Monthly Archives: June 2012
Have Time Warner Cable or DirecTV? Showtime May Be Free This Weekend
Sorry to get your hopes up, but this is only available in New York City and Los Angeles. Showtime is free this weekend so that Emmy voters can watch the “Best in SHO” Emmy Free Preview marathon. The good news is that if you live in those two cities you don’t have to be able to be an Emmy voter in order to benefit.
If you are a subscriber to Time Warner Cable or DirecTV and live in New York City or Los Angeles, from now until June 17 you will be able to watch Showtime, Showtime HD, and Showtime on Demand through marathons and full seasons available On Demand.
The list of shows available to watch is after the jump.
Live with Kelly Still Needs a Permanent Co-Host
Regis Philbin has been off of daytime television for seven months and Kelly Ripa still does not have a permanent co-host. I know Michael Gelman and the rest of the Live with Kelly crew is looking for the perfect co-host, but this is getting ridiculous because they are not even in a hurry to find one. It has gotten to the point that Live with Kelly is milking its lack of a stable co-host for all the publicity it’s worth.
On Monday, the show announced Live’s Coast-to-Coast Co-Host Search. Viewers will be able to submit 60 second videos about why they should be Ripas co-host from now until June 29. The 10 semi-finalists will be announced on July 16. Later that week, the 5 five finalists will be flown to New York City and given the opportunity to be Ripa’s co-host for a day.
For more details about the contest, go to the Live with Kelly website.
NBC Announces New Fall Schedule
NBC is using the Olympics to launch it’s fall schedule. On August 8, Go On will air commercial free following Olympic Games coverage. Animal Practice will get the same treatment, on August 12, following the closing ceremonies.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, this is the full NBC Fall Schedule with new shows in ALL CAPS.
Wednesday, Aug. 8
GO ON (sneak peek following Olympic Games coverage)
Sunday, Aug. 12
ANIMAL PRACTICE (sneak peek following Olympic Games Closing Ceremonies)
Monday, Aug. 13
8-10 p.m. STARS EARN STRIPES (two-hour premiere)
10-11 p.m. Grimm
The rest of NBC’s 2012 Fall Schedule is after the jump.
Game of Thrones Puts Bush’s Head on a Stake
The Bush Mask as seen on Game of Thrones
HBO’s Game of Thrones has been the subject of a lot of controversy, since it was revealed that the show used a mask of former President George W. Bush to depict a decapitated head. The production crew apologized, saying that they just had to use the heads they had lying around. They can make any excuse they want and say that it isn’t a political statement, but that does not make the putting a former presidents head on a stake any less inappropriate.
The fact is that it doesn’t matter what anyone thinks of President Bush. It doesn’t matter how often he may have disappointed some parts of the public. He was still the president of the United States and deserves some basic human decency. Frankly, I do believe the Game of Thrones crew and that it wasn’t trying to express any hate toward Bush, but that’s irrelevant. It was in poor taste. They should have known they would have to defend themselves. You don’t just get away with something that is potentially and probably extremely offensive.
Placing Former President Bush’s head on a stake could easily be interpreted as a symbol of the desire to decapitate him, even if it wasn’t intended as such. Someone needed to think it out more carefully. It’s patently offensive. A member of the crew should have thought that the reaction to this will not be positive.
Thankfully, all content about the decapitation will be removed from Game of Thrones DVDs. The show did the right thing after the fact, but such a blatantly offensive idea should have never been thought of in the first place.
Timothy Poe Admits He Fabricates Stories
America’s Got Talent contestant Timothy Poe spoke to WFAA, an ABC affliate in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, admitting and apologizing for fabricating stories. However, Poe refused to say he lied. Instead, he gave excuses such as:
“I mean, as far as everything I said, I believe it wholeheartedly myself, but I feel like I’m going crazy.”
“I really don’t know right now what’s reality and what’s not reality.”
“I don’t feel like I’ve lied. That’s what’s driving me crazy, because I truly thought things have happened to me.”
In the past Poe has also claimed to have served in Iraq, but there is proof that he didn’t serve there. When asked about Iraq, he responded:
“I don’t know. I’m thinking, why have I for the last, over two years, believed things have happened to me and they might not have?”
In past interviews about his service, Poe did not stutter, so it is probable that it is not real.
I’m not a doctor, but it looks like Poe is a pathological liar. Poe even told WFAA that he knows he needs help and has already contacted the VA to make an appointment.
The video of the interview can be found here.
What do you think of Timothy Poe’s story?
The Munsters Becomes Mockingbird Lane
Portia de Rossi
You’ve probably heard about NBC rebooting The Munsters as a one hour drama. Now, Entertainment Weekly reports the show’s name has been changed to Mockingbird Lane, which comes from the family’s iconic address, 1313 Mockingbird Lane.
The show will star Jerry O’Connell as Herman Munster, British comedian Eddie Izzard as Grandpa Munster, and Portia de Rossi as his wife Lily.
This cannot be a good idea. The Munsters does not belong as a drama. The original show is remembered as a goofy sitcom. It was an alternative to The Addams Family. Mockingbird Lane just seems like NBC’s desperate attempt to cash in on a classic show. The only similarities between the two shows will be the characters names and probably personality traits, since the actors chosen do not look like the original cast members.
While Mockingbird Lane may be inspired by The Munsters, there is no good reason for NBC to make such a big deal about the connection between the shows. The two shows will be completely different from each other. I would even argue that it would have been smarter for NBC to change the names of the characters, remove any reference to the original show, and just advertise their unusual new drama, so that people would judge Mockingbird Lane on its own merits and not automatically assume it will be inferior to its 1960s counterpart.
Tampa Bay’s Not So Hot for America’s Got Talent
Big Barry posing with Howard Stern
America’s Got Talent has gotten a lot of coverage lately after the Tim Poe controversy, but I was just hoping to see some quality or at least memorable acts on Tuesday’s show. After all, it’s what the show should be known for. Whether it’s showcasing the true idiots of the world or actually finding unique undiscovered talent, the show has failed to do either many times this season. Tuesday was another disappointment.
The second Tampa Bay Episode opened with a Latin dance crew called The Untouchables, which is made up of kids ranging from ages 8-13. It was obvious that the group would make it through, for the simple fact that they’re kids with high energy that can be endearing. It’s also horribly boring. There is almost never a large dance act that isn’t reasonably coordinated and refined. It is not good for the viewer to know who goes through in advance. It would have been a little better if the performance was great, but it wasn’t. It was average. The show is at its best when it showcases the superior and the atrocious. This was neither.
The montages, both successful and unsuccessful, also were not anything exciting. Granted, these are the acts deemed unworthy of a viewer’s full attention, but that shouldn’t lend itself to inadequacy and boredom. A singer with an okay voice, a dancing duo, an illusionist get sent to Las Vegas. A singer with a slightly worse voice and some variety acts whose talents are unclear do not move to the next round. They’re all basically the same. The people voted through will probably not be seen again. The people who were rejected won’t get talked about again. It just seems like an elaborate time filler.
Another act featured was a squirrel that water skis. Some animal novelty acts can be fun and entertaining. This one certainly wasn’t. As Sharon and Howard agreed, it is nowhere near big enough for a Vegas show. Howie disagreed only out of curiosity to see the act do better in Vegas. It honestly would have been more entertaining to watch the squirrel go too fast around the pool and fall multiple times. That would have been worth a proper and unequivocal rejection. Instead, the squirrel technically succeeded with the act. It just wasn’t good. This act was not good enough to be considered a worthy talent. It was not horrible enough to be considered a hopeless excuse for entertainment. If it does not fit either of those, it isn’t worthy of being aired at all.
An Anime Review: One Piece
It was hard to decide what my first topic of review should be. I’ve been asked to review different anime for this blog, but the truth is I’ve never reviewed anything before. Being an amateur, I decided my first anime review should be on something mainstream and easy to find. However, I find that reviews of the two biggest mainstream anime in the US, Naruto and Bleach, to be overdone and common. Even as a beginner, I wish to at least slightly stand out from the norms. Thus, this shall be a review of one of the most popular mainstream animes running in Japan, One Piece.
One Piece is one of the biggest mainstream animes in Japan. It started as a manga written by Eichiro Oda and serialized by Shonen Jump. Since 1997, the anime has been in production by Fuji TV and Toei since 1999. It currently has well over 500 episodes and sells all kinds of merchandise throughout Japanese malls.
The world of One Piece is a world ruled by the seas. The vast array of countries and terrains are merely islands across the globe. The backstory is that long ago the famous pirate Gold Roger traveled the world and collected a vast treasure. Before Gold Roger’s eventual capture and execution, he hid his fantastic treasure somewhere within a strip of sea known as the Grand Line. This legendary man is known as “king of the pirates” and pirates around the world strive to obtain his fabled treasure.
The story in One Piece follows Monkey D. Luffy, a strange young man who has only one goal in life: to be king of the pirates. Luffy’s dream seems to be rather farfetched at first, since first meet him with no ship or crew. He’s light-hearted, fun-loving, easily impressed with others, and not quite what you’d expect when you think of a pirate, but it’s his strange personality that attracts the crew members that eventually come to follow him.
Weekly TV Update: June 11
Each week we bring you stories from around the Internet that you might have missed.
J.R. Ewing and family returns to television this Wednesday at 9 pm on TNT.
ABC Family’s Bunheads debuts tonight. This drama that centers around ballet dancers comes from Gilmore Girls creator Amy Sherma-Paladino.
Cinema Blend’s Kelly West has a treat for Suits fans. She has posted photos from her behind-the-scenes tour.
CBS asks a court to block the premiere of ABC’s The Glass House, which is a Big Brother-esque reality show. The ABC show has somewhere between 15-30 former Big Brother staffers, some who had access that show’s “bible”.
In its quest to remain relevant, Ion Television announces five new original Christmas movies for December.
Previewing ABC’s Fall Season- Part 2
ABC hasn’t found a hit show since the writers strike of 2007-2008, which dealt a big blow to the network. In the last five years, many of the shows introduced on ABC did not live to see a third season. The new shows introduced at the time of the strike were disrupted and most were cancelled. Now that Desperate Housewives is gone, ABC will have to rely on the untested once again. Below are reviews of three more of its new shows.
Malibu Country
In Malibu Country, Reba McEntire returns to television for the first time since Reba went off the air. This time she stars as Reba Gallagher, a country singer who moves to Malibu with her family after she discovers her husband cheated on her. The trailer had some funny moments and some sentimental ones. It left me wanting Gallagher to succeed. There was great chemistry between Gallagher and her mother, who is played by Lily Tomlin. The rapport for these characters, as well as Gallagher’s kids, seems to work. Gallagher also realizes that her heartbreak can provide great inspiration for a resurgence of her singing career. I don’t know if this show will be hilarious, but it will probably be enjoyable.
Wait! What's A Dial? 