Terra Nova 102 Review- Pterosaurs and Pheromones

Some criticized the Terra Nova pilot for lacking in character development, saying it relied too much on its flashy special effects to excite its viewers. Others, including myself, enjoyed Shannons, the mysterious events and the overall epic nature of "Genesis."

I don't foresee as much of a divide happening in regards to "Instinct." Don't get me wrong, the sights were still very much for sore eyes, but everything else about Terra Nova's third hour was pretty disheartening.

Maybe it was hidden in the pilot by all the bright colors, but this time around the acting - especially in terms of spoken word - felt amazingly mediocre. Jim attempting to make dinner and help his kids with homework in the kitchen was tough to watch, as was Maddie attempting to ask her father about boys.

Even more troublesome was how stiff Stephen Lang was throughout the hour. I gave his robotic portrayal of Nathaniel Taylor a pass in the pilot, but it's only become worse. Maybe it's just the writing he was given here, but every time the Commander spoke, I wanted to hold my head in my hands.

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

Terra Nova 102 - "Instinct"
Review
Recap

Homeland 101 Review- CIA-mazing

Carrie- "Because Abu Nazir is playing the long game. This way no one expects a thing."

Saul- "Except you?"

Carrie- "Except me."

Homeland is the best new show of the year, and its pilot was definitely one of the best season premieres of the fall.

Anchored by stunning lead performances from Claire Danes and Damian Lewis, this CIA-based Showtime series has everything you could ask for and more in regards to interesting characters, intriguing story lines, and edge-of-your seat suspense.

The most intriguing characters, of course, come courtesy of the performances from Danes and Lewis. The former plays Carrie Anderson, a fantastic CIA agent, who causes herself more trouble than anyone would like to admit. The latter is Sergeant Nicholas Brody, a former American Prisoner of War returning home, who seems to have been turned by terrorist leader Abu Nazir during his time abroad.

Danes is so good in this first episode at revealing to the audience who Carrie is, without letting go all of the character's secrets. She seems to be pretty brilliant. She is definitely a little crazy. But most of all, she sure is dedicated to her work, which will most likely be the driving force of the series as things move forward.

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

Homeland 101 - "Pilot"
Review
Recap
Quotes

Weekly Comedy Rankings- Year of Penny

It is Saturday, which means it's time to take a look at the Weekly Comedy Rankings for the second time. Jaydon has yet to release his rankings, but I have watched enough comedies this week for everybody, so take a look at mine in the meantime...

Dan

1. It's Always Sunny - "Frank Reynolds' Little Beauties"
2. Happy Endings - "Blax, Snake, Home"
3. Modern Family - "Phil on Wire"
4. Community - "Geography of Global Conflict"
5. iCarly - "iLove You"
6. Archer - "Heart of Archness Part III"
7. The Office - "The Incentive"
8. New Girl - "Kryptonite"
9. How to be a Gentleman - "Pilot"
10. Parks and Rec - "Ron and Tammys"
11. Suburgatory - "Pilot"
12. Raising Hope - "Sabrina Has Money"
13. Family Guy - "Lottery Fever"
14. Up All Night - "Working Late and Working It"
15. Good Luck Charlie - "Alley Oops"
16. Two and a Half Men - "People Who Love Peepholes"
17. Big Bang Theory - "The Pulled Groin Extrapolation"
18. Whitney - "First Date"
19. 2 Broke Girls - "And the Break-Up Scene"

Wow...that's a lot of comedies for one week. After giving 2 Broke Girls and Whitney two episode courtesies, I will stop watching both of the train wrecks. I have tried a couple of Big Bang premieres in the past and not enjoyed it. This season I gave it three episodes, and it's just not for me. Two and a Half Men and Raising Hope are on the chopping block next. There's only so much television the kid can watch.

With no live action characters really stepping up to the plate, my MVP goes to Archer's Sterling Archer. The funniest moment was Mac's assumption that the Always Sunny gang was going to be heavily involved in the beauty pageant.

T-Time

1. Community - "Geography of Global Conflict"
2. Happy Endings - "Blax, Snake, Home"
3. It's Always Sunny - "Frank Reynolds' Little Beauties"
4. Modern Family - "Phil on Wire"
5. The Office - "The Incentive"
6. iCarly - "iLove You"
7. Parks and Rec - "Ron and Tammys"
8. How to be a Gentleman - "Pilot"
9. New Girl - "Kryptonite"
10. Up All Night - "Working Late and Working It"
11. Suburgatory - "Pilot"

MVP is Happy Endings' Max Blum. Funniest moments were Chris Traeger doing PSA on Parks and Rec, and Gibby on the couch with the babysitter on iCarly.

Jack

1. Happy Endings - "Blax, Snake, Home"
2. Modern Family - "Phil on Wire"
3. It's Always Sunny - "Frank Reynolds' Little Beauties"
4. Community - "Geography of Global Conflict"
5. The Office - "The Incentive"
6. iCarly - "iLove You"
7. New Girl - "Kryptonite"
8. How to be a Gentleman - "Pilot"
9. Parks and Rec - "Ron and Tammys"
10. Up All Night - "Working Late and Working It"
11. Suburgatory - "Pilot"

MVP is also Happy Endings' Max Blum. And funniest moments was Gibby on the couch on iCarly.

Feel free to leave your own weekly comedy rankings in the comments or every Friday on Twitter with hashtag #WCR.

The Office 802 Review- The Hard Dog

Robert- "There's something about an underdog that really inspires the unexceptional."

Robert California's words rang true as "The Incentive" may have proved that in his own backward way, Andy Bernard can get this group of misfits to work hard.

Unfortunately, allowing this Nard Dog to be the lead character of The Office is not off to a strong start. Other than Kevin screaming "Nooooooo!" when Dwight poured a bunch of walnuts into the brownie mix, the episode was hurting for laughs.

Andy works in bits and pieces, and even in that sense his comic stylings have waned over the past few years. To compound the problem, Dwight has seemingly taken more of backseat than normal over the first two episodes of the season.

Everyone loved the Jim/Dwight prank dynamic of the first three years or so. When they brought it back in full force last season, it was a shot in the arm for the series. Why not allow those two to step up into bigger roles? Jim has seemingly remained in a similar standing in terms of camera time, but Dwight had maybe three or four lines of dialogue tonight? That's silly.

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

The Office 802 - "The Incentive"
Review
Recap
Quotes

Survivor Week 3- Call Me Big Poppa

This week's Survivor was filled with plenty of more cringe-worthy moments regarding Brandon and his struggle with faith and evil. Fortunately for us, Upolu won immunity so we got to spend more time over at Savaii camp, which gave us plenty of Cochran time. Cochran is so enjoyable. I really hope he sticks around. At the end of the night it was the chubby, gay Richard Dreyfuss heading to redemption island to meet up with Christine.

On the fantasy side of things, everything stayed the same in the Champions League, as it look like Jaydon and myself are on our ways to catching Larry and his crew of idiots. Mags falls further and further behind and seems to be out of contention at an extremely early stage of the game.

Down in the developmental league, a lot of things changed hands. Jack and Marsh jumped back up the ladder with their plethora of Upolu members. Meanwhile, Rizzo was hurt badly by Mark's elimination, but there is a long season ahead.

Let's take a look at the scores...

Champions League

Larry

Brandon -24: Immunity (+8), W3 (+4)= -12
Rick -44: Immunity (+8), W3 (+4)= -32
Christine -27: Duel Win (+10)= -17
Dawn -19: W3 (+4)= -15

Last Week -114: Team Total= -76

Jaydon

Ozzy -59: W3 (+4)= -55
Whitney -69: W3 (+4)= -65
Cochran -23: Votes (-4), W3 (+4)= -23
Edna -13: Immunity (+8), W3 (+4)= -1

Started at -164: Team Total= -144

Dan

Albert -59: Immunity (+8), W3 (+4)= -47
Mikayla -19: Immunity (+8), W3 (+4)= -7
Jim -59: Votes (-4), W3 (+4)= -59
Semhar -33: Duel Loss (-10)= -43

Started at -170: Team Total= -157

Mags

Coach -44: Immunity (+8), W3 (+4)= -32
Elyse -139: W3 (+4)= -135
Keith -139: W3 (+4)= -135
Mark -139: Votes (-24)= -163

Started at -461: Team Total= -465



Free Agents
Sophie +7: Immunity (+8), W3 (+4)= +19
Stacey -1: Immunity (+8), W3 (+4)= +11

Developmental League

Jack

Albert: Immunity (+8), W3 (+4)= +12
Whitney: W3 (+4)= +4
Coach: Immunity (+8), W3 (+4)= +12
Edna: Immunity (+8), W3 (+4)= +12

Week 3= +40, Team Total= +80

Tippy

Ozzy: W3 (+4)= +4
Cochran: Votes (-4), W3 (+4)= 0
Elyse: W3 (+4)= +4
Sophie: Immunity (+8), W3 (+4)= +12

Week 3= +20, Team Total= +76

Marsh

Mikayla: Immunity (+8), W3 (+4)= +12
Rick: Immunity (+8), W3 (+4)= +12
Dawn: W3 (+4)= +4
Christine: Duel Win (+10)= +10

Week 3= +38, Team Total= +64

Rizzo

Keith: W3 (+4)= +4
Mark: Votes (-24)= -24
Brandon: Immunity (+8), W3 (+4)= +12
Jim: Votes (-4), W3 (+4)= 0

Week 3= -8, Team Total= +36



Free Agents
Stacey: Immunity (+8), W3 (+4)= +12
Semhar: Duel Loss (-10)= -10

Terra Nova 101 Review- A Family Is Five

Taylor- "Together we are at the dawn of a new civilization...no pressure."

Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jurassic Park, Saving Private Ryan, and FOX's Terra Nova. What do they all have in common? Sure, they are all projects that Steven Spielberg is attached to, but more importantly to me, they are all epic in scale and in idea.

When you mentioned Terra Nova to anyone prior to the series premiere, the immediate response was "Oh that Dinosaur show?" Or "Jurassic Park for television?" While Terra Nova is not Jurassic Park, it shares that one shiny detail: dinosaurs.

In no way does the inclusion of dinosaurs make a series great - or even watchable for that matter - but it does have a way of getting the audience's attention. It got mine from the jump off, and as "Genesis: Part 1" began, I was only sucked in further and further as the episode went along.

Anything apocalyptic in nature is sure to have me on the edge of my seat. So when the series kicked off, and the world as we knew it was on the verge of destruction, my eyes opened wider. The futuristic elements are great, with all of the technological advances, but add that to the ridiculously historic atmosphere that the show turns to after the first half hour or so, and it is a recipe for success.

To read the rest of my review of last night's Terra Nova series premiere, head over to TV Fanatic.

Terra Nova 101 - "Genesis: Part 1"
Review
Recap
Quotes

Terra Nova 101 - "Genesis: Part 2"
Review
Recap
Quotes

Weekly Comedy Rankings- Why Is The Rum Ham Gone?

So earlier this week our good friend Jaydon came up with the idea to do weekly comedy rankings on Friday of each week of the upcoming television season. His idea was to do it on Twitter, and yesterday that is what the two of us did. I'd love to get more people involved if we continue doing it, but in the meantime, I'm going to start documenting the results here on the blog.

Unlike my Bi-Monthly Power Rankings, these Weekly Comedy Rankings will only take that week's episode into account. So if Community has an absolute dud of an episode in a given week, I don't keep it near the top of my list simply because it is still my favorite current comedy. In addition to simply rankings the shows, Jaydon also had the idea to give an MVP and funniest moment award, so we'll do that as well.

Feel free to join the fun on a weekly basis on Twitter with the hashtag #WeeklyComedyRankings or #WCR. For now, let's take a look at the debut edition of the rankings from both Jay and myself...

Dan

1. It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia - "The Gang Goes to the Jersey Shore"
2. Modern Family - "When Good Kids Go Bad"
3. The Office - "The List"
4. Modern Family - "Dude Ranch"
5. Community - "Biology 101"
6. iCarly - "iCan't Take It"
7. Up All Night - "Cool Neighbors"
8. Parks and Recreation - "I'm Leslie Knope"
9. New Girl - "Pilot"
10. Raising Hope - "Prodigy"
11. The Big Bang Theory - "The Skank Reflex Analysis"
12. The Big Bang Theory - "The Infestation Hypothesis"
13. Two and a Half Men - "Nice to Meet You, Walden Schmidt"
14. Whitney - "Pilot"

MVP of the Week was Phil Dunphy of Modern Family. Funniest moment was a ties between Stanley Hudson's "shove it up your butt" on The Office, and anything new Lilly said on Modern Family.

Jaydon

1. It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia - "The Gang Goes to the Jersey Shore"
2. Modern Family - "Dude Ranch"
3. The Office - "The List"
4. Parks and Recreation - "I'm Leslie Knope"
5. Community - "Biology 101"
6. Archer - "Heart of Archness: Part II"
7. Modern Family - "When Good Kids Go Bad"

MVP of the Week was Phil Dunphy of Modern Family. Funniest moment was a tie between anything to do with the Rum Ham on It's Always Sunny, and Perd Hapley's interview on Parks and Rec.

The Office 801 Review- Such A Right-Sider

Stanley- "It might be easier if you take a deep breath, lift from the knees, and shove it up your butt!"

This was the first season premiere of The Office without Michael Scott, and, simply put, that is not a good thing.

"The List" did a lot of things well, but at the end of the day Steve Carell created such an iconic character - with an aura that will be extremely difficult to replace - that there's really no way to compete with what The Office once was.

It's a new era, but it's one that still has promise. Andy Bernard was a great choice as the new regional manager. Let me clarify: Andy was a great choice by the people of The Office because he is similar enough to Michael that the fabric of the series won't have to change all that much, but he's also different enough that it won't be all repeats stories... like it might have been with Deangelo Vickers.

On the other hand, Andy was a terrible choice as regional manager for Robert California. The dude put losing their biggest client as number-three on his to do list!

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

The Office 801 - "The List"
Review
Recap
Quotes