NBC announces fall schedule

OK, so this is a big week for TV viewers as all the networks will be announcing their fall schedules. We learn what got cancelled, what will be new, and any potential scheduling changes for our returning favorites. Today, NBC announced their schedule.

All the details can be found here.

The key moves:
- Gone are Studio 60 and Crossing Jordan
- Friday Night Lights (and wisely gets moved to Fridays) and Law & Order survived
- Thursday's lineup is now Earl, 30 Rock, Office, and Scrubs
- The Office's season will have 5 hour long episoded and a total of 30 hrs. of new content.
- There will be 30 combined episodes of "Heroes" and "Heroes: Origins," an innovative new spin-off that each week will introduce a new character -- one of whom will be chosen by viewers through the "Heroes" website on NBC.com to become a cast regular the following season
- 8 new shows were picked up including 5 dramas, 1 sitcom, and two unscripted series

My thoughts:
- Of the new shows, Journeyman looks to be the best drama and could pair up nicely with Heroes. I look forward to The IT crowd too, but right now it doesn't have a place on the schedule. Most likely, it'll fill in for Scrubs at some point since they're only doing 18 episodes this year.
- I'm excited about Heroes bulking up on episodes and the Heroes: Origins spin-off sounds really cool. However, I hope the creators don't burn themselves out trying to come up with so much content.
- Ditto for The Office and Earl (who will also have 25 episodes next season). But I think this is still better than the proposed change to make The Office an hour-long permanently.
- Until we see what shows are placed against them, I can't say much about the timeslots of the shows, but it seems NBC didn't do anything to risky with their placement. Of all the networks, NBC, I feel, has made the most improvements as far as content goes over the past couple of years. I hope that starts to show in the ratings next year.

Survivor finale

Last night's finale was the most shocking and least shocking finale in it's history. Most people are still in disbelief that Dreamz reneged on his deal, but once it happened, Earl's victory was a foregone conclusion. I'm happy for Earl, as I thought he played a really smart game throughout and seemed to be a pretty nice guy (also props to him for playing the game so well given that he only learned he would be a contestant two days before filming). As for Yau, seeing him take the events in stride and actually putting the blame on himself for his ouster softens the blow...just a bit.

Highlights/lowlights of the episode:

- The maze challenge was really awesome and Yau just proved how awesome he is by smoking the course. Cassandra, of course, was doing her best Mr. Magoo act. Boy, was she pathetic.
- Boo was smart in trying to get Earl to vote out Dreamz (Yau would probably be getting his check right now had it happened), but unfortunately for Floz, the "brothers" decided to stick together.
- I also enjoyed the Chinese water torture final challenge, but it was pretty obvious that Dreamz was going to win that one. Frankly, I'm surprised Cassandra lasted as long as she did there.
- Thank God for Tivo so I could buzz past the fallen Survivors montage and the final three waxing nostalgic over the "accomplishments" over the past 39 days.
- The jury was surprisingly lively considering the final three really didn't do a lot to them to deserve their wrath. Lisi looked particularly embarassing considering none of them were involved in her boot. Alex's performance would have immediately earned him the title of "World's Worst Lawyer" had we not known already that the Amazing Race's Mirna was a lawyer. What was up with Boo pulling the Christian card? Dude seemed pretty mellow during his time on the island. I loved Edgardo asking Earl how he knew about the HII and Earl saying Dreamz, point-blank.
- The reunion show was pretty weak though. Too much time was spent on getting Dreamz to give a straight answer when we knew he wouldn't/couldn't. As annoying as Rocky was, I still believe he was in the right for trying to get Anthony to stand up for himself. That guy really needs to grow a pair. Gary's tattoo was strange. Michelle was still adorable as ever and really should have pointed out how screwed she got by the "we're merged, but it's a tribe voting you out" twist. I also think Stacy got a bum rap on the show as being a bitch. That was really only evident in those first few episodes, which is a shame for her.
- Finally, the reveal of China as the next location was no surprise since it had been leaked for weeks now. And since they haven't filmed anything yet, they couldn't tease us about the potential contestants or twists for next season. Still, the location should be a good one and I'm looking forward to it. Also, there has been a lot of strong rumors going around that after China will be another All-Star edition. Once I get confirmation, I'll let you know. In the meantime, free feel to speculate who should be the cast for that one.

Movie theater etiquette

With the summer movie season in full effect, I thought it would be appropriate to remind everyone out there of some hints and tips of what you should do at the theater to avoid ticking me off. Here then is a list of helpful dos and donts, courtesy of EW.com:

- No matter how bad the movie is, no one wants to hear you talk through it.

- If you go to the bathroom during the film, you are allowed one 5-second recap upon your return. If you can't hear it or don't "get it," sorry.

- Try not to laugh when a fellow audience member yells out something funny. You will only encourage him.

- If you show up after the previews have begun, you've forfeited your right to ask someone — especially an elderly person — to move seats so your six-person party can sit together.

- While we appreciate you leaving your seat to make that call on your cellphone, we can still hear you if you're standing inside the theater doors. Step outside.

- If you're one of only a few people in a theater, do not sit directly in front of one of them. Even in stadium seating.

- Do not spend five minutes looking through your bag for something after the movie starts. It's dark. You're not going to find it.

- Open the candy quickly. Yes, it will be loud, but only for a second. As opposed to what happens if you try to do it slowly. And you make noise anyway. And your friends feel the need to laugh at you.

And a couple more added by me:

- Children should not be admitted into any showing past 9pm. They will not stay in their seat and they will distract the audience. Parents, if you can't find a sitter, then you can't go out.

- Just because you're clever enough to get it past the attendants, does not give you the right to bring an entire 4 course dinner from KFC into the theater and eat it while the film is playing.

Feel free to add your own.

Thursday's terrific TV

My Name is Earl: This show continues to abuse sitcom cliches, yet still make them work in their sweet, twisted way. The season finale's cliffhanger saw Earl taking the fall for Joy and going to jail for her. As sad as those final images were (Joy and family praying for "old daddy", Randy all alone, Earl turning in his list), I have a feeling that it will lead to some funny material to kick off next season. Especially given that we saw Earl is bunking with old partner-in-crime Ralph. As has been lately, Joy provided the funniest moments of the episode (loved her inadvertantly turning herself in to Dog the Bounty Hunter). But, Joy's deaf lawyer's interpreter, Doug, has been increasingly hilarious as the season went on. Here's hoping they find a way to bring him back next season as well.

The Office: What makes this show so great was all evident in this episode. You had that wonderful mix of delightfully funny and awkwardly uncomfortable moments. How adorable was it seeing seeing the entire staff sing "The Gambler" in the bus? Then, we got an encore at the end with their rendition of The Flintstones. I loved seeing a motivated Stanley, even if it was only fleeting. They need to find more ways to get him excited. Once again, I have to say "Poor Toby". He gets left behind on Beach Day and he's stuck at the office missing out on Pam in her two-piece. I loved Dwight and Jim's Harry Potter banter, although I'm sure those jokes were lost on non-readers. Kelly's comparison of Bob Hope to Amanda Bynes and Michael's going along with it also had me in stiches.

But of course, the main thing about this episode is our little Pam Beasley finally growing a backbone, and all it took was a walk through hot coals. Man, she really unloaded there and I was not expecting that at all. She said everything that the Jammers have been wanting her to say for so long. And now what will be the fallout. Does her comments make Jim want to stay or try that much harder to get that corporate job? (He certainly wasn't interested in Michael's job, that's for sure). Can't wait for the finale. Is it next Thursday yet?

Survivor: As predicted, things got downright messy now that we are down to only the flimsy alliance of six. For as strong as they were to get there in tact, they sure are willing to throw away alliances in a heartbeat and that was seen again this week. Things got complicated once Yau won the car challenge and then gave it to Dreamz in return for his promise to give him immunity if they make it to the final four. Dreamz, in his usual act first, think way later mentality, realized after the fact that this was Yau using Jedi mind tricks to prevent him from making the top three. This caused Dreamz to start finding a way for Yau not to make it to the final four. All the while, the plan was still to eliminate Boo. That is, until he won immunity. Doh. Dreamz then convinced everyone but Earl to vote for Yau. Too bad Stacy lacked subtlety and basically tipped off Yau that he was going. Yau then cashed in his immunity necklack and it was Stacy who went instead in a proper kharmic send-off. We're now down to five and the finale is Sunday. My money is still on Earl to win, but really anything can happen. I've been very pleased with the turnaround this season has made and I can't wait to see how it all plays out.

CSI: They don't do it often, but CSI was guilty of cheap stuntcasting this week. They played the Lady Heather card once again because they knew it would lure viewers, as well as stir the pot for all of Las Vegas favorites. The crimes were nothing special, but then again, they weren't meant to be. This one was about furthering Grissom's relationship with Heather and the impact it has on everyone else. Sara seemed to take it in stride, but you know she was doing a slow burn inside. And Catherine was right about Gil's hypocrisy when it comes to personal relationships and cases. Then again, Catherine's conflicts of interest usually come from her wanting some and making poor decisions, while Gil is always thinking three steps ahead and knows what he's doing. As is the theme this week, tonight's episode was merely a prelude to next week's finale. We finally learn who the minature killer is (could it be the women briefly mentioned by Greg at the beginning of the episode?) and we'll also learn if one of the CSIs actually bites the bullet. Dum Dum Dum

Zodiac

Squeezed in another film at the Blue Ridge today (God bless summer vacation!) and saw a fantastic one. The entire cast was top notch, even those who had smaller roles like Brian Cox and Anthony Edwards. It's a long movie (clocking in over 2 1/2 hours), but you easily become engrossed in everything and the film never really drags. I certainly would have liked some closure, but real life dictates otherwise. Despite the fact that the true killer was never confirmed, the film does a nice job of guiding you in a certain direction and giving you a person that likely committed the crimes. There were several questions I had while watching it (like why does it take so long for Jake Gyllenhaal's character to get involved in the case?), but I'm not sure it was the film's place to answer those questions. I guess one should just read more about the case if they want to know more. I think the most frustrating thing about the film is realizing how much easier it would be to determine the killer in today's day and age thanks to technology. Then again, maybe I'm spoiled by watching C.S.I. all the time.

Bottom line is that this was fantastic and a must-see recommendation from me. Most likely you'll have to wait until it comes out to video now, but when it does go rent it. A-

So that's Jacob?

Well after months of teasing, we supposedly finally got to see Jacob tonight. I've got mixed emotions on it as it certainly wasn't what I was expecting. I fully anticipate that we'll get more info on him in the weeks and years to come, but for now, consider me underwhelmed. There are some speculation on the Lost message boards that there is a connection between the island's volcanic gas and the hallucinations people have. My head starts to hurt if I try to think about that though. Also, there's already a screencap up of a brief glimpse of Jacob:



The rest of the episode was a mixed bag. We certainly got some answers about the Dharma Initiative and Ben's past. We also learned that Jack and Juliette have a plan to combat against the Others. And the previews seem to indicate that Rousseau's trip for dynamite last week may play into that. Then there was the shocking finish, which I won't say here in case someone hasn't seen the episode yet. But all I have to say about that is, "Oh my God".

And now some questions after last night's episode:
- What happened to Annie? Would Ben let her die along with the rest of the Dharma people?
- Was that really Richard that young Ben met in the jungle? If not, who?
- Is there any significance to the fact that Ben and Locke's mothers are both named Emily?
- How much more abuse can poor Mikhail take?
- And can we really trust Jack and Juliette?

Breach

I caught this at the Blue Ridge tonight and was fairly pleased. It's a decent espionage film with some really good performances. Chris Cooper in general gives me the creeps, so he was perfect for the role he was playing. Ryan Phillipe was fine as the plucky agent wannabe and Laura Linney was good, as always, in the role of the agent in charge of the case.

My only complaint is that there was nothing special about the film. It was a decent story, because it was true, but the filmmaker did nothing to make the film anything memorable. Perhaps it was done intentionally, so as not to glorify what Hanssen did. But I left the theater thinking what was the purpose of making the film. If it was just going to be a throw-away thriller, why do it on a true story. It seemed like there should have been some statement made and I didn't get what that was. Aside from that, though, it's a well-done film and one that was certainly worth my $1.50. B

Movie project news

Some interesting news on some films that are in various stages of production.

1. Director Robert Rodriguez (Spy Kids, Grindhouse, Sin City) is currently trying to decide between two nostaligia films: Either a live-action version of the 1960s cartoon, The Jetsons or a movie based on the TV show, Land of the Lost. Will Ferrell has agreed to star in the LotL film, but The Jetsons movie already has a script. I'd rather he chose Land of the Lost, but The Jetsons seems like a project he would more likely do.

2. While conducting interviews for Shrek, Mike Myers said that he is in the planning stages right now to do a fourth Austin Powers movie and this one would be done completely from Dr. Evil's perspective. I really like the franchise, but I think Myers is seriously mis-guided if he thinks that's the best approach to this film. The Dr. Evil character really got played out in the third film. They would be better off making them more like Bond spoofs and have Austin battle a different villain in each one. Dr. Evil is supposed to be like Blofeld. He's the mastermind behind everything, but he doesn't actually commit the crimes.

3. After taking forever to pick a Friday, Michael Moore's latest documentary, Sicko, finally has an official release date: June 29. I really don't have anything to add, but I know some people have been waiting to hear when that film was finally going to get released.

"You drugged me?!?!"

I don't have much to say about last night's House. The dueling doping schemes between House and Wilson was another new twist in their bizarre, odd-couple relationship. I wish it would have been played out/explained better. I wasn't sure what Wilson's exact problem was and despite the patient noticing House was happy (I mean, hazy) I didn't think it was overly noticeable.

Beside that, there were a couple of major gross-out moments in the show. First the big needle in the eye and then the girl's brains exploding out of the back of her head. Yuck.

I'm interested to see where House's relationship with Honey goes. She seemingly is a good antidote for his boorish behavior, but I'm not sure it can last.

Finally, I won't bother commenting on Foreman's resignation since it's known that he'll be back next year and this is just a silly plot twist that won't have severe reprecussions.

Monday's TV musings

A rather meandering night of television as everybody seemed to be content staying in a holding pattern until their season finales.

How I Met Your Mother: A nice episode that finally saw Lily and Marshall tie the knot. As usual, they were able to put their creative spin on the sitcom cliche (in this case the sitcom wedding), but in the end there wasn't anything big about this episode. Nor was their anything that stood out as extraordinarily funny. Barney's con of getting people to do things "for the bride" was fun, as was Marshall's hair disaster. Overall, this one was meant to be more touching than funny. Can't wait to see what goes down during the wedding party next week.

Heroes: This week's episode was entitled "The Hard Part", which evidently refered to the difficulty in coming up with stories before the big finale. Too much of the focus was on uninteresting characters this week. Seeing the softer side of Sylar wasn't very fun at all. Mohinder's always a bore and I'm not quite sure how important Molly really is yet. After so much time spent on having Hiro search for the sword, the thing breaks not three episodes after finally getting it. Doh! About the only redeeming moment of the episode was the reunion of HRG with his Clarebear. Of course, that got sapped of its emotional value by having the focus shift to Peter's glowing hands. Those damn Petrellis! Clare needs to get away from all of them immediately. I can't believe she would even consider carrying a gun and going along with Peter's plan. Anyways, I fully expect things to kick back into high gear next week as we've only got two episodes left.

24: Sadly, not even a terrorist attack on CTU could liven things up on this show. It was fun seeing Jack go gun crazy on the Chinese, but sadly that didn't last very long. It seems like they're going to try and tie everything together by having Papa Bauer connected with the Chinese. They're really going to need to pull out the big guns if they have any chance of salvation for this season. BTW, it was nice to see Milo get capped. Good riddance to dead weight.

Monday Night RAW: I guess we'll call this a draw this week. All the damage done by actually going through with a Cena vs. Khali feud was remedied by having Edge win Money in the Bank. I totally marked out for that. I hate to see Kennedy go down with another unfortunate injury, but I think this move has a lot of potential. Shift Edge over to Smackdown and take the title off of the also injured Taker. Then you have a sweet main event scene on SD with Edge, Benoit, Kane, Batista and eventually a returning Rey Mysterio. Then Kennedy should be healthy enough to be back for WM where he can take on Edge in a feud that has already had seeds planted. The rest of the show was just there as they don't seem motivated to start any new feuds right now. With the Judgment Day card looking like a repeat of the last PPV, I think I'll save my $40.

Lost sets its end date

You can read here how the producers of Lost and ABC have come to terms with when the show will end. Basically, it'll run for three more season, each with only 16 episodes that will run consecutively ala 24.

Personally, I'm glad to see they've set the end date as it gives them a much better framework to deal with the entire story. I also like having the seasons run uninterrupted. But only 16 episodes each season? I think the show is strong enough to be able to do three more full seasons. Plus, I shudder to think what ABC will run in its timeslot when it's not on.

Race limps to the finish line

A thoroughly underwhelming finish to a season that struggled most of the way through. Given their performance throughout, Eric and Danielle were the least worthy of winning. They were yielded twice, marked for elimination once, seemingly were forever stranded at airports and never finished first in a leg until this episode. I mean, annoying as they are, at least the Schmirnas were skillful at finding early flights.

I was impressed with the physical challenge that they did (mile run on the beach and then kayak through rough waters), but it goes to show that this race is only designed for top atheletes. Could you imagine Teri and Ian completing that challenge?

As much as I liked the physical challenge, I loathed the safe-cracking one (Where was the Roadblock). It's a good thing the questions were about the other teams and not about your partner, or else Danielle would have been there forever. I think the final moments revealed where Eric's heart lie. We knew from their previous season that Eric and Jeremy were close, but that "I'm gonna give you some spankings" line, last night just confirmed it. I guess the show felt two gay couples was enough and asked Eric to find a beard.

Oh well. As a show, the Amazing Race is still solid and I have no doubt they'll rebound next time, as long as they have decent contestants.

Webbed Feat

Finally got to see Spiderman 3 tonight and it was...all right. Clearly a step down from #2, but really that one left the bar a little too high for anything to go over it.

The major problem I had with the film was that chemistry between Peter and Mary Jane seemingly vanished in this film. Part of what made 2 so great was because you truly felt the strong bond between them and you were vested in seeing what happened to them. This time, their love feels hollow and you're left uncaring about them being torn apart. Part of it I blame on Dunst, who seemed to phone it in here. Part of it, is on some uncharacteristic actions on both their parts early on that seem to be there to create problems in their relationship, yet the motivations behind them aren't explained. The most telling aspect of how I viewed Peter and MJ's relationship between this film and the last is through the female side characters. Characters like Ursula, Pete's neighbor, and Miss Brant, the newspaper secretary in 2 appear to me like threats to the relationship, whereas in this film they seem like appealing alternatives.

The relationship storyline unfortunately sacrifices screentime for the film's top-notch villians. And with three of them this time, their appearances are even more limited. When they are there, the film is great. There are a number of tremendous action sequences that appear to leap right out of the comic books. One interesting note, though, is that once again the villains are made sympathetic. We have yet to see a villian in the Spiderman series, who is just outright evil. That point, aside, Thomas Haden Church works well as the lumbering Sandman and his visual effects are just awesome. Topher Grace is just fantastic in the film and really deserved to have his character be more fleshed out.

On top of the great action, I was pleased to see some returning favorites. Of course, Aunt Mae, Jameson, Dr. Connors, and Ditkovitch are all back doing wonderful jobs in their small roles. But we also had cameos from Stan Lee (in a speaking role this time) and Bruce Campbell. Bruce's appearance is one of the highlights of the film. Perhaps, most important of all, Maker's Mark made it back for its third appearance. I was getting worried when there had been two scenes involving Harry and alcohol and it wasn't there. But it finally showed up in a blink-or-you'll-miss-it cameo.

Overall, a good start to the summer movie season, but there's certainly room for other films to top this one. B

EW's Heroes covers update

So I ended up getting to cover with Hiro and Nathan on the cover. I guess we'll call that a draw. Anyway, the story inside has some interesting previews/spoilers on the final three episodes and on Season 2. I won't mention them here, but if you're interested in knowing them yourself, you can read the story online here.

TV, TV, and...more TV

I'm backlogged on my TV thoughts again, so to prevent this post from being the entire blog, my thoughts will have to be abbreviated. Please feel free to chime in with your thoughts though and tell me what I forgot to mention.

House: Typically whenever the primary is a kid, the show usually portrays the parents negatively in some way. Tonight, was different and it was heartbreaking seeing them go through that emotional roller coaster over the fate of their two sons. But in usual House fashion, both made it out alive. Unfortunately, their lives came at the expense of Foreman, who decided to quit in fear of becoming too much like House (and who wouldn't be afraid of that). This might have been more shocking to me had it not already been spoiled to me (thank you very much TV Guide). Also, while the dog stuff was cute (gotta love it developing a limp), I would have much rather had more screen time for Chase, Cameron and Cutty.

Lost: Another stellar episode from them this week. While many had put two and two together and determined Locke's dad was Sawyer's con man, it was still fun to see that all play out. We once again some hints that they're not on an island, but rather dead, which isn't likely true but interesting nonetheless. Who's going to such lengths to keep this place hidden and why? Perhaps most interesting of all was the indication that Jack and Juliette have a secret that they're not sharing with the rest of the castways. The previews for next week seem to indicate we may find out what it is, along with some answers to the Dharma initiative as well. We're clearly setting up for a major showdown between the castaways and the Others, but it's unclear who's side everyone is playing on. Should be fun to see how it all plays out.

My Name is Earl: I feel foolish for not getting the Rudy reference sooner than I did. Nice stunt casting there. They always do a really good job of getting guest stars who are perfect in the roles they play and unlike a show like Will & Grace they don't bring them in and flaunt them around just to grab some extra ratings. The scratch and sniff stunt was a nice bonus, but kinda unnecessary. It didn't really add anything to the show. Hopefully, they won't do stuff like that in the future or else they will become like Will & Grace. Overall, another nice story this week with Earl finally landing a job. Someone wrote earlier this week that they felt Earl was becoming too nice of a show and was suffering as a result. I don't know if I fully agree, but seeing evil Earl more would be nice.

The Office: Not my favorite episode of the season, but certainly still possessed plenty of laughs. This episode, more than anything, sets up some key things that will come into play as the season closes. What will be the backlash of Michael's break-up with Jan? Will Michael's wish for Pam to gain courage come true and she'll finally admit her feelings to Jim?

And will anybody ever bring this man to justice?

Survivor: This was a pretty standard episode for this point in any season. There's always a strong alliance post-merge who picks off the outsiders one by one. When it gets down to that last person, they always try their darndest to make the outcome not look like a foregone conclusion. This time they tried making us belive that Yau could be a goner, but nobody was buying it. The challenges were pretty weak this week; I'm pretty sure we've seen that eating one before (or was that MXC?) and the immunity challenge wasn't nearly as intricate as it should have been for this late in the season. The highlight was probably Jeff browbeating the contestants for their lame digging skills during the immunity challenge (particularly Cassandra). I guess they weren't trying figuring they didn't need immunity this week. Now that the outsiders are gone, things should get downright nasty next week and I can't wait.

CSI: I always love whenever they explore the weirdos of the world and the suspects in tonight's show certainly fit the bill. I can't believe they had Enrico Colantoni as a guest star on an episode about aliens and they didn't make one Mars pun. As for the other Ally Sheedy, I was waiting for her to talk about Johnny 5 being alive. BTW, what is up with hand biting this week. She bites Greg on the hand and on Lost, Locke's dad inflicting the same kind of punishment on Locke. Weird. Anyway, the most bizarre thing about this episode was those final seconds. Are they trying to make us think that Gil is the minature killer? I'm sure this is just something where he's trying to get in the mind of the killer or set something up to bait the killer. Regardless, I can't wait to see the season finale. And after reading this story (WARNING: Spoiler alert!), I'm even more perplexed to see how it plays out.

License to Wed trailer

Believe it or not, Transformers isn't the only film coming out over 4th of July. There's a romantic comedy called License to Wed. Normally I wouldn't give a film like this the time of day, but given that it's got Jim from The Office and Mandy Moore, who is gorgeous, I decided to give the trailer a look. As it turns out, it looks like it might be funny. If you watch carefully you may also notice a brief appearance by Brian Baumgartner, who plays Kevin on The Office. So what do you think, worth the price of admission or waste of time?

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Heroes & EW: A winning combination

So I go over to EW.com today to read their review of last night's Lost (another awesome episode, which I'll talk more about later) and I see the coolest thing...this upcoming week's cover story is on Heroes!! Not only that, but they have five different covers featuring the various cast members. Not only that, but each cover contains clues/references to the last few episodes of the season.

I really wanted to post the cover photos here, but they're in flash format and I don't know how to put them on here. So you'll just have to settle for checking them out here

I hope I get the one with Claire and HRG. But knowing my mailman, I'll get stuck with the Nikki/Jessica and DL one. Bleech.

Big changes in store?

Within the past day, there has been news of some big changes to a couple of my favorite TV show. First, there was the article posted yesterday where the producers of 24 said they were "hurt" by the criticism they've received this year and that this may be the last season of 24 under its current structure. They wouldn't go into detail as to what changes may come, but it certainly is perplexing. In reality, the formula works (as proven by last season's awesomeness), it's a matter of getting and keeping strong characters. They've killed or arrested so many great characters that they were left with a hollow shell of themselves this season. So unless they have the power to bring people back from the dead, I don't know if structural changes are the answer.

Then there was this story which is primarily about NBC CEO, Jeff Zucker. However, there was an interesting nugget of information about the fact that they are considering expanding The Office to an hour permanently. My initial reaction was "yes, do it!". But I do have some reservations. While there have certainly been episodes that I felt were short-changed due to only having 21 minutes to tell a story, I worry that to continue to come up with stories each week that fill an hour may be a bit daunting. Then again, with the large cast that they have and the improv skills that they possess, maybe they could easily handle it. We should know for sure whether this will happen or not in a few weeks at the network upfronts.

Lastly, since we're talking about TV, I would figure that I would mention that I wrote a letter to TV Guide critic Matt Roush and he posted it in his Ask Matt column. You can read my question and his response here(It's the ninth question down).

New Fantastic Four trailer

After watching Heroes, I'm in a comic book frame of mind. Luckily, to help fill that need, I saw this trailer, which was just released on the net. Now the first FF left a lot to be desired, but based on what I've seen thus far, I feel this one will definitely be an upgrade. It has a more focused plot, the visuals look great and the actors seem more comfortable with their characters. This may not be as great as the current Spiderman or Batman films, but this could turn out to be a pleasant surprise this summer. (FYI, it comes out June 15)

Catching up on some TV

Only a few more days of school headaches and then I'll be back to regular posting...

Amazing Race: This All Star season is surely limping to a finish. If I wasn't a fan of the beauty queens, I might have been tempted to skip the rest of the season. For whatever reason, the challenges lately have really been lacking. I don't know if that's the result of the actual activities or the teams involved with them. I think it was a nice gesture to have the teams so involved with the military while in Guam, but it was sad to see the lack of respect they received. Although what do you expect when you have people so crazed to win a million dollars. I mean, we were lucky they took 30 seconds to pay their respects at Auschwitz earlier this season. Between the poor efforts during challenges and their lack of respect for the military, it's hard to root for anybody. As I said, I'm supporting the beauty queens, because they at least run a smart race. It's a shame that the Cha-Chas had to go, but they fell out of favor with me by the end of the episode when they said they were rooting for Charla and Mirna because they run an honest race. What race have they been watching? Let's hope they have something special planned for next week's finale, but I fear that's about as likely as Charla growing 3 feet overnight.

How I Met Your Mother: This show just continues to bring the awesome. I swear that the writers somehow get inside my head to help develop these characters. First, we had Ted's Cleveland connections. Now this week, an episode devoted to Barney's love of the Price is Right. Where are these people in real life and can I be their friend? The show was spot on in its representation of TPIR and also did a wonderful job in respecting Bob and giving him his first or many fond farewells. Seeing the Barrnacle just rock every aspect of Price is Right was simply legen...wait for it...DARY! The rest of the episode rocked as well with the sweet story of the origin of Ted's best man speech. I can't say enough good things about this show. And of course, because I like it, there are now rumors that the show may not be renewed next season. I don't know how many sitcom heartbreaks I can take. If you're not already, please watch this show!

24: There was nothing terrible about this week's show. It just feels like they're still spinning their wheels, which they shouldn't be at this point in the season. Usually by now, we have a pretty clear idea of what the end game will be. But because they changed direction so late in the season, I have no idea what the final resolution will be. It appears that the Chinese are planning some attack, but that could just as easilly be resolved by the end of next week. As for this week, we saw how much CTU suffered from the loss of Bill. Like everybody didn't see that coming. The White House mole wasn't a very surprising twist, but I did enjoy seeing Kari Machette in only her bra. Although, I'm completely thrown by her character's name; Lisa Miller. It always makes me think of Newsradio. Sigh. Another one of my sitcome heartbreaks.

Monday Night RAW: Because of so many things on at once, I only caught the second hour and it seems like I should have seen the first hour. While Hour #1 had some strong wrestling from Edge/Orton and RVD/Umaga, hour #2 ended with a major disappointment. They had a nice intriguing storyline going on with all of Cena's primary opponents being taken out backstage. The reveal of the culprit was the worst possible choice they could have made. It could have been a new and/or returning superstar who showed up to challenge Cena and create a fresh feud. Or it could have been Cena himself who did it, which would have started a much needed heel turn for him. No, instead, we get the Great Turd, I mean, Khali. This may be the worst idea for a main event feud yet. Sadly, Cena has turned off so many people by now, that fans might actually root for Khali. Perish the thought.

Heroes: I saved the best for last. There certainly was a lot to digest this week. Although I may not have to sort it all out if Hiro now succeeds in changing the future. My biggest sigh of relief though was seeing that HRG was still alive. I'm certainly concerned about his fate, but this seems to indicate that he has a future. Once again my heart goes out to poor Claire. She's been shipped all over the country in order to be protected. Are we to assume though that she was killed in this week's episode, or could she recover from something like that? That brings me to the big reveal of the week that Sylar is posing as Nathan in the future. A very scary thought indeed. We got to see another glimpse into a Sylar/Peter showdown and this one was even cooler than last weeks. I love the rivalry they have set up between them. Also, I guess Candace is dead in the future if Sylar has the ability to morph. The biggest surprise I think was that we saw nobody from The Company in the future. Do they still have power or were they wiped out? Like I said, a lot to get through in that hour, which means I'll probably watch the episode again. I'm such a nerd.