2008-2009 TV teameck Awards

Yes, this is mostly tongue-in-cheek...

Best show I know you’re not watching—even though you should be: Phineas & Ferb.

Hottest mom: Allison (Sarah Marshall) on Gary Unmarried.

Show that needed to end, and did: Tie: Prison Break and Mad TV.

Funniest show: Summer Heights High.

Best written comedy: How I Met Your Mother.

Best written drama: The Wire.

Biggest disappointment: The Mole.

Show I just cannot seem to stop watching—even though it goes against everything I believe about “good TV”: Big Brother.

I miss Bob Costas…: Inside the NFL (moved to Showtime and changed the “cast”) and Costas Now (“cancelled” when Costas went to another network).

Biggest surprise: Ties: How much I liked Lawrence of America and Summer Heights High.

Show I’ll probably miss the most: The Middleman (F-You, ABC Family).

Show I’m kicking myself for getting late to the party to (just started watching last summer): Tie: The Soup and Chelsea Lately.

Best show I can’t describe: This American Life.

Reason to be pissed at my cable company (Charter) for not airing IFC: Z Rock (which I’m lucky enough to catch OnDemand).

Show I’m embarrassed to watch—but do because my kids like watching it with me: Wipeout.

Show I watched only because of a stunningly beautiful contestant: I Survived a Japanese Game Show (Meaghan Cooper). Sure, the pics of her on imbd.com are stunning, but I liked the natural beauty displayed on the show.

Dumbest show that I couldn’t stop laughing at: Reality Bites Back.

Most improved (since their pilots): Tie: Chocolate News and Gary Unmarried.

What the Hell happened to this once great show?: Tie:
Desperate Housewives (great beginning to the season—and then shot downhill quickly),
Ugly Betty (recycling storylines after just three seasons),
Inside the NFL (they tried hard, but Costas, Marino, Collinsworth, and Carter made that show what it was on HBO),
Moral Orel (one of the least “artistic” of the adult swim shows went “arty” in its last season—and lost the wonderful satire it used to have),
Venture Brothers (I understand the desire to expand the universe of characters, but Hank and Dean are the souls of that show; where’d they go?),
Reno 911 (stopped being funny a while ago, but I couldn’t even finish the season this year)
Robot Chicken (what? run out of jokes or something?)
South Park (what the Hell happened? This used to be the best satire on television.)
The Mole (I don’t know what went wrong, but this season did not work),
Weeds (too many changes that didn’t work this year).

Show that knew it made some bad choices—and called itself out on them: My Name Is Earl.

Best Series Finales: Prison Break, Battlestar Galactica, and The Wire.

“Bad” show that had me roaring with laughter: Eastbound & Down.

Voice I’ll miss most next year: Harry Kalas (of NFL Films; the narrator of the clips used on Inside the NFL). He had the amazing ability to express countless emotions with just the sound and tone of his voice. He will be missed.

Show that made “going green” look so much fun that I got tired of all the ultra-happy, beautiful people frolicking in their “greenness”: Alter Eco.

Underrated family comedies: Tie: Everybody Hates Chris and King of the Hill. (Both of which aren’t coming back next year— I say “Boo!” to their respective networks.)

Moving up the list of my favorite comedies quickly: The Big Bang Theory.

Best premise: Z Rock (rock band has to become a “kiddie band” to pay the bills).

Best opening music (I just couldn’t get out of my head): Z Rock and Summer Heights High.

Best closing music (I just couldn’t get out of my head): The Wire.

Best actor in a comedy: Chris Lilley on Summer Heights High.

Best actor in a drama: Tie: Christopher Eccleston in Doctor Who and anyone in The Wire.

Shows I have recorded/on DVD but NEED to get to soon to still consider myself a lover of great TV: Tie: Friday Night Lights, Rescue Me, Breaking Bad, Mad Men, Lost.

Premieres and Notables; June 22-28, 2009

Thanks to blogger.com for allowing me to hold postings a week, so this shows up while I'm on vacation-- and yet close to my normal day to post these things. And thanks also to TV Guide for having yet another double week issue that gives me their weak-ass second week of listings (due to printing the issue so far in advance) and screwing me out of yet another issue of my subscription. But at least I have some listings.

(Sorry-- Entertainment Weekly actually likes to put out issues most weeks, so I don't have the issue I need for this post. Typically, I get the more interesting shows from that source. Maybe I'll catch up when I get back from vay-cay.)

Monday, 6/22

The Secret Life of an American Teenager; ABC Family. 7 pm CST. 2nd Season Premiere.
Sorry, but I'm still pissed Middleman's not coming back...

Make It or Break It; ABC Family. 8 pm. Series Premiere.
And in the spot that should have been Middleman's, this new scripted series about the world of teen gymnastics.


Tuesday, 6/23

America's Got Talent; NBC. 8 pm. Season Premiere.
Oh super; I thought I'd have to go a week without hearing about another stupid-ass reality contest. Bonus: it airs tomorrow too.

The Cleaner; A&E. 9 pm CST. 2nd Season Premiere.
Guest-starring Whoopi Goldberg.


Wednesday, 6/24

The Philanthropist; NBC. 9 pm. Series Premiere.
Unlike The Cleaner the The Closer, this series actually spells out what this person is in the title. Rome's James Purefoy stars as a man who risks his life and his money for others.
Too bad it's on NBC. It's doomed to bomb.


Thursday, 6/25

Penn & Teller: Bullshit!; Showtime. 9 pm. Season Premiere.
Where else but teameck's entertainment are you going to see the full name of this series typed out? Yeah-- I'm reader-friendly.
The bullshit subject this week: orgasms.


Sunday, 6/28

Hung; HBO. 9 pm. Series Premiere.
Not about a person who tried hanging himself...
And not about a jury...
Nope, this Thomas Jane-starring show is about a high school coach who takes up a side-job as a male escort because he carries a big stick.
Or as Elliot on Scrubs would say, "He's a big schwing-schwang."
[I'm talking about his penis, people...]

THE WIRE: Carver Uses a Different Approach

The Wire's Carver is tired of chasing kids in the alleys. He decides to demand the perp show himself. Classic.

2008-2009 TV Master List

As I noted in my last post, I'm listing all the shows I watched-- and tried to watch-- from June 2008-2009.

They're all alphabetical. Shows I put in italics are ones I didn't see the whole season's worth of episodes for. The ones with numbers of episodes behind it are shows I just quit watching. Shows in italics with no numbers of episodes are ones I'm planning on getting to this summer; just got behind. I got at least half-way through the season of those shows I got behind of; enough to know what to expect quality-wise.

I'm also listing the shows I watched via DVD or tapes recorded in years past. Why include them? To show what I was watching when I wasn't watching brand new episodes of other stuff. And like NBC used to say, "If you haven't seen them before, they're new to you." These shows are new to me-- and usually very good.

Alter Eco; Planet Green- 5 episodes
American Dad; FOX
Batman: The Brave and the Bold; Cartoon Network
Battlestar Galactica; Sci Fi
Big Brother 10; CBS
Big Love; HBO
Chelsea Lately; E!
Chocolate News; Comedy Central
Chuck; NBC
Costas Now; HBO
Crash; Starz- 1 ep
Cupid; ABC
Desperate Housewives; ABC
Dirty Sexy Money, ABC
Do Not Disturb; FOX
Drinky Crow Show; [adult swim]-2 eps
Eastbound & Down; HBO
Eli Stone; ABC
Entourage; HBO
Everybody Hates Chris; CW
Family Guy; FOX
Gary Unmarried; CBS
Hard Knocks: Dallas Cowboys; HBO
How I Met Your Mother; CBS
I Survived a Japanese Game Show; ABC
In Plain Sight; USA— 5-6 eps
Inside the NFL; Showtime
Iron Man; Nickelodeon
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia; FX
Kath & Kim; NBC-. 2 eps
King of the Hill; FOX
Krod Mandoon; Comedy Central
Last Comic Standing; NBC—6 eps
Lawrence of America; Travel
Leverage; TNT
Life After People; History-- 3 eps
Little Britain; HBO—3 eps
Mad TV; FOX
Metalocalypse; [adult swim]
Middleman; ABC Family
Moral Orel; [adult swim]
My Boys; TBS
My Name is Earl; NBC
My Own Worst Enemy; NBC- 1 ep
Mythbusters; Discovery
One Way Out; Discovery
Parks & Recreation; NBC
Phineas and Ferb; Disney
Prison Break; FOX
Pushing Daisies; ABC
Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel; HBO
Real Time with Bill Maher; HBO
Reality Bites Back; Comedy Central
Reno 911; Comedy Central-- six eps
Robot Chicken; adult swim
Rules of Engagement; CBS
Samantha Who?; ABC-- 6-7 episodes
Secret Diary of a Call Girl; Showtime
Sons of Anarchy; FX--. 1 ep
South Park; Comedy Central
Star Wars: the Clone Wars; Cartoon Network
Summer Heights High; HBO
10 Items or Less; TBS
Testees; FX
The Big Bang Theory; CBS
The Middleman; ABC Family
The Mole; ABC
The New Adventures of Old Christine; CBS
The Office; NBC
The Sarah Silverman Program; Comedy Central
The Simpsons; FOX
The Soup; E!
The Soup Presents; E!
30 Days; FX
30 Rock; NBC
This American Life; Showtime
‘Til Death; FOX
Ugly Betty; ABC
United States of Tara; Showtime
Venture Brothers; [adult swim]
Weeds; Showtime
Wipeout; ABC
Worst Week; CBS


Not new during June 2008-May 2009:
Alias Season 4
Battlestar Galactica Season 1, 2.0, 2.5, 3.0, 4.0
Doctor Who Season 1
Duck Dodgers (various episodes)
Mythbusters; Seasons 1-6 (various episodes)
This American Life Season 1
The Wire Seasons 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Z Rock Season 1

2008-2009 TV Season Recap

It's a couple weeks late, but this is tough to write up. It doesn't help that I get all sorts of issues getting what I start as a Word doc into the blogger format, so bear with any formatting issues.

Also, by waiting, I'm able to post these during my ten day vacation. That's what I like to do for my single-digit readership: have at least one new post a day.

First, I'll list what shows I watched in the grey-area of the 2008-2009 TV season (running from June 2008-May 2009, with a slight overlap). Sure, I'm early, but the Fall is the worst time of the year for me to do big blog posts, so I'm fudging and going from summer to summer instead of fall to fall.

Why list all the shows? Two reasons:
1. To give people an idea of what I watch. Also to explain while not actually explaining how I can omit certain shows. I always hate reading a critic's list (not that I consider myself a critic) and not knowing if they watched a certain show/movie as maybe being the reason why it didn't make the list. I never mentioned The Wire before this year. The reason why is I hadn't watched it until this year.
2. To brag. I try to give advice and feedback for certain things. I consider television my strongest subject. Listing everything I watched gives a little credence to what I write because it should tell you, "he watches an unhealthy amount of TV, so if he recommends The Big Bang Theory, then it's got to be a show worth watching."

After my Master List, I'll give some silly shout-outs to certain shows & people.

Then I'll make little essays/fan gushing posts for my Top Ten shows of the year. So sit back and read about the brilliant shows I watched this past year.

Next post: the Master List...

Uhm.. Yeah... Like that hasn't happened to her before.

NBC can do it too

See, VH1 doesn't have the monopoly on really stupid reality TV...

Looks like a love connection to me...

If I surround myself with fat girls... I'll look skinnier.

Well, she is the bride...

K.P. Anderson Schools McHale

Anderson, the head writer of The Soup discusses why Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip is insulting.

Sure, the clip is old, but it's funny...

Being a model's tough

Oh, WTF?

New York = Class

Now see, I thought the maxi pad comment last week was classy.

...But she tops it here:

It's Great to See Paris Has Raised Her Standards

Sure, she made a sex tape, was on an insipid reality show, is currently in a moronic reality show, acts like a Gen-X stoner, and has been known to not wear panties even though she can't keep her legs crossed near the paparazzi...

But, dammit, her new BFF won't do the same things.

Who's the lucky guy...

Who landed this prize?

Zack Morris Returns

Hilarious interview on Jimmy Fallon's show.
I was a fan of Saved By the Bell back in the day, and Mark-Paul Gosselaar's still got it. Pretty cool.

Premieres and Notables; June 15-21, 2009

Monday, 6/15

Greek (ABC Family; 7 pm CST). Season Finale.


Tuesday, 6/16

Wedding Day; TNT. 7 pm. Series Premiere.
An upscripted look at real-life weddings.
Presumably on TNT because Lifetime's schedule is full.

The Lazy Environmentalist; Sundance. 8 pm. Series Premiere.
Host Josh Dorfman proves that going a little greener doesn't have to be difficult.
Sounds cool. Check it out.

HawthoRNe; TNT. 8 pm CST. Series Premiere.
Jada Pinkett Smith stars as an RN (thus the oddly-capitalized title-- clever) who has problems of her own.
Please... Wanna see a nurse with problems, go check out Showtime's Nurse Jackie.

The Real Housewives of something or other (Bravo; 9 pm). Season Finale.
That's how much I care...

Saving Grace; TNT. 9 pm. Season Premiere.


Wednesday, 6/17

Survive This; Cartoon Network. 7:30. Series Premiere.
A new series where teenagers have to figure out how to survive different situations.
Note: this series is not animated. Boo to Cartoon Network for giving us this when there are hundreds of more appropriate networks. Maybe the network will pull a bullshit SciFi Channel deal and call itself KarTune, so people don't get the wrong idea about it.
[For those of you who don't remember my rant, "Sci Fi" is changing to the stupid-as-shit "SyFy" sometime this summer.]

Gordon Ramsay's F Word; BBC America. 8 pm. Season Premiere.
I'm almost tempted to watch to finally learn what his F Word is.
Maybe they didn't get the note that "F-Word" is now "fag", and "F-Bomb" is the Bad Boy of four letter words.

The Unusuals (ABC; 9:01). Series Finale.
Hmmm. Guess I can delete them all from my DVR...


Thursday, 6/18

Soundstage; PBS. 9 pm (check local listings). Season Premiere.
Jackson Browne opens the season.


Friday, 6/19

Jeffery and Cole Casserole; Logo. 10 pm. Series Premiere.
Another in a long line of sketch shows. This one revolves around viral videos.


Saturday, 6/20

ABC continues to be the best network for cancelled shows ever as it will now air the remaining four episodes of Eli Stone (9 pm) instead of making us buy/borrow the DVD sets later.
Tip of the hat to ABC-- again.


Sunday, 6/21

Merlin; NBC. 7 pm. Series Premiere.
A modern take on the classic story.
The subject is something I'm interested in, but the execution sounds terrible. Kind of a cross between a CW soap and a Sci Fi Channel original movie. Stay away.