Category: External TV (Page 195 of 419)

Catching Up With… “Lie To Me”

March 11, 2009 /

I enjoyed the pilot episode of Fox’s “Lie To Me,” but I’ve been struggling with this season’s plethora of scheduling annoyances – seriously, has there ever been a year when this many good shows were being pitted against each other? – and haven’t been able to catch it since then. I’m pleased, then, that the network has decided to provide the series with a new timeslot on Wednesdays at 8 PM, where I can actually watch it once in awhile. (I can wait on “The New Adventures of Old Christine” and “Gary Unmarried” ’til they get a DVD release, I can just read Mike’s recaps of “The Chopping Block,” right?)

According to Fox’s blurb on tonight’s episode…

“Lightman (Tim Roth) and Foster (Kelli Williams) investigate the disappearance of an 11-year-old girl who may have been murdered. Meanwhile, Loker (Brendan Hines) and Torres (Monica Raymund) must determine whether a famous peace activist is who she claims to be and if her bestselling memoir is true, but Loker’s attraction to the socially conscious woman may be clouding his assessment of her.”

Having already seen the episode, I can tell you a few other things as well:

* Lightman makes the girl’s parents cry before the opening credits roll.

* When handed a huge roomful of people who claim to have tips on where the girl is, he proceeds to narrow down the population to a far more manageable level with two quick statements.

* By episode’s end, we have learned a great deal more about Foster’s personal history, along with why she feels so strongly about this case.

* Loker attempts to offer up a compliment to the aforementioned peace activist. When he feels the need to explain to her how he means it, you will laugh and cringe simultaneously…and you will feel the same effect later in the episode, when he attempts to get his copy of the woman’s book signed.

* Alison LaPlaca guest stars as the woman questioning the veracity of the activist. You may remember her as one of Rachel’s bosses on “Friends” (Joanna, the one who utilized a pair of handcuffs on Chandler), but when I saw her, it just made me realize that “The John Larroquette Show,” where she served as the female foil, really needs to come out on DVD.

* Despite Loker’s initially poor abilities of flirtation, you will probably feel rather sympathetic for him by the time the end credits roll.

Yep, “Lie To Me” is as imminently watchable as I remembered it…possibly even more so, given that the producers seem to be doing a really solid job of spreading the wealth amongst the characters rather than turning it into “Tim Roth and Friends.” Be sure to tune in at 8 PM…yes, that’s 8 PM…so you can enjoy it as much as I did.

Actors, Actresses, External Entertainment, External TV, TV, TV Dramas

The Biggest Loser: Black team drinks, smokes, dominates

March 11, 2009 /

So last week “The Biggest Loser” left us all hanging with Mikey about to get on the scale. If he lost 10 pounds or more, everyone would be staying another week. Well, did you think they were going to start a show with someone being eliminated? Nope, Mikey lost 11. But then Alison Sweeney had them all go outside where there would be a pop challenge in which everyone had to lean against a wall with a medicine ball in his/her lap and stay there. Also, this week, the blue and black teams would be facing off individually, with the winner of this challenge setting the matchups. Of course, Tara won. I mean, she wins all these things unless Laura brings her down. So since the black team has an extra contestant, Tara had to sit out one person from her team at the weigh in, and she chose herself since she had been losing double-digits every single week so far. I thought it was a smart move. The matchups were Mike/Cathy, Sione/Mandi, Filipe/Kristin, Helen/Ron and Aubrey/Laura.

Then came the challenge, a relay race in which the teams had to drag medicine balls through water, up stairs and onto a basketball court while doing squats. My legs hurt just thinking about it all. The winner would have 24 hours of luxury at a spa resort. Of course, the black team has Tara so they won, but barely. And the entire team started getting into trouble at dinner, eating badly, drinking tequila shots and even smoking (I’m not sure if anyone but Helen was smoking, but still…). Anyway, the black team knew they shouldn’t have done this, as they consumed like 15,000 calories as a team and the blue team only consumed 1600 calories at their meal. The black team was also incredibly cocky. But when they returned to the ranch and Jillian gave them an earful, Filipe flipped out and he and Sione went running back to Bob, or as Jillian said, “running back to Daddy.” Pretty funny, but sad and weird. Those guys need to loosen up and get over it. Maybe Jillian is harsh, but she wants to win too.

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External TV, Reality TV, The Biggest Loser, TV

American Idol: baker’s dozen perform

March 11, 2009 /

Last night began the finals of “American Idol” and Fox beefed things up by having the judges and host Ryan Seacrest come out onto the stage in grand fashion. It was really self-indulgent and hideous, to use a couple of Simon Cowell terms. I mean, was that really necessary? Then the judges wielded their mighty power a bit with some of the contestants, and they said there will be a rules change they will announce tonight as well that will also involve the judges. That scares me, because they already have too much influence on the outcome and are already anointing winners. Anyway, here were the good, bad and in-between from last night, with the theme being songs of Michael Jackson, and keep in mind that these are my opinions and not that of the judges:

THE GOOD

Lil Rounds kicked things off last night, and that’s always a tough position to be in. But Lil sang “The Way You Make Me Feel” and while it wasn’t her best performance, it was good enough to be better than most of the other finalists. Randy said it was a great way to kick things off, Kara said Lil scared everyone with that performance, Paula said Lil looked great and is a force, and Siomon said he did not like her outfit and that he was a bit disappointed with the performance but that it was still very good.

Danny Gokey sang “PYT (Pretty Young Thing” and dude just showed why he is in the finals yet again. This guy can sing anything, and despite some awkward dance moves that he admitted to just being natural, Danny’s voice will carry him far. Paula said Danny has a gift and is on his way to the “finals”…um, isn’t he there already?…..Simon said Danny has brilliant vocals but that the dancing was hideous, Randy said “you got IT” and that he’s passionate, and Kara said Danny has such joy when he’s on stage.

Kris Allen sang “Remember the Time” with his guitar in hand, and not only was it a super cool version, but Kris just knocked it out of the park, in my humble opinion. They showed a clip of his wife before he started and Simon didn’t think this was a good idea, because it might take away from the female voters. Kara said girls are going to love Kris, Paula said he was engaging, adorable and sexy, Simon said the vocals were just okay but that Kris is likeable, and Randy said it was “kinda cool.” I don’t think they gave the kid enough credit, I really don’t.

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American Idol, External TV, Reality TV, TV

Simon & Simon: Season Two

March 10, 2009 /

It’s been so long since the first season of “Simon & Simon” hit stores – we’ve passed the two-year mark and we’re heading for three – that fans of the series may have feared that they’d never see any more of the adventures of private detectives Rick and A.J. Simon (Gerald McRaney and Jameson Parker) released onto DVD. Fortunately, Shout! Factory has picked up the torch that Universal dropped. While it’s unfortunate that there aren’t any special features on the set, the packaging reminds us that it is indeed a bonus that Shout opted to spend the coin to include the “Magnum, PI” crossover episode that kicked off the second season of “Simon & Simon.” As far as the show itself goes, it’s relatively pedestrian as detective shows go, but it does manage to rise above its one-liner concept – “They’re detectives and they’re brothers!” – thanks to the performances of McRaney and Parker as well as Mary Carver, who plays the boys’ mother, Cecilia Simon. Guest stars this season include Ray Walton (“My Favorite Martian”), Eddie Albert (“Green Acres”), Richard Anderson (“The Six Million Dollar Man”), Dean Stockwell (“Quantum Leap”), and Richard Kiel, a.k.a. Jaws in the Bond flicks, but don’t go looking for Downtown Brown to rear his head. Alas, Tim Reid didn’t become a regular cast member ’til Season 3…and as it stands right now, there’s no word on whether Shout has plans to release that or not.

Click to buy “Simon and Simon: Season Two”

Actors, Actresses, External Entertainment, External TV, Reviews, TV, TV Action, TV Comedies, TV Dramas, TV DVD Quicktakes, TV DVDs, Video

Heroes 3.19 – When A Man Should Stand and Fight or Just Go Along

March 9, 2009 /

Given what a cool ending we had to last week’s episode, things sure did start off a decidedly anticlimactic fashion. The scene between Claire, Mrs. Bennett, and the Puppet Master was a major letdown, only serving to remind us that A) things are tough all over for people with superhuman abilities, and B) evil characters get really boring really fast when they try to turn over a new leaf. Good thing they quickly moved over to the Parkman storyline, providing us with a rare opportunity to end the pre-credits sequence on a cliffhanger.

The dark humor of the dialogue between Nathan and Parkman as the latter tried to get his power working enough to defuse the bomb that’s strapped to him was great. (“Don’t touch the red wire!” “I’m not touching anything!”) I liked the fact that Zeljko managed to be suspicious – if only for a couple of minutes – about how Nathan had gotten to Parkman’s side so quickly without suffering from one of those leaps of logic that never would’ve happened in the real world. Instead, Tracy helped fill in the blanks for him by repeatedly screaming, “You’re one of us, Nathan!” Oh, sure, when push came to shove, she backpedaled, but with a guy like that, once the genie’s out of the bottle, you can’t just put him back in and think he’s going to stay there. (Given enough time, I could’ve mixed at least a couple more metaphors in that sentence, but I’m working on a deadline here.)

And, indeed, the next thing you know, HRG’s put in a position where he has to throw Mama Petrelli to the wolves, though he at least has the common decency to let her know what he’s done. Not, as it turns out, that she needed his help. (Fancy an oyster…?) The scene with Zeljko shooting a couple of holes in the window and then throwing Nathan through the compromised glass was well executed, although I thought the shot of HRG lingered too long after Zeljko said, “Tell me you didn’t know about this.” Just a quick shot of his oh-fuck-how-am-I-gonna-handle-this expression would’ve been more effective.

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Actors, External Entertainment, External TV, Heroes, Reviews, TV, TV Action, TV Dramas, TV Sci-Fi

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