine with that - I want to be completely unspoiled for this - but this is by far the best official promo they've released so far:

On the Tenth Day of Christmas

My true love gave to me the really freaky Conan O'Brien Yule Log.



I can't watch that for more than 30 seconds!

On the Ninth Day of Christmas



(sorry I missed a day - Monday was a little nuts)

12.20.2009

On the Eighth Day of Christmas

This one is for all you old hosers out there.

12.19.2009

On the Seventh Day of Christmas

Santa gets the Jack Bauer treatment. Awesome!

12.18.2009

On the Sixth Day of Christmas

Eddie's 12 Days of Christmas is much better than mine!

12.17.2009

I want all of them.

The LOST Underground Art Show.

Today's Tweets

Via @GeekTyrant - Shaun of the Dead reunion photo shoot!

Via @EW - Great follow-up interview with Olivia Olson, the little girl who sang "All I Want For Christmas" in "Love Actually"

On the fifth day of Christmas


My true love gave to me, PeeWeeeeeee Chri-istmas Caaaaards!

Go to PeeWee's Official Website and click on Pterry in the upper left part of your screen and send some PeeWee Christmas cheer!

12.16.2009

My favorite TV critics shoot the shit about LOST.

Fantastic transcript of a converstation between Mo Ryan,Alan Sepinwall and TIME critic James Poniewozik, about LOST and expectations for its final season. (No spoilers!)

Snippet:
Ryan: What do you guys think “Lost's” legacy will be? Is it a one-off or is it going to have some kind of lasting influence? I really go back and forth on that.

Poniewozik: I actually was just thinking about this, because I had not been thinking about “Lost” in the off season, but I started watching the remake of “The Prisoner,” [which aired Nov. 15-17 on AMC] and you can’t watch any iteration of “The Prisoner” without thinking about how much “Lost” goes to that.

I don’t think “Lost” is a one-off, but I also don’t think that we’ll see a lot of mini-"Losts" every year after that. I think it [ties into] the theory of the eternal return. There will just be one of them that comes like a comet every 10 years You get your “Prisoner” and you get your “Twin Peaks” and you get “Lost." There will always be some obsessive who watched “Lost” when he was a kid, or watched the “Prisoner” when she was a kid or whatever. And so that’s going to continue to be remade in some way or another.

Sepinwall: But I think the interesting thing that differentiates “Lost,” even from “The Prisoner,” is that “Lost,” at least for a while, was insanely popular. It was a cult show with a huge mass audience. And most of that audience has kind of run straight into the time travel and the polar bear cages and all that. But this idea that you can do a show this complicated and this weird and have this much sci-fi content in it and yet get that kind of audience -- I don’t know that that’s ever going to happen again.

Poniewozik: Well, you won’t have that kind of audience again, yeah. [Future shows might not] necessarily need that kind of audience. Yeah, as a mass phenomenon, you may be right.

Sepinwall: And the other thing is – you’ll see lots of shows like this and we’ve seen a lot of shows be made like it in the few years that “Lost” has been on, but you’ll very rarely see shows this good.

TV Talk: Round Up

And boy do I have a lot to round up!

As I mentioned a couple of posts ago, I'm not feeling inspired to write much about what I'm watching right now. Part of the reason for that is that some of what I'm watching is at best lackluster - FlashFoward, I'm looking at you - or just showing promise (that would be "V"), and that's leaving me plain uninspired.

Two of my favorites, however - one that just ended its second season, and one that's really hitting its creative stride now - are interesting enough to write about; I'm just not sure who wants to read about them. Would any of my readers be interested in recaps/reviews of Sons of Anarchy or Fringe? If people want it, I'll do it.

In the meantime, a few thoughts on what I've been watching.

Sons of Anarchy just ended its second season, and boy what a season it was, with bravura performances by Ron Perlman, Charlie Hunnam, and most especially Katey Sagal as Gemma, the hard-as-nails matriarch of SAMCRO (Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club Redwood Original). I don't put much stock in awards, and I keep telling myself that the Golden Globes don't mean anything, but the fact that this show was completely overlooked for a nomination really makes my blood boil. There are very few shows on television that are better written or acted, or that reach the Shakespearean levels of storytelling that SOA does. I am very sorry for everyone who does not watch it.

So, V and Flashforward are on a very LONG hiatus - V returns on March 30, FlashForward on March 4 - and I can't say that's very surprising for either show. I know ABC says the long hiatus is to protect them from NBC's Olympics coverage, but anyone with half a brain knows that both of these shows need some work. I feel more optimistic about V, but that may only be because V hasn't been on long enough to dig a hole as deep as the one FlashForward finds itself in. I will definitely be returning to V, but there's about a 50/50 chance that I'll never watch FlashForward again.

Fringe, however, has been AMAZING. John Noble as Walter Bishop has been AMAZING. The Walter/Peter relationship has grown to the point where, when the truth comes out, the fallout will be heart-breaking. I cannot wait. (returns Jan. 14)

Alright, let's wrap this up with a couple of programming notes:

1. Missed watching True Blood the first time around? Or perhaps you just want to watch it all again? Well aren't you lucky: HBO is airing a season 1 marathon beginning December 28, at 8:00 PM!

2. Fans of Deadwood's Timothy Olyphant and Elmore Leonard, take note:


That looks goooood.

3. Last but not least, how about some return dates?

Modern Family, Jan. 6
How I Met Your Mother, Jan. 11
Big Bang Theory, Jan. 11
Castle, Jan. 11
American Idol, Jan. 12
Bones, Jan. 14
Community, Jan. 14
Parks and Rec, Jan. 14
30 Rock, Jan. 14
CSI, Jan. 14 (busy night)
24, Jan. 17 & Jan. 18
The Final Season of LOST, Feb. 2

I have a feeling this is going to turn into the Nothing-but-LOST blog on Feb. 2.

(all return dates courtesy of Ausiello's Mid-season cheat sheet - check it out to see when your favorite show is returning)

Today's Tweets

Via @ebertchicago - Brian Cox's Masterclass with Theo



Via @EW - Alice in Wonderland trailer!

On the fourth day of Christmas

Pingu Throw, the classic time-waster of a game. Have fun!


Hosted by Daily Free Games

12.15.2009

Trailer for new Robin Hood!



Yeah, it looks like Gladiator II: Adventures in Sherwood Forest, but it's gotta be better than Costner's. (apologies to all of my Costner-loving friends. You know who you are).

On the third day of Christmas

A video about Hannukah!

The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10c
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Political HumorHealth Care Crisis

12.14.2009

OMG, I love this!

On the second day of Christmas

From the makers of Mystery Science Theater 3000:

RiffTrax: Christmas Shortstravaganza coming to a theater near you!



Features Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy (Tom Servo) and Bill Corbett (Crow). If you recognize any of those names, this is for you.

12.13.2009

Mea Culpa

I have been a terrible blogger as of late. Partly to blame are changes in work life (meaning: I have to actually work more during the day!) and real life; and I think that as a result I have gravitated toward Twitter, which is essentially micro-blogging - quick and dirty. I'm also feeling bereft of things to blog about in any kind of depth, particularly when it comes to television. LOST cannot return soon enough! In the meantime, I'll keep posting my thoughts under TV Talk.

I realized the other day that I completely forgot about doing an advent calendar this year! I was going to skip it entirely, but then I realized that today is December 13, which means I can do 12 days of Christmas instead! (shifted by one day, granted)

So to start things off, today we have a Kiefer in a Christmas tree.

12.10.2009

The perfect marriage of singer and song.

Happy Chanukah from Neil Diamond, y'all.

12.08.2009

You got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em...

(I know, bad joke. Sorry)

The Gambler who blew $127 million - During a year-long gambling binge at the Caesars Palace and Rio casinos in 2007, Terrance Watanabe managed to lose nearly $127 million...The run is believed to be one of the biggest losing streaks by an individual in Las Vegas history. It devoured much of Mr. Watanabe's personal fortune, he says, which he built up over more than two decades running his family's party-favor import business in Omaha, Neb. It also benefitted the two casinos' parent company, Harrah's Entertainment Inc., which derived about 5.6% of its Las Vegas gambling revenue from Mr. Watanabe that year.

Um, you guys, this is so COOL!



Hulu is now streaming episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000!!

There are currently only 5 online (and no Prince of Space) - for a limited time only - but still! Yay!

If you've never watched the show, I urge you to check it out. If you like making fun of bad movies - or even good ones - you're going to love it.

12.07.2009

The countdown to the 'DeathlyHallows' begins.

Here's a teaser trailer for part one of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It's going to be a long year.

Today's Tweets


Via @ebertchicago - Beaker's 'Ode to Joy'. Mee mee mee mee mee mee mee mee...



Via @feliciaday - Sketchy Santas. Because sometimes Santas are sketchy.

Via @cracked - Abducted mini-kangaroos found. Reason for sharing this: I need you to help me find the actual text of the article on that page. Jesus!

12.02.2009

Today's Tweets

Via @popcandy - PeeWee's Playhouse Christmas Special! (click on the gift)

Via @popcandy again - Meredith Baxter (Birney) comes out of the closet.

Via @sepinwall - Steven Seagal: Lawman. This is going to be ALL kinds of awesome! (Tonight, 10 PM, A&E)