the end of an era

As you know, as I've described below, much like the last episodes of THE SOPRANOS, these are the last blogs. Unfortunately - or fortunately - I've become too busy to really pay attention to this site at the moment, so for now, going to keep reviewing up to the last ep of THE SOPRANOS - since the blog began with the first season (on dvd) - this seems like a fitting end. You'll see a few repeat reviews in here, but that's due to my total lack of focus on this site for the moment. Please accept my apologies, as this blog is important to me, but it doesn't really fit in with my life right now.

THE SHIELD (EP 2)
Another complete nail-biter. This show's extended 6th season is a scorcher and Chicklis has never been better as Mackey.
Grade: A

I gave up on DANCING WITH THE STARS - it was fun for a while, but I can't really get into the dance critiques.

Sanjaya remains on IDOL and also remains the one interesting contestant - as this whole season has been an utter bore.

HOUSE scored another great ep with the outbreak of mass hysteria on a moving plane. This show is really showing signs of life in it's final episodes of the season and really upping the stakes for its characters.

Going to see GRINDHOUSE this weekend. Will let you know how it is.


THE SHIELD (FX)
Continues it's winning streak from last season with a first rate opener. No spoilers - but if you love this show like I do, it continues to get better.
Grade: B +


THE SOPRANOS (HBO)
THE SOPRANOS opens it's final season, as usual - with a so/so episode. Not that I didn't like the idea of confining it all to one space and having the story be small - the story points with Tony and Bobby were actually really good - it's just the bluntness of the storytelling - the lingering on the character of Janice....God - Janice is probably the show's most poorly conceived and rottenly executed character. She was brought it when Nancy Marchand, who played T's mom, was dying. They thought somehow that Janice would carry the torch and be that foil for Tony. Here's the problem with that theory - Janice is NOT the actress Marchand was - there's a big difference with the mom and the sister in terms of relationships with Tony - and the actress simply plays every scene as if she's had no training at all. Also - the show didn't really need a replacement for the Mom - that was a very special arc and it ended. But with the exception of the near-perfect first season, THE SOPRANOS has never been completely consistent - it's just always been great as a whole - and I have no reason to think there won't be some great eps coming up. Like I said - I actually liked last night's storyline - I just think that script could've gone through a few more workouts and not have been so obvious. I'm also not encouraged by the previews nor the thing David Chase has been saying in the press (he thinks Paulie Walnuts seeing the Virgin Mary last season was one of the series high points - when in fact, it was one of the very low points.) The fact that Chase is directing the finale is scary - Chase is fond of dream sequences, fantasy sequences and anything that has nothing to do with the reality of the show. This final season could be a very bumpy ride, but I hope it's not bumpy enough to fuck up the legacy.
Grade: B -


ENTOURAGE (HBO)
On the other hand, this show seems to be hitting its stride - and having Ari not be the agent for a while is working really well.
Grade: B +

THE "SAW" TRILOGY (DVD)
The first film (unrated) is a modern horror masterpiece of grueling set pieces, an unlimited gruesome imagination and a truly original take on torture and malice. SAW II was like - taking the SAW idea and integrating it with LAW AND ORDER: SVU. You had this really cheesy cop story integrated with the SAW idea and an expanded role for JIGSAW - the Hannibal-esque killer that we didn't see in the first movie - who is now a real MOVIE MONSTER - complete with a steely look and a mysterious way of talking. In other words - a real piece of shit of a sequel. SAW III was even more of a piece of shit. To hear the audio commentaries on both films, you'd think these guys made GODFATHER II.
SAW (original) - B +
SAW II - D
SAW III - F

THE LOOKOUT (In Theaters)
A colorful, youthful spin on memory loss and MEMENTO, this film posits Joseph Gordon-Levitt (from 3rd Rock from The Sun) as a memory losing young man in charge of a bank, which his dangerous new friends want to rob. No spoilers here, but a fine film and a twisty ending.
Grade: B

THE "SAW" TRILOGY (DVD)
The first one is genius. The second two are so beyond bad they need their own zip code.
SAW 1 - A
Saw 2 - D
Saw 3 - F

HOUSE (FOX)
Scored again with a great episode that involved the season's funniest line (House is trying to figure out where he's seen the patient before, and finally screams at him while he's almost in a coma "Have you been in a porno movie?" This was an episode that had lots of questions and provided LOTS of juicy answers. I love this show.
Grade: A
AMERICAN IDOL (FOX)
Call me crazy, but Sanjaya rose to the occasion tonight and rocked the house! I thought his look was original and I thought his voice was really good. What can I say.


I re-watched a SARAH SILVERMAN show at my friend Marc's house last nite - it was the one where she thinks she's a lesbian. Sarah is seriously funny in this one - this was probably the best of the six.


RACHEL RAY interviews BARRY MANILOW
How fucking embarrassing is Rachel Ray? The questions she would ask - the expressions she made - how in the fuck is she this popular? Don't get me wrong - she seems like a very nice woman and she obviously knows what she's doing as far as these gourmet meals (clearly) and tricks in the kitchen go. But first of all - she really needs a new stylist. She's a larger woman and she HAS to stop wearing those bad baby girl dresses. It's just...wrong. Then she asks Barry Manilow these completely inane questions - I was waiting for Barry to blow his own brains out. She asks "So, for your new album, HOW did you ever pick the BEST songs of the 60s - I mean, to call it THE BEST SONGS OF THE 60s - that's like - a REALLY heavy statement." So Barry is like - "Y'know, I just asked some people I respect, looked at the charts..." and Rachel interrupts him with this big fake laugh and screams "You POLLED your friends - how GREAT is that! Oh my God! Hahahahahahahaah."

Very scary woman.

WILDBOYZ (MTV 2)
I love this show - love Steve-O; really love Chris Pontius - who is a very very funny guy and he plays to the camera in a really natural, inherently funny way. I've been watching some of the reruns on mtv2 and had forgotten how funny the show was. The 2 episodes I saw had them with Johnny Knoxville - Johnny pulls a truly heinous prank on Steve-O: he pretends to get bitten by a venomous snake (it was harmless) and gets taken away in a stretcher as he "dies" while Steve-O cries. The only thing I'm not crazy about is their casual treatment of animals - who are mostly just props for their stunts. I actually hate that aspect of it - yet most of the things they do make me laugh. The show doesn't feel like the old JACKASS - instead it kind of apes the style of the 2 JACKASS movies - in which skits are done really quickly with not much setup, and there are smaller, 30 second pieces that could just be about them punching a sleeping producer (it's funnier than it sounds.) JACKASS, the movies ROCK - but WILDBOYS is a better show than Jackass was.
Grade: A

HOWARD TV (On Demand)
GILBERT GOTFRIED & WILL THE FARTER (HOWARD TV - IN DEMAND)
A half hour with each - Gilbert seems shockingly depressed over his marriage and on-the-way baby. Will comes in with some great ideas - but lets everyone down when he can't really get it together. A so/so installment.
Grade: C +

THE NOT SO GREAT DEBATE, WITH SCOTT DePACE AND JOHN THE STUTTERER (HOWARD tv)
John the unbelievably bad stutterer squares off with Stern TV producer Scott DePace regarding abortion, porn and a variety of hot button issues. What follows is insane, insanely funny - and hilariously stupid.
Grade: B +


DANCING WITH THE STARS (ABC)
Heather Mills kicked ass. Ian Ziering was pretty good - but this show should be an hour.

PRISON BREAK (FOX)
Continues to be the most nail-biting, suspense soap opera on TV right now. I won't give away spoilers, but get the first 2 seasons on dvd when you can and get into this astonishingly inventive show.
Grade: A +

HOLLYWOODLAND (DVD)
Ben Affleck is the great actor I always suspected he was, and Adrian Brodey is good as well. The movie is just okay - slow, but with some power. And the scenes of Affleck channeling the soul of Chris Reeves is astonishingly well executed - but I think this could've benefited from more of a focused plot.
Grade: C +

JANICE DICKINSON MODELING AGENCY (OXY)
Continues to be a completely compelling reality show. Well worth watching. I love the two male model roommates who bicker.


I'm really loving THE AGENCY on VH1. Becky is awesome.

ACCEPTABLE TV is a little weird to watch - but it's really cool at the same time, and probably - in some way - the future of tv. Viewers make little shorts and send them in to this Jack Black & Co. produced show, then viewers vote on which sketches come back for another round. The ep I watched was really original and funny.

DICE UNDISPUTED (VH1)
Had a very good ep that had Dice going to record a new cd and the sound man not arriving until 5 minutes before the show. This was one of the better eps that cast Dice as a sympathetic guy - and when they played a bit of his original CD you suddenly remembered why everyone thought he was so goddamned funny in the first place.
Grade: B


SURREAL LIFE GAMES (VH1) (the finale)
In the last episode, I couldn't really follow the game that well - but Vanilla Ice went nuts and destroyed the set and literally wanted to KILL Ron Jeremy. Then in the final square off - we had Tracy Bingham - SHOCKED that she wasn't higher up on the GOOGLE list - against Ron Jeremy. The person to decide who wins - Kathy Griffin - yeah, that one. The talentless woman who never seems to go away. Of course she picked Tracey, and this fun show winds up with horrible and unfair finale.
SEASON GRADE: B -
Finale' Grade: D -


Very sad to say that I'm ending the regular postings on this blog. I really loved doing it, but for various reasons I don't really have the time that it takes to do it anymore - this was a hobby of mine, but I really loved talking about shows and hearing back what people, friends, strangers - thought. Feel free to always write about something or ask about it in the COMMENTS SECTION where u can either blog anonymously or even use a name - u don't have to sign up to do it and it's easy.

Otherwise, I'll probably want review the last batch of SOPRANOS and SHIELD EPS, but in all likelihood will limit it to that. The last show of the sopranos will probably be the last blog for a long time.

I appreciate everybody who read this regularly and it has been insanely fun to sit on a computer and write about what you think and have a dialog and small audience for it. And I'll keep the site up for quite some time if you ever wanted to check a review or something.

Thanks for reading.
The Digital Couch.