Blog Archives
ABC’s Forever: Appealing, But With a Murky Future
Ladies and gentlemen, your hybrid show with an undying protagonist for the 2014 fall season is ABC’s Forever, and it’s anyone’s guess how long it’ll stick around. Taking all bets now.
Detective Jo Martinez (Alana De La Garza) and Dr. Henry Morgan (Ioan Gruffudd).
Genre shows are all the rage these days, whereas crime dramas are a dime a dozen. The success of smushing together elements of the traditional and the contemporary depends on how seriously a show takes itself, and while Forever is a bit of a romp through established TV tropes, it also elicits a decided “ehhh” in terms of staying power. Starring The Fantastic Four’s Ioan Gruffudd (sporting the most wonderfully Welsh name, damn, lookit those consonants in places they shouldn’t be), this show has the potential to be a good palette cleanser in an era of sobering television, especially in a post-Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. timeslot. It’s unclear, however, if that title is inadvertently writing a check the show can’t cash.
‘Dancing With The Stars’: The Semifinals
It’s hard to believe that Dancing with the Stars is nearing the end of this season. This week, the challenge was to perform two different dances to the same song: one to the instrumental and the other one to the original. Not only are the dances getting more intricate, but the judges decided to bring back Dancing with the Stars’ bad boy, Maksim Chmerkovskiy, who is known for his opinionated ways and not always agreeing with the judges. It was interesting to see Maksim’s take on the remaining competition.
Leah Remini’s dances for this week were the paso doble and the tango to Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance.” Her first dance was all about taking charge, but she’s still having trouble getting into character mode. Her dance partner expresses most of the emotion. Maks said it best “he’s looking crazy and you’re not.” Overall, it was neat and precise, but this is semifinals, you have to take more risks than Leah did. Her argentine tango was very romantic. However, it was very slow. The acoustic version of the song truly helped set the mood for these two people. The judges still feel that Leah needs to step up her game if she hopes to make it to next week’s finals. Leah’s dance total 65/80.
‘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.
‘Dancing With The Stars’: The Half Way Point
Everyone still can’t get over the Christina Milian shocker from last week. She received the highest score of the night, but still went home. It just proves that anything can happen on Dancing with the Stars. Even though one of the best dancer on the show didn’t make it to the half way point, the remaining dancers are that much closer to winning the mirror ball trophy. So how did they do last night?
Bill Engvall did a tango to Jimmy Buffet’s “Cheeseburger in Paradise.” Putting these two odd elements together seemed to make a nice combination. He lost the smoothness in his footwork. I think he was more fixated on wanting that cheeseburger. Len liked how the routine was sharp and had tanginess to it. Carrie Ann and Len gave Bill 8s whereas Bruno gave him a 7, totaling a 23 out of 30.
‘Modern Family’ Reflects Modern Values
Year after year, Modern Family continues to bring home the awards. This past year, the show took home an Emmy for outstanding comedy. Since the show is so popular with award show voters and the public, some people may wonder how accurately the show portrays modern suburban life. You might even compare Modern Family to the family oriented Leave It To Beaver. However, we as a society have come a long way from the 1950’s. The suburban lifestyle and TV show’s morals and values have changed over the course of many generations.
Most viewers would have to agree that the writers do a great job with the well written dialogue and an interesting portrayal of the diverse characters. The show brings a new insight to family dynamics. Not only are the characters relatable, but the dysfunction of the Dunphy/Pritchett family makes it feel real. Dysfunction is the new normal. Now we can embrace this show as part of our society because more and more families are becoming blended. Modern Family is a nice change of pace and is very refreshing to watch.
‘Glee’: “The Quarterback”
A box of tissues and a pint of ice-cream were certainly needed for last night’s tribute to Glee’s Finn Hudson. What’s great about the episode is that the creators wanted to celebrate Finn’s life. Finn was a true leader in the glee club and a true quarterback hence the title. Millions of fans have idolized him since day one. No one will ever forget him singing in the shower to “Can’t Fight This Feeling Anymore” or performing his first routine to Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing.” Not only was his death so sudden, but Cory Monteith/Finn Hudson had so much potential. Having “Glee” been his big break, all his fans were hoping to see him pursue other adventures. We grew up with the character and felt like he could have easily been a friend to us all. By keeping Cory’s memory alive, all the proceeds of the songs played will go to Cory’s charities of choice.
Within the first five minutes, emotions rose quickly. The New Directions begin singing a beautiful rendition of “Seasons of Love.” What made the episode even more moving was seeing some of the original cast members come back and support their Glee family. Once they look behind the stage, they see a picture of Finn in his quarterback uniform. Soon after, the glee graphic automatically came up on the screen, the creators replaced the letter “L” with a black and white silhouette of Finn from episode one. He was performing “Don’t Stop Believing” in season one. If that didn’t start the waterworks, I don’t know what will.
‘Glee : Tina in the Sky With Diamonds’
If you enjoyed the Beatles songs last week, Glee is back with even more Beatles songs. Not only did Glee continue to pay homage to the legendary fab four, but they had their McKinley High Prom. It was pure entertainment and jammed packed for episode two. Last night’s episode focused on Tina, the type of character you want to love and hate right now. This once shy, timid, girl, who pretended to have a stutter, is now the biggest bitch you can ever meet. She doesn’t want to be in the shadows anymore and wants to gain attention by becoming prom queen. This is not easy to say, but the diva award truly goes to Miss Tina Cohen Chang.
Once Tina finds out she was nominated for prom queen, she is ecstatic, but her prom date, Sam, isn’t so happy. Not only is Sam hurt that he didn’t get nominated for prom king, but Tina drops him as a date. She thought by going single, she could get more of the single prom votes. Soon after, she starts singing “Revolution,” an anthem in its own way. She truly wants to change the world. Everyone knows that Tina wants to shine, but the glee club decides to leave while she continues to sing.
‘Glee’: Beatles Week
Glee’s season 5 got underway last night. The New Directions are back. For two weeks, the glee club will be paying homage to The Beatles. Their club advisor, Mr. Will Schuester, mentions that they need to bring their A+ games so that they when they win back to back championships, they can form their own New Directions dynasty. All my life, I grew up listening to the Beatles and I thank my dad for it. When watching Glee I had very high expectations as to how the show was going to go. I thought that the show had its moments, but it wasn’t something out there.
Rachel has a call back to do a reading of “Funny Girl” in front of the producer of the show, Peter Facinelli. She has the right look for the part, but Facinelli feels that she might be too young for the part. The first song Rachel sings is Paul McCartney’s “Yesterday.” The song was so somber and melancholy that you needed a box of tissues by your side. Rachel begins to sing in an empty auditorium and passes “Sardies,” a famous New York Restaurant that she and Finn went to on their work date in the season two finale. Then she walks to the well-known Bow Bridge and begins to reflect about her love for Finn. It’s very emotional to see because these were the locations she was with Finn during the season two season finale. She views a picture on her cell phone of the entire glee club.
Is “Back in the Game” in the Game?
I’m going to be honest. Back In the Game is not a show I’ll be watching week after week. That doesn’t mean it’s a bad show. I’m just not one of those baseball dads or soccer moms who turned the show on and said “this is my life.”
Back in the Game focuses on the relationship between Terry Gannon, her son, Danny, and her dad, The Cannon. The three of them live under one roof because Terry had to move back home after her divorce. Terry, played by Maggie Lawson, isn’t happy about the arrangement because The Cannon always calls Danny “Donny” and pushes baseball on him., which is a problem because not only is Danny not very athletic, he’s only interested in the game to get a particular girl.
Things are complicated when Danny’s tryout is so bad he doesn’t make the team. The coach, Dick, holds a meeting for parents of all the rejected kids. It becomes clear that Dick rejected all the outcasts. The foreign looking kid. The flamboyant stereotype of gay men. The fat kids. All don’t make Dick’s team.
No Trophy For ‘Trophy Wife’
If you’re looking for a good laugh, Trophy Wife won’t do it. The show is so dry and boring it certainly doesn’t deserve a award of any kind. It doesn’t get a trophy in my book.
Malin Ackerman plays Kate, a young, carefree, step mom to three step kids and has to deal with her husband’s two ex-wives. In a voice over, she mentions how she met her husband, Pete. She and her friend were having a good time at a Karoke Bar, dancing, drinking and she fell and broke Pete’s nose with the microphone. They rush to the hospital and to kill time they get to know each other by explaining their injuries. Pete’s first ex-wife, Diane, is a nurse, who happens to be on duty the night Pete breaks his nose. She’s the one who puts his nose back in place. With all the confusion and panic going on between the families, Pete asks Kate out on a first date. Kate didn’t expect to meet Pete’s entire family in one night.
Wait! What's A Dial? 