Category: TV (Page 1 of 2)

Oh Friday Night Lights

05/20/2009 / Blake

I know I’ve spoken before here of my love for Friday Night Lights. I have said it was the best television show around. But all of that was before Season Three. Now that season three happened, I still maintain that truth. I think it’s even better than before. Season two had a bit of a hiccup where some wondered if it jumped the shark. And then the writers’ strike made it end abruptly. But Season three was plugging along nicely.

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.

Why are Vampires so popular?

11/25/2008 / Blake

I asked this question to a friend the other day, but it seems vampires are so much “the thing” in pop culture. Why are vampires so popular?

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?

LOST Season 5 Trailer

11/11/2008 / Blake

Lost is tied for my favorite tv show (Friday Night Lights is the other one). And watching this trailer for the next season gets me excited about it.

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

Reality TV coming to Oxford?

10/09/2008 / Blake

There is some reality tv I like. I mean, I enjoy Survivor and The Amazing Race a lot. While I was in college I used to watch The Real World all the time. It wasn’t “clean” then, but what little I’ve noticed of it lately it’s gotten much worse. And of course there are the shows where someone falls in love or gets a new house or wins a million dollars.

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

This had me rolling

10/05/2008 / Blake

I’ve been keeping up with politics again the last few months. Actually I’ve watched the news when it’s on, but not made it a priority to track news down.

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.

What did Sawyer say?

07/23/2008 / Blake

Not sure how legit this is. But quite interesting.

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

JJ Abrams – Fringe Trailer

07/17/2008 / Blake

YouTube – Fringe Trailer.

Holy Cow.

I HEART JJ Abrams

The Restaurant for the Sunday Nooma

05/22/2008 / Blake

If you don’t know what the Nooma series of videos are, then this won’t make any sense. If know about Nooma, but you’ve not seen the one entitled Sunday, then it might not make much sense. But in a nutshell, they’re videos to spur discussion and conversation about spiritual matters created by Rob Bell. They are worth checking out fo sho.

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.

How cool is our world? Boom-Di-Atah!

04/29/2008 / Blake

Sometimes our world does seem sorta crazy. But our world is pretty cool (especially in its natural state). Watching this commercial reminds me of that. And that I need to get out and experience it more. (It also reminds me that Discovery is a pretty cool channel.)

Boom Di Atah!

[ht to Andy]

LOST on ABC explained… What?

04/11/2008 / Blake

I really think this is the best show on television. Probably in the history of television. I think Friday Night Lights is right up there very close to it. Sure, The Office probably is the best comedy. But it’s one you watch and wait til next week to see again. LOST is one you watch and think about trying to figure out what all the mysteries are.

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?