By Elaine B
I begin by noting that I have faith in the writers of the freshest most cutting-edge drama on television. But my faith was sorely tested at the end of the Season 3 premiere by the sudden plot twist that has a clearly besotted-by-Rita-and-kids Dexter suddenly contemplating that he will become a father in actuality rather than just a sort of informal doughnut-carrying dad.

For Dexter, who has always had father issues of his own, as well as a strong tie to his adopted family, becoming a father could be a step on the path to finding his own humanity. OR, it could be the worst mistake ever. Kids were used well in last season’s finale, but babies are an entirely different matter. We can only hope that they don’t make the writers get sappy — or even worse, lazy. On the other hand, future seasons (and we hope it will be a LONG future) can explore the notion of nurture vs. nature.
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Categories: Drama, Horror by Elaine
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Tags: Crime Drama, Dexter, Showtime

By Elaine B

If you missed an episode of Swingtown, you can catch it on Bravo. The cable network will air all 13 episodes starting later this fall. As soon as I learn the schedule, I’ll pass it on to you.

Categories: Drama, TV News & Program Updates by Elaine
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Tags: Bravo, Swingtown

Posted by: haro1d

What is it about corn fields that’s so darned creepy? It goes back further than Stephen King’s Children of the Corn — at least to that Twilight Zone episode with Billy Mumy wishing everyone into the corn field.

No matter how you feel about gun control, it’s starting to get to the point at which anyone might wish they’d start exercising a bit of it in the script writing at OTH. Last night was the night the Nanny Carrie plot finally boiled over. More on that in a minute. First, the rundown:

The focus of last night’s episode, for several of the characters, was what it means when you have to give up something that’s incredibly important to you — for which you’ve worked hard, or dreamed of all your life. Brooke gave up her multimillion-dollar company and is working through her feelings about it in therapy. Does she regret it? (I shook the Magic 8-Ball — “Signs point to yes” … but Brooke probably isn’t going to go as gently into that good night as her mum thinks she is.)

Peyton grilled Mick (still so weird to see John Doe on OTH) about her parents, fishing around for him to admit that he’s her father. They even have the same favorite album, for crying out loud. But when she cornered him and asked him to come to dinner to talk about it all, it drove him to start drinking … after a year of sobriety.

Nathan received a call from the NBA to discuss a position with a D-league team — a dream come true after working so hard for a comeback opportunity — only to be told that it’s a coaching job he’s being offered, and that his playing days are behind him.

Lucas and Peyton have scheduled their wedding date, and at the same time, Lucas has to go on a book tour for his latest novel. As such, he has to travel to New York to consult with his publisher … and Lindsey, whom he has to tell about his impending nuptials. (He does, she says she’s not surprised, but is obviously affected by it, and they part rather awkwardly and with an air of finality — but nothing is ever final in OTH, is it?) [Read more →]

Categories: Drama by haro1d
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Tags: Haley, Jamie, John Doe, Lucas, Nanny Carrie, Nathan, One Tree Hill, OTH, Peyton, The CW

Posted by Cubicle QB

Features on the Sept. 30 (7pm ET) edition of ESPN’s sports newsmagazine series E:60:

Brian Kajiyama’s “Heart of a Warrior”: Brian Kajiyama was born with cerebral palsy, which stripped him of his ability to speak and confined him to a wheelchair. However, his affliction has never been an impediment for the Hawaii native. Instead, it has propelled him to break as many barriers as possible. As a boy, he dreamed of playing football for the University of Hawaii Warriors. And while he knew this would never happen, Brian did become the team’s biggest fan. By the time he was a student at the university, he was not only at every home game but every practice, rain or shine, sitting in his wheelchair on the sidelines. Everything changed for Kajiyama in the summer of 2005 when a new coach for the Hawaii defense, Jeff Reinebold, noticed Brian watching practice and introduced himself. Reinebold and Brian developed a deep friendship and soon Brian was helping the Warriors prepare scouting reports on their opponents. In 2007, Kajiyama was named a graduate assistant football coach for the team by then-head coach June Jones and helped the Warriors go on to become the only undefeated team in Division I in the 2007 regular season. When June Jones and Jeff Reinebold accepted coaching positions at SMU in Dallas, Brian, now a doctorate student, thought he would continue as the team’s graduate assistant. All of that changed this fall when he was removed. E:60 correspondent Lisa Salters tells the story of Kajiyama’s “Heart of a Warrior.”

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Categories: Sports, TV News & Program Updates by Cubicle QB
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Tags: Ashley force, Brian Kajiyama, E:60, Jeremy Maclin, John Force

Posted by Mike

Synopsis: Marshall is down on his luck. Still unemployed, he goes out on a series of unsuccessful job interviews, for which his goals spiral from landing a position to just surviving and getting back home to nap in his “big” underwear. To top it off, his quest to find a restaurant — where eight years ago he had the best burger in New York — has been renewed, and it’s going just as poorly as the job hunt. (As it turns out, Marshall shares a passion for this particular burger with Regis Philbin.) Meanwhile, Barney is singing the praises of Goliath National Bank, which has just been purchased by his company. His endorsement of the bank seems less authentic than last week’s pro-bimbo rant, but we find out eventually that he’s just trying to talk up Goliath in front of Lily so she’ll be excited to find out that Barney has helped Marshall get a job there. Goliath also plays an important role in the burger hunt, when one of the bank’s ATMs is found to have replaced the original location of the restaurant Marshall has been searching for — but as a result is available to supply 100 bucks to bribe the strip club employee who knows the address of the new location. The gang gets their burgers, as does Regis, who leaves in the middle of hosting an episode of Million Dollar Heads or Tails to meet up with them.

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Categories: Comedy by Mike
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Tags: CBS, himym, How I Met Your Mother, Recap

Posted by Ryan

The Magic Hour

Ten years ago, Earl stole a pony from the Make-A-Wish foundation. A dying child, Buddy, was supposed to ride that pony in the New Year’s Day parade. Earl decides to make it up to the dead boy’s mother (played by Mindy Sterling, in a brilliant casting move). But when Earl and Randy show up at Buddy’s mom’s house, they find that Buddy (Seth Green) is still alive — the doctors in Camden County are not the best. Buddy is a huge film buff and always dreamed of making a movie, so he decides to have Earl help him make a movie filled with political intrigue, spies, terrorists, action, romance, sci-fi … and robot squids. Earl assembles a cast and crew from Camden County’s finest citizens. But aside from Randy, the cast and crew are awful, and the production falls apart when everyone quits. Buddy decides that he has enough footage, and that a short, awesome movie is better than a long, mediocre one. Buddy will edit the movie and add the special effects. All Earl has to do is throw him an awesome premiere party. Earl puts together the premiere, complete with a red carpet and everything. But Earl starts getting worried when Buddy doesn’t show up. Buddy’s mom arrives and tells Earl that Buddy passed away. The finished movie, 2 the Max, turns out to be a hit with the folks in Camden — and it gave Buddy the chance to live out his wildest dreams on the screen. Buddy’s movie inspires everyone else to pursue their dreams and turn every hour into a “magic hour.”

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Categories: Comedy by Cubicle QB
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Tags: Comedy, My Name Is Earl, NBC, Recap

Posted by Sarah

Not a bad start to the season, really. Brian’s looking for romance, and after Lois’ attempt to fix him up with someone from her yoga class fails (the girl comes to a costume party dressed as a victim of the liberal agenda), he heads to the bookstore and meets a nice atheist girl named Carolyn. Romance blossoms, and Stewie warns Brian against sleeping with Carolyn too soon, as this has been the downfall of his recent relationships. So Brian holds off, and after three weeks decides that he’s waited long enough and is ready for a 100% relationship with Carolyn. When he goes to her house to tell her, he sees a car a-rockin’ in the driveway, and discovers Carolyn and Cleveland inside.

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Categories: Animation, Comedy by knockturn
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Tags: Family Guy, FOX, Love Blactually, Recap

Posted by Mike, Ryan and johnnysweeptheleg

Synopsis: The Scranton branch competes in a company-wide Dunder Mifflin weight-loss challenge, with a prize of three additional vacation days … and loses. Pam leaves for New York to attend design school for the next three months, and is replaced first by Ronnie and then by disgraced former VP Ryan, who is now keeping a list of the people who wrong him so he can get his revenge after he works his way back to the top. On Jim’s recommendation, Michael continues to court new HR rep Holly very slowly, and she counters by dating Oscar’s yoga teacher. Dwight and Angela continue to hook up regularly in the warehouse while Andy plans his and Angela’s wedding, which may or may not feature Andy’s college a cappella group Here Comes Treble as the wedding band/collective best man/three-week house guests. For those keeping track, the group consists of Carl 1, Carl 2, Broccoli Rob, Sparerib, Doobie, Lunchbox, Boner Champ (aka Andy), Pubie Lewis and The News, Hopscotch, Jingle Jangle and Sandwich. And, oh yeah — Jim realizes that he can’t wait three months to propose to Pam, so he arranges to meet her at a gas station between Scranton and New York, and pops the question. That news probably would have depressed Toby, if he weren’t laid up in a Costa Rican hospital watching Spanish-dubbed episodes of Entourage after breaking his neck in a zip-lining accident three days after his arrival. Poor Toby.

Here’s what we liked best:

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Categories: Comedy by Mike
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Tags: NBC, Recap, Season Premiere, The Office, Video Clip

by Zhillbear

After the preliminary shots of African wildlife and the 18 Survivors walking through the savannah, the contestants stand in a line and introduce themselves, telling their name and what they do for a living. It’s interesting to see what people choose to reveal about themselves. Crystal doesn’t let on that she’s a 2004 Olympic gold medalist in track and field, Charlie calls himself a “management consultant” instead of an attorney, which is what the CBS website calls him, and Marcus just says he’s “in the medical field,” although the CBS website calls him a doctor.

The oldest folks on the show, Bob and Gillian, are appointed to be the ones to start off the picking for their respective tribes. The picking doesn’t have to alternate between genders; it’s just based on first impressions from the introductions. Like me at home, the players don’t remember who everyone is, and Bob’s first pick is “Baldy” (a bald man named Ace). If I’d had to pick, I would have called Randy “Gary Busey,” and Marcus “that guy who looks like the doctor friend on the show Ed.”
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Categories: Reality TV by Zhillbear
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Tags: CBS, gabon, Gillian, Michelle, Survivor

by Ruth Anne Boulet

Analeigh does not want to be in the bottom two ever again. Then Hannah tells Analeigh and Marjorie to stop with the pity party.

TyraMail says something about being in the gutter. Yes, that’s a bowling alley gutter. I so want the bowling alley high heels. Seriously want them. They’re uber cool. The girls have to strut the runway on the bowling lane. Hannah gets the Miss Jay impression, which is never good. Samantha discusses how she’s going to rock her bow legs. Elina gets told she needs to let go. In other words, the feedback they get is essentially the same feedback they’ve always gotten. [Read more →]

Categories: Reality TV by windupdoll
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Tags: America's Next Top Model, ANTM, Miss Jay, Mr. Jay, Tyra Banks, WindUpDoll