The other day I heard the song All Along The Watchtower and first it made me imagine Jimi Hendrix rocking out on stage and secondly it reminded me of the sci-fi drama Battlestar Galactica. A show that used this song, originally composed by Bob Dylan as a plot device to resolve its major conflict. However before I go too far ahead of myself and ruin the entire show we're going to take a step back to give some background. If you haven't seen it Battlestar Galactica the 2003 version not the 1978, is a show about a civilization of humans that live on a series of planets known as the Twelve Colonies. In the past, the Colonies had been at war with a cybernetic race known as the Cylons.

The Cybernetic Beings known as the Cylons who can take robotic or human form


Based on this description Battlestar Galactica comes across as dark, dim and gritty which at points is true but what got me to watch every week was that amidst this threat of extinction the show still had its inspirational moments. These moments included the Commander of Galactica, Bill Adama giving his son a command position, the crew of Galactica coming together to build a stealth ship in order to boost morale, characters sharing their feelings towards one another and the humans thwarting off Cylon attacks. The fact that these positive events were able to still happen for the characters on Battlestar Galactica despite losing everything gave me an emotional connection to the show because it showed that if these characters can stare down the barrel of extinction, then I can deal with a tough week of College Finals.


Then, after following the journey through these three acts we are left with a action packed retelling of the story of creation that in my opinion will knock your socks off. However I can't go into more detail of how Battlestar is a retelling of the classic Bible story of Genesis because it will ruin your incentive to watch the show but if you really want an explanation check out Battlestar Galactica, believe me it's totally worth it.

Battlestar Galactica Seasons 1-4 are available on DVD.

On Friday night I checked out the first episode of USA's new drama White Collar and it was damn good. The premise behind the show is simple a con-man, Neal Caffery (Matt Bomer) teams up with the FBI Agent who arrested him, Peter Burke (Tim DeKay) to catch other White Collar Criminals. Now, with that being said I bet you all are thinking hasn't the premise of a Cop teaming up with a Criminal been done before? Well, the answer is yes, but the premise is not why the show is worth watching, it's the characters, which makes White Collar fit perfectly within USA's motto of "characters welcome". Matt Bomer as Neal Caffery and Tim DeKay as Peter Burke

Within the first minute of the show I could only describe the character of Neal Caffery as iconic through him paying tribute to The Blues Brothers by blasting the Sam and Dave classic "Hold On, I'm Coming" on a truck radio as he leaves prison. Caffery, to make himself more iconic even takes on a Humphery Bogart-like image complete with a double breasted suit and fedora which shows the audience that he is a romantic that men want to be and women want to be with. However, no one wants to be Neal Caffery more than Peter Burke. In fact, it seems as if Burke didn't spend years trying to aphrend Caffery based on a grudge, he spent years chasing him in the hopes that arresting Caffery would make him one of the cool kids which is made clear by Burke coming to Caffery for romance advice.

What happens when you mix Belushi and Bogart? You get Neal Caffery.

This concept of Burke going to Caffery for advice is what makes White Collar different than other Cop Criminal stories because the fact that Burke caught Caffery means that he doesn't need help catching criminals but he does need Caffery's help in sorting out his personal life. Actually both Caffery and Burke need each other to sort out their personal lives. This comes based on the fact that Caffery needs Burke's resources at the FBI to track down his long lost girlfriend, Kate who might be in danger and Burke needs Caffery to prevent his job from hurting his relationship with his wife played by Tiffani Thiessen (Kelly from Saved By The Bell but don't let it turn you away from this show).

Tiffani Thiessen as Elizabeth Burke on White Collar and Kelly Kapowski on Saved by the Bell

This dash of romance makes White Collar more acessible to audiences because it becomes a show that guys can watch with their girlfriends or wives, making it a great option for a Friday night when you might want to stay in. With that I would say check out White Collar and tell all your friends because it's one of the few Cop Shows out there that can be called fun.

Watch White Collar Fridays at 10/9c on USA or online.

What can I say? I love Monk to the point that my Dad and I have never missed an episode. If you have not seen it Monk is a show about a former police detective Adrian Monk (Tony Shalhoub), who uses his intensified obsessive-compulsive disorder and a variety of phobias caused by the death of his wife to solve murder mysteries. However what makes Monk more entertaining than the run of the mill episode of Law and Order is that the show features quirky characters including Monk's perky Nurse, Natalie, Police Lieutenant Randy Disher whose idea of solving crimes is by making ridiculous theories and Police Captain Leland Stottlemeyer who is constantly annoyed with Randy's stupidity or Monk dealing with his sometimes silly phobias.
Through the existence of these characters Monk is more like a sitcom combined with a mystery drama making the show more accessible to audiences who cannot stomach the gore featured on CSI. The reason why I tune into the show every week is that each episode requires Monk to overcome one of his phobias in order to solve a mystery or save a friend's life. I'm not sure if it is because I have a disability but this idea of Monk facing challenges compels me to watch the show in order to root him on.




This season Monk is going to confront the challenge that we have been waiting for, solving his wife's murder. Although the news of this event comes bittersweet because once Monk solves the case he will say good-bye after eight seasons. Currently there has been no clues given this season that will lead Monk to his wife's killer except for maybe the fact that the Captain's new girlfriend has the same name as Monk's wife. Despite the lack of clues the Producers of Monk have some very exciting things coming down the pike including the return of Monk's original Nurse, Sharona which may also mean return of John Turturro as Monk's brother, Ambrose.



Sharona and Ambrose


Regardless of what's coming now is the time to watch Monk if you watch every week or if you have left for awhile because it's going to get good before it's gone.

Watch Monk Fridays at 9/8c on USA or online.

After 73 years of providing Entertainment, the first television Network NBC might become a Cable Channel. I know it sounds crazy and you might think you are misreading this post but due to NBC's failing ratings Comcast has an interest in buying the Network which might make the famed peacock a cable property. Currently it has not been announced what Comcast's plans are once they buy NBC but since this is such big news I thought I would make some predictions on what may happen if NBC becomes a Cable Channel.

First off the most obvious thing that will happen when NBC becomes a Cable Network is that it will only be available to Comcast subscribers not people who own a Dish. This was something that Comcast did in my local area when they set up a Chicago based Sports Network called Comcast Sports Net or CSN. When CSN came into existence a large portion of Chicago's Professional Sporting Events were shown on the Network which was bad news for people using a Dish because CSN was only available to Comcast subscribers. Eventually the demand for Cubs, Sox, Bulls and Blackhawks games became so high from Direct TV and Dish Network subscribers, these Satellite providers had no other choice but to pay their competitor Comcast to show CSN on their Television systems. Based on this information I would assume that Comcast will try to make the same move with NBC, the only problem is that it took about a year for the Satellite providers to decide that CSN should be one of their Channel options. In thinking about it, a year is a long time and I don't think that shows like The Emmy Award Winning 30 Rock or The Office will want to go that long without being easily accessible to audiences. Due to this issue I see these sitcoms jumping ship and moving to another network. NBC shows like Scrubs and Medium made the jump so why not 30 Rock and The Office. Besides both CBS and ABC would love to have their comedy line up supported by popular Comedy Actors like Steve Carell and Tina Fey.


The other issue with NBC possibly making the switch to Cable is that local programming like the daily and nightly news may be removed. Current Cable Networks like TBS were once local Channels that had news programming but now that they are established on Cable the news has been done away with. If a Cable version of NBC does remove the local news that means people working at the Network's affiliate studios may lose their jobs. Again, this is all speculation but I did see an ad on a bus about NBC laying off their affiliate employees so I wonder if selling out to Comcast has something to do with that.


The bottom line with this whole NBC maybe becoming a Cable Channel issue is that if a National Network can go down the tubes by just putting a talk show on at 10/9c then can the same thing happen to another Network for a cancellation or moving around their schedule? At this point the other National Networks CBS, ABC, Fox and The CW seem to be doing just fine and NBC might not become a Cable Network. However with all this going on the TV Industry seems like a scary place for aspiring writer like me.

If you love it or hate it Family Guy is an Animated Sitcom about a stupid but lovable oaf named Peter Griffin and his family. Peter's family includes his wife Lois, his teenage daughter Meg; who is the butt of his jokes, his son Chris, who is a younger version of Peter, and his infant son Stewie; who's goal is global domination. Also living with the family is a martini drinking talking dog named Brian.

The main thing to know about Family Guy is that it prides itself on integrating pop-culture references and parody to create most of the shows humor. However, as much as Family Guy uses the world of pop-culture, we too, the viewer, reference Family Guy in our everyday lives. For example; the other day my roommate said that he wanted to play the video game Call of Duty. When he did this, I had to make fun of the fact that my roommate said "duty", just like in an episode of Family Guy. I don't know what it is about it, but everyday I hear a reference to Peter Griffin's antics from my 14 year old brother to my 32 year old cousin. You would think by now that I would get tired of hearing constant references to the show, but every time I hear someone use the name Will Ferrell, I think of Stewie going over to his house and beating the crap out of him because the movie Bewitched wasn't funny.




In my opinion, I feel what makes lines of dialogue from Family Guy so catchy with the general public is that the writers of the show try to drive their comedy out of common knowledge references into jokes. This was exemplified by one of the episodes starting with Peter listing all the shows that were canceled by Fox during the time Family Guy was off the air. The reason why this was funny is that everyone had an idea that Fox had a reputation for canceling shows, and Family Guy took a chance by pointing this out. See the clip here.



See, that's how Family Guy integrates itself into what would be considered as our every-day culture, because it points out things that we may witness while walking down the street that we are too afraid to admit that are funny. However, by creating his show Family Guy, Seth MacFarlane has given us the wonderful gift of actually being able to admit when certain things we see in our day to day lives are funny because we can connect them to a random Family Guy reference. Based on this conclusion, as long as Seth Macfarlene can give us the freedom to be funny, even about the most obscure topics, Family Guy references and the show itself could be around for a very long time whether some people like it or not.

Watch Family Guy Sundays at 9/8c on Fox or online.

Last Thursday marked the end of the ongoing romance between Receptionist, Pam (Jenna Fischer) and Salesman, Jim (John Krasinski) in a special hour long Wedding episode of NBC's The Office. After watching the episode I have to say that I was a little disappointed. I don't know if it was all the hype surrounding the episode but I thought it would be more gut busting funny. The episode set itself up for gut busting humor by Michael (Steve Carell), the boss graphically describing to Pam's offended Grandmother and the entire Wedding party how Jim got his future wife pregnant. There was also a scene where Andy (Ed Helms) did the splits and stabbed himself in a not so fun place. Both scenes were amusing but I would have laughed if Michael's comments caused Pam's Grandma to pass out or Andy's incident more resembled the episode of the King of Queens where Doug shot himself with a staple in a bad place.

However the show had its memorable moments with Kevin (Brian Baumgartner) being forced to wear Kleenex boxes to the wedding because his shoes were thrown away, Jim cutting his tie in half to make Pam feel better about ripping her veil and who can forget Pam and Jim tying the knot in front of beautiful Niagara Falls. I also enjoyed the scene based on a YouTube video where each of the characters on The Office danced their way down the aisle at the wedding because it spotlighted each of them in a way that reminded the audience who they are. I thought this best applied to the character of Dwight (Rainn Wilson) who danced his way down the aisle and kicked a Bridesmaid in the face because it showed him as the inconsiderate knifing jerk that the fans of the show love.



Check out Pam and Jim's Wedding Ceremony in this clip.

In conclusion, The Office Wedding was enjoyable but it was not the funniest episode of the show or a Sitcom in general that I have ever seen. Again the Writers might be holding off until Pam goes into labor with her baby because emergency situations on The Office always have a tendency to be extremely funny. There is also going to be a shocking revelation that may generate a lot of comedy, I won't give it away if you haven't seen the Wedding episode but make sure you watch the ending credits.

Watch The Office Thursdays at 9/8c on NBC or online.

If anyone ever asked me who my favorite Television writer is I would have to say Joss Whedon because he never let the small screen limit his imagination from giving a teenager the power to slay Vampires, cursing a Vampire to have a soul and have a Western be set in outer space. At first the ideas behind Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Angel and Firefly seem far fetched but Joss made these shows fan favorites by each of them featuring a battle between good and evil with heart generated by a family of characters who would make audiences yell, scream and cry at the TV when one of them got killed or broke off a romance. This battle between good and evil with heart led to the birth of many popular sci-fi, fantasy shows on TV today including Heroes, Lost, Smallville, Supernatural and Fringe.





The other issue with Dollhouse is that it is based in reality meaning that Joss cannot use his imagination to expand the realm of the TV screen. This leaves me with one question is Fox keeping Joss in check or has he lost his imagination? I honestly do not know the answer but if Joss does not change the status quo of Dollhouse like he did with the season 2 episode "Innocence" on Buffy, I might jump ship on my favorite writer.

If you are interested in Dollhouse check it out Fridays at 8/9c on Fox or online.

Recently a show that has been getting a lot of attention is The Vampire Diaries. I began to watch the show to help me write a feature length script about Vampires. At first I thought this show would be sappy like Twilight but actually its much edgier with a good and evil battle between Stefan a Vampire who has turned away from feeding on humans and his brother Damon who wants to suck the blood out every person. This rivalry between brothers is topped off with them fighting over Elena a teenage girl who resembles their lost love and a small town conspiracy that dates back to the Civil War.



As far as the conflict between the brothers goes and the historical back story this show has me hooked but since the The Vampire Diaries is on The CW Network it has its teeny bopper moments like what could be found on Gossip Girl. On this show these moments exist in the form of a relationship between Elena's younger brother and this incredibly bitchy girl, Vicki. Honestly this relationship has nothing to do with the story arc and I have this strong desire to see Damon chow down on Vicki. Right now I can deal with this annoying plot device because the show is in the first season and but if it does not connect to the Vampire plot line soon, I might consider changing the channel.

Check out The Vampire Diaries Thursday at 8/7c on The CW or online if you love fanged creatures who lurk in the night and can stomach sappy teenage romance.

Currently there is a little TV show on the CW Network entitled Supernatural that seems to be gaining ratings with every episode. One of the reasons behind this shows rise in popularity is its protagonist ghost/demon hunter Dean Winchester. In my opinion Dean lives out every guys fantasy by driving around in a cool car while jamming to classic rock, zooming the girls and shooting up every creature who goes bump in the night.



The only problem with being Dean is that he and his brother Sam are staring down the barrel of an apocalypse in which angels and demons are going to use earth as a battlefield. However instead of choosing to side with one side or the other Dean has chosen the human race telling them to take their fight somewhere else. Dean has even had the guts to give Satan the middle finger to leave the human race alone. Yes, that's right this season on Supernatural, Dean is taking on the greatest evil of all time but what makes it great is he isn't going to do it with super powers or some kind of divine grace. He is going to do it with his trusty shotgun.


At first thought it seems like Dean is crazy for trying to take down the devil but I think deep down everyone wants to have Dean's courage. In my opinion, what Dean has is not courage but faith. Now when I say faith I'm not saying that Dean is some goody two shoe that's blindly following God like some nutty preacher on TV because he's not. Dean like every other human on this planet has committed many sins like going to strip clubs and cheating on women. At times Dean has even told the Angels to stick it where the sun don't shine for manipulating humans into doing their bidding just because they are bored like in this video...






In these instances it appears as if he is rebelling against God but in reality Dean is doing God's bidding because by challenging both the angels and demons he is defending the greatest gift that the Almighty Father has given us, the ability to have free will right down to Dean's decision to have a bacon cheeseburger for breakfast. See Dean doing more than just saving the world, he is saving the very essence of what makes us human. Although the physical action of Dean saving our humanity is not what makes him the best character on TV, its his struggle of being an average Joe with an incredible weight on his shoulders that compels audiences to watch him every week.

Check out Supernatural Thursdays at 9/8c on The CW or online.

On September 25, 2009, The CW Show Smallville had its 9th season premiere and all I can say is wow and I'm not just saying it because I am a huge superhero fan. The first five minutes had a tremendous fight scene which ended with Clark (Tom Welling) catching a train in his bare hands and trust me it didn't look like something out of the George Reeve Adventures of Superman TV series. This scene simply looked cinematic and it really makes me wonder what would happen if the people who worked on Smallville put together a Superman movie.



Now I know what you are thinking there's no way a TV show on the young CW network could have movie quality special effects but after comparing this episode of Smallville to the premiere of Heroes on NBC I have become a believer. A show on a big network like Heroes should be blowing Smallville out of the water and the first season did, but now Heroes is resorting to effects that anyone who owns iMovie on a Mac can create to make the illusion of two people fighting at super speed. Honestly a fight scene on Heroes looks like a drawing of the Tasmanian Devil compared to scenes on Smallville where an actor is literally catching a train in his bare hands and trying to fly off the Statue of Liberty which leaves the audience asking how did they do that?

An example of a Heroes fight scene.
Clark overlooking the city of Metropolis in a highly expensive CGI shot.


Smallville's story is also much more rock solid than Heroes. I know that the people behind Smallville have seventy years of Superman comic books to deal with but Heroes' season long storyline about Superheroes battling a group of sideshow freaks over a compass that shows what your heart desires is just plain silly. Also at the same time it seems like the creators of Heroes are telling a story that was taken from Pirates of the Caribbean rather than comic books. However Smallville's story for this season is much deeper playing off theories by Joseph Campbell to create a tale where Clark who is on the path to becoming the legendary hero Superman must find a balance between his Kryptonian heritage and human heritage or the world will face it's darkest hour. This storyline is enhanced by Clark being visited by someone in the future telling him that if he doesn't choose to become Superman by what would be considered the end of the season everything around him will be destroyed.


Obviously we know that Clark will choose to become Superman but this glimpse from the future shows us that there will be some bumps in the road including possibly the death of a fan favorite character meaning that the legendary hero will not come into existence without a bang. This makes me want to describe what may potentially be the last season of Smallville only as one word, epic.

Watch Smallville Fridays at 8/7c on The CW or online. Also for a comparison check out Heroes on NBC Monday at 7/8c or online.