The TV Addict 

Jensen Ackles at least year’s Comic Con

If the sole reason you’re planning on attending this summer’s San Diego Comic Con is to get up close and personal [no, not that up close and personal] with SUPERNATURAL stars Jared Padaleck and Jensen Ackles. Get ready to take note of some very important news.

Though the SUPERNATURAL panel is still scheduled for Sunday July 27 from 11:15AM—12:15PM in Room 6CDEF, the autograph session that Jared and Jensen will be doing is actually on Saturday July 26 from 5:00—6:00PM in the Warner Bros. Booth (#4329) on the main convention floor.

So spread the word, because this TV Addict would hate to discover what happens to thousands of angry SUPERNATURAL fans when they discover that they missed an opportunity to once again look, but not touch, their two favorite Winchester Bros! In our head, we’re picturing something like this.

If you’re unfamiliar with SUPERNATURAL, the fan adored CW show which “revolves around two brothers, Dean (Jensen Ackles) and Sam Winchester (Jared Padalecki), who are nomadic demon hunters that ride from town to town in order to investigate and vanquish supernatural evil” then I suggest you catch up by either renting Season 1 and 2 right now, or checking out this article I wrote a while back for theTVaddict.com. This article will be here when you get back. I’ll wait.

Those who are familiar with SUPERNATURAL may think it a bit strangely cyclical to want a movie of a TV show that initially advertised itself as a weekly horror movie. Because the show has maintained and perfected that high concept, cycling through many of the urban myths that have been already covered in movies, it might even seem a redundant suggestion to ask for yet another derivative horror/supernatural movie to subject ourselves to on the big screen.

Read the rest of this entry »

Proving once again that violence is never the answer, SUPERNATURAL showrunner Eric Kripke surprised fans today by revealing a far easier way for the Winchester Bros. to save the world from Evil Demons. Buy them a one way ticket to Canada!

Turns out that this TV Addict’s very own home base of Canada, or more specifically our surging Dollar is to blame for Ruby’s untimely demise. “She’s [actress Katie Cassidy] great, but this was unfortunately a financial decision — purely budgetary, because creatively she was terrific.” Revealed Eric Kripke in an interview today with TV Guide, “I have nothing but great affection for Katie, and she was great for the show. It was a very difficult business decision about the realities we are in. Though the budget’s the same as last year, the show films in Canada and is suffering from a lousy exchange rate.”

And while I applaud Kripke for his honesty. Nobody, especially this self-proclaimed TV Addict likes to be reminded that television is first and foremost a business. One that values money and the ‘bottom line’ over story and character development. One that is ruled by legions of Demons armed with Blackberrys. Also known as Network Executives, who if you ask me, are far more menacing, not to mention unforgiving than your average yellow-eyed variety. Just ask the cast of VERONICA MARS and EVERWOOD [yup, still bitter].

Since frequent theTVaddict.com contributer ‘C.T.’ took the words right out of my mouth by saying that last night’s episode of “LOST Rocked,” I’m going to move on and simply mindlessly ramble about some of my other Thursday favorites.

UGLY BETTY finally brought the funny back by reuniting Marc and Amanda (”Marc and Amanda! We’re so funny together; everyone says so.”), putting Christina/Willi’s baby on the back-burner and having Gio step up and tell Betty, “I don’t want to be the rebound guy. I want to be THE guy.” Needless to say, we couldn’t have said it better ourselves. No, we don’t want to be Betty’s guy, but we’re more than happy to never see the borefest that is Henry again. To paraphrase one of our generations great thinkers Paris Hilton [remember her?], Betty & Gio HOT, Henry NOT! In fact, here’s hoping that when UGLY BETTY moves to New York next season, the production ‘forget’ to tell Henry. Who’s with me?

As for GREY’S ANATOMY, I know I sound like a broken record — or busted Mp3 for all the young’ins out there — but Shonda Rhimes and Co. continue to hit it out of the park by offering up the perfect mix of hilarity and emotion. There was the absolute tear inducing story-line courtesy of brain tumor lady and her not-so-imaginary boyfriend. Hilarity thanks to the ‘new and improved’ Dr. Sloan, not to mention Christina’s continual descent into madness. Plus the obligatory Meredith/Derek melodrama allowing this TV Addict the opportunity to write the line I’ve been waiting all morning to type out, “I guess the bloom is off the rose!” (Zing!). Yes Meredith and Derek belong together, but am I the only TV Addict feeling somewhat bad for poor Rose? I mean Nurse Rose got exactly what she feared from day one — a heart broken courtesty of McDreamy. So cliché! Which is something GREY’S ANATMY usually abhors. See Dr. Hahn’s best rant of the night when the Chief tried to convince her to operate on his mentor, “I’m sorry is this going to be a story about how you were a struggling black med student who wanted to be a surgeon but no one would give you chance. And Walter Tapley gave you that chance and mentored you and without him you wouldn’t be where you are today?”

Read the rest of this entry »

When LOST rocks, it rocks. And last night… yup, the ship was definitely swayin’. Best moment of the episode? Sun earning her “pimp” card by telling her dastardly dad that she’d bought his company out from under him. In other news, the show did something I love and that too few programs have the ability to do these days: take a single basic storyline and divide it into several segments involving numerous characters and then build each individual plot to a cliffhanger. Will the boat explode? Will Ben sacrifice himself in order to help Locke become a hero? When the heck did Kate become such a great tracker? (Um, okay, let’s forget that last question… although it’s a valid one.)

Listen up, ’cause I’m only going to say this once: Thanks, you rapid worshippers of the Winchester boys, for using your powers for good by rallying to humble me into giving SUPERNATURAL a second look. If you hadn’t, I’d have missed a heck of a season, not to mention last night’s literally kick-ass finale. From the fantastic use of music (particularly Kansas’ “Carry On My Wayward Son”) to the fast-and-furious one-liners (my personal favorite? Dean referring to Ruby as “our slutty little Yoda”), this was a roller coaster of a ride made all the more emotional by the fact that you people got me to care about the Winchesters almost as much as they care for one another. Yes, the “Lillith in the suburbs” scenario was a little too reminiscent of one of my all-time favorite TWILIGHT ZONE episodes, but homages are one of the things this show does best. In fact, that final scene — with evil forces having gotten their “hooks” into Dean — reminded me of something right out of one of fav fright flicks, HELLRAISER. Yup, you fans totally reeled me into this show… heck, I’ve even kinda sorta maybe gotten used to that put-on voice Jensen uses.

Read the rest of this entry »

You know how just the other day I was bitching about the fact that too many shows have come back from their extended strike-induced absences with lame episodes featuring virtually no plot movement? Well, although SUPERNATURAL’s first post-strike episode (with the GHOSTFACERS reality crew) wasn’t my favorite, last nights offering more than made up for it. The Winchester boys were in find sted as they dealt with a zombified doc, the search for Bella, the ticking time bomb that is Dean’s date with death and perhaps the most highly-anticipated demons ever, Lillith. Anyone else get goosebumps every time her name is mentioned? (Maybe it’s because I only recently finished reading the Morrigan’s Cross trilogy by Nora Roberts, which featured a cool-ass vampire by that name.) The episode was gruesome (stolen body parts!), revealing (Lillith killed Bella’s folks) and funny (”Demons? Untrustworthy? Imagine that!”). I know, I know, there was a time when I loathed this show with a fiery passion. Well, you people can pat yourselves on the back for having made a believer out of me. I hope you’re happy!

The second the needle hit the record during the opening seconds of LOST, I knew this was gonna be a good one. From the John-related flashbacks to what may have been my favorite line of exposition this season (”Hopefully, the man who lives in the cabin can tell us what to do about the people who are going to kill us.”), this week’s tale definitely made up for last week’s less-than-thrilling hour. Of course, as always, more questions were raised than answered, (Especially once John entered that damn cabin, which left me with, to quote an AP article which came out last week after Paula Abdul’s infamous IDOL double speak, “the furrowed brow of mystification.”) And how precious was the scene in which Hurley and Ben shared a candy bar?

Read the rest of this entry »

Normally, I ask y’all not to judge me. But today… yeah, feel free. Because I’m gonna admit that last night, I watched FARMER WANTS A WIFE. Not that I’ll be making that mistake again. Where the heck do they find these people? From the kinda creepy titular farmer, Matt, to the ladies competing to play hen to his rooster, this show was a mess. And not the kind that comes with the word “hot” before it. Of course, several of the women are virgins, because that’s the new thing on reality. (When even PARADISE HOTEL 2 landed one, virginity officially became a reality trend.) And what are we to make of Josie, the republican who declares that she wants to live on a farm so she can ride horses and attend polo matches, because “a farmer’s wife doesn’t work. She has people who work for her.” If there’s one thing the women — save Brooke, who actually, heaven help her, seems like a nice gal — have in common, it is that they believe “big city” guys are losers. Hello, pot? This is kettle. I will, however, give the show credit for having one of the most unusual elimination ceremonies in the history of reality television: Each girl had to pick up a live chicken to see if it was sitting on an egg, with the egg-free lass being sent back to the city. I couldn’t make this crap up if I tried. Given that the first episode ended with Farmer Matt sending Stephanie packing instead of the idiotic Josie, who is obviously there to create drama and wouldn’t accept if this guy proposed anyway, tells you everything you need to know. Obviously, producers had more to say about the outcome than the farmer, so having the entire thing come down to the laying of an egg is wildly appropriate.

Anybody else think BROTHERS & SISTERS moved way too fast with Kitty and Robert? Why the heck are they suddenly all about having a baby? Haven’t they been married for, like, three minutes? Meanwhile, the whole Rebecca/Justin thing is just playing kinda creepy. Yes, we suspected for a while — and now know — that she wasn’t a Walker. (First clue: She doesn’t drink nearly enough.) But Justin doesn’t know that, so he needs to stop leering at his supposed sister! And it was nice to have Scotty refuse to be patronized to by or settle for Kevin’s offer that they become domestic (or, as one of the Walker boys put it, “domesticated”) partners. More and more, I’m realizing that I watch this show more for the dialogue and acting than the storylines. In fact, I tend to watch it DESPITE the storylines. Am I alone in that?

SURVIVOR has been on fire this season, and in recent weeks, it’s been entirely about the hidden immunity idol. First, Ozzy found the real one, replaced it with a fake and used it to great advantage before being blindsided. Then Jason found the next hidden idol, failed to play it and was blindsided in exactly the same manner! It’s been a while since I’ve been this into SURVIVOR, and I can’t wait to see what happens next.

Read the rest of this entry »

Now I know what you’re thinking, should Sam & Dean really be answering phone calls when the case they’re investigating involves phone calls from beyond the grave. Well, to that I say — you try not answering the phone when you know [Spoiler Alert!] Jeffrey Dean Morgan is on the other end.

Can’t wait for Thursday? Enjoy a first look at “GhostFacers!”

Rest assured, it isn’t what you’re thinking. SUPERNATURAL showrunner Eric Kripke has not turned Sam and Dean into the CW’s very own version of THE BACHELOR in effort to boost ratings. At least not yet.

But when SUPERNATURAL returns on April 24, Sam and Dean will take a break from their usual demon hunting to star in a gritty reality TV show called “Ghostfacers.” For a first look at what will no doubt be a hilarious gory-filled send up of the reality TV genre, Read the rest of this entry »