Evie's Entertainment blog

This time of the year brings the end to a lot of different shows. Some old and ready to go away, others not so much. Some will be morned, other's demise will be celebrated.

ABC
According to Jim
Boston Legal
Cupid
Dirty Sexy Money
Eli Stone
HOmeland Security
In the motherhood
Life on Mars
Opportunity knocks
Pushing Daisies
Samantha Who
The Unusuals

Hmmm. i guess remaking a cancelled show (Cupid) doesn't really work. I see lots and lots of sophmore series here..with the investment they made in those that's gotta really suck. I liked Eli Stone and Pushing daisies ok but they were just too quirky for their on good or network tv...take your choice.

CBS
Eleventh Hour
the Ex List
Game Show in my head
Harpers island
The Unit
Without a Trace
Worst Week

I was starting to suspect that it might be without a traces time this season. For me the show seems to be getting kinda tired. I mean back in the day I really liked it but lately it just seems too much soapy relationship stuff. But thats just my 2cents. What exactly was game show in my head? I mean i never even heard of that one. I kinda liked Eleventh Hour and felt like it was getting better at the end but i guess it just wasn't doing well enough.

CW
13 Fear is real
4real
Easy Money
Everybody hates Chris
The Game
In Harms Way
Privileged
Reaper
Valentine

Ummm... I didn't watch any of these shows and haven't even heard of more than half of them.

FOX
Do not disturb
Hole in the Wall
Osbornes reloaded
Prison Break
Secret Millionare
Sit down Shut up
Terminator Sarah Connor Chronicles

Wow! i'm in shock. FOX wasn't the network withthe most canceled shows this year. Good for them. Furthermore several of their cancelations were more than urned. I mean Hole in the Wall and Osbornes reloaded should have never made it to air.

NBC
America's Toughest Jobs
Chopping block
Crusoe
Deal or no Deal
ER
Howie Do it
Kath and Kim
Kings
Knight Rider
Life
Lipstick Jungle
Momma's boys
My name is Earl
My own worst Enemy
Superstars of Dance

This is a weird list. There are good shows on it (Life) shows that lived long and earned their send off (ER) and total junk (chopping block). NBC canceled a ton of stuff including constant stand in Deal or no deal. Hopefully they learned not to remake old shows (Bionic woman, knight rider). Hopefully they have something decent up their sleaves for next year other than Leno because that kinda sucks.

Overall the 2 shows I really watched that got canceled were Without a Trace, Eleventh Hour and Life. Of those i think i will miss Life the most. I know some people will be really upset by some shows on this list. I mean NBC really hacked away at it's schedule or ABC knocking of it's quirky shows. But in the end this is all part of the cycle and we will be doing this again next year..and the year after that...

Honestly I watch CBS more than any other network...i just really like my crime shows. Looking at their new schedule it's pretty par for the course with only a couple of surprises. The cancelled Without a Trace and Eleventh Hour but kept Gary Unmarried and The New Adventures of Old Christine? And what's up with them taking NBC castoff Medium? Well i guess it kind works between Ghost Whisperer and Numbers but unless if gets more CBSish numbers I can't see it staying there long.

Monday
How i met your mother
Accidentally on purpose
Two and a half men
big bang theory
CSI Miami

Tuesday
NCIS
NCIS Los Angeles (are they serious about that name?)
The Good Wife


Wednesday
The New Adventures of old Christine
Gary Unmarried
Criminal Minds
CSI New York

Thursday
Survivor
CSI
The Mentalist

Friday
Ghost Whisperer
Medium
Numbers

saturday
Rerun
rerun
48 hours mystery

Sunday
60 Minutes
Amazing Race
3 Rivers
Cold Case

I'm not  feeling these new shows...the Mentalist move is interesting and makes total sense if CBS suspects the CSI's days are numbered. Since i'm sure they don't want to give up on thursday. I'm disapointed at no changes at all on Wednesday. I mean Old Chistine and Gary are 2 of the lowest rated shows no the network..Criminal Minds deserves to have a lead in but here we are with another year with CBS totally giving up on this hour.

Well it's been a few years since ABC has had a new show that really worked. This year just wasn't that impressive...they really need another season like the one that brought us Greys anatomy and Desperate Housewives and Lost. Is this that kind of season? My first thought is no, but ya know hope springs eternal and at least they have plenty of new shows this time around...it's classic ABC lets toss a ton of stuff out there in the hope that something sticks.

Monday
Dancing With the Stars
Castle

Tuesday
Shark Tanks
DWTS
The Forgotten

Wednesday
Hank
The Middle
Modern Family
Cougar Town
Eastwick

Thursday
Flash Forward
Greys anatomy
Private Practice

Friday
Supernanny
Ugly Betty
20/20

Saturday
College Football

Sunday
America's Funniest Home Videos
Extreme Makeover Home Edition
Desperate Housewifes
Brothers and Sisters

ABC also has a ton of stuff lined up as mid-season replacements. The Wednesday comdey block should be interesting. Definately counter programing for the 9:00 hour as oposed to what the other networs are offering. Leno is a real favor to Castle and other weaker 10pm shows. Between Castle, and the Forgotten ABC might be taking a crime show lesson from CBS. Will any of these shoes actually work? Will any even survive the first half of the season? That's the big mystery. And with this bing Lost's last season ABC is gonna need at least one new hit to fill it's space.

Hmmm...interesting but i'm not so sure the mid-season schedule will hold if the Jay Leno hour bombs as badly as I think it might.

Monday
Heroes
Trauma
Leno

Tuesday
Biggest looser
Leno

Wednesday
Parenthood
Law and Order SVU
Leno

Thursday
SNL Thusday
Parks and Recreation
The Office
Community
Leno

Friday
Law and Order
Southland
Leno

Saturday
Dateline NBC
Re-runs

Sunday
Football

Midseason

Monday
Chuck
Day One
Leno

Tuesday
same

Wednesday
Mercy
Law and Order SVU
Leno

Thursday
Community
Parks and Recreations
The Office
30 Rock
Leno

Friday
same

Saturday
same

Sunday
Dateline NBC
The Marriage Ref
Celebrity Apprentice

Well i'm glad to see Chuck made the cut...too bad it's not back until midseason. I'm not sure if moving Law and Order SVU to that Wednesday time slot is a good idea...i mean Wednesdays really tore into original Law and Order. Nothing here seems to scream we fixed out problems though... and the Leno thing is just kinda like giving up.

I went to see the new Star Trek movie on it's opening. It was good. Now mind you I might be a sci-fi fan but I am not a Trekkee or whatever they call themselves. Personally my favorite sci-fi shows were Twilight Zone and X Files but that's just me. Now mind you i'm the daughter of a Trek fan and as a kid i watched Next Generation. Now i've seen maybe one or 2 episodes of the original series. So bear in mind that's were i'm coming from.

I liked this movie the same way I liked a lot of other action movies. It was fun and fast paced. It wasn't the best movie i've ever seen but it was better than I expected. Now i have to admit i was totally rolling my eyes when they went into the time travel stuff but that's just because I watch Lost which is also JJ Abrams. Now unlike Lost the time travel stuff here makes sense. Not that there arn't some plot hole issues and things that were too convenient. For instance when Spock ejects Kirk onto the Ice PLanet where it just so happens that the other Spock is and the only guy around who can teleport them back on the ship. I mean it's ok in that movies are about suspension of disbelief and all but that was a bit convenient. Not to mention what was up with Spock ejecting Kirk from the ship in the first place? I mean did they not have time to finish the brig or something?

Anyway i'll stop nit-picking. It was a good movie that seems to be doing great business and i'm sure we will be taking several more trips with this Erterprise crew.

Here we go again! another season another set of new shows. Hopefully something is half decent or Fringe gets better..you know..less watered down x files.

Monday
House
Lie to me

Tuesday
So YOu think you can dance

Wednesday
So YOu thing you can dance
 Glee

Thursday
Bones
Fringe

Friday
Brothers
Till Death
Doll House

Saturday
Cops
America's Most wanted

Sunday
The OT
The simpsons
the cleveland show
family guy
american dad

Midseason replacements
Monday
24
House

Tuesday
American Idol
Past Life

Wednesday
American Idol
Human Target

Thursday
same

Friday
same

Saturday
same

Sunday
Encores
American dad
Simpsons
Son's of Tucson
Family Guy Cleveland Show

Hmmm... this should be interesting. No more terminator...and Dollhouse breaks the friday curse...not that i was pulling for one over the other. As far as new shows Past life could be interesting but i was disapointed by the book it came from. Human Target could be interesting or really bad. Fringe is back and hopefully they've got something interesting planned because so far i haven't been loving the show and next season that's gonna be a really rough time slot. Bones had better pull it back together from that miserable finalie. We shall see. It will be interesting to see if so you think you can dance can survive the actual season

I really like the various novels by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. I definately like their novels together rather than there solo efforts but that's a whole different topic. It's been 2 years since they published their last book together "Wheel of Darkness" which had some really Lostish themes and content in it. The rumor was after that that they were working on a zombie book called "Revenant" where something really bad was going to happen to one of their regulars. Well that book just came out under the title "Cemetary Dance." I'm really not liking this title and would have prefered they kept the original title. It fit more with the actual content of the book. Personaly I liked it. It wasn't as good as their best books (Relic and Cabinet of Curiousities)but it wasn't their worst. I liked this more than Wheel of Darkness or Still Life with Crows. I liked it about as much as I liked Brimstone.

At this point I want to put up a spoiler warning for anyone who has any interest at all in reading this book. I just don't want to spoil anything for anyone.

S

P

O

I

L

E

R

OK... the big huge thing about this book is that they kill off Smithback in the first chapter. Now Smithback was introduced in Relic and was a major player in many many other books. He was the male lead in the book Thunderhead where he met his wife Nora, who plays a major role in this book. Smithback is the #2 on thecharacter that has appeared in the most books. He appears in Relic, Reliquary, Thunderhead, Cainet of Curiousities, Dance of Death, Book of the Dead and now in Cemetary dance. The only character than can be found in more books is Pendergast who'e series it is.

There were some really sad scenes here and it was interesting to see how each character coped with his death. D'Agosta seemed particularly affected in that he was really really angry through the entire book and although his ex/girlfriend Laura wouldn't admit it he didn't need Pendergast to get him in trouble this time around, he was finding it for himself and a one point taking Pendergast with him. Which is kinda a role reversal from normal. Nora is understandable a mess here. She was attacked by the killer too and her husband was mudered. Not to mention she's being stalked by a "zombie," at times even in the form of her husband. Pendergast seems to be at least somewhat affected as well. There are a couple of times he seems kinda off his game. He also at a couple of points seems a bit defensive. Although there were other issues there. Although Pendergast does show some of his feeling regarding this death in the "tea ceremony scene" which makes more sense if you've read those book that i've listed that Smithback has been in before. Throughout the book there is a lot of reflection on Smithback and the things he's done throughout the books. It makes the whole thing kinda depressing.

Overall it was a really quick read with a lot of suspense. I liked it a lot more than last time's Wheel of Darkness because Pendergast seemed more like his normal self here. In that book he really seemed to take a back seat to Constance, whom is only mentioned in this book. This book feels a lot more like Preston and Child again which is a good thing. I didn't see who the bad guy was until prettly late in the book which was good.

This was a pretty good, but not great outing. The characters are all prettymuch worse for wear at the end. Smithbak's dead. Nora's got a concussion and probably some brused ribs not to mention some likely psychological issues from loosing her husband, being attacked by his killer, being chased by zombies and kidnaped. Pendergast was shot and was in the hospital for it at the end of the book. D'Agosta has a broken arm care of the real zombie. Plenty of random extras are dead. There are some scenes here that will be really hard for animal lovers as well. And well..the bad guy literally looses his head.

After this and Child's novel Terminal Freeze, I'm thinking these guys got it in for hollywood. Probably has something to do with the mess that was the Relic movie

Hmmm... maybe i'm just in a bad mood but this week in TV kinda left me cold.

Lost: this show literally has lost me this season. The first couple of season's I really loved this show..but recently it's just been kinda out there. I mean back in the first season blew me away. Now I can barely stay awake. Juliet's final scene this season was impressive, but people talking about her "death" need to remember if she's dead so is everyone else. After watching this my head hurt and not in a good way.

Bones: WTF? I mean really? That's your finalie. Wow. I disliked Bones's finalie last year, but this was actualy worse because it had absolutely no point. "The Lab" as a night club? Booth's brother as a killer? The whole thing was just annoying and confusing and totally pointless. Not to mention a total wimp out on the promis of getting Bones and Booth together... totally cheating..totally lame.

Criminal Minds: They had a pretty good episode going, suspensefull enough. The anthrax attack and government keeping secrets really worked, but for me this episod totally fell apart in the last 10 oir so minutes. I can get over the fact that they conveniently found the cure to save Reid even though in the real world there prpbably wouldn't have been a cure and Reid in his condition problably would have died anyway. No, what bothered me was that you have this scene where it looks like Reid is dying they cut away. They stop the bad guy. Then before getting back to show if they killed off a character or not they show a scene with 2 of the other characters having a philisophical discussion about lying and the government keeping secrets. No mention that any of the other characters knew he had survived. As an audience member you're left feeling "I guess he's OK because otherwise wouldn't they be worried about him." The character was fine in the end but it just annoyed me and killed this episode for me. I hope the finalie is better.

It's been a while since I've posted...I always say that don't I. Well here goes nothing.

Heroes - while this part is better than last i've yet to be really shocked. I mean the whole Sylar story's kinda interesting. The fugitive part is kinda interesting. I mean deep down, I feel like most of what this show is doing was more interesting when 4400 did it. I still feel like that was so much better a show.

Lost - well i guess it says it in the name. I'm Lost. Present day, 1970s. Plane crashes and all. I mean Lost is really loosing it's shock factor too. It's more wierd than anything anymore.

American Idol - well were to the top 10 now... and this season's starting to feel just as fixed as the last. I mean the last thing this show needs is more producer control, but this year they brought back wildcards and the judge's save...yesh! I mean at least in the past they've pretended it's america's choice.

CSI - they seem to have survived the cast switch over. Good for them. It seems like this show is all about the gore...i mean it seems like we see more and more of the autopsy everyweek.

24 - well it's better than last season. It's decently suspensefull. Although some of the plot points seem further out there than usual..A group of like 10 taking over the White house...really? And Jack with all his speaches this year....*sigh*

Chuck - I still ike Chuck. It's not the most edgy of show's but it's fun in a Get Smart kind of way.

Life - I know it's almost gone but I still really like this show. I mean the characters might be a little less quirky this seasons but it's still pretty good. I just hope they wrap up the long story before they end it.

11th hour - Is it just me or has this show been getting better. I really thought the killer lightning episode was interesting in an X Files kinda way.

Criminal Minds - Speaking of an X Files kinda way there was a scene last week where 2 of the characters were debating possession and exercism that just totally seemed like a conversation Mulder and Scully would have had back in the day. This is stil one of my favorite shows and they had a terrific and at times shocking episode last night.

Dollhouse - I'm still on the fence on this one. I mean theres some decent action sequences some but its all kinda weird and creepy and not in a good way.

Lie to Me - here's another show i'm really on the fence with. Its interesting enough, but they haven't had an episode that's really blown m
e away.

Supernatural - it started out great..now it's pretty normal supernatural stuff. It's interesting but not blowing me away like the beginning of the season.

I went to Disneyland not too long ago and while riding the Nemo Subs got to thinking about the rides that have come and gone. Namely those that were here today and gone tomorrow. I remember one about flight in Tomorrowland that wasn't busy even when it first opened (I think it ended up becoming line space for star tours) and there was Rocket Rods (that has been replaced by Buzz Lightyear). But, in my opinion the best of these rides was the one that never even got built here on the west coast. ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter (Alien Encounter for short) was supposed to be built where Pizza Port is...but it never came to be. This ride was in fact build in Disney World's Magic Kingdom where I got the opportunity to experience it. And it was an Experience. Being a Californian I only got the opportunity to ride it once in 1996. To be honest it scared me bad. The basic premise is that there is this alien company X S tech that has come to earth and there showing off their teleportation divice. There's a couple of really cool waiting rooms one where a poor little alien named Skippy gets fried by this glitchy tech. In the main room you sit down in the restraint system which's purpose becomes clear when the ride starts, mainly it's so you don't run away and hurt youself in the dark. The show starts and the leader of the company is supposed to get teleported in but the machine is clitchy and a mean nasty people eating alien is teleported in in his place....that's where the fun begins. The alien breaks out and the lights go out. Momentary images, special effects, and sounds create the effect of making it seem like there is a killer alien in the room. It felt like you could feel it breaking, hear it feeding and it even seemed like it licked your head. In the end they blow the alien up, complete with "blood spray" (water being sprayed at you in the dark). It was a lot more effective to experience rather than explain. The vast majority of the action takes place in pitch dark leaving your mind to fill in the blanks. All in all it was extremely dark. Very un-Disney and probably traumatized a few kids for life. Me being a teenager at the time really got a kick out of it. It was one of those things you either loved or hated. Some people like the enchanted tiki room...that's not my thing. This was fun, and twisted. I've heard a couple of reasons for this attraction being closed, whatever the reason Alien Encounters was closed in 2003 and has since been replaced by Stitch's Great Escape (which rumor has it has an appearance by Skippy!). Now for me that Stitch ride would have to come up to a pretty high bar to match this very short lived attraction. It was a one of a kind thing, unlike any ride or show i've ever seen or experienced. In closing it there went probably the most edgy attraction i've ever seen in a Disney park...heck in any theme park.  We really should have gotten this here in California instead of Rocket Rods...but that's just my opinion.

That being said, am I alone in thinking that tomorrow land really is starting to seem dated? I love Space Mountian as much as anyone but it just seems like there should be a couple more attractions and a bit more future...it feels like the 50s idea of the future. Alien Encounter felt like the begining of a new outlook on tomorrow land that got dropped before it even got statred. Maybe it's time to start looking again. Hopefully something inovative gets done because lately it seems like many new attractions are Pixar based...see Buzz Lightyear, Toy story mania, Bugs life land i think there's a monster's inc ride in california adventure. All of this is find and good...but not all that inventive. Lets get something one of a kind and unique...