Posted Feb 10th 2010 1:45AM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, OpEd, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S01E11) "You turned Fed?" - Alex
"I was force Fed." - Neal
I'm happy to see Diahann Carroll with a larger role in
'White Collar.' I don't know if it's going to be a regular thing (probably not), but there were many episodes where we either didn't see her at all or in just a quick cameo, so having her actually be part of the case (such as last week with Neal helping her in the case involving a relative) is welcome.
Continue reading 'White Collar' - 'Home Invasion' Recap
Posted Feb 10th 2010 12:46AM by Jonathan Toomey
Filed under: OpEd, Lost, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, Episode Recaps
(
S06E03)
"It's the Others, dude. They caught us ... again." - Hurley
As 'What Kate Does' unfolded, I couldn't help but shake the feeling that everything we're witnessing in the "post-Jughead worked" 2004 time-line is going to end up being very important. Of course, that could have been due to the fact that in this past week's Official 'Lost' Audio Podcast, Cuse and Lindelof essentially laid it bare for us -- there is no alternate reality happening here. What's going on in LA in 2004 and what's going on in 2007 on the island are both very real.
The question to ask is what effect actions in one time-line will have on the events in the other. As far as '
Lost' mindf#%ks go, this one is a doozie, because it's forced us to reevaluate everything we remember about these characters, right back to the pilot episode.
Continue reading 'Lost' - 'What Kate Does' Recap
Posted Feb 10th 2010 12:06AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, NCIS, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S07E15) Interesting episode of
'NCIS,' one that was somewhat fun, somewhat lighthearted, and even a little playful. Of course, there was still a dead body, and a chance for Gibbs to interact with an old adversary. We're a few weeks out from the Paris trip, but Tony and Ziva remain as cagey as ever about what happened... if anything happened at all in that hotel room. More on that and the 1971 Plymouth Barricuda hemi after the jump.
Continue reading 'NCIS' - 'Jack Knife' Recap
Posted Feb 9th 2010 10:05PM by Jane Boursaw
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, OpEd, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S01E01) 'Past Life' is not a bad show, but I don't know if it will stand out enough to make it past the first few episodes. But who knows, it might strike a chord with viewers and find a spot on the DVR schedules. It's a little bit
'House,' a little bit
'Medium,' and a little bit
'Fringe.'
The story follows Dr. Kate McGinn (Kelli Giddish), a psychologist specializing in past life regression -- memories of past lives or incarnations. In the pilot episode, a teenager named Noah has flashes where he remembers something that never happened to him. He sees visions of a kidnapping and murder, and we eventually learn that he's actually remembering something from someone else's life.
Continue reading 'Past Life' - 'Pilot' Recap (series premiere)
Posted Feb 9th 2010 8:30PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Daytime, Celebrities, Reality-Free
Well, as Victor Newman might say: "That's a hell of a thing."
Eric Braeden celebrated his 30th anniversary on
'The Young and the Restless.' It's not just three decades that makes it a memorable mark, it's that it has come after a very rough year in which
Braeden quit the soap in a contract dispute and was brought back into the fold in part thanks to the influence of the head of the network, Les Moonves.
In honor of Braeden's tenure on the soap, there was a big party to commemorate the anniversary. As this picture reveals, Peter Bergman was in attendance and posed with Eric. True, on screen as Jack Abbott and Victor Newman, the two men would like to rip each other to bits, but off screen they're very civil and appreciative of each other's talents. They have had occasional dust-ups, but generally, they get along well.
After all, their characters' on screen feud has been the stuff of soap legend. Victor and Jack have shared wives, corporations, but mostly, unabashed hatred. They despise each other.
Continue reading Eric Braeden Marks 30 Years on 'The Young and the Restless'
Posted Feb 9th 2010 4:45PM by Jane Boursaw
Filed under: OpEd, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, Castle
(S02E15) First of all, those stilettos Beckett had on were awesome. I'm not saying that so much as a girl crush, but as more of a
'Sex and the City' sort of style thing. Her mullet seems to have calmed down a little, and overall, I'm liking her style (though I'm still on the fence about her jacket pictured above). Girlfriends, what say you about the jacket?!
Continue reading 'Castle' - 'Suicide Squeeze' Recap
Posted Feb 9th 2010 2:28PM by Annie Wu
Filed under: Industry, OpEd, Reality-Free
At one point in history, MTV was known for being on the cutting edge of young programming and was quick to pick up on change. However, the network seemed unusually reluctant to stray from its original Music Television name, despite the fact the rest of the world was well-aware that their "music" programming was virtually non-existent. This reluctance was even more weird when MTV's final bastion of music videos,
'Total Request Live,' had the afternoon spot wrenched from its weakened hands.
Well, MTV has finally caught up, making a visually minor but symbolically huge change to its logo: No more "music television."
Continue reading MTV Finally Drops 'Music Television' From Its Logo
Posted Feb 9th 2010 11:41AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Sports, TV Royalty, OpEd, Celebrities, Ratings, Reality-Free
You gotta love the feisty attitude of former 'M*A*S*H' stars
Alan Alda and
Wayne Rogers about Sunday's Super Bowl broadcast being a record-breaker.
Alda was gracious about the 'M*A*S*H' finale being topped by the Super Bowl broadcast. The New Orleans Saints victory over the Indianapolis Colts had more total viewers than the 1983 'M*A*S*H' finale. But Alda and Rogers both added a shot of vinegar to their honey coated responses.
Alda said in a statement to the L.A. Times, "If they broke our record, I'm happy for New Orleans and I hope it gives even more to cheer about to a city I love." However, he did wonder about how Nielsen measured the audience. It's a good question and one many people ask.
Continue reading Alan Alda's Take on the Super Bowl Besting 'M*A*S*H' Record
Posted Feb 9th 2010 11:25AM by Jonathan Toomey
Filed under: OpEd, Episode Reviews, Damages, Reality-Free
(
S03E03)
"Tonight's been educational." - Patty
Educational it was, both for Patty Hewes and viewers alike, as last night's '
Damages' proved that it can tell one helluva narrative without any of those pesky "six months from now" flashes. 'Flight's at 11:08' isn't the first episode to put the back and forth, past/present/future jumps on the back-burner, but it is the earliest it's happened in a season. Normally, those narrative devices don't fade away until the climactic moment later in the season when everything collides. What we got instead was a bit of different angle for 'Damages' as last night's episode was driven by the characters and not the over-arching plot.
Continue reading Review: 'Damages' - 'Flight's at 11:08'
Posted Feb 9th 2010 9:39AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, OpEd, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S07E15) Remember how Charlie and Chelsea's relationship was drifting into the danger zone last week? You know that 'to be continued' we were left with... well, we picked up with the story as Charlie and Alan had cleaned up at home after their sojourn in the woods -- Jake, too -- only to find that Chelsea was pulling a 'Charlie.' That's right, she was coming home in the wee small hours of the morning and hadn't bothered to call. More on that and Alan's topiary below the belt after the jump.
Continue reading Review: 'Two and a Half Men' - 'Aye, Aye Captain'
Posted Feb 9th 2010 9:10AM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Industry, Programming, OpEd, American Idol, Celebrities, Celebrity Commentary, Casting, Reality-Free
Love him or hate him, Howard Stern
has confirmed his interest in Simon Cowell's seat on
'American Idol'. This goes along with
the earlier announcement that 'Idol' producers are interested as having Stern as a judge.
This entire situation seems more sound and fury and it's unlikely that anything would come of it. All Stern has in common with Cowell is the ability to be obnoxious and denigrating of other people. Cowell at least had ties to the music industry before appearing as an 'Idol' judge. While Howard Stern does work in radio, he thankfully has not released a CD of himself singing the Beatles' greatest hits. If he has, I missed it.
Most likely this situation is being used by Stern as a bargaining chip for a renegotiation of his contract with Sirius. Stern would be too much of a turn-off for the majority of viewers for 'American Idol'. If he does end up replacing Cowell, then it could signal the beginning of the end of 'American Idol'.
Posted Feb 9th 2010 3:54AM by Jane Boursaw
Filed under: OpEd, 24, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S08E07) I'm going to whine a lot about this episode, so that's just a little warning to anyone absolutely loving this season of
'24.' But first, let's talk about the great scene where Renee goes ballistic, stabs Vladimir, then accidentally stabs Jack. Then Jack takes the knife out and hurls it at the other guy coming in the door. Awesome!
Ok, now for the bad stuff. For one thing, I thought we were going to get to see Renee kick some major butt this season. So far, she's just a wimpy female with a big fat vengeance chip on her shoulder who still gets knocked around by the bad guys (excepting that awesome scene noted above). Come on, Renee! I want a female Jack Bauer, not some sniveling sap!
Continue reading Review: '24' - '10:00PM - 11:00PM'
Posted Feb 9th 2010 2:15AM by Hemal Jhaveri
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, OpEd, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S01E04) I am so excited for the return of the infamous bong lamp, but wow, does it cause some major trouble. Last week, we saw Lux sell Baze's pride and joy to help cover his bar rent. Two weeks ago, the offending lamp was also one of the reasons Baze was denied full custody of Lux. This week, it's the reason she gets suspended from her fancy-pants public school. Stupid lamp, can't do
anything right.
We're ratcheting up the drama here this week. Lux's illusions of family life crumble a bit more as she and Cate, in the grand traditions of mothers and daughters everywhere, clash something awful.
Continue reading Review: 'Life Unexpected' - 'Bong Intercepted'
Posted Feb 9th 2010 2:08AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: OpEd, Heroes, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S04E19) Volume Five came to a climactic end, and as with past volumes, it was both exciting and a little bit of a letdown. But also in keeping with tradition, it left the door open for exciting possibilities in Volume Six, teased at the end of the episode, despite a fifth season not being a certainty at this point.
I suspect, though, that NBC will in fact bring the show back, despite it's lackluster ratings performance. A reboot, of sorts, to the franchise could revitalize it in the same way
'Chuck' has seen ratings improve this season. Properly handled,
'Heroes' is a show that could go several seasons. "Properly handled" is the key to that phrase, and it has been mismanaged for too long.
Continue reading Review: 'Heroes' - 'Brave New World' (season finale)
Posted Feb 9th 2010 1:25AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Episode Reviews, Chuck, Reality-Free
(S03E07) This was the last
'Chuck' until after the Winter Olympics, so it was important that we made some progress with the intersect -- natch -- and also the Hannah and Sarah situations. Ever since she flew into Chuck Bartowski's life, Hannah has seemed too good to be true. Is she really? And what of Chuck and Sarah's on/off relationship? Fortunately, we got a good take on it all, as well as some edge-of-the-seat thrills. More after the jump.
Continue reading Review: 'Chuck' - 'Chuck Versus the Mask'
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Henry Louis Gates, Jr. on 'Faces of America' and the Beer Summit
Six Reasons Why '24' Has Jumped the You-Know-What
The Super Bowl Commercials: The Best
