TVSquad

My entire theories behind Lost change each episode. This time The Others are on my mind again.

Last night we learned there is a second bunker on the island. There are likely more than just two. I think it's a good bet the doorway they couldn't open in the Swan bunker is a passage to the other bunkers on the island.

Could The Others be the original bunker experiment inhabitants? Have they all gone all coocoo for Cocoa Puffs? Was Ethan from one of the other bunkers? Kelvin (appearing next week, thanks IMDB), who we know was from the Swan bunker and pulled Desmond into it, certainly looks like the bearded "Other" who demanded they hand over Walt. (No theories why on that one yet.)

So, does anyone else think there is more than one person in the basement of the new family on the block on Desperate Housewives? We saw a large black man burst out of the basement this week, but didn't the previous week show a chained white man's hand when reaching for the glass? Are there two men in the basement?

Who is the black one? An insane son or brother? And if that was a white guy down there too, who do you think it was? Could it be Maryalice's husband Paul who has been missing without a trace for weeks now?

Feel like there are more ads during your favorite shows? ABC has been logging tons more complaints this year about excessive commercials but ad chief Mike Shaw says no, they have had the same "ad load" for the past three years, and there have been no changes. He also says better programming leads you to notice the huge ad blocks more than normal.

Remember when they used to put ads in between shows? Shaw says that old way was stupid, and the new method of running tail to nose is better no matter what your silly bladder says to the contrary. Shaw also says Desperate Housewives reels in $5 million an episode, thanks to a whopping 18 minutes of commercials - which is almost enough to pay for his fondness for ponies carved out of crack rocks. (OK, he never said that last part.)

A couple of Lost fans have taken to making extremely detailed maps of it's infamous underground lair's interior.

This forum user has made many maps based on camera angles and an episode-by-episode breakdown of what is seen or known, while this blog has a easier to read map. I don't think they are related, though the results look very much the same. I'll let you guys hash it out.

What did television show fans do before the internet?

It appears that the show Wife Swap on ABC is looking for nerds. But, only the creme de le creme nerd, the big kahnuna of nerds will do... the Sci-fi Dress Up Nerd, aka "sci-fi conventioneers".

As I know they will want something wild and alien, you B5'ers or Stargater's will not do. I doubt the Star Wars Jedi's will do much for them, and Battlestar Gallactica is not weird enough. No, if they want hardcore culture shock to fry the brain of a suburban soccer mom, they want Klingons (the letter didn't say so, but those who know about cons know I'm right). With the hundreds of Klingon chapters (called ships) around the country, I'm sure the casting producer will have no idea what she's asked for. She's going to be swimming in pictures and videos, all vying for that $20,000. I'm not sure that price is fair for selling your pride and self esteem, though, once they edit your episode down to show only the most shocking stuff  to make you look like an ass.

To make this contest even harder, there are some requirements. 1: You have to be married/involved with another living human, 2: spawned a youngling at least five years ago, and  3: dressing up funny is a family affair. Sorry, but you dateless wonders in the D&D Dungeon (aka mom's basement) are right out of luck.

So, if you are a hardcore sci-fi freak with the nicely filled family costume closet to prove it, the letter (sent to a sci-fi e-mail list) with details and contact info is continued below.

BBCAmerica, for those if us lucky enough to receive it, is having a 6-hour "Pythonathon" this  Saturday at 9 PM. They will be showing viewer voted favorites.

I'd have to say my top five all time favorites are the "Upper class twit of the year", the mouse xylophone, the incontinents race, spam (of course), and anything with a Gumby family member in it. What are you favorites?

They play it in blocks during the week as well, so I have a healthy supply on Tivo waiting for me all the time.

Now, I'm not saying I want to live in a world where you put hay on the walls,  but I realized today that I haven't seen hide or hair from Trading Spaces in months. Have you? All I see is old repeats.

I know that Ty the spaz carpenter sold his soul to Sears, and pixie-esqe Paige Davis left as well, but is the show even coming back? They've had other hosts before Paige so I find it hard to believe it can't survive a little ship-jumping after such massive popularity.

The offical site acts like nothing is amiss, but there has been nothing about casting a new host or even commercials. Or have I missed them?

Tom Biro, Ryan Budke and myself were tapped to cover Gilmore Girls due to the regular commentator being unable to. They probably should have looked harder as none of us had seen the show and well... we're a bunch of unapologetic smart asses.

We, however, do apologize profusely in advance if you actually like the show and would recommend you not continue further. Really.

Maybe you can spend the time you would have used to posting complaints in the comments for something more constructive - like learning a new hobby. I hear knitting is hot again. I bet that old lady with all the cats next door would teach you. You can thank us later.

My obsession with Lost has me looking for details everywhere in other shows now, and luckily Medium never disappoints! This week it's all phone-related little hints that Alison either didn't pick up, or didn't know about.

When Alison was first turned away at the District Attourney's office in her dream and goes to use the pay phone, the man at it is (we learn later) is Beverly's husband. Alison is so upset and angry at being turned away that she doesn't even notice the suit he's wearing is an older style, that the phone is a rotary dial and the ring is all wrong for modern phones. Nor does she seem to even care that the man is telling the caller something about "I'll do whatever you want, just tell me she's okay." He's talking to Beverly before she lures them to the bridge when she jumps.

The other thing was as Alison is walking on the bridge looking down at the rocky rapids below where Beverly threw herself off she is talking to her husband Joe over the phone. He's at work on some big scientific theory and grabs a dry erase and begins to draw in an open space as if he's adding something, but instead it seems to clearly look like a bridge over rough water and the symbol for female with a question on top. Does Joe have some ESP?

Little things like this are for the viewer's benefit, and only show how well thought out and written the show is.

I have to admit to a guilty pleasure - ghost stories. And it's - it's a good time of year for a TV geek who believes in spooks. I'll be up to my eyes in them before halloween ever arrives.

I really couldn't be more happy for fall. All the cable channels start  playing tons of paranormal shows in October. Right now, I am nearly rubbing my hands in glee just thinking about it.

The Discovery channels are the best for this and thanks to them I can watch at least one show each day about ghosts or creepy monsters this month. If they play it, I'll watch it. Who am I kidding, even if it a special I've seen before I'll watch it.

Zombie ghost chupacabras of the Cajun Swamps at 8pm? I already told Tivo to record it. Oh hell yah.

The thing that bugs me the most about House, other than the cringeworthy writing of the interactions of the staff, is that House constantly breaking and entering into patient's houses to look for clues as to why they are mysteriously sick. They do it nearly every week when not almost killing said patients before managing to save them.

I know he thinks "all patients lie" but if they needed to look at the house for clues, I'm positive the family would prolly be desperate to help and surrender the keys to them to look if they were asked.

I'm also pretty darn sure one they had the key they'd ask the police to go to the house to do the searching, perhaps with a doctor or a nurse. They certainly wouldn't send half the the dang speciality treatment staff to break in and bumble around in such a dire emergency.

Give me a break!

My jaw is sore from the constant dropping during this episode. Let me say this first off - I HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL JANUARY??!?!?! Good god, that is pure torture.

And speaking of... Ladies, if the baby-farm episode didn't set your female panic button off then this one certainly will. As their civilization is collapsing you quickly learn so does civility when you are on your own. The Pegasus has a Cylon as well, only theirs is not nearly as well cared for as Sharon. There is no greater fear among women than what the crew of the Pegasus put their version of Six through.

Okay... I know I posted another entry about tattoos yesterday. It's a coincedence really despite my obsession with Dr Jack's tats on Lost. Specifically the large one on his left shoulder. The tattoo's have been mentioned in the show, and he was pretty adamant about not discussing them and knowing how clues are everywhere on this show I started hunting some pics of them.

It seems he has several tattoos including the one on his shoulder we see often, and Matthew Fox will never tell what it means. The giant 5 some have said comes from his days on Party of Five when another cast member got one. The Chinese characters seem to reference an ancient Chinese poem.

So the tattoo was there before the show, but that doesn't appear the show writers intend to ignore it. I hear he has a few others that they've covered up on Lost, and someone reported that they had also covered up the large one with the 5 for scenes before his wedding, and it shows up again after that debaucle. I'm betting they work it into the show mythos and center a flashback ep around it. At a certain point I fear that everything means something... how much is too much?

Mythbusters tackled the myth that older or primitive tattoos could be more suspectibale to pain, even explosion, when the bearer went into a MRI machine due to metals in the inks. I think most everyone has heard this one at some point.

I took interest in it immediately as the show House had mentioned this little "factoid" in the last episode about a Death Row inmate, and his crude prison tattoos,  being put into just such a circumstance. Oh, his tattoos bubbled and he screamed more than a guy named "Cuddles" in D block.

Mythbusters' Verdict? Bogus. House annoys me with bad medical crap, and annoying scripts, but I think (and have for years) Hugh Laurie is a genius and has built an amazing character so we watch and throw jokes instead of turning it over and not turning back becasue we are FOX's bitches.

One interesting (9/21/2005) blog entry attempts to explain "the numbers" as Lost fans call them.

The blog gives credit to a French man named Rousseau who they say wrote an actual book on something called "Genetic Mirror Theory" before he vanished with his wife in the south pacific trying to prove it 16 years ago.  It's all very complicated, but Lost fans will eat it up.

All the numbers are totally there and it all makes a bit too much sense, if you know what I mean. The writer claims to have found Rousseau's work online but a run on Google proves that is only found on this blog - so where did they "find" it online as they claim?