Whatever Will I Watch Tonight? - Sunday, March 25, 2007

At the moment, I have an old episode of Law and Order: Criminal Intent on Bravo going on in the background.

I just peeked on on the local CBS affiliate. The basketball game currently playing is in its second quarter, so CBS programming will run late all evening... again.

What does that mean for me? It means I won't get my Amazing Race 11: All Stars fix on time (once again). I will be watching it and I will post an East Coast Update with the finish order at the Pit Stop as soon as it airs here in the NYC area. What time would that be? Right now, I have no clue. But I'll zap a post up when the show starts to give you a sense of the timing for the East Coast Update. And, but of course, a full review/recap of the show will be posted late this evening.

What else is on tonight?

Although the entire evening will be delayed due to March Madness, CBS has new episodes of 60 Minutes, TAR, Cold Case, and Without a Trace.

At 8 PM ET/PT, NBC has a new episode (could it be the season finale?) of Grease: You're the One That I Want. FOX has a new The Simpsons followed by a new King of the Hill at 8:30. ABC has a new Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.

In the 9 PM ET/PT hour, FOX has new episodes of Family Guy and American Dad. NBC has a repeat of Deal or No Deal and ABC has a Desperate Housewives repeat. At 10 PM ET/PT, NBC has a new episode of The Apprentice: L.A. and ABC has a repeat Brothers and Sisters.

Needless to say, the shows I watch for the most part tonight are on the delayed CBS schedule. Grr.

It's 10 PM - Do You Know Where Your Children Are?

Um, no, I don't know where my children are. I know where my two cats are, though. And, I usually know where I am.

The local FOX affiliate's slogan has been in place for forty years and they're not letting us forget it. Channel 5, WNYW, in New York City, has had an ongoing anniversary celebration going on for a number of weeks now. Back in the days before FOX itself came into being its own network, WNYW started a newscast at 10 PM... a revolutionary thing for a world where we all knew local newscasts had to start at 11 and act as intros to Johnny Carson!

Back in 1967 when it all started, the slogan (It's 10 PM, do you know where your children are?) was an apt fit for the times in the city. Alas, these days 1 AM seems to be the new 10 PM. (Sigh.)

One of the local papers has an interview with Ernie Anastos regarding the anniversary. Of course, Ernie bailed out of WCBS Channel 2 where he was co-anchoring with Roz Abrams before WCBS sent her to the cornfield. I don't blame him. Together, Anastos and Rosanna Scotto make a good team. The chemistry is so much better than Anastos and Abrams although I can't think of a newscaster with the name of Rosanna without thinking of Gilda Radner's character Rosanna Rosannadanna. Eep! Thankfully, Rosanna Scotto isn't of that ilk. But, you know, it's always something.

Due to primetime programming, I don't always watch the FOX5 News at Ten, but when I do and I hear that slogan... it brings back the days of my own childhood in the late 60s to me. And, believe me, my parents always knew where I was at 10 PM even when I preferred they didn't!

Happy anniversary, FOX5 News at Ten! And, thanks go to blog reader Lisa for the heads-up on the Anastos article.

Take Pride in Pants - This Week on 'The Late Show with David Letterman' - March 26-30

Hopefully Dave has recovered from his stomach bug during the past few days. We're due for no March Madness schedule changes and all new shows this week.

Alas, within the show which had been scheduled for last Tuesday evening (which was impromptu-hosted by Adam Sandler), a tribute to Calvert DeForest (Larry "Bud" Melman) had been on the slate. Calvert was an active part of Dave's shows dating back to 1982. It still makes me smile to think of him, in a delivery only he could do, vouch for "Toast on a Stick." He passed away last Monday at the age of 85.

On the Late Show website, there's a brief statement from David Letterman: "Everyone always wondered if Calvert was an actor playing a character, but in reality he was just himself - a genuine, modest and nice man," said Letterman. "To our staff and to our viewers, he was a beloved and valued part of our show, and we will miss him."

You know, that's what I always got from him, too. He seemed like a neat, nice, man off the street kind of guy. I would think that there will be some mention on Monday's show about his passing. Rest in peace, Mr. DeForest. You entertained many of us for decades.

Here are the guests we can expect to see this week:

• Monday, March 26: Will Ferrell promoting his latest movie Blades of Glory and musical guest Kings of Leon whose CD is Because of the Times. Oh, I'm so not a Will Ferrell fan, but I'll be watching.
• Tuesday, March 27: Patricia Arquette (Medium), Paul Mooney promoting his DVD Know Your History and singer Macy Gray (CD is Big). Um. Okay. As long as Know Your History isn't as foolish as Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader. [I love how FOX is touting the popularity of shows which follow or are the odd half-hour with American Idol.] Hmmm... in looking up the DVD to link, it has David Alan Grier (who I adore) and Sandra Bernhard (who is quite a character all on her own). It could be interesting. And, it should be nothing like 5th Grader.
• Wednesday, March 28: Al Franken and Isla Fisher whose CD is The Lookout. Al is usually interesting when he's on with Letterman. But the site is listing The Lookout as a CD when I believe it's a movie. Heck, I could be wrong. I guess we'll see who's right - Letterman's staff or me. I bet I'm right!
• Thursday, March 29: Rosario Dawson from the movie Grindhouse and musical guests Bloc Party (CD is A Weekend in the City.)
• Friday, March 30: Donald Trump and Jon Heder promoting Blades of Glory. Now, I like Jon Heder better than I do Will Ferrell and Trump will probably say something incredibly foolish.

Overall, I'm not really too impressed with this week's guests. However, due to Dave himself and other goings-on, I will always watch the show. Oh, they could lose "Will it Float" but that could be just me. Oh, and they could do a bit better with the content on the website. There are often errors, omissions, and such. Perhaps it's interns putting up the content, but I still love my Letterman!

TV Newsy Bits - Saturday, March 24, 2007

Oh, I'll be so happy when March Madness is history. It's been wreaking havoc with the schedule of my favorite CBS shows. Plus, the gentleman who lives downstairs, usually a quiet retired single man, has been having friends over and I keep hearing random cheering and booing during the game times. Another man and I were entering the elevator the other evening when we heard loud whoops. We turned to each other and said, "March Madness."

One good thing about the schedule changes on CBS this past week is that I actually watched the season one finale of The Wire on BET at 9 PM on Thursday. I generally don't catch it at that hour as I'm either watching C.S.I. or writing about Survivor. The episode of The Wire was so powerful, I think I'll be taping it when it re-airs at 1 AM tonight.

I am so hooked on the show! When the season two (in real life season four recently ended on HBO) starts, I noticed its start time is 10 PM (April 5). Now, that might be a doable time for me to watch the show without hunting it down in the middle of the night to tape it. I admit to cheating and have read ahead on the episode recaps on the main HBO site. I just can't get enough! I'm also looking forward to theme song change to Tom Waits from the Blind Boys from Alabama. I think that's such an interesting touch -- the same song, "Down in the Hole" by Tom Waits, sung by a different artist or group each season. Also, I now relate "The Farmer in the Dell" to Omar. Yikes.

Here are the TV Newsy Bits I found out and about on the web:

• Reality News Online has an interesting interview with self-proclaimed Survivor nerd/geek, Anthony Robinson. What does he really think of Rocky? An excerpt: "He lives on planet Rocky. In his world, he equates being an aggressive jerky loud in-your-face person with being a man. In my world, it’s just not. I live on a different planet than he does. There are some big men in the world who are quiet, calm, collected, and prefer to deal with people in a rational, civilized way."
• Heather Mills has placed her own wager that her artificial leg will stay on just fine during her time on Dancing With the Stars according to the Celebrity Spider. She thinks the websites with the bets are a lot of fun.
• Zap2It.com is reporting that this coming Tuesday's live performance show of American Idol will run overtime -- seven minutes into the the next hour, thus trying to take some of the Dancing With the Stars audience. They (FOX) claim it's because the show just won't fit into a mere hour. Yeah, right. Oh, it's a dog-eat-dog world, isn't it? Gwen Stefani (hey, someone who's popular now and someone whose talents I actually like) will be mentoring the top ten contestants.
• How did Tallahassee take to being the focus of the con man image on Lost this week? The local paper (online) has the reactions of men (and women) from Tallahassee. Also, Celebrity Spider has a detailed promo for next week's episode -- mild spoilers within.

'Lost' - "The Man From Tallahassee"

Now we know they're trying to spoil us with good episodes back-to-back! Another mystery solved, yet a new mystery posed. At least we're running even.

Tonight's episode was Locke-centric and the flashbacks sure weren't skimpy on this one. The time element for them was substantial and the back-story told was vital.

We didn't see Hurley's beat-up DHARMA-mobile (nor even Hurley); this wasn't a fun fluff episode. No time to fool around and have fun in this episode!

In Flashbacks:
John was receiving disability payments from the government for depression. (And, yes, he could walk at this point.) He bristled at being asked personal questions about his parents and then told the woman behind the desk at the disability office that he had stopped going to therapy as it was useless. She promptly temporarily suspended his benefits until he resumed.

In his dingy room he ate chicken while watching television when there was a knock on the door. It was a young man named Peter Talbot who wanted to ask questions about an Adam Seward who was about to marry his mother. "Why ask me?" Locke asked. Well, it was because he had donated a kidney to him. Of course, we knew him as Anthony Cooper, Locke's biological father and con man. Locke denied knowing him and told Talbot it was an anonymous recipient.

Locke then tracked down his father insisting that he call off the wedding. He knows that his father is just marrying her for yet another con job. The father agrees to do so. But, once a con man, always a con man.

Detectives show up at Locke's door asking about Talbot. After Locke denied knowing him, then claimed he was soliciting, they told him they had a slip of paper with his name and address from Talbot's pocket -- he had been murdered.

Locke confronted his father who (of course) denied killing Peter Talbot. He told Locke that he had been intending to call off the wedding when Talbot was killed and the timing hadn't been right to tell her. He said he was a con man, not a murderer. He then asked Locke to meet them both in his room and he'd call it off right in front of him. Oh, no! No intended bride, just a shove out of an eighth-story window. So now we know why Locke was in a wheelchair.

Locke's next flashback was in a hospital room being questioned by detectives. He's paralyzed not only from the fall, but with some sort of wheelchair-phobia. The orderly tries to get him in the chair and he cries and panics. Sheesh, he knows he's paralyzed. Why the silly fear of something which would offer some mobility? It was like a scene from "When Good Wheelchairs Go Bad" or something! I expected the music from Jaws to start up.

On the Island:
Sayid, Locke, Kate, and Rousseau are still peeping at Jack playing football with the Others like they're all great friends of his. Ben, in a wheelchair, and Juliet are on the scene now, all friendly with Jack. While Sayid is worried about safety, Locke proposes they approach Jack alone to see if he wants their help escaping.

Kate made it into the barracks and followed the sound of a piano playing. When she found Jack, he wasn't too thrilled to be found. He told her they were watching him. Sure enough, she's lunged on with guns and captured, along with Sayid. The others ask who else is with them and Kate told them that they were the only two. (Remember, Locke and Rousseau are somewhere around... Rousseau hiding in the woods.)

Locke had a different target. He went looking for Ben and found him. Ultimately, he was looking for the submarine. Ben told them there wasn't one, so Locke told him of Mikhail. Alex came into the room and Locke took her gun to the head to hide in the closet as someone approached. Ben told Richard (he's from that "Not in Portland" episode) to "bring the man from Tallahassee." Locke questioned if that was code. Ben laughed and said there was no code for "a man is holding my daughter in the closet with a gun."

Ben and Locke talked about the wheelchair -- the fact that Ben is in one and Locke no longer needs one. Ben questioned him on how he would pilot the sub, but admitted he knew that he had the C4 explosive and planned to destroy the sub. Ben told Locke he knew how he ended up in the wheelchair. Then he asked, "Did it hurt?" "Of course it did. I felt my back break."

As Ben and Locke talked, Kate and Jack were talking, too. Jack told Kate that all of the abducted were safe and lived there. He reminded her (rather adamantly) that he had told her not to come back for him. She claimed she didn't think he meant it. Jack told her he had made a deal to save Ben and was to leave the island with Juliet in the morning. Juliet arrived at that point and they left Kate.

Sayid was being held outside, chained to a swingset (or something). Alex had been sent by her father to get his pack. When she said that to the one holding Sayid, he said, "You look like your mother." When she said her mother was dead, he told her not to be sure about anything that they tell her. Bam. He gets a beat-down.

Back to Ben and Locke -- Locke is questioning about how they have power and such. Ben told him there would be a big problem if he blew up the submarine. He said that while he was born here, most of the others weren't. He has to have something to show them there's a way off the island and the sub was it. "You have a choice. I can show you things. I know the island better. There is a magic box and you just never know what may be inside. Jack and I made a deal. It's a one-way ticket. If the submarine goes, it can never come back due to the anomaly. I also promised him in front of my people."

So, Ben wants him to blow up the sub -- that's the way he keeps Jack and all of the people won't think he broke his word. As Alex walked Ben to the sub, she told him that Ben manipulates people, that's what he does best. Rousseau, in the woods, saw Alex and just froze.

Jack asked Ben for one last favor, to let his friends (Sayid and Kate) go free once he's off the island. Ben agreed it wouldn't serve him to keep them. Juliet thanked Ben for keeping his promise and both head to the dock. Locke approaches them, all wet. He looks at Jack. "Sorry, Jack." BOOM, the sub blows up.

The scenes cut to Locke all chained up. Ben yelled that he had really done it now. Locke protested, saying that he knew that Ben wanted the submarine blown up all along as he knew the C4 was in Sayid's pack.

Ben told him that to let Jack go would have been a sign of failure, but he couldn't break his word. So Locke came along and made a dream come true. Back to the magic box... "When I asked if it hurt, I meant did it hurt to know your own father tried to kill you?" He told Locke that he knew he communed with the island not only because he didn't need the wheelchair, but it was the one place his father could never find him.

"I want to help you. Let's go look in the magic box."

In there was Locke's father, bound and gagged on a chair.

LOST [thunk]

Okay, what I'm wondering is if his father (the man from Tallahassee) is really there or something like the smoke monster thing. A shape-shifter? An idea put in John Locke's head?