OK, it’s time for our occasional discussion of the other TV shows.

First up 24. Fox announced they are not renewing 24. It’s not that its ratings were that bad (between 2.8 and 3.5 typically). It is just not high enough to justify the high production cost. Purportedly the producers are trying to get NBC, with its dismal lineup, to pick it up.

I think this season has been one of 24’s best (other than the silly hillbilly subplot with one of the techs). But part of me thinks they ought just put the show out of its misery.

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The girls have voices I like better than the guys, but the guys sing on key better.

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An interesting and unexpected episode involving Ben Linus, a study in contrasts.

Spoilers from tonight’s episode and more after the break.

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What’d you think?
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Sundown, you better take care.

Spoilers from tonight’s episode, along with a bunch of other stuff, below.

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1.  You really should be watching this.

2.  The nature of the show is such that each episode is not as self-contained as episodes of BSG.  I will do a more comprehensive post when the mid-season break hits in mid-March.

3.  This week episode was quite cyberpunky.  Until now, it had mostly been family drama, with no action.  But Admiral Adama has an all powerful Neo-esque sister avatar walking around Caprican cyberspace, kicking trash and taking names.  Makes for an interesting tonal shift in the episodes, but it works.

4.  The Adamas are “Tauron” which apparently means Jewish-Italian-Arab-Greek-Hispanic.

5.  The actor playing Daniel Greystone has gotten a lot better since the pilot.

6. No wonder the Cylons wanted to destroy humans.  The Zoe avatar inside the first Cylon was forced to watch her parents have sex.  And she was ordered to rip her own arm off.  The Zoe avatar is also quite selfish and too willing to manipulate the best friend of the real Zoe.

7.  The Soldiers of the one practice bi-sexual group marriage.  Interesting.

8.  Ron Moore wants to include more gay characters in his shows.  That is fine.  Now, if he could just stop making them of a certain type.  So far, we have: Cylon Saboteurs and mentally insane Admirals (see BSG: Razor), mutineers (Gaeta), cold-blooded Mafia-esque hitmen (here in Caprica, one of the Adama clan), and cold-blooded fanatical terrorists (Soldiers of the One in Caprica).

9  Either way, this is a lot better than expected.  Nothing as good as the first two seasons of BSG, but loads better than the last two seasons.

10.  So go watch the frakking show.

What’d everyone think of the top 12 girls? I haven’t quite watched them all, but from what I’ve seen, it looks like a pretty disappointing group.

Except for Chrystal Bowersox, who completely rules. She sounded like a combination of Linda Perry and Ani DiFranco last night. I don’t think she sounded like Alanis, do you?

Another week, another new episode of Lost. Jack is back.

Spoilers and more below the fold.
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1. Curling. If that’s a sport then so is shuffleboard.

2. Short Track Speedskating. WTF? That’s like the summer olympics having the same track events on two separate size tracks! What is short track for, munchkins? We have a different track for short people? I say get rid of short bus speedskating and make everyone skate on the big track, like grown-ups.

3. Luge. Come on, man, those lugers aren’t doing anything except laying on a cafeteria tray like meatloaf. They can’t even see where they’re going! And that goes double for doubles luge. Any event you can do laying on top of someone else in your sock feet must go.

4. Biathlon. Since when do guns have anything to do with winter sports? You can shoot guns at targets any time of the year, in combination with any aerobic activity. So why is cross country skiing so special? Get rid of the shooting and just ski.

As I noted last week, Kate episodes tend toward mediocrity. But Locke episodes tend to be awesome, and tonight’s was no exception (even if, technically, it was only half Locke-centric).

Spoilers from tonight’s episode and more after the jump.

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Sorry to tear you hopeless geeks away from Lost, but it’s time for something manly!  No not the Oscars.  It’s Superbowl time!  Time to answer those age-old questions that speak to the essence of manhood:  Which team has better uniforms?  Whose tight end is better looking?  Which ETrade baby is more articulate?  What scandal will occur during the half-time show?  And of course, most importantly: Which commercial has the hottest babes?

Feel free to comment here before, during and after the big game on all things related to the cultural phenomenon that is The Superbowl.

We are now one week away from the first episode of the last season of Lost. I’m both excited and skeptical.

NOTE: The post below is (I hope) free of Season Six spoilers. Please try to keep it that way in the comments.

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I reviewed the “uncut” DVD of the premier here.

For those who haven’t seen the DVD and will watch it tonight (or delayed on some DVR), here’s a place to discuss it.  Here’s the conclusion of what I concluded in that older review:

Overall, I enjoyed the movie – enough so that I look forward to the series.  There are a few discrepancies – for a series set almost 60 years before BSG, some of the technology seems more advanced than what BSG had access to, and some of it seems to have hardly changed at all.

The character dramas are compelling, though.  This is a very different series than the BSG that just ended.  It’s Dallas and the Sopranos set in space, as I said above.

The only sour spot is that Ron Moore (once again, as in the New Caprica storyline) seems to justify suicide bombing as a legitimate means of social protest.  However, as this is only the pilot, it’s hard to see where he is going with this underground monotheistic cult, so I will give him the benefit of the doubt and hope that as the series progresses this will be addressed.

A highly recommended view, though it’s not for kids.  I’m sure the edited for TV version will be more family friendly, though.

OK, I know this has been out for awhile. But I just saw it. They are broadcasting the heck out of it before the season premier of Caprica. Presumably in hopes of cleansing the bad taste many of us had with the finale and the last two seasons of BSG in general. Because, in my humble opinion, this was actually pretty good.

I’ve always enjoyed the “one off” two hour movies outside of the regular series of BSG. They seemed to often flow better than the series proper. Further they give a lot more back story and make minor characters much more understandable. This one is no different. It really does explain the Cylons and their actions.

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Well an other week an other… What? Meltdown at NBC? Holy cow. I can’t believe the drama. I’m sure you’ve all seen the clips from Letterman, Conan, and so forth. Letterman’s have thus far been the funniest. But, man. Conan is brutal to NBC. I, like nearly everyone, thinks Conan was treated like crap. (He waited 6 years for this promise only to have Leno back out of the deal?!?) The latest on the actual battle between Conan and NBC’s Zucker is here if you really need to follow the drama.

On TV we got THREE new episodes of Chuck. They were all pretty good although I’m really disappointed that they are bringing back the Best Buy and the Nerd Herd. That joke had kind of worn itself out. There was a shocking death though I didn’t see coming. And kind of brutal for the normal tone of the show.

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OK, we’ve not done a television post for a while. A few thoughts.

It’s been a mixed season thus far. Many shows had some fantastic shows and then fell back into ruts. House was like that. A real rethinking of the character through new experiences and then fell into the rut of trying to maintain old sexual tension. Dexter was good, but not great in my opinion. (Despite some strong episodes) Over all it was lacking that satirical critique element that made previous seasons so interesting. Instead it became clumsy and heavy handed. (What? Families that appear great might not be underneath? You feel trapped in the suburbs. It’s almost like someone was aping Sam Mendes but without the style.)

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I didn’t think so.

What a great season. John “Trinity Killer” Lithgow was inspired casting [1] and the ending — oh the ending! There are few shows that make me as deliciously uncomfortable as this. I live in constant fear that Dex will be caught. Never have I enjoyed sociopaths — nor wanted them to succeed — this much.

There’s no way he can tell the police about Rita is there? All roads to Trinity lead back to him.

Best thing on US telly.

1. The scene where he made the woman jump from the building was supremely nasty in a good nasty kind of way.

Ok, it looks like no one else is going to do this so I guess I will, partly because I totally called it last night and partly because I think this is the best season of this show probably ever (I haven’t watched it that much so I can’t say for sure). (more…)

Well, the series makes a whole lot more sense now.

And a whole lot less sense. (Spoilers below).

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OK, a day late. A dollar short. Yet here we are talking about the show. Sorry my wife and I just finished watching. (Perils of working late)

So the judges really liked this week better than last week. Personally I found the dancing and in some cases the choreography kind of lacking. The two best routines of the evening were Ellenore and Ryan’s contemporary and Kathryn and Legacy’s Paso Doble. Admittedly Legacy’s dancing had that asterix. It was good for a breaker. In places though it was just plain good. And I thought this was one of Kathryn’s best dances of the season this year. She really broke out. Ryan and Ellenore’s dance was fantastic though. It more than made up for last week’s disaster. (Were I Ryan I’d be spending my free time practicing hip hop because you know he’s going to get it again!)
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OK, it’s been a few weeks since we had a general TV thread. So I figured I’d put one up. Feel free to chime in about how you think the TV season is going; shows that the rest of us ought be watching; and what you dislike.

My thoughts.

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What’s everyone think?

I hate the new stage.

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OK, I’ve been pretty vocal that MTV went to hell by the time of the boy bands and the Disney girls in the late 90’s. If anything it’s just gotten worse being little different from the pseudo-reality and game shows that one finds all over syndication. The Real World became unoriginal over a decade ago and its few interesting shows, like Tom Green or Jackass also are from long ago. I have to admit though I found by accident an MTV show that is original and hilarious: Bully Beatdown.

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My wife works as a manager for Anthropologie, which is a women’s clothing and home store with many locations in the US and UK.  So, we were very interested when the Sundance Channel recently started a series called “Man Shops Globe.” This reality series follows Keith Johnson as he travels the world in search of “found objects” which are featured in all Anthropologie stores as one-of-a-kind art pieces and furniture that help to create the proper aesthetic environment for the stores, and that you can also buy. (more…)

He recently had the Mountain Goats on his show. You can stream their new album on his website.

Other musical guests he’s had on:
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