TVSquad

Sometimes it's true that all's well that ends well. And sometimes to reach that happy ending, arms are twisted, feelings are hurt, and bad blood is spilled. In the case of The Young and the Restless and actor Eric Braeden, there was a good deal of acrimony on both sides. The fact that Braeden is back in the fold now and he will continue as Victor Newman for the foreseeable future, doesn't obscure the fact that it was a nasty situation.

Maybe it's because I was a teenager when it came out, but Heathers still stands as one of those few movies that I really remember and connected with. I'm kind of on the fence with this news that Fox and Sony are developing Heathers for television, though.

In the film Winona Ryder's character Veronica goes from being a "Heather," the popular clique in the school, to systematically murdering them and making their deaths look like suicides. Suddenly, suicide becomes the "in" thing. And all of this because she was tricked into doing so by the new "bad boy" in town.

Ultimately standing up to him, Veronica does the right thing in the theatrical ending, but there's lots of death, suicide attempts and darkness along the way. I'm not sure how well that translates to TV, though Buffy the Vampire Slayer had lots of death and darkness in a high school and it did okay. There's a way to do a very serious story about the emotional turmoil and cruelty of high school, but it's a tightrope that has to be walked very carefully.

The stunning news yesterday about the death of Michael Jackson conjured up many memories of the singer for me, as I'm sure it did for most people. For many of us, there was never a time when the Jackson Five and Michael were not part of pop culture. Little Michael and his brothers on The Ed Sullivan Show, their funky outfits when they sang on The Flip Wilson Show (much cooler than the Osmond Brothers!), Michael as the Scarecrow in The Wiz (a hideous movie, but he was quite good).

Well after leaving his brothers to become Michael Jackson, solo superstar, Michael hooked up with Paul McCartney for a couple of songs, "Say, Say, Say" and "The Girl is Mine." The latter was okay, but the former was terrific. They co-wrote it and it reached #1 on the charts in 1983. Those were the times when MTV really showcased music videos and the artists and labels invested in top-notch productions. It was, if you will, the golden age of music videos!

The big digital television crossover came and went. So what do I do with my spare set? Sure, I subscribe to cable so my wired televisions should have no problem with the conversion (most of mine are recent purchases anyway and are prepared for the conversion), but that's not what I'm referring to. I'm asking what exactly I could now do with the Sony Watchman Model FD-2A that I purchased in 1985 and remains in my closet to this day.

It was intended as a way of being able to watch television during high school (and to show how dated the set is, the screen is black and white). It does actually still work, if the purpose of the set is to produce a screen of snow.

Here are some ideas that I could now use the set for:

• As a TV (all I need to do is crack it open and hook up a digital converter, which kind of ruins the portability aspect of the device)
• Target practice
• Paperweight
• Handy object to throw at my oppressors (if I ever have any oppressors)
• Tree ornament
• Abstract art
• Flashlight (if I turn off the sound)
• Fencing practice (the antenna is pretty long)
• Prop replica of a Sony Watchman
• Brick replacement

Any other ideas?

I loved The Green Hornet when I was a kid. I remember seeing Van Williams and Bruce Lee on Batman (one of those crossover episodes to get people excited) and liking them even a bit more than Batman and Robin. Batman was just kinda weird, and Robin's tights were stupid. The Green Hornet had a cool mask, a great car, a cool gun, and a karate expert bodyguard/sidekick. The Green Hornet only lasted one season though. Maybe it didn't have the pedigree and colorful villains that Batman had.

A big screen movie has been talked about for years. At one point, George Clooney was talked about for the role of Britt Reid/The Green Hornet. All of those productions never got past the talking stage, but when Seth Rogen became popular and he and Evan Goldberg got involved, Sony put the movie into gear. But now rumors are swirling that they might not want it after all. They need a new director (Stephen Chow left last month), and several sources say that Sony isn't high on the film anymore. The film is still slated for a June, 2010 release date.

It would be unfortunate if Rogen lost all of that weight for nothing. But I guess there's the whole "healthy" aspect.

If you were hoping to get your hands on a Sony PlayTV add-on for the Playstation3 this summer, it looks like you might have to wait just a bit longer. Sony's Davide Reeves says the accessory will be available in the UK on September 10th and will roll out to other European markets by December.

The PlayTV is a €99 box that you can add to Sony's video game console to turn it into a personal video recorder. Users can watch live high definition, digital broadcasts or record programs to a PS3 hard drive for later viewing.

Thanks to a recent software update, PlayTV owners will be able to record a TV program while using their PS3 to play video games.

There's no word on a US launch date. Since the US uses different broadcast standards than Europe, you won't be able to use a European PlayTV in America. But gamers in New Zealand and Australia should be able to pick up a PlayTV early next year.

[via EngadgetHD]

You know how people say stuff like "if CBS cancels Moonlight, I'm never watching that stupid network again!"? I think those proclamations are usually silly, but I might be in that group if the following happens: CBS replacing David Letterman with Jay Leno.

That's one of the options listed in this handy Hollywood Reporter guide to what Leno will do after his stint on NBC is over in 2009. The other options are going to ABC at 11:35, going to FOX at 11:35, a syndicated show with Sony, he stays at NBC and does some other primetime show, he takes over for Larry King on CNN, or he goes back to doing standup full-time. Taking over for Letterman would happen if (and when - he could extend his contract) Letterman retires in 2010.

Sony has launched 2 new two new versions of its circular home theater PC. Both the Sony VGX-TP1D and the VGX-TP1DQ sport 2.1GHz Core 2 Duo CPUs, 2GB of RAM, GeForce 8400M GT graphics, WiFi, and HDMI and VGA outputs. They also pack 4 USB ports, Firewire, media card readers, TV tuners, and a wireless keyboard.

But while the TP1D comes in white and packs a 320GB hard drive, the TP1DQ comes in black, has a 500GB hard drive, and a Blu-Ray burner (the cheaper model comes with a dual-layer DVD burner).

Both machines are due out in Japan in a few weeks, with the TP1D selling for the equivalent of about $1400, while the TP1DQ will set you back about $1850.

[via Engadget]

And you thought that all that business with the WGA strike was over.

The writers for the new animated FOX show Sit Down, Shut Up have walked out, saying they were misled by Sony Pictures. They thought that under the agreement reached a few months ago they would be represented by the Writer's Guild of America but Sony actually has them covered under the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees. Under their rules, writers don't get all those things they fought for, including new media (online, DVD, etc) money or even residuals.

Engadget is reporting that Sony plans to launch the PlayTV television tuner add-on for its Playstation3 gaming console on July 31st. But if you follow the link to the Amazon product page for the PlayTV, you'll find that the release date is listed as October 31st.

Either way, it seems pretty clear that UK PS3 users are going to be able to get their hands on the PlayTV before US customers. The devices is designed to work with the UK's digital television system and will not work with US cable, satellite, or over the air television yet. I'm pretty sure we'll see a US launch eventually, but not until afte the UK version is released.

Engadget says the PlayTV will set you back £59.99 or about $120 US whenever it becomes available in the UK.

Not every American Idol winner or runner-up has the massive success of Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood. In just the last three weeks, Sony BMG has dropped three AI contestants/winners from its record label.

The latest to be dropped is season five runner-up Katharine McPhee. She released an album in 2006 that has only sold about 365,000 copies, according to MTV news.

Sony is upgrading its lineup of VAIO-branded home theater PCs. The cylindrical VGX series now sports a 500GB hard drive, a 2.1GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, and 802.11b/g wireless.

The VGX comes in two varieties, both with high definition features including HDMI ports and a Blu-Ray drive. What sets the $3000 VGX-TP20E apart from the $1600 VGX-TP20E is an external dual CableCARD tuner.

If you're looking for a little more power, an integrated 22 inch monitor, you might want to check out the new VAIO LT29U Premium, which sports a 2.5 GHz Penryn processor and 1TB of storage for $3300. The LT29U also packs 4GB of RAM, a Blu-Ray drive, and an external CableCard tuner.

Maximum PC reports that Sony plans to kill its $30 license fee for LocationFree client software. Much like the popular Slingbox, Sony's LocationFree TV platform consists of a hardware base station that you plug into your TV or other A/V device, and software that runs on your Mac, PC, or Windows Mobile device.

When you buy a base station, Sony currently throws in one client license. But if you want to stream your TV signal over the internet to multiple devices, you'll have to shell out $30 for a license.

That's about the same price Sling Media charges for SlingPlayer Mobile. But SlingPlayer for Mac or PC is free, so if Sony plans to stay in the market, it only makes sense for the company to offer up similar service for about the same price (or cheaper).

It's been a while since ATI first announced the ATI TV Wonder USB CableCard tuner for Windows Vista. But for the most part if you want a CableCard tuner in your PC, you've had to buy a preconfigured machine from someone like Niveus or Okoro.

Now Sony is selling the ATI TV Wonder as a standalone box for $299. That doesn't mean you can just plug this puppy into any old machine and get your high definition cable. You'll need a certified Windows Vista PC. But this does open up the possibility of adding CableCard support to your low-end Windows Home Premium/Ultimate machine instead of buying a $3000 media center.

[via Engadget]

When the Billy Bob Thornton movie The Astronaut Farmer came out, a lot of us were amazed how the plot sounded similar to Salvage 1, a TV movie and later short-lived series on ABC that starred Andy Griffith as the owner of a scrap and salvage company who builds a spaceship and goes to the moon. I don't think this show has been seen that much since the late 70s, but TVShowsOnDVD is hearing from a source that Sony is going to release the show (the pilot movie and all the episodes, including 4 never shown on ABC) some time in 2008.

But that's not the only DVD news that TV fans are going to be interested in...