SERIES PREMIERE RECAP & REVIEW: The Following “Pilot” S1 E1

I read all the advanced reviews, listened to all the podcasts, saw the “Inside the Following” trailer.  This show was awesome!!!  It was so gripping and thrilling.  I haven’t been on the edge of my seat that much watching a TV show in a very long time.  Many people from the writers, to the actors, to the critics can really blow up a show’s premise, for both the good and the bad, and sometimes it can be to the extreme of what we’re really watching.  I’ve seen interviews where cast members say they are doing a show that’s really groundbreaking and thought-provoking.  Turns out the show is dull and boring.  I’ve seen show runners say shows are intelligent and  cerebral with intense twist and turns.  Then they turn out shows like The Killing, which was none of those things.    But in all the build up to The Following, I can honestly say, not one report was blown out of proportion.  The show was scary, thrilling, mysterious, creepy, gross, edgy, smart, and sadistic.  And I can’t wait until next week.

The show follows Ryan Hardy (Kevin Bacon) who is a former FBI agent responsible for capturing the world’s most notorious serial killer, Joe Carroll (James Purefoy.)  Hardy has left the bureau under, not so clear circumstances, but apparently has perfected his ability to imbibe copious amounts of vodka out of Poland Springs bottles.  It appears, at least today, that due to being stabbed in the heart by Carroll and not playing well with others, that Hardy was out.  It also might have something to do with his relationship with Claire but I’m not 100% sure if that’s accurate.  But Hardy is recruited back once Carroll escapes from prison.  From there, things happen very quickly and what we learn in the 42 minutes of air time is not what we (I should say I) was expecting.

First there is Carroll himself, the former college professor with an obsession over Edgar Allan Poe, turned collegiate serial killer.  I always complain that shows/movies give away too much of what’s going on in previews these days, but with The Following, nothing I saw in the preview really clued me into the bigger picture.   Probably because I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed but I went in expecting to see one thing and now it’s something completely different.  I thought this was going to be about Carroll escaping and starting his rampage all over with Hardy and crew trying to capture him.  I also thought, that’s going to make the series awfully challenging for many seasons to come if they are only ever chasing Carroll.  What we eventually learn is that his escape (and eventual immediate capture) is just the foundation for a much larger, more sinister plot than anyone could have imagined.    We also learn that you can trust no one.  You can’t take one character on this show at face value or else you could get Survivor blind sided.  It makes watching the show so much more enjoyable when you just don’t know who to trust.

Then there is the romantic triangle that is so bizarre when you think about it.  Carroll was married to another college professor, Claire Matthews (Natalie Zea) who eventually falls in love with her husband’s captor, Hardy.  There are SOOO many questions here.  First, when did Claire and Hardy fall in love?  The one time line we were privy to this evening was in 2002 when Carroll comes home and throws his wife on their bed and she tells him the news that she’s pregnant.  They seem quite happy and in love at this point.  Did Claire already know Hardy at this point?  Was she already having an affair with him?  My guess is that she didn’t know about her husband’s extra curricular activities at that time, so when did she learn?  See I think, she and Hardy didn’t get together until later but my husband has a different theory.  He thinks Joey, Claire’s son, is actually Hardy’s and not Carroll’s.  Remember the scene where she hands the letter to Hardy and she says that “he knows” and Hardy tells her that he’s bluffing and he’s just pretending?   My husband thinks that in the letter Carroll tells Claire he knows Joey is Hardy’s kid.  That means one of two things.  One, that Hardy and Claire’s affair was happening back in 2002 and therefore she was pregnant with Hardy’s kid or two, that she was pregnant at that time but something happened and she lost the baby and got pregnant later with Hardy’s kid.  The former is more plausible because if Carroll is captured in 2003 (and not knowing months at this point) that could be a tight timeline for a second pregnancy.

Finally there is the cult angle.   Like I said earlier, I was expecting this show to be about re-capturing Carroll once he escapes prison and starts his murdering ways again.  But that isn’t the case at all.  This isn’t about Carroll anymore.   I mean it is because it’s his plan, but it isn’t JUST about Carroll because there are so many people involved that it’s bigger than we even realize at this point.  It’s Silence of the Lambs meets Charles Manson!!  I’m not a huge “cult” person because I find them amazingly creepy, and not in a fascinating way.  But this I do find incredibly interesting because I want to know how someone like Joe Carroll is able to get so many people to do what he wishes.   Why would they do this?   How does he get in touch with them?  How does he develop these relationships to the point where people would spend years of their lives following his lead?  Does he have a main point of contact on the outside helping him?   It’s unreal!!   And on a side note, I find it a little disturbing that I was more upset and cringing over the scene where we saw all the puppies who had been slaughtered than I was seeing 4 police officers brutally murdered in the prison.  When I saw that video with the cop with the puppy, I had to cover my eyes because if he hurt that dog and I had to see it, I may have been done with the show.   How wrong is that?

Ok I’m going to go out on a crazy wild limb and say that Agent Mike Weston (Shawn Ashmore) is one of the followers.  I know I know, I’m nuts and it’s only the first episode so why do I want to make a crazy prediction so early.   Because it’s fun!!  This show has already proven that you can’t trust anyone.  Look at Maggie Grace’s adorable gay neighbors who loved her and were there to protect her.  Not so adorable and lovable now are they? Although I said to my husband when the second guy showed up that I didn’t trust him and that I thought he was in on it.  Then there’s Joey’s nanny who’s obviously been with Joey and Claire a long time.   Yep, she’s one of them too.  And Carroll has already gotten one law enforcement officer on his side so I wouldn’t put it past him to reach higher.  He obviously has the intelligence, the charisma, and the arrogance to pull it off.  I wouldn’t put it past him to have a FBI agent in his pocket.  Weston seems the perfect choice at this point.  He’s young, he’s smart, he has a man crush on Hardy and his work, he appears to want to get to know him better and learn from him, he knows the case backwards and forwards, and no one would suspect him.  So I’m all in on Weston being part of the cult.

The big question is why?  Why is Carroll doing this?  Is it because Hardy and his wife had an affair and he wants to get back at both of them?  Is it because he can and he wants to see how far he can take this?  Is it because he’s bored and Angry Birds just isn’t cutting it any more (pardon the pun.)  I have to believe he has a master plan that has levels we haven’t even begun to think of yet.  But I can’t wait to see where this show takes us.

One of the reasons why I think this show works so well is the chemistry between Bacon and Purefoy.  Is it Hopkins/Foster worthy?   Not quite, but it’s pretty damn good.  The scene where Carroll has been recaptured and he explains to Hardy his plan is so chilling, Purefoy knocks it out of the park.  Bacon also does a masterful job of showing his intense anger and disgust while keeping his composure.  You can see the wheels spinning in his head as Carroll unloads all this new information onto him.  It should set up a beautiful, sinister dance between the two of them for the rest of the series.  But I will say one thing.  Agent Hardy, the next time you get a hunch, please please please, bring back up with you!  Why you would go to the Lighthouse by yourself, is beyond me.  And while we’re on that, I’m heartbroken Maggie Grace was killed.  To survive an attack by a serial killer only to learn that the people you trusted for three years, worked for him and led you right back to him only so he could finish the job?  And to expose what happened to her to Hardy the way he did?  Just, evil!

I want to take one brief moment to comment on the violence of the show.  There have been many people commenting on it and since I have a forum to put in my two cents, I’m going to.  I think we live in a society today where violence is all too present.  With technology advancing, it’s easier for people to find more ways to be destructive and deadly and it’s incredibly scary.  There was no worse display of that than what happened in Newtown, CT just last month.  It’s raised many topics about gun laws and gun control.  It has also resurfaced the discussion on violence in video games, movies, and TV.   And I can understand it.  Tragedies like this hit everyone hard.  And even when there isn’t a tragedy current in our heads, many people find it unnecessary to show the levels of violence that many games, movies, and TV shows so graphically display.   But I also understand that we live in a society where people have the creative rights to depict and tell stories as they choose.  Storytellers have the right to broadcast and film their stories as they feel is necessary to tell the best story or get their message across.  And just as they have the right to do it, people who don’t agree with it have the right to not support it by not purchasing those video games, not buying tickets to those movies, or simply changing the channel on their TVs.

This show won’t be for everyone.  It’s dark, it’s gruesome.  And while I’m someone who abhors violence, especially against children and animals, I can also put shows like this in their proper context.  Because for me, I find shows like this compelling.   I want to know how the FBI would attack a situation like this.  I want to see how they profile a twisted individual.  I want to see how they learn and adapt to get smarter and better so that they continue to get evil like that off the streets.  I want to see if I can figure this out right along with them.  Now is this a documentary on the BAU of the FBI?  Of course not.  It’s a TV show for entertainment, not a History Channel expose.  But shows like this don’t happen in a vacuum.  They do research and have consultants that aid with adding realism into a fictional show.  Now scenes and situations will be dramatized for effect but there are storytellers who like to have as much realism as possible when telling a story like this.   And what it all comes down to is that this is fiction, not reality.  If people want to watch a show like this (that is brilliant right off the bat), I think it’s absolutely ok.   If other people want to crucify it for its violent nature, that’s absolutely ok too.  The beauty of this age of TV is that there are hundreds of channels for you to pick from on Monday nights at 9pm.  If The Following isn’t your bag, it’s a shame but I get it.  And I respect your right to watch something else.    Just respect my right to want to watch it.

What did you all think?  Did you like The Following?  Are you as hooked as I am?  Or were you just too creeped out by people stabbing themselves in the eye to come back?   Let me know!

 

SERIES PREMIERE REVIEW: Deception “Pilot” S1 E1

I’ve read a lot of reviews on the series premiere of Deception.  I had a conference call this morning and I was bored so I read reviews!   Just kidding boss…(not really.)  It was fascinating to see the early reports.  People either all out hated it or loved it and thought it was better than Revenge.   My opinion, somewhere in the middle.  I didn’t think the show was awful or incredible.  It’s a decent show that has potential.

The basic premise is Joanna Locasta (Meagan Good) is an NYC detective who was informed by her old partner and current FBI agent Will Moreno (Las Alonzo) that her best friend Vivian Bowers (Bree Williamson) has died of a drug overdose.  Since the FBI was already looking into the Bowers family for other crimes, he wants her to go undercover and infiltrate the family to see if she can find out what really happened to Vivian (both think she was murdered.)  He asks her because Joanna grew up with the family because her mother was the Bowers custodial manager and she and Vivian were best friends.  She agrees and the story begins.

We meet the Bowers family, the patriarch Robert (Victor Garber), the step-mother Sophia (Katherine LaNasa), troubled son Edward (Tate Donovan) and his “estranged” wife Samantha (Marin Hinkle), playboy Julian (of course he’s named Julian) (Wes Brown), and youngest sibling Mia (Ella Rae Park.)   Basically, everyone is a suspect (except Mia in my opinion) and they all have issues…drug, sex, something creepy and mysterious.  They’re nuts.  Who can you trust?   Absolutely no one!   Last night on Twitter, I went out on a limb to say that I wouldn’t be surprised to learn, eventually, that Sophia and Edward were the “good guys” on the show because they are coming across as the biggest asses right now.  However, if Sophia stayed deliciously nasty, I wouldn’t hate it!

There were many twists and turns for the pilot!  With the big one being that SPOILER ALERT……Mia is really Vivian’s daughter not sister……….SPOILER OVER.  And it confirmed the idea of something more sinister happening to Vivian when we see the close up of a wicked bruise on her check that has a distinct imprint on it and at the end of the episode we see SPOILER ALERT…….Julian hunched down and crying on the docks with a ring in his hand that matches the same pattern on Vivian’s face.  He then hurls the ring into the Hudson River………..SPOILER OVER.   We also see that Edward and Samantha are having issues.  I would go out on a limb to say they are separated over something Edward was alleged to have done.  They have their typical soap opera type cryptic conversation that leads to much speculation as to what the hell they are talking about. He also grabs her quite a bit, which I don’t like.  But she’s very afraid of him and he’s very aloof about life in general.  So what’s going on there?  The big question is can Joanna keep her secret about who she is, other than “Who Killed Vivian” of course!  We did have someone find out that she’s really a cop but he was killed before that storyline could have gotten really interesting.  But who killed him?  Is it the same person/people who killed Vivian?

What did I think?  I liked it.  Was it the greatest hour of TV I ever watched?  Nope.  Was it the worst?  Nope.  I was surprised how harsh some other critics were on the show.  It’s a nighttime soap so it’s going to be campy and silly at times.  I mean seriously?  Tate Donovan is Victor Garber’s son?  Did Garber turn 75 and I didn’t realize it or is Donovan really 40 years old?  I think not.  Garber’s 64 and Donovan is 50.  You do the math.  But this is not the first nor the last time there would be age issues on TV shows (see Kelsey Grammer and John Mahoney on Frasier.)   The one comment I saw in a few reviews that I agree with is that if you’re going to be a nighttime, campy soap, act like it.  Don’t try to be a serious show when you clearly aren’t.  And Deception does seem caught in a little bit of that “are we a serious show or a soap?”  Except LaNasa.  She got the memo.   And she’s great!  If Deception can realize who/what it realize is, I think the show will be fine.  I’m still not sold on Good as the leading lady yet.  She doesn’t command the screen the way Emily van Camp, Kerry Washington, Jada Pinkett Smith, or Kyra Sedgwick can.  But I’m willing to give her a chance.  She’s good but not as dominant as I’d like her to be.

What did you think of Deception?  Will you keep watching?  Did you hate it as much as some of the critics did?

DVR Rating: 3 DVRs

 

Mid Season Premiere Dates

The first half of the 2012/2013 TV season is already over.  It’s really hard to believe!  So with the first half over and the holiday season almost complete, that only means one thing…it’s mid season time!

I added a new tab to the top of the main page here that lists all the premiere dates.  As more dates come out, I’ll update on this tab.

 

RECAP & REVIEW: Scandal “Enemy of the State” S1 E4

This is very quickly becoming one of my favorite shows on TV.  This show is on fire.  While we continue to have our case of the week, it’s the Amanda Tanner/President Fitz case that has me on the edge of my seat dying to know what is going to happen next.  Who’s good, who’s bad?  Who’s right, who’s wrong?   Who’s telling the truth?  Who’s lying?  Every time we get an answer to one question, it leads us to another.  If you aren’t watching Scandal, what’s wrong with you?

I had many favorite moments in this episodes.  One of the most clever was how we received background on the team at Olivia Pope & Associates.  It’s been clear since the beginning that these people would run through fire for Olivia.   But we don’t know why.  These people could have prestigious jobs in any law or security firm in the country but instead choose to work for Olivia.  Why?  With war being declared between OP & A and the White House, Cyrus has a team come in and give him the background on each person working for Olivia including Olivia herself.  It made perfect sense and gave us a peek behind the curtain to each of Olivia’s team member.  The most revealing being that Abby came to work for Olivia after she got her out of an abusive marriage.  The second most revealing being that Quinn didn’t exist before 2009.  Finally, that character is getting interesting.

Another great moment (actually two moments) were Abby’s speech to Olivia and Cyrus’ speech to the President.  Both took a lot of guts and brutal honesty and both are what the individuals needed to hear.  I thought the same thing Abby thought.  Why in the world would Olivia take the case of a known dictator who is an enemy of the state?   Take that a step further, why would she side with said dictator after she learns that his “missing” wife isn’t missing at all.  She fled to a woman’s shelter because she is afraid of him and doesn’t love him anymore.  She wants to take her kids away from this horrible man.  So Olivia’s allegiance is to the dictator?  I don’t get it and I was 100% behind everything Abby did.  Including her talk with Olivia (which was more of a screaming match.)  She reminded Olivia that she was the one who helped her get out of her abusive marriage and that after her husband broke her ribs and dislocated her jaw, it was Olivia who took a tire iron to his kneecaps.  Now that’s an Olivia I would like to see more of.  It woke up something in Olivia and she decided to align with the wife and get her away from her marriage and get her children out of a dangerous situation.  Now the speech Olivia gave to General Flores was completely over the top and unrealistic but I can look past it because in the end, he leaves and Mrs. Flores and her children are granted asylum in the USA.

As for Cyrus’ talk with President Fitz, it was brilliant.  Jeff Perry has been sensational in these first handful of episodes. He lays out for the President exactly what will happen as this Amanda Tanner storyline progresses and the story ends with President Fitz putting a bullet in his head.  It was a brutally graphic but probably true depiction of what happens to people in situations like this.  But similar to Olivia, it was the kick in the ass the President needed to remind himself why he got into politics in the first place and that from now on, it is game on.  Sweet!

Now, we have Amanda Tanner.  Two HUGE things happened.  First, we learned through a phone call she placed that she is lying about something.  Second, is that after that phone call and after the President decides he is ready to play ball, Amanda is kidnapped.  You know who I think is behind this whole thing?   The First Lady.  Mellie Grant is one tough lady.  We know she knew about the affair and when Fitz asked her if she could walk away from all of this, she was vehemently against it.  She basically bitch slapped him and told him to get his head out of his ass.  One.  Tough.  Lady.   So I wouldn’t be surprised if she is behind getting Amanda to lie about whatever she’s lying about.  Why would the First Lady want to do this?   To destroy Fitz and Olivia’s relationship which was obviously affecting him in a way that could negatively impact his status as POTUS.  The question is, what is Amanda lying about?  It’s not the pregnancy because Olivia made her take 5 tests.   It could be the fact that the President is the father of the baby.  But you would think the people behind this would know that is so easy to disproved with a paternity test so it makes me think it’s something else.  Something bigger.  Maybe Amanda was talking to someone else (not the First Lady but someone in her regime) about how she can’t lie to Olivia anymore.  Is the lie the fact that this was set up from the beginning by the First Lady?  Meaning she wanted Amanda to seduce her husband to set this all in motion.  But it would take a lot of planning and things to fall just right for it to land in front of Olivia and therefore move her plan forward.  It’s not impossible but it’s a little harder to believe.  Regardless, I think Mellie is behind this whole thing.

I can’t wait for next week’s episode!  If you haven’t watched Scandal yet, please, I implore you to go check it out on-line or on demand so you can watch these last three episodes with me and enjoy it as much as I do!

 

SERIES REVIEW: Best Friends Forever

I am so mad.  It’s times like these I can’t see straight with anger and my husband needs to remind me that it’s only a TV show.  But I am furious because it looks like this show isn’t going to make it to next season and this show is AWESOME!!   BFF tells the story of Jessica and Lennon, two BFFs from college who mean the world to one another.

Jessica’s husband is an ass, to put it mildly.  He cheated on her and then served her divorce papers (while Jess was Skyping with Lennon.)   She is devastated so Lennon tells her to come home and stay with her.  Jess flies right back to NYC.  Complicating matters, while Jess is moving back into her old apartment with Lenn, Lenn and her boyfriend Joe have just recently moved in together.  Needless to say, hilarity ensues.

I really feel bad for Lennon.  She’s caught in the middle of wanting to be there for her best friend yet still being respectful to this life she is building with Joe.  The scene that best captures this is when they are watching Steel Magnolias (I love that movie!)  Joe is trying to be supportive by watching this movie he could care less about and immediately becomes my husband in the scene.  My husband is famous for walking in on me watching a show or a movie and start asking 50 thousand questions about what I’m watching distracting me from the show.  It drives me crazy.  And it starts to drive Jess crazy when Joe does this.  She asks him to stop interrupting their favorite movie, when Joe corrects her and says that Braveheart is actually her favorite movie.   They both look at her.  ”Well I have a favorite movie with you and I have a favorite movie with you!”  Well handled Lennon!

The thing I love most about the show, and what I love most about all good comedies, is that this show has heart.  This isn’t just making up stupid crazy situations to put people to try to make an audience laugh.  This is a show about when bad things happen, you need the support of your friends to get you through it.  It’s about learning to compromise and how to adapt to new situations for the people you love.  Jess and Lennon are a little strange.  I love that!  They are odd and quirky but so relatable and funny.  I completely believe they are BFFs.  They would do anything for each other.  From Lennon asking Rav to put on this elaborate scheme to make Jess feel better about herself, to Jess asking around about Joe to make sure he’s right for Lenn.  From Lennon chasing Jessica’s ex-husband away and screaming at him to leave her alone, to Jess questioning Lennon to see where she stands on marriage since she thinks Joe is about to propose.

BFF is well written, the cast chemistry is fantastic, and it will make you laugh and tear up.  The scene where Jess is taking a bath and Lenn wants to get her out because Joe needs to do a twosie, is hysterical.  Eventually the girls start fighting and Joe is torn as to whether or not he should go in and help.  He decides to go in and just as he does, Jess pulls Lenn into the tub with her while they are still fighting and Joe laments “this isn’t as hot as I thought it would be.”

I can’t stress enough why you should watch this show.  If freaking Rules of Engagement can last 3 or 4 seasons (and that show is dreadful) then this show should last 5-6.  You need to watch this show!!!!  I can’t believe a show like Whitney will be back next season but this show won’t.  Again, bad timing and lack of promotion will doom a show before it starts.  If NBC “LOVES” this show as much as it says it does, then why did it treat the cast and crew like crap and premiere it when it did?   See my TV Rant post for more on the scheduling debacle in network TV these days.  But I am so pissed off that this show doesn’t have a chance but other crap shows do.   So enjoy this show while you can because it’s terrific!

DVRs: 4

 

The Season So Far…Grimm

This appears to be a love it or hate it type of show based on what I read on-line, hear on podcasts or through people I talk to.  I don’t love it or hate it.  I enjoy it.  Grimm is a solid show.  It takes a TV formula that works (the cop procedural) and gives a supernatural twist that make it different from the typical cop procedural.  Does it have some room for improvement, sure.  But lots of shows do.

My biggest problem with the show is most people’s problem…the lead, David Giuntoli.  I don’t think he’s as horrible as some people have cast him, but I do think he’s not connecting with the audience.  He’s not very engaging.  While I like him because he’s a nice guy, I don’t find myself rooting for him.  Eddie Monroe (played by Silas Weir Mitchell) is someone I root for.  He’s awesome.  Even Russell Hornsby’s Hank (Nick’s partner) is more layered and interesting than David’s Nick.  How can someone with Nick’s background be so boring?  Is it the actor or the writing?  I can’t believe it’s the writing because the other characters are pretty strong.  So it has to come down to the way Giuntoli is playing Nick.  He’s very stiff and approaches most scenes the same way. It’s almost as if he’s wearing an ear piece and the director is telling him in his ear (ok David in this scene I need you to be forceful because your mad and in this scene I need your delivery to be comical because this is a light-hearted scene.)  It’s not natural.  Luckily for him, everyone else is so good and the stories, to this point, have been compelling enough, that I don’t need to protagonist to carry the show.   And maybe he’ll get better as the show moves forward.  I think it’s going to be renewed so the more he gets used to the character (and maybe takes some classes) he should be fine.

My one request from Grimm is to get more into the history behind the mythology in the show.  We got the most we’ve seen series-to-date in “Three Coins in a Fuchsbau” when we learned (we think) who killed David’s parents.  But there seems to be more to this story.  Quite honestly, I’m surprised we haven’t seen more of Nick doing family research on his background after Aunt Marie told him the powers of the Grimm family are passing to him.  But his parents (at least one of them) were Grimms.  They were holding onto the coins that many creatures were after.  So how involved were they and for how long?  Also, how many Grimms can have their “powers” at one time?  It doesn’t seem Nick has been able to see the creatures until Aunt Marie’s visit and likewise, the creatures haven’t been able to tell Nick is a Grimm before now either.  Why is that?  How does that work?  Also, how do they know he’s a Grimm?  Is it like being blinded but if someone sticks a skunk in your face, you know it’s a skunk?  Is it sensory?  Does Nick’s face change?  Does Nick have cousin’s who are also Grimms that can see what he sees?  If he and Juliette have kids, will the “power” pass to them?  I would really like more information on all of this.

The big question is, what the hell is the police captain?   He must be something powerful because Nick has yet to see his face contort into a creature and we all know he is.  So what is he?  And why is he actually being protective of Nick right now?   Is it because he has a bigger plan for him? I’d like to see this storyline start to progress.

We are at the point in the season, where I think we are ready for some answers and some more back story.  At least I am.  So I want to see the show go down that path.  I enjoy it and I really like it.  I think the stories are fascinating.  It reminds me a little of Season 1 of Supernatural when you had all these different urban legends/creatures from mythology that we had to learn about.  I just want some progression on the mythology.

 

REVIEW: Survivor One World “Total Dysfunction” S24 E2

It’s official.  I hate these people.  Between the cocky Mike, Matt, and Jay to the most annoying Survivor ever in Colton.  And don’t get me started on the idiots that is the women’s tribe.  This reminds me of Season 3 Africa where everyone (except Ethan) was so grating and agitating that I hated the season.  Unfortunately, this may be another one of those seasons.

This has to be the dumbest group of Survivors I have ever watched.  Wait, I think I still have to give the nod to the crew from Redemption Island.  I am still steaming that Ashley and Natalie and the like allowed Boston Rob to walk all over them like the Godfather and his minions.  Not that I am upset at the way Boston Rob played because it was genius.  It’s because I hate people who go into Survivor but don’t want to PLAY Survivor.  If you aren’t going to play the game, stay the hell home.  I digress.  But this group is a close second.

First you have Matt pounding his chest about having the “strong man, cool clique” alliance that makes him completely comfortable in his position.  Hey asshole.  You only have four people in your alliance.  You know how many people are on your tribe?  Nine.  If the other 5 team up, which they will, you’re screwed dumb ass. Then you have Kat.  ”What does ambiance mean?”   Really?  I know it’s not polite to pick on people’s vocabulary (especially when mine isn’t the greatest either) but come one.  Kat also has problems following the rules of a challenge.  It’s simple..get around the other people on the beam but you can only touch one person at a time, otherwise you have to start all over again.  In fairness to Kat, Cristina was also brain-dead during this challenge as well.  Between Cristina constantly touching other people and Kat jumping in the water wasting time when she didn’t need to, they were dead from the start with their challenge.  Finally Monica said, move away, I’m doing this.   Again, in fairness to Kat, if the other girls were so annoyed at her stupidity (like Nina) then why didn’t some one tell her to get at the end of the line and let someone else go through all eight people? After 3 failed attempts, that’s what should have happened.  Then you have foul-mouthed Alicia who likes to pick fights with everyone.   I would love to know where Survivor finds all these educators who are completely psycho.  Remember NaOnka everyone?   If I were the parents of the kids she teaches, I would move them to another school.

Finally, there’s Colton.  OMFG!!!!!  Easily the most annoying Survivor to date.  All he does is bitch that he doesn’t fit in with the men.  Then he annoys the only people who liked him by constantly begging to live in their camp.  In the course of 3-5 days he has managed to alienate everyone.  How about this Colton?   If you want to fit in, TRY!!  Don’t lounge around camp doing nothing pissing your tribe mates off even more.  Don’t always run to the girls complaining about the guys and how you are more a girl than a guy anyway.  Try to find a way to get along.   I know it’s hard but you had to know going on Survivor that at SOME point you would have to try to work with men on your tribe.  Are you kidding me?

The only people I like right now are Sabrina, Kim, Chelsea, Leif, and Bill.  So in no particular order, I am rooting for them.  Here’s the biggest problem with Survivor these days…people make alliances WAAAAAY too fast.   Idiot Alicia took a look around and saw 4 other girls who “looked” young, strong, and athletic so she created her alliance with them on the walk to the beach.  You haven’t known these people for an hour and you’ve already decided who’s in your alliance?  I give her credit for one thing….at least she can do math.  Maybe she could teach that to Matt.  I have to imagine that Sab, Chelsea, and Kim are kicking themselves aligning with Alicia and Kat.  They even said it at TC last night when they said they would make different alliances at this point in the game.  But what are you going to do?  If someone comes up to you wanting you to be part of the power alliance, what are you going to say?  No?  Let me get to know you first?  You would screw yourself.  What I would do if I were Sab, Kim, and Chelsea?  I would regroup with Monica and Cristina and vote of Kat and Alicia next.  It’s early in the game so they won’t be part of the jury and you won’t have to worry about that coming back to bite you.  It was a mistake to vote off Nina.  Kat should have gone.  And I think changing your alliance at this point, doesn’t make you a liar or fraud.  In this case, it would make them smart.  But I have a bad feeling that won’t happen.

What do you guys think of One World so far?  I think the two biggest things I like are no redemption island and returning castmates.  Other than that, two thumbs down….so far.  We still have 16-17 episodes more to go.  Plenty of time to turn the season around.

 

NEW SERIES PREMIERE REVIEW: Smash “Pilot” S1 E1

I know I said I was on hiatus this week because of work.   But I had to pull away and forego my lunch break to talk about the show I was MOST excited for this mid-season (the other was Alcatraz.)   Smash was even better than the pilot that I watched last summer.  Which is silly to say because it didn’t change all that much (except for one scene that I noticed.)  But I watched it so long ago and I remember loving it, but I forget how incredible it was until last night.  I really don’t want to jinx poor NBC but…….could this finally be the hit show they have been looking for since ER and Law & Order went off the air?

I’m not going to get into a full recap but I’m sure they are out there but I will touch on the highlights.  The thing that surprised me the most about Smash is that you think this is going to be a show all about Karen Cartwright (played by Katharine McPhee) and her journey to the Broadway stage.  And while Karen’s character is the ingenue most people will want to root for, there are so many other levels to this story.  First you have Julia Houston (played by the wonderful Debra Messing) who is part of the creative writing team behind other Broadway hits and who is taking some time away from writing to adopt a baby.  I’m not going to lie, I could care less about this storyline.   The only good part about it, is that I get to see Broadway vet Brian D’Arcy James play her husband, Frank.  And somehow, someway, the producers HAVE to make sure that James sings!!!  Please!   But if they decided to do away with this storyline, I would be thrilled.  Unfortunately, Julia’s time off is short lived (much to Frank’s displeasure) because her partner-in-crime, Tom Levitt (played by another Broadway vet, Christian Borle) has been drawn down the path of creating a new musical based on a suggestion from his new intern, whom he has googly eyes for, Ellis (played by Jaime Cepero), who was reading about the life of Marilyn Monroe while house sitting for Tom.   Marilyn: the Musical is born.   I love that both Tom and Frank said “you could do a baseball number” since Marilyn was married to Joe DiMaggio.  More on that number later.

In addition you have a famous producer, Eileen Rand (played by the incomparable Angelica Houston), who is going through a nasty divorce and as a result her current project of a revival of My Fair Lady has been postponed.  So she and the man she has scheduled to direct My Fair Lady, Derek Wills (played by Jack Davenport) are now available to put all their eggs in the Marilyn: the Musical basket.  We learn that there is some bad blood between Tom and Derek, which could make this partnership slightly challenging.  We don’t know what started or caused the bad blood, but it has to be juicy (this is Broadway after all) and I can’t wait to see those onion layers peeled back!

Finally rounding out the cast is the biggest surprise in terms of character likability but certainly not in talent if you are a Broadway fan, is the woman competing with Karen for the iconic lead role of Marilyn, Ivy Lynn (played by the sensational Megan Hilty.)  I really thought the writers of this show were going to make Karen the likable person, the underdog that everyone is going to pull for while Ivy would be the bitchy, manipulative snake we would all love to hate.  But that didn’t happen at all.  I’ve already seen people say “Team Karen” or “Team Ivy” on the message boards and I think that’s a good thing.   (Team Ivy right here in case you were wondering.)  This show (and I’m talking Smash not Marilyn here) really hinges on these women.  While I think you could make each woman ambitious, you can make them both likable and make the audience torn on who they want to see play buxom beauty.  And I think the writers did that very successfully.  Two scenes really showed that last night.  The first was Karen’s scene at Derek’s apartment when he asks for a “private” call back and wants her to “do the sexy” right there in his apartment.  She excuses herself to the ladies room and while her eyes well up with tears, she pulls herself together enough to do what Derek wants her to do.   But she also stops him when he leans in for the kiss and says “Not gonna happen.”  You go Karen.  I’m not a huge McPhee fan (although you cannot deny her voice) but I couldn’t help but get in Karen’s corner after that scene.  I still don’t think McPhee has the acting chops just yet, but this scene showed she has the potential to get there because she played in beautifully.  The other scene was when Ivy was calling her mom to tell her about her call back for the role of Marilyn.  Hilty plays this scene so perfectly in that you know exactly how much her mother is blowing her off on the other end without ever hearing her mother speak.  You see it in Ivy’s face and hear it in her voice as it’s cracking.  Ivy’s a 10 year Broadway vet but has always been in the chorus.  This is her chance, her big break.  While I’m sure people will want to pull for underdog Karen, and I can understand why, I can’t help but pull for the girl who’s been breaking her neck in the chorus, who’s paid her dues, and is ready to take that next step.   Team Ivy!!!!!!

As for the musical numbers, there were some I loved, some I liked and one that was, meh.   The best number of the night was “Let Me Be Your Star.”   Both my husband and I said “Wow” at the end of that number.  This is where McPhee can go toe to toe with Hilty.  Vocally, these women are very different but can both sing the crap out of this song.  Where McPhee loses the edge, the acting.  You can tell Hilty has the Broadway acting experience because of how expressive she is during her audition, while McPhee just likes to stand there and extend her arms in the air all the time.  Edge: Ivy.  The two numbers I really liked were “Beautiful” and “National Pastime.”  Having said that, if National Pastime were just sung instead of choreographed, it would have gone in the meh column for me.  The song itself was ok but the choreography was terrific and Hilty pulled off Marilyn’s breathy flirtation with all the baseball players very well.   The meh song was “Never Give All the Heart.”  Now maybe it’s because it was just a snippet or just some one standing around belting out a tune, but it didn’t really pack much of a punch with me.

There has clearly been a line drawn in the sand.  One one side you have Derek and Karen and on the other you have Tom and Ivy.   Derek wants to create a star in Karen while Tom wants to support the woman who is ready for the next level in Ivy.  Julia and Eileen seem to be Switzerland at this point.   But I can’t wait to see who eventually gets the coveted role.  I think, it should go to Ivy, Karen could have a part in the chorus and be the understudy.  That’s my solution.   But as I mentioned before, the writers are going down the path of giving the audience the choice of whom to support instead of it being dictated to us, which is the smart way to go.  I think we’re still going to see some crafty sides to Ivy and I wouldn’t be surprised to see some of that from Karen as well.  She may be “light” but she certainly isn’t stupid and is highly ambitious.

Ultimately, this show is about characters.  This is NOT, I repeat, NOT a Glee knockoff.  I would never insult the writers or cast by calling it that.  The only two similarities are that there are Broadway actors cast in the show and that there are musical numbers.   THAT’S IT.  This is a point I continue to drive home because other than teenagers who wouldn’t know good TV if it jumped out of their smartphones and bit them on the nose, NO ONE thinks Glee is a good show.  It isn’t.  I don’t want this to turn into a Glee bashing post (I’ll save that for another time) but I want people to give this show a chance.  I don’t want Smash to be lumped into the disaster that is Glee and people not watch it for fear of watching a terrible show.  Smash is a terrific show that has the perfect balance of plot and character development (something Glee hasn’t seen since early in its first season.) This is a show about the people who just so happen to be putting on a Broadway musical.  You don’t have to be a Broadway or Musical Theater fan to enjoy Smash.  If you like watching smart TV with a strong story and solid character development, you’ll LOVE Smash.   So you need to check it out for the next 14 episodes Monday nights at 10pm on NBC.

Now it’s your turn to tell me what you thought!

DVRs: 5!!!!

 

NBC Schedule Shake Up

This is what happens when you give an unknown entity a guaranteed 22 episode order.  You get screwed when it fails!!!   And that is what has happened to The Firm.  It has failed…..MISERABLY.

The Firm has been assigned to the dreadful Saturday slot for the remainder of the series (which I feel pretty confident in calling it its first and FINAL season.)    This show was so bad it couldn’t even get a Friday night slot.  It got bumped to a night where no one watches TV!!!

In its place, the new thriller Awake will premiere March 1st.  In the meantime, repeats of Grimm will air until Awake is ready for its premiere.   I am anxious to watch this pilot again (after it’s been reworked.)  I watch the original pilot and really didn’t like it.  But I am willing to give it another chance.

This NBC’s last chance to make something pop in the Thursday night 10pm time slot.  Let’s see how Awake fares.

 

RECAP & REVIEW: Alcatraz “Cal Sweeney” S1 E4

I’m sorry but I have to be a high school girl for a minute.   DAMN!!!   Those Alcatraz boys are HOT!!!  I may have to commit a crime to land in jail with those cuties.  Wow.  They may be heinous people committing awful crimes but they sure look incredible doing it!

Ok, now that the giddy16-year-old inside of me is out of my system, let’s break down the episode shall we?

Cal Sweeney is another terrific installment of Alcatraz.  And I think we got a peek behind the curtain (pardon the pun) at some of what may possibly be happening and who is involved.  I haven’t had a chance to re-watch the episode yet so I’m sure there are lots of things I missed but I’ll do the best I can.  As I mentioned to my boys at The Alcatraz Podcast last night on Twitter, it’s hard to live tweet and catch everything on the show.  You are bound to miss stuff!  But that’s ok, that’s why we are all on e big happy TV community and we can clue each other into the things we missed.

Recap

Cal Sweeney is hot.  Sorry.  I slipped.  Won’t happen again.  Cal Sweeney (played by Eric Johnson) is a bank robber.  He goes after tellers in their late 30′s, early 40s who are, as Detective Rebecca Madsen calls them, “average looks” and he seduces them to get into the Safe Deposit Box area of the bank.  He then drugs them, goes through the boxes to take what he needs, and leaves.  However, things will take a violent turn if he gets interrupted (or pissed off enough) and he will kill people with this nasty looking weapon that can not only opening gaping holes in your head and hands, but open safe deposit boxes as well!

Sweeney has patterns that make it pretty simple to track him down.  He always pawns his items and he always romances the tellers ahead of time and sends them flowers….giving Madsen and Soto lots of way to find him…which they do.   Sweeney, unfortunately for him, picks a teller who fights back and is able to sound the alarm before he knocks her out.  He gets trapped and he takes the entire bank hostage.   This worries Hauser significantly because he doesn’t want people finding out who Sweeney is and blowing their investigation (more on this later.)  Madsen breaks into the bank so she can break Sweeney out.  While fleeing the scene, with Soto and Hauser following them, Sweeney is not very grateful to Madsen and threatens to kill her if she doesn’t do what he says.  He realizes he isn’t wearing a seat belt, crashes the car and handcuffs him to the steering wheel.

Back in 1960, Sweeney is in charge of the laundry room as well all the contraband that is smuggled in.  In that sense, he has some power and makes some money.  He brings in a protegé named Harlan (played by Steven Grayhm) and starts explaining to him how his little business works and how you can never show any weakness for fear of someone taking over his little enterprise.

At one point, Tiller tosses Sweeney’s cell and Sweeney notices a small tin box is missing.  We eventually learn it’s the only remnant from his childhood and he wants it back…at any cost.  Tiller says he wants a piece of Sweeney’s business in order to get the tin back.  Sweeney declines.  He sets up a way to meet Tiller one on one, by being a waiter at his birthday dinner.   When Sweeney goes to confront Tiller, Tiller stabs him with a pen and tells him he now wants 50% of his business.  If he doesn’t give it to him, 60 days in the hole.  Sweeney is backed into a corner.  Back in his cell, he starts talking to his little protegé who is more like a little weasel.  Turns out Harlan was the one who stole his box and wanted him to think Tiller took it so he would get tossed in the hole and he would take over his business while Sweeney’s in solitary.  Unfortunately, Sweeney taught his new buddy a little too well.

At the end of the episode, we see the warden leading Harlan down a dark hallway to a huge door.  He unlocks the door and forces Harlan, who is quite frightened, inside telling him that his future looks very bright.

Review

Now comes the fun part!!!!  So what clues did we see last night and what happenings are making our eyebrows raise up ever so slightly.  Let’s break it down:

1. Soto’s Conversation with Madsen at the “Diner”
   Seriously, what the hell were they eating for breakfast?  Yuck.  While this may have seemed a very innocuous conversation, I’m wondering if it was.  Madsen asked him how a professor with two doctorates suddenly owns a comic book shop.  Soto tells her he only got the degrees to make his parents happy (he has a tricky relationship with them.)  However, he was blacklisted due to the fact that he published a major breakthrough in crime prevention theory for a national criminology publication.  He says he was blacklisted because it was about Gotham City.  But I think it’s more than that.  Was Soto on to something that could have unraveled what is going on behind the scenes at Alcatraz and not even know it?  I have to wonder why this specific conversation was brought to light.  Now could I be reading into this too much?  Sure.  But on shows like this, I have learned not to take any interaction at face value.  So for now, I have to think this was something more than just history on Soto.
2. Dr. Sangupta/Lucy’s Dinner Conversation with The Warden and Dr. Beauregard
   This was probably the most revealing of all the scenes last night.  Lucy was talking to condescending, ass-face Beauregard about dealing with the inmates and she suggested that she is formulating a study that revolves around the memories of the prisoners.  She believes that they becoming criminals due to traumatic memories from their past.  If she can remove those memories (“rewire” them so to speak), they would become less violent or not become criminals at all.That is quite interesting.  In the “previously on Alcatraz” segment of the show, we see Lucy in present day interviewing Sylvane (before Cobb shot her up) and asking him “Where have you been for the past 50 years?”  To which he responds “I have no idea.”  And when Madsen and Sweeney are in the car talking about the leather pouch he was after, he seemed very confused about why he was going after the leather pouch and who he was doing it for.So is that why Lucy was involved in this from the beginning?  Because she was working with the inmates on her experiment to remove certain memories?  If that’s true then one of two things may have happened…1. Her experiments were working and this unknown group of people behind all this had asked her to spin her experiment in a whole new direction or 2. Her experiments only partially worked but something went wrong or is missing and this is the result we have today.The inmates we have seen don’t seem to know what is going on or where they have been.  Are they frozen somewhere with Ted Williams’ head only being released when whomever is in charge needs them to do something for them..like kill people or steal keys?  And I can’t imagine these people are happy when their cronies fail.  Sylvane didn’t technically fail but he did get captured.  Sweeney failed because the key ended up in the hands of Hauser and his team and he got captured.  Unless, Hauser IS the group in question and we just don’t know it yet!  I don’t believe this to be the case.  I think there is another faction out there.   There is just so much going on, it’s hard to know who’s on the good side and the bad side.

   The other thing I noticed is that it seems these “memory methods” are having the opposite effect of what Lucy/Sangupta intended.  The criminals seem to be becoming more violent.  Sylvane was not a killer yet he turned into one.  Same with Sweeney.  He only robbed banks.  Now he’s using some nasty weapon and killing people left and right.  So what is happening?

3. “How the Prisoner’s Jumped”
   Jumped?  What the hell does that mean?  Hauser made this comment when they were looking at the keys secured by Sylvane and Sweeney.     If he’s talking about the prisoners “jumping” doesn’t that say time travel to you guys?  I also think time travel could be involved because of the keys.  Since we’re talking about the keys..
4. The Keys that were found by Sylvane and Sweeney
   Both Sylvane and Sweeney were tasked to find these funky looking keys for the mystery group.  I really need to figure out something to call them.  Turns out, Hauser has a whole tech team on stand by waiting for his direction and he instructs them to investigate these keys.  Upon further review, it seems these keys were cut using a laser that wasn’t available in the 1960s.  So if they weren’t available in the ’60s, when were they available and when were they made?This is another reason why I think time travel could be an element of the show.  When you look at the last scene where the Warden leads Hayden to what certainly looks like a door to hell, he uses the two keys to open a hidden compartment that had a third lock for another key.  So it appears the keys were USED in 1960 even though they may not have been MADE in 1960.
5. Kit Nelson’s name on the wall in the room of 63s
   This wasn’t a huge revelation as much as a “isn’t that interesting” kind of revelation.  Although who knows, maybe it will become a big deal.  Did you notice the two walls in the 63s room?  One wall had all the inmates yet to be discovered and captured and the other had the four men we have already encountered.Under Sylvane, Cobb, and Sweeney’s mug shots and next to their names, the same word appeared…CAPTURED.  Do you know what was under Kit Nelson’s mug shot and next to his name?  Come on, take a guess?  I won’t laugh.  Well maybe a little.  You give up?  It said…..nothing.  Shouldn’t it have said DECEASED or KILLED next to his name?   I found it interesting that there was nothing.Now as I said, this could mean absolutely nothing.   But shows like this usually don’t have oversights like that…unless it’s on purpose.   So are we to assume that Mr Nelson isn’t dead but refrozen with next year’s Thanksgiving turkey?  I’m not sure.  But I will certainly keep it in the back of my mind.
6. Rebecca needs to be more forceful with Hauser
   Remember how I said last week that I was so happy Sarah Jones took major steps forward in her character?  Yeah well, I’m disappointed with her again.  Here’s what is driving me crazy.  She is way too blaze about what is happening.  When she had the key and wouldn’t give it to Hauser, he threatened her.  She said she would give it back if he told her what it was for.  Then stupid Madsen gave him the key before she got the explanation.  Rebecca!!!  You have the upper hand.  You have something he wants.  Don’t give it to him until you get what you want!!!   Are you kidding me?   And then when he walks away and tells her “some other day” she should have jumped out of her skin.  Instead she just shrugged her shoulders at Soto.   WHAT!!!!  I would have followed Hauser and had a little come to Jesus talk with him (but first I would have never given him the key without giving me the information I wanted.)In all seriousness, it’s going to be very hard to buy Madsen as one of the best detectives in San Fran if she keeps acting this way.  She has to start pushing back.  She has to tell him that she is risking her life each time she gets involved and if he wants her help, he needs to include her more in what’s going on or he’s on his own.  I know she has her own reasons for doing this, but it shouldn’t be at the expense of her pride.   So she needs to toughen up and fast!

So that wraps up this week’s episode of Alcatraz.  As you can see, there is A LOT that came out.  What did you think?  Did you like “Cal Sweeney”?  What are your thoughts on the issues I raised and was there anything you saw that missed?  Let me know!