Tag Archives: DVR

Not guilty at all

Posted on October 24, 2012 | Leave a comment

“Guilty Pleasures” week on Dancing with the Stars has been fun on a couple of levels.

(Yes, I am just now catching up on DVR.)

First, it’s fun to see what cliche songs ‘speak’ to the celebrities.  The theme to Titanic.  Copacabana by Barry Manilow.  Disco anthems.

Stars…they’re just like us.

Which leads to the second thing I enjoy — imagining what song I would select in the same circumstance.

The Barry Manilow song catalog would be a good place to start, although probably one of the love ballads like Ships or Weekend in New England.  Or maybe I would pick a hit from the Kansas ‘Point of No Return’ album.

I thought they were very deep at the time.

Or we could always pull out the soundtrack to Les Miserables.

Bring Him Home should score a ’10′ with the judges.

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Posted in Broadway, dancing, Entertainment, Humor, Music, Television

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This just in

Posted on July 24, 2012 | Leave a comment

A few of my friends — okay, really just one, but I hate to name names — have had a lot of fun on Twitter slamming Aaron Sorkin’s new HBO series The Newsroom.

To be fair, said friend slams a lot of other shows as well, but since I happen to agree with most of those observations, I don’t take issue.

But when he repeatedly tweetslaps –and retweetslaps — The Newsroom?

I cannot stand idly by.

Now, even I will admit the pilot was an explosion of exposition and classic Sorkin sermons.  But if we wrote off every series’ first episode for being exposition-heavy, the Harry Potter movies would have ended at Sorcerer’s Stone.  

You have to establish characters before you can build relationships.  That’s a given.

For those of you lucky enough to have stuck around for Sunday night’s episode of The Newsroom, your patience was rewarded.  Fewer sermons.  More focus on the relationships in the newsroom (which, if you’ve worked in one, do blow up like that from time to time).  Even some cultural references to add to the fun.  And did a few of you shed a tear at the ending?

I’ll take that bet.

And I’ll be DVRing The Newsroom this season.  And next.

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Posted in Commentary, Entertainment, Humor, Life, News, Television, TV

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Chris crossed

Posted on May 1, 2012 | Leave a comment

While catching up on my late night programming this morning, I saw that actor Chris Evans – the guy in the Star Trek remake — was on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

I could watch that.

But when I did, it wasn’t Captain Kirk at all.  It was Captain America from the new Avengers movie.

I had my superheroes — and my Chrises — all mixed up.

Chris Evans

Chris Pine

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In my defense, the two do look a lot a like.  They’re even the same age (well, Chris Pine is one year older).  And they’ve both been seen on the big screen in a series of lighthearted romantic comedies before they buffed up for their bigger-than-life, save-the-planet roles.

Chris Evans was in The Nanny Diaries with his current Avengers co-star Scarlett Johansson (shown at left), and in What’s Your Number? with funny lady Anna Faris.

In his early days, Chris Pine romanced Anne Hathaway in Princess Diaries 2 and Lindsay Lohan in Just My Luck.

There’s a title for ya.

But seriously — would you have known the difference if I hadn’t given you a primer?  I mean, would you?  Really?

(Say no.  I need reassurance that my synapses are firing correctly.)

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Posted in Celebrities, Entertainment, Humor, Life, Movies, Television, TV

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Limitless

Posted on April 22, 2012 | 3 Comments

Dear Time Warner Cable:  Two is not enough.

(As in the number of HD shows I can record concurrently per DVR.)

I have always been aware of this restriction.  But there will come a night — like tonight, Sunday night — when I have three shows in one given time slot that I want to watch and/or record.

And I’m forced to make Sophie’s Choice.

Yes, I know some or all of these programs may be available online. But call me old-fashioned — I like watching my favorite shows on my big ol’ LCD TV.

Not on my laptop or iPad.  Unless forced.

And this ‘two program limit per DVR’ is forcing me to not watch television in the comfort of my own living room.

Harumph.

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Posted in Business, Entertainment, Humor, Internet, Life, Philosophy, Technology, Television

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Prince charming

Posted on February 13, 2012 | 1 Comment

Colin Firth has been called a prince on several occasions.

Last night, he got a chance to showcase his skills.

As last year’s BAFTRA Best Actor Award winner for The King’s Speech, he was called upon to present the 2012 Best Actress BAFTRA Award at last night’s ceremony.  (I watched the festivities on DVR this morning during breakfast.)

Meryl Streep won for The Iron Lady, but the events that followed prove that winning ain’t always easy.

As Streep started walking toward the stage, she realized she had brought her purse, so she quickly shoved it into the hands of a woman on the aisle.  Then — in a Cinderella moment that couldn’t have been scripted — Streep left a shoe on the stage steps.

Thinking on his feet, Firth rescued her pump, knelt before the newly crowned Best Actress, and put it back on.

He was rewarded with a kiss.

Streep was thoughtful and gracious in her remarks, but I wasn’t really paying attention. We had just witnessed this spontaneous, movie-like moment.

Her speech was simply the credits.

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Posted in Celebrities, Entertainment, Humor, Life, Movies, Oscars, Relationships, Television, TV

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When I’m wrong

Posted on October 6, 2011 | Leave a comment

Back in March of last year, I spanked Ron Howard’s new family drama Parenthood.

It had suffered the double misfortune of being forced to miscast its lead actress (Maura Tierney, who had become seriously ill) and enter the television year at mid-season, following the hugely popular breakout comedy Modern Family.

Thanks for playing, guys, but the family show and hit of the year had already been crowned.

I was also disappointed in what I found to be stereotypical characters and storylines.  But I had already set the DVR — the cast, including Lauren Graham, Peter Krause and T. Craig Nelson, was really good, after all — so I hung around to see what developed.

Two years later, I’m still here. 

And last night, when Alex broke up with Haddie — and told Kristina that she was the mother he had never had and that he loved their family — it was gut-wrenching.  I literally blubbered.  As I struggled to see the TV screen through my tears, the memory of that blog entry floated in my memory’s eye.

Mea culpa.

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Posted in Blogging, Blogs, Celebrities, Comedy, Commentary, Entertainment, Family, Humor, Life, Love, Relationships, Television, TV, Writing

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Broom clean

Posted on September 19, 2011 | Leave a comment

A friend of mine was doing a bit of spring cleaning yesterday.  She even posted pics on Facebook so we could choose from piles of ‘giveaway items’ that were forming in her apartment.

Of course, it’s not really spring.

But I understood her ‘urge to purge.’  I too was cleaning closets yesterday in preparation for…

The fall television season

Yesterday was the perfect day to do it, too.  The Emmy Awards were last night, so I  could put the previous TV season to bed.  I was thrilled with some winners, and sad for some folks who were overlooked yet again (Steve Carell).

Then I shook it off and set the DVR for this week’s season premieres of the new and returning fall shows.

It’s a clean start. It’s hopeful.  It’s new.

And it should be almost a week before the networks start cleaning house.

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No deal

Posted on September 18, 2011 | Leave a comment

I was catching up on my DVR backlog the other night and caught the end of a commercial for term life insurance targeted at seniors.

As an incentive, the company is offering all applicants — get ready — a deck of large print playing cards absolutely FREE!

Really?

At retail, a deck of cards costs between $2-3, and the insurance company is no doubt getting a volume discount.

What happened to the good old days when customers were plied with, at the very least, home appliances?  Heck, a cheap toaster is only $12.  Isn’t an long-term insurance contract worth that much?

And cost aside, are playing cards even — excuse the pun — a draw?  They caught my eye because they were so cheap…but will folks in the target market pick up the phone just to play solitaire?

But then again, it was enough to inspire me to go on and on for this long.  So maybe Granny has already gone ‘all in.’

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Posted in Business, Family, Games, Humor, Relationships

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Alone again

Posted on August 22, 2011 | Leave a comment

Sunday, bloody Sunday.

You’ve been my favorite night of television all summer.

But last night The Glee Project wrapped, with Damian and Samuel winning the right to a seven-episode arc on the prime time version of Glee.

In true gleek fashion, the Irish import and the Christian rocker prevailed to share the crown.  The other two runners-up also received  two-episode stints on the show.

Even Cameron, who left the competition early because he didn’t ‘fit in,’ was voted fan favorite.

Everyone’s a winner on The Glee Project.

And last Sunday, Food Network Star also came to a close, with fan favorite — and my choice from early on — Jeff Mauro the Sandwich King getting his own show.

The first episode aired yesterday morning, and it was pretty slick, thanks to the Food Network production team.  I think Jeff should settle in quite nicely.  (As he pointed out himself, he is ‘kinda cuddly.’)

So now Sunday nights are left to only the critters and crazies on True Blood.

Granted, there is enough insanity on that one show alone to carry Sunday night.  But I will kinda miss all the DVR juggling — and Twitter avoidance — I had to manage to watch all three programs without having outcomes or plot twists spoiled.  It made the vast wasteland that is the Monday-thru-Friday’s-of-summer a little easier to bear.

Everyone who’s psyched for premiere week, raise your werepanther!

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Posted in Advertising, Celebrities, Commentary, Entertainment, Humor, Television, TV

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Johnny on the spot

Posted on May 22, 2011 | Leave a comment

For someone who doesn’t stay up all that late, I spend a lot of time watching late night television — about three or more hours each day, thanks to my DVR.

I should really be thanking Johnny Carson.

After all, he created the late night genre as we know it. All the current late night hosts have cited Carson as a major influence.

None of them are Carson, but they all have little pieces of him in their repertoire.

Jimmy Fallon has his joy.  David Letterman his creativity.  Conan his self-doubt.  Craig Ferguson his dirty mind.  And Jay Leno?

Well, Jay Leno just has his time slot.

It’s hard to believe that it was 19 years ago today that Carson signed off after hosting the Tonight Show for 30 years:

And so it has come to this: I, uh — am one of the lucky people in the world; I found something I always wanted to do, and I have enjoyed every single minute of it.

I want to thank the gentlemen who’ve shared this stage with me for thirty years, Mr. Ed McMahon — Mr. Doc Severinsen — and — you people watching, I can only tell you that it has been an honor and a privilege to come into your homes all these years and entertain you — and I hope when I find something that I want to do, and I think you would like, and come back, that you’ll be as gracious in inviting me into your home as you have been.

I bid you a very heartfelt good night.

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