Buying NBC isn't the only big news from Comcast happening at the end of the 2009. Today they're launching a new online on-demand service. It's only for Comcast customers, but I'm a Comcast customer, so I'll be able to watch it!
It's called XFinity, which sounds like that name for the next Stargate spinoff but is actually a new part of the Fancast site where you can watch TV shows from channels like HBO, AMC, A&E, STARZ, The History Channel, and Cinemax. That means you can watch shows like True Blood, Entourage, Mad Men, The Colbert Report, Big Love, and many other shows. (By the way, right now Fancast is running a marathon of Friends Christmas episodes.)
Now that Comcast owns a big chunk of NBC, I wonder how this service could someday be combined with Hulu in some way, or if launching this service will affect Hulu in other ways.
The Golden Globe Award nominations were announced this morning, and now we can begin all of the "how could they forget my favorite show!" talk. Here are the TV nominees.
Best Drama: Mad Men, Dexter, House, Big Love, True Blood
Best Comedy/Musical:30 Rock, Modern Family, Entourage, Glee, The Office
Best Actor, Drama: Michael C. Hall (Dexter), Jon Hamm (Mad Men), Simon Baker (The Mentalist), Bill Paxton (Big Love), Hugh Laurie (House)
Best Actress, Drama: Glenn Close (Damages), January Jones (Mad Men), Kyra Sedgwick (The Closer), Anna Paquin (True Blood), Juliana Margulies (The Good Wife)
Mark Wahlberg has stated in an interview that he believes that Entourage, the HBO show in which he serves as executive producer, has two more years left in its television life before making the jump to the theatrical screen. The show has just been renewed for a sixth season.
It's not a bad idea, although the concept of a Hollywood insider movie has been done in Hollywood movies before, most notably with Robert Altman's The Player. However, it's been 17 years since that movie was released, so its ripe for recycling (It's surprising it hasn't been redone yet).
HBO has seen tremendous success with one of its franchises moving to the big screen, Sex and the City (which has a sequel on the way). On the other hand, The Sopranos hasn't made it to the big screen yet for some reason. Perhaps David Chase didn't want to ruin a perfect ending to the series.
Huh?!? Was that really an Entourage season finale? It was so... good. It was as if every conversation I've ever had with my buddies after another season of Entourage and all of the "man, I really wish they had done this or included that" requests were jammed into this episode. Maybe Entourage should have double-length installments more often.
Anything to ensure that Ari always walks around with a paintball gun.
HBO has slowly become my favorite network over the past few years. I don't know if it's because the mainstream networks have turned to lots of reality programming or what, but HBO just seems to get better and better. Just about every show on the premium channel is feature film quality (if not better), and I've got some favorites listed below.
I know I'm missing a few biggies, like Rome, Deadwood, Flight of the Conchords, and Extras, but it's only because I either haven't watched these shows or have only watched a few episodes -- not enough to make an informed opinion. I'm sure they'll make my Jane After Dark column at some point in the future. So I hope you'll tell me your favorites in the comments below.
(S06E11) "E, I've had most of this town, so it was bound to happen that our trees would dabble in the same forest at some point." - Drama
One down and one to go in Entourage's sixth season - a season I should point out that started off incredibly strong and ended up flopping around like a dead fish after those first few stellar eps. However, last week's installment, "Berried Alive," redeemed much of what had been bad and for the most part, "Scared Straight" continued that trend.
With that in mind, there's at least a little excitement going in to next week's finale because we really don't know what's going to happen on a few fronts.
At 7, ABC has the two-hour season premiere of Extreme Makeover, followed by the season premieres of Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sisters.
CBS has a new 60 Minutes at 7, then the two-hour season premiere of The Amazing Race and the season premiere of Cold Case.
NBC has a new Football Night in America at 7, followed by the Colts vs. the Cardinals.
At 8, FOX has the season premiere of The Simpsons, then the series premiere of The Cleveland Show and the season premieres of Family Guy and American Dad.
TBS has The Wizard of Oz at 8.
Nickelodeon has a new Nick News Special Edition at 8.
Also at 8: Food Network has a new Challenge, followed by a new Iron Chef America.
At 8:30, ESPN has the Red Sox/Yankees game.
At 9, HBO has a new Curb Your Enthusiasm, then a new Bored To Death.
Showtime has the season premiere of Dexter at 9, followed by the season premiere of Californication.
Cartoon Network has a new Total Drama Action at 9.
Hallmark has the movie Mrs. Washington Goes To Smith at 9.
Poor Lloyd - we knew this would happen. If there's one thing that Hollywood's newest agent should have learned, it's that you don't cross Ari Gold. Yes, Ari gave in and told Drama the truth - Lloyd will do a better job representing Drama - but he did it for Drama. Not for Lloyd. He's already cut Lloyd off from Coakley (and presumably NBC as a whole) and it's not crazy to imagine that Ari will continue to erect more walls in his former assistant's way. However, I've got some theories on how this may play out.
(S06E09) "If that's a personal call you're on Lloyd, I'm gonna waterboard you." - Ari
Ari has always been mean to Lloyd. He treats him like crap, makes him do chores rather than his job, and constantly insults him. However, at the same time, Ari has always been nice to Lloyd too. He's given him one helluva job opportunity to learn underneath him and to some extent, I can understand Ari's plan to toughen Lloyd up a bit before a bump to junior agent occurs.
We know what Lloyd is like though -- he can only take so much. So it was only a matter of time before Ari pushed too hard. On a day when Ari stole Zac Efron from Adam Davies, there should have been a celebration and instead, Ari treated Lloyd worse that we've seen in ages. It's about time this plot went somewhere.
At 7, CBS has a new 60 Minutes, then a new Big Brother and the two-hour season finale of There Goes The Neighborhood (Note: CBS' schedule might be changed due to U.S. Open tennis).
NBC has Football Night in America at 7, followed by the Bears vs. the Packers.
At 8, FOX has the series finale (two episodes) of King of the Hill.
Food Network has a new Challenge at 8.
At 9, ABC has a new Shark Tank, then a new Defying Gravity.
PBS has a new Masterpiece Mystery! at 9.
ESPN2 has the U.S. Open Women's Final at 9.
Lifetime has a new Drop Dead Diva at 9, followed by a new Army Wives.
MTV has the 2009 Video Music Awards at 9.
There's a new Total Drama Action on Cartoon Network at 9.
Also at 9: HBO has the season finale of True Blood, then the season finale of Hung and a new Entourage.
At 10, AMC has a new Mad Men.
At 11:30, Cartoon Network has a new Robot Chicken.
At first I thought Jeremy Piven's story about how he got so sick from mercury poisoning he couldn't finish his Broadway stint doing Speed The Plow (an arbitrator ruled in Piven's favor last week) would be interesting and funny, but then it just went on. And on. And on. And on.
At one point, Piven talks about viewers changing channels, and he's probably right.
(S06E08) "I'm glad you finally admit the last five years of your life were all fantasy provided by me." - Ari
Because I've been such a big proponent of this season (despite what I'm about to say, I still say this has been the best season since the third), I'm starting to think that everything has been a fantasy up until this point when it comes to Entourage.
There are so many solid plots going on this season and every time I think that something big is gonna happen, it falls flat and leaves me disappointed.
Buying NBC isn't the only big news from Comcast happening at the end of the 2009. Today they're launching a new online on-demand service. It's only for Comcast customers, but I'm a Comcast customer, so I'll be able to watch it!
The 
Mark Wahlberg has stated in an interview that he believes that Entourage, the HBO show in which he serves as executive producer, has two more years left in its television life before making the 
At 7, ABC has a new America's Funniest Home Videos, followed by new episodes of Extreme Makeover, Desperate Housewives, and Brothers & Sisters.
HBO has slowly become my favorite network over the past few years. I don't know if it's because the mainstream networks have turned to lots of reality programming or what, but HBO just seems to get better and better. Just about every show on the premium channel is feature film quality (if not better), and I've got some favorites listed below. 
(S06E11) "E, I've had most of this town, so it was bound to happen that our trees would dabble in the same forest at some point." - Drama
At 7, ABC has the two-hour season premiere of Extreme Makeover, followed by the season premieres of Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sisters.
TV Land has an Andy Griffith Show marathon all night.
At 7, CBS has a new 60 Minutes, then a new Big Brother and the two-hour season finale of There Goes The Neighborhood (Note: CBS' schedule might be changed due to U.S. Open tennis).
A 7, NBC has a new Dateline, then Pre-Season Football, the Bears vs. the Broncos.
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