|
December 1st, 2008
TV Shows for the week
There was no Family Guy this week, so all we were left with was American Dad and Heroes.
American Dad 11/30/08
Episode 7: “Phantom of the Telethon”
When the CIA sees that their funding is being cut for torturing (all them damn Democrats in office now!), Stan hits upon the idea of a telethon to raise money! Of course, it was really Roger who came up with the idea and Stan just stole it from him. The telethon goes on and a jealous Roger tries to sabatoge it a la Phantom of the Opera. Insane hi-jinx follow, including a terrorist being freed by Roger and Stan and Roger teaming up to stop him from blowing up the whole place. It was a big improvement over last week, though still lacking that one funny moment that would put it over the top. B+.
Heroes 12/01/08
Episode 11: The Eclipse Part II
This was the second part of Eclipse, where the heroes lose their powers. It seems this is only temporary as they regain their powers but not before learning a little more about themselves. I didn’t watch the episode as intently as I would’ve liked, since I was preoccupied with other things, but it doesn’t seem too many things were resolved here. Peter and Nathan have some sort of experience in the jungles of Haiti which causes Nathan to start and side with his father about giving people powers and he flies off to meet him, leaving Peter stranded. Parkman and Daphne’s story went nowhere, Suresh’ story didn’t go any further, either, Sylar seems to kill Elle at the end which would be the worst thing to happen this season. The real star of this show was Hiro. He regains his power but goes about regaining his memory (thanks to Seth and Breckin who appear as comic-store owners and kill in their role). He saves Claire from Sylar and Elle and shows her how HRG came into her possession. The Hiro stuff was awesome, the rest was really kind of boring.
December 7th, 2008
WWE: Bret Hart
I can't believe it is December already. I just put up my tree today, but it is lacking ornaments. That'll get done later tonight. I am back with a DVD review. Last week I took some time off for Thanksgiving and wasn't even motivated to post anything on here, or in the brother to this blog over at TPL, but I'm ready to post right now.
This week we have a really good WWE collection, Bret Hart, and even though there were one too many Mr. Perfect matches, it was a really good look at the career of Bret Hart. I have another three-disc wrestling collection I'm working on now, but there are still a good 15 DVD reviews I need to post on here. I can't belive I have that much of a backlog of reviews, but it means I have stuff on here well into February in case I get lazy!
In the world of sports, the SJU Soccer team is now in the FInal Four of the NCAA Championships, which is awesome, and hopefully they can win it all for the first time since 1996. The women's volleyball team from SJU failed to make the NCAA tourney after falling in the Big East tourney, and losing to two teams they shouldn't have in the regular season. At least I was able to enjoy the team while I could. Next year will be a rebuilding year and won't look pretty. That's all for now, no new American Dad or Family Guy tonight, but I'll see you tomorrow for Heroes.
December 8th, 2008
Heroes: 12/08/08
Heroes 12/08/08
Episode 12: Our Fathers
Hiro and Claire are in the future, following their fathers around. Claie follows her baby self to prevent her from becoming the catalyst and Hiro goes to his mother to restore his powers, seeing as she is a healer (who happens to be dying and can’t heal herself). It’s actually very interesting, too. Hiro’s mother was the one who was to give Claire the Light, the catalyst power. Instead, after Hiro goes to his mother to get his memory back, he is the one who gets the light, and Hiro’s mother dies in the process. Hiro thinks it over but he’s surprised when Arthur Petrelli shows up, takes Hiro’s light and powers, and sends him hurtling to his death. He and Claire head back to the present as Hiro dangles off a flagpole in the past. Meanwhile, Nathan, Mohinder, Arthur and Tracy experiment on a Marine to give him powers as Peter and the Haitian go after Arthur. Finallt, Sylar comes back as Peter tries to shoot his fater and learns that Arthur is lying after he killed a woman with that power. Sylar kills Arthur and it seems the light has faded from Arthur, but not before the Marine gains super-strength. Obviously Arthur’s not dead (if they remove the bullet he can revive like Kensei, did) but this episode did a fair job setting up for next week’s conclusion, their last episode of at least February 2009. I hope they tie things off well enough, as I don’t know if ratings will secure them a spot come Feb. This was, however, the best episode since Episode 9.
December 14th, 2008
Batman: Gotham Knights
I'm posting this a little bit earlier than normal. It's still Sunday, but it's early Sunday morning. I guess I just want to do it now while I am still awake and have time to do this. This week we have what was billed as a prelude to The Dark Knight film, an animated film called, "Batman: Gotham Knights." As to whether it lived up to its reputation, well, you'll have to read the review to find out.
I don't have anything else interesting to say right now. I am on my way to winning this week in Fantasy Hockey to a guy who hasn't lost yet this season, so that's exciting. The SJU men's soccer team lost in the Final Four which sucks, but at least they can get there which is something none of the other SJU sports teams can say. The Nebraska/Washington NCAA Volleyball game is on, as both teams vie to become the fourth of the Final Four teams, and I am currently hitting 84% in my predictions thus far.
Well, that's it for this posting. Look for me on Monday as I talk about Heroes' mid-season finale.
December 14th, 2008
Heroes: 12/15/08
Episode 13: Duality
Sylar has killed Arthur and heads to Primatech to challenge the Bennets. Peter goes against his brother, and wants to destroy the serum and runs into the villains, who want to destroy the serum, too. Peter siding with the villains? Well, true villains think what they are doing is right. Daphne, Parkman and Ando try and save Hiro, so Daphne steals the last dose of powers and Ando takes it. So we have our big match-ups, Peter vs. Nathan, Hiro vs. time and Sylar vs everyone else. Sylar has an awesome scheme, pitting Noah in a room with Claire’s mother, Meredith with Noah’s only way out to kill her, and Sylar wanting Claire to kill Angela. Ando’s new powers seemingly allow for others to have their powers enhanced (like the adrenaline Sylar used on Meredith). This allows Daphne to travel through time and save Hiro, as he ripped the formula in half (which is why there were two parts). Hiro wants to finish what he started and destroy the formula. They take it from Tracy, who wants to rebuild the whole thing with Nathan, who promptly fires her. Nathan fights Peter, but the whole place starts going up in flames thanks to Blue-Flame guy, so Peter puts the serum in him (I thought there was only one serum left?) and gets his powers back and flies away with Nathan. Sylar questions Angela, allowing Claire to sneak up behind Sylar and popping him in the back of the head, his only weakness. Nathan leaves Peter, Hiro has the formula, Mohinder is regular again (crap, more Mohinder) and is picked up Tracy. Well, that ties up the first part of season 3. I don’t know where they plan on going from here, as the formula is gone, the villains are dead, and we have all our “heroes” struggling with the inner power within them. We do see a preview of Volume 4, with Nathan getting the government in on the whole power thing, and Nathan wants to round them up and lock them away. Good thing we haven’t seen this before, except in Days of the Future Past, of course. Well, the first part of the season struggled and even the people who wrote Heroes would admit that, seeing as a lot of people got fired from the writing crew. I don’t know if the whole lock-up thing will be any good and may be the last hurrah for the show, as it as been completely off the January schedule and won’t be shown until after the Super Bowl. Better than Season 2, but I think we’ve seen the end of Heroes after the next mini-season.
December 25th, 2008
Merry Christmas!
I can't believe it is Christmas, 2008 already. This year has had its ups and downs and at times it seems like December 25th got here quite quickly, and other times it seems the last two months have dragged to almost a standstill. Still, today is Christmas and it always manages to lift my spirits even a little bit.
In keeping with the goal of this site, I usually put DVD reviews up here and today is no exception. Usually I put these up in the order I finish them but today I will change it up a bit and post a Christmas movie. This was a movie I picked up for less than 10 bucks at Macy's and it really could be considered a Macy's movie as much as it is a Christmas movie. If you haven't figured it out yet, that movie is "Miracle on 34th Street."
One other thing I want to point out. This December seems to have an incredibly light amount of Christmas programming. Sure, ABC Family, Cartoon Network, Boomerang and Toon Disney had a bunch of stuff, but the networks themselves had barely any. My memory may be messing with me, but I remember a lot more being on as I was growing in the in the 80's and early 90's. Even sitcoms don't have holiday episodes anymore. Not that I watch any of today's sitcoms, but looking at the episode synopses, there are no holiday shows. No specials, either. Rudolph was on once, as was It's A Wonderful Life. Luckily I have tons of DVD's and VHS tapes full of Christmas programming to keep me through the holidays and into the New Year.
I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays, and I hope you take a minute out of your day to remember what the season of Christmas is all about. It's amazing how Schultz of Charlie Brown fame saw this even 50 years ago. As Charlie Brown cried out, "Does anyone know what Christmas is all about," I close this with Linus' answer:
"And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, 'Fear not: for behold, I bring unto you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the City of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.' And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.'"
|
