You ever have one of those weekends where it just seems like one LONG day?! Well..I had one of those last weekend. From Thursday night to Monday afternoon I sat at home for maybe 10 minutes, not counting the time I slept. I worked early in the morning Friday and got off around noon and took a nap, since I got little sleep the night before. Once I woke up, it was off to have some fun with a friend of mine. We went to the movies and saw You, Me, and Dupree. Would have saw Pirates of the Caribbean II, but we missed that time. Women! Anyways after that, we go out to a local establishment for a drink. I got home around 1 in the morning! Time for bed. Saturday I had to work from noon until 9 p.m..that’s ALL day if you couldn’t tell. That is every single daylight hour that could have been used for the lake or something besides work! So yeah..I get off at 9 p.m. and hey..time to go out again with the same friend. Can’t miss this opportunity. So off I go again after I change clothes. This time it’s a LONG night/morning. Get home around 4 in the morning. Sleep for 4 hours, because I AGAIN have to work Sunday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.! All day again. But what about Sunday night..well I have little time to rest. Why? I have to be BACK at work at 5 in the morning on Monday! I get off at 1 Monday afternoon and needless to say I’m tired. The weekend flew by, but it was fun.
Now then what does that have to do with television? Well..come Monday there is a TON of stuff on my TiVo. In fact, I couldn’t hold it all. I had to lose some of the stuff I recorded on Friday, because Saturday and Sunday was FILLED with stuff. That’s odd, since TiVo never seems to record anything on Saturday or Sunday. Well..this weekend a lot of shows decided to air marathons! As a result, I am SO far behind on my TV watching. It’s now Wednesday and I am just now trying to STILL get caught up. It’s not working that well. There is no way I could watch all of the stuff I recorded this week. I didn’t watch TV for three days and everything goes to hell! Don’t worry, I’m doing my best and I WILL get caught up. I FINALLY have a day off on Thursday, so Wednesday night and Thursday I will try to get caught up. But guess what? I’m in for another FAST weekend this week as well. By the time you read this, I will be off to Fayetteville in Northwest Arkansas for another fun-filled weekend! It’s been two months and it’s overdue! So yeah..no TV for me this weekend either. Hopefully..I will have less to catch up on next week than this week.
Having said all of that, there was some good TV to watch this week. And surprise..surprise..it’s the end of July and there is STILL new TV shows airing! It’s a summer like I have never seen before, but I LOVE it! Over the weekend, I recorded marathons of ‘I Love the 70’s II’ and ‘World Series of Pop Culture’ from VH1. I personally like the 80’s better than the 70’s, but these shows are still good fun. Still have about half a decade to watch, though. ‘World Series of Pop Culture’ is a neat little game show. And as some of the readers said in the forums, some of us could have gotten a team together and done some great things on that show. I’m just disappointed I missed out on the online quiz thing they apparently had going on to be a wildcard on the show. That wildcard team is quite good, though. What else was new this week? ‘Driving Force’ on the A&E network debuted and again it’s another show I will continue to watch from that network. They really do put out quality shows on that channel. And it just know gave me an idea for a future column. And who doesn’t love women racing cars..as long as they’re hot, of course? I gave ‘Project Runway’ a chance on NBC since I don’t have the BRAVO network. And I liked actually. I would never design clothes or anything, but the show is interesting enough to watch. I don’t know why. Maybe it was seeing people tear up stuff in the house to design clothes out of it. I will probably watch this show again if it aired. Another new reality show called ‘The One: Making a Music Star’ also debuted this week. It’s like ‘American Idol’, but that actually get taught to sing along the way. This may be a little too late for ABC. Why? Well..FOX had ‘American Idol’. It’s still #1. CBS has ‘Rock Star’, which is probably #2. NBC debuted ‘America’s Got Talent’, where the best talent is usually singing. That is doing pretty well actually. And now ABC jumps into this world with their “singing” search show. They are all slightly different, but still do the same thing. Find the best singer for the job needed for each show. There is too many of these shows and it’s why I don’t care to watch any of them besides the original. If I happen to watch it again, I will. But I’m not going to kill myself if I miss it or anything! Finally, ‘The Contender’ on ESPN returned as well. I don’t have any real comments on the show right now as I have not finished this episode. But I liken this show to ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ on SPIKE TV. This is just boxing. It’s a fun ESPN show and I’m a sucker for those. So it should be good to go in my TV lineup. More comments on it next week maybe.
Now I know you want to hear my thoughts on ‘Big Brother 7: All-Stars’ this week. Well..you can see what I thought of the Sunday show here. I did the recap. As far as Tuesday, well it was interesting. I feel that Kaysar made the right move by putting up Nakomis and Diane. Yeah..they haven’t done much in this game, but it’s only a matter of time. I think they thought they could coast by for a few weeks and last until around the middle until causing trouble. Either one could very easily win by being a “floater”. They don’t take the spotlight, and fall through the cracks. Kaysar made the right move by taking out the “floaters” first. Should he have put up Will or Mike? Not right now. Kaysar could still use them. And I still think they have a secret alliance going on here. They will use each other to get rid of some of the “floaters” and then battle it out near the end! At least I hope so. Erika was smart to not use the veto as well. Of course, they just confirms that she is probably with the “BB6” people. Oh well..better to be on the winning team than not. And by another vote of 8-2..Nakomis is going home! Smart move really. Eventhough, Jase appears to be in the “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” alliance with Diane..I believe Nakomis was in with them as well. That weakens that “BB5” alliance up a little more. Nakomis is a better and smarter player than Diane. Diane is like Alison, so she is a threat. But the rest of the house is on to her and Jase, so she should be gone soon. I just hope this doesn’t affect Jase. I think he can convince some of the others that he is not with Diane. It will be hard, but I still have hope for him. What about the new “HOH” this week? Well..James won and that’s an interesting one. He’s a member of the “BB6” alliance, but not a vocal one. So will he continue to be with them or switch things up a bit. We will have to find out on Sunday.
Okay..now that is out of the way, I have one more thing to talk about. It’s really a show I have to review as promised. And it’s a new show. It’s good one, though. It’s ‘Psych’ on the USA Network! I review the first two episodes and the show in general later in this column! But for now..lets see what else has been going on at IPTV this week!
Seinfeld Quote of the Week
“She went out with Newman! The most distressing part of all of this..is not that she went out with him, but that HE stopped seeing HER! HE, Newman, stopped seeing her. Newman never stops seeing anybody. Newman will see anyone who is willing to see him!” – Jerry, after finding out that his girlfriend used to date Newman, from Season Six’s “The Big Salad”!
Now back to our regularly scheduled programming…
Columns a.k.a. The Same Stuff With a Twist of Lemon a.k.a. Refreshing Drink in the Shade!!
Mathan Erhardt stopped watching ‘Windfall’ and to prove that we have the same brain..I was thinking the same thing when I missed last week’s episode as well. It didn’t bother me at all. Hmm…oh..and the fact that the reason why Mathan likes ‘Saved’ is the SAME reason I like it! Weird. He does comment on ‘Monk’, ‘Psych’, ‘Lucky Louie’, ‘Entourage’, ‘Hustle’, ‘Rescue Me’, ‘Saved’, ‘Brotherhood’, ‘City of Men’, and ‘Deadwood’! so that’s 4 for 10 for me this week. .400 is not too bad really. Also, what’s like Pringles® or crackâ„¢? And ‘Saved by the Bell’ all the way!!
Matt Basilo continues to watch ‘Windfall’, though. He comments on that along with ‘The 4400’ and ‘The Dead Zone’! And a little wrestling talk sprinkled in there as well to add to the flavor of the Monday column!
DeeDee talks ‘Rock Star: Supernova’ this week! We make sure to cover all the shows as best we can with what we have. Go read her thoughts on the search for the new “Tommy” band!
Scott Keith debuts a new column this week about reality TV shows he watches. He admits that they don’t always make great TV, but some are still fun to watch. This week he comments on ‘Big Brother 7: All-Stars’, ‘Hell’s Kitchen’, ‘Canada’s Next Top Model’, and ‘Rock Star: Supernova’! Read his rant or else!
Dora Malone mixes chemistry with ‘Big Brother’ this week! She comments on the week that was in the ‘Big Brother’ house along with looking to the future. And she nicknames a lot of things associated with that show. Go see for yourself and you may actually learn something useful!
Farah Syed wants to be a Power Ranger! The purple one I think! Somehow that relates to writers writing great characters that drive viewers crazy! But is it the characters or the writers that we should hope to meet in our everyday lives? Find out before it’s time to MORPH!
Kevin Wong talks about crossing over to the other side. He really means TV show characters going from one show to another. Are they always a good thing? Find out now! He also won a bunch of money this week, so make sure to hit him up for some!
Romo has interviews with three cast members from the new Canadian show, ‘Whistler’!
Recaps a.k.a. Everyone Jump Into the Pool!!!
Murtz takes his seat, despite the rain, back at Trinity Studios for the LIVE results of last week’s performances on ‘Canadian Idol’. We are down to the “Top Ten” and it surprised a lot of people! That means a new and bigger venue for Murtz to enjoy the singing of both the guys and girls now! And he’s back one last time this week to give you his thoughts on the results from this week! Down to 9 now!
Ed Hampton finally works things out and brings to you his thoughts on the results of ‘Canadian Idol’ last week. It made him sick actually! But he feels a little better now as he comes back to handle the results for this week as well. So it appears Kevin will do the performance show and Ed will do the results show. Tag team action! Or Six-Man action with Murtz!
I have another recap of another episode of the ‘Real World/Road Rules Challenge: Fresh Meat’! I also get going with my second show of the week, which is the new Sunday show of ‘Big Brother 7: All-Stars’!
Kevin Wong just HAD to outshine me this week. I add another show to recap to even things up, and what does he do? He adds another show himself! This means WAR! HAHAHA! Anyways his first show is the July 17th edition of ‘Canadian Idol’, of course. He then has the latest from ‘Treasure Hunters’. And finally his new show to recap this week is ‘Rock Star: Supernova’! He has the performance show, followed by the results show! That should make everyone happy now!
Richard joins the party with Tuesday’s recap of ‘Big Brother 7: All-Stars’! And I just noticed that somehow I missed him posting last week’s Tuesday show. Don’t know how, but that’s my fault. Read it first if you haven’t already.
This week we had 7 TV on DVD reviews! NONE by me! WOW! That’s a LOT!
Mike Noyes gets extreme with Ren & Stimpy: The Lost Episodes!
Steve Murray got his comedy this week from HBO One Night Stand: Louis CK!
Mathan Erhardt visits the first original programming show that Comedy Central tried with Dr. Katz Professional Therapist – Season One!
Kevin Wong has two of his own this week! First, he pumps out a review of HBO One Night Stand: Jim Norton! Then, he finishes his busy week with Night Stalker – The Complete Series!
Robert Sutton gets his laughs this week from Reno 911 – The Complete Third Season!
Michaelangelo makes his case for best show on TV when he reviews The West Wing – Season 6! Of course, that show is no longer on TV, but go back and see what it was all about!
Celebrities, LIVE Feeds, and More a.k.a. Roxanne, Patti, and Me!!!
Former ‘Apprentice’, Roxanne Wilson interviews Michael Laungani from ‘The Apprentice 5’ this week! She just keeps going and going! Visit her website as well!
Patti has the LIVE feed report for July 13. WARNING..it could contain SPOILERS!!
My contest is still going on. You can still enter. It’s your chance to win some stuff from the new show, ‘Psych’. I have a variety of prizes and you just have to answer a trivia question to enter your name in the random drawing for one of the prizes! Here is where you can ENTER! Entries will be accepted until Monday, July 31! So enter now if you haven’t already done so!
The Weekly Pulse Weekly Poll
Last week..I asked the question…”who do you think will win ‘Big Brother 7: All-Stars’?” And here are the results:
Kaysar – 2
Will – 0
Janelle – 0
Erika – 2
Danielle – 0
Jase – 0
Howie – 1
James – 0
Diane – 1
Nakomis – 0
Marcellas – 1
George – 0
Mike – 0
Okay..so not very many votes this week. Maybe it’s ‘Big Brother’ voting burnout! Oh well..the votes are in and it’s a tie! The two love birds, Kaysar and Erika tied! Interesting choices, but it could come true. Howie, Diane, and Marcellas also got votes as well. I still think Jase will win, but we will probably ALL be wrong!
Now for this week’s question. It’s about the newest show on the USA Network that I’m reviewing later. That would be ‘Psych’! This week’s question is…“what do you think about the new show, ‘Psych’?”. Click on the link and VOTE! Remember..VOTE OR DIE!
What Did My TiVo Record This Week?
Friday
– ‘King of the Hill’
– ’24’
– ‘Monk’
– ‘Psych’
– ‘Rachael Ray’s Tasty Travels’
– ‘Late Show with David Letterman
Saturday
– ‘King of Cars’
– ‘The Cosby Show’
– ‘World Series of Pop Culture’ (Marathon!)
Sunday
– ‘I Love the 70’s II’ (Marathon!)
– ‘Inked’
– ‘King of the Hill’
– ‘Miami Ink’ (Marathon!)
– ‘The 4400’
– ‘Chappelle’s Show’ (It’s back!)
– ‘The Dead Zone’
– ‘Mind of Mencia’
Monday
– ‘King of the Hill’
– ‘Made’
– ‘Dog the Bounty Hunter’
– ‘Project Runway’
– ‘Hell’s Kitchen’
– ‘Driving Force’
– ‘Treasure Hunters’
– ‘Falcon Beach’
– ‘WWE Monday Night RAW’
– ‘Real World/Road Rules Challenge: Fresh Meat’
– ‘Saved’
– ‘Late Show with David Letterman’
Tuesday
– ‘The Secret Life Of…’ (Romantic Meals!)
– ‘The Secret Life Of…’ (Wedding Cakes!)
– ‘Criss Angel Mind Freak’
– ‘King of the Hill’
– ‘Big Brother 7: All-Stars’
– ‘Fear Factor’
– ‘Last Comic Standing’
– ‘Dog the Bounty Hunter’
– ‘The One: Making a Music Star’
– ‘Rock Star: Supernova’
– ‘The Contender’
– ‘The Real World: Key West’
– ‘ECW Wrestling’
– ‘Rescue Me’
– ‘Late Show with David Letterman’
Wednesday
– ‘The Cosby Show’
– ‘Miami Ink’
– ‘King of Cars’
– ‘King of the Hill’
– ‘Blue Collar TV’
– ‘Dog the Bounty Hunter’
– ‘Rock Star: Supernova’
– ‘One Tree Hill’
– ‘The Hills’
– ‘Cheyenne’
– ‘Inked’
– ‘Criss Angel Mindfreak’
– ‘Late Show with David Letterman’
Thursday
– ‘World Series of Pop Culture’
– ‘Why Can’t I Be You’
– ‘King of the Hill’
– ‘Big Brother 7: All-Stars’
– ‘My Name is Earl’
– ‘The Office’
– ‘Making the Band 3’
– ‘Run’s House’
– ‘Windfall’
– ‘Pimp My Ride’
– ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’
– ‘TNA Impact!’
– ‘Late Show with David Letterman’
Time to Talk a.k.a. He’s a Cop..NO..He’s a Psychic..NO..He’s Just a Guy..PSYCH a.k.a. My Review of ‘Psych’!!!!!
‘Psych’ begins with the introduction of two of the main characters. Flashback to 1986 in Santa Barbara, CA. We see a boy around the age of 12 with his father, who is a cop. The father tells the son to close his eyes and asks him a lot of questions about the cafe they are in and the people in the cafe. The father asks the son specific details about the inside of the cafe like which light is out in the “EXIT” sign or the name of the manager working behind the counter? All easy enough. Well..how about who is wearing a hat inside the cafe and how many hats total? That takes some talent. And it is here we learn that this kid has a photographic memory. His father is demanding of him. He could be grooming him to become a cop someday as well. But because the father pushes the kid so hard, the kid just wants to have fun and never grow up.
Now move forward 20 years to 2006 in Santa Barbara, CA. The kid is all grown up now. He is still having fun, though. In addition, he still has this great memory. He picks up on the smallest details that no one else would notice. We learn that this is Shawn Spencer. He makes an innoncent call to the police after figuring out who robbed a store. He just saw the news story on TV and figured out, within seconds, that’s its the store manager. Why? Nervous hands and no eye contact.
The police want to talk to Shawn and he shows off more of his amazing skills. He figures out what the guy handcuffed next to him did to his wife’s boyfriend’s car. He also sees that two dectives..one male and the other female..are dating, but don’t want anyone to know. Let me introduce you to Detective Carlton Lassiter and Lucinda. They think that Shawn knows so much information about the robbery that he HAS to be the actual suspect in the robbery! They go to arrest him. They don’t believe he has this fantastic memory. So to avoid going to jail, Shawn says he’s psychic. He uses his observations and strong memory to pretend to be psychic. It actually works. He’s free, much to the disgust of Lassiter. But not before Interim Police Chief Karen Vick stops Shawn. She used to work with Shawn’s father, Henry. She doesn’t entirely believe he is a psychic, but it works for her since criminals are being sent to jail because of Shawn. So he offers him a job as a “psychic consultant” for the police.
Shawn is off to tell his best friend, Gus, the news. Gus always gets dragged along on Shawn’s wild adventures. We also learn that Shawn has had 57 jobs up until now. He’s too busy having fun to get a “real” job. Gus has told himself that he is through with joining Shawn on his adventures. He would rather have a steady job now. But there is one thing that Gus has always wanted to be. That’s a private investigator/detective. Shawn knows this and he tells Gus that they will be opening up their own private dective agency. Gus knows he shouldn’t go along with Shawn, but this is too good to be true. So he has to see what this is all about.
Their first “case” is to investigate a kidnapping of a son from one of the wealthiest families in town. Shawn gets sidetracked by a beautiful woman in the family. And somehow he ends up dating her. Shawn has a way with the ladies. And I strive to be as observative as him to impress the ladies. Shawn and Gus continue their search for answers to the kidnapping. Shawn observes and finds stuff that assist him in the search to reveal the truth. But rather than just tell the police what he found like a normal person would, he uses this knowledge to have a “vision” as a psychic later to lead the police to the truth. He has to put up a front to save his skin. If the police find out that he’s NOT a psychic, he would go to jail.
Along the way, we learn that Shawn’s father, Henry, has moved back to town. This is a surprise to Shawn. Apparently they have a strained relationship now. And it’s easy to see why. Henry trained his son to be a great detective. He could have been the best, but Shawn didn’t take it seriously. Too much responsibility and dedication for him. But here Shawn is as a “psychic” who helps detectives solve crimes. Shawn could be a head detective by now, but instead he is at the bottom of the totem pole as just a psychic! This frustrates Henry to no end. Yet Shawn goes to Henry and wants help from his father.
Besides the three main characters of Shawn, Gus, and Henry, we have the two real dectives and interim police chief as I mentioned. They all interact with Shawn in some way. Lassiter is the straight, by-the-book cop. He doesn’t believe nor like Shawn. He’s the “bad” cop. That would make Lucinda the “good” cop. She has the same mentality as Lassiter, but she is amused by Shawn and his “visions”. She is more open to having Shawn help them solve crimes. She is Shawn’s biggest ally on the force. And Interim Police Chief Vick is somewhere in the middle of them both. She is more on the side of O’Hara. She is willing to deal with Shawn as long as he continues to bring results and arrests for the department. But if Shawn interfers too much with the department, she will bring him down! After all, Shawn is not a real detective.
As for the kidnapping in the first episode, well Shawn solves that case. What turns to a kidnapping ends up as a brutal murder. Shawn figures out that there was no kidnapping at all. The son must have “faked” his own kidnapping with help from one of his friends. Why would it do that? His father was cutting him out of his will. So he pretended to be kidnapped to get the ransom money for himself. Makes sense. As does the fact that Shawn notices that the son never goes anywhere without his dog. This all leads to a cabin where father and son used to go to. The dog is there and the case should be solved. Shawn has a “vision” and the police come. They go inside the cabin and see the son’s friend dead with a gun in his hand and the son lying on the floor..dead as well. The police think it’s a suicide, but Shawn doesn’t think it’s that easy. The police say case closed, but Shawn continues to reveal the truth. He sees the daughter in the wealthy family, the same girl he is now dating, hand over a bag of money to a suspcious looking man. She must have had her brother killed so that she would be the sole heir to the wealthy family’s fortune. They steal the bag away from the man and there is nothing but clothes in it. There has to be something more. The bag must be important. There had to have been money in it at some point. And it’s here that Shawn figures things out. The father was going to pay a ransom for his son. He dropped off the money where the “kidnappers” had told him to. But on the way back, he passes his son’s friend’s car. The father knows where he is going. So the father goes back to the cabin to see that his son is alive and hiding. The father scuffles with the son to simply teach him a lesson. But a small fight leads to the son hitting his head on the corner of a table. And he’s dead right then and there. Enter the friend with a gun. He sees his friend dead and the friend’s father as the guy who killed him. The father wrestles the gun away and shoots his son’s friend to make it look like a murder/suicide. It’s the only way to cover up what he did. Now all Shawn has to do is prove it. That comes when Gus finds medicine for dog bites in the bathroom of the father. The dog MUST have bit the father and that proves that the father was there at the cabin. And since he’s the only one still alive, he’s the guilty one! Of course, all of this is “seen” by Shawn in a “vision”. And the father can’t take it anymore. He knows he can’t lie anymore with this “psychic” running around. He admits to the crime. Case closed.
One big case solved by Shawn and Gus, so they get a reward. They get money and another case to solve. Henry comes to the police chief and talks to her about Shawn. But Henry doesn’t turn Shawn in. He goes along with it..for one time only. Henry makes it clear that he doesn’t like this at all, and Shawn wouldn’t have it any other way. Shawn and Gus open up their own private “psychic” detective agency called “Psych”. As in “gotcha!” or “hey..we’re fooling you and the police department..hope we don’t make a mistake and no one dies from it!” as said by Gus. And that play on words is the brilliant part of the show.
To be honest, though, I was a little disappointed in the second episode of this show. It was a little confusing to begin with. The first episode was obviously the pilot and it is easy to see why the show was picked up based on that episode. However, there was one casting change from the first episode. The female detective has changed. Lucinda got transferred and she is replaced by Detective Juliet O’Hara. She is basically the same character that Lucinda played, except that she and Lassiter are not a couple. This was a sudden change that is left me confused for a little bit. I like this woman better, as far as looks, but I don’t know if she acts any better than the first girl. I suppose she does her part okay. We will see.
This episode was also a little slower and not as fun. Don’t get me wrong, the show was still funny. It may have been funnier than the first episode, but this case was less serious than the first case. It was simply about a father and a son rigging a spelling bee contest. This show is not supposed to be serious..I know that. It is more about the comedy, so that is what worked in this episode. If the first episode was like a 9.5 out of 10, then this episode was like a 7. A step down for sure, but still a good episode. It wasn’t so terrible that I won’t stop watching it or anything.
What I like best about the show is the concept. It’s pretty unique. Yeah..it’s like a cross between ‘The Dead Zone’ and ‘Monk’, but James Roday makes the character work. USA Network is all about characters and Shawn Spencer is right up with Johnny Smith and Adrian Monk. I love the little “zoom-in” shots for the stuff that Shawn observes as well. Everyone should give this show a shot, especially if you like any of the other USA Network shows.
That’s all I got this week! Any questions, comments, or suggestions are always welcome!
Remember..“Life Ain’t Always Beautiful, but It’s a Beautiful Ride!”
And as always…“You Can’t Fight Fate!”. See you when I see you!
