TV - It's a Good Thing

Saturday, May 29, 2010

There isn’t much I can say about the LOST finale that hasn’t been said already this week. It was both disappointing and amazing. A full week after seeing it, I still have a mostly positive opinion of it and think that it was a good ending.

For more insights, The Thinklings have a long discussion thread going, but be aware that it is highly spoilerish, of course.

I’ve started to re-watch from the beginning. What’s interesting is how much I have forgotten that happened back then and also to see those early events through the lens of knowing how it all ends and what some of the mysteries really are (like the Smoke Monster). The first 5 minutes were intense and awesome and reminded me of how great a show this was from the very start.

I am sad that the ride is over.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

I haven’t posted much about TV. That’s because I’m not watching much TV.

Imagine that.

Turns out I only miss it a little bit. That said, my DVR is at 90% capacity, although I’m guessing half of the stuff on there is actually for the Jesse. My plan is to try to watch the shows that I recorded during the summer. They include: The Good Wife, House, and Manhunters.

I only have about 5 episodes of The Good Wife left - that one I have managed to watch here and there as the season has progressed. I really like it and I think Beau does, too. He will watch it with me on occasion, so at the very least he tolerates it.

We watched the first couple episodes of this season of House and then life got in the way and I just let each new episode keep accumulating on the DVR. I think we have 11 and isn’t the season finale next week? So that will make it an even dozen to either watch or delete.

We love Manhunters, but it comes on after our usual bedtime so we let the DVR catch it. We have 18 episodes. If you haven’t seen this show, you should check it out. It is The Fugitive only it’s real.

What I have managed to watch live or nearly live include: LOST, V, American Idol, and Survivor. V is an interesting show that I like a lot. I think it’s a very good remake, well cast, very well acted, action packed, mysterious. We had a slight snafu with the DVR in the past month or so, where it only recorded the last 5 minutes of several episodes of V. I came to find that the settings for Caillou, which gets recorded for Jesse (and who knew a show like that aired at 10pm?) superceded V. And since The Good Wife and V are on at the same time that meant 3 shows were booked for the DVR at the same time. I have since fixed the settings and TGW and V supercede Caillou. Anyway, I managed to get caught up on V just this morning by watching online.

I spent this season mostly fast forwarding through AI in order to see only the performances and some of the judges comments. I didn’t watch a single results episode. I’m not sorry about that because this season has been terrible. That said, of the contestants who are left, I really like Lee and Crystal.

Because of Movies with Mom on Thursdays - I watch Survivor on Friday mornings before I get ready for work. It’s been a fun season. Loathe Russell. Loathe Parvati. Meh about the rest, although I like Sandra more and more - she’s funny.

I stopped watching 24 after about 5 hours. I stopped watching CSI after the few couple of weeks - it’s not the same without Grissom. I stopped watching The Office because I still need to see last season. And that’s about all I can say about TV these days.

Monday, May 10, 2010

We watched Jane Eyre (A&E version) this weekend. I had been told that this version was the best of the bunch, starring Ciaran Hinds and Samantha Morton as Rochester and Jane.

I have never read the book. I didn’t know the surprise element that kept Rochester brooding. Even though I suspected part of that surprise element, I didn’t expect the fullness of it. (Those who know the story will probably know what I’m talking about. The rest of you will have to read the book or watch one of the movies to know.)

Anyway, I liked it well enough, but I think that Hinds overacted in his role a wee bit. Morton was fantastic, playing Jane with a dignity that was impressive and enviable.

I rated it 3 stars out of 5 at Netflix. Beau then told me he would give it 4 stars, which kind of surprised me. He said he liked it, but I didn’t get that sense while we watched. I guess the lateness of the hour and tiredness superceded his outward enjoyment of the movie.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

I saw an ad for Lysol’s No-Touch Hand Soap System the other day and I’ve been thinking about it ever since. Isn’t it kind of super germ-phobic to want a germ-free soap dispenser? I mean, you’re touching the soap dispenser in order TO WASH YOUR HANDS. Who cares if there are germs on the dispenser? YOU’RE WASHING YOUR HANDS. Am I missing something here?

Tuesday, February 02, 2010

After last night’s episode of 24, the verdict is in. I’m done. There’s more that I loathe about this season than I like. This means I will no longer watch. It gets deleted from the schedule on the DVR. Makes me sad - the early seasons were awesome.

In good news, though, LOST starts tonight and I’m muy excited.

Friday, January 22, 2010

Pretty funny.  The line that made me LOL wasn’t even related to LOST at all and came at the end of the clip.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

My new new favorite show is Human Target. Action and eye candy. You can’t beat that.

Friday, October 16, 2009

If you want to see what the agency does best, then check out US Marshals: Operation FALCON.

Monday, Oct 19 at 9pm and 10pm on Discovery Channel and Discovery HD.

Featured cities: Miami, New Orleans, and Washington, DC

I’ll be setting my DVR to record it.

[Added Later]: I’m still waiting for the new season of Manhunters on A&E, too.

Monday, September 28, 2009

I thought of a few other shows that I’m “watching.” By watching I mean recording and viewing at some much later date.

I Survived - A guy survived a bear attack by playing dead while his wife beat on the bear with a branch. A couple survived a raging wildfire while their house burned around them - they took refuge in their pool. A family survived a home invasion. I defy anyone to watch this show without their jaw hanging open in horror at the tales these people recount.

Surviving Disaster - A former Navy SEAL teaches us how to survive various and sundry disasters. I’ve seen two episodes - surviving a fire in a high-rise office building and surviving a home invasion. Beau pointed out that we have a distinct advantage in our poverty and current home location - we are very unlikely to be invaded because we don’t have anything worth invading for. But I still want the tips for survival. I’m a worst case scenario nut - I constantly think about worst case scenarios and how to get out of them. I’m slightly obsessed with this, actually. So this show is perfect for me.

The Good Wife - I started to watch this yesterday and got distracted away after about 15-20 minutes. I liked what I saw, though, so I will get back to it.

In the meantime, I cancelled the season pass on DwtS - It’s too hard to keep up with it all and the only one I cared about was Donny Osmond. Except for Tom Delay - I had this deadly curiosity and weird hope that he’d be a better dancer than Tucker Carlson was. Someone needs to represent well on the dance floor for conservatives!

For the record, I don’t watch So You Think You Can Dance for two reasons: Mary Murphy and I’m not that into dance.

Watched Flash Forward on Saturday - me likey a lot. I find it hilarious that so many Brits are in it and working hard on their American accents. We can’t find good Americans for our TV shows anymore?

Finally, TAR - I believe you are back in fighting form (although to be fair I heard great things about last season, but I just couldn’t watch because of Molly Ann’s arrival). I only managed to see the first 20 minutes of the show, but I liked what I saw. I loved the first challenge and the twist. I’m going to try to finish it tonight.

One last thing, is it me or is the cast of Survivor: Samoa the least likeable ever?

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

We’re not watching much TV these days - evenings are chaotivc after I get home from work. I either immediately go to feed Molly Ann and then have my own dinner or vice versa. And then there’s getting the kids to bed. By the time the dust settles it’s usually close to or just past 8pm. And both Beau and I are pretty much done at that point, so we might watch 30-60 minutes of something and then we hit the hay. Fortunately, summer TV wasn’t too interesting, so it wasn’t a problem.

However, with the start of the regular fall TV season I’m in a quandry. Yes, we have the DVR and we do record all of my TV shows, but we also record (and save) several kiddie shows for Jesse. This means that about half of the memory on the DVR is tied up with his stuff. And there aren’t enough hours available to get all of the week’s viewing watched before the next week starts to record. As a result, I have greatly pared down the nightly TV schedules.

So far I’m recording/watching the following:

House
Dancing with the Stars - I have a feeling this will get dropped since it’s a 2-nighter
CSI: NY
Survivor
CSI
The Amazing Race

New this season: Flash Forward

Then later will come LOST and 24, although I’m up in the air over 24 since last season was ridiculous. And American Idol. What else am I missing?

I dropped recording this season of The Office because I still need to see last season. It’s on the Netflix queue, but again with no extra viewing time I haven’t moved it to the top of the queue. I also wanted to see Castle last season but didn’t, so that’s on the Netflix queue, too.

About House, we watched Monday’s episode last night. I liked it a lot, but the whole time I kept thinking that Something Major was missing. In all of the psychobabble, God was not present at all. Where God is not present, there is no real Hope. Those folks needed to hear about Jesus. I realize it’s a TV show, but I believe that’s true of everyone anyway.

Monday, September 14, 2009

They covered the rally live w/out comnmentary. You can watch here.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Anyone else addicted to those Food Network Challenge shows? In particular, the cake decorating competitions are my weakness. The talent it takes to do those enormous cakes is amazing.

[ADDED LATER]: From Cake Wrecks ... it pretty much speaks for itself, although Jen’s commentary is great.

Speaking of cake decorating, did anyone see the episode of Cake Boss where that crazy bride screwed up her cake the day before her wedding? She is nutso. And incredibly selfish and rude. And her mother clearly never disciplined her daughter.

Back to the Food Network, I am watching this season of The Next Food Network Star. I see a couple of front runners early on - both have the cooking chops and have good TV potential. ***SPOILERS FOLLOW*** I was ticked that Brett was so willing to sell out the homemaker cook (I can’t remember her name) because she accepted his offer to help plate her food on a challenge. He offered the help, she accepted. There was no help in the actual cooking, just in the plating up of the dishes. If you ask me, she could have plated on her own in the time she had left - I think it took more time for her to show them how she wanted things than if she had just done it herself. But that Brett was such a jerk made me happy that he got the boot.

Monday, May 25, 2009

Count me in!

[via Llama Robbo]

Friday, May 15, 2009

Coach is ridiculous. The End. Period. Paragraph. Note: the recap at that link is heavily spoilerish and contains profanity. But it is hilarious.

I was wondering when they’d get to some churrascaria. Mmmmm ... meat!

The finale is on Sunday, which is the day we drive down to the beach. I’m thinking my parents won’t sit through 3 hours of Survivor, so I’ll either have to wait until we get home to watch it or I’ll have to sequester myself in another room (the house we’ve rented has 6(!) TVs).

Thursday, May 14, 2009

LOST: In a word? Awesome.

I’m so curious about what’s going to happen next season to wrap up the show.

For more commentary from the masses, check out this thread at The Thinklings. Be aware that it is very spoilerish.

24: This one comes next week and while I think I’ll be able to watch it while at the beach, I may have to wait to see it when we get home. I’m OK either way. I’ll watch it to get closure, but this season has not been very good, if you ask me. And I’m doubtful about watching the next season, although I do realize that with time and distance I can get sucked back into the hoopla for another “day.”