Kaden's Alien Artwork

A couple of weeks ago, Kaden was on another big artwork kick. Here is one of the paintings he did, which I especially liked. Kaden is a big fan of the show Ben 10 and all the cool aliens on the show. He said this is one of his own alien creations.

TV Week Fall Preview 2011 - Part 2

TV Week magazine Fall Preview 2011 Part 2 (Sept 17-23) focuses on the Returning Series. There are a bunch of shows I am looking forward to the return of, including (can't miss shows are in bold): The Big Bang Theory, Community, Chuck, How I Met Your Mother, The Middle, Modern Family, The Office, Raising Hope, Rules of Engagement, Supernatural, Two and a Half Men and my absolute favorite, Psych. Unfortunately Psych never seems to get a regular time slot on any particular channel here in Canada, so this is a show I have to watch online, which is too bad, as it is by far my favorite show over the past 5 seasons.

Both the wife and I have been watching Burn Notice since they started airing it here in Canada last season on Showcase. They have just started airing season 3 last week, and its always circled on our Tuesday night calender.

Then there is The Looney Tunes Show which is an update of all the Looney Tunes characters including Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. I had initially stayed away from this one, as I was expecting it to be dreadfully awful, and after hearing the voice of Bugs Bunny in a preview clip, I was sure there was no way I could sit though an entire episode. But after watching a few episodes with my son, we are now both hooked. I am even getting used to the new voice of Bugs.

My guilty pleasure is Attack of the Show on G4 Tech TV. I have been watching the show since the early days when it was called The Screen Savers and featured Leo Laporte as one of its hots. I used to prefer its 10 pm time slot, as it seemed I would always be looking for something to watch around that time. With its new 4 pm time slot, I am very ofter not even home before its over, and sadly I still don't own a DVR. I am still using my 4 VHS machines to record all my shows.

And lastly, there is a listing for The Comedy Central Roast: Roast of Charlie Sheen on September 19th. I will definitely have to tune it to this train wreck!

Then there is the list of 40+ cancelled shows, most of which I'll be happy to see go. I will miss S#"! My Dad Says and Mad Love, as I enjoyed both. And two more shows which I never actually saw on TV, but checked out online and though were great; CHAOS, and The Paul Reiser Show have also been cancelled. I have to wonder, if these shows had actually been given a chance for an audience to find them, would they have been cancelled, or do I just enjoy watching crap!?

Of the 47 new shows that premired last season, just 9 survived and made it to a second season. Those shows are: Blue Bloods, Bob's Burgers, Body of Proof, Harry's Law, Hawaii Five-O, Mike & Molly, Nikita, Raising Hope, and Secret Millionaire. Raising Hope is the one returning show that I am looking forward to, as it is probably my favorite of last seasons crop of shows.

Little Golden Book Monday #151

Today's Little Golden Book is another 2011 release, and yet another SpongeBob Squarepants book. This one is titled Top of the Class! In this story we see Plankton, owner of the Chum Bucket restaurant, looking to steal the secret Krabby Patty formula from SpongeBob, putting the Krusty Krab out of business - once and for all. Plankton tricks SpongeBob into attending his fry school, where he promises SpongeBob a degree in pattyology! Thankfully Plankton's plans don't go as planned, and the Krabby Patty formula remains a secret!
I still get a kick out of watching SpongeBob Squarepants episodes with my son. The series celebrated its tenth anniversary on July 17, 2009. SpongeBob was renewed for a ninth season on January 3, 2011. So far the series has aired 304 individual episodes and we watched a ton of them back in July during the 7 day, 150 hour, marathon of SpongeBob Square Pants on Nick TV Canada.

TV Week Fall Preview 2011 - Part 1

It's that time of year when those of us who are addicted to television get excited about all the new TV shows as well as look forward to the return of our old favorites. We also mourn the loss of those shows that didn't make it to the new fall season. I was going to do a list of what I liked from last year and which shows were still on etc, but unfortunately, I didn't do my list last season (I must have been too excited watching all the new shows to sit and write a post).

Last weeks issue of TV Week (for the week of Sept 10-16) takes a look at the 50 new shows for this fall season. Here is a list of the ten shows I will be tuning in to and checking out this fall (I'll give each show a rating out of 5 for how much I am looking forward to it - 5 being the ones I am most excited about):

PAN AM (1) - A big ticket drama which follows a quartet of comely stewardesses on the prestigious Pam Am airline during the early 1960's, an era when air travel was still fun and glamorous, and being a stewardess was a passport to international adventure. I am not a big fan of drama, but the subject matter seems interesting, so we'll see if I am able to stick with it after the first episode.

TERRA NOVA (2) - Exec producer Steven Spielberg returns to familiar territory with this much-anticipated series set in 2149. Humanity flees a dying earth entering a "time portal" that sens them millions of year into the past, where they begin colonizing the prehistoric planet. I used to enjoy Land of the Lost as a youngster, and Jurassic Park was lots of fun. But, I fear this will be given the "Lost" treatment and become to tangled in plot instead of just being a fun weekly bit of entertainment.

2 BROKE GIRLS (3) - The show follows a pair of NYC waitresses who work at a dingy diner alongside its new owner, a horny Russian cook and an elderly cashier. If its funny, it could end up being interesting.

LAST MAN STANDING (3) - Tim Allen retreads familiar ground in this half-hour sitcom about manly Mike Baxter, a husband and father of three daughters whose life is dominated by women. When his wife returns to work after years of being a stay-at-home mom, Mike is further emasculated when he actually has to do some parenting. Doesn't sound like there is much new here, but I'll give Tim Allen 30 minutes to convince me to come back the second week.

NEW GIRL (2) - Jessica Day's recent breakup has left her single, despondent and homeless. With nowhere to live, this lovely neurotic young woman becomes the new roommate to a trio of sloppy single guys, who ineffectually attempt to drag her out of her post-breakup misery. This show is getting lots of praise, so I might give it a try, but it is sounding a little to much like a 'chick flick' for my liking.

UP ALL NIGHT (2) - Another show about the father becoming a stay-at-home dad when the wife goes back to work. Been there, done that... but it does star Christina Applegagte, and after watching her for 11 seasons on Married With Children, I am fan enough to check out her now show.

SUBURGATORY (2) - A family moves from Manhattan to a bucolic suburb full of big-haired, silicone-boobed soccer moms. Big hair and soccer moms... could be worth tuning in.

CHARLIE'S ANGELS (1) - A reboot of the jiggly T&A cop show from the 70's. I may tune in, or I may now. I just know I won't enjoy it as much as I did as a 10 year old boy!

HOW TO BE A GENTLEMAN (3) - Pretentious magazine columnist Andrew Calrson, pines for a more-civilized bygone era. When his editor threatens to fire him if he doesn't put a modern, sexy twist on his etiquette column, Andrew hires his one-time bully, Bert to teach him how to be manly. Sounds like it could be one of the sillier shows this season.

HAPPILY DIVORCED (5) - Based on her real-life marriage, former Nanny star Fran Drescher stars as a woman named Fran - again - shows husband confesses he's gay. Since this is a sitcom, they get divorced but tight finances causes them to continue to live together. I have downloaded the first few episodes back in July, and have liked what I have seen so far. Its just a fun and silly show.

Of the ten new shows I am going to check out, there is just one I rated a 5, three 3's, four 2's and two 1's. So, it looks like this could be a pretty lame season for new shows, unless there are some real surprises as the season gets underway. And there isn't much of interest waiting in the wings for the mid season replacement shows either. Thankfully a bunch of my favorites are coming back. I'll have more on that on Tuesday when I look at the Returning Series issue.

Here is a full grid of new shows. Click on it to make full size.

Let me know what you are looking forward to tuning in to this fall, in the comments.

Little Golden Book Monday #150

Today's Little Golden Book is I'm A Monster Truck. I had seen this one on Amazon a while back as an upcoming release for 2011, but had never seen it in a store. While grocery shopping the other day, I saw a display of Little Golden Books in the magazine isle, and among the books, were two that were on my wish list, this one, and a Sponge Bob book that I didn't have yet. They are both in my collection now.
This one reminds me of the picture books my son likes to get from the library. There are full page illustrations which seem a little different than the usual Little Golden Book illustrations, and there is very little text. I'm especially fond of the green 'Godzilla' truck on the front cover.