The Unfiltered Ramblings of a DVR Addict

A Huge Disaster

Last night after playing a little catch-up and watching the second episode of American Idol, this week’s Top Chef (can anyone stop Stephan?), and The Office; I noticed that Dosh Network had uploaded an update onto myDVR.  I also noticed that there were something taking up space on there that I was beginning to doubt that I would ever watch.

So there I am, deleting the entire season of Testees, and my DVR freezes up a bit.  After 30 seconds or so I hit enter a few times and next thing I know I’ve deleted the entire contents of my DVR.  My wife looks at me and asks, “What did you just do?”  I wasn’t 100% for sure, but I replied, “I think I just erased everything we had recorded.”

We did a quick run down of what we thought we might have lost, and it didn’t seem too devastating.  I lost 3 or 4 episodes of Penn & Teller Bull S***,  a couple of episodes of Cities of the Underworld, last night’s episodes of 30 Rock and My Name is Earl (both of which I can watchon-line), and a few other things that I really wasn’t that upset about.  On the other hand my wife at least 25 hours of shows about wedding cakes, baking, other cooking shows, and the Thursday night estrogen tri-fecta Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice, and Ugly Betty (all of which she can thankfully watch on-line).

So while we didn’t lose anything devastating (I can’t even honestly think of any show that would be devastating to lose right now) it was disappointing.  Luckily we are good about watching most of the shows we care about within 24 hours or so.

I really enjoyed The Office last night.  There are a lot of ways that they could have gone with the whole Dwight/Angela/Andy love triangle, and I thought that the way that it ended really worked.  It will be interested to see where they take it from here.  From here on out I’m going to be very careful while walking through parking lots, so that I won’t fall prey to my enemies lurking in Prius’ going under 5 MPH.  I also thought the whole Michael in New York thing was hilarious.

This is my last post on Tumblr, starting this weekend I’ll be moving the site to WordPress.  The address will still be http://www.joeonthetube.com

I’ll post plenty for information and make it easy to find the blog.  I think that Wordpress will allow me to do a  lot more with the site and allows for more feedback from the readers.

Ricardo Montalban dies at 88 (1920 - 2009)

As a child I loved Fantasy Island.  I really did.  Maybe it was Hervé Villechaize shouting “de plane, de plane,” the awesome location, or maybe it was the fact that it was kind of a grown up show that I was allowed to watch.  I’ve always thought that if there was one show that should be re-made it should be Fantasy Island.  Obviously I wasn’t alone because in 1998 it was re-made, but poorly.  I think it’s time to honor the memory of Ricardo Montalban and do this right.

This guy was a huge star in the 70’s and early 80’s.  I believe that the role he will be remembered for is Mr. Rourke on Fantasy Island, but look at the list of TV shows and movies this guy did:

• Spy Kids 2 and 3-D
• Naked Gun
• Star Trek Wrath of Khan
• Cannonball Run 2
  
• The Mask of Zorro
• Wonder Woman
• 2 Planet of the Ape movies

OK maybe that list isn’t quite as impressive as I thought it would be, but the dude did love his soft Corinthian leather.

RIP Mr. Rourke.

American Idol Last Night

The first episode on American Idol was on last night and I have to say it was about what I expected.  There were some great singers and of course there were some awful singers.

There were two contestants last night that really worried me.  The first was Katrina Darrell, she showed up in about the tiniest swimsuit possible and despite not being great, she made it through to Hollywood.  Simon and Randy made it pretty clear that they weren’t interested in her singing.

The second contestant that made it through to Hollywood that worried me a little bit was Scott MacIntyre, the 23 year old blind singer songwriter.  Now doesn’t get me wrong, Scott wasn’t bad, actually he was pretty good, but he was far from the best last night.  He probably deserved to go to Hollywood, but I don;t know if he has the singing chops to take him further than that.  If he makes it out of Hollywood week and is still on the show, then Ladies and Gentlemen here is your new American Idol.  How can America vote against a story like Scott’s?  I’m not saying this to be funny (I think being blind is about the worst thing that can happen to a person), but this will be the first time in Scott’s life that being almost completely blind will give him an advantage.  I wish him the best, but this will no longer be about who is the best singer anymore (if it ever really was).  Sadly I couldn’t find any pictures of Scott this morning, but I did find tons of Katrina.

I really expect big things from Emily Hughes who was the girl with the pink hair and tattoo’s last night.  She had an amazing voice and a look that was different from anything we’ve seen on the show in recent seasons.  This is the best image I can find of her right now.

The second night of auditions is tonight from Kansas City, so I’m sure that we will be in store for more wackiness with some talent sprinkled in.

Only 20 Hours Left

I’ve really enjoyed the first 4 hours of 24.  There have already been a few twists and turns I didn’t see coming (I won’t mention them here in case someone hasn’t watched it yet), and I”m sure that there is a bigger threat on the horizon for Jack, I mean after all isn’t there always?

There are a few additions of actors I’ve really enjoyed performances from in the apst that have shown up such as:

Frank John Hughes who played Bill Guarnere in HBO’s Band of Brothers

Rhys Coiro who played eccentric director Billy Walsh on Entourage

and of course Janeane Garafalo who’s been in..well, a ton of things

Of course the big TV news of the day is that the most popular show in the world, American Idol starts tonight on FOX.  I’m looking forward to this season, not only because of the addition of a new judge which I’ve mentioned before, but because the whole audition process has been shortened.  I know in early season that was always very popular, but I’m of the opinion that we’ve all seen it before.  Simon will be mean, Paula will be too nice, and Randy will say Dawg a bunch.  I think this is a great move, and I’ve already looking forward to the audition being over so that we can get on to the actually singing competition.

I haven’t mentioned the Golden Globes here and the main reason is that I don’t really care what the Hollywood Foreign Press has to say, but I did watch and I didn’t see much worth blogging about other than Tracy Morgan’s acceptance speech for on behalf of 30 Rock.  Check it out here.

Joe On The Tube’s Worst of 2008

I hate to go all negative here, but let’s face facts.  If there is going to be a “Best of…” there has to be a “Worst of…”

The Worst of Television- 2008

Kath and Kim-  I wanted this show to be good.  Hell I wanted this show to be great.  NBC had been marketing it as hard as I’ve ever seen them push a show.  The 30 second clips that they would show were all very funny.  The talent was top notch.  It seemed all the stars had aligned for this Aussie remake.  Alas, it wasn’t to be.  This show was bad from the start.  It just didn’t work on any level.  What was seemingly funny for 30 seconds wasn’t funny in the context of the full show.  It hasn’t been cancelled, but I would be surprised if it gets picked up for a second season (well maybe I wouldn’t be).

The Return of Jezebel James- I love Parker Posey.  I think she is one of the funniest actors working today.  She steals the spotlight in EVERYTHING she is in.  Add in Six Feet Under’s Lauren Ambrose, and by all means you should have a hit.  Sadly that wasn’t the case for The Return of Jezebel James.  While the show itself wasn’t bad, it’s ratings were.  13 original episodes were originally ordered, which was shortened to 7 due to the impending WGA Strike, and out of that only 3 were ever aired.

90210- When Beverly Hills, 90210 started in 1990 it really did change television.  It was one of the first dramas aimed at the teenager.  Despite the characters all being rich and fabulously good-looking they were still identifiable.  Fast forward 18 years with the remake/sequel/knock-off 90210 and it’s just stale.  In those 18 years how many times have we seen the same formula?  The OC, Dawson’s Creek, Gossip Girl, Gilmore Girls, My So-Called-Life, Veronica Mars, Party of Five, Felicity, and the list goes on and on.  Each one dealing with the same subjects, and most of them doing a much better than 90210 does it.  I guess if you can’t do something original, then your next best bet is to take something done over and over again and slap a fresh coat of paint on it.  My real questions is, just how skinny can these girls get?

The WGA (Writers Guild of America) Strike- I understand why the strike took place, and I think the writers were getting a raw deal, but let’s face it, it sucked for television.  Not only did we get re-runs in what should have been the middle of the season, we became bombarded with horrible reality shows, like Deal or No Deal 5 days a week, the re-hash of American Gladiators, and the show that rewarded you for destroying yours and others lives Moment of Truth.  We survived, but more than one show that was just reaching it’s stride didn’t.  In the middle of the whole thing I saw a poll that claimed more people would rather the WGA Strike end than the war in Iraq.

quarterlife- I really love this idea.  quarterlife started off as an internet only show.  Since writers could still produce original content for the internet during the strike, quarterlife was created for the internet, and then the episodes were picked up by NBC.  The idea was to fuse the show with a social media (SM) website of the same name.  All the characters were artists, most of them in the digital realm.  They used SM to promote themselves and their work.  It was cancelled after one episode due to dismal ratings (lower than the XFL).  America wasn’t ready for the idea of internet on the TV yet.  You can still watch it online and the SM network is still in place.

Knight Rider- The reason this show failed was that KITT is supposed to be a Trans-Am, not a Mustang.  He is a car that can do outrageous things like float, shot missiles, and of course talk, but he is not a Transformer.  If you wanted to remake something that was immensely popular why would you change the formula?

Grey’s Anatomy- At one time this was my wife’s favorite show.  I would sit down with her from time to time and watch some of it, and to be honest it wasn’t bad at all.  That can no longer be said.  This show has gotten horrible and has outstayed it’s welcome.  There are many reasons this is true, but the main on is that there is now a character on the show having sex with a ghost.  I’m sure it is all going to turn out to be some sort of brain tumor or something making her think that she was having sex with a ghost, but it doesn’t matter.

Heroes- It think it’s impressive that Heroes has gone from a must see every week to being erased from my DVR in three short seasons.  The story lives have become convoluted and confusing.  Throwing time travel in the mix certainly didn’t help.  So many of the actors are just hard to watch.  Part of me gets the feeling that even the writers and creators have no idea where the story is going.  It’s sad that something so great has become so bad.  I really wish this wasn’t the case, but I have to say that out of all the things listed above, Heroes is truly the Worst of Television 2008.

Just got home with my new bike and I”m hitting the road for the first time. http://bit.ly/1mCN

Mad Med to return this summer according to Variety: http://joeonthetube.tumblr.com/

Mad Med Season 3 this summer

Variety has announced that Mad Med will return this summer as scheduled, and that AMC network president Charlie Collier believes that series creator Matthew Weiner will re-sign and return as well.

I don’t know about you, but I think his is AWESOME news.

My best of 2008 list: http://joeonthetube.tumblr.com/ Check out @joeonthetube as well.

Joe on the Tube’s Best of 2008

This is going to be a long one folks.  Most of these lists come right before the end of the year, but I was out of town so you are getting it 9 days in.  I’ve scoured the internet, my DVR, your DVR, and your mother’s DVR and I’ve found what in my opinion are the best and worst shows and moments from television in 2008.  Today’s post will focus on the Best of TV (the worst will come on Monday).

The Best of Television- 2008

Lost Season 4- Lost is a great show.  It started off strong.  It had a strong second season that introduced us to Desmond and the Dharma Initiative, the survivors on the tail section of the plane and the Others.  The problem is the third season was a big disappointment, that largely confused it’s viewers more, and seemed to ask more questions than it answered.  Season 4 corrected many of those mistakes.  We got a few questions answered, we started seeing flash-forwards along with those flash-backs, and we learned who the Oceanic 6 were.  It brought the viewers right back to where we were after the first 2 seasons.

David vs David (American Idol Finale)- Now I’m a late comer to the AI game.  I wasn’t around to witness the greatness that was Kelly vs. the Curly Haired Dude or the Big Fat Black Guy vs. the Skinny White Guy We All Knew Was Gay (I could look up their names, and I’m pretty sure I know them, but this is much funnier), so I can’t comment on those finales; but 2008’s finale was actually pretty exciting.  You had David Cook, the bartender turned rocker that actually produced some music that I might listen to versus David Archuleta, the squeaky clean 16 year old Mormon kid that every girl under the age of 15 was pulling for.  It was a battle of pop rock against teeny bopper pop.  I’m glad to say that David Cook won, but no matter who would have come out on top it made for some very good reality television.

30 Rock- 30 Rock has a problem that a lot of great shows over the years have had (this won’t be the last time it’s even mentioned in this list).  It is very funny, well written, wonderfully acted, and the critics love it; the problem is that no one is watching it.  The second season was just as strong as the first, with Tiny Fey and Alec Baldwin leading the way.  One can only hope that with Emmy wins Best Comedy Series, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Writing for a Comedy Series; 30 Rock will start to get the viewers it deserves.

Strike Beards- While the WGA Strike will definitely be on the “Worst” part of this list, Strike Beards were one the only cool thing to emerge out of it.

The Wire Final Season- There are those critics that think HBO’s The Wire was one of the greatest shows to ever been on television.  I don’t know if I would go that far, but I do think it was the best cop show to ever be on television, and it gave us possibly the best characterization of Robin Hood in modern times, Omar.  While the 5th and final season wasn’t it’s best, it was head and shoulders above 99% of anything else out there.

Tiny Fey as Sarah Palin- While the 2008 Presidential Campaign gave us tons of memorable television moments, none will be as memorable as 30 Rock’s Tina Fey’s impersonation of Republican VP Candidate Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live.

I’m F***ing Matt Damon/ Ben Affleck- Those of you that watch Jimmy Kimmel know that he regularly ends the show with a running joke, he apologizes to Matt Damon for the show running out of time and he bumps him.  This has been going on for years and Matt (who is in on the joke) has feigned being upset at the whole thing.  This year Matt got his revenge with the help of Jimmy’s comedian girlfriend Sarah Silverman.  In case you missed it, the video is here.

After that, Jimmy struck back on Oscar night letting Matt know that if he took something Jimmy loved, Jimmy would take something Matt loved as well and that’s when we got the star studded I’m F***ing Ben Affleck.  When I say star studded I mean it, the video includes Ben Affleck (obviously), Brad Pitt, Harrison Ford, Macy Grey, Huey Lewis, Don Cheedle, Pete Wentz, Benji and Joel Madden, Cameron Diaz, Christina Applegate, McLovin, Joan Jett, Robin Williams, Perry Ferrel, Josh Grobin, Rebecca Romijn, Dominic Monaghan, along with others.  Here is the video.

The 2008 Summer Olympics from Beijing- Hey, who needs human rights when you can spend hundreds of billions putting on one of the more amazing Olympics in recent history.  From the lighting to the dousing of the Olympic Torch the Summer Games were huge in scale.  That being said the only thing that could outshine the games themselves was the undeniable star of the whole thing, Michael Phelps.

Mad Men- Season 2 was every bit as good as Season 1.  This show is suffersfrom the same problem that 30 Rock has.  Hopefully it’s Emmy wins will bring some more attention to the great period piece.

Breaking Bad- Another critical darling that hasn’t quite caught on with the general public.  The story of a high school chemistry teacher with terminal cancer that decides to cook and sell crystal meth.  Again an Emmy award should help this show find it’s audience.  I think many critics would have chosen this as their show of the year if it had more than 7 episodes in the season.  At least that makes it easy to catch up on before the new season starts this spring.

True Blood- Who would have thought this modern day vampire story would have been so successful?  If you can get past the sometimes horrible Southern accents, you find that this really was a great show, and certainly exceeded my expectations.  It’s like a horror movie, a trashy romance novel, with little bit of Romeo and Juliet all rolled up into one.  HBO hits gold again, shocker.

Sons of Anarchy- You all knew this was coming, right.  Hands down my favorite show of the year.  This modern day Hamlet set in the outlaw motorcycle club world was gritty yet polished at the same time.  The story kept you coming back for more every week.  The acting was superb, with relative new comer Charlie Huffman leading the way.  I could write a few pages about how great this show is, but wait, I already have.

I’ve set up a twitter account for this blog and I’d love to hear what your TV favorite shows and moments of 2008 were.  Here’s the link: joeonthetube

Just started my TV related twitter for my Blog. Check me out @joeonthetube

Looking at starting a Twitter account for my TV blog.

Working on a big blog post to be posted later today or early tomorrow. Best of Worst of TV 2008. Another list! http://bit.ly/2frVk

Best of Worst of TV 2008- Coming soon

I guess I can’t blog about TV if I’m not going to put together a list of the best and worst TV shows and moments of 2008.  Coming soon, I promise.