Don't Call Me During...: Fall 2008 Edition

I know it's a a little early especially considering a lot of shows aren't returning until October (WTF?) but I've been lacking blogging inspiration.

Here is last year's list for comparison purposes (if you are interested).

New shows are in yellow.

Sunday:
8:00 - 8:30 PM: The Simpsons (FOX) - I should probably take this off because I only watch it when I'm in the mood and it's only good half the time.
9:00 - 9:30 PM: Desperate Housewives (ABC) - Every year, I say I'll drop it. Sometimes I actually do. But I always get sucked back into it
9:00 - 9:30 PM: True Blood (HBO) - Alan Ball (creator of Six Feet Under) and vampires. 'Nuff said.
10:00 - 11:00 PM: Brothers & Sisters (ABC)
10:00 - 10:30 PM: Entourage (HBO) - This show needs to redeem itself more than USA Basketball needed to in the Olympics
10:30 PM - 11:00 PM: Little Britain USA (HBO) - I loved the BBC version but I have no idea how this is going to work
11:00 - 11:30 PM: The Life & Times of Tim (HBO) - I really don't know much about this but it's animated and it's on HBO so I'll give it a shot

Monday:
8:00 - 9:00 PM: Gossip Girl (CW) - It was between this, Chuck and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles but the latter two I can watch on Hulu the next day
8:00 - 8:30 PM: The Big Bang Theory (CBS) - This show grew on me with it's geekiness
8:30 - 9:00 PM: How I Met Your Mother (CBS) - PLEASE WATCH THIS SHOW SO IT WON'T GET CANCELLED! PLEASE! PLEASE!!!!
9:00 - 10:00 PM: Heroes (NBC): Another show in need of redemption. I used to recommend that people get the season one DVD but I'm afraid they'll want to watch season two and be mad at me.

Tuesday:
8:00 - 9:00 PM: 90210 (CW): C'mon! Who's not curious?
8:00 - 9:00 PM: House (FOX)
9:00 - 10:00 PM: Fringe (FOX): Yay, Jasika!
9:00 - 10:00 PM: The Mentalist (CBS): Sounds like Psych but serious. I'll give it a shot.
10:00 - 11:00 PM: The Sheild (FX): Ok, who DOESN'T think Vic Mackey goes down this season?
10:00 - 11:00 PM: Eli Stone (ABC): It started corny but definitely closed out their short season strong.

Wednesday:
8:00 - 9:00 PM: Bones (FOX)
8:00 - 9:00 PM: Pushing Daisies (ABC) - PLEASE WATCH THIS SHOW SO IT WON'T GET CANCELLED! PLEASE! PLEASE!!!!
9:00 - 10:00 PM: Private Practice (ABC) - I'm a glutton for punishment
10:00 - 11:00 PM: Sons of Anarchy (FX) - Every show on FX gets a shot
10:00 - 11:00 PM: Dirty Sexy Money (ABC) - As does every show starring Peter Krause (Six Feet Under almuni)

Thursday:
8:00 - 9:00 PM: Ugly Betty (ABC) - I wonder how this show will look now that it's set in New York
8:00 - 8:30 PM: My Name Is Earl (NBC) - It hasn't been very good lately
8:30 - 9:00 PM: Kath & Kim (NBC) - Ehhhhh, we'll see
9:00 - 10:00 PM: Grey's Anatomy (ABC) - In my opinion, they shouldn't give Izzie a brain tumor. Give her oral herpes.
9:00 - 9:30 PM: The Office (NBC) - I hope Amy Ryan never leaves
9:30 - 10:00 PM: 30 Rock (NBC) - Have they done away with the constant Rachel Dratch cameos?
10:00 - 11:00 PM: Life on Mars (ABC) - I tried to watch the BBC version and really couldn't get into it. We'll see if it works better for me here.
10:00 - 10:30 PM: It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia (FX): This is probably the funniest show you aren't watching
10:30 - 11:00 PM: Testees (FX) - See Sons of Anarchy

Friday:
10:00 - 11:00 PM: Life (NBC): I started watching season one on Hulu and it's growing on me. Plus it stars Sarah Shahi (featured in my short list of famous women I'm attracted to)

Saturday:
11:30 PM - 1:00 AM: Saturday Night Live (NBC) - Who's the new head writer? You mean they didn't get a new one? Uh oh

Shows I'll Be Watching Via Other Means: Dexter (SHO), Chuck (NBC), Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (FOX)

I'm not counting how many hours of TV this is total. I already know I have a problem.

Lost Season Finale: Two Alternate Endings

Neither would have worked with everything we had been told prior so who did they think they were fooling.

Lost Season Four: "No Place Like Home" (Part II & III)

What I Liked:

• Sayid vs. Keamy! Sayid finally met his match
• The three year time leap allows them to use Walt again. Brilliant!
• Ben throwing all the metal in the chamber as Locke is told via that orientation video that no metal objects so be in the chamber
• Ken Leung did so much with his brief lines in the episode. I hope we get a lot more Miles
• With Charlotte, Miles and Daniel staying behind, we might actually get some backstory from them that we lost due to the writer's strike
  
• Yunjin Kim's Emmy clip
• I'll admit, I welled up a little bit when the shipmate said "Ms. Widmore." No matter what happens in the future as long as Desmond and Penny got together once makes me happy.
• This is probably the most information-heavy episode ever. A lot of the questions raised this season were addressed while leaving the big overall questions intact.
  
• Funny Line of the Night: "Dude, I've been having regular conversation with dead people. The last thing I need is paranoia."- Hurley
  
• Creepy Line of the Night: "Checkmate, Mr Eko." - Hurley
  
• Character Damning Line of the Night: "Lie to them Jack. If you do it half as well as you lie to yourself,they'll believe you." - Locke to Jack, regarding lying about the island
  
• Word of the Night: "So?" - Ben, regarding Locke telling him he's killed everyone on the freighter
  

What I Didn't Like:

• It wasn't as mind-blowing as other finales but I still loved it.
• Now that Penny and Desmond have been reunited, I'm worried about the fate of both characters
• I think the reason for the "lie" while solid wasn't sold very well. Also, I can't accept that everyone would have signed off on Jack's lie, especially Sun who looked like she would have stabbed him with a knife every time he looked in her direction.

What We Learned:

Flashforward (Oceanic Six)

• Cover story addendum: Boone, Libby, Charlie are the people they say died the initial crash but died afterwards*.
• It's been three years between rescued Jack and Wolfman Jack
• "Jeremy Bentham" was the guy in the coffin
• "Jeremy" came to Kate and told Kate the same thing about going back to the island
• Michael's mother and Walt come to see Hurley in the asylum.
• No one came to see Walt when they came back except "Jeremy."
• Sun goes to London and confronts Charles Widmore
• Sun offers to help Charles Widmore
• In a nightmare, Kate receives a weird backwards phone call saying "The island needs you. You have to go back before it's too late.". She goes to check on Aaron and Claire is in the room with him! Claire tells Kate not to bring Aaron back
• Jack goes back to the funeral home where he viewed Bentham's coffin and breaks in
• He sees Ben there
• "Jeremy" told Jack that he was off the island
• "Jeremy" told Jack that after he left the island, some very bad things happened and it was his fault for leaving and that he had to come back.
• Ben tells him that the island won't let him get back to the island alone. They all have to go back including Jeremy's body.
• Sun blames Jack for Jin
• Locke is Jeremy Bentham

Island:

• Locke would make a horrible florist
• Kate helps Richard Alpert & The Others set a trap for Team Keamy
• Hurley loves 15 year old crackers
• Locke tries to convince Jack to stay on the island.
• Locke tells him that if they leave, he will have to lie about the island to protect it
• Jack shares Robin Scherbatsky's belief that there are no such thing as miracles while Locke is more of a Marshall Eriksen.**
• Miles doesn't want to leave the island
• Charlotte has been to the island BEFORE according to Miles
• The Orchid Station comes with a new Orientation video. This time the doctor's name is Edward Halliwax.
• "Halliwax" explains that there is a Casimir Effect on the island allows them to move things through space/time
• Keamy cheats death a second time to pursue Ben in the Orchid and taunts him about killing Alex
• If Keamy dies, the detonator sets off the C4 and the freighter blows up
• Ben doesn't care and proves that while Keamy can survive a smoke monster and bullets, a knife works just fine
• Charlotte decides to stay after all because she "is looking for where she was born"
• The fuel tank of the chopper was hit with a bullet and they don't have enough fuel to make it to the freighter
• Sawyer whispers something in Kate's ear, kisses her then jumps out of the chopper ("Top that, Jack")
• Sayid kills a guy outside Hurley's asylum and sneaks in.
• Sayid tells Hurley that Bentham is dead.
• Sayid wants to take Hurley "somewhere safe"
• Hurley was playing chess with Mr. Eko.
• Jack makes Frank them leave without Jin (Jack, Sun, Aaron, Sayid, Hurley and Desmond are on before they take off)
• Christian tells Michael "He can go now" and the freighter blows up with Jin on it
• Sawyer makes it back to the island and sees Juliet on the beach getting drunk because she saw the freighter blow up
• Ben is going to move the island knowing he'll never come back and leaves leadership of the Others to Locke
• Ben goes through a whole behind the chamber opened up by the explosion he caused
• Ben hurts his arm falling off the ladder
• Ben spins the wheel and a noise similar to the hatch exploding starts to hit the sky
• A bright light hits the island and it disappears
• The chopper runs out of fuel and crashes in the water
• They all make it to the raft okay.
• They see a boat and before it comes to them, Jack tells everyone that they have to lie to protect everyone still on the island from whoever sent Keamy and put that fake plane in the water
• It's Penny's Boat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Penny tracked Desmond's phone call.
• Penny helps Jack cover up their story
• A week after Penny finds them, they sail to Membata to make the cover story work.
• Penny, Desmond and Frank presumably go into hiding

Questions:

• What does Miles mean when he says that Charlotte has been to the island before?
• Why did the orientation video start rewinding?
• Did Jin make it off the freighter or is he dead?
• What is Christian's true nature?
• Why won't they just say Bentham's real name?
• Why does Walt dress the same and have the same hairstyle three years after the plane crash?
• Wouldn't "Jeremy" have told Walt why they had to lie since it was his idea?
• Why does Charlotte pronounce Daniel "Danielle"?
• What did Sawyer whisper in Kate's ear?
• What kind of conditioner does Sayid use?
• Where did Sayid take Hurley?
• Who was Sun referring to when she told Widmore that more than the Oceanic Six got off the island?
• Why does Sun want to help Charles Widmore?
• How many nameless Oceanic 815 survivors are left?
• When was the last time the island was moved?
• Why isn't Richard Alpert the leader of the Others?
• Why is the room Ben goes to frozen?
• Does that explain how the polar bear got in Tunisia?
• What happened to Daniel and the red shirts on the raft?
• Where and when did the island move to?
• How did Sun's pregnancy survive all the shit we've been through?
• How did Aaron survive all that shit?
  
• How did Locke get off the island? Did he move it as well?
• Did Locke travel to the future like Ben did when he got off the island?
• Who killed Locke?
• Who is the teenage son mentioned in the obituary Jack reading last season's finale?
• What happened after Jack left the island that made Locke (of all people) leave?
• How the hell is Jack going to convince all those people to go BACK to the island?
• Does everyone going back include Desmond and Walt?
• What is Season Six going to look like? Are we going to spend more time in the present? Are we going to find out what happened on the island in the three years since the island was moved?
• When all is said and done, how many indie bands will be named after characters, places and hatches from the show (I think Richard Alpert & The Others would make a great band name)?

*From the enhanced replay of Part 1
** How I Met Your Mother reference

The Venture Bros. Season Three trailer

Sunday at 11:30 PM. I'm so excited.

Don't Call Me During...: Summer 2008 Edition

I bet you thought that now that Fall Tv is slowly wrapping up, my days would be spent reading Victorian novels and taking my bicycle out for a spin. Don't you know boys & girls, TV never ends for a person like me. There's always something on...

Actually, you can call me during most these shows because odds are I'll be out when they are on

(Sorted by premiere date)
May:
So You Think You Can Dance (FOX/May 22)
The Andromeda Strain (A&E/May 26)

June:
In Plain Sight (USA/June 1)
The Venture Bros (CARTOON/June 1)
30 Days (SPIKE/June 3)
Swingtown (CBS/June 5)
My Boys (TBS/June 12)
Weeds (SHO/June 16)
Secret Diary of a Call Girl (SHO/June 16)

July:
Burn Notice (USA/July 10)
Generation Kill (HBO/July 13)
Psych (USA/July 18)
Eureka (SCIFI/July 29)
Mad Men (AMC/July TBD)

Lost Season Four: "No Place Like Home" (Part I)

What I Liked:

• I love Michelle Forbes. I hope this is a sign that she'll be making more appearances
• We finally got the Oceanic Six cover story
• "Genghis"(Miles), "Shaggy"(Frank). It's been awhile since we heard some Sawyer nicknames
• BatManuel and The Others returned!
  
• Line of the night: "You don't get to die alone." - Sawyer, a ply off of Jack's oft-used "live together, die alone" line.

What I Didn't Like:

• Knowing that she dies in the future kinda took away the emotion out of Sayid's reunion with Nadia.
• It's hard to judge this episode because it felt like the first hour of a three-hour episode
• That my DVR scared the shit out of me by appearing to not record Lost.

What We Learned:
Flashforward (Oceanic Six)

• Ms. Decker Oceanic Representative
• They were flown back and landed in Honolulu, Hawaii
• Press came up with "Oceanic Six"
• They all agreed to a cover story
• When they land, Hurley is greeted by parents, Sun by her parents, Jack by his mom, Kate, Aaron and Sayid are greeted by no one
• The cover story:
• Eight people survived the initial crash
• Used flotation devices to wash up on an island, Membata
• On Day 103, a typhoon washed fishing supply ship with food and a raft
• On Day 108, the six survivors took the raft and washed up on the shore of Sumba
• Kate was six months pregnant on the plane, she gave birth on Membata
• Jin was not one of the eight surivors who survived the crash
• Hurley's still rich, doesn't want the money
• Sayid says they are absolutely no other survivors
• Nadia comes to the press conference and reunites with Sayid
• Sun goes to visit her father and tell him off
• Sun bought a controlling interest in, Paik Heavy Industries, her father's company
• Hurley's parents throw him a birthday party, Kate, Nadia, Sayid and Aaron show up.
• Hurley's dad gives him the car his father was working on as a kid (Trisha Tanaka Is Dead) (same one he crashed in "The Beginning of the End")
• The speedometer shows The Numbers, Hurley freaks out and "runs" down the street
• Jack speaks at his father's funeral
• Claire's mom (she was in a coma last time we saw her) shows up at the funeral and tells Jack about Claire
• Jack knows that Claire is his half-sister and that Aaron is his nephew!

Island:

• Daniel turns the sat phone to monitor and they Overhear Keamy talk about going to the Orchid
• The Orchid is the secondary protocol, Daniel says they have to get off the island
• Jack and Kate run into Sawyer, Aaron and Miles, he informs them that Claire is gone
• Jack goes off to find the copter, Sawyer goes with him
• Sayid gets to the island,taking people back 6 at a time
• Kate tells Sayid about Jack and Sawyer and they run off to find them
• Ben, Locke and Hurley are headed to the Orchid to move the island
• Moving the island is "dangerous and unpredictable", a measure of last resort
• Ben opens a hidden box with a mirror, 15 year old crackers (that Hurley eats) and binoculars
• Uses the mirror to communicate with someone
• Daniel is going to start taking people to the boat, Sun, Jin and Aaron go on the first raft
• Ben, Locke and Hurley reach the Orchid but Keamy's team has beaten them there
• Michael fixes the freighter engine but something on the boat is broadcasting and isn't letting them find their way to the island
• Jack and Sawyer catch up with the copter and Lapidus was handcuffed to it
• The interference is being causedby the remote for a shitload of C4 on the freighter. Desmond, Michael and Jin are alone in the room with the C4
• Kate and Sayid run into Alpert and an armed group of Others
• Ben gives Locke instructions about how to reach the Orchid station then surrenders to give Locke a chance to get inside
• Keamy knocks Ben out

Questions:

• Who made up the cover story?
• Why did they feel the need to lie about the island?
• If everyone on the boat was kept in the dark about Keamy's intentions, how come Daniel has so much information in his little notebook?
  
• What is the secondary protocol?
• Is Daniel ever going to take off that tie?
• What did Ben say with the mirror and who did he say it to?
• How much money did Oceanic give the survivors?
• Who is the other person Sun feels is responsible for Jin's death?
• Did Kate overhear Claire's mom?
• Have they moved the island before (like 15 years ago when those crackers first made it into the box)?

There really is no sense in asking any big questions until we see Part II so I'll save them.

Lost Season Four: "Cabin Fever"

What I Liked:

• The Dali Lama-esque backstory of John Locke. Locke is probably the only character who's backstory still provides information about his character
• Line of the night: "Because destiny, John, is a fickle bitch!"
• Moment of the night: Hurley sharing his Apollo bar with Ben outside Jacob's cabin

What I Didn't Like:

• I know it's TV but I just wish that once someone would hear some crazy stuff and be like, "Get the fuck outta here"
• The whole thing with the doctor finally being kileld and thrown overboard and how that works with the crazy space-time continuum issues on the island made my head hurt.
  

What We Learned:
Flashback (Locke):

• Locke's mom = Emily Locke
• Cooper was twice the age of Emily when he was conceived
• Locke was born six months early and had a variety of infections but always survived
• He was put up for adoption
• Richard Alpert was present while Baby John was in the hospital
• John Alpert visited John as a toddler
• John was into backgammon even back then
• Alpert invited John to a school for special children
• Alpert gave John a test: He put a number of items on the table including a knife, a compass, a vial of sand, The Book of Laws, a comic book who's cover text basically described the island and asked John to pick the item that belonged to him. John picked the knife. Alpert said that it didn't belong to him and left saying he wasn't ready.
• John drew a picture of himself being attached by Smokey as a adult when he was a little kid
• Locke was a nerd who got beat up in high school
• Mittelos Labratory sent Locke an invite to their summer camp but he declined
• Michael Abbadon was Locke's orderly while he was paralyzed!
• Abbadon suggested the walkabout to Locke that lead to him being on Oceanic 815

Island:

• The Doctor is still alive on the freighter when the helicopter comes back
• Apparently the island won't let Michael die on the freighter either
• John has a dream where he is Dharma member, Horace, building a cabin despite being dead.
• Horace tells John to find him in order to find Jacob
• John goes to the Dharma mass grave and finds a map to the cabin in Horace's pocket
• Keamy unlocks the secondary protocol for the island infiltration
• Captain Gault thought he was only there for an extraction mission
• Gault arranges for Sayid and Desmond to get a raft to start getting people off the island
• Desmond won't go back to the island as he's had enough of being on that island
• Keamy killed the doctor when Frank wouldn't fly him and his solders back to the island
• Keamy kills Gault too.
• Frank is a pussy.
• Locke enters the cabin alone and meets Christian Shepard,speaking on Jacob's behalf
• Claire's is in the cabin too!
• Christian tells Locke to MOVE THE ISLAND!

Questions:

• Why was it important to Emily that the baby was named John?
• Why does the cabin keep moving?
• How is the doctor still alive on the frieghter?
• How did Michael get all that information about Keamy and everyone else?
• Why is Locke seeing Horace who he's never met?
• Why doesn't Ben "have dreams" any more?
• Was the island keeping Baby John alive as a preemie?
• Why was Richard watching Baby John?
• What was special about John?
• What was the purpose of the test?
• Was there really a school?
• Is Richard really immortal or is he time-traveling?
• What was the significance of John taking the knife?
• Who were the leaders (plural) of ther Others before Ben?
• How are they going to "torch" the island?
• Where does Widmore think Ben is going to head to?
• What is Keamy strapping to his body?
• What miracle happened to Matthew Abbadon?
• How did Daniel send a message to one of the guys on the helicopter about the fate of the doctor when it appears the helicopter crew was still on the island last episode?
• How many people are left on the freighter aside from Desmond and Michael?
• Why did Frank drop of the satellite phone to the beachheads?
• Why has the island rejected Ben?
• How is Christian alive?
• Is he really speaking for Jacob or is he Jacob assuming Christian's form?
• Why is Claire in the cabin, happy as a pothead?
• Is Claire dead?
• Why doesn't Christian want anyone to know Claire's with him?
• Why is Aaron supposed to be with Sawyer?
• When Christian/Jacob says move the island, does he mean physically or temporally?

Wolverine and The X-Men preview

I was skeptical at fist because a) it's on NickToons and b) it's called Wolverine and The X-Men but after seeing this, I'm kinda excited.

Lost Season Four: "Something Nice Back Home"

What I Liked:

• I know Jeremy Davies has a pretty small role but I love every twitchy move he makes.
• Sawyer's alive (or at least they think he is)!

What I Didn't Like:

• The beach has become increasingly annoying and boring
• Jack made too quick a turn from being okay to becoming a drunken pill popper
• I thought we didn't have time for these kind of filler episodes

What We Learned:

Flashforward (Pre-crazy beard Jack/Post-Kate trial):

• Jack and Kate were living together
• Jack apprently got over his issues with Aaron
• Hurley is still committed, not taking his meds, thinks the Oceanic Six are dead
• Hurley is still seeing Charlie, told Hurley Jack was coming and Charlie gave Jack a message,"You're not supposed to raise him."
• Jack proposes to Kate and Kate says "Yes"
• Jack starts seeing his father Christian, starts taking pills
• Kate is doing something for Sawyer off the island
• Sawyer's alive!
• Sawyer chose to stay on the island
• Jack knows he's related to Aaron

Island:

• Jack has appendicitis
• Danielle and Karl are officially dead
• Jin thinks Daniel was a crush on Charlotte despite her "attitude" problem
• Charlotte understands Korean
• Charlotte promises to get Sun off the island
• Juliet removes Jack's appendix without incident (Yawn!)
• Claire has a vision of Christian holding Aaron
• Claire walked off into the forest in the middle of the night
• Aaron ends up alone in the forest

Questions:

• What does Miles sense about Claire and/or Aaron?
• Rose is kinda right. Why did Jack get sick?
• What is the nature of Charlie's "visit" to Hurley and Christian's "visit" to Jack?
• What happened to Smokey after his run-in with Keamy and friends?
• Who is Kate talking to on the phone?
  
• Who does Jack think Kate it talking to on the phone?
  
• What was Kate doing for Sawyer? (Theory: Probably helping out Cassidy and Sawyer's love child, Clementine)
  
• Was Jack implying that he knows he's related to Aaron?
• Where's Claire?

24 Season Seven Cast Photo

Or "The People Who's Lives Will Be In Danger Because They Are Working With Jack Bauer"


Click the photo for the full-size

Lost Season Four: "The Shape of Things To Come"

What I Liked:

• Wow, what an episode! That was possibly the most action-packed episode that wasn't a season premiere or finale.
• So many great Michael Emerson moments: Ben pulling the shotgun out of the piano bench, disarming and killing those two guys on horseback, the look on Ben's face after Alex was shot, his chilly meeting with Widmore
• We are finally getting rid of those useless extras
• We are spared future poor acting performances from Tania Raymonde (Alex)
• “Australia’s the key to the whole game!”
• “When? ‘When’ is kind of a relative term.”

What I Didn't Like:

• No way Sawyer escaped several shooters with automatic weapons in a generally open area without getting shot once
• It was kind of silly watching all those redshirts get killed off
• Did the producers and writers just give up on the story Alex and Danielle Rousseau? They got their reunion and were killed 7 episodes later

What We Learned:

Flashforward (Ben)

• Ben was in the Sahara Desert being a badass
• He was using the alias of Dean Moriarty in Tunisa and is a preferred guest
• Sayid was married to Nadia and she was killed by one of Widmore's men (or so Ben says)
• Ben got off the island with Desmond's boat (or so Ben says)
• Sayid killed the man who killed Nadia
• Now we know how Ben and Sayid teamed up
• Now in England, Ben goes to see Charles Widmore
• Ben intends to kill Penelope as revenge for Alex

Island

• The body of the Doc Ray washed up on the shore with his throat slit
• Code 14J means someone has turned off the fence
• Sawyer is such a good con man, he conned all those bullets to hit other people
• Miles didn't know about the assault team on the boat
• Ben confessed that he stole Alex from Rousseau when she was a baby (but we all knew that)
• Keamy shot Alex!
• DO NOT FUCK WITH BENJAMIN LINUS!
• Jack is not a complete idiot because he had Bernard listen in on the Morse Code message to Daniel
• The Freighties had no intention of taking the 815ers off the island?
• Jack is finally getting the stomach pains he deserves.
• Sawyer, Claire and Miles head back to the beach while Locke,Ben and Hurley (under duress) go to find Jacob

Questions:

• How many pills can they have possibly obtained from one flight?
• Wasn't Hurley taking care of Vincent?
• Who killed Doc Ray?
• Did Sawyer care about the fact that three people got killed around him?
• How did Ben end up in the middle of the Sahara Desert (wearing a parka no less)?
• Why does Ben think it is important that Locke above all others survives?
• What did the hotel registry say about Mr. Moriarty that had the check-in girl shook?
• Why did Ben ask what year it was at the hotel?
• What point in time did Ben leave to go Tunisa?
• Is Ben telling the truth about Widmore having Nadia killed?
• If so, why did Widmore's man murder Nadia?
• If not, did ben have Nadia killed?
• What are "the rules"?
• What is Smokey?
• How does Ben control Smokey?
• Why did the freighter tell them that the doctor was fine?
• How does Bernard know morse code?
• Are all the redshirts in Locke's camp dead?
• How come Hurley can find the cabin but Locke and Ben can't?
• When did Ben (in terms of time) go see Widmore?
• Why can't Ben kill Charles Widmore?
• Where is Penelope hiding?
• Is Sayid going to be the one sent to kill Penny?

The Best New Show Last Year Has The Best DVD Packaging

How dope is this?

This is the only show I neglected to leave off my The 200 Greatest Television Shows I Ever Watched list

Kristen Wiig: SNL's New Will Ferrell

Whatever sketch she's in, good or bad, she is the funniest person on the screen.

Lost Season Four: "Meet Kevin Johnson"

What I Liked

• This episode was just a long series of answers. Have we ever had an episodes that was predominantly a flashback?
• It was good to see Harold Perrineau showing how good an actor he is (and not yelling "Waaaaaallt!" or "They took my son!"
• That this isn't the last episode of the season, Lindelof and Cuse were right, this would have been a horrible way to end the show if the strike wasn't resolved in time
• Line of the night: "He wants to survive. And seeing as how a week ago you had a gun to his head and tonight he's eating pound cake, I'd say he's a guy who gets what he wants." - Miles, in regard to why he thinks Ben will be able to get him his $3.2 million

What I Didn't Like:

• If Danielle is dead (her gunshot was in the lung so she might be alive), I'll be extremely disappointed that we never got a flashback for her
• Fisher Stevens showed up again but no Zoe Bell.

What We Learned:
Flashback:

• Michael made it back the U.S. and is living in New York?
• Walt is staying with Michael's mother and won't see Michael because he told him about how he killed Ana Lucia and Libby
• Michael tried to kill himself by crashing his car but miraculously survived
• Michael pawned Jin's watch to get a gun to shoot himself
• He is interrupted by Tom Friendly!
• The "island" won't let you kill yourself because you've got work to do
• Michael tries to kill himself again but the gun jams.
• The fake plane was discovered after Michael got home
• Tom was gay
• Some of the Others can come and go from the island to the real world
• Tom tells Michael that Charles Widmore staged the whole wreck so no one but him would discover the island and has proof (photos of a emetary in Thailand, receipt for a Boeing 777, freighters)
• Michael job on the boat: kill everyone on board
• Frank joined the mission because Widmore believed him when he said 815 was a fake
• They gave him a fake bomb straight out of the Joker's playbook
• Michael's real job was to provide a list of the frieghties and disable the communication and engines so they'd never make it to the island

Island:

• The Temple is where the rest of The Others are holed up
• Karl and Danielle might be dead.

Questions:

• How did Michael and Walt get from the coast of Fiji to New York City?
  
• When did Tom have time to see Michael in the real world?
• Is Libby a hallucination or a manifestation of the island (like Charlie was to Hurley)?
  
• Which Others have the ability to leave the island (Ben, Tom, Richard Alpert, Ethan have been seen off the island)?
• The island won't let you die? What the fuck?
• How does the island determine what work you have to do?
• Did the island cause the crash that stopped future Jack from killing himself?
• Who's behind the fake Oceanic 815: Charles Widmore or Ben Linus?
• Why couldn't they find a reason to bring Marsha Thomson every week?
• Who else was lying about their identity on the freighter?
• How much of Michael's story did he tell Sayid before he stupidly turned him in (total Jack move)?
  
• Did Ben set up Karl and Danielle's ambush or were they shot by the freighter folks courtesy of Frank's "errand"?
• Was Malcolm David Kelly on his knees when he looked out the window or was that a digital Walt?

Lost Season Four: "Ji Yeon"

What I Liked:

• The Oceanic Six are complete (I think)
• Juliet is COLDBLOODED
• Bernard!
• That I was so focused on being underwhelmed by the return of Michael, I was completely taken off guard by the Jin reveal
  

What I Didn't Like

• That we all knew Michael was going to be Ben's man on the boat because that would have been one hell of an "Oh Shit" moment
• That I fell for Jin's flashback even though all the signs were there: Him looking younger, Year of the Dragon (2000), his bulky cell phones (Cell phones are a big tell on this show)

What We Learned
Flashforward

• Sun makes it off the island
• Sun gave birth to a girl, Ji Yeon, the name Jin wanted.
• Hurley and Sun visit Jin's grave (Tombstone marked September 22, 2004 - the date of the crash)

Island

• In a last ditch effort to keep Sun on the beach, Juliet tells Jin about Sun's affair with Jae
• Juliet has balls (ovaries?) of steel
• The captain of the freighter: Captain Gault
• The freighters have been going a little crazy due to their proximity
• A saboteur has damaged the engine room amongst other things
• Charles Widmore got the black box of the fake Oceanic 815
• Michael is the spy under the guise of Kevin Johnson,mild mannered mopboy

Questions:

• Is Exposé (The show Nikki was on) really that popular that Sun would be watching it in the future?
• Where's Rose?
• What happened to everyone who isn't Jack, Kate, Hurley, Sayid, Sun and Aaron in the future?
• Why did Regina jump into the water wrapped in chains?
• Please tell me they didn't hire Zoe Bell for that ONE scene?
• What errand did Frank have to run on the island?
• What is driving the freighter folk crazy on the boat?
• Is Gault telling the truth?
• Who staged the fake Oceanic 815?
• Where DOES one find 324 bodies and a plane?
• How did Michael get on the boat?
• How much time has passed since Michael left the island and ended up on the freighter?
• Did Jin really die?
  
• If so, how and when did Jin die?
• Why didn't Jack come to visit Sun and Ji Yeon (Kate can't leave the state and Sayid is a hitman)?
• Where does Ji Yeon's birth fit with Hurley's psychotic break on the flashforward timeline?
• Why do I feel like a small piece of my soul died?

R.I.P. The Wire (June 2, 2002 - March 9, 2008)

To quote Jay Landsman from the finale, "“Brother, when you was good, you were the best we had.”

Amen.

(Watch Seasons 1-4 on DVD and then slap your head on the forehead for missing it.)

Lost Season Four: "The Other Woman"

What I Liked:

• Claire (of all people) finally asked the question Locke should have asked
• Ben finally gives Locke (and us) some information
• I never get tired of Juliet
• “Rabbit again? This didn’t have a number on it, did it?” - Ben referring to his rabbit dinner.

What I Didn't Like:

• Jack doesn't only not ask enough questions, he accepts too many non-answers
• Now that we have flashforwards, flashbacks kinda pale in comparison
• I felt like we could have done without the entire Juliet/Jack portion of the episode
• Seeing Locke get played by Ben every episode, while fun, is starting to get wearisome.

What We Learned
Flashback:

• The Others have a therapist, Harper
• Goodwin is married to Harper
• Ben's in love with Juliet, Juliet doesn't really share the sentiment
• Harper knew Goodwin and Juliet were sleeping together and warned Juliet that Ben would angry
• That's why Ben sent Goodwin with the Tallies
• Ben "owns" Juliet

Island:

• Being away from the Others has done wonders for Juliet's bad hair
• The Tempest: electrical station that powers the island
• Charlotte and Daniel are horrible liars
• Charles Widmore is the man who sent the freighter to find the island!
• Goodwin was making a case for Ana Lucia to join the Others*

Questions:

• How do the Others do that whisper-in-the-jungle and disappearing shit?
• Did they teach Juliet?
• How is Ben contacting The Others when he's locked in the basement prison?
• Why is Ben "exactly where he wants to be?"
• How do Daniel and Charlotte have a map of the island and stations?
• Who is the "her" Harper says Juliet looks like?
• We know why Ben sent Goodwin away, what did Ethan do wrong?
• How many people does Ben have off the island?
• Who was filming Widmore?
• If they were trying to make the gas inert, why didn't they tell Jack and crew instead of sneaking off and knocking Kate out?
• Would Ben really gas everyone on the island?
• Will Jack ever get laid on this island?
• Who is Ben's man on the boat? (If it isn't Michael, I'll be surprised)
  
• Have Locke and Ben officially teamed up?
  

* Could be a lie by Ben to get into Juliet's pants

Lost Season Four: "The Constant"

Set your device to 2.342, set the oscillator to 11 Hz

What I Liked

• It's a Desmond/Penny (it never is just Desmond) flashsomething! His episodes are always the best. It could be a cheesy love story with him and Penny but it never is.

What I Didn't Like

• Fisher Stevens is dead already? What a waste.
• If Desmond and Penny don't find each other, I'll be extremely disappointed.
• I wish Sayid had suggested to Desmond, "Before the battery dies, give Penny our coordinates!"

What We Learned
1996:

• Desmond was in the Royal Scot Regimen
• Daniel was a professor at Oxford and was working on sending consciousness through times
• A journal from the Black Rock-the slave ship on the island-survived and sold by Tobard Hanso and Charles Widmore bought it

2004:

• Keamy, Omar, Ray are three of the Freighties
• The freighter is in last port in Fiji, in the Pacific Ocean
• The Satellite phones can only call each other
• When exposed to high levels of radiation/electromagnetic energy, going to and from the island causes one's consciousness to shift through time
• George Minkowski in charge of communications on the freighter
• George Minkowski answered Penelope's call when he wasn't supposed to
• Someone destroyed all the communications equipment
• If your consciousness jumps one time too many, it will be too difficult to get your present and you might get a brain aneurysm
  

Questions:

• Why didn't they want Frank to bring Sayid and Desmond back to the freighters?
• How many people are on the freighter?
• Is Sayid going to regret trading his gun for that phone?
• Where's Regina (the voice on the phone)?
• Who's the captain?
• Why didn't the freighties on the island want to talk to George Minkowski before?
• What time period is George going back to?
• If Penny moved, how did Desmond have her number on the army base? (if it's 1996, she probably doesn't have a cell phone)
• What are the odds that Daniel and Desmond would be in the United Kingdom at the same time?
• Was Daniel a habitual weed smoker in 1996?
• Was Daniel exposed to radiation because he didn't protect his head during his experiments?
• If so, how did he get to teach at Oxford?
• Did Daniel reach the conclusion about the setting for his machine on his own in the future and sent Desmond back to tell him(which should cause a paradox) or was Desmond always the one who told him in 1996 and he just forgot?
• If the latter, how did Daniel forget meeting a guy who said he was from the future?
• Is Desmond going to die?
• What happens if Desmond dies in 1996?
• Who sabotaged all the equipment?
• Who opened the door?
• What are in the contents of the journal from The Black Rock?
• Why did Charles Widmore want the journal?
• If Mr. Widmore doesn't "hate" Desmond, who does?
• Why didn't they need an area code?
• Has Daniel been transferring his consciousness between multiple points in time?
• If so, does that explain his memory loss?
• If so, what point in time is he transferring from?
• If so,is that why he cried at the discovery of Oceanic 815 but didn't know why?
• If so, did Daniel know about the island before anyone else because of Desmond?
  
• Where was Ms. Hawking? Does she only appear for temporal course correction*?
• If Minkowski and the other guy who died where affected by just rowing to the island, would Locke experience similar effects if he were to leave the island?
• What happens is Desmond tries to return to the island?
• What happens if Desmond flashes to a time before he met Penny?
• Since they aren't really flashbacks or flashforwards, what should we call Desmond episodes?

* I'm a geek so sue me.

Lost Season Four: "Eggtown"

I knew it!

What I Liked

• "You totally just Scooby Dooed me." I love Hurley.
• "Enjoy your breakfast." Damn, Locke.
  
• Even though I knew it, great ending!

What I Didn't Like

• We haven't seen Rose & Bernard since the first episode
• While a good episode, it wasn't has great as the previous ones. Kate-focused episodes tend to be that way.
  

What We Learned:

Flash-forward:

• Kate loves makeup off the island
• Kate goes to trial for ALL her crimes and pleas not guilty
• She was locked up during the course of her trial
• Kate has a son!
• Jack comes to the defense of Kate as a character witness
• Everyone thinks only eight people survived!
• Kate's mom is dying.
• Kate's mom would trade her testimony to see her "grandson" but Kate doen't budge
• Kate's mom didn't testify anyway and she got off for time served, 10 years probation and she can't leave the state.
• Jack still loves Kate
• KATE HAS AARON!!
  

Island:

• Locke is keeping Ben in the same room they keep Locke's father
• Ben is healing up rather quickly
• Ben still mentally owns Locke
• Locke is acting like the new Ben
• Sawyer still hasn't lost his con man tricks
• Miles would forget he ever saw Ben for 3.2 million dollars
• The helicopter never made it to the freighter!

Questions:

• How many Dharma snacks are left on the beach?
• If everyone knows that Oceanic Air 815 crashed on an island and not in the ocean, how was the fake Oceanic Six that was discovered explained?
• Why have the survivors agreed to lie about the details of the crash?
• Who does the public think are the other two people who survived the initial crash aside from the Oceanic Six?
• Are these two people dead?
• Why was Kate so sure she wasn't pregnant? It's only been like a week since she slept with him.
• Who does Miles work for?
  
• Why 3.2 million dollars?
  
• Who IS Ben and what CAN he do?
• Daniel and Charlotte's game of concentration: fun or another test of the island properties?
• What does Locke mean when he says he's "responsible for the well-being of the island?"
• Why did the DA insist that Kate not leaving the state be a part of her deal?
  
• How big was that settlement that Kate can afford a house like that?
• WHAT HAPPENED TO CLAIRE!?!?
• What about Desmond's prediction to Charlie about Claire getting on the helicopter?
• What about the psychic's warning to Claire that she has to raise Aaron or bad thing would happen
  
• Does Jack know that Aaron is his half-nephew at this point?
• Is Aaron one of the Oceanic Six? Technically he wasn't on the plane
  

Lost Season Four: "The Economist"

What the FUCK is going on!

What I Liked:

• Sayid makes it off the island. Thank God! Between him and Hurley, I don't care who the rest of the Oceanic Six are
• Three great episodes in a row.
• Lines of the night: Hurley, "Oh awesome, the ship sent us another Sawyer" and "Yeah, I saw you break that guy's neck with that breakdancing thing you do with your legs. I think I'll hang back here."

What I Didn't Like:

• I agree with Ausiello, they have gotten over Charlie's death rather quickly. It hasn't been 24 hours since they found out Charlie's dead.
• Locke hasn't done much to engender the trust his team has put on him.

What We Learned:

Future:

• Sayid pooled his golf lessons from his time on the island.
• Oceanic Six received a large settlement
• Sayid is an assassin/hitman for Ben(!)
• Sayid prefers the "chick" spot in post-coital cuddling
  

Present:

• There was a secret room in Ben's house in Othersville containing a Bourne-like cache of passports and currency
• Sayid's stupidity cost Ben a dollar.
• Sawyer doesn't want to leave the island
• Kate joins Team Locke...for now

Questions:

• What kind of details did "Taller Walt" give Locke regarding the Freighties?
• Who is R.G. (Naomi's bracelet)?
• Why hasn't Sayid been in charge this whole time?
• Did Sayid give up on Nadia?
• Why couldn't Locke find Jacob's cabin (or why is Jacob's cabin not making itself available to Locke)?
• Is Naomi wearing the same braclet as Elsa?
  
• Why is Jeff Fahey the only one of the Freighties listed as a "guest star"? Doesn't bode well for his time on the island?
• Why does Miles care about Locke so much?
• Who is Regina (on the freighter)?
• What does the fact that the beacon was delayed by 31 minutes(!) mean?
• If time is moving slower on the island than in the real world, how are the freighties able to have real-time radio transmissions with the boat?
  
• What exactly is Daniel testing for?
• Considering Sawyer was on the original raft, why does he want to stay on the island now?
• Was Miles kidding when he said "not yet"?
• How did they get Desmond and Penny's photo?
• How often has Ben been off the island with his cache of passports?
• What work does Charlotte have to do on the island?
  
• Why is it important that Frank has to stay on the same bearing he came in on with the helicopter?
• Who did Elsa call after she shot Sayid?
• Does the fact that Ben makes it off the island imply that the Oceanic Six mean more people make if off the island with less fanfare?
• What happened the last time Sayid "thought with his heart instead of his gun"?
• How is Ben protecting Sayid's "friends"?
• Who are the people Ben is having Sayid kill?