The VICIOUS TV News Wrap for 01.24.06
Posted by Steve Vicious on 01.24.2006
Kelly Clarkson vs. American Idol?, ABC not getting "Arrested", "Darkwing Duck" & "The Tick" to DVD? Backup your DVDs, and Scarlett Johansson gets her HUGE boobs felt up by some random E! interviewer guy? New Futurama episodes stuff on DVD?! And much more in the 18th installment of the VICIOUS TV News Wrap!!!
Intro:
Since all of the regular TV shows are back on air with new episodes, things will get back to normal in the coming weeks when it comes to the news part of this NEWS report. Remember, I only report the interesting stuff, so I might skimp through certain stuff. Anyway, lets get going with Week 18!
Random TV Thoughts/News/Gossip:
- Bite the Hand that Fed You First
It seems that the first American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson has been in the midst of some controversy surrounding the use of her songs on the show. Her "people" had asked the show not to use her songs, which caused some ridicule from Idol judge Simon Cowell. However, this has all been settled as Kelly has "allowed" Idol to use her songs. Well, on one hand you can understand how Kelly doesn't want to be known as the first American Idol Kelly Clarkson (I LOVE KELLY!!!), so that would explain her distancing from the show that launched her career. Also, you can point to her problems with the label she signed with, I believe it was RCA Records, but who knows? All I care about is Kelly Clarkson lookin' pretty on my TV.
- Love Monkey is not so Loved
Damn, as much as I hate to admit it, I actually enjoyed the "Friends" type show's pilot episode last Tuesday. However, it seems that less than 9 million viewers tuned in for the pilot episode, making the show finish 3rd in its 10PM Tuesday night timeslot. I wouldn't say that the show is in any danger right now, most likely due to the fact that CBS didn't promote it until a few days prior to the pilot episode airing. It's also on a very competitive timeslot, up against such shows as NBC's "Law & Order: Special Victims Units" and ABC's "Boston Legal." I pray to God that CBS gives the show a healthy first season run, or if all else fails -- send the show to Friday nights along with Jennifer Love Hewitt's "Ghost Whisper." Come to think about it, "Love Monkey" would fit in quite well on a Friday or Saturday night timeslot. Anyway, WATCH THE SHOW!!!
- Last call for "Will & Grace"
It's about damn time that NBC made it official. However, I'm sure the folks over at NBC are a nervous reck because now they have to replace their lead-in show, which they already had to do after "Friends" bowed out a few seasons ago and the less than stellar replacement "Joey". I mean, they still have "Joey", but that show is dead in the water when it returns unless NBC repositions their Thursday night lineup around again. I'm actually hoping that Earl moves up to 8PM, Joey to 8:30PM and "The Office" can fit in nicely at 9PM, allowing a good lead-in for "Four Kings". Just a thought. Anyway, expect "Will & Grace" to bow out in May.
- "The West Wing" is at an end
Yup, NBC is letting their Emmy award winning show "The West Wing" go out also in May of this year. After all the hype put in on the show this season with the race for the White House with Jimmy Smiths and Alan Alda, I was expecting the show to go another couple of years, but I guess I was wrong.
- ABC not getting "Arrested" after all
Damn, this comes as a blow to me because I am a huge fan of "Arrested Development" and was hoping the show would land on ABC (I don't have Showtime), but ABC Entertainment Chief Steve McPherson has mentioned that the show's chances for landing on his network in Fall 2006 are very slim. I have mix feelings from this situation because A) ABC would probably mistreat the show unless they do the smart thing and (I can't believe I'm saying this but...) put it after "Desperate Housewives" on Sunday nights. Hey, it worked for "Grey's Anatomy", didn't it? Well, I guess I can pay a few more bucks for Showtime for AD's fourth season, so it will be well worth it.
TV Shows on DVD Coming Soon:
- LETS GET DANGEROUS!!!
OH MY F#&%ing GOD! Darkwing Duck is rumored to be coming out on DVD in 2006! I loved the show as a kid and was heartbroken to discover that Toon Disney was no longer airing it after I got Dish Network in April 2005, but this is great news for me. I'm guessing that Disney will do a Volume collection (ala "Chip & Dale: Rescue Rangers" or "DuckTales") or a season set (it ran for three seasons). Anyway, I will definitely check that out and read some more on this great piece of news over at http://tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=4962.
- The TICK to DVD!!!
It's good to see Disney's purchase of the many of the shows from Fox after they went broke (X-Men, Spider-Man, The Tick, etc..) has finally paid off in 2006. They are rumored to be planning a DVD set on The Tick animated series that aired on Fox back in the 90s. I'm guessing were getting a 2-disc set since the show only ran for 36 episodes (they'll probably split the series half for each DVD release) and consists of many bootlegs out there on the net. I can just see it now -- relaxing and watching "The Tick vs. Arthur's bank Account" in which Tick goes overboard with Arthur's credit cards and gets himself kicked out of their apartment. Excellent episode. I can't wait. Check more on that here: http://tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=4963
The VICIOUS Feature: Backup your DVDs:
Have you ever let someone borrowed a DVD of yours and then have it not work after they return it? Or maybe you were just clumsy and did something that harmed your disc that made it unplayable. Well, I have been figuring out how to backup your DVDs with certain tools, I few that I will share with you here. However, you will need the following tools to help you backup and create your own DVDs as BACKUPS. Remember, the DMA states that you cannot copy and sell your DVDs because that's called "PIRACY" and you can go to jail. Or worse, they could send to OZ. YIKES. Anyway, make sure you have most of these tools unless you just want to backup your discs to your HDD.
1. Of course, you will need a DVD Drive (estimated cost around $35-50) to get any DVDs to read on your PC.
2. I recommend a really big Hard Drive, around 80GB+ because you can sometimes copy a disc that is up to 11GBs! So it's for the best that you have a really big HDD because DVDs will fill them up quickly. Go to your local Target and purchase a very good Western Digital 160GB HDD for $90 today! They work well and are a piece of cake to install. Take it from me.
4. If you plan on burning a disc onto a DVD-R, you will obviously need a DVD burner. I found a dual-layered DVD burner at Wal-Mart for $60 and it works great.
3. If you are a sticker for having your DVD backups in order, you will need a Printer. I will explain later on.
The VICIOUS TV Mini-Wrap:
- Gilmore Girls [01.17.06]
Lorelai finally discovers the truth about Luke's secret daughter. At first, she's a typical woman (clearly ignoring the fact that she also has a daughter from another man), but I guess the real reason she is so upset is because he didn't tell her before. Ah, things go around and around until we come to the conclusion that everything is okay. Okay episode, but at least they didn't stretch out a problem for several episodes even thought we already would know the outcome to that ala the Lorelai/Rory split of '05. ***
- The OC [01.19.06]
Marissa's 14-year-old sister Kaitlin (now played by Willa Holland) is back in town for winter break and it seems that she is now a bad girl. Geez, no wonder they let the original Kaitlyn go (she was too nice and innocent), because it seems that this Kaitlin is running from some "stalker" dude. Of course, the entire episode seemed to be based around her return, but I guess that's okay. I get the feeling that Kaitlin Cooper will soon be the star of this show, so I better start kissing up...never! I say that because the show's "teen" cast is going in opposite directions and it might pull a 90210 where stars come and go, new people take over and repeat until the show becomes even more unwatchable (talking about the OC, not 90210). Anyway, a lot of nothing goes on, although Kaitlyn trying to hook up with Johnny was interesting since he's older and all. ***
Tools:
1. DVDFab Decrypteris the best DVD ripper in the entire world, in my honest opinion. I am amazed that such a gem of software managed to slip my sights for so long (I have been using DVD Shrink for over a year). It's perfect because A.) It allows you to copy your full DVD discs faster than any other DVD ripper I have come across B) It easily removes any protection that a DVD might have, which would normally prevent you from copying a disc in the first place. It's just excellent and a small file for those of you on dial-up.
2. DVD Decrypter was shut down a few months ago, but you can still find it on the net. It's a nice piece of software, but since it's a dead program (meaning that it will never be updated, unless it's done by hackers), it's not up to date with the codes to allow you to penetrate newer copy protected DVDs. This is also a small file and works good and quick, but I would still pick DVDFab over this one.
3. DVD Shrink 3.2: Once you have DVDFab or DVD Decrypter, you should copy a DVD and then open up DVD Shrink. Like I mentioned above, DVDs can sometimes come out as big as 11GBs and that's a big problem if you want to burn it onto a disc to save space on your HDD because regular DVD-R discs can only hold 4.7GBs of data (unless you can somehow find the expensive DVD-Rs that can hold double that data). That's where DVD Shrink comes in -- you "Open File" and select your DVD's files, then DVD Shrink analyze it, leaving you with everything that would normally be on your disc. Now, you can either choose to cut out some of the stuff (other languages, commentary, extras, etc) to have your DVD come out in higher quality, or you can just compress the files (DVD Shrink does it automatically) so it all fits onto a 4.7 DVD-R disc.
Just click the backup option on DVD Shrink to burn your disc. You can select some other options (email me if you have any questions about it), and you need to have room to store a TEMP file (a backup file of your copied DVD, also explaining why you would need a really BIG HDD). After DVD shrink is done analyzing again, the writing process will begin and your DVD should be ready in around 5 minutes. There you go.
4. UnderCover XP: If you want to organize your DVDs, then you will obviously need a printer to print out DVD covers. Now, you can find the original covers at this website CDCovers.cc (it also works for those of you Gamers out there). So you can easily print out your DVD case covers (buy the cases from any Wal-Mart or on the net) and you should use glossy paper to get excellent results. But, beware because getting a good cover comes at the price of using a lot of ink (the pics are usually printed via 600PPI). That's all folks. If you have any questions, just drop me an e-mail and I will help you through this. And remember, only use it for BACKUPS!!!
Top Selling TV on DVD Sets via Amazon.com 1. Firefly: The Complete Series
2. Grey's Anatomy: Season 1 (via pre-orders)
3. Battlestar Galactica: Season 2.0
4. Lost: The Complete 1st Season
5. Pride and Prejudice: Special Edition
6. 24: Season Four
7. Battlestar Galactica: Season One
8. The Office: Season One
9. The Time Tunnel: Volume 1 (Via Pre-Orders)
10. Family Guy: Volume 3
New DVD on TV January 24, 2006:
- 1-800-Missing: Season 2
- Dallas: The Complete 4th Season (Pick of the Week, since nothing else looks good)
- The Time Tunnel: Volume 1
TV Nielsen Ratings for January 9-15, 2006
1. AFC Divisional Playoff Game (CBS) 16.1
2. Desperate Housewives (ABC) 13.9
3. CSI: Miami (CBS) 13.0
4. Grey's Anatomy (ABC) 12.1
5. Lost (ABC) 11.9
6. CSI (CBS) 11.6
7. Dancing with the Stars (ABC) 11.4 [I can't believe people tune into this show so much]
8. NCIS (CBS) 10.8
8. Two and a Half Men (CBS) 10.8
10. Criminal Minds (CBS) 10.3
The VICIOUS Babe of Week: Scarlett Johansson is my TV babe of the week. I'm sure you're asking yourself -- "Wait a minute, Steve, she's a MOVIE actress!" Okay, that's true, but anyone else catch the Golden Globes last week? I saw some images and video of Ms. Johansson getting her SUPER HUGE boobs felt up by some E! interviewer prior to the event. Need I say more? Check out the video here: http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2688876
Currently Watching on DVD (TV):
- I'm working through The Simpsons: The Complete 5th Season for a DVD review later this week. I finished disc 2 Sunday, but I won't get another crack at it until I take the load off my schedule, but so far, it's VERY good.
- Batman the Animated Series: Volume Four DVD review is almost done, all I need is recaps for the suckier episodes and that should be done by Friday, but it might not be posted until early next week for bigger audience. While you wait, you should read my DVD review on Superman the Animated Series: Volume Two. It's a very good DVD set, by the way. Find out why!
On the Next VICIOUS TV News Wrap (XIX): January 31, 2006
- I'm still checking out more MTV shows, speciafically "My Own."
- I saw a commercial for this weird show on FX where a two families trade members, but the twist is that they are from opposite races. Now, that doesn't sound too interesting, right? But WAIT! It seems that FX will force the traded family members to become their new family's RACE! Is it a bad idea, or a revolutionary one? Wait, didn't Dave Chappelle already do a skit about this on his "Chappelle's Show"? Tune in for that.
Scarlett Johansson is my TV babe of the week. I'm sure you're asking yourself -- "Wait a minute, Steve, she's a MOVIE actress!" Okay, that's true, but anyone else catch the Golden Globes last week? I saw some images and video of Ms. Johansson getting her SUPER HUGE boobs felt up by some E! interviewer prior to the event. Need I say more? Check out the video here: 
