Today and Tonight on TV

If decorative kale could shiver, it would be shivering. It's been really cold here for over a week. But that didn't stop Roofus the cat from catching some early morning rays today. Read on for TV stuff!


I've learned my lesson. Never again will I whine about nothing on television. Tonight I'll be watching the three hours of Lost. The first hour is actually that questions answered thing they previously aired. However, with the long hiatus, I need a refresher. I won't be blogging the show in depth here as I found I was missing too much when I did it. But I'll surely zap up a short commentary post on it.

I plan on recording both American Idol and Criminal Minds. I haven't even really thought about the 10 PM (ET) hour -- chances are that I'll be recording something then, too. And I have yet to watch my Bonnie Hunt Show I recorded today while I was at work. So much to watch, so little time.

What are your TV plans for tonight?

Inauguration Day and American Idol, too!

Today was not only an historic moment in time, but it was personally moving as well. As one who remembers the Civil Rights Movement of the 60s, I'm proud that we as a people have shown that the color of a person's skin is not the only thing he's all about. With Barack Obama, I think his intelligence, charisma, and determination to succeed played a role in his victory. It's very reminiscent of the kind of charisma of Bobby Kennedy so many decades ago. I'm proud that Americans have elected such a man and I'm hopeful for the future. I usually don't delve into politics here on the blog as things can get so vehement.

But it's a new day. We have a new first family in the White House. These are truly interesting times we live in. And, even if you aren't a supporter, he's got one of the most fun names of any President ever -- it just rolls right off the tongue, fun to say, fun to type! Barack Obama! :-)

I watched today's events unfold on TV. I've only been to one Presidential Inauguration in my life and I wasn't exactly at the Inauguration, nor was I particularly a desired guest.


Yep, on January 20, 1973, I was in Washington to protest Richard Nixon's second Inauguration. Riot police with plexiglass shields every three feet, tear gas, and all. Above is one of the pins I still have from that event. I was a McGovern/Shriver campaign worker and it was the biggest landslide loss in history. I didn't get myself arrested which was a good thing. I'd never be a good ex-convict. I was too young to vote. Back then you had to be 21. I was all of 17 but was a politically active college kid at the time. Thirteen buses took us from Albany (NY) to Washington. It was a day I'll never forget.

Correction for the historians out there -- 1972 was the first Presidential election in which 18-year-olds could vote. Before that, the voting age was 21. It didn't really matter to me as I was 17.

I didn't go today. But in many ways, my memories of today will be stronger than my personal experiences back then. I'm proud of us!


And, just to touch on it -- American Idol had its San Francisco auditions tonight. Unlike last week's shows, it was only an hour long. I wasn't really blown away by any of the auditions. There was one guy whose voice I liked, but his look reeked of David Cook. Same haircut. Gosh, I don't like that haircut.

A Quick Note

My computer had issues ... and I had to wait for a part and have been offline since my last post here. I'm alive and well enough, though. I'll be writing a review of tonight's The Big Bang Theory for CliqueClack TV in a bit.

Did anyone watch The Beast on A&E -- the new Patrick Swayze series? I watched it and will probably watch again. But, overall, I came away with the feeling that the whole show (writing, characters, storyline) was a bit overdone. Is it just me?

Roofus the Cat, the American Idol Kansas City Auditions

We're in the beginning of a bitter cold spell here in New Jersey. But early this morning on my way to work, I spotted a certain Roofus the cat taking a nap in his favorite spot. I think the sun probably heats the bricks some. He didn't look uncomfortable, but I was shivering. (Remember, if you click on the image it will open up in a new window much larger than it is here.)

Now it's on to American Idol ...


Heh. Yes, I'm using this for the bad auditions. In reality, it's on the side of the Friends Meeting House (Shakers) in Plainfield, NJ and it's regarding the war. But it fits this situation to a lesser extent.

The bad were bad once again tonight on American Idol. However, I was more impressed with the folks they showed making it through tonight in the Kansas City auditions than I was with the ones from Phoenix. I'm not too keen on Jason Castro's younger brother, but I doubt he'll make it through Hollywood (two) Weeks. The last young woman (mother of three children, living in hotel with husband and kids due to tornado) was the best of the women so far. As for the guys, I liked the ones the judges enjoyed -- the welder, Anuup, the teacher who recently lost his wife, and the marching coach guy.

Don't you love that the only name I remembered was Anuup? ;-)

Stay warm!

Madness Returns -- American Idol is Back

Y'know, with the exception of Melinda Doolittle, I've never bought anything from any American Idol contestants. Sure, some of the more successful ones have a load of talent, but often the songs they sing just aren't my cuppa. However, more power to them.

Tonight was the premiere of the eighth season. Yes, it's been that long. A new judge is in the mix. I'm a bit so-so about that although I liked Simon not being able to say the "aaa" sound in Kara (Care-ah). So he calls her Kara (Car-ah). Great. He'd call me "Jockie."

Since we're in the audition phase of the show, it's pretty much what we've seen before -- some horrible singers who think they can sing, some horrible singers who know they're horrible and just want to be on TV, and a gem or two along the way. Oh. We also had a girl who looks hot in a bikini. The jury is still out as to whether she can sing or not.

I tried to look at the show from another perspective tonight. I've decided I'd like to be on it. Um, no ... not really on it, per se. The production, the editing of the scenes, the decisions regarding songs in the background to enhance the happenings. The cheese.

Let me explain. This show not only has a built-in traffic maker with the teenage crowd looking for new teenybopper stars. But it's also very slick, well-produced, cleverly edited, and it's cheesy while doing all that stuff! I've always been a fan of cheese (not the dairy product so much, mind you). I enjoyed the days when Jeff Probst (Survivor) would leave the final tribal council on a jet ski, then arrive in NYC on the same one. I liked the old Batman television show. I adored David Letterman in the 80s. Cheese, zaniness, a bit of camp on the side and I'm hooked. American Idol does it all very well.

While I'd never want to be on camera and the world should never be exposed to my singing, I'd love to be behind the scenes on the show. I'd love to be the one to say "this song goes fantastic with this loser" or be the one to edit the reactions of the judges in perfect precision with off-key performances. Make it happen, FOX. No, I've never studied anything in film or production. But the contestants often haven't studied voice either. So ...

Did you watch? Your thoughts on Kara?

Monday, Monday

Baby, it's cold outside. Above I found some rabbit tracks in the snow. Below, it's one of the decorative kale taken this afternoon just before sunset. As always, clicking on the image will open it in a larger window. We had about four inches of snow followed by ice and rain Saturday night into Sunday. Now we're in a deep freeze with the expected high on Thursday to be about 10 degrees.


My Reality Clack column and Cold Case review are both up over at CliqueClack TV. Later tonight, I'll be posting a review of The Big Bang Theory over there, too. I know you all enjoy eating, so I should let you know that we now have a CliqueClack food site!

On television tonight, don't forget it's The Bachelor and we have the perfect meeting spot for you to hang out with your friends during or after the show. Make sure you go to the newest discussion post and, if you spill things, the mop is in the water closet.

Please try to stay warm, folks. Brr! (A cat or dog comes in real handy for added heat!)

Today's musical non sequitur:
Ice ice baby vanilla
Ice ice baby (oh-oh) vanilla
Ice ice baby vanilla
Ice ice baby vanilla ice
Yo man let's get out of here
Word to your mother
-- "Ice Ice Baby" by Vanilla Ice
I couldn't resist!

TV Shows Continue the Return

Before I talk about TV, just a bit of off topic rambling! I found an ornamental kale not in my patch o' kale I've been photographing. This one is further along in the winter phase and to the point where it's often called snow cabbage. It has lost its color and is closing up like a cabbage. Also, I spotted Roofus the cat today. I was on the train home, but was going a few stops further to run some errands. So I didn't have my camera ready as I caught sight of him in his usual place just before sunset this evening.

Onto television!

I received a screener for the upcoming season premiere of The Closer (TNT) which I'll hopefully get to viewing on Sunday. It's set to air Monday, January 26 at 9 PM ET/PT. So if I don't get to it this week, next week will do. I also received another screener copy from TNT -- Gifted Hands, the Ben Carson Story. That one is a movie based on the life of Dr. Benjamin Carson, a man who became the director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Childrens' Center. He also won the Presidential Medal of Freedom. It looks quite interesting. I have more time on that one as it will air on February 7.

Closer to date --
This coming Monday marks a big TV night. 24 returns to FOX in a two-hour premiere starting at 8 PM ET/PT. The CBS regular Monday primetime line-up is all new episodes. The Superstars of Dance (which didn't really rock my socks) is new and two hours starting at 8 PM ET/PT on NBC. Of course, The Bachelor (ABC) is also new as are all the network shows in the 10 PM ET/PT slot, too.

On Tuesday, the madness which is American Idol begins with a two-hour show on FOX starting at 8 PM ET/PT. The Biggest Loser also has its season premiere at the same time on NBC. All of the other network shows are brand-spanking new, too. I see we have back-to-back new Scrubs running head-to-head against The Mentalist.

Wednesday has the entire primetime block on ABC taken up with Lost. However, the season premiere isn't until the following week. On FOX, American Idol has another two-hour show. NBC has crammed an old L&O: SVU in between a new Knight Rider and a new Law and Order. The CBS primetime block is all new episodes of the usual Wednesday night suspects.

On Thursday, CBS starts of with a CSI repeat, but then into new episodes of CSI and Eleventh Hour. NBC has all new Thursday episodes of its regular line-up. FOX has a new Bones, then the season premiere of Kitchen Nightmares. ABC is all new, too! Ugly Betty, Grey's Anatomy, and Private Practice.

I'm still finding Friday a bit disappointing, but will post more on that night later on. And, mind you ... I didn't even go into the cable listings. Perhaps on Friday, I can watch some of the stuff I recorded earlier in the week.

What will you be watching or recording?

Time to be Lost Soon

Yep, yep! We've gone through our withdrawal and shows are coming back left and right this month. I gave up actually blogging Lost (and Heroes) because they're both too nitpicky and confusing to write up as I watch. I'm also not as enamored with them as I once was. But that's not to say I won't be watching when they're on! I found this little tease preview of Lost for you. The season premiere is Wednesday, January 21 at 8 PM ET/PT.

The Bachelor 2009 Blog Discussion Post

Here it is ... a new bachelor and a new season! The season premiere is January 5, 8 PM - 10 PM (ET/PT). Then it will just run an hour on Monday evenings. If you want to peek in at the official website, it's here.

However, this is your place to hang out with friends and discuss the show! Snacks and beverages welcome, comfy chairs abound.

I'm Baaack! And TV Stuff, Too!

I ended up going off for the weekend rather unexpectedly (nothing bad, mind you). I left a certain cat alone as I was only gone two nights. She decided to pout in an amazon.com box. I thought she'd be better off alone stocked with plenty of food and water rather than be boarded. She's decided she wants to live in a box.


I heard a loud metal CLANG on New Year's night. It was late at night. I peeked out my window to check on the cars in our lot. All looked fine and I couldn't see anything amiss. Uh-oh. This is my neighbor's fence facing the street. The boulders they had in place so people don't park halfway up off the curb were all awry. There are various scattered car parts and a section of metal fence about 8 feet long is in a messed-up heap piled against the still standing section. I have a feeling this is another case of damaged parked cars, too. How do people do this? It's a straight-away with city speed limits.


This is the latest photo of the kale. The patches of snow only exist as this is somewhat shaded by a brick wall doohickey.

Onto television stuff!

The Bachelor returns tonight. I'll be putting up a new discussion post for the show early this evening. I hope to see you there!

Another dance show makes its debut tonight -- Superstars of Dance on NBC. It's running the same two hours as The Bachelor, from 8 to 10 PM ET/PT. I might give it a shot tonight as I'm not into The Bachelor and the shows I do watch on CBS are repeats tonight.

Over on CliqueClack TV, you can find my latest review of Cold Case (plus a lot of other neat articles). Then, if you like spoilers (nothing earth-shattering), I have a post up over on TV Squad with some rather gentle (no winners, etc.) spoilers for the upcoming season of The Amazing Race. It's mostly locations, a few links to pictures taken of a few of the teams as they raced, and a reveal of who one of the teams are.

It's nice to have some new shows to watch after the last few weeks, isn't it? Of course, it won't be long until TAR and Survivor (along with American Idol) take up our lives again! Unfortunately, I have to return to work tomorrow. Boo. Hiss.

Today's musical non sequitur:
Black and orange stray cat sittin' on a fence
Ain't got enough dough to pay the rent
I'm flat broke but I don't care
I strut right by with my tail in the air
I wish I could be as carefree and wild,
but I got cat class and I got cat style.
-- "Stray Cat Strut" by The Stray Cats

Meow.

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Posted: April 5, 2009 despite the date on the post. I needed to get the information up and decided to make it "older" by date so it doesn't show amongst the current posts, yet I have a link to post on my sidebar.

It's 2009! Happy New Year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I hope everyone has a healthy, happy, and prosperous New Year. I also want to thank everyone for being such a huge part of the community on this blog.

Graphic by Zoetawny

Off Topic: More NYC Doings, TVS Article, Almost 2009

Yep, it's almost that time! Above is a lighted artsy-doohickey thingee I photographed in the Times Square subway station on Monday. She isn't all that mystical -- that white ray coming from her eye is the reflection of the fluorescent light. Clicking on any of the images in this post will bring up a larger image in a separate window. Then, just hit your "back" button to go back to reading.

I apologize for not posting yesterday. I felt like I had been run over by a subway train! My knee replacement knee has a slight bruise and some muscle soreness from my fall. But it's the other knee which is the problem. A huge BLACK and blue along with a bit of a mouse right under the kneecap. I ended up spending the day not moving more than I had to, icing, and elevating. I actually used my crutches to get around.

But today it's a bit better. I went out for errands this morning and, although sore, it got me where I had to go and even carried some groceries. I'm very proud of the knee replacement knee -- I know it hit the pavement just as hard. So, go for the operation RJM!

I have a new article of my "Odd Duck TV Crushes" up over on TV Squad. And, Sydney asked what happens when the writing gig stuff slows down ... I don't earn money. I'll probably be posting more news/opinion articles in January. I hope so, anyway.

For those who really find the subways interesting, I threw some video clips together and made a YouTube video of them. The first clip was this extremely loud jazz group under the Port Authority Building. As I caught the bus home Monday night, I ended up walking through them just about as briskly as the one guy in the clip did. I wasn't going to miss my bus and they were really loud. The second clip, he's lip-synching and strumming the guitar off-key, the third is just a train coming in. The latter two clips I took in September, hence the lack of jackets.




Here are some more photos I took on Monday. Below I whiled the time in front of the Port Authority Bus Terminal waiting for time to go inside and board my bus home. The bus home stops directly across the street from my apartment, so I often take that rather than the train.


Yes, they have a statue of Jackie Gleason from The Honeymooners in front of the Port Authority Bus Terminal.


Above is the NY Times building that guy dressed as Spider-Man climbed a while back. It's across the street from the Port Authority Bus Terminal.

Here are some more Times Square shots I took Monday. Thankfully I chose Monday to go. Today has been snowy, windy, and tonight the wind chill is going down below zero.





Whoops! I'm back at Port Authority below messing with a teensy keyring digital camera I picked up for $10 at CVS.


Below is some street guy in front of the Port Authority Building who wanted me to take a picture of him with my teensy keyring camera. He advised me that since it doesn't have a memory card, I'd have to download the pictures to my computer. My ... street people have changed over the years!


I had to run some errands in Scotch Plains and just had to take some photos of the park where I'd sit across from my physical therapy place this past summer. Nifty!



Above is the fountain. It's a rather neat decoration with the insides a'spinning.


Above is the little park. Below is ...


OOPS! Y'see ... it's kind of what happened to me except I did mine on pavement!


Above is the kale early this morning with some snowflakes falling on it.

Well. duh. Who's going to keep walking through the fence?

At midnight, I'll be posting the latest Zoetawny New Year's graphic. I'm in for the night here ... just me, my cat, and my extremely already loud new neighbors in the apartment which was the broken into party spot earlier this year. These new tenants aren't much better than the illegal party animals. Oh, well. I'll let them get away with it for tonight.

Off TV Topic: Jackie Does the Tourist Thang

Well, I had today off and my knee is doing well. Plus, it was a gorgeous day! Since the first surgery on the knee, I've done very little photo-stomping. Manhattan (NYC) is one of my favorite places to to go said photo-stomping. And, the holiday doings are still going strong. So I did it. I took a gazillion photos, but here's a sampling of my day. I still have to go through the photos more thoroughly.

I started by taking the train from Westfield as I had a few errands to run before going in. I feared the toy soldier would attack me! But, no. I should have just watched where I was walking. My nightmare happened -- I tripped on a curb, falling on both knees and both palms. Ow. But the knee replacement knee did well. I even got up well. But the "good" knee is all black and blue tonight.

Clicking on any of the images will make them larger.


I took one of the fancy-schmancy double-decker NJ Transit trains in. One of my regular conductors was on it. He just placed a seat check on my seat without thinking that this wasn't my work commute time or direction.


So I got a free ride to Penn Station Newark. My line has to transfer at Penn Station Newark to go to Penn Station New York as its diesel and NYC only allows electric trains in the city. The ticket I bought is good for a year, so I'll use it another time.



Hey! Amtrak gets a food service car? SOOO not fair! I remember the Metro North trains from CT often had a bar car. NJ Transit is bring your own food, bring your own booze.


I didn't take the PATH train from Newark Penn into Manhattan as it wouldn't take me really where I wanted to go. I bought a ticket for the leg on NJT to Penn NY.


Ah, Penn Station! Look -- some people are in shirtsleeves! It wasn't THAT warm, I don't think. The high was in the high forties today. Since the Empire State Building got whited-out in my bad exposure shot above, here it is below.


The top of the Empire State Building is lighted in red and green at night for the holiday.


A kid catches some air outside of the Borders connected to Madison Square Garden.


I decided to hit Grand Central Station to catch the holiday laser light show. And, sheesh ... you'd think it was Grand Central Station with the crowds!


Above is the laser light show on the ceiling of Grand Central -- it was moving all around and changing, thus a bit of a blur. And, below ... I'm two days early for...


... Times Square.


Now I remember why I avoid Times Square even when it's not New Year's Eve. The crowds! Ack. I always love that NYPD station with its pink and blue neon, though.


Look WAY up (above) ... it says 2009. I will NOT be there to greet it!


The humanity! The humanity! What have I stumbled onto? I can't breathe! I can't move! Did that man pinch my butt?


Oh. Never mind. It's just Rockefeller Center. You don't want to know how much it costs to skate there. No, I didn't skate.



Above is the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree. Below are ...


HORSIES! I don't often see the mounted cops in Manhattan, but there were six of them sitting there. When I told one he was going on my blog, he schnuffled me and got horse drool on my jacket.


I can't help it. I'm a sucker for horses.


Yeah, more horses. Got a problem with it? :-)


"This is our holiday. This is our New York." No, I didn't go to the Top of the Rock. I thought it was enough to be at the bottom of the Rock.


And now I'm home and so tired (see above). Mind you, not tired enough to panhandle in a subway tunnel under Times Square. They have these weird Burma Shave type signs on the ceiling. This woman set up under "So Tired." I decided to follow the direction of the one which read "Go Home."