President Logan Is Back: A Reason to Watch "24" Again!

According to Michael Ausiello, King of the Scoop, the fantabulous Gregory Itzin is coming back as (ex) President Logan on 24! Oh joyous day!

The first ever season of 24 I watched was season 5, where Logan/Itzin was featured prominently as the at first buffoonish, ultimately creepy-evil traitorous Commander-in-Chief. It was a Macbethian performance, perfectly pitched and one that bounced well off Jean Smart's unhinged Mrs. Logan. Overall the season was impeccable, and Itzin was the best. One of the greatest injustices in Emmy history is his loss in the 2006 Best Supporting Actor race (Seriously, why did Alan Alda have to get it? He'd won four previous times!).

Well, then season 6 came along, and it wasn't nearly as amazing. Deceased President David Palmer's younger brother, Wayne, was president, and a very wimpy one at that. The preposterousness of Jack's brother and father being evil masterminds, and Audrey's strange miming affectation were beyond what I'd come to accept from the series.

It's strange to think there's only been one season since then (Thanks, Writer's Strike!). I didn't get a chance because of London, and not this summer either.

With the news of the return of Logan, I am definitely watching 24 again this upcoming season. And I am sooo excited!

"Modern Family" Hilarity

Modern Family is a pretty great show, though I haven't quite been able to put my finger on what I like about it so much . I have only rarely laughed out loud during the episodes, but the combination of ridiculously true hilarity and sweet lessons learned is very well balanced.

However, this week the show produced many more genuine belly-laughs, in a variety of ways. First, I found this amazing music video for free on iTunes.

As a preface, watch this segment from the episode two weeks ago.



The reactions are the best part.

So, the free video on iTunes was this.



I was laughing/crying the whole first two times I watched this. Little video extras are what really make shows I like shows I love. The world of the show becomes incredibly vivid and real. And this week's episode of Modern Family was the most hilarious to date, at least to me. Best part: the following. Cameron: "It's not unlocked!!!! Oh, oh. That is amazing, how did they do that? Did it come from space?"

Pet Peeves: My Fickle, Fickle Self

In my Writing for Series TV class we have to write a spec script for one series, and I chose the addictive, hilarious, creepy HBO show True Blood. After cramming both seasons, I was as hooked as Amy and Jason are to V. And, in all honesty, the very attractive cast doesn't hurt the situation.

One of the shifts during the second season was baddie vampire Eric's (Alexander Skarsgard's) gradual and modest softening. He became much more interesting and attractive (because I'm a sucker for wounded tough guys, as evidenced by Sawyer).


Knowing the arc Skarsgard's character goes through, I thought when I went back to season 1 Eric would be really appealing. But watching it all over again, I did not like Eric. And I think this has something to do with it.


I have a major issue with guys and long hair. It's an instant turn off in my books. I couldn't even look at Hugh Jackman when he grew out his hair for Van Helsing, and to this day have never watched that movie. Sawyer's hair can get a little ridiculous at times, and is the limit of what I can accept on guys.

I know it's picky and fickle, but I just can't help it. All I can say is, thank goodness Pam had to cut Eric's locks.

"Lost": YEEESSSSSSSS...but NOOOOOOOOO!!

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things: Sara Ramirez

I really like Grey's Anatomy — it's a solid soap, and provides me with my cathartic tears for the week — but sometimes the show and the cast can seem a bit too serious. Take, for example, front picture of the cast on the show's Hulu homepage. Everyone looks so dour.


Well, I take that back. There is one person giving a huge, happy smile. Thanks, Sara Ramirez, for fully appreciating the stability of being on a hit show, having pretty good storylines and writing (at least so far this season), and the general hotness of the cast surrounding you.

Also, she was fab-u-lous in Monty Python's Spamalot. Check it out.

What the Frick?! "Heroes" Channels "Lost"...Again

When Heroes first came out in 2006, I refused to watch it, thinking it was just NBC's attempt at finding it's own Lost. The comic-book-like show had strange sci-fi circumstances, a large cast of complex characters dealing with extraordinary events surrounding them, and a serialized story of epic proportions — all things just like Lost. Some of my high school friends were into both show, but I couldn't. Lost takes most of my devotion.

Over the years, Lost had a few episodes here and there that were less than stellar, whereas Heroes has slid into a creative nadir. And that's not just my alligence to the other show talking. Numerous fans of the NBC once-juggernaut have said so themselves: see here, here, and here.

I've watched a few episodes recently, mostly because I am crushing on Zachary Quinto after the amazingness that was Star Trek (and he was holding a baby in a photo from an episode, so of course I had to watch it). But the most recent episode really got my goat when I saw it was entitled "Tabula Rasa." Um, excuse me, Heroes, that was the title of Lost's third episode — a Kate flashback. So please stop trying to be Lost. Thanks.

One note on Heroes' "Tabula Rasa" — love the purple plaid shirt on Quinto that exposes a bit of chest hair. Don't love the long hair on him.

Here's the good version of "Tabula Rasa."

That's Funny, Cause He WAS Shakespeare!

I wonder if that line was written because Joseph Fiennes was Shakespeare...in Love.

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things: I Spy...

So, I have a really busy weekend — tons of writing to do for classes/midterms next week. However, I had to take a moment for a post I've been wanting to do for a long time.

I'm very easily excitable and have a real knack for recognizing faces and voices of actors. Put the two together and you get random bursts of squealing from me whenever I spot an actor who shows up in several shows I love. It's been happening a lot recently: I rewatched an episode of Life and noticed the actor playing a homeless man is also Sheriff Dearborne on True Blood, and then I also remembered he was Oldmann, the truth-serum making Dharma-version-of-Sayid on Lost. And the woman who plays Jessica on True Blood, Deborah Ann Woll, was also on an episode of Life. Exciting stuff (if you're me)!

What tipped the scale in favor of writing this post was the appearance of three brand-spanking new SQUEEE moments on Thursday's episode of FlashForward*. First, Joseph Fiennes' character's AA sponsor talks to a bartender (who's just serving him soda) who turns out to be Cassidy, aka Sawyer's baby-mama, on Lost. Then Joseph Fiennes' wife on the show — played by Penny from Lost — is randomly having lunch with Zoe from Firefly**. Those were pretty neat moments for me, but the pièce de résistance was noticing that the German security officer was played by they guy who was Captain Englehorn in Peter Jackson's King Kong (though it's not a TV show connection, it still counts as excitement in my book).

* I really feel like FlashForward is just one big modge-podge of actors from other projects. I know actors have almost always been in other projects before, but this show is full of them. The FBI LA office director was the chief on Law & Order: CI, Joseph Fiennes is Shakespeare in Love (and should NOT be talking with an American accent), his wife is Penny*** from Lost, the other FBI agent is Harold from Harold and Kumar, the man Penny is going to have an affair with is Commodore Norrington from Pirates of the Caribbean, etc.

** Though FlashForward revolves around an interesting concept and has some funny moments, I think my inability to remember characters' names and only refer to them by the actor's name or a different character they've played is a bad sign that I'm not invested in the show.

*** Seriously, she will always be Penny.

Buzzsaw: "Community" Review

This semester I am writing for Buzzsaw, a student-run magazine on campus, in addition to The Ithacan. I've learned a lot of the newspaper, such as working on a deadline and the broader points of AP style, but Buzzsaw is great because I get to show much more of my own style in what I write. Here's my first piece, a review of the new Joel McHale-headlined NBC comedy Community.

Community Holds Promise of Many More Laughs to Come

By buzzsawmag-import | September 27th, 2009 | Family, Ministry of Cool

By Anne Gould Northgraves

Joel McHale is a much funnier, taller, and generally less toolish version of Ryan Seacrest. But until recently, the multi-job-juggling– and the concurrent success– had belonged to the American Idol/E! News/Radio Host. However, with McHale’s high profile headlining NBC’s new comedy Community, about a misfit group of community college students, the comedian is poised to rival Seacrest’s domination.

McHale, and the show in general, is off to a relatively good start. He stars as Jeff, a fast-talking lawyer going back to school to get a legitimate diploma (when asked if he has a degree from Columbia, Jeff replies, “And now I have to get one from America”). And while it is a treat to see a character so unabashedly devious, Jeff treads a fine line between garnering corny sympathy and being too much of a haughty cad to care about. Whether McHale and the writers maintain the balance or veer too far in either direction remains to be seen.

The rest of the cast, while archetypal, complement each other nicely. Filling out the Spanish study group, we have a prim perfectionist with a drug-addicted past (Alison Brie), a mom looking to improve her job prospects (Yvette Nicole Brown), a “dumb” jock feeling societal pressures (Donald Glover), a geek of mixed Middle Eastern descent and a bad case of verbal diarrhea (Danny Pudi), a high school drop-out as idiosyncratic as she is attractive (Gillian Jacobs), and a pompous old man as much interested in spreading his (supposed) wealth of knowledge as he is in learning new things (Chevy Chase).

Pudi, Glover, and Chase are particularly hilarious. In the race for my favorite line of the night, Chase’s pitch-perfect delivery of the line “I am a prominent business leader, and a highly sough-after dinner guest” just beats Glover’s clueless, “You seem pretty smart, you’ve got a sport coat.”

This is only a small sample of the vast amounts of dialogue that fly by with alarming speed, and it is the highlight of a slightly uneven script. Any pilot has to navigate mounds of explication necessary to establish the various characters and general tone of the show. Doing so without any hiccups is almost impossible.

Community throws out information so fast, that the show is occasionally bogged down by it. Even so, the amount of great exchanges, zingers, and witticisms is so high that appreciating them all definitely requires repeat viewings.

Everything that is good about the show is certainly due to its excellent pedigree. Community’s creator and executive producer, Dan Harmon, also co-created the absurdity-filled The Sarah Silverman Program, while executive producers/directors/brothers Anthony and Joe Russo were directors of Arrested Development. The later series had a definite influence in the quick pace and rapid-fire dialogue of Community, and if the genius of Arrested is any indication, that bodes incredibly well for the freshman series.

Given the past performance of those involved, the potential the premiere episode points to and the next episode’s addition of The Hangover scene-stealer Ken Jeong as Spanish teacher Senor Chang, Community definitely passes.

Community is on NBC Thursday nights at 9:30. Catch up with by watching the premiere on nbc.com or hulu.com.

Random Quote: The Unintentional Hilarity of Bill

I've become a big (BIG) fan of True Blood. The show is such a unique mix of creepiness, hilarity, social allegory, and fantasy. The LOL moments are my favorite, and I don't laugh harder than when old-fashioned vampire Bill Compton gets flustered or formal. Take the following exchange —

Bill: Are you gonna leave or am I gonna have to throw you out. Through a window. That is closed!
Sookie: Bill, that is just rude.



There are no Bill quote compilations on youtube that aren't set to music, and I cannot abide music fan videos, and therefore will not subject you to them.

Random Quote: It's Hip to Be a Square!

The video on this link on (of course) EW.com is a-maze-ing. (Also check out Kelly Paul's comments). But the best thing about the Sesame Street Mad Men parody — besides the use of sycophant on a children's television show — is how it brought so many other videos to my mind, and my knowledge.

First, I started looking up clips that played when I was little for a little stroll down memory lane. I remember a ton of great segments: "It's Hip to be a Square," "Cereal Girl," "Great Balls of Fur," "Reach for the Sky" and so, soo much more. Check out these classics.



* I had a slight convulsive episode watching this. I just loved this song so much!



Maybe this is where the seeds for my CSI/forensic love were planted?



I then had to check out some classic famous people I remembered, only a few of which I actually recognized as famous when I was watching. Robin Willams I did know. This is one of my favorites. His shirt is also fantabulous.



And I don't remember this song, but I definitely remember Randy Travis' jacket.



Youtube also showed me some fun recent celeb appearances. You can look them up, but is are my favorite. Jack Black is still Jack Black, and I guess it fits, since he is just a giant child. "Eight stunning angles!"



Aww, memories.

Community = Joyful Good Times

Community is one of the many new shows I wanted to check out with the start of the new Fall TV season, because I love Joel McHale and it just looked funny. The good news is, it IS good. Very good, in fact. See my review of it in Buzzsaw (the link will go in once the site is up). Here's a clip!

Video Recaps | Full Episodes | Webisodes

Dilemma: The Dangers of "Lost" Devotion

Newsflash: I love Lost. I know - what a shock, right? Well, sometimes such unbridled devotion can be a baaad thing. For example: whenever I overhear total strangers talking about Lost, I struggle to not jump into the conversation, and if the mention incorrect information, I die a little bit inside doing the "normal" thing and not budding into their discussion. Though this is something many people struggle with.

Another example: when money is on the line. I hate spending money, but I do not mind shilling out for this dear, dear show. I've bought/pre-ordered all the previous four seasons, and in the process always got them for under $40, which is a big added bonus when drama season DVDs usually go for around$60. However, ABC/Universal went and decided that randomly, for the fifth season they would FINALLY put out a special edition box set. Look at this beautiful thing.


According to this website and contributor Peter Sciretta, this is only the conceptual artwork. But my, isn't it beautiful?

It's going to have the five discs, a VHS tape (!), and I'm assuming some cool pamphlets or something. But the VHS tape and and special edition-ness of it makes this a DVD worth buying. Lost has never put out a special DVD set, so I would assume they have some pretty great stuff for this. Also, the set (which is normally $119.99) is only $79.99 at Amazon (double !!).

But here's where my crazy type-A-ness comes in — if I were to get the Dharma Initiation Kit, as it's being called, it would not match my previous Lost DVD sets. Here they are. Aren't they pretty?



This is the regular season 5 DVD, which goes along with the previous jacket designs.

It is another serious pet peeve of mine when the companies change the style of the DVD jackets. Have they never heard of consistency? So the uniformity of Lost's is something that I really appreciate. Also, the regular edition is a cheaper $38.49 on Amazon ($59.99 otherwise).

So do I go for hopefully (but not guaranteed) awesome extras at a relatively good price, or cheaper similar packaging with pretty good extras?

I would pray on the subject, but I don't want to get smitten (or smote? Smoted?) by God for bothering him with something completely trivial.

I Want My 'Bones' Right Now!

I hear this Bones teaser trailer for the new fifth (fifth?!) season has been out for a little bit. But a perfect storm of interruptions — moving back into college, the Bones Hulu page for some awful reason not wanting to play anything, most of the campus' internet going out over the weekend — prevented me from seeing it until just time moment. And my, what a wonderful thing it is. There is honestly nothing I do not like about it, from the delightful intro by Glee's Jane Lynch (though I personally feel a bit lukewarm about that show, any dose of Jane Lynch is a good dose of Jane Lynch), to the underground death pit (not that I like death, but it's a fresh kind of murder-site).

Enjoy!



Looks like serious fun! And from what I hear, the premiere is typical Bonesian fun. This trailer also taught me a valuable lesson, for just when I thought the most attractive Boreanaz could get was sporting a big ol' smile and a sharp suit, here he is sporting a big ol' smile and some delicious scruff.

Which is the best Boreanaz look? Discuss.

What The Frick, Monday?! Or Is It Bad to Have Homicidal Feelings Towards a Day?

I mean, you can't actually murder it. And I don't think, even if there was a physical incarnation of a day of the week, I would carry out the wicked deed (I can't even bring myself to look at roadkill). Maybe I'd just throttle it a little bit.

Yeah, that's the kind of day I've had. A real bad case of the Mondays.

Listen, children, and you shall hear WHY it's been so awful I just ate some apple pie (ok, it was a quarter of a pie (well, a quarter minus approximately 1.5 bites)) (but it had fruit in it!) (and I had a small lunch of a salad and an apple!!).

Negative: I didn't get a ton of sleep, and was really lethargic all day.
Positive: I had stayed up watching LOTR.
Negative: There was a dead fox on the road into work.
Positive: I only found out about it from others, as I did not see it driving in or driving out!
Negative: Forgot to put the Netflix in the mailbox.
Negative: The cable was not working this morning, nor this afternoon.
Negative-Positive-Triple-Negative (resulting in a Double-Negative): I called Comcast, and got hustled around, though in the midst of the phone call the channels started working again! Then the lady said I had to leave the TV on for 20 minutes while it readjusted. The channels turned off. One hour and twenty minutes later, STILL NO CHANNELS.
Negative: Ithaca College decided to change Webmail, in an attempt to make it...cooler? More like iGoogle? More confusing? Harder for me to quickly check my e-mail? The worst addition to the Internet since Crazy Frog?
Negative: I wanted to check my mealplan and housing stati (real word? Mac spellcheck says it is) on Ithaca's Homerconnect site. It's not working.
Negative: After a call to Residential Life, there is no chance of us getting into an apartment until mid-September at the earliest.
Positive: This:



Thanks, television...on the Internet.

Hulu, once Again You Rock My Heart! This Time, to Space(ed)!!

I've heard that some people get into relationships with their DVRs. They record things you love, suggest others you might, and when they're temperamental, your whole world smashes to pieces.

Well, I wouldn't know. But what I DO know is that I think I'm starting to fall in love with Hulu. Sure, I've been expounding its virtues for a long time, but that was more like a bit of a crush. But after logging in today and watching the flipping menu to see what new offerings there were, what should I behold? Only one of my favorite. Shows. Ever. No, not Lost (there's a good chance they should be there soon though). Nor Arrested Development (they're already there). Or Firefly (again, Hulu's already got it). Its Simon Pegg and Jessica Hynes nee Stevenson's amazing Channel 4 1999-2001 series Spaced, about a pair of new friends who pretend to be dating in order to get a flat.

To celebrate/entice additional obsessees, here's an admittedly longis clip (this is showing a lot of restraint). Hopefully you'll enjoy. If not, well, let's say irreverent modern British humor is not everyone's cup of tea.

What's It All About, Andy Rooney?

Whist flipping around the telly this evening, I happened on footage of fruit and an old man saying "mangoes." Well, of course I had to check it out. At the sight of shaky old hands and a distinctive whiny voice I realized it was Andy Rooney talking about fruit. And what was he saying about fruit? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. All I gathered from it was 1) There are a lot of fruits, 2) most are exotic, 3) Andy has not tried/does not like most of them, and 4) tomatoes should be with vegetables.

The complete uselessness of this segment of 60 Minutes got me thinking: what use does Andy Rooney serve? It's not his age - though I can't quite understand why, at 90, he doesn't want to take a break, go fishing, or take a nap in an easy chair - I mean, 87-year-old Christopher Lee has at least 5 films yet to be released, Maya Angelou is 81 and still working, and Sean Connery is still an inspiration to women around the world at 79. I guess I just have no stomach for solely opinion-based commentary when done is such an obnoxious manner.

Also, he didn't like mangoes. And, well, I have no use for people who don't care for mangoes. But that's just my opinion.

Random Quote: Miles Makes My Day

"You owe me a fish taco!" - Miles Straume, Lost



P.S. - In the process of finding an appropriate clip for Miles (there is an extreme lack of them, I have to say), I found a MILES/KATE romance video. Not to get too Grey's-Anatomy on y'all, but Seriously?

Seriously?

Summer Doldrums Are Hereby Interrupted By The Amazing Bender Bending Rodrguez!

Ah summer (Not Glau. Which isn't a surprising link to make if you'd been watching several episodes of Firefly [and the commentary] like I have). Between a near-week-long trip to Harrisburg to spend some much-needed time with my Ithaca people I missed while in London, hanging with my pEEps, a lack of universal internet in the house, attempts to read and clean my room, and the all-consuming entity that is summer television I haven't been able getting online much. I mean, seriously. It's like the universe wants me to be a big fat blob. Bones marathons. CSI marathons. Nights with Conan and the increasingly amusing Jimmy Fallon.

But man, I'm making time for THIS glorious news. Futurama is back! Sweet Hypno Toad's Heiny. Let's all jump on the Planet Express Ship and set sail to Comedy Central, sometime in 3010. Oops, I mean 2010. The network has picked up 26 episodes of the show, which hasn't seen new episodes since the four feature-length direct-to-DVD movies released since 2007, which were themselves broken up into 16 episodes shown on Comedy Central.


So until the joyous day when the new eps begin, I say we keep watching old (but never boring) Futuramas. Oh, the glory of summer.

Slap Chop: This Summer's Best Comedy!

You know Vince, that guy who shills all those things on infomercials? Like the Sham Wow! Well, I just saw the Slap Chop, and it. Cracked. Me. Up. I don't know what it was - I mean, I've seen it before. It's probably the combination of a very late time with the innate and unintended humor. But everything about it is magically delicious.



Um, "Stop having a boring tuna, stop having a boring life." "You're gunna love my nuts." The crazy-fast way he talks. The needless headset. (By the way, when he opens it up, on the TV he said "Like a butterfly," which I prefer much better.) The amazing way he throws the other food-chopper in the sink, over his shoulder. "Fugetaboutit." "Life's hard enough as it is, you don't want to cry anymore." "We're gunna make America skinny again, one slap at a time." (Really, we're all going to slap each other?) His amazing hand motion at "one slap." "The Graty." "Fettuccine, linguini, martini, bikini." It's hilarious!