Monday, April 19, 2010

The non-vacationing vacation ends

Well, my family time has come to an end, and as Fienberg joked in the last podcast, I was the worst vacationer ever. Most of what was posted to the blog in the last two weeks was pre-written, but I still couldn't help myself from writing about "Lost," and about Conan going to TBS, and from recording a couple of podcasts.

Regular schedule more or less resumes today (and another blog favorite, "Party Down," returns on Friday). Don't have the time/energy to go back and write about the handful of regular shows I didn't cover while I was gone (the "HIMYM" monkey episode, for instance), but we'll move forward together.

Meanwhile, my return to work brings with it a new blog logo, replacing the David Mills tribute. This one's pretty obvious (so obvious, in fact, that I made it back in October and kept sending it to the bottom of the stack in favor of other ones), but I figure we should ease our way back into things. And, as always, this post has links to, and explanations for, all the previous logo themes.

Good to be back. Lots to do, lots to watch, lots to write and talk about.

28 comments:

  1. Well you're luck you didn't have to write about that HIMYM episode because it was one of the worst half hours of television I can remember in quite a while.

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  2. I don't get it, but then again, I'm only 22 years old...

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  3. they are definitely nurses, but if there is something deeper, I don't know what it is....

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  4. Nurses who weren't the main characters of the series but ended up stealing the show...

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  5. Nope, A H, I think it really *is* that simple:
    It's Favorite Nurses Week at What's Alan Watching!

    Julia Baker (Julia); Colleen Murphy (China Beach); Carol Hathaway (ER) and Zoey Barkow (Nurse Jackie).

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  6. People who aren't nurses, but play them on TV?
    I agree with Anonymous, I Love HIMYM, but that was a clunker of an episode.

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  7. Alan, do you know if Party Down episodes will be put up on Netflix Watch Instantly ahead of Starz this season (like they did last year) or only after they air?

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  8. That HIMYM episode was pretty awful, I feel sorry for Jason Segal. It was only good for the self-conscious aspect of future Ted's narration, which they haven't done before, for most of it he's been a reliable narrator, but Zoo or False saw them playing with his power a bit.

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  9. I realized that I needed to cut the HIMYM episode some slack once it was over since the entire half hour was one long setup for the King Kong joke.

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  10. That King Kong joke was golden, though!

    Captcha: quactive - What Conrad Murray is until they take his medical license away

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  11. Helloooo, Nurse!

    Insufficient love for Hot Lips?

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  12. Insufficient love for Hot Lips?

    McMurphy will always be my favorite military nurse.

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  13. Welcome back Alan. Agree with the other comments that this past week's HIMYM was pretty brutal, hopefully they turn it around in the coming weeks.

    Really looking forward to the Party Down recaps, and on SNL this weekend they put up the first NBC commercial for this season of Friday Night Lights, so I'm immediately excited for the new season to begin.

    How do recaps for Friday Night Lights run by the way? Should I go back into the system and read the DirectTV recaps following each episode, or are you going to repost those after each episode?

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  14. Nurses on NBC shows? except china beach was on ABC. maybe I'm thinking about this to hard. ;)

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  15. How do recaps for Friday Night Lights run by the way? Should I go back into the system and read the DirectTV recaps following each episode, or are you going to repost those after each episode?

    This is a good question. Last year, I just republished the original posts with new dates so that all the comments were retained. I don't know if people want me to do that again or be able to start the discussion fresh several months later.

    I'm open to opinions on this, as it's not any more difficult to make duplicate versions of each than it is to unpublish and republish them.

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  16. Alan,
    I know you don't write about it but I am curious if you follow Spartacus: Blood & Sand? The season finale was Friday night and I was very pleased with how far the show has come in only one season, not to mention the finale itself was spectacular. If you do watch it what are your thoughts?

    Thanks!

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  17. So there won't be a post dedicated to how AWFUL Modern Family was this past week? I had forgotten you were on vacation and spent all day thursday hitting "refresh" hoping to see you agreed w/ me.

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  18. Alan,
    Is TNT ever going to rerun all the Southland eps? Is it getting renewed? Thanks!
    (My verification word is 'drapre" and I just saw some hots pics of Jon Hamm in a tshirt - serendipity!)

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  19. I'd vote for the NBC postings of FNL to start afresh for new comments. (I'll be one of those who would have to go through the old ones). But it also depends on how many there are, if there were only a few good ones, then relink as is. Glad to have you back, hope your family didn't get too annoyed with your non-vacationing self.

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  20. Welcome back. I trust you had a great vacation, and that the family event went well.

    And thank you for being a the worst vacationer ever. We wouldn't have blamed you had you stayed completely away, but I enjoyed listening to the podcasts, shortened though they were, and liked your analysis both of Lost and of Conan's decision. But your inability to stay away really says something about how much you enjoy and are passionate about your job. And that's a good thing.

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  21. I actually thought the HIMYM episode might have been the funniest Marshall-centric episode we've had. But I can see I am in the minority.

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  22. Alan, I am happy for you because you enjoy your work so much you keep on working even when you don't have to! I know how it feels to love a job. That feeling spills over into the rest of ones life, and the world looks a lot more shiny because of it.

    Re: FNL, The highest count for comments was 64. Most were around 25 so I say add them in. Like I have any real say about this. ;-) But reading the comments is half the fun!
    If we could tell if they were new comments or old comments it would help keep things less confusing.

    Along the same lines, I don't get HBO,or Showtime so miss being able to participate in real time for shows like Treme, The Pacific, Unites States of Tara, Dexter, etc. I wish there was a way around that without my cable bill costing more than groceries. Thank god for Netflix!

    Thank you for the turning me on to The United States of Tara btw. I never would have known it existed without your blog, and I really enjoy it!

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  23. Alan, I know you're not planning on a full post but did you get to see the episode of HIMYM this week? I think I agree with a lot of the comments so far.

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  24. Seems like great timing to thank you for saying this in March.

    (*) If you like sports movies at all, I cannot recommend Sheen's turn in "The Damned United" highly enough. I neither know nor care about English football, but I loved every minute of this, thanks largely to Sheen's cocky performance as overly-ambitious coach Brian Clough.

    I knew zero about English football or Brian Clough,..make that less than zero. I watched it with my husband on Saturday and we both were utterly taken with this movie.
    (And a clip of Ali talking about Clough...wow.)

    LOVED it. What a pleasure, and the movie is filled to the brim with excellent British actors including Colm Meaney, the always wonderful Jim Broadbent, and Timothy Spall who I usually know from Harry Potter movies or comedic parts.

    Sheen was beyond great, and I've been a major fan since "The Queen" and "Frost/Nixon". I might never have followed that one without your recommendation.

    Welcome back. I've been pining to give you a thanks.

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  25. I hope your wife is not mad with you sneaking in to post LOST reviews and doing the podcast. With that said, it's good to see you back full time.

    Modern Family was not awful last week, it was not as funny as before but it was still solid.

    I was hoping you would do a post about the Ugly Betty series finale just like your Nip/Tuck series finale post. I want to hear the opinion of your readers who have seen the last episode (and you too if could watch it.)

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  26. Welcome back, Alan - I hope the vacationing part of the vacation was lovely.

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  27. I find your lack of Carla disturbing.

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