Review Geek

With the seeming end of the writer's strike coming this week I thought it would be a good time dust off the cob webs here and add some new content with short reviews of some recent shows and programing on TV:

Election 2008

99% of what passes for political discussion on the major media outlets - sucks!

The broadcast networks have no time to talk about the issues supported by the candidates and their sister cable shows, while having the time, don't talk about them either. They either latch on to some irrelevant issue - like what one candidate said about another one - or try to frame the election using factors that polls show aren't a factor - like the race or gender of the candidate.

Here are some the most outrageous incidents:

The press seethes over Bill Clinton, shrugs at George Bush

Matthews, Russert ignored record Democratic turnout in suggesting lack of broad appeal

This Week: On John McCain and Everything We Tell You Is Wrong

Super Bowl

Great game - the coverage sucked. Once again FOX used their broadcast to beat us over the head with their network schedule. Luckily the game wasn't a blow out.

Sarah Conner Chronicles

One of the newer shows this winter is Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles on FOX. It tells the story of what happens between the end of Terminator 2: Judgment Day and the Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines and focuses on the lives of Sarah Conner and her son John - the future leader of the human resistance. Although during the first show the plot diverges from the films, it did it in an interesting way. It is still hard to accept a short hot Terminator named "Cameron" played by Summer Glau but it works. I also like Lena Headey as Sarah. The producers promise the show will be more than the "Terminator of the week" type of show and I have always liked the overall story line of the series and hope they explore that.

So far it is a good show.

Corner Gas

I found one of new favorite comedies on superstation WGN. Corner Gas is a Canadian import that started on their CTV network in 2004. It was created and is written by comedian Brent Butt (yes, that is real name) and tells about the life around an isolated gas station and diner on the prairie of Saskatchewan in the village of Dog River. To me the show is a blend of Seinfeld, Family Guy, and Northern Exposure and I have not laughed as hard in awhile. Here is an example:

[Wanda is reading a book]
Customer: What's that, quantum physics?
Wanda Dollard: Yeah, I've always been fascinated that light could be a particle and a wave. I was gonna study it in college, but then I got interested in biochemistry. And then on a whim settled on liguistics with minor in comparative religion.
Customer: Wow, how'd you end up in a place like this?
Wanda Dollard: The last girl quit, can you believe it?

Jericho

The show Jericho returns this week after being canceled at the end of last season. A fan effort, including sending peanuts to CBS, got a second season for the show.

The previews I've seen shows that the plot has moved along to where the town meets the new government. Hawkins believes they are the people responsible for the terrorist attacks that started everything. CBS only ordered 7 episodes so hopefully they can maintain the quality they had in the 1st season.

On November 13th, this blog and the blogs listed below will be on strike for the day in solidarity with the Writers Guild of America. As fellow writers and as TV fans, we are coming together to express our strong support for the writers and their goals. We believe that when a writer's work makes money for a company, that writer deserves to be paid.

Many writers depend on residuals for a stable income, and that income shouldn't be based on an outdated formula which ignores the existence of new media and all but a tiny percentage of DVD sales. The talented writers responsible for so much of what we love about television should and must be paid fairly and equitably, and we will stand with them until they reach that goal. For everyone's sake, and for the sake of television, we hope both sides can come to an agreement quickly.

To further that goal, we are calling on our readers to sign this petition and to contact the following television networks, voicing support for the writers and for a return to the negotiating table:

ABC
500 South Buena Vista Street
Burbank, CA 91521
(818) 460-7777

FOX
10201 W. Pico Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90035
(310) 369-1000

CBS
7800 Beverly Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90036
(323) 575-2345

NBC / Universal
100 Universal City Plaza
Universal City, CA 91608
(818) 777-1000

After the blackout, we intend to continue our campaign to support the WGA until the dispute has been resolved fairly. Since we will not be posting any new content on the 13th, we encourage our readers to visit United Hollywood instead for frequent updates about the strike.

In solidarity-

The CineManiac
Daemon’s TV
Ducky Does TV
Gabby Babble
Give Me My Remote
Glowy Box
I am a TV Junkie
The Media Pundit
Mikey Likes TV
Pass the Remote
The Pie Maker
Ramblings of a TV Whore
Seriously? OMG! WTF?
Silly Pipe Dreams
Tapeworthy
Televisionary
TiFaux
Tube Talk
The TV Addict
TV Series Finale
Watch with Intelligence

*As a side note* - When media content is seen on the Internet and the writers don't get paid it is called promotional, but if media content is seen on the Internet and the studios don't get paid it is called piracy. Is there really a difference??

I like "Chuck". It has the campy spy flick feel I have missed since they canceled "Spy Game" back in 1997 (it starred Linden Ashby and Allison Smith - FYI).

I have only seen the 2nd episode of Private Practice and thought it was decent. I like Kate Walsh. I just think the show could do much more than just rehashing sexual stereotypes where all the women gossip and the men seem to be oblivious. I know that stuff happens in real life but this is suppose to be entertainment.

Life is one of my favorites so far. I like Damian Lewis' take on the Zen cop. Yes the tone seems like the departed Raines but Lewis is more accessible as a character. Adam Arkin is a great addition as the guy who lives in Crews' garage ("No, I live in a room above the garage...")

I want to like "Bionic Woman" but I am afraid that I have too much of the Lindsey Wagner version in my DNA. I hope it is on long enough to see how the overall plot develops. If they do even try to switch out Michelle Ryan for Katee Sackhoff then I will not watch it because that would the stupidest move. The point of the show is not to see a mechanical woman kick ass and take names but to see what it is like for someone to wake up one day and find out they were part machine.

"Back to You" is a fair classic sitcom. Although the tone and theme is too much like "Newsradio" including the layout of the set. Kelsey Grammer seems to be playing just another version of Frasier Crane but I give credit to Patricia Heaton for playing someone different than the character in her previous show. The other best parts are the other cast like Fred Willard, Ty Burrell, and the kid news director played by Josh Gad.

Carpoolers was interesting. It cracked me up that the son of one of the characters refuses to wear pants. I thought it was a pretty good indication how weird the four guys are when they are the only ones in the carpool lane.

Cavemen is strange. I can see where some people said that the first show seemed to mirror some of the challenges of african-americans. I hope it tries to be more different than that.

I found the "Family Guy" Star Wars tribute a bit dull. I didn't expect them to retell the entire "A New Hope" movie. Some of the cut aways were funny but there wasn't enough of them. I thought the Robot Chicken reference at the end was the best bit and very true. RC did it better.

I like the change up they did on "House" so we can see what happens when there is no one is there to check House's ways.

Or "What I did during my Labor Day off work"

To prove once again, how pale and friendless I am, I finally finished my long awaited tribute page to actor Diane Lane.

I have enjoyed her film career since her debut in 1979 in "A Little Romance" and I have never seen her give a bad performance.

Not knowing anything about her private personal life, I think we would get along great as friends.

So enjoy:

My Tribute to Diane Lane

Dear Lindsay Lohan,

I had been a fan of yours for some time at least since Parent Trap. I think you have incredible acting talent and an expressive face that conveys a range of real emotion.

Your party life style off camera is killing your career. It's boring to hear about it. And it seems it has effected your work for some time. You give us a great performance in "A Prairie Home Companion" and then give us crap like "I Know Who Killed Me" and I don't see the quality improving any time soon.

Until I see you getting your act in gear, I have crossed you off my list of favorites. I will not pay money to see your films - if you make any more nor will I buy DVD copies of previous work. I also will not watch you on television for any reason.

I am still astonished that a TV network showed one of your past movies even after you were arrested for DUI. You are not a role model anyone should be admiring.

Just stop it. Grow up and realize the possible greatness you could achieve with your talent.

- A former fan

I have about 100 channels or so on my cable system. I watch maybe a few dozen regularly. One channel I watch more often than not is the Food Network.

There is a show I like called "Feasting on Asphalt2: The River Run" hosted by Alton Brown. The show is a travel log of food. Brown and his crew drive motorcycles on the back roads of America visiting different local eateries.

In the current series they are driving the Mississippi River corridor from Louisiana to Minnesota. The first show was this past weekend and Brown and his traveling companions visit a Cajun restaurant, ate Alligator, and talked about Andouille and Head Cheese.

The high point of the show is host Brown. He reminds me of the text of the J. Peterman Catalog as he waxes poetically on the local food finds he mentions. He also doesn't shy away from fat and grease.

The show airs new episodes on Saturdays through September 8th at 9 PM on the Food Network


For more info:

Feasting on Asphalt with Alton Brown
Alton's Feasting on Asphalt website

One thing I do for fun is contribute reviews for films I have seen on the website Internet Movie Database. It has information on thousands of items about movies and television shows.

If you want to read my past comments go to the following link

http://www.imdb.com/user/ur0388652/comments

Here is a clip of two of my most recent reviews:

Live Free or Die Hard (2007)

PG-13 made this film just average
4 July 2007
6/10 stars

I spent my 4th of July joining Detective John McClane for yet another bad day. Unfortunately this 4th bad day limped across the finish line.

It wasn't a total disaster but the movie suits marketing this as a PG-13 film and then pretty much presenting it as PG really hurt the reason I liked the Die Hard series. They even garbled his catch phrase. UGH! I wonder if 20th Century Fox knows you can use at least one F-word in PG-13 and you can also show women topless. That would have made this film a bit better.

I want McClane to be crude, mouthy, and foul mouth. In this film he is crude and that is about it.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0337978/usercomments-251

Ratatouille (2007)

Very Disappointed
9 July 2007
5/10 stars

I had a decision to make. I had time to see one movie on Sunday. Either Ratatouille or Transformers. I was never a fan of the Transformers show when I was a kid. So I read various reviews on the two movies on non-IMDb websites to get a gist of both films. Unlike IMDb, both films were getting positive but not great reviews over all. Ratatouille had far more positive reviews than Transformers so I picked Ratatouille.

Simply put, Ratatouille is just average at best. The animation was nothing spectacular. I guess the novelty of Computer animation is wearing off. It was pretty close it not the same as the old style cell animation.

No matter what tricks or special effects a film uses, it doesn't mean anything unless the story is good. The story in Ratatouille was just average. It was cute in spots but tedious in other places. A lot of the supporting characters were played up only to be discarded quickly and the main villain had no setup at all. You only knew he was the bad guy because he had the standard bad guy sinister look - that was it.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0382932/usercomments-178


Hopefully in future posts I will post reviews after they are posted on IMDB.

Welcome to the first post on the relaunched Reviewgeek.net I'm still working on the kinks and bugs from the new version of Movabletype so please forgive any mess ups for now.

For the first post I wanted to point out that tonight, 7/5, CBS starts the 8th edition of Big Brother.

It is the show that has approx 12 houseguests living together for 3 months. Each week they compete for the role of Head of Household where they can then nominate 2 others for eviction. The evictions continue until the house is down to 2 finalists. The other evicted guests then get to vote on who gets the prize money.

It is suppose to be a social experiment - the drama comes from being isolated with dozens of others and the clash of personalities. Mostly the version broadcast on the network is the edited version. The editors generate a story line they want you to see even if nothing like it happens in the real house.

The 6th edition was the worst manipulated version that I paid attention to. One group was shown as the underdogs when in reality it was the other clic that were the underdogs. The same group we were suppose to see as the underdogs were some of the most vile, racist, and nasty people I have ever seen - and none of that was shown on the network show. You had to pay $14 a month to view the live feeds to see the truth.

For more details on the manipulation of season 6 read this:
How REAL is Big Brother 6????

This season the show has new producers so hopefully what is shown on the show is closer to what really happens.

We'll see.

I am working on a relaunch of Review Geek. Please come back later.