Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

NCIS: Nine Lives review now online

My review of NCIS: Nine Lives is now online at Firefox News:
http://firefox.org/news/articles/2167/1/Review-NCIS----Nine-Lives/Page1.html

Political Attack Ads Are Just ... So... Negative...

Negative attack ads take all the joy out of watching television. How low can they go? Damn low. Thank goodness this election cycle is almost over. Unfortunately, we've still got six more days to go...

Sunday, October 26, 2008

And POOF! it was gone...

Now that I've finally made time to watch the shows I DVR'd last week, I've discovered that a brief power outage occurred Tuesday evening at exactly the same moment as the final scene in "House" and "NCIS". ARGH! I lost less than a minute of air time on the downstairs DVR, but ARGH! I lost the entire ending on the ReplayTV upstairs due to a slower reboot. And ARGH! it was an important minute where Everything Is Revealed and Important Things Are Said. At least I assume important things were said... I guess I'll never know for sure...

A little ego-boo for "Life On Mars"

I got a little ego-boo with my morning coffee last week. Two of my articles for FireFox News about the ABC series "Life On Mars" appeared at the top of my Google Alerts for news about the show.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Creepy is as creepy does....

ooooo!.... Wil Wheaton played a serial rapist/killer on "Criminal Minds". "Star Trek: The Next Generation"'s little Wesley Crusher is all growed up... and exceedingly creepy!

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

ER has a new boss and she's got game...

Angela Bassett is in the house! She's looking good and kickin'ass, but under than tough-as-nails exterior is a marshmallow center with a personal tragedy that will most likely be revealed as the season progresses....

Television preferences and genetics.

Somethings must be genetic. I've discovered that my mother and I have similar tastes in television. Lately she's been watching BBC America, including "Primeval" and "Eleventh Hour". She also likes "Monk", and I think she mentioned that she also likes "Psych". I fear I'm turning into my mother in many ways. (Can you say bifocals and food hoarding? I knew you could. But I digress.) At least she's not addicted to "Judge Judy" or the soaps. The cats are non-committal, since they have not met my mother.

"CSI:Miami" ... such pretty colors

I just love the colors of "CSI:Miami"! So bright and cheery and warm -- saturated tones of citrus, crystal blue, and bright green. Yummy!

Sunday, October 12, 2008

NCIS: Capitol Offense review now online

My review of "NCIS" episode "Capitol Offense" is now online at FirefoxNews.org

Catching up on "Criminal Minds"

Episode: Minimal Loss. It's good to see Connor Trineer playing a good guy again after a recurring role as the wraith-turned-human-turned-wraith Michael on "Stargate Atlantis". And what's with Luke Perry playing a smarmy bad guy again, after playing a smarmy bad guy on "Law & Order: SVU" just a few weeks ago?

Episode: Angel Maker. Although this is a good episode focusing on Hotchner's continuing disability caused by the explosion in the premiere episode, it treads weary ground investigating copycat murders mimicking a dead serial killer's m.o. I'm digging the purple glasses Garcia wears in this episode.

"How It's Made" ... TV to slumber by...

I love "How It's Made". It's so soothing... it is truly TV to nap by. Don't get me wrong. When I can stay awake, I'm fascinated by how things are made. But the combination of the soothing narration, the light repetitive music, and the predictable motion of the machinery and conveyors puts me right to sleep, every time. Two snoozing, purring cats only compound the drowsy effect.

"Sanctuary" premiere interesting but flawed...

The two-hour premiere episode of "Sanctuary" was nicely done. They in packed a lot of set-up and back story, and wove an intricate web of entanglements between the three main characters: Dr. Helen Magnus (Amanda Tapping), her seriously butt-kicking daughter Ashley, and the young Dr. Will Zimmerman.

I thought it was a little slow, but my Sweetie thought it was nice that they didn't jump right into explosions just for the "wow" factor. The green screen technology lends it a rich gothic look, but the lighting crew needs to pay a bit more attention to their work before it suspends my disbelief.

So much for 24-hour news...

What good is a 24-hour news culture when all three cable news channels are running highly biased "investigations" or pop culture BS at the same time.... Excuse me while I go look for headlines on the Internet....

Monday, October 6, 2008

Look, ma! I'm a real TV reviewer!

I'm now writing reviews of "NCIS" and (soon) "Life on Mars" for Firefox News. Here's a link to my Author Page, which links to all of my current articles. I always wanted to be a critic. (Some may say I've always been a critic, but I digress.) Go check 'em out.

"Earl" has the best guests...

"My Name Is Earl" has the best guest stars! The most recent episode had Jerry Van Dyke (Dick's brother), which was fitting seeing as how Earl's delusional sitcom life placed him in a replica of "The Dick Van Dyke Show'''s sitcom living room. And John Amos -- I thought he was dead! But no, that was just the character he played on "Good Times". I really, really watch too much TV. With cats.

Live TV reeks...

Although I like just about everything about staying in a hotel -- endless supplies of hot water, clean sheets, maid service, fluffy towels, etc. -- I loathe the hotel television. No DVR. No ability to rewind to catch a phrase I misheard. No ability to fast forward to skip commercials. No ability to view a channel guide and click to go there, or to click "info" to figure out what channel you're on or what's airing at the moment. It's TV dumbed down. Or TV as an implement of torture. Who knew there were that many channels showing infomercials at 6 a.m.?

"House"... not the grumpy crumudgeon I used to love

What is it with "House"? When the show started, House was a grumpy, complicated curmudgeon, and the medical mysteries were intriguing. But now the irrascible old coot is just plain mean, not only self-destructive, but destructive to everyone around him. And the medical mysteries are rather lame, turning into an exercise in how to torture a patient before actually helping him. Are the writer's getting tired, or have they exhaustive the materials?

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Deja Vu

OMG! "CSI:NY" has a holodeck! Granted, using it to look inside the stomach of the deceased isn't nearly as pleasant some of the environs visited by Jean Luc Picard et. al. but hey... it's a nifty gimmick.