The Weeksly Late Edition – 13/04/07

Good evening Ladies & Gentlemen, and welcome back once again to “The Weeksly Late Edition”. Yes, its been a while since the last one, but I’ve been busy moving house, unpacking, and doing all of those other wonderful things that has prevented me from taking the time to get back in the swing of things. Lots to get to as always, so let us begin with:

My Television Is Trying To Kill Me

Firstly comes word from the Boss man himself regarding one of his (and mine) favourite new shows, the Bill Paxton starring “Big Love”. I’ve talked about it on and off over the last year or so now, and despite the controversial subject matter of Polygamy, it managed to pick up a die-hard legion of fans when it premiered on HBO in the US last year. Now, originally, Channel 9 here in Oz had picked up the local rights for it, but in what I think is a great move, considering the shoddy treatment by 9 of shows like “The Sopranos” & “Rome”, SBS have managed to pick it up, and will begin screening it shortly. When it does, make sure you give it a watch – you’ll get hooked very quickly.

A couple of days back, my joint pick for best new show (alongside “Heroes”), “Friday Night Lights” finished its premiere season, and I’m already in withdrawals for it. The higher-ups at NBC are said to be very happy with the show, and it’s expected to be picked up for a second season, but there’s no official word on it just yet.

Now, speaking of finales, “Prison Break” has also ended its second season, and while I won’t go into the details of what exactly took place – I will say that it gives me a bit of concern for how the third season is going to happen. One storyline that I heard was going to be used in another season has obviously been abandoned at this point (due to Abruzzi biting the dust), but it was going to involve Abruzzi holding Michael’s gal pal Sarah hostage while he did the whole “Prison Break” thing again with a member of Mr. Mafia’s “family”. It’ll be interesting to see if any of that situation plays out in season 3.

FOX is premiering their new show “Drive” with a 2 hour opening this coming Sunday night. For those who haven’t heard much on it, it’s basically about an illegal cross-country road race – think “The Cannonball Run”, but just a touch more on the serious side – some people are involved in the race due to a significant cash prize, others are being compelled to take part due to blackmail. The good news is that it stars one of the favourite actors of many Moviehole readers, Nathan Fillion.

And finally, in a another piece of FOX related news, Artie Lange, one of the funniest guys on the planet, and the guy who replaced Jackie “The Joke Man” Martling on The Howard Stern Show six years ago has confirmed a rumour that has been floating around for a month or so now – FOX is seriously considering giving him a late night talk show in the vein of Letterman and Leno, as part of a development deal he is involved with in the network.

The Weeksly TV Selection

For those of you more interested in closer to home type TV stuff, here’s my picks for the next couple of days viewing:

Saturday, April 14th:

RocKwiz
Stars: Julia Zemiro
SBS, 9:20pm – 10:10pm
What’s It About?: Music trivia show with guests Josh Pyke and Neko Case.

Is It Any Good?: If you’re one of those people that misses the good old days of Good News Week, The Big Gig or D.A.A.S Kapital, you should really be watching RocKwiz. Great stuff.

Weeksy’s Rating: N/A

Walk The Line
Stars: Joaquin Phoenix, Reese Witherspoon
Showtime, 8:00pm – 10:20pm
What’s It About?: The life & times of Johnny Cash & June Carter, leading up to Johnny’s famous Folsom Prison gig.

Is It Any Good?: Oh hell yes. I gave it a 5 star review back in the day, and after watching it maybe a half dozen times since then, I’m still convinced that it is one of the best films of the last decade. If you’re one of the few people that still haven’t seen it, please make sure you watch it now, and if you’ve seen it before, watch it again.

Syriana
Stars: George Clooney, Matt Damon, Jeffrey Wright
Movie One, 8:00pm – 10:10pm
What’s It About?: More appropriate would be “What isn’t it about?”. Think “Traffic” but instead of drugs, we’re talking about oil.

Is It Any Good?: Two pretty compelling films for a Sunday night, so thank god for the time shift channels on Foxtel. Another film that I gave the big 5 stars to, “Syriana” is outstanding in every aspect.

Sunday, April 15th:

Parkinson
Stars: Michael Parkinson
UKTV, 7:00pm – 8:00pm
What’s It About?: UK based talk show, featuring guests Michael Flatley, Robbie Williams and Peter O’Toole.

Is It Any Good?: Parky is always gold. You can probably skip past the Michael Flatley crap, but Robbie Williams is always an entertaining guy, and Peter O’Toole has pure gold stories every time he’s on a chat show, especially when he talks about the older days when he was drunk off his ass with Richard Harris.

Weeksy’s Rating: N/A

Comedy Central Presents: The Roast Of William Shatner
Stars: William Shatner, Jason Alexander
The Comedy Channel, 10:00pm – 11:30pm
What’s It About?: One of the most famous icons of sci-fi history takes his turn in the throne for a merciless bashing at the hands of Greg Giraldo, Andy Dick, Patton Oswalt, Artie Lange, George Takei and many more.

Is It Any Good?: Along with the Pamela Anderson roast, this one is just pure must-see viewing. Greg Giraldo kicks it off with one of the funnier sets you are likely to see, followed up by a hysterical Betty White (!). Farrah Fawcett continues her run of being one of the biggest whack-jobs since Charles Manson (hitting only one good line involving her ex-husband Lee Majors & Shatner), and Artie Lange hits it on the head as usual.

Monday, April 16th:

The Melbourne International Comedy Festival Gala
Stars: Various
Ten, 8:30pm – 10:30pm
What’s It About?: A selection of comedy acts from the Melbourne Comedy Festival do a few minutes of stand up each – usually a pretty decent line-up.

Is It Any Good?: Most of the time, these grab-bag shows from the comedy festival are usually 50-50, but often times, it has a lot to do with the host of the show. If they stay away from incredibly unfunny people like Dave Hughes or Wil Anderson, it should go smoothly. Anytime Ross Noble is on TV is a time you should be watching.

Weeksy’s Rating: N/A

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Stars: Jon Stewart
The Comedy Channel, 9:00pm – 9:30pm (Monday – Friday)
What’s It About?: Hands down, it’s one of the most consistently funny half hours of political and current affairs comedy that you’re likely to see.

Is It Any Good?: Every time.

Weeksy’s Rating: N/A

The Colbert Report
Stars: Stephen Colbert
The Comedy Channel, 9:30pm – 10:00pm (Monday – Friday)
What’s It About?: Hands down, the second most consistently funny half hours of political and current affairs comedy that you’re likely to see (convenient, no?).

Is It Any Good?: It took Jon Stewart a year or so to really get into the groove, but Colbert had the part nailed from the get go – probably doesn’t hurt that he used to be a regular on The Daily Show though.

Weeksy’s Rating: N/A

Late Show with David Letterman
Stars: David Letterman, Special Guests
Ten, 11:45pm – 12:45pm (Monday – Friday)
What’s It About?: Late night chat show with special guests (I think Monday night is Bruce Willis for “Perfect Strangers”).

Is It Any Good?: It is now that we can actually watch it at a decent time here in Oz. For years it was buried in mid-morning time slots on Channel 9 before heading to Ten earlier in the year. Forget about watching Leno on Foxtel (but still give Conan a look-in), Dave is the king of late night.

Weeksy’s Rating: N/A

The Most Salacious Piece Of Tabloid Gossip

Forget about Larry Birkhead, everyone already knew that was coming – but here’s something that a lot of people were hoping to see, with thanks as always to the gang at the IMDB:

Imus Radio Show Axed Permanently
CBS radio bosses have followed NBC’s decision to axe the TV broadcasts of shamed talk show host Don Imus’ morning show, by axing his radio slot completely. The radio bigwigs initially suspended Imus, the host of Imus In The Morning, for two weeks after he made racist comments about the Rutgers University Women’s Basketball Team on air last week. But, following national outrage that Imus has been allowed to continue broadcasting at all, CBS bosses have pulled the plug on the show permanently. CBS President and Chief Executive Officer Les Moonves says, “Those who have spoken with us the last few days represent people of goodwill from all segments of our society – all races, economic groups, men and women alike. From the outset, I believe all of us have been deeply upset and revulsed by the statements that were made on our air about the young women who represented Rutgers University in the Ncaa Women’s Basketball Championship with such class, energy and talent. In our meetings with concerned groups, there has been much discussion of the effect language like this has on our young people, particularly young women of color trying to make their way in this society. That consideration has weighed most heavily on our minds as we made our decision.” Imus made headlines after referring to the mostly-black basketball team by a racist and sexist epithet. He has since publicly apologized for his comment.

“I’m a fake cowboy…. In a wheelchair I ride…. Imus (Iiii-m-uuu-ssss), am I dead or alive?”

The Official Weeks Seal Of Approval DVD Release Of The Week

I loved the first “Saw” – really loved it, so I even surprised myself by not seeing “Saw 2” on the big screen, and now I’ve done it again by waiting for “Saw 3” to come out on DVD. While I don’t necessarily agree with the blurb on the cover that it’s better than 1 & 2 combined, I think it’s easily on par with number 2, if not a little better – here’s the synopsis:

Jigsaw has disappeared. With his new apprentice, Amanda (Shawnee Smith), the puppet master behind the cruel, intricate games that have terrified a community and baffled police has once again eluded capture and vanished. While city detective scramble to locate him, Doctor Lynn Denlon (Bahar Soomekh) is unaware that she is about to become the latest pawn on his vicious chessboard.

One night, after finishing a shift at her hospital, Lynn is kidnapped and taken to an abandoned warehouse where she meets Jigsaw (Tobin Bell), bedridden and on the verge of death. She is told that she must keep the madman alive for as long as it takes Jeff (Angus Macfadyen), another of his victims, to complete a game of his own. Racing against the ticking clock of Jigsaw’s own heartbeat, Lynn and Jeff struggle to make it through each of their sadistic tests, not knowing that he has a much bigger plan for both of them…

And the special features are:

– Uncut version of the film featuring additional footage not seen in the cinemas
– Never-before-seen deleted scenes
– “The Traps of Saw III” – a behind-the-scenes featurette on the making of the movie
– Two additional behind-the-scenes featurettes on the making of the movie

Win “All The King’s Men” DVD’s

Sean Penn, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, and Anthony Hopkins star in this riveting story of a humble man’s rise to political power and the destructive force of corruption and betrayal that would ultimately unravel his soul, based on Robert Penn Warren’s 1946 classic Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, and with thanks to Sony Pictures, you can win a copy of this great film which hits DVD stores next Monday.

All you have to do, is be one of the first 5 people to

E-Mail

me with the subject line of “I want a copy of ‘All The King’s Men’!”.

You have to be an Australian Resident, and you must include your full name, address & post code in order to be eligible – so get cracking!

The Funniest Friggin’ Thing I’ve Seen This Week

I’m still watching Tom Green’s new show on a regular basis, and I have to admit it, it’s pretty fuckin’ great. The show is apparently getting pretty popular these days, and as it does, the guests are getting bigger & bigger, so you should definitely swing by to check it out – but in the meantime, here’s Andrew Dice Clay attempting to set Tom up with Paris Hilton:

OK boys & girls, that about does it for this week, in the meantime, you can always drop me a line, but until next Friday night, be good.