Two Guys, a Girl and a Blog

I am very proud of Conan O’Brien today. After I read the story and his statement ,my first and final emotion was nothing less than pride. He’s right. Everyone knows he is right and though everyone expected the congenial host to step aside and let Leno/The Network have their way, he didn’t.

I am  not a part of the Leno hate and even stated in our weekly podcast that this past summer’s ”Leno hate is bullshit” because it was. He’s not a bad guy. He’s just a lame duck who can’t quite let go and honestly….who hasn’t been put in that position before? Obviously not the position of a host of a comedy institution but of not wanting to let go of a place that you felt welcome, loved and successful. That was Jay and so I get it.

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I’m going to come out of the closet and admit my secret shame — I don’t own a DVR yet. Many people do (elitist bastards who’ll be the first against the wall when the revolution comes) but there’s still quite a few of us out there that have to deal with VCR program settings, trying to avoid leaving the house during prime time, and fighting the desire to procure television by all means necessary. The major networks have provided online players as an alternative for the dvr-less.  I’ve been using the major networks ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX for some time now. I recently used a few cable networks as well. Here I’ll list the top network players from best to worse.

Pluses (+)

(+)You can view most of their television shows online.

(+)They utilize lesser commercials breaks than the aired television shows.

(+)You can chose clearly marked episode chapters. Just missed the last few minutes of an episode? You don’t have to sit through the full airing to get to the good stuff.

(+)The full screen is decently sized.

(+) There is continuous episode play.

(+) The streaming player doesn’t require a pop up so that’s always nice  when you’re wanting to use less memory.

(+) The website updates episodes the day after it airs on TV.

Minuses(-)

(-) They typically only offer the past 4 shows.

(-) They do not offer their full lineup online rather two minute replays for a few.

Pluses (+)

(+) ABC offers pretty much all its shows online. They even offer every season of Lost just in case you’re wanting to catch up.

(+) In the past they’ve also offer a few online exclusives such as Voicemail.

(+) They stream unaired television shows online as well.  Remember when October Road was pretty much cancelled before the writers strike? Well you could’ve viewed the unaired eps here.

(+) They offer an expansive HD showcase which looks quite nice on the larger/high quality monitors.

(+) They have online sections for speciality items such as interviews between intermingled ABC actors and music videos of the most viral ABCesque videos

(+) ABC.com typically offers the full current season for viewing.

Minuses (-)

(-) In order to continue viewing the show after the commercial breaks, you must consistently press ‘continue’

(-) Depending on the show they may insert more commercials than the typically aired amount

(-) It is a pop up the player.

(-)  ABC.com experiences more downage than the competitors.

Pluses (+)

(+) Very memorable link. It’s the only I can remember by heart.

(+) Fox online offers most of their shows sans some reality TV offerings

(+) Tech wise I’ve yet to find a computer that will not play their streaming media.

(+)  I’ve yet to see a commercial played so its pretty much commercial free. They keep threatening commercials but I’ve yet to see one.

(+)  They seem to utilize the surround sound better than any other show as well. Shows come through crystal clear in sound as well.

Minuses (-)

(-) They can take up to 2 days to upload an episode. The others typically have next day availability.

(-) FOX only offers 3 previously aired episodes.

(-) The images get stuck playing ever so often.

Pluses (+)

(+) CBS offers full episodes of past great shows such as Macguyver, Beverly Hills 90210,  Twin Peaks & Dynasty

(+) CBS has recently started offering a HD showcase which features clips and a few episodes of its prime-time programming.

(+) They offer full episodes and clips of their daytime  programming which is a rarity among online players

Minuses (-)

(-) Incredibly disorganized. It takes a few moments to try to find what  you’re looking to see

(-) The commercial breaks are poorly timed

(-) CBS does not offer all or much of their prime-time programming via full episodes rather offering small clips of popular shows like The New Adventures of Old Christine and Criminal Minds

(-) The player often gets stuck and replays a section unless you intervene and try to fast forward to the next section.

(-) No true full screen abilities and the larger the image the poorer the quality.

Other networks and online entities make viewing offerings as well. Here are a few links you might want to bookmark.

http://www.tnt.tv/dramavision/

http://www.cwtv.com/cw-video

http://www.usanetwork.com/fullepisodes/

http://www.tbs.com/video/index/

http://www.adultswim.com/video

http://www.comedycentral.com/funny_videos/index.jhtml

http://www.hulu.com/tv

We all grew up watching him didn’t we? Not on purpose through our younger years and only later when we were in college or were up after being out all Saturday night did we see him. We didn’t know what we were missing were we? Soon we’d see him eloquently and expertly interview his guest. He would intertwine questions with anecdotes regarding the power play happening daily in our nations capital. Although he wasn’t the original host of Meet the Press to many of us he WAS Meet the Press. Today not only the television world but the world at large loses a great man of vast intelligence, grace, humility, humor, heart, and curiosity. My Sunday morning talk shows will be less fulfilling and I can’t imagine who could possibly step into this great mans shoes. Rest in Peace Mr. Russert. You will be greatly missed. We thank you for your years of making our Sunday mornings informative and compelling.

Okay I know everyone is thinking about it and so I had to write about it here on our pretty much defunct website that will prolly only be kept going by random tv moments that spark one of us has to say something. Okay blah blah writers strike. Yar blah blah prolly going to ABC. blah blah blah. I’m sorry but COME ON! Surely you could’ve had a better season ender than an episode that was probably meant for the very start of the season. Fuck I would’ve rather you let the episode in which Dr. Kelso left be the end. It was far more appropriate of a season (and possibly series) ender than THAT! I started the episode by tuning in and seeing Dr. Kelso. I watched it with a friend and we both turned to each other with a look of “How did we get put in this crazy pre Kelso leaving world?” We quickly accused each other of making us miss an episode that would explain this and just as we were about to come to blows then frikkin Dudemeister shows up and we knew that this was an episode shown entirely out of order and entirely going to be a let down. Boy was it! Now ,of course, I can admit that as a random one off episode then its quite nice. It would’ve made a good second episode of the season. It was a cute way to wrap up the near kiss and start out the season. I SAID START WHICH IS THE OPPOSITE OF END! IF YOU ARE CONFUSED THEN PLEASE SEE AN EPISODE OF SESAME STREET FOR GROVER TO EXPLAIN THE DEFINITIONS TO YOU! Yes scrubs has made me hit the caps lock to explain my rage. Hey I know the show is probably going to ABC. It will probably be explained why the episode aired like this. Of course the internet is abuzz with a few reasons such as that the cold hearted NBC company forced them to air this out of order episode in order to kill any possible viewers who’d be willing to watch the show when it goes to ABC. If they did then its not a bad plan. Since they are the company that screwed Letterman and gave us Fear Factor then I could see them doing something like that but I think it can all be explained by blaming that pesky writers strike and timing. I think if anything it’ll drive viewers to the possible ABC showing because everyone wants to know what the hell happened and what the hell is going on. My hope–That much like CSI and 2 1/2 men that Grey’s and Scrubs trade writers. Oh what fun that would be! Scrubs on NBC is done. Lets see what 2008/2009 brings us. It could be the best season yet….if the deal ever happens.

Did anyone Catch The Biggest Loser tonight? I did. OMG Did I! Jillian Michaels went crazy when she felt one of her girls was being picked on by Alison Sweeney. Of course its been building up in all the girls plus Jillian for some time now. Its four girls against four men and four big men at that. Its an entirely unfair competition. The men will always vote to save the men and the girls will almost always lose less weight. This isn’t a fair game at all. Of course when it comes to reality television it never is.

We heard Jillian let a set of bleeps loose earlier in the show and then when it got to weigh in she just wasn’t having it. I love Jillian. I like that she gets mad and tells the truth. I love that she pushes her team. I love that she’s done her own weight loss trip and came back to tell us all about it. She will always be my favorite trainer as compared to Bob who seems to be a faux nice guy with a simpering stupid smile on his face through it all. I could not stand him as he smiled tonight and said he thought it was anyones game to win. Really Bob? All your years of training says that womens bodies lose weight the same way as men? Really? LIAR!

This week we saw the return of two eliminated players and both of those players came back to win. At the end of the episode we see two women (Britney and Maggie) up for elimination. So once again the men win it. Its unfair. I’d love to see a biggest loser winner who is a woman but that doesn’t seem very possible. I think they should make it a co-title and leave it that way. However if they don’t then I hope Jillian will drop more f-bombs over this game and vent the frustration for the rest of us. F^&$ Men!

Jillian – I think we should leave her alone. She’s had a really bad week. I’m asking everybody to just have a f****ng heart for once. Leave the f****ng girl alone.
Alison – Jillian, I didn’t realize she had a bad week. Why don’t you tell me what you mean?
Jillian – It seems as though the question is being poised like “are you going to win?” – which she knows is impossible for her to do, and that’s really unfair.

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Each week we watch one show and offer up three opinions. Many times we agree and other times we fight to the death to decide whose opinion is right. Unfortunately you won’t get to see the thunderdome but whats left is One Show, Three Opinions. This week is Knight Rider

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Enjoy this classic episode of Doogie Houser, M.D., in which our hero and Vinnie get held hostage by a gang member who wears tight pants (I know, right?) at the convenience store where V works. Classic TV weekends is made possible by Hulu.
Doogie Houser, M. D. Season 1 Episode 20: “Use A Slurpy, Go To Jail”

I’ve been using NBC’s new video website, Hulu, since November. It’s by far one of the best video sites on the net. . It has lots of cool little features like the “dim the lights” button which turns the white area of the screen dark grey to help you see the video better. The videos are high quality, and the amount of content is amazing. Hulu has tv shows, movies, and clips of tv shows such as continue reading »

As we all know by now the WGA is striking. I must say that despite our support of the WGA I am interested to see how the late night crew will handle their returns. We won’t be seeing Stewart/Colbert until next week but tonight we finally saw continue reading »