looking ahead

i explored a half dozen lists of upcoming tv shows and checked out what to look forward to on the television over the coming months and beyond today... i probably missed something but the shows i want to check out and the shows i might check out if i have the time are listed below and updated on the right sidebar... this first list are the shows i want to check out at least once...

Believe (NBC)
In The Flesh (BBC)
Intelligence (CBS)
Mind Games (ABC)
Resurrection (ABC)
The Crazy Ones (CBS)
The Hundred (CW)
The Tomorrow People (CW)
Under the Dome (CBS)

the Crazy Ones stars Robin WIlliams, nuf said... Under the Dome is based on a Stephen King story, again, nuf... Spielberg has a hand in another on the list and JJ Abrams yet another, but ultimately it's the concepts that have these shows on this list... most are psychological, supernatural, or futuristic science fiction themes (as if that surprises anyone who knows me)... a couple (In The Flesh and Resurrection) explore the zombie theme in a normalized setting - the zombies are not killing and eating people, but rather being assimilated back into society), not my favorite theme, but curiosity has me wanting to see how the assimilation aspect is treated... Believe and The Tomorrow people are themed around the potential powers of the mind beyond what we commonly know or can do today... Intelligence and Mind Games are based in psychology with some sci-fi psy-tech tossed in... The Hundred is based in a post-apocalypse future...

and the ones i might check out if i have the time:

24: Live Another Day (FOX)
Almost Human (FOX)
Area 51 (AMC)
Back in the Game
Brooklyn Nine-Nine (FOX)
Joe Rogan Questions Everything
Michael J Fox Show (NBC)
Once Upon a Time in Wonderland (ABC)
Primeval: New World (BBC)
Rake (FOX)
Sleepy Hollow (FOX)
Star-Crossed (CW)
Wayward Pines (FOX)

and while not all of the ones on the second list have science fiction or psychological themes, many do and the few that don't have a twist i want to see play out in an episode or few... if i can actually check them all out i've obviously got too much time on my hands, but chances are only a couple or few will climb into the top list on the right sidebar of the tv blog... hey, it's a tough job but i would do it if they paid me enough (if i actually watch a few hours of tv a week, that's a lot... but it stays on in the background a lot when music isn't playing, so i select what i want to enter my brain subliminally with some measure of careful scientific study, ya know?...

and shows i have not made time for but would check out if i could see the pilot and catch up:

Bates Motel
Crisis
Cult
Falling Skies (TNT)
Once Upon a Time (ABC)
The Blacklist

so what do you watch (or wanna check out) on television?...

softball is back

while the standard shows are the go-to background tv when i want sounds and visuals in the space, the women's college softball world series has begun and that will keep me company for a week or two... it's a much purer game than the nba referee dominated, egocentric, seemingly scripted, pro basketball played by a bunch of way overly entitled spoiled brats (and no pretentious marketing is going to give them the education and experience needed to have class and respect)... i much prefer to play sports than to watch, but when i do watch, i so prefer watching people playing for the love of the game and pride of the team rather than for money and ego-glory... most professional sports are reality-tv, entertainment tv at best...

anyway, watching nebraska play washington, it looks like nebraska has the slightly better team on all three levels (pitching, hitting, and fielding), though i've got to question a couple of the coaching calls on the nebraska side... both team pitchers seem to have a lot of nerves because there have been a lot of walks and hit batters... i don't think either team is going too far in this world series, but both are scrappy... after watching the first five innings, the washington bats need to wake up if they want a chance... nebraska has the edge in fielding for sure... the washington infield plays too deep and does not get the ball to first fast enough, while the nebraska infield is much better at all of the fundamentals... both are upset winners just to be in the world series and are a toss up to win this series... nothing to do with the game, but it is an interesting to see that most of the washington team seems hawaiian... anyway, being home a lot has it's perks... i shall enjoy watching this world series this year...

so much time on my hands - and loving every minute of it :)

nba on tnt

so glad there are other more interesting things on tv during this may madness of nba playoffs... the game is so reflective of the american culture, arrogant overpaid kids with little or no sportsmanship or class trying to show off... not every team, some do have exemplary class (san antonio lead by tim duncan, for one)... might as well watch boxing or hockey... as i've been saying since the beginning of the playoffs (i seldom watch the game before the playoffs), the knicks are a perfect example (as are miami and as were the lakers), egos inflated by their home venue, but they play like selfish punks and thugs who have no clue that basketball is a team sport and at times, appear to have no clue as to what the game of basketball is about... too many teams are like them these days, with one mega-star having amazing individual games now and then, but that does not work against a team playing together in a seven game series... what gives miami an edge (besides the refs who consistently call plays in their favor... lebron, of course, is the best example) is they have two of the best players in the game who've learned to play two on two ball pretty well... it's still not what the five on five basketball game was meant to be and teams that played like teams (like boston from the 60s and the knicks and lakers from the 70s... watch tapes and learn if you are really interested in the game)...

one reason i like charles barkley is, through instinct, intelligence, or naivety, he says what a lot of people are thinking but most if not all are afraid to so... he is not pc... he does not toe along the company line... and many times, he speaks truth no one wants to hear or believe... the scripted nba, for instance... for years people swore wrestling wasn't scripted, foolish fans... the nba is obviously scripted to some extent, maybe a lot... and espn plays right into the soap opera... ridiculous overblown drama on reality tv is the american way these days... what is obvious is the same physical interaction between players can happen a hundred times during a game and a few times it's called a foul, purely at the referee's discretion... and too often those specific foul calls come at points in a game that turn momentum toward one team or another... too often those specific foul calls determine who wins a game or a series... so thank you charles barkley...

"i know the nba wants miami in the final, but come on man" ~ charles barkley

and thank you tnt for putting him on the air... the talking heads on the others stations are so bending over backwards to please the corporate network execs and corporate nba, they take the joy out of the game... sir charles (and shaq and kenny on tnn, were remarking about the ridiculous referee calls between commercial breaks and this particular statement was made supporting shaq and kenny's similar statements during a review of the biased calls by the refs during game the first half of game two of the conference finals... ridiculous technical fouls on indiana, while miami is allowed to argue and provoke much more than indiana does and nothing is called... i am waiting for them to notice how many 3-second violations are called against indiana just as someone is going in for an easy layup... besides the ridiculous disparity in foul calls, 3-second violations taking away point opportunities from indiana and giving more point opportunities to miami is the rule the refs follow...

bad tv

ever see fire from below (it's a movie)... the first ten minutes have to be the worst written movie with the most illogical premise i've ever seen and that is saying a lot... just watching it made me feel stupid and distracted me from whatever i was thinking about writing about after the basketball game, which i grudgingly watched because i like tim duncan and tony parker and therefore i like san antonio... as usual, the refs dominated the game, calling three cheap fouls on duncan in less than a minute which lead to a come back by memphis and as if there was any doubt that the refs were deciding the outcome of games (scripted sports really suck), the flop acting job that game memphis 4 points to tie at the end of regulation should be a fine (as flopping and faking injury is a fine), but the refs bought the acting and called a flagrant foul... to a man every announcers was laughing at how stupid and wrong the ref's call was... but the refs game memphis the overtime chance (while ignoring calls that should have been called all game, like the one on randolph that knocked duncan down in overtime that wasn't called) and memphis got the overtime... great script... san antonio won because duncan would not be denied, but it was still the refs game way too much... all first quarter hard fouls across both arms were ignored, then petty fouls were called almost entirely on san antonio (san antonio went almost the whole 4th quarter without taking a foul shot... tired memphis who are known for aggressive play who were playing poorly suddenly stopped fouling in the last quarter?) in the last quarter, especially the last seven minutes...

meanwhile, just when i though fire from below couldn't get worse there is "bubba" (you knew he was bubba cuz his speech was a stereotype of backwoods english and he wore a baseball cap with "bubba" on it, duh) going to the out house and of course the fire from below sought him out and below the outhouse to smithereens... somehow, the whole intact toilet can crashing down to the ground a hundred feet away (directly in front of the camera) and it was not only intact, but did not smash... must have been dropped there from about ten feet or less... no talent in this movie anywhere, especially not the writers or director...

then you've got the backwoods black guy making out with his girl in the pick up truck who needs to take a leak and of course the fire from below finds his urine stream and boom... then it shots into the back of the pick-up as the stereotype girl drives off (seems it doesn't want her, just the hay in the back of the pick-up) and it ignore the girl and the other girl who pulls her out of the truck down the road...

but the worst part of the film is the scientific premise of the story that there is some sentient isotope of lithium that seeks out people and boats to burn them and blow them up... it, the fire (burning lithium?) is supposed to be seeking water, but comes up out of a lake in a straight line and it flies over a lake chasing a water skier and then a boat... then suddenly, no more fire after it blows up the skier and boat... so much for the premise that the lithium isotope burns when it mixes with water... the most amazing thing about the sentient deliberate people killer lithium isotope that burns when and where it wants to and smells like rotten eggs is it waits for the cameras to be on it to do it's thing... it seems to takes direction better than any of the actors... unless it's the director making the actors look bad, or at least helping...

three-pete?

i think i missed last week, maybe, but watching dr who (and clara too, which is my new name for it because the primary reason i want to watch is because she is terribly adorable, even though her outfits make no sense, i mean, wearing a print one-piece jumper {short yet a prim collar} on a space ship and running around and jumping and falling and never once does the dress rise above her thigh?... what an illogical physical visual... probably quite titillating to the victorian subconscious... personally, i'd rather see what she's got on underneath and they really should film the shower scenes too, but hey, at least obey the laws of physics sometimes, ya know?) this week secured the lust the new companion inspires, which will keep me catching episodes whenever i am home... it's not just libido that is interested, but she just has that look that is indescribably delicious to me... it's the way she does unconditional trust, few people can truly show that in their face, acting or in real life, and she can... the storyline of who clara is still intrigues and now and then the writers reach for new ideas, so it's sci-fi worth watching even without the eye candy... but that face, well, another one who's too far out of reach... someday, again, i will find a face in the real world that does that to me...

and it was all just background tv, huh? lol lam :)

and then there's orphan black... the star is more eye candy in multiple flavors, that is, personalities and dress styles... she shows much more body which lets libido put her body ahead of dr who's companion, but though she's cute, she's not got that certain adorableness that would have me chasing a chance to look into her eyes... am i still going on about jenna?... sheesh, i've got to get out more...

meanwhile, the conspiracy against the clones idea can get played out if they are not extremely clever... there's way too much paranoid conspiracy theories in the world right now, i don't need them in my fiction or sci-fi... but i'll keep watching for now cuz i am starting to care about the character (weird, i know, but tell me you don't care about some tv characters?... if you don't well, what the heck you doing here?)...

speaking of pete, though, warehouse 13 is due back next week, right?...

be good out there :)

keeping up much?

ah, the ultimate (penultimate?... is that a writer's ultimate?... pen, ya see) question... yes, to the new shows in the background on tv that have me looking up to watch more than usual are the new dr. who because eye candy works to get my attention and the mystery of the meaning behind the girl twice dead is intriguing enough to keep me interested and orphan black has eye candy and the mystery of who all these clones are (yeah, they let it slip way too early that this was a clone story and not a multiple personality story... it would have been much much better if they kept that mystery going longer... and if they can find their way back to it kind of in a sixth sense way, well, that would be sweet... it helps that bbc puts these shows on a lot, especially in the middle of the night when nothing else is on, but the eye candy and potential story line has me looking for it...

there are other shows i look and i'll update the sidebar eventuall, but these two lead the way for the moment... what are you watching, almost watching, lostening to, or whatever? :)

bbc tv

dr. who and orphan black... and kind of sort of the nerdist,,, first eye catching thought is the eye candy... definitely enough to draw me back, especially when there are multiple choices to watch (twice on saturday nights and hopefully continuing on thursday nights or other times during the week as well)...

so there is jenna louise coleman definitely providing a face (and type) that can appeal to libido and then there is orphan black with lead character tatiana maslany who provides a right body type (nude scenes, no less... libido says thank you very much) so the bbc two shows will be on my radar and hopefully provide a lot more than eye candy as characters and stories develop... cloning or dissociative disorder or both, it takes some good acting and writing to keep character and story line continuity... so thanks bbc... even if the girls don't stop by the house, i hope for fun watching...

pity the promos already blew the mystery before the story actually got started...

and then there's the doctor... this paragraph might come off as egocentric, but truth is truth whether you believe it or not... it's eerie, actually... not this part: at first it took a long time for me to actually start watching dr who and admittedly, i thought the show was too cheesy with plastic effects, to enjoy (hey. i grew up on american television, what else do you want to know)... but then, after watching the more recent incarnations of the stories for a while, mostly through the last few series of doctors/companions, (oh, this is the eerie part): i found the connection to my own life experience uncanny... i mean, i am the doctor in the sense that i adopt someone the way he does, i guard someone, attempt to save someone when circumstances rise, and i wander alone, separate, apart from humans... i just don't have a tardis or infinite resources or a magic screwdriver like the doctor does... yeah, i know, unbelievable... you'd have to know my real life story to understand (or believe) the similarities...

never know what might be discovered in background television, aye? :)

harry knew... and then, even more eerie, there is amy... sigh...

in any case, all about me aside, anybody notice they used a musical phrase from beauty and the beast to suggest romantic awakening in the doctor in this incarnation of the doctor-companion story?... there is something there that wasn't there before :)

cute funny

glancing up at the tv as i scanned through the late night talk circuit i found myself, not for the first time lately, torn between craig, jimmy, and jimmy... dave always trumps jay, just cuz jay's personality is not funny (both have egos a bit too big for themselves, but dave sits on his better)... nobody is johnny, but jimmy fallon is adorable funny and jimmy kimmel is surprisingly funny and craig, well, craig is is craig and besides being ridiculous, he's juvenile funny... tonight vanessa hudgens and selena gomez were on different shows and besides being masters of smoking hot innocence, selena is actually funny (or at least she goes along with funny scripts really well)... the song she and fallon did should get more play... so eye candy and humor was fun background tv tonight...

see, there could be a background tv entry almost every night if i was so moved to record my reaction to whatever is on the tv when i glance up at the plasma screen... aren't you glad i'm not so moved? lol lam laa latv :)

mostly sports

it's time for the ncaa basketball tournament, so games play in the background... and the world baseball classic as well... and the nba is winding down... and baseball is not far off... and lots more, but i forget... not working, i am home a lot and the daytime background tv is a catch-up marathon on ncis, the mentalist, castle, psych, and other shows... each have either character i enjoy or eye candy i enjoy or both... meanwhile, the monday night syfy remains hot and cold, mostly ridiculous storylines, but being without much else to do i remain curious to see just how the writers will work through the forced drama and illogical plots they twist...

tv mostly bores me, but it's ok for background noise...

monday night syfy

so i put the computer aside and sat and watched continuum, being there, and lost girl and disappointment times three is my first reaction... alas, the minds of humans bore me... start with continuum... i really expect so much from that word, it was bound to disappoint, but really, revamped sliders and time cops? (there's another show too, i just am not thinking of it at the moment)...

corporations take over the world (that's real life today, not science fiction, by the way) and a group of rebels (that would be the 99%, most of the audience) wants to bring power back to the people (freedom, liberty, equality, ya know?) and the heo of the show is a beautiful woman dressed in skin tight latex (of course) who, in her noble effort to prevent the rebels from going back in time to change the future and restore liberty, equality, and freedom (still good ideas, so why are they the bad guys?), gets sent back in time to 2012 with them and she connects with the mastermind (as a bot) who appears to have created the corporate technological big brother society of 2077... either this show was created by ultra right wing corporate megalomaniacs or there's gonna be a plot twist wherein our heroine wakes up to the ideals of freedom, equality, and liberty and does something to change the kid-who-will-be-king's mind... there's always hope...

still, it is presents as a basic good vs evil cop show and the pilot showed very limited imagination...

and then there comes the new season of being there... sad that so much angst needs to be poured into a vampire, a werewolf, and a ghost because they want so much to just be human as if being human was something to idealize and strive for... even worse than star trek's data, cuz at least data was intelligent enough to know he was far superior to humans and did not have the capacity for the stupid angsts humans create in their own minds... emotions are so potentially wonder, why humans turn them into nightmares is a sad reflection on the limits most choose to place on their minds... so being there looks like it's going to stay sadly pathetic...

and then there is lost girl... again, the over-regurgitation of the good vs evil theme with the visual of needy anorexia trying to be macho and sexy... it reminds me a little too much of buffy and i just don't find the whole anything different must be evil thought process humans seem to love appealing... imagine a different species who was peaceful, friendly, and enlightened... goodness, what a threat they would be to our anger-addicted fear-driven war-dependent culture...

ok, so i am biased against human stupidity, prejudice, and small minds... feel free to show me the benefits and pleasures of those mind-sets and i will happily thank you for enlightening me...