The TV MegaSite's Blog Post #96

Hi, everyone! Thank you for taking the time to visit...

Our site is doing well! We have lots of great new content every day. I hope you can check it out!
Don't forget, we have all of the soaps recapped every day with both short recaps and detailed summaries (updates), as well as transcripts. We have even have them for the online soaps All My Children and One Life to Live.

I moved this summer, and I also had computer problems, so we are a bit behind on the transcripts, but it's all fixed now, so I'm slowly catching up! We have a lot of awesome volunteers who work tirelessly every day to write opinion articles, updates, recaps, and fan fiction, and to make wallpapers, puzzles, and more for you so please do check it all out. We have some great proofreaders as well that do a lot of work to make sure that the spelling and grammar are fairly good, and to keep typos to a minimum. There's always more to do on such a huge site!

We have tons of daytime and primetime news put up every day! This is what the indefatigable Gisele and I probably spend most of our time on. Mandy summarizes Soap Opera Digest for us every week, and Gisele and I both put up tons of news and appearances that we find on the net and in other newspapers and magazines. We probably have more appearances for soap actors than any other site, and we sure do have a ton for primetime actors as well, especially for the shows we cover in depth.

Every weekend, I gather all of the info for this week's primetime shows and post it on our news pages for that week This week it's the week of 9/22. I put up a short summary of the shows and divide them up so you can what is new for the fictional and non-fictional shows, as well as some re-runs and some DVD news. I put up a lot of info that the TV networks send me, too. I spend most of the week trying to do that as much as I can (they send me a lot, so without more help, it's hard to put it all up). I have also been posting the full press releases on our Primetime Forum, along with other news.  Please visit and chat with us! We also have a small Facebook TV group. Check out all our new stuff...

We always need new volunteers, so please see if there's anything you'd like to do to help out! You don't have to be a great writer or have special skills. You just need to have a few hours free each week.



I'm still slowly trying to put the newer design on all of our pages, as well as build pages for newer shows, but it's very slow going because I have so much else to do!  Besides all the stuff mentioned above, I have lots of DVD's and shows to review and frequently interview primetime actors as well. I really fell behind last spring and summer, so I had about 80 to put up, but I'm all caught up now.

I hope you all had a good Summer and are enjoying your Fall. I moved across the country, so I fell behind on some of my shows. I've still got to catch up on Mistresses, Suits, Devious Maids, Dallas, Anger Management, Covert Affairs, Drop Dead Diva, The Fosters, and so many others.

I had DISH network for many years and loved it. In our new apartment, we have to have Time Warner Cable. It has some things I like, but the DVR doesn't have nearly as many hours, so that's frustrating. It gets filled up really quickly. I still have a little trouble figuring out how it's recording things and have to double-check all of my timers every week.  The thing I like most about it is the On Demand, which is way better than the one DISH had. But I miss the convenience of DISH.

What do you think of the new shows? Sundi and I have been reviewing them. I pretty much have agreed with most of what she says in her reviews. She writes way better than I do because she's a college professor.

Tonight we watched "The Simpsons" and it was very dull. I hate when they try to do a satire for some show or movie I haven't seen. I think this was a "Homeland" satire.  It was completely lost on us, since we haven't seen that show. It should have been funnier, anyway. Tonight's "Family Guy" was not very good, either.   Most of the new sitcoms are not very funny, either. I do like "Back in the Game",, but most of the others have been disappointing. I really love Robin Williams and Sarah Michelle Gellar, and Michael J. Fox, so their shows were particularly disappointing. 

I still love "Two and a Half Men", and the addition of Amber Tamblyn is great. "Big Bang Theory" is still pretty funny, too. I will always watch "The Neighbors", which is silly and fun, and "Hot in Cleveland" with its great Betty White barbs and fabulous guest stars.

This summer, we enjoyed The Jeselnik Offensive a lot (you should only watch it if you don't get offended easily). I'm glad to have HBO back so I can watch Real Time with Bill Maher again! He's always hilarious.

I like most of the new dramas, except for Ironside, which is awful and way too violent. I adore Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.!!  I love Sleepy Hollow, Hostages, The Blacklist and Betrayal.

I'm glad that "Unforgettable" was renewed and really bummed that "Bunheads" was canceled. Also, I'm not very happy that King & Maxwell was not renewed.

I'm happy to have my shows back, even though it's tough finding time for them all. I like "Castle", but I'm not sure I like how they changed the story to her working for the FBI. I hope that doesn't last too long. I love "Bones" and everything about it. They sure do keep that story fresh no matter what.  I'm looking forward to the return of my CW shows like Arrow, Supernatural, Beauty & The Beast and Vampire Diaries. I think the Originals will be just as good. I do still have a lot of last season's "Arrow" to watch because I fell behind. In our old place, the CW primetime was late at night and something conflicted with Arrow, so I watched it online, but...

I already love "The Tomorrow People" and I'm looking forward to "Reign" as well.

I don't know if I'm going to like NCIS without Ziva. I found the first episode of the season kind of confusing, to be honest. It's not a show I'm used to paying that close of attention to. I don't know why Gibbs had his sniper rifle trained on the head of the CIA or what happened there.

Person of Interest is always great! I love that show. I always think it's silly when they come out with some good show featuring mostly guys and then they feel that they have to add women to it. Like we won't watch or something unless we have more females to identify with. In this case, however, it didn't hurt the show, so that's good.

I just caught up on last season's Revolution, and I really enjoyed it. I know it doesn't always make sense reality-wise, but it's an entertaining show with lots of action and enjoyable characters. 

Law & Order SVU has always had a lot of violence and a bit of S&M, but I felt that their season premiere was way over the top in that regard. Do they really think we want to watch an hour of torture and violence? UGH.  I enjoyed CSI's return, but I thought the story was a little too contorted. I'm glad they didn't kill off Morgan or any other main character, but I thought having Ellie be the villain was stupid and came out of nowhere. Plus, women are seldom serial killers.

I had to give up on Nashville for now, even though I like it. I just didn't have time for it, and it is a soap, so if you fall behind, you're lost. I have most of last season on my DVR still. The same thing happened to me before with Grey's Anatomy, True Blood, Grimm, Lost Girl, and Glee, and it's why I don't watch Downton Abbey, The Newsroom, Game of Thrones, Homeland, Scandal or The Good Wife and probably won't keep watching Betrayal. Just too many shows and not enough time. There are also lots of shows like Chicago Hope or Blue Bloods that I would watch if I had more time, but they're not interesting enough for me to keep up with.

I love Elementary now and I'm glad to have it back.  I haven't yet watched the season premieres of Revenge, The Mentalist, Once Upon a Time or Criminal Minds, but I do love those shows.  The rest of the shows I haven't mentioned here...I don't watch or don't like, or both.

I'll check out American Horror Story: Coven, but it better be as good as the first season and not horrible like the second season. I know a lot of people liked the second season, but for me it was just way too violent and gruesome. I have no problem with blood and gore, but I don't like torture.

I really really enjoyed "The Bridge" this summer and I hope it comes back. What a fantastic drama. It is dark and sad, but it also has lots of humor and just fantastic characters. The story just reaches in and grabs your heart. Sometimes it crushes it.

I love Dexter, and I enjoyed the finale. My brain is still not really recognizing the fact that I won't have more episodes to watch. :-(   I didn't think they should have killed off Deb or broken up him and Hannah, but it wasn't a huge deal to me. I just thought that it was glaringly obvious that it wasn't his being a serial killer that endangered his loved ones - it was his being involved with the police and going after bad guys that did it.  Dexter was a pretty smart guy, and so I felt it was dumb for him to blame his killing on the losses he'd suffered and the rest of it. I know he was grieving, though, so he might act in a non-sensical way. I would have liked to have seen how the show went on from the ending. Dexter has to eventually get over his grief and solitude and go looking for Hannah and his son. It would be interesting to see if he was still killing people, too. I really enjoyed the progression of his character from season one when he was mimicking human emotions in order to fit in, to the  last season when he realized that he actually had emotions and was living like a more normal person.  Maybe I will read the books to get my "Dexter" fix now.

I hated that Burn Notice ended, but this season was great, and the finale was awesome. It was a perfect way to end it. There, too, I can see them making some sequel movies where they come out of retirement. I hate to let my favorite shows go. I stll miss "Leverage" and CSI: NY.

I'm very glad to have "Haven" back. I hope this isn't its last season. Syfy likes to cancel the ones I like after far too few seasons...

We moved in July, so I spent most of August catching up on Rizzoli & Isles, Royal Pains, Continuum, Defiance, Falling Skies, The Killing, Longmire, Wilfred, Major Crimes, Necessary Roughness, Perception, and Teen Wolf.

I look forward to the returns of my other favorite shows, like Justified, Mad Men, White Collar, Archer, The Americans, Psych, Ripper Street, and Warehouse 13! Even though I really don't have time for more shows...

I especially look forward to "Doctor Who". I have mixed emotions about them getting another doctor. I was never thrilled about Matt Smith, but he grew on me. The new guy doesn't look that handsome. I like my doctors to be handsome (like David Tennant) or at least very attractive (Christopher Eccleston). I know that many of them in the past were not that good-looking, but I was not a big fan of the show until the newer version.

Enjoy your TV watching this week!

The TV MegaSite's Blog Post #95

Welcome back! I hope you enjoy visiting our site and reading this blog...

We have a lot of new volunteers and help (always!).  Gisele has been working tirelessly as usual, but even more, really.... she's been transcribing all of our All My Children Transcripts and many of the One Life to Live Transcripts as well.

We have a new writer, Sundi, who has been writing a monthly Primetime Article as well as many Reviews of new shows for us!  Another new volunteer, Mendie, has been interviewing some TV stars for us.

We always have many great people writing our daily Daytime Soap Updates, Recaps, and Best Lines! As well as Juanita, who dutifully puts the photo screencaps into the updates every day, and many proofreaders, writers etc. It's a great group!

One of our most hard-working volunteers, Danielle, has left us and is no longer running our Primetime Forum. We could really use someone to replace her, even a little bit, by posting news on the forum.  I've been trying to do some, but I already have a lot to do.

We always need more volunteers!

Here are some random thoughts I wrote lately while watching TV.

I'm watching "Beauty and the Beast". I do love this show. The addition of Sendhil Ramamurthy has been awesome.

Sunday night we always watch The Simpsons, Family Guy and Mad Men when they are new. The Simpsons was not very funny; Family Guy was pretty good. Mad Men is always great!

Monday I watched Person of Interest, Big Bang Theory, Two and a Half Men, Castle and Warehouse 13.  Great season ending episodes for POI and Castle!  POI confused me just a little bit, I have to admit :) I love it, though. It's really scifi more than anything.  Big Bang Theory was awesome, even though the show is so unrealistic. Girls who never play D&D and guys who have only played with other guys? I started playing D&D in the early 70's.  Geeks don't just hang out with their own gender. So stupid.  Cute line about Zachary Quinto.

Two and a Half Men - I don't know why they are always putting this show down because it's usually pretty funny. I loved Charlie Sheen, but I also love Ashton Kutcher. It was great seeing him with Marilu Henner!! His character is not only gorgeous and funny but so smart, and they are great together.

Castle was fantastic. Even though I do have to say, I don't think the FBI would want Beckett because she is not really a rule-follower. The very end was so great and made me go "Aw!"

I watched this upcoming Lifetime Movie Network movie "The Perfect Boss" online. I interviewed star Linden Ashby yesterday and today I am interviewing Jamie Luner, the other star. It is cool for fans of Melrose Place to see them back together. It was an interesting movie if a little slow.

I did manage to catch tonight's NCIS and Body of Proof. NCIS has some pretty wild plots sometimes. I think Mark Harmon did some fabulous acting work in this - always an under-rated actor.  So sad that Body of Proof is leaving the air. This week's episode was great.

I've been catching up on episodes of "Revenge" on my DVR. I was missing one, so I watched it on Hulu. Great to have Hulu! I love Revenge... I hate when I read people who put it down. It's still great! I have a feeling I'm not going to like the ending of the last episode, though.  I know someone is going to die, so I hope it's not Jack, Nolan, Declan or Charlotte! (Darn it, it's Declan...that is too sad)

Soap fans got some bad news today - the two new online soaps, AMC and OLTL, are now only going to be two days per week. Nothing wrong with that except it does not bode well for the future.

I watched last night's CSI, the season finale. Great episode and good cliffhanger!

The new thing everyone's talking about is "binge-watching". I guess in general, they are talking about people who choose to rent or watch a DVD set or a bunch of online episodes of a show, all at once. I've been doing that for years! Who knew it would become trendy? Right now I'm binge-watching the first 6 episodes of "Falling Skies", which starts airing its 3rd in June. Every TV reviewer does this. So funny that it's trendy now.

I just wish I had the time and energy to binge-watch some shows I missed, like Lost, The Wire, Desperate Housewives, Scandal and more... as you get older, it's really sad, but you realize you'll probably never get to watch all of the TV shows and movies you want to see, or read all the books you want to read, or travel to all of the places you want to visit, etc. You just start slowing down and eventually you just run out of time. And they keep coming out with more shows, movies and books! Yikes!

I have been spending most of the time catching up on DVD's they send me to watch and review. I'm finally caught up, for the most part. Here are my reviews!

I also binge-watched "Teen Wolf" first season so I could then binge-watch the season 2 DVD that they sent me. Fun show! I have season 3 starting up on my DVR now.

Almost all of the "regular" shows are in re-runs now or replaced by reality shows. What shows are you watching this summer?

These are the shows set up to record on my DVR for the next few weeks: Anger Management, Bold & Beautiful, Burn Notice, The Client List, Colbert Report, Continuum, Daily Show, Defiance, Devious Maids, Days of Our Lives, Drop Dead Diva, Falling Skies, The Fosters, General Hospital, Hot in Cleveland, In the Flesh, The Killing, King & Maxwell, Longmire, Mad Men, Major Crimes, Mistresses, Necessary Roughness, Perception, Primeval, Rizzoli & Isles, Royal Pains, Sinbad, Sullivan & Son, Teen Wolf, Twisted, Ultimate Spider-Man, Under the Dome, Warehouse 13, and The Young & The Restless!

Don't forget to enter our monthly drawing for DVD's and more!

The TV MegaSite's Blog Post #94

Every day I spend many hours working on my site so please visit! We have lots of volunteers that put in their time to keep it going.

The What's New Page tells you what we've put up lately so it's very handy.

This week's Primetime News page features tons of news and video clips. I work on it a lot on Sundays, so check it later tonight out to see what's on TV and get the latest news. Check out last week's to see many clips and lots of info. This link will only be good for a little while, though, because I will move all that info to our Old News Page and delete the original page.

I forgot to mention in last week's blog that the one thing I object to about the four-letter words on One Life to Live... they seem to be overdoing it just a bit, for one thing. And also, I didn't like when Jeffrey swore in front of Viki. He hardly knows her, and she's his boss, whom he's hoping to impress so that she will give him a regular job. That did not strike me as realistic. Hopefully it will get better.

We watched "Mad Men", which is always so enjoyable. I was sad to learn that they only plan a few more years of the show.  We also watched "The Simpsons", which is ok, and "Family Guy", which was funnier than last week's but still should have been funnier.

Now I'm watching "Elementary", which is so good. I love anything to do with Sherlock Holmes.

Also, I watched "Once Upon a Time", one of my favorite shows. It was great! I can't wait until next week's season finale.  And now "The Mentalist", another favorite. I just love Simon Baker! I hope that Red John is not anyone we know and like.

I have mostly been watching DVD's lately....have to review them for our site.

I did catch NCIS, Castle, Warehouse 13, and Body of Proof. NCIS is always good, but it has been kind of depressing this season.  I love Castle! Even though they had a clip show, it was great. Warehouse 13 - so great to have it back! Always so fun.  Body of Proof... well, they are trying so hard to make the show super exciting. Frankly, I liked it better before they did that.  Now I'm catching up on "Person of Interest". Love that show!

May is always such a tough time because there are so many great shows, many of them ending for just the year, some forever.

I watched CSI, which was a weird one about some ghost hunters. I hate ghost stories in "real" shows because I don't believe in the supernatural and don't like it when people do. I don't mind it in a fantasy show, of course, because then it's not real.  And then they tried to say that the character David was in 6th grade 20 years ago. One problem with that - CSI started 13 years ago, and he was on it, so he would have had to be 18 when the show started!! I doubt they have morgue assistants that start that young (and he didn't look that young).

I always love Supernatural. Such a great show, and it always has shocks and surprises.  Fabulous actors, too.

I'm bummed about the shows that were announced for cancellation this week, especially Southland, Monday Mornings, CSI: NY, Body of Proof, and Go On.  Not surprised, but annoyed. http://insidetv.ew.com/2013/05/10/cancelled-shows-2013/ I was already annoyed about Smash and Cult being canceled. I'm glad Nikita got renewed, though.

So sad that this is the final season of "Burn Notice" this Summer. Noooooooo!!!  Glad that they renewed "Defiance" for another year, though.

We're catching up tonight on some episodes of "The Colbert Show". I think it's very funny, but my husband sometimes is not in the mood to watch it, so I don't watch it without him. And now we're 60 episodes behind...  Good thing he and I don't watch too many shows together or my DVR would get too full.

Wow, this past week's Doctor Who was fantastic!! I wish Neil Gaiman would write all of the episodes.

The TV MegaSite's Blog Post #93

I'm going to try really hard to keep this updated now! I know, famous last words...

Our site still doing great. It keeps me very busy, and many of our volunteers as well. I hope you can check it out. It's huge and has tons of content.

We always need more volunteers, though. Right now we are in desperate need for some transcribers for some recorded phone interviews, and for All My Children and One Life to Live transcripts (both of which are now on Hulu and iTunes Mondays through Thursdays). We also need someone to write AMC updates (detailed summaries). We are writing them but are struggling to keep up.  So much work! Check out our Volunteer Jobs.

I have been searching fruitlessly for software that will save the closed-captioning from either Hulu or iTunes mp4's, to no avail.  It is really tough doing them manually every day. Our other transcripts are extracted from the TV's closed-captioning using special software and hardware. The CC technology online is different so it won't work for that. If anyone finds software that can do this, let me know. I will pay you if you find it and it works.

I might be able to pay a small sum if anyone can help me with the transcribing of interviews and/or the soaps!

Danielle will be leaving our Primetime Forum so we need more people to post news and spoilers on there. We still need someone to run our ABC soaps forum (for AMC, OLTL and GH). This doesn't take much time.

Even if you can only contribute a few hours per week, it would be great for us to have your help!

We have a new writer, Sundi, who is writing a weekly column about primetime. Patti has been writing AMC Fan fiction and will be back to writing her AMC reviews. We have other fan fiction and all sorts of other stuff as well as our daily soap opera recaps, updates and transcripts.  Gisele and I both work full time on the site. She puts up almost all of the daytime as well as proofreads and writes things when needed.  We're grateful for whatever help we can find!

Every week, I put up all the news and info I have about primetime shows, especially the press releases from the networks about the upcoming TV shows.  You can go to our main news page and click on the week's date that you want to see.

We get a lot of interviews lately; and I have more to put up! Which reminds me, I also still need help from anyone who knows how to use Microsoft FrontPage, or Expression Web, or wants to learn those programs. We have so much content and never enough time to put it all up right away.

These are good problems to have, in a way. Too many TV stars to talk to, too many DVD's to watch and review, and too much content!! But still, we need a lot more help.

I'm very excited about the two soaps being back. So far I think OLTL is better. I think their stories are good, their dialogue is good, and it's done very well, very tight. The "newbies" are mostly characters we already know (recasts).  AMC's dialogue has not been very good. It's stilted and unrealistic, IMHO. I'm not sure how I feel yet about the newbies, especially Celia. The others seem okay. I'm very happy to see some of my favorites back, especially Cady McClain (Dixie), Vincent Irizarry (David), Eden Reigel (Bianca), Thorsten Kaye (Zach), Trevor St. John (Victor), Tuc Watkins (David), and others... I really miss Michael E. Knight (Tadd), though.

I know that not everyone likes "bad words", but I can't really understand that mentality. I'm 51, but it has never offended me. Both of my parents swore profusely (although they didn't let us do it). I started swearing in my teens. I know not to use it around people that I don't know, or kids. But anyway, it's just words. They have no power unless it give it to them. I think it's a good idea to have them in all TV shows because it makes it more realistic. Many people do swear in real life.  If the shows were set in some deeply religious place, I might agree that it's not realistic. But they're not. I have to wonder what other TV do these people who are offended watch because most cable channels, DVD's and movies use 4 letter words all the time. A few curse words here and there on the soaps are no big deal. If it brings in more viewers, or younger viewers, even better. 

I've really been enjoying having Doctor Who back, too. I'm sure it will be gone again before I know it. I love that show. It's just always so much fun.

I've been reading the book version of TNT's "Monday Mornings". It's a good book. Some parts the TV show does better, some parts the book does better. I hope they renew it.

I got a ROKU this week and that's been pretty cool. In case you don't know, it's a little box that lets you stream some internet content to your TV. It has Amazon Prime, Hulu Plus, Netflix, and lots of other channels, games etc.  The box I got was about $50 on Amazon. They have other versions that do HD etc. but I don't have an HD TV so I didn't bother.  You do have to pay for those channels, but they have free trials. Hulu Plus and Netflix are each only $8 I believe. I already have an Amazon Prime membership, so that will stay free, at least.  It's been fun checking it all out. I hope someday they will add a youtube channel.

Last Week's Family Guy was not very funny... I hope this week's is better!

I usually watch all my DVR shows right away, but I've been falling behind the past few weeks, trying to catch up on my DVD's as well as watching AMC and OLTL. I have kept up with just a few of my favorites so far, like Doctor Who, Supernatural, The Mentalist, Big Bang Theory, Two and a Half Men and Psych.  My husband only likes a few shows that we watch live, like The Simpsons, Family Guy, and Mad Men.

I have really enjoyed "The Americans" on FX. Glad it's coming back for a 2nd season! So far it seems like most of my favorite shows will be back next season... I was very happy to hear that Beauty & The Beast was renewed. You can see a good list of which shows have been canceled or renewed. They haven't announced all of them yet. The only ones I'm worried about are Body of Proof, CSI: NY, Nikita, and Go On.

I'm bummed that they canceled Smash, though. I liked that show... but not surprised after they moved it to Saturdays.

We have a fun little TV group on Facebook - hope you can join us!

I really hate zombies, so I hope that craze is over soon. I don't watch Walking Dead or any zombie movies. They are gross and creepy. I did watch the original "Night of the Living Dead", which was very good. But it was in black and white and it was like old school scary, not gross or bloody. Most of the terror was implied.  I don't like modern day zombies with the flesh hanging off, drooling etc.  It seems like every TV shows I watch, practically, has to have their "zombie episode".  Last week it was Doctor Who. They've done it on Being Human, Castle, NCIS and so many others. UGH.

See ya next time!

Suzanne Lanoue
The TV MegaSite, Inc.
http://tvmegasite.net

The TV MegaSite's Blog Post #92

We have all been very busy throughout the summer and the new fall TV season.  I put up new prime time news every day, and the week's schedule every weekend.  We have our daily update and recap writers for the daytime soaps, who have us covered on every single soap now on the air.  We still have the daily transcripts as well and lots of other great things on our site.  You can see what's new.

We have so many wonderful volunteers on our site and they work so hard.  We can always use more help, so please visit our jobs page This is for VOLUNTEERS only. We don't make any money at this. If you have a few hours per week, though, we would be very grateful for your help!

This summer it seemed like there were a lot of great shows to watch on cable – more than usual!  I had to really juggle things with my DVR to make sure I watch them all.  This fall, I've been watching all the new shows, and writing reviews for them.  None of them have really grabbed me this year.  "Vegas" on CBS was a particular disappointment.  I like the new shows "Go On", "Last Resort" and "666 Park Avenue." I'm very glad to see the return of some of my favorite shows like "Once upon a Time," "Castle", "Dexter", "The Mentalist," and many more. .  Even "South Park" has been funny again, although I can't really say the same for "Family Guy". I'm looking forward to this year's American Horror Story: Asylum.

We now have pages on Pinterest and Tumbler, so check them out.  We have a fun little TV group on Facebook, so stop by!  We've been getting a lot of great celebrity interviews, too (more coming this week so check back).

What are your favorite new shows?  Let us know here.

I'll try to figure out some more interesting things to say next time... so tired right now from putting up news and stuff!

The TV MegaSite's Blog Post #91

Happy Spring to everyone!

Our site is doing well. Of course with the economic down-turn, and TV slowly dying, especially soaps, it's not really helping our site and its ad revenue. But fortunately, our site doesn't cost too much to maintain, and it will thrive no matter what because I pay for it out of my own pocket whenever I have to. That's how it started, anyway!

We could really use more volunteers. It's always hard for me to find time to go post for more help, too, since that takes time away from making new content for the site. We always have a lot of great volunteers, though!!  It's a huge site, so we always need more. If you have a few hours of free time every week or so, please email me. Check out our Volunteer Jobs page.

As always, you can check out all our site's new content at our What's New Page. We put new stuff up daily.

This time of year is when the networks (well, the "top" ones like ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX and the CW, not cable) tells us what will be on their fall schedules. They announce which shows are being canceled or not. A lot of them, they tell us about here and there as the year progresses. It's always a painful time in some ways for us viewers!  Especially us TV addicts.

A few years ago I declared that I would only watch one new show per "semester" because I got tired of being so upset when they canceled my favorite shows. This year was tough because I watched more than that. I figured about 8 new shows I watched regularly got canceled and 4 did not.

The ones I'm most disappointed in are "Terra Nova" and "Ringer". I liked "Secret Circle", but they had a pretty good ending and it was not my favorite show. They didn't have as good writing as Vampire Diaries and the show lacked humor. I loved seeing Gale Harold in it, and I hope he gets another good job. I just wish they had ended with Cassie and Adam together. Oh, well.

The guy who created "The Secret Circle" (Or TSC to its fans) is married to actress Eden Riegel, who used to play Bianca on "All My Children" and then Heather on "The Young & The Restless". It's funny because on her Twitter feed she was always bemoaning the fact that her poor husband was always so late at work, and now she is somewhat relieved. But she did take care to thank the fans for their support...

I'm just so thrilled that "Fringe" got another season, even if it is a short one. I was so worried about that one. Now with "House" gone, next year I will only watch 3 FOX shows regularly, "Family Guy", "Bones" and "Fringe". I can't stand most of their comedies, and their animated stuff is mostly not funny any more. Their new show "The Mob Doctor" looks interesting, but I'm not sure it's my type of show. As much as I love Tim Kring and Kiefer Sutherland, "Touch" is too touchy-feely, new-agey for me. Too bad about "Alcatraz" and "The Finder" being canceled because I thought they were both pretty good shows. Ditto for "The Firm" and "Harry's Law" on NBC.

I am very relieved that "CSI: NY" was saved. I stopped watching "CSI: Miami" last year because it just got too right-wing for me. There was just too much police brutality on the part of Horatio Caine and the others. That had been true for years, but the straw that broke the camel's back was when they made some very gratuitous anti-Occupy movement comments in one episode. Too bad because I really loved the cast, and I like all the CSI shows. I think Ted Danson being on the Las Vegas "CSI" has really energized that show. I like the new cast members, too.  They had a really great season-ending episode, too - one of the best this season.

I enjoyed some other season finales, such as "Vampire Diaries" - always a great shocker anyway. Sorry to see Alaric go...I will really miss him. Maybe he will come back some more as a ghost for Jeremy. I guess it was sort of inevitable for Elena to become a vampire, too. Sad that we won't see the actor who plays Klaus any more, and sad that Tyler is dead (even if we will still see the actor who plays him).  I'm glad Elijah and everyone else is still around.  It will sure be interesting next year!!!

I am also sad that "Desperate Housewives" is gone, and "House" soon will be, even though both shows were showing their age.  They were both still better than most of the crap on TV! :)   I only watched the past two years of DH, so I look forward to seeing the others on DVD. I thought Scott Bakula was fantastic as Bree's lawyer. I hope he gets another job soon. He was AMAZING in his cable show "Men of a Certain Age" (a show I'm still very upset that they canceled late in 2011).  Make sure to check that one out on DVD if you never saw it, especially if you are over 40. Truly great show.

I have to admit I would still watch "House" even if Hugh Laurie left, even though he is the most interesting person on there. It had such fun writing and characters.  I hope the guy who ran that show does something else again very soon.  It occurred to me yesterday that House's character was very similar to the character that Robbie Coltrane played in the great British series "Cracker". Both lived life to the extreme and said/did whatever they wanted, their relationships with women were very troubled, and yet they were brilliant detectives who loved to solve puzzles.  To a certain extent, Patrick Jane of "The Mentalist" fits that same mold, albeit in a more light-hearted way. He is way more charming and handsome than the other two.

I was reading on Twitter that Hugh Laurie might do another project with his old buddy Stephen Fry. They starred in the British series "Jeeves and Wooster" together and also both worked on "Blackadder". They are both fabulous actors and comedians, so that will be great.

"Castle" was another great season finale. Yay!  They finally had sex, but more important, they admitted their feelings. It will be interesting to see what happens, especially with death threats hanging over her.

I keep trying to boycott ABC, unsuccessfully :) After they canceled "All My Children" and "One Life to Live" I vowed not to watch any more of their shows, but I still have to watch "General Hospital", "Castle" and "Body of Proof". Last year I also added "Desperate Housewives" and "Once Upon a Time".  I also really enjoyed "Pan Am".  It's tough being a TV addict! I would need to get rid of my TV altogether to really cut back on it, I think.

As I said, I'm really sad that "Ringer" got canceled, but they did cram a LOT of story into one season. I just loved that show. They did such a great job with the characters and with the twists and turns of story. I tuned into it just because of Sarah Michelle Gellar, but the show got better and better and sucked me in big time. I'm just going to pretend that she and her husband, and her sister, worked things out. :)

I did not watch "Revenge" beyond the first episode, but I know it's a really good show. I'll have to catch that one on DVD. I really love the fabulous show "Once Upon a Time". Every single episode was great, and the season finale was super. I can't wait until next year!

"Bones" also had an excellent season finale, so sad but also exciting. They had a short season, it seemed. I wonder if Wendell is working with the bad guy? Seems like he must have a spy at the Jeffersonian. I always love seeing Ryan O'Neal!!!

I was surprised but pleased that "Grimm" survived...I only watch that one a little...I am always behind on it. There are some shows I watch online, and that is one, but I rarely get time to watch online, so....that is the problem. I'm also very behind on watching the UK's "Being Human", "Sherlock", "The Fades", and "True Blood", for the same reasons. I love them all, and also the Syfy "Being Human", which got even better this year.

I'm looking forward to this week's season finales of "The Mentalist" and :Supernatural"!!  They are both great shows that I never miss.  I think it is pretty clear that Jane is making everyone think that he's gone nuts in order to draw out Red John...but who knows, he's always kind of half-nuts anyway, so maybe it's not an act :)  This seems to be the only drama I watch where there is a male and female lead, where they are not doing anything at all romantic between them...or if they are, they are going very very slowly about it.  It's good that they are, of course...but part of me also wants them to hurry up already!! :)

Every season I think "Supernatural" must run out of ideas, but they don't. They somehow manage to keep it fresh. I can't wait to see what happens, every single time.  Like "Vampire Diaries", they are very good at balancing horror, tragedy, and humor. They have fantastic guest stars, too. I don't know why everyone doesn't watch this show. It should be at the top of the ratings because it's not only very well written but has great action and so much fun.

I can't wat for the "NCIS" season finale. I'm sure it will be excellent. It's so funny that this show is so successful now. It's been on for years but only got to the top a few years ago. It only did so because of scheduling. There is nothing opposite this show that would conflict with it. They put lame sitcoms or "Vampire Diaries" or reality shows on, all of which would largely have different types of audiences. It was the only show on the schedule like that. So it suddenly became this huge hit and still is. It's a good show but not really a #1 show, quality-wise, so it's very amusing to me how it became #1. I enjoy it, and it has a great cast, but the stories are so-so.

"Criminal Minds" is another somewhat-mediocre show that has been on a long time, yet it still gets pretty good ratings. The finale this week is two hours and sounds interesting. Someone leaves and someone gets married.

I think "Hot in Cleveland" was on fire this season - they were even better than last season. First season was okay, fun, but not all that funny. This season was hilarious. And so many great guest stars!! I don't know if they had their season finale or not, I can't remember, but it's always a super show. They should make more shows like this. It's the only "sitcom" that is on my "can't miss" list.

I have been enjoying the off-season shows "Mad Men" and "The Killing". I thought this week's episode of "The Killing" was the best one yet.  Those people who stopped watching last season are crazy and don't know what they're missing.  It's just so great- slow but intense. I don't know how they do that. It's like a slow burn, a lit fuse that never completely explodes.  I really don't know, either, how Darren will win...I don't think the voters would ignore the fact that he seems to be always hiding something. That will be interesting to see.

"Mad Men" is always both fun to watch and often hard to endure...it's kind of like literature that way. You know it will have a bad ending and all the people are miserable, but yet, it is just so well done, you have to watch. I live for the fun lines, like the ones Roger always has.  It's another show I started watching because of Joss Whedon :) Pete is played by the actor Vincent Kartheiser, who played Angel's son on "Angel", and he's why I started watching it. I'm so glad I did, since it's such a great show (and great soap opera). "Mad Men" is kind of like House...a soapy drama with a lot of very funny lines.

Speaking of soapy dramas...I'm also very glad that "Smash" was renewed!  It is so fun, like watching a Broadway musical every week. And I do love the other musical show "Glee", but it is more of a farce. "Smash" is somewhat more realistic.

I am always a little behind on watching "Glee" because I record it on my secondary DVR and then have to move it to DVD and watch it later. It's the same with "Law & Order: SVU" and  "Person of Interest", two more good shows that I'm glad will still be around next year. I also watched "Unforgettable" that way this year, and I'm a bit sad that it got canceled. It really got better as it went along.


"Eureka" is another fabulous show I never miss. It's one of my favorites, but I'm so very sad that this is the last season. It is just so much fun scifi, like "Star Trek: The Next Generation", but funnier. I don't know why they are getting rid of it, but it sucks that they are.  It's probably my second- or third-favorite show on right now.

I always love to watch "Fairly Legal", too, but I think it was dumb of them to mess with it...it was better last season, especially with Richard Dean Anderson on a couple of episodes!

I have to say that of the shows that were canceled and are now finished this year, the one that was the most heart-breaking was "Men of a Certain Age". None of the other networks canceled shows I really loved this year. Nothing hurt like the cancellation of recent shows "Medium", "Dollhouse", "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles", "Caprica" or "Stargate: Universe". Nothing like when they canceled "Port Charles" or "Jericho", either. My heart still hurts over those.

I am of course upset about all the soap opera cancellations, but what made those even worse is how the networks, particularly ABC, destroyed the shows first before they canceled them. Canceling them was ALMOST putting them, and us, out of our misery.

They send me DVD's of some upcoming shows to review... the new USA show "Common Law" is kind of interesting, a somewhat-humorous buddy cop show. Kind of like Starsky and Hutch for the 21st century, in a way.  I have been enjoying episodes of "Franklin & Bash" and the new "Dallas", both on TNT. The new "Dallas" is awesome!! I watched all of the old show, and it's just as good as that one, if not better.

There are a lot of great returning summer shows that I can't wait for, like "Warehouse 13", "Burn Notice", "Haven", "Leverage", "Drop Dead Diva", "The Closer", "Damages", "Louie", "Wilfred", "Rizzoli & Isles", "Necessary Roughness", "Royal Pains",  "Suits", "Falling Skies", "White Collar", "Retired at 35" and "Alphas"...yeah, I know, I watch too much...

I can't believe I have to wait until next Fall to see more episodes of "Dexter" and "Doctor Who". It seems like they've both been gone FOREVER! "Dexter" is my favorite show and "Doctor Who" is up there. "Doctor Who" was my favorite until David Tennant and Russell T. Davies left...I still enjoy it, but not as much.

There are some shows I record on DVD and never get around to watching, like "Blue Bloods" and "Hawaii Five-0"....maybe I will one day get around to watching them, who knows?

I'm sure you've noticed I don't watch too many sitcoms, and no reality shows. I don't like reality shows and won't watch them unless they send me a DVD to review. I just don't like most of them, anyway, but also I just have no time. I prefer fiction, so I avoid all non-fiction, even those I'd probably like, like "Dancing with the Stars" and all those singing shows (I'm a singer, too, so I know I would like some of them). It's just easier for time management.

Lately we have been watching the DVD's for HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and really enjoying them. My husband and I watched every episode of "Seinfeld", so naturally...we love this one, too. It can be a little hard to watch, though, because of the awkwardness, but it's always very funny. I don't like most awkward shows, like "The Office", but this one is so funny that it's worth it. Otherwise, the only other non-animated half hour comedies I watch are "The Colbert Report" and "The Daily Show". I think they are the funniest shows on TV right now. I have seen most of the sitcoms and don't care for them...most are just not that funny to me. I sometimes watch "Two and a Half Men". It can be funny, but it's basically the same jokes over and over, and it's not as funny without Charlie Sheen. I think most of the other comedies spend way too much time on character development instead of jokes.

My husband and I always catch "Family Guy" and "South Park", but neither is as funny as it used to be. Last week's "Family Guy" was pretty funny (making fun of the Tea Party), but it's rarely that funny. We stopped watching "American Dad" and couldn't get past one episode of "The Cleveland Show".  I am probably a lot pickier about comedy than drama. I like "30 Rock" and "Big Bang Theory", but not enough to catch them regularly.  I will watch them on DVD sometimes.

Besides those 2 sitcoms and the aforementioned "Revenge", there are many shows that I would like but don't watch, believe it or not. It's just because of time - I can only watch so much. I hope one day to catch them on DVD, along with "Game of Thrones", "Merlin", "Lost Girl", "The Glades", "Teen Wolf", "The Walking Dead", "Pretty Little Liars", "The Lying Game", "Switched at Birth", "Episodes",  "Army Wives", "In Treatment", "Covert Affairs", "Boss", "Breaking Bad", "NCIS: Los Angeles", "Harry's Law", as well as some past shows that I still haven't watched like "The Wire", "Lost" and "Friday Night Lights".

A couple of other new shows this summer look interesting: "Longmire", "The Newsroom", "Perception", and "Anger Management"... we'll see how they go.....There is plenty to watch, that's for sure. It's not like the old days when it was all re-runs in the summer.

There are only so many hours in the day :) I hope your favorite show didn't get canceled.

Stay cool and have a great summer! Far out! LOL!!!

The TV MegaSite's Blog Post #90

Lately I just haven't had much time to post on here... sorry about that! Seems like all my time lately is spent trying to keep our Primetime News Page updated!

We have a lot of great new volunteers writing daily soap opera updates and more. We also have a new Volunteer Manager, Sammie, who is going to help us keep track of everything. Very helpful!  All of our volunteers are great. You can check out all the new stuff put up on our What's New Page.

The other two things keeping me so busy are interviewing TV actors for our Articles Page and reviewing DVD's and new TV shows for our Primetime TV Review Page.  These are also great perks, of course, for me, to talk to actors that I love and get free DVD's!  But it takes up a lot of time. ...the site is so big and there's always too much to do!  We always need more volunteers...

TV has been great this season, at least for primetime. Daytime is suffering badly. It's very sad that the networks don't seem to recognize the value of daytime soaps any more (if they ever did).  They can blame the falling ratings on lots of things, but the plain truth is that, back in the 90's when the ratings started falling, they did nothing to improve the quality of the shows (and in fact, did the opposite). You can't just continue to underestimate your viewers with crappy writing and bad cliches, and hope that things will turn around. For some reason, soap operas keep hiring the same writers that got fired from other shows! What other industry does that? It's ridiculous. If they got fired because the ratings went down on their shows from bad writing, why hire them again?? It makes no sense.  And they are so afraid of taking any chances. They just recycle the same old boring stories over and over again, instead of making fresh new stories that make more sense in today's world. People want good drama that intrigues and surprises them, whether you're talking soap operas, science fiction, cop shows, or anything else. If it's all predictable and boring, of course people will tune out.  The top people at the networks either don't want to bother spending the money to get better writers, or they just think that soap viewers will put up with anything, so they don't need to bother improving the shows.

The laws are the same for TV shows as they are for people - you must progress, or die.  In TV terms, progress means improving by getting better writing and acting (although this does not really hold true for reality shows or other "trash tv").   If you watch most shows from the past, the writing is not only not quite as good as today's shows, but the dramas today are far more complex. Even if you look at a show like Law & Order, the earlier episodes are much simpler than the more recent ones.  People expect more now from TV. The competition is much more fierce.  While it's true the ratings of all TV are falling, not just daytime soaps, and people are finding other things to do that they like better (like the internet or playing video games, or watching DVD's), that means TV has to get even better to compete for our attention and to avoid cancellation.  Unfortunately, cable seems to have the upper hand in quality shows compared to network TV.  It helps that they produce far fewer episodes per year than network TV, I'm sure.

The viewer is the one that wins in all this (at least while TV is still around). We are the ones that get the better shows to watch. This fall season I had a hard time sticking to my "only one new show per season" rule. I'm afraid that "Ringer" was not enough. I have to keep up with "Once Upon a Time", "Secret Circle", "American Horror Story" and "Terra Nova" as well. I have also occasionally been watching "Person of Interest". These are all very good shows.  But, you know, I'm a TV junkie :)  You can read a list of all the shows I watch.  I'm always very sad when they cancel my favorite shows. Right now I am bummed about the end of Men of a Certain Age, Memphis Beat, The Protector, and soon, Eureka. That is the only problem with being a TV fan. Eventually, everything gets canceled (some a lot sooner than you'd want).

It will be interesting to see what the future holds with TV. We already have the technology to stream the net from TV's, and they show many TV shows on the net, so you can watch not only "regular" TV on your TV but net TV as well. We have a lot of TV on demand. The question is where it will go from here. We had all hoped that the company Prospect Park would come through on their promise to move All My Children and One Life to Live to the internet, but they couldn't get the funding. I think they handled it very poorly and were very short-sighted.  One has to wonder why ABC didn't try to do that first, but we all figure they would have messed it up, anyway.  Eventually, network TV is either going to have to find a way to get more internet advertising dollars or go all on-demand, or they will die.

There are lots of reruns on TV right now due to the holiday. For me it's a good thing. Since I'm always behind, it's a good way to catch up! But I do miss my favorite shows, like The Mentalist and Supernatural...

Happy Holidays, everyone!

The TV MegaSite's Blog Post #89

I hope everyone is enjoying the end of spring, the start of summer....

We have all been really busy at The TV MegaSite putting so much news and other stuff up, that I just haven't had any time to blog! Way too much to do and not enough time or volunteers.

We now have recaps of the TV show "Vampire Diaries". Katya is writing them, and she is an excellent writer. She has been starting with the first season so far...we still have writers who are catching up on episodes of "The O.C." and "24".
We can always use more recap writers!!

We are still building the pages for newer shows like The Mentalist, Dexter, Mad Men, and much more. Jacques and I have been working on that whenever we have the time.

Of course we are all deeply shocked and saddened by the cancellation of "All My Children" and "One Life to Live". I have been putting up a list of all of their sponsors and contact information so that you can write to the show and their sponsors to protest. Other fan protest pages and information is found on our AMC Links Page. There are a lot of rumors that General Hospital is next on the chopping block, so make sure to write your letter to the show to tell them not to cancel it!

Of course, as long as there are soaps, we will be keeping up our pages with transcripts, updates, short recaps, and best lines!

Nowadays I tend to post any TV-related stuff that's important to me on our new TV Facebook page, so please check it out!

This time of year is tough because the TV networks announce which of our favorite shows are not returning. Personally, I am still upset that Stargate Universe, Capricorn, Medium, Terriers, and Lights Out are not coming back, but now I also have to add Human Target to the list. I'm not really shocked, but still upset.
I am very relieved, though, that Fringe was not canceled. I hope that CSI: NY, V, and Brothers and Sisters will return...

This week is the series finale of Smallville, and that is very sad for me. Even though the show can sometimes be really stupid, most of the time I love it, and I will really miss it. I love all sorts of Superman shows and movies, and I never missed an episode of this show.

Which of your favorite shows have gone or are staying? Let me know!

The TV MegaSite's Blog Post #88

Happy New Year to all TV fans!

It doesn't really feel like a new year yet, since we have so many reruns!

If you are on Facebook, come by and chat about TV at our Fans of The TV MegaSite Group.

Things have been so hectic! It's always something. We still have tons of stuff going up on our site every single day, thanks to our wonderful volunteers. You can find out what's new on our site every day on our What's New page.

I get so much news now from the TV networks that I don't have time for it at all, but I am doing my best to keep up. I get a lot that has to be edited, and I forward it to Danielle to put up our Primetime Forum. I put a lot of it (smaller versions of it, anyway) on our Primetime News Page. You can see info about all the upcoming TV shows, DVD's and more!

We have add tons of new primetime show pages for current shows like Castle and American Idol! Eric has been building those, and I am helping when I can.

We also have new recaps of episodes of The O.C., Charmed transcripts and more! Lots of interviews with TV stars, too!

If you like daytime TV, we have tons of daily updates (detailed summaries), as well as short recaps, and transcripts-- each update has screencaps as well! Lots of stuff to have fun with, as well, with games, polls, articles, spoilers, news, and more.

I have to apologize because our Days of Our Lives and Y&R transcripts have not been a day ahead lately. Eric in Canada usually does those for us, but his machine died, and he is having a hard time getting everything replaced properly. The technology we use for the transcripts is kind of out of date. It uses a TV tuner that grabs the closed captioning from the TV. Apparently the new tv tuners don't do that (they just let you watch TV on your computer). The old ones, made by ATI, which is now owned by AMD, won't work on newer versions of Windows. What a pain in the you-know-what! So he is working on trying to fix that. We hope it won't be much longer!

A lot of our transcripts have been late, and those have been my fault because I have had a lot of things interfering with them. Sucks when real life gets in the way! First I was sick, and then my own computer with ATI was crashing a lot. I think it's fixed now, though, and I am mostly caught up on the transcripts. Cross your fingers!

We always need more volunteers, so please email me if you have a few hours a week and would like to help out! Thanks!

TV has had lots of reruns on the "major networks" since November. I hope you have managed to catch some good cables shows that were not reruns. I sure enjoyed the holiday episodes of "Warehouse 13" and "Eureka", as well as the return of "Burn Notice" and "Men of a Certain Age" and "Leverage". All great shows. Thank you, cable nets, for realizing that there are TV fans who want to watch good TV fiction 12 months a year!! Of course, there are always the daytime soaps; they almost never take a break, so I guess I should thank the TV networks for that, too.

This next week, most of the shows are returning, so that will be great. Me, I'm still catching up on stuff on my DVR. You should really get a DVR if you don't already have one. You will wonder how you lived without it. Not only is it much easier to record stuff to watch, but it is so great for pausing TV and for rewinding and fast-forwarding live TV. I have two of them, so I always have stuff to watch! Too much, in fact...

I get lots of DVD's sent to me, to review for our site, so I always have lots of DVD's to watch, too. It's an amazing age we live in when TV shows are so abundant and convenient to watch. Stop complaining that you are bored and there is "nothing on", tsk tsk! :) Right now I am watching a great show from 1996, "Dark Skies". I saw it back then, but amazingly, I had forgotten most of it. I remembered that it was Scifi and that I loved it, but nothing else. Getting old...

Have a great time! Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, too, this weekend!!

Suzanne

The TV MegaSite's Blog Post #87

Things have been very hectic lately on our site! We have some new writers and things are going great. Right now, so far, we have all the soaps covered for daily detailed updates (summaries), more or less. Check it out if you are a soap fan. Our DOOL and Y&R updates are a day ahead of the U.S., so you won't find that in very many places. Most sites either have really short or badly-written recaps, or they are not a day ahead.

I guess everyone is getting ready for Christmas right now. I am almost done with my shopping! Got to take advantage of those Thanksgiving sales, especially with the economy the way it is. Anyway, if you haven't done your shopping, you might want to check out our Holiday Guide for TV fans. If you need a DVD, calendar, or TV-related book, etc. you may find what you're looking for. We have all the latest. I put a lot of work into that calendar page!

I am doing so many interviews this week, it's not even funny. Normally I have one or two at most, but I have SIX this week, and I had to turn down two because of conflicts. That has never happened. I'm not complaining, really, because it is certainly awesome getting to talk to TV celebrities. Monday I spoke with Jason Lee, star of "Memphis Beat" on TNT. Most people know him from his movies or his NBC show "My Name Is Earl". He is guest-starring tonight on "Raising Hope" and it is very funny. He was such a nice guy to talk to. Unfortunately it meant I couldn't talk to Lucy Liu, who is starring in the Lifetime movie "Marry Me" Sunday, Dec. 12. I will be reviewing the movie, though, on our site.

Today I got to speak with Alyssa Milano, one of my favorite actresses!! She is so great and what a thoughtful and intelligent person, too. She should have her own talk show. I think all of us on her conference call learned something today. She should be the next Oprah, definitely. She is starring in the Lifetime Movie "Sundays at Tiffany's", which is based on James Patterson's book. What a great story, and a very good movie. "Charmed" fans should definitely watch as it has some fantasy elements. It is a really great romantic movie with some Christmas stuff in it. Stockard Channing, Ivan Sergei, and Eric Winter are all great in it, too. I have to say it is probably Eric Winter's best role to date. That movie airs this coming Monday, Dec. 6 on Lifetime.

I also spoke with Daphne Zuniga today. I haven't written up these last two yet. I recorded them and hope to type them up tomorrow. She was very nice. Her movie is very good, a fun family Christmas movie with some feminist overtones. "On Strike for Christmas" airs Sunday, December 5 at 8:00 pm ET/5:00 pm PT on Lifetime Movie Network. I laughed quite a few times when I watched it, which doesn't happy all that often for a cable Christmas movie.

I can't wait until tomorrow when I speak to Timothy Hutton and Beth Riesgraf of "Leverage" on TNT. That is such a fun show to watch, anyway. I have always loved Timothy Hutton. Funny thing, I had a huge crush on his father, Jim, who played Ellery Queen on TV when I was around 12. I just loved him on that show. Then his son is so cute and wins and Oscar, and what a ton of great movies he has done since. And now he is on this great adventure/comedy show, that is so much fun and has all these geek-related jokes and comments. Kind of like Burn Notice but more fun sometimes. And Riesgraf is so awesome as Parker, too. It will be fun to talk to them.

Then on Thursday I get to speak to country singer Trace Adkins, who is hosting the American Country Awards on FOX, Monday, Dec. 6. I am not a big country music fan, but I like some of his songs and have them on my iTunes. That should be interesting, since he's not your average TV star, and I love singing so I should have some good questions to ask him.

I also get to speak to Eddie McClintock and Saul Rubinek from "Warehouse 13" on Thursday, and that is such an enjoyable show...one of my favorite scifi shows. They are really good actors, too, and that should be a hilarious call. Sometimes the people on the call are more entertaining than the show itself.

It looks like there will be Emily Deschanel on Friday, as well. I guess they are trying to get them all in one last time before the holidays. I had to turn down "Fringe" producers, and Ashley Benson of "Pretty Little Liars", this week, as well. It is horrible not to be able to do ones I want. If only I had a second person to help me out. So far I don't. I will have to look into that, for sure.

I have been enjoying the shows this fall...nice to have a little break, though, to catch up on all my DVD's and my secondary shows. I am SO bummed that they are canceling Medium, although I can kind of understand it because the show is not as good as it was a few years ago. I don't know how anyone can put up with them still questioning Allison after all this time. When her boss or husband question whether her dreams really mean anything or not, she should just say, "Well, they meant something all the other hundreds of times!" LOL!! But she doesn't, so it's stupid. And they shouldn't have let the daughter go off to college...she is so pretty, I'm sure that meant losing male viewers. I really love the actor who plays Joe, so I hope we see him in something else soon!

There have been so many new DVD's coming out, and so many TV shows, and I have been reviewing most of them, so please check out our Reviews Page.
If you're wondering what to watch on TV, check out our Primetime News Page. It has info about every single network, and most cable, shows. Updated daily!

What is your favorite Christmas movie? Leave a comment! Mine is Miracle on 34th Street, although I also love the Grinch and Rudolph, and the musical Scrooge.

The TV MegaSite's Blog Post #86

I hope everyone had a nice Halloween! I can't believe it's already November, even though it's getting cold outside.

The site is doing fine, just like always. We could make more money, and I could get some more volunteers....but otherwise we're doing fine. I have all of our great volunteers to thank!

It is taking me a long time to put the site's new design on all the pages, and I apologize for that. There are just so many things to do and not enough time to do them all! I try to concentrate more on content than design.

In the new design, which is the one you see on our main page (aqua, yellow and orange), I use these buttons instead of the drop down menu. I was trying to make our pages faster to load and easier to use. I'm not sure if I accomplished that or not. I don't mean to make excuses, but I am not a professional web designer in any way that matters, and I have to get by on my very limited skills.

We have lots of ads, and I hate to have them, but they pay for the site's basic costs, so they are necessary. They pay less and less, unfortunately...we are all hoping that the economy gets better, aren't we!

One of the best advertising networks I use is Kontera. They have text-linked ads, so they are not intrusive and slow-to-load like so many others. They don't even take up any extra room on my page. The technology on my end is so simple. I just have to put in a little coding in the pages, and that's it. I wish they paid me more, but they don't pay too badly compared to the others. I am glad I signed up with them. If you have a good website, you should sign up with them, too. Visit their website. If you are on our site, please make sure you click on all of the ads because they make money for our site! The more money we have, the more I can pay the bills and keep bringing you great TV stuff.

I was thinking the other day about "success". Many people measure success by money, and that's a fair thing to do. Right now I have other types of success on my site, even though money is not something I am successful with, in most ways. For instance, the TV networks and companies send me tons of free stuff, especially DVD's. They do this so I can review them on our site and give them away in our monthly contest. I get a big kick out of this. Heck, who doesn't like getting free stuff? And I am a big DVD collector, big TV and movie watcher, so it is great getting DVD's I would have paid for anyway.

I was very happy this past month to get free copies of the entire Monk set and the entire Nip/Tuck series, among many others. FX and Lifetime have been sending me a lot of DVD's of their upcoming shows and movies to watch. I got hooked on Terriers on FX because of this, in fact! Great show! FOX and USA let me watch shows in advance right on their websites. It's so cool. As a TV geek, it really thrills me.

Another big perk to my site is that I get lots of interviews with TV celebrities. I was so thrilled last week to get to talk to the stars of "Men of a Certain Age", especially Scott Bakula. I have been a big fan of his for many years and watched all of Quantum Leap when it aired, as well as his other shows. I even have some of his singing on my iTunes. This month I also get to talk to Patty Duke, and the stars of "Psych", and Sean Bean, to name just a few! It's just awesome to get to talk to TV celebrities, as well as use their interviews for my site. New content is always awesome to have!

Also, the networks send me tons of emails with information for their shows, so we put it up on our primetime forum and our news page every single day. I get more and more all the time, plus I do go to thefutoncritic.com and also to the networks' press release pages, and our volunteer Danielle scours the web for still more news.

Then again, there is a drawback to all these things because it means I have to spend time watching tons of DVD's, doing interviews, and putting up news. And being a night person, it is not always easy to set my alarm and get up early to have a phone call, even if it is to a famous person! And this means I have less time to spend on writing other things for my site (or putting the new design on the pages).

So it's funny because in some ways it means the site is very successful, but then again I'm getting less money as I used to, since the site relies on ads. And as fewer and fewer people watch TV, that means fewer visitors to my site, too. So you be the judge, am I successful or not? LOL!!!

I have been really trying to prioritize lately and write the daily soap updates as we need them. It just takes so much work, energy, and time to do these. Of course we also have shorter recaps that our volunteers write, and some of them also write the updates, not just me.

Sometimes we are more successful (there's that word again) than others. I will keep trying! I know people love to read our detailed soap updates.

I am still enjoying Outlaw on the weekends...such a shame that NBC canceled it. My favorite show is still "Dexter", loving it!! That one, and Men of a Certain Age, and Smallville....all my favorites. I don't really know how I will live next year without Smallville and Supernatural. Both shows have just been on fire this year.

I haven't had a lot of time to watch the other shows, but I try to keep up...Brothers and Sisters is always good. Not sure if they have jumped the shark yet or not. I don't like all the changes.

South Park has long ago jumped the shark. What were they thinking with this new three part episode with Coon & Friends? It is so bad, not funny at all. I love the Kenny aspect but...it's a comedy, guys, it needs to be funny!

Check out my weekly Daytime Articles about why the soaps need better writing...

Please click "like" on Facebook, on my comment and link on this page and I might win $100! http://tinyurl.com/36jrdju The money goes to the site, not me....thanks!

Later!

The TV MegaSite's Blog Post #85

Things have going about the same with our site...we have a couple of new volunteers that will hopefully help us improve some of our sections. It's so hard to find enough people to help. I have been trying to write some of the daily soap updates, but it's been hard. The Fall allergies have been killing me, making me just want to sleep all the time. Ugh!

As most of you know, I watch a lot of TV. I love TV. I like characters, and good writing, and drama, and laughing, and good acting, and action. With a movie, it is over in two hours, and I don't know if I will love it or hate it. If I love it, it's over, and that's disappointing. With a good TV show, I know it may come back next week. Having a show week after week also means there is a lot of time for them to work on character development and have long stories that are complex.

There is so much good TV out there now, and so many channels, that it's impossible for me to keep up with them all (that's sad). Some shows I know I would probably love if I watched them, like Desperate Housewives. I hope to one day catch up with them on DVD, but the likelihood of doing that is not very good. I already have tons of DVD's that I don't have time to watch!

Every year, they come out with more shows I like. Some I like more than others, of course, so I try to only pick one or two of the best ones. I am a sucker for anything having to do with superheroes or science fiction, especially.

This summer I watched a lot of great shows on cable. There are still some great ones out there, like Terriers on FX. This one I have to watch online because DISH Network no longer shows FX (bummer). It is really good, though, so I will go out of my way to watch it.

I really love this year's Outlaw, but unfortunately, it looks like they are canceling it. This does not make me want to watch more NBC shows, even though I do like Law & Order: LA and The Event. I am still upset about last year's shows that got canceled, like Dollhouse and Heroes and the original Law & Order. I try not to hold a grudge, but it's hard. Blue Bloods on CBS is also good, as is Detroit 1-8-7 on ABC. I also like Nikita and $#*! My Dad Says, among others. I still have my old faves like Medium, Bones, Fringe, Glee, Supernatural, Brothers and Siseters, et al.

I tend to watch shows with actors I like, even though sometimes the shows are not so good. I really like that actor who stars in Hawaii 5-0, but his show didn't wow me. It is a good solid drama, but I watch a lot of those already. Same with Rob Morrow, whom I love-- not loving his new show "Whole Truth". But please judge it on your own. I only saw the first episodes of these shows.

I don't know why I still watch Criminal Minds. I started watching it for Shemar Moore, so I guess that's why I still watch it. I really miss Mandy Patinkin, though. The show really hasn't been as good since he left (well, in truth, it started sucking before that). I don't know, it just seems to revel in the violence and grossness, and it makes me feel like taking a shower sometimes. I think people watch it for voyeurism reasons (same with SVU). I did laugh out loud at the episode a few weeks ago when they had the serial killer whose son took over his murdering to jog his memory since he had Alzheimer's. I think it was supposed to be sad, not funny, but it was hilarious to me, especially when he peed his pants. Some things are so bad they're funny.

Same with NCIS--it is really mediocre. Sometimes it makes me laugh. I like the characters, and the actors. I am a big fan of hunky actors Mark Harmon, Michael Weatherly, and David McCallum. That's why I don't watch the other NCIS. It is ok, but the people on there just don't grab me the same way. I do like all of the CSI shows, and the writing on them is solid. Even though, the original CSI is not the same without Grissom.

I wonder how many of these shows I would still watch if I didn't have a DVR? I remember the old days when I had to actually choose each hour which show to watch or tape. Or even before I could tape. If you went out, you missed your show. Yikes! I'm sure the networks would like to go back to those days because they don't want you to record their shows. They want you to watch them live. I wonder if they don't realize that even before that, we used to go to the bathroom during commercials, or get a snack, or talk, or just plain tuned them out? I know that I sure couldn't sit still during a TV show nowadays and watch the commercials. For the most part, I can't even just sit and watch a TV show, I have to be doing something else, like surfing the web or looking through a catalog, or playing with the dog-- something! Most of them are not so good that they hold me rapt with attention.

Family Guy, American Dad, South Park, The Simpsons - none of these shows are as funny as they used to be. The Simpsons and Family Guy have their moments. House is not as good, either, but still worth watching. I will watch as long as he is still funny. I do think that there some good comedies, like Two and a Half Men and 30 Rock. Humor is something that you can't really define and it's hard to imagine why some people think something is funny and someone else doesn't. I didn't laugh at Community or How I Met Your Mother or The Office or Modern Family, but they all have lots of fans. I guess I am somewhat pickier when it comes to comedies because I wouldn't sit through one that was as mediocre as some of the dramas I watch. I have to laugh, or what's the point?

My favorite show is still Dexter. I am loving that, as always. I wonder why all TV shows can't be as well-written as that one? Smallville is another one of my favorites. I can't help that - anything to do with Superman is my favorite. It's been really great this season. I am thrilled every time I see him fly (or attempt to fly) or bring out the costume, or anything like that. Last week's episode was great, especially at the end when he and Lois were dancing and he flew a little. I have to admit I am not the biggest fan of this Lois, but I am resigned to her now. I tried watching Ordinary Heroes but it does not really grab me. I do really love The Mentalist...that one is great!!

The TV MegaSite's Blog Post #84

In case you're wondering, here is mostly what I do on my site (in my job).

The networks TV send me tons of stuff. They send me news and info every day, and some I get on other websites. I forward a lot of it to my volunteer Danielle, who posts it on our Primetime Forum.

I condense it a little and put it on our Primetime News Page. You'd be surprised how much time this all takes.

We have lots of soap opera daily summaries, and we never have enough people to write them, so if I have time, I write them myself.

We have daily transcripts for all the soaps, so I run a lot of those on my computer (it grabs the closed-captioning from the shows):

I also do emails and stuff dealing with volunteers and other things.

Warner Brothers, Universal, and various networks send me tons of DVD's to review, so when I have time (Ha!) I watch those and write reviews.
I also try to watch all the new shows at least once (not reality shows for the most part) and post the reviews there, too.

On Sunday nights, I usually collect news and spoilers for the soaps and post it in various newsletters on Yahoo groups (that people have signed up for) and on our forums.

Also on the weekend, I go to a page that lists all the talk show appearances for the week and look for actors I recognize so I can post that info on our site. Like for instance if William Shatner were appearing on Jay Leno, I'd post that on our Star Trek Appearances Page. I also look for appearances in other places like press releases, magazines, and Twitter.

Once a month, I choose winners for our DVD giveaway and also add any new DVD's they send me when I have extras.

Sometimes the networks offer me interviews with the actors or producers, and so I have to come up with questions, and write it up. I put those up on our Primetime Articles Page.

I have other stuff I do, too, whenever I can fit it in, but that is the most of it.

Oh, and every time I work on our site, I post it on the What's New Page so people can see what the latest stuff is:

This is why I'm always way too busy :)

Of course, the site has other volunteers who run transcripts, write updates or articles, or write interviews or reviews, too. Most of them do not do it full time like I do, though. Only Gisele, who helps me run the site. She works on all the daytime stuff. I don't know what I'd do without her!

The TV MegaSite's Blog Post #83

I hope you have enjoyed your summer! I can't believe the new fall TV season is already here.

We have all still been working on our site and trying to make it good. Even with a good economy, it's tough to find people willing to donate much time to the site! And we get less and less ad revenue - but I guess that's just the Web in general right now. Well, don't worry because either way, we will continue to work on the site. It started out as a hobby, so even if I never make any money on it again, I will still keep going on it. You have my word on that! Unless I get bored, but I doubt that will happen, ha ha!! The site has been around, in some form or another, since 1996, so if I haven't lost interest by now...

We have some new volunteers writing our episode guides for The OC and some other shows (some new ones to come).

Even though As The World Turns is almost over, we still have volunteers working on that section of our site. I know a lot of people are very sad that it's ending.

Soaps are dying, and it's due in part to the bad writing. The people in charge (or The Idiots in Charge, TIIC for short, as some fans call them) have not done a thing to improve the writing. I guess they think soap fans are stupid and will watch whatever crap they throw up there. It's very sad that an entire genre has to die because of their short-sightedness. They may claim that it's because of low budgets, or housewives working, or whatever their latest excuse is, but the proof that they are wrong is cable TV. People tune in to watch shows like "Mad Men", even though they never watched that network before. People watch that and other shows on iTunes. That's because they are GOOD SHOWS! They have great writing and acting. If soaps were that good, people would go out of their way to watch, too.

Even the worst primetime or cable drama is better than ANY daytime soap right now. It's very sad. Everything on soaps is completely predictable, boring, or stupid. You can't have constant violence, or people acting dumb, or doing things that no normal adult would do, and use the same tried plot devices over and over for 20 years, and expect people to keep tuning in! It's a crime that the people in charge of daytime or these shows even still have jobs. So don't believe what you read - the people killing the soaps are the executives in charge of daytime, and the executive producers of each show, and their writers - not the viewers.

One reason that people like soap operas, besides the romance or whatever, is that they are CONTINUING dramas. Even now, they rarely get canceled. That is why we keep watching, even when the shows get very bad. We are hooked on them. So imagine how horrific it is to watch them slowly wither and die.

On to a lighter note...summer TV is fantastic this year. You know, it used to be, back in the "olden days" (20 years ago and more) that in the summer they would have mostly reruns, and maybe the occasional variety show. I guess they thought people were out doing stuff instead of watching TV. That hasn't been the case for a while, and now the summer brings TONS of new programming, on both regular and cable TV. There is so much of it that it's hard to keep track! They don't have a nice neat "summer season" with a schedule like they do for the fall.

In fact, I tried to find out about the various shows at the start of the summer, and it took a good deal of research! I hope they fix that in the coming years. I know people like to complain that there isn't anything to watch in the summer, but that just isn't true.

This summer I watched Burn Notice, Royal Pains, Memphis Beat, Rizzoli and Isles, Dark Blue, Eureka, Haven, True Blood, Mad Men, Covert Affairs, The Gates, Being Human and White Collar...and there were certainly many other fiction shows you could watch, not to mention non-fiction! And not to mention daytime TV, if you are a fan.

I have to admit that I have also been catching up on some of the shows from the Spring...I tend to fall behind. Right now, as I type this, I'm watching episodes of "Happy Town". I enjoy this show, but I have a feeling that it won't be back (I have the same feeling about "The Gates", but I hope I'm wrong on both counts!).

Nowadays it doesn't pay to get too attached to shows because they don't seem to last long. Even the soaps!

What show's return are you looking forward to this season?

The TV MegaSite's Blog Post #82

Yikes, I can't believe it has been almost 4 months since I posted! So sorry.

In my defense, we are moving soon, so I've had a lot to do!

I have been putting the new design up on our pages. It is tedious work but has to be done. I am starting with current shows. I just finished Bold & Beautiful and have started on Days of Our Lives. Then later I will come back and finish the shows that are no longer on the air, and all the sub-pages.

There is always too much to do! We have about 50 volunteers on our site, so they work hard every day.

Recently I added a lot of pages for current primetime TV shows. So far most of them just have one single page, but I am gradually adding more. I hope you enjoy them!

Lately I have been watching the soaps a little more. I had to take a break from them for a while. I just had too much primetime to watch and not enough time for everything. I'm sure every TV fan feels the same way.

I have seen a few episodes of All My Children, One Life to Live, Bold & Beautiful, and Young & The Restless. They are ok. My favorite is still General Hospital. God knows why! :) I do love Dante, though. Most of them I have watched so I can write updates for our site, General Hospital I have just been watching for fun.

It's sad that the daytime soaps are dying. I mean, all of TV is not doing so well, except maybe cable. If only they would get better and more creative writers, I think they could really save the soaps, or at least some of them. In fact, if one of the networks were smart, they would wait until almost all of the soaps were dead and then come out with a brand new one that totally breaks the mold and is innovative, fun, and great, yet still has the things we like about soaps. All of the soap fans longing for their old soaps would probably love it.

We really need more updates writers for the shows...I have been lazy about posting for more help, too. I need to get on that! I sure can't write them all myself.

Some of my favorite shows had their characters all break up at the end of the season. They are similar shows: Bones, Castle and The Mentalist. Too sad!

I really didn't like the CSI season finale. I hope that Ray survives. It was a very good episode, though. I just don't think he would have turned his back on the guy, that close to the bars...he's not stupid!

CSI Miami has been great this season. I wasn't really surprised, though, that the Stetler guy was the thief (was ANYONE surprised by that??). The most shocking ending, though, came from CSI: NY. I sure hope they don't kill off either Danny or Lindsay.

Criminal Minds also had a shocker of an ending. They created some great characters, which seemed like a good episode for a spin-off, then they killed one of them off! Eric Close is great, so I hated to see that. If they make him survive somehow, it will be kind of unbelievable since he was shot point blank. Tim Curry was awesome as always. I hope Eric Close gets a new show to star in. I miss him!

I am very bummed that they canceled some of my favorite shows, especially Heroes and FlashForward. Heroes was flawed, but I still always enjoyed it. The CW should buy it and pair it with Smallville. That would be awesome. I wish they hadn't canceled Trauma, Cold Case, Numb3rs, and the forgotten, either. Dollhouse they canceled a ways back, but that one was most heart-breaking for me. Great show. Too good for TV, I guess. They should have put it on FX instead of FOX. They could have been a lot more daring on there with it.

I was really shocked that they canceled Ghost Whisperer but kept Medium. Grateful, though. I think some of these cancellations have to do with big salaries, but who knows.

Now they have a Summer TV season, which is great for us TV addicts. USA is showing Burn Notice and Royal Pains again, and they have a bunch of other new shows coming up as well. Drop Dead Diva returned tonight on Lifetime. I didn't use to watch that, but I have been catching up with it online. It's a great show, especially for women. Fun legal comedy/fantasy, a little like Ally McBeal.

Doctor Who is back, with a new doctor. I still watch and enjoy the show, but the writing is not as good as it was, and I don't like the new doctor nearly as much as David Tennant. He was awesomely good.

I can't wait for the return of True Blood and Mad Men!

I am still catching up on many primetime shows from this spring, including Glee, Flashforward, V, Vampire Diaries and much more.

Stargate Universe has been great! A much better show than it started out to be.

Enjoy your summer, but don't forget to check out all the great new shows!