Tag Archives: Game of Thrones

Don’t Call Me During…: Midseason 2012 – Sundays

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Girls

It’s the time again as I shock and awe you with how much television I think I’m going to be able to watch.

Returning/New Shows:

9:00 PM – Girls (HBO; 1/13)
The show I love to hate. It got better as the season wore on especially when Adam (Adam Driver) became more than just Hannah’s (Lena Dunham) weird one-dimensional not-boyfriend. I’m concerned that Dunham will address her critics too much this season. After the backlash for the lack of minorities in Girls‘ version of Brooklyn, could casting Donald Glover as a potential love interest be too much of an overreaction?

9:00 PM – Game of Thrones (HBO; 3/31)
Erwin swears to me that this will be the best season because it’s based on the best book of the series, A Storm of Swords.  I wouldn’t know. I refuse to read the books mostly to annoy him. I just hope it’s not like the first two seasons where we spend half the season introducing yet more new characters until the plot can really move forward.

9:00 PM – Shameless (SHO; 1/13)
Am I the only one who thinks the show would be 100 times better if Frank Gallagher (William H. Macy) left and/or died? They haven’t figured out how to make his character work and I don’t think they ever will.

10:00 PM: House of Lies (SHO; 1/13)
I would abandon this show but it stars Don Cheadle and Kristen Bell. I’m not ready to admit this show isn’t good.

10:30 PM: Californication (SHO; 1/13)
I actually last season was pretty good until the closing minutes of the finale in which another ridiculous misunderstanding will keep Hank (David Duchovny) and Karen (Natascha McElhone) from being together (which would allow the show to finally end for good).

The Rest:

8:00 PM – The Simpsons (FOX)
8:30 PM – Bob’s Burgers (FOX)
9:00 PM – The Good Wife (CBS)
9:00 PM – Revenge (ABC)
9:00 PM – The Walking Dead (AMC) (2/10)
10:00 PM – Happy Endings (ABC)
10:30 PM – Don’t Trust the Bitch in Apartment 23 (ABC)

My Favorites of 2012

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Favorite Television Series: Breaking Bad

BreakingBad

There were a lot of good series this year – Mad Men, Game of Thrones, Parks and Recreation – but none really had an amazing standout year.  However, I found myself anticipating each episode of season 5.1 of Breaking Bad. While it lacked a main villain like season four, it was still fun to watch the evolution of Heisenberg.

Favorite Television Episode: “Blackwater” (Game of Thrones, Season Two, Episode Nine)

Blackwater

While the second season of Game of Thrones was a little slow, everything was building up to this episode and it didn’t disappoint. Between the large scale battle when Stannis Baratheon’s forces arrived at King’s Landings to the outstanding performances from Peter Dinklage and Lena Headey, “Blackwater” showed the all the possibilities of having Game of Thrones on HBO.

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This Week in Geek

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New-Man-of-Steel-Poster-Shows-Superman-in-Shackles-2

  • Buffy fans rejoice! Willow and Oz are going to reunite (sorta) on How I Met Your Mother. (Jezebel)
  • Have you ever wondered how many zombies have died on The Walking Dead? Andrew Barr and Richard Johnson of The National Post figured it out. (The National Post)
  • Guillermo Del Toro’s Pan Labyrinth is becoming a stage musical. (Deadline Hollywood)
  • A first look at season four of Justified!
  • An oral history of one of the greatest single season comedies ever, Freaks and Geeks. (Vanity Fair)
  • Warner Bros. released a 13-minute television special for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. (Latino Review)
  • Dennis Haysbert is going to take over for Michael Clarke Duncan in Sin City: A Dame To Kill For. (Splash Page)
  • Kristen Wiig is in talks to join Anchorman 2. (Bleeding Cool)
  • More former X-Men might be returning for X-Men: Days of Future Past. (Splash Page)
  • New teaser trailer for Star Trek Into Darkness.
  • It looks like Tron 3 is going to happen. (Topless Robot)
  • Disney, Pixar and Marvel movies are heading to Netflix. (Vulture)
  • Wait? Who decided that a remake of Scarface would be a good idea? (Latino Review)
  • A first look at Ender’s Game. (EW)
  • They are already developing a sequel to Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim. (Screen Rant)
  • Jason Alexander is going to guest star on Community. (EW)
  • Shawn Ryan (The Shield, Terriers) is developing Badlands for HBO. (AV Club)
  • Sigh.  It looks like Jamie Foxx is confirmed as Electro in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (Latino Review)
  • Also, Dane DeHaan (Chronicle) has been cast as Harry Osborn. (Latino Review)
  • Sad news. Karen Berger is stepping down from DC Comics. She was responsible for some of the greatest DC Comics ever when she was Executive Editor of DC Vertigo – Sandman, The Preacher, Hellblazer. (Bleeding Cool)
  • The villain for the Justice League movie has been revealed and should be no surprise to any comic fan. (Bleeding Cool)
  • Will X-Files 3 ever happen? (Screen Rant)
  • HBO released a production featurette for season three of Game of Thrones.
  • Rick McCallum, producer of the Star Wars prequels and re-releases, is leaving Lucasfilm. (Vulture)
  • CBS orders a pilot for an adaptation of Stephen King’s Under the Dome. (Screen Rant)
  • Who’s in the running for Cinderella in Mark Romanek’s live-action adaptation? (Bleeding Cool)
  • Because no one asked, The Killing is coming back for season three. (Vulture)
  • New photos from Iron Man 3. (Latino Review)
  • Manu Bennett (Crixus from Spartacus) has been cast as Deathstroke in Arrow (Splash Page)

Last Week in Geek

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  • When I have children, this is what their rubber duckies are going to look like. (Neatorama)
  • Paranormal Activity 5 already has a release date. (Deadline Hollywood)
  • Looks like someone is trying to kill Machete Kills. (Latino Review)
  • Chevy Chase left Community with a few episodes left to film in season four. (The Nerdist)
  • Are there already writers for Star Wars: Episode VIII and IX? (The Mary Sue)
  • Chad Coleman (Cutty from The Wire) has been cast as Tyreese in The Walking Dead. (Vulture)
  • A new trailer for Man of Steel will be attached to The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (Splash Page)
  • Here are the contenders for the role of Harry Osborn in The Amazing Spider-Man 2. (Splash Page)
  • Insidious 2 is coming next summer! (Screen Rant)
  • Over two dozen animals may have been killed during the filming of The Hobbit (I Watch Stuff)
  • The first teaser for season three of Game of Thrones.
  • Here’s a prequel minisode and trailer for this year’s Doctor Who Christmas Special.
  • I guess that 300 sequel is actually happening (Splash Page)
  • The next Marvel event is going to be the Age of Ultron (Bleeding Cool)
  • New trailers for Dark Skies, Jack the Giant Slayer and Snitch.

This Week in Geek

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  • Lucasfilm, under Disney, plans to release 2-3 movies every year (Huffington Post)
  • Could Tyrese finally be arriving in The Walking Dead? (EW)
  • American Horror Story has been renewed for a third season and Jessica Lange is returning. (Deadline Hollywood Daily)
  • A new synopsis for The Wolverine has been released. (Collider)
  • The king of movie makeup, Rick Baker, is finally getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. (The Mary Sue)
  • David Yates wants Alexander Skarsgard (Eric from True Blood) to be his Tarzan. (Variety)
  • Tom Cruise wants Christopher McQuarrie (The Way of the Gun) to direct Mission: Impossible: 5. (I Watch Stuff)
  • The Kickstarter for an animated The Goon film set a record for the site. (MTV Geek)
  • Apparently they are making a film based on the video game, Splinter Cell, and Tom Hardy is set to star. (Latino Review)
  • If you see The Hobbit in IMAX 3D, you’ll catch the first nine minutes of the horribly-titled (IMHO) Star Trek Into Darkness. (Bleeding Cool)
  • Zack Snyder says that his Superman in Man of Steel is a “more serious version.” (Splash Page)
  • Season three of Game of Thrones has a return date. (io9)
  • Is The Wasp going to be in Iron Man 3? (Screen Rant)
  • If I proposed to Cindy with this R2-D2-inspired engagement ring, I think her “yes” would have changed to a “let me think about it.” (Geekologie)
  • Could George Clooney and Brad Bird be teaming up for Bird’s secret sci-fi flick, 1952? (Vulture)
  • We get our first look at Malekith the Accursed (Christopher Eccleston), the villain of Thor: The Dark World. (Splash Page)
  • Brandon T. Jackson (Tropic Thunder) is set to star as Axel Foley’s son in the pilot of Beverly Hills Cop television series produced by Shawn Ryan (The Shield) and Eddie Murphy (TVLine)
  • James Wan is in talks to direct a MacGyver movie. (Latino Review)
  • A pair of Brits, Elizabeth Henstridge and Ian De Caestecker, have joined the cast of Marvel’s S.H.I.E.L.D television pilot. (Bleeding Cool)
  • Marc Webb confirms that Shailene Woodley (The Descendants) is in The Amazing Spider-Man sequel but not if she’s playing Mary Jane Watson. (Splash Page)
  • New trailers for Oz: The Great and Powerful, House of Cards, Europa Report, The Host and Warm Bodies

Down with the King: Game of Thrones: Season Two

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This post contains spoilers for the first two seasons of Game of Thrones.

I should preface this post by saying that I have not read A Clash of Kings, the second book in George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Fire & Ice saga. I made the decision a few months before the season started that I would read each book after the corresponding season. While I did enjoy the first book, A Game of Thrones, I would rather be surprised by the HBO show than the books. I would rather care about what’s on the screen than constantly be thinking about what’s different and what they left out. I don’t want to hear, “It makes sense in the book.” The show should be able to stand alone.

While the second season had a lot of strong episodes and performances, I don’t think it was better than the first. The last two episodes, “Blackwater” and “Valar Morghulis,” contained the best and worst of the series. Spending all of “Blackwater” in one location for Stannis’ (Stephen Dillane) attack on King’s Landing was a wise decision that led to a tense, well-plotted episode. I think the price of that great episode was paid for in “Valar Morghulis.” That episode was a mess, bouncing from place to place in five to seven minute bursts. Even the extra ten minutes didn’t help as everything still felt rushed. I kept hearing that A Clash of Kings was the worst book. I didn’t believe it until I saw that last episode. The reveal of the White Walkers at the end wasn’t enough to salvage it.

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Don’t Call Me During…: Midseason 2012 Edition

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The fall television season of 2011 will be remembered for Homeland. It was easily one of the best first season of a show I’ve watched from start to finish. I debated doing a post about my top ten TV shows of 2011 but got lazy. I couldn’t decide whether Homeland or Breaking Bad would take the top spot. I thought nothing could top the fourth season of Breaking Bad but some of Homeland’s individual episodes (particularly “The Weekend” and “The Vest”) are up there with the best episodes of the year (another post I was too lazy to write).

Ultimately, my top ten TV shows of 2011 without any elaboration are:

  1. Breaking Bad
  2. Homeland
  3. Louie
  4. Parks and Recreation
  5. Justified
  6. Game of Thrones
  7. Community
  8. Boardwalk Empire
  9. Sons of Anarchy
  10. Parenthood
Now that I’ve gotten that out-of-the-way, let’s talk about what shows could contend for a spot on the best television shows of 2012.  Since I don’t watch these shows live, there’s no sense in listing it by time. New series are in bold.

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