Best Television Shows

Archive for March, 2010

One of the reasons that ‘The Amazing Race’ is such a good television show is that when you watch it, you can imagine how you might handle the challenges. Whether it’s deciphering a clue involving every country they’ve visited over the past weeks, or maneuvering a wheel of cheese down a hill in Switzerland, or even eating a Chicago deep dish pizza in one sitting, the beauty of the show is you’re along for the ride.

Well, now you can really have an ‘Amazing Race’ experience even if you’re not chosen by the producers of the Emmy-winning CBS series. A Cleveland travel company called Competitours, have created a series of competitions to simulate ‘The Amazing Race.’ All the challenges will be in Europe, and the teams will be playing for something. No, not a Travelocity gnome filled with magic beans or a Polaris jet ski, but a tidy little pot of $9,000 cash. That’s not too shabby.

Continue reading Take an ‘Amazing Race’ Without CBS Being Involved

Filed under: OpEd, The Amazing Race, Casting, Emmys

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Here’s tonight’s TV lineup (all times Eastern).

• At 8, ABC has a new ‘It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown,’ followed by new episodes of ‘The Middle,’ ‘Modern Family,’ ‘Cougar Town,’ and ‘Ugly Betty.’
• FOX has a new ‘Human Target’ at 8, then a new ‘American Idol.’
• The CW has new episodes of ‘America’s Next Top Model,’ ‘Fly Girls,’ and ‘High Society.’
• PBS has a new ‘Tavis Smiley Reports’ at 8, followed by a new ‘American Masters.’
• At 9, Syfy has a new ‘Ghost Hunters,’ then a new ‘Destination Truth.’
• Discovery has a new ‘Mythbusters’ at 9, then a new ‘Is It Possible?’
• Travel Channel has ‘Man vs. Food Breakfast Special’ at 9.
• Fine Living has a new ‘Whatever, Martha’ at 9.
• At 9:30, BBC America has a new episode of ‘The Inbetweeners.’
• At 10, NBC has a new ‘Law & Order: SVU.’
• USA has the season premiere of ‘In Plain Sight’ at 10.
• TBS has two new episodes of ‘Tyler Perry’s House of Payne’ at 10.
• A&E has a new ‘Dog The Bounty Hunter’ at 10.
• Comedy Central has a new ‘South Park’ at 10, followed by a new ‘Ugly Americans.’
• Bravo has a new ‘Shear Genius’ at 10.
• The season finale of ‘The Real World’ airs on MTV at 10.
• TV Land has a new ‘First Love, Second Chance’ at 10.
• Also at 10: Food Network has a new ‘Dinner: Impossible.’

Check your local TV listings for more.

After the jump, the late night talk shows.

Continue reading What’s On Tonight: ‘Charlie Brown,’ ‘Mythbusters,’ ‘In Plain Sight’

Filed under: Late Night, Programming, Celebrities, Talk Show, What To Watch Tonight, Reality-Free

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FOX’s top crime drama, ‘Bones,’ has grown a lot over the years, gathering more and more fans along the way as well as treating us with great episodes and compelling characters each week. Now that I’ve watched episodes 99 and 100 of the series — both will air in early April — I can’t imagine why I actually didn’t enjoy the pilot at all when I previewed it the summer before the series aired. I’m extremely happy in retrospect that I gave the pilot a second chance and tuned in when the series premiered back on September 13, 2005, as it is one of my favorite TV series nowadays.

In order to advertise the milestone episodes that are episodes 99 and 100, FOX sent out a press kit to media types like us. Let’s open the box (see picture above) shall we?

Continue reading ‘Bones” 100th Episode – Press Kits Unwrapped

Filed under: Bones, Reality-Free, Press Kits Unwrapped

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Sad news coming out of the New Orleans set of the new HBO series ‘Treme’: writer and producer David Mills collapsed Tuesday on the set and later passed away at a local hospital. According to the Times-Picayune site, Mills had a brain aneurysm.

Mills was head writer and producer on the show, which is about how a group of people of New Orleans rebuild their lives after Hurricane Katrina. Mills won two Emmys for his writing and producing on the HBO miniseries ‘The Corner’ and wrote for several other shows as well, including ‘ER,’ ‘Homicide: Life on the Street,’ ‘Kingpin,’ ‘NYPD Blue,’ and was a story editor on the CBS drama ‘Picket Fences.’ He also wrote for several newspapers, including The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post.

‘Treme’ premieres on April 11.

Filed under: Celebrities, Obituaries, Reality-Free

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A week ago with ‘Dancing With the Stars’ returned for the current season, a new episode of ‘Castle’ aired afterwards and did something it had never done before. It beat ‘CSI: Miami’ in the ratings. Not a rerun of ‘CSI: Miami.’ No, it was a fresh, Horatio Cane dealing with his son episode. Now, normally, that’s a slam dunk for CBS. However, ‘Castle’ took the hour.

This is all a way to explain the following: ABC has renewed ‘Castle’ for another season. ABC is not just jumping on a strong pairing of ‘Dancing’ and ‘Castle,’ because you can’t count on that always being the best draw of a Monday night.

Continue reading ABC Renews ‘Castle’ for A New Season

Filed under: OpEd, Celebrities, Pickups and Renewals, Casting, Reality-Free, Castle

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(S01E05) It’s really getting hard to watch ‘Parenthood,’ and not in a “Gee, this show is so painfully real that it makes me question the true nature of love and family devotion” kind of way.

It’s quite the opposite.

The seams are really starting to show as the episodes try to stretch across an entire season. It now feels so unbelievable because of the lackluster characters and dialogue that I’m starting to feel just as bored as the people look on the screen.

Continue reading ‘Parenthood’ – ‘The Situation’ Recap

Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Other Comedy Shows, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free

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If you ever wanted to produce your own TV show but never had the money, the crew willing to work for free, the ability to design realistic looking sets, or the drive to get up before dawn and shoot during the day’s best light, there’s hope.

Will Wright, the creator of the iconic line of “Sim” games including the popular “Sims,” has created a program called the “Storymaker Engine” that lets ordinary schlubs like you and me create TV shows using Sims.

Wright and company are hoping that the stories created from this engine can be turned into an entertaining half-hour to hour of television for Current TV. “Machinima” shows like ‘Red vs. Blue’ and the ‘South Park’ ‘Make Love, Not Warcraft’ episode have helped bring some video game driven entertainment to audiences, but would you watch an entire show that was produced on a video game?

Filed under: Programming, Web, Reality-Free

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(S01E03) The TV watching circles whose gazes are glued to the glow of their TVs like vultures at a duck crossing are starting to joke that Raylan Givens is racking up quite a body count.

Let’s do a little TV addition. He’s only killed two people in three episodes: the restaurant case in Miami and another poor schlub in this week’s gripping tale of greed. Sure he shot Boyd in the chest, but that only turned out to be a serious wound and a sniper killed a hostage holder in the second episode. He’s far from becoming the edgy dramatic equivalent of TV’s ‘Sledge Hammer’ and definitely smart enough to know you don’t challenge the kill record of a man who talks to his gun.

Besides, complaining about Raylan’s penchant for blowing away scumsuckers is an unnecessary diversion from a show that is starting to build some gripping potential.

Continue reading ‘Justified’ – ‘Fixer’ Recap

Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free

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Having Sarah Palin on Fox News is a bit of a no-brainer, particularly since they appeal to the same demographic. Rupert Murdoch takes full advantage of this fact when she appears as a contributor and will do so again this coming Thursday when the former Governor hosts ‘Real American Stories.’

The show will be your basic celebrity interview show in which successful Americans reveal the history and secrets of their success. Guests will include Toby Keith, LL Cool J and former GE CEO Jack Welch. Hopefully they’ll be on the same show and they’ll be fighting each other in a ring.

Honestly, Sarah Palin is so busy nowadays. She’s got her book. She’s got her new reality show on TLC. Pretty soon she’ll be getting her own sitcom on NBC Thursday nights. Hmmmm.

Whatever you do, don’t read too much into the fact that the show begins on April Fool’s Day. No, stop reading into that. Stop that right now. That’s not appreciated.

Filed under: Programming, OpEd, Celebrities, Ratings

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Now that Ricky Martin has come out of the closet, the inevitable jokes about “was he ever really IN the closet?” have followed, which, if you take three seconds to look at any video or concert he ever produced, w0uld be a damn obvious “yes”.

We’ve scoured the internet archives from Ricky Martin’s latest concerts all the way back to LivinLaVidaLocaAndAlsoPhantomMenaceGIFS.geocities.biz to compile the following gallery of the 20 Straightest Photos Of Ricky Martin. Surprising revelation yesterday? You make the call:

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