Deadliest Catch Season Six

“The fishermen know that the sea is dangerous and the storm terrible, but they have never found these dangers sufficient reason for remaining ashore” – Vincent van Goqh.  

Words that are particularly true for the men of The Deadliest Catch as they head out to sea to capture their fair share of fame and fortune. 

Blair Bunting/Getty Images/Discovery Channe

Season 6 of The Deadliest Catch is now upon us. a new season that is rifled with excitement, drama, new rivalries, additional crewmembers, and a sudden departure of an old, dear friend. 

We start our voyage in the Bering Sea on small, rocky island oasis – Dutch Harbor.  It is King Crab Season and the rush to strike “red oil” is in the air as the crews rush to put the final touches on preparations as they head out to sea.  All our favorite characters are here – Sig, Andy, Phil, Jonathan, and Keith, plus a new captain – Wild Bill, a former captain who is returning from his second carrier as fishing guide in Baja Mexico. 

I am not sure that I would give up the warm, clear waters of Mexico for ice, cold, and long days of hauling pots.  Wild Bill’s reintroduction into fleet and “the grid” of crab fishing will be work in progress.

So what does the sixth season offer  that the last five didn’t?  Great question!!!  To spice things up, the Northwestern and the Cornelia Marie performed a crew swap.  Jake Harris is transferred to the Northwestern and Jake Anderson to the Cornelia Marie. 

The goal is to teach these two “hotshot, know-it-alls” a taste of humility.  In the “real world” of fishing this type of crew swap is unheard of, but what the hell for TV.  Seeing these two Jacks try to survive crab season on new boats while being tested with continual torment from crews will be like Survivor meets Fear Factor.  Hell on the seas!

Not enough drama, yet?  We now have conflagrant (I don’t know what this word means) rivalry between two of our captains – Jonathan and Keith –over what is called crew poaching.  Part of the unwritten rules of crab fishing is that you do not approach another captain’s crew member with an offer of job with increased earnings while they are still employed on another boat. 

If this was the 18^th century, this offense would be settled with pistols or sword in a duel to the death.  In the 21^st century, we are bit more civilized…instead the captains slung around lots of profanity, threats, and eventually pushing.  

As the curtain closed over the Captain’s Barrel, the dispute between Keith and Jonathan is far from over…What will be in store from these two fierce rivals?  I am not sure, but I am betting this conflict will make for good theater as the season progresses.

*** Spoiler Alert ***

An old friend of the fleet will leaving us during Season 6.  If you have not heard by now, Captain Phil Harris suffered a lethal stroke toward during filming on January 29^th of this year while in port at St. Paul Island.  The cameras went along for his final voyage as Phil left the St. Paul Island bound to Anchorage via Med Flight. 

Even in the final hours and days, Phil still had a story to tell and insisted on keeping the cameras rolling no matter what.  In a note to Producer Beers Phil wrote about whether to cease the cameras – ‘No, we need a great finish to this story’.   Phil wouldn’t have it any other way…

Season Six is surely setting up to be one the more enjoyable seasons.  Ratings from last week’s first show was the highest ever for the series!  So, let’s get fishing! 

Deadliest Catch is on Discovery every Tuesday at 9 p.m.

Rush vs the NFL – The Hypocrisy

As we know by now, Rush Limbaugh has been discarded as an investor for one of the cartels bidding for the NFL St. Louis Rams.  The call of arms for Rush to be dismissed traveled in many waves – from NFL owners to the NFL commissioner, fans, NFLPA, African American activist, and even players.  Were Rush’s controversial comments about Donivan McNabb 5-6 years ago as part of the NFL Countdown on ESPN really to be blame here or was there another issue at hand?

Love him or hate him, Rush is a lightning rod of controversy from his addiction to pain meds, to his grand conservative views, and to his attacks on any sitting Democratic president, but to call the man a racist is a bit daft.  Rush makes his living as an entertainer whose sensational word is designed to elicit a response either positive or negative.  That is who Rush is.  It boils down to the fact that the NFL did not want a lightning rod as owner who could bring unwanted attention to an organization that prides itself on family entertainment with a conservative public relations image.    

The real racist in this dance is not Rush, but the NFL.  The NFL deploys a racial slur each and every Sunday for the last 76 years – Redskins, more specific the Washington Redskins.  The term Redskin is more than a name or mascot but, a single descriptive slur that singles out a member of our society (Native Americans) by the color of their skin.  Can you believe the NFL and the ownership for this team (Washington Redskins are worth more than a billion dollars) make a fortune using this slur while at the same the NFL condemns Rush is a racist. When this issue was brought up by our Native American brethren, the NFL hid behind the veil of tradition and will fight using this slur all the way to the United States Supreme Court.  Where is the hypocrisy???!!!!

Who is really the racist here – Rush or the NFL?  I think any tribe in the United States will tell you it is NFL, the real villains.

Top 25 Greatest Sci-Fi Shows – EVER!

In the recently Wizard Magazine, there is an interesting article about the 25 Greatest Sci-Fi Shows Ever.  The list was quite interesting and extensive with the likes of X-Files, BSG, Doctor Who, Angle, Buffy, and believe it or not V.  Most of their selections were quite logical and agreeable except for one. 

As I mentioned, the writers included V in the 25.  For me it wasn’t’ that V was on the list, which is debatable since it was a mini sires that they were referencing,  but the writers placed it in their top 10.  Frak!!!  So, it got me thinking, what would be my top 5, 10, 15, or 25 Greatest Sci-Fi Shows Ever.

You guess it, I have a list and not too similar to Wizard’s, however I think mine is bit more logical.  If I have say, the correct one…okay all kidding aside, here it is.  My list is only the top 20.

1. Doctor Who
2. Battlestar Galactica (Ronald Moore)
3. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
4. Twilight Zone
5. X-Files
6. Star Trek
7. Torchwood
8. Jekyll
9. Firefly
10. Angel
11. Supernatural
12. Quantum Leap
13. Lost
14. Fringe
15. Star Trek the Next Generation
16. Primeval
17. Dollhouse
18. Dark Angle
19. Smaillville
20. Eureka
21. Friday the 13^th: The Series
22. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
23. Deep Space Nine
24. Get Smart
25. The Big Bang Theory

Is Reaper heading to an end?

One of the funnier and original concepts on TV today is the CW’s Reaper.  Reaper is the story about a slacker working at a home improvement warehouse (The Work Bench) whose parents sold his soul to the Devil who uses him as a bounty hunter who tracks down escaped souls from Hell – a reaper.  Reaper is a drama with a heave dose of comedy.

Unfortunately, Reaper could be heading to its own grave.  The show’s death is a combination of low ratings and the departure of creators/executive producers Tara Butters and Michele Fazekas who have just signed a two-year deal with 20^th Century Fox TV according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Reaper is currently produced by ABC Studios which Fazekas and Butters were a part of.  With the departure of this dynamic duo, CW and ABC Studios will need to make a hard decision to keep production running under a new team or end the series.  If you look at the current “tea leaves” – the ratings, then one could easily speculate that Reaper will end after its current run.

However, there is a sliver of hope.  Smallville’s creates/executive producers – Al Gough and Miles Millar left the show after the 2008 season and the show was still picked up for two additional years.  Along with two -ear comment, the story has not missed a beat either.  

Let’s hope we don’t see a going out of business sign on the door of the Work Bench!

Is the voting on American Idol rigged????

An interesting piece of news caught my attention yesterday as I was trolling through TVGuide.com – American Idol Season 8’s final four has already been chosen.  Wow…as I watch Idol tonight I was reminded that we still have 11 contender in this year’s season.  So how do we know who the Top 4 will be? 

Isn’t the voting still being solicited by Ryan each week?  I keep seeing numbers advertise each week at the end of the shows.  Maybe the producers have a time machine or TARDIS on loan from the Doctor Who and have accelerated into the future to get a low down on the Final Four?  Hmm that must be it.  The Producers have a time machine – that has to be the explanation.  Yeah, that is it!

The Producers wouldn’t rig the results…would they?   All the voting results after each show and especially the final four are certified by outside accounting firm like the Oscars and Grammy, right?  Oh yeah, they are not.  Hmm…now that makes me wonder; maybe the voting results are not as democratic and fair as the audience is led to believe.

So, I guess the talk by a female e Idol staffer who told the New York Daily News Gatecrasher column may have some legs to it.  In this column, the staffer stated that the final four has already been chosen – Alexis Grace, Danny Gokey, Lil Rounds, and Adam Lamert – all of whom happen to also be current front runners this season.

The staffer alleged that not only have the four have been chosen as the final four, but that Rounds and Lambert have been ruled out as winner due to their similarity to past stars — Chris Daughtry and Fantasia.  Interesting.

If this is true, then the show that boasts itself as the path finder of new talent and a reality show is really just a fiction-based drama with pretty people with dynamic personalities who can sing — 21^st Century version of Fame.  I wish the Producers and Fox were just honest with the audience about what American Idol truly is.

Battlestar Galactica – Ronald Moore spills secrets about the final season

Wow…It has taken me all weekend and most of the day to get my breath back after watching the BSG episode “Sometimes a Great Notion?”  I am not sure where to begin…

I guess I will have to say that if this opening scene is a glimpse of what is to come for the final act of this tragedy, then I am confident the audience will be treated to one grand piece of theater as we slowly climb to the climax at the end of these 10 episodes.

Ronald Moore and company have once again in less than 60 minutes turned the BSG universe upside down.  This 180 began with the confirmation that the planet that was found at the end of Episode 12 is the prize they have been all searching for long and hard- Earth.  Now the fun begins with turning everything upside down once again.

Not only is this Earth, but this planet was destroyed more than 2000 years from their present time by a nuclear holocaust.  If that was not shocking enough…we learn that Earth was not only destroyed it is also…wait for it…wait for it – not only the home of the 13^th Colony, but the 13^th Colony is Cylon.  Yes, you read that correctly…Cylon.  These are not Cylons we have come accustom too aka Six and Sharon, but a new breed that all models are not identically the same and are even more “human” than previous thought.  Plus they had their own Centurions that look nothing like anything other model in the Cylon Empire. 

If that was not wasn’t enough; Tigh, Chief Tyrol, Tory, and Anders were on Earth when it was destroyed more 2000 years ago and have discovered memories of that tragic day when their civilization was wiped out in a single blow by a nuclear hammer.  Each of their memories are different, but are linked by not only this single event, but with each other.

If that wasn’t bad enough, Dualla “Dee,” who’s sea of hope and optimism represents all that is good about human race, committed suicide when it is reveled that the dream called Earth is nothing more than grey sky wasteland.  If Dee has lost hope, then you can image how the rest of the Fleet will react to the news about Earth.

Last but not least, Starbuck, on aquest to locate the Colonial beacon that lead this rag tag fleet to Earth, makes a startling discovery.  She finds the crashed Viper the included the pilot’s corpse.  Too my surprise and the rest of the viewers, the corpse is Starbuck!  Yes, Kara Thrace…I would say flesh and bones, but really more bones than anything else.  So, who is runnin,g looking, talking, and acting like Starbuck these past episodes?  Cylon copies, reincarnation of the original Starbuck or something supernatural…all good questions which I hope will be answered before the final episode airs.

So, a lot of questions have been raised since the discovery of Earth and even more after watching this episode.  Well, I could speculate like the rest of the BSG universe about answers to these questions or develop my own hypothesis, but I have chosen the easy way out. 

On Jan 17^th Ronald Moore provide a pretty insightful interview with Maureen Ryan of the Chicago Tribune.  In this interview, Moore discloses several answers to the burning questions that came out of “Sometimes a Great Notion.”

• Ellen is indeed the fifth Cylon.  As the season progress the viewers will be shown who else knew this secret and there is a strong possibility that Ellen may return.
• The Earth that is found is really Earth – the 13^th Colony.
• The Human Cylons we see in the flashback that Tyrol had on Earth incorporates more than 12 models we know of.
• Starbuck’s existence is still in question…Moore is quite coy on providing an answer to this burning question.

That is it so far.  First episode is now in the books…nine more to go and with many more twists and turns before this series wraps up.

Season 4 Battlestar Galactica promo – Finial Chapter

It is here!!!  The new promo for the last chapter is this harrowing journey from Caprica to Earth in Battlestar Galactica.  As the series wraps up the finial details to this tragic opera, the viewers are still seeking answers to a few cliffhanging questions – did they find the real Earth, who is the final 5 Cylon, and what happens next?

Hopefully these answers will all be solved as the season kicks off in January 2009!

 

Who’s Your Favorite TV Vamp?

Since the introduction of vampires to our mainstream conscious by Bram Stoker more than a hundred years ago, society has developed a love affair with those blood thirsty fanged creatures. This love affair has moved from one medium to another – from books to movies and now to TV with the success of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

True Blood on HBO

Over the last few years television has seen a vampire invasion of sorts.  A crop of new television shows that have vampirecentric storylines that expand upon the vampire mythology we have grown to know. 

Basic vampire mythology is for the most part the same in all the shows, each with a few “refinements” or “enhancements” to help differentiate these shows from each other.  To be honest, I have found that some of these “enhancements” a bit hard to swallow. 

For instance, in True Blood, vampires can enter a church and can even stand next to a crucifix without any consequences.  Additionally they can have a reflection and can be photographed.  Sunlight makes them ill and eventually will kill them. 

Like True Blood, Moonlight takes an outside of the box approach to the vampire mythology.  -For example, neither crucifixes nor garlic have any effect on the walking dead.  Furthermore, a stake through the heart only paralyzes the vampire instead of killing them; silver also has the same effect.  And as in True Blood, sunlight does not lead to incineration, but instead makes them so ill that it could eventually lead to a slow death.

However, for the most part, all the shows do follow the certain accepted vampire lore – beheading and fire will kill a vampire, silver is harmful, they have “superhuman” strength/speed/hearing, they appear for the most part like humans, have enhanced libidos, sleep during the day, and look at humans as a lesser life forms whose purpose is to serve either as slaves or cattle for feeding for the vampires.

On a lighter note, all the shows except for Blade and Moonlight used a form of offbeat humor to sell the idea that vampires are not nearly as evil as Bram Stroker lead everyone to believe in his 1897 novel.   This humor is not over the top, but so subtle in nature that does not distract from the show’s intent.  A technique which Joss Whedon and Alan Ball have mastered in their respective shows -Buffy/Angel and True Blood.

Here is how I rank the top vampire television shows over the last 10 years:

1. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
2. Angel
3. True Blood
4. Blade
5. Moonlight
6. Supernatural (to an lesser extent)

So, what is your favorite television vampire show?  If you ask my wife, she would tell you that I like Buffy due to Sara Michelle Gellar…but I beg to differ.  You can’t go wrong with the series that provides suspense, humor, great cast, pop culture refinances, and a terrific writing staff that never received the acclaim that more main stream shows receive.

Heroes – Villains (season three)

Well, the third season of Heroes kicked off in a two-hour event to mark the next volume in this ongoing saga – called Villains.  As you guessed, this season explores the Villains in the Heroes universe.  We get to see who these villains are, how do they fit into the Heroes universe, and receive additional details about the “mysterious” Company, while shedding light on the current events that shape the catastrophic future. 

That is sure a full plate for Heroes this season.  The question that many of fans have on their mind – can Heroes capture the imaginations, suspense, and ratings gold that made Season One so successful?

Season Three kicks off with a bang literally and figuratively as Claire “Bear” confronts the powerful Peter four years in the opaque future.  The viewer is lead to believe through the narrow eyes of Peter that the catastrophic events that hound our “heroes” in the future were caused by one monumental event in time – the press conference in which Nathan was ready to announce to the world that “heroes” walk among us. 

Peter thinking linearly comes to the disastrous conclusion that he can change the future by altering the past – assassinating Nathan during the press conference (the final and shocking scene that ended Season Two).  Unbeknown to Peter is the paradox that has been theorized with time travel aka the Butterfly Effect. 

As you have guessed it, Peter’s tragic logic and linear actions developed severe consequences that will commence throughout Season Three.  By changing one event, a chain reaction is unleashed.  A reaction that started with Sylar acquiring Claire’s powers. However during the power transfer Sylar recognizes that she is “special” and spares her life, alluding to the fact that she cannot perish. 

Other consequence lead to the escape of the Fugitive Five, the death of Bob, the return of Linderman, a breakthrough in science by Mohinder, and ascension to Congress for Nathan, along with a bleak future for our “heroes.”  What a turn of events for the start of Season Three. 

As much as this sounds riveting and “must see” TV, I am afraid to report that once again we are led down the path of sloppy writing, borrowed ideas, and extremely creative literary licenses by what I thought was capable and studious writers.  So, where do I begin?

1. The Butterfly Effect/Time Travel.  Even though this concept is always a good plot tool to use; I would have thought the writers could have developed an effective way to use it.  They should reference classic Star Trek as a guide to use time travel tool in a story?
2. Linderman.  The apparition of Linderman as only seen by Nathan is the same tool Ronald Moore has using in Battlestar Galactica for the past four seasons with Baltar and Six.
3. Mohinder morphing after experimenting on himself with “hero DNA.”  If I remember correctly, the same metamorphosis that Mohinder is experiencing is quite similar to the ones Jeff Goldberg exhibited in the movie The Fly.
4. Next is the Mommy effect by Mama Petrelli with Sylar.  If I didn’t know better I swear I have seen this before but on the male side of the equation in the Empire Strikes Back – “Luke, I am your father.”
5.  The future – destruction of human kind along with associated consequences from a deadly virus unleashed on the world population.  Hmm, can someone say 12 Monkeys?!  This reference could also explain the time travel vehicle that Peter uses a la Bruce Willis.

These examples are just a few samples of what I found in the first two hours of Heroes – Villains. 

If this is what the viewer is in for as the season progresses — old ideas, rehashed themes, and borrowed plot vehicles — then NBC will be immensely disappointed in the ratings and the fans of a once promising series will be looking back and wondering how they get their lost hour back. 

Let’s hope Heroes finds it voice again before it is too late.

Batman-3 Who will be next the villian(s)?

Wow!  The Dark Knight was a great movie.  Who can match the sinister, engaging, and mesmerizing villain portrayal of Heath Ledger’s Joker.  Words can not describe the job Nolan and Ledger did to provide the depth and psychotic psychosis that Joker possesses in modern age of the Batman comics.

 

With the success of the Dark Knight (2^nd grossing film of all time) the “fanboy” community is already speculating on which villain(s) will be tapped by Nolan for the third installment of the Batman (reset) franchise.  Numerous message boards and websites have been battering around possibilities for the next villain – Catwoman, Poison Ivy, the Riddler, or Penguin. 

 

One advantage the Batman franchise has over other comic movies is the immense depth of Batman’s rogues gallery for Nolan to pull from in picking the next villain.  If Nolan follows the current themes of organized crime that engulfed the first two movies and the carefully crafts each movie with as much realism as possible, I see these candidates as the possible choices:

 

 

v     Two Face – My guess is that we have not seen the last of Harvey Dent.

 

v     Black Mask – Another child of Gotham’s elite, Roman Sionis was jealous of Bruce growing up.  This envy so engulfed Roman that he even tried to kill his parents (and succeed in eliminating his father) just so he could inherit the family’s successful Janus Cosmetic Corporation. 

 

But Roman had no business sense and eventually brought the company to the brink of financial disaster.  In the end Wayne Industries bailed him out by buying out the company.  But rather than being thankful, Roman’s hatred for Bruce rose to a new level.

 

Roman then dons the death mask carved from his mother’s coffin to become the Black Mask and begins murdering Wayne Enterprises employees.  But the disguise becomes permanent when toxic chemicals spilled during a fight with Batman burn the mask into his face.

 

Black Mask becomes the most sadistic Don of organized crime in Gotham and a thorn in both Bruce Wayne and Batman’s side.

 

v     Riddler – Better known as Edward Nashton or Nigma, the Ridder’s crimes are more intellectual than physical.  The Riddler’s criminal capers are all cloaked in challenging puzzles.

 

His knack for riddles stem from his childhood when he used puzzles to escape his father’s wrath and beatings.  The Riddler would make an excellent foe for Nolan’s Batman because he engages Batman’s intellectual skills not just his physical ones.

 

v     Deadshot – Deadshot is another devious criminal who tried to play both sides of the game.  Originally he tried to take Batman’s place as Gotham’s savior, thereby opening the opportunity for him to establish himself as Gothom’s new organized crime boss.  In the end, Commissioner Gordon and Batman foiled his attempts, leaving Deadshot with his own personal suite at Blackgate Prison.

 

This set back didn’t deter Deadshot for long.  Upon his release, Deadshot became a hired assassin with reputation that he “never missed.”  An expert with a variety of execution tools, his weapon of choice is his writ-mounted guns.