elizabear | Entries tagged with tv/movies

I didn't think the show necessarily needed fixing, but season 2 introduced two female characters to balance out the three males. We're not caught up in watching, but I need to put these thoughts down after watching the first two episodes of the season.

Adding Mrs. Pucci seems okay - Winston is going to grouse about things anyway, and now he gets to have someone who listens to him. She's been somewhat useful without getting anyone in danger, and her money helps explain how Chance can afford what he's doing.

Ames, on the other hand, is a problem. I'm not quite sure what she's supposed to be doing in her role as a thief aside from a quick pocket pick in ep#2, but what she IS doing is diluting the fabulous character of Guerrero. Guerrero is so interesting because he's dangerous in a completely psychotic way while being smart and quiet and unexpected. Having Ames as his sidekick is pulling his teeth and making him look less effective, less unpredictable, and, well, almost cute. Bleah. I hope this gets a lot better in the next few eps.

A beautiful tribute to director John Hughes by a woman who was his pen-pal for two years:

http://wellknowwhenwegetthere.blogspot.com/2009/08/sincerely-john-hughes.html

Saturday, Sept. 12
8 pm/ET COPS
9 pm America's Most Wanted

Wednesday, Sept. 16
8 pm So You Think You Can Dance
9 pm Glee (series premiere)

Thursday, Sept. 17
8 pm Bones
9 pm Fringe

Friday, Sept. 18
8 pm Brothers (series premiere)
8:30 pm 'Til Death
9 pm Dollhouse

Monday, Sept. 21
8 pm House (two-hour premiere)

Sunday, Sept. 27
8 pm The Simpsons
8:30 pm The Cleveland Show (series premiere)
9 pm Family Guy
9: 30 pm American Dad

Monday, Sept. 28
9 pm Lie to Me

Tuesday, Sept. 29
8 pm Hell's Kitchen
9 pm So You Think You Can Dance (time period premiere; two-hour performance shows start Oct. 27)

Saturday, Nov. 7
11 pm The Wanda Sykes Show

Growing up, I enjoyed a lot of shorts from the National Film Board of Canada. Now they've put everything online! For free!
http://www.nfb.ca

Cartoon Network RickRolled the entire NBC television viewing audience this morning during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozzVdswvXdc

Absolutely wonderful SNL skit with "Palin" and "Clinton".
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/13/tina-fey-as-sarah-palin-o_n_126249.html

We are loving two new kids' shows that just started on PBS: Sid the Science Kid, and Martha Speaks.

Sid the Science Kid is a Jim Henson Co production, and the quality is is, as expected, very high. The format is computer generated animation with motion capture along with some added filmed segments of kids in school. In each episode, Sid starts out wondering about something and then talks to his friends, his parents, and his teacher about his questions. He learns about scientific process, critical thinking, and investigation using different resources, and has a great time doing it. There's also a segment called "Good Laughternoon" where Sid and his three friends tell jokes, which is helping Z to develop his sense of humor. We've seen three episodes so far: learning how to do estimates, using non-standard units of measurement, and different scientific tools. The kids are shown having fun learning about science together, and the family and teacher are shown as supportive and thoughtful, including not being afraid to say "I don't know - let's find out / ask for help". At the end of each episode, Sid incorporates his new knowledge into his life. The overall themes so far have been Investigate/Explore/Discover, and Observe/Compare/Contrast.

Martha Speaks has been developed from a children's book series with a lot of involvement of the author, ensuring that the show stays close to the original quality. Research has shown that kids with a larger vocabulary do better in school, so the goal of the show is to expose kids to new words or different definitions of previously known words through the premise of a talking dog named Martha. The animation is nicely done, and the characters are fun with good voice work (though Martha reminds me of Ellen de Generes' voice and delivery). The vocabulary is introduced in groups like words related to a job or law and order or a farm, and it's done in a fun way that holds up to lots of repeated viewings.

So both kids love these two shows, and DSR and I think the content is terrific and we are happy to remain in the room while they're on.

awesome costuming! and a funny photo story!

The voice of many, many movie trailers, Don LaFontaine, died on Monday from complications after a recent illness. He originated the "In a world where ..." phrasing, which he said was a quick way of bringing people into the mood and premise of the movie. I wonder if the industry will retire the phrase or keep using it as a tribute?

The official list of contestants and the professional dancers they will be paired with.

• Toni Braxton, singer, 40, and season one DWTS champ Alec Mazo
• Lance Bass, singer, 29, and Lacey Schwimmer
• Ted McGinley, actor, 50, and Inna Brayer
• Cloris Leachman, actress, 82, and Corky Ballas
• Warren Sapp, former NFL star, 35, and Kym Johnson
• Rocco DiSpirito, chef, 41, and Karina Smirnoff
• Kim Kardashian, TV personality, 27, and reigning DWTS champ Mark Ballas
• Maurice Green, Olympic gold medalist track and field star, 34, and two-time DWTS champ Cheryl Burke
• Misty May-Treanor, Olympic gold medalist beach volleyball player, 31, and Maksim Chmerkovskiy
• Susan Lucci, Emmy-award winning soap opera actress, 61, and Tony Dovolani
• Jeffrey Ross, 42, comedian, and Edyta Sliwinska
• Cody Linley, 18, actor, and two-time DWTS champ Julianne Hough
• Brooke Burke, 36, TV personality, and Derek Hough

http://www.muppetcentral.com/news/2008/072508.shtml

"And now, brand-new Muppet Show sketches designed especially for the Web have started appearing on YouTube. They're there under the guise of being posted by the characters themselves. In the best tradition of viral marketing campaigns, their real origins have been left mysterious. They do, however, give every indication of being official productions; Disney listened very politely to my questions on this subject, and didn't call back.

"But any corporate skulduggery is forgiven for one simple reason: These things are good. Not just passingly cute, but somehow reminiscent of what made the Muppets tick in the first place.

They're short pieces, mostly musical sketches: The Swedish Chef and Beaker sing the Habanera from Carmen with only the words "bork" and "meep;" Gonzo and his trained chickens cluck out the Blue Danube Waltz; Sam, the American Eagle, his attitude as relevant as ever ("WORLD wide web? Is there a way to put this on just the American part?"), leads an Independence Day sing-along. At the end of each, Statler and Waldorf, the disagreeable old men in the balcony, peer into a computer screen and deliver a zinger. "How many hits did that thing receive?" "Unfortunately, not enough to kill it!" "

You can find them on YouTube, but if you go to the article I've referenced above, all of the videos are embedded in one place. I suspect these are related to Jason Segal (of "How I Met Your Mother") writing a new Muppet movie. Yay!

Joss Whedon We'd written, probably, about a half of it? Enough to know that we knew what we had and what we wanted. And then I called Neil [Patrick Harris] and Nathan [Fillion] and Felicia. I wake up most mornings thinking about Neil and Nathan and Felicia.

Tancharoen He dreams about them.

Joss Whedon Neil's a no-brainer. I've heard him sing, and I've seen him do comedy and drama. I was very shy to ask him, but I had to ask.

Neil Patrick Harris, Dr. Horrible I'm a huge Joss fan, professionally but also personally. We travel in the same circles. I am very close friends with Amy Acker, who was on Angel for many years, and of course the connection with [Buffy alum] Alyson Hannigan [who stars with me on How I Met Your Mother]. I even read for a part as a regular on Firefly, for the doctor, and it almost happened. So when the phone rings and it's him, I'm quick to pick up. He said, ''I am doing a Web musical —'' and I said ''yes.'' And then he got mad and said ''Wait a second, let me pitch first.'' And then he told me the name of it, and the idea behind it and the reasoning behind it and I said ''Hell, yes.''

Jed Whedon When [Joss] talked to Neil, he assumed that [Joss] had already cast Nathan.

Joss Whedon Before I had even called [Nathan]. And I was like ''Yes! Definitely! He's on board if you are.'' When it comes to playing a smarmy superhero who thinks he's all that, is there anybody in the world you call besides Nathan?

Nathan Fillion, Capt. Hammer Joss was like ''My brothers and I are working on this thing.'' And I said ''I'm in, dude, I'm in.'' And he said, ''Wait a second, let me tell you, it's about this villain played by Neil Patrick Harris.'' And I said, ''I'm in, man, let me work with him.'' And he said, ''And he's plagued by this hero Captain Hammer, who's a real jerk, and that would be you.'' And I said, ''I'll do it.'' And he said, ''Wait a second, it's a musical.'' And I said ''Brother, I'm in, let me do it, don't make me beat you.''

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20213067_20213068_20214910,00.html

( largely posted for completion's sake, as there's not a whole lot there of interest except DWTS and Pushing Daisies )

We're enjoying the 4th season of "So You Think You Can Dance", but I hadn't picked a favorite. Benji in season 2 was easy - we liked him right from the very start. He had amazing talent, great personality, and I was thrilled when he won. We never really attached to anyone in season 3. Season 4 has actually been a little hard since the guys were all sort of blending together. Then something clicked when I watched this week's group performance - the lead guy in the top hat and long coat kept catching my eye with the sharpness and then fluidity of his moves, then I loved his characterization. It took a bit to realize this was Mark. Then I looked back at his work for the last three weeks, and I realized that he's been doing amazing work. He's goofy and quirky off the floor, but when he's dancing he's got amazing charisma and passion and fabulous talent. Then looking back at his audition, he impressed me even then, it was just hard trying to find a standout in a talented crowd until it thinned a little. So now I've picked who I'm rooting for to win!

CBS
Thursday, Sept. 18: Survivor
Monday, Sept. 22: Big Bang Theory, Mother, Two and a Half Men, Worst Week* and CSI: Miami
Tuesday, Sept. 23: NCIS, The Mentalist* and Without a Trace
Wednesday, Sept. 24: Old Christine, Project Gary*, Criminal Minds and CSI: NY
Sunday, Sept. 28: 60 Minutes, Amazing Race 13, Cold Case and The Unit
Friday, Oct. 3: Ghost Whisperer, The Ex List* and Numbers
Thursday, Oct. 9: CSI and Eleventh Hour*

* Denotes new series
The delay for some series (such as CSI) is being attributed to a couple weeks' worth of presidential debates.

NBC
Monday, Sept. 22: Heroes, 8 pm (clip show), 9 pm (two-hour premiere)
Tuesday, Sept. 23: Law & Order: SVU, 10 pm
Wednesday, Sept. 24: Knight Rider, 8 pm, Lipstick Jungle, 10 pm
Thursday, Sept. 25: My Name Is Earl, 8 pm (hour premiere), The Office, 9 pm (hour premiere), ER, 10 pm
Monday, Sept. 29: Chuck, 8 pm, My Own Worst Enemy, 10 pm
Thursday, October 9: Kath & Kim, 9:30 pm
Friday, October 17: Crusoe, 8 pm
Thursday, October 30: 30 Rock, 8:30 pm

FOX
Sept. 1: Prison Break (two hours)
Sept. 3: Bones (two hours)
Sept. 4: Moment of Truth (two hours)
Sept. 5: 5th Grader (two hours)
Sept. 6: Cops, America's Most Wanted
Sept. 8: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Sept. 9: Fringe* (two hours)
Sept. 10: 'Til Death, Do Not Disturb*
Sept. 11: Kitchen Nightmares
Sept. 12: Don't Forget the Lyrics
Sept. 13: Mad TV, Talkshow with Spike Feresten
Sept. 16: House
Sept. 28: The Simpsons, King of the Hill, Family Guy, American Dad

Dates for Fox's premieres.

Sept. 1, 8pm: Prison Break (2 hours - moves to 9pm on Sept. 8).

Sept. 3, 8pm: Bones (2 hours - moves to 8pm on Sept. 10)

Sept. 4, 8pm: The Moment of Truth (2 hours)

Sept. 5, 8pm: Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader? (2 hours)

Sept. 6, 8pm: Cops
Sept. 6, 9pm: America's Most Wanted

Sept. 8, 8pm: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

Sept. 9, 8pm: Fringe (2 hours - moves to 9pm Sept. 16)

Sept. 10, 9pm: 'Til Death
Sept. 10, 9:30pm: Do Not Disturb

Sept. 11, 9pm: Kitchen Nightmares

Sept. 12, 9pm: Don't Forget The Lyrics!

Sept. 13, 11pm: Mad TV
Sept. 13, midnight: Talk Show with Spike Feresten

Sept. 16, 8pm: House

Sept. 28, 8pm: The Simpsons
Sept. 28, 8:30pm: King of the Hill
Sept. 28, 9pm: Family Guy
Sept. 28, 9:30pm: American Dad

Fall 2008 schedule
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Fall 2008
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ABC's Fall 2008 TV Schedule:
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fall 2008
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summer 2009
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ABC
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CBS
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NBC
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CW
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Fox
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I forgot these:

Stardust: it was lovely, and I'm glad we bought it. We expect to watch it many times, and those who compared it to Princess Bride had good reasons for that. The destination is rather telegraphed, but the journey makes it all worthwhile.

The Simpsons Movie: Funny!

Blades of Glory: I like figure skating and Will Farrell, but once through this movie was enough. We donated it to the library as we couldn't see ourselves ever wanting to watch it again.

- Across the Universe
We bought this one, and we're happy about that. It was good. After reading "Can't Buy Me Love" where the Beatles are on record as saying most of their songs were nonsense lyrics thrown together, it was a little weird to see the songs interpreted so literally, but it worked. And it worked so much better than the Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band movie in the '70s. Which, by the way, I really liked despite its cheese factor because I adored Peter Frampton. But ATU is quite lovely, and Jim Sturgess has just enough Paul McCartney in his looks to connect the original artists into the story. The vocal performances are good enough and evocative enough that we're getting the soundtrack.

- Kuch Kuch Hota Hai
I found a recommendation for this one (pronounced "koochi koochi hota hay") on a list of Bollywood 101 movies, and the library system had it. The title translates to "Something Happens in My Heart", and the line is repeated musically often enough through the movie to become an earworm. The characters were a bit stereotyped and the film runs a little long, but it was a nice romantic story with a happy ending.

- The Adventures of Robin Hood
We've been reading "The Best Old Movies for Families to Watch Together", and this (the Errol Flynn version) was on the list for Z's age group. It was fun, though we had to deal with Z asking questions nearly constantly for the first half of the movie. There's nothing quite like a 4-year-old with no frame of reference to remind you of how much you've absorbed about context.

- Children of Men
Rented this one from the library. Stark and dark, but a good performance from Clive Owen and a compelling story.

- V for Vendetta
Finally caught this one on cable, and enjoyed it. This also means I've seen almost all of the Nebula nominees for script.

- Idiocracy
This one wasn't a recent watch, but it's worth pointing out to people again in case they missed it earlier. It seems silly and farcical, but it's worth viewing. I'm reminded of this movie every time I encounter parents who are amazed that my kids' primary drink is water when their kids prefer to drink juice or milk. Not only is water their default, Z already understands the need for a balanced diet, that fresh, clean water is important for all living things, and that he shouldn't waste water. If more people think about this, we should never end up like the characters in this movie.

- The Second Coming
Another that wasn't a recent watch, but there are enough Christopher Eccelston fans on my f-list to remind people about this movie. It's stark and ambivalent, difficult and thought-provoking. I'm glad I saw it.