HollywoodHubbub.com

A weekly post with the purpose of highlighting the shows I watched during the week and how I ranked them.  It’s not intended as a list of all shows on the air, only those that I actually watched during the week.  Watching something on Monday that aired on Friday won’t make the cut.

Like everything on this site it’s for my own enjoyment but feel free to comment.

Once again my study commitments have raised their ugly head and I just haven’t had the time to post anything.  I’m still getting in some TV watching but even that has shrunk a little with the workload.  I’m gonna do my Best of the Week in a Twitter style 160 character format this week in an effort to get something posted and to save just a little time.

1.  Archer “Skorpio” (1×06) – Either Carol or Lana naked or in lingerie for the entire episode. The best story and some of the funniest lines yet. Best episode so far.  9.5/10

2.  30 Rock “Anna Howard Shaw Day” (4×13) – Five cool cameos. Horatio Sanz, Dean Winters, Jon Hamm, Jason Sudeikis, and Jon Bon Jovi. Liz tripping balls was awesome too.  7.5/10

3.  Survivor “Slay Everyone, Trust No One” (20×01) – Steph is back. That alone makes the return of Survivor kick ass. But add in Russell, Amanda, Tom, Courtney, Rupert, Colby & Jerri too. WOW!!  7.5/10

4.  Community “Communication Studies” (1×16) – The Breakfast Club montage alone made this ep superb, but Senior Chang dancing like Michael Jackson sustained the greatness.  7/10

5.  Lost “What Kate Does” (6×03) – I hate to put it this low but Kate episodes are always so dull. The few revelations in this ep didn’t make up for it’s mediocrity.  5.5/10

6.  How I Met Your Mother “Rabbit or Duck” (5×15) – Why is HIMYM so average this season? Maybe if they actually introduced the “mother” it would inject some life into the show.  5/10

7.  The Mentalist “Blood In, Blood Out” (2×14) – Cho’s a former gang member. That’s the biggest leap this show’s asked of me, and that’s saying something. None of these CBI guys are tough.  4.5/10

I just stumbled across this the other day and thought that it’d be perfect for my friend Peter who’s only seen a couple of episodes from the 1st season of Lost.  This gives him all the basic info needed so he can jump right in for the final season.  I don’t suggest he does this though.

Peter, if you’re reading this, GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER AND WATCH LOST FROM THE BEGINNING.

A weekly post with the purpose of highlighting the shows I watched during the week and how I ranked them.  It’s not intended as a list of all shows on the air, only those that I actually watched during the week.  Watching something on Monday that aired on Friday won’t make the cut.

Like everything on this site it’s for my own enjoyment but feel free to comment.

Just under two weeks until Lost premieres.  Oh my God I can’t wait.  I tried to get as much TV watching in as I could this week but I haven’t felt too crash hot.  Plus I watched a lot of late night talk shows and finally saw Sherlock Holmes and The Fantastic Mr Fox so all that ate into the time I could spend on prime time TV.  I’m also trying to catch up on The Mentalist, The Office and I’ve started to watch Chuck so I’m going right back to the beginning on that one.

1.  Archer “Diversity Hire” (1×03) – The show’s only three episodes old and it’s already getting hard to come up with ways to say it’s damn funny and the best show on TV.  So aside from that I’d also like to mention the fabulous voice work by all of the actors.  Every single one of them does a superb job.  Roll on the next episode.  8/10

2.  30 Rock “Winter Madness” (4×11) – The gang head to Boston as a reason for Jack to meet up with Nancy.  I loved when Tracy said nothing bad could happen and behind him Pete says “smash cut to”.  It’s writing like this which makes the show so damn good.  7.5/10

3.  Better Off Ted “Lust in Translation” (2×10) – I really enjoyed this episode.  All three stories were fun.  Especially Ted and Greta using the translator with Phil’s voice while having sex.  The episode also had more great stuff with Linda and Veronica.  Whenever those two are together it makes for some awesome scenes.  7/10

4.  Fringe “What Lies Below” (2×13) – A good standalone episode.  That’s been a hard thing to come by this season.  I especially liked the idea of a virus decimating the Earth hundreds of thousands of years ago and then being defeated by a volcanic eruption.  It seems very X-Files to me but not in a derivative way.  I wasn’t too fond of Peter going crazy from the virus but I guess there had to be personal stake for everyone involved.  And there was once again more hints as to Peter’s death and Walter getting an alternative.  The next episode is titled “The Bishop Revival” so I’m really hoping that the show finally deals with what Walter did after the original Peter died.  7/10

5.  Community “Interpretive Dance” (1×14) – This episode was actually an improvement over the last few but it still wasn’t anything too great.  Danny Pudi continues to be the best thing about the show but he doesn’t seem to be getting much to do.  I’m not to fond of the idea that Britta is gonna be jealous of Jeff and the accounting teacher.  I don’t want another will they or won’t they show.  6.5/10

6.  How I Met Your Mother “Jenkins” (5×13) – Yeesh.  Talk about fucking average.  HIMYM is fast becoming a hit or miss show.  One week it’s brilliant and the next it’s barely acceptable.  It was nice to see Amanda Peet on the show but she was completely wasted with such a shitty story.  The same happened with Rachel Bilson last week.  They better not fuck up Carrie Underwood’s appearance.  5/10

7.  The Mentalist “Bleeding Heart” (2×12) – Eh.  Eco-terrorism and local council politics don’t make for a good episode.  Average as always but Jane wasn’t really that compelling this week.  And as much of a fan as I am of Robin Tunney in Empire Records and Encino Man I’m fast approaching a can’t stand her attitude to her on The Mentalist.  Her performance/character just rubs me the wrong way.  Amanda Righetti too.  I really wish there were more Red John stories on the show ‘cos a couple per season isn’t anywhere near enough.  4.5/10

A weekly post with the purpose of highlighting the shows I watched during the week and how I ranked them.  It’s not intended as a list of all shows on the air, only those that I actually watched during the week.  Watching something on Monday that aired on Friday won’t make the cut.

Like everything on this site it’s for my own enjoyment but feel free to comment.

TV finally came back in a substantial way this week so that means I can do my Best of the Week post again.  It was an especially great week because we got double episodes of Fringe, 30 Rock, Better Off Ted, Chuck, and Archer, and there was comedy gold on just about all the late night talk shows concerning the Leno vs Conan vs NBC drama that’s been unfolding.

1.  Archer “Training Day” (1×01) – Ever since I saw the pilot back in September (which I guess is no longer the pilot considering the order that FX chose to show the first two episodes) I’ve been dying to see some more.  I’m thrilled beyond belief that I wasn’t let down.  I loved the Archer and Cyril story about training him and thinking Cyril killed a hooker.  I always know a show or movie is good when the time flies while watching it, I don’t even once look at my watch, and it leaves me wanting more as soon as it ends.  All the best shows do that.  30 Rock, Parks and Recreation, South Park.  Archer is already up to that level.  Two episodes down and it’s already the clear frontrunner to be my favourite new show this year (and second only to Lost as my favourite of everything on TV).  9/10

2.  Archer “Mole Hunt” (1×02) – It’s still hilarious after all the times I’ve watched it.  If anyone’s interested I did a little review of this episode back in September.  Check it out here. 9/10

3.  Parks and Recreation “The Set Up” (2×13) – Aziz Ansari said that this may be his favourite episode of Parks and Recreation yet and I think I have to agree.  Not only did we get a guest appearance by Amy Poehler’s husband Will Arnett as the uncomfortable date that Ann sets Leslie up with, but we also got the first episode in Justin Theroux’s arc and the supremely great Aubrey Plaza once again shined with some increased screen time.  Nick Offerman also continues to be balls out hilarious.  9/10

4.  30 Rock “Klaus and Greta” (4×09) – James Franco as himself and in love with human sized pillow with an anime girl on it.  Priceless.  Kenneth and Jack on a mission was also fantastic.  9/10

5.  30 Rock “Black Light Attack!” (4×10) – It was nice to see Danny again, and for Liz to get some action (in back to back episodes no less), but overall it just wasn’t as good as the previous episode.  The Jenna and Tracy stories really brought it down a notch or two.  8.5/10

6.  The Tonight Show – Late night talk shows don’t really belong in this list but the circumstances have been rather unique this week.  Conan moving to The Tonight Show resulted in him curtailing some of his more outlandish behaviour and that was a real shame.  However, with all the drama surrounding his probable ousting from the show this week it’s freed him up to do the type of comedy that he’s great at.  Not to mention the almost continuous attacks on both NBC and Leno have been a thing of beauty.  It’ll be a shame when Conan goes off the air and Leno returns to suck NBC’s cock and fondle their balls like the bitch he is.  8.5/10

7.  Better Off Ted “The Impertence of Communicationizing” (2×08) – The outtakes for this episode which were posted online during the week were far better than what was actually used, but it was a nice episode about following company mandates despite how illogical they may seem.  Better Off Ted does a good job of highlighting the bureaucracy of company life and this was another solid example of that.  7/10

8.  The Mentalist “Rose-Colored Glasses” (2×11) – I watched about half of the 1st season of The Mentalist and then gave up on it for no real reason.  I figured I’d give it another watch seen as how it’s doing really well in the ratings on Thursday against some good competition.  I can tell you it hasn’t changed at all since about the same point last season.  Simon Baker is still effortlessly charming as Thomas Jane and the rest of the gang are still D grade wanna be FBI Agents.  The show lives and dies by Baker’s performance and as long as Thomas Jane doesn’t become a one trick pony the show is at least mildly entertaining.  Other than that it’s just the current procedural du jour.  6.5/10

8.  Better Off Ted “The Long and Winding High Road” (2×09) -  Another good episode of Veronica using Rose as a tool to get what she wants.  I love it when they do that in the show.  Aside from that though it was a pretty average episode.  6.5/10

9.  Fringe “Johari Window” (2×12) – A pretty decent standalone episode which has been a rare thing so far this season.  I wish they’d get back to the mythology of the show though.  That’s where the real gold is.  And you gotta believe that Peter is gonna find out about being a double at some point this season.  There’s been too much of it so far for it not to be revealed.  6/10

10.  How I Met Your Mother “Girls vs Suits” (5×12) – A real letdown for the 100th episode.  There was nothing for Jason Segel or Alyson Hannigan to do and Cobie Smulders was left to be a jealous hot chick.  Plus there was more of that damn annoying mother teasing.  Either the mother is important to the premise of the show or she isn’t, but 100 episodes in should be far enough for her to be revealed by now.  If she’s important she should be in the mix by now, and if she’s not then introducing her doesn’t need to be some huge revelation.  I wish the writers/producers would just bite the bullet and cast someone already.  5.5/10

11.  Jimmy Kimmel Live! – Once again, another late night talk show appears on the list.  This time thanks to Kimmel impersonating Leno for an entire show.  Props to Chevy Chase for also making a minimal effort to appear as Conan.  6/10

12.  Fringe “Unearthed” (2×11) – Fox airing a previously unaired season one episode was just stupid.  Charlie Francis died early this season yet there he is in all his glory being a bad ass FBI Agent.  It made zero sense in the context of the season and I’m sure I’m not the only one who was confused when I first saw him on the screen.  Couple that with the fact that it was a very average episode and I get the feeling that Fox is burning off episodes so that the show can be dumped at the end of the season.  4.5/10

Here’s the super cool Last Supper inspired promo for the upcoming final season of Lost.

There was a photo of this from some magazine that emerged at the end December but ABC has now been gracious enough to release it for the whole world to see in hi-res.  There’s probably a mountain of hints tucked away in there somewhere, but I’m too dumb to have a clue.  I like it for the cool factor alone.

Only a shade over 4 weeks until the season premiere.  I can’t wait.

Click the image for an enlarged view.

A weekly post with the purpose of highlighting the shows I watched during the week and how I ranked them.  It’s not intended as a list of all shows on the air, only those that I actually watched during the week.  Watching something on Monday that aired on Friday won’t make the cut.

Like everything on this site it’s for my own enjoyment but feel free to comment.

I didn’t get to watch a bunch of shows that I wanted to this week as the uni workload in preparation for my exams took all of my time.  Besides eating, sleeping, shitting and working all I did was study. Ah, I hate it so much.  I did see Trick r Treat though.  It was a cool horror flick.  Not that scary but cool.  I got a real Tales from the Crypt vibe from it.

1.  Parks & Recreation “Ron and Tammy” (2×08) – A nice episode which introduced one of Ron’s previously mentioned ex wives (played by the beautiful Megan Mullaly).  I find it a little odd that I hate Will & Grace so much yet enjoy Megan Mullaly in the guest appearances of hers that I’ve seen.  I remember her from an episode of Seinfeld as one of George’s girlfriends, from 30 Rock as a child adoption agent screening Liz, and then from this episode of Parks & Rec.  On the whole it was a pretty funny episode and it was great that Ron was the focus for once.  Not much Aubrey Plaza this week though which is a downer.  7.5/10

2.  Bored to Death “The Case of the Stolen Sperm” (1×07) – The show is really starting to hit it’s stride now.  More Zach Galifianakis and more Ted Danson (especially being involved in the cases) is a good thing.  I particularly liked the storyline this week linking into Ray’s sperm donations to the lesbians which I thought was just a simple joke in the episode it was raised in.  It was nice that it formed part of a future story.  Oliver Platt and John Hodgeman make great enemies for George and Jonathan.  It was also great to see the adorable Sam Bee (The Daily Show) in a tiny little role as one of the recipients of Ray’s sperm.  7.5/10

3.  How I Met Your Mother “Bagpipes” (5×06) – I absolutely loved Barney convincing Marshall that it was a good idea to tell Lily he didn’t want to do the dishes and that she should do them.  Ted arguing against Barney’s logic was just as great.  It was like the devil and an angel battling over him.  Aside from that though I thought the episode was somewhat average.  I like Barney and Robin together but the stories they’re coming up with for them are so average.  Aside from the Robin Sparkles based episodes Robin hasn’t had much good stuff over the course of the show, but Barney has been nothing but comedy gold.  It seems like this relationship is dragging him down into mediocrity.  I really hope that the 100th episode brings a much needed boost.  6.5/10

4.  Fringe “Earthling” (2×06) – Nothing mythology based this week but we did get a fairly decent standalone episode which brought to light some of Broyles’ backstory.  This was probably the most that he’s appeared in any episode so far.  Not much for Olivia or Peter this week either.  The ratings are also continuing to go down too.  I don’t think Fox will cancel the show before the end of the season, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they elect not to pick it up for a 3rd season if the ratings don’t show some improvement.  That’s a real shame because the show on the whole is very good.  6.5/10

5.  Dexter “If I Had a Hammer” (4×06) – When will Dexter be done with that fucking whining bitch Rita.  I’ve never hated her as much as I do right now.  She’s a prime example of why I hate the idea of marriage.  Trying to change someone and make them do all the things that they don’t want to do.  Why would anyone want to go through that kind of life.  Dexter’s situation is a little different because he’s pretty much forced to live that life in order to blend in and escape detection, but it just pisses me off so much that he’s changed his core self in the adoption of that life.  A couple of episodes ago he stated that he couldn’t lose them.  There’s no way he would have felt that way about anyone except Deb in previous seasons.  The one real bright spot of this episode was the development in the search for info by Deb about her father.  I really hope she discovers the connection between him and Dexter’s mother soon.  I don’t want that to be the cliffhanger for the season finale.  Something tells me it will be though.  Oh, and I’m over the Batista/Laguerta relationship too.  6.5/10

6.  South Park “The F Word” (13×11) – South Park encouraging kids to call bikies faggots is advice that I wouldn’t suggest be followed.  Bikies account for a great deal of drug dealing and as such are probably not to be messed with.  That much can be seen by their blatant law breaking in the incident at Sydney airport where a fight broke out between rival gangs in the departure terminal and they beat a guy to death with a metal bollard.  That being said, mocking them as they did in this episode was pretty damn funny, and it’s true that all the noise from those bikes does make them fucking assholes.  Still not a very impressive episode though.  5.5/10

7.  V “Pilot” (1×01) – Having a whining teenage kid complain when his mother says she wants to listen does not build sympathy for him, it just makes him seem like a fucking baby.  Call it the Kim Bauer effect if you will.  There was some stuff to like about the pilot but nothing spectacular.  I’m still mad that Elizabeth Mitchell left Lost to star in this show.  It’s been a while since I was truly blown away by a pilot (that being Lost).  For the most part every pilot since then has been OK at best.  5/10

To absolutely no-one’s surprise ABC picked up Flashforward for the remainder of the season.

Whilst I don’t hate the show, I’ve found little worth getting excited about, and the fact that both Dominic Monaghan and Sonya Walger star in the show means their presence in the final season of Lost is questionable.  That’s not a good thing.  I will concede that Flashforward has a great deal of potential, but the thinking that it’s a Lost replacement drives me crazy.  That line of thinking completely undermines the genius of Lost by assuming that creating a once in a lifetime show can be done anytime you want.

A weekly post that will be going up on Saturday or Sunday with the purpose of highlighting the shows I watched that week and how I ranked them.  It’s not intended as a list of all shows on the air, only those that I actually watched during the week.  Watching something on Monday that aired on Friday won’t make the cut.

Like everything on this site it’s for my own enjoyment but feel free to comment.

1. Dollhouse 2×01 – A great season premiere which continues to build on the momentum that the show created through the second half of the shows first season.  Amy Acker had some great stuff before she sets sail to her new show.  I hope it fails so she comes back.  Fran Kranz (Topher) was great again with some nice dramatic work that sits nicely with his performance in Epitaph One.  I also liked how Paul was integrated into the Dollhouse and the introduction of Alexis Denisof’s character.  Hopefully Joss Whedon has big plans for Denisof cos the more Buffy alums the better.  8.5/10
2. Bored to Death 1×01 – I went to NYC about four weeks ago and fell in love with the city instantly.  Watching Bored to Death (which is set in Brooklyn) reminds me of being there and it’s a great feeling.  Zach Galafianakis is fantastic so his presence is very welcome.  Ted Danson is another story but I’m confident that I’ll like him.  7.5/10
3. How I Met Your Mother 5×01 – A nice solid season premiere which set the stage for the development of the relationship between Barney and Robin.  Other than that it was nothing special but not particularly poor either.  7/10
4. Flashforward 1×01 – I definitely don’t think this is gonna amount to a suitable Lost replacement, but the pilot certainly raises some interesting directions that the show could go in.  I don’t buy John Cho as an action guy (he’ll always be Harold to me) but I am glad to see in him a show which ABC seems to have a lot invested in.  6.5/10
5. Fringe 2×02 – Another disappointing episode.  This one seeming even more like a rehash of something from the first season or perhaps The X-Files.  I’m not a fan of monster-of-the-week episodes.  6/10
6. Survivor 19×02 – Russell keeps getting better and better.  This week he orchestrated the voting off of another perceived enemy and he found the immunity idol at his camp with no clues whatsoever.  Very impressive.  6/10
7. Heroes 4×01/4×02 – Surprisingly it was pretty decent.  I still hate Parkman, Claire and Nathan but for some reason I didn’t hate the episode.  Looks like it survives another week on my viewing schedule, but then again I’ve been saying for two years that I’m never watching it again and I always seem to come back.  5.5/10
8. The Emmys – Tina Fey should have won best comedy actress, Neil Patrick Harris should have got best supporting comedy actor, and Lost should have got best drama.  Aside from that it was a good show.  Harris was a great host.  6/10
9. Modern Family 1×01 – I’m not sure what the fuss about this one is.  I really didn’t find it that funny.  In fact, the only positive I could take away from the show is the presence of Ed O’Neill and Julie Bowen.  5/10

Once again I didn’t have time to watch The Office but I also missed out on Community, Parks & Recreation, The Forgotten and Curb Your Enthusiasm.  Hopefully next week I’ll be able to find time to watch these shows and others.

Looks like that writers strike didn’t affect Lost as much as I thought it would.  I figured when the writers strike cut into the scheduled episodes of Lost that they were gone for good and I’d still only see 16 hours for each of the remaining seasons.  Thankfully another hour has been added to Lost’s 6th and final season taking the total to 18 hours.

I’m simultaneously excited and upset that there’s only 18 hours remaining on one of the top 5 shows of all time.  I wish the show could go on forever but I’m not naive enough to think that it could possibly keep up this sustained level of excellence.  Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse did the right thing in getting a concrete end date and it just builds the excitement for what they have in store come February 2010.

(source = The Hollywood Reporter)

I figured there’d be changed on Scrubs with the departure of Zach Braff and Sarah Chalke, but I certainly didn’t expect this significant of a change.

Michael Ausiello writes:

Scrubs boss Bill Lawrence said his cancellation-defying comedy would undergo an extreme makeover in its ninth season, and, man, he wasn’t kidding. When the show returns next winter, the action will shift from the hospital to the classroom and make med-school professors of John C. McGinley’s Dr. Cox and Donald Faison’s Turk.

“It’ll be a lot like Paper Chase as a comedy,” Lawrence tells me. “It’s going to be a different show. It’ll still be life-and-death stakes, but if the show is just Scrubs again in the hospital with a different person’s voiceover, it would be a disaster and people would be mad.”

Of course, Sacred Heart won’t go away altogether. Although J.D.’s old stomping ground no longer will serve as the show’s base of operations, the students will occasionally rotate through its halls — and bump into many of its familiar faces. In addition to McGinley and Faison, both of whom are expected to be full-time regulars alongside a quartet of newbies (most of them playing students), Scrubs vets Zach Braff, Sarah Chalke, Judy Reyes and Ken Jenkins have agreed to make guest appearances. (Neil Flynn has a costarring role as Patricia Heaton’s husband in the new ABC sitcom The Middle, so his name-challenged Janitor will be MIA.)

“Med students in their first three years have to spend anywhere from 10 to 50 percent of their time at a hospital,” Lawrence explains. “And that’s when you’ll see some of the [original cast members]. Continuity-wise, Sacred Heart will still exist with those people still working there.”

But Lawrence insists “half the cast, if not 60 percent of it,” will be comprised of freshmen, one of which will be more recognizable than the rest. “[ABC] is really after us to hire a big name,” he reveals. “So one of them will be fairly famous.”

(source = The Ausiello Files)