Steve Phillips is Not David Letterman

What a juicy news story this is. One of ESPN’s sports analysts, Steve Phillips just got the pink slip for having an affair with a 22-year-old production assistant. The production assistant in question is Brooke Hundley and from what I can tell from an image search over the web, she’s pretty hot in those bunny ears. On a closer inspection….yeaaaa, REALLY Steve Phillips?!?!

She filed a restraining order against apparently but it was withdrawn. Unfortunately, this debacle became public and Mr. Phillips got the boot. Unfortunately he is not as valuable to ESPN as Letterman is now.

This story leads me to my next question. Would CBS have fired David Letterman for his incident if Jay Leno was still around on late night television? Probably. Ever since Leno left the late night spot light, Letterman and CBS has taken control of the ratings and will not let go. Letterman was smart, he decided to go public and air his dirty laundry. This controversy obviously put an even tighter grip on ratings and made headlines everywhere. Once he went public, EVERYONE started watching his show. Since he is so valuable now as the number one host of late night television, CBS would not dare to fire him or NBC would take back control of late night. By firing Letterman, CBS would have to find a new host to sub in for him. They could go with Ferguson but someone needs to take his spot and I hate to say this but Craig Ferguson is not as popular as David Letterman. They would have to do casting calls and everything and they would lose all the revenue that David Letterman created, that it was just not worth it firing him. CBS gets to save a six figure salary + benefits, but that’s nothing compared to the seven figure sponsorship they get from companies/corporations.

ESPN on the other hand is already the most famous sports channel on television right now and they pretty much almost have a monopoly on the sports television industry so these guys could afford the risk and fire Steve Phillips. It’s unfortunate, because I liked the guy but he’s not as hot as Jennifer Hedger.

Stargate Universe = BSG

At first I thought how Mr. Cooper and Mr. Wright will be writing Stargate Universe (SGU) to appease to a new market that they have never tried before. I am talking about the tweens or teenagers (The 13-15 year old kids who just know one thing and one thing only, sex) and I thought, ‘oh shit, it’s going to become Stargate 90210‘. I could not believe what the writers were going to do with this new series; they were going to taint the integrety of the entire series just so they could appeal to the teenagers who might I add that not many will actually know what Stargate is. It’s pretty much a cult series now and outside from the nerd/geek/comicon world, no one knows about it.

Well it is a good thing that I watched the trailer for the new show that will be premiering in the fall of 2009. I did not expect the new direction from the writers; I saw the trailer and I was amazed they did not fuck anything up. I even can’t believe they were able to get Lou Diamond Philips and Ming Na to sign on to the series (I’m going to watch it just for them ). When I first read the announcement of SGU, I honestly thought that it would be like 90210 with all the love drama flying everywhere and the lieutenents and privates getting promiscuous with each other. The new trailers speak otherwise and I am glad that the show has not stooped down to that level but what I can not put my finger on is that the new direction that SGU is going in seems familiar…hmmm. I feel like I’ve seen this kind of editing and writing before…oh that’s right, I’ve seen it on Battlestar Galactica. Now I understand how Mr. Cooper and Mr. Wright will cater to the tweens, they will use BSG as a template…very interesting but really? I’m pretty sure now they will rip off BSG to write the episodes of SGU. If you look at the trailer, you can definitely see that SGU is went off on a tangent from the previous two series SGA and SG-1. Those two shows were all about just beat the enemies and save the day. There was no room for much personal character development and the only drama present was, ‘how do we defeat the wraith (or Goa’uld)?’ Of course, SGU will have that same drama but they will make A LOT more room for character development and put in a couple of love stories just like what they did in BSG. If you pay attention to the scenes in the trailer, you can definitely tell that the show is darker and I don’t mean that they are in a ship without lights on but it seems like the show is darker and more confrontational. I’m pretty sure BSG was like that, no? You know how Starbuck kept on gettin all crazy with everyone and picking fights with them, It’s going to be just like that.

I like the new direction that SGU will be heading in but I can’t help to think that the new SGU will be just like BSG. It’s going to be cool putting a BSG spin on the Stargate series but they would have to make it more subtle. For one, they could change the entire setting. The new SGU exploration team ends up on an old ship and that is their mode of transportation (other than the Stargates). No WAI, that’s just like BSG. The remaining survivors of the genocide are on ships trying to find their way home. It’s their only mode of transportation and that is the setting of the series. Everything happens in the ships and outside the ships when the cylons attack. I’m excited for the series though and I really do not mind if the writers, producers, and director(s) write SGU with a dash of BSG in it. It will be fun and entertaining and I really don’t think that it will cause a lot of problems with the fans. It’s going to be so cool! I can’t wait until the Fall…well I can because I do not want to go back to school.

Eleventh Hour vs. Fringe

It is official, Fringe is now ‘t3h suck’. I first started watching the show because I saw the trailer for it on TV and it was really interesting. Who wouldn’t turn down watching a woman figure out how people died and became albino to a point that you could see through their skin? It got me off the hook and I started to watch the show, but then five minutes into the show I realized to my dismay that pretty much all the actors suck balls. Anna Torvold especially. I can Charlie Conway though as he can triple deke the hell out of those mysteries. The only good thing about the show is John Noble’s acting but after watching all the episodes until the fall finale, his hilarious and unexpected lines just become, well they are still funny but the viewer expects them so there isn’t really a funny surprise at all. The plots are very interesting and they use on the edge/border science techniques and theories culminating into what is called, ‘Fringe Science’. The knowledge and education we learn from the show is very interesting but that is if we understand it. Usually that stuff is learned in high school and college/university so, not that many tweens would understand it. The middle age folks also as well won’t understand it. It’s a good thing though that I understand everything they say.

Unfortunately, how the entire story arch is panned out really kills the whole series and does not give the show it’s deserved credit. Well the acting does that mostly, but the fact that the entire show is based around ONE mystery that branches off into smaller mysteries really pisses me off. It is just like watching Lost again, and I am not going back to that show. J.J Abrams is good, but the writing staff really need to decide when its time to reveal a mystery.

Seriously, WTF Did Happen in Battlestar Galactica

So I just saw the second of the final ten episodes of BSG and the beginning was really weird to me. Did I miss something?
First thing I see is Colonol Tigh and ‘Six’ holding hands while a sonogram is being conducted on her for her unborn child. Wait, what happened here? What the hell just happened with Colonol Tigh. Isn’t he still not over the fact that he killed his wife? Well apparently not because he’s so happy with the cylons’ new saviour; the very first complete cylon baby.
You can see it in the nurse’s eyes that she’ll tear ‘Six’ apart before the series ends.

The craziest part of this episode but not uncommon in these days is that Tyrol “IS NOT THE FATHER.” Oh man, Maury should have been there and told him instead of Dr. Cottle. Hey, we might have seen a little jig out of the toaster.

The best WTF moment from this episode, 4×12 is that Tyrol makes a truce with Admiral Adama about using cylons to help work with the fleet in order to speed up production and efficiency so they can last an extra three months before they get to a new ‘earth’. The catch is, all the cyclons become citizens under the agreement so they will have the same rights, freedoms, and protection from the other cylon faction. CRAZY!!!! like WTF man. That shit was messsssseeeed up but in a good way.

The conversation that Felix and Starbuck had was very interesting. You can really tell that he is still PISSED for loosing his leg.

The whole episode is politically driven as you can tell from the controversy of creating an allegiance with the cylons. The debate stems from the sides of survival and personal dignity. Those for the allegiance with the cylons is pretty much Admiral Adama, Lee, President Roslin, and all the cylons (which include: Colonel Tigh, Tyrol, Anders, and Tory, Sixes, and Eights). Those opposed to the allegiance is the rest of the fleet, especially Tom Zarek. Now rages on the battle between the ability to survive until finding a new home against shunning the cylons due to the fact that they practically wiped out the entire human race. Will the human race decide to lay down their anger and hatred against the cylons in order to survive or will they allow this truce to be complete if it is for their survival? This episode has created a lot of political tension that viewers rarely see from Battlestar Galactica. The writers have put a lot of thought into the ending of this show and they should receive an Emmy award. No matter the outcome of the battle, it is safe to say that there will be a new president and maybe even admiral in charge until the end of the series. The people of Caprica have worked so hard, sacrificed a lot, and have endured so much pain and suffering all in the hope of finding ‘earth’. The one thing that both President Roslin and Admiral Adama have promised to everyone. It will come to a point where they will have enough and the time is now. The tides have been turning against Adam and Roslin and these tides have finally reached their crests; they’ll spill over and Tom Zarek will take control. Even though he is an ex-convict, the people of Caprica will take accept an ex-convict as a president rather than a toaster loving, cancer rampent, president who is about to commit treason.

WTF Happened in Battlestar Galactica?

I watched Battlestar Galactica last night. It came out of its winter hibernation and is set to air the last ten episodes of the series. Last night’s episode was AMAZING and there were so many twists and turns that came at you so fast that once they were over you were thinking, ‘what the hell just happened?’ There were so many things going on that it just blew my mind away.

The first surprise was the best. It turns out that the thirteenth tribe was a colony of cylons. That sucks for the president and admiral Adama who have been preaching that they will find earth some day. Well they did, only to realize that it was inhabited by cylons that nuked the hell out of each other.

Next thing you know, you find out that Tyroll discovers he was living on earth as a cylon in the thirteenth tribe. All the cylons in the fleet, colonel Tigh, Tyroll, Anders, and Ms. Foster were copies of the cylons that lived on earth. The music they keep on hearing was the music that Anders’ original body was playing for the rest of them before they all go nuked to hell.

The most WTF moment in the show was when Dualla just shot herself in the head without any warning. Some people say if you look closely in the frames, the skin colour of the hand does not match hers and the angle that it was at did not look like she was pointing the gun to her head but as if someone else was pointing the gun at her. Plausible, but it was very bright in that room and when you do see the hand, its lit up to a point where its just pale white. The whole angle thing, I don’t really know what to say for that.

Starbuck’s scene was most surreal though. She finds out that she actually did come to earth in her viper but she died and you see evidence of a dead body resembling Kara in a destroyed cockpit of a viper. Her ex husband cylon or the guy that held her captive on New Caprica got scared and ran off not understanding what was happening.

To me, the part where Tigh gets the memory of him and his wife getting destroyed by the nukes in the bank and then he realizes that his wife was also a cylon was not so WTF. It did not surprise me at all for some reason, probably because deep down inside I knew that she was a cylon. It would be crazy though if she did ressurect somehow and came back to earth to surprise the shit out of everyone.

Youtube Goes 16:9

Youtube or Google just recently and quietly for the most part released their new widescreen video player  The update came out without any front page news and it came out fast.  First there was the old school square box player that everyone is accustomed to and in the next hour, the widescreen player shows up.  It just appeared out of no where without any explanation, even though you don’t really need the explanation as to why.  They pretty much made the viewing box wider.  It is better for the human eye to watch things in widescreen becasue that is what we see naturally and things are less distorted that way.

The implementation of the new wide screen is very nice and thought out well.  The viewing box is about 30% bigger, or longer.  The size of the new player is perfect because it actually does not affect the rest of the page.  The screen is not too big for the user as it does not take up the whole entire page and it spaces the comment area more so the comments are easier to view.  Looking at the new player could get the user confused as many people are already used to the square box but after a few seconds, the whole confusion dies down and people will adapt quickly to it.  Most people these days now have widescreen televisions, so it does not take a while for the user to adapt to the new settings.  The new video player, has kindly spaced out the commenting system and the comments do now look more appealing to read.  They do not looked bunched up together and only taking up one small column of the layout.  Instead the comments now take up about half the page underneath the video player.  The only other thing that people will look through in Youtube after they watch the video are the comments, which are pretty important…for people to call other people n00bs and just to make fun of in general.  There was no major change to Youtube’s layout with the release of the new video player so people can adapt slowly towards the new player.  Good thing there was no major layout change or else there would be another ‘Marc Zomberg’ fiasco on our hands which would piss A LOT of people off including me.  Well not the actual layout change but the people who get pissed off about the change and start posting up video responses or join groups on Facebook to get the old layout back.

Anyways, the layout is pretty good and more spacious.  It actually somehow seems more viewable and more aesthetically pleasing compared to the old video player.  Unfortunately, due to the fact that many people who post up videos do not have access to video cameras that record in widescreen mode and as well as video editing tools that will convert 4:3 to 16:9 (even though that could get very messy).  Dam you Window’s Movie Maker, DAM YOU!  As a result, the user will see the awful dead space that occurs when you view a 4:3 video resolution in a 16:9 resolution, it looks awful and the dead space can be distracting.  It is a new step for Google though as they will be changing things up a bit in the industry.  Youtube has become the norm for video watching these days that pretty much whatever Youtube will do, other video hosting sites will do the same.  It will be no surprise that other video sites will copy Youtube and modify their players to naturally go widescreen to make things look better. In a few months, every single video player on the internet will have 16:9 capabilities (even though a couple of them already had it before Youtube).  Video editing programs will now all have widescreen resolution features.  Actually they already do, but the ones for free..no they don’t, but they soon will.  Then people will be able to post up videos of themselves ranting about in 16:9 and we get to see more of how dirty their house is.

On the ‘Fringe’ of Sucking

I haven’t wrote in a long time, I’m back but my schedule is going to be hectic again, so I may not write until around January.

Anyways.

Fringe, created by the infamous, all suspensful J.J Arbrams is one of the latest new shows in Fox’s 2008 fall lineup.  I actually have not seen the previews and promotions on television, but I did hear it on the radio.  I heard about the show way back in the day but never really thought more of it, I actually thought it would get cancelled.  This science-fiction show revolves around agent Dunham (Anna Torv) an FBI agent who is suddenly thrusted into the realm of paranormal after her boyfriend becomes a victim of an out of this world experiment.  She is accompanied by Charlie Conway…I mean Peter Bishop (Joshua Jackson), one really intelligent man who’s had a lot of troubles in his past and his father Dr. Walter Bishop (John Noble), a crazy mentally ill scientist who’s research is the basis for these crazy paranormal activities.

The show deals with the realm of “WTF, no fuckin way that can happen” science-fiction just like the X-Files and Psi-Factor.  There is a mix of weird, crazy, and unbelievable paranormal activity and a government conspiracy centered around the FBI and what seems to be the company behind the pattern  of paranormal events, ‘Massive Dynamic’.  So far the plot lines for each episode are pretty cool and original, until I found out that the X-Files already did it (some of them at least).

The show’s plot lines are pretty good but it comes to a point where it fails to mask the terrible acting and that point comes in around after the introduction.  Anna Torv is terrible at this, I don’t understand why she was casted as the lead role.  She can’t express any emotions except for…well she can’t act, lets just put it that way.  Her acting is getting better though as the episodes go by but that could just be me getting used to it.  Joshua Jackson a.k.a Charlie Conway was pretty much why I wanted to watch this show, but his acting does not help at all either.  John Noble on the other hand is better and funnier but he’s just the comic relief of the show.  I like his lines and they’re pretty funny but if his lines become the saving grace for this show, its going to get dry soon.  Its ordered for a full season so I hope all the actors practice more on their abilities because Ill stop watching this show soon.  This paranormal stuff won’t keep the show afloat if the acting is still terrible.

I still watch the show because I still find it interesting.  Abrams has got me hooked on it just like Lost.  Unfortunately, it seems like the writers of Lost do not even know what the secret of the island is and they’re just pulling random shit out of their asses.  That is why I stopped watching the show after about the fourth episode.  Actually it was because I had practice around that time and I couldn’t watch the show, I could never get back into it again.  Now with Fringe, there is also another big huge secret or pattern they all must figure out but knowing Abrams, they won’t reveal the answer until whenever they decide to end this show.  I’m pretty sure though Fringe will end after about two or three seasons.  We’ll have to see how the acting turns out though.

Stargate 90210

It turns out one of my most favourite shows, Stargate Atlantis will get the boot after its current season the fifth in order to make way for the new series, Stargate Universe (SGU). Apparently Stargate Atlantis (SGA) was supposed to go on for a bit longer but after killing off Torri Higginson’s character, ratings have not been the same. There has been a big drop in ratings this season unfortunately and not only that but every actor had a five year contract to do the series. It seems as if the creators Robert Cooper and Brad Wright do not want to renegotiate the salaries of the actors after season five.

As a final result, the creators are going to can this fabulous show and start with fresh with Stargate Universe. Being a fan of the Stargate movie and subsequent series, I am anxious and excited to watch Stargate Universe. The problem is though, the creators want to market the series directly to a younger audience. This is not going to work out well. How are Wright and Cooper going to aim the series at a younger audience? Most of the people that watch this show are probably in their late teens to early thirties. It will be wrong to market this to tweens as many probably won’t know what the hell is going on in each episode, thus they will have to dumb down the episode which will take away from Stargate’s core audience.

Aiming the series toward younger male audiences will be easy, but very, very expensive. All the boys want to see is explosions and gunfire, not to mention the hot chicks kicking ass. So as a result the series will go over budget and will be canceled in the end just like how SG-1 ended.
The problem towards aiming the series towards younger females is well, most of them are probably into the hills and 90210 2.0 so drama is needed. Personally I am going to hate that, and I’m pretty sure almost all of the core Stargate fans will hate it too, except for the guys who will only watch it for the hot babe(s) in the show. I remember when Desperate Housewives came out, all the guys I knew watched it just for Eva Longoria and Teri Hatcher. Then they realized how stupid it became and stopped watching. If the writers and creators are going to make Stargate Universe like this, we’ll just call it “Stargate: 90210″ I will definately not watch it if it turns out to be like The Hills or like 90210.

I would understand if they are going to aim this towards the very young aspiring children of the future, I mean I got hooked on this series since the movie came out and once I finally found this on television (I did not have cable back then, I only had about ten channels to watch from), I couldn’t stop watching. Unfortunately I did not really know what was going on and I only watched it for the action packed shoot out scenes and explosions, but this was way back when I was still in elementary school. They tried aiming a series to the young children of our future with a cartoon series, but we all know what happened to Stargate Infinity. What’s that you say? You don’t know what Stargate Infinity is? My case in point. They will have to dumb this show down so that everyone will understand what the hell is going on. I find this stupid and they should just write the series for the core audience and put it some attractive leading man and woman to get more people interested like what they did in Eureka.

A part of me can not wait to see the series but another part of me can definitely wait so I hope the creators really think hard about the new series and try not to alienate their core audience. If they do not think about this hard and clear, the new show will only last about a season or so.

Prison Break Season Premier: Disappointing

If you haven’t seen the premiere yet, this contains spoilers.
I watched the season four premiere of Prison Break last night and I was truly disappointed in it. Now instead of breaking out of prison, they are going to break into a complex owned by ‘The Company’ so they don’t have to face further jail time. Fox has been dragging this show out for so long. It should have ended at the end of season two but now they are in their fourth season and this better be the last season because from what it looks, viewership will go down and they might even have to cancel this show mid-season which I don’t think is a great way to end a fantastic (well used to be) show.

When I watched the season premiere, I expected to get blown away by a secret revelation that just hits you right in the face and you say, ‘WTF!?!?!’ Instead they show you predictable events and uncovering of secrets that make you say, ‘oh, wow….REALLY? Is that the best they can do?” I certainly was not impressed with anything the season premiere threw at me. The biggest thing on the show was when they realize they needed the information from six different Scylla cards to actually get all the black book information on the company. That somehow did not surprise me as knowing that all Prison Break episodes end in a new problem for Michael to face. When they discover this fact, I just slumped on the couch, knowing the next few episodes will be about them gathering the last five keys. I would be really pissed if they drag this out even more and make the entire season about the group finding the remaining pieces of the pizza. THEN in season five, they finally get a chance to break into The Company’s headquarters.

What really pissed me off about the season premiere is that made quick fixes for everyone:
- Sucre and Bellick get caught, Sucre faces jail time for escaping Fox River and Bellick for aiding him.
- Lincoln, once again ‘murders’ an agent working for the company and the police take him into custody. I like the fact that he decided to stay and wait for the police to ‘cuff him instead of running away ‘causing another manhunt.
- Sucre, Bellick, and T-bag manage to escape from Sonah due to a fire that burned the entire prison down and now they are on the run
- I don’t know what is up with T-bag but he will manage to track Michael and the gang down and use his cunning and wit to screw them all over in the end
- Mahone now has nothing to lose as the assassin (the new Gretchen) kills his wife and child or if that is what they make us think
- Whistler is now dead, shot from behind by the assassin and it all happened so fast too
- Gretchen is now being held against her will because she failed to realize that Whistler was plotting against the company under her nose
- After what happened in the beginning, I’m pretty sure the show just got rid of LJ and Sophia so they probably won’t show them ever again. Well they will, the last we saw of them is that they both ran off together after Lincoln kills the agent

What pisses me off the most about this season premiere is the fact that Sarah Wayn Callies refused to come back for season three even after the show tried to accomodate her and change everything around for her. It is a sham that they had to use a body double in season three and they were forced to kill her off because she would not return. Now she wanted to come back and they had to make some minor changes to the plot which leads to Gretchen telling Michael that she never killed her and that Lincoln and LJ were tricked by their senses. She comes back though out of the blue waiting for both Michael and Lincoln after posting bail for them (well I’m pretty sure the old guy posted bail for them. I can’t remember his name but he was killed off by The Company’s assassin). They never explain in the premiere what she did during season three and how she escaped and hid for all this time, but I’m very sure they will explain it all in the next upcoming episodes.

Now since all the major characters are in trouble, the FBI comes in and gives them a deal to break into the complex and gather all the secret information from The Company or else, they all go back to jail and will get killed by the assassin. I don’t like the casting of Michael Rapaport. I can see that Fox recycles all their actors. To me, after watching ‘Boston Public’ and ‘The War At Home’ he just does not seem like an FBI agent with a hidden agenda. He did not play the part very well in my opinion. He was supposed to sound authoritative and lay down the law against the criminals but the way he does it just doesn’t seem convincing and his hidden agenda which makes it seem like he is actually working for The Company. I loos weird how he portrays the FBI agent. I hate how the new guy was cast, Roland (James Hiroyuki Liao) the crazy tech genius who faces major jail time because he invented a device that steals any type of information held electronically. He does not fit in well with the group and his acting is poor. I especially do not like how they introduced him to the audience. Rapaport shows them the warehouse they will be working in and oh hey, this guy will be working with you too. He is in the same boat as the rest of you. I can see that Roland will be killed off after they manage to get all the information contained in each card.

I did not like how Michael got his entire body tattoo removed. That was the trademark of the show, that was the reason why so many people got hooked onto the show. Everyone sees the promos for the first season of the show and they see, oh this guy goes to jail to break his brother out – Oh hold on, what’s this, what a crazy tattoo this guy has, I think I’ll watch. Now with the trademark gone from the show, Prison Break will turn into Saved by the Bell when they went to college.

The only good thing to watch about this show is having them explain Sara’s situation, the character development of the assassin and how he will manage to find them and try and kill them all, and also Gretchen’s situation and how she will come into play and affect everything. T-bag being the mischievous manipulator that he is, I know he’s going to come back and figure everything out and try to make a deal with Michael. In the end will try and screw everyone over…or he may get killed which I think is a possibility.

Jericho

OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG, this is soooo gay, they canceled one of my favourite shows of 2k6-2k7. They canceled 'Jericho' I can not believe they did that. Those rat bastards at…NBC? Well whatever, those stupid idiots had to follow that gay ass trend of breaking for like six months. I don't understand why every other freakin' network has to put a stupid four-six month break for their shows. It's to revamp the suspense and tension…yeah, but that's major bullshit man. Some of those shows need to be canceled anyways, like LOST. Well the good thing is, Lost will have only two more seasons, so we will finally get to see WHY THE FUCK THERE WAS A POLAR BEAR ON THE ISLAND. If they tie it in with Heroes…dam that will be nice. But anyways, back to that hiatus; due to that fuckin' hiatus, most of Jericho's viewers lost interest in it. I HATE IT SO MUCH and the good ole' cliffhanger was nice. HA, I'm sooo sure they opened fire on the military by accident, lol oh man I want to see their faces when they killed a battalion of marines.

Skeet Ulrich is nice, but I'm pretty sure a lot of viewers got really pissed of because Gerald McRaney's character was killed off. I mean he was beside a fuckin' tank, wtf and everyone of the intruders ran off once they saw the tank. How the fuck did he get shot damit! Oh well, but I'm pretty sure the show would have been canceled anyways once the second season started. It was a good run though.