Recently in tv Category

Have you seen the trailer for "Star Trek" yet? Go watch it. Now. I'll wait.

Watched it? Good. It doesn't tell you much, sure. But it leaves so very much to the imagination. And it also makes you want to see it - right? I mean, there's people in that movie you've heard of, but you can't really imagine them as, for example, a young Kirk, right? And who could ever be Scotty? Oh, wait - that's right, it's Simon Pegg. You might know him from Shaun of the Dead or Hot Fuzz. If you haven't seen them, go check them out - "Shaun of the Dead" is a great sendup of zombie type movies, and "Hot Fuzz" is a brilliant homage of just about every single police movie ever made. And then some.

And, in case you forgot about where "Star Trek" started (a young man named William Shatner... ah, memories!), you can check all of the series and movies on DVD.

If you haven't seen it, watch it. Returning Friday, April 4, Battlestar Galactica is one of the best "remakes" of tv going on. They tried to re-do Bionic Woman and apparently didn't do too well (I haven't had a chance to see it) - I just read that they're releasing all eight of the episodes on DVD, so maybe I still have a chance....

Another thing to be aware of: What the Frak is Going On? is a nice, concise, eight minute recap of the first three seasons of Battlestar. From what I understand, this will be the last season - every now and then it's nice to have a tv show go from start to finish, instead of being canned before it's aired fully (Firefly, Space: Above and Beyond, Good vs. Evil, Invisible Man, or many of the others) or
going on for years and years and years - sometimes past when it should have probably called it quits. Of course, the latter rarely happens. But WTFIGO is good not only to catch up on what you might have missed, but also for some nice commentary - mostly in the form of little snippets slid-in among the recap. You have to watch it to understand, but I laughed more than a few times.

So, to recap: Watch the recap online. Enjoy it. Get ready for season 4 to air on 4/4 (co-incidence? I think not!). And if you need to catch up, season 3 was just released on DVD as a whole set (none of this "Season 3.0", and then "Season 3.5" non-sense!).

LATimes.com brings the following obit:

Dick Wilson, a character actor who turned "Please don't squeeze the Charmin" into a national catchphrase as exasperated shopkeeper Mr. Whipple in the TV commercial campaign that ran for more than two decades, has died. He was 91.

Remember:
Please, don't squeeze the Charmin!

So, I just finished watching the "scrubs" musical episode, and I have to say that I'm very happy. Aside from the "Guy Love" song, which I had downloaded (for free!) from iTunes and instantly loved, there were more than a few other instant classics.

Aside from managing to get tons of medical jargon into the songs, they managed to do parodies of "Pirates of Penzance" and "Grease", but I'm sure that there were a few others in there that I've heard before but couldn't exactly place. Regardless. Awesome.

I don't know what it is about musicals, but they just make me happy. I don't know if I've mentioned this in the blog at all - or ever - but it's my opinion that there just aren't enough musicals in the world. They used to have tons of them back in the day (the 50's, 60's, 70's), but they just don't make them as much any more. Why? I don't know. I do know that Disney had a hit with their "High School Musical" thing - so apparently musicals are popular, at least with the so called "tweeners".

Where was I? Oh yeah, "scrubs" musical. I'm glad I taped it - I have to make Jen watch it about 10 times.

TV Squad brought me to what is apparently the theme song from the pilot episode of "Gilligans Island". It's... different. Check it out on
YouTube

SCI FI Wire | The News Service of the SCI FI Channel:
SCI FI Channel confirmed that it will not renew its record-breaking original series Stargate SG-1 for another season, but will pick up its spinoff series Stargate Atlantis for a fourth year. SG-1 aired its 200th episode on Aug. 18, and the SF series is the longest-running SF show on American television.

I was hoping that they'd keep the "gate open" for a while longer - but I can see how they'd want to get out while the going is still good. I just hope that they do it right and leave some chance for further movies down the line...

The TV Deal the NBA Wishes It Had Not Made - Los Angeles Times

Made 30 years ago by the owners of a team that folded after the ABA/NBA merger, it's basically iron clad and making them a ton of money. Somebody planned ahead - and didn't know it.

Charles Gibson Named Sole Anchor for ABC News - Los Angeles Times

I wonder why this is such huge news? Is it because the hub-ub over Katie Couric has finally started to die down?

So Charlie will be staying on "Good Morning America" until the end of June, when he'll do WNT full time. More than full time, according to Elizabeth Vargas, who is the current anchor - but she has a point.

"(ABC News President David) Westin had said he envisioned the job being too much for one person, since he wanted the anchors to travel frequently to news sites and do separate versions of "World News Tonight" online and for West Coast audiences"

I think that this format makes the show a little better - similar to how GMA is handled, where they have three anchors now, and they switch off among them. Not just during the show, but there have been times, like when Gibson's grandchild was born and Diane Sawyer and Robin Roberts just did their thing without him. I think it's a little more organic and easier to deal with.

WiReD News has a fun little story about the Pilots that don't make it. There's some strange sounding shows out there - Ethel is an Elephant comes to mind - but you have to wonder what happens to most of them - especially since ordering a pilot costs quite a bit of money. Apparently more than a few pilots end up on the internet - such as the one for Heat Vision and Jack. It's backed by Ben Stiller, stars a then unknown Jack Black, and features Owen Wilson as.... well, you'll have to see it. And check out this website about the show.

Don't forget to check out the Forbes Top 10 failed Pilots. Kinda interesting.

Ironic Sans: The Google Maps Guide to Ghostbusters

Take Google Maps, add in the info about Ghostbusters (along with screen captures), and you have the Ghostbusting Google Map Mashup (which, by the way, is a mouthful!).

This dovetails nicely with something I've been meaning to write about - Ghostbusters. The kids LOVE it.

Sure, there's a few parts that are a little scary, and some language that they shouldn't hear - but to be honest, while I'm no longshoreman, I can't always refrain from swearing, no matter how much I try. But the idea of the movie is appealing to the youngsters, what with the ghosts and the sliming and let's not forget the Stay-Puft Marshmallow man. Mmmmm.