A Rubber Door » Television

Ultra-high doses of “Breaking Bad”

Speener — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 13:06:31 +0000

When Breaking Bad debuted 3 years ago, I heard and ignored all of the accolades and all the recommendations from friends. Recently though, we decided to go through an intense round of Breaking Bad to catch up. Two seasons in about a month.

Wow.

I’ve done this before with other series, but Breaking Bad is as intense a show as I’ve ever seen, so watching this many episodes in such a short period of time is mentally exhausting. At the beginning of season 1 and into season 2, Breaking Bad seemed to be a weekly expose on how to suck at being a drug dealer. As season 2 has progressed, it’s become much more character driven and dealt with some weighty themes. Walt’s sinister side. Jesse’s vulnerability. Cause and effect. The thin line between good and bad.

Some of these episodes require a break after watching, but we’ll power through so that we’re all caught up in time for season 4 to begin on July 17, 2011.

I may need a Valium by then.

Top 10 Cars of Television and Movies

Spencer — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 13:00:49 +0000

With the A-Team coming out this week and the news that James Bond’s iconic Aston Martin is going to auction, I thought putting together a list of my favorite movie or TV cars.

Here’s my list:

Speed Racer – The Mach 5
James Bond – Aston Martin
Knight Rider – Kitt – Trans Am
Dukes of Hazzard – The General Lee*
The A-Team van
Bullit – The Mustang
Smokey and the Bandit – Trans Am
Batman – The Batmobile
Scooby Doo – The Mystery Machine
Spenser for Hire – Hawk’s Six series BMW

What are your suggestions? I struggled after 8.

*A co-worker questioned the General Lee because of the confederate flag on the front. I guess I never viewed this as a problem at the time. Of course I was 11 years old and the controversy of the flag didn’t hit me. So I think I have to adjust my list – not remove the General Lee, but it shouldn’t be #1 on the list.

Lost Across the Sea Recap – An episode that challenges the faithful and the patient

Spencer — Thu, 13 May 2010 00:19:43 +0000

via nydailynews.com

After all these years of Lost, I’m annoyed at my fellow fans. Obviously last night’s episode Across the Sea was important to the overall story and covered facts that needed to be told. As such it was an transitional episode – an episode that sets up the next few episodes.

I think after all this time the producers of Lost deserve our loyalty, our faith. I’m reserving judgement until the story is told and not until then.

As for the episode. It is very apparent to me that Locke and Jack are Jacob and his brother. The scene where MIB tells Jacob that he has found a way off he island and Jacob responds that he doesn’t want to leave the island – that the island was his home – that’s a scene that Jack and Locke did earlier in the series. Man of Faith, Man of Science.

Also, I found it interesting that the two brothers were conceived off the island and born there. The protector can’t be conceived on the island – this is the reason for the fertility experiments (led by Ben who is aligned with Jacob) and ultimately why Jacob goes to find his replacement off the island.

Also – did you notice that CJ (Alison Janey) was killed by MIB without her saying a word?

One thing I didn’t like was the end, after the death of CJ and MIB, when Jacob arranges them in the cave, where the directors showed Jack and Kate finding their bodies years later. Lost is generally good at not making such overt hints – they reward their most attentive, faithful watchers and give them much more credit than this. That was the sort of thing that we would have figured out, but obviously it was so important we couldn’t be trusted not to catch it.

What were your thoughts?

Posted via web from iamspencer’s posterous

Conan O’Brien: The Tonight Show at 12:05 isn’t the Tonight Show

Spencer — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 00:45:00 +0000

Following up on my post earlier this week – Conan O’Brien tells NBC to suck it. Now I will admit to loving drama, hating NBC (they cancelled Life!), and never liking Jay Leno; so I love this. NBC is getting exactly what they deserve. You might be seeing the move that turns NBC into a cable network. Conan goes to Fox at 11 PM, cleans Leno’s clock, so now both primetime and late night are a shambles at NBC.

It’s what TV has become , that they couldn’t give Leno or O’Brien time for his show to build – the way Late Night with Conan O’Brien did. If you look at the shows that wouldn’t exist if they couldn’t wait – Seinfeld, The Office, 30 Rock, X-Files, etc. Not every show is Lost or ER – a smash hit out the gate. And for every Lost we have 3 Heroes – a show that looks good early, but can’t keep it up.

Here’s O’Brien’s statement:

People of Earth:

In the last few days, I’ve been getting a lot of sympathy calls, and I want to start by making it clear that no one should waste a second feeling sorry for me. For 17 years, I’ve been getting paid to do what I love most and, in a world with real problems, I’ve been absurdly lucky. That said, I’ve been suddenly put in a very public predicament and my bosses are demanding an immediate decision.

Six years ago, I signed a contract with NBC to take over The Tonight Show in June of 2009. Like a lot of us, I grew up watching Johnny Carson every night and the chance to one day sit in that chair has meant everything to me. I worked long and hard to get that opportunity, passed up far more lucrative offers, and since 2004 I have spent literally hundreds of hours thinking of ways to extend the franchise long into the future. It was my mistaken belief that, like my predecessor, I would have the benefit of some time and, just as important, some degree of ratings support from the prime-time schedule. Building a lasting audience at 11:30 is impossible without both.

But sadly, we were never given that chance. After only seven months, with my Tonight Show in its infancy, NBC has decided to react to their terrible difficulties in prime-time by making a change in their long-established late night schedule.

Last Thursday, NBC executives told me they intended to move the Tonight Show to 12:05 to accommodate the Jay Leno Show at 11:35. For 60 years the Tonight Show has aired immediately following the late local news. I sincerely believe that delaying the Tonight Show into the next day to accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting. The Tonight Show at 12:05 simply isn’t the Tonight Show. Also, if I accept this move I will be knocking the Late Night show, which I inherited from David Letterman and passed on to Jimmy Fallon, out of its long-held time slot. That would hurt the other NBC franchise that I love, and it would be unfair to Jimmy.

So it has come to this: I cannot express in words how much I enjoy hosting this program and what an enormous personal disappointment it is for me to consider losing it. My staff and I have worked unbelievably hard and we are very proud of our contribution to the legacy of The Tonight Show. But I cannot participate in what I honestly believe is its destruction. Some people will make the argument that with DVRs and the Internet a time slot doesn’t matter. But with the Tonight Show, I believe nothing could matter more.

There has been speculation about my going to another network but, to set the record straight, I currently have no other offer and honestly have no idea what happens next. My hope is that NBC and I can resolve this quickly so that my staff, crew, and I can do a show we can be proud of, for a company that values our work.

Have a great day and, for the record, I am truly sorry about my hair; it’s always been that way.

Yours,

Conan

I love that Conan has enough respect for the Tonight Show to allow it to continue the way it should – for an hour at 11:30.

Here’s to Conan and Letterman continuing NBCs demise.

Top 10 List of Late Night Talk Show Hosts Better than Leno

Spencer — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 13:42:54 +0000

It’s been 4 short months since Jay Leno single handedly ruined NBC television. So now he goes and ruins late night once again. The fact that Leno won the battle against Letterman had nothing to do with quality, it was luck and following Johnny Carson. To prove my point, here’s a top 10 list of late night talk show hosts better than Jay Leno.

Jon Stewart
David Letterman
Conan O’Brien
Craig Ferguson
Stephen Colbert
Wanda Sykes
Jimmy Fallon
Jimmy Kimmel
Carson Daly
Mike “The Situation” (from the Jersey Shore)

OK – maybe it’s a stretch on those last two, but honestly I enjoy Jersey Shore more than Leno.

I’d like to give Conan O’Brien a little advice – don’t take the 12:05 spot. Settle with them, take the money, and run to Fox. There you can bring back your old show, and clean his clock.

RIP CSI Miami

Spencer — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 13:58:53 +0000

So CSI Miami has decided to mimic the other CSIs only without the talent or quality. They were tired of people laughing at them (I thought they were laughing with us). So now CSI Miami might as well be NCIS (that’s not a complement). How have they changed?

No more snappy Horatio one liners
No more quick removal of the sunglasses
No more Alex making mental love to her corpses
No more Horatio talking to Eric – because there’s no Eric

They even added more ugly – er – normal looking CSIs. (Of course the guy they replaced Delko with could be a model).

The problem here is that the scripts are still ridiculous and the acting still horrible, but without the pithy humor to distract us from all that. I often said that I liked CSI Miami because I thought the writers and actors were in on the joke. I mean seriously, Elizabeth Berkley? Mala noche justice? Do you think we can respect you after 8 years of that kind of cheese? As Whitney would say – “Hell to the no”.

CSI Miami – I’ll miss you.

IFCs Bollywood Hero Flash Mob

Spencer — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 13:04:13 +0000

This is promoted as a “flash” mob – but it’s more like a “meticulously planned and choreographed” mob. Anyway the second night of Bollywood Hero appears on IFC tonight. And yes, it features music by Michael Penn.

New Music from Michael Penn

Spencer — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 22:49:14 +0000

At long last here’s some new music from Michael Penn. This is from a soundtrack he did for the upcoming IFC mini-series Bollywood Hero staring Chris Kattan. Track two has a little help from Mrs. Penn: Aimee Mann.

The Daily Show in Iran

Spencer — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 03:35:02 +0000

If you haven’t seen this – it’s hilarious. Daily Show corespondent Jason Jones goes to Iran and in this segment he aims to find out who knows more: Americans about Iran or Iranians about America. The results might surprise you. (Not me though).

Jon & Kate plus 8 million

Spencer — Sun, 31 May 2009 12:21:42 +0000

I will go on record as always disliking this show and I have never watched a full episode. Still I think I am a good judge of character and I can tell there is a total lack of it in all ends. I am absolutely disgusted with this show, the parents, the network – everyone involved.

The only purpose for this show at this stage is money. The parents can’t stand each other. Their families are beginning to turn on them. The children have to live their life on a stage. Yes, the only reasons for this show to go on is for Kate and TLC to make her money on the backs of their children.

An interesting thing about this whole thing is that even though it’s Jon that may have cheated, it’s Kate that seems to come out on the short end of public opinion. She’s comes off as an aggressively ambitious and pampered woman that has pimped out her family for money. I can not imagine what it would be like to married to her. Not that Jon is blameless in all this – he’s spineless shell of a man and just watches as his family is destroyed. Let’s not forget TLC – they had 8 million viewers this past week, their largest ever audience, to watch Jon & Kate squirm in front of them. It’s the same instinct that causes people to look at accidents on the side of the road.

Let me add to this that the Pennsylvania Department of Labor are stepping in response to a complaint about child labor. It’s about time someone with some common sense step in and do what’s right for the children. The children deserve some sanity.

The best thing that we can for them is not watch. It would take away some of the profit motive as well as affording them some dignity.

But as long as those children help puts the family in large house after large house I have to think there’ll be a network broadcasting them and people willing to watch.