TVSquad

(S07E03) "You used to be a superstar and now you're Garfunkel."

I never realized that Mr. Monk likes being a celebrity. This episode really underscored that fact. When the uniformed cop asks for his autograph and then he talks to the guy's nephew, Monk is giddy as he tells Natalie that the kid thinks he's "Cooler than Spider-man?" Autographs and ego. I didn't realize that Monk enjoyed his status.

Meanwhile, in a really odd turn, the body is just laying there. What a cavalier attitude about showing the body, I mean that's kind of unusual for an episode of Monk. There was no sheet over the body. And the killing was pretty vicious. The aggressiveness of the killer, the way he chased her, then stabbed her three times, suggested passion to me, but it was all a red herring.

(S05E06) This episode of The Dead Zone was pretty fun -- it was still stand alone, but I can see that I am in the minority about that, so I tried to roll with it and enjoy it. One of the best things about this episode was its homage to Midnight Cowboy. Johnny pairs up with a shorter actor (Benjamin Ratner), and the way the actors are dressed and the way they interact is very reminiscent to Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight in Midnight Cowboy. Am I the only one who saw that? They reversed the colors the actors were wearing (Johnny wore black, and Boyd Lumely wore tan), but I'm pretty sure they were doing a tribute.

The news about September TV on DVD releases just keeps coming! This time it's the first season of My Name Is Earl, but wait til you hear about the extras.

This is going to be a 4 DVD superset, and extras will include not only the usual commentaries, deleted scenes, featurettes, and gag reel, but also the never used alternate pilot episode, where Earl was changed not by watching Carson Daly on TV, but by watching Stewie from Family Guy. It was supposed to be sort of a crossover ep, but they went with Daly instead.

That should be pretty cool, as will guest commentaries from Jon Favreau and Juliette Lewis.

Chicago native Bernie Mac will be appearing in ads for the Illinois State Lottery. His paycheck for the two and a half days of work it took to create the ads? $500,000. If that amount seems a bit excessive to you, you're not alone. Some state officials feel it's way too much and that the money could be better spent elsewhere. Lottery officials disagree, however, citing Mac's appearance in lottery ads in 2004 for which he was paid $420,000. The increase in sales allowed the lottery to donate $30 million to a school fund.  

Of course, it should be noted that Mac does support some charitable causes. I'm not sure how much if any of his own earnings he donates, however.

If you doubt the popularity of ABC's Lost, you might want to consider the fact that over five hundred people used the same lottery numbers used by the character Hurley (Jorge Garcia). The minor difference being that Hurley won, and none of the people who used his numbers in real life did. These stats come from Pennsylvania alone, so who knows how many other folks tried the same numerals?

Once you click on the link below, you'll have to scroll down for the story.