So much good television, but not too much time to watch!

As we find ourselves in the midst of the November Sweeps, I find myself in what I like to consider a television weekly niche. While there are shows that I just don’t get to watch either when they air or via DVR, there are a bunch that I get from Netflix and watch during the summer or in the off season. Criminal Minds, for example, is a show I love, but I have to be in the right mood to watch it. So if I were to try and watch it each week, it just wouldn’t work out and I would feel like I lost my place, but by watching it after the season, I can watch it when I feel like it. I know that’s pretty much the concept of a DVR or TIVO, but DVRs only hold so much space.

So when the fall season began a while back, I was torn as to which shows I wanted to focus on. I only have so much time a week to actually watch television and with some shows not coming on till spring, I have now settled on a few shows that get DVR’s whether I get to see them the night they air or not. Sons of Anarchy, Fringe, Flash Forward, Stargate Universe, and now V, are on my weekly slate and it’s literally turning out to be a fabulous TV season. So many new ideas and shows that bring fresh faces and original idea, it can be hard to choose. But then again, there’s always Netflix.

Flash Forward Sees Good Ratings In Its' Future!

To be frank, I pretty much thought that the only creator/producer, who could put a show with a science fiction twist on a network and have it be successful, was J.J. Abrams. Furthermore, I have previously stated that people, by-in-large don’t turn out for these shows after the initial few weeks, but I hope to be wrong on both counts.

No, I’m not talking about V, which I really am excited to see this November, but having had some extra time, I got to catch up on the first few episodes of Flash Forward and to say that I am pleasantly surprised is an understatement. When I first learned of the plot I was excited for the first episode and then pretty much thought would be downhill from there. I mean what could be exciting about this show after that initial blackout, or flash forward, if you will? It turns out, a lot. I mean it was the same odl predicatable disaster recovery plan being put in place, but rather, a search for answers.

Giving away the plot and what has happened would be a disservice, but I will say that this show is for real. The writers have accomplished the most important aspect of a successful show; they have made us care about the characters and we desperately want to know what will happen next. Clever twists and crisp acting make this show a winner in my book.

Network Execs Take Gambles On Remakes This Year!

It’s not often that television show can be remade and be successful. Like movies, television remakes often fall flat to the viewers, but that hasn’t kept ABC from digging into the vault to try and dredge up some magic. Perhaps they saw that their former late-70’s series Battlestar Galactica was successfully remade and became one of the most successful cable shows ever, but the key to such success of that show lies in that it was on Sci-Fi and not network television. Save shows like Lost and to some degree, Fringe, Sci-Fi shows just aren’t successful on network television.

Nonetheless, ABC has already debuted a remake of 1991’s Eastwick, which in its’ own right, was modeled after the 80’s movie, The Witches of Eastwick. Despite a stellar cast including Lindsay Price, Rebecca Ramon, and Paul Gross, this show is destined to be on the chopping block.

With less fanfare, but perhaps loftier expectations from science fiction, V debuts on November 3rd. For those watching the tube in 1983 and 1984, the two V mini-series were huge hits, but the serial was nothing of the sort. After 14 episodes, it was gone. And yet, a remake has been discussed for years. NBC had developed a remake with the same cast, but later scrapped the project. Now ABC has round up some of TV’s bright young stars, reshaped the menacing visitor mother ships, and is hoping it can find an instant hit with science fiction and mainstream fans alike. I applaud their effort on the latter and would love to see the success, but I’m afraid I’ll only catch a few episodes before the ratings catch up to V as well.

Damn! Sons of Anarchy kicks some serious A$$!

OK, so I’ve been away from this blog for a while, but alas, it’s been for good reason; I’ve been working on my own fiction instead of talking about others’. Nevertheless, I truly felt compelled to come back here and write after I “took a shot” on a series that originally caught my eye prior to the series premiere last year.

Son’s of Anarchy had received good reviews and FX Network had become pretty well-known for putting out some good original programming, but for some reason, I opted not to watch SOA when it debuted last year. The likely reason is that there are so many other shows that I was trying to juggle; I just didn’t have the time.

Low and behold, I found my Netflix cue looking a little boring and decided to put something in between ubiquitous crime and investigative dramas. SOA fit the bill and I got my first DVD last week In a word – Awesome!

No, biker gangs aren’t new to pop culture, and SOA doesn’t put anymore of a pretty picture on the faces of these would be renegades, but it does humanize them to a degree where the viewer can almost relate to some of the emotions of the characters. Of course they follow-up by beating the hell out of someone and we take back these emotions, but for moment, the bikers are no less real and likable than any other character. To be frank, the characters, realistic or not, are quite likable. And while I’ve only watched four episodes; I’m hooked. This show has balls and FX just isn’t afraid to throw it out there and make The Sopranos look like an after school special.

Don’t believe me? Tune in to the Season 2 premiere on September 8th at 10:00pm EST.

I'm a pseudo celeb and I hate spiders!

Truth be told, I don’t even know the real name of show I’m about to blog about, but as my wife and I were watching TV tonight, she said that she wanted to watch this new reality show on NBC. I had seen that former Governor Rod Blagojevich had wanted to be on the show and yet the government wouldn’t let him out f the country, so his wife was going to be on it. I think the irony in that is that she, herself, may actually be indicted. So let’s let her out into the wild! Hmmm.

Anyway, I found out that it’s called I’m A Celebrity; Get Me Out of Here! Admittedly, I do like a few of the folks on the show, but this is ridiculous. I mean these two idiots from The Hills are horrible. The whole deal is that the proceeds are to go to charity and these two are so damned conceited that they think they are better than the others and even have the audacity to say they are bigger stars then John Sally – one of the best basketball players of all time. I don’t even like the guy, but how about some respect.

Nevertheless, I’ll watch it a little more before giving a total verdict for the show because there are some interesting characters on there. Granted, none are really “current” celebrities, but most have some good qualities to add to the show. So far… C!

Liam Neeson tears up Paris in Taken!

Did you even play one of those drinking games where you took a drink of beer every time a character said a word or phrase? I’m sure most of you have and many have likely adapted this game to include are repetitious things. Perhaps it’s a little weird, but this was something I actually thought about while watching the movie, Taken, starring Liam Neeson.

If you’ve followed Neeson’s on-screen career, you know that he’s not exactly known as an action hero, so-to-speak, but let’s just say that in Taken, he takes vengeance to another level.

With his daughter in the hands of Albanian child smugglers, Neeson’s character is on the loose in Paris and seemingly everyone that gets in his way gets shot, stabbed, or receives knuckle to the throat. Neeson even indulges in some Jack Bauer-esque torture tactics and for a moment you thought that he might let the guy live. Guess again.

All-in-all, Taken was surprising good. The plot had certainly been done before – Harrison Ford in Frantic comes to mind, but the action is fast-paced and the script is succinct and the movie runs around an hour and a half. This one gets a B+ for pure body count!

The first half of The Deadliest Catch comes to a close!

For yet another year, The Discovery Channel’s flagship show, The Deadliest Catch has once again proven to be a winner on the ratings scale and chock full of drama. It’s hard to put into words why this show is so compelling, but there’s just something about the raw and gritty emotion that keeps me interested when by-in-large, episodes are the same.

The narration by Mike Rowe keeps viewers on edge and these guys – who you’d probably avoid if you saw on the street – show the human side of hard work, tradition, and courage. In the second episode of the year we learned that a cod fishing boat had gone down and the following episode turned out to be one of the most haunting of all. For that one hour episode it was hard to even think about the concept behind the show because it didn’t matter. The Bering Sea showed why Mother Nature can be so brutal and that is a reality that rings true no matter what coast you set sail on or what you’re doing on the ocean.

And as the king crab season comes to a close, the crews get a brief respite before getting back aboard and heading out for the deadliest season of all.