Month: April 2009 (Page 12 of 17)

Discussing the “Life On Mars” finale

April 10, 2009 /

Ted Anthony of the AP wrote a good article about how (and why) the finale for “Life On Mars” rubbed some people the wrong way. AP is tightening its restrictions on blogs quoting their content, so I’ll just link to the piece and move on. (It’s a good read.) By the way, there are “Life On Mars” spoilers ahead.

Anthony compares the “LOM” finale to that of “The Sopranos” and describes both as the kind of open-ended television that American audiences don’t like. This is one point I don’t necessarily agree with. The ending from “LOM” did come from out of nowhere, but I thought it buttoned things up pretty well. It explained why he was back in 1973 and why all those weird things were happening around him. Throughout the season, I was hoping that the creators would find a way for Sam and Annie to be together in the future, in the past, whatever, but I wasn’t expecting it to be in the year 2035.

Sure, Annie isn’t really Annie, but in the final scene it was obvious that there was (or there will be) something going on between the two astronauts. Maybe she didn’t know it yet, but he clearly developed feelings for 1973 Annie and I think that relationship will progress in 2035. The astronauts aren’t exactly the same as their characters in 1973, but that final scene proved that their personalities are similar, which is why I believe that “Sam” and “Annie” will eventually be together.

I did some research about the UK version of the show and discovered that the US ending was a big departure. Had our version ended the same way, I think there would be more of an uproar about how the conclusion wasn’t satisfying enough.

Again, I applaud ABC and the “LOM” creators for coming to a quick decision about the fate of the series and giving the loyal viewers a sense of closure. Some were unhappy to discover that the 1973 characters were just that — characters. But this is television, people. Aside from reality TV (or at least some of it), these are all characters. I’m just happy that Annie, Gene, Ray and Chris exist in some form in Sam’s present.

It was a fun ride while it lasted.

External Entertainment, External TV, TV, TV Action, TV Dramas, TV Sci-Fi

Ron White: Behavioral Problems

April 10, 2009 /

While those who follow comedy continue to speculate about Ron White’s mysterious absence from Comedy Central’s recent roast of White’s Blue Collar touring mate Larry the Cable Guy – some suspect it was due to his arrest for marijuana possession last September, though drug use hasn’t stopped the network from inviting Gary Busey, Andy Dick or Courtney Love to participate – his latest concert special, “Behavioral Problems,” provides at least an unofficial answer to that question. Simply put, White is playing a competely different sport than the other three, and this routine, recorded in Seattle, is as funny as anything White has served up to date. His arrest even serves as fodder for his act (“This was Florida; these cops drove by three meth labs and a dead hooker just to get there”), as well as a lawsuit he was served by a pungent paper company in Houston (“two million people could smell this plant. If it were music, and two million people could hear it, they’d tell ’em to turn it the fuck off”). The funniest moments come when he messes up his routine, causing White to riff and even poke fun at the lack of funny in some of his punch lines. His material leans a bit more on sex this time around, but his gift for storytelling saves even the most obvious of his jokes. The DVD also contains three bits excised from the final concert (all of which are as funny as what made the final cut), and one bit of White telling stories at a bar after the show. Twenty-some years after his stand-up debut, White seems to just be getting warmed up.

Click to buy “Ron White: Behavioral Problems”

External TV, Humor, Stand-Up Comics, TV, TV Comedies, TV DVD Quicktakes, TV DVDs

Hell’s Kitchen: Pressing Ramsay’s buttons

April 10, 2009 /

Gordon Ramsay, star of the FOX reality show “Hell’s Kitchen,” is pissed. He has his six finalists for the head chef position at the Borgata Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, and he’s not sure he wants to hire any of them. Ratings for this show must be down, because they keep teasing us with twists and turns, more so than ever before, and Ramsay threatening to shut down Hell’s Kitchen permanently is clearly a gag. But more on that in a bit.

Last night the show began with everyone in a state of shock that Carol had just been eliminated, after her red team had won the dinner service. Ben and Robert were mostly relieved that they had survived the chopping block. So then Ramsay asked Paula who the weakest link on the red team was, and she said Andrea. Danny was asked the same question for the blue team, and he chose Ben. Andrea and Ben were asked to step forward, the lights dimmed, and Ramsay told them both, “I hate to do this, but give me your jackets.” What? Then he told them to get back in line and put on black jackets, and he asked everyone else to do the same, to signify that they were the final six and that from here on out, it was an individual competition, and not red vs. blue.

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External TV, Hell's Kitchen, Reality TV, TV

TV Roundup: “Eastbound & Down” renewed, ABC cleans house and more

April 9, 2009 /

– HBO has decided to renew “Eastbound & Down” for a second season. I just finished watching the six-episode first season and it was hilarious. There are at least 10 great lines or laugh out loud moments in each episode. If you start to watch the series, be sure to watch through the fourth episode before cutting it from your playlist. Between “Eastbound & Down” and “Summer Heights High,” comedy is alive on HBO.

– ABC has settled on a schedule for the final episodes of “Pushing Daises,” “Eli Stone” and “Dirty Sexy Money” to run this summer. I stopped watching “Eli Stone” early on, and “Dirty Sexy Money” earlier this season, but I’m especially sad to see “Pushing Daises” go.

– “Chuck” is on the verge of cancellation, but the good folks over at ChuckTV.net are doing their best to save the show. You can get free swag if you support their cause.

– “Fringe” fans, you know all of those weird symbols that appear just before the commercial breaks? Well, someone has figured out what they all mean.

External Entertainment, External TV, TV, TV Comedies, TV Dramas

American Idol: You want uncomfortable?

April 9, 2009 /

Last night’s “American Idol” results show had its moments, but none worse than the last few minutes of the episode. Somebody needs to get a handle on things, and fast, because it’s peoples’ lives they are messing with. More on that in a bit.

First of all, when they introduced the judges last night, Paula Abdul was wearing these latex gloves. Was she going to give Simon a prostate exam after the show? Because that’s surely what it looked like. Call her Paula the Proctologist, or to use a “Seinfeld” term, “Asswoman.”

Then they joked about the theme of the show Tuesday, which had the contestants singing songs from the year in which they were born. They razzed Simon Cowell about how old he was, showing a video of a young Frankie Avalon singing “Venus” from that very year. Then they surprised us all by bringing Frankie out live to sing the same song. Dude looks good, like he probably stopped aging around the time all of the current contestants were born. Anyway, Frankie let us all know that the year was 1959, which means Mr. Cowell is going to be 50 this year. That’s October 7 for all of you celebrity gossip hounds.

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American Idol, External TV, Reality TV, TV

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