The Braverman's and Some Special FX 1. Parenthood (NBC 10/9c) - Season Finale
The fourth season of Parenthood hit a high note with Kristina's story line, bringing in a second Friday Night Lights Alum to play a Iraq war veteran with PTSD and the whole adoption angle. Although the best moments were really great the low moments were extremely dull and sometimes just annoying. Sarah having another season long struggle to choose between two men seems like we aren't going anywhere with her and the half episode abortion that came and went was poorly done and probably could have been done better.
With this season coming to an end hopefully we get a nice little bow on the Ray Romano versus Jason Ritter story line. I have no idea if that will happen, what I do know will happen is that the Braverman's will make you cry. And I don't just mean like tear up but if you actually sit down and watch the whole episode you will be blubbering at one point or another I can guarantee that. 2. The Ultimate Fighter (FX 8/7c) - 2-Hour Season Premiere
This season on TUF features middleweights and the coaches are Light Heavy weight champion Jon Jones and Chael Sonnen. Each man will choose seven contestants for their teams and at the end of the season the best middleweight will receive a six figure contract in the UFC. Also both the winning coach and contestant will receive their very own custom Harley Davidson motorcycle.
If you enjoy the UFC and MMA in general then the two best episodes of The Ultimate Fighter are the premiere and the finale. The finale is self explanatory, but the reason why the premiere is so good is because their are 14 fights that they go through in two hours. (On some of the better season you can see four or five insane knockouts.) They also choose teams on the first episode. That's always fun because you get to see some of the personality of the coaches and with Sonnen and Jones as the coaches there will be a lot of personality on display.
3. Justified (FX 10/9c)
Every season of Justified has been exciting in its own ways. The first had the introduction of Raylan Givens and his dealings with the Crowder family. Season two, the best one yet, had Walter Goggins give one of the best acting jobs I have ever seen on TV and they brought in the whole Bennet clan led by another great actor Margo Martindale as Mags. The third season didn't skimp on the baddies adding Neal McDonough as Quarles and Mykelti Williamson as Limehouse. If you've noticed something that the people who run Justified do great is that they bring in great actors to play great villains So far this season we haven't heard much from a main antagonist. What they have given us is some sort of mystery that in the end will likely end up leading Raylan to the memorable villain that we all hope will show up.
Honorable Mention
Face-Off (Syfy (9/8c)
Face-Off is a reality competition show that pits movie make up artists against each other with the winner winning $100,000.
White Collar (USA Network 10/9c)
After a little break Neil and the crew are back.
New Girl (Fox 9/8c)
Schmidt and Nick are my favorite. Although this show wouldn't be the same without the whole cast, so I love them all.
The series premiere of this Kevin Bacon procedural gets a lucky break by having it's premiere on a day where there is nothing else really on. (Unless you watch Catfish or Bunheads then you'll have a good night.)
The premise is simple, a renown serial killer who uses Edgar Allen Poe as inspiration for his murders escapes from prison and only Kevin Bacon can catch him because he's an expert. Kevin Bacon finds and arrests the main baddie just to find out that he has a bunch of copy cats and disciples that he has been training. That's where Kevin comes in (again?) and I have to assume he will have to track all the trainee murderers.
2. How I Met Your Mother
Robin and Barney are engaged, Marshall and Lily are parents and Ted is dating another woman that might, but is probably not the mother of his children. The people in charge of this show have strung us a long for eight seasons and with this being (possibly) the last one anything could happen. I predict that they will get at least one more season and decide to again not tell us who the mother is until the end of that season. Those poor kids are never going to find out how Bob Sagat's voice met their mother.
3. Hawaii Five-0
The Five-0 team has to investigate the murder of a prostitute who is found in the house of a missing congressman. Dan-O also has to deal with the custody hearing regarding his daughter Grace.
Is this what this has come to already? Hawaii Five-0 has made the Top Three because this is a really slow TV night.
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@AJ_Trevor
Season 2 started off delightfully with Hannah and her new roommate throwing a party and inviting all their friends. Except Jessa, who only showed up briefly with her one-minute-husband getting back from their honeymoon. I need some more Jessa. But the highlight, for me, in this first episode back was Adam Driver's character and how he has done a complete personality 180 since being smashed by a car last season. He is not only throwing himself at Hannah but he is also completely self pitying and pathetic. It shows how good of an actor Adam Driver is but how well his character is written by Lena Dunham. Lastly, Donald Glover is guest starring! What can be better then having Childish Gambino on one of the better shows on TV. (Sorry Community.)
2. House of Lies (Showtime 10/9c)
If you read my Year in Review: TV blog post than you would know how I felt about the sex and depravity on this show. Which is to say, I love it. Don Cheadle brings his movie acting chops to the TV and is killing it. After seeing a couple of film actors try TV and fail (Laurence Fishburne, Forest Whitaker) it's nice to see one doing so well. And he hasn't stop being in movies either.
This season the "firm" (I really don't know what, what they do is called) gets a new boss and right off the bat they are off to their old games of lying, cheating and lying. Cheadle and Kristen Bell do a great job working off each other and if the first episode is any indication they will have a lot more time to do that. 3. Sugar Dome (Food Network 8/7c)
If you stick with me through these daily Tonight's Top Three on TV posts then you'll start to realize how much I enjoy watching the food network and different cooking shows. Mostly I enjoy the Cooking Reality TV shows like Hell's Kitchen, MasterChef and Top Chef but this show is really quite exciting. The concept is that there are three teams where a sugar artist, a cake designer are teamed an animatronics specialist or a fruit carver or a graffiti artist to create amazing sugar creations. Each week different teams are given a theme (eg. Dragons, Daredevil Stunts, Alien Invasion) and throughout the competition are given specifique tasks and or objects to incorporate into their designs. The winning team gets $15,000.
Tonight's episode is called When Toy Stories Come to Life at Night and the sugar and cake artists will be joined by a toy designer. Sounds great!
Here is a list of the TV shows I am most excited about in 2013.
1. Breaking Bad (Summer)
The final eight episodes will be airing in the summer and all the fans know is that at some point Walter White will have a beard and a big f'n gun. What he does with it is still up in the air but I am super excited to find out.
2. Game of Thrones (Mar. 31)
Ever since I heard this series came from a book I've done everything in my power to not read the books and have enjoyed the TV show every bit for it. The new characters look interesting. We finally get to see the leader of the raiders and Arya is all growned up.
3. Community (Feb. 7)
This season might be the last one for community and all I have to say about that is, Troy and Abed should get a spin-off.
4. Justified (Jan. 8)
Raylan Givens is back and ready to kick the crap out of crime. Last season their seemed to be a lack of shooting people for no reason except he said he would so I wonder whether they stick to that rode or go back to the cop that shoots first, second and third and then asks questions.
5. The Following (Jan. 21)
Kevin Bacon is a ex-FBI agent brought back in to track down a mad man who has assembled a group of serial killers. James Purefoy plays the killer and it seems like that he was made for the role.
6. Archer (Jan. 17)
The worlds greatest spy is back to get drunk, sleep with random women and demean his butler.
7. Spartacus: War of The Damned (Jan. 25)
If you have followed the three other seasons then you probably know exactly what to expect from the finale season of the series. If you haven't then let me fill you in, there is sex, nudity, blood, fighting, gladiators and much more. Well, actually that's pretty much it but I can't wait to see how they cap the series.
8. Eastbound and Down (Date TBD)
In my TV Review post I mentioned that the last season of Eastbound and Down was the last season. Only to realize that it was in fact picked up for a fourth season and I can't be any happier that I was wrong. Are Kenny and April be together and raise their kid? Probably not but what else do you expect from the baddest bad ass of the all.
9. Defiance (April)
SyFy istrying really hard to go back to the science fiction genre with this show and it looks like they might have succeeded. The show is about a bunch of alien races trying to move to our planet when thier sun exploded. Will we be as hostile as the Americans are to the Mexicans when they try to come in to their country? Probably.
10. The Family Tools (May 1)
I couldn't find a new comedy I was excited about, and then their was this. I am still not to excited to see it but just for the sole purpose of employing Leah Remini they get the 10th spot.
Here are 10 of the movies I am most excited for in 2013.
1. Pacific Rim
When the world is attacked by giant alien creatures from another dimension the only way to survive is to create giant alien fighting robots driven by Charlie Hunnam. From what I can tell in this trailer, the battles between giant robots and dimension travelling aliens are very well done and clear. The robots look way better then the one from Transformers.
2. Star Trek: Into Darkness
All the actors from the first movie in this new rebooted series are back and on top of that they added Benedict Cumberpatch as the main villain I was never really a Star Trek fan until J.J Abrams put out the spectacular Star Trek movie in 2009 and now I am on board. I can't wait to see who Sherlock(Benedict Cumberpatch plays Sherlock Holmes on the BBC show Sherlock) plays in this film.
3. Now You See Me
A group of magicians rob banks during their shows and then give the money to the audience? That sounds like a terrible idea for a movie, no? Actually, if the trailer is any indication, this movie looks really good. The cast of Morgan Freeman, Jesse Eisenberg, Isla Fisher, Woody Harrelson and Mark Ruffalo only take what seems like a ridiculous idea and make it much more plausible.
4. Man of Steel
The Dark Knight of the Superman universe. From the trailer you can tell that they tried to go really dark when making this movie. I don't know how I feel about that but the fact that Russell Crowe and Kevin Costner play the two fathers of Clark Kent/Kal-El makes me ok with everything else that will happen in this movie. Plus, Michael Shannon playing Zod is amazing.
5. 21 and Over
This looks like a college version of hangover and I am not against it. Skylar Astin is a surprise as the leading man in a movie but after what he did in Pitch Perfect I am loooking forward to what his career amounts to. Also doesn't Jeff Chang look like the coolest.
6. John Dies at The End
Although this movie was released at the Sundance film festival in 2012 it wont be released in theaters untill January 25 2013 which makes in one of my most anticipated movies. The trailer is so all over the place I don't really know what to expect except that John will die at the end.
7. A Haunted House
Marlon Waynes' is back doing what he does best, spoofing horror movies. Ever since the Waynes brothers left the Scary Movie franchise they have suffered from a lack of creativity and tend to rely on the same jokes. Now that Marlon is back we can all relax.
8. Baytown Outlaws
I have no idea who the three main guys in this movie are, in fact I don't even recognize them to see them. Does that deter my excitement for what looks to be a O'Brother Where Art Thou meets Smokin' Aces type of movie. All the gun fighting and explosions help too.
9. Oz: The Great and Powerful
James Franco is the Wizard of Oz? Come on... Anyway I am much more excited to see how the world of Oz is realized in this age of fancy special effects.
10. Oblivion
Tom Cruise is not one of my most liked actors in the world, actually I tend to stay away from movies that are based around how bad ass he is(how can someone who stands 5'2 be a bad ass?) And really the only thing that has me excited about this film is Morgan Freeman with the sunglasses. Is anything better the Mr. Freeman lecturing you with one of the long winded yet encapsulating speechs he does. I am sold on Morgan Freeman as winner of this movie.
Honorable Mention
All my honorable mentions that are comedies that I think will be hilarious but am not to sure if I wont have to be under the influence to find them funny.
The year in music was a little lackluster this year with not one standalone best album but many pretty good ones. If the list's I've found on the internet (some shadier sites) are legit then 2013 looks like it might be a stellar year in music.
1.Aftermath
The record label that Dr. Dre started, and I'm sure will have something to do with both Eminem and 50 Cent's next albums, looks like it is going to have a big year. If Detox drops it could also be an unpredictably amazing year for the label.
The only one of the aforementioned artists actually have a release date set and that's Fifty. His fifth studio Street King Immortal will drop on February 26 and all I can say is that I hope it's more "Many Men" than "United Nations."
Eminem and Dre are two other stories completely. The sole evidence of an Eminem album being released in 2013 is on a baseball cap that the Official Eminem Website is selling. The baseball hat is embroidered with the D of the Detroit Tigers and eight years listed on the side of the hat (1996, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2004,2009, 2010, 2013). To explain the dates the websute states "Side panel is dedicated to the landmark Eminem solo albums." How could 2013 be on the hat if he's not going to put out a landmark album.
As for Dr. Dre, the Detox album has been "in works" for so many years that I can't remember if I was still listening to the Marshall Matthers LP at the time. Well, here's hoping that 2013 is the year of the Detox. Fingers crossed.
2. O.G.s of Rap
On a fellow Blogger site(I don't know how credible it is) I read that Ice Cube was planning to release an album this year. Then I kept scrolling down the list and saw L.L. Cool J was releasing an album on February 12. I kept scrolling and more names started to jump off the list Method Man, Ludacris, Snoop Dogg (Lion?), Mystikal, Fat Joe, Juelz Santana, Jadakiss, DMX, Raekwon. All I can say is, yes please.
3. 1999 Diva's
What year is it? Both Mariah Carey and Cher are planning on releasing albums in 2013. I just checked the newspaper and yes it is 2012.
4. G.O.O.D. Music?
After a lackluster 2012 album, Cruel Summer, Kanye is getting the super group back together for another go around in 2013. Cruel Summer had some good songs except that they all were released as singles before the album was even released which took a lot of steam out of it. Hopefully Cruel Winter (original...), the follow up album, has Kanye's full attention and isn't just one of his side projects.
5. Watch The Throne 2?
Not only does Kanye have a new G.O.O.D. Musis album to help create, he has also been rumored to be planning a solo album for sometime this year and now I'm reading that Watch the Throne 2 is happening I don't know where to begin except to say if Kanye can pull off a year like that he will solidify himself as the entertainer of my generation.
6. Young Ladies Make Music Too
Tegan and Sara, Azealia Banks and Solange all have albums scheduled for release in 2013 and if that isn't enough miss Banks, who is 21, wants to put out two albums this year and then take some time off. You are 21 what could you have done to deserve time off? Too much illegal narcotics?
7. Making Wavves
The band Wavves (I am not too familiar with them) have announced that their 2013 album will be a hip hop or hip hop inspired album. If it is anything like the song they put out with Big Boi, then I am super excited.
8. Earl Who?
The juvenile rapper and member of OFWGKTA has put out singles here and there and been on other Odd Future members songs but his long awaited debut album is set to release this year and I can't explain how excited I am. If the CD is even a fifth of what his first single off the album is then I will be satisfied.
9. Who Will Taylor Swift Date This Year?
Taylor Lautner, Tyler the Creator, the other four members of One Direction? It could literally be anyone. I think the most memorable option would be for her to break up the newly reunited Nirvana by dating Dave Grohl and Paul McCartney, now that would be hilarious. You can be sure though that after they break up they are never ever ever getting back together.
10. R.Kelly's Back! (In The Closet?)
The follow up installments to his internet soap opera (emphasis on opera)Trapped in the Closet were posted on the internet in 2012 and made very little splash in the media pond. I am expecting a lot more hoopla and maybe a conviction or two before the release of his new album Black Panties.
TV
This is the final post in my blog series "Year in Review" and is easily the one I feel most comfortable writing. I know people will disagree with my rankings and that is fine but I have watch enough TV, both bad and good, to know what quality TV is. Here are the lists of my ten favorite comedies and dramas. Also I will add three other lists containing my five favorite new shows, Late Night Show and reality TV shows.
Drama 1. Breaking Bad
The final season of Breaking Bad has been broken in to two parts. The first part which aired this year, which is amazing and is why it's ranked number one, left so many questions with fans that I can almost easily say that my favorite show of 2013 will be one about Meth and i'm not talking about Intervention.
2. Game of Thrones
The battle in the second last episode of the season that built up to the exploding river (if you haven't seen it the YouTube it right now) is one of the biggest TV moments of 2012. Not only was that episode good but the season as a whole was just epic and groundbreaking TV. All I can ask for is that Daenerys can keep a hold on her dragons.
3. Mad Men
This season of Mad Men had Matthew Weiners son with a mustache It had fraud, fighting, prostitution, suicide and even dream murder. It was all over the place thematically and went a lot of unexpected ways. But when you have a product as good as Mad Men you have the ability to do that without the product suffering or the fans loosing interest. And let me make this point I never once lost interest.
4. Homeland
After an off season of how are they going to keep Brody around and how are they going to bring Carrie back into the mix. And after a season of roller coaster fan support and people jumping off the bandwagon because they didn't believe some of the things on the show. Homeland ended their second season with a bang (literally) and with what in my mind was the best episode of this season closed some loose end story line and set it up for an interesting third season. I can't wait!
5. Sherlock
Sherlock airs on BBC and you can watch it on Netflix (even Canadian Netflix) which makes it one of those shows that is too good not being watched. The seasons are three episodes each (each episode is about an hour and a half long) which makes them pretty easy to catch up. You could have a Sherlock night and get through most of them pretty easily. If you don't understand what i'm saying is that you should be watching this show.
6. Justified
After a season where Margo Martindale steals the show and Jeremy Davies limping his way through a great acting performance you wonder if the next season will be able to match up. In 2012 Justified did it's beat to bring in some heavy hitters in Neal McDonough and Mykelti Williamson as the new baddies but they just didn't live up to Mags Bennet. Don't get me wrong the season was great that's why it's number six on the list but it couldn't hold a candle to season 2 of Justified.
7. Parenthood
This has always been one of my favorite shows but it is also one of the hardest shows to watch. It is so emotionally draining sometimes and some of the episodes feel like they have 13 different endings it's constant But this season they seemed to be able to get all of that under control and everyone in the Braverman family seemed to have their place, even the little Mexican one.
8. Dexter
Season 6 of Dexter was way outside the box and almost everyone knew what was coming by the middle of the season. Season 7 on the other hand took what season 6 left us (Deb finding out who Dexter really is) and played on it extremely well. Then adding Yvonne Strahovski as Dexter's love interest and Ray Stevenson as the main baddy were two casting strokes of genius. Hopefully they keep on this upward path and when they finally do end this show (long overdue?) I really hope they can tie Dexter's story together well.
9. Sons of Anarchy
Another season of Jacks getting into trouble and in the last episode or two unraveling everything for everyone else and coming out on top. Or did he? With Tara going to jail for something that is related to the club his conscious can't be clear. We'll see if ha can get himself out of this predicament as well ( I bet he can). Oh, and Jimmy Smits did a good job playing a pimp.
10. The Walking Dead
Zombies getting killed, zombies being used as torture devices, zombie daughters having their hair combed by human daddy... Yeah, all that happened. The effects were crazy though and I enjoyed seeing the new people and hope they play a bigger role in the second half of the season.
Honorable Mention
Alphas
X-Men meets Heroes meets CSI. This is a great show if you like shows about powers.
Treme
Come for the New Orleans music and stay for the New Orleans music. That;s all there really is.
Comedies
1. Louie
Louie is taking a year off before he puts out another season of his critically acclaimed show, so my advice would be to buy/download/steal a copy of the third season of Louie and watch it as many times as you can before then.
2. Parks and Recreation
I am absolutely astonished by how often Parks and Rec. came to my mind when I though about favorite comedies. Most of it was remember crazy stuff Aubrey Plaza and Chris Pratt do or the insane the Aziz Ansari and Amy Poehler's characters say. But they aren't even the best part of the show that would be the bacon and eggs Mr. Ron mmm-f-ing Swanson.
3. 30 Rock
This was 30 Rocks last season and they came out firing on all cylinders. Tina Fey said she wanted the show to go out on top and she has no worries of that not happening.
4. Community
Even thought the best episode of Community's third season (Remedial Chaos Theory) didn't air in 2012 it had enough great shows that did air in 2012 to secure a top spot in my rankings By the way did you hear the news about Dan Harmon?
5. Misfits
This show is about a group of teens on community service duty who end up getting powers from a freak storm. I ranked it as fifth on the comedy side of things because of the character named Rudy and all his ridiculous antics. If you haven't seen it well you are definitely missing out.
6. South Park
Another season of hilarity by the boys who brought you Team America: World Police and the Broadway play The Book of Mormon. This is their 15th season putting south Park on the air and if you thought that would hinder the amount of stories they have to tell you are dead wrong. Not only that but they seemed to push the bar even further this year, and what more can you ask for from the guys who created Mr. Hanky the Christmas Poo.
7. Wilfred
A man see's a dog as a man in a dog costume. How much more do you need?
8. The Big Bang Theory
Sheldon and the boys do it again. Mayim Bailik, who used to play Blossom back in the day, is easily a surprise hit and this season she has turned up the funny.
9. Modern Family
As long as you have this cast together this show will be this great.
10. Eastbound and Down
The final season left us with the death and resurrection (not really, he never died) of one of the greatest characters in fictional baseball pitching history.
Honorable Mention
Workaholics
We met Durs' father and found out how the boys met, this was a "loose butt-hole" season.
New Girl
With Nick and Schmidt killing it this show could easily move up in my top ten in 2013.
New Shows
1. Girls
I didn't know whether to put this is comedy or drama so I had an easy cop out and put it as the best new show on TV(which it was) in 2012. Lena Dunham has a voice that speaks to many people (good and bad) as you can see by all the controversy she had over this show. But the season was well put together and you definitely felt like it was a world you could have living in and that's always a nice thing for a TV show to do.
2. House of Lies
Don Cheadle has a lot of sex. Kristen Bell has a lot of sex and Ben Schwartz makes some hilarious jokes. This show came out at the starting of 2012 but is still one of my favorites of the year. It could have made a run at the 10th spot in my comedy side had it been a weaker year for comedy.
3. Awake
This show has already been cancelled so don't feel like you need to watch it but if you have some time and nothing to do...
4. Go On
Matthew Perry doing Matthew Perry things.
5. Penn. 1600
This show just started and I really like the pilot and because I haven't watched Nashville, Revolution sucked and most of the new comedies were terrible it gets this spot by default.
Reality TV
1. Duck Dynasty
This show has become a cult classic within the first season. Now we just have to wait and see if it ends up like Pawn Stars and Storage Wars before it.
2. The Voice
If you watch any other singing competition I can't be your friend. The Voice has the best judges and it lets people who might have already had a small break in the industry try out, which leads to a lot better musical performances.
3. Amazing Race
Another season of Amazing Race is in the books and this time a gay couple won the whole thing after being underdogs the whole time. It had to be one of the more exciting seasons in a while.
4. Big Brother
Before the last couple of weeks I would have called this season of BB the best since the All Star season. But then Ian had to go and win and makes this game about people being liked and not Dan's amazing gameplay.
5. The Challenge
The Real World/Road Rules Challenge on MTV has been said by some to be America's fifth major sport. It is a crazy show where a bunch of random people fomr The Real World or Raod Rules (two other MTV shows) come together and compete for a large sum of money. Most of the season it is just a party and drunken fights. But the last episode or two is devoted to the namesake, Challenge, which usually has contestants running a certain distance while doing puzzles and other competitions at different intervals. The team that finishes the whole thing as a team are crowned the winners.
Late Night TV
1. Jimmy Kimmel Live
Jimmy Kimmel has quietly toiled in late night for years and is now finally getting some recognition and in the new year will be in the 11:35 slot.
2. Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
This dude get's everyone to sing with him. He has brought a new game to Late Night and i like it.
3. The Colbert Report
I think Colbert is starting to outshine his mentor and is making a huge name for himself. I don't know where he goes from here but the likely path seems up. Is that possible.
4. The Daily Show
John Stewart is still winning Emmy's and still killing Bill O'Rielly just like everyone wants.
5. Saturday Night Live
I like to think SNL had a pretty good year so far with Jamie Foxx, Anne Hatheway, JGL, Louie C.K., Daniel Craig and even Bruno Mars, who did double duty.
