Buffy Musical and 24 Turn Ten

This morning I learned that two major TV events celebrated their 10-year anniversary today. The first is near and dear to my heart as it has to do with my beloved Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Its musical episode "Once More With Feeling" debut with its cast and crew singing and dancing into all of our hearts. The episode ended up getting Emmy-nominated for its Music Direction. Director Joss Whedon also wrote the score and lyrics to all of the songs, a precursor to his Emmy-winning Dr. Horrible Sing-Along Blog web series. It remains one of my favorite episodes of the series and while I love most of the songs, I am quite partial to "Under Your Spell" and the heartbreaking Tara/Giles duet.

The second TV event that happened a decade ago was the series premiere of 24. As I said last year when it was announced the series would end after its 8th season, it is no doubt one of the most important television programs of the past decade. Postponed due to the terrorist attacks on 9/11, the show flourished with America needing an anti-hero American hero in this moment in time. It was nominated for 10 Emmy awards its first year with two wins including Best Writing for its pilot episode. Kiefer Sutherland grabbed Best Actor at the Golden Globes that year as well with the TCA bestowing the show its New Program of the Year AND Program of the Year honors.

See old promos for both "Once More, With Feeling" and 24 after the cut.

Creative Arts Emmy Wnners

A couple of early Emmy trophies were handed out last night at the Creative Arts Emmys ceremony.

Locked and loaded winners Betty White and John Lithgow won Best Guest Actress in a Comedy and Guest Actor in a Drama respectively even with the latter achieving it through some blatant category fraud (he was in every single episode of Dexter this past season). Guest Actor in a Comedy went to Neil Patrick Harris who ended up getting his first and second Emmy awards last night, also winning for his hosting job at last year's Tony Awards. A few think he robbed fellow Glee guest star Mike O'Malley, but not me. I never did like mostly dramatic performances edging out funnier performances in a COMEDY category. Ann-Margret won Guest Actress in a Drama besting out my personal winner Elizabeth Mitchell from Lost.

Best Casting awards went to Mad Men, Modern Family, and The Pacific which may or may not bode well for their chances to grab top awards next weekend. The Pacific certainly will look to dominate the movie/mini-series categories picking up a total of five Emmy awards last night.

Anne Hathaway can cross out the Emmys from her EGOT checklist as she won for her voice performance for The Simpsons. While Seth Green lost in that category, he won his first Emmys when Robot Chicken won Best Short Form Animated Program of which he is the executive producer. Jeff Probst picked up his third straight Emmys for Best Reality Host (Phil Keoghan was robbed!) while Mia Michaels got her second Emmy win for Best Choreography.

Other noteworthy wins include "The Man Your Man Could Smell Lie" commercial for Old Spice Body Wash winning Best Commercial, The Colbert Report getting Best Variety Writing, and Lost getting Best Picture Editing. Modern Family and Temple Grandin also received Editing wins.

Some confusing/infuriating results include the much-maligned FlashForward receiving an Emmy for Best Stunt Coordination, CSI beating out four sci-fi/fantasy entries for Best Visual Effects and Sean P. Callery winning Best Score for his work on 24 over Michael Giacchino and his tear-jerking music in the Lost finale episode.

Click here to see the complete list of winners from last night.

Sunday & Monday Nights

Lost Series Finale Countdown: 5 days

As the networks are busy with upfronts this week and with finales, both season and series, around the corner for most shows, everyone seem to be bringing their A game...

Sunday Night

The only thing I watched that night was the finale of Brothers & Sisters and with the exception of the last 5-10 minutes or so, the episode was a bit of a disappointment. It was more whiny and doom-and-gloom from the family as they all still reel from saying goodbye to their precious Ojai company. Saul's out-of-left-field HIV storyline shows potential, but we'll probably get more next season. The big cliffhanger ending included the death of Rob Lowe. Even though it was the worst kept secret ever, they handled that moment surprisingly well. Plus seeing most of the characters injured and shocked was pretty much the extra boost the episode needed.

Monday Night


It was pretty much a TV overload as I saw my usual five shows. The CBS comedies delivered May-Sweeps-worthy episodes. Not only did How I Met Your Mother show us the movie version of Ted's breakup with Stella, but they also kept playing the wonderful Glascow Love Theme from Love, Actually. The climactic scene with Ted in front of the big screen could've been extremely hokey, but I thought it worked. Meanwhile Big Bang Theory gave us an insta-classic episode of how Leonard and Sheldon first met. That event was big enough, but they also managed to get in the creation of The Roommate Agreement, the explanation of their perpetually broken elevator, the first time they met Raj and Howard, and the advents of the show's more notable recurring jokes--Sheldon's multiple knocking and his "spot" on the couch.

The other three shows came from three other different networks. NBC's Chuck seemingly brought back a faceless Shaw as well as Chuck and Ellie's father. Speaking of Ellie, she's in the thick of things now and it's only a matter of time before she finds out about Chuck and his spy-ness. Can I get an AMEN! With one episode remaining, 24 on FOX delivered one of the most harrowing episodes the series has ever done. In fact, this was probably the first episode of this show where I was sincerely terrified of Jack Bauer as he put on a mask and killed everyone and anyone on his way. Next week's two hour series finale is sure to thrill. Finally, the season finale of ABC's Castle involved its usual fun and heartbreak. Fun in the form of the cool spy case and heartbreak in the form of Castle and Beckett trying out the "Ross/Rachel" thing and keeping their feelings to themselves. It's going to be a loooong summer for both of them as well as the fans.

24 Runs Out of Time

It's official. The current and eight season of 24 will be its last. I'm not exactly heartbroken about the show ending, but it will still be sad to say goodbye to some of these characters more notably 'Jack Bauer' as played by Kiefer Sutherland and 'Chloe O'Brien' as played by Mary Lynn Rajskub. They are two of three actors who have appeared in more than 100 episodes of the show. Carlos Bernard playing 'Tony Almeida' is the other.

No matter what anyone says, it really was one of the most important television programs of the past decade. Debuting only a few weeks after September 11th, many thought the show about terrorists would not find much footing. Luckily for the show, Americans found themselves a hero in Jack Bauer. Impervious to bullets and torture, he was seen as the Great American Hero saving America from the bad guys during the course of its worst day ever (times eight).

The format of the show was the hook, of course. The show would take place in one day and be shown in real time. To say it was new and ambitious would be understating it. This strength was also the show's weakness because more often than not, the weight of telling a 24-hour story would show with repetitive and/or filler story lines.

Critics, fans, and definitely non-fans have loved picking apart some of the more ridiculous aspects of the show. We never see Jack Bauer going to the bathroom. Cell phones work everywhere and anywhere and don't need to be charged. Jack is tortured one minute and running after the bad guys the next. That car/helicopter/subway/bus could not have reached that place in so-and-so minutes. There's ANOTHER mole working inside the government. Etc.

All in all, it's been a fun ride. I actually didn't start watching 24 until its second season and only caught up with the first season well into the show's run. I have since seen every single season and episode save for the last few episodes of the much maligned (and deservedly so) sixth season. At that point, it was refreshing to see the show switch it up a bit moving the locale from sunny Los Angeles to Washington D.C. last season and now in New York City.

This final season has been a mixed bag. It started out with some promise and then sort of leveled off with some story lines too stupid to endure (Dana, I'm looking at you). But with 11 episodes left, I'm hoping for the best. In fact, the past two episodes have actually been pretty good. So to Jack, Chloe, and the rest of the cast and crew, thanks for the past eight seasons. Looking forward to seeing some of y'all in the big screen.

TV's Spring Awakening

Haven't really mentioned it at all here, but I have more or less been watching the Winter Olympics nonstop. I guess I'm just a sucker for the inherent drama of representing one's country and going for the win against all odds. The stories some of these athletes have coming into the games have been incredible.

And with a less than subtle segue, I do miss the stories from some of the TV shows that have taken a break because of the Olympics. I mean the past two weeks on TV haven't been completely barren. Lost, Amazing Race, Greek, and 24 are some of my regulars that didn't take a break. And other than a lagging 24, the other shows I mentioned have been kicking it out of the park. Lost, in particular, seems to be bringing its A-game for its final season, but this is nothing new for the show really. With that said, I do greatly miss my weekly dose of half-hour comedies--How I Met Your Mother, Big Bang Theory, Modern Family, Cougar Town, Community, and 30 Rock.

As for new shows premiering this mid-season, the only one that has caught my eye is Parenthood. How could I miss it when NBC has been insanely promoting it throughout its Olympic coverage? PROS: Lauren Graham and Peter Krause. CONS: Dax Shepard and it is up against The Good Wife. So... I'm still undecided.

Finally, there are those shows that have taken a much longer hiatus than just the two weeks for the Olympics. It's interesting to note that for some, absence does make the heart grow fonder while for others, it's more like out of sight, out of mind. For example, I'm getting impatient about waiting for Glee, Fringe, and V, but finding myself not really caring for the return of Gossip Girl and FlashForward.

Alan Sepinwall has recently posted a very convenient list of "notable shows debuting or returning" in the coming months. It's pretty complete, though I take issue with him forgetting that Doctor Who returns with the new Doctor on April 17 for American audiences and two weeks earlier on April 4 (Easter Sunday) for those lucky Brits. Geronimo!

Charming Casting Choices

Casting directors are making me very happy right now. It seems like some of my favorite actors are getting gigs to TV shows I actually watch!


David Anders played my favorite sexy agent on Alias and was also one of the few highlights on Heroes when that showed started its freefall in quality. It's insane that he hasn't had a more regular role anywhere, but come January he'll be joining the cast of 24 which already picked up Battlestar Galactica alum Katee Sackhoff.

Another Alias alum will make an appearance on TV this fall. Gina Torres, who played kick-ass babes Anna Espinosa in Alias and Zoe in Firefly will join the cast of Gossip Girl as the mother of one of the kids. As recently as this year she has appeared in Pushing Daisies, Eli Stone, and Dirty Sexy Money. Hopefully this doesn't mean Gossip Girl will get cancelled.

Finally, there's James Marsters who is more famously known as the bleached-blonde vampire Spike in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but he also appeared in Torchwood as Captain John Hart. It was announced recently that he is joining the Battlestar Galactica spin-off Caprica this fall for a "sizable arc."

All in all, I'm very excited to see these actors on my screens soon. Now someone get Lee Pace some work! Now!

Jack Bauer Recruits Starbuck

It's only been a few months since the last ever episode of Battlestar Galactica, but I'm already missing the cast. I followed Jamie Bamber to his recent gig on Law & Order: UK. And now I will be able to follow Starbuck next season since Katee Sackhoff has officially joined 24.

According to Hollywood Reporter, she will be playing Dana Walsh, a data analyst at CTU. Hopefully this doesn't limit her to a role being behind a desk, because I want to see her kick some ass along side Jack Bauer. She will also be playing the love interest of the character that is being played by Freddie Prinze Jr. That casting I'm having trouble accepting, but maybe it'll turn out he's a villain and Katee will get to beat him up or something.