Category: TV (Page 314 of 595)

Old Show, New Season: “The Big Bang Theory” / “How I Met Your Mother”

Monday night TV sucks.

No, wait, hear me out: it sucks because there are now officially too many good shows being broadcast on Mondays.

Haaaaaaaave you checked out the schedule for 8 PM? Starting next week (Sept. 29), the following shows will be competing against each other: “The Big Bang Theory” and “How I Met Your Mother” on CBS, “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” on Fox, “Chuck” on NBC, and “Gossip Girl” on The CW. Even if I had a splitter for my TiVo – note to self: get a splitter for my TiVo – I’d still be out of luck, since it’s not like my system is capable of recording four shows at the same time…and, geez, it’s not like there are enough hours in the day to keep up with this much programming, anyway!

Good thing, then, that CBS was kind enough to give me the hook-up on the premieres of “The Big Bang Theory” and “How I Met Your Mother,” so I could scope them out and give you a bit of a preview without fear of missing tonight’s episodes of “Sarah Connor” or “Gossip Girl.” Mind you, I still don’t know what I’m going to do next week, when “Chuck” premieres, but I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it…

I don’t think I could’ve been more pleased with the Season 2 premiere of “The Big Bang Theory.” It was one of my favorite new series last year, but given the way it ended, with Penny (Kaley Cuoco) sharing a moment with Leonard (Johnny Galecki), you couldn’t help but worry that things were moving a bit too fast between the unlikely couple. Sweet or not, it’s just really hard to imagine a relationship between a physicist and a Cheesecake Factory waitress working out for the long haul…and, fortunately, Penny has the same concerns at the conclusion of their first date.

Unfortunately, however, she makes the mistake of sharing those concerns with Sheldon (Jim Parsons), who reacts about as well to her suggestion that he not tell Leonard about her worries as he reacts to everything else.

In short, he freaks out.

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Ten comments about the 2008 Emmy Awards

1. Call him a dick for saying it, but Jeremy Piven’s dismissal of the opening of this year’s ceremony during his acceptance speech was right on the money. After that brief montage of stars quoting classic TV catchphrases, Oprah killed the show stone dead with her opening remarks, and the never-ending sequence by the reality-show hosts was downright painful. It was the worst beginning to an Emmy broadcast that I can remember.

2. I liked “Recount” as much as the next guy, but Tom Hooper was robbed. He totally deserved to win the award for Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie, or a Dramatic Special for his work on “John Adams.” That said, Jay Roach defused my anger somewhat when he thanked “my rock ‘n’ roll sweetheart, Susanna Hoffs,” in his acceptance speech.

3. Don Rickles can be funnier with one motion of his eyebrow than Kathy Griffin is likely to be in her entire career…and, indeed, he proved this tonight.

4. Bryan Cranston, God love him, only won his Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series because of the split-vote phenomenon.

5. I’m not saying Josh Groban’s TV-themes medley was great, but hearing him screech Cartman’s lines in the “South Park” theme was worth the price of admission.

6. Ricky Gervais’s bit where he demanded that Steve Carrel return his Emmy was brilliant…but with that said, I went to see “Get Smart” at the local discount theater this weekend instead of paying full price to see “Ghost Town.” I’m just saying.

7. As happy as I was to see “Mad Men” win Outstanding Drama Series, I think I was just as psyched that “Damages” got the love it did in the acting categories. I might’ve picked Ted Danson to win over Zeljko Ivanek, I admit, but I’m sure as hell not complaining. Season 2 of that series can’t get here soon enough.

8. It was totally an industry joke, but when Tom Hanks thanked Chris Albrecht during his acceptance speech for “John Adams,” then cupped his ear to see if anyone would applaud, I laughed out loud.

9. Although way too much was made of the whole Outstanding Reality-Show Host award (and giving the Outstanding Reality-Show Competition award to “The Amazing Race” for the sixth consecutive year was abso-fricking-lutely ridiculous), Jimmy Kimmel’s waiting until after the commercial break to announce the winner was truly inspired.

10. Tommy Smothers is my hero.

Entourage 5.3 – The All Out Fall Out

A year ago, I might have had a few words to say about how tonight’s episode did very little to progress the main storyline, but the whole subplot involving Ari and Adam Davies was so damn entertaining that I’m willing to give the “Entourage” writers a break this time around. Sure, a filler episode isn’t exactly the best idea when you’re trying to win back your fanbase, but it was also so enjoyable that it was well worth the risk.

Though it certainly wasn’t the main focus of the night, the Ari/Davies prank war was some of the best comedic material of the show’s five-year run. You just knew that Ari would do something as stupid as get into an illegal street race with Davies on his first day driving his new Ferrari, but I definitely didn’t expect him to crash it into a school bus. Well, “crash” is probably the wrong word – it was more of a subtle bump. Nevertheless, Ari lost the friendly wager, and being the upright guy that he is, he tells Lloyd to send Davies the $100 in a brown paper bag… filled with human shit. When a pair of police officers breaks up his meeting with T.I. hours later, Ari thinks he’s being arrested for the juvenile prank, only to discover that they’re strippers sent by Davies as retaliation.

Entourage 5.3

Not one to quit when he’s down, Ari pulls up some nude photos of Davies’ girlfriend that she gave him when she worked at the agency, and sends them to him with the hope that he’ll be crushed by the idea that she always wanted to have sex with Ari. Instead, Davies is quick to inform Ari that they broke up six months ago, and when he announces that he’s just posted a nude photo of Mrs. Ari on the internet, Ari goes apeshit. Determined to beat an apology out of Davies if it comes to it, Ari heads to the old agency to confront him, even going so far as to bitch slap him to accentuate how much of a bitch move that was on his part. Davies refuses to apologize, but when Ari threatens to “knock [him] the fuck out” if he doesn’t, Davies cowardly admits defeat.

The rest of the episode wasn’t quite as memorable. Eric heard back from Amanda about the script, but despite her acknowledgement that she liked it (and that Edward Norton is interested in some capacity, probably as a producer), we’ll have to wait until next week to find out more. Drama, meanwhile, is recovering from his break-up with Jacqueline, and when Vince gets an offer for some easy cash to serenade a girl at her Sweet 16 party, Drama ruins the night by throwing up on the cake. Perhaps more upsetting, however, was the complete waste of both Kevin Pollack and Fran Drescher as the girl’s parents. Seriously, was that the best they could come up with? Hell, I could have played the girl’s father and it wouldn’t have made a difference. Be smart, guys, and stop wasting talent on roles like this before you have to settle for much worse.

Heroes: Season 3 Preview

I have seen the first hour of the two-hour premiere of the new season of “Heroes,” and I’d just like to dispel a rumor that’s been floating around the ‘net: the episode does not begin with Sylar standing in the shower, assuring Claire that Season 2 was just a bad dream.

Poor Tim Kring. He’s spent the last year having to deal with non-stop comments about how the second season of “Heroes” didn’t live up to the expectations that had been set by the first season, so much so that he felt obliged to go on the record with Entertainment Weekly and apologize to the fans. But don’t feel too badly for him: Kring’s reputation is already on the mend, courtesy of this first hour of Season 3 (subtitled “Villains”), of which the producers of “Heroes” were so proud that they debuted it at Comic-Con way back in July.

Our man Jason Zingale was on the scene at the time…yes, that’s right, he saw it before I did, the bastard…but sadly for those who love their spoilers, he was willing to say precious little about what he’d witnessed.

“I’d like to talk more about what I saw, but I simply don’t want to ruin the experience,” he said, in his original blog entry. “All I’ll say for now is that it is mind-blowing, and it’s exactly what the series needs after season two was interrupted by the strike. Some cliffhangers are explained and others aren’t. New characters with powers are introduced, while older characters reveal new powers of their own. And perhaps most importantly, it’s all done with a comic flair that was sorely missing from last year’s mini-season.”

Having now seen it for myself, I have no arguments with any of his statements. It really does feel like a return to form for the series…though, of course, let’s be honest: given how long it’s been since we last saw a new episode of the show – can you believe the last one aired on Dec. 3, 2007? – isn’t it possible that our desire for more “Heroes” might be making us a little bit more forgiving than we might otherwise be?

Sure, it’s possible…but when you see it for yourself on Monday, I’m pretty sure you, too, will agree that the series hasn’t been this much like a live-action comic book since Season 1.

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Dragon Ball Z: Tree of Might / Lord Slug

It’s a shame that the Dragon Ball Z movies aren’t as good as the series itself, but I guess that’s the price you pay when you’re only given 60 minutes to tell a story. You’d also think that with the sixth season hitting stores on the same day, we’d be a little further along in the DBZ timeline, but “Tree of Might” and “Lord Slug” take place pre-Namek – when Gohan was still an annoying little kid and Goku had yet to become a total badass. “Tree of Might” is definitely the worst of the two, and it might even be the worst of all the Dragon Ball Z movies. By now, we’ve already seen Goku go toe-to-toe against his brother Radditz, as well as his father Bardock (albeit in a strange dream sequence), so the idea of pitting Goku against another Saiyan that looks just like him is, well, kind of lame. Additionally, the battles are boring and the movie ends so abruptly that it isn’t even worth your time. It’s a good thing that “Lord Slug” is included in the set, because “Tree of Might” probably wouldn’t be worth owning on its own. Though it does have its share of similarities to the series, (the villain hearkens back to the days of Lord Piccolo, while his lackeys are reminiscent of the Ginyu Force), “Lord Slug” is still one of the better movies to be released thanks to some entertaining fight sequences. Not even Gohan and his stupid dinosaur friend can ruin that.

Click to buy “Dragon Ball Z: Tree of Might / Lord Slug”

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