My Favorite TV Shows (right now) Part 3
In the last installment I described my favorite shows on the major broadcast networks. This time I’ll cover basic cable/satellite programming.. as well as a new network show I’m into now 
)
Back to Part One
or Part Two in case you’ve missed them..
It’s been much longer than I had wanted between parts to this series. So long, in fact, that some of the shows I haven’t gotten to have actually ended their current seasons. I’m sorry about that, the point of this was to get the show info out in time so that you would be able to actually try the shows out for yourself.. Oh well, there’s always Bit Torrent.
Before I jump into the basic cable shows, I have an addendum to the last installment of Broadcast/Free TV shows – My Name Is Earl:
| Show Name: | My Name Is Earl |
| Channel/Where: | NBC |
| When aired: | Tuesday Nights |
| Genre: | Comedy |
| Content Rating: | PG |
| Types of content: | Adult Humor |
| Age: | Four Episodes |
| Cast: | Jason Lee, Ethan Suplee, Jaime Pressly |
| Why I like it: | Very funny, offbeat humor with likable characters |
| Improvements needed: | Not quite sure yet. I think that the southern-ish drawl might get old, but it already seems to be toning down (either that, or I’m just getting used to it) |
| Summary: | Earl is a white trash loser who discovers karma (thanks to Carson Daly, viewed through a morphine haze, while in traction, after getting hit by a car) and trys to undo all of the bad things he’s done in his life. Earl created a list of all of his naughty deeds and each week we get to watch as he tries to fix all of the wrongs in his past. During the opening credits, you get a sneak peek of the list which whets your appetite for future episodes. I can’t wait to see how he addresses such entires as “”lost dad the election”", or “”wasted electricity”". If you are a fan of Kevin Smith’s films, you’ll recognize Lee from the movies “”Chasing Amy”", “”Dogma”", and “”Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back”", or perhaps as the lead singer of Stillwater in Cameron Crowe’s “”Almost Famous”". I’m a huge fan of Kevin Smith, so I was looking forward to this show, though I was already obligated to watch it since Jason Lee went to my High School. I didn’t really know him, though I think we had a class or two together. So, as I said, if you enjoy the humor of Kevin Smith, or if you liked “”Raising Arizona”", you should give “”My Name Is Earl”" a try. |
There.. now Part 2 is officially over.. really.. I mean it this time..
– Basic Cable / Satellite Shows –
These shows require subscription to cable or satellite service. I think that just about all of these shows/channels are in the “”basic”" line-up of all markets in the US, so you should be able to get them. There is always a chance that one or two of the channels may only be available in the second tier or “”digital cable”" lineups.
| Show Name: | Battlestar Galactica |
| Channel/Where: | Sci-Fi channel |
| When aired: | Friday nights |
| Genre: | Sci-fi / Drama |
| Content Rating: | PG |
| Types of content: | Violence, adult situations |
| Age: | |
| Cast: | Edward James Olmos, Mary McDonnell, Jim Callis |
| Why I like it: | Deep, complicated plot lines which delve into religeon and philosophy, presented with stunning special effects and superbly acted. |
| Improvements needed: | None |
| Summary: | First things first, this is NOT your daddy’s Battlestar Galactica. Yes, it IS based on the show from the 70′s and 80′s, but there are many significant differences. Starbuck is a chick, there’s no cute kid with a robot dog, Baltar is not completely evil and/or commanding Cylon troops and.. oh yeah, some cylons look just like people, so you never know who might suddenly go psycho and start taking people out.
I spent countless hours as a kid watching Battlestar Galactica (though, I luckily had gotten out of it why Galactica 1984 came around [shivers]) and was really amped when Sci-fi announced they were making a mini-series which re-imagined the show. After watching it, I almost forgave them for cancelling Farscape (almost).. I know, I know, a lot of sci-fi purists hated the mini-series movie, but I liked it. Whether people liked or hated the mini, everybody loves the new series, which is anchoring Sci-fi channels highest ratings ever and has secured it as “”the”" place for Friday night TV viewing. The show is at times dark and gritty, and other times deeply touching. You really care about these characters and what happens to them, and really root for them to evade the cylons and find earth. At the same time, you can’t help but wonder just what the Cylons have planned for humanity and what the human race will look like if their plans are fully realized. |
| Show Name: | Reno 911! |
| Channel/Where: | Comedy Central |
| When aired: | Wednesday nights |
| Genre: | Comedy, Mock documentary |
| Content Rating: | PG-14 |
| Types of content: | Adult situations, drug use, deviant references |
| Age: | Three seasons |
| Cast: | Thomas Lennon, Kerri Kenney, Ben Garant |
| Why I like it: | Funny.. damn funny. |
| Improvements needed: | Keep ‘em coming.. the season seemed really short |
| Summary: | Reno 911! is a kind of spoof of “”COPS”" which follows the daily grind of the Reno County Sheriff’s department and their hilarious, politically incorrect and frequently illegal activities. They are modern, bumbling keystone cops, who constantly trip over themselves, make completely boneheaded battlefield decisions, generally abuse the citizenry of Reno, Nevada. I don’t think you can count on one hand how many times they’ve chased somebody, just to have their own night-stick turned against them, or their squad car stolen. You’ll recognize much of the cast from the old sketch comedy show “”The State”". There are frequent recurring characters, and several running gags that you see coming a mile away if you follow the show, but still make you laugh out loud in spite of it. |
| Show Name: | South Park |
| Channel/Where: | Comedy Central |
| When aired: | Wednesday nights |
| Genre: | Animated / Comedy |
| Content Rating: | R |
| Types of content: | Language, crude humor, drug use, deviant references, adult situations |
| Age: | Seven seasons |
| Cast: | Trey Parker, Matt Stone, Isaac Hayes |
| Why I like it: | Fart jokes.. and Kenny still dies |
| Improvements needed: | |
| Summary: | Not much to say here.. You love it, or you hate it, but everybody knows what it is. Along with “”The Simpsons”", I think South Park set the groundwork for “”Family Guy”" and all of the “”Adult Swim”" style animated comedies to exist. There have been a few lulls in past seasons, but I think that South Park has really stepped up and takes on the competition of these other crude adult-oriented cartoons. |
| Show Name: | Dinner For Five |
| Channel/Where: | Independent Film Channel (IFC) |
| When aired: | |
| Genre: | Interview/Talk Show |
| Content Rating: | PG-13 |
| Types of content: | Some crude language |
| Age: | Two seasons |
| Cast: | John Favreau |
| Why I like it: | Fascinating guests telling funny stories about the inside workings of the entertainment industry |
| Improvements needed: | Sometimes I wish it could be longer.. that half hour can really fly by with the right people at the table. |
| Summary: | Each week actor/writer/director John Favreau has four people from the movie industry join him for dinner and just talk about whatever comes up. Sometimes there are comedians, musicians, or other cross-overs from other industries, but it is mostly movie people.
John Favreau has been a long standing figure in the independent film scene. He wrote the movie Swingers, directed the movie Elf, and acted in several movies (Swingers, PCU) as well as TV (had a short stint on the sitcom Friends). |
| Show Name: | Myth Busters |
| Channel/Where: | The Learning Channel (TLC) |
| When aired: | |
| Genre: | Documentary |
| Content Rating: | PG |
| Types of content: | Scientific experiments frequently involving explosions, and physical extremes (getting shocked/dropped/etc.) |
| Age: | Two seasons |
| Cast: | Adam Savage, Jamie Hyneman |
| Why I like it: | The experiments are always quite inventive and frequently funny. |
| Improvements needed: | Some of their conclusions are a bit of a stretch (didn’t investigate all aspects of a myth) and they sometimes take experiments to ridiculous extremes for no apparent reason. A couple episodes have felt stretched to cover an hour, when they could have only been 30 minutes. |
| Summary: | Every has heard dozens if not hundreds of urban myths/urban legends. The story about the guy that put a rocket on top of his car and flew into a mountain (impossible); the lady who had a can of cookie dough hit the back of her head on a hot day and thought she was holding her brains in (plausible); the reports that cell phones at the gas pump will make your car explode (impossible), and the like.
This show takes those stories, anecdotes, and “”facts”" from Internet and word of mouth and puts them to the test to see if they are true, in any way plausible, or outright bunk. |
That does it for basic cable.. The next installment will cover Premium/Pay channel shows.. and will hopefuylly see the light of day within a week so that I can get THIS series wrapped up before all of these are off the air!
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