Survivor Samoa- Week 8

Out of nowhere Erik starts running his mouth throughout the entire tribal council. We don't get to see nearly enough of what happens behind the scenes. It doesn't make it entertaining if we have no understand why he starts going nuts.

Fantasy Results

The Technotronics

W. Russell-W8 (29), Merge (8)= 37
B. Russell-
Monica- W8 (29), Merge (8)= 37
Liz-
Natalie- W8 (29), Merge (8)= 37
Week 8= 111
Total=451




Canon Controversy

John- W8 (29), Merge (8), Im (20)= 57
Jaison- W8 (29), Merge (8), Votes (-8)= 29
Mike-
Dave- W8 (29), Merge (8)= 37
Betsy-
Week 8= 123
Total= 370







Freecell Makes Me Wanna

Mick- W8 (29), Merge (8)= 37
Brett- W8 (29), Merge (8)= 37
Marissa-
Laura- W8 (29), Merge (8), Im (20)= 57
Yasmin-
Week 8= 131
Total= 375

Sweet Niblets


Erik- Merge (8), Votes (-40)= -32
Ben-
Ashley-
Kelly- W8 (29), Merge (8)= 37
Shambo- W8 (29), Merge (8)= 37
Week 8= 42
Total= 324

Wednesday Wisdom- Send Saracen to School

Friday Night Lights
If this Vince kid needs to stay out of trouble, why is he forced to play football when he's never done it before. From the shots he was taking on the playground, it would seem that playing on the basketball team would make more sense. No?

If they're just gonna drag this Saracen storyline along with him continuing to hate community college art class and interning for this dirty old man, I'm going to get angry that they didn't just let him leave at the end of last season. How bout a clean break? Got into Chicago Art School. Boom! He's gone. Makes more sense than if he fights through this time and ends up leaving for art school anyway.

How come people don't ever argue in ways that make sense on tv? Tami complains to Coach T about him having the mailbox up in that open field while he was coaching at Dillon. How is his immediate response not, "Actually I had no idea it was there. It was probably the boosters." Case closed. No fight. Instead he runs around his answer, complaining that she jumps down his throat right when he gets in the door. Being defensive for no reason isn't a good way to keep things civil.

From Sepinwall-
last week's cameo by Raiders cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha as the cop who introduced Eric to Vince.
--How did I not notice this? JJ would have my head on a platter if he found out.

Tuesday Tidings- V for Visitors

V
ABC continued their move to try and beat out NBC as my favorite station with the introduction of V this week. With 30 Rock, The Office and Chuck and Friday Night Lights against Lost, Modern Family, Flash Forward and now V...it could be a tough call down the road.

At the root of any overly intriguing show is an epic event to start things off. There was THE plane crash in Lost. More recently, the worldwide blackout in Flash. And on this week's V there was the earthquake-like moment when the Visitors first arrived in every major city on Earth in gigantic spaceships. Fantastic.

The one negative I have from the first ep, is how quickly they moved from the initial contact by the Visitors and Three Weeks Later. That is a lot to move past so quickly. Those early moments seem integral in understanding how people are dealing with the situation. I personally would have liked to seen what went on during those three weeks.

There was some great direction in this pilot. The back-and-forth action between Anna and Double Dragon (Scott Wolf)'s interview that portrayed the Visitors positively, and the other dude's inspiring, negative rant about everything these aliens were actually up to was really well done.

I love the idea that the Visitors have already been on Earth and they are all around. It feels very Terminator-esque, especially with T-time (Morris Chestnut) and his being a good Visitor. Can any of them actually be good? Will there always be that thought in the back of people's minds that they're not us? Like Sarah Connor always felt about Cameron in Terminator: TSCC?

Why would you only bring Steve the Pirate (Alan Tudyk) in for the pilot? He had a great rapport with Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell) and I would've liked to seen where that went throughout the first season.

Monday Musings- Once Upon a Time in Good Heroes

Greek
This week's semi-season finale was less than epic. By all means a quality ep, but last week's Cappie/Casey get together seemed more like a finale than this one did. What I continue to enjoy about Greek is the underrated writing habits. My favorite is the way they can hammer a joke into the ground and then find a way to turn it on its head and get so much more out of it.

This season Casey's sort-of nemesis, Catherine, used the phrase 'moving on' in every way possible. She would say it rudely to make her points clear, but Casey finally had enough and used it back at her. Classic.

The growth of the joke that Evan is not funny keeps getting better and better. This week it was portrayed through the fact that Evan knows that something is wrong when Cappie laughs at his joke.

Heroes
Just when I thought that Heroes couldn't get any worse, they go and do something like this week's episode....and totally redeem themselves!!! Now I'm not usually one who enjoys an ep that brings the story nowhere and totally diverts from the plot of the season, but 'Once Upon a Time In Texas' was definitely an exception. Seeing the same scenes that we saw back in season one, in a different fashion, was fantastic. It was extremely nostalgic to a go back to a time when Heroes was actually a great show. To see Sylar and Hiro both in the early stages of their season one heroics was great. But to have future Hiro there, overseeing the whole thing...whew. Awesome! On the flip side...how pointless was the Noah story with this random chick? Just bad.

Sunday Speculations- Wes Andersonian Bored to Death

Bored To Death
I wish I had caught up on Bored to Death by last Sunday, because that ep was the best of the season. This week's was good, but The Case of the Stolen Sperm didn't compare to The Case of the Beautiful Blackmailer.

My first thought after watching the first couple episodes...very Wes Anderson-esque. The dry, subtle comedy felt like a mixture of Bottle Rocket and Rushmore. The lead character, Jason Schwartzman's Jonathan Ames, is somewhere between Schwartzman's Max Fischer of Rushmore and Luke Wilson's Anthony of Bottle Rocket to me. As a fan of Wes Anderson's films, I have enjoyed Bored to Death thus far. My favorite Wes Andersonian part from this week's ep was when Ames quickly bought flowers at the market handed them to his ex-girlfriend, stated, "You forgot these," and ran away. So good.

With basically three major characters, each one of them brings something completely different to the table. Ted Danson is having a great season, shining as Ames's boss here, and having a stellar episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm a while back. In The Beautiful Blackmailer, Danson's George Christopher was fantastic at being stoned and funny, something the third dude has failed to do thus far.

Zach Galifianakis plays Ames's best friend Ray. Although he didn't excel in the pot smoking scene with George, Ray has had his moments early in the season, but doesn't come close to the other two guys in my opinion.

Final note...It's really getting ridiculous that Hollywood keeps stealing my brothers' ideas. First it was T-time's tv show about fantasy football and now it is JJ's idea that it is funny to order a cheeseburger- no cheese. The kid has been ordering that way since he was 10, and it's never not funny. My personal favorite is the Big Mac with cheese, no cheese.

Amazing Race
Flight Time and Big Easy continue to shine as two of the best contestants I've seen on The Amazing Race. Last week they were berating a girl that was afraid to go down a water slide, and this week they were just getting down with some Dutch Dancing. They're fun, they're competitive and they've got a chance to win this thing.

These poor poker playing girls. I've hated them since the beginning, so it was nice to see them finally get eliminated this week. The, what do you call it? Road Block? When the teams have to choose one task or another. These two weak girls had no chance at either thing and it was hilarious. First it was a long hole of Dutch Golf, in which they had to finish in eight strokes...They didn't get halfway down the fairway in eight strokes. The other side of the Road Block began with one of those carnival games where you slam down the mallet to ring the bell. After over 70 tries, the girls finally gave up. The part that had me screaming at the tv was that they weren't even trying to swing the mallet hard! It was like watching Zoolander in the coal mines they were acting so dainty with that thing. Embarrassing.

Poolies Watch- Frank Pembleton Award

This is a tough category to judge at this point...best lead character in an action series. The big guns, Lost, Chuck and 24, won't start until mid-season. My vote is always gonna be for Sawyer in this category, but with the transfer of House to action, there is a solid Big Four of characters behind him that are the focal point of their respective shows.

Main Men
Chuck Bartowski- Chuck
Greg House- House
Jack Bauer- 24
James 'Sawyer' Ford- Lost
Patrick Jane- The Mentalist

So far in this season of Heroes, Sylar has taken a bit of a back seat, so I moved him to the supporting category for now. The next five spots are really open for the taking. I see both of the Chuck characters, Casey and Morgan, holding spots. Also whoever takes a main role in Lost's final season will probably get a nod (Hurley, Linus, Locke, etc.)

In for Now
Hugo Reyes- Lost
John Casey- Chuck
John Locke- Lost
Morgan Grimes- Chuck
Noah Bennett- Heroes

Who will challenge for the final spots? Which characters from Flash Forward have been good so far? Who do the Fringe Boys like these days? Peter? That bald headed dude? Any other Losties gonna make a run? We shall see...

Outside Looking In
Demetri Noh- Flash Forward
Hiro Nakamura- Heroes
Jason Stackhouse- True Blood
Mark Benford- Flash Forward
Sayid Jarrah- Lost

Who else is out there?

Bi-Monthly Power Rankings- Curb and FNL Move Up

After two months of the television season finished, here is the second power rankings of the year...

Honorable Mentions (Last Time)

Bored to Death- (-) Sundays on HBO
Community- (-) Thursdays on NBC
Flash Forward- (-) Thursdays on ABC
Gary Unmarried- (HM) Wednesdays on CBS
Glee- (-) Wednesdays on FOX
Survivor- (15) Thursdays on CBS

20. Californication- (-) Sundays on Showtime

19. Gossip Girl- (HM) Mondays on The CW

18. Hannah Montana- (16) Sundays on Disney

17. Mad Men- (HM) Sundays on AMC

16. The Mentalist- (17) Thursdays on CBS

15. Greek- (14) Mondays on ABC Family

14. House- (12) Mondays on FOX

13. American Idol- (10) Tuesdays on FOX

12. Wizards of Waverly Place- (19) Fridays on Disney

11. 90210- (20) Tuesdays on The CW

10. Modern Family- (-) Wednesdays on ABC

9. True Blood- (8) Sundays on HBO

8. Big Brother- (7) Summer on CBS

7. 24- (5) Mondays on FOX

6. The Office- (4) Thursdays on NBC

5. Friday Night Lights- (9) Wednesdays on DirecTV

4. 30 Rock- (2) Thursdays on NBC

3. Chuck- (3) Mondays on NBC

2. Curb Your Enthusiasm- (6) Sundays on HBO

1. Lost- (1) Wednesdays on ABC

Dropped Out: One Tree Hill, Heroes, Rules of Engagement, Entourage, Amazing Race

Other Poolie's Perspective- T-time on the League

Here is what T-time had to say about The League on his blog, Solomons Lines...

Television isn't typically what this blog is about, but in this case, a show about fantasy football is appropriate to talk about. The League premiered this week, and while pilots are often not as good as the show turns out to be, this one has some glaring problems that seen like they will continue. As with most sitcoms, this one will live or die on its actors and writers. The league is effectively mediocre in both categories. It will never be a 30 Rock, but it is a bit snappier than a CBS sitcom. I'll continue to watch, but mostly for the subject matter.

However, it is the subject matter that is the biggest problem with this show. Most of the jokes fall into two categories: the guys take fantasy football way too serious, and the guys don't know anything about fantasy football. This strains my suspension of disbelief too far. We're supposed to believe these guys are willing to make career decisions and kidnap kids to do well in FF but are not willing to sit down and spend 2 hours preparing for their draft, or god forbid, buy a magazine.

When The Office referenced fantasy football with an illogical reference a few years back(noone would have ever traded a top rb for defense) it was acceptable. You don't expect them to know what they are talking about. But when your show is about fantasy football, you should probably know a little about it. It as if the writers of The Office knew so little about offices they had everyone sitting on futons and using typewriters.

Some of these jokes would have worked say 6-7 years ago, when it was much harder to get information about fantasy football. Without 24 coverage on major networks and free draft kits on every sports website, I would buy jokes like the kid being the Oracle. Not now. It is just too easy to obtain reliable fantasy tips. It reminds me of something Bill Simmons was saying the other day. On his podcast, he was complaining that fantasy football is all luck now. He couldn't be more wrong about this. What has happened, is that his advantage has disappeared. 7 years ago, he had a distinct advantage over his friends that did not have sports related jobs. He had a lot more information at his disposal. Now all of his competitors can catch up in a few hours the week before the draft by Reading Berry, Karabell or whoever. The extremely lazy can just use ESPN's projections and really be just as well off as a sports columnist. It's not luck, just an even playing field. Getting back to The League, the landscape has changed, and some of these jokes don't work, if they ever would have.

Now if, I were to make a show about fantasy football, and I did have this idea a while back(it was going to be titled Keepers) I would make some of the characters way to into it. I would have a character or two that was not well informed,(you do want the jokes that are thus provided) but that character would definitely not be that into it.(yes, I have put substantially more thought into Keepers than is probably good for anyone.)

While decidedly mediocre in most elements, the show fails miserably in a few key areas. But in the end, I'm going to keep watching for a while, which is really what they were going for in the first place.