Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Coming Back With A Vengeance

Hey folks,

I know it's been almost 2 months since my last post, but life got crazy. It does that some times.

Most of my time was spent either dealing with the boys (two is much more work than one) since we have an infant (who gets bigger and crankier every day) and a three year old (who had to go through potty training -- which will get its own blog soon enough). I was also directing a show at a local community theater that turned out to be more work than any of us in the cast and crew ever expected.

So...with that, I'm announcing a series that will start this week and run until its done. I spent seven years doing community theater in the area and now I'm gonna look back on the experience from the beginning. There were highs and lows and lots of crappy middles...but it was definitely a fun seven years. And I'm not saying I'm never gonna do it again, but this is the first time in seven years that I have nothing specific lined up and since this season (2008-2009) has been set in stone I know I've got the rest of it off to just sit back and focus my attentions elsewhere (more on all that when I'm ready).

In the meantime, the new TV season just started and I've been slowly getting back into that swing of things. I know that I never did my annual wrap up of the prior season this year, but I think it's just been that kind of year (didn't do my Top 25/Worst 5 films of the prior year either I don't believe).

Here's just a glimpse of what I plan on watching (or not watching) this season (best laid plans yadda yadda):

SUNDAYS
The Simpsons -- Just started its 20th Season. And its off to a good start. The season premiere was funnier than most episodes of the last few years. There's still some life in this old girl yet.

King of the Hill -- This one falls into the area of "Is that still on?" After 13 seasons, Hank Hill and friends are pretty much still the same. And I'm okay with that.

Family Guy -- Returns for a 7th season of the usual wacky humor.

American Dad -- Returns for a 4th season and the premiere had one of the funniest descriptions of a fart I'd ever heard ("It's like an egg ate garlic and farted in a sulfur pit!").

Desperate Housewives -- Jumping ahead 5 years for the start of the 5th season should energize this show nicely. Glad to see that Dana Delaney's Katherine is still around.

Entoruage -- While the show's still good in its 5th season it is starting to show signs of age.

MONDAYS
Chuck -- LOVED the first season, can't wait to catch up on the 2nd which just started last night.

Heroes -- Not quite sure how I feel about the 3rd season yet. I was one of the few people who didn't seem to hate the 2nd season, so while I'm still interested in where things are headed I'm not as keen on seeing everything that the "fans" want to see.

Boston Legal -- Returning for a 5th and final season, the show has been stripped down to its bare cast (gone are anyone who wasn't pulling weight like Clarence). Its not a bad thing, but it feels like they just extended the show by 13 episodes for other reasons (which they did).

My Own Worst Enemy -- This new show starring Christian Slater as a Jekyll & Hyde type spy/dad sounds interesting...so it'll get a three episode try from me.

Prison Break -- This show should have ended about 5 minutes before the end of Season 2 (they've escaped and they're free and clear)...but it didn't. I stopped watching at the end of that season even though Season 3 sat on our DVR for almost a year before I erased it (and I had plenty of space and didn't need to). Why is this still on?

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles -- Had all of Season 1 on the DVR and erased it when I knew it was coming out on DVD. Figured I'd catch up that way. The DVD's out and I still haven't bothered. Maybe someday.

TUESDAYS
House -- Started its 5th Season and its as good as its ever been.

Fringe -- This new show from J.J. Abrams is weird, but fun. It's a bit like The X-Files crossed with The Silence of the Lambs by way of the works of Michael Crichton. Three episodes in and I'm still watching.

Eli Stone -- Looking forward to the new season of this low rated show just to see where they take it.

WEDNESDAYS
Pushing Daisies -- Another show whose 2nd Season I'm really looking forward to.

Criminal Minds -- Started its 4th season with an interesting, yet predictable, resolution to the 3rd Season cliff hanger. I still like the show and the cast.

South Park -- More silliness is on its way.

Bones -- Stopped watching this early last year. Still have most of season 3 spread across a few DVRs. I'm sure we'll eventually catch up...maybe on DVD.

THURSDAYS
Ugly Betty -- Haven't watched the season 3 premiere yet, but looking forward to it.

Smallville -- At the end of last season I was ready to give up on this show. Its been wheel spinning for quite some time. But the 8th Season premiere actually had some new life to it. Maybe its just because they brought back other DC heroes, but we'll see soon enough with the next few episodes.

30 Rock -- Looking forward to the 3rd Season of this very funny show.

Law & Order: Criminal Intent -- I was shocked at where things went last season. We got more stories about the personal lives of the detectives and the Goran/Eames stuff got a clean slate by season's end while the Logan/Wheeler storyline had better get wrapped up before Jeff Goldblum joins the show for its 8th Season when he replaces Chris Noth.

My Name Is Earl -- Gave up on this show late last season. Still have the final 3 episodes on our DVR unwatched. Don't care anymore.

FRIDAYS
Crusoe -- This remake of Robinson Crusoe sounds interesting...just not sure why. We'll give it a shot.

OTHERS
Monk -- Will be returning for the rest of its 7th Season in January. There's nothing really new here, but we keep watching in hopes it'll get interesting again.

Psych -- Also returns in January for the rest of its 3rd season. Great show. We watch this before we watch Monk every week.

Battlestar: Galactica -- Returns at some point for the rest of its 4th and final season. Hopefully I'll have caught up on the 1st half of the 4th season before then.

Doctor Who -- Returns at some point to Sci Fi Channel with a Christmas 2008 special and then three other specials before the Christmas 2009 special. We'll then get a "proper" 5th Season in 2010 with David Tennant and a new team of producers.

The Sarah Jane Adventures -- This fun and family friendly show returns with a new series of episodes at some point in the not too distant future.

Torchwood -- The 3rd series of this Doctor Who spin-off returns for only 5 episodes, but they're connected into one long story. Hopefully there will be more after all that.

Reaper -- This fun show returns for a 2nd season at some point in 2009. The first season arrives on DVD in November.

Scrubs -- Also returns for its 7th and final season, but on a new network (ABC) who will hopefully show the episodes not aired on NBC.

Lost -- Returns in 2009 with new episodes to make my wife roll her eyes into the back of her head.

Law & Order -- Returns in 2009 with new episodes during its 19th season. I'm sure there'll be some more cast changeovers...there always are.

24 -- Returns in November with a TV movie to bridge the gap between seasons 6 & 7 before the next season starts in 2009. Let's hope it gets better.

Medium -- Stopped watching this show during its 2nd season, but have been slowly catching up on DVD (I'm somewhere in season 3 now), but the version starting again on NBC will be its 5th season.

Eureka -- Liked this a lot when it aired during its 1st season, but it got lost in the shuffle at some point. Just finished its 3rd season. I'm sure we'll catch up at some point.

The Brave and the Bold -- This new DC Comics based super hero team up show features Batman and other DC Heroes fighting various villains. The promos make the show look like a lot of fun. I think it starts in November.

That's all for today. I should be back again before the week is out with the first installment of what we'll call "Community Theater Confidential" for right now.

Be seeing you.