Did you miss me? The correct answer is yes so just nod your head accordingly. I took a break to kind of sit back and recharge my batteries a bit. I am back and ready to roll even after fighting the monster head cold that I’m still feeling effects from.
Here is what I learned on my Christmas vacation. I got a ton of DVD’s to watch for Christmas which is just about all I asked for so I had plenty to watch. Here is what I learned from my vacation. What was Fox thinking canceling Firefly? I learned that I am a Full House trivia expert according to what I was told by the trivia game on the season 2 box set of Full House. Gilmore Girls finally did an audio commentary on one of their box sets as the writers did a commentary for the season 5 “I Jump You Jump Jack” episode. Carrie Underwood’s first CD is excellent. I learned that I need to buy that Phase 10 card game. I learned that there are quite a few episodes of Seinfeld that I haven’t seen. I got the season 5 DVD set and there are several episodes on it that I haven’t seen. There are scenes in some of them that I remember but I don’t think I’ve seen the full episode. I learned that TNT apparently chops up movies as I noticed some stuff missing from Twister when it aired a couple of weeks ago. I’ve seen that movie many, many times so I picked up on that quickly. Do you remember when that movie was the test to see what kind of sound you had with your surround sound systems? You could go in stores and they would always play that movie where the surround systems were. As I was watching this movie on TNT, one question popped in my head and that is why don’t I have this movie on DVD already? I’ve had the video since it was released but where is my DVD?
Fox really missed the boat on the show Firefly. This show was written by Joss Whedon who also wrote Buffy and Angel. I am 7 episodes into the box set which consists of 14 episodes. The set also includes episodes that never aired. What was Fox thinking? That was what I have constantly thought while watching the episodes. It is Fox so I’m sure they weren’t thinking. This show is really good and I was hooked on it during the premiere. So far, the episode Jaynestown had that Joss humor all over it where Jayne has shown back up in this town to find out that he is worshiped. The reason being is that he and another guy stole a ton of money from the rich leaders. They then had to unload the cargo on takeoff cause of problems flying the ship. He dropped it over the citizens of the town who were poor. So, they see him as a hero thinking he did this on purpose when he really was mad that he lost the money and supplies. Very funny storyline and episode especially when they get into hearing a song in a restaurant that is a type of folk hero tribute song to him. I am loving this show so far and am looking forward to seeing the rest of the series and then seeing the movie made from it, Serenity. If anybody wants to discuss Firefly with me, don’t mention any spoilers or I will be a real unhappy camper.
The TV show Arrested Development may end up getting saved after all. Fox has announced that they will not continue the show but have not canceled it officially so other networks can’t line up to get it. The good news for any of you that might be fans of the show is that people are interested in it with the front runner being Showtime. They are extremely interested in bringing the show over to their network but can’t do anything about it cause Fox won’t officially cancel it.
In more continued Fox bashing on my part this week, Reunion is officially done on Fox. We were supposed to get episodes up until the 1998 episode but Fox ended it for good out of nowhere. We knew the show had been canceled with us getting no explanation as to how the rest of the story was going to play out. This has left fans of the show furious with them just canceling it but now they went ahead and took the remaining episodes away from us that were still going to air. I guess I should have learned how things go over at Fox. This is the first drama that I have watched on Fox since probably 90210 ended. To me, Fox never has been real bright in their decisions especially in the last few years. There is talk from Kristen over at E Online that the WB has shown interest in bringing Reunion over to their network. I think it would be a good fit for the WB but I’ll believe when I see it. I think the show is done but I would love to be proven wrong. There are spoilers out there for the next 4 episodes that didn’t air but I don’t want to read them yet just in case another network does decide to pick it up.
The annual electronics show was held last week and there was some news that came out of it. There was more on the battle between the new high definition DVD formats that are battling it out. It’s similar to the VHS vs. BETA battle from decades ago. It is between HD-DVD and Blu Ray. Different people are getting behind each one. Some studios are looking at releasing high definition DVD’s of new movie releases this year. One thing that got people’s attention was how quiet TIVO was at this year’s show. They usually unveil something but people were talking about how quiet they were. TIVO’s problem is that everyone has taken their idea and is now making their own DVR’s such as DirecTV, Dish Network, and various cable companies. TIVO is trying to figure out their next move. I would much rather have a TIVO style DVR from DirecTV which I do have instead of DirecTV’s newly made DVR’s as I see people complaining about them all the time in the early stages of release. It was kind of like when DirecTV started making their own receivers and did away with Hughes receivers. I had a Hughes for years and it was so convenient and easy to use. Then, to get local channels I had to get a new receiver which turned out to be the new DirecTV made receiver and I disliked the thing with a passion. It wasn’t convenient at all and is just a nuisance all around compared to the Hughes receiver. Anyway, it was definitely some interesting news coming out of the CES show this year.
The popular trivia board game “Scene It” has now released a new Friends TV version. It contains a DVD that has scenes and images from the show. It sounds like a lot of fun and I need to get that game. Maybe we can get a group of us Friends fans together sometime and play this game.
If you like the movie Election, Wal-Mart has the new DVD of it for $8!! I picked it up today as I love that movie. The movie is cheaper and has different cover art from the previous release. Otherwise, it’s the same DVD that has been out for a while now. Same bonus features and all. This stars Reese Witherspoon and Matthew Broderick. Speaking of Broderick, the new Ferris Bueller’s Day Off special edition DVD is now in stores and from the reviews I’ve read is really good. Another movie that is one of my all time favorites.
Fox Reality channel is airing all of last season’s episodes of American Idol leading up to the 5th season Fox premiere. They are airing two episodes (sometimes 3 depending on the length of episodes) a day and I actually found this out by accident when I was flipping around the channels. I found this at a great time as it has just started out. Carrie Underwood won the season that is now airing on Fox Reality. I didn’t watch a lot of American Idol last season so it will be fun to watch it on Fox Reality. They are also doing what is called Reality Revealed. This is where during commercials they will play a segment with various Idol cast members from last season talking about a moment that had just happened on the show that is airing. It’s really interesting to watch and they give a lot of insight to various topics. Yes, I am going to brag that I picked Carrie Underwood to win American Idol immediately after I saw her first audition.
Everyone is giving their 2 cents on favorite movies of 2005. I might as well do the same. My favorite movie of 2005 goes to Star Wars Episode 3. I basically knew that right away after I saw it knowing that it was going to be extremely difficult for another movie to top this one. 2nd place goes to Batman Begins. I thought this was the best of any of the Batman movies including the first Michael Keaton movie in 1989. The writing was good and made sense. It had a lot of story to it while including a lot of action and throwing in a mix of comedy as well. 3rd place and on? I don’t really know since I rarely go to the theaters and wait for DVD releases so there are a lot of movies that I’ve still yet to see. I’m sure Serenity will make it high on the list when I see it. Actually I think I might pick Fever Pitch for 3rd place now that I think of it.
As usual, I was watching TV on New Year’s Eve as I always like to watch the celebration in Times Square. My TIVO got a great workout trying to record the various New Year’s celebrations. Actually, my TIVO has had somewhat of a break lately for the most part cause every show has been reruns for the last 3 weeks or so. It was great to see Dick Clark return to host New Year’s Rockin Eve. He missed last year due to the stroke that he suffered. He said that he had a tough time coming back from his stroke and that he had to teach himself to walk and talk again. He has not been seen publicly since his stroke so this was his big return. It was sad to know what he has gone through but it was great to have him back as it’s not the same without him in Times Square. Ryan Seacrest and Hilary Duff also hosted the show with him. Seacrest was out in the crowd in Times Square and was all over the place. I’ve heard that Seacrest is being groomed to take over that show in the future when Dick Clark steps aside and he is a good choice for sure. Can that guy be any busier? He has about 4 different jobs right now. Hilary Duff hosted the Hollywood portion of the show and also performed. They had a great mix of talent on the show from 3 Doors Down to Sugarland. It was great to see the Bangles as they performed a couple of songs. It doesn’t look like they have missed a beat. Has Suzanna Hoffs aged at all??!! She looked fantastic. Hazy Shade Of Winter is still an awesome song!! The talent was all fun even though there was some music that I am just not into such as Sean Paul. I know a lot of people like him but I just can’t get into his music. Mariah Carey did a live performance in Times Square for the first time ever on New Year’s Rockin Eve. Regis Philbin hosted the show on Fox and did a great job. Regis is a big favorite of mine and he is always a great host. I didn’t even bother with MTV’s New Year’s Eve bash this year. I heard them talking about a week ago saying that it was going to be all music this year. The one time I flipped over to MTV to see what they were doing had them talking to one of the Laguna Beach cast discussing the show. Maybe my timing was bad or something. Anyway, I didn’t watch MTV’s as their events have been annoying to watch in the last couple of years. It was fun to watch Times Square as usual. I would love to go there one year and see that in person.
CBS has revealed the new Survivor Panama cast and it is up on their website now. The new season kicks off on February 2nd.
One of the trivia callers this week on Regis and Kelly got a lot of laughs. If you’re not familiar with the show, they do a trivia game every day and people send in postcards to compete in it. Every day the show picks out a postcard and they’ll call the person giving them a chance at the prize of a trip. Well, it was pretty funny this week when they asked what the person did for a living and the person was a telemarketer. They asked her if she ever got hung up and she said yes. They asked if she had ever been called names and she said sometimes. They got a laugh at the show being the one that called a telemarketer for a change and the ironic twist was that they woke her up when the show called telling her that her card had been picked. A telemarketer being woken up by them calling. Kelly then finished it out jokingly sticking her tongue out and making faces at the camera. It was a funny segment.
That’s all I have for you this week. Well, I have more but I’m saving it for next week. Have a great weekend!!
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