All About Kimberly

Sailing Along the Life of Single Parenthood

Tag Archives: Television

I Don’t Care for Reruns or The News

Excuse me for this rant and rave, but geez, I need to get this off of my shoulders.

WHEN DID TELEVISION SEASONS GET SO SHORT?

Seriously, I was just getting really caught up in Grey’s and Private Practice and I get all my housework done as soon as I get home tonight so I can settle down and watch it and I quickly realize I’ve already seen Grey’s.  Then I flip to the guide to see what episode will be on Private Practice and it’s another rerun.  ICK!    I didn’t rush to et all of that done for reruns!  I want to see NEW stuff.  *sigh*

I am too lazy to change the channel though – ok, not really.  I’m too lazy to read the guide and find something else to watch so I just let them play waiting on the 10:00 news.  And now I realize that I may just have to ban the news.  It’s just plain depressing. Did you know we are in a recession, and practically everyone is hurting?  If I hear that one more time, I’m going to scream.  As soon as that started, I flipped over to another station to watch their news and was happy to see that they were at least focusing on ways to cope with the economy. They had a special  on where they were working with a FAFSA office to help east Texans fill out the FAFSA and then discussed credit counseling through places like Care One Credit.  In these times it is especially important to practice debt management. I know I’m applying extra to all of my debt right now in hopes of becoming debt free.

I still am not happy about seeing so much dang bad news and especially news about the economy but at least the second station was focusing on how to make a bad situation good instead of just bad numbers, bad numbers, bad numbers. UGH

So are the seasons really already ending? Or was this just a bad week? Are you sick of bad news followed with a little bad news?  We need to start a good news only news station.

31 Days of Oscar

If you like award winning movies – from the old to the new – now is the time to become a regular Turner Classic Movie fan.  Currently TCM is running their 31 Days of Oscar. During this festival, every film that TCM shows has received at least one Academy Award and/or nomination.  These350 movies will be shown unedited and without commercials.  (This would be a great tim to DVR some favorites).  The series started February 1st and will end March 3rd.

TCM chose a really cute theme this year called “TCM University.”  The movies are categorized by Departments and Course Offerings.  How cool is that?  Today’s subject – my favorite – ENGLISH….Today you can view, Intro to Charles Dickens, Shakespeare Tragedies, and British Novelists including Rebecca (one of my favorite books).

Check out the complete movie schedule here.

There’s also a contest going on over at TCM to enter for a chance to win a 31 Days of Oscar Composition Notebook in the TCM 31 Days of Oscar® Sweepstakes.  This is a really handy composition book (I have one) with the schedule in the front and regular composition paper in the back.  I’m using mine for my blogging notes to myself.  Find TCM on your channel line up and check out all the movies that will be airing over the next month – you’re sure to find a few old favorites or great movies you missed seeing.

New Season, New Show

I’ve been given an awesome chance to preview the new season of The Closer and the premier of a new show called Trust Me. Both will begin on TNT on Mnday January 26 (at 8 and 9 CST).  I had seen a few episodes of The Closer, but for some reason never set the DVR to keep up with them.  After watching the preview that I was sent, I have already set up my DVR to record the entire season (along with Trust Me).

The Closer is a hit crime drama (one of my favorite types of TV shows) starring Kyra Sedgwick. This season will have five new episodes airing each Monday.  During this season you’ll find out the fate of Detective Sanchez and whether or not Brenda (Sedgwick) and Fritz will get married.  We’ll also see the return of Brenda’s parents and meet her sister, Claire.

I’m even more excited about Trust Me as I’ll be able to get in on the beginning of the series and know exactly what is going on.   It stars two actors I already know I love, Eric McC ormack and Tom Cavanagh. The two will be great friends and work at an advertising agency in Chicago.  In addition, we’ll see Monica Potter, Griffin Dunne, Sarah Clarke, Mike Damus, and Geoffredy Arend.  You should recognize several of theese find actors.   While the two have worked together as a team at the advertising agency and been very successful, the story will revolve around a promotion – for only one member of the team. Uh Oh! You can already guess there ‘s going to be issues now.

Program Your TV Now!

Yes. I really do not watch a lot of television so I feel odd telling you about two television opportunties you need to be sure to set yoru televisions to either auto turn the channels or set the DVRs to record.  First there is The Librarian as I mentioned last night (I have my DVR programmed to record the first two already) and now I want to tell you about a series that Turner Classic Movies is airing in conjuction with Disney in honor of the holiday season.

According to TCM:

Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is set to conjure up some pure movie magic this December, when the network debuts TCM PRESENTS: THE FAMILY CLASSICS.The festivities will include Sunday movie showcases featuring more than 25 Disney live-action classics, plus an all-new original documentary entitled THE AGE OF BELIEVING:THE DISNEY LIVE-ACTION CLASSICS, narrated by Tony® winner and three-time Oscar® nominee Angela Lansbury.  

When does this start? Sunday, December 7th and continues every Sunday in December.  The lineup is really some great shows too. Check out the lineup:

Sun., Dec 7

  • Noon Treasure Island (1950) – starring Robert Newton and Bobby Driscoll
  • 1:45 p.m. Swiss Family Robinson (1960) – starring John Mills, Dorothy McGuire, Sessue Hayakawa and Tommy Kirk
  • 4 p.m. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954) – starring Kirk Douglas, James Mason, Paul Lukas and Peter Lorre
  • 6:15 p.m. Old Yeller (1958) – starring Tommy Kirk, Dorothy McGuire and Fess Parker
  • 8 p.m. The Parent Trap (1961) – starring Hayley Mills, Maureen O’Hara and Brian Keith
  • 10:15 p.m. Pollyanna (1960) – starring Hayley Mills, Jane Wyman, Karl Malden, Adolphe Menjou and Agnes Moorehead
  • 12:30 a.m. The Barefoot Executive (1971) – starring Kurt Russell, Harry Morgan, Wally Cox and John Ritter

Sunday, Dec. 14

  • Noon The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1970) – starring Kurt Russell and Cesar Romero
  • 1:45 p.m. The Strongest Man in the World (1975) – starring Kurt Russell, Cesar Romero and Dick Van Patten
  • 3:30 p.m. The Absent-Minded Professor (1961) – starring Fred MacMurray, Nancy Olson and Tommy Kirk
  • 5:15 p.m. Son of Flubber (1963) – starring Fred MacMurray, Nancy Olson, Keenan Wynn, Tommy Kirk and Ed Wynn
  • 7 p.m. THE AGE OF BELIEVING: THE DISNEY LIVE-ACTION CLASSICS – narrated by Angela Lansbury
  • 8:30 p.m. The Apple Dumpling Gang (1975) – starring Tim Conway, Don Knotts, Bill Bixby and Susan Clark
  • 10:15 p.m. The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again (1979) – starring Tim Conway, Don Knotts, Tim Matheson, Kenneth Mars and Jack Elam

Sunday, Dec. 21

  • Noon The Black Hole (1979) – starring Maximilian Schell, Anthony Perkins, Robert Forster and Ernest Borgnine
  • 2 p.m. Escape to Witch Mountain (1975) – starring Eddie Albert, Kim Richards, Ike Eisenmann and Donald Pleasance
  • 4 p.m. Return from Witch Mountain (1978) – starring Bette Davis, Christopher Lee, Kim Richards and Ike Eisenmann
  • 6 p.m. Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971) – starring Angela Lansbury, David Tomlinson and Roddy McDowall
  • 8 p.m. Candleshoe (1977) – starring Jodie Foster, David Niven and Helen Hayes
  • 10 p.m. Freaky Friday (1976) – starring Jodie Foster, Barbara Harris and John Astin
  • 11:45 p.m. THE AGE OF BELIEVING: THE DISNEY LIVE-ACTION CLASSICS (encore)

Sunday, Dec. 28

  • Noon The Shaggy Dog (1959) – starring Fred MacMurray, Jean Hagen and Tommy Kirk.
  • 2 p.m. The Shaggy D.A. (1976) – starring Dean Jones, Tim Conway and Suzanne Pleshette.
  • 4 p.m. The Love Bug (1968) – starring Dean Jones, Michelle Lee and Buddy Hackett.
  • 6 p.m. Herbie Rides Again (1974) – starring Helen Hayes, Ken Berry and Stefanie Powers.
  • 8 p.m. Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo (1977) – starring Dean Jones and Don Knotts.
  • 9:45 p.m. Herbie Goes Bananas (1980) – starring Cloris Leachman and Harvey Korman.
  • 11:30 p.m. The World’s Greatest Athlete (1973) – starring Tim Conway, Jan Michael Vincent, John Amos and Nancy Walker
So which ones am I looking forward to?  On the 7th, I’m wanting to make sure we watch The Parent Trap. This is one that my girls have seen the newer version, but never this one. On the 14th, we’ll be sure to watch The Son of Flubber, and on the 21st, I will be watching almost the entire time – I remember growing up and LOVING to go to my Uncle’s to watch the Disney Channel and I LOVED the Witch Mountain movies.  Bedknobs and Broomsticks also has it’s own special childhood memories, and Freaky Friday is like The Parent Trap. I want them to see the original one, the one Mommy grew up watching, at least once.  :)
Do any of these movies bring back memories for you? If so, you shoudl be sure to spend some family time watching them with your children during this holiday season.

The Librarian: Curse of the Judas Chalice

I’ve never heard of this series, but TNT is not a channel I regularly watch. After being given the opportunity to watch, “The Librarian: Curse of the Judas Chalice” though, I will be keeping my eye out for others in this series.  I’m trying now to get my hands on the past editions that I have never seen because this was a great show that my entire family all enjoyed watching.  Becka (my 17 year old) is also wanting to watch the previous shows in this series.

In case you’ve never heard of these movie series on TNT either, let me give you a little background. Noah Wyle stars as  ”Flynn, the librarian.” But he’s not a librarian who sits in a library and shelves books. Instead he protects amazing artifacts. The previous two movies in the series were The Librarian: Quest for the Spear (released in 2004) and The Librarian: Return to King Solomon’s Mines (released in 2006). I guess fitingly the next one was released 2 years later – 2008.  I’m kind of disappointed if we only get one of these movies every two years – yes that’s how much I enjoyed it.

From TNT:

The story opens with the kidnapping of Professor Lazlo (Davison), a brilliant language and history expert at the University of Bucharest.  Elderly and using a crutch to walk, he is taken hostage by a group that wants to force him to locate the Judas Chalice.  They hope to use the cup – which was made from the 30 pieces of silver Judas received for betraying Jesus – to bring the notorious Prince Vlad Dracul back to life and foist evil on the world. 

Meanwhile, Flynn heads to New Orleans for what he hopes will be a vacation.  He has been summoned through mysterious dreams by Simone Renoir (Katic), a gorgeous New Orleans jazz club singer.  She has made it her mission to keep the location of the Judas Chalice a secret so it won’t fall into the wrong hands.  When the secret is accidentally revealed and the cup taken, Flynn and Simone must do everything in their power to prevent Vlad Dracul from casting the entire world into shadow.  Helping from the sidelines are Judson (Newhart), the enigmatic and always surprising head of the Library, and Charlene (Curtin), the extremely serious-minded, no-nonsense personnel director.

This was a great cast, and while I’ll admit to not usually being really into “vampire movies,” this one pulled me in and kept me paying close attention the entire two hours. In fact, I didn’t even want to stop for bathroom breaks or to pop more popcorn. :) Luckily we watched in on DVD so I was able to pause it and not miss anything.

The Cast:

 

  • Noah Wyle as Flynn Carsen
  • Bob Newhart as Judson
  • Stana Katic as Simone
  • Jane Curtin as Charlene
  • Bruce Davison as Professor Lazlo

 

Can’t wait to see this movie? (I’ll be watching it again I’m sure). TNT will be airing the latest Librarian move on  Sunday, Dec. 7, at 8 p.m. (ET/PT). It will also replay at 10 pm and 2 am.

But it gets even better. if you are like me and are only learning about this series then be sure to tune in early as both of the previous movies will also air on December 7th starting 4 hours before the movie (at 4 p.m. (ET/PT).