Contributed by Vickie Tyson

My mom and dad recently moved and are looking into changing cable companies. They wanted to be able to look at the prices and channels that were offered with satellite tv. My dad wants to make sure to have all the sports channels, movie channels, and the channel that 24 is on. My mom want so have The Food Network and Bravo. They both want to make sure they can watch American Idol and Dancing with the Stars. I told them they should go to www.CannonSatellite.com to find all of the information they need on satellite tv. Now that my parents no longer have children living at home, I guess they have a lot of time to watch tv. I told them that they should take up a hobby that they can do together, but they seem to be perfectly content watching tv together in the evenings. My mom said they she spent too many years giving up the tv to all of her kids and that now she is going to watch whatever she wants, whenever she wants. I guess my parents have earned their tv time.

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I am pretty picky about what I watch on TV now. Once I started taking TV dramas more seriously, and began to watch cable shows I find most of what is on broadcast passing for drama to be very subpar. When you can watch shows like Breaking Bad, Boardwalk Empire, etc. over shows such as Terra Nova it becomes clear quite quickly that it is time to move on from such broadcast shows.

Doesn’t mean I don’t give a few a shot every once in a while. Mostly because cable shows run short seasons that air all over the place. 13 episodes in the summer, or whenever ends very quickly. So a good portion of the year there just isn’t one of the best shows on to watch so I must watch something I guess.

So far this year I have watched 2 shows I believe from the start. Terra Nova, and Once Upon a Time.

Terra Nova is absolutely awful. The CGI is hilarious and the dialogue is just as funny, BUT I watched it so what does that say about me? Mostly that I had nothing to watch. Especially with the massive breaks this year for shows like Fringe, which seemed endless. If Terra Nova gets renewed I doubt I will watch it longer. Just not that interesting overall, but as a filler show you could probably do worse. Not much, but probably. Rather buy maternity clothes shopping think now than watch it. The writing and dialogue is really what I disliked about the show because I love dinosaurs and semi-sci fi if that is what it is. Just really don’t like how the show is done by using the family as the main characters and focusing the show through them. Very cheesy teen romances, and family time that just wastes a lot of time. The “Sixers” who I suppose are the big bads of the show for the most part are just laughable.

Once Upon the Time on the other hand I slightly enjoy. The premise being that a bunch of fairly tale characters get cursed and end up in modern times in a town called StoryBrook. They all forgot who they are so some random kid has this book that he believes tells him who they all are from the stories. They do flashbacks to the fairy tale lands and show the characters living in this town without knowledge of it. Part of it is them remembering, which frankly is the most uninteresting part of the show and the sooner they figure it out the better.

Not saying the show is fantastic because it isn’t, but I definitely like it a lot more than Terra Nova at this point. I don’t think the show will stick with me though since it is still not a high quality drama by any stretch. It’s more of a guilty pleasure for now. I find myself less inclined to discuss the show the last few weeks, which tells me that I am just not that into anymore.

Sherlock I mentioned the other day on BBC was another I started which is superb, but only 3 episodes a season and is through season 2 now. 90 minutes, but worth watching for sure.

OTher than that everything else is over and on cable like Boardwalk Empire, Game of Thrones, and The Borgias. All shows I am looking forward to the next season. Game of Thrones is April

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IT’s really no surprise that Sherlock Homes tales have lasted as long as they have. While being great stories, they have a certain mystery solving about them that intrigues most readers of the CoSir ARthur Conan Doyle libraries. Sherlock Holmes is one of th e most portrayed storybook hereoes of all-time and with the blockbuster movies out now CBS obvioulsy wnats on board. Of course…the movies aren’t actually the main reason I am guessing, which is really what my main intent was for introducing this subject.

BBC has produced a phenomenal rendition of the Holmes legacy the past couple years that is probably one of their more well known shows over the eyars. At least it is one of the only that I can remember that many Americans watch as it airs rather than hearing about it years later when someone else copies it. It is simply titles Sherlock, and each episode runs approximately 90 minutes. So far they have complete 2 seasons of 3 episodes each. At 90 minutes this is a typical season length (Brits call a season a “series” in case I screw up somewhere you know what I mean) for a British show equal to about 6 episodes.

Sherlock portrays Homes in modern times and utilizes his investigative skills in modern police work. The show is very good at keeping true to the original stories, however. They just do it all in modern times and make the necessary changes to fit it in. For instance, Watson instead of writing short stories in books runs a blog. Sherlock is actually becoming well known in the world and is sort of a media sensation of sorts. Problems arise from this of course, but it doesn’t make the show any worse for it. The writing is top notch and this show is by far one of the best shows running right now. Highly recommend you watch if you are a fan of Homes at all.

Why I said it’s not surprising that many jumped on the bandwagon is that Holmes is a very unique character. Debuting way back in the 1800′s he was already using many forensic science methods for solving crime. So to have him in modern times seems to be a very easy stretch really, and quite an interesting one. His use of forensic methods in those times seems quite a ways a head of the times, and to see him demonstrate his amazing abilities in current times is no surprise.

CBS is planning to run a show in which Homes moves to New York City. I’ll hold off on any judgments until it is on. They run the hell out of CSI shows so they probably have a plan on how to do this, although living up the the BBC version will be very tough to do. Maybe he’ll find Mrs. Hudson doing house cleaning services raleigh nc.

BTW…if you don’t know the Holmes stories…shame on you, but you might know of someone who is exactly like him. That would be House. Gregory House is loosely based on Homes and you can tell very easily if you are familiar with both characters. House even has the same address as Homes does. 221B.

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Not as if this should come as any surprise I suppose. What’s most fascinating is how many mistakes they made while doing so. Knowing the TMZ commenters you have probably guessed that they were a bit less than nice when making comments about the young lady that they claim is “9 years old”.

In fact, as many have pointed out, the girl isn’t the one they claim she is at all. It’s not his 9-year old daughter at all. It’s his 14-15 year-old daughter. So…the comments get quite rude calling the 9 year -old various names associated with being huge at 9 when in fact she is in her mid teens.

Also, they try to say she is using an i-phone when it clearly shows she is not, bu they try to fuzz it up a little so you can think it is. I don’t pick at TMZ much since they are always wrong about something, but this is probably one of the worst I have seen. While the author is playing with his model planes I’m sure they will be flying private jets.

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What’s more amazing? That Sinead O’Connor still shaves her head, that I know who she is, or that she was married for 16 days? I don’t know why she shaves her head, so I won’t speculate. Let’s just say if it isn’t a disease, grow some hair please.

Remeber Sinead O’Connor? She made a cover of a Prince song, got some trophies and awards, and became famous. Then tore a picture of the pope in half on SNL and became the scorn of Christian America and fell so fast that it is astonishing that we ever heard from her again.

The funniest part of reading about this, besides the fact that she said she went drug diving seconds after the marriage, is this article from Gather that decided to take the time to call Kim Kardashian a whore.

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The holiday shopping season seems to be a big one for movie goers. This weekend ended up being rather weak, but Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows lead the way followed by Alvin and the Chipmunks.

Both “Sherlock” and “Alvin” sold far fewer tickets than prerelease audience surveys had projected. Robert Downey Jr.’s detective film brought in a so-so $40 million domestically, according to an estimate from distributor Warner Bros. Heading into the weekend, the studio had estimated the film could make $55 million. And the third animated film about singing chipmunks grossed a weak $23.5 million, about $15 million less than audience polling had indicated the film would collect.

I really enjoyed the first Robert Downey Jr. Sherlock movie,b ut I’m not a big “go to the movies” sort for movies I don’t think are very high quality, or need to be seen on the big screen because of effects. I’d much rather wait and use netflix coupons and get them at home on my home theater system rather than pay through the nose to watch a movie at the theater.

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The television show Mythbusters, which is dedicated to performing science experiments to debunk myths and rumors had a close call this past week. While using a homemade cannon at a police shooting range the project went all wrong.

Travelling in excess of 1,000 meters per second their melon-sized cannonball missed everything in their safe zone and careened off into dangerous territory. It missed the water, tore through a cinder-block wall, skipped off a hillside and flew some 700 yards east, right into the Tassajara Creek neighborhood, where children were returning home from school at 4:15 p.m., authorities said.

There, the 6-inch projectile bounced in front of a home on quiet Cassata Place, ripped through the front door, raced up the stairs and blasted through a bedroom, where a man, woman and child slept through it all — only awakening because of plaster dust. PRobably grabbed a couple wine chillers right afterwards to calm down.

It exited the house, leaving a perfectly round hole in the stucco, crossed six-lane Tassajara Road, took out several tiles from the roof of a home on Bellevue Circle and finally slammed into the Gill family’s Toyota Sienna minivan in a driveway on Springvale Drive.

The show has been put on hold for the time being pending an investigation.

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Even though the finale of Season 5 was quite pathetic, the season overall was entertaining enough not to just constantly complain about it. It had a few interesting characters at least and some decent plots overall. Season 6 on the other hand…horrible.

From the very first episode this year we were in trouble. Knowing that they basically showed us with the Season 5 finale that the show was just going to reboot itself every year with Dexter never having any real scares this season may have already been doomed. I’ve never read any of the books on my kindle ebooks, but I can’t imagine they are this played out. It still didn’t have to suck this bad though did it?

The writing this year is bad even for Dexter. IF you watch shows like Breaking Bad, Boardwalk Empire, etc. and take TV serious enough to want great dramas like The Sopranos and Six Feet Under you have already decided that Dexter doesn’t fall into the same realm. You just watch it with a bit of that in mind and still try to enjoy it on a less serious level of quality.

This season is just so cringeworthy. The dialog in the last episode made me laugh out loud when it wasn’t intended several times. Especially all the interactions with Travis and Dexter, or his blog, or Travis and anyone. All his lines seemed to have been written for a comic book. Short and very cheesy. I was a big fan of Hanks in the comedy show that got cancelled last year on Fox called The Good Guys, but Dexter is making him look bad. HE really has nothing to work with so I can’t blame him all that much.

This is the least I have cared about the major prey of Dexter in a season. Travis is nothing but forgettable, and these Doomsday killings are a laughable cliched plot that we’ve seen hundreds of times before. The “twist” of Gellar being dead was figured out by most people I know that watch the show by the 2nd, or 3rd episode. I mean a guy walking around town when his face is plastered all over the front page and standing next it? Never touching anything? Come on people you ahd to know this was coming.

The show got 2 more season already too. At least it has an end date now. Maybe they can finally make a non-filler season next year instead of trying to do it every year and forgetting everything that happened before.

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Jimmy McMillan, who has been seen all over, including being portrayed on Saturday Night Live with his claims of “Rent is too Damn High!” may be getting evicted from his rent controlled apartment in Manhattan.

McMillan’s landlord is claiming that McMillan and his cpu cart are no longer living in the apartment so he should be evicted.

According to the NY Post, Jimmy said after court that he is temporarily living in a Brooklyn apartment to give his son (who lives with him in Manhattan) a chance with a lady.

In Jimmy’s words … “I want a grandkid.” LOL

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Being a bit under the weather I took the opportunity to lay in bed and watch a ton of TV that I had never watched before. New shows that I didn’t jump on the bandwagon with at their start, but felt it was time to see what all the fuss was about.

If any of you are like me and fans of dramas on TV rather than comedy and reality brainspew you may do similar in watching several episodes in a row in a day. When I am sick I may watch an entire season of a short season show (12-13 episodes from cable series). I actually watched 3 shows up to date in the last 14 days. Mostly during the time I was sick. I wonder how these eyelash growth products fare against laying in bed for 4 days .

First show I jumped on was Boardwalk Empire. One of the most critically acclaimed shows, and actually still running in Season 2 as we speak with a few more episodes left. Brilliant show with an amazing cast and characters. I actually can’t think of a character I am not interested in.

For those of you that know nothing of the show it is based in the prohibition days of America in the early 1900s. The lead is Nucky Thompson played by Steve Buscemi. He rules Atlantic City controlling all the flow of illegal booze, and everything else. He plays a role like a mobster, but is not underground. He holds public office and runs the city by networking the hell out of things.

Surprising to me Al Capone as a young idiot, and Lucky Luciano are also portrayed on the show. I wasn’t expecting any of these guys on the show thinking it was purely fictitious going in, but alas these guys play roles. Al Capone’s portrayal is quite interesting from most I have seen. He’s young and childish. He’s not the legend that is usually shown.

The second show I latched onto was The Borgias, a drama from Showtime. This show is very well directed and produced. My interest in the show was sparked by being somewhat familiar of the family from documentaries and of course the Assassin’s Creed video game series.

The Borgias first season starts with their first acquiring the position of Pope in the Catholic church through less than ethical means. The Catholic church politics of those times has always been interesting to me. Completely unethical, and even coming to murder to achieve the ultimate power that the Pope holds. God bless religion eh?

Lastly, and probably most fortunate, I saved my favorite for last. Game of Thrones. OF the 3 shows this might be the one that I was most disappointed when it ended. Not because it ended badly, but because it was so freakin’ awesome.

This is another show that reminds me a bit of a video game series. Dragon Age, and in some ways Elder Scrolls. Some of the stories from those games are similar to the actual show. Especially Dragon Age: Origins in my opinion with the Grey Wardens and the whole dragon thing.

Game of Thrones is epic in scale with dozens of characters to keep tabs on. Families fighting for the crown like all crowns are won. With dirty secrets and backstabbing. This show is too good to spoil at all. All I will say is that honor is not a quality that wins the Game of Thrones. Now I have to wait until APRIL to see it again.

Highly recommend all 3 shows.

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