Saturday, May 31, 2014

The TV MegaSite's Blog Post #125

I'm finally watching "The 100" from the previous week. It's a gross episode. I don't like to see people vomiting. Otherwise, though, it was good.. The one from this week was great, too. It's a really good scifi show. I'm glad it was renewed for a second season! Yay!

Most of my favorite shows are in re-runs now. I spent most of the weekend watching 2 things: the soaps, to clear off my DVR, and the DVD's that the PR people sent me to review.

I'm caught up on "General Hospital" and "The Bold & The Beautiful" now. Or at least, I've watched all of the episodes that aired since last August (there are many on tape and DVD that I haven't watched- I may never get around to it).   I sure wasn't surprised that the Luke running around town was not the real Luke, nor that he had the real one still stashed in the loony bin. They dropped so many obvious hints that even if you were paying half attention, you would know that. I just hope they don't drag it all out too long or that the real villain will be a total surprise and not one of our obvious guesses.


I don't mind Bill and Brooke together (she's never been my favorite), but I really don't want her and Ridge back together. She has no chemistry at all with Thorsten Kaye.  Not sure yet if I like him with Katie, either. To be honest, as much as I love Thorsten Kaye, this was a very bad casting decision. He's nothing like Ronn Moss at all, and no matter how many times they say he's changed, it doesn't fix the basic problem that he looks, sounds and acts nothing like him. They should have brought him on as a completely new character. I would have liked to have seen him as a very dashing and romantic character, similar to the one he played on "One Life to Live" or even "Port Charles".  Usually, if they wait so long to recast a character, then it doesn't matter who they get to replace him, but since Ronn Moss has been on the show since it began, and Thorsten Kaye is so completely different, it's just too jarring.  I know I'm not the only fan who feels this way. I don't know what the answer is, though, since I do love seeing Thorsten.

I watched quite a few new primetime shows and DVD's that you can read about on our Reviews Page.  

Next I can start watching all of the tons of DVD's that I made in the past year, so I can get caught up on the other shows I like, like "Arrow", "The Vampire Diaries", "Elementary", "Criminal Minds", "Orphan Black", "Dallas", "Devious Maids" and more.  I've got a backlog of over 100 DVD's, but a lot of the shows on them are "filler" that I may not get around to watching any time soon. We'll see!

We really enjoyed the "Mad Men" season finale... it was so good! I love musicals, so it was great to see that vision of Burt dancing and singing at the end. Burt, played by Robert Morse, used to be a Broadway/movie star and sang and danced in many musicals, including "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying". I was hoping we would see him sing and dance sometime, so it was great that they were able to fit that in!  Sorry they killed him, though.

May is always a tough month because they cancel so many of the shows, usually some favorites we like.  I know that a lot of people say, "they cancel everything I like".  Well, it's not just you. Most shows get canceled within the first year.  The major networks canceled about 40 shows this year, and 32 of them were new.  The rest get canceled by the second or third year.  There are a few that last a long time, like NCIS or American Idol, but the rest... it's very sad when you think of how much effort gets put into these shows, and then they just go away.  I guess we can look at each one as a long play or miniseries... but it's hard on us, and that's why a lot of people just stop watching shows at all.  It's hard to invest the time in watching a show and then you get attached emotionally, and that's why it hurts when you lose it (particularly if you feel there was a lot more story to tell).  You would think we would get used to it, since it happens so often, but I don't think we ever do.  The networks do it a lot more than they used to, too, and a lot sooner, so that doesn't help.  I like what FX has been doing with some of its shows. They do a 10/80 deal.  They give the show 10 episodes, and if it's successful, then they commit to 80 more! If not, that's all they get. It's a great deal for the shows and the viewers. I don't know why the other networks don't do something like this. It doesn't have to be 80.  10/30 would be a great improvement. They should also commit to not moving shows around so much, or having a huge hiatus in the middle (like NBC did this year with "Revolution").

From Tuesday -This morning I was on a conference call interview with Wil Wheaton, who has a new show "The Wil Wheaton Project" on Syfy. It was a great call and went on for an hour. He's a really nice guy and didn't just answer questions but engaged each questioner in conversation. Unfortunately, that meant some of us didn't get to ask a question. However, he was so nice to answer two questions for me on Twitter after that! Too bad I didn't get to speak with him, though. He would have been the 5th "Star Trek" actor I've interviewed... Check out all the interviews (there are quite a few new ones that I'll be putting up this week).  I watched his show and it was pretty cute...not the funniest thing in the world, but watchable, IMHO.

I was supposed to have some other interviews on Friday, but I was very sick, so I just stayed in bed.

TV gets a little easier to watch this time of year. Even with summer shows, it's not nearly as bad as when the major networks have tons of new shows in the Fall and Spring.  That's my life :)

We need some more backup soap update writers for our site!  Sometimes our writers get sick or have to go out of town, and then we don't have too many people we can ask to take over for them.  If you watch the soaps, or don't mind watching them occasionally, please email. We just need someone who can watch the episode, write up a summary, and email it. You have to be able to write pretty well and put in the details of the show. Email me if you're interested in helping out with this or with any of our volunteer jobs.

The cable networks really do a great job with their PR for their shows. Syfy has always been excellent.  They recently sent me the upcoming episodes for their new show "Dominion" and the return of "Defiance". The packaging is just amazing. Dominion looks like a hard cover book, and if you open it, it's one of those book safes, but it also has pages about the show. It's really cool.  USA Network sent chocolate chip cookies from a cookie shop in the Hamptons, along with the DVD of new episodes. Woo hoo!

Tomorrow I start the new page for this week's primetime shows. You can see it at http://tvmegasite.net/prime/news/news060114.shtml and it should be all finished by Sunday morning.

Have a great weekend!