MY DVR: An Overview

I have 35 TV shows on my DVR.  I have them in order so that the most important one always tapes if there is any overlap.  I thought it might be fun to share them with you in order.

Hot redhead?  Yes please!

1.        True Blood:  This is Mymissy’s favorite show.  She asks very little of our relationship, so I suppose I can put her first on the DVR.  I love it too.  It is the first example I noticed of an "overpacked" show.  I will be writing a longer post about this phenomenon later, now that I have another example, American Horror Story.
2.       WWE Raw:  I’ve been a huge wrestling fan for 30 years.  This is the only essential wrestling show on TV.
3.       How I Met Your Mother:  I’ve been following Ted’s quest for love since the first episode.  I love the comedy, and the heart that was shown last season.  I’ll watch this one even after it starts to suck.

Evil Wil

4.       Big Bang Theory:  Another show I’ve been watching since the beginning.    This one has the potential to jump the shark at some point, but it has Wil Wheaton!
5.       American Horror Story:  This show just gets better each episode.  If you aren’t watching, start!  Check out my review of the pilot here..
6.       Fringe:  Fringe is amazing.  I just posted a recap here.  If you aren’t watching it, you should.

7.       Grimm:  The pilot was fantastic.  It has the potential to be a favorite.  It’s scary and looks like it will have a rich history.  I’m excited for the next episode.
8.       Parks and Rec:  This is probably the best sitcom on TV.  I’m not as involved with the characters at the ones above, but it is consistently awesome.
9.       Community:  Another low-rated show like P&R.  Great characters that you really fall in love with.  Some bizarre plots, but those are often the best episodes. 
10.   Raising Hope:  This sitcom is uproariously funny in parts.  The cast is amazing.  It’s a little wackier than most shows that I like, but it hits me just right.  It’s got a great cast too.  Kate Micucci from Garfunkel and Oates is in it! 

11.   Beavis and Butthead:  Mike Judge has brought them back!  It’s pretty cool.  Heh heh.  Yeah, yeah it rocks!  I can say “fire” now!  Fire.  Fire!  Fiiiiire! 

12.   Haven:  Review here.. 
13.   The Walking Dead:  I’ve been stockpiling a few episodes because I know when I start to watch them, I’m going to want to watch another right away, so I haven’t watched any of season 2 yet.
14.   WWE Tough Enough:  This is the only reality show on the list.  Even Mymissy got sucked in.  I hope it comes back again.

Look out for kidnappers!

15.   WWE Smackdown:  Even the lesser wrestling show is still important.
16.   Modern Family:  Another sitcom I’ve been watching since day one.  It rarely disappoints.  Even the Teenager likes it.
17.   Castle:  I’m a season behind on Castle, so I need to watch season 3 before I can even start on the season 4 I’m got recording.  It’ll be a while.
18.   Once Upon a Time:  I don’t know if this will last, but I'm liking it so far.
19.   Real Time:  This is Bill Mahr’s talk show on HBO.  So much liberal talk crammed into an hour.  Almost always entertaining and infuriating.
20.   Falling Skies:  this was a summer show for TNT.  It stars Noah Wiley and is about the human resistance to an already completed alien invasion.  By episode 3, I was completely hooked!  If you didn’t catch it, go out and find it before the next season starts in spring.

Dr. Carter kicks ass in this one.

21.   The Office:  A show I probably watch more because I feel invested than because I consistently like it.  Mymissy really doesn’t like the humor of uncomfortableness that is The Office’s stock and trade.  This season it seems to be lessening a bit.  Frankly, I like it more than I have for a while.
22.   Up All Night:  Mymissy checked out on this show, but I still like it.  I think it’s the only show on the list I watch completely without her.
23.   No Reservations:  Mymissy doesn’t like it too much, but I love Anthony Bourdain’s take on the world of food and travel.
24.   Brad Meltzer’s Decoded:  Decoded is a show where author Brad Meltzer sends a team out to investigate secrets from American history.  If you like the movie National Treasure or The DaVinci Code, this is the show for you!

25.   Storage Wars:  A cable show about the guys who buy storage units.  I suppose it’s kind of a reality show, but I don’t think there is a lot of reality to it. 
26.   Terra Nova:  Check out my review here.  Still very worthwhile to watch.  I think the mystery is just beginning with this one. 
27.   Diners Drive-in, and Dives:  I used to be obsessed with this show and Man Vs. Food.  But after a trip to Cleveland planned around the restaurants showcased on this and other shows, my taste kind of waned for it a bit.  I still check in to see if there are any local places to check out.  We loved the Jearsy Café in Fishers.

Penny Can!

28.   Cougar Town:  I just realized today that I hadn’t been taping this and 30 Rock.  If that is the case, I must not be missing it too much.  I dropped 30 Rock from the queue, but kept this one on.
29.   New Girl:  Zooey Deschanel’s new sit-com.  The jury is still out on this one.
30.   Dark Matters:  This show uses dramatic re-enactments to highlight true scientific experiments that had strange results or consequences.  It is VERY melodramatic and chock full of terrible re-enactments, but I think it is kind of doing it on purpose.  It takes itself so seriously, that I think it’s actually supposed to be silly.  Maybe it’s just unintentionally funny.  Either way, if you need a spooky Theremin fix (and really who doesn’t?) this show will provide.

31.   Mysteries at the Museum:  This a cable show that shows artifacts from various museums and talks about their histories.  Sometimes it is too melodramatic and with overblown reenactments, but the topics and artifacts are interesting.
32.   Subugatory:  Mymissy and I are banking several episodes of this before we watch it.  I think it’s going to be great though.
33.   Allan Gregory:  This is Jonah Hill’s cartoon.  It hasn’t debuted yet, but it looks pretty funny.
34.   Man Vs. Food:  This used to be a perpetual favorite, but as host Adam Richman and I both have expanding waistlines, it feels a bit irresponsible.

Maybe I do know what I see in this show.

35.   Whitney:  I don’t like this show, yet I feel like it will be good soon.  It kind of reminds me of the first season of Seinfeld, where the writing is there, it’s just waiting for the cast to arrive.  I can hang on to a show like that.  Two Broke Girls had the opposite problem.  The cast was good but the writing was soooo bad.

Wanna get into Fringe? Here’s your guide.

 

Fringe is an amazing sci-fi television show.  Unlike Haven, which I already reviewed (check it out here), it is highly serialized.  The first two seasons were more Haven-like where there was more of an element of “monster-of-the-week” but starting with the third season, it has become almost exclusively serialized.  Of course I would recommend seeking out all the seasons and watching them in order, but I thought I would write this summary for those of you who would like to jump in now.  The summary of the first three seasons and so far in the fourth will be spoileriffic, you have been warned.

SPOILER ALERT

The story so far:

Walter Bishop is a scientist who was doing fantastical experiments in the 1970s.  This is a sci-fi show, so when I say fantastical I mean pyrokenesis, teleportation, astral projection, that sort of thing.  His partner was William Bell, another genius.  Walter and William discovered a window into a parallel universe, where everything is basically the same as “our” universe.  There is an alternate person for each person on this Earth.  Walter’s son, Peter, gets sick and dies.  In his grief, he turns his window to the home of the other Walter Bishop and sees that the other universe’s Peter is sick as well.  However, Walter has a cure for that Peter, if he can bring him to this universe.

Walter then tears a hole in the fabric of the universes so that he can step between and kidnap Peter.  Once he and the other Peter return they cannot go back; Walter says that it would be too dangerous, but of course he also has personal reasons to keep the boy.  Alternate Peter is cured, but he realizes that these people are not his real parents, no matter how much they insist that they are.  Peter’s mother becomes and alcoholic and eventually dies.  Walter is driven mad by his guilt over what he has done. 

Olivia Dunham was a child with exceptional psychic talents.  Walter and William experimented on her and many other children using a drug called Cortexiphan.  Olivia was the only one to really be successful in the trials.  Other “Cortexiphan children” turn up from time to time as the plots dictate, and some of them have limited abilities, but none of them were able to travel between the worlds like Olivia was.  She could only do it under extreme duress.  Eventually these trials were shut down.  Walter still feels a lot of residual guilt for experimenting on children.

Don't call me Pacey

As an adult, Olivia lost her memories of her childhood.  She is a member of the FBI’s Fringe division, a branch of the FBI that investigates paranormal activities.  She comes into contact with the adult Peter Bishop, a brilliant con man with ties to the underside of society.  She needs him to supervise the release of Walter from a mental institution where he has been since the 70s.  It is hoped that they can tap into his memories and genius to solve a new case.  At the end of the pilot episode, Peter has reluctantly agreed to supervise his father as he continues his experiments for Fringe division. 

 

Astrid, a young FBI agent assists Walter in the lab.  One running gag is that he can never remember her name, calling her something silly like Astro. 

All of these fringe events lead to one place, Massive Dynamics.  Massive Dynamics a huge corporation run by Walter’s former partner, William Bell.  His spokesperson is Nina Sharpe.  For most of the first season we are led to believe they are the villains, but in reality they are trying to prevent an invasion from the other universe. 

In the other universe, things have taken a drastic turn away from our reality.  When Walter kidnaps Peter, the other Walter Bishop (called Walternate) also goes crazy, but he funnels his anger into thoughts of revenge.  Instead of becoming weak and helpless like Walter, Walternate harnesses his scientific genius to become the most powerful man in the world.  There is no Massive Dynamic in this new reality, although I don’t think it has been explained what happened to the alternate William Bell.  Instead, Walter becomes the most important scientist.  There are a few distinct differences between the worlds, which the show uses to clearly define them.  The other universe has dirigibles everywhere; it has never been explained exactly why, but they are always in the sky.  The other universe has had several instances where a hole between the universes has threatened it.  Therefore, the people of that world are aware of the other universe, and see it as an attacking enemy.  Fringe Division is a huge, public entity, there is no such thing as the FBI.  While the world is, in ways, technically advanced, it is also slightly Fascist.  Everyone carries a Show-Me card, an ID that has all of their information on it.

Bubbles from The Wire helps Olivia escape.

In the end of Season 2, Olivia is captured replaced with the other universe’s Olivia.  Fauxlivia has very few troubles fitting into Olivia’s life and begins to fall in love with Peter just as Olivia has, although her loyalty is never really in question.  During Season 3, Olivia is given injections where she is supposed to take on all of Fauxlivia’s memories.  (Don’t even try to think about how ridiculous this is.  Just about every episode features multiple injections of various drugs.  You really could make a drinking game of it)  This works for a while so there are several episodes where Fauxlivia is with the regular cast and Olivia (thinking she is Fauxlivia) is with the Fringe team of the other universe.    

 After several episodes, they get switched back, but Olivia holds a lot of resentment to Fauxlivia for her invasion of her life.  Eventually a machine is built that only Peter can operate that he could use to destroy one or both of the universes.  Instead he uses it to build a permanent portal between the two worlds so characters can go back and forth.  When this happens he disappears, having apparently “fulfilled his purpose.”  Watching over all of these events are a group of bald-headed men of limitless power.  They seem to be concerned with protecting the timestream and the proper order of events, but their purpose is unclear.  They are generally neutral or benevolent, but can become hostile if their purpose is thwarted.

Season 4 opens with Peter being removed from the timestream.  Everyone believes that he fell through the ice and died when Walter tried to bring him back through the portal as a child.  However, Peter won’t go away so easy.  He appears to Olivia and Walter, but of course they don’t recognize him.  Eventually he returns to mortal flesh, despite the efforts of the bald men to stop it.  Now he is back with full memories, but Walter and Olivia still don’t know who he is.

So now you are caught up on Fringe, so set your DVRs or tune in every Friday night on Fox!

Once Upon a Time: Not Fables, but Good Enough

Last night I watched the season premiere of Once Upon a Time.  The premise of this show is that fairy tale characters have been transported into the real world with no memory of their past lives.  Only Snow White’s daughter can save them.

The opening scene is worth the price of admission.  It shows Prince Charming waking Snow White from the glass coffin surrounded by the seven dwarves.  It really did feel like a storybook come to life.  It was realistic, but still idealized.  Before the credits even rolled I turned to MyMissy and said, “OK, I’m in.”   

This might be the worst shot of the whole scene.

About half the show took place in the Enchanted Forest where Snow White and Prince Charming are cursed by the Wicked Queen.  Rumplestiltskin is imprisoned and warns Snow of the curse.   

 

There are several scenes, like the wedding and war council, where a freeze frame would have revealed a lot of fun characters, but I was too interested in the story to play the guessing game.  I have the same problem when I read the comic Fables, which has a similar premise of storybook characters in a modern world.  

The queen’s curse traps all of the storybook characters in today’s modern world.  Only Snow White’s daughter is spared.  She is transported to the modern world early and avoids the curse.  Instead she grows up an orphan and a bounty hunter.   

Henry, her son who she gave up for adoption, finds her on her 28^th birthday.   He brings her to Storybrooke, Maine where he lives with his adopted mother, Regina Mills, who is also the Wicked Queen.  In the first episode we are introduced to a few of the sleeping fairy tales, such as Red Riding Hood, Granny, and Jiminy Cricket.  We also see Snow White and the comatose Prince Charming again.  I’m sure many more will be rolled out as the show moves forward.  This also follows the template set by Fables, which is a complement, not a criticism.  Fables is one of the best comics ever written, and the more like Fables it can be, the better.

Once Upon a Time is a tamer, more family friendly version of the Fables comic.  I’d rather see this show on AMC or HBO so it could go as dark as that series, but until they make a Fables show, this is a reasonable substitute.  It is well acted, the sets are fantastic, and the story will suck you in.  Check it out Sundays at 8 Eastern time, or on ABC's Website.

English Teachers: A Different Perspective

I was talking with a colleague at lunch yesterday and we were discussing the fact that it is possible that English teachers have a different perspective on students than other teachers.  Since many of us assign journals and personal writings, we know more about our students' lives at home than a PE teacher or Math teacher might.  Of course, all teachers connect on a personal level with some of their students, but I think we find out about a lot more of them.  Most English teachers I know have a lot of respect for the kids and the day-to-day problems that they might have.  Every time I assign journals I learn about the problems of these kids' home lives.  And it's not always the kids you would imagine. 

For example, a few years ago, I had a student who seemed to have everything together.  She was pretty, popular, well-dressed, and on the dance team.  She came to school with a spring in her step and a smile on her face.  She was always polite to her teachers and sweet tot he other students.  One of her journals however, told another story.  Apparently her father suffered from blackouts where he would go into a fugue state and disappear for weeks at a time.  No one knew where he was, and when he returned, he didn't know where he had been.  Every day when she woke, she would check to see if her dad was still in the house.  This was her reality.

I've heard stories of murder, drug use, prostitution, and violence that most people would not believe; and I teach in a relatively suburban area.  I would like all of the policy makers to spend a bit of time in my shoes and get a real taste for what is going in the lives of our most impoverished (and even some of the not impoverished) students.  

Rebuild 2: A Much Less Frustrating Experience

Rebuild 2

I reviewedRebuild just last week, and this weekend I found its sequel.  Rebuild 2 is a lot more fun than the original.  It is also much easier, at least for someone well versed in the first game.  The gameplay is pretty similar, with only a few bells and whistles added. 

The character development is the main difference.  There are photo-realistic pictures for each survivor.  And each character can be customized so that they can become proficient in multiple disciplines, not just building, fighting, scavenging, and so on.  This adds a nice element of micro-management, and gives every mission purpose.  You’ll often find yourself adding characters to a mission simply to level them up, not because they are particularly necessary.  You can also scavenge for weapons and tools, giving that specialty a lot more usefulness. 

Noah here has a fanny pack which gives him +1 to science

There are several random events that lead to the different victory conditions.  Most of them are pretty clear, but occasionally the obvious choice is not the right one.  If you get the helicopter built, and you continue the game after you’ve won, you can fly the helicopter with 5 survivors to a new game.  This gives you a real leg up to start with.  It’s a fun way to keep the game going.  So far, I’ve done all of the victory conditions except whatever is supposed to happen with the scientist in the lab.  I’m looking forward to finishing it one last time to see the last victory.

Looks just like the original, huh?

This game is quite a bit less frustrating than the original.  I haven’t tried it on the “Impossible” level yet, but it was pretty easy to win on the second to last one.  In my original review, I put that the game was unwinnable even on the second to hardest level.  Your survivors die very rarely.  This is nice since you spend so long building them up.  You really get attached to them.

Overall, I’d say this is a good replacement for the original game.  The basic gameplay is the same, but the graphics are upgraded and the gameplay is more involved and less frustrating.   Check it out at Armor Games

Quick Review: The King's League

The King's League is another really fun game I found on Armor Games.  Unlike Army of Ages, the graphics aren't a factor in this game.  You are given a few basic army types, and you train them to to fight against computer opponents.  You have the usual characters: archer, knight, swordsman, cleric, and wizard.  You gain gold and food from battles and controlling territory and use that to upgrade your characters.  The most enjoyable part of this game is the battles.  There are very cute cartoony graphics and the sprites move right towards your enemies.  They are knocked back by attacks and eventually knocked off the field.  The battles are very quick; you have no control over the outcome, only the preparation.  It is quite fun and a nice diversion for a couple of hours.  Go play it here.

The battle screen looks cooler once you have more units.

Quick Review: Army of Ages

Army of Ages is a pretty fun way to fill a half hour. I don't know what to call a game like like this, although I've seen them before.  Basically, you have your base on the left and the enemy is on the right.  Your armies march to the right and try to destroy the enemy base.  You choose your units, upgrade them and they march to the right.  I've played a few of these games before and didn't like them.  I liked this one at least well enough to finish it.  I especially liked the graphics and character design, but unfortunately you can't really enjoy the graphics and play the game, it moves too fast.  Check it out at Armor Games.

These steampunk characters were my favorite

I just found that there is a sequel to this game.  I'll check it out later today.

Rebuild: Can a game be too hard?

Rebuild is a post-apocalyptic strategy game where you are charged with bringing your town back to life after the zombies have overrun the world.  This game is simple to play but hard to master; and impossible at the most difficult levels.  

Resources:

You only have to keep track of three resources: housing, food, and happiness.  Each is controlled by the buildings you have and a few random events.

Buildings:

Each square can be one of many buildings.  Apartments and suburbs add housing.  Farms add food.  Churches and Bars add happiness.  Hospitals prevent disease.  Labs allow you to research upgrades.  Schools will train your citizens.  Malls and Police stations add defense.  There are over a dozen more buildings that are worthless by themselves, but can be turned into something useful, such as a Park that can be converted to a Farm.

Your starting four squares.  A good setup; close to the school, hospital, and an apartment.

People:

There are several characters you have to manage in the city as well.  You have soldiers for killing zombies, leaders for adding population, scavengers for finding food, builders for converting buildings, and scientists for research.  People can change classes at a school, or generic survivors have the possibility of picking up a new specialty if they go along on missions.  

Scavenger and Soldier

Gameplay:

Each turn you chose which people to send on each mission.  Squares need to be scouted; cleared of zombies, people, and food; assimilated into your city; then modified into something useful.  Each step takes a certain amount of time, a certain class of people, and has a percentage of possibility for failure.  Your choices manipulate all of these factors.   

These people are not needed to guard (notice the 0%), so they need to go kill some zombies.

At the end of each turn there is the possibility for a zombie invasion, so you have to leave a few troops behind for defense.  If you survive the night, you see the results of each day’s activity and plan the next.

This is the closest to an action scene you get in the game.

Graphics/Fun factor:

The game is very crude graphically.  But in a turn-based strategy game, who cares?  I played games on an Apple 2e, I don’t need fancy visuals if the game is fun.  And this game is quite fun. There is an internal logic to the moves of the zombies that is hard to notice until you’ve played for several hours, but there is still an unpredictable element too. Even with only a 5% chance of failure, you will still fail from time to time.   Your characters are all named, but you have no vested interest in them.  For Rebuild 2, I would like to see some possibility for leveling of individuals so that if they were to die, you would really feel the pain of it.  Each game presents a mostly random board, so it plays differently every time.

Difficulty:

This game has an appropriate amount of bleakness.  This is a zombie hoard after all.  Some death is inevitable, and total failure is always a possibility.     The game has five difficulty levels.  The first two are fairly easy, the third is a challenge, and both the fourth and fifth are impossible. I’ve started this game on the fourth level several hundred times and never beat it, let alone the fifth.     If there is a trick to these levels, I’ve never figured it out.  The third level is appropriately challenging and can be replayed to get the four different victory conditions, but if you are the type that HAS to beat every level, you might not want to even start this game because I’m convinced it can’t be done.

Recommendation:

Rebuild is a great throwback game.  It reminds me a lot of the types of strategy games I played in Junior High on 5 inch floppy disk.  The third level is perfectly balanced.  Each time you play you get a slightly different experience due to the random factors and game board.  As long as you don’t obsess about those final two levels, you can get a lot of fun out of a very simple game.   I’d love to hear from anyone who has beat the fourth level and how they did it.