Survivor Week 2 - Booby Nap

Champions League

Jack

Artis (Tandang) -79: Immunity (+8), W2 (+2)= -69
Russell (Matsing) -73: W2 (+2)= -71
Roxy (Matsing) -4: Votes (-16)= -20
Zane (Matsing) -60

Last week: -216, Now: -220



Me

Malcolm (Matsing) -199: W2 (+2)= -197
Angie (Matsing) -149: Votes (-4), W2 (+2)= -151
Dana (Kalabaw) +4: W2 (+2)= +6
Abi-Maria (Tandang) 0: W2 (+2)= +2

Last week: -344, Now: -340

Mags

Pete (Tandang) -159: Immunity (+8), W2 (+2)= -149
Dawson (Kalabaw) -61:  W2 (+2)= -59
Carter (Kalabaw) -116: W2 (+2)= -114
RC (Tandang) -49: Immunity (+8), W2 (+2)= -39

Last week: -385, Total = -361

Jaydon

Michael (Tandang) -159: Immunity (+8), W2 (+2)= -149
Jonathan (Kalabaw) -111: Idol (+10), W2 (+2)= -99
Jeff (Kalabaw) -91: W2 (+2)= -89
Katie (Kalabaw) -141: W2 (+2)= -139

Started at: -502, Total = -476



Developmental League

Tippy

Michael (Tandang): Immunity (+8), W2 (+2)= +10
RC (Tandang): Immunity (+8), W2 (+2)= +10
Katie (Kalabaw): W2 (+2)= +2
Angie (Matsing): Votes (-4), W2 (+2)= -2

Week 2: +20, Total = +32

Larry

Pete (Tandang): Immunity (+8), W2 (+2)= +10
Dana (Kalabaw): W2 (+2)= +2
Russell (Matsing): W2 (+2)= +2
Abi-Maria (Tandang): W2 (+2)= +2

Week 2: +16, Total = +24

Marsh

Malcolm (Matsing): W2 (+2)= +2
Jonathan (Kalabaw): Idol (+10), W2 (+2)= +12
Roxy (Matsing): Votes (-16)= -16
Carter (Kalabaw): W2 (+2)= +2

Week 2: 0, Total = +20

Rizzo

Jeff (Kalabaw): W2 (+2)= +2
Denise (Matsing): W2 (+2)= +2
Dawson (Kalabaw): W2 (+2)= +2
Zane (Matsing)
Week 2: +6, Total = +5

The Office 902 Review - Ready For My Close-up

Good for Roy! I'm not sure why The Office decided that he needed such a happy send off, but "Roy's Wedding" was indeed that.

Not only did he get married to a seemingly great girl, but he's also well off, and more importantly, he's making an effort to do special things for his now wife. He's grown up.

The way the sitcom worked Roy's surprise for his bride into the story - so that Jim and Pam could take issue with the fact that they had absolutely no secrets between them - was perfect. Sure, it didn't create many laughs, but watching Jim squirm about his giant secret was fun enough on its own.

Back at Dunder Mifflin, things started to get a bit crazy. After Nellie's charity bit pushed Dwight into agreeing to live under Taliban law, she had the brilliant idea to steal something, which would require Dwight to cut her hand off.

To read the rest of my review of last night's The Office, head over to TV Fanatic.

The X Factor 206 Review - Time For Boot Camp

The auditions are finally over, and if I haven't commended The X Factor enough on its second season already, I have to admit that this was the perfect length of audition episodes.

We saw a few more quality contestants, we witnessed a couple more train wrecks, and the judges got in a few more digs on Thursday night's audition finale. Now it's off to Boot Camp, but first let's relive the final X Factor auditions of 2012 with The Good, The Bad, and The Judges...

The Good

Owen Stuart: While I would put Owen's silly puppy love idea to try out for The X Factor in order to reunite with his girlfriend into the Bad section of this post, his performance definitely belongs in the Good. Honestly, has he not heard of an airplane? Or maybe a Google Hangout? Luckily for Owen, he was great with "Airplanes." His flow was some of the best I've seen on one of these competitions, and he has a singing voice to boot!

To read the rest of my review of last night's The X Factor, head over to TV Fanatic.

The X Factor 205 Review - We Have a Winner?

In the final week of auditions, The X Factor showed America a ton of young hopefuls, a contestant passing out and the first singer to impress enough that I am calling him the Season 2 champion. Yes, already. Let's recap who we saw perform on Wednesday night, both The Good and The Bad...

The Good

Dinah Jane Hansen: She lives with 20 people in a four room house, or at least that's what she told the judges. Her performance of "If I were a Boy" started out a bit shaky with the whisper, but once things got going she was pretty darn good.

Arin Ray: You may remember Arin from last season when he made it through the first few rounds, but was then place on the Frankengroup called inTENsity. I hated inTENsity, but vaguely remember Arin being one of the only few bright spots. Even if he was good last year, the kid was MUCH better this time around. He sang an original, and it's difficult to explain why it was so good. Maybe it's confidence, maybe it's just an "x factor," but Arin killed it. He was one of the only people on any of these singing competitions to do that talking bit before the track, and actually have it sound professional. He sounded official, and that is definitely a good thing.

To read the rest of my review of last night's The X Factor, head over to TV Fanatic.

The Voice 307 Review - More to Come?

With the excitement of more seasons of The Voice on the horizon comes the disappointment of more blind auditions. Yup, they're not over. Only four contestants made it through on Tuesday night, which means each coach needs to more players before we can move onto the Battle Rounds.

Who is getting on a roll? And whose team is hurting late in the audition process? Let's take a look at what happened in the latest edition of the Blind Auditions by taking a look at the teams...

Team Xtina
Tuesday: 1-for-2, Total: 14-for-26 (54%)

Christina is now the most popular coach, as adding just one singer to her team on Tuesday moved her past Adam with a 54% success rate. That one singer was the first one we saw, Sylvia Yacoub. Born in Egypt, she not only had Xtina's dream hair, but she put forth a great performance of "Only Girl in the World."  She had some grit, plenty of attitude, and pushed Cee Lo to quiet the crowd so that he could whisper "I want you to be on my team." She chose Christina.

To read the rest of my review of last night's The Voice, head over to TV Fanatic.

The Voice 306 Review - That's a Good Looking Dude

The teams are almost filled, which means it's almost time for the blind auditions to end on The Voice. As interesting as this format is, and as much as I enjoy a good sob story, I will be glad to move on to the next round of this season. These auditions get tiring.

What never gets tiring is Carson's excitement back stage, Blake's self-deprecating sense of humor and Adam's ability to persuade contestants to his team. As always, there was plenty of all three on Monday's episode, so let's see how it all played out...

Team Blake
Monday: 5-for-6, Total: 12-for-27 (44%)

Although Carson led the viewers to believe that Blake was just being selective up to this point in the competition, we all know that he just hasn't been able to reel in the singers, only succeeding 33% of time before this week. Monday was a completely different story as the country crooner went 5-for-6, picking up a wealth of talent for his squad.

To read the rest of my review of last night's The Voice, head over to TV Fanatic.

2012 Emmys - Live Blogged

8:01 - I know this entire open to the Emmys was bad, but the naked Lena Dunham eating cake on a toilet was completely unnecessary.

8:06 - I'm not a Jimmy Kimmel fan, but that President/Homeland, Sheen/Breaking Bad joke was pretty good.

8:10 - That Comedy clip reel was not great. This one for the entire season of television is.

8:13 - Supporting Actor in a Comedy...The Emmy goes to: ERIC STONESTREET! This is somewhat a surprise, but we knew it was staying in the Modern Family family. I was expecting it to go back to Ty Burrell, but we all know it should be in the hands of Donald Glover.

8:20 - Writing for a Comedy...The Emmy goes to: Louis C.K. for Louie's "Pregnant."

8:23 - There were a lot of things that could have been funny about Breaking Bad being made back in the day. Nothing about that sketch was funny.

To read the rest of my live blog from last night's Emmys, head over to TV Fanatic.

Wilfred 213 Review - What Do You See?

The exceptional quality of Wilfred Season 2 has been well documented by me right here at TV Fanatic over the course of past few months. It has been hilarious, both heart-warming and depressing at times, and about as thought provoking as a comedy can be.

While the finale produced its fair share of laughs - Kristen telling Ryan's friend to "get a feel" for her baby, and Wilfred's admission that Amazon.com's one-click shopping makes things very easy were a couple of my favorites - in true season-ending fashion "Secrets" was more about the bigger picture.

Before getting to Ryan and his pretty picture, let's attempt to dissect Amanda's actions, figuring out if they may tell us something about this world we've been watching for two seasons now.

I had no idea what to expect when Ryan actually admitted to her that he and Wilfred "talk to each other." My stomach went up into my chest a little bit because I was so nervous about what was going to come next. When Amanda said she did it too, I didn't know what to think.

To read the rest of my review of last night's season finale of Wilfred, head over to TV Fanatic.

The Office 901 Review - Is There a Belt Above Black?

The Office will go down as one of the best comedies ever to grace our television screens. Just because it hasn't been the same since Steve Carrell left, that doesn't mean we shouldn't be just as interested in how this all-time classic will end.

That's right, "New Guys" kicked off the final season of The Office, and there were some serious changes around the Dunder-Mifflin Scranton branch. Kelly's gone, Ryan's gone and a couple of young new guys are hanging around making our old favorites act a little crazy.

I enjoyed Clark Duke and Jake Lacy in Greek and Better With You, respectively, so I'm holding out hope that each brings something to the table in this final season. For now their characters of Dwight Jr. and New Jim simply helped propel some story lines.

Yeah, we know Dwight is always crazy, but between giving Dwight Jr. a noogie when he starts to think of him as a son, and everything that happens after the kid does well on the slack line, this may have been a new level of insanity. What on earth was he thinking with that bike-on-a-wire bit?

To read the rest of my review of last night's season premiere of The Office, head over to TV Fanatic.

The X Factor 204 Review - Turn The Lights Down Low

Apparently The X Factor wasted all of its talent on Wednesday night - because during Thursday's hour of auditions, we saw only two quality performers. In fact, we only saw four serious performances total.

Somebody from Greensboro might make it all the way to the end and win this thing, so it's still important to take stock of what went down in Gate City. As we do, let's take a look at The Good, The Bad, and The Judges...

The Good

Kalvin McManigle: Yes, I know this was an absolute joke of an audition, but it was one the few disasters that actually got me to smile. Old Man River forgetting the name of his song, and then mumbling his way through it, was quite humorous.

Julia Bullock: One of the two decently talented performers from this entire episode, Julia was most interesting because she was ditching her bandmates, which included her ex-boyfriend. I don't understand why she left him. Did she not see his super cool earring? Julia's rendition of "Pumped Up Kicks" was pretty solid. I'm falling out of my chair for it, but she was good.

To read the rest of my review of last night's The X Factor, head over to TV Fanatic.

Survivor Week 1 - Off the Disabled List

Champions League

Jack

Artis (Tandang): Auction (-80), W1 (+1)= -79
Russell (Matsing): Auction (-70), Votes (-4), W1 (+1)= -73
Roxy (Matsing): Auction (-5), W1 (+1)= -4
Zane (Matsing): Auction (-40), Votes (-20)= -60

Started at: -195, Total = -216



Me

Malcolm (Matsing): Auction (-200), W1 (+1)= -199
Angie (Matsing): Auction (-150), W1 (+1)= -149
Dana (Kalabaw): Auction (-5), Immunity (+8), W1 (+1)= +4
Abi-Maria (Tandang): Auction (-1), W1 (+1)= 0

Started at: -356, Total = -344

Mags

Pete (Tandang): Auction (-160), W1 (+1)= -159
Dawson (Kalabaw): Auction (-70), Immunity (+8), W1 (+1)= -61
Carter (Kalabaw): Auction (-125), Immunity (+8), W1 (+1)= -116
RC (Tandang): Auction (-50), W1 (+1)= -49

Started at: -405, Total = -385

Jaydon

Michael (Tandang): Auction (-160), W1 (+1)= -159
Jonathan (Kalabaw): Auction (-120), Immunity (+8), W1 (+1)= -111
Jeff (Kalabaw): Auction (-100), Immunity (+8), W1 (+1)= -91
Katie (Kalabaw): Auction (-150), Immunity (+8), W1 (+1)= -141

Started at: -530, Total = -502

Developmental League

Marsh

Malcolm (Matsing): W1 (+1)= +1
Jonathan (Kalabaw): Immunity (+8), W1 (+1)= +9
Roxy (Matsing): W1 (+1)= +1
Carter (Kalabaw): Immunity (+8), W1 (+1)= +9

Week 1: +20, Total = +20

Tippy

Michael (Tandang): W1 (+1)= +1
RC (Tandang): W1 (+1)= +1
Katie (Kalabaw): Immunity (+8), W1 (+1)= +9
Angie (Matsing): W1 (+1)= +1

Week 1: +12, Total = +12

Larry

Pete (Tandang): W1 (+1)= +1
Dana (Kalabaw): Immunity (+8), W1 (+1)= +9
Russell (Matsing): Votes (-4), W1 (+1)= -3
Abi-Maria (Tandang): W1 (+1)= +1

Week 1: +8, Total = +8

Rizzo

Jeff (Kalabaw): Immunity (+8), W1 (+1)= +9
Denise (Matsing): W1 (+1)= +1
Dawson (Kalabaw): Immunity (+8), W1 (+1)= +9
Zane (Matsing): Votes (-20)= -20

Week 1: -1, Total = -1

The X Factor 203 Review - Oops, They Did It Again

Whether it was the surprising wealth of talent, the lack of an onslaught of freak shows, or Demi and Britney continuing to prove the Powers That Be knew exactly what they were doing in hiring such charming new judges, The X Factor did it again.

It's still early, and things could change in a few weeks with Boot Camp or the live shows, but season two has been a breath of fresh air. I mean, honestly, there may have been more talent in this one episode than all of last season. With that in mind, let's take a look at The Good, The Bad, and The Judges.

The Good

CeCe Frey: Unlike the last time they showed a contestant doing dirty work back stage, CeCe actually made a splash once she got on stage. Her "Unchained Melody" didn't impress the judges, although it didn't sound nearly as horrible as they made it seem. After being asked to pick a different song, CeCe wowed everyone with her rendition of "Ain't No Other Man." It was definitely better, but the shock factor was played up a bit too much, because you could tell she had a good voice from the first song. It was just a bit too big for her.

To read the rest of my review of last night's The X Factor, head over to TV Fanatic.

Covert Affairs 310 Review - Moscow Mambo

In the final episode before Covert Affairs takes a short hiatus, "Let's Dance" felt like it never took time to catch its breath.

With Annie now out of the hospital, she was going a million miles a minute during the entire hour, attempting to seek revenge for what Lena did to her and Simon.  Eventually she got that revenge.

We've seen Annie shoot before. We've seen her kill. That didn't make this one any easier to watch.  She still has such an innocence surrounding her that when she was standing toe-to-toe with Lena, I was still expecting someone else to come in and save her from the traitorous agent.

Alas, our little Annie needed no such help.  When Lena finally made a move for her gun Ms. Walker took her down with no hesitation, firing a pair of shots straight into her chest.  Although there was no other move, like I said, it was surprising to see Annie do it.

To read the rest of my review of last night's Cover Affairs, head over to TV Fanatic.

The Voice 305 Review - Benji Thang

We have come to the point in the The Voice's third season when the blind auditions should be tiresome and we just want to move on to the next round already. Fortunately for the good people at NBC, Blake Shelton is single-handedly making that impossible.

Although he didn't land a single contestant on his team on Tuesday, Blake was on fire all night long. Between his comments about Christina being abusive to her team members and making 10 artists quit the business just after meeting her, and then his remark about Benji not sounding like Adam because of his lack of jack assery, I couldn't have been more pleased with Mr. Shelton's performance.

Team Blake
Tuesday: 0-for-4, Total: 7-for-21 (33%)

Even though his comic stylings were on point, his ability to woo prospective team members was way off, losing out to all the other coaches, including a couple of one-on-one battles against Xtina and Cee Lo. By the end of the episode he even noted that he's going to need to try harder to garner more contestants from this point forward.

To read the rest of my review of last night's The Voice, head over to TV Fanatic.

The Voice 304 Review - Cupid Kerfuffle

On the heels of news that Usher and Shakira will be replacing Xtina and Cee Lo on this spring's fourth season of The Voice - as the latter two take a hiatus for other projects - the Blind Auditions continued on Monday, showcasing plenty of talent that will vie for positions in this year's live shows.

Like always, there were a few featured artists who didn't make the cut on Monday. The most interesting was Cupid. Yes, that Cupid. The man who made the "Cupid Shuffle" tried out for The Voice and failed to turn around a single chair.

He came on the show to prove to everyone that he was more than just his pop phenomenon line dancing song. I get that. He wants to prove he has a voice, something that wasn't really showcased in his signature track. So what song did he choose to sing for his audition?

"Cupid Shuffle." What?!?!?! I could not believe it when I heard him say it. Was this seriously happening? It's a shame, though, because just judging by his performance, it sounded like he had a good voice. It's too bad he wasn't singing a song that gave the coaches an inkling of an idea about what this guy's talent level may or may not have actually been.

To read the rest of my review of last night's The Voice, head over to TV Fanatic.

Wilfred 312 Review - The Co-Ring Bearer

Ryan: "Are you telling me you've never smelled another dog on Jenna's hands?"

Wilfred: "Well yeah but that's just from her pushing other dogs away."

Ryan Newman may have done the most adult thing in his life on "Resentment." He offered to put on a wedding for the girl on whom he has crushed for the last two years, along with her obnoxiously funny fiancé.

He began this week's Wilfred by doing anything and everything he could to avoid even going to said wedding, but by the end of the half hour he was not only a part of the party, he also accepted the responsibility that comes with putting on Jenna and Drew's big event.

Seeing Ryan act so grown-up was heart-warming. And if it was only a stepping stone to him having the courage to make up with Amanda, I'm okay with that too. Like Ryan, I've missed her.

Although there was plenty of drama to go around this week, we first tune into Wilfred for the laughs... and there were a lot during "Resentment." Drew came back from his bachelor party chock full of classic new nicknames (Ry-cironi and Jenna-ration X) and stoned-out questions about the possibility of Wilfred talking. He was welcomed back with open arms.

To read the rest of my review of last night's Wilfred, head over to TV Fanatic.

The X Factor 202 Review - I Love You Britney

I figured out why The X Factor and other singing competition shows usually spend two hours showing us auditions: because when an episode is only one hour, nothing really happens. At least that was the case on tonight's back half of The X Factor’s season two premiere.

There were a couple of nice moments, a few awful auditions and one extremely scary contestant, but it all seemed to go by extremely quickly. Let's take a look at what happened with The Good, The Bad and The Judges...

The Good

Jason Brock: This "nerd herder" was so excited to be on stage that he became quite the little chatter box in front of the judges, bringing us all in on his plans for the perfect concert. To be honest, I'm glad he didn't do the glitter explosion right then and there, but once he started singing the jokes ended. He was great. His voice showed strength and range.  He may have enjoyed the runs a bit too much, but his "New York State of Mind" was pretty darn good.

To read the rest of my review of last night's The X Factor, head over to TV Fanatic.

The X Factor 201 Review - New Judges Rule

I was really hard on The X Factor in its first season, mostly because it was a much more overproduced and less talented version of American Idol. Those two issues will need time to receive a full assessment, but after one night the addition of a pair of great judges made for a winning season opener.

After trips to Austin, San Francisco and Providence, Simon, LA, Britney and Demi saw a lot of talented singers, and as always, some that were anything but. Let's take a look at The Good, The Bad and The Judges.

The Good

Paige Thomas: A 21-year-old nursing student with an adorable little daughter, Paige wowed the judges with her version of "I'm Going Down." She was a big Britney fan because they are both hot moms, but LA instead compared her to Rihanna so that he could drop that name for the first time of the season.

Reed Deming: Just 13 and he already has better vocals than the superstar everyone kept comparing him to. Honestly, just because you have the Alabama Swoop for a hairdo, it doesn't mean you have to be compared to Bieber. Others had that before him. Anyway, Reed's two songs were both very good, and honestly I was shocked Simon stopped his first one. I loved it.

To read the rest of my review of last night's season two premiere of The X Factor, head over to TV Fanatic.

The Voice 303 Review - Moonwalk This Way

The first week of The Voice blind auditions has come to an end, and CeeLo continues to get overlooked by the aspiring singers. Hey, he did a heck of a job with Juliet Simms last season so I don't know what these contestants are so hesitant about.

Other than Mr. Green's failure to land team members, I took to major things away from Wednesday night's installment:

1. I know some contestants take into account who turns around first when making their decision, but it isn't the only thing on their mind when deciding on a coach.  Please stop going on and on about how you were the first one to turn. They can see who turned around first, so spend that time pitching your passion for them instead of wasting it on a reminder that you hit your button before the other coaches.
2. Carson Daly either still gets really excited about every single blind audition, or he's good at pretending to act like a little school girl back stage.  It was most noticeable when the first coach turned around for Nelly's Echo and with how closely he was watching the beginning of Nicole Nelson's performance. He's into it!

To read the rest of my review of last night's The Voice, head over to TV Fanatic.

Covert Affairs 309 Review - Unlucky in Lavender

How do you come back after a thrilling episode such as "Glass Spider?" Covert Affairs knew exactly what to do.  In "Suffragette City," the USA Network hit put the ball in Chris Gorham's court and simply let him do his thing. The results were fantastic.

We've seen Auggie get emotional before, but this might have been a whole new level. From the first moment he heard that his country thought that she was a traitor, he was as upset as we've ever seen. Auggie probably wouldn't have been more bothered if it were him in trouble with the department.

And that's why we love Auggie - and the Auggie and Annie relationship. He wanted to do anything he could to help her, and that included listening to and then breaking into Lena's polygraph session. When she claimed she thought Annie might have had something to do with Jai's death, it was the last straw for Auggie, but I still can't believe he jeopardized himself like that.

But that is how much he cares for his friend. He lost control a little bit, but thankfully he was still thinking rationally enough to figure out Lena was behind everything. If she didn't have to pile on the perfume, or if she didn't lay on the "I'm here to help" bit so thick, maybe Auggie wouldn't have picked up on it.

To read the rest of my review of this week's Covert Affairs, head over to TV Fanatic.

The Voice 302 Review - Tranquil Aquile

It was a short and sweet version of The Voice on Tuesday's second night of blind auditions. We saw only six performances during the hour, and I think I preferred that to the sometimes dragging two-hour version.

There was talk of a Harry Potter/Justin Bieber hybrid, Blake hanging championship banners in the arena and of course a couple of exciting performances during the episode. Let's take a look at how it all went down...

Team Xtina
Current Members: De'Borah, Devyn Deloera

Christina Aguilera picked up the first team member of the night, winning over 22-year-old bartender Adriana Louise after Louise won over all four of the coaches with "Domino." This was probably the most surprising event of the night, as I did not think this was all that special of a performance. The vocal sounded pretty pedestrian, and then there were some bum notes, so I'd be happy if I were one of the other three superstars.

To read the rest of my review of Tuesday night's The Voice, head over to TV Fanatic.

The Voice 301 Review - Going Blind

The Voice returned earlier than normal for season three, but Blake Shelton's jokes, Christina Aguilera's cleavage and a boat load of talent seemed to not miss a beat during Monday's season premiere.

After the coaches put forth probably their best joint performance yet on the series - and we all had a good laugh at Cee Lo's newest wacky The Voice pet Lady the cockatoo - the contestants all had their chance to wow the coaches. Let's see who impressed us the most...

Team Blake
Last season's victorious coach Blake Shelton was coming in hot Monday night, picking up two of the first three singers shown on screen. First out of the gate was 35 year-old Scottish rocker Terry McDermott. Other than his cute little son, Terry didn't impress me all that much. He sure did wow the coaches though, as three out of four turned around for his version of "Baba O'Reilly." Blake's idea to just let Terry's accent propel him to the championship worked, as the first contestant picked the country star to lead him to the promise land.

To read the rest of my recap of last night's The Voice season premiere, head over to TV Fanatic.

The Wire - Top 50 Characters

As we love to do here at The Quiet Pool Perspective, we have ranked the beloved characters of The Wire.  This was such a big deal that I took to the Poolie voters to help me crown the best of all-time.  So without further ado, here are the Top 50 characters of The Wire as voted on by me, Ttime, Jaydon, Larry, Mags, Cecil, Tyson, and the Bonz.

A list of 50 characters was sent out to all voters, and each person selected his 20 favorites and ranked them in order.  The points next to each person's name were totaled by giving 20 points for a first place vote, 19 for second, and so on.  A complete list of each person's vote is posted at the end.

40.
William Rawls - 0
Theresa D'agostino - 0
The Deacon - 0
Scotty Templeton - 0
Rhonda Pearlman - 0
Major Valchek - 0
Leander Sydnor - 0
Kima Greggs - 0
Jay Landsman - 0
Ervin Burrell - 0
Clarence Royce - 0

39. Beadie Russell - 3

38. Poot Carr - 4

36.
Ziggy Sobotka - 5
Cheese Wagstaff - 5

34.
Spiros Vondopoulos - 7
Gus Haynes - 7

33. Brother Mouzone - 8

32. Wallace - 9

31. Nick Sobotka - 10

30. Maurice Levy - 11

29. Randy Wagstaff - 12

27.
Norman Wilson - 14
Herc Haulk - 14

24.
Tommy Carcetti - 17
Namond Brice - 17
Frank Sobotka - 17

23. Roland Pryzbylewski - 23

22. Cutty Wise - 25

21. Dukie Weems - 30

20. Clay Davis - 34

19. D'Angelo Barksdale - 35

17.
Ellis Carver - 38
Bunny Colvin - 38

15.
Prop Joe Stewart - 45
Bubbles Cousins - 45

13.
Snoop Pearson - 47
Cedric Daniels - 47

12. Wee-Bey Brice - 50

11. Chris Partlow - 53

10. Slim Charles - 65

9. Michael Lee - 70

8. Bodie Broadus - 94

7. Bunk Moreland - 96

6. Avon Barksdale - 99

5. Marlo Stanfield - 100

4. Lester Freamon - 117

3. Omar Little - 123

2. Stringer Bell - 128

1. Jimmy McNulty - 137

The Wire Retrospective - No More B-More

I have been so busy these days with my real life job at Stetson University, weekly television reviews at TV Fanatic, and regular trips to Disney and Universal that I have rarely found time to do much of anything else.

One thing I have had time to do is watch four seasons of The Wire over the course of July and August.  Although it was slow – and difficult for me to get into – over the course of the first two seasons, the show that is renowned for being the best television drama ever kept me coming back for more time and time again during its final three seasons.

After watching the first season way back in the summer of 2010 I had this to say in my blog post:

“After only 13 episodes, I'd put it in my top 10 dramas of all time. I would not be surprised if it jumped into my top five or three by the end of my catch up project, but I don't see it beating out Lost as my favorite all-time show.”

Well I wasn’t very far off in my prediction, because after my marathon session, I would put it in second…behind Lost.  However, shows that have yet to end their runs – like Breaking Bad and Justified – certainly have a chance to knock it from that runner-up perch.

I vaguely remembered a majority of people playing up the fact that season five was markedly worse than three and four, but I think that was more about the fact that three and four are so unbelievably good than five being subpar.  Like serialized series, five is so solid because we’ve grown to know so many of the characters for the four seasons before that, so we jump into their lives so easily (something that was impossible to do with season one, and which is why I didn’t enjoy one to the extent that I did five).

The fact that I loved the McNulty-makes-up-his-own-Baltimore-serial-killer story line didn’t hurt either.  Bunk’s disgust with that idea, Lester’s excitement about it, and Omar’s feud with Marlo certainly added to the excitement of the final season.  Sure, the newspaper stuff wasn’t great at first, but every time Scotty came back with a made-story, I laughed hysterically, and that was a good thing.

Having said all of that, three and four were nearly perfect.  David Simon – and the rest of his writing team’s – ability to weave new characters in and out of the story was never better on display than in these two seasons.  To take a character like Stringer Bell, who seemed so vital to the larger story, and murder him at the end of season three without even allowing McNulty to take him down, was pure genius.

To then take McNulty – for all purposes the lead of the series – and basically sit him on the bench for the entirety of season four?  That takes guts.  And it worked, as season four was my second favorite of all and many others’ favorite of the series.  Not only did they let big players take a seat, but they added new characters so seamlessly.

Prop Joe and Marlo are prime examples of guys who stepped into the series as minor characters, and began playing bigger and bigger roles as things went on – so far as Marlo becoming your primary antagonist in season five (and probably had a top three screen time).  It all seemed so natural too.

The addition of the four students in season four was great, but the fact that two of them basically worked themselves out of the bigger story, and two stayed well within it, by the end of season four was even better.

Season after season, the focus turned from character to character, from location to location, and from story to story.  The Wire was a fantastic story from beginning to end, but it may have been even better at creating awesome characters.  Your favorite might not have been my favorite, nor mine yours, but there were some unforgettable moments of realism in almost every person that was put on screen…that is except for Clay Davis – who became an absolute caricature of himself every time he extended the length of one of his “shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiits.”

As we love to do here at The Quiet Pool Perspective, we have ranked those beloved characters.  This was such a big deal that I took to the Poolie voters to help me crown the best Wire characters of all-time.  So without further ado, jump over to the next post to check out the Top 50 characters of The Wire as voted on by me, Ttime, Jaydon, Larry, Mags, Cecil, Tyson, and the Bonz.

Covert Affairs 308 Review- Mall, Rat

Annie- "This may have started out as a mission, but it turned into something more."

At the end of "Glass Spider," Annie Walker went back and forth on one of the most difficult decisions of her life, and then she was shot in the chest by a woman who has been integral in her decision-making for the better part of this season.

Sarah Clarke... you got us again! Maybe everyone and their brother saw this coming - heck, I even mentioned it in my review of the season three premiere because of Clarke's past as dirty 24 agent Nina Myers - but Lena was so good to Annie that I didn't predict it to ever end like this.

A couple shots to the chest?  Sure, Lena came in and took out Simon. That I get, but taking out her own quasi-protégé while she's at it? I was stunned. And I was absolutely devastated. What did she have in that file that she gave to Arthur?!?What other than Annie's love for Simon could be so incriminating?  Unless it's made up information, which will make me hate Lena even more!

If intensive care or a coma is where Annie is heading in the near future, it's a shame, because Piper Perabo was fantastic in "Glass Spider." Before Annie was lit up like a Christmas tree, she made that tough decision to leave everything behind and run away with Simon. Then she changed her mind and decided to head back into the DPD.

To read the rest of my review of last night's Covert Affairs, head over to TV Fanatic.