TV Rants and Raves 8.25.10

Posted by Bryan Kristopowitz on 08.25.2010

Rants and Raves about the season finales of “Scoundrels,” “Hot in Cleveland,” and “The Boondocks,” “Dateline: Solve My Mystery,” and the NASCAR Modified show on Versus, two more Complete Lies, another round of Quick Hits (I’m watching “Lost,” how does Louis C.K. put an episode of “Louie” together, CNN’s weekend programming, and where is the HBO “fat sex” show?), Newt Gingrich wins a special award, and more

Hello, everyone, and welcome once again to the TV centric internets column that has never been on a trampoline, TV Rants and Raves. I'm Bryan Kristopowitz.



Before I get into the main part of the column, I just want to make everyone aware that George A. Romero's latest zombie flick, "Survival of the Dead," is now available on DVD as it came out yesterday. I haven't seen the movie yet, but the movie sounds interesting (what Romero movie doesn't sound interesting?). I've heard good things about it, and I've heard bad things about it (I guess the movie has a western motif to it, and that apparently turned a bunch of people off). I plan on buying the 2-disc DVD today and watching it soon (don't be surprised if it appears in my other column here at 411, The Gratuitous B-Movie Column).



Wow, man, a 2-disc DVD. Hopefully the second disc is an actual second disc with oodles of cool special features on it and not one of those bullshit digital copy things (DVDs shouldn't be allowed to be called "2-dsic DVDs" if the second disc is a digital copy thing. That is not a second disc). There's also a Blu-ray 2-disc set and a single disc version (does anyone really want that?).





The great Charles Band flick "Metal Storm: The Destruction of Jared-Syn" is also out on DVD. There are no special features on the disc, nor is there an option where you can watch the movie in 3-D (it was released back in the 1980's in 3-D), but it's worth checking out anyway.



Now, with all of that important stuff out of the way, onto the main part of the column:


TV Rants and Raves



- "Scoundrels" Season Finale thoughts: Well, the ABC summer series "Scoundrels" starring Virginia Madsen and David James Elliott has finished up its first, and presumably only, season a few weeks ago, and the season ended pretty much how I thought it was going to, with Elliott's Wolf West finally getting out of prison and Madsen's Cheryl caught essentially cheating on Wolf. Well, that's what it looked like. Was Cheryl really cheating?

As the series went on Cheryl's steadfastness for her incarcerated husband started to wane little by little with each episode. Cheryl wanted her family of well known criminals to go straight, but at every turn she was rebuffed by the community. Cheryl, and her four kids (excluding the lawyer son, but he went through some of this stuff, too) were Wests, and being a West meant you were a lowlife. Unfair? Absolutely. But that was Cheryl's reality since the first episode. Her life was hell. So, no, I don't think Cheryl was really cheating. She was just trying to blow off steam. It was what life presented to her. She didn't ask for any of it. And, hey, if Wolf had been there with her instead of in prison none of this crap would have happened. So it's all Wolf's fault.

The whole Jason Priestley thing with the West's older daughter Heather (Levin Rambin) should be interesting going forward (if the series gets a chance to go forward). How bad will it turn out? Priestley's has-been actor character Grant Wilby is a pretty big sleazebag, so I'd imagine that his marriage to Heather will turn out to be a bad, bad idea for all involved. I wish the show had done more with the youngest West child Hope (Vanessa Marano) as she's the character on the show with the most potential. She's just starting to hone her naturally devious sensibilities. And that dumbass boyfriend of hers, he's going to end up going to jail for her at some point. That kid may have the uber hots for Hope's sister Heather but he's also in the hip pocket of Hope. He will do whatever she tells him to. Good luck with that.

The twin sons, Logan the lawyer and Cal the dumbass criminal (both played by John Patrick Flueger) will likely end up working together more if the series gets more episodes. Cal is an unrepentant criminal who enjoys being a criminal, so there's no changing him. Logan, the good boy lawyer who went straight way ahead of the rest of his family, will try very hard to keep that "good West" image going but he can't deny his own nature. He really is like everyone else in the West family. He, too, is a criminal. So when he starts up his big criminal scheme (and he's going to) he's going to enlist the help of his brother. They may not get along, but Logan and Cal share an unbreakable bond. They're going to find one another useful.

As you no doubt noticed I keep saying "if the show gets more episodes." ABC hasn't said yet whether or not it plans on ordering another season of the show. "Scoundrels" was never a ratings powerhouse, but I'm not sure if that matters. It's a summer series, so perhaps it doesn't have to meet the same ratings requirement as a show airing in the fall. I'd love to see a second season of the show. I think it has potential, especially with Elliott's Wolf out of prison. If he's out of prison he can interact more with the rest of the West clan, especially his wife Cheryl. That was the one thing the show was missing throughout its eight episode run, more interaction between Cheryl and Wolf. Those prison visits don't cut it. Madsen and Elliott have decent enough chemistry, so why not exploit it?

The show also could have had more Dina Meyer in a bikini, but that may just be me.



Hopefully, ABC makes the right decision and gives "Scoundrels" a second season. We'll likely know soon enough.




- "Hot in Cleveland" Season Finale thoughts: TV Land's first actual sitcom, "Hot In Cleveland," ended its first ten episode season with a bang. Betty White's character is a criminal? That vague marijuana smell that was always coming from her room was actually some kind of varnish that she was using on a bunch of stolen pots? Who the hell saw that coming? The aftermath of the revelation that White's Elka has been holding on to her dead criminal husband's loot should make for at least one good episode when the show starts up again in January. How is Carl Reiner going to handle knowing that his best girl aided and abetted a criminal?

I don't think the budding relationship between Valerie Bertinelli's Melanie and that cop is going to go last. Yeah, Melanie may have told him that she loved him and that she was worried about him during the tornado, but it's nothing more than a momentary thing. He's going to eventually do something stupid and Melanie is going to realize that she shouldn't be with him. I have a feeling that, like the other two female leads (Jane Leeves and Wendie Malick), are going to be sans steady male companionship for the rest of their lives. They're just not meant to be tied down, as it were.

Take a look at Leeves' Joy. She's never been married and she's never had a boyfriend for all that long. Why? It's just not meant to be. Damn, look at Malick's Victoria Chase. She's been married and divorced, what, five times? Her relationship issues don't have anything to do with her soap opera star status (in other words it's not Hollywood's fault). She's just not the marrying kind.

So perhaps that should be something that they all work on in the next season. Don't get upset if it doesn't work out with the next guy. Odds are it isn't going to work out. And what the hell do you need a man for anyway? You've got each other. That should be enough.

Now, the one thing I'd like to see in the upcoming second season is the continued localization of Malick's Victoria character. Her constant worry about what's going on in Hollywood is getting old fast. Her soap opera is over, she's older now, she ain't going to be a star again (at least not like she was). It's time for her to settle down in Cleveland and start acting locally. She should start up a theatre group, or become a fulltime acting teacher at the local high school or community college. That's where she belongs. It's also a situation that will help expand her snooty character and make her that much more annoying (annoying in a good way, I mean). Or maybe she could hook up with some local indie movie producer. That would be funny.

I like "Hot in Cleveland." It ended up being better than I ever thought it would, and I can confidently say that I can't wait for the second season to start. Finally, TV Land did something right and worthwhile. Now if they could just get rid of those fucking infomercials and those God awful reality shows and get back to a regular daily programming schedule, TV Land could get back to being a great cable channel. Right now, it's just on the cusp of being pretty good.




- "The Boondocks" Season Finale thoughts: Man, I love "The Boondocks." It's one of the best cartoons currently produced for television, and it's easily the best thing Adult Swim has ever produced. It's funny, it's got a point-of-view, and it always looks great (how many Adult Swim shows can you say that about?). And its third season finale was one of the series best episodes period. Creator Aaron McGruder and his team outdid themselves parodying "24" and Jack Bauer (terrorist hunter Jack Flowers likes to kick potential terrorists in the nuts so they will confess. That's hilarious). And we finally got to see "retired domestic terrorist" Huey Freeman in action. I wish we saw more of that kind of thing in earlier episodes. And it was a hoot to see both Ed and Gin Rummy back on the job of being reprehensible mercenaries. I bet the show could do an entire episode of Ed and Rummy arguing over new technology.



The third season seemed to focus on Uncle Ruckus, a hilariously disgusting racist. I loved the episode where he met his favorite singer, that racist country singer that resembled Jerry Reed, and the recent episode where we learned that Uncle Ruckus thinks he's actually white (his adopted mother told him that he has vitiligo) is a classic. Did Star Jones voice Ruckus' mother? That's who it sounded like.

Now, there have been rumors that this past season, the third, would be the last season of the show. There have been no official announcements as far as I know from either the Cartoon Network or McGruder, so I guess there's still a chance that there will be a fourth season. The show deserves a fourth season. Like I said, it's the best original show on Adult Swim, and there are plenty of stories left to tell. I want to see Huey's best friend from the original newspaper comic strip, Caesar, make an appearance. Isn't it about time that Huey got a friend?

That's what a fourth season should focus on. Huey, his past as a domestic terrorist, and his best friend from the comic strip Caesar. I'd also like to see at least one episode that examines Riley's homophobia and what that's all about. The show, which pulls no punches when it engages in social commentary, will no doubt do a brilliant job looking at youthful homophobia and homophobia in the hip hop community. Riley should also meet up with that psycho fat kid with the gun from that episode that resembled "Halloween" (I love the Sam Loomis character). That fat kid has unfinished business with Riley.

How much more do you want to see of former rapper Thugnificent? Does he need to become a famous rapper again, or does he need to get a promotion at UPS, maybe become a manager of some kind? I'd actually like to see him end up working at that fast food restaurant that his buddy works at (was it Wendy's? I can't remember). I'd love to see Thugnificent argue with a customer about something. I don't want to see him, though, attempt to become a drug dealer again. That first attempt was an embarrassment.

I also don't want to see any more episodes with Huey and Riley's grandfather, Grandad, walking around in his underwear. Put some pants on, man.

If this third season was the final season of "The Boondocks," it's been a great ride. Thanks, Aaron McGruder, for creating a great goddamn cartoon. But please don't quit. The world needs more Huey, Riley, Granddad, and Uncle Ruckus.




- "Dateline: Solve My Mystery" thoughts: The "Friday night mystery" episodes of "Dateline" have been a blast. The stories the former powerhouse newsmagazine decide to showcase are usually interesting, and that's rare for this kind of show ("48 Hours Mystery" I'm looking at you). For some reason, though, NBC News has decided to mess around with the Friday night mystery formula and change the way the story is told. Now, instead of a reporter narrating the story and interviewing people, the dead person (I've seen one of these and the episode's focus was a murder case) narrates the story and asks the audience to figure out who killed him or her.

Who the fuck thought this was a good idea? What the hell is wrong with sticking with the news report formula? Does "Dateline" really need this kind of overproducing?

No, it doesn't. "Solve My Mystery" is a pointless, lame ass gimmick that deserves to die a quick fucking death. How the hell am I going to solve someone's fucking personal mystery by watching a TV show where all of the evidence is presented to me as opposed to me going out and looking for it? I mean, the stories Dateline plans on telling in this series are true, real stories, right? Doesn't this sort of make a mockery of the murder victim in the case?

Why do networks always want to tinker with shit that doesn't need tinkering? There was nothing wrong with "Dateline" and its murder mystery news report formula. Nothing. Please, the next time you guys come up with an idea like "Solve my Mystery," ignore yourself and refrain from doing it. Just stick with what you know works. And Dateline works.


And finally,





- NASCAR Whelen Modifieds on Versus thoughts: The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, NASCAR's oldest touring division, has been promised some kind of TV package for years now. Each off season there's always talk of making a deal with some network, like Speed or ESPN, but that's all that ever happens. Talk. The series might get a race or two on TV, usually on a tape delayed basis (the races the series runs in conjunction with the Sprint Cup series at New Hampshire have been on TV a few times), but rarely ever live (the race at Bristol was live last Wednesday, which is the first live race in a good long time). The new weekly series on the Versus Channel, airing Wednesday nights at 7pm, features tape delayed races, but it's the first actual real TV package the series and the division have ever had, and for the most part it's a pretty decent show.

The racing, as usual, is spectacular. Whether it's the tight 1/4 mile Riverhead Raceway on Long Island or the bullring Bowman Gray Stadium in North Carolina, or the fast half mile in Thompson, Connecticut or Stafford Springs, the open wheel racers kick ass. The division has been known to engage in "choo-choo train" racing at times (the Oswego Speedway in upstate New York is well known for boring as fuck modified races. There are only about five guys that can pass in a modified there), but that doesn't happen as much as it used to. We haven't seen that kind of racing on the Versus show yet. What we have seen, though, is bad lighting.

Bad lighting is not good for TV. Track owners that are hankering for national exposure on TV really need to understand this. So far, the only track with "good" lighting has been Bowman Gray, and even that lighting needs improvement. Dark spots on the track look terrible when you're at the track in person, why would they look okay on TV? Show host and lead announcer Jack Arute, who owns Stafford, should already know this, so I'd like to know what his fucking excuse is for poor lighting.

Arute is a pretty okay lead announcer. He knows what he's talking about, and more often than not that's half the battle with racing on TV. Color commentator Jimmy Spencer, a former national modified champion, is horrendous.



Even though Spencer made his name in the modified division and presumably knows quite a bit about the cars he comes off as a guy who doesn't know what the hell he's talking about (maybe if he learned the drivers' names he wouldn't sound like a buffoon). And why the hell does he keep calling Jack Arute "Jackie?" There has to be another former modified driver that can do this job. What the hell is "Magic Shoes" Mike McLaughlin doing? He's a former champion and he can probably speak in complete sentences. Or how about Geoff Bodine?

Hopefully (Christ, there's that word again) this Versus show is just the start and that the Modifieds get more and more TV exposure. They've earned it.


***
And now, a shameless plug for TLC



Tonight on The Learning Channel is a new episode of "LA Ink," a show about people getting tattoos. If you're into that kind of thing (you know, like tattoos and stuff) be sure to check it out. It airs at 10pm. Here's a snippet of a previous episode of the show:





***

Complete Lies


Once again, I engage in deliberate lying for your reading/entertainment pleasure. The following two things are not true. At all. There is no reason to believe anything here because I've made it all up. You have been warned. Enjoy.




- Nicolas Cage set to host five episode midseason documentary series on NBC. The series, expected to be titled "Nicolas Cage: Curious" will have Cage going around the United States answering questions he has apparently asked himself over the years. In the first episode, Cage will find out how potato chips are made.

"I'm a big fan of potato chips, and I've always wondered how they were made. NBC was kind enough to give me a chance to find out, and I'm eternally thankful for the opportunity," Cage said during a conference call with reporters about the show. Future episodes will have Cage going to a paper mill and a custom framing shop.

"We here at NBC are always looking for new ideas and new personalities to collaborate with, and Nicolas was the right guy for this particular show. People like watching him do stuff is what I'm saying. Those National Treasure movies wouldn't be making all of that money if people didn't like him," an NBC executive said.

"I'm really looking forward to that custom framing episode. I've got lots of pictures that need frames, man," Cage said.





- During the same conference call announcing "Nicolas Cage: Curious," NBC also announced that noted movie star Cameron Diaz is set to guest host a November episode of "The Tonight Show." The special episode, airing the same night as Conan O'Brien's debut on TBS, will have Diaz doing the "Jay Leno" thing while wearing a bikini.

"Or some hot lingerie. I haven't really decided yet. There will be skin, though. I can promise you that," Diaz said when asked what she would be wearing while hosting.

Guests for the episode haven't been finalized yet, but rumor has it that the guests, all female, will also be in their underwear.

"Yes, that's the plan. We want this episode to be a unique TV watching experience, and we think audiences will love it," an NBC executive said.

Jay Leno will not be appearing in the episode. And the regular Tonight Show Band will be replaced with an all female rock band.

"No, we're not desperate, and we are not trying to deliberately shank Conan's opening night ratings. This bikini episode is merely a coincidence," the executive said.

***

The TV Rants and Raves Theme Song of the Week

Enjoy.





***

And now, Dr. Phil.





"You know, this Lady Gaga bitch is pretty hot. Not in a supermodel kind of way, mind you, more like a spunky, high priced hooker. She's got great tits, a great ass, and the kind of legs that you want to have wrapped around your head while you jam away on that pussy. I bet she likes that kind of shit. I know I like that kind of shit. Nothing tastes better than hot pop singer pussy. Why do you think I spent so much time around Britney Spears? Because I was interested in her well being?

Getting back to Gaga, man, she's fucking hot, but what the fuck is the deal with that nose?

Jesus Christ have you seen that fucking thing? It's like a bird's beak. And those fucking eyes of hers, they just stare out at you like a creepy fucking doll. If and when we fuck she's going to have to wear a blindfold so I don't have to look at those eyes.

Do you think she'd mind wearing a ball gag while I fucked her in the ass? She looks like the kind of bitch that would like that kind of thing."

Jesus, Phil. Lady Gaga? Really?

***

And now, the weekly Fearnet update

Do you have Fearnet on your cable/satellite system? If you do, you're lucky because it's the only free all horror/thriller on Demand station going (it's also one of the few places that is proud of B-movies). If you're a Time Warner cable subscriber, you don't have it. You probably used to have it, but it was snatched away from you last year. But there is a way to see what Fearnet has to offer. Just go here.

Yes, that's the Fearnet website, where you can check out the free movies Fearnet has to offer (the site gets new ones every Wednesday), horror news, and more. Francis Ford Coppola's "Bram Stoker's Dracula" was on there last week. Is it still there?Check and see. The site also has a pretty nifty web series featuring Freddy Krueger hisself, Robert Englund, and Kane "Jason Voorhees" Hodder, "Fear Clinic" that's definitely worth a look.



If you're a Facebook nerd you can check out the Fearnet fans Facebook page, which can be seen here. There are plenty of people out there interested in Fearnet. Come join them.

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

***

"Live Evil" is now on DVD!



"Live Evil," the movie I've been talking about for close to a year and reviewed here is now on DVD and available to purchase.

It's been a long time coming but "Live Evil" is finally on store shelves all over the country. If you don't have a reputable DVD seller near you (and by reputable I mean a seller that deals in damn near everything that comes out on DVD, from major studio releases to small independent movies like "Live Evil") go to the movie's website and order it from there or you can go here to amazon. You can also rent the flick from various video rental places, but you'll have to go to those places to find out if they have it.

The DVD contains the following:

- Unrated movie
- 5.1 Surround Sound
- Audio commentary with director Jay Woelfel, producer Mark Terry, and Mark Hengst ("Benedict")
- Deleted scenes
- Q & A with star Tim Thomerson and director Jay Woelfel at Fangoria LA convention
- Tim Thomerson intro from Flashback Weekend 2009
- Promo video of "Live Evil" at Fangoria Weekend of Horror 2009
- Theatrical trailer
- And more!

With all of those cool special features how could you not want to own "Live Evil"?

So go out right now (well, you can wait until after you finish reading this column) and purchase "Live Evil." You'll be glad you did.

Long live the Priest!






***

Featured Bit: Quick Hits



- I've started watching "Lost." Yeah, I know, I'm a little late to the show as it just ended its six season run a few months ago, but, hey, better late than never, right? I don't remember why I passed on the show when it debuted (I think I decided not to watch the show because there was just no room for it in my weekly TV watching schedule), but after watching the first three episodes I'm kind of disappointed in myself for not watching it from the beginning.

The two hour pilot is one of the best pilots I have ever seen. The $15 million that ABC spent on the pilot was well spent by J.J. Abrams and everyone else involved, My friend Ben Piper, who got me interested in finally checking out the show, tells me that ABC actually thought about shanking the idea of a weekly TV show and instead doing "Lost" as a standalone movie. How the hell would that have happened?

I don't know how long it's going to take me to get through the first season, but I'm not in a hurry, either. I want to try to enjoy the show as much as possible and try to understand its mythology. I'm actually kind of excited about this personal undertaking. I don't think I've ever been personally excited about an old TV show before.




- How exactly does Louis C.K. put an episode of "Louie" together? Is he just filming skits and then figuring out how to make them a full on show, or is every aspect of the show planned out ahead of time? I'm going to say that everything is planned out ahead of time, but the show sometimes looks like it's being pieced together after the fact (that would explain some of the show's lamer moments. I love the show, but there have been a few episodes where the story felt like it ended not because it was over but because the episode hit its expected running time). That would make for a good DVD special feature, how the hell does C.K. make this show his show?



- CNN's weekend programming sucks. The cable news channel needs to go back to focusing on news reporting on the weekend instead of those God awful shows like Sanjay Gupta's show and Fareed Zakia's "GPS" show. "Reliable Sources" used to be worth watching, but that show blows now, too. And Candy Crowley needs to go away (the only political news reporters worse than her are the ones on Fox News). Why can't CNN produce more news documentaries for the weekends? I'd much rather watch those and actual news reporting than Zakia's uber boring world politics show.

CNN International used to be a great channel. Is that channel still around?



- I'm still waiting for that "fat sex" show on HBO. Not so much because I want to watch fat people banging one another, but because it seems as though HBO has covered every other aspect of sex on its late night sex shows. Don't fat people deserve at least one half hour examination of how they get down?


***

The TV Rants and Raves Douchebag of the Week







This week, the TV Rants and Raves Douchebag of the Week goes to former Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, for equating Islam with Nazism while discussing the Park51 Islamic Community Center controversy in New York City. Of course, Newt's apologists in the media would love for everyone to believe that Newt didn't mean what he said and that he isn't a racist and that he just wants the Park51 developers to be "sensitive" to the feelings of the 9/11 victims. But that's all bullshit. Newt is a piece of shit racist and he knows exactly what he's doing when he equates all of Islam with Nazism. He's getting his teabagger racist followers riled up. He wants them energized and scared shitless that America is about to be taken over by Muslims (they've already got the Presidency, you know).

Why can't the alleged liberal media call Newt out on his blatant racism?

And before you call me on it, I know that Howard Dean and Harry Reid want the Park51 people to move the community center to some other piece of land in the city. They're both gutless cowards on this and they, too, need to be called out on their bullshit. So there.



Next up is ultra right wing radio host Dr. Laura Schlessinger, for saying that she's quitting her radio show so she can "get her first amendment right back" after being outed as a racist. Dr. Laura, while talking to a black female caller about her interracial marriage, said the "N" word eleven times, then said that it was okay for her to say the "N" word because black comedians say the "N" word on HBO, and then told the caller that she shouldn't try to "NAACP me" (what exactly does that mean?) and that the caller shouldn't be so "thin skinned." So after she was called out on what she said she went on Larry King, whined about how she's been "mistreated," and announced she's going to quit. She's taking the financial hit for the integrity of the Constitution, I guess.

Who the fuck feels sorry for Dr. Laura, besides fellow apparent racist Sarah Palin? And what's this shit about her first amendment rights being violated? What government agency went after her? And, hell, how did her radio syndicate go after her? It seems to me that Dr. Laura quit on her own. So where's the real controversy here?

Dr. Laura won't be away from the airwaves for long. She'll likely get a show on either Fox News or the Fox Business Channel because there's still a huge audience out there for her disgusting bullshit. Maybe they'll team her up with Mark Fuhrman. They'd make a good TV tandem, wouldn't they?

For Christ's fucking sake.




And finally there's Reverend Franklin Graham, for saying that the reason 24% of the American population believes that President Obama is a Muslim is because he was "born with the Muslim seed." What the fuck does that mean? What the fuck is the "Muslim seed?" Are you saying that I can walk up to random people on the street and ask them what "the Muslim seed" is and every fourth person will be able to tell me? Are you fucking serious?

No, Rev, the reason 24% of the American people believe the President is a Muslim (and in this context the "Muslim" designation is meant to be derogatory) is because you and people like you either keep insinuating that the President is a Muslim or saying outright that he's lying about being a Muslim. You want people to be scared of the President, and if the "he's a Commie Black power socialist that hates white people" bullshit doesn't work you can just say he's a (gasp!) Muslim. Because that shit is pretty damn scary. And you work the vast right wing echo chamber relentlessly until it becomes a part of the culture.

The Rev should be ashamed of himself, but in order for that to happen he'd have to have a conscience. He clearly doesn't have one of those since he's able to lie and mislead with wild abandon.

Disgraceful, Rev. Disgraceful.

***

And now, your weekly "Jericho" update



There's a rumor running rampant on the internets that the fourth issue of the "Jericho" comic may be coming out in the next few weeks, potentially September 7th or 8th. There has been no official announcement from either CBS or Devils Due Publishing, so we should probably take that rumor with a grain of salt. It sure as heck would be cool, though, if the fourth issue did come out in a few weeks. I really want to know what the heck happens next.
Beyond that, nothing has changed. Devils Due is still having financial difficulties and CBS is keeping what it knows close to the vest. Hopefully some kind of official announcement will be made soon on the future of the franchise. It's still popular, it still matters, there's an audience out there for it, so something has to be imminent. It has to be.

Keep checking out http://www.savingjericho.com and http://jerichocomic.squarespace.com/ for up-to-date information regarding the "Jericho" comic plus other "Jericho" related stuff (what's going on with the Epix thing?). And keep an eye on http://www.devilsdue.net/, the online home of Devil's Due Publishing, for information regarding future issues of the comic book and everything else Devil's Due puts out (Go here to find a local comic book shop near you if you haven't done so already. It's always good to know where your local comic book shop is regardless).

And go here to buy the entire "Jericho" series in one DVD collection. 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.

Long live "Jericho"!





***
NASCAR and Indycar thoughts

Well, I got to see the last one hundred laps of the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Bristol last Saturday (I had to go into work unexpectedly, so that bullshit put the screws to watching the race. I could have recorded it but I was too annoyed at the time to think ahead like that). It looked like it was a pretty okay race. Jimmie Johnson got punted out of the race by Juan Pablo Montoya, which is always cool (fail, Jimmie Johnson! Fail!). And Montoya did a great job with his seventh place finish. He should be a factor at the next race at Atlanta in two weeks. He usually does well at Atlanta.



Kyle Busch, who swept the weekend at Bristol, winning in the Camping World Trucks Series race on Wednesday and the Nationwide Series race on Friday, should also be a factor, as the Gibbs cars usually do well at Atlanta (back in the day Bobby Labonte used to kick ass at Atlanta in Gibbs cars). It'll be interesting to see how much attention is given to both Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. at Atlanta as both drivers are in dire need of a win (Earnhardt, Jr. needs to win to have a chance to get into the Chase).

Poor Mark Martin. That guy can't catch a break this season. He probably won't make the Chase this year. He just doesn't have the momentum in his favor right now. Jamie McMurray might make it. He seems to be on a bit of a streak right now.

I did get to see most of the Nationwide race on Friday night. Kyle Busch admitted to deliberately dumping Brad Keselowski after Keselowski pinched him into the wall. I don't fully understand how Keselowski, who still really needs to calm down, was at fault there, but then both Busch and Keselowski take people out all of the time, so what's new?

NASCAR should be making a decision soon on how Sprint Cup drivers can compete in the Nationwide Series. One of the potential changes bandied about is allowing Sprint Cup drivers to compete in every race if they so choose but they won't be able to compete for the championship. That sounds awfully complicated to me. Why not just limit the number of races the Sprint Cup drivers can race per season in the Nationwide Series? What's so hard about a rule that says Sprint Cup drivers can only race in five or eight races a year maximum?



Over in Indycar land, Will Power spanked the field at Infineon Sunday afternoon, leading all but two laps to pick up his fifth win of the season. Going into the final stretch of the season, it's Power's championship to lose as he's got a decent enough lead over second place Dario Franchitti. The last four races of the season are on ovals, tracks that are not Power's strong suit. Franchitti, though, is a bad ass on the ovals, so now is the time for this year's Indy 500 champion to make his move.

In an overall sense this year's Infineon race was pretty lame, with very little passing going on throughout the field. What the hell is the deal with that? Why isn't the "push-to-pass" thing making up for the alleged horsepower deficit that prevents more overtaking?



What the hell does Dan Wheldon have to do to catch a freaking break on the track? Every time it seems as though his Panther Racing National Guard team makes progress something happens to destroy all of their momentum. Hopefully, for Wheldon's sake, the next four oval races work out in his favor. Wheldon, and Panther, are due for a win.



The next race is this Saturday night at Chicagoland. I won't be able to watch the race live (I have to fucking work again) but I should be able to see the last part of it. Maybe. I'll make sure to record it so I can watch it in its entirety on Sunday, before the Nationwide road course race in Montreal. Do you think Will Power will finally get that oval monkey off his back and pick up his first circle track win?


***

That'll be about it

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

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.

"Miss Ironbox: The filing is done Mr. Griffin.

Peter: Thank you Miss Ironbox. You are a valued member of our business team and I will give you a raise tomorrow if you come to work without a shirt on.

Miss Ironbox: Mr. Griffin!

Peter: I'm sorry, that came out wrong. Let me try again. Nice ass."


That's from "Family Guy," but I'm pretty sure you already knew that.

***

Cancer really fucking sucks.

Alzheimers sucks.

***










***




***