Great Lost Article

I found a great Lost article on Time Magazine's website. Read it here. I can't wait for season three to begin. Lost is great fun. I am rewatching season 1 and 2 on DVD just to prepare myself for next Wednsday's season premiere.

Florida vs. Tennessee

It has been suggested by a somewhat biased accountant partner of my father that Florida at Tennessee has been the best college football game of the year. I'm going to have to agree with him on that one. It had all the drama and suspense that a classic college football game should have along with all the hatred that goes along with a big rivalry. My personal favorite parts of that game were when Urban Meyer would replace Chris Leak with Tim Tebow to run the option or a qb sneak for the first down. Everyone in the whole freakin' stadium knew that the kid wasn't going to throw but they still couldn't stop him from picking up first downs on the run. Of course, my friend thinks that Urban Meyer is just bluffing the whole college football world before he has Tebow throw a 60-yard touchdown pass against LSU or Auburn. Now that could definitely work and it will probably have to because Florida's upcoming two week stretch against LSU and Auburn will be what defines their season. Win both of those games and they will probably be in the National Championship game. So Mr. Tschopp, start praying that the ball bounces UF's way during those two weeks and you could be celebrating come January. And let's hope that happens because watching Florida dominate Ohio State or USC would be so gratifying for every football fan in the south. Down with the Pac-10 and Big 10!

Lost Season 2 DVD

I bought the Lost season 2 dvd the other day from Costco which has amazing prices on their TV seasons. It was about $37 for the season. That is basically unbeatable. The extras on the discs are pretty good for the most part. I recommend taking a look at the Approaching Lost site to get good insight into which features to spend your time with before taking a look. Going back and watching season 2 is making me anxious for season 3 to begin in October. I can't wait. I need my fill of character-based tv to balance the action and mystery. Of course, Lost contains both action and mystery, but it is so character oriented that it is like a completely different type of show for the regular serial tv show.

Prison Break S2E4

Another good episode of Prison Break. This one moved so fast I thought I was watching an episode of 24, then because it was sort of a bridge episode I thought I was watching Lost. Unfortunately it wasn't a classic Prison Break episode but it achieved its purpose. It was good to see the brothers reunited with T-Bag and it was good to see that they will soon be reunited with Sucre. The hunt for the money should be interesting. I wish I could watch the episodes faster than 1 every week. I do hope we get back to the Scoffield plotting that made the first season so great. More plotting would definitely do this season some good. According to some of the spoilers on www.prisonbreakbuff.com the season will be getting more convoluted as the episodes continue.

Improvements

I have recently made some improvements to the site. Some of my favorite links are now posted on the sidebar and more will be coming soon. I am also now registered with Technorati and would love for anyone to link their site to mine. I will return the favor.

House S2E02

I like House, but I have to ask the question, has there ever been a tv show so reliant on one actor and his or her performance? I haven't seen any in recent years. Granted my knowledge base of classic tv shows is rather small, however, nothing dependent on one performance comes to mind. Some people would argue that 24 is that way, that no Jack Bauer = no 24. Others (including Kiefer Sutherland himself) believe that the real time format is the true star. 24 would change significantly without Kiefer, but it would still function as a cool tv show (that's not to say I think it would be near as good as it is now, because it wouldn't, his mannerisms, sayings, and facial expressions add so much to the show that it would be impossible to replace him...just as it is impossible to replace David Palmer, now can someone give me a good reason for killing Palmer off? Didn't think so.). Without Hugh Laurie, House would fall flat on its face. Does anyone really care about House's medical team or his boss? Robert Sean Leonard is great as Wilson but would the show lose anything significant if he or anyone else left? No. You tune in each week to see House berating his patients, uttering insanely untactful analyses, and making fun of just about every other character. Without the main character, the show would fail. I guess that's why they named it House M.D. If you take the principal antagonist out of the picture you have to change the title. And then it really would be a different tv show.

What to fix about DVRs

On Monday, the first fifteen minutes of Prison Break was preempted by President Bush's speech about 9/11. Not that I mind the President had to give a speech and Fox had to cover it (ok maybe a little). I was ticked that my DVR on my Dish Network receiver couldn't figure out that Prison Break started 15 minutes late and change its schedule accordingly. I had to go download the episode off the web just to see the final 15 minutes, which coincidentally, were the best 15 minutes of the episode. Someone needs to come up with a way to make DVRs smarter and realize that what they are taping started late or in the case of sports, is finishing late. I know that DVRs have extended stop times for sporting events but if you aren't careful, the extended stop time won't even catch the end of a really long overtime game. The first company that figures out how to create a smart DVR will quickly become the industry leader. It is just a simple matter of delivering what the customers need and then reaping the benefits. Hopefully someone from TiVo will read this. You have my permission to use this idea and not even give me credit for it. A free DVR would be nice though.

Prison Break S2E04

Wow! They killed off Abruzzi. I can see why they did it, 8-10 different storylines is just too many to track through the rest of the season, but, I thought we'd get an Abruzzi vs. T-Bag final battle. Well, it was well thought out...the FBI agent uses Scofield's scheme to flush Abruzzi out of hiding and trap him. It made sense but it was definitely unexpected for one of the cons to get caught/killed so early in the second season storyline. Now we're down to the seven escapees. I tell you what, it can never be said that nothing is happening in the Prison Break storyline (like was often said of Lost during season 2). In the first four episodes of season 2, two main characters have already bit the dust. Apparently, Prison Break's writers took notes while watching 24. And that is definitely a good thing.

Fantasy Sports

I think I can live without Fantasy sports. It takes quite a bit of time to manage your team and even then it involves a lot of luck. This is my first week ever of Fantasy Football and I have three guys on the bench that did amazing. I could easily win the week if they had been in my lineup, of course, no one would have expected such a great output from these three guys. Oh the other hand, maybe I'm just upset because the guys I counted on fell flat on their faces. Fantasy sports are a good way to build office moral and comraderie. Employers probably think they're murder on productive time...and they're probably right, but, anything that makes life at the office more fun should probably be continued even if it does involve luck. Maybe if my players show up for their games next week I will be singin' a different tune.

Texas vs. Ohio State

That games was a let down. I was bored before the 1st quarter was over. Oh well, all the big ones can't live up to their billing. I suppose we will still get some that live up their billing this year. Maybe next weekend with Florida vs. Tennessee and Auburn vs. LSU. True, they will be defensive battles, but even those can live up to the hype.

Bears

Why does this bear have six feet?

Do HBO shows count?

Should HBO shows count as regular tv shows? I am reading reviews of "The Wire" that gush about how amazing it is. I have heard equally good things about "Deadwood" and "Rome." But HBO has a lot more leeway in the kind of gritty show it can produce. TV shows on networks deal with some constraints that just do not allow you to show the true real world scenarios. HBO can use swearing and sex as much as they want and therefore end up with realistic shows. I guess you have to ask yourself whether you really desire to use an hour in front of the tv to watch real life or to watch a surreal fantasy world where cool things are happening every moment. I know which one I would pick.

Post #1

The Drew Whitcomb blog is officially up and running.