Attention Nielsen households!

Attention Nielsen households, I would like a moment of your time. It's true I've never met anyone who said they belong to the mysterious group of people who decide what it is Americans watch on TV. To be honest I'm not entirely sure that you exist... or that if you do exist you are not a bunch of funny monkeys.

But for whatever reason, the gods have decided that you are the people that matter. You are the ones that tell the networks what is popular and what people are watching... despite the fact that technology has improved so much in the past ten years... that we probably don't need a random sampling of TV "viewers." I'm sure there's probably a way that the "powers that be" could create a system where almost everyone's viewing habits mattered... but apparently society would rather stay put in the 80's.

Now I know we've had a difficult relationship in the past. It's because of you "Arrested Development" is no longer on the air. It's your fault "Firefly" no longer charms sci-fi audiences. "Andy Richter Controls the Universe" would be in it's 8th season without you.. It's your fault that "American Idol" is the top rated show on television. I won't lie. I am bitter. But you have done a few good things... somehow "Lost" is still on the air... Okay, so you've really only done one good thing.

But I'm willing to put all problems aside if you will please watch "Dollhouse." The rumor mill is suggesting that the show may not be long for this world. DON'T LET THAT HAPPEN. Make a difference. Watch a show that is different. That is fun. That is challenging. Don't let another "Firefly" happen.


Yes, "Dollhouse" isn't the best show on TV.. but it one day could be. Don't let this show die before it's had a chance to become great. Stop watching "Dancing with the Stars." Please.

I will send you money.

Thanks for your time.

PS. Please also watch "Good Morning Utah"

Thursday Overload

So, as soon as you guys start commenting more, I'll start posting more. That's a promise...


Anywhoo. So the new TV season has started and almost everything I watch is on Thursday night. If I didn't have the Internet and Tivo I don't know what I'd do. I'm giving "Flashforward" a chance right now. The first episode was pretty good.. I love the premise but I'm not sure I love the characters. Maybe after a few weeks there will be some character development. If not I may have to re-evaluate.

On NBC it's all comedy, all the time. I've been enjoying the oddly titled "Weekend Update" Thursday edition. It's good to see Seth and Amy back at the desk. And the opening sketches have been great. The same cannot be said for the actual Saturday night show which I didn't think was very good at all on Saturday.

That's followed by "Parks and Recreation" which I think is getting better all the time. I love all of the actors in the show and I think they're starting to understand their characters better. My favorite character is Andy who is played by the always excellent Chris Pratt. I hope this show gets the chance to mature and be great. Remember, "The Office" and "30 Rock" weren't awesome at the beginning of their runs. Shows, particularly sitcoms can get better with age.

Speaking of "The Office" I've been enjoying this season. I've heard some people tell me it's not as funny as it used to be. And sure some episodes aren't that great.. but compared to most other sitcoms this stuff is gold.. so lay off people and enjoy the show. I hear the wedding episode is supposed to be good. Although, I hear it's an hour long and some of those hour long episodes aren't as good as the half hour ones... so we'll see.

I watched the first episode of "Community" and wasn't that impressed... and since my plate is full right now I'm not going back... But if the show's still around in the summer I'm open to giving it another chance. I do love some Joel McHale, John Oliver, and Chevy Chase.

"Fringe" is also on Thursday nights. I didn't love last week's episode. It felt familiar and not all that interesting. I'm all for the continuity stuff and last week just felt like filler. Here's hoping they get back to the alternate universe stuff. I really like this show and hope it doesn't start losing it's charm.

"Supernatural" has been pretty good so far. The brothers are fighting right now and so they are separated... hopefully that will get fixed soon and we can get back to some of the more silly episodes which are my favorite. Ben Edlund rules.

"30 Rock" has not premiered yet. I'm counting the days.

So that's Thursday night for you. I'm going to have to spread the shows throughout the week so as to not be overwhelmed. I don't have any shows on Tuesday and the rest of the week is pretty slim. These TV programmers need to get on their game.

So what have you thought of the TV season so far? Any new shows you love? Any old ones that aren't good anymore? What's the verdict?

PS I think you should all watch "Good Morning Utah" I hear that show's amazing!

Apple day x2

So today is 9-9-09. It's a day I've been waiting for, for some time. Why, you ask... because all of the Beatles albums are being released today.. completely remastered. The albums haven't been touched since the late 80's back at the dawn of the CD. And apparently the transfers weren't very good. So now they've been remastered and according to every article I've read... they sound amazing. I haven't decided if I'm going to repurchase the albums... At this point I think I might buy one and see what the difference is.. and go from there.


Also out today is "Beatles: Rock Band" for Wii, Playstation 2, and XBOX 360. At this point I don't have plans to buy it but my friend already has it on order and we have a Beatles party night planned. I'm really excited. The reviews for the game have been stellar... and I only just discovered that I like "Rock Band" so I'm looking forward to playing it.


Finally, Apple (the computer company, not the Beatles record company) is having a big event today where they're expected to talk about the latest edition of the Ipod touch... an announcement I've been waiting for, for years. I'm hoping they announce a storage improvement. Rumor is that the storage will be upped to 64 gigs... and that a camera and microphone are going to be added. We shall see. But I have money stored away for just such a purchase.

There's also a small chance Apple will announce that the Beatles are finally coming to Itunes.. due to the coinciding of the two events.. but advance buzz is that it won't happen. We shall see. Everyone have a great 9-9-09... I now have to go to a crappy work meeting. See ya.

I finally saw "Paper Heart"

So I'm not sure if I wrote a blog about my Sundance experience this year. But if I did I probably mentioned that we waited in line for a few movies we weren't able to get into. One of those lines was "Paper Heart." It's a film starring Charlyne Yi and Michael Cera. It's a hybrid documentary/fiction film.


The film follows comedienne Yi as she talks to different people across the about their love lives. There's some funny stuff and some touching stuff.

The fictional storyline follows Yi as she "falls in love" with actor Michael Cera. Apparently the jury is still out as to whether to the two ever actually dated in real life. At last check they had not. But I wouldn't be surprised to hear differently tomorrow. In the end I guess it doesn't matter. Cera is as usual pretty funny. And Yi does some fun scenes with paper machete...

It's a cute little movie but definitely not worth $8.00. It wasn't worth the wait. It's more of a redbox rental. So check it out then.. just be aware that the scenes with Cera were all scripted.

Grade: B-

Fall TV preview

Does anybody remember how back when there used to be Saturday morning cartoons they would have a primetime preview of the upcoming cartoons. I loved that. Often they would use a current primetime show to pimp their cartoons. For example:



Ah. "Perfect Strangers." I miss the Dance of Joy. I wish that clip hadn't edited out the cartoons.. oh well. I also wish Saturday morning cartoons were still around. This current generation doesn't know what it's like to get up before six in the morning to watch cool cartoons. Sigh.

Anyways, my point. Primetime shows don't often have a preview show. So what I would like to do with this column is look ahead to the upcoming primetime sci-fi shows.

See, here's the thing.... "Lost" will be on it's last season in January... so I need to find a new show to possibly replace it. There seem to be big three sci-fi shows coming up this season. I want to know what you think I should give a try.

First up is the one I think looks the most promising: "V"... Really one of the reasons I think it looks cool is because it has two "Firefly" alums in the cast as well as a "Lost" cast member. It's a remake of the 80's miniseries.. that was apparently pretty popular. I have never seen the original but I hear one of the aliens eats a live rodent.. so that's cool. Also the executive producer is Jeffrey Bell who exec-produced the last few seasons of "Angel" and "Alias." Take a look. Tell me what you think.



Next up is "Flash Forward." It's based on a novel.. and comes to us from David Goyer (Batman Begins) and Brannon Braga (Star Trek: The Next Generation). The premise seems really cool. And I like the cast here as well... another "Lost" star is in this one. As far as previews go I think this one is my favorite of the three. What think ye?



And finally we have "Day One" which actually doesn't premiere until midseason on NBC. It's about apartment residents that survive an unknown world-wide cataclysm that destroys modern infrastructure.... or something like that. This one come's to us from Jesse Alexander who did some good work on "Alias" and "Lost" but from what I understand is one of the people who got fired from "Heroes" after it started sucking. I don't know that much about the show except I know the TV critic at Aint It Cool News says it's his favorite of the three.



So there you have it... a sneak peak at what's ahead on primetime... at least what's ahead that's not a medical show, a cop show, or dumb sitcom. In the end I may just wait to see what sticks. There's nothing worse than starting a great show only to have it canceled. Besides, right now I'm really looking forward to the second season of "Dollhouse" after having seen the lost DVD episode (it rocked).

One more thing of note.. AMC is making a TV show based on the graphic novel "The Walking Dead"... the show will be written and directed by Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption, Green Mile).. So maybe I should just hold out for it.

Till next time.

Playing Catch Up

So a number of posts back I said I'd review a few movies that I never actually reviewed. So now I'm finally getting around to reviewing the movies.


The first one I saw at the Broadway theaters in downtown Salt Lake. It's called "The Brothers Bloom." The movie stars Mark Ruffalo, Adrien Brody, and Rachel Weisz. It's a con-artist movie. I really enjoyed this one. It didn't open in a ton of theaters, but I think it's the type of movie a lot of people could get behind. Brody and Ruffalo play brothers who try to pull one over on Weisz's character... and of course there's more to it than that... but to say more would be wrong. My favorite part of the movie had to do with the brother's assistant Bang Bang. She has the best lines, or actually non-lines in the movie. So for anyone that likes a good con artist movie, this one's for you. Definitely worth your time.
A-
The second movie you may have heard of, it's the latest film from Ron Howard and Tom Hanks. "Angels and Demons" is the "sequel" to "The DaVinci Code." It's based on the book which actually was written before "The DaVinci Code." I really enjoyed the book and thought it was actually a better thriller than "The DaVinci Code." For the record I thought "The DaVinci Code" movie was actually pretty boring... though I really liked the book. So I wasn't sure what to expect from the new movie. I actually enjoyed it. It did have a couple moments that dragged but overall it was a big improvement over the last movie. It's not really even worth mentioning the plot.. but it all takes place after the Pope dies.. Robert Langdon is called in to solve some "symbology" mysteries. And of course he succeeds. The movie's a little long... but if you read the book and liked it... the movie is worth a rental.
B

And finally, I saw "The Proposal." Yeah, it was your typical romantic comedy. But I like Sandra Bullock and I prefer her to many typical rom-com stars. I also like Ryan Reynolds, soon to be Green Lantern. Anyways I don't have a lot to say. You already know if you're going to like this movie or not. It does have the wonderful Betty White.. so that could be a convincing reason to see it. I don't know. I obviously prefer "500 Days of Summer"... but you could do a lot worse than "The Proposal."
B-

So I think you now know my opinion of every movie I saw in theaters this summer. I saw more movies on DVD but who know if I'll ever get to those. What were your favorite movies this summer? Worst movies? Please comment. The more people comment the more likely I am to update this blog more frequently.

Four stars

Sometimes I think the way critics review movies is kinda dumb. I mean just because somebody likes a movie doesn't mean that somebody else is going to like it. For some people "Transformers 2" was the best movie out this summer. For others, it was some artsy Russian movie that no one's ever heard of. I wish when people reviewed movies they wouldn't say, "this movie sucked" or "this movie is the best thing since sliced bread." I think they should say "I thought this movie sucked" or "I loved this movie so much I want to take it behind a middle school and get it pregnant." That's why I like Rotten Tomatoes and Meta Critic. What's my point... I'm not sure but, let me say this. I loved "500 Days of Summer."


My lovely wife and I almost caught this movie at Sundance this year... but the stars didn't align and we didn't get to see this movie, "Paper Heart," or"Afghan Star." It's a long story. But now I know we should have tried harder to see "500 Days of Summer." And probably those other movies too, because they look good. Anywhoo. For those of you who aren't familiar with this movie, it tells the story of the relationship between the two people in the picture above. I don't want to give much more away than that... but it's one of the most realistic portrayals of dating and looking for love I've seen on the big screen. There are some TV shows that have portrayed it very well... cough "Freaks and Geeks" cough. But that's for another post that I'll probably never get to. While watching this movie I found myself reliving many joyful and painful experiences from earlier in my life.. This movie is hilarious, heart breaking, sincere, thought provoking, and just all around well worth your eight hard earned dollars. Just don't expect your typical romantic comedy. This movie is anything but cookie cutter. So if you get the chance check it out. You won't regret it... Unless you don't like this type of movie.... because, remember I liked this movie.

PS. I didn't love this movie just because it starred the beautiful Zooey Deschanel (although that didn't hurt). I think it's funny that people always seem to think that I love shows like "Buffy" or "Dollhouse" or "Veronica Mars" because they have attractive women... I love them because they are very well written, acted, and directed. So there. :-P