Here are the rest of the commentaries from last week. Unscripted commentaries this week include:Cake Boss, 19 Kids and Counting, Outrageous Kid Parties, Teen Mom 2, Minute to Win It, and Wipeout.
So, good news: I'm semi-back. Bad news: I'm only semi-back. What I thought would be a short project has turned into a much, much longer one, with a very looming deadline. Ergo, time is short and I need to devote the majority of my attention elsewhere again. So, I'll be getting up what I can, but I'm sorry to say that we're not going to be back in full swing (now known as 5 definite posts a week with 6-7 possible on a regular basis) for possibly another three weeks. I'll let you know when I do! In the meantime, I promise that I'll try to get up two each week in the interim. I'll also have access to television again starting tomorrow, so if nothing else, the commentaries should be able to continue.
Oh, and now onto the entertainment news...
In case you didn't see that Regis Philbin joined twitter, don't worry about it. He quit.
Friends around my age may be excited to hear that Nickelodeon has re-programmed its midnight-2am slot with "The 90s are All That," meaning that they will be showing things like All That, Clarissa Explains It All, Rugrats, Kenan & Kel, Pete & Pete, and The Amanda Show. Personally, I'd swap them around a little for other shows, but I bet that this will be a pretty big success.
Terra Nova has been pushed back yet again. The latest is that there will be no May preview - the show will just launch in September. Seems like a risky move to me, particularly because they're delaying it to work on the effects.
If you're a South Park fan, they're trying to get you to vote on the best episodes, and the Top 15 will be featured as we are leading up to the start of the new season (Wednesday, April 27th at 10pm).
Debby Ryan, who plays the country farm girl Bailey on The Suite Life on Deck, will get her own Disney Channel series - she'll play a Texas-born au pair who works for a NY family with four children.
Jake and the Never Land Pirates is going well over at Disney Junior, and they're considering 7D, a show that will focus on the Seven Dwarfs.
Netflix has become a contender in the new-original-series circuit. They've ordered a 26-episode show starring Kevin Spacey, called House of Cards. It won't show up in the Netflix queue until late 2012, but the major networks are already not thrilled that Netflix, which was originally just a way to further distribute already-existing shows, is now a potential competitor for new works.
I have mixed feelings about it, but the new Thundercats has a trailer out. I plan on discussing this one at length in the future, so if you are also opinionated about this reboot, stay tuned!
So, although I kinda stopped doing the series on my favorite episodes from various shows a while ago, I finally finished watching 3rd Rock from the Son, so I'm able to post that one. Similarly, I'm going to do an Arrested Development favorites post sometime in the near future, as I have just three episodes remaining on that one. And maybe there will be more in the future... I did just start watching Two and a Half Men a short while ago, hehe!
3rd Rock from the Sun had a great concept - aliens who have no idea what Earth's customs are, so they're constantly learning things for the first time. The ensemble was really great too, leading to some excellent comedic moments throughout the series... especially for John Lithgow, who won numerous awards for his portrayal of Dick Solomon. I think that the first and fifth seasons are the funniest... the first because there are so many basics that the family just "doesn't get," and the fifth because there's a lot of character build-up at that point so there are some hilarious and over-the-top hijinks.
Season 1: "Frozen Dick" (S01E12): Dick and Mary win teaching awards, and they need to go to Chicago to accept them. But, Dick freaks out on the plane, so they have to drive (which makes Mary angry). But, when it starts snowing, Dick thinks the worst is upon them, and promptly crashes the car in the middle of nowhere. It's pretty funny. And, as a side story, Harry is working at a video store, and re-arranges all of the videos according to his own personal preferences, haha.
Season 2: "Gobble, Gobble, Dick, Dick" (S02E10): The Solomons don't know what Thanksgiving is, so the fact that everyone is buying food at the grocery store and the town is emptying out makes them think that it's the end of the world. Sally buys a turkey for each person, LoL. They find out the truth and invite over Mary, Mrs. Dubcek, and her visiting daughter, Vicki. Tommy and Dick get into a fight about how he's supposed to rebel and stuff, and Tommy ends up making a bunch of guys call their own dads. And, Harry and Vicki have sex.
Season 3: "Scaredy Dick" (S03E05): It's Halloween, and Mary has plans. Since her house gets egged when she doesn't give out treats, she has Sally and Tommy give out candy for her. But they turn out not to do exactly what they're told, hehe. Dick needs to get a physical, but keeps chickening out and running away. Meanwhile, Harry thinks that there's a ghost in the apartment.
Season 4: "Dick and Taxes" (S04E12): Harry's working at the bar now, and realizes that taxes are being taken from his paycheck. Before long, the Solomons realize that they've never filed their taxes before, and have incurred a large bill. Then, they figure out that they might try to do something "new" by lying on their return. Dick redoes the numbers and comes up with a way that the government owes them a LOT of money. But, now they're getting an audit, and Dick freaks out, thinking that their alien identities will be revealed. But, the best part is that Sally decides to fake a home business - a hair salon... but when people actually show up, she, Harry, and Tommy really do start washing and cutting hair - in the kitchen! hahaha.
Season 5: "Dick for Tat" (S05E02): Mary admits to Dick that she once had an affair with Strudwick (Dick's rival in the physics department, and also Tommy's girlfriend's father), which makes Dick think that he needs to sleep with Strudwick's wife to even the odds. It's hilarious the way he goes over to Strudwick's house and tries to seduce his wife! Meanwhile, Don is now a cop on a motorcycle, so he's a new object of obsession for Sally... until he crashes and winds up in a full body cast (though that idea doesn't really carry over to other episodes, LoL)!
Season 6: "Dick'll Take Manhattan" (S06E04 & S06E05): There are many two-parters in this series, but my favorite is this one, where the Solomons visit a parallel universe where they live in NYC. Dick is an important attorney, Salley is a sex columnist, Harry is the President of NBC, and Tommy is on SNL. Mary is a lounge singer who no longer believes in love, while Don is the Mayor, married but seeing Sally on the side. It's great.
Hi Guys. I'm out-of-town and am rather swamped so I didn't get much written ahead of time (though a new list will go out on Wednesday). Plus, I won't get to see any television until I'm back, so commentaries on this week's episodes will most likely be featured along with those of next week. I may get in a few things that show up online, but it's too soon to tell.
But, get excited, because we're going to start another weekly feature when I return... Throwback Thursdays. On Thursdays I'm going to post some short thoughts on a specific rerun that I came across over the past week. Maybe it'll be from Nick-at-Nite, or from old episodes of 90210 that run on SOAPnet, or even something that I caught a link to on youtube. who knows. I'm hoping to include video clips with these entries, but we'll see how that goes.
The last time I talked about the news, I wrote a bit about Charlie Sheen. Well, so much has happened since then, I'm not going to attempt to cover all of the interviews and crazy things that have come out of his mouth. Sorry. I will note, however, that John Stamos is being considered as an add-on to the show. You know, since Charlie Sheen got fired from Two and a Half Men. And I can't help but say that there are a number of universities vying for a chance to have Charlie Sheen as a commencement speaker!! Oh, and also, if you want to be Charlie Sheen's summer intern, the application deadline is tomorrow. And (last one), he also has a comic book coming out.
Not that I'm 100% behind the idea, but if you watch your television via downloads (which may not technically be 100% legal), here's some information about how to set up shows to automatically download.
F/X is going to have a Superheroes pilot, called Powers. It's about homicide detectives, and it's based on a graphic novel series.
Hot in Cleveland got renewed for a third season. No word yet on Better with You, but it's not looking too good.
The How I Met Your Mother gang is going to have to fight for their booth at MacLaren's! And, they've been renewed for two more seasons, which many people believe will be the final two seasons for the show.
On a movie note, there are 27 planned sequel films to be released this year... that's the most ever. (got this one in EW magazine).
The History Channel has a reality show coming up about taxidermy. It's called Mounted in Alaska. It begins April 7th.
TLC has another new show... this one about that guy who weighed 1,000 pounds and they had to cut him out of his house to get him to the hospital. Now, he's like 600 pounds, and recently went to the second story of his house for the VERY FIRST TIME. I can't stomach the show, but if you're interested, it's called Heavily Ever After.
Yeah, I know there are more than a handful of websites out there that are now dedicated to talking about the craziness of Charlie Sheen, but I still couldn't help but collect a few of my own favorite quotes. Not that I think he's going to stop saying memorable bits (personally, I've taken to calling him The Bacchanalian Bad-A$$), but I hope that the worst is now behind him. :-/
"I've spent close to the last decade effortlessly and magically converting your tin cans into pure gold."
"Fame is empowering. My mistake was that I thought I would instinctively know how to handle it. But there's no manual, no training course."
"I try to be known more for my work than for anything else."
"There have to be more important things going on in the world than my past." (true story!)
"I am on a drug. It's called Charlie Sheen. It's not available. If you try it once, you will die. Your face will melt off and your children will weep over your exploded body."
"... I'm different. I have a different constitution, I have a different brain, I have a different heart. I got tiger blood, man. Dying's for fools, dying's for amateurs."
"They're (porn stars) the best at what they do and I'm the best at what I do. And together it's like, it's on."
"They'll (his daughters) wake up one day and realize how cool dad is. And, you know, signs all the checks on the front, not the back. And you know, we need him and we need his wisdom and his b!chin'-ness."
"First of all, come Wednesday morning they're gonna rename it Charlie Bros. and not Warner Bros." (didn't happen)
"I'm tired of pretending I'm not a total b!itchin' rock star from Mars, and people can't figure me out; they can't process me. I don't expect them to. You can't process me with a normal brain."
"I don’t think people are ready for the message I’m delivering."
“I've never attempted to figure that out, but if you want me to take a wild guess, I'll say 5,000." (number of women he has slept with)
"Bi-polar? The Earth is bi-polar."
"Bring me a challenge. Somebody."
"I closed my eyes and in a nanosecond I cured myself."
"I’m so tired of pretending my life isn’t perfect and b!tchin’."
"Resentments ... are the rocket fuel that lives in the tip of my saber."
"Did you say Cancun or caboose? I don't know, I was in a blackout, man."
"I don’t understand what I did wrong except live a life that everyone is jealous of."
"It is a big day of gladness at the Sober Valley Lodge because now I can take all of the bazillions, never have to look at what'shisc0ck (Chuck Lorre) again and I never have to put on those silly shirts for as long as this warlock exists in the terrestrial dimension."
What about you? Any favorite Charlie Sheen quotes?
So many great NICK shows were taped in Orlando. I really wish that I had been able to see something there when I was a kid, since I only lived two hours away after I was nine! Legends of the Hidden Temple was a kid's action-type gameshow where 12 kids would start off, and by the end, two would win at least a small CD player or remote-controlled car or something like that. Contestants also got to keep their t-shirts, which I think would be cool. I once named this my favorite game show ever, because it was just so on-the-edge-of-your-seat the whole time!
Brief history: It ran from 1993-1995, and kept rerunning on Nickelodeon until 1998. After that, it was seen for another ten years on the NICK GAS channel, but now it's off the air, since that channel no longer exists. 120 episodes were produced in all, and it was ultimately canceled because a renewal for a fourth season was considered to be too risky, given that NICK was considering 3 other game shows. Kirk Fogg was the "human" host, and Olmec was kind of a co-host made of stone, LoL. Some fun facts about the Temple Runs: Temple Guards never appear in the Jester's Court or in the Pit. The Shrine of the Silver Monkey is the only room that appeared in every temple layout. The Room of the Golden Idols was never successfully passed, and the Treasure Room only ever had one person successfully get through.
The game: There were six boy-girl teams at the beginning of the game. Each team wore a certain color and had a team name -Blue Barracudas, Orange Iguanas, Silver Snakes, Purple Parrots, Red Jaguars, Green Monkeys. The try-outs for the game had a few requirements... you had to be able to run, climb a rope, pass a written test, and be between 11 and 14 years old. There may or may not have been a pull-up requirement, I'm not sure. If there was, I'm definitely out - both then AND now. There were multiple rounds, and although most of them were action-stunt-related, there was a round that focused more on history & mythology, though you really didn't have to know anything in advance if you were a good listener.
First, there was the Moat. Each team had to cross a shallow pool by swinging on a rope, climbing a rope net, paddling, swimming, etc. After both members of the team made it, they were safe, and the first four teams to finish moved on. Then, there was the Steps of Knowledge, where Olmec (a giant stone head) would tell the history of an artifact, sometimes Mayan to fit with the general decor. Then, he'd ask several questions, each with three possible answers. If you wanted, you could "buzz in" before Olmec finished asking the question, but you wouldn't get to hear the end of it. If you answered incorrectly or took too long, the other teams were given a chance to answer. The first two teams to get three correct answers each got to move on. Oh, it was called "Steps of Knowledge" because when you were right, you stepped down a level, until you got to the bottom. Next, the Temple Games. There were always three of them, the first two being worth a half-pendant of life, and the final one being worth a whole pendant, making it possible to tie as well. Another history question was the tie-breaker if needed, and the team to answer correctly moved on. The first two games were one-on-one, and the final game involved both players on both teams. There was a wide variety of challenges, and they generally fit with the artifact theme to a certain extent. The Temple Games were very Double Dare in style.
Finally, the remaining team would get to do the Temple Run. To a kid watching, it was the longest three minutes in television, LoL. One player would start by running into the Temple, going from room to room (there were 12 or 13 rooms total), trying to find the artifact and get it out again. He carried a full pendant. You also could find your other pendant piece, if you totaled 1.5, giving you two complete pendants. Many doors would be locked, and you had to complete a puzzle or hit an actuator to open them. Sometimes, you'd have to backtrack instead. The worst part about the Temple was the Temple Guards. Running into one of those meant you lost a full life pendant. If you didn't have one (you dropped it somewhere or it was taken by another Guard), you were out and the second player came in (who had the other pendant if applicable), generally running the same course, with previous puzzles already solved so the doors were left open. There were three guards, and each would only appear once. If you got your hands on the artifact, the doors all opened and the Guards all disappeared, allowing you a clean exit to run back through the Temple. If the team never got to the artifact, they won a basic prize. If they got the artifact but didn't get out in time, they got a second prize. If they managed to get the artifact out in time, they won both prizes and a trip. 32 teams out of 120 managed to win the big trip.
Notable changes to the way the game is played: In the first season, the announcer did a lot of the talking, but in the second two seasons, they used Olmec to say a lot of the rules, questions, etc. Also in the second two seasons, the audience at home was given a little map in the lower corner during the Temple Run, outlining the layout, the contestant's path, and where the artifact was. The moat also got fog in the second and third seasons.
Special contestants: No special contestants, just random kids.
Favorite Rounds: Um, the Temple Run. Like all the cool kids, I thought it was awesome. Though I probably would've screamed at the Temple Guards, LoL. I have to say that there's a really comprehensive episode guide out there that true fans will want to see. Let's take a look at a few Temple Runs... here's one where the kids are just too slow, and that's their downfall. I would've liked this one, where they didn't run into ANY Temple Guards! Here's the shortest of all the Temple Runs... they get just about half of their time before they run out of pendants. This one is sad... the second kid doesn't even get to go in before they run out of time. But, in another episode where the second kid doesn't get to go in, they finish in the fastest win in show history. If, for some reason, the second kid isn't bright enough to follow their partner's path, they usually lost... here's an episode where they lost super-fast because of that. Here's one of many where the kid looks absolutely clueless about the obstacles, including not knowing how to put the three-piece Silver Monkey back together. Oooh, here's another Monkey-failure, partly because she DROPS THE BODY over the railing! And here's one where they actually win, complete with Olmec's intro
My take: When I was watching the show, my brother and I thought we were perfect candidates. Now that I know what all is involved, I wonder if we would've passed the try-outs... I was 12 when taping stopped, and my brother only 9, so I was old enough, but he wasn't. We could both run, but I don't know that either of us had the upper-body strength required to climb a rope. I'm not positive I could do it now, either. But I sure would try!! Maybe I wouldn't have been the best rope-swinger, but I was an excellent rope-net-climber. I was the fastest one to climb across every time in elementary school, LoL. And, while I would've partnered up with my brother when we were kids, I think I'd choose my friend, Heather, as a partner, now. She's definitely got the athletic prowess to carry our team, and between us, we've got that Steps of Knowledge part down pat! She might be one of those loud screamers when she runs into a Temple Guard, tho!
Did you ever watch Legends of the Hidden Temple? Would you watch it if it came back on the air? Who would you partner with if the show was still on the air and you were competing (even if you're now an adult, too!)?
Commentaries this week include:Cake Boss, 19 Kids and Counting, Outrageous Kid Parties, Teen Mom 2, and Minute to Win It. Click "keep reading" to see them.
Topics:
Amy K. Bredemeyer,
Disney,
House of Cards,
news,
South Park,
Terra Nova,
Thundercats
F/X is going to have a Superheroes pilot, called Powers. It's about homicide detectives, and it's based on a graphic novel series. 
Then, he'd ask several questions, each with three possible answers. If you wanted, you could "buzz in" before Olmec finished asking the question, but you wouldn't get to hear the end of it. If you answered incorrectly or took too long, the other teams were given a chance to answer. The first two teams to get three correct answers each got to move on. Oh, it was called "Steps of Knowledge" because when you were right, you stepped down a level, until you got to the bottom. Next, the Temple Games. There were always three of them, the first two being worth a half-pendant of life, and the final one being worth a whole pendant, making it possible to tie as well. Another history question was the tie-breaker if needed, and the team to answer correctly moved on. The first two games were one-on-one, and the final game involved both players on both teams. There was a wide variety of challenges, and they generally fit with the artifact theme to a certain extent. The Temple Games were very Double Dare in style.
