The Unfiltered Ramblings of a DVR Addict

January will be a good TV Month, Update

In the 10 months I’ve been writing this blog I’ve never had to go back and completely re-write a post, I’ve made some edits here and there, but never a full re-write.  Well I guess there is a first time for everything.  Back in November I wrote a post entitled: “January will be a good month for TV,”  in which I listed all of the great shows that were starting in January, or lat least I thought I was doing that.  I’ve no come to realize that I had left a lot out, there are 38 shows either having their season or series premieres this month.  I’m going to now re-write that post in the formof a list, because someone told me this week that people like lists.

Here are the Top 10 shows that I’m looking froward to in January in no particular order along with their network and date they are airing:

• Scrubs (ABC- Tonight) Read my last post if you want to know what I love this show.  Great acting, great story lines, and very funny.

• 24 (Fox- Jan. 19) Let’s face it, no one on TV (or maybe the world) kick ass like Jack Bauer.  I mean come on, he is Dwight K. Schrute’s idol.

• Americal Idol (Fox- Jan 13)  OK, I admit it, I watch AI.  I originally started watching it 2 seasons ago just because everyone at work was talking about it and I wanted to be part of the conversation, and then I was hooked (but I’ve never voted).  OK, I’ve voted.  Now I have to say I’m really looking forward to this season.  I’m interested to see how the addition of a new judge will change things.

• Big Love (HBO- Jan 18)  I can’t say enough good things about this show.  Although no one should be surprised when HBO puts out another great drama.  We are entering season 3, and if it is anything like the first 2 seasons we are in for a great ride.  Check it out even if you’ve never watched it before.  HBO always does a good job at catching you up before each new season.

• Lost (ABC- Jan 21) Polar bears on a tropical island, weird smoke that picks people up and kills them, the Jack-Kate-Sawyer love triangle, and best of all Hurley.  Why wouldn’t you be watching this show?

• Nip/Tuck (FX-Tonight) Honestly how trashy is this show?  My trashy romance novel reading mother-in-law would love it.  Despite some big missteps and some plain awful seasons, last season was actually pretty good and I’m looking forward to this season.  Besides, FX is the poor man’s HBO.

• Lie To Me (FOX- Jan 21) It stars Tim Roth as a doctor whose expertise telling when people are lying.  He and his team help the US Government.  Doesn’t sound great I know, but hey I love me some Tim Roth.  I’d honestly say this show is in trouble since it is premiering in the same time slot as Lost.

• Trust Me (TNT- Jan 26)  I think Tom Cavanagh is one of the best actors out there working today.  I’ve honestly loved every show he’s been on, they have just yet to strike a chord with audiences.  Trust Me centers around best friends running a ad agency.  I have high hopes.

• Flight of the Conchords (HBO- Jan 18)  This is the funniest show that HBO has made since it started Curb Your Enthusiasm.  The humor is great and the songs are reason enough to tune in.

• Hell’s Kitchen (FOX- Jan 29)  Hell’s Kitchen is the polar opposite of Top Chef.  They are both great, but while Bravo’s Top Chef is all about top quality food from trained chefs, Hell’s Kitchen is all about Gordon Ramsey yelling (OK there’s some cooking involved as well, but the yelling is the best part).

There are 2 more shows that I’m interested in, but making their series premieres this month.  The first is FOX’s Dollhouse.  Joss Whedon’s new series has been a long time in the making and it has a lot of buzz on the internet (not all of it is good).  The second is ABC’s What Would You Do? This show intrigues me, and I hate that it does.  it reminded me of that horrible show Moment of Truth, where people destroy their lives for money.  I think I’ll check out the first episode at least.

Scrubs starts this week

A little over a month ago I posted about all the great shows starting up in January.  I forgot to mention one of my favorite sitcoms of the past few years starts again this week, Scrubs.

Scrubs is entering it’s 8th season.  In case you aren’t familiar with Scrubs it is a medical sitcom based around the lives the the doctors, nurses, administration and employees of Sacred Heart Hospital.  The main character is JD, one of the attending doctors.  JD was going to be my #1 in the now scrapped “Biggest Wimps on TV” posts that was intended to accompany “TV’s Biggest Bad-Asses.”

According to a few different doctor friends that I have, it is the most realistic medical show on TV. It has been critically acclaimed, but has struggled to find an audience despite entering it’s 8th season.

One of the reasons I’m so excited about Scrubs coming back this week is that there was a question of weather or not the show would return at all.  Obviously it has, but on a new network.  This season Scrubs makes the jump from NBC where it was for it’s first 7 seasons to ABC.

I was thinking about this jump, and I couldn’t think of another time this has happened.  I did some research and the only 2 shows that I can come up with that have done this are Family Matters (come on you remember Urkel on TGIF) and Jag.  I’m sure there may be more but if so I can’t find them.

UPDATE (1:05 PM):  I just read that Diff’rent Strokes moved from NBC to ABC about 20 years ago.

Anywhoo, check out Scrubs.  Sure you’re 7 seasons behind if you’ve never watched it before, but that’s what DVD is for right?

Another show starting I failed to mention is American Idol which begins next week.  That pretty much covers January.

I also want to make an ammendment to my last post and add another badd-ass to the list:

Don Draper (Mad Men)- Let’s face it, Don Draper is a man’s man.  He’s the guy that men want to be and the guy that women want to be with.  Sure, you could question his morals at times, but he’s the type of guy that doesn’t feel the need to justify his actions to anyone and he always delivers, so he doesn’t need to.  Besides he’s got his own website.

TV’s Biggest Bad Asses

I’ve been thinking about who the biggest bad asses on TV are.  Now this can be difficult, because there are a lot of bad asses on TV, most of them are on cop/secret agent shows which I don’t watch a lot of.  I’ve complied a list of who I think the 11 biggest bad asses currently on TV are.  Why 11?  Because 10 just wouldn’t be bad ass enough.  Here they are in order of just how bad ass they are.

11.  Eric Murphy (Entourage)- While he may be the smallest of the Entourage crew he can most definitely hold his own, after all, he’s wiped the floor with Seth Green twice so far.

10. John Casey and Sarah Walker (Chuck)- combined these are the two responsible for the protection of the Intersect, Chuck Bartowski.  Besides, you would have to be pretty bad ass to fight evil dressed like this.

9. Mac (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia)- if you can’t look at Mac’s sleeveless shirts and tell that he’s a bad ass then I don’t know what to tell you, besides, he’s the Nightman.

8. Sawyer (Lost)- Just look at that hair.  How could Sawyer not be on any list of TV bad asses? He’s a con-man, he headbutted the Australian Minister of Agriculture in a bar fight, shot a polar bear, killed a man he thought was responsible for the death of his family, and he loves to read.

7.  Gordon Ramsey (Hell’s Kitchen, Kitchen Nightmares)- Gordon Ramsey is the only non-fictional person on this list.  If you’ve ever seen one of his shows you know that he has no issue calling you a donkey and telling you exactly what he thinks of you.  On top of it all the man can cook and knows how to use a knife.

6. Perry Cox (Scrubs)- As any doctors, nurse, administrator, or janitor at Mercy General knows, Dr. Perry Cox is a bad ass.  You do not want to upset him, he will make your life a living hell.

5.  Don Draper (Mad Men)- Don Draper is a bad ass for so many reasons, but none more so that he will tell you to remove your hat in the elevator and when you don;t he will remove it for you.

4.  Hiro (Heroes)- Hiro is a bad ass not so much for doing anyone thing, but for overcoming the giant loser he was before.  Besides, TV needs more characters with pony-tails and swords.

3.  Jax Teller (Sons of Anarchy)- Let’s face it, any member of the Sons of Anarchy could probably make this list, but Jax is the man.  In a matter of days he will throw a federal agent that is stalking his girlfriend through a pain glass window only to follow it up by shooting him in the head and burning the body after he tries to rape her. The most bad ass character on the most bad ass show on TV.

2. Dwight Schrute (The Office)- So many reasons.  Dwight was a twin, but he “resorbed” his twin while still in his mother’s womb giving him the strength of a grown man and a tiny baby.  is a former volunteer sheriff; He has been trained in the art of surveillance. He enjoys Battlestar Galactica, the “Harry Potter” franchise, The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars and Lost.  He maintained a hidden arsenal of weapons at his desk, including pepper spray, nun-chucks, throwing stars, a stun gun, a boomerang, handcuffs, a nightstick, a pair of brass knuckles, and a samurai sword.  He could easily be a candidate for the biggest bad ass on TV if it weren’t for Dwight’s personal role model.

1. Jack Bauer (24)- Let’s face it, not only is Jack Bauer the biggest bad ass on TV today, he is the biggest bad ass on TV EVER.  No, you’re wrong, it’s not MacGyver, Tony Soprano, JR Ewing, Remington Steele, either of the Dukes of Hazzard, Mr. Ed, Maverick, Andy Griffith, Herman Munster, or even Walker Texas Ranger (that’s right move over Chuck Norris); it’s Jack Bauer.  Jack has saved this country and millions of lives all over the world.  To top it off he only does it in 24 hours stretches at a time.  What it takes most people 48 or 72 hours to do, only takes Jack 24.  Don’t question this, just know it to be true.

Did I leave someone off the list?  Feel free to submit your own bad asses, let me know who I missed.

Up next, TV’s biggest wimps, losers and nerds.

I’m back

I’ve been out of town for about a week which is why I haven’t posted.  I also haven’t watched anything since I left, and I plan to catch up this weekend.  Expect a post or two on Monday.

What I’m Thankful for, the TV Edition

HBO

Sons of Anarchy

Barney Stinson

Jack Bauer

SNL Digital Shorts

Bravo Reality Show Judges

and of course Heidi (my wife’s favorite)

The Office

Mad Men

G4 Hosts

Weeds

Chuck

Last but not least, Jake and Amir (I know it’s not on TV, but it should be)

January Will Be A Good TV Month

January will be a good month for TV.  Here is a list of shows that are starting in January, with pictures!

• 24:

Let’s face it, no one on TV (or maybe the world) kick ass like Jack Bauer.  I mean come on, he is Dwight K. Schrute’s idol.

• Lost:

Polar bears on a tropical island, weird smoke that picks people up and kills them, the Jack-Kate-Sawyer love triangle, and best of all Hurley.  Why wouldn’t you be watching this show?

• Big Love:

Because being married to one person is hard enough.  Imagine being married to 3.

• Flight of the Conchords:

They are New Zealand’s 4th most popular digi-folk duo.   Honestly, you haven’t lived until you’ve seen their Lord of the Rings video or Jermaine’s David Bowie impersonation.

• Lie to Me:

I couldn’t find any images from this show since it is new, but here is one of the very talented Tim Roth who is the lead.  Other than the fact that Roth plays a doctor who is an expert at telling when people are lying I haven’t found much else out.  It looks interesting, and I’ll watch pretty much anything Tim Roth is in.

I feel like I’m missing something else, but for the life of me I can’t figure out what it is.

It’s Dead To Me

I did a little purging of the DVR last night and I erased the 5 episodes of Heroes that were saved on there.  They were in HD and taking up too much space.  I wasn’t eager to watch them and I knew that if I ever wanted to I could always just watch them on-line.  After doing that I thought long and hard (about 30 seconds) and I deleted the Heroes timer all together so that no more new episodes will record.  Once again I could watch them on-line if I felt the need, and to be honest the show just sucks.  Great first season, sub-par second season, and a third season I would just describe as god awful.  I’m praying that they won’t try a 4th season, but I’m sure they will.

True Blood and Entourage

Last night we got the season finales from both shows.

First up was the modern vampire tale set in rural Louisiana, True Blood.  I’ll admit that I enjoyed this show more and more as the season progressed.  The performances seems less hokey and the story-line became stronger.  The killer was found, vampire love reigned supreme, and we found that vampires aren’t the only strange creatures out there in the world.  Way back in September I wondered “If a modern day vampire story could be successful.”  Obviously it can.  The show was very successful from HBO’s point of view and a second season is already planned for next summer, with lasts night episode leaving more than one question unanswered.

For me, Entourage had a rough season.  In many ways it felt like it lost it’s focus and was a little scatter brained.  That being said I think that it came full circle last night.  This show is better when things are good for the gang.  A sad pathetic Vince that squandered all his money and is living with his brother just doesn’t make for as good as a show.  I realize that the creative force behind Entourage might want to show the guys in a different light, but it’s just not as much fun.  I’ve said it before, the great part of this show is feeling like you are seeing the inside of Hollywood that only the rich and famous get to see, and honestly what we saw this season wasn’t as interesting as it has been in the past.  I’m glad the season ended on a high note, and I look forward to Vince being back on top when the new season airs next summer.

Top Chef and SOA

How great is this show?  Only two weeks in and I’m already so jazzed about it.  I’m sticking with my prediction, this guy is winning it all:

Only one more episode of Sons of Anarchy.  Last night SOA took a dark turn, and should be in for a very spectacular ending.  I really have no idea what will occur, but here are a few guesses of what I think might happen (don’t read if you haven’t and still plan on watching last night’s episode):

• Clay is killed and Jax takes over the MC
• Jax finds out who is responsible for Donna’s death and kills Tig
• Wendy OD’s
• Tara leaves town again
• Samcro finds out the identity of the informant and takes her out, thus destroying the case against Bobby “Elvis”
• Jax goes “nomad’ and leaves Samcro

Have I mentioned just how much I love this show?  The only disappointing thing is that it’s only 13 episodes.  Am I wrong in saying that shows used to run from Sept to May, only taking a break for Christmas?  I want a season of at least 22 episodes.

I’ve been meaning to post these for a while now.

I StumbleUpon these last week, and damn they are funny.  They are from the site HolyTaco, so I’m giving them credit.

There are a few more, but I’ve included the funniest and most honest of the bunch.

Guess Who is Back in Scranton?

That’s right, it’s Pam.  My wife (not “The Wife”) is very happy about this.

Last night was a great episode of The Office.  Classic Michael, classic Ryan and Kelly, classic Andy, and Pam is back.  All in all a great episode.  Right back in line with the previous 4 seasons.  My hopes are once again high and I’m sad that we are about half-way through the season.

By the way, in case you missed the season 5 premiere of Top Chef, my prediction is that one of these two guys will win:

Remember, you heard it here first.

I’m disappointed with the women contestants on the show this season.  Of course last year we had the first woman Top Chef, and I felt like no matter what, a woman would win;  regardless of weather or not she was the best Chef.  A woman did win, but she was strong throughout and while maybe not the best contestant on the show (that would have been Richard Blaze) she did out perform all others in the last challenge. That being said, from the start the women were strong last season, and it doesn’t appear to be the case for Season 5.

My Own Worst Enemy*

There used to be a stigma attached to the film actor that made the transition to television.  It was always the other way around.  While the world of television may not be as glamorous as the world of movies, a lot of that stigma is gone (I thank The Soprano’s and HBO in general for that).  By almost all accounts we’ve emerged from the wasteland that was the reality soaked TV of the late 90’s and early part of this decade to a new golden age of television.  Production value has never been higher, big name talents are now back on TV, story-lines and programs themselves are just better in general.

One of the big stars of yesterday returned to TV this season, Christian Slater.  This guy was huge in the 80’s and early 90’s.  Think about the list: The Legend of Billie Jean, Little Nikita, Gleaming the Cube, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Broken Arrow, Heathers, Young Guns 2, True Romance, Interview with the Vampire, Bed of Roses, and one of my presonal favorite movies of the era Pump Up The Volume.  This guy was huge, then he had some personal problems went away.

Well now he’s back in a very interesting spy thriller, My Own Worst Enemy.  In the show Slater plays one man with two very different personalities, Edward and Henry.  One is a secret agent and one is a mild mannered family man.  The government had the ability to switch his personalities when it needed it’s spy and shut it off when it didn’t.  Edward/Henry become aware of each other and the government can’t switch back and forth anymore, which leads to some interesting predicaments both at home and on the job.

I didn’t watch My Own Worst Enemy from the beginning for some reason that escapes me now, but I am catching up online and I am really enjoying the show.  Despite what could be hilarious hi-jinx when the analyst is put into the middle of a fire fight in Moscow or when the secret agent is teaching the family man’s wife some new sexual positions, My Own Worst Enemy avoids comedy and focuses on the confusion and the heartache caused by the situations.

While Slater is the star, it boasts an impressive supporting cast including two Oscar nominated actors in Alfie Woodard and James Cromwell.

If you aren’t watching My Own Worst Enemy go online and check out the first episode.  I’d be surprised if you didn’t like it and weren’t hooked after watching a few more.

*About 15 minutes after I posted this, I saw NBC announced list of cancelations.  Looks like My Own Worst Enemy was on the list.  No news on weather or not all 9 episodes will air.  Too bad.

Odds and Ends

• According to numerous news sources, Spencer and Heidi from The Hills as well as Kim Kardshian will guest star on an upcoming episode of How I Met Your Mother.  One of my first posts on this blog was about guest stars (Britney Spears) on HIMYM.  I think it is a gimmick that should be reserved for The Love Boat and Fantasy Island.  If a show is good, and HIMYM is, then there is no need for guest stars (and I use the term “star” very loosely when it comes to these three.”
• 30 Rock is also going to have it’s fair share of guest stars this season (and stars really does apply in this case).  Oprah and Megan Mullally have already been on the show, with Steve Martin, Salma Hayek, and Jennifer Aniston yet to come.
• Top Chef Season Five begins tonight.  Of course since it is a contest of sorts it doesn’t matter that you’ve never seen the previous seasons.  I promise you will enjoy this show, even if you aren’t a fan of reality television.  Here is a recent interview done with host Padma Lakshmi.
• Of course since it’s Wednesday that means that tonight we will have another episode of Sons of Anarchy.  What am I going to do with this season ends?
• Speaking of SOA, the NY Times ran an article on Katie Segal and her career.  Looks like someone over there is reading my blog and stealing my ideas.

Talk to you later in the week with my review of Top Chef and of course Sons of Anarchy.