Everything in 3 seconds

I've got a horrendous project in work, plus the budget coming up next week, so don't expect to see a lot of me. Here's a three-second review of everything I've watched in the past week or so:

The Office: Hilary Swank is so not hot.
Friday Night Lights: OMG, Matt/Julie is the cutest thing ever! Tim/Lyla is... not.
Battlestar Galactica: Somebody's totally gonna get airlocked. Also, that ending? Kind of like walking in on your parents having sex.
Psych: Fire bad. Tree pretty.
24: I love Tony. "Okay, we'll just forget that happened" and goes on with the deal.

Just a quickie...

...before I go home for the weekend.

First of all, is it me, or did Bones kind of suck last night? Maybe it was the double-whammy of two lackluster episodes in a row, but man, that was unsatisfying. Also, I am getting very worried about this impending Booth/Bones coupling.

Links: More on BSG and the final Cylon, and an interview with Kevin from The Office, which I did not watch last night because I was watching the second Bones. Considering how much The Office rocked last week, I think I would've been better off with that one.

Update on Arrested Development movie

Michael Cera's kind of a dick.

Very cranky

I've been quite cranky since yesterday, but here's the headlines.

In case you were dead on Tuesday, you can read about Obama's inauguration, as well as an analysis of his speech line by line that is interesting probably only to me. Curious about Obama's flubbed oath of office? Turns out, Chief Justice Roberts is a grammar pedant.

In Kennedy news, Ted had a health scare at the inaugural luncheon, and Caroline withdrew her name from consideration for Hillary's Senate seat.

And on a completely unrelated note, Bradley Whitford is in negotiations to star in Joss' new movie. Whee!

More stuff!

Took a time-out from work to watch the Inauguration ceremony, and now I'm back with a whole bunch of TV news (since I know that's what you really care about).

Interviews with both the final Cylon and the character who died in Friday's episode. (I'm not spoiling because I want you all to watch the show!!) Also, Tahmoh Penikett talks about BSG and Dollhouse.

Good news on the Mad Men front - Matt Weiner's contract issues have been resolved, so he'll be back at the helm for season 3.

Rob Thomas is writing the Veronica Mars movie!! Which puts them one step ahead of the Dr. Horrible sequel, which is still in the "everybody wants to do it, but Joss hasn't actually written it yet" stage.

And finally, more casting news: Ted is getting a new girlfriend, but she's probably not the Mother.

Kids are so cute

So, Inauguration coverage is on pretty much every channel, and every news outlet has a live feed on their website, so I don't feel compelled to bombard you with stuff. But check this out - children give their advice to incoming President Obama. I love the kid who's all "I heard about Area 51." Conspiracy theorist in the making, my friends.

Also, this dude takes a shot at rewriting "We Didn't Start the Fire" for the 21st century. I think I had to do that in my high school history class.

Happy Inauguration Day!

I'll be back with more stuff later on, but first I wanted to post a few links from Friday that I never got up.

Casting news: Scott Bakula will be playing Chuck's father, and Amy Ryan is coming back to The Office. Plus, an interview with Josh Radnor.

I think Battlestar Galactica fried my brain this week (in a good way). Between that and Friday Night Lights, it might be too much awesome for one night.

Whee!

Lots of interesting stuff today.

First, who's excited for Battlestar Galactica tomorrow?? Me!! Probably no one else will think this is funny, but I thought the BSG miniseries told as a series of Facebook applications was hilarious!

24 news - The 8th season may be its last, and Howard Gordon wants to kill Jack (and possibly blow up the world?) on the big screen.

Speaking of TV shows being made into movies, here's an unlikely one: Jericho. It's like the little show that could... It's been canceled twice already, but apparently, it's been rerunning on the CW (because they have nothing else to air), and if it does well, it could revive the show for more episodes or a movie.

David B. talks about directing an episode of Bones, and also discusses that stupid spoiler about "Booth and Brennan end up in bed together, but it's not what you think." Am I the only one who's really getting tired of this "it's not what you think" crap? I thought it was stupid when they did it with the kiss, and I think it's stupid now. I don't really want Booth and Brennan together, so this whole teasing, dragging it out thing isn't really making me happy. Just let 'em sleep together, realize it was a huge mistake, and then we can go on with our lives.

Some dude I've never heard of is going to be on The Office, and details are coming out about that "Office spinoff that's not really a spinoff" that Amy Poehler is doing. It sounds like it might be funny.

And finally, I caught up on last week's SNL (with NPH!). I thought it was mostly pretty funny, but my favorite was by far the Broadway sketch. Turns out Anthony Rapp (the original Mark from Rent) liked it, too.

TV stuff

Bones fans, we're being foiled by George W. one last time.

More info on the new Rob Thomas show, Party Down. It looks seriously fun, so it's a shame it's on a cable channel I don't get.

And the answer to the "where's Karen?" question. I'm not sure if I feel better or worse knowing that the executive producer of 24 didn't even remember where they left things with Bill and Karen. Better because it's nice to know it's not just me. Worse because... well, it's your show. Shouldn't you remember what happened? Bottom line: she's fine, but she's not coming back.

Also 24-related, a "24-Hour News Cycle" featuring Jack Bauer. I'll admit, the CNN blurb cracked me all up.

Awesome

Weather cat.

24 take 2

Well, hours 3 and 4 weren't as compelling as hours 1 and 2, but here's what we got out of it:

• Tony's actually undercover, but still sort of a bad guy. I have to admit, not a huge surprise. (My mother emailed me yesterday to tell me she thought he was undercover.)
  
• The twitchy guy got fingered (and cleared, for now) as the mole. His wife on the plane? Blah. Reminds me of all the CTU relatives I never cared about (Edgar's mother, Adam's sister, Michelle's brother... Kim Bauer)
  
• I also don't really care about the First Son suicide thing. I think it's hard to drum up interest in a character we saw for about 10 minutes in Redemption and was killed off-screen.
  
• Jack and Tony are now both undercover. I'm enjoying the buddy cop-ness of them.
  
• Agent Walker has completed her transition to "Jill Bauer" and is gleefully torturing suspects.
• Bill and Chloe are back!!

Okay, I... kinda need a refresher on that one. What happened to Bill last season? I have a vague recollection that someone got arrested, but I can't remember if it was him or Karen. And if it wasn't Karen, where is she? (Wikipedia tells me that Karen was arrested, but she received a pardon in exchange for Bill resigning. So again I ask - where is she? They were my second favorite CTU couple, after Tony and Michelle.)

Jack Bauer = made of awesome

Man, I've missed 24. I love that this is the only show to have the balls to say, "Yes, we're showing FOUR HOURS in two days, and we expect you to be there for all of them." And it's like - how can you resist?

So, thoughts on the first half of the two-day premiere event. I thought the whole Senate heraing thing was a little... pointless? I thought it would be longer or more involved somehow, but it really was just a chance for Jack (as the mouthpiece for the show) to be unapologetic in their portrayal of torture, which - if you haven't been paying attention - has been criticized for making torture seem like a successful tactic in combating terrorism (it's not, really). Apparently, the show is SO convincing that real-life soldiers and government agents have gotten the idea that torture actually works. Seriously, people? It's a TV SHOW. Haven't you ever heard the phrase, "Don't believe everything you see on TV"? If troops are learning torture tactics from 24, maybe that's something we ought to be addressing in, I don't know, their training? I mean, doctors don't learn how to practice medicine from watching House or Grey's Anatomy, right? (Please, God, tell me they don't do that.)

Anyway, moving on. It appears that the FBI is just as inept and mole-ridden as CTU, so I don't know that they've actually made any improvement there, but to their credit, I don't miss any of the old CTU agents yet, so I guess the FBI people are interesting enough. (It helps to know that Chloe will be back.) Janeane Garofalo was on The West Wing, which makes her awesome for life. And that twitchy tech guy they're trying to make seem suspicious? I predict he'll be killed by the real mole within about three episodes.

So, in that scene where they go to question the guy, and Agent Walker tells Jack he can threaten, but can't lay a hand on him, did anyone else think Jack should just do the towel speech thing from season 1, like, all the time? You know, the Russian gulag bit, with the "You probably don't think I could force this towel all the way down your throat, but I can," and then you start to digest it and then Jack rips out your stomach lining? I mean, holy crap. I'd be giving up the terrorists, their evil plans, and my own mother if Jack even came close to me with a towel in his hand. He doesn't need to touch people to be unbelievably scary, is all I'm saying. But I suppose it's more fun for him when he gets to stab people with pens.

Two things that made me giggle uncontrollably:
1. Jack being told to wait in the car (did anyone else have a "Chuck" moment?)
2. The look on FBI Boss' face when he realized Agent Walker was lying to him and had gone off protocol. Give him five minutes, and Jack can turn any agent into a rogue. Love. It.

I've said this before, since I've known it for a while, but it's worth saying again. TOOOOOONY!!!!! I don't care that he was dead (though nice bit with having his grave exhumed), I don't even care that he's evil (because you know he'll be working with Jack in about 10 minutes anyway). I just love him and I'm glad he's back. I miss the Cubs mug, though.

Drive by posting

If you're like me, and you need a calendar to manage your life, here's the schedule of winter premieres. I've already missed the beginning of season 2 of Damages and the first new ep of The Office, but I'll try to stay on top of that stuff from now on. I'm kind of curious to see Flashpoint (starring Enrico Colantoni of VM fame), and I'm super excited of course about 24 and Battlestar Galactica. I'd also be excited about Friday Night Lights, if I didn't feel like I was the last person on the planet to see it.

Also, Al Franken is now a Senator. Well, probably.

Also-also, check out the mess DC is going to be on Inauguration Day.

Not dead...

Just really, really busy. Be back eventually.

Hi, guys! Remember me?

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year's. I've been oddly busy (work-related) over the holidays, so not much time to post in what should be a downtime. As evidence, here's a few links from before the holidays that I never got around to posting. Hopefully, I'll be back soon with, you know, current stuff.

A not-too-good review of Dollhouse, and an article about Tahmoh Penikett. Also, confirmation that Michael Cera is the one holding up the Arrested Development movie (since Megan mentioned it at Christmas). Oh, well. I don't mind... I've only watched season 1, so I'm in no hurry for a movie. :)

I did start rewatching Angel over the holiday (actually, I started around Thanksgiving, and then got sidetracked, and then started up again this week). I forgot how awesome it was. I LOVE Doyle (or maybe it's just my newfound Irish love), and other than a few clunkers, season 1 was a lot better than I remember. And season 2 thus far has just been unbearably squee-worthy. Angel singing! Gangsta Gunn! Lorne! Darla! Yaaaaay!