Wonderfalls on DVD

Wonderfalls will be released on DVD on February 1st. There will be 9 unaired episodes since the show met a very quick end last spring on FOX.

- nyanko

Heh, Hot 100

TiVo is posting a Hot 100 list of the most popular season passes for their subcribers. However, they decided to choose a very Billboard/E! Weeklyl type of name for their list. Puh-leeze.

- nyanko

Alicia Silverstone returns to TV

Looks like Alicia Silverstone will be coming back to TV. Hopefully, it will have a better fate than Miss Match, but still be somewhat cute. Of course, a show about mean Queen bee type from high school really doesn't sound like it has as much cute potential.

Also, thanks to totoro for the unaired Miss Match episodes.

- nyanko

Queer Eye for the Straight Girl

The new team of queer guys has been announced for the Bravo spin-off, Queer Eye for the Straight Girl. I can't help loving Queer Eye for the Straight Guy - the guys are hilarious and Thom's redecorating is always amazing. However, I'm not sure that a whole new group of people will be able to create their own magic. I watched the UK version of Queer Eye and it was just kind of scary. QE for the Straight Girl premieres in January, when I'll have some extra TV viewing time so I'll probably check it out.

- nyanko

'Amazing Race 6' Cast announced

The teams for the Amazing Race 6 have been announced. I'm eagerly anticipating the next installment of the show and wondering when I'll be able to get my hands on old season - hopefully they will come out on DVD soon... Woo, November 16!

- nyanko

Ah, Miss Match

I've been watching the unaired episodes of Miss Match, and I had forgotten what a pleasant show it was. Granted, it was not a great show, and definitely had it's share of painful moments, but it was like having a nice little romantic comedy on TV every week. Anyway, its too bad that it got such terrible ratings and got cut down so quickly, because it was a cute show. Sigh.

- nyanko

Lemony Snicket

After seeing the trailer for Lemony Snicket, I decided to read the book to see what the fuss was about. This book is a children's book and seemingly has been fairly popular. I figured this book is the next in line for the Harry Potter crowd. However, when I read the book, I found it as depressing and sad as the book cover said it would be. I'm just not sure why this is popular... The book warned me, but I can't fathom why kids would be excited about this.

- nyanko

more info on shows I like

TV Guide has a column where readers can ask questions about their favorite shows. Lots of questions about what shows might get cancelled, Veronica Mars, and various other shows that I'm interested in.

Also, frighteningly, Las Vegas and Crossing Jordan are going to be having crossover episodes in November.

- nyanko

No surprise

Medical Investigation has also been picked up for a full season, which isn't really a surprise. It's doing pretty well on Friday nights, and is one of those emotionally berating shows, ala CSI: Miami, which people just seem to watch, though I can't quite figure out why.

P.S. Jack & Bobby appears to be hemorrhaging viewers like crazy. I wonder if the WB thinks they made a mistaking giving a full season order so early. Also, I wonder if they will eventually cut back their order...

- nyanko

Desperate Housewives & Lost get full seasons

Zap2it reports that Desperate Housewives and Lost have been picked up for full seasons. Woo!

- nyanko

Rating comparisons of this fall's shows with last fall

the futon critic has a comparison of ratings of this fall's shows to ratings last fall. Some of the interesting tidbits: The Mountain is doing 40% worse than Angel did last year in the same time slot, and Jack & Bobby is 36% worse in ratings than (gasp) Tarzan. Heh.

- nyanko

Amazing Race, and more WB news

This article says that the Amazing Race will be starting its next season on Nov 16. Unfortunately, it will be at Tuesday at 9 pm, which will conflict with Scrubs. Curses. Maybe they'll schedule encores on Saturday night... Otherwise, I'll have to start programming my VCR again...

Also, in TV Guide's Entertainment News, there is more news on the WB's schedule. The Mountain appears to not be dead yet, since the WB has ordered four more scripts. WHY???? And, as of the week of Oct 27, the Mountain and Jack & Bobby will be switching time slots. This will mean that I can watch since it will no longer conflict with any of the other shows I'm watching, but I'm just not sure if that's a good thing. But I guess it will give me a chance to truly decide if I want to keep the season pass. I was about to reject it, and then I watched the third episode and it pulled me back in. Damn you, WB!

- nyanko

Pretty PVR!

Sky, a British cable/satellite/something provider, is selling very pretty PVRs. If TiVo had something like this, I would be drooling over it. Of course, figuring out which one would best go with the living room decor could be a challenge. And you wouldn't want to hide it in the giant TV cabinet either...

- nyanko

NBC axes a show

Looks like Hawaii is on its way out, as NBC has put it on hiatus for November sweeps, and put LAX into its time slot. LAX will be up against Lost, but LAX was already on my boycott list, so that's not a problem for my TiVo.

- nyanko

new tunes

TV and movies seem to be the new vehicle for pushing new music out to the masses. I think I'm getting most of my new music from my TV shows - the OC, Scrubs, even (who knew?) Without a Trace.

Scrubs tends to have great music, some new stuff and some funny gags that revolve around older music or theme songs. I'm currently obsessed with the song that played during Brendan Fraser's character's funeral in last season, "Winter" by Josh Radin.

And frightenly, even terrible shows have been having intriguing music. Perhaps not as consistently good music, but once you're looking to Jack & Bobby for your new music, it feels like it's all downhill.

- nyanko

Price for monthly Netflix subscription will drop

Netflix is lowering its monthly fee to $17.99, as competition heats up in the DVD rental by mail space.

- nyanko

Shh!

So, the guy in the office next to me is one of those loud guys - he has a loud voice that somehow carries down the hall, through walls, etc. and he has a loud personality, so he raises his voice every time he starts telling a funny story to someone on the phone or in his office. I, on the other hand, have finally accepted that I can't do work when there's lots of noise, particularly music with lyrics or fully decipherable conversations, because I just start listening to that. I am beginning to comtemplate buying some noise reducing ear muff in an attempt to block the annoying noise. Passive agressive or effective? You make the call.

Also, if I attched two pieces of black yarn to the bottom of the ear muffs, would I look like less of a freak to my co-workers?

- nyanko

Review: Raising Helen

Damn you, Kate Hudson! She's so cute, and winning, and yet the vast majority of her movies scar me (and scare me). She lured me in with a few cute movies (Almost Famous, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days), so I am compelled to watch her movies in the hope that I will see something quite fun and entertaining. Instead, I have gotten Alex and Emma, The Four Feathers and Raising Helen.

In stark contrast to Ella Enchanted, Raising Helen was as painful as I thought it would be. I think they tried to make the movie a romantic comedy, but with tragedy, and the trials of raising children thrown in. Huh. Not sure that will work out for you. Sadly, Stepmom was probably something that this movie should have aspired to. Granted, I cried watching Raising Helen, but I hated myself for it.

I know these movies are bad, and somehow, I can't help myself. I have to watch them. So I only have myself to blame, since really, the review tried to warn me away. Can't. Help. Myself. Gah.

- nyanko

talking about your tv, movie and music tastes

Way back in January, there was a funny article about Friendster in Esquire magazine and about what people think is interesting about themselves. Here's an excerpt:

"In real life, people wouldn't want to go to a party where everyone was desperate," says Jonathan Abrams, the thirty-three-year-old Canadian egomaniac who created Friendster. "They want to meet people through people they already know. I wanted to create a way for people to meet over the Internet that was more like real life."
Abrams's suggestion that meeting on Friendster is "like real life" is remarkably accurate, inasmuch as the people you encounter online are lying. Or at least they're lying about the things they seem to find unimportant, such as their appearance, their interests, and their relationship status. (Unless Friendster is reflecting something about society I'm missing, it seems unlikely that 30 percent of the U. S. populace would classify themselves as part of an "open marriage.") Yet weirdly, there are some elements of the Friendster personal profile that no one seems to lie about, most notably what TV shows they like. Friendsters seem totally comfortable with strangers assuming they cheat on their wives and sketch portraits of unicorns in their free time, but they don't want anyone to think they watch According to Jim unironically. This is similar to how a person will have oral sex with you on your very first date but won't let you look inside her glove compartment at the moment because it contains a Tori Amos cassette. True signposts of self-identity—especially for anyone born after 1970—tend to be the most trivial things we adore, which is why Friendster is so popular. It allows us to build two-dimensional personalities in which we can eradicate the things that matter to others (our looks, our sincerity, our intelligence, et cetera) while accentuating the things that matter only to us (whether or not we can quote Glengarry Glen Ross , whether or not we can communicate telepathically with our cat, whether or not we want to pretend that we read Finnegans Wake , et cetera). Our entire corporeality is dictated by what we think is interesting about ourselves. "

- nyanko

Review: Ella Enchanted

This past weekend, I watched Ella Enchanted, for which I had very low expectations. I figured it would probably be about as painful as the Princess Diaries, but had hopes for some cute princess/romance scenes. I was pleasantly surprised to find it very enjoyable. It's pure fluff, but I thought the movie was cute. Plus, Anne Hathaway's gown at the requisite ball was absolutely gorgeous. I now have a fantasy wedding dress!

- nyanko

Damn you, the Mountain

TV Guide (sixth item, at least for now) posted that Spike aka James Marsters from Angel/Buffy will be on the Nov 3 episode of the Mountain. Dammit, now I have to watch that damn show. But I guess I can fast forward through every scene except for the ones that he's in. Hopefully we'll finally see him with his natural hair color. Anyway, now I'm torn between praying for the show to be cancelled and hoping that it will make it to the Nov 3 episode...

- nyanko

24+ hours of tv per week?

One of my ex-co-workers used to work for TiVo and she told me that she was surprised at the number of TiVo users who were well paid men making over $100,000 a year, who watched over 24 hours of TV per week. (I believe 24+ hours per week is the highest category when you take TiVo surveys). That ends up being an average of 3.5 hours of TV a night. Honestly, I'm just not sure how anyone with a real job can watch that much TV. Granted, sporting events can be long (2-5 hours, depending on the sport) and there is sports all day on the weekends, but that's still a ton of TV.

I watch an ungodly amount of TV, and I think I'm only up to about 19 hours of programming (and this is an aberration since I'm watching Angel in syndication five nights a week, but that will end in three weeks when season 5 is over). Plus, this is the beginning of the season, so I'm sure some of my shows will bite the dust within the month or so. But happily, I will settle down to about 14 hours per week soon, which while indicative of no life, is not as embarassing as admitting to watching more than 24 hours of TV per week.

- nyanko

life as we know it encores on ABC Family

A TV Barn article mentions that life as we know it will be showing again on Saturday and Sunday night at 11 pm on ABC Family, if you miss the premiere due to conflicts with either CSI or the Apprentice.

- nyanko

Book review: Sunshine

I recently read Robin McKinley's new bookSunshine. It was a fun read, and definitely one of the most enjoyable of her recent books. Not as good as The Hero & the Crown or Beauty, but quite entertaining. It has magic, but no horses, animal companions, or princesses. That's probably because it's more genre of modern fantasy, with world like that of Buffy and Angel. The book about a girl who is kidnapped by vampires and ends up becoming involved in a world of vampire gangs and magic. Pretty fun, and the main character bakes lots of desserts, so that a win in my book.

Book crack rating (1 being took me months to finish, 10 being I stayed up later than 4 am on consecutive "school" nights): 8

woe to the mountain

Television Without Pity has cancelled their recaps of the Mountain, and that's a sign, because they can stand quite a bit of painful television...

- nyanko

TV anywhere

tvtattle.com had a link to this article about a new Sony tv that can access a "cable box, home computer, TiVo or DVD player via the Internet." I'm not sure I'd want to put this in my luggage on work trips, but it sure would be nice to have access to the TiVo. Let me tell you, evenings in Arkansas or the airport hotel in Munich aren't that exciting. Particularly if it's hard to find an English-language channel. I like dubbed Armageddon and Friends as much as the next person, but being able to keep the TiVo backlog at bay would be pretty nice. Of course, TiVo is supposed to be coming out with TiVo-to-go, but there hasn't been much news on the launch of that service which was supposed to start this fall.

- nyanko

Zach Braff!

TV Barn posted a link to an interview Zach Braff on NPR's Fresh Air.
- nyanko

life as we know it

Hmm, after hearing a lot of good pre-season buzz on life as we know it, it seems liek the reviews are more mixed:
+ a review from TV Gal
+ Matt Rousch from TV Guide

Uh oh, might be a disaster.

- nyanko

Netflix + TiVo = Fun

TiVo and Netflix are forming an alliance that will give you video on demand to your TiVo. Sweet! I would love to get on the beta program for this... You could get movies on demand, although I suppose "demand" is limited by how long it takes for the movie to download. I wonder if you could watch the movie as it's downloading onto TiVo.

This would definitely require a larger or second TiVo to accomodate an additional nine hours of movies or um, crap from Netflix, in addition to the total crap that we're recording.

But I would have to get broadband for this, since if it were actually possible, downloading a movie over a 56K modem might actually take longer than mailing back a movie and then receiving the next one (usually a two day turnaround for me).

- nyanko

Kevin Hill

I think I've become the designated UPN-show-reviewer for this blog. If you had told me I'd be talking about two new UPN shows in the span of two weeks just a little while ago, I'd have gone ahead and watched a CSI:Miami marathon and just gotten this whole mortal coil thing done with.

Instead, Veronica Mars did indeed live up to most of its hype (though I haven't watched past the pilot yet), and there is yet another show in Kevin Hill which has great promise. I had not heard a thing about this until yesterday, but after you get past the bizarre-yet-cliched premise, this show actually delivers on several levels.

You've got Taye Diggs (enough said, some might think) playing a womanizing high-powered lawyer who is forced to take care of his dead cousin's infant girl along with a gay nanny.

There are definitely some cliches going on here (now that I have a child in my care I must cease my bachelor ways and become a real man), but I couldn't deny that it was actually quite an entertaining show. Taye does his uber-charismatic thing as usual, the lawyer stuff is entertaining as it is with most of the other shows with lawyers (Miss Match and Ally McBeal come into mind), the gay nanny (the bookstore owner from Joan of Arcadia, actually) doesn't do much, but gets a little of the funny, and the supporting characters are able to carry the rest. Though really, it's all about Taye.

- totoro