Lots of notes

Everything with my grandfather's death has certainly continued to give me mixed feelings about my regular addictive media habits, but there's a lot of things coming up as always to pass along in here, that I gotta go ahead and do some of it.

1st off, I just noticed some-of the details on the USA Network's schedule this Winter (Jan/Feb)



2010 premiere dates: WHITE COLLAR moves to TUES, Jan 19th. PSYCH moves to WED, Jan 27. BURN NOTICE stays on THURS, Jan 21st. All at 10pm/9c.

Tues (1/19)
9PM: White Collar
Wed (1/27)
9PM: Psych
Thurs (1/21)
9PM: Burn Notice

apparently they're giving BN top priority. grr. o well, I still dig that show. That doesn't explain anything about the earlier hour, 8PM on any of those nights, nor Fridays. Chances are this is temporary, with Psych/White Collar starting next Summer. and Burn Notice/Royal Pains on Thursday.


-Monk the 2nd-part of the SERIES FINALE airs this Friday December 4th.
I'll post a separate entry about it's departure. Some initial thoughts: Who killed Trudy? I hope there is more than what it appears from the 1st part of the finale. Craig T Nelson would be a bit easy, but perhaps WHY he killed Trudy will add some. And of course how it ends, does Monk finally move-on with his life and what losing Trudy has done to him, etc? I will miss the show certainly as I'll write more about it after seeing the last episode this coming weekend.


Another tv note: The new ABC show Eastwick, probably the best, most interesting new network show this fall is gone.

***CANCELED****


7 episodes have aired, and another 6 were ordered/were-made. But tomorrow night December 2nd and the 16th in 2 weeks, are the only two episodes I can find with a confirmed schedule. So the last 4 episodes may air sometime this Spring or may get the Saturday-evening-during-the-Summer treatment that Pushing Daisies, Eli Stone and Dirty,Sexy,Money got last Summer. Or maybe never. There is THIS PETITION like there always is for shows like this to be saved. 10,000 signatures are there, and some rumor about the Lifetime Network interested in picking it up.

Uh, I'll believe it when I see it. As I wrote a few months ago when it was going to originally air: Because it's ABC, it won't last just like the other 2 attempts adapting "The Witches of Eastwick" to tv. Sad, but it's ABC, they always cancel expensive-but-good shows. Basically unless you're Lost or get huge ratings like Grey's Anatomy or Desparate Housewives, your show is destined to get canned on that network.

-The Tyler Labine comedy on FOX The Sons of Tuscon it appears premieres on Sunday March 14th at 7:30PM

-Alice the Skeefee (Syfy) 4-hour mini-series new adaptation of the classic Lewis Carroll book airs Sunday December 6th and to follow on Monday December 7th. Kathy Bates, Tim Curry, Matt Frewer (hopefully not doing another gawd-awful Aussie accent like he somehow gets away-with on "Eureka") and Colm Meany are among the cast.



I'll try put something up next week specifically about this.

a) I want to see this, even though I am intrigued by the Tim Burton edition coming in March, despite Johnny Depp+Burton doing the Mad-Hatter. Why? Alan Rickman as the Caterpillar and Christoper Lee as the Jabberwock among others.

b) this 4-hour miniseries is being directed by Nick Willing, the same guy who directed the mini-series "Tin Man" which I thought was a pretty good *re-imagining* of my favorite story of all-time (The Wizard of Oz/Oz stories).

Sunday December 6th also is the evening

1) Vikings-Cardinals on NBC's Sunday-Night-Football

2) William Shatner's "Raw Nerve" 2nd season airs on the Biography Channel. His guests are Rush Limbaugh the 1st 1/2-hour and Regis Philbin the 2nd 1/2-hour.


what a hugely busy Sunday evening of TV, lol. Although thankfully I don't believe there will be any DVR 3-programs-airing-simultaneously conflicts. If there are of course Cable channels re-air their stuff.

-Also airing tomorrow night, December 2nd on Biography, are 2 1-hour biographies. 1 about William Shatner himself and the other Patrick Stewart

-the 2nd Dr.Who special "The Waters of Mars" is to finally air on BBC America on Saturday December 19th
link.

Some movies:

-The Messenger: I want to see this. It has Ben Foster (Oscar-worthy for "Alpha Dog") and Woody Harrelson. this movie could have some Oscar/Globe Potential among other reasons to be curious about it.

-Me and Orson Welles: despite Zac Effron's presence, an unknown British actor named Christian McKay, plays Orson Welles, and looked quite good, from the clips they showed on "At the Movies" last week.

-The Private Lives of Pippa Lee: Alan Arkin, Winona Ryer, Maria Bello and Keanu Reeves have got me curious about this. There was 1 scene they showed on "At-the-Movies" where some woman says to Keanu "I don't think I know you anymore" or something, and I could-not-help-but-go-into the ole Keanu "wohhh..why do yooo say that?..whoa", lol.

-Everybody's Fine I have a free pass for at the Mall of America tomorrow night. Another DeNiro family/holiday picture. Okay. I do like more of the cast tho in Drew Barrymore, Kate Beckinsale and Sam Rockwell. Interesting, those last 2 is a little bit of a "Snow Angels" reunion. Wonder what else the 2 of them have done together.

-Sherlock Holmes: yeah it's Robert Downey Jr as Sherlock. Not the exact visual appearance for the role, but some of the lines in the previews looked good. Jude Law as Watson I am curious about as well.

New music projects:

Jonas Bjerre whose the lead singer of Mew
Guy Berryman whose the bassist from Coldplay
Magne Furuholmen whose the guitarist from A-Ha

myspace
apparatjik.com

new single "Ferreting"






saw some stuff on this project back in June I think..maybe even last Spring on the Mew forum. I ought to go back there, but those 3 songs are not all of what's out there as I recall stumbling upon 1 site that had like 5 or maybe 10 different tracks to stream. Certainly a project to keep tabs on for/during 2010.

The Unwinding Hours is a new band/project from 2 of the ex-members, Craig B. and Iain Cook of the Scottish art-rock band Aereogramme. Their Self-titled debut album is expected to drop on February 15th, 2010. A track-list has already been posted as well.

1. Knut 5:56
2. Tightrope 3:20
3. Little One 4:16
4. There Are Worse Things Than Being Alone 5:01
5. Solstice 3:47
6. Peaceful Liquid Shell 5:03
7. Child 4:46
8. Traces 3:56
9. Annie Jane 4:51
10. The Final Hour 5:21

90's "Post-Grunge" or R.E.M.-sounding-at-times hardrock band Live have parted ways with longtime vocalist Ed Kowalczyk.

http://allthingschadtaylor.blogspot.com/2009/11/not-ending-i-wished-for.html

Not that I'm a *huge* fan or anything, but he kind of defined their sound in a lot of ways. Although I'm not sure if they'd/they'll ever make any records as good as their early stuff again. But perhaps with a new singer, that may help the chances, even how slim they may be.

The Swell Season show at The State Theater is Saturday December 5th. I do-not have a ticket, but may find my way in if I decide to go down there on Saturday night. Although chances are I may have other plans. Raincheck I suppose. The new album is pretty good though.

blech, okay, there's a bunch more notes and things, and to say I'm being a little hampered-down/anxious to get going on the Lists would be accurate. But due-to-lack-of-time, the best thing to add now I suppose,...to-be-continued......

2009-2010 TV: Thursday

7-8PM



Flash Forward (ABC Premieres September 24th)

A mysterious global event causes everyone on the planet to simultaneously lose consciousness for 137 seconds, during which many see what appear to be future memories of his or her life six months later. When it is over, many are dead in accidents involving vehicles, aircraft, and any other device needing human control. Everyone who survived is left wondering if what they saw will actually happen.

Sort of using the "Lost Flashback/Flashforward" as a (loose?) premise. It does have John Cho (Harold and Kumar) and Dominic Monaghan (Lost, Lord of the Rings), and Garbielle Union in the cast, and one of the writers appears to be Brannon Braga whose known for his work in the post-The Original Series: Star Trek. Although in glancing at his credits, he had a lot to do with the worst ST show, the last one, Enterprise. He also was involved with the Brent Spiner failed Scifi show "Threshold." So, while it's nice he has a Scifi background, not all of it is necessarily favorable for his resume to lead me to have hope for this.

Early comments aren't all that wonderful about it. I haven't watched it yet to be fair, but I'm kind of questioning how good this will be, or if it'll even last.



Vampire Diaries
They moved Smallville for this? lol..I skimmed through the 1st 2 episodes and while I have a thing for Vampire shows, the idea of trying to watch a Twilight-inspired Vampire-soap opera with a bunch of junior-college-level actors who belong on the Family channel instead of an actual Network (sort-of) is nauseating. This show has got no stars, no characters I like, and not even the most alluring eye-candy that I can tell. The only time I will consider dvr-ing this is out-of-boredom and desparation for some kind lust. This ain't Forever Knight, Buffy, True Blood, Dracula:The Series, or even Moonlight. It's too bad, there was some talk of bringing on a new "Dark Shadows" to either FOX or the CW.

edit: there may still be!
The last I saw, one of the people cast was going to be Matt Czuchry whose probably best known for playing Rory's Yale-boyfriend Logan, on Gilmore Girls.

But until then, I don't expect much of my attention here. Perhaps if a cool guest-star happens I'll want to watch (fast-fwd to the good parts), but other than that, all this is, is CW's attempt to cash-in on the Twilight-craze. And pretty much all that is, is another Teen Soap with a vampire-story overlay with pretty much no substance, just like Twilight, lol.

At least I still have a lot of "True Blood" to watch (I'm on Episode 5 of Season 1). I'd even go for seeing the Lifetime Network's "Blood Ties" ahead this, really in a heartbeat.

Community (NBC 7-7:30PM on October 13th, 8:30-9PM originally on September 17th)

Community centers on Jeff (Joel McHale), a suspended lawyer who is back in school after his college degree is deemed invalid by the State Bar. The show centers on Jeff's experiences going to community college and the people he meets there. John Oliver plays Duncan, a professor at the community college, whom Jeff represented as a lawyer. He also meets a girl, Britta, who is his main love interest in the series, as well as Pierce (Chevy Chase), an older student who has been married seven times.

This at least has got Chevy Chase, and with the departure of My Name is Earl, a show I felt did jump-the-shark somewhat all-the-way-back to Season 3, this might be the only sitcom on NBC to get my interest. Sorry, I'm not all that crazy about, the every voter-in-the-awards-shows favorite SNL-derived sitcom "30 Rock,".. and "The Office"?....lol, yeah right.

But 2-weeks-in, I haven't caught it yet. But mean to soon enough. Chase wasn't bad on Chuck and some other guest-appearances recently. But let's be honest, his far past his prime/time. He could more-or-less do no wrong in the 80's, but since, he's more or less done nothing good, especially when he was featured. I liked the Naomi Watts indie "Ellie Parker" but while he was good, he barely was in it.

The rest of the cast are names I don't know save for Ken Jeong who I saw in "The Hangover" but really didn't impress me much at all in.

So, I may give this a few episodes, like the ABC sitcoms and Accidentally On Purpose, just to hope to be surprised. It's not like NBC has anything better, nor the other stuff on from 7-8PM either.

8-9PM



Fringe (FOX premieres September 17th)

Well, they didn't renew The Terminator show, but this and Dollhouse instead. While among the 3, at-the-time, this was my 3rd favorite, I still like this show. Is it a bit of X-Files? Sure, does it remind you of Lost, a little bit in some of the creepy, tense scenes. But I think where it distinguishes itself, at least for me, is the humor that Josh Jackson aka Pacey from-Dawson's Creek, and especially John Noble provide, who plays Walter the brilliant scientist with a guilt-ridden past that has lead to his slightly eccentric personality. Almost like someone with a mild case of Asberger's. So, he definitely got me through some of the dark stories and grotesque, graphical work they describe and sometimes show here.

I can't ignore also the job Anna Torv does as the lead, Olivia Dunham. She's hot and a good actor. I won't deny that having a babe with her appeal as the central character gave me reason to keep going back here. Lance Reddick who plays Broiles also has a certain appeal on-screen. He's a very stern actor, whose delivery, voice, and mannerisms, have an unusual quality that I couldn't help but get sucked-in to. Like he adds importance to what he's saying or doing. He was on Lost, but didn't do that kind of speaking. I think this role really fits him.

While I liked this show last season, I kind of neglected it about midway through the year for other shows. But the episodes were still on my DVR all the way until late July when I finally caught up and finished the 1st season. I certainly was glad, as I was shaking my head afterwards why I ever stopped watching it.

There's a potentially interesting story-arc with Olivia's past including seemingly Walter and his partner William Bell whose played by Leonard Nimoy. We have barely seen much of Nimoy thus far, but I'm betting he'll show up around Sweeps period with some decent screen-time. The Star Trek movie experience with JJ Abrams I think got him interested in acting again. It could be Abrams, but it would be nice to see Nimoy do some more acting again, and this hopefully will be the next of many newer roles for him.

In watching the 1st 2 episodes, the Charlie character won't be around much longer obviously. But my guess is that's also something to be resolved during November Sweeps coming up.

This is definitely the best Network show now on Thursday Nights now (maybe I'll give Bones another go as a friend of mine is after many years of finding it too gross), and one of the better Scifi shows still on the air. Hopefully it'll last, although I wouldn't bank on it given Terminator's cancelation last season.



Burn Notice (USA Network midseason premiere January 2010)

This show rules. Clever writing (narrative and dialogue), excellent action sequences, and usually an interesting plot twist to the story. The Summer 1/2-season, while a little different, still worked. Matt Nix and the writing staff are trying a few different things like Fiona getting kidnapped and some clients or people who know more about Michael than others in the past.

I would agree with some of the comments from the fans in that they really should try and invent 1 or 2 new plots or angles to the direction of the show. Sure, the client-of-the-week is usually still worth doing, but perhaps have Michael find new means for his interets beyond getting his name off the blacklist.

Or perhaps have his Burn Notice lifted, have him go back to the FBI and then invent some new civil-conflicts within that. That might explain more as to why and how he was burned in the first place.

I dunno, I can't complain really as the show is never boring. At times I enjoy it ,that-week, more than Psych actually. Bruce Campbell, Gabrielle Anwar, and some the guest stars included.

It's definitely 1 of the best 10 shows on all of tv for me. And it's received some good recognition of late (although still no Emmy nor Golden Globe nominations of course. Jeffrey Donovan alone is extremely good, he deserves a nomination but may never get one). It was renewed for a 4th season recently too. It's future should be interesting to follow, and I am excited to see what the writing staff cook-up for the Winter-Season. Wouldn't be surprised to see Moon Bloodgood return as the cop on Michael's tail. That plot never really did get resolved last Summer.