You can watch your home TV from anywhere with this device

The OC is moving to the 9 pm timeslot on Thursdays. This means that I can watch Dancing with the Stars, I think, but will cause a conflict when Everwood eventually comes back in March.

If you're desperate for internet access in Heathrow, you can go to the Google space...

Joss Whedon talks about Firefly/Serenity

This is my new googling of people or searching for people on Frienster. Yes, I am searching wedding channel to find out if people from my past have gotten married, and if I'm lucky, I can also check out their wedding website. Heh. Hours of fun.

Are they just taunting us? Apparently ABC and Showtime are interested in picking up Arrested Development if Fox cancels it... (from tvtattle)

An interview with Judd Apatow, who did Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared.

There are myspace pages for characters from the Office, and the pages get updated.

The bad news for Kitchen Confidential fans, is that Kitchen Confidential looks like it has been pulled from the schedule; the good news is that it might be replaced with more Arrested Development

See who's on the next Dancing with the Stars.

Heh. Lostpedia.

The TWOP Tubey in many different disguises!

Well, this is dangerous: streaming March Madness games.

Here are the details on the shows that NBC will be putting in iTunes

It sounds like shows from NBC, USA Network, Sci Fi Channel and other channels may be coming to iTunes. (sixth item):

Oh wow, Tony Hale (Buster on Arrested Development) was the guy doing the robot dance in the Volkswagon ad from a while back. (there's a summary of last night's episode so don't click here if you don't want to know what happened.)

If yoiu liked the Life Aquatic soundtrack, here's an entire album of Portuguese David Bowie song covers

Sketches from the star-crossed season 3 of the Chappelle's Show will be surfacing online and then on broadcast on Comedy Central.

I'm going to have to track down this show, Creature Comforts, which was created by the same people who do Wallace and Gromit. Who doesn't love talking animals, with British accents to boot?

Honestly, I find the little legs and antennae on the Tivo slippers to be a bit scary.

TiVo will now allow you to order movie tickets, listen to podcasts and online radio, and do a number of other online things. I'll have to check this out on the roommate's tivo.

NBC's midseason schedule is announced. Scrubs will be back on Tuesdays starting on Jan 6, and I think NBC's two new shows, Four Kings and the Book of Daniel, are supposed to be pretty good, but I can't really remember what their early reviews were like. The futoncritic review for Four Kings was pretty ambivalent, but it does have Seth Green.

Fox's midseason schedule was also announced, but not much excitement there, except the train-wreck style tragedy that is Skating with Celebrities (I'll probably watch...).

Don't forget to watch the alternate ending for tonight's Veronica Mars.

TiVo does Taiwan!

Apple may be developing TiVo-like functionality for the Mac mini.

Fall Finale

On a tip from squishie -- Prison Break back in March

Wow, a bunch of shows have just bitten the dust, including Reunion, Threshold and Hot Properties. I guess we'll be getting a bunch of new midseason replacements.

I loved Bring It On, so will I love this? I'm not sure I can bring myself to actually watch something on Lifetime...

There's a reason that Logan and Duncan always wear a specific color on Veronica Mars, and it doesn't have to do with the plot... (second paragraph)

Alias will end in May.

Also, even Joshua Jackson, who really sold me as someone who could love Joey Potter, who was not all that lovable, and was basically just kind of whiny, could not carry the ABC Family movie. And interestingly, Claire Forlani with broken English + Italian accent is somewhat less annoying than fluent English Claire Forlani. No, I didn't watch the entire thing, although I cut to the end to see the train-wreck of a resolution for the story. Damn you, ABC Family, for not giving me a Pacey-resurrection.

So I finally read Robin Hobb's newest book Shaman's Crossing (The Soldier Son Trilogy, Book 1) (it took a while to get to the top of the waiting list at the library). I have to say that I wasn't that excited about it. It was kind of an Ender's Game set in a fantasy world, but I felt like I didn't know where the book was going. Lots of things happened and then the book ended. I'm not quite sure where the next book is going to go, in the sense that I don't feel like there's a grand climax to the story. It seems like it's just going to be more adventures of the main characters. Maybe I'll persuade one of my friends to read it first and then tell me if I should bother. Or maybe I'll wait until the trilogy is done before and find out if there's reasonable resolution before committing to another 1,000 plus pages...

Unfortunately, while looking for the Amazon page to link to Shaman's Crossing, I discovered that Tad Williams has a somewhat newish book out, which I now feel compelled to read. I enjoyed the Thorn, Shadow, whatever trilogy, was mystified and yet captivated by the talking cat book, and was sad that I somehow felt compelled to read the entire VR soul-sucking Internet trilogy (yeah, not good, and really long - the worst combination). I'm going on a long plane ride and I'm currently contemplating going down the street to the bookstore to buy the book right now. Oy.

Prison Break could be back in late Jan/early Feb, in late Feb, or in May. Nobody knows for sure....

Amy Sherman Palladino will have another show on the WB next fall - "a Manhattan-set Tracy & Hepburn-esque series"

Totoro's favorite actress Heather Graham's show Emily's Reasons Why Not premieres on Jan 9

It sounds like the Amazing Rac 9 will start in late March, which means that I'll get to catch up on lots of House episodes until then. (You can kind of work out the dates by looking at the show which is temporarily in its time slot, which has an eight episode order.)

More information about TiVoToGo on iPods and PSPs.

Sounds like the Lost podcasts are "funny and informative", so if you're into the show, you might want to check them out. (middle of the page)

If Britney was in a musical, would I go see it? I'm sad to admit that I just might.

An FAQ about what those Nielsen rating numbers really mean

Harry Potter the 4

Here's my quick review of the new HP movie, Harry Pottah and the Goblet of Fire.
I attended an early screening of this thanks to my pal the guitar-playing quad-saber-wielding EA employee, and I have to admit that this was the biggest let-down in the series thus far.
Most of the characters got very little screen time, the students from the visiting schools were way over the top for their respective cliques, and the action in the various Triwizard events seemed very truncated. There wasn't enough Snape or basically any character not named Harry.

The biggest problem, I suppose, is that if movie5 is going to be anything like book5, it will consist of a lot of Harry angst/whining and I was hoping movie4 would be good enough to at least tie me over until 6 hits (what, 2008?).

I suppose the biggest points of this movie were Cho Chang's interesting accent and the beginnings of Harry's angst at being the 'chosen one.' Sucks to be the protagonist. Then again, even with all my complaining, it was still pretty entertaining and a requirement for anyone keeping up with this series.

To conclude, please replace all Lindsay Lohan and Hilary Duff with Emma Watson.

Also, I want you to know that I have finally cut the cord with Lost, and revoked its season pass. It's just too much like Alias, in terms of slow/non-existent resolution of plot points/twists, and without Marshall or the random funny stuff. Reading recaps will suffice. Veronica Mars, you have my Wednesday 9 pm time slot!

As my first post in forever, and as an addundum to nyanko's previous two posts (she always beats me to these things of course), I'd like to add that the SFgate link below also contains news of TivoToGo on PSP. A reference to this story on slashdot mentions real-time transcoding, which suddenly makes this so much more appealing.

PSP > iPod Video.

The number of people using TiVo2Go surprised the TiVo company

Ooh, Tivo + video iPod! Yay! I wonder how long the battery will last when playing video... How long a flight can I take, and watch video for much of the flight?

Oh dear. Penguins don't deserve this.

There won't be any new episodes of Lost between Nov 31st and Jan 11th.

Alias moves to Wednesday 10 pm for two weeks, starting Dec 7

Julian Sands, he of A Room with a View swooniness, is going to be joining the cast of 24. Don't read the blurb (fourth item) if you don't want to see small spoilers about the characters they will play.

Sigh. One of the drawbacks of business travel is that you end up flipping through USA Today. It's not as informative as the New York Times, nor as campy/funny/blatantly untrue as the NY Post. But it does give us random features, such as the fact that American focus groups are idiots, and thus we have a different, longer, more craptacular ending for the newly released remake of Pride & Prejudice.

Oh no. NBC has no taste. They have a script commitment to a show called 5-0, a comedy about a 5 foot tall rookie cop who takes on jobs that take advantage of his short stature.

AOL will have a bunch of old TV episodes as video on demand (from tvattle)

Lost is expanding to overtake the universe, or at least the neighboring time slots.

Reviews seem decent for Keira Knightley's Pride and Prejudice.

And an article about Colin Firth v. Matthew MacFayden as Mr. Darcy.

I was totally going to swear off watching any more ABC Family movies, and then they do this! Joshua Jackson is in Shadow in the Sun, which premieres this Sunday. The downside is that Claire Forlani is also in the movie, and she never seems particularly emotive. I was wondering what happened to Pacey's career.

BTW, have you noticed that it's Dawson's Creek baby season? Joey (Katie Holmes) is (duh!) expecting and Jenn (Michelle Williams) just had her baby. Maybe Dawson will have a baby soon.

I'm in denial, but TV Guide is saying that the reduction of episodes for Arrested Development pretty much means that the show is canceled.

Arrested Development has been cut back to 13 episodes. I'm so sad.

Dude, Mandy Moore is going to be on Scrubs.

Kendra of Freddy & Kendra from the Amazing Race is having a baby. Wow.

The episode order for Arrested Development has been cut back so they will be making less than 22 episodes. Things aren't looking too good for Kitchen Confidential either, and both shows have been pulled off the schedule for sweeps. Damn you, Fox.

You can watch an episode of Kitchen Confidential on MySpace

Season 6, Part I of the Sopranos will start in March; Part II of the Sopranos, and the Wire will air in September. Also, the Shield will start in January.

You can get Lost podcasts. It sounds like there will be actual content, as opposed to the Arrested Development podcast which is just a verbal summary of the episode.

Integration between Yahoo and TiVo.

Apparently the Rome episodes you see in the UK are the not the same as the ones you would see in the US. More sex, actually.

Comcast will offer The Amazing Race, CSI, Survivor, and NCIS on demand.

So I had an Undeclared "incident" on Wednesday night in that I had two discs of episodes as well as the bonus disc from Netflix. I intended to finish at least one disc so I could get a disc of the Amazing Race for the weekend. Then it occurred to me that I could watch the second disc and get two discs of the Amazing Race for the weekend. And then it occurred to me that I could finish the bonus disc and have three discs of the Amazing Race for the weekend. And Undeclared is very funny show, so it's not hard to convince yourself to watch more. Anyway, the final outcome was a 2:30 am bedtime and a lot of alarm snoozing in the morning. And the confirmation that I still am a moron.

Rachel Nichols says that Jennifer Garner is the nicest person ever. And that's why I heart Jennifer Garner. She seems so sweet!

Kitchen Confidential has gotten an order for additional scripts, so it's not dead yet. And the Office will probably get picked for a full season.

The Winter Olympics start on February 10, right in the middle of sweeps, which I'm sure will wreak havoc on the sweeps schedule.

There are additional rumors that Scrubs will be on soon. And they will be shooting 24 episodes, rather than the usual 22.

A rundown of good shows on the BBC, for the tomcat.

Jennifer Love Hewitt denies being the inspiration for John Mayer's 'Your Body is a Wonderland'. Heh.

Turner Movie Classics to Air Nine Miyazaki Films, including My Neighborr Totoro, Whisper of the Heart, Spirited Away and Porco Rosso (courtesy of AICN)

Apparently, David Cross (Tobias on Arrested Development) is part of a running gag/feud on the Colbert Report.

Yes, there's a TiVo Blog

TiVo is now being smart about shows that run a minute or two over the hour or half hour, so if you have a show that ends at 8:31, it will still record a show that starts at 8:30 if that show has a higher priority season pass, and will just clip some time off the previous show.

CBS will stream entire episodes of Threshold, five days after they air. It's not a show I watch, but is an interesting development, since this might be a future trend of posting other shows online.

The Wire could get two more seasons, and probably will come out in late 2006.

NBC will be launching a new channel full of Miami Vice, A-Team and other sleuth shows.

FX has cancelled Over There.

Prison Break's remaining 9 episodes won't be airing until May (it will run through June so it will be part of their year-round programming), so if you're waiting to find out what happpens, you've got a long time... Luckily, I tore myself away from that show, although it is one of the shows that Totoro is actually watching.

Battlestar Gallactica will probably get renewed for a third season.

Grey's Anatomy will air after the Super Bowl, which basically just means that you need to set your DVR to record for an extra four hours to make sure you get the actual episode.

There's Scrubs video blog

The new season of Dancing with the Stars will replace Alias, which is going on hiatus for Jennifer Garner's maternity leave. Unfortunately, that will conflict with the O.C. Which will win out? Although based on early episodes of the O.C., Dancing with the Stars might get priority.

I finally finished watching Dead Like Me, and I'm sad since there are no more episodes (the show got axed after its second season), and the show was laugh-out-loud funny. There were rumors at the time of its cancellation that it might be picked up by the WB or a cable network, but that seems somewhat ludicrous considering the darkness of the show's premise and the foul language, which are pretty inherent to the show. Sigh. Anyway, you should definitely watch the show! I loved it!

tvtattle.com had a link to a rave review of the script for Aaron Sorkin's new show about an SNL-like sketch show.

A TV Guide reviewer recommends a BBC show called Bodies, which is currently airing on BBC America, as well as airing the second season in the UK.

There's a TAR blog.

Apparently, there's going to be an Arrested Development, although the creator seemed to say there wouldn't be in the link above.

This season of Arrested Development will have less than 22 episodes.

There's a video tribute to Lost.

Since you know I love Armageddon, I have to link to Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett reenacting the animal cracker scene, which is an outtake from teh Pearl Harbor DVD. Hey, I think the tomcat has this DVD...

Uh oh, tomcat, Elizabethtown is not getting good reviews. In fact, it's getting worse reviews than Just Like Heaven. Also, Domino, the 'Keira Knightley is naughty and somewhat naked', is getting horrendous reviews as well.

Sandy from the OC is going to release a CD!

Sweet! There will be 21 episodes in the fifth season of the Shield, rather than the usual 13.

I have to tell you that my Google homepage, which I use to check a bunch of RSS feeds, is like fricking Brigadoon. For some reason, which I haven't figured out, am too lazy to research, and am currently blaming on the "firewall", I can only ocassionally access my personalized homepage and the google.com homepage. Mostly, I get 'page not found', usually for the entire morning, and much of the afternoon. Sigh. I'm a victim to the whims of the routers. And seriously, it's Google. And yet I can still run searches through the Google toolbar. Go figure.

The tomcat is mocking me because every week I say that I'm done with Lost, since I find the show to be overhyped and I now officially have no faith that JJ Abrams can give any kind of plot resolution that will not make me feel enfuriated by the lameness. Alias, I'm talking to you! So anyway, I'll say it here so that you call can mock me as well, if I'm still watching in a month or two.

One of the TV Guide columnists documents all the little clues/easter eggs in the first two Lost episodes

This site may also have more goodies.

Arrested Development will be back on 11/7, with a full hour. Just the description of the episodes almost made me burst out laughing in the middle of a meeting.

You can download commentary for the pilot episode of Veronica Mars, and watch it on your own!

Teevee has a dead pool for fall shows, and they've posted their handicapping.

I'm kind of excited about this ABC Family movie starring Sarah Chalke and Tom Cavanaugh.

This is for totoro... O'Reilly Radar >It sounds like HBO is doing some suspicious things on BitTorrent to thwart downloaders.

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia gets renewed by FX; Starved gets cancelled. (from tvtattle.com)

Dean finally has a pilot that survives - Supernatural has gotten a full season. I guess Gilmore Girls alumni are doing pretty well for themselves (Chad Michael Murray, Adam Brody, and Jared Padalecki). But I sure would have liked to have seen Dean as the Young McGyver.

There are more crazy Lost websites to explore, including the Hanso Foundation and Dharma Industries.

Gah.The Tom and Katie news had died down for while, which was really just the calm before the storm. It's baby time!

Ashton is doing a reality show pairing college seniors with senior citizens on a race across the US, following the success of Beauty and the Geek. Frightening.

Everybody Hates Chris gets a full season! Go, UPN!

What are the numbers on Lost? (question five on this page might have the answer...)

Oh, it sounds like reports of Kitchen Confidential being dead may have been incorrect. It's off the schedule because of baseball, but some outlets may have interpreted that as the cancelled kind of hiatus.

Rob Thomas talks about Veronica Mars!

Oh. My. God. A fish plane. I can only hope I get this as my plane. This is way cooler than the Disney character plane.

I saw Serenity this past weekend and really liked it! I have continuing hopes of it becoming a mini-series on Sci Fi or something like that. The movie was fun, but would have been more fascinating if it played out over a tv season. And I just learned that the tomcat (the boyfriend) is a registered browncoat. Heh. Dork.

This NYTimes article makes a passing reference that Kitchen Confidential has already been yanked from Fox's schedule.

Production on Sex, Love & Secrets (the one with Busy Phillips) has already been suspended. And Reunion has gotten an order for four more scripts. And there are rumors that My Name is Earl may move to Thursdays to help shore up that night.

And I'm sad that the Sprint guy is no more. I'll miss the "Get a backup for O'Neill/Get Captain and Tennille" and Charo commercials.

(all of these links are courtesy of tvtattle)

The first question in this column has some predictions about which Tuesday 9 pm shows will survive.

Quick little interviews about two shows I enjoy: Grey's Anatomy and Everwood.

Veronica Mars' ratings are improving.

Family Guy, American Dad, and the Office get picked up for additional episodes.

Prison Break has also gotten a full season.

I'm very sad. Arrested Development got lower ratings than 7th Heaven. Kitchen Confidential, which I found to be not funny enough to keep a season pass, isn't doing any better.

In case you missed the premiere of Everybody Hates Chris, you can watch on Google Video.

Veronica Mars will be reairing over the weekend after the original episode is shown, so you can watch Lost and Veronica Mars without resorting to a secondary taping device, or watching in real time.

Heh. Everybody Hates Chris may have beaten Joey in some demographics.

Woo! The first fall show bites the dust, and it's Head Cases. It has been axed and some shows haven't even made their premieres yet. Impressive.

Hoo boy, there's going to be a 3-D episode of Medium. You can get your glasses in a TV Guide issue. Wow.

There's going to be a Fraggle Rock movie.

Everwood will be showing in syndication on ABC Family Channel next fall. I guess this will give me the chance to finally catch up on the third season.

Sadly, Arrested Development and Kitchen Confidential had terrible ratings for their premieres. Kitchen Confidential was fun, but not brilliant - I might watch a few more episodes to see if it improves... That is, if it stays around long enough...

TV Gal reviews the shows starting this week. And apparently, on this week's House, Elvis Costello will be singing a cover of Christina Aguilera's Beautiful. Seriously? Does that seem kind of wrong?

Apparently Kristin Bell sang Fame, while wearing leg warmers, last night at the Emmy broadcast. Also, there are rumors that Scrubs may be back in October. (These news bits are hidden throughout the linked blog.)

Buy your own Amazing Purse!

Duck Tales and Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers are coming out on DVD, so one can only hope that Tale Spin (another integral part of Disney Afternoon) is close behind.

With the premieres of the fall shows comes the entertainment of watching which shows will bite the dust first. I'm not too excited about most of the new shows so this year will be more fun and less of the "is my show going to get axed" drama...

Head Cases got terrible ratings, so it might be one of the first on the chopping block. Poor Chris O'Donnell.

Joss Whedon may have a cameo on Veronica Mars.

Bush is giving an address on Thursday night which will throw off the premieres of a number of Thursday shows.

Glarkware is selling some pretty hilarious postcards for the Lost island.

The best moment of this week's episode of Prison Break? An a cappella version of Luis Miguel's Eres Tu! The best song ever, which we had to learn in my high school Spanish class! I still remember the words!

E! Online has a big feature on fall shows.

Surprisingly, Just Like Heaven is getting decent early ratings, which gives me a lot more hope than if it got 23% right out of the gate... Also, I think Reese isn't actually dead in the movie, so the ending might not include a suicide/go to heaven pact.

TV Gal reviews the shows starting this week. I'm excited about House and Gilmore Girls, but the rest of the new shows for this week aren't too exciting.

I have to say that Prison Break isn't really living up to my expectations. I was hoping it would be as addictive and nail-biting as the first season of 24, but I'm just not finding it to be very compelling. It's now on the season pass death watch.

But, over the weekend, I watched Dead Like Me, which was really quite funny and entertaining. Even my roommates get sucked into sitting down and watching an episode, which is more than can be said for the other crap that I watch. Jasmine Guy is a side character, with rather unfortunate makeup and hair, as well as Marie, the crazy sister from the second season of 24. Yeah, I don't really care what her real name is. So, to close, I'd recommend it - it's definitely a fun show to watch.

Rumor has it that Tara Reid's E! Online mind-numbingly lame show Taradise has already been killed.

Kristin from E! Online picks her favorite shows for the fall. I have to say I'm not really excited about most of her choices.

Get your Lost trading cards

Courtesy of tvtattle.com, the Chappelle's Show with Sarah Silverman. This one is for the tomcat.

The Skating with Celebrities contestants are announced, including Dave Coulier (Full House), Nancy Kerrigan, Kristy Swanson (the original Buffy), and Debbie Gibson.

Brave, SciFi and USA will be reairing a numbering of NBC's fall shows, including My Name is Earl and The Office.

The Wire is starting production on their fourth season in a suburb of Baltimore this month.

There's another crazy official Lost site, filled with lots of Easter eggs. (third item)

Charlize Theron will be on five episodes of Arrested Development.

The new show, Prison Break, starts tonight. I've heard nothing bug good reviews up until now, but there's finally a review that is less enthusiastic, but not particularly negative, in case you'd like to see the opposing opinion...

Over the weekend, I watched Bollywood/Hollywood. It was a fun movie, although it got somewhat terrible reviews; but it falls under my "lowered standards for romatic comedies" clause of movie standards. It was a bit odd and wacky, but if you go in with somewhat lower expectations, I think it's very enjoyable. The songs weren't translated into English, which I think made them more fun than the songs in Bride and Prejudice.

Best song title: "My heart is a pigeon coop. Come in!"
TV actors from other series: A surprise and very short appearance by Jessica Pare, the main girl from Jack & Bobby.

My parents have now been bitten by the Wire bug, so they watched two discs of the first season over the weekend. My evil plan is working!

Amy Jo Johnson (of Felicity) will be on Wildfire as a jockey. Scary.

Yes, roomie (aka mbmbl) has fallen victim to HBO's the Wire. She just finished watching the first season. Totoro is so far resisting the the pull, having only watched a few episodes, but I think that's just because he's playing too much World of Warcraft! More Wire, less Warcraft!

The airport restaurant guide

Okay, this is off topic, but here's my airport restaurant guide, to get you through the perils of eating in the many airports around the nation. Mmmm, food. These are some good place to check out that you might not encounter in your neck of the woods. I personally am excited every time I go through an airport with one of these places, rather than the usual Pizza Hut and Burger King.

Garduno's Restaurant - outside security of the Albuquerque airport - a great place for tasty smoothies and blended drinks, as well as the classic and wonderful sopaipilla (yummy with honey!), which is a New Mexico staple.

Popeye's - Atlanta (inside security), Houston (inside security), New Orleans (outside security)- everyone loves fried chicken. I recommend the spicy recipe, with a biscuit and a side of red beans and rice. I eat it every time I can get my hands on it!

Potbelly Sandwich Works - Chicago Midway Airport - scrumptious toasted sandwiches! And don't wander the many concourses of O'Hare looking for it because it's just not there. And there's nothing sadder than not getting your yummy sandwich, especially after lugging your luggage all over.

Sonic Drive-in - New Orleans (outside security) - I can't explain why a drive-in chain that actually does carhop service has a branch at the airport, but boy, are their shakes yummy. I like banana, but I'm slowly being won over by the pineapple shake as well. CC swears by the strawberry limeade, and the chicken toaster. I'm not a fan of the breakfast toaster, but a large shake will tide me through many hours of a flight.

Pappasito's - Houston E terminal - Burritos with a fabulous rice/cheese something or another. Anyway, a great burrito.

Fuddruckers - Boston (Delta terminal/A) [outside security] - Tasty hamburgers, as well as a mean brownie. Yum! I believe one of tomcat's friends has gone to the airport with no flight impending, just to eat here.

Legal Seafood - Boston (Terminal C) - Great chowder, as well as fantastic crab roll sandwich. The rest of the seafood is probably good, but I never get past the chowder and the crab sandwich.

Qdoba - Seattle (between the B and C concourses) - The tomcat loves the queso burrito. I tried this place for the first time, and I'm still finding my favorite meal, but the steak in my last burrito was quite scrumptious.

Ivar's - Seattle (between the B and C concourses) - A Seattle classic restaurant; the chowder is very good, but don't forget a dash of tabasco!

Paradise Bakery and Cafe - Phoenix (outside the Southwest check-in area, outside security) - Cookies! I particuarly like the mini chipper cookies.

TWOP does recaplets for the 2004-2005 season of the shows that they cover. Hilarious, as to be expected.

And...Mandy Moore has her own clothing line

Over the weekend, I watched Bride and Prejudice, a Bollywood style, but still pretty Americanized version of Pride and Prejudice. Sadly, it wasn't that cute, but it was a pretty funny "Hey!" moment, when I saw Rory Gilmore come onscreen as Darcy's little sister.

Spiky balls of pain: one and a half.
Predictability: Five crystal balls. But that's because it's based on a book, that has been made into like 500 movies including the upcoming one with Keira Knightley.
Hotness of the main character: Negative one ball of fire. Kind of a poor man's Bill Pullman, but less endearing. Maybe that's because he's supposed to be prideful. Or was he prejudice? Hmmm.
Other TV actors who show up: Naveen Andrews (Sayid on Lost), Alexis Bledel (Rory on Gilmore Girls)

Ha. An OC fashion collection available through Amazon. Now I can look like Summer too!

Uh oh, Robin Hobb's new book is coming out on Sept. 6. It's a new trilogy. I'm a bit afraid to read it, because it might have the same crack-like addictive qualities as her other series. And yet, it's so hard to tear myself away. Hmmm, maybe I'll reserve it at the library.

And this is a link for scheng, the cheesy romance novels about jewels are the Donovans series by Elizabeth Lowell. A fun read, although my friend cc says that they get kind of repetitive after a while.

Thanks to cc for the heads up on both of these items!

I had to skip a second season episode of the Amazing Race because Windows Media Player was being persnickety. But the tomcat (the boyfriend) was right, VideoLAN can play everything. In case you're looking for a good movie player and don't want to download a bunch of codecs. Now I can watch season 2 in its entirety, if a bit out of order.

Red Eye on RT

With all the recent obsession about Rachel McAdams, nyanko should be keeping a close eye on this page. Who knows, maybe it'll actually be worth watching, even if the trailer was traumatic.

I just started watching some of the episodes of Season 2 of the Amazing Race, and hiliariously, I have managed to get episodes with Polish (I think) subtitles. Luckily, the teams have been in South America so far, so I've been able to understand without English translations of what the contestants are saying, but this could get challenging... I think I now know the Polish word for "Ready" (though the pronunciation could be a problem) and I might learn some other common TAR words, like uh, "baby."

Prison Break

Prison Break is a new drama out on Fox this fall with an intriguing concept. A man breaks into prison, in order to break his brother out. The pilot contains a cool setup sequence and introduces the major players in this, and we know the show will have a finite timeline (like 24 or something) since the man being broken out of prison is on death row.

I've never seen any work by Wentworth Miller before, but he plays Michael, who is convinced that his brother (played by Dominic Purcell, whom we know from "John Doe" and Blade: Trinity) is innocent of his crime and thus needs to be broken out. Basically, though, the show is all about Michael, and it rocks. I haven't had an hour of television fly by so fast in a long time.

There's a raving review over at thefutoncritic, that goes into more detail, but I'm definitely looking forward to the start of this season.
There is some hilarious symbolism at the end of the episode, which kind of fails in my opinion, but in general the show moves at a quick pace and you can sense that Michael has calculated his every move, and it keeps you guessing.
On top of all this, there are hints of a conspiracy working to kill off John Doe, and this brings an added component of outside influence working against Michael who's on the inside.

So, uh. Watch it. and stuff.

A&E will be airing past seasons of 24 in a mini-marathon format. Starting September 12th, the first season will be shown in four hour chunks every Monday night. Sweet!

Oy, Wildfire, the ABC Family horse/juvenile delinquent show, has been renewed for a second season. I want you to know that I finally did revoke its season pass.

JLH sees dead people

Ghost Whisperer is the first new TV project for JLH in a while, and if you've seen the commercials for it you know exactly what's up.
It's like The Sixth Sense, only not as scary, and no bizarre plot twists. Actually a reasonably entertaining show, JLH has insane bangs and there's practically zero comic relief. They make some odd attempt to freak you out with ghosts appearing and dream sequences, and JLH herself has some awkward acting moments, but it's okay.
Well, there is one kind of hilarious scene where JLH acts as interpreter between the dead and the living, repeating everything the dead guy says. I guess this is supposed to be dramatic though, cause people are crying. hmm.

Also of note, the only two other major actors in the show are JLH's husband Jim, played by Michael from Miss Match, and her co-worker/friend Andrea, played by Charlie (Ross's love interest in the last season) from Friends. I think I get more kicks out of identifying actors in these new shows than watching the show itself.

Huh. A live episode of the West Wing might be in the works.

Weird. CBS will be distributing DVDs with previews of their fall TV shows in Williams-Sonoma. Novelty colored kitchenware + crime procedurals. Hmmm. (from tvtattle)

Thanks to the tomcat (the boyfriend), we can all learn what a Jetrosexual is.

Lots of random scoop from TV Guide Online: Jess will be back on Gilmore Girls for at least an episode (gah!), Brendan Fehr of Roswell will be joining CSI: Miami (I love tracking the continuing "careers" of ex-WB starlets/heartthrobs, Jared Padalecki films Supernatural in Vancouver (keep your eyes peeled if you're there!) and on Charmed, Darryl the detective has been let go (sad) and Leo the ex-whitelighter/husband/man who is really bad a fake crying is only going to be on a limited number of episodes.

high-res video on the go

nyanko mentioned earlier that I am a recent recipient of a Sony PSP as a birthday gift (thanks to all my awesome friends). I'm told that this thing plays games, but my real interest is in using it as a portable video/web-browsing device.
For those of you who haven't seen one yet, the PSP sports a very sharp 16:9 LCD screen, making it optimal for viewing all this crazy widescreen stuff that's so popular these days. I've managed to successfully convert a small 5-minute .avi TV-show file into the PSP format, and it looks great.
Even more promising, a recent firmware patch to the PSP has enabled H.264/AVC video. The tool I'm watching the most closely is pspvideo9 and I'm hoping that by the time I can dig up enough cash to buy a large memory stick (I wish Sony would learn what 'standard' means) I'll be watching The Wire on my PSP everywhere I go.

On a related note, all my ranting about the PSP got nyanko thinking about it, but it seems like a pure portable-tv solution might be found in the upcoming Creative Zen Vision. Built-in TivoToGo and a much larger storage capacity for the win. Lame 4:3 aspect ratio screen for the loss.

Courtesy of kottke.org, Fantasy Fashion League!

There have been some good reviews for Slings & Arrows, a Best in Show-esque TV show about the behind the scenes chaos of a Shakespearean company. It's a Canadian show, now airing on the Sundance channel, but lo and behold, it has Rachel McAdams!

I can't wait until the new season of Arrested Development starts. No Touching!

Poor Key West! They're hosting the next Real World.

Kelly from TAR7 has posted her journal from the race as well as some stories about things that didn't make it into the show. (Click on The Race section) There are some interesting behind the scenes anecdotes.

Battlestar Galactica's Executive Producer is doing podcasts that are commentary on the episode, meant to be listened to with the episode... Do you think it's going to feel like people who take their own recordings of Pink Floyd when they go to see the Wizard of Oz in the theater? Am I the only one who knew people who did that? But I guess you don't have to wait for a DVD to get commentary, or have to hope that the studio will cough up the money to put the extras on the DVD.

Note to self: I should do an Armageddon watch-along podcast... Mwahahaha!

This is for the tomcat (the boyfriend), who inexplicably likes Tara Reid, even though she's well... Tara Reid...

Tara Reid's stint as host of Wild On on E! will start on August 10

Billy Bob Thornton has said that the worst thing he did for money was Armageddon. Sweet. (Okay, that's a tiny anecdote in a story about how Oscar winners end up in terrible movies.)

iPods get too mainstream...

So I'm a total sucker for dance music, and there appears to be a disturbing trend of remixing cheesy songs from the 80s and 90s. Some of the more popular remixes don't seem completely odd - for example, "I Touch Myself" has continued to be popular, but really, who was asking for dance versions of "What a Feeling", "Easy Lover", "More than This", "Listen to Your Heart", and the classic Steve Winwood song Valerie, now rewritten to be "Call on Me"? What next? Toad the Wet Sprocket, Live (with the long i) and Collective Soul remixes?

CBS announces their premiere dates for fall shows.

Charlie Murphy says Chapelle's Show is over.

For some unfathomable reason, I seem to really like Amanda Righetti. She seems likable, so I keep getting excited when she's in a new show. I watched the North Shore (so sue me) just to catch her, and it wasn't worth it. I was excited about Reunion, but the futon critic isn't impressed with the first episode. I think I'm starting to learn my lesson, which means I'll probably keep away, but we'll see if I can make myself obey reason...

Hey, Jennifer Aniston's new movie might be kind of good. Or at least the trailer looks good. But we have Kevin Costner on the upswing of looking pretty good and Mark Ruffalo fulfilling Totoro's theory of taking on the mantle of romantic comedy king (although I'm not entirely sure if it's a romantic comedy or more of a comedy/romance).

Movies.com has little movie review episodes with the two grumpy Muppets Waldorf and Statler. It's not stellar, but there are some funny bits and in their first episodes they have some pretty funny things to say about War of the Worlds. They also have some silly ratings, like "on an old man driving scale of 0 to 35, I'd drive 10 mph to see this..." Also, they define dej-HAH-vous, as when you've seen all the funny parts of a movie in the preview...

A long Joss Whedon interview. (courtesy of Ain't It Cool News) He helped with writing on Toy Story!

Tomcat (the boyfriend) claims that I don't give him credit for all the links that he refers me to, but since he hasn't yet given in to posting on this blog, he will get no credit. So I found this all by myself. Although on second thought, given the tragedy of this link, I take that back. He watched this trailer the whole way through... Yikes.

Anyway, Reese Witherspoon is an anal doctor who never gets out, and then dies, and haunts her apartment, which is sublet by Mark Ruffalo, and he can see her as a ghost, and maybe they fall in love? Really. I'm not quite sure how this can end "well", unless there is a one sided suicide love pact, and that doesn't sound all that romantic or comedic. Watch the trailer.

Rachel : Wedding Crashers :: Alicia : Clueless

Since nyanko seems to be recently obsessed with Rachel McAdams, I thought I'd mention that I just watched Wedding Crashers, and I am fairly certain that this will go down as the movie that defines Rachel's cuteness.

This is in the same league as Alicia on Clueless, or Elisha on The Girl Next Door. And that's really saying something. After watching both Mean Girls and The Notebook (yes, I really did watch The Notebook, it's not my fault), my general grade on Rachel's cute factor was a "meh." That will have to be reevaluated with this new data.

Hopefully she doesn't just disappear like Alicia did... Red Eye anyone?

Bashing on John Cusack. Kind of funny.

TiVoToGo on your PSP - this is very intriguing. Though very outdated (from last March). I'm a bit slow on the trends...

E! Online has reopened message boards for the Watch with Kristin column/area/topics. Kristin dumps random nuggets of TV gossip into the forum announcements which is kind of fun if you have nothing to do and want to kill five minutes...

I've heard that frequently movie posters are just body doubles with the actors' heads Photoshopped on but it just me or does that seem particularly likely in this art? Jessica Alba's head seems not quite right in terms of lighting/angle, and also sizing, but Paul Walker looks particularly out of sorts... His head seems bigger than his torso. It's just....weird.

An early review/plot summary of Red Eye, which basically says the movie is crap, with three different stories/movies hooked together. The review completely spoils the movie, but you weren't going to go anyway, and the whole tragedy of it as described seems pretty funny. As long as you didn't pay hard-earned cash to see the movie...

Mandy Moore shows up in Entourage, and they reference A Walk to Remember. Awesome!

Totoro Edit: If you've ever seen Entourage before, you know how annoying everyone on that show is, but this is probably one of the funniest episode-long storylines thus far. Mandy's looking less cute as the years go on, she's turning kind of a permanent shade of bronze, but the plot involving Vince + Mandy is hilarious.

And here's the link to the Fox Podcasts.

Fox is going to be doing podcasts for their shows, as well as recaps of certain shows such as 24 and Arrested Development. Hmm, Arrested Development. That might get me on the podcast bandwagon...

ABC's premiere dates for the fall shows. Most of their shows will begin the week of Sept. 19th.

Damn you, trailer lackeys

So, I've started to really like Rachel McAdams. She's so cute, and really, the other twentysomething actresses are falling off the likability map with an alarming frequency (Katie Holmes, I'm talking to you!) Anyway, I saw Mr. and Mrs. Smith a few weeks back, and the trailer for Red Eye showed. I'll give you a little summary of my thoughts while watching the trailer.

"Mmmm, I love popcorn. Trailers! I love trailers too! Airports... Hey, Rachel McAdams! I like her! She was cute in the Notebook! Aw, romantic comedy - she'll be good in romantic comedy! Yay! Tex-mex! Airplanes! Love... wait, why did his eye turn red? Is he a borg? AGH! AGH! AGH! AGH! It's a scary movie! AGH! Agh! Waaaah! I'm not seeing this movie!"

And thus, I was completely scammed by those little evil trailer gnomes. Luckily I figured out the movie premise before I got to the movie theater, otherwise I would have been really sad.

Veronica Mars' creator had an alternate ending for who killed Lilly Kane, in case the planned ending got leaked. (Spoilers on the season finale of VM from last May)

Rumor has it that Dean Cain might be in talks to guest on Smallville.

Bizarre! A movie set around oyster farmers!

Totoro just got a PSP and sounds just as excited about the possibility of using it to watch TV shows while on the move, as about playing games. He'll blog about it if he gets it working. Maybe this means that Totoro will actually watch TV, and thus have more to blog about...

And the tomcat (the boyfriend) is going to be out of the country for two months, so I might be babysitting/tending his Tivo during that time. That would make my household a three tivo household. Scary!

The stated goal for this weekend was to watch TV until my eyes bled, as well as finishing the book that I've been reading for the past seven months. I was partially saved from myself by the fact that one of my Netflix DVDs was cracked when it arrived, and thus unplayable. This gave me the time to finish my other two DVDs, get to TiVo Zero, watch one episode from the Amazing Race Season 1, and finish my book.

Sadly, I didn't find the book all that compelling, which was disappointing, but at least it's done so I can donate it to the free book shelf at work. Of course, it should have been a sign that it has taken me this long to finish the book... So it's time to find a new book, and watch even more crap! Woo!

Heh. An article on Dean from Gilmore Girls and uh, Dean from Supernatural.

NBC's premiere dates for their fall schedule. And really, there aren't any shows that I particularly care about, at this time, since Scrubs isn't on the schedule.

Winnie Cooper does math! And publishes!

Premiere dates for the WB shows this fall. Gimore Girls starts on 9/13.

Veronica Mars premieres September 21st.

Four episodes of Veronica Mars will be aired on CBS on 7/29, 8/5, and 8/12. So this is a chance to get hooked on this great little show. Woo!

TV Review: Bones

Bones is a new show coming out on Fox this Fall, and Nyanko has previously posted the futon critic's review of the pilot.

Their review is probably a lot snarkier and funnier than what I'm about to say, but the bottom line is that it looks formulaic and mediocre. I'm the kind of person who will give any show at least a couple eps before writing it off, especially if there's a shortage of stuff to watch (Nyanko almost disowned me for watching The Closer past the first episode), but it's unclear that I'll even care when this show actually premieres.

The primary attraction to this show is, of course, David Boreanaz as one of the stars. The titular character is a female "forensic anthropologist" who can look at a decayed corpse and, with her team of geniuses, generate a 3-D image of the dead person, a holographic animation of how they were killed, and a profile of the deceased including height, weight, hobbies, favorite food, and favorite Backstreet Boy. My powers of suspension of disbelief are powerful indeed, but if this is how all of their cases are solved, I'll have to categorize this one under "superhero shows."

Apparently, the Incredibles DVD has an easter egg that is a four-minute version of the file done entirely with sock puppets. This I have to see.

I watched Hooking Up on ABC and it was pretty cute. The women seem likable, if somewhat quirky; the men seem less endearing. The bad dates are pretty funny, although one of the women was horrified that she had to pay for her half of the meal. Not sure what to think about that kind of mindset with respect to paying for meals.

Also, I have now obtained the first four seasons of the Amazing Race courtesy of the tomcat (the boyfriend). So it's going to be a fun week!

I taped the season finale of 24 for Roomie (my college roommate - no longer a roommate, but I'm sticking with the name), and as a bonus, she's also getting three seasons of the Wire. It's all part of my evil plan! Hmm, maybe I should give her Veronica Mars too!

Cordy will be on Veronica Mars! Maybe it will become a Buffy reunion universe with more stars joining Alyson Hannigan and Charisma Carpenter!

The Brothers Grimm trailer doesn't look too bad, and Matt Damon is wearing a funny wig...

There's a new show starting on Thursday at 9 pm on ABC called Hooking Up, about 12 Manhattan women who are doing Internet dating. TV Gal liked it, so I'm going to check it out. It's not like I have anything else to watch.

I'm scarred by the last two Queer Eye episodes - one involved a guy slowly cutting a live lobster in half. Apparently, it's supposed to be somewhat humane, but the guy did the move wrong, so it was horrifying to watch the lobster squirm around. And finally, the latest episode of Wildfire was as lame as the last one, so it's on the season pass deathwatch. Horses + juvenile delinquents + two hot boys should have been ratings gold! The WB would have made it work.

It looks like TAR 8 (Family Edition) is making a circuit of the United States. They've been spotted in Virginia, Delaware and Pennsylvania. (Note: this is a spoiler board, but lately the discussions have mainly been around the cities that the race is going to, rather than who they've seen/who wins/etc.)

Another rave review for 'My Name is Earl' on NBC, which will be on Tuesdays at 9 pm.

The next season of the Bachelor will be filmed in Paris. Perhaps the folks at ABC were inspired and swept away by the romance of Tom's proposal to Katie...

Chappelle's Show, Entourage & House

So, the summer lull in TV (especially since Dancing with the Stars is over!) has given me time to watch a bunch of TV shows on DVD or in reruns. Here's thoughts on a couple of shows:

Chappelle's Show: Tomcat (the boyfriend) loves this show, and I have to say that there were a few sketches that were hilarious (although you hate yourself for laughing because the stuff is really *so* offensive), but overall, I thought the show was pretty uneven. It's funny, but not consistently funny enough for me to bother watching/renting it.

Entourage: This show has had a lot of hype and a number of TV columnists really like it, but I thought it was really blah. The characters are stupid, the plot is pretty non-existent, and it's not witty in any way. Totoro warned me that he didn't it very good, so I guess I'll have to start trusting his reviews over the crazy TV columnists. Anyone out there have thoughts in favor of the show? Can you tell me what's actually good about it?

House: This is one of the few shows that Totoro actually watches and I've found it quite enjoyable, but I don't think I'll find it compelling enough to want to see every episode. I mean, I have to keep space on my TiVo for Wildfire (which really wasn't very good in its second episode, which was surprisingly disappointing for me - yeah, I'm obviously in denial).

p.s. Tomcat is doing a two month internship in a different city this fall, and he and his friends appear to be prepared to take their TiVos with them. Insanity or the only sane thing to do?

The summer press tour, where networks hype their fall shows, will be starting this week. That means we'll start seeing more information about premiere dates, as well as early reviews and thoughts from critics about the new shows premiering this fall.

Fox's fall premiere dates are announced. Prison Break (which is getting good buzz) starts Aug 29; the OC and Reunion start Sept 8; Arrested Development starts Sept 19.

The Amazing Race 1 DVD set has been officially announced!

Heh. Celebrities delivering Amazon orders. You can watch the videos!

the futon critic has some pretty funny reviews of Bones and the Unit, both premiering this fall.

Also, the tomcat (the boyfriend) and I watched the entire season three of the Wire over the weekend. It was pretty darn hilarious, as well as great TV. Watching drug dealers use Robert's Rules of Order to run their meetings is not to be missed!

Seriously, I think this is the scariest stamp I've ever seen. And he looks kind of like Dr. Evil. I'm not sure what to think of people who choose this over the puppies and wildlife stamps. Unfortunately, the tomcat (my boyfriend) has these. Maybe I'm still scarred from college organic chemistry classes...

MTV's soon-to-be-launched gay oriented channel, Logo, will be airing all episodes of Wonderfalls. One can only hope that this will allow a larger set of the population to be exposed to the genius that was Wonderfalls... (I think the launch date for the channel is still yet to be announced...)

So, I read the bio of Rachel McAdams, and it occurred to me that she is 10 years older than Lindsay Lohan. The other two 'Mean Girls' are 9 years younger and 6 years younger than McAdams. I just can't imagine the interaction of the girls on the set with the twentysomething, and the rest of the teenyboppers. Perhaps Lindsay Lohan was still in her sweet stage at that time...

I finally got around to watching The Muppets Wizard of Oz, and I have to say I thought it was one of the best Muppet specials I've seen since Muppets Take Manhattan (which isn't really saying much). It had penguins, Dorothy living in a trailer park (and thus the Wicked Witch getting crushed by a double-wide), and Toto the King Prawn. I thought the jokes were pretty cute and witty enough, and when the songs weren't that catchy (they used new songs), they were at least short. So overall, a quite enjoyable show!

Scrubs has been picked up for syndication (sixth item), but episodes won't start running until September 2006. Apparently, there was low demand (unthinkable!) so that's why it's being pushed out to next year.

the friend weeder outer

Okay, here's the bottom line. You can't be my friend unless you've at least checked out a few of the shows listed below. If you watch and hate these shows, so be it, but you have to give them a chance because they're awesome!

1. The Wire
2. Coupling (Seasons 1-3)
3. Arrested Development (preferably the first season)
4. Scrubs
5. Veronica Mars
6. Freaks and Geeks
7. Wonderfalls
8. The Shield

That's all I can think of now, but I'm sure I'll come up with some late breaking additions. You have all this time during the summer, so you can check out these shows in reruns or on DVD. It's not like you have anything else to watch, or anything better to do, like get out and play in the sun!

I did a Veronica Mars marathon this weekend and finally watched the second half the season. It was awesome, and everyone should definitely at least check it out. Unfortunately, for some unfathomable reason, UPN isn't running the season in its entirety over the summer so you'll have to wait for the DVD, or borrow from your friends (like me!).

In another Wire-related story, tomcat (the boyfriend) watched the whole second season of the Wire in 24 hours. Now I'm trying to persuade him to not watch the third season until this weekend so I can watch it with him. We'll see if his will power holds out. He claims he hasn't watched it yet, but I wouldn't put it past him to watch it on his own and just watch with me again and act "surprised" at different plot turns.

TV Review: Supernatural

Supernatural is a new WB show coming out this fall, in the time-slot following Gilmore Girls on Tuesday nights. Clearly there is some hope that those who liked Dean in GG will follow up with an interest in his latest role.

First off, I was not expecting to actually be shocked by a WB show. I have a fairly clear idea of the kind of things I expect from the WB, and there is never any blood involved. There's actual paranormal violence going on in here, and it's not the kind of stuff you see in Charmed.
The formula for this show is a tried and true one, and it looks like we're going to get to follow "Dean" and his brother Dean around the country as they hunt (their actual word) demons for fun and sport, oh and to avenge a dark past. Each episode is likely to be an isolated case they deal with in some corner of the country, with an overarching plot line tying it together.

Crime shows and supernatural things are all the rave these days, so this fits within that formula. I wish there was more funny, but all the shows I'm watching these days seem to dispense with that, so I can deal. The pilot definitely worked on me, so I'll be following up with this show come the Fall season.

Seriously though, who thought it was a good idea to call Dean's brother Dean?

Expectation: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Actual: more like Lost, but with CSI-like episodes
Bottom line: As long as the main characters don't start annoying me, I'll be watching.

The Simpsons: The Movie?

The details on this are so sketchy that it's hard to say if it's real or not, but one of my favorite sites with info about future flicks is saying that a movie based on The Simpsons is indeed in the works.

Check out the 6/7/2005 entry on http://movies.yahoo.com/mv/upcoming/

What do you do when you realize that someone you like a lot, like your boyfriend, turns out to be a total TV skank? When we were on vacation, I caught him watching the Backstreet Boys Behind the Music. No, really. I had VH1 on before the show started, but I left the room for at least 20 minutes, and when I got back, he was still watching it. Seriously!

And he watches total dreck on TV - Hit Me Baby, One More Time; and other terrible terrible shows. I have to admit that I bought him a TiVo so that I wouldn't have to a) watch his warp-speed and incredibly annoying channel surfing and b) watch the sub-par comedians on Comedy Central. But I guess I should have realized that this aspect wasn't really going away... Sigh.

I still love Summer! And Rachel Bilson is doing a movie, so I can only hope that she will be just as cute in her other roles. And hopefully, it won't turn out as tragically as some of the Dawson's Creek kids' movies, and that it won't go down the insane personal life drama that is Katie Holmes.

A bunch of the networks are going to preview their fall shows on DirecTV. Unfortunately, this means that they are going to show clips from their fall shows, as opposed to my first thought when I saw this, that they would sneak peek entire episodes. This seems kind of lame, but maybe it will give people an idea of what shows to run screaming from, so they can pass on the news to those of us without DirecTV.

And in reference to the Cutting Edge post from a few days ago, I'd like to say that I saw that movie in a sneak preview during middle school, when they gave out free passes to a bunch of the goody two-shoes kids. And you know what? I loved it! I guess goody two shoes middle schoolers were a target demographic...

Okay, this has nothing to do with TV, but now San-X, the same company that does Nyanko stuff, now has a character that is a dog and is furniture. Genius!

And even more dog/furniture madness.

TVTome = TV.com

You have all probably noticed this already, but it appears that our beloved (and plagiarizing) TV Tome has been melded into TV.com, which appears to be much fancier and a lot more responsive, thank goodness.

Supernatural

Coming soon, my review of the pilot for Supernatural, Jared "Dean" Padalecki's new show coming up this Fall.

Can't use up all my content at once. Let's just start with a teaser. In this show, Dean's name is Sam, and his brother's name is Dean. That is the awesome. Oh, and one of the executive producers is McG.

TV Review: The Inside

Yet another show on Fox by Tim Minear & Co (Firefly, Wonderfalls, etc), this one coming in on the already insanely crowded crime-drama market.

The Inside focuses around a specialized FBI task force, and specifically on a new member of the team who happens to be a cute girl with a Dark Past (tm). I was looking for something that was like a combination of CSI and Wonderfalls, but instead I get a pretty dark drama with very little funny, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

It stars a girl I've never seen before, and IMDB doesn't help me much. However, you will also find Jayne from Firefly/Serenity, the sister from Wonderfalls, and the guy who played Steve on the ill-fated (for good reason) Coupling US.

Without going into any kind of plot detail, here are my first reactions, summarized:

Good: Interesting cases (so far), dark undertones, no characters are too annoying.

Bad: Not enough funny, everyone tries their hardest not to smile, they beat you over the head with "character" development (maybe they feel the need to establish character roles in the early episodes, the nice guy who empatizes, the whatever-it-takes boss, etc.)

Not what I expected, but decent nonetheless. I will continue watching with the expectation it will stay interesting.
You know, as opposed to just watching cause it's the only thing out now.

On a related note. Wow I posted. Shock.

Sweet, there's a reality show about girls who go to princess boot camp (second item).

I may have scored a connection for getting GSN's Amazing Race reruns, via my roommate's parents. Hopefully it will work out! Unfortunately, it may be supplied via VCR tapes, but I'm suffering from Amazing Race withdrawal so I'll take what I can get.

Also, Dancing with the Stars is definitely entertaining me. Joey McIntyre and John O'Hurley are the most funny, especially in their "preparing for the competition" clips. And the professional dance partners who are hilarious, although perhaps somewhat unintentionally. The musak versions of the modern pop songs are also rad (highlights include Hero, Toxic (for the tango), and You're the One that I Want). You might be entertained too.

And I think I have to upgrade my DVD recommendation of the Wire to Must Rent. My boyfriend went on a fairly unfortunate binge of season 1, and is now plowing through season 2 and 3. However, better proof is that one of his friends found the episodes for all three seasons online, and proceeded to watch all of them (about 36 full hours - none of this 40 minutes per episode B.S.) in the course of one weekend. You too can get caught up in the madness. And it doesn't take as long as reading the Robin Hobb trilogy of trilogies.

Rob Thomas talks about work on the second season of Veronica Mars, and addresses rumors about UPN's network execs meddling in the show.

TV Review: Wildfire

Yes, I watched Wildfire on ABC Family. This is the original series about a girl who goes to prison, learns to love horses, and ends up working on a horse farm with two hot teenage guys. The whole production seems like a knockoff - he main girl looks like a slightly more olive-skinned Anne Hathaway; I think one of the love triangle guys looks like Matt Long (Jack from Jack & Bobby).

Anyhoo, here's the wrap up:

The good: a horse-washing scene (Dawson's Creek flashbacks!), gratuitous shirtless teenage boys, horses, the fact that the girl isn't named Wildfire.

The bad: The close-ups of the actors riding make it look like the actors couldn't ride a merry-go-round.

The obvious: The show is named Wildfire, so the identically named horse probably isn't going to be sold to the glue factory. Sorry if I spoiled you on that one. Now I've ruined it for you.

Expectations: Princess Diaries, but with lower production valuue

Actual: Summerland. Crap, but I'm watching.

Apparently, this show is this year's summer teen heartthrob fest ala the long-ago axed Young Americans.

Update: Other people are suckers too.

My new favorite songs! I heard the Natasha Bedingfield song These Words in a store when I was shopping and it was so catchy! And apparently the other song was in the Ice Princess soundtrack. Note to self: people don't know what's on my iPod so I should probably keep these favorite songs to myself.

Movie Review: National Treasure

I figured I should do a more complete review of National Treasure. First, the movie is rated PG, which is even lower than Star Wars: ROTS, so it was quite chaste. There a comedic sidekick who was obviously described to the casting agent as the poor man's Seth Green, although it doesn't seem like Seth Green should have been *that* expensive... Please note, you cannot ask any continuity/logic questions; it just ruins the movie.

Number of galas that are a cover for a robbery: 1 (after seeing so many episodes of Alias that do this, you would think that embassies/museums would wise up)
Things to study up on so you can yell out plot points before they are revealed in the movie: George Washington, Valley Forge, the Liberty Bell, and the Declaration of Independence
Predicatability: Three crystal balls
Minutes before the first giant explosion: 20
Expectations: Men in Black II
Overly optimistic hope: Armageddon/Titanic
Actual: Face/Off
Overall: You're only going to enjoy this if you like saying during movies "Oh no, they're not going to... oh, they did." Probably also excellent without sound on the plane, since you'll definitely be able to figure it out and may even enjoy it more without dialog. Nicolas Cage only half-heartedly chews scenery; full scenery devouring would have made the film more entertaining.

In a moment of weakness on my vacation, I tuned into TNT's new show, The Closer, starring Kyra Sedgwick. Now, I kind of like Kyra - I think she's kind of sweet, although I mostly remember her from the movie Heart and Souls (yeah, I'm sorry). But I thought this show was downright annoying. The twist in the plot/mystery was pretty obvious from the beginning and Kyra's character had the most irritating mannerisms (unfortunate Southern accent, funny twitches, and something sort of eating disorder type thing). Start running, and don't look back.

Oh goodness, there might be a sequel to the Cutting Edge. (fifth paragraph)

A short interview with Joss Whedon about upcoming comics for Buffy, Angel and Firefly.

Jerry Bruckheimer is planning a sequel to National Treasure. (last item)

I have to say that I watched it a week ago and was pretty entertained. It's not a good movie, and sadly, not as good as Armageddon in a craptacular way, but it was pretty entertaining. At least all the clues weren't anagrams. Sadly, I think I learned more about American history from this movie than I have since fifth grade. Anyhoo, I don't recommend it, but you might find it entertaining if you jeer through the entire movie like I did.

The SciFi channel will be airing all of the episodes of Joss Whedon's Firefly. So if you haven't seen the series yet, you can watch it for free instead of shlepping to the DVD rental place. And then you can be all ready for the movie this fall!

Heh. Britney will debut her new video on her UPN tv show. So basically, the show is like an off-topic Making the Video with poor production quality.

Also, I heard the real version of the latest Backstreet Boys single and it's still enh. It's no The Answer to Our Life.

Reruns of old Amazing Race season will start on July 11. Damn, and I don't get that channel! I'm going to have to get those episodes from someone!

tvtattle.com has a link to a scientific formula for successful sitcoms.

Luke from Joan of Arcadia (Michael Welch) has a blog. heh.

Freddy & Kendra from Amazing Race 6 have a very cheesy picture from their wedding. Bike into the sunset with a parasol!

Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants is actually getting good reviews. Now I won't have to hide from my roommates when I eventually get it on DVD. Yay!

Rumor has it that Alias may not be back for the fall (second subheading) because of Jennifer Garner's pregnancy. The upside is that if it comes back later, it might get a better timeslot than Thursday.

And a trailer for the pigeon movie.

Yay, a trailer for the Wallace and Gromit movie.

Penguins are funny!

GSN (the game show network) is negotiating to air reruns of the Amazing Race. Unfortunately, I don't think that's part of my cable package...

Amber's (of Rob and Amber) is writing a book giving advice to girls. Yikes.

I'm completely addicted to the song from the funeral on the season finale of the OC. I've listened to it more than five times today. I won't say how many more than five times...

Looks like there's a teaser for the next season of Lost hidden in a fake website for Oceanic Airlines.

I dont know why I found Lost as a text based adventure game funny. And yet. Of course, I also like Grey's Anatomy. Go figure.

Veronica Mars will be moving to its new timeslot on Wednesday at 9 pm on June 15. UPN will be replaying the entire series, so you can catch up if you weren't watching during the regular season.

Mark McGrath (yes, Sugar Ray) will be joining Charmed next year

Natalie Portman - what's up with her career?

Shannen Doherty has been dumped from her UPN show. I'm actually kind of sad because I usually find her shows entertaining. I would have made an effort to watch it, if she was on it, but now UPN has saved me that effort. I was actually tempted to watch the North Shore to see her, but after watching an episode to see Amanda Righetti (Hailey from the OC), I decided even Shannen couldn't make that show worth watching.

I saw Britney (with Kevin) on the Ellen show last week, in an interview which was enormously uninteresting, considering Britney's a pretty crazy girl who has done some crazy things recently. Anyhoo, the funny thing about this was that there was some humorous scheduling synergies - so the Backstreet Boys were the musical guest for the day, as if to underline how much things have changed for Britney and BSB.

BSB were looking, well, older than they used to (duh) and performed a new song which did not have the super catchy Max Martin magic. And then they sang I Want It That Way, which I think they were trying to do a slightly different version of, but just sounded icky. Sigh. I'm not sure how I feel about watching thirtysomething guys wailing out the ballad. Unfortunately, no dancing.

The Gilmore Girls season finale will be rebroadcast on May 31 at 9 pm, in case you missed the last 27 seconds.

FOX's Schedule has been announced. Arrested Development moves to Monday nights at 8 pm, and is paired with the Bradley Cooper restaurant comedy.

UPN has moved Veronica Mars to Wednesdays at 9 pm, against Lost. However, that does get rid of some of the congestion on Tuesday nights. Also, they picked up the Shannen Doherty matchmaking show. Huh.

Heh. Jerry Bruckheimer does have a golden touch. He will have ten TV series on the schedule next fall.

Apparently, last night's season finale of Gilmore Girls ran over by 27 seconds (spoiler in the link!), meaning that many VCRs and TiVos did not catch it. The last scene may be rebroadcast during next week's One Tree Hill finale or a future GG rerun, or they may reshow the whole episode. Damn you, WB.

JJ Abrams' show about bounty hunters, starring Greg Grunberg, might get picked up by another network.

CBS' schedule looks largely the same. Joan of Arcadia has been cancelled.

NY Times blogs about the upfronts

The WB announces their schedule. A bunch of shows have moved around, including Everwood which is on Thursday nights. The Jared Padalecki show, Supernatural, is on Tuesday at 9 pm, so it seems like that will continue to be a crowded time slot. And Jess from Gilmore Girls (Milo Ventimiglia) is on some show about a Human Sexuality college class called the Bedford Diaries.

ABC's schedule

ABC announces their schedule. Alias is moving to Thursdays at 8 pm, which will be sad for me if it conflicts with the OC... Lost moves to Wednesday at 9 pm. Grey's Anatomy gets picked up for a full season (plus the four leftover episodes from this first season). Freddie Prinze Jr.'s comedy got picked up, as well as the one about Geena Davis as a president. Hey, Fred Savage is in one of the midseason shows.

I guess I'll be able to watch the Martha Stewart Apprentice, if there aren't any other more intriguing shows at Wednesday 8 pm. Sadly, JJ Abrams' show about bounty hunters, starring Greg Grunberg, isn't on the list. Eyes is also not on the list, so it might be dead.

Arrested Development has been officially picked up. Thank goodness.

Supposedly, Charmed has been picked up for another season. tvtattle claims that Jack & Bobby has been killed, but I'm not seeing mention of that in this article.

And sorry totoro, Committed is also dead.

Boston Rob of Survivor/The Amazing Race is going to do the World Series of Poker this summer.

NBC has announced its fall lineup. The Office is back. Unfortunately, Scrubs is not on the fall schedule so it is come back later in the season. (Hopefully this isn't the silent slide into oblivion, where NBC just doesn't put it back on the schedule). West Wing will move to Sunday. Hmm, there's also an additional Apprentice with Martha Stewart on Wednesday nights against Lost (I thought this would be instead of Trump...).

Rumors are leaking out about Fox's schedule for next year.

Picked up: Arrested Development, Bernie Mac Show, Stacked

Most likely dead: Quintuplets, Life on a Stick

Additional ABC renewals: Less Than Perfect, Jake in Progress, Rodney, George Lopez, Hope & Faith, The Bachelor

From cs, more Arrested Development quotes and sound clips than you can shake a stick at. There's always money in the banana stand.

Arrested Development!

After much agony over its fate, Arrested Development might be renewed for two full seasons! Also, it might be moving to a different time slot.

Also, it's looking like Law & Order, Trial by Jury might be cancelled, and that the Office might be renewed.

TWOP interviews a Fox television executive.

Universal has been scheduling sneak peeks of Serenity - there were some last week and 20 more cities are showing the movie on May 26. Unfortunately - all sold out! Bummer. But if you keep checking the movie site or this fan site, you might be able to get in on future screenings.

Summaries of all of Fox's pilots. It's great to see who might be back on your TV this fall, and some of the funny premises for the shows. There's a one about at 24 hour wedding chapel and one in a fertility clinic. Nicolas Brendan, Bradley Cooper, David Boreanaz, Jaime King and Chris O'Donnell are some of the familiar faces. And cast promotional photos are always funny too.

One week left until the upfronts, and here are three shows that sound like they might get picked up.

I'm going to have to start reading comics! The movie Serenity (nee Firefly) is coming to the graphic novel.

Check out the summaries of some of the pilots that are getting good buzz.

Uh oh, Eyes has been booted from the schedule for the rest of sweeps. I'm not sure if this show is on the verge of cancellation or if it's just being "saved" for later.

Apparently, men like Grey's Anatomy (I watch, but why would you?), and shows that seem to have a generally female-oriented spin. This could be the new It demographic.