Heroes Season 3 Preview

OMG

Battlestar Galactica

OK. So LOST's season 4 has been incredible.

In contrast, BSG's season 4 (which is also the last) has been very spotty to me.

It's like they have an awesome episode one week followed by a lame episode. This week's episode was superb. But last week's episode was one of the all time worst. I mean as bad or worse than the horrendous "Black Market" episode. Is it a coincidence that they both featured Lee acting out of character? What makes it worse is that they should have known better. Also, it's the last season and we want to find out about the final 5. They don't have time to waste on a vanity filler episode.

In the episode ("Sine Qua Non"), they dedicate nearly the entire thing to Lee trying to find a replacement for the President, presumed dead after disappearing on the base ship. You can see what they're doing from a mile away. It was like they thought "We need an episode featuring Romo Lampkin so let's bring the story to a screeching halt to do it." For the record, I hate the character of Romo Lampkin.

I'm very interested in listening to Ron Moore's podcast for this episode to see what he says about it.

Apple TV Fun

So I got an Apple TV for my birthday.

I got it for an awesome price. I found the last one in the clearance rack at a Sam's Club. They were selling it for $179. I took the card to a register and paid and went to the customer service desk to pick it up. They couldn't find it. They called someone over from electronics and they looked and couldn't find it. So he said they'd sell me the floor model and the customer service manager said she'd sell it to me for $125. (HELL YEAH!) So then he couldn't find the floor model. I must have been there for at least a half hour. They apologized over and over and then started to give me a refund when another CSR came back from break and said "We used to have a ton of these." She opened the cage and moved a box and there it was. The last one. They ended up giving it to me for the $125 price for my trouble.

After hooking it up to my TV via HDMI and connecting it to the Ethernet switch in my entertainment center, I got it up and running. I have it synced to my Mac Mini, which has some movies and TV shows on it. It also is syncing my photos from iPhoto (the photos are actually stored on my Windows Home Server box).

It came with Software 1.0 and had to download a software update to version 2.

Viewing photos and videos on it is an absolutely amazing experience. It is so much nicer than the TiVo Series2 I currently have conected to the TV for home media. (I watch and record TV with the Moxi DVR provided by Charter.) Even the TV shows purchased from iTunes look good. Not as good as real 720p files, of course, but still much better than they look over the TiVo.

You can watch YouTube videos on it as well. As you can imagine, they look like ass.

I've rented a couple of high-def movies on it from the iTunes store. Apple says that with a broadband connection you should be able to start watching movies within a couple of minutes. That is such a joke. Apple apparently needs to beef up their servers. It takes HOURS before you can start watching a movie. They really need to fix that. My movie renting is spontaneous and I want it to start now not in 7 hours. But once you are able to watch it, the picture quality is pretty amazing.

Psych

I love this show!

Moxi DVR 4.1 Upgrade Rocks!

I received the Moxi DVR 4.1 software upgrade this week from Charter. There are so many improvements. First of all, performance is noticably faster. Navigating the menus is faster, scrolling is faster, response time is faster, searching is faster. There are also a lot of small UI improvements, like subtle fading in and out, a better font, and the info banner kind of bounces when it appears or disappears. It's flashy and functional at the same time. You can also attach an external hard drive to one of the USB 2 ports in the back and expand your storage.

Heroes!

Last night's episode of "Heroes" was just amazing! This show has come to be one of my all-time favorites. Every week the show continues to amaze me at how well-done it is.

What the heck is up with "Lost"?

After a string of exciting "Lost" episodes, things really screeched to a halt this week. I mean, it opened with a bang, but even the impact of that fizzled as it was shown about a hundred times. I never really cared for the character of Desmond, but I did enjoy the last episode that featured him. I just don't understand why they had yet another Desmond flashback episode so soon. I mean, I couldn't care less that the reason he calls everyone "brotha" is because he went to a monestary. The wierd photoshopped picture of the monk with Data's mom tied in this episode with the previous Desmond episode. But... meh.

Also, why the heck have the losties not moved into the houses the others left behind?

Bye Bye Sanjaya!

Well, America finally got rid of Sanjaya. It's about time! I feel bad (a little) for the kid, but his continued presence was turning the show into a joke.

Charter Expands HDTV Lineup!

Charter has added four new HD channels today in my area (Gwinnett GA): The CW, Stars, ESPN2, and MHD (Music HD, which apparently plays content from MTV, VH1 and CMT). This brings our HD channel count up 19 channels!

The only thing we need now is for Charter to release the Moxi 4.1 update which brings speed boosts and support for external USB drives and PC Link. Come on, Charter, we're waiting!

American Idol

I can't believe that Sanjaya did not get voted off. I was actually willing to give him a pass if they voted off Chris with the bad fro for what he did to that song. I wonder if Sanjaya ever feels bad because more deserving people are being voted off while he stays. You know, the longer he stays, the bigger the talent gap will be between him and the people with actual talent, like Melinda.

American Idol

Of course I have been watching "American Idol." America finally got rid of Antonella. She's pretty, but she couldn't carry a tune if it had a handle. Speaking of not being able to carry a tune, I can not believe that Sanjaya made it to the top 12. There is just no way he is a better singer than Jared or Sundance!

Heroes!

OK, Heroes is the best show on TV. Simply amazing. I can not wait until it starts back up in April. I've felt that two of my other favorite shows, Lost and Battlestar Galactica, have not been as good this season. Heroes keeps getting better and better each episode.

Heroes!

NBC has announced that Heroes, the best new show on TV, has been renewed for a second season. This show is amazing. You can catch the current full episodes on NBC's web site. They also have a cast commentary feature where you can watch the episode with actor commentary video playing with the episode. Very cool... Oh, and George Takei (Star Trek's Sulu) will appear next week as Hiro's father!

Sci Fi picks up Night Stalker

The Sci-Fi Channel has picked up the first season of “Night Stalker.” It would be nice if they kept it going, but at least I’ll get to see the conclusion to the last episode that ABC aired, in addition to the other episodes that never aired.

Night Stalker canceled

ABC has canceled Night Stalker, starring Stuart Townsend and Gabrielle Union. It’s not surprising the show didn’t get that great of ratings since it was on Thursday nights against CSI. But I liked it. It was very much like X-Files – the show was created by one of the X-Files producers – even though it was a remake of an old suckalicious 70s cheese-fest. What really sucks is that ABC has pulled it from the schedule and last week’s episode ended unresolved with a “To Be Continued.” They could at least play out the second half of the episode before canceling it. Bastards.

Lost

Holy crap! Lost was so good last night. After a slow start, this season has really taken off. Last night’s episode showed us a little more of Shannon’s background. Boone also reappeared in the flashbacks. Shannon started as very unlikable and over the course of last season, her character really developed. After the flashbacks, you really feel sorry for her and it’s some great insight into her character. ABC’s promos kept telling us that someone was going to die. The end was a total shocker. I won’t spoil what happened, but it was good! I hope you recorded it on your TiVo if you didn’t watch it last night! (And if you don’t have TiVo, read the previous post.)

NBC has given my favorite new sci-fi/mystery show this year "Surface" a full-season run. Cool. If you don't watch it, you should give it a try.

I can't believe that Sci-Fi Friday is over until January. I can't wait! Well, at least I now have new episodes of "Desperate Housewives", "Lost" and "Will & Grace" to tide me over. Yay!

I love Kathy Griffin. She is so funny! Watch her show My Life on the D-List on Bravo. (If you have TiVo, click this link for scheduling and info!) I can't believe that she didn't have a better turn out at her DVD signings. I don't even know what I would have done if she came here. I would so have been in line to have my Allegedly DVD signed. It is hilarious. You simply must buy it. Oh my God, if Kathy Griffin signed my DVD, I probably would have queened out and turned into some psycho Kathy Bates "Misery" fan...

I wonder if Kathy got to go to the MTV Awards. I read they had a fabulous $26,000 goody bag, and girlfriend loves a good gift bag. I would love to get some of those fancy gift bags. That would be so awesome! Though, I wonder if I would become jaded with them after a while. Kind of like the Slavon gift bags I used to get at work, and I would get all bitchy with "I do not need any more fraking Skin-So-Soft, thank you very much!" Hmm. Probably not, because they are definitely not giving celebrities junky Avon!

Sci-Fi Friday started up yesterday. AWESOME! It was a little depressing that Star Trek: Enterprise wasn't a part of it. But Battlestar Galactica was excellent and did not disappoint. It was also cool to see Skinner on Stargate Atlantis. Also, Carson has been upgraded to regular cast member, but it looks like Ford is out.

Wow. I usually did not care for the "mirror universe" episodes on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, but tonight's Star Trek: Enterprise episode "In a Mirror, Darkly" was awesome!

I can't believe that UPN cancelled Star Trek: Enterprise. I guess it doesn't really fit into their current programs. It's really unfortunate.

Stargate: Atlantis is my new favorite show. What's weird is that I just can't get into Stargate SG-1.

It's on the Sci-Fi Channel. Watch it!