Saturday, March 8, 2008

The Cable Box goes on spring break


Allie and I will be on spring break this week, so The Cable Box will be (almost) silent for the next seven days while we travel to our respective tropical locations. We've already talked about how upset we are about missing the series finale of "The Wire," so we've found a guest blogger to cover the sixtieth and final episode of our beloved show. Reed Buterbaugh, who is the world's biggest Wire fan (there's no arguing, this guy wants to be a BPD dectective or a math teacher in inner-city Baltimore), will be writing the finale recap in our place. Allie and I will of course offer our own thoughts on the series' end after we get back, but I'm sure Reed will more than suffice until then.
<--- The greatest so-bad-you-just-have-to-see-it spring beak teen movie of all time. Watch it with alcohol, and it gets better.

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Battlestar Galactica in 8 minutes

This video has been making the Internet rounds, and for good reason. If you're a huge BSG fan, you'll appreciate how much they mangaed to cram into 8 mins. If you've never seen BSG but want to watch it someday, DON'T WATCH, because absolutely everything is spoiled, and it will ruin it entirely.

"Project Runway" Finale: That's Fierce



Christian was named the "Project Runway" winner in last night’s big finale. His win didn’t come as much of a shock – Christian proved countless times throughout the season that he has major talent (and attitude). His goth-like, feather-covered collection was dramatic and impressive as usual.

The episode did include two major surprises:

1) Victoria Beckham cracked a smile! As the celebrity guest judge, Beckham told Christian that his collection made her smile. “And it’s not easy to make me smile.” Thanks, Posh. We hadn’t noticed that. By the end of the episode, though, she reverted back to her scowling ways – she looked incredibly uncomfortable with all the joy and intimacy when Christian’s family came to congratulate him.

2) Before his big win, Christian was nervous. The pod person that took over Christian’s body complemented the other designers’ work and said he cared what Jillian and Rami thought. There were glimmers of the real Christian throughout the episode, though (my personal favorite: Christian tells a model, “Be really skinny. Don’t eat), and by the end of the episode he was completely back to normal. After he is announced as the winner, Tim asks him, “Do you believe it.” Christian blurts, “Yea.” Now, that’s more like it.



Photo: BravoTV.com

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

I think the 'Lights' are staying on!

The rumors are making their way around the Internet as I type, but it sounds like NBC has renewed 'Friday Night Lights' for a third year. I read it here first.

It seems as if they struck some kind of deal with DirecTV, which probably means those of us without a dish won't see the episodes on their first-run night. Honestly, it doesn't matter, as long as Riggins, Coach, Saracen, and Landry are back on my screen next year.

Todd Sodano knows more about "The Wire" than you do about your kids.

Maybe not, but in honor of the “The Wire’s” series finale, we sat down with someone much smarter and even more “Wire”-obsessed than we are to discuss the series’ high points, the big deaths, and what to expect from the final episode. Todd Sodano teaches “Inside HBO’s America: A Case Study of ‘The Wire,’” a class in Syracuse University’s television-radio-film department. Sodano is currently completing the Social Science Ph.D. program at SU’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. Naturally, he is writing his dissertation on “The Wire.” 

Warning: SPOILERS for those who haven't seen up to episode 9 of Season 5.

Allie Baker: Let’s talk a little about your background and how you are working on your dissertation on “The Wire.”
Todd Sodano: I started watching the show back in 2002, and around the second season, I realized that I was entranced by it. I realized I wanted to apply some sort of academic scholarship toward it. I’ve been studying it since, and I’m doing a cultural analysis of the series, which is three-pronged. One, I’m studying the text, which is the show itself, and how it was produced and what it looks like and the stories we’re talking about together. Second, I’m looking at the distribution, the political economy of “The Wire.” What’s HBO’s role in this? How is that network’s desire to make money influencing the show? And third, the audience.

And I’m also teaching a class on it. If there’s that much of a following of the show, there needs to be some kind of serious scholarship on it, not just from me, but from students who are going to be entering the industry. We’re having serious discussions based on the readings, based on people’s experiences with the show, people’s life experiences, my lectures, student presentations – all wrapped up in three hours.

Jenn Horvath: What do you hope will happen in the finale? Simon promised one happy ending.
TS: It could be Bubbles; we’d be set up for a real, sort of, punch in the stomach if something bad happens to him after what we’ve seen in the whole nine episodes so far. That would be horrible. That would mess with us big-time. People would revolt. Forget about what happened to Snoop, they would destroy David Simon. I think we already were sort of foreshadowed into what would happen to McNulty if he were to die. Beadie told him, this is what would happen to you.

JH: That’s what I think. I think he’s going to commit suicide.
TS: See, I thought that too. That Catholic guilt is really going to weigh on him. I think the thing with “The Wire” is that there are things in life that are worse than death. Look at Dukie’s life now. It would be better off it he just died. Not that I want him to, but the pain he’s going to endure for the next 50, 60 years of his life?

But I also see, I don’t know if I see Daniels and Ronnie Pearlman just sitting around like we are, like “Let’s just keep our friggin’ mouths shut. Let’s just sit Kima down and say don’t worry about it.”

JH: But the truth has got to come out, you think?
TS: Right, especially about fabricating the serial killer. That’s going to be ugly. What worries me, and I know “The Wire” is not going to do this, but I feel like there’s going to be some stupid “Law & Order”-type twist how Marlo and his boys are going to get released, something happens along the way that shouldn’t have happened.

JH: One of the big criticisms of “The Wire” this year was the hammering of the story in the newsroom. The “bad guys,” Klebanow and Whiting, they just seem so bad. Marlo is pure evil, but Stringer and Avon, they were always sympathetic. These guys are just horrible.
TS: I think that’s the big problem with this season, that nuance is gone. You have had, the first few seasons, the people you’re talking about, there are moments of humanity, and here, there’s not so much. Obviously, Simon has his axe to grind with his former editors. It seems too on-the-nose. It even started off too on-the-nose. First episode, they’re all sitting in that restaurant, Alma’s telling Templeton, ‘Oh, I still think it’s a good paper, we’re doing good things around here.’ And he’s saying ‘I want to work for The Washington Post or The New York Times’ or whatever. It just seemed so bogus. Everything else, seemed in years past, it seemed complex.

AB: Did you think that the hammering of the newspaper story, as opposed to other stories, came because Simon was so close to it?
TS: Absolutely. That’s a huge problem. It’s his backyard, so how unbiased can he be? You can almost see David Simon’s face coming through Gus Haynes’ body. He tears open his shirt, there’s a picture of David Simon on there. It just seems like there’s some kind of bias there that’s unavoidable. The insider perspective is what gives them such great credibility, but it’s damaging, I think, to this season.

JH: I just have easy questions. I really am interested in this. Who’s your favorite character?
TS: My favorite character is Lester Freamon.

AB: Why?
TS: He’s the smartest man in the room. And he stands up for what he thinks is right. It’s going to sound hokey, but he reminds me of me. There are things that I’ll do that I think are right, and in some ways I don’t care who’s on board with me. And I know that I’m going to meet resistance from a bureaucracy, whether it’s an academic institution, whether it’s resistance from a friend or a family member, but what Lester does, he does what he knows is right, and I admire that.

JH: What was the death that hurt the most?
TS: When it happened, it was Stringer. Looking back now, Wallace always fucks with me, pardon my language. I always think about Frank Sobotka. Believe it or not, Omar – not so much. It’s not messing with me because of the way it was presented – just some guy who got clipped on the street. D’Angelo, saw that coming, but that whole season just feels like a blur when I think of D’Angelo’s life in prison. He had hair; he wasn’t this sort of naive yet suave good-looking kind of guy on the street. He was just some dude locked up. That’s sad in a way: it’s not messing with me, I just kind of feel like what a waste, while he’s sitting there for the next 20 years. Like I was saying before with Dukie, it would be better if his life was just ended. D’Angelo got that, he’s gone. Rather than spending the next 20 years just miserable.

JH: I always feel so depressed watching “The Wire.” Do you ever get that sense of hopelessness watching it?
TS: Actually, no. Simon would tell you also, he’s not a cynic, the show is not cynical. It’s cynical about institutions, and how we can change things, but it doesn’t make me sad or depressed, but I get pangs before we start watching the episodes, like ‘this is going to mess with me now.’ But after it’s over, in some ways, I feel renewed, like this is how I’m going to do something beneficial for society now. And that’s in part why I’m a teacher, that’s in part why I want to teach a course about ‘The Wire,’ that’s in part why I want to write about it.

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Tuesday Top 10: The Wire Edition

In honor of the series finale "-30-," I'm doing three lists this week. (Because ten times three is thirty, get it?) These are lists that constantly change, and will probably change again after the finale. This is what I do when I'm bored in class.

Top 10 Favorite Characters:

Honorable mentions: Chris, Gus, Rhonda, Sydnor
10) Norman
9) Brother Mouzone
8) Bunk
7) Michael
6) Bodie
5) Lester
4) Daniels
3) Carver
2) Stringer
1) Omar

Top 10 Least Favorite Characters:

Dis-honorable mentions: Brianna Barksdale, Rawls, Namond, Royce
10) Officers Walker and Colicchio: The one-two punch of awful.
9) Avon
8) Herc
7) Delonda Brice
6) Johnny
5) Ziggy
4) Templeton, Klebanow, Whiting: Season 5's cartoonishly bad villains belong together.
3) Kenard
2) Clay Davis
1) Levy

10 moments I'll remember:

"Where's Wallace, String?"

Bodie and McNulty's final scene in the park. "I feel old."

Stringer and Avon on the balcony. "We don't need to dream no more."

Omar takes the stand against Bird.

The aftermath of Kima getting shot.

Dukie and Michael saying good-bye to Bug.

Carver and Randy at the hospital. "You gonna help, huh? You gonna look out for me?"

Bunk tries to burn his clothes.

Chris beats Bug's father to death.

"Lex is in here."

Playing Catch-Up, Part II: Links


Links about our beloved shows and other pop culture tidbits that have accumulated over the past week:

If you're into this kind of thing, Maureen Ryan has some Season 4 Battlestar Galactica spoilers. I'm staying spoiler-free, but if you want to know episode titles and a bit more, she's got good info.

She also has some promo shots for the season, one of which appears at the top of the post. Minor spoilers, I suppose, but I didn't see anything that upset me too much.

I love movies. I also love Matt Damon. It follows that I really love the Bourne movies. And apparently, because they've been so financially and critically successful, they're making another one. Yay!

Entertainment Weekly has put together "30 Under 30" best actor and actress lists. The actress list includes a few head-scratchers (Jessica Alba? Someone thinks she can act?), but the actor list is full of adorable and talented men. Check it out here.

I'm always on the lookout for news from Firefly alums. The A.V. Club has an interview with Summer Glau, currently appearing on The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

So, I was looking forward to the movie Fanboys (starring TCB fave Kristen Bell) last summer, but they've pushed it back and re-shot almost the whole movie, and now the real fanboys don't want to see it anymore.

ABC is going to offer an OnDemand service for its shows, but you won't be able to fast forward through the commercials. LAME. I have a DVR for the express purpose of avoiding commercials.

From Televisionary, this recap of last week's episode of Lost is phenomenal.

While we fight for its renewal, (On ANY channel, NBC, I don't care if it's CNBC or Bravo or what, just put it back on!!) FNL Season 2 is coming to DVD soon.

I have a lot of problems with the new Sex & the City movie trailer. Namely, the plot sucks. Big leaves Carrie at the altar? Are you KIDDING me? What did we go through 6 seasons of anguish for, then?!?!

Bill Simmons, better known as the Sports Guy on ESPN.com, and huge Wire fan, dedicates his entire podcast this week to discussing the finale. Obviously, huge spoilers if you haven't seen up to Episode 9.

Top 5 TV Bad Boys: I have the absolute worst taste in men…


Everyone says women go for the bad boys. Well, I tend to go for the fictional ones. Here are my picks for top 5 TV bad boys:

1) Spike, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”
There’s just something about bleach-blonde hair, fake British accents, and fangs…

In his words: “We like to talk big ... vampires do. ‘I'm going to destroy the world.’ That's just tough-guy talk. Strutting around with your friends over a pint of blood. The truth is, I like this world. You've got...dog racing, Manchester United. And you've got people. Billions of people walking around like Happy Meals with legs. It's all right here.”

2) Brian Kinney, “Queer as Folk”
My absolute favorite Facebook group: “I’d become a man to have sex with Brian Kinney.” So true.

In his words: “I don't believe in love, I believe in fucking. It's honest, it's efficient – you get in and out with a maximum of pleasure and a minimum of bullshit.”

3) Logan Echolls, “Veronica Mars”
Three words: Obligatory. Psychotic. Jackass. This snarky bad boy is equally hot whether he’s taunting Veronica or making out with her.

In his words: “F.Y.I.? If cuddling is the best part, he didn't do it right.”

4) Tim Riggins, “Friday Night Lights”
When Riggins was kicked out of the Taylor’s house and left homeless, my mom and I simultaneously screamed at our TV: “Come live here!”

In his words: “Texas forever.”

5) Detective Jimmy McNulty, “The Wire”
“The Wire” doesn’t exactly have “good” and “bad” guys, but this Jameson-guzzling, womanizing po-lice definitely tows the moral line.

In his words: “What the fuck did I do?”

The lesson from all this: I have a thing for fictional alcoholic assholes. Doesn’t bode well for my romantic future.

And while we're on the subject of TV crushes, Entertainmetn Weekly's Web site did a great photo gallery feature called Reader Picks: TV Characters You'd Date. Some of our favorite TV guys and gals made the list.

Special thanks to my cousin and TV-watching-partner-in-crime, Dani, for sending me this link. She's in London for six months, but is still keeping up with American television. Now that's dedication.
Photo: Salon.com

"The Wire" Episode 9 Reaction



In this episode, we have a little bit of silver lining before the cloud opens up and pours destruction and disappointment on our favorite characters. Marlo and crew are behind bars; as Daniels told Alma, it was a good day for the good guys. But I am predicting that the next episode (the series finale!) will depict a very, very bad day.

McNulty and Lester are trapped in their tangle of lies, and it doesn’t look like either of them will be climbing back out. Similarly, both Michael and Dukie seem doomed to tragic fates. The most heartbreaking part of this episode for me was when Michael left Dukie in the alley, practically sealing his fate as a vagrant a drug user.

I recently wrote a paper about happy endings for a class Jenn and I are taking on “The Wire” – yes, Syracuse University offers an entire class devoted to “The Wire.” In the paper, I argued that “The Wire” cannot and should not have a happy ending. I theorized that our most beloved characters will all meet some form of a tragic end. As the series finale approaches, my academic musings are starting to look like reality.

As Jenn said in her last post, we will be devoting a lot of this week’s coverage to the countdown to “The Wire” series finale. Look out for a Q&A with Todd Sodano, our professor for “The Wire” class and a scholar on all things HBO.

Tragically, both Jenn and I will be on Spring Break during the airing of the series finale. I know, how horrible must it be to visit a tropical location, sit on a beach, and sip cocktails. We should stop complaining, really we should, but we’re devastated about missing the show and currently strategizing about how to order HBO to our remote locations. However, we will have all you guys covered; we’re bringing in a guest blogger to pick up the slack.

Stay tuned for a week full of “Wire.”
Photo: HBO.com

Monday, March 3, 2008

Playing Catch-Up: Lost and The Wire

Again, I apologize for how late this Lost recap is. I spent most of my weekend at the Carrier Dome -- first, sleeping in my tent to assure my place in line, and then watching my team implode down the stretch and throw the last remnants of their NCAA Tournament hopes out the window. I haven't been too quick to recover.

In happier news: Lost, Season 4, Episode 5. "My Constant"

To borrow from another deliciously mind-blowing show: what a mindfrak that episode was. Connecting us back to last year's Desmond time-traveling episode, "Flashes Before Your Eyes," this episode wxplored some of the larger questions about the island. Is it some kind of wormhole? Why does time move differently on the island? Why do some people experience these side effects when traveling to and from the island?

We pick up with Desmond, Frank, and Sayid as they make their escape from the island via heliocopter. Des freaks out midway, as his consciousness is jumping back and forth through time, making present-day Des think it's 1996, and 1996-era Des believe that the present is a very vivid dream. This concept of consciousness time-traveling was explored by a young Oxfrd professor named Daniel Faraday, and present-day Faraday directs Desmond to seek out his past self in order to restore his mind completely to the present, or else he'll suffer a massive brain hemorrhage and die. Wow, this just sounds ridiculous when you actually type it out. I swear, it kind of made sense while I watched.

Suffice it to say, 1996 Desmond gets help from 1996 Faraday, but not before learning that being exposed to the electromagnetic radiation from the hatch implosion probably gave him his future-seeng powers. 1996 Faraday tells Des he needs to find a constant -- someone he can connect to in both 1996 and 2004. Naturally, he picks Penny. Trouble is, back in 1996, he has just broken up with Penny and she wants nothing to do with him. He has to beg her for her phone number, which his 2004 self remembers and dials from the freighter's phone. A touching phone conversation follows, (Finally, finally, finally!!) during which both Penny and Desmond express their love for one another and they promise to find each other again. I cried, of course.

We also get an answer (possibly?) to Daniel's memory problems from last week. He experienced some side effects as well, but he has written in his journal that Desmond is his constant. So maybe now, he'll remember everything? And, Ben's spy on the boat: totally Michael. How are they even going to make that a surprise? I mean, Harold Perrineau is back in the main credits.

The Wire, Season 5, Episode 9 "Late Editions"



Now, for the super-depressing part of the program. We've arrived at the penultimate episode of The Wire. The entire episode was a fitting microcosm for the entire series: good things happen, but then bad things happen that threaten to undo (and eventually will undo) all of the good things.

The police get on the resupply for Marlo's entire organization, and they move on it, arresting almost everyone, including Marlo, and grabbing 120 kilos of heroin. Michael and Snoop are the only characters we care about not included in the round-up.

Lester goes to Daniels to tell him the good news, but of course doesn't tell him the whole story. Daniels calls Rhonda and asks her, "Are you sitting down?" Her suspicious, "Why?" was a bright moment in the episode. Carcetti calls a press conference and puts the dope on the table, while Snoop, Michael, and some lackeys watch from Michael's house.

In jail, the Stanfield crew (Marlo, Monk, Chris, and Cheese) look for someone to blame, and they note that Michael is not sharing their cell. This is bad news for Michael, especially since they now the police had just recently brought him in for questioning. Chris vouches for his protege, but he's not willing to bet his life in jail on it. But it doesn't really matter for Chris, anyway. Bunk's DNA sample will keep him in jail whether or not everyone else stays.

Lester and McNulty have a scene on the traintracks. The scene is exceptional for two reasons: McNulty is too depressed about extracting himself from his serial killer that he doesn't take the booze Lester offers, and two, Lester mentions Shardene! I knew she was still around! Lester is drunk and happy and wants to go home to his woman.

Snoop tells Michael that someone needs killing, and advises him not to bring his gun, one will be provided for him on the way. Something about this makes Michael suspicious, so he watches Snoop and figures she's setting him up to get killed. So on their way to the job, Michael makes Snoop pull over, pulls out his gun, and after some small talk, ("You were always a smart kids," "You were never one of us," "How does my hair look?") Michael kills her. Whew! And...now I'm rooting for a character to kill others to preserve hs own life. Michael knows that killing Snoop just made him a wanted man, so he takes Bug out to the county to live with their aunt. There are a pair of heartrending good-byes, and while I'm glad Bug may have the chance to grow up away from the game, he doesn't have either of his big brothers to rely on. Michael distances himself from Dukie, and drops him off in an alley with the junkman, condemning him to a life of...what? Drugs? Stealing? He's the next Bubbles, isn't he? I just can't take that thought.

Marlo meets with Levy, and the latter wants to know who would have snitched -- because, see, Lester can't reveal that he had a wire, so they're going for the wire now and saying that they had a tip before, which they used to move on the Stanfield operation. Levy is a wee bit suspicious, so he sends Herc to do some digging. And Herc, who apparently can't get enough praise from either Levy or his former cop buddies, digs around a bit and reports back to Levy that there are rumors of a wire, but all of the money went to McNulty's serial killer. You can practically see the wheels turning in Levy's head. He knows something isn't right.

Meanwhile, Carcetti is flipping out because crime hasn't decreased, and his stupid chief-of-staff tells Daniels and Rawls to get creative with the stats, because he needs the drop now. Which, God. I want to like Carcetti, I really do. But he has passed the point of no return this year. Norman is too good for him.

At the paper, St. Gus is subtly checking into Templeton's stories. He finds that the story about the marine is BS, and so is the quote from Daniels in the original piece about his promotion.

Finally, Kima can't take McNulty's bullshit anymore, so she pays a visit to Daniels to tell him the truth. He, in turn, tells Rhonda, and with one quick trip to evidence control (Hello, Det. Polk!), they realize McNulty is full o'crap. The stage is set for everything to collapse. Guess we'll find out if it does in a week.

Quick Hits:

Michael K. Williams' name is still in the opening credits. Tear.

The legend of Omar keeps growing, even in death. Michael and Spider were discussing how it was three machine-gun wielding killers that finally took him down, not tiny Kenard.

Namond made it out OK, all the way to the debate team. At least we got to see Bunny again.

We get a call-back to "evacuated," when McNulty examines a dead homeless guy and lectures Christensen on the meaning of the word.

Fletch is still hanging with Bubbles, who has been sober a year now, and who finally opens up about Sherrod's death.

Lester turns Clay Davis and find out that it was Levy who has been leaking stuff from the district attorney's office to his drug-dealer clients. Maybe, just maybe, Lester can hold this over Levy's head long enough to keep him from squealing about the illegal wiretap. It's probably too much to hope for, but it's there.

Here we are: one week away from the ending. I wouldn't even know where to begin any speculation, so I won't start. There will be plenty of time for predictions in the week to come. Look for some special finale-week coverage on the blog. As for the actual finale, it's not being offered OnDemand, and on Sunday, neither Allie nor myself will be able to watch the show. (She'll be out of the country, and I'll be in a rented house without HBO for spring break). Needless to say, this is causing great amounts of stress here at TCB HQ. We may be bringing in a guest blogger, and probably resorting to any means necessary to watch the finale ASAP. Stay tuned.
Desmond photo from Entertainment Weekly
Michael photo from HBO