The Strike's Not Over Yet

Apparently, there have been some rumors floating around the Internet that the strike is finally over. I think they were started by Michael Eisner (formerly of Disney), who went out and started talking about the agreement, despite not having anything to do with the negotiations.

According to Deadline Hollywood Daily, the best source around for strike news, they're still working out the details. So while things are looking hopeful, and the strike will be over soon...it's not over yet. Here's a look at which shows will be back, and for how many episodes.

Strike Victims

The strike may (hopefully) be coming to an end soon, but we're just starting to see it's victims. In today's Ask Ausiello, Michael Ausiello is reporting that several of our favorite shows will not be returning to TV this season... or ever. The latest victims: 

• "Heroes:" Likely won't return until next season
• "Dirty, Sexy, Money:" Three remaining episodes will likely be held until September
• "Scrubs:" The fate of the series' final four episodes is unclear. Worst case scenario: a DVD release. That would be pretty shabby for "Scrubs" fans, who have devoted seven years to this show. 
• "Friday Night Lights:" The second season DVD will be released with only 15 episodes, so that means no more for us this season or (god forbid) ever if Ben Silverman has his way. If he even tries to mess with us FNL fans, he's going to have a riot on his hands! Jenn and I will lead the mob. 

Buffy reunion!

My dreams have come true! Joss and the "Buffy" crew reunite! Sort of...

According to TV Guide, Joss Whedon and "Buffy" cast members (including Miss Summers herself, Sarah Michelle Gellar, James Marsters, Seth Green, Eliza Dushku, Amber Benson, Nicholas Brednon, Emma Caufield, and Michelle Trachtenberg) will all attend the 25th Anniversary PaleyFest on March 20. Oh, how I wish I could go!

My half of the Tuesday Top Ten

These top 10 lists are hard. I needed to get Allie’s input to make my final cut. Here’s my top 5, in order:

5) Sex and the City Season 6, Pt. II (Series Finale) “An American Girl in Paris, Part Deux”
I still bawl with happiness every time I watch this episode. Carrie (finally) realizes that Alek and Paris are all wrong for her, and she leaves him...just in time for Big to come into the hotel and sweep her back to New York. Sam tells Smith that he means more to her than any man she's ever known, Magda tells Miranda what we already know: that she truly loves Steve, and Charlotte and Harry get their baby. Oh, and Big's name is John. The finale's joy hasn't dulled in four years, and now we can look forward to the "extra" finale in four months' time when the movie comes out.

4) The Office, Season 2 “Casino Night”
We're a bit too young to remember 'Cheers' and Sam and Diane, so when our generation wants an unrequited love story that pulls at our heartstrings, we turn to Jim and Pam. For two seasons, we watched Jim pine over the engaged-to-an-asshole Pam; and Pam, for her part, spent quite a bit of time flirting back. It all came to a head in the second season finale, when Jim confessed his love to Pam, only to have her say "I'm sorry you misinterpreted things..." But just a few minutes later, as she talks to her mom on the phone, Jim comes in and kisses her -- and she returns the kiss. It was a perfect moment...at least until the third season, when the writers spent an entire season keeping them apart.

3) Battlestar Galactica, Season 2 “Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II”
Really, all three BSG finales could have made my list, but this one does because of the sheer balls-out audacity of Ron Moore to skip his show ahead an entire year near the end of this episode. But before that mindfrak, we had Roslin trying to rig the election, but she gets caught by Adama and we welcome in President Baltar. The first thing the new leader does is have sex with Gina, who then goes and blows up herself and the Cloud 9. Then we flash forward a year, and most of the fleet has settled on the surface of New Caprica, Lee is fat, he and Starbuck aren't speaking, Starbuck is married(!) to an ailing Anders, Adama has a mustache and the Galatica is empty. And then the Cylons show up. President Baltar offers up the surrender of mankind and the centurions move in. Holy crap. How did this come in third?

2) Lost, Season 3 “Through the Looking Glass”
I've said enough about Lost this week, but just to recap: this finale re-invigorated the show after a semi-lackluster season. It introduced an exciting new element in the flash-forward, and of course, a whole bunch of new questions. In addition, we bid a tearful farewell to Charlie, Hurley and his magic bus saved the day, Sayid killed a man with his feet, Sawyer shot Tom, and oh, yeah: they contacted the rescue team. Who may or may not be an actual rescue team.

1) Battlestar Galactica, Season 3 “Crossroads, Pt. II”
I couldn't pick just one BSG finale, so Season 3 made the cut, too. Even though it's been an entire year since Sci Fi actually PUT THE SHOW ON THE AIR, the twists and turns of this episode have stayed with me. First and foremost: the identity of four of the final five cylons are revealed (to the tune of "All Along the Watchtower"), and they're people that we know. I mean, Tigh's a cylon?!? Seriously? Meanwhile, Gaius is acquitted, Dee leaves Lee (thank the gods!), Roslin's cancer is back, and in the middle of all of the chaos, the Cylon fleet attacks. Lee sheds his lawyerly suit and gets back up in the air, only to witness the return of Starbuck to the land of the living (is she a cylon? only in Lee's head?). As if her resurrection wasn't enough, she tells Lee that she's been to Earth, she knows where it is, and she's going to take the fleet there. And then we spiral out and we see our Earth. God, I miss this show. I want it back, yesterday.

Top 5 Season Finales

For this week’s Top 10, Jenn and I are each recounting our top 5 season finales. These are mine, and check back soon for Jenn’s list.

1) The Gift, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” Season 5
I still bawl every time I watch this episode – and I must have seen it 50 times. “Buffy” finales are always apocalyptic (literally), but this one particularly hit home for the Scooby gang and its fans. Facing imminent world annihilation at the hands of hell God Glory, Buffy sacrifices herself to save her sister, Dawn. Buffy was told earlier in the season that death was her gift. In this episode, she realizes what this means and ultimately uses her “gift” to protect Dawn. She leaves Dawn and us with these words: “The hardest thing in this world is to live in it. Be brave. Live... for me." And then I sob uncontrollably. Sure, the Scoobies bring Buffy back from the dead in the season six opener, but that doesn’t make this episode any less heartbreaking and poignant.

2) Two Cathedrals, “The West Wing,” Season 2
In this stunning season finale, President Bartlett must disclose that he has MS, which he had been hiding from his staff and his constituents for eight years. While weathering this political storm, Bartlett and his staff face an actual tropical storm and the aftermath of beloved secretary Mrs. Ladingham’s shocking death. The question of everyone’s mind: Will Bartlett seek a second term? The answer lies in an almost imperceptible body gesture in the final minute of the episode, which still gives me chills.

3) Leave it to Beaver, “Veronica Mars,” Season 1
After an hour of twists and turns, this episode finally wraps up the many mysteries of season 1. We find out Lilly’s murderer in a killer twist that leaves Veronica in life-threatening danger. This episode also reveals Veronica’s paternity – Keith is her father (thank god) and Veronica and Duncan are not siblings (yay because that would have been icky). The episode leaves us hanging on which suitor – Logan or Duncan – Veronica will choose. I’m left screaming, “Let it be Logan!” as the credits roll.


4) State, “Friday Night Lights,” Season 1
Panthers win State! I’ve never been so excited about the outcome of a football game in my life. We became so attached to this team and these characters throughout the amazing first season that witnessing their success was truly heart-warming – as was the news of Tami’s surprise pregnancy. The look on Coach Taylor’s face when Tami tells him about the baby… well that just proves the Emmy’s complete stupidity for depriving Kyle Chandler of a statue. Actually, that scene makes them doubly dim-witted for not honoring Connie Britton as well.

5) Becoming, Part 2, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” Season 2
Up against another apocalypse, Buffy sacrifices her true love, Angel, to save the world. Not quite as devastating as when she sacrifices herself – Angel was always too mopey for my tastes anyway – but still a very sad blow to Buffy and her fans. Sarah Michelle Gellar really stepped up in this episode, displaying both Buffy’s toughness and her vulnerability in a single look.

Superlinks for Super Tuesday

Here's a round-up of stories that caught my eye over the past week:

First and foremost, as Allie posted earlier: The strike is almost over. Thank deity of choice. Awesome news for those of us who write television blogs and need material to write about, beyond "American Gladiators" and "Moment of Truth."

They're making a movie about G.I. Joe. This would be totally unremarkable, except that Channing Tatum has been cast in the movie. And Channing is beautiful.

In other movie news, Guillermo Del Toro is supposedly set to direct the two 'Hobbit' prequels. And if we can't have PJ back, Del Toro is a pretty good second choce. I could write a whole post about how I excited I am for thee movies, but I'm withholding judgement until I see whether or not Sir Ian signs on.

Variety is reporting that they're set to make a 'Cloverfield' sequel. Of course. It couldn't make that much money and not get one. Still, it's disappointing -- I think the story has been told, and it left the perfect amount of mystery.

David Simon wrote a feature story for this month's Baltimore magazine.

Bad news for us FNL fans: it's not looking good for renewal, according to NBC's head of programming.

This is a cute feature from New York magazine: writers from one show take a stab at writing another. Ever wondered what 'The Office' would look like if the writers behind 'The Simpsons' got a hold of it?

An 'Arrested Development' movie? Yes, please!

The Super Bowl yesterday was the second-most watched program in American TV history. And in case Pats fans start to recover, this shirt from BustedTees should shove them right back down to earth. I don't know if I'll ever get sick of seeing the replay of Eli's Escape and Tyree's Catch.

Finally, and most importantly, if you live in the 21 states holding primaries today, don't forget to vote! I personally am endorsing Barack Obama, but this is America, yo. Exercise your right.

The Wire: Season 5, Episode 5

Now to go right from happy news about the Giants winning and the strike ending and cute commercials to the streets of B'more.

Episode 5: "React Quotes"

Marlo gets a Blackberry from Vondas for business uses. He and Chris have a chat about how nice it feels to have the crown – Marlo actually appears to express happiness, but Chris is a bit more realistic. He realizes that Omar will be coming for them. Later, we see Chris saying goodbye to a girl and two young kids (which…Chris has a family?!? I feel like I should have seen that coming.) as the Stanfield crew gets ready to spring their trap on Omar. Marlo knows Omar is stalking his lieutenants, so he sets Monk up as bait. (Something Monk is not all that excited about, understandably) When Omar and Donnie see their opening, they run into all of Marlo’s muscle, including Chris, Snoop, and Michael (Noooo!). Donnie takes a shot right to the forehead. Omar gets pinned down behind the couch, but escapes by jumping out of the 6th story window. There’s no sign of his mangled body in the bushes below, so Omar lives for another day. I’m sure Marlo will be just thrilled to hear that four of his shooters had Omar pinned down and he escaped anyway.

The Blackberry comes into play when Marlo goes to see Levy and drops off his new cell phone number. Herc (illegally) takes the number and passes it on to Carver. Carver gives it to Lester, who, after making a hilarious prank call to confirm it’s Marlo’s number, goes to Daniels to beg for a wiretap and some surveillance. Daniels gets as angry as we have ever seen him, letting out his frustration with the system and telling Lester that there is no money to be had for anything he needs. Lester, because he is awesome, understands that Daniels can do no more. So wherever will Lester’s wiretap come from?

McNulty may be some help, as he amps up his efforts to get someone to notice his serial killer. With the new “sexual” twist (the “killer” bites his victims); the story (now with Scott along with Alma on the byline) gets front page play. However, McNulty doesn’t get what he wants: there’s still no money for the police, so Carcetti can only allow overtime for two detectives: Kima and McNulty. Unfortunately, this means that Kima gets pulled off of working her triple homicide home invasion. Bunk reams Jimmy out about that, and finally gets through to McNulty, who tells Kima to keep working her own case. Lester comes to Jimmy with Marlo’s number, and the two talk about faking a phone call from the killer to Jimmy to get a wiretap in the case.

At the Sun, Scott gets a hold of the story, and like the little weasel he is, starts making up quotes to go along with his react piece. He even takes an extra step this time and fakes a call from the “killer” to his cell phone. McNulty has a meeting with Scott and the newspaper brass to discuss this new development. When McNulty lets it known that another call has been made to the police, there’s a hilarious moment when both Scott and McNulty look at one another – each knowing that something’s not right—and I totally think McNulty knows that Scott is a big, fat liar.

Armed with two “phone calls,” McNulty and Lester get their wiretap, and they use Marlo’s cell phone number instead of the phone booth where the “calls” originated. The episode ends with Lester back in the detail office, seeing a phone number come in, but no sound comes – it’s got to be a text message, right? Lester is confused, too. I thought they had already figured out the secret to text messaging in the second season – you just have to point the thingy (scientific term) at the cell tower and then you get the text messages made from that phone.

In case your heart needed more breaking this week, Dukie and Michael are still around to do it for us. Dukie gets beat up in front of Bug, and he feels like he has to defend himself. So he goes to Cutty’s gym, but surprise! he’s no good at fighting. Later, Michael tries to teach him how to fire a gun, but poor Dukie just looks terrified. Is there any way this story ends well? Knowing this show, no.

On the crooked politician front, Bond indicts Clay Davis by making a sweeping speech, looking “pretty mayoral” in Norman and Carcetti’s estimation. Clay doesn’t want to go down alone, however. Narese tries to tell him that it’ll be better for him (like it was for Burrell) if he goes quietly. Clay expresses his dislike for that idea with the longest “Sheeeeeet” we’ve heard out of him yet. He later demonstrates his unwillingness to go quietly by appearing on local radio shows to remind the citizenry of how much he has done in the city, and how the investigation is more of a racial witch hunt than a legitimate investigation.

Quick Hits:

There’s trouble still on the home front, and Beadie looks like she’s ready to throw McNulty out.

Allie and I are taking a class on “The Wire,” and our professor mentioned this week that he was getting increasingly anxious about the final five episodes. There’s a feeling of foreboding growing about the people we care about. Will any of them make it out? The more I see of this season, the less confidence I have in Simon’s willingness to give anyone a happy ending.

Bubbles gets tested for HIV, and gets a clean bill of health. But the thing I took out of that storyline is that I can’t look at Walon for longer than a couple seconds because of the two strands of greasy hair that are combed across his forehead.

And the Cutest Super Bowl Commerical Award goes to...

My award for cutest commercial of the Super Bowl goes to the Budweiser Clydesdale Team commercial. It also took number 1 on USA Today's Ad Meter - Budweiser is probably a little more excited about that than my cutest commercial honor.

I must admit, I’m a sucker for animals with personalities. My heart melted when the horse and his Dalmatian coach tapped paws in victory. The underdog (or horse, as the case might be) took the prize… not unlike the Giants winning the Super Bowl!

Strike Update: An end to the suffering?!

The dreaded strike may finally be over!

The New York Times reported this weekend that the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers have made significant progress toward an agreement in informal talks. If all goes smoothly from here, there may be a tentative agreement as early as this week!

What does this mean for our favorite shows? Michael Aussiello at TV Guide.com is reporting that ABC is planning to resume production on hits like "Grey's Anatomy" and "Ugly Betty" in March, while freshman shows like "Pushing Daisies" won't start up production until summer - in time for a fall relaunch. Other big networks are expected to follow suit.

Well, at least we'll have some TV back.

I don't believe what I just saw

ELI MANNING is your Super Bowl MVP. Jesus Christ on a cracker. I am not ashamed to say that there was some happy shrieking, and quite a bit of dancing. I could care less that I predicted a blowout, I'm happy to be wrong because it means THE PATS LOST!! Suck it, Massholes.

(...and that's an angry Yankee fan taking out four years of frustration on the Patriots.)

Moving on, let's give some credit to our fine university. David Tyree, Giants wide receiver, was drafted by the Giants in 2003 after graduating from Syracuse University. He caught Eli's first touchdown pass tonight, and then was on the receiving end of the play of the year, when he caught the ball WITH HIS HELMET during the Giants winning TD drive. See, our football team has produced something good in the past ten years.

And now to things that everybody cares about: the commercials. I thought that this was a pretty weak night overall, with a lot of fair-to-good commercials, but no real "holy crap, that was hilarious" standouts. Even the perennial favorite, Bud Light, seemed to have an off night, though they had two of my favorite ads.

I liked the new campaign that advertised new traits that Bud Light could give you, starting with the fire-breathing man. And I also really enjoyed the final ad with Will Ferrell, especially the final line: "Bud Light: suck one." But I find Will Ferrell endlessly amusing, so I could be biased.

Speaking of biases, I've already betrayed my healthy Justin Timberlake bias, so it should be no surprise that I loved his Pepsi ad. I don't drink soda, but if it got Justin to show up in my room, I'd be all over that. I also really enjoyed the Diet Pespi Max ad featuring the "Night at the Roxbury" send-up. It was really topped off by Chris Kattan's cameo at the end. The only other commercial that I laughed out loud at was Tide's "talking stain" one.

I'm also a sucker for movie trailers, so I loved that there were a lot of those, especially the new 'Narnia' movie, 'Iron Man,' the new Clooney/Krasinski comedy 'Leatherheads,' and the Angelina Jolie/James McAvoy movie 'Wanted.'

I thought the cutest commercial of the night was also a movie trailer, this one from the geniuses at Pixar. The trailer for their new movie 'Wall-E' included cameo appearances by Buzz and Woody and was absolutely adorable.

Worst commercials: salesgenie.com, with two nonsensical animated spots that made absolutely no sense, and were pretty offensive, even to my very low sensitivities. What a waste of $5.4 million.

Creepiest: Those e*trade commercials right at the end of the game. They were funny, but a talking baby is always creepy. Always. Especially when it talks with the voice of a 40-year-old man.

Commercial I had heart palpitations over: Lame commercial, but the Gatorade G2 spot featured two of my biggest sports crushes, Derek Jeter and Peyton Manning. Love.

Most inspiring: So this didn't air in our market, but it aired in a few areas around the country. It's Barack Obama's newest ad, entitled "Join." Not to endorse any political candidates (coughanybodybutHillarycough) but I watch this, and something manages to reach my cold, cynical (Republican) heart.

Still, not a banner night for the commercials. Make sure to pick up the USA Today tomorrow and see how their Ad Meter rated all 50-odd ads. I think Bud Light has won for the past 10 years or so, but maybe this year will end their streak.

Super Bowl Picks

Because we know that about three-quarters of America is watching the game (and the commercials) tonight, it's pointless to do anything but talk about the Super Bowl.

In between rooting for Tom Brady's knees to be taken out, I'll be paying close attention to the commercials, and I'll definitely be recapping them tomorrow on this very blog.

Right now, FOX is doing a package on how the Patriots are "America's Team." That's disgusting. Just gross. What ever happened to America rooting for the underdog?

Anyway, here are our picks for Super Bowl XLII:

Allie: Allie is wearing a Giants shirt to her party tonight, but only because her roommate provided her with one. She's really just in it for the food, and couldn't tell you who might win or what the score might be.

Jenn: Because I'm a Bills fan, and as a rule hate the other two "New York" teams, only truly bizarre circumstances could propel me to root for the Giants tonight. The thought of those Massholes having another reason to celebrate qualifies -- if they win the World Series, Super Bowl, and NBA Championship in the same year, I vote we nuke Boston. Is that too harsh?

I'm ranting. In short, this one looks like a blowout. And I don't see any reason why it wouldn't be. Patriots 38, Giants 21. Let the talking heads begin re-writing the history books. In the words of Kissing Suzy Kolber:

"Enjoy whatever boozy party you happen to visit. If you're gonna drive drunk, make sure to mow down any celebrating Pats fans you might see in the street. No worries; no jury will convict you."

I'm off to hope for the impossible. LET'S GO GIANTS!!!