‘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.
“Fearful Pranks Ensue” on ‘American Horror Story: Coven’
It was all about the past on last night’s American Horror Story: Coven, and boy, not much has changed in the lives of these ladies since the 60s and 70s. “Fearful Pranks Ensue” opened and closed with a new AHS addition: full-on, limb-tearing zombies, courtesy of Marie Laveau. Back in 1961, she used a spell to exhume the bodies of the long-dead that forced them on three white men who murdered the son of Cora, one of her hairdressers. Needless to say, each man died a painful, violent death. Back in the present, she starts preparing the same spell after receiving Bastien’s still-blinking head in a box, presumably from the gang over at Miss Robichaux’s. Exactly how they managed to decapitate him, we don’t know. Anyway, Marie wails, overcome with grief and anger and bitterness. One of her hairdressers tries to convince her to stay true to the pact she signed with Annalee a few decades ago, but that truce, Marie said, is over. They’ve moved into life-or-death territory. The zombies – including the body of one of Delphine’s daughters – rise and surround Miss Robichaux’s. Marie sure does revenge well.
It turns out Fiona and Myrtle Snow, played fabulously by Frances Conroy, have some history, too. After Annalee’s murder, Fiona was examined by the witches’ council. She cried and cried and fashioned a story about the former Supreme leaving with a fine bottle of wine, perhaps as a peace offering; she’s trying to throw Marie’s name into the suspect ring, and she succeeds. She also receives some news: Fiona is the new Supreme, but she already knew that, of course. When it’s announced in front of the rest of the school later on, Myrtle is not happy. She knows what Fiona did, and she has the perfect plan to expose her. Spalding has a hearing with the council scheduled for the next day. He’s always “cleaning up Fiona’s messes,” so Myrtle is sure he knows the truth – and she makes it impossible to reveal anything but by casting a spell on his tongue. Somehow, though, he knew. He has Fiona meet him in a bathroom, where he says he wants his last words to be a declaration of love; he cuts out his own tongue so as not to betray Fiona.
‘Dancing With The Stars’: Who Goes Home Next?
After a surprising no elimination last week on Dancing with the Stars, the competition is turning up a notch. Week seven not only brought the tears and the injuries, but threw in learning two dances as well. Tom Bergeron mentioned that next week guest judge, Cher, will perform and give her feedback to the contestants. If that isn’t scary enough, the countdown is nearing the end to see who will win the coveted mirror ball trophy.
Elizabeth Berkley, who received the first thirty of the season last week, performed the quick step. The dance was very quirky because of the character’s personalities and the dance was dealing with U.F.O.s. Len Goodman said this was a true U.F.O: “Utterly Full On; full of content.” This was a great dance to start the show as he also points out. The judges agreed and gave Elizabeth 9s across the board, totaling a 27 out of 30.
Brant Daugherty’s goofy sense of humor certainly didn’t disappoint in his jive. Even though, he had a few tiny slip ups, such as slipping on his dance partner’s skirt, Brant continued to have a good time with the dance. Carrie Ann felt that “this dance was a bit to challenging for him”. The judges decided to give Brant all 9s for a total of 27 out of 30.
Stop the American Remakes of British Shows
Every fall, a new TV show arises that millions of people are horrified that it has seen the light of day. The words “American remake” send terror through any anglophile’s heart the same way it does with “cancelled.” While everyone else is cowering in the corner watching some maniac serial killer movie marathon, we watch our beloved British TV shows being butchered by American hands. Which leave us all wondering: are any of these remakes really necessary?
I, like millions of other Americans, have no problem watching British television. British humor is known for being deadpan. Apparently, deadpan is synonymous with “incomprehensible” in the minds of network executives, which causes remakes to dumb down jokes so that Americans can understand them. Having to make jokes more obvious is part of the problem that American remakes fail. We don’t need to be pigeon holed as stupid.
Wait! What's A Dial? 