Category: External TV (Page 269 of 419)

Yu Yu Hakusho: Ghost Files – The Complete First Season

July 15, 2008 /

Cillian Murphy is the last guy that most people would ever imagine popping up in a romantic comedy, but he pulls it off Back in 2002, the Anime Invasion was in full swing thanks to the immense popularity of shows like “Dragon Ball Z,” but as FUNimation and Cartoon Network desperately attempted to fulfill demand by finding (and then dubbing) new series to import, the fad was already beginning to wear off. The introduction of “Yu Yu Hakusho” certainly helped to reinvigorate the movement, and though it was never a favorite of mine during its time on the air, it did give “DBZ” fans something to chew on while they patiently awaited new episodes. The show follows the adventures of Yusuke Urameshi, a teenage delinquent with a knack for skipping school and getting into fights. When he’s killed one day while saving the life of a little boy, however, Yusuke is given a second chance by working as a Spirit Detective and protecting humanity from the demon world. Awarded the power to channel his spirit energy in a gun-like blast, Yusuke teams up with others like him to do battle against the evil forces of the Spirit World.

It’s been five years since I last saw an episode of the show, but my opinion of “Yu Yu Hakusho” hasn’t changed. Though the series starts off incredibly weak with four or five episodes containing almost no action, it eventually evolves into a format not unlike “Dragon Ball Z” or “One Piece.” By the time the show has reached the conclusion of its first season, however, it has ditched almost every remnant of story or character development and become a never-ending battle royale. That might be a good thing if all you care about are cool fights and eccentric villains, but “Yu Yu Hakusho,” oddly enough, lacks a soul. To make matters worse, FUNimation has once again compiled the strangest collection of episodes for a first season box set by also including the beginning of season two. I’m not sure if it’s a ploy to get you to buy future seasons, or if they just think they’re being fair by splitting up the episodes equally, but it’s definitely something that needs to be addressed.

Click to buy “Yu Yu Hakusho: Ghost Files – The Complete First Season”

External TV, TV, TV Anime, TV DVD Quicktakes, TV DVDs

TCA Press Tour, Day 5: PBS, Pt. 1

July 14, 2008 /

PBS?!?

Oh, don’t look so shocked: my wife and I are PBS contributors, and if it wasn’t for the beautiful, beautiful entity that is PBS Sprout, our 2-year-old daughter wouldn’t be half the kid she is today. I won’t be spending a tremendous amount of time on each show, but since we had two days’ worth of presentations, it would be thoroughly unfair if I didn’t offer up at least a little bit of a look at them all.

“The Electric Company”: It’s back! Sort of. It’s not really ‘The Electric Company’ you remember…or, at least, most of it isn’t. There’ll be certain elements from the original series which will return, such as Paul the Gorilla, the silhouettes who each say half of a word and then put the two halves together (“Ch.” “Ange.” “Change!“), and – after the epilogue of each episode – animation clips from the old days. But for the most part, the phrase “this is not your father’s ‘Electric Company'” will be apropos. We saw a few segments which looked pretty funny and will no doubt have the same effect on kids today that the original did for my generation, and there will be guest stars popping up to aid in the learning process (we saw Jack McBrayer in one of the clips, and other names cited were Mos Def, Lyn Manuel Miranda, Sean Kingston, Mark Linn-Baker, Mark Ecko, Cory Booker, Jacky Woodson, and Wyclef Jean, who’s doing the music for the series), but I have to admit that I was disheartened by the total lack of confirmation that any of the folks from the original “Electric Company” will be making appearances. Maybe they just don’t have that confirmation yet and they’re waiting to get it, but it would’ve been nice if they could’ve at least said, “We’re trying.”

Executive Session: We received several interesting announcements, including a documentary series entitled “Latin Music USA,” a new kids series about a chatty canine named Martha (“Martha Speaks”), and the new Ken Burns documentary (honest to God, it’s called “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea”), but the greatest controversy during this session came from PBS President Paula Kerger hemming and hawing about the upcoming production of Royal Shakespeare Company’s staging of “King Lear” and whether or not it would feature the notorious nude scene by the gentleman playing its title character, Sir Ian McKellen. Again, I’ve been trying desperately not to offer too many back-and-forths this year, but this one’s a must-include, I think…

Q: How are you going to deal with that on the screen?
Paula: The film is just being…it’s just been shot and…I haven’t actually seen the final version yet, and it will be broadcast next year. We’re actually going to bring it to press tour in January, so you’ll have a chance to see it then.
Q: That’s a pretty talked-about moment in the stage production where he’s fully nude. How do you feel about showing that in its entirety?
Paula: Well, again, I haven’t seen the taped version yet, so I can’t tell you…
Q: But would you be okay with that?
Paula: About the full-frontal nudity?
Q: Yes.
Paula: Let’s talk about this in January, okay?
Q: Oh, come on. You’re familiar with the scene, though, right?
Paula: I saw the production, yes.
Q: And what do you think about showing that on PBS?
Paula: Well, it’s not…it’s what I think about it and also what the FCC will allow. So we’ll cross that bridge…we’ll bring it to you in January. Ask me the question again, and I promise you…
Q: My readers can’t wait that long.
Paula: Oh, yes, they can.

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External Entertainment, External TV, News, Reality TV, TCA Blog 2008, TCA Press Tour, TV

TCA Press Tour, Day 4: Lifetime

July 14, 2008 /

Sorry, but this won’t be as quick an entry as you might think.

First off, I have to announce the Lifetime news that made me legitimately happy: they’ve already committed to a third season of “Army Wives.” Yes, I really am a fan of the show, and I’m psyched to hear that Lifetime is going ahead with Season 3, though given the absolutely crazy ratings success of the early episodes of Season 2, it’s certainly one of the least surprising revelations of the tour. Still, it’s nice to have the confirmation. Stay tuned to Bullz-Eye for my Q&A with Sally Pressman, who plays Roxy LeBlanc on the show and was more than happy to answer my question, “Why should guys watch ‘Army Wives’?” (Unsurprisingly, though, the first words out of her mouth were to point out that there are four females leads and not a one of them is hard on the eyes.)

Okay, on to the three panels.

First panel: the second season of Carson Kressley’s series, “How to Look Good Naked.” Great concept, wonderful for helping women build their self-esteem, but ultimately not really something that I need to talk up but so much.

Second panel: “Rita Rocks,” the new sitcom from executive producers Stan Zimmerman and James Berg, last seen as consulting producers on “Gilmore Girls.”

Okay, with credits like that, we’ll give this panel a little bit more love. Nicole Sullivan (“Mad TV,” “The King of Queens”) stars as Rita, an overworked mother in the middle of a full-blown identity crisis. She’s happily married to Jay (Richard Ruccolo, a.k.a. the guy in “Two Guys, A Girl, and a Pizza Place” who wasn’t Ryan Reynolds), but while juggling her marriage, her job, and her maternal duties, Rita realizes that to reclaim her sanity, she has to carve out time for herself. At the encouragement of her nosy postal carrier, Patty, (Tisha Campbell-Martin), Rita forms…a garage band? Okay, c’mon, how are we defining “garage band” here? Because when I think “garage rock,” I think of Little Steven’s radio show, and what we see in the pilot – Rita kicking out a not-bad version of “Try A Little Tenderness” – only falls into the descriptor of “garage rock” because it’s actually performed in a garage.

“We’d love to do a lot of covers,” said Zimmerman, “and then maybe eventually she’ll put a song up maybe that she’s written when she was 17 and be real exciting.”

“We don’t want it to become kitschy in that it’s all ’80s music,” clarified Sullivan, “because that tends to lead to that sort of feeling. We don’t want it to all be silly. We want it to be emotional.”

At this point, a writer asked Sullivan what she listened to while growing up?

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Actors, Actresses, External Entertainment, External TV, News, Reality TV, TCA Blog 2008, TCA Press Tour, TV, TV Comedies, TV Dramas

TCA Press Tour, Day 4: Starz

July 14, 2008 /

It’s taken the Starz Network quite a while to get on its feet as one of the major movie networks. Okay, fair enough, some would argue that they’re still not there yet, but they’ve been doing some great work with their original documentaries about various film genres, and now that they’re making the move into producing their own original dramatic series as well, it’s clear that they have every intention of playing with the big boys.

The first series on the slate is an adaptation of the Oscar-winning film “Crash,” so you can imagine that there’s going to be a pretty sprawling ensemble cast involved, but there’s one actor’s name that handily stands out above the rest: Dennis Hopper, who plays Ben Cendars, a successful and respected record producer whose fight to remain relevant in the hip-hop world is made more difficult by his self-destructive tendencies. Most intriguing about this particular character, however, is that when placed against all of the total nutjobs on Hopper’s resume, he claims that this guy is “as crazy and probably crazier than any of them. He’s totally out of control. He’s a music mogul who wants to get one last big hit going, and he’s totally off the wall. He changes directions about 20 times in a minute. He seems to have a tremendous empathy and understanding of things, and at the same time, he has no limitations how he addresses other people or other races or other genders. He’s totally a loose cannon; he doesn’t have an edit button. It’s a great part, beautifully written, and we have no language barriers or sexual. It’s as free as television will ever be.”

The proof in that particular pudding would seem to come via a scene between Hopper’s character and, uh, John Thomas, if you take my meaning. And if you don’t…well, I’ll let Hopper describe the scene:

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Actors, External Entertainment, External TV, Movies, News, TCA Blog 2008, TCA Press Tour, TV, TV Dramas

TCA Press Tour, Day 4: Fox Reality Channel

July 14, 2008 /

A few days ago, I pondered whether or not I was getting Planet Green in my area. Well, I have since confirmed that Cox Communications does indeed offer the station (note to self: program Channel 102 to the Favorite Channels line-up). Unfortunately, I also confirmed that they don’t offer the Fox Reality Channel, so I’m now on a quest to get that added sooner than later.

David Lyle, President of the network, gave a nice synopsis of his baby for those of us who aren’t fortunate enough to have actually experienced it firsthand. “We’re not all Fox programming and we’re not all reruns,” he clarified. “Fox Reality Channel has the best of acquired programming from the U.S., like ‘Amazing Race,’ ‘Hell’s Kitchen,’ ‘Last Comic Standing.’ In fact, what really distinguishes us and continues to make us stand out are the originals. We celebrate reality in all its styles, from the Really Awards, jam-packed with reality stars behaving as only reality stars can. ‘Gimme My Reality Show,’ where reality hams compete to win their own show. ‘My Bare Lady,’ it’s back for a new season. TV’s toughest competition, ‘Solitary.’ The documentary-style look at police training, ‘The Academy.’ These all fit our mandate for original shows on Fox Reality Channel, and that’s to be loud and to be real.”

Funny how Lyle didn’t clarify what “My Bare Lady” is, but since he didn’t, allow me: the series follows four American female porn stars as they take acting lessons and perform in scenes from classic drama alongside British actors in London’s West End. Or, at least, that’s what Season 1 was about. Whatever Season 2 involves, however, I think we can presume that it will still involve female porn stars, so I say bring it on.

Also worthy of your attention is “Long Way Down,” in which actors Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman hop on their motorbikes and take an epic ride ride from the north of Scotland to the southern tip of Africa. McGregor’s fascination with burning rubber is pretty well documented, given his appearance on “Top Gear” as well as his narration of the Mark Neale documentaries “Faster” and “The Doctor, The Tornado, and the Kentucky Kid,” but his fascination with bikes goes back much farther than that.

“My father was in a charity organization called The Round Table. My father’s called Jim, and he did this thing called ‘Jim’ll Fix It,’ where he tried to help people with kids who were ill or do something special for them. When I was about five,” McGregor said, “this little boy who was ill wanted to ride a motorbike, and they got this little tiny Honda monkey bike, it was called, and the kid rode it all around the field. And I was there, so I asked if I could have a shot afterwards. And I think it’s true to say I never got over the feeling of going like that. It’s a thrill that I still have to this day. I really love it. I can’t tell you how thrilling it is.”

“Long Way Down” is a trip which is less about the speed at which he and Boorman are traveling and more about their experiences along the way, something which was decidedly enhanced by their mode of transportation.

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Actors, External Entertainment, External TV, News, Reality TV, TCA Blog 2008, TCA Press Tour, TV

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