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I've spent a decent part of this week parked in front of the television checking out new shows and starting the new season with a few others. Monday was the return of Heroes. Watching the premiere brought me right back into that universe as if I'd never left. The premiere took place 4 months after the 1st season finale. This is definitely a show I won't miss.
I stuck around to watch Journeyman after that. I really like the premise but it's something that's been done before (e.g., Quantum Leap). I'll probably give a couple more episodes and decide on whether to keep watching. One thing that is nice about it is that it will have self-contained episodes and not serialized like Heroes or Lost. So if there is nothing better on at 9 pm on Mondays, I can watch it without being out of the loop.
Tuesday night was Beauty and the Geek. Don't have much to say about it. It's a popcorn show for me, just something that's fun to watch. I missed Reaper and will have to try and catch that one online or something.
Come February, Wednesday nights are going to be tough. I watched the premiere of Bionic Woman and I liked it quite a bit. I'm interested to see where it goes. But it's on at the same time as what Lost was last season as well this season starting in February I'm guessing. Will definitely have to DVR one and watch the other. Although NBC is getting better about putting their shows online while ABC has been doing it for a couple seasons now.
This evening, I just finished watching the season premiere of The Office. It was an hour long episode and there were quite a few stories going on in this one. This show only gets better by the season.
I'm really pumped for Sunday night. It's the premiere of Dexter on Showtime. I can't wait for that one. That's probably the one I've been looking forward to the most.
So that's my fall TV season so far.

Labels: Dexter, Heroes, Lost, Showtime, tv

I don't know if it will be on Youtube for long but you have to check out Sunday night's Robot Chicken. In case you missed it, it's absolutely hilarious. They filled 30 minutes rather than the usual 15-minute episodes with just Star Wars-related skits. Very, very funny stuff.

Here's part 1:

Labels: robot chicken, star wars, youtube

Apparently next week's Entertainment Weekly will include a pic of the new Batsuit for the Batman Begins sequel, The Dark Knight. I believe it was EW where I first saw a glimpse of the Batman Begins batsuit almost 3 years ago. I think the new one looks pretty sweet. As noted, the head and neck area have a lot more range of motion. That's a good thing. The utility belt appears to be the same, from this angle anyway. I'm really pumped for next July.

Labels: batman

Apple.com recently posted the teaser trailer for the latest adaptation of Richard Matheson's very entertaining book, I Am Legend. This one stars Will Smith. There was talk for a good, long while about Arnold Schwarzenegger starring. Thank goodness that didn't happen. There have been two other adaptations: The Last Man on Earth starring Vincent Price and The Omega Man starring Charlton Heston. I've only seen The Omega Man. I didn't really care for it much.
I first read the book over 5 years ago. My uncle let me borrow his hardback copy. I didn't read it right away but once I started I couldn't stop.
It's the story of Robert Neville, the last man on earth, and he's not alone. The rest of the world has turned into vampires. So each night is torture for him and he spends his days hunting them down. The book was written in 1954 and is set in the late 1970s. The current movie, coming out this December, is set in the near future. The setting for the book and movie are entirely different. I don't want to go into a lot of detail on the differences but I'm going to read the book again. I bought a paperback copy a few years ago and it sat on my shelf until recently when I let a good friend of mine borrow it. He was familiar with I Am Legend from a White Zombie tune of the same name. I had forgotten about that but after telling him about the book, it made even more sense to him. Needless to say, he loved the book.
So before you see any of those movies based on the book, read it first. I am looking forward to the new one although I know it is definitely going to have major differences from the book.

Labels: i am legend, movies, vampires

I've watched my share of TV since my last post and continued to buy a few comics on a regular basis. I also joined the rest of the world and subscribed to Netflix. I had to upgrade to the 2-at-a-time unlimited plan since my wife and I have totally different tastes in movies and I tend to get mine watched a lot faster than she does. So Netflix really likes her as a customer. I've been renting documentaries mostly.
I didn't miss a single episode of Heroes or Lost. I feel that Heroes had the best season of shows overall but Lost had the better finale.
My wife and I did make sure not to miss the last episodes of the Sopranos. My feeling is that Tony did not get whacked after the screen cut to black. I'm in the camp that Tony is always going to have be aware of his surroundings regardless of where he is. That's the life he has to live.
As far as the big screen goes, I've only seen Spider-Man 3 and Knocked Up for the summer movie season. SM3 was a tad disappointing. Like a lot of people have said, too much was crammed into the flick. Knocked Up was hilarious and well worth seeing. Both my wife and I loved it.
On the comic book front, Civil War finally ended in the Marvel Universe although the repercussions continue with the Initiative. I've dropped on the number of issues I buy on the crossover events. Civil War was a bit much. I continue to keep up with Ultimate X-Men and the Ultimates Volume 2 just finished up. Looking forward to Volume 3. My other top titles include New Avengers, Wolverine and a handful of other mostly Marvel titles. The only DC title that I read regularly is Justice.
The rest of the summer will probably consist of more TV, more movies from Netflix and more comics.

Labels: comics, movies, tv

I know it was on Sunday night and it's been a few weeks since I last posted but I just want to say "WOW!" about the finale of Dexter. This amazing show is probably my favorite new show and quite possibly my favorite one overall right now. I'd have to say it beats out Lost and Heroes and I love both of those. I'm sad to see the 12-episode season end already. My next step is to find the book it's based on, Darkly Dreaming Dexter, and probably go ahead and pick up the 2nd one, Dearly Devoted Dexter, that the 2nd season to come will supposedly be based.
Michael C. Hall more than deserves the Golden Globe for Best Actor. If you haven't taken the time to watch this show, hopefully you've got Showtime On Demand to go back and watch all of them.

Labels: Dexter, Showtime

I've been spending many hours on the couch this fall season watching both some new shows and returning favorites.

Here's my week:
Sunday:
Dexter - Probably right at the top of the list of my favorite new shows. I never got into Six Feet Under so I wasn't all that familiar with Michael C. Hall but wow. He's just unbelievable in this role. This is just a great show. Showtime replays the show every night of the week so there are plenty of chances to catch this one.
60 Minutes - I grew up hating this show because my dad always had it on Sunday nights and it interfered with The Simpsons or some other Fox cartoon. But now as an adult, I hate missing it.
Monday:
Heroes - Up there with Dexter, it started out kind of slow but things are really picking up now. Hiro is my favorite. He's the geek who is into the whole good vs. evil and using his power for the good of mankind and not benefit himself, etc. Finally there is a good show to watch on a Monday night.
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip - I hated Friends. I couldn't stand it. But I love Matthew Perry in this. Bradley Whitford is great too and so is D.L. Hughley. I know it's not doing great in the ratings but give it some time.
Tuesday:
Nip/Tuck - I wasn't an avid watcher of the first 2 seasons like my brother was but have jumped on the bandwagon late last season and then this season. Rosie O'Donnell's guest appearances have been great though I'm not for her own spin-off series like I've heard others talk about. I think her character would get old quickly.
Wednesday:
Lost - This show sure likes to mess with people's heads. I don't care much for the 2 new Losties but there's still a lot of season left. Tomorrow night is the last new episode until February which is bad news but the good news is that it will new shows for the rest of the season without repeats. I can handle that tradeoff.
South Park - The new season is great. Matt and Trey are still at the top of their game.
Thursday:
The Office - This is the only sitcom I can watch and it's a good one at that. The show has really grown since the partial first season.
Friday:
Battlestar Galactica - Another show I'm late in jumping on board with. Previous 2 seasons I was always gone on Friday nights and didn't have a DVR to record with and never took the time to set my VCR and never got around to getting the DVDs. Anyway, this show is smart sci-fi. The sci is almost secondary to the fi and drama. And it's the sci part that is the reason why my wife won't watch it with me. I do sometimes have to record it since a lot of Fridays are spent driving to the in-laws or out with friends.

The nightly shows I try not to miss are Countdown with Keith Olbermann, The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. If you watch all 3, then you'll have a pretty good idea of what's going on in the world.

The latest casting news for the Iron Man movie is Terence Howard of Hustle & Flow fame. He'll play Jim Rhodes, an old friend of Tony Stark who served as Tony's personal pilot for a while, impersonated Iron Man on more than one occasion and eventually became the superhero War Machine with the help of an Iron Man-esque armor suit from Stark Industries. In case you didn't already know, Robert Downey, Jr. will play Tony Stark/Iron Man. I'd say this flick is off to a good start with the casting choices. My bet is that we wouldn't see anything of War Machine until a sequel or two later. I wish Jon Favreau all the luck in directing this flick. As fan of the comics and Favreau, I hope this helps keep Marvel movie standards up high like the X-Men and Spider-Man moves have done.