Revolution - Series Premiere - Review

Revolution

Premise: (Wikipedia) Revolution takes place in a post-apocalyptic future. Fifteen years earlier, an unknown phenomenon disabled all advanced technology on the planet, ranging from computers and electronics to car engines, jet engines, and batteries. People were forced to adapt to a world without technology, and due to the collapse of public order, many areas are ruled by warlords and militias. The series focuses on the Matheson family, who possess an item that is the key to not only finding out what happened fifteen years ago, but also a possible way to reverse its effects. However, they must elude various enemy groups who want to possess that power for themselves. 

First impression: Fast moving, well cast and intriguing.

Cast:  Billy Burke (AKA Dad from Twilight Saga) stars as the main character Miles and as always he is quite good. I found him to be underutilized and underrated in Twilight and I am excited to see him in a lead role.  Elizabeth Mitchell is the only other face I recognized in this first episode. You’ve seen her in V (the 2011 version) and Lost (also JJ Abrams). 

Overall Feel: I was expecting more “Land of the Lost” and found it was more “Raiders of the Lost Ark.”  Although I was impressed with the sword play and the well-directed action scenes I found that the difference between what the trailer had focused on and what the show was actually about really threw me off. I was expecting something similar to TerraNova where there was some focus on how they were surviving without power and found that the focus of the storyline …was an actual storyline.  That being said, the plot was interesting, fast moving and intriguing – in JJ Abrams style…I hope it doesn’t drag on for 6 years only to end with a plane crash all kinds of unanswered questions.

Prediction: I am in the fence about this one, and as sad as it is to say I think it is just because of the JJ Abrams connection…I worry that this will go the way of “Lost”…that concerns me.  This plot could be simple and exciting…but it could be convoluted with a rotating island controlled by a smoke monster that turns back time….

Rating (1=low, 10=high): I give this a 5 out of 10….worth a watch but don’t be surprised if it takes a turn for the worse…

Parenthood - Season 4 Premiere

Parenthood -  starring Craig T Nelson, Lauren Graham, Peter Krause, Monica Potter and Erika Christensen. Not to mention Dax Shepard and Mae Whitman. 

Premise:
Parenthood is a one-hour drama inspired by the box office hit of the same name. This re-imagined and updated Universal Media Studios/Imagine Television production follows the trials and tribulations of the very large, very colourful and imperfect Braverman family.

Sarah Braverman (Lauren Graham, "Gilmore Girls") is a financially strapped single mother trying to raise two teenaged kids, the bright but rebellious Amber (Mae Whitman, "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World"), and sullen and sensitive Drew (Miles Heizer, "ER").

On the home front, Sarah and her kids live with Sarah's larger-than-life, headstrong father, Zeek (Craig T. Nelson, "Family Stone," "Coach"), and pillar-of-strength mother Camille (Bonnie Bedelia, "Heart Like a Wheel"), who are dealing with their own marital issues.

Meanwhile, Sarah's sister and complete antithesis, Julia (Erika Christensen, "Traffic") is a successful corporate attorney trying to juggle work and motherhood, alongside her loving but increasingly restless stay-at-home husband, Joel (Sam Jaeger, "Eli Stone").

Commitment-phobe Crosby (Dax Shepard, "Baby Mama"), Sarah's younger brother, is helping raise a five-year-old son he had out of wedlock with former flame Jasmine (Joy Bryant "Antwone Fisher").
However, it's Adam (Peter Krause, "Six Feet Under"), the oldest Braverman sibling, who has had to relinquish his expectations about what constitutes a "normal" family, as he, his quietly forceful wife Kristina (Monica Potter, "Trust Me") and independent-minded teenage daughter Haddie (Sarah Ramos, "American Dreams"), struggle to cope with their eccentric son and Haddie's little brother Max (Max Burkholder, "Brother and Sisters"), who has Asperger's Syndrome.

Serving as executive producers are Oscar winners Ron Howard and Brian Grazer ("A Beautiful Mind," "Frost/Nixon"); Jason Katims ("Friday Night Lights"), who wrote the pilot episode; and David Nevins ("Friday Night Lights," "Arrested Development").

First impression: This is a realistic family drama. Parenthood allows you to soar with them on their victories and cry with them when they suffer losses. This is a show that doesn't rely on special effects, super heroes or vampires but on pure talent of the actors and beautifully scripted episodes.
In season four we pick up where we left off after an adoption, a proposal and a wedding.

Cast: Episode 1 finds Ray Romano joining the cast and I found him fitting in nicely!  With such a large line-up of experienced actors this show never runs out of storylines due to the infinite amount of possibilities as each character is equally compelling.  From the grandfather's (Nelson) health problems to Amber's (Whitman) one night stands and heartbreaks ...we empathise.

Overall Feel: This show is warm, real and amazing. It appeals to you no matter what stage of life you are in.  Everyone can relate to this show.  Refreshingly there is nothing offensive, violent or naked in  and I love that they are going into their 4th season being successful with a clean and responsible show.

Prediction: I can see this running for at least 10 seasons...

Rating (1=low, 10=high): I give this a 8 out of 10.

The New Normal - Premiere Review

The New Normal starring Andrew Rannells, Justin Bartha, Jayson Blair (AKA no one).
Justin Bartha is recognisable from the Hangover movies as well as National Treasure with Nicholas Cage.  Cast as the Grandmother is Ellen Barkin,  however she is not listed in the TV listing...as I get a few minutes into this show I can understand why she would not want to be credited for it...                                       

Premise: These days, families come in all forms - single dads, double moms, sperm donors, egg donors, one-night-stand donors... It's 2012 and anything goes. Bryan (Andrew Rannells) and David (Justin Bartha, "The Hangover") are a Los Angeles couple, and they have it all. Well, almost. With successful careers and a committed, loving partnership, there is one thing that this couple is missing: a baby. And just when they think the stars will never align, enter Goldie (Georgia King, "One Day"), an extraordinary young woman with a checkered past. A Midwestern waitress and single mother looking to escape her dead-end life and small-minded grandmother (Ellen Barkin), Goldie decides to change everything and move to L.A. with her precocious eight-year-old daughter. Desperate and broke - but also fertile - Goldie quickly becomes the guys' surrogate and quite possibly the girl of their dreams.

First impression: Not funny and not interesting...I would have settled for one or the other.

Cast: The acting is over the top from all cast members other than Justin Bartha who is actually quite boring and forgettable. Shania - the daughter - is written as an odd, almost schizophrenic character who no one seems to notice is in desperate need of a Psych consult...This is definitely a case of writing gone awry...

overall feel: I feel like if they had drawn this as a cartoon rather than cast it as live action it may have been a great launch on YTV...but as an adult comedy? I am insulted that someone thinks that this is going to pass for TV in a time when there are far too many well written options.

prediction: You won't see more than 6 episodes...

rating (1=low, 10=high): I give this a 2 out of ten.

September and October 2012 - GRID- New fall shows for printing

 

Go On - The Review

So, the shows have started! First up: Go On starring Matt Perry.
Premise: An irreverent yet charming sportscaster who, after a loss, finds solace from members of his mandatory group therapy sessions. This has the possibility of being a setting that could be over the top to start with.

Cast: Matt Perry is "Chandler...-ish" but still manages to create a new and likable persona while keeping all the sarcasm and wit that we came to enjoy from his character in Friends.  Around him, the supporting cast, both from the office and his therapy group are quirky and interesting while not being to the point of distraction. Each has their time and place for a humorous moment without overshadowing each other or themselves by being too over the top to be believable.

overall feel: Interesting, engaging, believable and funny. I rarely PVR comedies more than the first episode but this one has me hooked after one episode. Love it and like it. Go On has the perfect fit of fun and emotion.

prediction: If the writing remains this strong I see this show lasting all of this season for sure.

rating (1=low, 10=high): I give this an 8 out of ten

Really Bell?

So I get a registered letter in the mail yesterday, it's from Bell Canada.  This letter states "Great news! we have introduced newer TV receiver models that will provide you with an even wider selection of channels as they become available.  The newer model will replace your current Bell TV HD9200 receiver, which will soon no longer work.  The best news is that you are getting this receiver at no cost to you" ...and the worst news is that my old PVR will soon no longer work? How is that great news?

When I signed up for a dual HD PVR when I opened my account with Bell I did so because you boasted that I could record and keep over 180 hours of movies and TV shows...and now I will lose all of those because you have upgraded your software?

I called Bell to confirm the information in this letter and to see if there was some way to move all the movies and the last 2 months of my favourite TV shows from the old PVR (which will apparently "soon no longer work") to the new PVR...and the answer is NO.  So I ask how long before this stops working and she says that because I called in I am am now on the list to have this replaced in the next 7-10 days. 

I would hazard to guess that there are currently 20 movies on the PVR as well as 20 episodes of How I Met your Mother, 15 episodes of The Office and at least 9 episodes of Grimm...quick math, can I watch about 70 hours of programming in the next 7 - 10 days? Ok, arguably it COULD be done, but not without losing my job and probably my sanity.

So I ask if I can put off this "transition" and she says that I can't, because I called in. I spend the next ten minutes trying to convince her to forget that I called in and will now spend the next half hour trying to figure out how I will watch 70 hours of programming as fast as humanly possible...

If any of this messes with my girls night Bachelorette viewing I will be pissed!

Nutrilawn...why you should NOT bother

Father's day is almost upon us, so I started thinking of what kind of gift  I could give my husband that will let him know that I appreciate him and all the hard work that he does around the house. I want to somehow acknowledge that I know he has a lot on his plate and still gets so much done for the family.  I tried to think about what I could take off his plate, how I could lighten his load and give him the well deserved gift of more free time!

One of the many things on his "to do" list this year is the front lawn... more weeds than actual lawn, I should maybe refer to it as our front "area" as the word lawn is really no longer a descriptive word that can be associated with what we have in front of our house.

I do a quick Google search on "dandelions and Ottawa", the first company that pops up is Nutrilawn. This is great, I have heard of them and they even have a little video about their dandelion service which includes not only getting rid of weeds but also fertilising the grass in between the weeds. (I think we may have about 12 blades of grass in total).  I figured that if they could get rid of the weeds, I could take care of throwing down some top soil and seeds

Last summer I spent hours upon hours with a borrowed weed extractor call THE CLAW which seemed to have the magic ability to create calluses on both hands while doubling the amount of weeds that grew back the next day. I was definitely not going that route again this year.

So I call Nutrilawn and they are more than happy to get me set up on their appointment books, they have a great deal if you pay in advance and agree to continue their service for next year as well. So I go ahead and sign up and I am told that they will come to my house within 7-10 days depending on weather as their product does not work in the rain - this was May 3rd. 

They arrive for the first service on May 10th before anyone is out of bed and leave a flyer about what they have done and the care that we need to provide in the mean time between treatments.  Explaining that once the weeds have disappeared I can go ahead with the top soil and seeding.  Although I did notice that some of the weeds had been affected almost immediately, there are still a great deal of them going strong so I call them that day to find out when the next treatment date is set for. They set up the next visit for the 17th of May. So far so good.

The 17th of May comes and goes without a visit.  I give them a couple of days leeway and then call them on the 25th of May.  They indicate that they "have no record" of providing me with that date and tell me that in fact they try NOT to provide clients with dates  for upcoming service appointments (now I see why)...and then they proceed to give me a date for my upcoming service appointment.  REALLY? 

They tell me that they will treat my lawn again on the 26th of May (so the following day) and that they will be there in the morning because we are the third lawn of the day to be done.  The 26th happens to be the same day that I was planning a garage sale and when I tell them this they indicate it's not a problem because their treatments are not toxic and if I can just avoid putting my sale items on the lawn they can still come in and do the treatment. Perfect.

The 26th comes and goes without a visit...REALLY?

This morning I call them and get greeted by "Hello Nutrilawn how can I help you?" to which I reply "well after 2 missed visits, you can help me by giving me back my money and cancelling my contract.".  The gentleman on the phone tells me that he will check my file to see what happened.  He comes back and indicates that "the team went to your house to do the treatment and found that there were too many items on your back yard to be able to provide the treatment so they left".  The issues with this are:

1. There is nothing on my back lawn
2. They were supposed to be providing service on the front lawn ONLY
3. I was sitting in my driveway from 7am to 3pm having a garage sale so unless they came in an unmarked car and/or they sent invisible workers...they never showed up.

Now I am angry...I go on to tell him that whoever provided that report to him "is 100% full of shit".  At which point he indicates that I would have my money refunded and that my contract would indeed be cancelled.

Wow Nutrilawn...really? do you know there are approximately 60 other lawn companies in the Ottawa area alone that would gladly take my business? This is the service that you offer, it's what you do...and you can't even come to our house and at least spray water on our lawn??? Come on, I wouldn't know the difference, but to not even show up?   REALLY?