NBC Comedies

The Office - Go Ryan

You knew there would be a twist and Michael Scott returned as you would expect - with a horrible imitation of Arnold Schwarzenegger. "I'll be back...I am back...I am going nowhere" There is good and bad in that for all. And now we know why Ryan doesn't get coffee anymore. Too bad he is such a bad salesman. The biggest disappointment will be Dwight's.

As far as Jim and Pam go, he seems free. Did he just up and leave NY without letting Karen know. If so I can't wait for the season opener. He probably could have had the job as we know he has shown he is a great salesman and corporate wanted him to move up before. The best show on tv? If not, it has to be close.

Scrubs - to get married or not

No one can tell me that this shouldn't be the last season. From the beginning NBC has moved this off the wall comedy around and now that they are finally leaving it alone the cost is going up as most of the actors have been on the show from the beginning. Even the guest appearances have gone up in quality and we know that costs money.

Will Kim and JD have the baby - will it be healthy. What is the deal with Elliot? All comedies, and even dramas, built around unrequited sexual chemistry usually fail when the relationship is consummated. Can we go another season like this? I hope we get a conclusion and then move on. The characters have all grown and need to "get a life".

My perfect ending - Ted moves out of his Mom's house.

Heroes meets Shogun

Time for the Shogun DVD to be looked at, I didn't even know Masi Oka was in it. Awesome ending. Sylar alive but hurt, Matt and DL shot - no Lindeman to save them, too bad Peter (who is alive) hadn't met Lindeman. What is Angela Petrelli's power? Tell me already. From interviews we get a sense the Petrellis have lived, but everything else is in the open.

The cockroach on the manhole harkens back to the beginning of the season and we know Sylar will be back, but did he crawl away or get taken. At least Peter lives (he can heal) but we have the feeling from interviews that Nathan lives too. Did he throw Peter, gain more powers, get a shield of some sort?

All the heroes powers grew over the last few episodes, and George Takei shows he is more involved than before (in the flashbacks), and the next "volume" is called Generations. Will we find out about all the parents and the company, we are seeing some of it in the graphic novels on NBC.com which is something I recommend following all summer. Right now we are learning about the Haitian and the fact his dad had power.

The finale did everything it was supposed to: brought all the heroes together, showed the explosion, saved NYC (I live close so Yeah.), and set up next years plans. Unlike some other shows there is really no questions/theories floating around (See LOST), but we have a few.

Will Uluru show up?
What does the eclipse have to do with the show? Is it a red herring?
What is Angela Petrelli's power?

I can live with that. Can you? Give me your comments.

Jericho Season (Series) Finale

Oh my god what is going to happen next, helicopters, tanks, cancellation...I hate CBS...NUTS campaign and the show is a mid season replacement. Skeet Ulrich is back and if the 2008 ratings are good enough it will be back on as a full season show. I don't know if it will go that far but at least we aren't left hanging after one of the best and most thought provoking season finales of the year.

Last we left them Hawkins had the tank overlooking the tracks, Jake was in charge of the blockade, and unit of helicopters was flying over to the battle, then bang and the shooting starts. We know who died so far but who is next. Except for Hawkins and Jake, everyone is vulnerable. I think this show can only get better and with the extra time to prepare, the thrills can just go up.

Spiderman 3 and the Sequel Summer to Be

The full Spiderman 3 review is below, but first I have to talk about the crazy number of sequels this summer. So many that even the fact checkers at Newsday have the number wrong. In this weeks edition of Fanfare, Newsday said there were 13 sequels, by my count there are at least 16 and I list them below. If the title is Red, then I already saw it, if Green, then I will be going as soon as possible, the rest I may skip.

28 Weeks Later (May 13) - seeing this weekend.
The Bourne Ultimatum (Aug. 3) - no CGI here.
Day Watch (June 1) - Sequel to Night Watch, a low budget Russian
vampire/supernatural movie. Very cool
Evan Almighty (June 22) - no Jim Carrey, but I can live with Morgan
Freeman and Steve Carrel.
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (June 15) - Jessica Alba
Fay Grim (May 18) - Sequel to Henry Fool
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (July 13) - Last book comes out the following week.
Halloween (Aug. 31)
Hostel: Part II (June 8)
Live Free or Die Hard (June 27) - Yippee Kay Yay...
Mr. Bean's Holiday (Aug. 31)
Ocean's Thirteen (June 8) - Getting rid of the stench of Ocean's 12
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (May 25)
Rush Hour 3 (Aug. 10)
Shrek the Third (May 18)
Spiderman 3 (May 4)

Next week we will talk about original movies, such as Mr. Brooks, Stardust, and Transformers.

Spiderman 3:

If you are a fan of the Spiderman comic books, then you will have very little to complain about, in regards to the villian or the modifications to the origins of the black suit and the villians. If however, you are not a comic book fan, then the meteor falling and causing the black suit to appear is confusing.

Back story for the Black Suit: (Skip if you know this)
In the 80's Marvel comics had an event called Secret Wars. All the the Marvel superheroes and villians were taken to space to fight it out with each other by a super powerful being. Spidey's outfit got shredded and he went into a machine that made up what you wished for. Unfortunately it was costume that had a parasite in it that bonded with Spidey. There had to be some concessions to the black suit origin, and this was for the introduction of the meteor in the park that had the creature that was the black suit and later caused Eddie
Brock to become Venom.

All the villians origins have been updated to the year 2007 and that had to happen. Comics update there heroes all the time or most would have aged until they were senile. Sandman looked exactly like in the comics and the effects were unbelievable. I can't wait until he comes back in Spiderman 4 or 5 or 6. Well you get the point. Thomas Hayden Church packed on the muscle and made you care about a killer. This only juxtaposed with the Black suited Spidey and the new Goblin.

The black suit came right from the comics and even the way Peter fought it off fit the marvel universe comic book version. My only regret is the introduction of Venom so early. Sandman and Goblin would have been enough (See Batman movies for the problem of using too many villians - they all get short thrift). Peter could have fought the black suit and thrown it off in the church where it could have crawled away. Then the after credit scene could have been when it latched onto Eddie. This would have set up the next movie and made for more focus on the origins of the parasite. Dr. Connors could have been more involved since we are still waiting for him to be the lizard.

All in all a fantastic movie for all action movie fans and comic movie fans to see. This is the classic definition of a popcorn movie and the only thing missing was Jessica Alba.

Season Finales coming and I will be LOST....

So we only have two more episodes of Heroes (the finale will be two hours) and trying to stop Ted is what is going to make Peter the exploding man. Oh the irony. I didn't see that coming, unless you have ever read science fiction or comic books or a mystery or, well you get the point. Even though some things are obvious, especially when the network shows you paintings of what will happen you still can't wait. What is Angela Petrelli's power anyway, the spoilers out there don't help, but it better be good.

LOST leaves us in 4 weeks (3 of which have new episodes) and one is a review but the finale is 2 hours here too. Again we all knew Lockes dad was the con artist in Sawyers past but it still mad the show a good one. Now we find out more about the island and the others. Note where Anthony Cooper was tied up was more ruins...ah next season - the four toed statue. Why did Rousseau need the TNT - this week or next. Will Charlie die? Will Claire and Jack find out they are related? What wouldn't Jack and Juliet tell Kate? As long as LOST doesn't starting jumping sharks we should make it until the Zombie season, and I for one will be watching.

Shot through the head and Chris is to blame, you give Tim Daly a bad name. No one can tell me you saw that coming on the Sopranos unless you are friggin psychic. Paulie and Chris making up, after Chris beats his nephew. Chris is back in the fold. Is A.J. next? Everyone else has an heir in their son, but not Tony. It is about time. A.J. isn't exactly college material but power tripping, oh hell yeah. Now we are being teased about Meadow's mystery date. David Chase doesn't do anything by luck and he had more than enough time to work this one out.

Entourage is the best 22 minutes of tv. VICTORY. Nice horse Ed Burns. If only Turtle had a story line again as his growth was some of the best on tv. Even Ari has changed in the few seasons the show has been on. Turtle was moving forward but has backslid now, at least make him Drama's "E".

What can I say about The Office. More than Toby would to respond to Creed's hanging brain. Every character seems to feed off the others so well, too bad we can't find out how many takes the "finger pointing" scene took to get done in last weeks episode. FOLIAGE. I said FOLIAGE. Stop Stop. FOLIAGE.

Wow - Sweeps shows rock!

Too bad we can't get 52 new shows a year, but I would settle for 20 if all were as good as the ones in the last few days.

Jericho - pushing Heroes and Lost for my favorite show. Only the movie Red Dawn made war in the American midwest this exciting and had such bad acting. I can't wait for the war between Jericho and New Berg, but bring out the tank already - too much made of it to not use it. Heck Jericho has a nuclear bomb. We all know Jericho has to win, because the pilot "New Berg" was not picked up for next year.

LOST - biggest secret on TV: Locke's dad caused Sawyer's family disaster. Who didn't know this? Who cares, you may know that Darth is going to kill Obi, but it is still a great scene. Great shows are great even the second time around. Shakespeare holds up and so does LOST. This was most awesome and answers mythology questions, what fanboys were waiting for, and kept character growth as part of the show. This is what is needed to keep the ratings up. Keep up the good work.

Heroes: Check this link out: Wired interviews Tim Kring.

The show that made such a large impression gets better with the best episode yet (until next week or the week after at worst). Sylar took over Nathan's role as president solving all the different issues with the paintings, both the oval office one and whether it was Isaac or Ted in the first painting of a dead man in Isaac's loft. History changed so Ted wasn't killed by Sylar, which is why it was now Peter blowing up. Something else has to change. And why can't Hiro kill Sylar (we will find out next week). Heck, someone could just shoot him while he was sleeping.

Jumped the shark: American Idol's Charity event
Killed the shark: American Idol with Bon Jovi - great job guys and girls. (judges were okay too).

I used to buy comics, started again, but went broke. If only DC had more special event weekly comics, tie ins, and special introductions of new series. Oh wait - they do, and they still wonder why sales are down. At $2.99 or more a book, how many kids (the big future audience) can afford more than a few books a week. If you get 52, you need WWIII, JSA, JLA, Legion, Manhunter, Wonder Woman (if it ever comes out), Firestorm, Flash, Green Lantern Corps, Ion, etc...Countdown and soon Booster Gold. How about some sort of simple monthly review of what happened across the continuity so I can get the books I like and afford to fill my car with gas.

10PM tonight - Spiderman 3. Reviews sound great.

A Little Catching Up

This was the weekend that was and ended with American Idol, okay I am a little behind but hopefully it was all worth it.

The weekend really started with The Sopranos, which was okay but didn't live up to the episodes earlier this season. Where did little Vito's issues come from? The same place as Tony's gambling problem? All to make the beating death of Vito seem more important to start off a mob war with Phil. I don't think he ever needed an excuse if this is what comes up. And now we know where Melfi was hiding....on the cutting room floor. We get it - Tony has issues with women and living up to his dad's image. There was no indelible moment like when Tony and Paulie were fishing. That is when Soprano's is at its best, not shitting on the shower floor.

After that we had yet another episode of Entourage. How come so many of the best episodes revolve around Turtle and Drama? Just their names are fun. The relationship between all four is less catty and biting than the foursome from Sex and the City. Yet the differences between them are all the greater, at least economically and and in their physical characters. When Johnny raises his arms in the ring after being "gotten", it shows that these guys can grow and in only a few short seasons compared to the men and women on the Sopranos.

Heroes - Hands down the best show currently on TV and Masi Oka deserves an Oscar. Reading about how they had to do the different versions of Hiro, multiple times in a single day, makes this genuis one of the best actors on the tube. This time traveler needs to go back to Samurai days to beat this episode. And for those on the internet or podcasting without reading NBC's comics that fill in the show, what are you thinking. These are not fan comics, but an actual NBC Heroes addition. Read about the relationship between Petrelli and Lindeman and you will know that papa Petrelli never had a power, confirming Angela (Christine Rose) does.

Preview of Lost - If Sawyer doesn't get revenge on the "real Sawyer" then we know the operation the Others performed was not to implant an exploding pacemaker but to remove his Cajones (burying the diamonds with Nikki and Paulo was the biggest clue). Meanwhile the episode takes place only on the island but the show does have flashbacks, they are just about Locke being with the Others. That one comes from Spoiler Fix

Can't wait for Spiderman 3 - tickets for Friday night. Will write about that after we see it (well okay sometime Saturday before the Cinco de Mayo party).