Monthly Archives: November 2013
The Problem With 3D Television
3D movies have become extremely popular over the last few years. It only makes sense that television would be the next medium to become viewable in 3D. However, 3D television has a couple of problems to overcome before it becomes mainstream.
The first problem is that buying a 3D television will cost you around $1,500. That’s not including the extra goggles you will need for other family members and visitors. Even if you do have enough, not everyone can enjoy 3D because it gives them a headache. While there is a complex physiological reason for this that David Wood can explain better than me, it basically comes down to the fact that are bodies aren’t meant to watch simulated 3-dimensional objects.
As Andy Quested, BBC’s head of 3D and HD, told the Hollywood Reporter, “About 20 percent of people find sports matches in 3D simply too long. Twenty-five percent of people are apathetic toward 3D viewing no matter the content. Another 10 percent can’t see 3D because of visual impairments, but arguably up to half the audience for 3D content is put off by having to wear glasses.”
‘Glee’: “The End of Twerk”
Sadly, Glee‘s story lines are coming directly from the headlines. They are pandering to a younger, pop culture savvy media demographic. The episodes of Glee, I remember seeing in the early days are a lot different than what’s being produced today. Last night, Glee paid tribute to this year’s most talked about hot button issue: Miley Cyrus. The episode was all about rebelling, twerking, and the freedom to express yourself. When I first heard about the episode, I said “Oh god, this is going to be a train wreck.” I was right.
Everyone has those days when you feel like breaking out in dance when no one is looking, but nowadays its very easy to get caught. Blaine happens to get caught twerking because Tina recorded it and showed everyone in the glee club. He becomes embarrassed, but Mr. Schuester feels that this is what they need to get into nationals. Mr. Schuester feels that this dance craze is certainly “not traditional, but its envelope pushing.” Soon after, he begins to break out in song and dance to Robin Thicke’s hit song “Blurred Lines.” The students seemed to be enjoying themselves by sexing it up and making it look inappropriate.
‘Ground Floor’: Premiere Review
Last night, TBS’s Ground Floor debuted with two back to back episodes. While I wasn’t expecting much from the show, it is the best show I have seen this season. Ground Floor is pretty much a brotastic version of Just Shoot Me!, which sounds terrible, but actually ends up being better than latter.
Ground Floor stars Skylar Astin as Brody Moyer. Brody works for a money managing company owned by Remington Stewart Mansfield, who John C. McGinley plays masterfully. Remington feels that Brody is like the son he never had. He is grooming Brody to take over the company and wants Brody to focus solely on work. However, Brody met a girl, who works on the ground floor.
The pilot episode revolves around the tension between the top floor and the bottom floor. The top floor looks down on the bottom floor because a lot of those employees barely finished high school and will never move up in their careers. The bottom floor believes that the top floor is full of soulless people, who never have any fun.
Jilliam Michaels Made a Mistake on ‘The Biggest Loser: Second Chances’
Week after week, contestants continue to amaze themselves with their newer, shrinking bodies. Not only are the workouts getting tougher, but seeing the people get eliminated is getting even harder. Last week, American Idol winner Reuben Studdard got the boot because he fell below the red line. A lot of people felt, that it wasn’t his time to go just yet. Everyone deserves to be here and change their life around. That is, after all, why the show is called “The Biggest Loser: Second Chances.”
At the beginning of this weeks episode, Alison Sweeney brought Chef Sam Cass, who is the head chef for the Obama family. He came to the ranch to address the MyPlate initiative. The my plate talks about nutrition and stresses that it’s important to have a good balance of fruit, vegetables, proteins etc. Alison told the contestants that they have a thirty minute cooking challenge to prepare a healthy nutritious meals for the judges, who were the three Biggest Loser Kid Ambassadors from last season: Bingo, Sunny, and Lindsay. The blue team once again rose to the challenge and won once again with a chicken quesadilla, fresh fruit as a dessert, and kale chips on the side. Not only was the food delicious, but Bingo, who hates vegetables, seemed to really enjoy the quesadilla.
‘Dancing With The Stars’: Who Leaves Next?
It’s hard to believe that nine weeks ago, Dancing With the Stars kicked off its 17th season and now the show is almost coming to an end. The contestants are really feeling the pressure of week nine because they need to learn and perform two full dances. After Brant’s elimination last week, who is going to be the next to leave the competition this week?
Amber Riley’s first performance was the fast paced quickstep. Even though Amber is still pulling through a knee injury, she is still in it to win it. The choreography was not only technical, but fun to watch. Bruno calls her “dazzling,” but he and the other judges feel Amber has a few more things to work on. Amber got all 8s across the board giving her a total for round one of 24/30.
Leah Remini’s first dance was the tango. Even though the judges praised her on her tango, I wasn’t impressed at all. There weren’t any memorable moments and she just felt very stiff in her footwork. Len liked how Leah brought flavor. Bruno thought the dance “was a badass proper tango.” The judges all agreed and gave Leah 9s across the board for a total of 27/30.
‘The Walking Dead’: “Internment” Recap
Last night on The Walking Dead, things started to hit the fan. We not only got to see a rise of the problem inside the prison, but also outside. While Maggie helped clear out the people who had turned in the sick ward, Rick and Carl had to clear out the hundreds of walkers that took down the fences. Luckily, at the eleventh hour, Michonne, Daryl, Tyreese, and Bob came back with medicine from the veterinarian school. Thank goodness, because Glenn wasn’t going to last much longer. Hopefully, this solves the “virus” problem. Although, they haven’t figured out how the virus is spread.
In “Internment,” we got to see how much characters have changed. First, Carl has stopped being a little snot and does what he is told, like staying in that one hallway. Also, Rick lets him fight walkers together instead of sending him away on a “mission” to “protect” the prison when in reality Rick is just trying to keep Carl safe. It was a really sweet buddy cop moment when they were fighting walkers together. All it needed was some heavy synthesizer music and a cheesy catchphrase. I guess the cheesy catchphrase could be when Rick decides to go farming with Carl to avoid telling Daryl about exiling Carol. They share a peapod together which actually means “we’re just two peas in the same pod.”
‘Sleepy Hollow’: “Sin Eater” Recap
After three brutal weeks, Sleepy Hollow galloped straight into our hearts. “Sin Eater” was so heartfelt that you could practically hear Ichabbie shippers furiously typing fan fictions before the credits rolled. We also were introduced to Fringe star John Noble as the titular “Sin Eater.” He played a small role but I hope to see more of him throughout the series.
In the previous episode, we saw how Abbie reacted to Ichabod being infected with a deadly disease. This week, we saw him within moments of death. Since Ichabod’s bloodline is crossed with the Headless Horseman, the only way to stop him is for Ichabod to sacrifice himself. If one of them dies, so does the other. Even though Abbie pleads with Ichabod not to drink the poison that Franklyn from True Blood gave him, he drinks it anyway. It’s not like their fates are entwined for the next seven years or anything.
‘The Walking Dead’: “Indifference” Recap
In last night’s episode of The Walking Dead, we finally got to get out of the prison. Since Daryl, Tyreese, Michonne, and Bob were taking too long to get medicine, Rick and Carol decided to make a trip of their own. This would have been a great opportunity for Rick to lecture Carol about killing two innocent people, but he didn’t bring it up. Instead he did something a little bit sneakier, he observed.
While scavenging for medicine, Carol and Rick ran into some hippie couple that I don’t remember their names. It’s not important because they lasted 20 minutes anyway. Since Carol didn’t even bat an eyelash when they died, it was obvious that Carol has changed drastically. The old Carol would have expressed some remorse instead of convincing Rick to go back to the prison. Rick made an executive decision and exiled Carol from the group. Not only is he afraid of having her around his children, he’s afraid that Tyreese will kill Carol when he finds out she killed his girlfriend Karen. This is the best scenario since Rick is giving Carol a chance to start over again.
Remakes Of Old TV Shows Are Unnessessary
For the past few years, it seems that every new television season brings at least four remakes of older television series. While the practice of remaking shows may have made sense in an era where no one could re-watch the old version, nowadays, it doesn’t make sense. Do you really want someone to reinterpret an old favorite when you could easily watch the original in reruns, on DVD, on Netflix, or through less legitimate services on the internet? Probably not.
To be fair, there are a few successful remakes. The most unlikely was Hawaii 5-0. No one, except CBS saw it being successful, yet it averages around 10 million viewers. Dallas is successful because it is just the Ewing clan 20 years later, so it’s more like a continuation than a remake. Out of all the remakes in the last 10 years, Battlestar Gallactica, which took the original concept and made it darker, was probably the most successful. However, the success of all three shows is the exception to the failure of most modern remakes.
Wait! What's A Dial? 