A math TV show. Hmmm.

CBS has scheduled a start date for a tv show about mathematics and crime. Heh. I might be on a slight math kick after reading Cryptonomicon, but I sure am glad that I don't have to do math in my job. Unfortunately, the show is called Numb3rs. Barf.

- nyanko

Books and plane rides

I've been on a reading kick, due to a strategic error on my part in dealing with my library book requests. I requested a few books a while back, and as always, there was a long waiting line for the books I wanted. So I left both requests active, but in an unexpected turn of events, both books were available within a few days of each other. Of course, I couldn't just let one of them go, so I had to read about 1300 pages over the two week checkout period. (No renewals allowed when others have also requested the book.)

Anyway, the end result is that I finally read the geek bible, Cryptonomicon, over the Thanksgiving break. Two cross-country plane rides and some spare time (and one late night) gave me the chance to finish this book and I was highly entertained, but not so addicted that I lost all reason and stayed up all night for days in a row. Which I have to say is a good thing; books that keep you up all night for consecutive nights get exhausting and make me stay away from books for a while after a nasty book-crack experience. Totoro recommended the book to me years ago and even lent me a copy, which I left to get dusty for over six months before finally returning it to him. But I finally got back to it - thanks for the recommendation Totoro!

- nyanko

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a time to be thankful for many things in our lives. And I want to say that I am thankful for many things:

1) my TiVo, so that I can automatically record my favorite shows and fast forward through commercials, credits, science montages, fight sequences and longing angst-filled glances. Tivo is my enabler, and I love it for that.

2) the functionality of the Tivo remote that automatically jumps back several seconds to account for reaction time when fast forwarding and then pressing the play button. Instead of ending up several seconds into the show or having to guess what will be on directly before the show starts again, I can hit the button I start seeing scenes from my show and it will back up to just about the right place. I hear the Tivo people futz with the timing on this frequently so they can get it just right. I wish this came on my DVD player so that I can easily zip through the fights in Angel. DVD manufacturers should also think about picking up the replay button that replays the last 8 seconds, for when you miss a line of dialog...

3) Fox for not cancelling Arrested Development. P.S. M and C, you should really be watching this show!

4) ABC for actually coming up with some decent shows other than Alias, and for scheduling Alias at a time slot that is currently free for me, so I won't have to agonize about dropping some other show in favor of Alias. One can only hope that Fox will be so kind as to put 24 at 8 pm on Mondays, 10 pm on Tuesdays, 10 pm Wednesday, 10 pm on Sunday, or really 8 pm on Tuesday. Yes, I realize it's really way too violent for the 8 pm timeslot, but hey, it's just wishes.

5) UPN for not sucking! Now that the WB appears to be letting me down (I haven't been super excited about any of their shows this season, including new and old shows), UPN is picking up the slack with Veronica Mars!

- nyanko

LAX goes bye bye

NBC has finally seen the inevitable and cancelled LAX. This show was never worthy of Heather Locklear.

However, life as we know it appears to be clinging on, as MTV has picked it up in a repurposing deal. They will be running the first three episodes this coming Saturday and the next three episodes the following Saturday. This will finally let me TiVo enough episodes to pass judgement on whether this show is inexplicably compelling enough to keep on the season pass, or so crappy that the pass should be immediately revoked. (No, there is no option that the show is pure genius.)

However, MTV also picked up Veronica Mars, but has not been rerunning the episodes, which is disappointing since I want to watch but have had too many conflicts on Tuesday night.

- nyanko

Earthsea part II

The Sci Fi channel has a whole website up for the Earthsea miniseries that will be airing during mid-December. Bad hairdos abound, but there is Kristen Kruek...

- nyanko

JLH is back!

Just when you thought Jennifer Love Hewitt's career was totally dead, her tv show gets picked up for six episodes as a midseason replacement show for ABC. Also, this Sunday, I believe she'll be in the tv movie A Christmas Carol, starring Kelsey Grammer. I can't help myself - that whole concept makes me laugh. Also, it's a musical. Heh. Oh God, her hair!

- nyanko

House, M.D.

I was told that I'd have to say something about Fox's new medical drama House, so here goes.

First, there were some definite laugh out loud moments in this show, which I would never have guessed from the one trailer of this show that I saw. For some reason, the trailer made me think this was some kind of medical horror drama, and the "House" was referring to some Evil House of the Dead, rather than the name of the lead character. Maybe I was thinking about zombies for some reason. Other than the usual ones of course.

The show centers around a doctor named House played by Hugh Laurie (Wooster, from Jeeves & Wooster as my sister pointed out to me earlier today). Dr. House is your typical brilliant doctor who thrives on solving cases that no one else can figure out, and he also hates people. He sees the purpose of medicine to be the curing diseases, not patients. This is the gimmick that most of the quirk and humor in the show is derived from, and it works quite well. He's definitely not a Dr. Cox from Scrubs kind of people-hating person, but he makes it pretty well known in his own way and it's fun to watch.

Unlike shows like CSI, I didn't find the actual mystery solving part of this pilot to be incredibly engaging, though there were some definite CSI-like dramatizations of what was going on in the body that did grab my attention. However, since I like to watch shows that can carry themselves completely on dialogue, this one is going on the Currently Watching list until further notice.

- totoro

T.G.I.J.J.

Well, instead of TGIF, ABC will now have a TGIJJ on Wednesday nights since they will be airing Alias at 9 pm, right after Lost. It will be a big two hour block of J.J. Abrams fun. And happily, I have nothing in that time slot, so this will not create any sad scheduling conflicts for Mr. TiVo.

- nyanko

The Early Show does the Amazing Race

Two of CBS' Early Show hosts are doing the first leg of the Amazing Race. They were pretty wacky/bizarro during their Olympics coverage, so I have no doubt that this will be more of the same, but I still think it will be fun to watch the behind the scenes footage of the Amazing Race. I want to the camera and sounds guys running after the contestants with all their equipment. They must have to give the contestants those heavy packs just to even the odds for the camera guys.

- nyanko

Geez

For goodness sakes, it's only CSI: NY.

- nyanko

Jerry Bruckheimer: The Man with the Golden Touch

Okay, so Jerry Bruckheimer had definitely had some dogs (Bad Boys II, Pearl Harbor, Fearless) and you could say that since he's involved in so many things, he has to have some winners, but hey, I liked Armageddon and the Pirates of the Caribbean. And sadly, I'm excited about National Treasure. Yeah, I'm sorry. You don't have to talk to me after this.

However, I've been keeping my excitement in check since a Bruckheimer movie can be great cinematic fluff, or it can be a neverending disaster. Or sometimes a bit of both. But it looks like some of the early reviews are looking positive. Yes! The nyanko boyfriend may have to go see this with me.

- nyanko

getting lost

Totoro and I had a fun reunion last week - we got to do our usual pasttime of watching TV (although the show we watched was significantly better than the stuff we used to watch: Roswell, Dark Angel...). We watched Lost with egreenbe and had a great time enjoying the show, but with the requisite heckling. I need someone who will watch TV with me when I'm in my home city, who will heckle with me. Sigh. It's so hard to find someone who will heckle at the same level as you - they can't complain too much that they ruin the show, or talk over important dialog. Ah, the art of jeering.

Unfortunately, Wimbledon was already out of the theaters so I couldn't see it with bjc, but I'm sure we'll find some crappy romantic comedy the next time I'm in town.

- nyanko

916-CALL-TURK

Call the number that Turk gave in the latest Scrubs episode and you can hear a message from Turk or uh, possibly talk to Dr. Kelso or some other Scrubs cast member. Sweet! Really, follow the link for a funny story in the article.

Also, sounds like Scrubs might be moving to 9 pm on Tuesday sometime in the near future.

- nyanko

low ratings

life as we know it has been preempted for all of November sweeps, so it sounds like it could be getting the axe sometime soon.

Also, TV Guide has an article about declining ratings for a number of returning shows that did well last year, including Joan of Arcadia and Law & Order.

- nyanko

Arrested Development is back!

Yay! Arrested Development started again and even better, it's actually getting good ratings! Hopefully this will last beyond the first few episodes. I'm thrilled to have it back, although I have to admit that I haven't watched it yet. I was gone over the weekend and I have a backlog of TV, but I want to save AD for a a good time, when I can really watch and enjoy the episode.

The other interesting thing is that the WB's television premiere of Lord of the Rings did not get stellar ratings, which is too bad since I think the WB paid an arm and a leg for the rights.

And it's no surprise that CBS has pulledClubhouse for sweeps. I guess the midseason shows are going to start up soon. You can see all the midseason replacements in production at the futon critic.

- nyanko

Pretty clothes!

I've finally found what I've been looking for for over a year, thanks to bjc: a website all about the clothes that appear onscreen (tv, movies, etc.) Reel-Style.com has pages on a number of TV shows, including the O.C.. Now I can dress like Summer, or at least know where she gets her clothes. I like the dress from the wedding episode last year.

- nyanko

Pixar the Behemoth

If you are one of the two people in the country who have not yet seen The Incredibles, you really should. I was watching HBO's Entourage today and part of the plot involved the main character's new movie opening on the same weekend as Pixar's new film (which is apparently about a squirrel), thereby causing some concern about its opening weekend take. No kidding! Why would you ever pit your film against a Pixar film?

Now that Pixar has yet one more film out there, I think the "What's the best Pixar film?" argument is going to become a common one, causing much dissension among friends and couples around the world. When the next election rolls around, we're going to hear about national security, the economy, education, and favorite Pixar film.

- totoro

UPN does the Right Thing

According to AICN, Veronica Mars and Kevin Hill have both been picked up for a full season. This is great news, as Veronica Mars and Lost are holding steady as my two favorite new shows of the season, and if you're not yet watching either one of those two... Do it. Do it now.

- totoro

Yahoo! News - 'CSI: NY' Booked for Season

CSI: NY has been picked up for a full season.

-nyanko

oh NO.

"According" to Page Six of the NY Post, the new Bennifer may strike Alias. As in, Ben Affleck may guest star on Jennifer Garner's show. Of course, since this is the Post, this could be total rumor, and I'm going to hope desperately that it is in fact not based on any truth.

- nyanko.

Ripped from the headlines

This is prime for a Medical Investigation "Ripped from the Headlines!" episode. Damn you, petting zoo.

- nyanko

Review: A Time for Dancing

Yet again, I have no one to blame but myself. Last night I watched A Time for Dancing, a straight to video movie about two girls who love to dance, and then one of them gets cancer (leukemia, just like Mandy in A Walk to Remember!). Just in case you're wondering, of course she dies, but not before having sex and getting into Julliard. It starred Larisa Oleynik of 10 Things I Hate About You and Shiri Appleby of Roswell, which what got me hooked into watching this movie. Two teenybopper starlets + dancing = an unavoidable movie for nyanko.

Anyway, it was just what you would expect from a straight to video movie, except it also included interpretive dance sequences during the chemotherapy. Huh. Another funny thing was that Shiri's character was a waitress that worked at a themed drive in called Burgertory, where her uniform was (shades of Roswell!) roller skates, a pointy tail and devil horns. And in what I'm sure was an homage to A Walk to Remember, Shane West was also a main character.

Yes, I'm an idiot.

- nyanko

U2 is everywhere

U2 is popping up everywhere - first the iPod, now on CSI.

- nyanko

Review: A Cinderella Story

I'm not a huge Hilary Duff fan - I saw her on Making the Video and in the Lizzie McGuire movie, and was not impressed. However, A Cinderella Story seemed like it was a movie just for me, so I had to watch it. And hey, not so bad. It had less klutzy Hilary gags and the romance was kind of cute. Or my standards are completely shot. Either way, I enjoyed it.

- nyanko

dr. vegas gets kicked to the curb

dr. vegas has been pulled from the schedule for November and December. Rob Lowe has crashed and burned two fall seasons in a row. Hmm, will Madison now return to Everwood?

- nyanko

Uh oh, Father of the Pride looks like it's on its last legs

Father of the Pride is getting dumped for sweeps. A cancellation probably isn't far behind.

- nyanko

WB's is looking at a pilot called 'Spygirl'

The WB is looking a pilot called Spygirl that sounds like a cross between Veronica Mars and Alias. Huh.

- nyanko

More Veronica & Kevin Hill

UPN has ordered four more scripts each of Kevin Hill and Veronic Mars. Woo! There's hope for those shows yet!

Also, Jack & Bobby just lost its season pass. It's never good when you're always looking forward to the flash-forwards, since there really aren't very many of those...

- nyanko