Sep 27 2009

TV: Week of September 28

Category: TV,Upcomingvelveetahead @ 9:41 pm

Now that most of the Fall TV season has started, a few more debut this week.

Season Finales: Intervention, Hoarders, Entourage

Pick of the Week

lietome

Lie To Me
Channel: FOX
Time: 9/8c
Starring: Tim Roth, Kelli Williams, Brendan Hines, Monica Raymund, Mekhi Phifer, Hayley McFarland
Premieres: Monday, September 28
Trailer

Synopsis: Mekhi Phifer has become a series regular. Lightman’s ex-wife will be showing up quite a bit too.

My Take: Tim Roth is awesome so he makes the show work, even if I don’t remember the cases as soon as they end.

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Sep 26 2009

TCA Fall Preview: NBC

Category: TV,Upcomingvelveetahead @ 4:00 pm

Early in August, the Television Critics Association got together to listen to all the basic and cable networks to answer questions and give the rundown of their shows this Fall. NBC Entertainment President Angela Bromstad and Alternate Programming and Production VP Paul Telegdy resided over the executive session before panels were held for Community, Trauma, and Mercy.

NBC Executive Session

jay_leno

Angela Bromstad and Paul Telegdy were raked over the coals by the press during their panel session. First there were questions about Ben Silverman who had just left after failing to bringing the network up from fourth place.  After bloating up the schedule with two-hour episodes of Celebrity Apprentice, The Biggest Loser and America’s Got Talent, he failed with summer programming of Merlin and The Philanthropist.  When asked about Silverman making the network worse and then walking away, Bromstad said,”This has always been Ben’s plan to transition back to his entrepreneurial roots. I don’t think he was looking to be at NBC for a long-term thing.” The audience died with laughter.

The talk moved to Jay Leno taking over the 10pm hour. Reporters were asking how they would decide if Leno was a success. Bromstad said they would have to look at the entire 52 weeks it’ll be on and then compare how it performed based on shows that were in its spot the year before. It has to be on for an entire year?

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Sep 26 2009

Movies Opening September 25

Category: 2009 Movies,Movies,Openingvelveetahead @ 12:57 pm

The nationwide releases appear to be sad this week with two sci-fi flicks and another remake. The only movie that looks really interesting is the Paranormal Activity movie in the limited releases.

Nationwide Releases

9x9_rotten Surrogates
Fame
Pandorum

surrogates

Surrogates
Directed: Jonathan Mostow
Starring: Bruce Willis, Radha Mitchell, Rosamund Pike, James Francis Ginty, Boris Kodjoe, Ving Rhames
Trailer

Synopsis: People “live” their lives through surrogates while they are plugged in safely at home without fear of getting physically hurt, until someone finds a way to kill people by killing their surrogates.

My Take: Interesting concept, but the trailer made it look pretty cheesy.

9x9_rotten RT Score: 39%
RT Consensus: Though it sports a slick look and feel, Surrogates fails to capitalize on a promising premise, relying instead on mindless action and a poor script.

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Sep 24 2009

Top Chef: Deconstruction

Category: Top Chef,TVvelveetahead @ 11:27 am

06pennteller

Top Chef: Las Vegas
Penn & Teller

Here is a quick run down on the two challenges:

  • Quickfire Challenge: Duo Challenge – Angel vs. Devil
  • Elimination Challenge: Deconstruct a Classic Dish

The chefs seemed to be asking the same question I was last week. Why was Robin still there? No one in the house seemed to agree with Robin still being around. They thought she had been lucky. Robin even knew it, but she said she would continue making her simple foods. I think the judges love simple foods, but she’s been making messes mostly. Most of the chefs were wearing red scarves in honor of Mattin being sent packing last week.

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Sep 21 2009

TV: Week of September 21

Category: TV,Upcomingvelveetahead @ 5:10 pm

Fall TV Season is upon us. Even though quite a few shows got an early start this month, this week is the official season premiere week. Beware, this post will be huge!

Season Finales: Top Gear, Warehouse 13

Pick of the Week

dexter

Dexter
Channel: SHO
Time: 9/8c
Starring: Michael C. Hall, Julie Benz, Jennifer Carpenter, Desmond Harrington, C.S. Lee, Lauren Velez, David Zayas, James Remar
Premieres: Sunday, September 27
Trailer

Synopsis: Dexter got married and found out he had a kid on the way. Can a serial killer really have the perfect life? This season also stars a very successful serial killer for Dexter to admire, played by John Lithgow.

My Take: I keep wondering how long the show can last before it’ll burn itself out since he can’t keep killing forever, can he? But I’ll continue to watch it as it continues to be so very excellent.

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Sep 18 2009

Movies Opening September 18

Category: 2009 Movies,Movies,Openingvelveetahead @ 10:19 pm

Movies are weird this weekend. First, Matt Damon and Steven Soderbergh are together again in a very weird whistleblower movie. Second, Megan Fox stars in a very weird sexy horror comedy. Third, an animated movie stars huge falling meatballs and hot dogs. Then, there is another boring romantic comedy to mess up the weirdness of everything else.

Nationwide Releases

9x9_fresh Informant!
9x9_fresh Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
9x9_rotten Jennifer’s Body
9x9_rotten Love Happens

certified_fresh
informant

The Informant!
Directed: Steven Soderbergh
Starring: Matt Damon, Scott Bakula, Joel McHale, Melanie Lynskey
Trailer

Synopsis: Based on a true story, a whistleblower in a huge industry is a bumbling fool that has some secrets of his own.

My Take: I haven’t seen the movie, but watching the trailer reminds me how awesome Matt Damon is.

9x9_fresh RT Score: 76%
RT Consensus: A charismatic turn by star Matt Damon and a consistently ironic tone boost this quietly funny satire about a corporate whistle-blower.

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Sep 17 2009

Top Chef: Roughing It

Category: Recaps,Top Chef,TVvelveetahead @ 10:50 pm

05_wagon

Top Chef: Las Vegas
Camping

Here is a quick run down on the two challenges:

  • Quickfire Challenge: Viewer’s Choice: Cook with cactus
  • Elimination Challenge: Prepare a high-end lunch for Chef Love & two dozen cowboys

Some might complain that the camping challenge isn’t the best way to show how good a chef can be, but I argue it is just an extension of the quickfire challenges. It all comes down to thinking quickly on their feet and being as creative as possible. They are usually given a challenge where they only have seconds to figure out what they want to do. They did have their usual time to figure out what they wanted to make and knew it would be out at a ranch. They just didn’t know what they would have there to make it. It was similar to Thunderbirds episode where they didn’t know their kitchen or food products until they got there. At least they knew what food they were bringing!

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Sep 14 2009

TV: Week of September 14

Category: TV,Upcomingvelveetahead @ 9:56 pm

It was so hard to pick a show of the week with so many good ones starting this week, but finally went with Bones.

Season Finales: Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, More to Love, Big Brother, Shaq Vs., The Cleaner, America’s Got Talent, Wipeout, Dark Blue, Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?, Eureka

Pick of the Week

bones

Bones
Channel: FOX
Time: 8/7c
Starring: Emily Deschanel, David Boreanaz, Michaela Conlin, TJ Thyne, Tamara Taylor, John Francis Daley
Premieres: Thursday, September 17
Trailer

Synopsis: After thinking that Booth and Bones finally got it on, it turned out to be a dream Booth had after brain tumor surgery. He also seems to have amnesia.

My Take: I just wrote about how it took another chance, but the show won me over with the great chemistry between the cast and I love how literal Bones can be about everything.

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Sep 13 2009

TCA Fall Preview: CBS

Category: News,TV,Upcomingvelveetahead @ 6:59 pm

A few weeks ago, the Television Critics Association got together to listen to all the basic and cable networks to answer questions and give the rundown of their shows this Fall. CBS Network President, Nina Tassler resided over the executive session before a few shows were highlighted with their own panels.

CBS Executive Session

5852_pauley_perrettencis-los-angeles01

Nina Tassler said CBS had a great season, “We grew our audience in every key ratings category; the only network to do so.”  She talked about the success of The Mentalist, which was pretty much the only freshman hit of last season on any channel. She also discussed how NCIS continued to perform well in its time period. Some reporters questioned why she would put the NCIS spinoff on right after the original. “Because they do fall under one banner…it made more sense to have a block of the shows.” She also talked about potential crossovers between the shows. She confirmed that Pauley Perrette will be appearing on the second episode of NCIS: Los Angeles.

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Sep 12 2009

Second Chances

Category: Shows,TVvelveetahead @ 2:33 pm

This summer, I watched some shows that I never gave a fair shot the first time around. I enjoyed all of them so I found more shows to watch! Uh-oh!

Gossip Girl

gossip-girl303

This was the show I was most resistant to watch. It looked pompous and completely over the top. The critics loved the show, but I still never gave it a chance. It wasn’t until my friend, Jen, told me to watch it that I finally started watching the first season. It made me roll my eyes a bit at the beginning, but then I was hooked into the drama! I laughed at their lavish lifestyles where apparently juniors in high school spend every night in New York at clubs drinking until dawn and spend each weekend attending another ball with fancy gowns and tuxes.  I also enjoyed that they were never actually shown in classes, but outside the school. We really didn’t want to wear down the fabulousness with boring classroom scenes. I think my favorite part of the first season was Chuck’s horrible clothes that no one made a comment about ever. I couldn’t wait for him to show up in his next ridiculous outfit. The second season, I was sad that his outfits were not as terrible and almost normal. I did root for Chuck and Blair to finally get together since they are perfect for each other. I became a bit bored of  Serena and Dan getting together, breaking up, and getting together again thing so I hope they just stay away from one another. I look forward to the third season starting soon to see what other kind of havoc Blair and the group can create.

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