Standing Blogger's Weekly Sound-off

November 4, 2011

1.        Glee – As I mentioned in my review, I thought the leprechaun bit was cute and typical Brittany.  Now that she knows he’s not a leprechaun (and he’s apparently not getting anywhere near her pot o’ gold, especially since Brit and Santana are dating), will Roy continue to wear green?  At first I thought, no, that must have been just for the gimmick.  But then he sang “It’s not easy being green” and I started thinking that maybe they are going to keep it up for the season.  Oy.  What do you think?  Is Roy a golden boy in green, or has the green got to go?

2.       Pan Am – There’s something about Christina Ricci that bothers me and I can’t put my finger on it.  Maybe it’s the kewpie doll look, maybe it’s her psycho eyes, maybe it’s that she’ll always be Wednesday Addams in my mind, but whatever it is, I’m not in love with what she brings to the show and I have a feeling that Laura living with her will not amount to good things.

3.       Grimm and NBC – Driving to work this morning, I kept hearing the same commercial for Grimm, calling it Friday’s best show.  I mean, the bar is set pretty low on Friday night and CBS has been doing pretty well in the procedural arena there (with Blue Bloods at least).  Friday nights has also become home to more sci-fi/fantasy shows – Fringe, Supernatural and now Grimm.  Also, they are all at 9:00.  I am wondering if maybe sci-fi would be better served if NBC moved Grimm to another night, maybe swapping places with Brian Williams’ Rock Center, which has posted pretty dismal numbers so far anyway.

4.       FOX TV on Tuesday Nights – Hiatuses (Hiatii?) have been known to lead to the demise of shows (RIP Flash Forward) and as TV Watcher mentioned in Monday’s morning news, Terra Nova might be the World Series’ other casualty (the first being the Rangers).  Fox’s other new show has already been picked up for a full season and all of the Jess lovers were quite pleased.  But Wednesday morning’s numbers showed that the baseball driven hiatus was not ideal for the New Girl.  While still posting good numbers, there was a good drop-off too.  Glee often takes annoyingly long breaks in its run too, but this one seemed to come very early on, just as some seemed to think the show was getting its groove back, finally (I, for one, am not totally thrilled with the direction yet, but I’m willing to stick it out).  I thought Glee was sort of back on track, but the numbers weren’t great.  Obviously, this show is in no way on the bubble, but I believe that unless there is a major turnaround somewhere, the title of juggernaut has been lost forever (and not that I’m complaining, if anyone deserves that title, its NCIS.  The show consistently pulls in the best numbers and it’s in its NINTH SEASON!  If you’re not watching the show, start!).  

Terra Nova: I Banish You ... to Bogeyland!

Terra Nova

Episode 106

"Bylaw"

Hi Show! We missed your regular programming the last month with all the baseball.  Tonight's excursion through the time portal takes us to our first murder in paradise.  Good thing Taylor appointed Jim as a cop way back in the Pilot (even though he has a standing militia army to do all of his law enforcement). 

Morning News: November 3, 2011

Sorry for the no post yesterday, we were experiencing some technical difficulties.  Here is today's combined post (still not a whole lot of news)!

1.  TV Tonight!  USA continues the midseason premiere train with the return of Burn Notice for the remainder episodes of its split season!  X Factor sends one of the top 12 home over on Fox; CBS has a new Person of Interest and NBC has its normal Thursday night comedies (Community, Parks & Rec, The Office). 

2.  Reality Show Return Dates.  ABC announced its new bachelor (Ben Flajnik) will begin his search for STDs love on the January 2's premiere of The Bachelor, while the GTL gang returns to Seaside Heights for another season of treating STDs Jersey Shore on January 5.  In non-reality show news, CW will begin the final season of its grandpa "hit", One Tree Hill on January 11. 

3.  Save our Shows! Prime Suspect and Revenge were recently targeted by a TiVo study as shows that do not have a good time shifting rate and also have less than stellar ratings (though Revenge was up significantly this past week). People, these are good shows and you should be watching them!!!! You should also be watching Terra Nova, Person of Interest, Pan Am, Fringe, Harry's Law, New Girl and Community!

4.  In sad news, New Girl Zooey Deschanel and her husband Ben Gibbard (from the band, Death Cab For Cutie) have separated after 2 years of marriage. Good luck you guys!

Pan Am: Can’t Get Enough of Your Pan Am Service ...

Pan Am
Episode 106
"The Genuine Article"

The backdrop settings for this Maggie-centric episode (Aviva, I understand if you stop reading now) consist of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s I Have A Dream speech, delivered August 28, 1963 (though we were only a week or two at most from the Monte Carlo trip which happened in July show time and May in real life … ok!) on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and the rise of second wave feminism, launched by the publication of The Feminine Mystique earlier in the year.  Dr. King’s speech is widely known in America and is a backbone, centerpiece of the racial equality movement of the 1960s. The larger context of freedom for mankind is the them to grasp onto for our purposes.  The rise of feminism (Ted is reading The Feminine Mystique to better his fake understanding of women) in the 1960s is about women standing up for their own sort of equality, in all spheres of life … for stepping out of the man’s shadow.  The Feminine Mystique deals with the growing restlessness of women who were still being forced into their assigned roles by societal norms (you also see this restlessness in Mad Men through the characters of Peggy and Joan).  Maggie and even Laura embody this ideal for this episode. On a nerdier historical front, its important to know that there was a guy named Josip Broz (who went by Tito or Marshal Tito) ruling the then country of Yugoslavia, basically as a (fairly popular) dictator and avowed communist. History has revealed that Tito ruled the country built on a house of cards and typical dictatorial suppression of competing ideas; a house which completely crumbled into chaos after his death in 1980. During his time, which coincided with the bulk of the Cold War, Tito made a name for himself by having a non-alignment policy with neither the USSR nor the United States, using and repelling each as it served his needs.  

And now that you're asleep, the episode ...

Afternoon News: November 1, 2011

Holy November! Where did the year go!?!?  Also, slow news day!

1.  Season Premieres/TV Tonight!  The end of baseball continues to bring rewards.  USA's Covert Affairs returns tonight for the end of its season run (you have to love the USA Netowrk bifurcated season)!  Fox returns Glee (featuring the debut of The Glee Project's Damian McGinty) and New Girl! Last but certainly not least, Gibbs' and Fornell's shared ex-wife makes her long awaited appearance tonight on NCIS. 

2. Ratings!  After getting bumped around because of the World Series, Terra Nova seems to have lost any ratings mojo it had garnered through early October.  The sci-fi show pulled a 2.1 rating in the 18-49 demographic and 6.3 million viewers (off 25% from its last airing 2 weeks ago).  But, it had company in so far as even juggernaut CBS had depressed numbers, with How I Met Your Mother off 5% an Two and a Half Men down 15% week over week. The biggest loser of the night though was Brian Williams' new show, Rock Center which pulled a 1.0 and only 4 million viewers ... for its premiere! Ouch!

3.  FX has ordered a second season of American Horror Story! TV Watcher is happy and disturbed all at the same time!

4.  We are not talking about the collapse of the Kardashian/Humpheries "marriage". If I was a guest at that sham, I'd be writing a formal demand of return letter for whatever gift I brought.

Person of Interest: Reese and Zoe Sitting in a Tree, K-I-L-L-I-N-G

Person of Interest

Episode 106

"The Fix"

Have you ever noticed that the opening credit sequence for Person of Interest features that week’s “person of interest” or as we say at On My DVR, the Social Security Number of the Week, as its last person image. We noticed it last week and confirmed it this week. Learning is fun!  Let’s save some people.  

How I Met Your Mother: The Return of the Slutty Pumpkin

Ted tells the kids that Barney has been mocking Robin for years for being Canadian.  Robin tells Barney that she's Facebook friends with Barney's dad (Marshall is too, and Barney's dad is good at Bejeweled!).  After Robin makes a comment about Manitoba, which Barney's dad finds interesting, he tells her that his mom is Canadian, making Barney 1/4 Canadian.  Ahhh.