Archive for the ‘abc’ Category

brothers & sisters: last tango in pasadena [s4e05]

By ryan rutledge, the guy who loves tv on October 25th, 2009

kitty reading on her kindle re-ignites my desire for a kindle. although i have two dilemmas: 1 – kindle or nook? 2 – do i withhold getting one completely in hoping that early next year apple comes out with a tablet device that has some sort of e-reader capability built-in? ugh this decision is eating me up. i really want an e-reader BADLY but too many decisions to make on getting one. okay, back to the show …

i love sally field and i love her in this role of her being an over-protective mother. i am finding that each episode they keep increasing her level of over-protectiveness and it’s starting to get annoying. i don’t want it to be that way. please make it stop. why can’t she just keep putting on the family dinners that turn into extravaganzas?

so holly getting screwed over by the investment firm who she has her money with is destined to be her payback for being a bitch early on. sad, but a nice little twist to the story. a perfect example of what goes around, comes around.

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desperate housewives: everybody ought to have a maid [s6e05]

By ryan rutledge, the guy who loves tv on October 25th, 2009

first of all, i would have never expected that julie would be having the affair with the creepy gangster dad. i only call him gangster dad since his wife on the show is drea de matteo and she was on the sopranos previously. the guy is creepy and nobody dates creepy guys. it’s a rule! i need this character to be killed and written off the show. he was creepy on dirt and he’s creepy on this show, that means he’s just a creepy guy.

one thing that bothers me about this show is that i feel like it’s the same plotline either extended longer and longer or slightly tweaked and applied to another character. it’s the same thing over and over. i remember when this show was amazing and it was must-see tv on sunday. now i’m not so sure it is anymore.

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brothers & sisters: the road ahead [s4e01]

By ryan rutledge, the guy who loves tv on September 28th, 2009

WARNING: By continuing to read the rest of this entry, you waive all rights to be angry that the plot has been spoiled. Additionally, you waive all rights to sue for damages due to having your world rocked because of the awesomeness that you are about to embark upon. If you haven’t already seen this episode (or want to watch it again), check out Hulu or ABC for access to full episodes of this show.

THE SUMMARY: kitty and robert work on their marriage. rebecca and justin adjust to being engaged. kevin and scotty consider having a kid. holly and nora plan an engagement party for rebecca and justin.

THE AWESOMENESS VERDICT: 8 out of 10 stars. good start to the season. such a crazy, drama filled show but it never ceases to get old. well that’s not entirely true but at least it’s entertaining.

THE COMMENTARY: drama during the first scene! go figure. there needs to be more good drama and much less tragic drama this season. good either way i suppose.

“you always do give good tweet.” -kitty

i love the tension between nora & holly. so amusing to watch the back and forth comments. sally field makes a great over-bearing mother figure. and her reaction after the piano falls into the floor is hilarious. nothing like a good case of rivalry. but i love it even more when they are scheming together.

as kevin & scotty are about to have a kid it’s insane to think that it costs so much money to have a surrogate.

i just want kitty & robert to stop fighting and get along again! this is too painful to watch them act like this. makes me a sad panda.

“oh i’m sorry i missed your wedding. i want you to know i’m 100% in favor of gay marriage.” – grandma (ida)
“you are?” – kevin
“you know those defense of family kooks? i mean, what’s that all about? gays can’t have families.” – ida
“grandma, gay people can have children.” -kevin
“well apparently you know something about plumbing i don’t.” – ida
“there’s adoption.” -kevin
“oh well i didn’t know they let you do that” -ida
“they do. and there’s surrogacy.” -kevin
“and what’s that?” -ida
“well we find an egg donor and then we hire a surrogate to carry the baby to term.” -kevin
“oh, and which one of you gets to sleep with the egg lady?” -ida

haha. i love their family events. the arguments that ensue are nothing short of spectacular, especially when the arguments are between nora and holly.

omg i can’t handle the ending. no more tragedy! between kitty having cancer and rebecca and justin almost getting into an accident i nearly had a heart attack. too much drama. but oh so good.

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desperate housewives: nice is different than good [s6e01]

By ryan rutledge, the guy who loves tv on September 28th, 2009

WARNING: By continuing to read the rest of this entry, you waive all rights to be angry that the plot has been spoiled. Additionally, you waive all rights to sue for damages due to having your world rocked because of the awesomeness that you are about to embark upon. If you haven’t already seen this episode (or want to watch it again), check out Hulu or ABC for access to full episodes of this show.

THE SUMMARY: mike and susan get married. katherine has a hard time getting over mike. a new family moves into the neighborhood.

THE AWESOMENESS VERDICT: 7 out of 10 stars. still a decent show after five years but it’s been lacking that huge shock factor for the past two or three seasons.

THE COMMENTARY: a surprise right off the start … susan and mike getting married.

i can’t remember if i’m correct but i feel like i remember reading this would be the last season of the show? or the next to last?

ten minutes in and i already don’t like the new neighbors. what are they from new jersey or something? because they have an attitude as though they are. hmmm now only to find out what their secret is.

i also don’t like that lynette is pregnant again. not a very exciting storyline and not entirely unexpected.

i love bree for her martha stewart desire for everything to be amazing. even if it is the sheets she is going to have an affair on.

ew the back on the new neighbor is gross.

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grey’s anatomy: good mourning & goodbye [s6e01 & s6e02]

By ryan rutledge, the guy who loves tv on September 27th, 2009

WARNING: By continuing to read the rest of this entry, you waive all rights to be angry that the plot has been spoiled. Additionally, you waive all rights to sue for damages due to having your world rocked because of the awesomeness that you are about to embark upon. If you haven’t already seen this episode (or want to watch it again), check out Hulu or ABC for access to full episodes of this show.

THE SUMMARY: george is confirmed to be the one in the wreck. he ends up passing. everyone finds their own way to deal with it.

THE AWESOMENESS VERDICT: 6.5 out of 10 awesomes. seems like the same ol’, same ol’. it’s not bad, but it’s not as great as the first three seasons were.

THE COMMENTARY: given a somewhat lackluster season 5, i have high expectations for season 6 in order to keep my tuned in. i feel like they need an injection of excitement in order to stay alive because the plot lines are starting to become repetitive.

for me hating blood and guts as much as i do, i don’t know why i watch this show sometimes. i have to close my eyes through like 10-20% of these episodes as it is.

chandra wilson is hands down the best actor/actress on this show. i feel like she hold the show together at this point. this episode definitely wasn’t sad until they are about to harvest all of george’s organs and she asks to whom they are going to.

i’m through the first hour/first episode and i’m a bit confused. they keep jumping forward several days at a time and sometimes only showing one short scene or two and it’s confusing. i hope it ends up making sense eventually. if not i will be sadly disappointed (as opposed to happily disappointed, of course).

the psychiatrist with the sad face wrinkles makes me sad. nothing makes me more sad than a frown. especially people who wear those permanent frowns. double ungood.

i think the story lines outside the hospital are 10x better than those inside. i would much rather watch people walk in on each other having sex over a gross, bloody surgery any day. well, except for the izzie/alex storyline. seriously, he’s somehow morphed back into an asshat again?

“are you really gay? like, how gay are you? on a scale of one to … gay?” – lexie to callie

yeah the second hour sort of just dragged on. blerg.

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flashforward: no more good days [s1e01]

By ryan rutledge, the guy who loves tv on September 24th, 2009

WARNING: By continuing to read the rest of this entry, you waive all rights to be angry that the plot has been spoiled. Additionally, you waive all rights to sue for damages due to having your world rocked because of the awesomeness that you are about to embark upon. If you haven’t already seen this episode (or want to watch it again), check out Hulu or ABC for access to full episodes of this show.

THE SUMMARY: everyone in the world blacks out for 2:17 and nobody knows why. each person sees a bit of their future although nobody knows what it means.

THE AWESOMENESS VERDICT: 7 out of 10 awesomes. definitely interesting. tons of parallels to LOST, which is promising. tons of potential and definitely can see myself hooked to this show.

THE COMMENTARY: first of all, penny playing olivia totally throws me off. it’s also a bit sad to see her on this show because it means she clearly isn’t going to have much of a role on LOST for the final season. granted she doesn’t play a big role on that show, but i still like her nonetheless.

i like the concept of this show but i’m hesitant because i want it to have a really strong skew towards science fiction but i’m not sure i’m going to get that since it has to appeal to such a mass audience.

LOST easter egg alert … when demetri and mark are in the car on surveillance (about the 6 minute mark), there’s a billboard in the background and it is an oceanic airlines advertisement.

as my good friend dustin has pointed out, the kangaroo in the middle of the street is a bit reminiscent of the polar bear in the jungle on LOST. although, i have to imagine that kangaroo came from a zoo or something. still strange, nonetheless.

i just want to shake penny and ask her to speak in her british accent from LOST.

okay i started liking this show as soon as i saw seth macfarlane making a guest appearance in it. i will like it even more if he ends up being a regular guest appearance. how awesome is that man?

half way into this episode and i’m really starting to get hooked now. still hesitant though. i typically dislike crime/detective dramas and fear this one might be too much of one and not enough scifi for my taste.

now if we think about this, couldn’t this be part of a self-fulfilling prophecy? they think they saw something so they take actions that leads to them actually happening. i.e. mark saw the notes on the wall so he starts creating them and posts them on the wall. interesting.

oh i think i’m really going to like this show. doesn’t look as scifi as i would have hoped but i will get my fix of scifi when V premieres in november. for now i will be satisfied with the paranormal aspect of flashforward.

oh and charlie is going to be on this show too?!? wow they are really aiming for this to be a LOST replacement. i think i’m okay with that.

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modern family: pilot [s1e01]

By ryan rutledge, the guy who loves tv on September 24th, 2009

WARNING: By continuing to read the rest of this entry, you waive all rights to be angry that the plot has been spoiled. Additionally, you waive all rights to sue for damages due to having your world rocked because of the awesomeness that you are about to embark upon. If you haven’t already seen this episode (or want to watch it again), check out Hulu or ABC for access to full episodes of this show.

THE SUMMARY: this one is all about character development so rather than do a horrible job at writing a summary, i’ll just write the synopsis from tivo, which is sort of a spoiler for the last 10 minutes of show so definitely stop reading now if you haven’t seen it yet … “Jay has grown children, grandchildren and a gorgeous young wife, who has a preteen son of her own; all together they must bridge generational, cultural and social gaps.”

THE AWESOMENESS VERDICT: 9 out of 10 awesomes. i don’t mess around. i saw this pilot at the ABC 09/10 upfront presentation and then got a copy of the pilot afterwards and ended up watching it about 10 more times and still managed to not get tired of this one episode. even tonight, i continued to laugh quite a bit. this show is pretty f-ing awesome, especially considering this was just the pilot.

THE COMMENTARY: the casting on this show is amazing. a cast always makes or breaks a show and you can tell immediately from this one episode they did an awesome job with the casting and making sure they fit the awesome roles that they are playing.

quote worthy part 1 …
“if haley never wakes up on a beach in florida half naked, i’ve done my job.” – claire
“our job …” – phil
“right, i’ve done our job.” – claire

let’s talk about how awesome jesse tyler ferguson is. i fell in love with him in the class. i thought he was just as awesome in do not disturb (which wasn’t even that good of a show, so that’s saying something). and he’s even more amazing on this show.

quote worthy part 2 …
“i’m a cool dad. that’s, that’s my thing. i’m hip. i surf the web. i text. LOL, laugh out loud. OMG, oh my good. WTF, why the face? um, you know, i know all the dances to high school musical” – phil

haley, phil and claire’s daughter, is hilarious. i giggle quite loudly when she’s tattling on her brother and her parents ask her if she’s okay and she says “no, the little bitch shot me.” i’m pretty sure jay and claire’s family is an exactly replica of mine growing up. and oddly enough, the house looks rather similar to my parent’s house.

i can’t rave enough about the casting and the roles they each play. there’s not a character on this show that i don’t like.

quote worthy part 3 …
“red-headed dad is angry daddy.” – cameron

i think my favorite part of this show is that i can relate to every single part of it and especially identify with mitchell. tv shows that you can relate to are hands down the easiest to fall in love with. and yes, you can be in love with a tv show. just like you can have a sordid love affair with your tivo.

shooting your kid with a BB gun as punishment for doing the same to his sister … that is the way i anticipate raising my children. it only makes sense.

my second favorite part of this episode is when the whole family gathers and you have that “aha” moment and realize all of the characters that have been introduced so far are related. when i watched the pilot episode in may, this was the exact moment that i knew that not only did this show have a great cast, but that the writers were just as awesome.

my most favorite part of this epsiode? when cameron comes in with his and mitchell’s adopted baby. circle of life, homo in a kimono, handsome redhead, could you ask for any more?

I. LOVE. THIS. SHOW. if it isn’t wildly successful i will be devastated and horribly appalled at america for not tuning in.

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defying gravity: fear [s1e07]

By ryan rutledge, the guy who loves tv on September 7th, 2009

DISCLAIMER: IF YOU HAVEN’T WATCHED THIS EPISODE OF DEFYING GRAVITY YET, TURN AWAY NOW. DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND LOAD THIS SITE’S FEED INTO GOOGLE READER (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED FOR AVID INTERNET USERS) AND THEN KEEP THIS POST UNREAD and/or GOLD STAR IT AND COME BACK TO IT LATER. I CANNOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR RUINING THE EXPERIENCE OF GETTING TO WATCH THIS EPISODE AND EXPERIENCING TELEVISION THE WAY IT IS SUPPOSED TO BE EXPERIENCED. EPISODES FOR THIS SHOW CAN BE FOUND ON HULU.COM.

THE RUN-DOWN SUMMARY: it’s halloween. re-attached thumb girl is recovering from last week’s tragedy well. several of the crew members (as well as those on earth who have encountered the extraterrestrial object) seem to be getting sick and/or seeing hallucinations. meanwhile, everyone is preparing to film a commercial for a sponsor of their mission (comet candy). as they get closer to the point of making it outside to film the commercial their hallucinations become so intense they aren’t able to function properly. they cancel the commercial, the advertiser is a dick and gets angry. berger (technically his name is maddux on this show but i shall use berger instead as a tribute to his SATC days) and zoe talk about their dreams and realize they have been having the exact same one. and then it ends. this week’s flashbacks centered around the period of time after zoe’s miscarriage/hysterectomy and how she deals with getting back into the swing of things having rushed through recovery so quickly.

THE RUNNING COMMENTARY: first of all, peer feedback on this show hasn’t been very good. nobody else i know seems to be watching it and the person or two who has, really don’t like it. i have no idea why people wouldn’t like it because i think this show is pretty freaking awesome. i highly suspect that’s because it’s so heavily scifi-based. on the flip-side, that is probably the reason people who i know have seen it don’t like it. to each their own i suppose but i’m terribly afraid this show has a good possibility of being cancelled.

if there’s one thing i can’t stand it’s airing a season/holiday themed episode for the first time more than 10 days prior to that holiday in real life. this episode takes place during halloween and we’re clearly still nearly two months away from that. strike one for this episode.

sadly, as much as i like the show, i can’t stand all the flashbacks. while i appreciate the backstory and character building they provide, having them take up 30-50% of the show (total guesstimate) is becoming rather bothersome. i would prefer more of that time be dedicated to building the core storyline.

i’m intrigued by this episode being centered around them filming an outer-space commercial for an advertiser. i know that people would inherently be against something like this but what a clever idea. if advertising went to support programs like space exploration i would be even more in favor of it. i suppose my advertising background gives me a huge bias though. although, sadly no advertiser would ever want to sacrifice any part of their marketing objectives in lieu of supporting something like this where they would lose any part of control over their messaging.

the more and more i watch this show, the more and more i fear that it’s not a good fit for primetime network broadcast. this would be much better suited for cable where it could find a niche audience. it’s sad that scifi shows can’t make it big on primetime network television. x-files, fringe, heroes, and lost are perhaps the only few that i can readily think of. although if  you have to applaud ABC for branching out into new genres though and taking their ownership of primetime dramas into a sci-fi drama.

the hallucinations are definitely becoming increasingly freaky. my only hope is they start revealing why everyone seems to be having them. you see, that would be a bit better use of the flashback time.

all these stupid spock ears that keep popping up on people in this episode is driving me crazy. not clever at all. although, i suspect me being annoyed is stemming from my intense dislike of halloween. i just can’t stand that “holiday”. i have no interest in dressing up and therefore have no interest in halloween, sadly.

i am painfully wanting to be sarcastic and clever as i watch this show but i just don’t think it’s possible. it’s so much harder to do with serious dramas.

AWESOME METER VERDICT: 5 out of 10 awesomes. it’s definitely building up to something, i’m just afraid i’m going to be letdown when we get to that big “AHA” episode.

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