I’m finding it hard for the show to make me happy.  This week’s episode of Medium, “Car Trouble,” had another elaborate murder scheme.  The killer, which was the husband again, creates a wife-murdering shooting machine in his garage using a tennis ball hanging from the ceiling as a trigger.  Last week five strangers that meet due to a flight delay agreed to kill his/her loved-one/partner at the same time in the future, in the same way – with poisoned pain-killers.  While I’m sure some murderers come up with these inventive schemes, I think it’s highly unlikely that they happen with the frequency we’ve been experiencing them on Medium.  But on the other hand, if the murders were all run-of-the-mill, then I’d probably be unhappy as well.  That’s why I said, “I’m finding it hard for the show to make me happy.”

The way Allison was acting, in relationship to the cars in the episode, made me want to reach into the screen and slap her myself.  Maybe I’m just extra crabby right now, but if my husband brought home a like-new SUV, I’d be driving it – no matter what “ghosts” inhabited the vehicle.  It seemed like Allison was more irrational than normal.

The episode ends with “to be continued.” We resolve the murder, but we still don’t know if Joe will cheat on his wife with his new invention partner.  But we do know that she will put the moves on him.  It was very suspicious that Joe’s whole purpose for working late was supposed to be the fact that he was waiting for the call for the results of the patent search, and then his partner, Meghan, receives the call on her cell phone and drops by the office to give him the good news.  I just hope he takes the high road.  I’ve already seen Jake Weber play a character that cheats on his wife in the movie, 100 Mile Rule.  I don’t need to see it again.

At long last, Jennifer Smith and Michael Hickerson are back from their writer’s strike enforced hiatus. Showing no signs of a “post hiatus” slump, they discuss whether or not several comedies are in a post hiatus slump and then debate if they should consider themselves sitcom snobs. Next up is general gushing over Lost and Battlestar Galactica followed by a lament on Reaper. Finally, Jennifer threatens to go all X-Files, all the time as she counts down seconds until the new movie and the duo threaten/promise a six hour, dear heavens we loved us some X-Files until David Duchovny left and Chris Carter got convinced he was a bigger genius than he really is show later this summer.

Click here to listen to the most recent episode…

I have always been a Conan O’Brien Fan. Whether it was when he took on the show in the beginning in the 90’s or when I catch a great quirky interview with _insert star power promoting a movie, whatever_, I’ve always had a good snicker and guffaw via the conduit that is Conan The Grammarian.

Recently a news particle popped up on ABCNews.Com that caught my eye. JIMMY FALLON to succeed Conan?

While there are many things that Fallon has crafted that make me giggle, am I missing something here?

Taxi was one of the few movies that I actually turned off while it was spinning in my DVD player.

Does he have enough quirky energy to take what a writing staff provides him to hold people’s interest for years as a host of something as big as Late Nite? Tell me more about his comical skill set and help me understand the move to include Fallon in place of O’Brien as he ascends to the Leno podium. Wait a tick - he’s a fellow RED SOX Fan - hmmm. Insurrection from within perhaps!

I await your input! -Mike2GuysTalking

Jimmy Fallon to succeed Conan on NBC talk show
By Steve Gorman
Apr 24, 2008

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - “Saturday Night Live” veteran Jimmy Fallon will take Conan O’Brien’s place on NBC next year when O’Brien succeeds Jay Leno on “The Tonight Show, a person familiar with the deal said on Thursday.

The two leading showbiz trade magazines, Daily Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, both reported that a formal announcement of plans to install Fallon in O’Brien’s place as host of NBC’s “Late Night” show would likely come next month.

Fallon, long considered a leading contender for the 12:35 a.m. slot, will complete an NBC talent shuffle set in motion when the network announced in 2004 that Leno would retire from “Tonight” in 2009 and that O’Brien would replace him.

Fallon’s publicist had no comment. Nor did NBC, the flagship broadcast company of the General Electric Co-controlled NBC Universal.

But network executive Rick Ludwin said last year that the former “Saturday Night Live” writer-performer was a front-runner to succeed O’Brien.

Do You Remember When The Last “Big Network” Came Out?

I know I’ll get a ton of Email telling me about every new, obscure cable and dish “network” that has come around in the last year, but I’m talking about a REAL, money-push television network when I ask “Do You Remember When The Last “Big Network” Came Out. I supposed “The WB” could fall into the category I’m talking about, but I’ve always seen that as an independant network like I see “vintage” foreign films in comparison to today’s modern day studio films.

Something I caught on my usual surfing radar escapade this week was a “new Network” that was being compiled by - you’ll never guess so don’t try - a bunch of movie studios. Hmmm, I say, hmmm. So how will this work? Read on below and be sure to tell me YOUR thoughts. I have very high hopes, but often and lately they’ve been dashed by either the all-mighty dollar, or perceived ratings that squash interest and zeal like a bug.

I see that the MTV Division will be heralding the marketing of what’s going on with this new network - is that the death knell or have I got it all wrong?

Let me know what you think! - Mike2GuysTalking

Viacom, 5 Hollywood studios to create new TV channel
Paramount, MGM, United Artists, Lionsgate studios joining with Viacom to create TV channel
LOS ANGELES Apr 20, 2008 (AP)
The Associated Press

Viacom Inc. and five Hollywood studios are joining forces to create a television channel and video-on-demand service, the companies announced Sunday.

The venture, starting in fall 2009, will show movies and television series from Paramount, Paramount Vantage, MGM, United Artists and Lionsgate.

It could provide competition in both programming and viewers to Time Warner’s HBO and CBS Corp.’s Showtime.

“This venture has the potential to be a game changer for the industry,” Viacom president and CEO Philippe Dauman said in a statement. “We are building an innovative service that will use traditional and new digital distribution technologies to bring great film and television entertainment directly to the consumer.”Viewers will have pay-per-view access to big-budget releases from the studios, such as “Cloverfield,” “Iron Man” and “Star Trek.” Movies from the companies’ archive libraries and new TV series created by the studios also will be featured.

The combined companies have a collection of thousands of films and hundreds of TV shows. MGM owns the world’s largest modern film library, comprising titles from United Artists, Orion Pictures and other studios. Paramount has 3,500 motion pictures in its library, including recent blockbusters such as “Transformers” and “Beowulf” and Oscar winners “There Will Be Blood” and “No Country for Old Men.”

Viacom owns the content of more than 100 television channels, including MTV, VH1, CMT, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central.

Viacom will provide marketing and other operational support through its MTV Networks division.

In the opening of the show, Allison wakes up suddenly after dreaming of a voyeur walking the streets at night who sees a woman undressing in an upstairs window. A man approaches the woman, breaks a glass bottle and holds it up to her, arguing about something.   I was completely confused by this opening dream sequence.  I guess the aim was to misdirect the audience into thinking that the Peeping Tom had something to do with something.  And why would a husband break a glass bottle and threaten his wife with it?   Isn’t this what you do in bars?  She died from taking poisoned pain reliever.  I don’t get the broken bottle thing either.

 “Allison has visions of a friend of Scanlon girlfriend (Lynn) dying in a home mishap. This causes her to struggle with connecting some recent “accidental” deaths, consequently putting her own health in jeopardy.”  In this blurb from the internet and in the previews of this week’s episode, “A Cure for What Ails You,” they were emphasizing the jeopardy of Allison’s health.  Well, I thought this was pretty gimmicky.  Allison passes out once, and wakes up perfectly fine.  Besides scaring the bejesus out of her husband, and consequently pissing him off because of the $500 emergency room visit, there was no jeopardy to her health.  I thought NBC saved up this misleading sensationalism for ER.

The story of the five strangers meeting in an airport, and devising a scheme to kill their loved-ones/partners with poisoned pain reliever was a stretch for me.  It was an interesting enough twist, but I don’t think it’s feasible.  I’ve seen people (who know each other) create evil schemes on reality shows and fail to follow through.  I really have a hard time believing that five strangers would all follow through on a life-or-death scheme like this one.  Well, at least they found a way to pass the time while they were snowed in at the airport.

Note to self:  If I am ever feeling dizzy, and I can’t see straight, and I’m parked on the top floor of a parking garage, remember not to try to drive.  This was hard to believe as well.  If you are that messed up that you can’t put the key in the ignition on the first attempt, why would any normal person continue to try to drive?  I guess the writers wanted a dramatic car-flying-off-the-top-of-a-parking-garage scene.

Besides all of the show’s faults, I was still entertained.  I appreciated Joe being angry at his wife after her dramatic passing out but technically asleep episode.  They did not need the unnecessary emergency room charges.  Real people aren’t always immediately understanding – and I appreciate the way Medium handles these types of issues.

But the cute story about Marie and her need for glasses was the saving grace of the episode.  This episode confirms that Marie, like her other sisters, has inherited her mother’s psychic abilities.  During her first visit to the eye doctor, she perfectly recites the animals on the eye chart by reading the doctor’s mind.  Joe had to go back a second time, put earphones on the doctor, and turn the doctor towards Marie, and not the chart, to get him to see her squinting, and her inability to really “see” the chart.

I originally heard that there would only be nine episodes this season, but this one makes thirteen.  I know of two more episodes coming.  The next is “Car Trouble.”Allison meets Meghan Doyle, Joe’s new business partner. Meanwhile, her old car stops working and Joe surprises her with a nice looking used car. The car ends up being the center of a horrible unsolved crime though (of course).  I heard that this Meghan Doyle is supposed to cause trouble in the DuBois marriage.  If it were my decision, I wouldn’t go down that path.  I guess time will tell if they made the correct decision.

As Desmond, Henry Ian Cusick Finds His Way on ‘Lost’

by Jen Chaney

Sunday, April 13, 2008; Page M03

When actor Henry Ian Cusick first joined TV’s “Lost,” he expected to stay for three episodes. But his character, Desmond Hume — who sometimes toggles through time and calls his fellow stranded islanders “brotha” with an endearing Scottish brogue — struck a chord with viewers, and in 2005 the producers made him a regular.

With new episodes set to begin April 24, Cusick, 40, called from his home in Hawaii — where “Lost” is shot and where he now lives with his wife, Annie, and their three sons — to flash-forward into his character’s future and reveal whether our Brotha Man might (no!) die.

Viewers really respond to your character. What makes Desmond so likable?

He’s a bit of an Everyman. He’s not particularly special, and I think people can identify with that. He can’t fix the helicopter, he can’t fix computers, he’s not a doctor. . . . He’s a survivor, and he just tries to do his best.

There is a lot of concern about “Lost” spoilers. Do you have to sign a confidentiality agreement every time you get a new script?

I’ve never signed anything, but there is an unwritten rule that you just don’t talk about it. Part of being on “Lost” is the enjoyment of your audience getting things. I want them to be surprised. I don’t want to spoil it for them.

I hear you don’t have a TV. Why?

When we lived in England, the kids would come home from school and sit down in front of the TV until dinnertime and it used to drive me bananas. When we got to Hawaii, I said, “That’s it. We’re not having a TV.” I thought, we live by the sea. There’s so much to do here, we don’t need a TV. The only thing I miss is the news and soccer, but I can get that online.

The “Lost” writers are not afraid to kill off characters. Do you worry Desmond could die?

I’d like to stay, but I’m not scared of [him dying]. People who have died have gotten great story lines. Dying is not a bad thing because on “Lost,” even if you do die, you may well come back.

Flash-forward into Henry Ian Cusick’s future. What will you do after “Lost” ends?

We talk about it, my family and I, because we don’t know whether we would leave Hawaii. We usually have just gone with the flow and gone where the work was, but now my kids are getting to a certain age where schooling is important and we want to settle down now. It’s difficult. That’s always the case for actors like me who don’t know what the next gig is. We just go with the flow.

SOURCE: The Washington Post

It’s official: Sources confirm to me exclusively that Steve McPherson has signed off on Lost’s extra-special 14th hour this season, which means Lost is getting a three-hour finale! The first hour airs May 15, the second and third hours will air May 29. (In between, on Thursday, May 22, Ugly Betty has an hour finale and Grey’s Anatomy airs a two-hour season finale of its own.)

Word is that there are so many big reveals that the producers wanted to deliver this season, that they felt like anything less than a full three-hour finale would have cheated the fans. In fact, I’m hearing that writers’ draft of the second half of the finale was 80 pages long, which led all parties involved to realize these stories had to be told now. Anything else would be a ripoff.

So, ABC made it happen, with the help of Shonda Rhimes and Grey’s Anatomy, who agreed to a two-hour finale on May 22. And bless McPherson and friends for taking the risk of letting the Lost finale air on May 29—that’s after the end of the critical ratings sweeps period. If you’re a Lost fan, but don’t usually watch Grey’s you might consider doing Team Alphabet a solid and just tuning your TV to their channel for the GA finale that night!

Source: E!Online

Here’s an interesting article about the upcoming LOST episodes. Warning: This article contains mild spoilers.—ESBaker

Dangers! Strangers! Game changers! The Island inhabitants are in for a rough ride. Here’s everything you need to know about season 4’s final five episodes. Plus: Video of Doc Jensen in Ben’s house and with Josh Holloway and Michael Emerson

By Jeff Jensen

Life on the Oahu set of Lost isn’t always a day at the beach. On this sweltering March afternoon, for example, ABC’s cult hit about castaways on a time-warped tropical isle has chosen to shoot in…a rock quarry. Amount of fun currently being had: Zero. The horses are jumpy from machine-gun fire. Executive producer Jack Bender is directing with an ice pack to his face after walking into a crane. And Michael Emerson — a.k.a. Benjamin Linus, the show’s villainous über-Other — is broiled, thanks to his curious wardrobe requirement: a woolly winter parka.

”Definitely a no-glamour zone,” says Emerson during a brief respite from shooting Lost’s first episode since the writers’ strike interrupted production last November. ”I thought we would ease into things. Instead, I get this all-Ben extravaganza: combat, riding horses, foreign languages. And piano playing! All waaaay outside my comfort zone. How can you work two weeks and feel like you need a vacation already?”

Some sympathy for Lost’s biggest devil? Not a polar bear’s chance in Tunisia. Besides, there’s crucial work to be done. You’ll start seeing it on April 24, when Lost returns with the first of five fresh episodes that will wrap up its buzzy, strike-abbreviated fourth season. EW spent three days on the set of the drama, and judging from the looks of things — like the corpse that washes up on the sandy shores of Camp Jack and the raging gunfight that will decimate Camp Locke — the first episode back, ominously titled ”The Shape of Things to Come,” will launch the endgame with downright apocalyptic thunder. The ensuing four installments will answer some of the season’s biggest questions: How did the much-vaunted Oceanic 6 leave the Island? What happened to those left behind? Why is Sayid (Naveen Andrews) killing people for Ben in the future? And who’s rotting inside that darn coffin? ”It’s big and epic,” promises Matthew Fox (Jack). ”Our first eight episodes, by design, were all set up for these episodes to come. That we’re doing just five instead of eight means they’re even more packed with plot. It’s payoff time.” More momentously, the finale — whose Big Twist is code-named ”Frozen Donkey Wheel” — will set the stage for another series reinvention. Citing the seventh Harry Potter book, in which J.K. Rowling broke her usual year-at-Hogwarts template, executive producer Damon Lindelof says, ”We’re taking the same approach. You think the show is, ‘Okay, they’re on the Island, and then — whoosh — you’re in the past or the future.’ By the end of season 4, I think the audience is going to go, ‘How can the show continue to be that?’ And they are absolutely right.” Camp Locke is actually Camp Erdman in real life, a YMCA facility on Oahu’s North Shore. On this rain-splashed afternoon, a couple dozen day campers sit on the grass, waiting to watch Lost blow up one of their cabins. As the explosives get rigged, the man who plays con-artist bad boy Sawyer, Josh Holloway, gamely takes questions. One boy shares how his mother, a big Lost fan, talks about the show so incessantly that he has to cover his ears and beg her to stop. The kids laugh, and so does Holloway, but the camp counselor is embarrassed. ”Now, remember,” she scolds. ”Respectful questions.”

Read the rest of this entry »

The last episode of LOST was just amazing. The use of flashforwards and flashbackwards was very innovative.

Matt Rousch

My reactions to Lost are almost always extreme. Extreme excitement, nervous confusion, fear and joy and wonder all mixed up in one spectacularly emotional bundle. This week, Lost earned the ultimate compliment in the Roush playbook. It made me cry.

Yunjin Kim and Daniel Dae Kim have long been among my favorite actors on the show, and their backstory is among the most romantically resonant. The island saved Sun and Jin’s rocky marriage, a union tested by class differences and the self-loathing Jin suffered by having to perform bad acts in the employ of her father. Her surprise/miracle pregnancy was a blessing, but also (given the fate of pregnant women on this island) a curse. In their latest audacious spotlight episode, a gimmicky and uneasy collision of flashback (for him) and flash-forward (for her), we learn that Sun did make it off the island to have her baby: a daughter named Ji Yeon, per Jin’s wishes. Jin, however, was not so lucky. His race to get to the hospital with a giant panda toy was not to celebrate their own blessed event, but was merely an errand years earlier as a lackey for Papa Paik, sucking up to an ambassador with whom his father-in-law was seeking favor.

Nice trick, but by keeping Sun and Jin apart for all the off-island scenes — her in labor, he desperately trying to get to the hospital — it begged the question (since we are already predisposed to expect the unexpected on this show) that we were being bamboozled here. And given how solicitious he had become toward the love of his life — he was willing to pack up and go to Locke’s barracks no matter what, just because that’s what Sun wanted — it was hard to believe he wouldn’t be at her side throughout her delivery. He was there, all right, in her heart and mind, but only as a phantom.

Read the rest of this entry »

It’s The 1st TERMINATOR Podcast ALL FAN INPUT Show!
We Review, You Reviewing Us Reviewing… US!
It’s Your Feedback Showcased on The 2GuysTalking TERMINATOR Podcast!

We’ve received a mountain of feedback, and it’s time to take a giant chunk of time to thank you for and shine the light on your input. What other show would take the time to showcase the feedback it gets? The answer? NO OTHER SHOW! Listen in as we span the globe to truly international review, opinion and compliment. It’s another great one-of-a-kind experience and it’s only from The 2GuysTalking TERMINATOR Podcast Network!

Download It Directly!

Subscribe to The TERMINATOR Podcast via iTunes: