// Category Archive for: TV

Best Of 2014: Melissa Bratcher

Omaha Live

10. Friday Night Lights
This is the year that, when I wasn’t watching chickens (see #5), I was watching Friday Night Lights. I also bought an ill-advised pair of cowboy boots because of it. Thanks, Netflix, for making FNL so bingeable. I aspire to be as amazing as Tami Taylor, and I miss her. Tim Riggins, thanks for the smoulder and for being an unlikely moral compass. Jason Street, thanks for the pathos. Matt Saracen, thanks for being the character that makes me cry just thinking about you (and thanks for singing to your awesome Grandma. She’s the best). Coach Taylor, thanks for being inspiring. Tyra Colette, thanks for being completely kick ass. I hope you’re a politician somewhere. Landry, thanks for being Lance. Buddy Garrity, thanks for growing on me. Vince, thanks for letting me know where Wallace is. And damn, Julie. Damn.

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Best Of 2014: Danny Benair, The Three O’Clock

In no order:

St. Vincent
St. Vincent at Fuji Festival
JD McPherson at The Echo
JD McPherson, “I Wish You Would”
Ty Segall, Manipulator
Ty Segall at The Echo
Cherry Glazerr, “Had Ten Dollaz”
Birdman, directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu
Tomorrow’s Tulips, “Baby/Glued To You” video
Burger Records
Homeland, 2014 season

A former member of The Three O’Clock, The Quick, The Weirdos, and other bands, Danny Benair owns and operates Natural Energy Lab, a music marketing company, and manages The Danny Benair Record Club on Facebook.

DVD Review: The Unauthorized Saved By The Bell Story

By Brad Henderson

These days, made-for-TV movies are not good. I don’t want that to sound like an insult but it’s just how I feel and many others feel the same way. Back in the 1970s and ‘80s there were a ton of made-for-TV films and they were fantastic. Sadly, that time has passed and now we are left with some awful films, the majority of which come from Lifetime.

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Blu-Ray Review: Pee-wee’s Playhouse: The Complete Series

By Tyler Hodg

It would be hard to find a child born in the early ‘80s who didn’t wake up every Saturday morning to watch Pee-wee Herman squirm around and yell at the top of his lungs. Twenty-three years after its initial run, Pee-wee’s Playhouse finally sees its Blu-ray release, making it easier for the show’s mature fans to revisit their childhood once again. Pee-wee’s Playhouse: The Complete Series Blu-ray includes all five seasons, the Christmas special, and numerous behind-the-scenes featurettes.

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Music Review: Monty Python’s Total Rubbish: The Complete Collection

By Melissa Bratcher

Full disclosure: I have no idea how to review the new, incredibly comprehensive, fully-remastered, nine-disc Monty Python box set, Monty Python’s Total Rubbish: The Complete Collection. I, like any good misfit worth her salt, went through a rather serious Monty Python phase while in high school, and spent every weekend watching Monty Python’s Flying Circus with my best pal Lori (and arguing over who was cuter, Michael Palin or Eric Idle. The answer was yes), imitating the sketches, knotting handkerchiefs for our heads, and being fully immersed in Pythonalia. I have no objectivity when it comes to Monty Python. I love them. Full on. I learned more about world history from Monty Python than I did in high school (of course, if it had been taught in funny voices, I might’ve paid more attention).

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Music Review: Brian Reitzell, Hannibal Original Television Soundtrack Seasons 1 & 2

By Less Lee Moore

Fans of both Hannibal Lecter and Brian Reitzell will be thrilled by the recent release of nearly five hours of music from the soundtrack to what may become known as the most compelling interpretation of Thomas Harris’s iconic character, NBC’s Hannibal. With 27 tracks, one representing each episode from both seasons (and an extra track highlighting some of the music in Season 2’s killer finale), there is much to absorb here. Even those who have never seen the show, or who have perhaps avoided it because they can’t imagine anything living up to Anthony Hopkins’s cinematic portrayal, will be seduced by the exquisite sounds contained within this collection.

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Blu-Ray Review: The Walking Dead, Season Four

By Less Lee Moore

The first season of The Walking Dead was nothing short of brilliant (review). It went through some growing pains—literally—in Season 2, figuring out how to deal with a new showrunner as well as twice as many episodes. The criticisms of that season have been discussed to death and don’t need a rehash. Season 3 expanded the show’s scope further with even more new characters and 16 episodes. Amazingly, Season 4 is better than the excellent Season 3 (review); those who gave up on the show after Season 2 should definitely try and catch up, as it is on par with those first six episodes.

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The Truth Was Out There: A Retrospective Of The X-Files

By Martin Hollis

IDW’s re-release of The X-Files Classics series is about to reach its conclusion, with the final set of collated issues of The X-Files comic book being set to drop in just over a month. The first few volumes revealed a lot about the time in which the comic was made—mid-’90s Todd Macfarlane-esque splash pages abound—but also about the inventiveness and creativity which permeated the greatest seasons of the television show. In addition, the comic featured its own mythology, revealing shady Pentagon connections, crystal helmets, and hinting at the alien powers that Fox Mulder, among others, would wield in later seasons of the television show.

There are also some missteps. It seemed impossible to accurately draw poor Gillian Anderson’s face in 1995, her glorious visage distorted or squashed depending on the panel one happens to view. Much like the TV show, it was likely that the creators were up against real deadlines, turning out the product as quickly as possible to capitalize on the exponential success of the show.

Given that the comic book is, in essence, a microcosm of the show, it seems like we are more than overdue a proper reevaluation of the television show and films.

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Blu-Ray Review: Holliston: The Complete Second Season

By Brad Henderson

I dig the Hatchet series and Wrong Turn 2 and much of what Joe Lynch and Adam Green have brought us. They are obviously huge horror fans and that shows on the screen. When I first heard these two got together to make a sitcom I was a little confused because they didn’t seem like the types. I assumed it would be horror-related but really didn’t have a clue where they would go with a horror-related sitcom.

Holliston is about Joe Lynch and Adam Green, aspiring filmmakers who’ve been working on a film for years called Shinpads (“They score, you die.”) They work at a studio that does commercials. Their boss, Lance Rocket, is played by Dee Snider from Twisted Sister. Joe and Adam host a TV show (and podcast) called Movie Crypt on which they play old horror films.

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Music Review: Catch The Throne Mixtape

By Martin Hollis

In its fourth season, Game of Thrones has become an all-conquering behemoth, awaited with baited breath by millions around the world ready to tune into HBO or cheekily pirate it shortly after it airs in order to ravenously devour the sumptuous look, dense plotting, and layered characters.

Most of these millions are, however, Caucasian, with HBO estimating over 75 percent of the show’s viewers being White. There is clearly a market to still be tapped into, despite the runaway success of the program. Hence we now have the latest in a series of pre-season hype-making mix tapes, Catch The Throne. Whilst previous season-priming mixtapes were mixed by the likes of The National or Wilco—shoegazing White indie—this time, HBO has enlisted none other than Big Boi, better known as one half of Outkast, in a blatant attempt to attract Black and Latino viewers with a combination of hip-hop, samples, and quotations from the show.

The result is sporadically brilliant, funny, clever, trivial, and idiotic in equal measure.

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