Category Archives: Network Television
‘Futurama’ Series Finale: An Emotional & Impressive Send Off for the Cult Series
After fourteen years, seven seasons, four movies, a cancellation, and a rebirth, Futurama has aired is series finale on Comedy Central. It has been a long and strange journey for the Planet Express crew, but that journey has finally reached its end. For those of you who haven’t had the chance to watch it yet, I suggest you stop reading here because this review contains spoilers.
“Meanwhile” started with a trip down memory lane, as the Planet Express crew delivered a package to the Moon. This of course is an ode to the crew’s first delivery from the second episode in the series. While on the moon, Leela is sucked into space and lost forever. Fry decides he can’t live without her and decided to marry her. The Professor invents a “Time Button” that allows you to go back in time ten seconds. He uses the seemingly useless device to play a trick on Zoidberg, but Fry realizes he can use the time button for his proposal.
Fry uses the button to get the perfect ring for Leela and tells her to meet him at the top of the Vampire State Building with her answer. When she doesn’t show up, Fry attempts to jump off the building only to realize his watch was wrong and Leela was on time. Fry falls into a time loop, which has him splattering on the pavement over and over again. While attempting to save them, the Professor is killed. It isn’t until Bender comes to the rescue with his air bag. The plan backfires, as Fry is saved, but he destroys the time button leaving everyone in the world frozen in time.
Diagnosis: ‘Do No Harm’ Dead on Arrival
You may be familiar with the NBC series Do No Harm as the show that premiered to dismal ratings (the lowest in primetime history, in fact) and was mercilessly ridiculed through every form of social media imaginable. As I sat down to actually watch the pilot it was hard to force the negativity out of my mind and watch the show objectively, but I gave it my best effort and what I discovered was a show that maybe wasn’t deserving of such vehement hate. However, it was admittedly deeply flawed.
Dr. Jason Cole (Steven Pasquale) is a successful neurosurgeon who has spent the last five years keeping his evil alter-ego, Ian Price, dormant through self-medicating with a strong cocktail that puts him in a coma every night. Like volcanoes are apt to do, Ian eventually erupts and begins wreaking havoc on Cole’s life. I can appreciate a good Jekyll and Hyde story as much as the next person but what I can’t appreciate is a story that is basically implausible from the very beginning. The split personality is attributed to Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), which is a real medical condition.
How Will the New ‘Dancing with the Stars’ Cast Do?
In less than two weeks, 12 new celebrities will head out onto the Dancing with the Stars dance floor. Airing September 16th, celebrities begin to vie for the coveted trophy and bragging rights of Dancing with the Stars Champion. Every year, fans get excited when the announcement comes on Good Morning America around 8:30 am. The answer to “Who will appear on the next season of Dancing with the Stars?” is finally here.
Former NY Jets Wide-Reciever Keyshawn Johnson will join the seventeenth season. Dancing With the Stars typically has one or two athletes on the show each season. They usually become top contenders and are entertaining to watch. He might be at an advantage compared to the other contestants because of the fancy footwork he had to do on a daily basis. Johnson’s fast paced agility and personality will certainly help him out with swift and energetic dance routines.
The other male celebrities on the list are Jack Osbourne, High School Musical’s Corbin Bleu, comedian Bill Engvall, Bill Nye the Science Guy, and Pretty Little Liars bad boy Brant Daughtery. Corbin Bleu is the only male contest who has previous experience dancing, so it will be interesting to see how the other men keep up with him and Johnson.
5 Soul Crushingly Sad Fry Moments from “Futurama”
Ten years after creating one of the most recognized television families of all time, Matt Groening and company introduced us to a new kind of animated series. Futurama had a few similarities to The Simpsons. They both aired Sunday nights on Fox. The type of design and animation were similar. They even contained the same pop-culture referencing humor that has become synonymous with current generation comedies, such as South Park and v. Although they shared a few similarities, Futurama was very different from The Simpsons.
The Simpsons was and will always be one of Fox’s most beloved and successful series. Futurama may never reach that status, but it will go down as one of the funniest and original programs that Fox had the audacity to cancel after only four (almost five) seasons. Luckily after a successful string of straight to DVD releases, Comedy Central resurrected the cult series for four more seasons.
With the final episode airing this week, I thought it would be appropriate to revisit some of the things that made Futurama the under-appreciated heartwarming show that it is. Starting with some of the soul crushingly sad moments from the shows impressive seven-season run that spanned over fourteen years.
The series finale of Futurama airs on Comedy Central this Wednesday at 10 pm
5. When Fry is Late to Dinner with Leila Because of Time Travel
Season 6, Episode 7: “The Late Phillip J. Fry”
Fry never has any luck with time travel. One of the latest examples was in last season’s episode “The Late Phillip J. Fry.” Professor Farnsworth invents a time machine and before a date with Leela for her birthday and Fry, Bender, and the Professor end up going on an adventure through time. Unfortunately for Fry, the Professor fails to invent away to go back in time, only forward. They continue to travel further in time until they kind find a year where backwards time travel exists.
Back in the present, Leela is stood up by Fry, and is never seen again. The audience sees a dismal future that does not contain Fry, Bender, and the Professor. Leela’s future is successful, but loveless. She is mad at Fry for leaving and not explaining why. Years have passed a birthday card appears out of nowhere and hits future Leela in the face. The card is from Fry and it explains why he disappeared. Leela goes back to the restaurant and leaves a message for Fry to hopefully see in the future. Fry sees the heartfelt message left by Leela and says, “I made it, Leela. Sorry I’m a billion years late.”
Fry, Bender, and the Professor are unable to find away back to their time. They travel to the end of time and watch the destruction of the universe, only to realize the universe keeps restarting in a non-stop loop. By going further in time, they could get back to the time before they left. They come back in time to kill and replace themselves (avoiding a time paradox, according to the Professor). Fry gets to go on his date with Leela, and everything is right with the world.
Perez Hilton Visits “America’s Next Top Model”
The competition on America’s Next Top Model is heating up. This week, contestants were given the chance to talk to their loved ones. All 12 of the contestants had to split one hour among themselves with the winner of last week’s best photo, Jourdan, receiving 10 minutes. Jourdan abuses the privilege by talking to her boyfriend for over ten minutes and other members of the house understandably get annoyed.
Everyone feels that Jourdan is top dog on America’s Next Top Model because she has been getting high praise lately from the judges and abuses her privileges. Of course, contestants get annoyed at Jeremy as well. He likes Jourdan, will defend her, and everyone knows it.
Celebrating Letterman’s 20 Years on CBS
Yesterday, August 29, marked David Letterman’s 20th year hosting the Late Show on CBS. While fans are probably a little disappointed that Dave didn’t give in and do a retrospective episode or primetime special (Neither one was ever going to happen. This is Letterman we’re talking about.), there’s no reason we can’t, with the help of YouTube, take a look back at Dave’s time on CBS.
First Episode
Dave may not have gotten The Tonight Show and NBC may have tried to sue him for using their intellectual property, but that didn’t stop Dave from bringing Larry “Bud” Melman, now using his real name, Calvert DeForest, to CBS. In fact, DeForest was the first person seen on the Late Show. Unfortunately, the clip below doesn’t have DeForest’s appearance on the first show, but it does have Ed Sullivan introducing Dave.
Salvador Dali Confuses The Panelists On ‘What’s My Line?’
Whenever Salvador Dali is around, things take a turn toward the strange. While What’s My Line?‘s master of ceremonies, John Charles Daly, often finds himself tied by the limitedness of the “yes and no” question format, Dali’s appearance makes matters worse because Dali wants to say “yes” to everything. Then again, you wouldn’t expect anything less from a man who considered himself to be drugs.
The “America’s Next Top Model” Men Get Catty
Oh boy! If you thought last week was entertaining, this week certainly turned up a couple of notches. Within the first few minutes, tension in the house already started to form between Chris H. and Mike.
Chris has a tendency of being overly dramatic and Mike told him to shut the f**k up. This was all over having a 5 minute conversation with a loved one back at home. Chris mentions that he remembers his mom as being abusive physically and verbally. An example would be, she chucked a cell phone at his head. Being disrespected by another fellow contestant, Chris sees Mike in a whole different light. Ouch, can you say catfight? And there was certainly no catwalk there to be seen. Mike is certainly no fan of Chris’s if Mike would call Chris “a dramatic little bitch.” Since when do guys get so caddy all of a sudden on the show?
America’s Next Top Model Is All About the Chemistry
Not only was tonight’s episode of America’s Next Top Model very entertaining to watch, but the show was very sensual as well. Now that the show is a couple episodes in, America’s Next Top Model contestants are really getting comfortable with each other. Airing tonight with a new special time of 9/8c, audiences will got the taste of the challenges on becoming the next top model whether it be tension or newer relationships forming. Intensity and hormones are certainly heating up this season causing a nice Friday show to watch during this summer break. Having been the first season where guys are also in the competition, today’s challenge was perfect to utilize both the female and male contestants.
Sonny and Cher on ‘Late Night with Letterman’
On November 13, 1987, ten years after their divorce, Sonny and Cher appeared on Late Night with David Letterman. The duo stopped by for an interview and to sing their hit “I Got You Babe.”
During the interview, it is apparent that Sonny and Cher still care deeply for each other.
Wait! What's A Dial? 