TV Rants and Raves 10.28.09

Posted by Bryan Kristopowitz on 10.28.2009

Has "American Dad" gotten funnier lately? Plus, Rants and Raves about "The Middle," "The Good Wife," "Law & Order," "Private Practice," "Brothers," "Sons of Anarchy," the lack of Halloween Specials, and more, plus new "Jericho" comic book news, Jake Tapper wins a special award, and why "Paranormal Activity" sucks!

TV Rants and Raves Issue #16: In this issue we Rant and Rave about "The Middle," "The Good Wife," "Law & Order," "Private Practice," "Brothers," "American Dad," that HBO autopsy show, "The Munsters," "Sons of Anarchy," and more, plus new "Jericho" comic book news, Jake Tapper wins a special award, and why "Paranormal Activity" sucks

Hello everyone and welcome once again to the TV centric internets column that wants to know why AMC still hasn't hired the great Joe Bob Briggs to host its Friday night horror movie show, not to mention its annual October Halloween horror movie marathon, TV Rants and Raves. I'm Bryan Kristopowitz.

I'm serious about this Joe Bob thing. It just makes no sense to me. With all of the recent horror movie TV show host nostalgia and the fact that AMC seems to be the only cable channel willing to create at least a niche horror identity (the only other channel that does something similar is Spike. Sci Fi should be, too, but for some reason they're not), Joe Bob would be a perfect fit for hosting the channel's Friday late night horror offerings and expanding that niche.





Will it ever happen? I doubt it. But I can dream, can't I?



Okay, with that little diatribe over, onto the main part of the column.

TV Rants and Raves



- Thoughts on "The Middle": "The Middle," the new sitcom starring Patricia Heaton on ABC, sort of plays like a nicer, less edgy "Malcolm in the Middle." You've got the lower middle class family of weirdoes, a voice over (only this time it's from the mother not the son), and a general sense of overall wackiness. I mean, look at that family's youngest child, Brick. Try to tell me that kid isn't a variation on "Malcolm in the Middle" runt Dewey?

Now, with "Modern Family" currently the number one sitcom on ABC, "The Middle" is a close second. It's funny, it has a great cast, and, most importantly, it's a fine showcase for the side of Patricia Heaton the world actually likes. You know, the fine actor side of her and not the ultra right wing Christian wacko side (which, thankfully, I haven't seen in a while. She still hosting those Christian stand up comic DVD's?). Neil Flynn, who plays Heaton's husband Mike, is also a hoot (he's sort of like Hal just not an idiot. He's just a loveable douchebag). The show's only, well, weak point, besides the presence of Chris Kattan (what the hell happened to him?), is the family's oldest son Axl (Charlie McDermott). He's just not as funny as the other characters on the show.

I wonder how people living in the "fly over" states feel about this show, since it's supposedly about them. Is anyone offended? Are there groups out there demanding that this show be thrown off the air because it's "unfair," etc?

- Thoughts on "The Good Wife": "The Good Wife," the latest attempt at making Julianna Margulies a TV lawyer (remember the Fox show "Canterbury's Law"? It was a good show, but it never found an audience and it was cancelled after six episodes), is more or less a success ratings wise (it hasn't been cancelled yet. In fact, CBS just gave it a full season order), but creatively, it's still not quite there yet.



Margulies does an okay job as the humiliated wife of a corrupt politician turned single mother working at a law firm because she needs to get a job and that's what she used to do before her husband decided to get into politics. The problem is she doesn't have much of a supporting cast to work off of. Chris Noth, who plays Margulies' corrupt and imprisoned husband, is decent enough, but the only time we ever see him in the show is when Margulies goes to visit him in prison. Matt Czuchry, who plays the young upstart at the law firm Margulies works at, is Margulies' partner in the courtroom and a vacuous presence on the show. I don't think I've ever been more bored by a character on a lawyer show in my TV watching life. And I'm not digging the usually great Christine Baranski as the head of the law firm. She plays her character fine and all, it's just the show tries too hard to make her flip and snide and snarky in that way seriousprofessional TV critics like to refer to as "smart, sexy, and incredibly intelligent." I, one of the unprofessional masses, just call it bullshit. I mean, I get enough of that shit on "Damages," I don't need it on this show, too.

And I think that's what the show is going to have to do to be ultimately successful, don't try to be the regular TV version of "Damages." They also need to get Noth out of prison and interacting more with Margulies and their children. Noth's character needs to get back into politics and be a shady prick again. He needs to essentially become the show's villain. And, yeah, Baranski needs to tone down the snark and just be her usual lovely self.

Will any of this happen? I doubt it. The show has one of the best lead-ins in TV history, the mega hot "NCIS: Los Angeles," and as long as the ratings stay good and steady, why would CBS change things up? Margulies and company better hope, though, that the network doesn't decide to move the show to another night. It probably won't make it. Look at what happened to the James Woods lawyer show "Shark."



- Thoughts on the "Law & Order" season 20 premiere- Wow. This show, after twenty seasons and numerous cast changes is still one of the best shows on TV. Yeah, the show has lost some of its edge but that's bound to happen when you've been on for twenty years. It's still damn good television.



Anthony Anderson and Jeremy Sisto have become quite the cop tandem. They have great chemistry, a natural back and forth, and most important of all they actually fit into the show. Sam Waterston is still kicking ass as the District Attorney, and Linus Roache is still good as ADA Michael Cutter. And Alana De La Garza as ADA Connie Rubirosa is just, well, TV ecstasy. She's the hottest lawyer in the show's history, and as a result, even in bad episodes, she's never boring.



And then there's S. Epatha Merkerson as Lt. Van Buren. She's still as good as ever, I just don't fully understand the point behind her current cancer storyline. Where exactly is this going? What's the end game for it? And what does it have to do with, well, anything? Wouldn't it be more poignant if we didn't see Van Buren go to the doctor and talk about her cancer? Wouldn't it be better if we just saw her appearance change every couple of episodes, sort of building up to the big reveal that she's been wearing a wig for the last month due to chemotherapy and or radiation treatments? This show thrives on character subtleties, not big ass storylines that take away from the case of the week. I think both Merkerson and the show would be better off in the long run completing the storyline like that. Keep it in the background.

I just hope that the move to Fridays doesn't end up killing the show. I want this show on for a few more years at least. It's still as good as ever, and there are always more stories to tell. We'll see what happens in the new year, when the rumors of its inevitable cancellation will most likely begin.



- Thoughts on "Private Practice"- Wow, that was a bit of a letdown, wasn't it? I was expecting to see a nail biting season opener, considering Amy Brenneman's pregnant character was about to be cut open and her baby stolen by a wacko at the end of last season. But, instead, we got a forty two minute whine fest where nothing even remotely thrilling or interesting happened.

Wait, I take that back. That moment in the hospital, when Paul Adelstein's Cooper character saw the wacko in the hospital with Brenneman's baby and tried to get her to give the baby up was pretty decent. But then, after that one freaking lively moment, the show went back into whine mode.

My God, what the hell happened to this show? When did it become a full force attempt by ABC to get Brenneman an Emmy nomination? Why the hell is she so dang important? What the heck happened to Kate Walsh's Addison character, the supposed star of the show? Brenneman's character is so goddamn boring (coming in a close second is Adelstein's girlfriend KaDee Strickland. That whole "southern accent" thing is getting old).

And why has Tim Daly's character been reduced to, well, a wimp? Same goes for Taye Diggs, who deserves so much better. Maybe his character should go over to "Grey's Anatomy" and actually have a fling with Bailey. If he did that he might actually get some screen time. And can the show please stop this shit with Audra MacDonald's Naomie character? I can't stand MacDonald (I still think Merrin Dungey, who played Naomie in the show's back door pilot on "Grey's Anatomy," was a better fit) but she deserves better than whatever the hell it is she's doing now.



"I am here to completely unfuck this show, and maybe bring Dolph Lundgren in if he wants the work."

The only good development is the presence of the great Brian Benben. I hope the show picks him up as a regular because he can, just by being there every week, desuckify all of the bad shit Brenneman inflicts on the world in every episode. Benben can most definitely save this show. And, let's face it, if the show ever gets back into the "sex" thing, who better than to have around than the man who made having sex his job on HBO?



"You're a terrible actor, Amy. Terrible, terrible, terrible."

I actually like the Fox sitcom "The Brothers". It's true, I do. It's still a little rough around the edges but I think it's getting better and better with each episode.



Michael Strahan, while by no means a great actor, does a decent enough job as the show's lead character. He's got a natural screen charisma that serves him well and helps him keep up with the great Carl Weathers, who is excellent as the goofball father with, what is it, some kind of Alzheimer's/dementia/brain damage? Weathers probably should have done a sitcom about ten years ago when he was still kind of the Carl Weathers, the black guy from "Rocky" (I mean, what was the last thing he did before this? Those Old Spice commercials?).



The show's best character, though, is the one played Daryl Mitchell. Why is he so great? Because he's in a wheelchair and it's no big deal. It's part of who he is. There's no pity, no "Oh my God, that guy is in a wheelchair" stuff, it's just who he is. CCH Pounder's mother character, though, isn't as good as it should be. Pounder is a great actor and has all of the potential in the world to be freaking hilarious, she just needs a better character to play. Hopefully, as the show continues on (if it continues on) the writers will figure out how to make that happen.

Now, if this show does get cancelled, how cool would it be if Carl Weathers got his own show based on his 1980's action flick "Action Jackson"? It'd be the coolest goddamn thing in the world.









- Has "American Dad" gotten funnier recently?. I think it has. The show has always been funny (not as funny as "Family Guy," but then nothing is) but there was about a year there where the show was very, very, very hit-and-miss. Some of the jokes worked, some of the stories worked, and some of them just fell flat. What changed? Am I just imagining all of this?

- HBO should bring back that "Autopsy" show. You know, that series of specials hosted by noted medical examiner Michael Baden? According to imdb.com, HBO hasn't done of these specials in six years. You'd think that the network and Baden would want to keep churning these shows out since forensic science and medical examiner hooey on TV is still very popular. And, let's face it, there will always be more stories to tell since people keep dying in droves.



I remember the first time I saw one of these specials. I had no idea what the hell it was about. Baden freaked me out because, well, I don't know why he freaked me out he just did. And that narrator, that mundane female voice that sounded like a creepy Jamie Lee Curtis, just thinking about it gives me the willies. And that story about the guy that essentially stuffed and mummified his dead wife so he wouldn't have to bury her (he even set it up so he could continue to have sex with her body), man, that's just messed up.

So what's stopping HBO from doing another one of these things? Danged if I know. Maybe the network has too much money invested in those late night sex shows and can't afford to have Dr. Baden sit in front of a fake autopsy room and narrate a gruesome true crime tale for an hour. I don't know.

Go here for a plethora of clips from the show.



- I feel dirty after watching "Sons of Anarchy". Yeah, it's true. Want to know why I feel dirty? Because, here in season two, I'm actually rooting against SAMCRO and rooting for Adam Arkin's white separatists. It's absolutely disgusting and completely against my nature, but it's what's happened.



I mean, it's not like Arkin's group is some great bunch of guys. They're a bunch of scumbag racists and rapists, but for whatever reason, as of this moment (just a note, I haven't seen the last three episodes), they're less scumbaggy than SAMCRO. I just have a hard time feeling any sympathy for a gang (and that's what they are. SAMCRO is a gang. They are not a club) of ruthless thugs and hoodlums who kill people at will, extort people like the mob, and deliberately create a general sense of nastiness about the town of Charming. They're bullies, basically, and bullies suck.

Take a look at Jax. I'm supposed to feel sympathy for him because he's trying to change SAMCRO into something else, something "good" and he's butting heads with gang leader Clay, the man directly responsible for all of the bad stuff the gang does. I mean, isn't that what Jax is taking away from his dead father's memoir? Isn't that what he's using as his inspiration as he challenges his mother's husband/his stepfather? But I just can't do it. He's still a ruthless thug and hoodlum like the rest of them. He has no problem engaging in illegal activities (like he's ever going to stop running guns for the IRA) and he has absolutely no qualms about killing people. Is he going to stop doing that stuff eventually? I just have my doubts.

Despite my horrendous personal allegiances here, I'm still digging the show's second season and I can't wait to see where the show ends up. Will it be once a thug always a thug?



- Why hasn't anyone tried to update "The Munsters"?. I know there were a few TV movies in the 1990's, but I'm talking about a full blown reimagined series. You'd think that someone somewhere would want to give it a go. With all of the advances in make up special effects and the recent spate of monster specific shows (I'm thinking of those vampire shows on both regular TV and cable) you'd think it'd be a no brainer.

I would hope, though, that a "Munsters" return wouldn't be a serious show. I'm thinking "Pushing Daisies" would be a good template for a new "Munsters" to follow. It was funny, whimsical, and it looked good. For a 1960's sitcom about a freaking family of monsters, "The Munsters" looked dang good, so it would be a return to that tradition.

I just don't see how bringing "The Munsters" back is a bad thing.





- I think it's about time the "two hour season premiere" be put to rest. After watching both the "Grey's Anatomy" two hour season premiere and the "Ugly Betty" two hour season premiere, I really think it's time for shows to stop doing them. Neither show needed to have a two hour season premiere. Both shows easily could have told their season premiere stories in an hour ("Ugly Betty" especially). The recent "House" two hour season premiere is a good example of when a two hour season premiere is kind of necessary. I'm sure the essential story of that episode could have been told in an hour, but because the "House" premiere played more like a TV movie as opposed to two back-to-back regular episodes it wasn't as big of a deal.

I mean, really, what exactly was so dang important for both "Grey" and "Betty" to do two hours on? I'm going to keep coming back to that question because it's incredibly important. If you want me to watch for two hours you have to give me a reason to do so.

I'm actually kind of surprised that Fox did the "House" premiere as an actual self contained long episode/TV movie to begin with. The networks have been out of the TV movie business for years now. I miss those days.



- What happened to all of the Halloween specials? Is anyone even doing Halloween specials/marathons this year, besides AMC, Encore, and Hallmark? Why isn't IFC doing a day long horror movie marathon (remember when the network used to do "Indie Screams" and had Tom Savini hosting the movies?)? You want to know what IFC has on Halloween night? "Ginger Snaps." That's it. Not a "Ginger Snaps" marathon. Just "Ginger Snaps." And then part one of the Monty Python documentary and an episode of "Arrested Development." Is that really good Halloween themed entertainment?



"I could be hosting a movie marathon somewhere, but instead I'm here holding this skull. Is this any way for me to be spending Halloween?"

Look at Spike. Why isn't Spike deluging us with "Friday the 13th" movies? Sci Fi has that Ghost Hunter show on, but that's just bullshit so that doesn't count. Is ABC Family doing anything for Halloween? I have no idea. I could go look but why be disappointed?

What the heck happened to Halloween on TV? I remember back in the day when WPIX out of New York would do horror movies all through October. "Creepshow," "Creepshow II," "Friday the 13th part 6," the list goes on. It was a real celebration of Halloween and horror and all that. Again, what the heck happened?


And finally,



- Man, I really miss "The Unit". I do. Every time I see Dennis Haysbert try to sell me Allstate Insurance I wonder why the hell Jonas "Snake Doctor" Blaine isn't out in the field with Cool Breeze, Dirt Diver, and Betty Blue, fighting the bad guys and whatnot? It's a goddamn disgrace.

And what did CBS replace "The Unit" with? "Three Rivers." Now, "Three Rivers" is an okay show (so far, it's had its moments but it's not a great show), but it's nowhere near as good as "The Unit."

That's all I'll say about it for now. It just pisses me off realizing it's not on anymore. Damnit.



***



Don't forget that "Live Evil" makes its Video On Demand debut on November 3rd. Check out my review of this great Tim Thomerson flick here, and please check out the movie's MySpace page, which has some cool stuff on it.



***

Strange Thoughts

Once again I have two strange thoughts for you to ponder.

Up first, when a character dies in a zany comedy (movie or TV show) do you think that dead character's autopsy is zany, too? I mean, it would have to be, wouldn't it? Why would a world filled with seemingly endless funny situations (verbal and physical) suddenly stop having that funny vibe just because someone died?

Think about that background character in Steve Martin's "Pink Panther 2" that gets shot at the end of the movie (the waiter or whatever the heck he was). His eventual autopsy must have been a goddamn laugh riot (the medical examiner probably dropped the poor dead guy's brain on the ground and then accidentally stepped on it). And think of what Vincent Ludwig (you know, the bad guy from the first "Naked Gun" movie) went through in his autopsy. You think the ME used a giant spatula to flip his flattened body over on the examining slab?



And good God, what the hell are the autopsies like in the world of "Psych"?



And then there's this thought: there are so many weird fetish websites on the internets, many of them involving celebrities; do you think there's one out there with pictures of female celebrities shaving their armpits?

I could go and look for myself, but I'm scared to do so. I'm terrified that lurking out there, somewhere, is a website featuring old, behind the scenes on the set video of Lynda Carter shaving her pits in between takes of an episode of "Wonder Woman." Who the hell wants to look at something like that?



God, I hope I just didn't give someone an idea for a website.

***

The TV Rants and Raves Theme Song of the Week

Enjoy.



And here's a bonus theme song.



***

And now, Dr. Phil.



"Sometimes, after I tape a show I have an assistant scrape the sweat out of my crotch region with a plastic scraper. It just feels so dang good to get that stickiness out of there. I've asked my wife to do it but she always objects on religious grounds. I think that's a bunch of shit. Hey, it's not like I'm asking her to lick it out of there. That's what I have the midget for. But he only works Wednesdays and Fridays. Fucking union."

My God, Phil, you are such an asshole.

***

And now, the weekly Fearnet update

What's on Fearnet this week? Why don't you go here to find out?

Yes, that's the Fearnet website, where you can check out free movies (the site gets new ones every Wednesday), horror news, and more. And since Halloween is just around the corner, I'm sure they've upped the ante when it comes to general horror awesomeness.

Plus, you can get information on how to contact Time Warner Cable as they still haven't reinstated the free, 24/7 on demand horror channel. What the hell are they waiting for?

The rat bastards. This is ridiculous.

We must keep the pressure on, though. That's all we can really do.

If you haven't done so already, please check out the Fearnet fans Facebook page, which can be seen here.

Come on Time Warner! We want our Fearnet!

(As always, thanks to both Mark Lindsey and Mathew Hirsch for info regarding the Fearnet fan movement).

***

Special Comment

The following is a "Special Comment" in the form of a movie review, a movie review that's a little different from my usual movie reviews here at the 411 mania movies section. The usual rundowns are there at the end, yeah, but it's a little different than what I've done before. It's more direct I guess you could say. The review does contain spoilers so you have been warned in the event you haven't already seen it. So, here goes something:



TV Rants and Raves Movie Review: "Paranormal Activity"

"Paranormal Activity" sucks.

That's right. I said "Paranormal Activity," the mega low budget ghost horror flick that's sweeping the nation and is the current top earner at the box office, sucks. Why does it suck?

First, the whole premise of the movie doesn't make any sense. Why would the police allow what is essentially crime scene footage be used by a movie company to make a movie? Why would the families of the people in the movie allow a movie company to make a movie out of that crime scene footage? What exactly is supposed to be gained by this movie for those people (we already know what the movie company gets out of it, box office cash)? None of this is explained.

Second, why does the male character, Micah, keep videotaping his girlfriend Katie when she keeps asking him not to tape her anymore? I don't even know why he's taping her at all outside of the bedroom. What exactly does he gain by doing so? Is he supposed to be making a documentary of the incidents and he just never lets on that he's doing it? I mean, he freaking tapes himself watching the stuff he taped the night before. What the hell is going on here?

Third, the movie never establishes the veracity of psychics. Okay, Micah and Katie bring a psychic over to check things out, he says he senses bad stuff in the house, and we're all supposed to believe this asshole. Why? Why didn't they get a second opinion from some other psychic? The psychic Micah and Katie do see tells them to see a demonologist because he can offer them better advice but then we never see him. I know that Micah and Katie argue about bringing the demonologist in, but that's still no reason not to bring him in to say the same thing as the psychic. Why bring the psychic back later in the story to once again be completely unreliable?

Fourth, and this goes along with the psychic thing, why doesn't the movie ever establish a full on skeptical character (like a professional videographer or some kind of college professor guy that knows about video hoaxes and elaborate pranks and shit like that) that shows up and can't explain what's in the "spooky" bedroom footage? You know, to make the whole situation scary (I can't say scarier because the movie isn't scary)?

Fifth, the whole Ouija board thing is just bullshit. It just is. Ouija boards don't do anything, so why would someone say "Let's use this to communicate with the thing that won't leave you alone?" The movie never establishes that they work.

Sixth, Katie's "nagging demon past" is ridiculous. It doesn't make what happens in the house scarier and it really doesn't mean anything. And how exactly did the demon have that burned photo in the attic stashed?

And finally, the final scene in just stupid. Why would Katie's face suddenly turn all demonic and morph into something? Wouldn't it have been better/scarier to just have her walk up to the camera and smile? It doesn't fit with anything else we've seen up until that point.

The only thing that works/is interesting is the stuff at night while Micah and Katie are asleep. The bit where Katie is suddenly pulled out of bed and dragged into the hallway is the only real "scare" in the whole movie. And the "night vision" haze creates some potentially unsettling atmosphere. That's about all that works here. The rest of the movie is a mess.

And it isn't scary. At all. I don't give a shit if Steven Spielberg supposedly couldn't watch the movie in one setting because he was so freaked out by it. That story sounds like bullshit, just like the movie. I saw it in a packed theatre, and absolutely no one screamed. No one covered their eyes. No one screamed at the screen. Everyone just sat in silence. And when it was over, the audience grumbled, fully aware at how they just got scammed. And that's all "Paranormal Activity" is. A scam. A fucking scheme. Total bullshit.

Don't see it. It's awful.

So what do we have here? An opening text that makes no sense, gratuitous pretty girl with a nice ass, gratuitous blurred out "Dummies" book, gratuitous douchebag with a foot fetish, sex tape talk, gratuitous multiple sequences filmed at night while the characters are asleep, multiple middle fingers, gratuitous psychic bullshit, gratuitous hot babe putting on deodorant, a moving door, gratuitous bead jewelry making, gratuitous Ouija board bullshit, gratuitous "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" reference, a night walk, gratuitous talking about a demonologist like one would talk about an exterminator, gratuitous baby powder hooey, a messed up closet, gratuitous half burned photo, a slamming door, more psychic bullshit, a "mysterious" door shadow, picture burning, and a stupid fucking ending.

Best lines: "I'm not kissing the camera," "Are you talking to the camera?," "Hey, babe, did you throw my keys on the floor?," "So, you think a psychic would be on time," "You scream like that for a spider?," "You okay, baby?," "I don't give a fuck what that thing says on the Ouija board," "Do we have any lemon?," "You are absolutely powerless," and "Has that shit ever happened in the daytime before?"

Rating: 1.0/10.0

***

The TV Rants and Raves Douchebag of the Week





This week, the TV Rants and Raves Douchebag of the Week goes to Jake Tapper of ABC News, for freaking out over the recent "attack" on the Fox News Channel by the Obama White House. Tapper, at last Tuesday's daily White House briefing demanded to know from Obama spokesperson Robert Gibbs why Fox was "not a legitimate news organization" and why the White House was no longer going to directly interact with them.

You're shitting all of us, Jake, right? Are you really saying, Jake, that Fox isn't a cable TV version of ultra right wing talk radio? Have you ever actually watched the Fox News Channel? And I'm not talking about their bullshit opinion programs at night; I'm talking about their fucking daily news coverage. I have watched it and I can tell you that it's exactly the same as their night time programming. Please go here and see for yourself. It's fucking fascinating.



And then there's the cable channel TBS for moving "The King of Queens" to earlier in the afternoon, from 4pm to 1pm, and putting "According to Jim" on its place. Now, I have nothing against "According to Jim." I've never seen an episode of the show, but Jim Belushi is a good actor and the show obviously has a sizeable fan base as it ran for eight seasons. People like watching it. But why put it on at 4pm and move Heffernan to 1pm? Why not have Jim on at 3pm, or at 5pm, and partner it up with a show that's also about a blue collar family?

And finally there are the marketing departments of both Wal-Mart and Dove for coming up with that annoying goddamn "women singing" commercial. It's for something called "Real beauty," whatever the hell that is. Here, watch it for yourself.



How the fuck am I going to get that tune out of my head? Thanks a lot Dove and Wal-Mart. Douchebags.

***

And now, your weekly "Jericho" update



Well, the first issue of the "Jericho" comic book has been pushed back to November 27th, according to the fine folks at http://www.savingjericho.com and http://jerichocomic.squarespace.com/. I guess the fine folks at Devil's Due Publishing have run into a few problems/issues getting the book together (it happens from time to time in the comic book world), but the book is going to happen, so don't get discouraged. We will have a "Jericho" comic book soon enough.

And don't forget that you can still purchase the entire "Jericho" run on DVD. Go here to buy the entire series. If you're not into the whole "buying the entire series in one package" thing, you can get each season individually. Buy season 1 here, and season two here.

You can also preorder the "Jericho" comic book as a trade paperback here. I don't know how the new November release date is going to change the paperback release date, but if you have it pre-ordered you'll get it when it comes out.

Again, don't get discouraged "Jericho" fans. The comic book is coming. Remember that date, November 27th, the day after American Thanksgiving, retail Black Friday. "Jericho" returns! Yeah!

Long live "Jericho"!




***

IRL and NASCAR thoughts



Well, the Sprint Cup race at Martinsville was actually pretty decent and it wasn't a complete Jimmie Johnson runaway as I expected it would. Denny Hamlin finally grew a pair and threatened to punt Johnson into the wall at any second, in retaliation for what Johnson did in the spring race. But, Johnson finished second and unless something major happens at Talladega this weekend the championship chase is over.



"I'm done."

Mark Martin is second, 118 points behind. There's no way in hell he's going to make up that much in four weeks, especially with the way Johnson's team has been running. It's too bad, because for about a week there it looked like the Chase would actually be a Chase to the finish. There's a very simple way to "fix" this and make it so the points are always reasonably close going into the final races. Two sets of points, one for the Chase drivers and one for everyone else. That way, in terms of points, the Chase drivers are always competing against one another and it isn't such a runaway. The odds of NASCAR ever adopting such a system, though, are very, very slim. I mean, they still can't figure out how to run the last two laps of the race under the green flag without having a scoring system meltdown.



What the heck is Casey Mears going to do next season? His RCR 07 will be sans the Jack Daniels sponsorship next year, and with the economy in the tank and major companies being stingy with their advertising/sponsorship dollars there's a good chance Childress will have to park the car. That would be unfortunate since Mears is a decent driver and he definitely deserves continued support. Maybe, just maybe, if Childress does park the 07 next year or run a limited schedule Mears will go run the Indy 500. He's said previously that he'd love a chance to compete in the 500, and with his Uncle Rick a part of Team Penske, maybe Casey will be a fourth Penske entry next season. We'll just have to wait and see.



Jamie McMurray is rumored to be moving to the second Earnhardt-Ganassi car, the #1 that Martin Truex is leaving at the end of the season. Am I the only one who thinks that this relationship won't work, since McMurray already did the Ganassi thing and it didn't exactly end well?



Over in the IRL, it's looking more and more like the proposed race in Brazil may not happen, at least according to Robin Miller over at the Speed Channel. The IRL still hasn't found a suitable city to host the event, and with Rio getting the 2016 Olympics there is apparently less enthusiasm for the proposed race, at least from the people and or governments that would have to fit the bill to make this happen.

My God, this is the same stuff that happened to Champ Car the last few years. Champ Car announced races in China and South Korea several times and they never once raced there. It was one of the many, many things that eventually killed the series; no one could believe the schedule. Hopefully the brain trust running the IRL doesn't get stuck in the same mindset. Although, the IRL is looking more and more like Champ Car every day. More road course and street racing. That "Power-to-Pass" bullshit. Maybe the IRL wants to fail just like Champ Car did.





There are also seems to be a growing concern that the league's TV deal with Versus needs to be cancelled since the ratings for the races shown on Versus are so low. Apparently, more people watched the Indy 500 on ABC than all of the races on Versus combined. That's not good. But then Versus is allegedly paying the league for the race coverage instead of the other way around, so why would the IRL give up guaranteed money like that?

And how the heck does the IRL get out of their contract with Versus without incurring penalties, and then where does the IRL go? Back to ESPN? ABC? Some other network with higher visibility? The IRL will likely then have to pay those networks to appear on them, and where the hell are they going to get the money to do that?

Damned if I know. It's going to be an interesting off-season.



***

That'll be about it

Well, I think that'll be about it for this issue. I hope you enjoyed this issue as much as I did putting it together.

Don't forget to check out the 411 mania movies zone podcast, which can be heard here. It's always a good listen.

And please check out my other column here at the 411 mania movies zone, The Gratuitous B-Movie Column. It's about B-movies.

And don't forget to bookmark 411 via the little line below. You'll be glad you did.

Happy Halloween everyone.

***

"Cleveland: Thanks for including my Civil Rights board game in the game night rotation guys.

Lois: Oh, we're always happy to play "Two Decades of Dignity." It makes us all feel a little less guilty.

(Peter rolls dice and moves his game piece.)

Peter (reading off a game card): For whistling at a white woman, go directly to jail. Aww, man doesn't anyone ever win at this game?

Cleveland: You don't win. You just do a little better each time."
That's from "Family Guy," but I'm pretty sure you already knew that.

***

Cancer really fucking sucks.

Alzheimers sucks.

***









***



***