It begins tonight.
Sadly, it’s the beginning of the end. Thankfully, there’s still a bunch of hours left of the best show on television today:
THE SHIELD. FX. 10:00 p.m. The episode is scheduled for an hour and eight minutes, so plan accordingly.
I’m having a baby in a month, and yet I still plan on watching this season, even if it’s between burpings or diaper changings or what. No way am I missing this.
Blake’s 7 Returns, Red Dwarf Rumored Next | The Underwire from Wired.com
Meanwhile, eyewitness reports say Robert Llewellyn (android Kryton, above) told a Seattle PBS audience that the BBC would produce a Red Dwarf special in October — perhaps for a Christmas broadcast. Fans and TV reporters will be searching for confirmation frantically until an official announcement arrives.
Don’t remember him? Remember the big black guy on “Brisco County?” Yeah, him. He was only in his mid-50s.
(Hat tip to @jbacardi)
ABC must have decided they’ve had enough “Dancing with the Stars.” This season, they’re bringing in the ultimate show-killer: Ted McGinley.
(Aside to Tom the Dog: Misty May is also dancing. Prepare for a lot of hits again.)
And now, your “The Shield” Moment of Zen:
Vic Mackey will beat up his last bad guy on Nov. 25.
FX has set an air date for the final episode of “The Shield,” which begins its seventh and final season Sept. 2.
I’m excited by the thought of more DVDs right now. That probably has to do with the fact that I have my surround sound system plugged in and operational once again. Now that I’m not living in a one bedroom condo with thin walls, I can blast some volume, fill some space, and watch movies with the kind of environment you’re supposed to enjoy them in.
That all said, I’ll never have the time to watch them. But the excitement is there, and I enjoyed plugging a few DVDs in to hear them again. (”The Rock” has the greatest soundtrack ever.)
Onto this week’s releases:
Keanu Reeves plays an honest cop opposite the cop with political and power aspirations in Forrest Whitaker, who looks to be reprising his star turn from “The Shield.” How he didn’t win an Emmy for that season is beyond me. Wait, nevermind. The Emmys are a joke.
Hot on the heels of the failure of the third “Mummy” movie comes this spin-off sequel. Even The Rock knew better than to reprise his role for this movie. This might be direct-to-DVD.
It’s The CW’s last best hope for success. That, and the 90210 series starting in the fall.
If you had asked me a year ago, I would have confidently told you what a short-lived dud this series would be. Instead, it seems to be something of a success for FOX. Go figure. The Terminator franchise is fast turning into one of the most convoluted and deep continuities in major media. Usually, you need a comic book to last 100 issues to start filling in gaps like this. Instead, there’s a TV series, three movies, and another new movie or two upcoming. (Christian Bale stars in one. Perhaps he’ll be out of jail long enough to promote it, when the time comes.)
Next Week: “The Shield”, Season Six! The greatest drama on TV returns to DVD before the final season begins in September.
It’s a television-on-dvd week. The movie people seem to be sleeping off their “The Dark Knight” hangover. Let’s look at three interesting TV show releases:
Wow, I had just about forgotten about that show. Maybe they really are running out of TV shows to put on DVD, after all. . .
Just in case that new “Dollhouse” show does well, here’s where Eliza Dushku last struck out on her own for a series. . . I can’t believe this hasn’t been out on DVD before. Has it?
Someday, I really hope to see this series. Someday. . .
In the meantime, I’ve getting very excited for the return of THE SHIELD for its final season next month!
And so another season is in the books. Sadly, I didn’t get to watch much of the last three weeks while I was busy setting up the new house, but something struck me:
Reality shows have a general arc they follow. In the first season, everything is ne and exciting. Over the next couple of years, the format shifts subtly and everything gets ramped up a notch. Everything becomes bigger and bolder and, theoretically, better. Pretty soon, people catch on to the tricks. The show moves so far away from its original mission statement that it’s practically a new show that merely catches shadows of the original. And the downhill slide begins.
“So You Think You Can Dance,” on the other hand, is maintaining an upward trajectory. The show hasn’t had a misstep yet. There’s been no major shift in the formula. Sure, they may shift partners earlier or add new dance styles or give the votes to the viewers sooner, but it’s basically the same show. Same set. Same judges.
And it works. Every season has gotten better and better. And this season was so packed full of talented dancers that when the best dancer in the series’ history got voted out by America a couple of weeks ago, it wasn’t that big a blow to the show. There were still plenty of capable dancers left. There were no slackers in there.
That said, the show may have to pull back a little next season. They’re overworking the contestants. Two went to the hospital over the weekend. There’s just too much stuff happening. Perhaps they should back off the two hour episodes with two routines each week. Let the show shrink to an hour and a half or even an hour. Give the contestants’ bodies a chance to cope.
Still, it’s a great show. I thought the second place finisher would be the big winner this season, but I was wrong. Oh, well.
Mary Murphy couldn’t keep up at top speed with the dancers on the show, but Nigel was very cute with the kids from the Debbie Allen Dance Academy. And the pop-and-lock competition was really cool, though my wife found it boring.
Can’t wait for next season. . .
On this week’s episode of “Jon and Kate Plus Eight,” Jon uttered the phrase, “until they graduate college.”
Kate instantly scolded him for “leaving out the preposition.” She prefers “graduate from college.”
Then, in her next sentence, she said she “could care less.” Then she repeated it, “I could care less.”
So, to recap, she scolds her husband for leaving out [sic] a preposition that didn’t need to be there, and then uttered a completely meaningless sentence that’s a common grammatical faux pas without being castigated one bit for it.
She has it so good. . .
Things I learned from watching the Olympic try-outs on NBC this weekend:
* It’s most likely wrong to laugh at someone who lands on her butt, her face, or with a dive forward roll after a bad vault. But I did it, anyway.
* It’s now OK to say, “That’s a tenth of a point” after anyone says or does something wrong around the house. I think it might be the new “nuke the fridge.”
* “My name is Ms. Liuken, if you’re Nastia.” Janet Jackson must be proud.
* Bela Karoly is completely indecipherable. They should really put up subtitles when he speaks. Poor Bob Costas didn’t know what to do with him.
* Did Al Trautwig ever appear on camera?
* It’s OK to admit you’re not good enough. 2012 is a looong time away. To those who finished worst than 10th place, I say, “Go to college. Learn a skill. Live life. There’s more outside the gym than just a parking lot and your parents. You needn’t miss your prom.”
This week, Jon traveled to California to get a hair transplant. Jon and Kate Plus Eight has officially Jumped the Shark. It’s not about the cute family in Pennsylvania trying to live life with the pressure of eight kids. It’s now about the celebrity. I guess it’s inevitable with any reality show, should it last long enough.
THE SHIELD’s website makes it official: The final season of television’s finest hour begins September 2nd. Someone ought to develop an iPhone widget to count this date down.
An entire music based on the second season.
Yes, that includes the cougar. You can see his pic on the website above, right next to Kim.
Why this isn’t on Broadway already is beyond me.
This might be the most insane thing I’ve seen on the internet. This year, at least. Kim’s ode to the cougar is cracking me up as I type this. This isn’t an internet remix goof. She can sing.
As one who is very cynical of television networks, I’m inclined to believe this is a BRILLIANT idea.
Dollhouse Fans Campaign To Save Show — Before 2009 Airdate | The Underwire from Wired.com
Die-hard Whedonites are rallying to save Dollhouse, the sci-fi drama about a group of high-tech killer assassins — eight months before the show even hits the airwaves.
Fearing Dollhouse will get booted off the air, just like the Joss Whedon-helmed show Firefly, fans are plotting and organizing their efforts in online forums. […]
DollhouseForums’ trailblazing leader Nathan posted the following as a call to arms: “After seeing some of my favorite television shows get canceled in the past — as well as the ’save this show’ campaigns that followed — I had the idea that a fan campaign BEFORE the show begins may be the best thing to do.”
Can’t say as I blame him. If the show stinks, though, he might look silly.
Augie De Blieck Jr. doesn't know when to shut up, which makes him the perfect blogger. That, and he reads a lot of other blogs. You can e-mail him, if you really wanted to.
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