I kept searching for a podcast for FNL. Never could find one. I counted over thirty (no lie) for LOST. But not a one for FNL. Now LOST is a fantastic show too. It’s easily #2 for me, or even 1b, but I still thought FNL should have at least one. So I did what you do when you really want to see something happen on the net but it’s not happening: I made it happen.

So I created the FNLpodcast. Yep, I started my own podcast centered around Friday Night Lights. How lame cool is that? I know it’s not the greatest in the world. No where near what Jay and Jack do for LOST. But I started it when I didn’t know if FNL would be renewed or canceled. But I was pleasantly surprised when it was renewed for not just one but TWO seasons! Yes, there will be a season FOUR and FIVE!

But sadly the news came yesterday that NBC (while surprisingly cool for renewing FNL) is lame. They’re not going to run Season Four of Friday Night Lights until the summer of 2010. Yep, thirteen months from now. Sure, DirecTV will run it in the fall. But only about 15% of America has DirecTV.

So NBC continues to do what it can to make Friday Night Lights be unsuccessful it seems. If you’ve committed to TWO new seasons of a show that is critically aclaimed, why not try to get as many eyes on it as you can. NBC….you’re just being lame.

• Right now the #1 movie in the country is Twilight. It focuses on a girl who moves to Washington (state) and becomes entangled with a “family” of vampires.
• The #1, #2, #3, and #4 books on the USA Today Best Seller list are Twilight and it’s three sequels by Stephanie Meyer.
• HBO‘s new series called True Blood has seen its ratings increase to now be its most popular series since the Sopranos and Sex In The City.
• I read that at least 18 vampire themed movies have been released this year with more on the way.

So why are vampires hot? What is making people eat up the books and movie tickets? I know it’s not because the books are outstanding literature. They’re not terrible, but not outstanding (I’ve read one and a half of the Twilight series). Is it the forbiddenness of relationships with them? Is it the fact they don’t die (a mortal death at least?) Dunno.

But at least in the way of the Twilight vampires, it seems Meyer is messing with the vampire legend some. Her vamps can come out in the day time, but their skin sparkles instead of smokes and withers away. And they can get nourishment by drinking blood from animals instead of needed it to be human blood. [The Japanese in True Blood have created a synthetic blood substitute for the vamps in that series, though they say it doesn't taste as good as the real thing.] And they can see themselves in a mirror. No mention of garlic or stakes through the heart or holy water (that I’ve read yet at least)

Do you think vampires are hot? Why or why not?

And then there are plenty of trailers made by fans you can find on youtube. Here’s a really good one I saw recently.

And then there are shows like The Hills and Laguna Beach which are more like docu-dramas with “real” people involved. Those have become really popular on MTV and have lots of teen/college drama with relationships. Never seen it myself. But it gets lots of viewers.

Well Endemol USA, the minds behind shows such as Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Deal or No Deal, and Fear Factor are putting together a reality tv show based in Oxford/Ole Miss called “Mississippi Co-Eds”. I guess the nation’s #2 Party School combined with small town southern charm made Ole Miss their choice. I can only imagine the drama that can be found in the daily lives of six Ole Miss Students. Supposedly several networks are interested, but no decision has been made as to who gets the show.

Auditions are already happening. Now I wonder if I’ll try to go eat around The Square and see a camera crew following some girl with big glasses into Rooster’s or Proud Larry’s? Part of me thinks it could be cool to have such a show here. But part of me thinks it could be a disaster.

What do you think? Will it happen? Would you do it?

ht to the DM

But now it’s getting close. So I’ve watched the debates and checked the news sites out more frequently. But of course you gotta check SNL. Here is the opening sequence from last night. If you missed the VP Debate from Thursday night, it might not make quite as much sense.

Don’t watch if you’ve not seen S4 of LOST.

YouTube – Fringe Trailer.

Holy Cow.

I HEART JJ Abrams

But anyway, a year and a half ago John, Stevie, and I went to Grand Rapids/Grandville Michigan to attend Isn’t She Beautiful at Mars Hill. We went looking for the nearby restaurant where the Sunday Nooma was filmed. We found it. And this below is very much like the opening shot of that very video! This is at the Rainbow Grill in Grandville, MI. Snow was all around!

When we asked the servers there at the restaurant which booth he’d actually sat in when doing the video shoot, not a one of them had a clue what in the world we were talking about.

Stevie, who was videoing, is getting married this weekend in Gulfport. I think I’m going.

Boom Di Atah!

[ht to Andy]

I found a video that pretty much sums up what LOST is about. It nails it. And if you’re completely current with the television show or just starting out, it won’t ruin it. But you have to watch it.

Now you understand, right?

It was a curious choice. I liked it though. But they did take “my Jesus” out of the first line and changed it to “my shepherd”. Thoughts?

Tell me what you think…

It’s about the Gosselins that had a few fertility issues so they tried some fertility treatments; they worked! They had twin girls first, but then when they were about 3 or 4 they got pregnant again. They were excited. But turns out there was more than one (or two) in there this time. There were SIX! Holy smokes, six babies at once! And add that to twin 3 year olds!

I try to imagine that sonogram where the doctor is trying to locate all six of them in there to identify their sex. Tomorrow The Wife and I go for another sonogram for Baby #3. We’ll just be looking at one baby in there. No way can I imagine SIX.

On the show, the twins are now seven years old and the sextuplets are three. It looks so awesome and then so chaotic. As a parent I find it really, really interesting to watch. How do you feed 8 kids cereal in a timely and organized manner? How do you get them ready for a trip to WalMart or church?

It’s pretty much worth cable to watch this show (maybe). TLC has some pretty interesting programs. And while I’d watch Jon and Kate Plus 8, it’d never replace LOST or Friday Night Lights. The husband (Jon) is a little too lazy/impatient w/ the kids, and the wife (Kate) is a little to impatient w/ her husband, but they all get along pretty well. So check it out if you get a chance.

Also, interesting that they had notecards with Bible verses up everywhere in their kitchen…

Friday Night Lights is a show about people who are closely connected to a high school football team. Read that again. It’s about people. Very real people. But it’s not about football. Yes, there’s lots of football in it. But it’s about the people. And I haven’t seen a more “real” portrayal of how people live, act, love, hate, relate, and everything else.

But sadly, it’s not getting good ratings. It gets awesome reviews. If every critic was a Nielson household, it’d be the #1 show around.

Season 2 starts tonight. I’m excited. I just heard a little about the first episode. And already…I’m surprised. Give it a shot. Everyone. Please.

It wasn’t just questions that this finale raised, but overall direction of the entire series. And although these are strong words, I might have to say that Wednesday night’s two hours of LOST was quite possibly the best two hours of television I’ve ever seen.

That said, here are some questions I’m wanting answers to:

• Who was in the coffin?
• Is Christian Sheppard still alive?
• Is Patchy really dead this time?
• Who is Naomi working with?
• Is Kate pregnant?
• Who all left the island?
• Why did Jack say to Kate “I can’t keep lying.”? What is he lying about?
• Why is Locke so stupid?
• Is Charlie really dead?
• And where can I get one of those Golden Passes to use on the airlines?

As great as LOST was the other night, the eight month wait is going to seem like a few years.  Just plain…wow.

First, list your top six favorite TV shows currently on the air before looking at the questions.

I would love to, thanks for asking and in no particular order: (This list changes from hour to hour:)

1. LOST
2. Friday Night Lights
3. 24
4. Prison Break
5. Survivor
6. October Road

Now answer the questions:

01. Who is your favorite character from #2?
Matt Saracen: He was the average kid who was destined to signal in plays for the season behind the #1 prep QB in the country. But an early injury shoves him to the forefront. His character, confidence, innocence, his care for his grandmother, and how he handles the pressures of QB1 all mature as the season goes along.
02. Who is your least favorite character from #4?
Right now probably T-Bag. He seems a bit scary, but if neither of us had any weapons, I think I could take him. But I’m only about a third of the way into Season One so far.

03. What would a crossover between #1 and #5 include?
Hmmm. Well, they’re both already on the island. But somehow the Losties would have to incorporate the Immunity Idol. So when Ben and his crew kidnap Jack or Sawyer, you’d see Sawyer pull out the immunity idol from his pocket and say, “I’ll play it as this time” and Ben would have to let him go. I think YauMan would be flying under the radar and infiltrating the Other’s camp. And Dreamz would make both Ben and Kate think he was on each of their teams. Kate would kick some but in the tribal challenges. But Rocky would have been shot really early, because no one would have liked him on LOST either. Either way, Probst runs the show.

04. Who is your favorite ship from #6?
I’m assuming this means relationship. I’ll have go with Physical Phil and Pizza Girl. She’s quirky and different…he’s plain weird (hasn’t left the house in nearly 6 years). But she inspired him to finally leave. (Bet you thought I was going to saw the triangle between Nick/Hannah/Audry.)

05. If you were to set one person from #3 and one person from #6 on a blind date, who would they be?
Wow…two totally different sort of shows. Maybe Eddie Letekka and Kim Bauer?

06. If you could meet one person from #4 and spend the day with them, who would it be, and what would you do?
Michael Scofield. He’s obviously a smart guy who thinks ahead. But realizes that each moment has its own flavor. So I’d try to get him to teach me his forward thinking methods. He’s not one that looks like he enjoys having a good time though. Plus, he’s got some pretty cool tattoos.

07. If you could change one thing about #2’s plot line, what would you change?
I’m not sure that I would change anything. Of course not everything happened like I wanted it, but that’s part of the uniqueness of it all.

08. Explain a relationship between two people (not necessarily romantic) from show #5, and why you like the relationship between them.
Yauman and Earl. Earl is a tall black guy, and Yau is a small, skinny Japaneese guy. You wouldn’t normally pair them together. But they have cooperated and schemed together enough to make a great team.

09. If the lead title characters (first name in the credits) from #1 and #3 were both drowning, and you could only save one, who would it be?
Lost goes in alphabetical order, so it’s Sayid. 24 is Jack Bauer. So if we’re thinking these are real guys, I’d save Bauer. Because he’s saved our country from some serious crap a few times in his life. So I guess I owe him that.

10. If you could change the title characters’ order in the credits for #4, what order would you choose?
Keept it the way it is.

11. If you were able to add a new character, any kind of character you wanted, to the storyline for #6, what would the character be like, and what would their role be?
Maybe a little variety. Seems like most of the people there are cut from the same mold (except for Pizza Girl).

12. What happens in your favorite episode of show #2?
Usually the comical disagreements by Coach Taylor and his wife.

13. If you could kill off one of the characters in #1, who would it be and how would you do it?
Charlie…and I’d let Claire get mad about something (again). So he’d go storm off. And the smoke monster would bash him around. He hasn’t really been that easy to get along with much lately. Seems to think he’s deserved or something.

14. If you got the chance to visit the set for either show #3 or show #5, which would you choose?
So I can either visit the set of 24 out in LA, or Fiji Island? I’d go with Fiji Island.

15. If you could date anyone from any of these shows, which show and which person?
I’m thinking my wife wouldn’t appreciate me dating anyone else.

Let me know if you work through this meme in the comments.