Colbert Report Final Week

I've been putting off watching the Colbert Report final week mostly because I am a little sad to see it go, but also because I had things to do, and other shows to watch. 

• The yard sale segment was funny, especially when it keeps cutting to Stephen "stealing" the guy's personal information because he didn't bring cash to a yard sale. It was too bad that I couldn't get in on the yard sale action, I probably would've gone nuts. But I don't know about signing that release waiver so that they could "use my likeness"...  
• I'm a little envious of whoever got his huge "C" desk..
• James Corden is doing the rounds on the other shows before his Late Late Show debut in March. Him getting scared shitless about the exhaustion and the singing afterwards was entertaining. 
• I don't know why they waited until his last weeks of The Report to finally have Jon Stewart on.. besides the fact that he was promoting his movie, Rosewater. Even the president has probably been on more times than him. 
• The sight of Vince Gilligan, chained up in a basement-type room to his computer in the musical finale was funny. 
• The actual ending (him with Santa, Lincoln and Alex Trebek) was adorable.
• Many props to the person who took the time to write down who's who in the grand song finale in this Vulture piece. 
• I have no idea what's behind the "Apologies to Doris Kearns Goodwin" bit you see in the end credits. Does anyone?

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Thoughts While Watching The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson Finale Week

I don't care what anyone says - I enjoyed the middle years of his tenure (the puppets, the crappy studio, etc) and if you've been watching it long enough, you can tell that he's really been phoning it in the last few years. I can't be the only one who found the later years a little meh.

• It was bittersweet when they finally brought on Josh Robert Thompson in the cold open of the penultimate show for his moment of recognition outside of Geoff Petersen and all those other voices, and how much they kept flashing back to his mother in the audience. 
• So much for my All Scots week/day/appearances theory/guess/hope. Oh well.
• Pretaped song segment. Okay. It's just about every guest he had on in the last few months.
• They finally got Bone Patrol on! Was I the only one thinking that one of those drummers was Craig? 
• I think they spent what's left of their "budget" on the choir, drummers and Steve Jones. 
• Man looks good standing on his desk. 
• Figured that when Newhart was "unmasked" as Secretariat that some reference to his work would be made: it had the same "twist" ending as one of Newhart's shows - that his entire Late Late Show tenure was a 10 year dream, with him and Drew Carey as their Drew Carey Show roles, Mr Wick and Drew Carey.

It's been a fun ride. I miss it already, but I also can't wait to see the guest hosting (before James Corden comes on March)...

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Thoughts While Watching the 2014 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show

• It's in London this year? Yay for the English models, I guess.
• You know you're getting old when you don't know who Hozier is. Am I supposed to know who that is?
• At least the LED runway is something different.
• What happened to the pounds and pounds of glitter from years past? I wonder if they recycle the stuff.... 
• That's some really cute clothes and wings. 
• Some of those wings... woah.
• Taylor Swift is the only one interacting with the models as she sang... which might have more to do with how she's friends with practically all of them. 
• Wow, they totally went all out giving Adriana and Alessandra their own Fantasy Bra. 
• Speaking of Adriana and Alessandra... they're practically the old ladies of the Fashion Show now :P Okay, really senior Angels.
• Yep, they totally cut out Ariana Grande getting hit in the face by someone's wings. Gawdamnit.
• Seriously, what happens to the wings after the show?

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Adios, Perception - It's Been Fun

Perception (2012 TV series) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

First Franklin and Bash got the axe, now it's Perception's turn on the chopping block. 

I liked it just fine, but not enough of a rabid fan to go all cray cray about this. At least it's not an abrupt cut - we'll still get the end of the current third season. It's just not getting renewed for the fourth season.

If nothing else, it's one less show to watch...? 

Adios, Franklin & Bash

As quickly and as brief the seasons have been, TNT has finally pulled the plug on Franklin & Bash. And because it didn't make the magical syndication number with just 40 episodes, it might be forgotten with the passing of time. 

I can't be the only one that didn't find this past season a little weird - that the firm is now Infeld/Daniels/Franklin & Bash, the absences of characters from previous seasons (Carmen, Pindar, and the ladies brought in to play the senior partners over its relatively short run). Well okay, I did enjoy their new PI Dan Mundy. 

I suppose it's just as well that we'll never find out if Stanton did die from those fish crackers or if Franklin & Bash will take that new job in Austin. 

Deep, deep down I'm hoping that it goes to another network; but if that doesn't happen, then c'est la vie. It has been fun. 

Project Runway news!

Is it just me, or has Project Runway gone down the toilet a little? I mean, really. The challenges are still not too ridiculous - I'm still okay with the avant garde and the unconventional (material) challenges, but perhaps it's happening more than once a season for the last few seasons?

Even the prize package now seems a tad lacklustre to me, the non-American viewer. Let me start with the sponsors - RED ROBIN? Really?! One of the prizes is to design a new uniform for Red Robin servers? Oy vey. Oh well - at least it's not TGI Fridays? When you've learned to tune out the prizes portion of the show, you don't miss a thing like that.

Even the accessories wall in the workroom seems to be going further up the high street - the ALDO accessories wall? Seriously? Who's gonna get the wall next? H&M?

I suppose if you make it far enough, you might be invited back to compete on All-Stars, which has the (really) better prize package for the winner.

Another piece of news is that they've announced a new spinoff called Project Runway: Threads with the under-18 age group of designers. The only face I recognised was Christian Siriano, which I guess was the point... and because he still looks pretty young :P

And who's glad that another season of All Stars is upon us? Whee! It's happening a week after the premiere of Threads, which will make for a double dose for about 8 episodes because that's how long Threads is running for. 

In the Final Season of The Mentalist

As confirmed by cast member Tim Kang, the upcoming season of The Mentalist will be its last..

This is our 7th and final season. Looking at the scripts now, it's so fun and such a great season!
— Tim Kang (@Tim__Kang) September 14, 2014

Quite frankly, I felt that the show was on thin ice once the Red John angle was done and dusted. I suppose it was nice for fans to see how life is treating Jane and the former CBI gang post Red John. Dismantling the CBI at the end of the fifth season in a way kind of addressed some people's complaints that CBI is a non-existent agency, so okay. An entire season of Jane causing havoc at the FBI office in Texas was pretty entertaining. 

I know people are into the Jisbon 'ship, but I really wasn't expecting it to HAPPEN at the end of the 6th season (I was with Cho on that one: "I don't see it"). I suppose this last season would be the one to explore that. Oh, so many questions...!!

I wonder if Rigsby and Van Pelt would make an appearance in this final season. I don't care one way or the other. 

I hope Cho doesn't die this season. 

I've been okay with this show being over for a couple of seasons now. I hope they go out with a bang (figuratively, not literally). 

If nothing else, this show will be in syndication ad infinitum since their 100th episode milestone has come and gone. 

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Things on TV to say goodbye to before/in 2015

I know it's a little early because it's still August, but if people start brainstorming the year's best of lists ahead of time, why can't I? It's a mix of things on TV that will definitely be gone as we get into 2015. 

1. The current incarnation of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson as we know it.
2. "Stephen Colbert" and The Colbert Report 
3. The Late Show with David Letterman
4. Let's face it, this next season of The Mentalist is probably going to be the last season.
5. I'll be darned if Franklin & Bash makes it another season. (That's for another blog post)
6. I'll also be darned if Fred Armisen is still The 8G Band's band leader on Late Night with Seth Meyers.
7. Mad Men
8. True Blood

What else am I missing? Let me know... 

Last Comic Standing

I sat through the entire summer season of NBC's resurrected and rejigged Last Comic Standing. I would've blogged about it sooner, but I wanted to see how the season played out first. Overall, I like parts of it, but other parts could be improved. 

First of all: Was I the only one that noticed the edit Rod Man was getting LONG BEFORE they made him this season's winner? I felt it was damn obvious and you know that he'll make it far in the competition whether you liked him or not. I can't fathom a guess as to what kind of show he'll be making with NBC with his development deal portion of his winnings. Personally, I would've been fine with any other finalist winning, but oh well.

Second: JB Smoove - not my favourite host. But that's just me, nothing against the guy. 

I don't know how many Americans know who Russell Peters before this season of Last Comic Standing. But nothing against him being a judge next to Roseanne and Keenen Ivory Wayans. 

What I liked:

• The initial rounds being invitational and not for any Tom, Dick and Harry aspiring comics that aren't already working comics. Some of the initial 100 I've seen do their 5 minutes on the talk show circuit.
• There's no public vote, which was I think how Felipe Esparza won the previous season even though I never found the guy particularly funny to begin with anyway. 

It's renewed for another season. So let's see how that goes. 

Things I Will Miss About The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson

Inspired from this GIF-laden Buzzfeed listicle, 23 Reasons Craig Ferguson Is The Best Host Of "The Late Late Show", but from perspective of a (really) long time viewer of the show, and I can't be arsed to add the GIFs and images. 

1. Oh how I miss the puppets. You can relive those moments cos you can get them here :P
2. His hilarious impersonations: Michael Caine in Space, Sean Connery, JK Rowling (which I'm glad he hasn't done since he claims to be a fan of the Harry Potter series), Aquaman, and of course... Prince Charles. 
3. The old man rants, especially about the show's presumed low budget, crappy old studio (which leaked).
4. For such a "low budget" show, they sure got a lot of money to do a week's worth of shows in places like Scotland and France :P
5. The numerous catchphrases: "It's a great day for America", ASS MÖDE... long list.
6. When Secretariat only danced in and out of studio... and the audience doing the dance along with Craig. 
7. The musical cold opens, half of which I'm surprised that they got rights to.
8. The cray cray "maps" 
9. The drinking game would kill you, if you actually play it... or drink something light, like Shandy :P

Anything I'm leaving out? Let me know in the comments.

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Jennifer Love Hewitt on Criminal Minds? Really?!

Well, they found another brunette to fill the missing brunette hole on Criminal Minds after the departure of other brunettes before her in the long running show. 

The announcement made about Jennifer Love Hewitt joining Criminal Minds as a series regular in the upcoming season certainly made a lot of waves, especially among the CM fanbase. Perhaps it was just me. There'll be a whole load of jokes of talking to ghosts and happy ending massages amongst fans for sure. But I'll refrain from making those myself. I don't know how she will be, as part of a huge cast, after being the lead on Ghost Whisperer and The Client List. The last ensemble role anyone could remember her in was Party of Five? 

According to the news outlets, her character is Kate Callahan, a "seasoned undercover agent whose work landed her a position with the BAU". 

Here is my question as a fan of the show: If her character is a longtime undercover agent, so unless they release the part where it says that she's also did some profiling or just really astute about human psychology, she'll be joining the BAU in what capacity? 

Like the changing of colours in the fall, I can't wait to see the change in the huge cast photo at the end of the opening sequence in the new season.

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New CSI spinoff

I remembered reading awhile back that the CSI producers were attempting to launch another spinoff (after the cancellation of both CSI: Miami and CSI: NY) and who was going to be in it, but I had probably glossed over when the backdoor pilot was actually airing. 

So it was an interesting surprise to see Patricia Arquette show up as FBI cyber psychologist Agent Avery Ryan. Like a lot of backdoor pilots, they show us what she does, her team (which, if picked up, have no idea will be the same people or if recasting will happen), and her methods. I'm not sure if the monologue she did about what she does was necessary, but I'll let it slide. And also don't get me started on the jurisdiction issues. 

If the show gets picked up, it'll be a first for the CSI franchise to have a lady at the helm and for a show not to be about forensics, but cybercrimes. 

Which begs the questions: Will this or the NCIS New Orleans spinoff ever get picked up? Or even both? 

Farewell, Late Night Douche

The news some of us have dreaded has come to pass: Craig Ferguson stepping down as host of The Late Late Show after 10 years. Am I sad? Yes. Only read the headlines in the morning and had not seen the show yet, but watching the actual on-air announcement doesn't lessen the sting.

To be fair, his recent 2 year contract extension is almost up and he (probably) decided not to renew. I really didn't think his decision to step down was because he didn't get The Late Show (he's getting paid for not being picked) as his schtick and material probably won't pass muster at 11.30 anyway. And if you watch the show long enough, you can sort of tell that he really doesn't give a shit even more than usual in the last few years anyway, even with the move to the new studio and little upgrades like a podium for Geoff and a stable for the fake horse. I suppose after over 10 years of shit happening to you on air (the leaky roof, no lights, not being able to air the Doctor Who cold open live, etc), enough is enough.

And it's not like he's dying or anything, but he does have other projects to focus on. Celebrity Name Game, anyone?

If it's any consolation, we have until December (and not til summer, as initially rumoured) to savour what's left of the late night douche, so.. 

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Questions about the Colbert Transition to The Late Show

So Letterman announced his retirement a week ago (which really was just a matter of time), and after many articles and listicles as to who would take over, they announced the successor to The Late Show, and yes, it's yet another middle-aged white guy. If you thought it wouldn't be the case, you were sadly mistaken. Even I knew that wouldn't be the case.

(To anyone who put Seth Meyers on their list - what the fuck. Dude's still cutting his teeth on NBC, he wouldn't jump ship so soon!)

Of course to some people, it would've been obvious for Craig to move up an hour, but no Prince of Wales clause (term I saw someplace) for him. But with his contract ending pretty soon, fans like myself should wonder/worry if he would renew or leave.

But good on Stephen Colbert. Really. From basic cable to a major network? Major coup for him and CBS. As someone who saw The Colbert Report the same fall it went on the air all those years ago (almost 10 years - woah!) as a transfer student in America. So yes, I have sentimental value for The Colbert Report. 

Although Vulture came up with some pretty good questions about the transition here, I also have my own (which everyone else must be wondering): 

1. Will he be Stephen Colbert or "Stephen Colbert", the character he's been playing on TV for almost a decade now? 
2. Will he have to rejig The Late Show to his liking, or will he get some of his bits or segments from The Report?
3. While this means that he wouldn't have to move too far, would he be staying put in his current studio, or would he be based in the Ed Sullivan Theater?
4. Band or no band? He's been, for the most part, a one-man show over on Comedy Central. Or maybe, like Craig, go bandless? Or will he "inherit" Paul Shaffer and the CBS Orchestra (that is, if they stayed put)?
5. What will happen to the people who are currently working on The Late Show? Will Colbert be bringing his crew over? 
6. Who's taking over Colbert's slot on Comedy Central? Because I don't think you can move The Daily Show up half hour..

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Thoughts while watching Late Night with Seth Meyers

I had been curious excited about Seth Meyers taking over Late Night since it was announced. Well okay, maybe it might have something to do with how he's easier on the eye (for me) than Fallon. Damn those dimples.

Tried not to watch too many sneak peak videos beforehand, but yes, I did know that Fred Armisen would be his in-house band leader. Talk about SNL nepotism. 

• The Thank You Notes cold open was an appropriate reference (and deference) to Fallon and his Late Night reign.  
• I could get used to the logo and title sequence.
• Was it just me, or was he a little shouty during the erm, monologue? Weekend Update shouty. The jokes were still funny, don't get me wrong. Love the anecdote about his wife. 
• Well, someone made do without curtains. Rice paper sliding doors, really? At least it's a change from velvet curtains or faux city view... just saying. 
• Is it just me, or is his desk and guest chairs are a bit erm, small? Maybe I'm used to seeing plusher chairs on the other shows. After years of not seeing his feet on SNL, you can now see them with the new desk, haha. 
• The humour bits (Venn diagram and Costas Vision) was a little meh. 
• Them getting the vice president was not a bad.. 
• Didn't know the desk figurine was that of Stefon.. (Really?!)

Sucker that I am for dimples, will keep watching. Will you?

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Thoughts watching the second season of The Taste (ABC)

Second season finale of The Taste is coming!

It was sad to hear that Malarkey wasn't continuing on the show and replaced by Marcus Samuelsson as fourth mentor and judge, but whatever it takes to make things exciting. 

• At least this year the judges are taking more time to decide instead of going by snap judgment followed by bitter regret after meeting the person who made the spoon. The double-edged sword that is blind tasting. 
• The mentor's personalised trailers where they meet their teams at the start of the day is a charming touch. Show got more money now. 
• Having the guest judge serve as mentor in the individual challenge for the winners of the team challenge is also not a bad idea. 
• They've tweaked things around a little bit: Losing mentor having to send their weakest link home right after the team challenge is pretty brutal, but also to great effect when Nigella loses half her team in one episode early on when they lost both team and solo challenges.
• At least the judges table is only on a slightly higher level than the cooking area than the first season, so there isn't any weird door and elevator footage like they did last season? 
• Of course they want the home cook to be in the finale. But also sad that Nigella and Marcus are already out of the competition before the finale.
• Who wants crazy dragon lady Marina to take the title? 

Thoughts while watching the recent Golden Globes

• The only way you get the references in Tina and Amy's monologue is if you paid attention to the news or the Internet for the last couple of weeks. They may be timely, but I don't know about classic.
• There was no way Coldplay would beat U2 for the category they were nominated in. I'm a Coldplay fan, but I'm also a realist. But it explains why Chris Martin was there as he doesn't normally appear with the wife in public.. 
• There's also no way that Cate Blanchett looks like that with just SK-II... is she still the global ambassador? 
• All the pregnant ladies this year. Not that there weren't any in previous years, I'm just saying.
• Props to Emma Thompson for not giving a damn. 
• No idea why Kate Beckinsale was presenting with Diddy and Usher. Anyone?
• Michael Sheen and his kid - so cute. Too bad Masters of Sex didn't win any awards that night.
• Was kind of hoping James Spader won his category for The Blacklist, just to see if he would show up, let alone say anything. 
• Wasn't there a few times where there were MISTER Golden Globe or something? Had to like how Kevin and Kyra introduced their daughter Sosie as the year's Miss Golden Globe. Didn't need the Tina and Amy sketch that time. 
• Fallon and McCarthy bit? Not funny.
• The vagina joke was hilarious. 

About the Project Runway All Stars finale...

Was I the only one that's a tad disgruntled that Seth Aaron won AGAIN?! Poor Korto - runner up AGAIN.

Project Runway's been on the air so long they definitely have a large enough pool of contestants for more All Stars seasons, if not at least a couple more. 

I do wonder if they'll stick to Alyssa as host next season or if they'll draw another name out of the velvet button bag.. LOL

If that happens... they need more Swatch (Mood Fabric's store dog), like STAT.