It’s been a while since we finished the first season of Friday Night Lights, but Courtney and I finally got through the shorter second and third seasons.  And despite the fact that it took us a while to get through this batch of episodes, I can say that the show is still amazing and addictive.

Season Two was an entertaining follow-up to the first season, but it suffered from two main flaws: the writer’s strike shutting it down halfway through all of it’s major story arcs, and the atrociously terrible Landry-and-Tyra-kill-a-guy storyline.  Very little about their cover-up made sense, was believable, or realistic.  Coach Taylor’s departure from TMU and return to Dillon seemed like a given, but it was still entertaining to watch it all unfold.  And they seemed to be setting up a future confrontation between Taylor and the ousted Coach McGregor at the end of the season, though the writer’s strike presumably put an end to those plans.  (I suppose it could still happen at some point in seasons 4 or 5.)  I also would have liked to have seen Lyla’s new-found spirituality wane as her attraction to Riggins was too much temptation for her to bear, but that also seemed inevitable.  The most interesting character in season 2 was Matt; watching him get burned by Julie, fight with Smash, and unravel after Carlotta left made for some brutal TV, and I mean that in a good way.

Season Three did a commendable job of picking up as best as they could with the unfinished threads that were left dangling because of the strike.  They were able to give Smash and Jason Street the proper send-offs they deserved, even if some other stories were never addressed, like Buddy taking in that Santiago kid, or how Tami ended up as principal.  The arrival of the McCoy family led to some great moments, and I liked how they showed that life wasn’t as wonderful as everyone imagined it would be for whiz-kid JD.  The end of the season was truly amazing – it wasn’t easy to see the Panthers lose, but it was the more realistic way for the story to go.  And watching Eric lose his job after working so hard to keep it was also rough, but it did a great job of illustrating just how important high school football is to this town; if they don’t win it all, heads will roll.  I felt like it was a little bit of a cop-out to keep Matt in Dillon instead of going off to college like Lyla and Tyra, but I guess the writers felt that losing two major characters would be an easier pill for viewers to swallow than letting three go.  Either way, the challenge of Eric coaching the new East Dillon high school’s football team had me eager to get started on season four.

I promised last week to pick up where I left off… so, where was I? Oh yes, hump day.

WEDNESDAY
Wednesday has become an incredibly strong night for comedy. Modern Family is easily one of the funniest shows on TV, and is arguably the funniest show since Arrested Development went off the air. Up All Night is definitely a great show, especially one for new parents. And Happy Endings is more than just a showcase of super-hottie Kim Bauer, aka Elisha Cuthbert – it’s another really well-scripted sitcom.

And, of course, let’s not forget South Park, which had another stellar season, even though I was a little let down with their take on the Occupy movement, which really had nothing to do with the protests at all. Still, the way they came back from the incredibly depressing “You’re Getting Old” was brilliant.

THURSDAY
The Office has survived without Michael Scott. Is the show as funny as it was many years ago? No. But then, the same thing could be said for the past few years when Steve Carell was still on the show. It may not have as many laugh-out-loud moments as it once did, but it’s still one of the funnier shows out there. And Community has just continued it’s brilliance this season. I mean, wow. If you’re not watching this show, you really should be. If, of course, it comes back in the spring. There’s a chance that the show’s hilarious Christmas episode (which did a spot-on parody of Glee) could be the series’ last. If Community is canceled, after Whitney got a full season order, then NBC is in worse shape than anyone could have possibly imagined.

And let’s not forget the triumphant return of Beavis and Butt-head. The show hasn’t aged at all in the 14 years since it’s last been on the air, and it turns out, that’s a good thing. The humor is exactly the same – infantile. Beavis and Butt-head have the same level of intelligence – none. The biggest change is that now they don’t simply make fun of music videos, they also rip apart other MTV shows – mostly Jersey Shore. Personally, I like it better when they go off on people besides Snooki and co., who are after all pretty easy targets. (And secretly I wish they’d mock one of my episodes of Made, though I’m sure the odds are definitely against that.)

FRIDAY
Fringe is a whole new show this year, with the final events of last season creating an entirely new timeline in both universes. (If you don’t watch the show, that sentence must have been entirely confusing.) I have no idea where they’re going with this “where does Peter fit in” arc – can he get back to his old timeline, or is he stuck in this new one he’s created? But I guess that’s’ the cool thing about Fringe, it keeps you guessing, and you’re never going to be able to figure it out…nor do you want to.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Star Wars: The Clone Wars is phenomenal television, and is way too political and smart to be written off as a simple “kids show,” though it can function as both at the same time. Just watch the brilliantly subversive “Nomad Droids” episode. The stories are dark, the violence is brutal, and the analogies to our modern-day political landscape come at you fast and furious, and the line between good and evil can be crystal clear in one episode, and awfully murky the next.

Then there’s the Onion News Network, which is political and social satire at its finest. If you have IFC, you should really be watching this show. It’s got the same sensibility of The Onion, but you don’t have to read! Although you should read all of the text that’s on the bottom of the screen (we in the biz call those “chyrons”), because those tend to be pretty damn funny, too.

SATURDAY
Saturday Night Live is another show I have a conflicted relationship with. There are sketches and entire episodes that are positively brilliant and consistently hysterical. Then there are the hosts and the individual skits that don’t make me smile, let alone laugh. At all. But I keep watching, namely because the great moments make suffering through the duds worth it. Of the recent batch of episodes, I felt Ben Stiller and Anna Farris were disappointing, Steve Buscemi was underused, Katy Perry did nothing for me, Emma Stone and Melissa McCarthy were great, Jimmy Fallon’s impressions were spot-on as usual, and Jason Segel’s monologue with the Muppets was one of the show’s best in a long, long time.

In conclusion… I watch too much damn TV… and I’m proud of it!

The TV Season is halfway over, with pretty much every show having had it’s “fall finale.” (When did that even become a thing, anyway?) At the season’s midpoint, I’ve decided to weigh in with my unsolicited opinions on the shows I’ve been watching, in order of the night in which they air.

SUNDAY
The Simpsons is still amazingly funny. This season has had some truly great episodes, “The Food Wife,” “The Book Job,” and “Holidays of Future Passed” all come to mind as modern-day classics. Of the MacFarlane shows, I still maintain that American Dad is the funniest of the lot. The Cleveland Show has its moments on occasion, and Family Guy has just been really tough to watch lately. Suddenly it’s become much more of a preachy and heavy-handed show and less of a funny show. I’m enjoying Allen Gregory so far – it’s pretty unique, utterly bizarre, and weirdly entertaining.

The Walking Dead has had more than it’s share of issues this season, as my buddy Brett has already wonderfully outlined. There’s been far too much talking, the Sophia storyline dragged on way too long, and the fact that Herschel never mentioned that he found a little girl is going to be tough to explain when the show comes back. Boardwalk Empire on the other hand, had a superb second season. The last three episodes in particular each had some pretty shocking and tough to watch moments, but I mean that in the best way possible.
HI
MONDAY
HIMYM has continued to prove this season that it can be funny and yet still pack an emotional punch There has yet to be any major movement on Ted actually, you know, finding the damn mother, but that’s just going to have to wait until the series ends, so whatever. We watched a few episodes of the new Charlie Sheen-less Two and a Half Men, and that was all we could take. The show was always low-brow and silly, but the simple fact is that Sheen was an infinitely better lead than Ashton Kutcher. Oh well.

Terra Nova I have mixed feelings on. The pilot was full of potential, but then the show’s mythology quickly took a backseat to ridiculous one-off episodes. I mean, an amnesia storyline in episode 3? Really? Things have picked up lately, but the pacing feels unnecessarily slow at some times, and insanely rushed at others. I’m writing this before the season (series?) finale, and I am still curious to see where they tale the story… and if the ratings will justify a second season for the big budget show. My guess is no.

TUESDAY
Parenthood is an amazing show, and one of the series I most look forward to. That said, there were some pretty big plot holes this year that kind of took me out of the show. Namely, the parents of the kid that Alex punched pressing charges against Alex. Underage kids were drinking at their house; why on earth would they want to involve the authorities? Haddie was drinking there – wouldn’t it have been simpler for Adam and Kristina to remind the parents of that small but important fact right away? And then later in the season, Sydney can’t figure out the rules of Charades, but she knows how to play chess? Huh? These are minor gripes, but I only nitpick because I love the show so much, and the fact that it feels so real and genuine is one of it’s greatest charms; watching that fall away just bums me out. Still, I love that Julia and Joel have a meaty storyline, and hey, Drew has a girlfriend! Yay!

Then there’s Glee. Ah, Glee. I keep on watching this show, yet I’m not totally sure why. There is so much potential for great stories with all of these characters, but it seems like so many of these plot threads just get left by the wayside, never to be mentioned again. Maybe I’m just expecting too much for a show where a bunch of people in their mid- to late- 20’s play teenagers that know the words to every song ever written and can dance in perfect unison without a single rehearsal.

I also tried to get into Ringer due to my love of Sarah Michelle Gellar, but I just couldn’t. Waaaaaaaaaaay to soapy for my tastes. Sorry, SMG, I love ya, but I think now that Smallville is gone, I am officially done with the CW.

Come back next week for Part 2!

Call of the Wildman highlights the adventures of Central Kentucky’s homegrown hero, Turtleman, a brave soul who risks his own well-being to rescue all manner of dangerous wild animals, such as snapping turtles, raccoons, and snakes. It has to be seen to be believed!

The show premieres this Sunday night at 10pm on Animal Planet with back-to-back episodes. You should watch both, but if you only happen to have one half hour to spare, I’d recommend the second episode, the one that starts at 10:30pm and is titled “Groundhog Day.” It doesn’t have *that* much in common with the classic Bill Murray comedy, but it does feature Turtleman coming face to face with aggressive groundhogs – and a skunk! Its a pretty fun show, and I say that with only the slightest hint of personal bias.

If you can’t wait until Sunday night, you can watch this right now!

After contract negotiations between Fox and the show’s actors and producers hit a wall and threatened to end the show, an agreement has been reached,and the show has been renewed for not just one, but TWO more seasons after this one! In other words, The Simpsons will live to see their 25th season! Hooray!

And while 25 seasons is an unprecedented run, I love how showrunner Al Jean refuses to say that the show should end there, instead aiming to make it an even 30.

I’m quite convinced that anyone who says the show has gotten stale over the past few years simply isn’t watching. The show has had some fantastic episodes recently, and I’m a firm believer in the show going on for as long as humanly possible.

And so are the people who make the show – after the news hit about the renewal, this promo started making the rounds, which features an update on the song “They’ll Never Stop The Simpsons.”

You know what’s crazy? The original song appeared in a clip show in the show’s 13th season. And now they’re able to update it ten years later! If you’re curious to hear the first version of the song (and frankly, why wouldn’t you be?), give it a listen:

(Probably.)

But what if you don’t have time to sift through the cutest viral videos out there on the net?  Well, that’s where Puppies vs. Babies comes in.

It’s a new show, premiering this Saturday night at 10pm on Animal Planet.

Unlike most of my “tune-in alerts,” I did not work on this show. Then why am I telling you to watch? Well, I have it on good authority that if you watch carefully, you may just see a familiar face on this week’s episode. Then, on the October 29th episode, you may just see another, different familiar face.

Now, a disclaimer – I was told that these appearances were happening, but since the videos in these episodes are not being featured as the “main videos,” there is a chance they won’t be in the final episodes. In other words, I can’t really *guarantee* that you will see who I am implying you’ll see.

But you should still watch anyway – it’s only a three episode series (for now, anyway), and it’s just chock-full of cuteness, with or without any very special Noah cameos. See for yourself:

For far too long, the only news about Arrested Development were rumors about a movie that was always “coming soon.”

But now – finally – comes the news we’ve all been waiting for since 2006: not only is an Arrested Development movie in the works, but it will be preceded by ten new episodes of the show as well! Yay!

The timing is funny – I just got Seasons 1-3 of the show as a birthday gift last week.  I was looking forward to rewatching the show before, but now I have even more motivation to revisit the Bluth family.

The deal isn’t officially in place, which isn’t great, but the cast, creator Mitchell Hurwitz, and producer Ron Howard have all confirmed the plan.  So we may actually really get new AD by 2013.  Netflix and Showtime are currently in the running to snag the new episodes.  It would be a major win for Netflix, which could use some good press right now.  And the lure of Dexter alone hasn’t been able to get me to subscribe to Showtime, but if they had Dexter AND Arrested Development?  Well, they’d also get some new customers.

It’s the story of a wealthy family who lost everything and the one son who had no choice but to keep them all together… It’s MORE Arrested Development!

It premiers tonight at 10pm on Sundance Channel, and will then be repeated several times over the next few days. Enjoy!

This episode tells the stories of three more celebrities who died tragically young – Heath Ledger, Brittany Murphy, and Corey Haim. Like the first episode, this is (not surprisingly) a bit depressing, but the stories of how these stars made countless people happy, only to become unraveled by their profession is, in my humble opinion, pretty compelling stuff.

More show times are listed here, and as a bonus, if you missed the first episode when it aired, it will repeat tonight at 8pm, just before the new show.

Warning: Full spoilers (if you can call them that) for the finale of Entourage follow

Here’s the thing about Entourage: it was always an easily digestable, fairly light-hearted show about a group of bros.  Last season the show took a turn to the dark side, showing Ari’s crumbling marriage and Vince’s descent into drug abuse.  It was a different tone for the show, but it worked.

This season, the show went back to the “It’s all good, bro!” formula, which while more familiar, also felt a little odd coming off of all the serious real-world problems they just dealt with.  Vince’s rehabilitation was basically brushed under the rug, and there was never really any doubt that Ari and Mrs. Ari would get back together.  And Vince’s infatuation with the Vanity Fair reporter felt bizarrely out of place.

All of that said, the show was able to do a good job at tying up loose ends; hell Turtle and Drama even got happy endings.  The Sloan back and forth was getting tiresome, but it actually ended on a believable note.  For all the ups and downs, I was buying the hangar scene as a great way to send off these characters.

Then Eric and Sloan go their own way.  What?  I get it – they have issues to work out, but the notion that they may miss Vince’s wedding was just absurd.  If Eric had simply said, “We’ll see you in Paris,” that would have been much more satisfying.  Instead, we’re to believe that they might fly somewhere more romantic and work on their problems while missing E’s best friend’s wedding?  Please.

And I love Led Zeppelin as much as the next guy, but playing “Going to California” while all of the principal characters are *leaving* California seemed like an odd choice.

Then there was the post script scene with Ari.  Really?  That’s how you send off the show?  With a set-up for the inevitable movie?   Come on, that’s just lame.  It is implied that Ari will always be tempted to return to his old life.  Showing Charles Widmore giving him a specific offer was just an unnecessary tack-on.  Boo.

The True Blood season finale was a bit lackluster as well.  Marni’s final send-off was pretty anti-climactic.  (And how did she manage to get the jump on Bill and Eric anyway?)  It seems safe to assume that Sam will be able to kill that werewolf that was threatening him.  The Vampire Reverend at Jason’s doorstep can’t come inside without a formal invitation, so he’s in no immediate danger.  And shouldn’t Bill and Eric sense Sookie’s panic and be able to save Tara with their blood?  Note to producers: for ideas on how to end a season with major cliffhangers that leave the audience truly begging for more, see Game of Thrones.