The Count Censored
Shocking! Really, I had no idea....
Television
[123 entries.]
I've said the same thing...
Numerous times while watching this show:...
Cool TV
a home run...
My reality show concept: Celebrity Karaoke Roulette
Shakespeare's Sister question of the day the other day was: "You've been given unlimited resources and creative control to create your own contest reality show (a la Project Runway) or game show: What's your concept?" I've had this one rolling around in my head: Celebrity Karaoke Roulette. Take five famous musicians, throw them up on stage with microphones, hit shuffle...
Fascinating Interview with David Simon
David Simon is the producer of HBO's "The Wire" - a highly acclaimed series that I have on my Netflix queue since I've heard so many rave reviews calling it "The Best Show on TV Ever." Here is part of an interview he gave with Nick Hornby for The Believer: We got the gig because as my newspaper was bought...
Why the writer's strike is important
and why I support it....
ABC PSA - Very Nice.
ABC Allies & Friends...
My Theory about the Sopranos Finale
I haven't watched the last two seasons (tired of springing for HBO; they're in the Netflix queue) but I have read the volumes of controversy over the series Finale, online and in print. Here's my theory, which I haven't yet seen posited anywhere, yet... I don't think Tony got whacked at the very end. I think you, the viewer, got...
"I'm here to shoot a pilot"
Boing Boing is questioning whether this is actually true, but it seems to be making the rounds and has shown up on numerous news sites: Director Mike Figgis spent longer at LAX airport than intended. He'd arrived in Los Angeles, along with half the acting and directing world, for what is known as 'pilot season', when the big studios try...
The L-Word's Illene Chaiken
If you're a fan of the show (or if, like us you're really just a fan of Leisha Hailey) then this parody will be hysterical. (via Dorothy Snarker)....
"The Chart" from the L-Word
The social networking site for lesbians - "The Chart" as seen on the L-Word is up and running. It's a bit clugy and lacking in features as compared to other sites, but Stephanie and I went ahead and created profiles anyway. Here they are if you're planning to get on. Stephanie's Profile My Profile...
Favorite Quotes
"Stop feeling sorry for yourself because someone said you're going to die. I got an idea that's gonna help us both. Now it is dangerous, and there's a very good chance you will die. But if you don't die, then we win. I don't know about you, but things have really sucked for me lately, and I could use a...
The Ladybug Picnic
Awesome - Shakespeare's Sister posted YouTube clip of Sesame Street's Ladybug Picnic, and I had to grab it because it's one of Stephanie's and my songs. She put together a great CD for me of all kinds of Sesame Street songs, including some like that this that I hadn't heard since I was a little kid. So I had this...
Locked on the roof? Seriously?
I really loved the West Wing, most especially when Sorkin was writing for it, and I really do like Studio 60, for the most part. But lately the weird thing Danny's doing to Jordan, the sort of creepy-stalkerish, pre-rapey, not really romantic, "refusal to take no for an answer" thing is really disturbing, especially since we know Sorkin's setting this...
On the Subject of the words "Faggot" and "Dyke"
Other that some passing linkage, I haven't weighed in on the controversy surrounding actor Isaiah Washington and his use of the F-word twice in the last three months on the set of "Grey's Anatomy" and at the Golden Globes. The New York Times summarizes the events. Given that there has been lots of commentary, I think I should say something....
Song of Ice and Fire to be HBO Mini-Series
According to George R.R. Martin's blog, and according to Variety: HBO turns 'Fire' into fantasy series HBO has acquired the rights to turn George R.R. Martin's bestselling fantasy series "A Song of Fire & Ice" into a dramatic series to be written and exec produced by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss. "Fire" is the first TV project for Benioff ("Troy")...
Slush Mug Commecial
We used to have these. Now that I recall, we had this type of Slush Mug, then later another version. I still have my second, newer one; mom gave it to me a couple years ago when we were cleaning out stuff at her house....
It's not nice to fool Mother Nature
One of my very favorite commercials from childhood. I never noticed before that she's telling the Goldilocks story wrong at the beginning....
The number 8 rabbit
The white rabbit with the number eight on it from Lost is in Stephen King's book "On Writing." I haven't read a whole lot of Stephen King, so I don't know if it's a plot point in one of his fiction novels also....
Veronica Mars
“Here it is… first day of college. What do you say Veronica? New school, fresh start, how about you try not to piss anyone off this time around.” Heh. Barely made it home to watch the season premiere after water aerobics last night -- which I must repeat, I am really enjoying. We managed to watch an episode of the...
Fall Television Viewing Season
Every year I sit down with my Entertainment Weekly and put together the list of fall TV shows that I think might be interesting viewing. I try to watch the first few episodes of each of them, and some inevitably fall off the viewing chart, never to be heard from again, when I pare my list down to a more...
Daylight Savings Time and Cable
I noticed with some grumpiness this morning that although my digital cable had adjusted correctly to the new daylight savings time, my DVR settings did not, so my show recordings are all off by an hour -- instead of recording Desperate Housewives, then Gray's Anatomy, my DVR recorded Gray's Anatomy and the evening news instead. Combined with the general wonkiness...
Dark Kingdom
I keep seeing the ads for "Dark Kingdom: The Dragon King" on the sci fi network premiering Monday, March 27th -- a dragon slayer, a two strong warrior women, a ring of fire -- Nibelungenlied? Yep, after further investigation, I called that one correctly. I'll definitely be watching that; my ancestors are Rhinelanders....
Natalie Portman Rapping on SNL
Wow. That's truly funny, and much better than the Lazy Sunday video. I want an mp3 of this. And the lyrics. Darn it. The video has already been yanked from Youtube.com, so my embedded file no longer works. Well, it'll be on iTunes; go look at it....
AFA boycotting Desperate Housewives
The American Family Association is urging a boycott of Desperate Housewives. Of course my response to TV censorship is always "unplug the TV" -- but this time the nutjobs are addressing my retort: Some people have said to pro-family viewers who dislike indecent network TV programming simply to turn it off, Wildmon notes. In response, he asks, "Why should we...
The Office
Back when the Ricky Gervais version of "The Office" premiered on BBCAmerica, I watched the first season and loved it. Eventually I had to stop watching, though, not because it wasn't funny, but because it was too real, and watching it was too much like actually being at work, and there's only so much of that you can take. Eventually...
Veronica Mars on delay until March
According to AfterEllen.com, UPN is delaying airing new episodes of Veronica Mars until March due to poor ratings. Huh. This is the best show on TV, people. It airs Wednesday nights opposite Lost. I expect each and every one of you to start watching, pronto....
The Dick Button Drinking Game
For those of you watching skating on the Olympics this week, check out the Dick Button Drinking Game written by Trudi Marrapodi. It was written quite a while back, but it's still perfectly dead on when it comes to Dick's commentary. Or you could play by watching the sport with my figure skater girlfriend, and drinking every time she says...
Close to Home
I'm watching Friday's episode of "Close to Home" the crime drama set in Indianapolis. I've written about it a couple of times on IndyScribe because it's pretty interesting to see how they portray the city on a national TV show. This episode called the "Romeo and Juliet Murders" has some eerie parallels to a crime I had a distant connection...
Which Serenity Character Am I?
Your results: You are Malcolm Reynolds (Captain) Malcolm Reynolds (Captain) 80%Jayne Cobb (Mercenary) 80%Wash (Ship Pilot) 65%Zoe Washburne (Second-in-command) 50%Derrial Book (Shepherd) 50%Dr. Simon Tam (Ship Medic) 45%Alliance 40%River (Stowaway) 35%Kaylee Frye (Ship Mechanic) 20%Inara Serra (Companion) 10%A Reaver (Cannibal) 5% Honest and a defender of the innocent. You sometimes make mistakes in judgment but you are generally good and...
The L-Word and Hot Sex (or lack thereof)
While we were watching this weeks episode of The L-Word, (episode 4, season 3) we noted that so far this year, there has been a distinct lack of hot sex such as existed in previous seasons. In the past, the characters were shuckin' clothes and doing the deed several times an episode, whereas this season has been quite tame. Shockingly...
Oscar Classic Movies on TCM
Beginning February 1st, Turner Classic Movies will air 360 "Oscar winner and nominee" movies, 3 per evening, until the Academy Awards (which airs March 5th). All of them are uncut and commercial free. Of course, the criteria to qualify as an "Oscar winner or nominee" is pretty open; they're not talking all "best picture" noms here, but including any movie...
New TV
My friend Joel gave me his old 36" TV because he upgraded. It's funny, I've never actually bought a TV myself. My very first TV was a 13" color set given to me by a college roommate. My second TV was a really old 19" color TV that wasn't cable ready and didn't have a remote. I picked it out...
Four Things Meme
Four Jobs I've Had Public Library Page Assembly Worker of Industrial Gas Shut-off Valves Chicken Restaurant Cooking Staff Website Designer Four Movies I Can Watch Over and Over Auntie Mame The Wizard of Oz Southpark: Bigger, Longer, Uncut Much Ado About Nothing Four Places I've Lived Ankeny, Iowa Canton, Ohio Muncie, Indiana Indianapolis, Indiana Four TV Shows I Love Veronica...
ABC kills reality show because winners are gay
The television show "Welcome to the Neighborhood" was supposed to be a huge hit. Seven families compete to win a McMansion on a cul-de-sac in an suburban neighborhood, with the winners being chosen by the neighbors. Turns out, the popular couple who won, by changing the hearts and minds of the redneck republican residents, were gay men. And ABC, fearing...
The Book of Daniel
Man, you ignore political news for one day around here, and the shit hits the fan. Everyone's talking about the Terre Haute TV station that's refusing to air the NBC TV show "The Book of Daniel." that premieres tomorrow night. I hadn't even heard of it, and had to go look up what all the fuss is about. Here's a...
Outrageous Firsts in TV History
YesButNoButYes lists controversial first in TV broadcast history. 1947: First Couple to Share a Bed - Mary Kay and Johnny, on...Mary Kay and Johnny 1957: First Toilet on Television. - Leave it to Beaver 1957: First Exposed Rack on Television - Jayne Mansfield, 1957 Academy Awards 1967: First Time the Word Hell was Used on Television - Star Trek 1971:...
mental notes
I need to remember to set the DVR in January for: Fox's "Skating With Celebrities" - Wednesday, January 18th Showtime's "The L Word" - Sunday, Jan. 8th "My Name is Earl" - Thursday, Jan 5th NBC's "The Office" - Thursday, Jan 5th CBS's "Love Monkey" - Tuesday, Jan 17th CBS's "The New Adventures of Old Christine" - March? Sci Fi's...
Melissa Etheridge and other cool stuff
My friend Amy gave me Greatest Hits: The Road Less Traveled by Melissa Etheridge a few weeks ago. I've been listening to it, but didn't get around to paying attention to some of the new tunes on it until this week. There's a very beautiful song called "This Is Not Goodbye" about going into surgery and having a loved one...
Lost for the Lost
I watch Lost religiously, and I actually picked up a few tidbits of information from this article on the show by Paul Scheer. I didn't catch that there were six Dharma Initiative science stations around the Island. I didn't catch the Dharma Initiative logo on the shark, or that ghost Walt was speaking backwards. Ethan Rom, the first "Other" that...
Veronica Mars
This show just keeps getting better and better......
Welcome, WISH-TV Viewers
If you're here because you saw Dick Wolfsie's report on the news this morning, thanks for thinking of me. My pictures of "Big Things" are here. I think when I talked to Dick I mentioned some "Lost Big Things" that I took pictures of at one time or another which are no longer around. I mentioned Habig's giant gardening trowel...
I'm going to be on TV Again
I'm going to be on WISH-TV's morning news on Friday morning for my "Big Things" photographs again. I did an updated interview with Dick Wolfsie a few weeks ago, and it will air then. So check me out being all famous and stuff. On top of that... I won first place in the Nuvolab 2005 Journalism Awards. My friend Bil...
Critical Reference Tool: A List of Made-up Words from the Simpsons
I'm not sure how I lived without this list before: Wikipedia's Made up words in The Simpsons. It's cromulent! Note that this Friday is Scotchtoberfest....
Dolphins sing Batman theme
I hate to follow up such a serious post with something silly, but I couldn't pass on mentioning this: according to ABC science news, scientists have taught dolphins to sing the Batman theme song. The down-side of this is that now I have the Batman theme stuck in my head....
Rory Gilmore Sex Boat
Googling the above doesn't get you a marketing page from the show, much to my sadness. They shouldn't tease us like that....
Monkey References on the Simpsons
An non-exhaustive list....
FCC is seeking to expand it's reach into cable
According to Salon Magazine, Commissioner Kevin J. Martin of the FCC has been meeting quietly with religious leaders and industry leaders to try to organize a push for new stricter standards on what is broadcast over cable stations. Pardon me, please, because I'm going to lose it right here. USE YOUR FUCKING 'V' CHIP, PEOPLE. That's what it's FOR. I...
The Long Tail
[Navigated to by way of Steven Johnson's Blog. Johnson is the author of Everything Bad Is Good for You: How Today's Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter which I read recently.] Quoting from Wikipedia: The phrase The Long Tail, as a proper noun, was first coined by Chris Anderson. Beginning in a series of speeches in early 2004 and...
Six Feet Under
Given everything that's happened in my life in the last couple years, why would this weeks episode of Six Feet Under be the thing that keeps me awake half the night terrified of death?...
Open-Heart Surgery on TV
Battlestar Galactica: on a recent episode, Captain Adama was shot, and was starting to code blue. Not having a defibulator handy, the medic opted to crack open his chest and massage his heart to restart it. Immediately after the procedure they show him lying on the table, with very few monitors around, with a simple tube in his nose. The...
Shorthand
No time, just recording these: Renegade Art Batman's bust Something to read further Pre-1960s Bollywood posters...
Martha Stewart
Martha has just wrapped up filming of her "Apprentice" reality TV show, which will probably air in the fall. That makes me really sad, actually, and I think going for this kind of a show was a bad move on her part. It will cement her image in people's minds as a wealthy executive, and that's a Bad Thing, because...
The Brawny Man
Nuvo has an article on the Brawny Man website, where the paper-towel icon stars in some short movies that are basically cheesy romance novels come to life. I saw one of them broadcast as a commercial during daytime TV the other day, so they'll probably be making their way to prime time eventually. As NUVO suggests, they make great group...
TV Shows on DVD
My friend Doug loaned me the DVDs for several TV shows to watch while I'm home recuperating from heart surgery. So my girlfriend and I watched the first season of "Mad About You" over the last couple weeks. I always liked the sitcom about a happy New York couple, Paul and Jamie Buchmann (played by Paul Rieser and Helen Hunt),...
Veronica Mars
Just finished watching the season finale of Veronica Mars -- and I have to admit I didn't piece the whole thing together before the end, although all the elements were there and I should have figured it out. I did predict that Aaron Echolls was the one who had the cameras in the boat house, but I didn't manage to...
Little House on the Prairie
I missed the two-hour premiere episode of Little House last night -- if anyone has it on tape, I'd really like to see it....
Oh Zephyr winds that blow on high, lift me now so I may fly
Really I had no reason to blog that, but I thought of it just now. So when's that show coming out on DVD, anyway? Update: A quick search tells me that the ownership of the show is changing, and it may someday soon be offered on DVD. Currently the companion show, Shazam, is running on TV Land. Hmm....
This is what people are freaking out about?
Here's the online clip (courtesy of ifilm) of the Desperate Housewives promo of Monday Night Football. it's silly at worst and just plain tame at best. What the hell is up with people that this is what they're protesting? What are people smoking these days, anyway? I'm sorry, but it's a handful of religious nutjobs who suddenly think they have...
Fall TV View Reviewed
So far this year, "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives" have been standout hits on my list of new shows. Both have interesting/different concepts, excellent character development, and unpredictable story lines that are keeping me interested. "Veronica Mars" is a bit odd and not perfectly developed, but it's interesting enough that I'll probably keep watching. The story lines are somewhat unbelieveable, and...
Weekend Update
Stephanie and I did a ton of work at my house this weekend to get the place ready for the party I'm throwing this coming Saturday. Mainly we did a lot of cleaning and organizing. The party will be a retro 80's party... and in gathering up stuff to wear, we've seen tons of appropriate stuff in the stores. Target...
map of Springfield
One of my co-workers printed this Map of the Simpson's Springfield to the plotter and has a large poster of it. Unfortunately, I don't have print drivers to the plotter. Damn it....
Gratuitous Wonder Woman linkage
For no real reason, except that I happened to click on it on someone elses site, a link to a really nice photo of Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman. Which is coming out on DVD on June 29th, BTW. You'll want to pre-order that right away. I did....
Oh, My God, Doug, you have to see this....
The Real Gilligan's Island - a reality show based on the series, only with real life people in the roles. This is the casting call for it. UPDATE: Turns out he already had the application....
Speaking of Survivor...
I completely forgot to blog that we saw Rupert from Survivor at P.F. Chang's on Wednesday at lunch. There were a bunch of us there from work, and he came in and sat at the bar. A few minutes later his friends came in and sat with him. I completely refrained from running over to him and shouting "Rupert! Rupert!"...
SURVIVOR SOUTHERN STYLE
Several southern TV stations are joining together and are planning to do their own Survivor show, entitled "Survivor: Southern Style."...
Rory & Paris, sitting in a tree...
Apparently, on the April 13th episode of Gilmore Girls, the "Spring Break: Gilmore Girls Gone Wild" episode, Rory and Paris kiss. Finally! How much fan fiction do people have to write before they figure out what everyone really wants to see?...
Weekend Update
So I spent the whole weekend moving at a leisurely pace, which was very refreshing after months of whirlwind activity. Friday night was Girl's Game Night at Vic's/Outword Bound, which is always very fun. I bought The Truth About Jane and Tipping the Velvet on DVD from Outword Bound, which now has an online store, by the way. Check it...
Reading, TV....
I finished The Eyre Affair on Sunday, and last night wrapped up The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, which I'm reading for one of my book clubs. Both are highly recommended....
You can't do that on television...
Wow, there's a blast from the past... Lori mentioned that she used to have a crush on Moose (Christine McGlade) the host of this Nickelodeon show... so did, I big time. I looked around for more info on her, but there doesn't seem to be much on what she's doing now, except a brief mention of her working for TVOntario....
Rosie O'Donnell Marries her Longtime Partner
Rosie married her partner of six years, Kelli Carpenter, in a private ceremony in the city hall rotunda in San Francisco....
L-Word recaps Episode 7
This week's recap is up. And the first quote that made me laugh out loud is: 'Bette is packing (well, packing a suitcase; I can't say for sure whether she's packing in the other sense too).'...
More L-Word Recaps
Scribe Grrrl has more recaps of the L-Word on afterellen.com, thus causing more of the embarrassing laughing out loud at work... this time, this line was the culprit: "Usually when women have sex on film, it's all kind of abstract and shadowy and you can't figure out what's going on and nobody really seems to be trying to touch anyone....
The L-Word recaps
Afterellen.com posts some hilarious recaps of past episodes of The L-Word. Funny, funny. I want to know who that recapper is, so I can marry her....
Weekend Update
I finished sanding the edges of the floor in the living room, and did the full-scale cleanup of sawdust required. I hoped that I'd have enough time to start staining the floors, but that was overly ambitious. The edger sander was really hard to control -- I was exhausted when I finished Saturday, and today I have stiff sore muscles...
New Favorite Quote
Again from the Television Without Pity recap of Carnivale, this time from the season finale: "Libby crosses the carnival to find Sofie hanging out by a tent, and they both kick off their date by lighting cigarettes. Flick...ahh. Then they stare deep into each other's eyes and kiss. I think it's kind of sad that I'm watching this on TV,...
"Mary Sue" in Online Fan Fiction
MARY SUE (n.): 1. A variety of story, first identified in the fan fiction community, but quickly recognized as occurring elsewhere, in which normal story values are grossly subordinated to inadequately transformed personal wish-fulfillment fantasies, often involving heroic or romantic interactions with the cast of characters of some popular entertainment. 2. A distinctive type of character appearing in these stories...
The Old Woman Who Lived in a Sensible Shoe
Sorry, I just read that line in a tv review of a recent episode of Carnivale, and it really cracked me up. Nevermind me....