Category: TV

Aliens… Monsters…. UFOs and a Very Big Universe

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When I was a little kid, I used to love movies and tv shows about aliens coming to Earth.

If we were lucky, they were friendly and intelligent like Michael Rennie in The Day that the Earth Stood Still. He even looked human.

Then again, so did the aliens in the 60’s tv show The Invaders. [I haven’t seen an episode in years, and wonder how it would hold up.]

Sometimes the aliens were simply monsters out to wipe us out, like in the classic Invasion of the Body Snatchers or War of the Worlds. [And, yes, I’m really looking forward to the update by Spielberg and Cruise.]

Occasionally, there would be just one alien. And boy, were we lucky that there was only one if the alien ended up being like The Blob or The Thing.

Growing up, I not only liked movies and tv shows about aliens, but I also read and watched programs about UFOs.

I still do.

Think how cool it would be if we could find definitive proof of intelligent life in outer space. Uh… as long as they weren’t out to wipe us out.

As I get older, I stil retain that sense of wonder about life in outer space. Most likely it’s out there. It’s just that the universe is such a huge place.

Don’t believe me? Click HERE and see.

Michelle Rodriguez Gets LOST

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Did you see the final episode of LOST?

If you did, especially if you’re a regular LOST viewer, you saw one of the all-time best cliffhanger endings ever!  And now with months to go until the new season, word is starting to leak out about what we can expect.

The great news is that Michelle Rodriguez is going to join the cast as a regular. Rodriguez appeared in the last episode [in a flashback]. I’m a big fan so adding her to one of my “Must See TV” shows is simply a bonus.

One Last Bullet for 2004

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I hope that everyone made it to this side of 2005 with a minimum of damage. 2004 was a good year and I’m hoping for even better things in 2005. But before we leave ’04 completely, I thought I’d give a brief rundown of some of the highlights entertainment-wise [at least for me]…

Movies: I loved the Dawn of the Dead re-make and The Passion of the Christ. [Kinda strange that they were both about people who rose from the dead.]

Collateral was very good and Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow and The Chronicles of Riddick were fun rides.

Several of the best movies that I saw in 2004 were older movies that I discovered on DVD or cable. The original Metropolis was stunning even 77 years after it was made. And you know I love the whole tough guy – noir genre, so seeing movies like On Dangerous Ground, Brute Force and The Big Heat made my day.

TV: The Shield, 24, Survivor and West Wing continue to make my “Must See TV” list. And although Alias still hung in there, ER fell from the ranks. Lost soared to the top of the list and I enjoyed Boston Legal when I caught it.

Novels: The best were Portrait of a Murderer: The Jack the Ripper Case Closed by Patricia Cornwall, Double Play by Robert Parker, Sensei by John Donohue, and Rain Storm by Barry Eischer.

Comics: My favorite comic of the year was Grave Digger: The Scavengers by Christopher Mills and Rick Burchett. The writing and art meshed perfectly to create a comic that’s impossible not to enjoy. If we don’t get more Grave Digger stories from Mills and Burchett, then there’s no justice.

My favorite graphic novel of the year was The Wicked West by Todd Livingston, Robert Tinnell and artist, Neil Vokes. Anyone who is a fan of westerns, horror or simply great graphic novels would love The Wicked West.

My favorite on-going series were The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman and Charles Adlard [which just keeps getting better and better] and 100 Bullets by Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso.

Blogs: Mark Evanier’s News from ME is required reading daily. He’s funny, informative and blogs don’t get any better. Jeff Parker’s Mystifying Oracle and Mike Wieringo’s blog don’t appear daily but when they do, they’re worth a read.

Breakfast: Was a three hour marathon session [and NO, we weren’t eating the whole time] with my ole pal Jim Ivey last week. Jim will soon be 80 and we hadn’t been able to get together in quite a while. Christmas Break seemed like the right time to clear my schedule and make a trip over to see “Jimbo” and I couldn’t have asked for a better time. Jim seemed to enjoy it too. ; )

Now… on to 2005!

Here Come the Holiday Specials

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One sure way to tell that Christmas is upon us is that the networks start airing holiday specials like A Charlie Brown Christmas, Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

As kids, we always looked forward to the Christmas specials. They were sort of an appetizer to the coming holiday. And doesn’t it seem like everyone has seen A Charlie Brown Christmas at one time or another.

Don’t believe me? Ask your friends. It may be their favorite holiday special, but I’ll bet they’ve seen it.

I remember seeing A Charlie Brown Christmas when it premiered in 1965 and the next day in school, it was THE topic of discussion. [Now you have to remember that I was in first grade at the time.] Seems everyone saw it and everyone loved it. Surprisingly though, it almost didn’t get made! “Television executives hated it from the start… It was criticized as being too religious…for featuring contemporary jazz… for not having a laugh track…” and for even using the voices of real children instead of actors. Despite all of these concerns, A Charlie Brown Christmas was an instant hit.

You can read more interesting facts about A Charlie Brown Christmas by clicking HERE. Then I’d love to hear which special is your favorite.

Lost Secrets

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Man, if you’re not watching LOST at 8PM on Wednesday nights, you should be.

It is without a doubt my
favorite new show. My entire family is loving it. And the cool thing is none of us is really sure what it’s all about.

If you don’t watch it, then you’re probably wondering how the heck we can enjoy the show so much and NOT KNOW WHAT IT’S ALL ABOUT. Well… that’s part of the beauty of the show.

If you want to know more, check out THE OFFICIAL WEBSITE… if you want to know even more, check out THIS DARK HORIZONS INTERVIEW with one of the writers… and if you really want to know what I’m talking about then tune in for an episode!

Chicklis Gets Close

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The Hollywood Reporter has announced that Glenn Close will join “The Shield“ as a series regular for the upcoming fourth season.

Close, who won an Emmy for “Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story,” will appear in all 13 episodes. Production is set to start in January with new epsiodes airing by May.

Close will play the new captain [What about Aceveda?] who will probably butt heads with Detective Vic Mackey (Emmy-winner Michael Chiklis).

Close will next appear on the big screen in the Merchant Ivory production “Heights” and Chicklis is currently playing the Thing in the big screen version of “The Fantastic Four.”

Man, I can’t wait for the new season of “The Shield” to start… and May is so far away!

Remembering 9-11

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Today is the third anniversary of the terrorist attacks which took down the twin towers, destroyed part of the Pentagon and took the lives of thousands of citizens from around the world.

It was the most shocking day of my life.

The History Channel is running a very interesting documentary called “The Twin Towers: The Rise and Fall of an American Icon.” It’s extremely well done and worth a look.

The picture above is of family members of victims who have returned to the site to pay their respects. And because the day had such an impact me, I felt it appropriate to pay my respects as well.

My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone who lost someone on that terrible day.

Happy Days Are Here Again!

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ABC has announced that The Happy Day 30th Anniversary Reunion, will air later this season.

All major cast members [Ron Howard (Richie), Henry Winkler (“Fonzie”), Tom Bosley (Howard Cunningham), Marion Ross (Marion Cunningham), Erin Moran (Joanie), Scott Baio (Chachi) Anson Williams (Potsie), Don Most (Ralph Malph)] and even the two cast members who played Riche‘s older brother in the first season [but then quietly disappeared in the second season] are set to appear.

Happy Days was on my MUST-SEE TV list for a few seasons. It was funny, Fonzie was cool, and the series was fun. A lot of people say the show went down-hill when Fonzie [literally] jumped the shark, but I think it was when Chachi came on board.

Still, I’ll probably tune in to the special if only to see if a short, skinny guy who says, “Ayyyy!” was as cool as I remember.

Pleasant Nightmares!

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Sammy Terry returns!

If you grew up anywhere in the midwest from the early 60’s to the mid 80’s you probably made a habit of tuning in on Friday [and later Saturday] nights to watch Sammy Terry’s Nightmare Theater. Sammy would introduce horror movies and return with commentary after each commercial break. Sammy was one of the first “horror hosts” and definitely had one of the longest running shows.

If you grew up watching Sammy and would love to see him again, or if you never had the chance and want to see what he was all about…

Sammy will have his first official Sammy Terry Live Webcast will be on Friday, July 30th from 9:00 pm to 9:15 pm. The Sammy Terry chat will start at 9:15 pm and run to 10:00 pm. I plan to tune in, and if you love horror movie, hope that you can make it as well.

Until then… I wish you all… “Pleasant Nightmares.”

Buried Secret Goes to Far

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The Sci Fi channel has, for weeks, been advertising an “unauthorized documentary” [some even called it a “disturbing expose” ] about M. Knight Shyamalan. The story was that M. Knight first cooperated, but then tried to shut it down when producers delved too deeply into his personal life. The documentary advertised that it would present a “buried secret.”

I’ll be the first to admit that the documentary sounded interesting, but something about it just didn’t seem right. My wife speculated, a couple of weeks ago, that M. Knight was probably behind the whole thing… and it turns out she was right.

Today the Sci Fi cable network and parent company NBC Universal acknowledged that the documentary was really part of a “guerrilla marketing” hoax that went too far. It seems that “a number of entertainment journalists…” were left “…grumbling after they were duped…”

I watched the special and it was so obvious that the doc was set -up, that anyone who is upset because they were duped should be upset with himself for being so gullible.

Twilight Zone Marathon

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You just know I love SciFi’s 4th of July Twilight Zone Marathon. No matter how many times I’ve seen some of the episodes… they’re like old friends whose stories you’ve heard before but love to hear again.

I always recommend “To Serve Man” [1PM and 11PM] and “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” [believe it or not, it doesn’t look like they’re showing this classic episode], but you might also want to check out “Will the Real Martian Stand Up?” [8:30 PM] or “The Monsters are Due on Maple Street” [Midnight].

The cool thing is that the marathon runs from 9AM on July 4th to 6PM, July 5th. So even if you just tune in for a bit here and there you’ll probably catch something fun.

A Lot About Salem’s Lot

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Salem’s Lot is one of my favorite Stephen King books.

It’s probably second only to King‘s The Stand. Stephen King has written some of the scariest and without a doubt most popular horror fiction ever. The sad thing is, as good as his books have been, most of the movies made from them have been mediocre at best.

That’s why I was pretty excited when TNT announced that there would be a new Salem’s Lot mini-series. This would be the second time that Salem’s Lot would be turned into a tv production. The first time was in the late 70’s and starred David Soul and James Mason. And it was actually pretty good.

When the cast [Rob Lowe, Rutgar Hauer, Donald Sutherland and James Cromwell] for the re-make was announced things continues to look rosy. Then publicity stills began to be released and they looked pretty cool.

Things were all seeming to come together positively well… until I read Quint’s review today.

But you know me… I’ll still tune in and check it out for myself. Hopefully I’ll like it better than Quint, but if not I can still go back and re-read the novel.

Shield Back for 4th Season

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FX has picked up The Shield for a fourth season. This is the first time FX has ever brought back any of its original series for a fourth season. Fifteen new episodes are scheduled to begin airing in early 2005. This is great news — especially since we have another month to go before this season ends.

As most of you know I’ve been talking up The Shield since the very first episode. The series started strong and unlike many shows just keeps getting stronger. The cool thing is that The Shield is a hit with viewers and critics alike.

In tonight’s episode Michael Chiklis, who won the best-actor Emmy winner in 2002 for his role as Vic Mackey, makes his directing debut. David Mamet [Glengarry Glen Ross] directed the episode which premieres on May 18th!

40 Years Later and Still Trippin’

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After nearly forty years, they’re coming back for one more show!

That’s right! Dick Van Dyke, Mary Tyler Moore, Rose Marie, and Carl Reiner, stars of the original “Dick Van Dyke Show” have reunited for the show’s “159th Episode,” which will air May 11th on CBS. Series regulars Larry Mathews (Richie) and Ann Morgan Guilbert (Millie Helper) will also return. Sadly, Morey Amsterdam, who played Buddy, died in 1996.

Although the “Dick Van Dyke Show” remains a favorite, the last original episode appeared in 1966! That will all change when the new episode airs on May 11th. In the new episode, Rob, who’s still married to Laura, gets a phone call from his old boss, Alan Brady who wants Rob and Sally to write his eulogy.

Ray Ramano (Everybody Loves Raymond) will host the episode which will feature clips from the original “Dick Van Dyke Show” episodes.

Who knows, maybe if this new episode is well received, they’ll come back in another 40 years and do another!