Show Viewing Date: 10-31-2008
Show Title: Real Time with Bill Maher
Network: HBOHD
Reviewed By: MIke Wilkerson - 2GuysTalking

Intro:

It’s terribly important weekend to leave your eyes, ears, and senses in general.  For those of our readers who are American’s we approach a very important election day as the last weekend of October 2008 comes and goes.  Regardless of your political leaning, make sure that you take the time to get out, vote early, and encourage other Americans to do the same.  It’s always been important and this year is no exception.  Bill’s show is one that always gets my motor running, as well as my mind, which is the reason I continue to listen to each and every minute of his show.  In my previous Caption Hunt Reviews, I’ve been incredibly clear that I don’t agree with much of what Bill Maher has to say in his program, as well as most of his guests, but it’s truly an outstanding portal on a community of people I don’t usually hear from or understand, but - as my father is always telling me, it’s all about perspective.  Read along and enjoy this informative and revealing Caption Hunt review on The 2GuysTalking Network.

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It’s been a while (months to be exact) but Michael and I are back for another installment of the TV Roundup podcast. There’s not much to talk about these days besides reality shows that Michael and I are above watching, so we round up 2007 and talk about the few mid season shows we are looking forward to (coughsputter….LOST….cough). Apologies for the long break. Hopefully we can get our act together, although LOST and Battlestar Galactica might be all we have to live for.

by Michael Alan Connelly
Posted January 30, 2008

Have we mentioned that the season premiere of Lost is Thursday? Oh, that’s right. We can’t stop talking about it. So it should come as no surprise that Vulture was thrilled when Michael Emerson (Ben Linus) found the time to dish about the upcoming episodes. The thoughtful New York stage vet talked at impressive length about those titillating flash-forwards, Ben’s paternal instincts, and whether the spookiest villain on TV becomes a hero this season.

Damon Lindelof said, back in November, that the season’s ending after the eighth episode due to the writers’ strike would be “torturous” for fans. Do you feel the same way about that?
Well, yeah … I wouldn’t worry about it too much. I mean, the eight episodes we have are pretty damned entertaining. And whether it’s by accident or craft, there is a pretty good button on the end of the eighth episode. I mean it’s quite a shocking plot twist and cliffhanger. I think it would do in a pinch. Of course it would be much better to complete the season. I’m sure they have a master plan and some amazing story developments that we would love to get to, but I don’t know what we’ll do if we can’t get back to work fairly soon. There must be a magic date somewhere in March beyond which they’ll say ‘Look, we’re just going to have to scrap the season, show what we have, and come next year.’ Read the rest of this entry »

By Rick Bentley / The Fresno Bee 01/29/08 16:44:52
Many actors will create a history for their character even if it is not provided in the script. “Lost” star Michael Emerson saw no such need in playing the mysterious Henry Gale/Ben Linus.

“Creating a history for a character helps when you are doing a stage play because you have to do a lot of storytelling in a short window. So it is good to have the character’s history already worked out,” Emerson says. “In this case, I didn’t need to know that much. In fact, this is a character that plays better if less is fleshed out. This is a guy about which little is known.”

After an eight-month hiatus, Emerson and the rest of the cast get to return to their roles. The fourth-season opener of “Lost” airs at 8 p.m. Thursday on ABC.

There was no way Emerson’s character was supposed to be around for four episodes, let alone for the opening of the fourth season. The Emmy-winning actor was signed for only a three-episode arc.

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Posted By Eirik Knutzen

A recent graduate of the University of Iowa and still dripping wet behind the ears, Terry O’Quinn made his professional acting debut in a production of “Tartuffe” at Baltimore’s Center Stage in 1975.

In fact, he loved it so much that he hung around the venerable theater for another four or five years, despite the fact he didn’t work very frequently or get paid quite enough to live in much more than hovels (despite a roommate or two) or eat lots of boxed macaroni and cheese. And he loved every split second of sharing the wealth with his friends and acquaintances.

And then came a major break: He was cast in director Michael Cimino’s (later much-maligned) movie Western “Heaven’s Gate” (1980). O’Quinn was hired to play a U.S. Army cavalry officer, Capt. Minardi, a rough, tough soldier born in the saddle.

When asked by the producers, he indignantly replied, “Of course I can ride!”

A fairly sensible young man, he decided to take riding lessons immediately.

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Michael Emerson seems to be the spokesperson for LOST. I have not seen so many interviews given by one person as he is giving lately. As an Emerson fan, I love it. He is an eloquent man who is capable of giving very little spoilers, even though he is giving a lot of information.—ESBaker

Tuesday, 29 January 2008, 13:34 PST

Frazier Moore, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK - For eight long months, we had no contact with our friends on the island.

Now, at the start of the new season of “Lost” (Thursday at 9 p.m. EST on ABC and CTV), we find the castaways right where we left them last May: thinking they’re about to be saved.

But nothing is ever what it seems on “Lost.” The guessing game is about to resume for the castaways, and for us.

This season has been whittled to just eight episodes thanks to the writers strike, with 40 more hours before the saga concludes in 2010. Still, it’s not too soon to marvel at the ingenuity and wild ambition that “Lost” has displayed - and how it, somehow, has continued to surprise us.

When the series was announced in 2004, its basic concept seemed intriguing, but also gimmicky and unsustainable. How long could a show keep plane crash victims on a tropical island without their getting found or getting ridiculous?

“Lost” quickly demonstrated how. It created a world of seemingly limitless possibilities, thanks to the evolving set of personalities that continues to replenish the island population. And also thanks to the flashbacks filling in its characters’ lives before the fateful crash of Oceanic flight 815, flashbacks that let the series time-shift and place-shift wherever it might roam, expanding the show beyond any insular constraints and literally spinning its narrative around the globe.

“Lost” quickly demonstrated something else: a tendency to get inside our heads.

Central to the “Lost” experience are crazy-making questions like “What can you believe?” and “Who can you trust?” Now, with the fourth-season return of “Lost,” we are thrust back into that familiar mind-set plaguing the survivors, people with whom we have already shared much confusion.

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Michael Emerson became a prolific interviewer. There are numerous interviews out in cyberspace that he has made lately. His unofficial Web site (http://michaelemerson.net) lists them all. It is usually updated on a daily basis. Here’s a brand-new one that he just gave.—ESBaker

By Alan Pergament - NEWS TV CRITIC
Updated: 01/29/08 9:47 AM
After an eight-month absence, ABC’s “Lost” returns Thursday amid some fears that it will suffer similar audience losses as “The Sopranos” did after one of its extended absences.

But actor Michael Emerson, who earned an Emmy nomination playing Ben Linus, the leader of the hostile island group, The Others, isn’t worried about viewer defections.

“I think the appetite is well whetted at this point,” said Emerson in a telephone interview. “Those who might drop away weren’t that serious about it anyway.”

The return of “Lost” is the best thing to happen to TV since the writers’ strike began. ABC has been promoting it to 
Michael Emerson believes there will be a cliffhanger ending in “Lost,” even if the writers’ strike prevents new episodes.
death and is trying to find new ways to get new fans to the series, which focuses on strangers left on a deserted island after an airplane crash.

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The authors claim that there are no spoilers in this article. I beg to differ. I will cut the article at the point where the spoiler begins. If you don’t mind the spoiler (it is a mild one), just click to continue to read it.—ESBaker

NEW YORK - Are the island castaways of “Lost” mere hours from rescue? Or will their latest chance at freedom turn to dust, like all the others?

That’s a no-brainer. The title of the ABC series isn’t “Found.” And as the long-awaited new season of “Lost” begins Thursday (9 p.m. EST on CTV), the first episode strongly suggests the castaways are about to lose again.

They’re awaiting help from a rescue party from a freighter anchored offshore. But as they wait, the chilling likelihood takes hold that their potential saviors could instead spell their doom.

There are no shockers in the episode, the first of eight in the series’ truncated fourth season. But this is a gripping hour involving all the principal characters that sets the stage for the season ahead. And after eight long months’ absence, it’s a welcome sight. (Relax: No spoilers ahead.)

From last season’s finale, we already know that rock star Charlie (played by Dominic Monaghan) made a perilous quest to disable a jamming device that had prevented the group from summoning help from a just-acquired satellite telephone. He died carrying out his mission, but not before relaying a warning to his comrades to beware of the so-called freighter people.

The next step in the rescue plan was for the group to make a trek to the radio tower and shut off a tape-loop rescue plea that also was interfering with any other transmissions.

There Ben (Michael Emerson), the less-than-trustworthy overlord of the Others, implored Jack (Matthew Fox), the survivors’ reluctant leader, not to place the call to the freighter people.

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Time to catch up with Lost, but that’s far easier said than done. The third-season two-hour closer, Through the Looking Glass, was a wild ride, with Charlie (Dominic Monaghan) gone, apparently for good, along with a whole swatch of familiar Others — including M.C. Gainey’s indelible Tom. (ABC repeats the episode Wednesday night at 8.)