Oscar, Plain and Tall

By on Mar 8, 2010 in Recaps |

I had intended to “live-blog” the Oscars last night, but technical difficulties totally cock-blocked that idea. So instead I’m “live-plus-same-day-blogging” it, to borrow a Nielsen term. I was very excited to see this year’s broadcast because it seemed to have a lot more hype and energy than broadcasts past—and because director/choreographer/SYTYCD-judge Adam Shankman was producing. But it didn’t seem outstanding to me—just ordinary. I’ll explain: Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin were good hosts, but the jokes weren’t as hilarious as I was expecting. And their opening monologue was upstaged by Neil Patrick Harris’s song-and-dance. Next year, I vote Ricky Gervais. Or, for that matter, Tina Fey and Robert Downey, Jr. I’m glad the Legion of Extraordinary Dancers were featured during the Best Score pastiche, but their...

A Show of a Certain Quality

By on Dec 7, 2009 in Previews |

Last week, Entertainment Weekly sent me a preview of TNT’s new comedic drama Men of a Certain Age. (I know—it’s kind of legitimate-TV-blogger of a thing to happen!) It premieres tonight at 10/9c, so I thought I should watch the preview and get my thoughts up here post haste. The show centers on three men (played by Ray Romano, Andre Braugher, and Scott Bakula) who became friends in college and stayed close throughout their somewhat-successful adult lives. But now that they’re hitting the half-century mark, they’re realizing that their dreams didn’t quite make it to fruition. They’re not have midlife crises, per se, but midlife assessments. Having just checked it out, I found the show to be nice and pleasant. That sounds like I’m damning it with faint praise, but I mean it in the best sense. Nothing climactic or explosive happened, nor did...

The Amazing Allure of “The Amazing Race”

By on Nov 29, 2009 in Raves | 1 comment

Lately I’ve really gotten into The Amazing Race. Add it to the elite list of reality shows I find respectable. I have to say, I’m seduced by the globe-hopping adventure aspect. (Maybe it speaks to my love for Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?) I mean, who wouldn’t want an all-expenses-paid whirlwind tour around the globe? Sure, participants don’t exactly get a chance to sight-see. But what is sacrificed in the quality of their tour stops is compensated by the quantity. Already this season, participants have been to Tokyo, Ho Chi Minh City, Phnom Penh, Dubai, Amsterdam, Stockholm, and Prague. And at each stop, the participants—and we, the viewers—learn a bit about the region’s culture, history, and geography. (Hey, sounds a bit like Carmen Sandiego!) What else is fulfilling about The Amazing Race is that the competition (usually) a bonding experience...

Since I Found Serenity

By on Nov 10, 2009 in Raves | 1 comment

“Firefly is about nine people looking into the blackness of space and seeing nine different things.” That’s apparently how Joss Whedon—creator of Buffy, Angel, and Dollhouse—pitched the show to Fox back at the beginning of the decade. Now, as we approach the end of the decade, I’ve finally watched it on DVD. And while I didn’t love it as arduously as others, I do understand the appeal. That pitch above is apt, because the main characters—the crew and passengers of the Firefly-class spaceship Serenity—and specifically the differences between them are make the show. Granted, the concept is cool: the show is a hybrid of two genres, sci-fi and western. Aside from the aesthetic appeal of the mash-up, it also united our past and a (possible) future to comment upon our present. The show is set in the future, after the two remaining superpowers on “the Earth...

V-Day Has Arrived

By on Nov 3, 2009 in Previews |

2009-2010 New Series Preview, Part 5 First off, forgive me for not updating sooner.  My laptop computer apparently aired its series finale, so to speak, and my internet access has been limited. But TV shows go on, blog or no blog, so this show must go on! In a little over an hour, the final show to make a fall premiere will make its debut: V on ABC. Just another example in the everything-old-is-new-again trend, V is a reimagined version of a miniseries-turned-sequel-miniseries-turned-series that NBC aired 25 years ago. In those productions, the “Visitors” were reptilian aliens who made camp above the world’s major cities and attempted a hostile takeover. And, by all reports, the shows were campy fun with an emphasis on the campy. (I hear the aliens ate guinea pigs…?) The remake seems pretty similar, if perhaps a bit more serious. The motherships swoop in and...

Seven Kingdoms Come: HBO’s “Game of Thrones”

By on Oct 15, 2009 in Previews | 3 comments

Though it might not reach our screen until late 2010 or 2011, I’m very excited for HBO’s Game of Thrones, a prospective series based on George R. R. Martin’s book series A Song of Ice and Fire. Admittedly, I haven’t read any of the novels, but anything that brings medieval fantasy to television piques my curiosity (excepting Merlin, that is). Since I am totally ignorant about the plot, here’s what Wikipedia has to offer: The story of A Song of Ice and Fire takes place in a fictional world, primarily upon a continent called Westeros but also on a large landmass to the east, known as Essos. Most of the characters are human but as the series progresses other races are introduced, such as the cold and menacing Others from the far North and fire-breathing dragons from the East, both races thought to be extinct by the people of the story. There are three...