How I Met Your Mother: "The Murtough List"

On the latest episode, Ted decides to add laser tag to his "Murtough List." This is a list of those things that he feels "he is just too old for this sh... stuff." In a flashback Ted shows several different things he has added to the list, like the infamous beer bong. Waking up verrry hungover, Ted decided to put together the list. Then of course, Barney, always worthy of a challenge, pledges to do everything on Ted's list in one 24 hour period. He rushes off to the bathroom and pierces his ear (which promptly becomes infected), sleeps over at a friend's on a borrowed futon rather than get a hotel room.

The next day Barney is a bit stiff and his ear is starting to ache, but he makes Ted promise to break into the laser tag place and toilet paper the joint (Ted immediately put laser tag on the list). Barney meanwhile helps friends move from their 6th floor walkup when they move in exchange for pizza and beer. Robin says she thought the "movers" were actually robbing the place because they were in such a hurry and left all the pictures on the walls. Barney meanwhile injures his knee.

All through this, Marshall is teaching Lily's kinder-tots how to play basketball (Lily sees this as prep work for when Marshall becomes a daddy). Marshall runs the kids ragged as her yells at them to shape up and be winners.

Barney attends an all-night rave with Lily as his witness ("Someone gave me some aspirin, but I don't think it was aspirin!" whimpers Barney). Marshall's team of under-sized ball players plays another school and gets beat severely, (53-0 by the first half). Marshall says later that the other team got even taller (you see huge players running around Marshall's rugrats). One even turned into a teen wolf (a la Michael J. Fox).

Barney in the end gives up on completing the Murtough list, but Ted convinces that they are really not getting old because "Murtough always said that he was too old for that stuff, but then he would go out and do more stuff." Ted tells Barney that they are going to T-P the laser tag arena and Barney cheers, then says "and then we go to the hospital" as he winces in pain.

Heroes Latest Episode: Into Asylum

Claire and Nathan land in Mexico. Peter and Angela Petrelli land in an alley. Syler visits Danko and they decide to "pool their resources." Danko tries to reel in Noah because of his 20 years experience rounding up the heroes. Noah suggests to Danko that Sylar is in Washington, but Danko assigns the capture of Angela Petrelli rather than having Sylar slip through Noah's fingers again. Claire pawns a necklace Noah gave to her for some fast cash and Nathan tries to increase their stake with a drinking game against a group of drunken american college students.

Danko receives a phone call from Sylar that the Hero he is hot on the trail of is a shapeshifter, who escapes by assuming the form of a janitor and runs out of an underground garage losing Danko and his henchmen on the rainy streets of D.C. Nathan, meanwhile, loses at the game and loses their money. Claire attempts to win back their money by increasing the stakes.

Danko's Deal With The Devil

Danko confronts Sylar who convinces him that he is just one photo on the board, but Danko can round up all the heroes with Sylar's assistance. Peter, meanwhile. prays in a church where he and his mother Angela seek sanctuary. Danko's men enter the church searching for the Petrellis, but Noah finds them and tells the men that Angela and Peter are gone.

Sylar, along with Danko find the shapeshifter right at the local bar that Sylar deduced he would find him and points him out to Danko: "I think you'll recognize him." The shapeshifter spots them and moves off to the bar while Danko and Sylar discuss why he took the persona he has, and Danko notices that he is gone again. But they find him again, and capture the shapeshifter, and with Sylar moving in to do his usual operation, Danko asks if he can "do it, without, you know?" So a grinning Sylar leans in and stares intently at the frightened shapeshifter who has assumes Sylar's shape.

Angela convinces Peter that they have to visit her sister. Claire and Nathan decide to return to the states. Danko shows Noah Sylar's dead body with a knife in the back of his head, leading Noah to believe that Sylar has finally been vanquished.

Later, a female operative sits in Danko's car with him and transforms back into Sylar. "It will make it easier for us to operate if everyone thinks I'm dead" says Sylar as he checks his face to see that he has this new very interesting ability.

How I Met Your Mother: Cool Internet Tie-Ins

If you are a fan of the show How I Met Your Mother, you know all about the websites that the writers of the show have put up on the internet. Here's a list of the websites associated with the show in the past:

TedMosbyIsAJerk.com
BarneysVideoResume.com
MysteriousDrX.com

The "Ted Mosby Is A Jerk" website was a big part of one episode where one of the many women that Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) had screwed over put up the website as she believed she had been dating Ted Mosby. Barney of course had told her that he was Ted. When the woman confronts Barney (still calling him Ted), he realizes the situation (that he can stick it to his buddy Ted), he yells to the patrons in a restaurant "I'm Ted Mosby and I am a terrible, terrible person!" He insists the girl keep the website running and you can visit the website to this day.

Barney Finds CanadianSexActs On The Web

In a recent episode, one character, Robin (Cobie Smulders) tells the group about an encounter with an unnamed Canadian celebrity who tried to talk her into doing a sex act that she was too embarrassed to tell them about. They decide to try to guess and Barney takes a look at the website CanadianSexActs.org, another site the writers have come up with. The website is all good clean fun and looks like it is a government run information website. Marshall asks "Dot org?" To which Barney replies, "They're just tring to get that information out there."

Did Robin Scherbatsky Do A "Full Mountie" With Bryan Adams?

The gang tries to figure out what the reluctant Robin refused to do and who the famous Canadian was that propositioned her. Using the website, they ask if she "did a Reverse Rick Moranis, with Rick Moranis" or maybe she did A "Full Mountie" With Bryan Adams. If you visit the website, CanadianSexActs.org you'll find a very humorous list of "sex acts" like an "Old King Clancy" (that's the name of this episode of the series), a "Sticky Flapjack", and a "Newfoundland Lobster Trap" among many others. Thumbs up to How I Met Your Mother for another great tie-in.

But who did Robin do this with and WHAT WAS THE ACT? You have to watch the show to find that out.

Star Trek (2009) Opens May 8th: The Prequel

Are you looking forward to the new Star Trek flick due out in May? It has quiently been gaining steam as geeks and freaks get prepared to camp out for the premiere. I won't be curled up in my sleeping bag waiting for the big day, but I will probably be one of the first to see it. I'm a big Heroes fan and I'm looking forward to seeing what Zachary Quinto (Sylar on Heroes) does with the Spock character. Star Trek legend, Leonard Nimoy also stars (I thought he was going to play Spock's old man) and Chris Pine will take on William Shatner's role as Captain James Tiberius Kirk. All this of course happens pre-Star Trek, the series from the 1960s when the world was introduced to Gene Roddenberry's intrepid crew of the Enterprise.

The premise of the movie, in case you don't know, is about what happens while Kirk and Spock are still cadets at Starfleet Academy. The character of Captain Christopher Pike is also brought back, played by Bruce Greenwood. Pike is the Captain who is imprisioned by aliens using mind control in the classic Trek episode, The Cage. A lot of the old familiar characters are back, Bones (the Doctor McCoy), the space receptionist, er, communications officer Uhura, Scotty, the engineer, Checkov and even Winona Ryder pops in as Amanda Grayson.

Plot?

So far, all we have is that the movie will be "A chronicle of the early days of James T. Kirk and his fellow USS Enterprise crew members".

David Letterman Marries Longtime Girlfriend Regina Lasko!

He finally did it! David Letterman finally has tied the knot with Regina Lasko, the late-night comedian's longtime girlfriend since 1986. The couple secretly wed at a courthouse near Letterman's Montana ranch on March 19, 2009.

"I had avoided getting married pretty good for, like, 23 years, and I -- honestly, whether this happened or not -- I secretly felt that men who were married admired me ... like I was the last of the real gunslingers," Letterman said in a prepared statement. The couple's son, five-year-old Harry, also attended the ceremony. According to Letterman, he almost missed it, as his truck got stuck in the mud and Dave had to hike back to the house to get his car in order to make it to church on time.

"So then we get in the car and Harry says, 'Are we still going into town?' and I said, 'Yes, we are,' and he gets very upset because Mom had told him if I wasn't back in an hour, the deal was off." When asked why it took them so long to get married and, of course, Dave's answer was "is we wanted to make sure we had the prenup just right," he joked. On his show, Late Night With David Letterman, just two days before the courthouse wedding, he was flirting like crazy with Julia Roberts, who was teasing him about his unmarried status.

All that Tube Squad can say is, a big congrats Dave and Regina (and Harry). I've been watching Letterman since his morning show and thought he would never let any woman make him an honest man, so Kudos to Mr. and Mrs. Letterman. Dad's mom must be very happy and relieved!

Hiro's Got His Powers Back! Well, Sort Of...

I just finished watching Heroes and it looks like Hiro has finally recovered his powers. But not quite. Hiro and Ando were at the home of Matt Parker's ex-wife, Janice, and alerting her that her infant son was in danger. Janice of course doesn't believe them until Hiro asks if Janice has noticed if her baby was "special" which she cannot deny. She has her baby touch the TV screen and it comes on by itself. As Hiro and Ando explain that her child is being hunted by government agents, there's a knock on the door.

Toddler Touch And Go

And it's some generic government types asking that Janice and her son accompany them as Matt Parker is in custody again and they need her and her son for questioning. She pretends that the baby is at the babysitters and that she would take them to him, but the agents decide to barge in and the military-clad army guys scope the house. Ando zaps one of them but is knocked unconscious. Hiro cradles young Matt who touches Hiro's cheek. Hiro then notices he has stopped time and he is elated at receiving his powers again. He starts calling the child "toddler touch and go" and tries to teleport the baby, himself and a prone Ando to safety, but he finds he can't. He runs outside and gets a wheelbarrow to carry Ando to safety, and pushes him 12 miles to safety. At this time Hiro re-animates everyone and explains what just happened to a surprised Ando. Little Toddler Touch and Go jumpstarted only some of Hiro's powers.

Rebel Is Revealed!

For the last several episodes, someone has been text messaging Clair and contacting Traci Strauss using the code name "Rebel" who helps Traci, Matt and Dr. Suresh escape from Building 26, where several of the Heroes have been stashed by Danko (including the Puppeteer, Eric Doyle). Traci is contact through a bank machine and provided money and a note to go to Union Station, where she is met by Rebel, who turns out to be...

I can't tell you that! You need to watch Heroes to find out who the mysterious Rebel is, but from the clues I've provided (or if you too just watched Cold Snap) you should be able to figure it out.

Cramer vs Stewart: No Love Lost On Brawl Street

Did you get a chance to catch Jon Stewart tearing CNBC's Jim Cramer apart when Cramer put in a guest appearance on The Daily Show? He's a link to the YouTube clip. Poor old Jim was made to look like a corporate shill for the guys taking all the money. I loved it, but winced at times as Jon Stewart really wasn't too kind. Funny, but a little more strident than he usually is when he skewers these guys.

The last week saw Stewart pointedly slinging barbs at Cramer's network, CNBC, for being irresponsible and leading people to believe that the network should have shown better and more balanced coverage prior to the recent financial stock market meltdown. "I understand you want to make finance entertaining, but it's not a [expletive] game," Stewart said during the recorded interview. "When I watch that, I can't tell you how angry that makes me." That's sort of like what I was saying in my post about CNBC called Enough With CNBC's Bickering Banshees. As Jon Stewart concludes, the stock market is not a game, reporting on the stock market shouldn't be "jazzed up" for better entertainment value. I think it should be about imparting good, valuable information in a timely manner and not doing whatever is needed to goose the network's ratings.

Unfortunately Jim Cramer became the face in this dispute and tried to made some points, but Stewart was having no part of it. I'm not defending Cramer's "BU-Ya!" style of trying to LOUDLY convince people to buy, buy, buy, but Stewart should also be targeting the fatcats at AIG for their bloated bonus structure.

Bruce Willis Ties The Knot

Well, may wonders never cease. Bruce Willis has finally gotten married again, this time to his long-time girlfriend, actress Emma Heming. The small wedding ceremony was attended by ex-wife Demi Moore and her husband, Aston Kutcher, as well as Willis and Moore's daughters, Rumer, 20, Scout, 17, and Tallullah Belle, 15, and took place at the actor's Caribbean hideaway at Turks & Caicos.

The ceremony took place on saturday, which coincided with Willis' birthday. He is now 54 and his lovely bride is 32. They have been together for a year after being introduced through mutual friends. When the couple return to California, they will also have a civil ceremony. Heming, now the new Mrs. Willis, was born on the island of Malta, and she had been a spokesmodel for La Senza lingerie and worked for Victoria's Secret.

TMZ.com Is Getting Old Fast

The good folks over at TMZ.com have a little TV show that they want you to take a look at. Basically it is supposed to be about what goes on each day as different celebrity stories getting "pitched" to the managing editor of the website from the young staff members. They say things like "We got Justin Timberlake and Jessica Beal trying avoid getting their picture taken leaving a restaurant" or some washed up minor celeb doing something stupid while the camera jockeys try to bait them into saying or doing stupid things. The so-called "staff members" look like they are out-of-work actors who try to get in zingers about such-and-such a celebrity. The show is incredibly tepid and some of the people pitching the story ideas come across as being really not very bright. The show seems to put the surfer dude-type guys front and center, no doubt to draw in the hyper tween girlie market.

The show is really without any redeeming factors. The cameras do quick cuts and repeats foolish comments and scenes made by celebs and the paps who follow them. They do classy things like baiting fat people and those with eating disorders by asking "What's a good place to eat in town?" and such other witty banter. Most of the famous just breeze past the paparazzi but sometimes they get a good comment or a picture but mostly it's just minor league celebs (think Dog The Bounty Hunter and washedup rappers) and a lame-ass narrator making goofy comments inter spliced with clips being set up in the "editorial meeting." I'm not sure how long the shows been on, but I think a thumbs down is in order. Hopefully, the website will stick to their knitting and let this ill-conceived show disappear quietly into the night.

Enough Already With CNBC's Bickering Banshees

I used to love watching CNBC's various shows as they discussed the latest moves of the big money people and trials and tribulations of the stock market. I even have grown able to listen to Jim Cramer as he screams at the camera (buy!BUY!BUY!!!) or (sell! SELL! SELL!!). What I do not like is when they have two or three of their so-called "commentators" discussing the latest twists and turns and policy decisions and they leap at the chance to interrupt and talk over each other ALL THE TIME. There is nothing so off-putting as trying to listen to someone make a point and then someone else snap at the first words out of the other person's mouth and trying to dominate the conversation. People - Just Shut Up And Let The Other Guy Make His Or Her Point. There's no need to jump all over someone all day long and every time they open their mouth.

One guy really gets on my nerves is Charlie Gasparino. I love his stuff. He can go from intelligent commentary to arrogant SOB in seconds flat when he spars with various CNBC regulars and seems to take a lot of glee in trying to shout down Dennis Kneale (Gasparino displays an almost venomous dislike for the guy) as well as Steve Liesman. Charlie needs to chill. He can make points without trying to destroy the other people who disagree with his opinion. That's right, OPINION. That's what commentary is. They are there to provide commentary, not a verbal brawl. It's supposed to be a talk show about money - that's it.

And get rid of Larry Kudlow. He is even more annoying than Jim Cramer. Kudlow is so much the creaky voice of the republican party and basic right wing viewpoints that it gets in the way of the actual story when he is on. I don't give a crap if he was a member of Ronald Reagan's government, Kudlow is another one who just needs to shut up and listen. His conservative viewpoint was soundly beaten in the last election and if he is doing a show that's supposed to provide NEWS, then he needs to tone down his rhetoric and stop harping about "bailout nation" and how Barack Obama's election foretells the end of the world. Well maybe ol' Larry needs to realize that a news program is about the news. His old show got cancelled because no one wanted to watch him spout off and rant about the dangers of the democratics taking power. All he does is yell his commentary and try to push a conservative agenda as he introduces people and talk over others when they make an opposing viewpoint. If he couldn't cut it as the lead on a show devoted to conservative views, he shouldn't be doing it on a financial news show.

Basically, I want to watch CNBC to see what's going on in the markets and what companies are making news. I have absolutely NO interest in watching a cage match with 5-10 participants all trying to out-shout each other. It seems CNBC loves this type of format, sort of if it "makes for good TV", but it makes for lousy reporting and a poor quality news show.

Scrumptious Robin Meade Lights Up Morning Express

Okay, I admit it. I have a bit of a crush on Robin Meade. She is the lead anchor on Morning Express with Robin Meade and since I've changed my hours for work, I've just discovered the joys of watching Robin on The Morning Express. Have you had a chance to catch this morning news show? It is the usual CNN TV fare, but I can't help but be mesmerized by the luscious lead. Now I don't usually gush about hot female news anchors, but Robin needs to drop everything and rush to my side. Not going to happen? Well, I guess a guy can dream.


She got her start as a beauty pagent contestant (she was Miss Ohio in 1992) and is a pretty good singer too. Take a look at Meade as she belts out When Will I Be Loved at The BIG 89's Newsapalooza. So the girl can sing, she's drop dead gorgeous and funny. So why aren't you watching this show? I just can't tear myself away when I have to leave for work. Okay, I guess I can stop gushing now. But Robin, if you ever read this, I'm waiting for your call.

Natasha Richardson 1963-2009

Very sadly, the news is that actress Natasha Richardson passed away from head injuries suffered in a skiing accident at Mont Tremblant, Quebec, Canada. Richardson, the wife of actor Liam Neeson, and daughter of actress Vanessa Redgrave, had been skiing when she fell and struck her head. At the time she made light of the accident, but an hour later 911 was called because of complaints of headache. She was rushed to a Montreal hospital and airlifted to New York where she died the next day. Her death followed a fall on a beginner's run. After the fall, Ms. Richardson appeared to be okay, as she joked with her skiing instructor. But her condition soon deteriorated, and it's been confirmed that she had suffered a brain injury.

Ms. Richardson comes from a long line of celebrated actors of the stage and screen. Her mother, Vanessa Redgrave, has won two Emmy awards, a Tony Award, two Golden Globes and an Oscar, her father Tony Richardson, an Oscar-winning director, her sister Joely Richardson, a Golden Globe nominee, and her grandfather Michael Redgrave an Oscar nominee. Natasha and Vanessa Redgrave were reportedly set to appear together in a revival of Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music on Broadway in 2010.

Natasha Richardson is survived by her husband, Liam Neeson, and the couples' two sons, ages 12 and 13.

Dr. Gregory House Rules!

Are you a big time House fan? Can't get enough of Hugh Laurie? I've avoided getting the House contagion for all these years, but I've started to display symptoms of being smitten with the show. Back in the day, I loved watching St. Elsewhere and of course, ER. They weren't a "disease of the week" type of show that I just hated. They had engaging characters and a huge amount of humour mixed in with the pathos. I even was a major fan of MASH when Alan Alda took over the show and it became all preachy.

As far as House goes, I'm starting to watch it out of the corner of my eye as I'm reading (I'm a voracious reader as well as a bigtime TV watcher. Gotta get a life, right?) and I'm finding it better than I thought it would be. House and his team solve medical cases that baffle lesser doctors. The students (it's a teaching hospital) are always challenged by House and his tough love approach, but the student doctors are also interesting and able to hold their own. I especially like Omar Epps' portrayal as Dr. Eric Foreman, House's protege.

Hugh Laurie has always been hilarious in my eyes because he was on the various incarnations of Blackadder with Rowan Atkinson. What? You've never seen any of the Blackadder shows? And I thought I led a sheltered life. Any way, Hugh Laurie is english and he plays the heavily medicated Dr. Gregory House (with a flawless american accent) who is brilliant at diagnosing illnesses and diseases of various patients who cross his path on a weekly basis. Not usually my cup of tea, but then again, the House character is so layered and subtle that my usual qualms are easily dismissed. Well acted and shot, the series is always one step ahead. You don't really know what's going to happen next. I'm considering buying the series to watch it from the beginning.

Here's the series available from Amazon if you're interested: House: Seasons 1 - 4 Collection.

The series is now in it's fifth season and still going strong. Sometimes I feel like I need to kick myself for missing a great series like this. It took until the 3rd season of The X-Files before I finally succumbed to the charms of Mulder and Scully.

Not Model Behaviour For Tyra Banks' Cattle Call

What the heck happened in Manhattan on Saturday? Tyra Bank's show called " >America's Next Top Model" had an open cattle call and thousands and thousands of model wannabes showed up in downtown Manhattan hoping to become the Next Big Thing. The premise was that the applicants had to be "under 5 foot seven" as Tyra wants to "re-define" what is considered beautiful.

Take a look at the Youtube video of America's Next Top Model Riot. A car parked across the street starts billowing smoke and the crowd begins to move and some think it's a bomb scare. The police presence is woefully ill-prepared for the swarms of models and hangers-on and one guy decides it's the perfect time to start swinging at the cops. Stupid. Six people are injured and three more are arrested.

Maybe the show should try having the girls submit video tapes rather than showing up and waiting (some slept in sleeping bags overnight to keep their places in line). After a melee like this, Tyra might want to reconsider how they cast for the show. Luckily the police were quick thinking and took down the troublemakers before it became even more serious.

What The Frack? Galactica Drifts Away Into Outer Space

It's over. Battlestar Galactica has been cut adrift. Have you been watching this show? I'm old enough to remember the original series which aired back in 1978 with Lorne Greene (Pa from Bonanza) and Dirk Benedict (Face from The A-Team) as Lt Starbuck, and Richard Hatch as Captain Apollo (he was on EVERYTHING at one point, Fantasy Island, Love Boat, Riptide, T.J. Hooker, Dynasty, Murder She Wrote). Hatch was omnipresent on television. You can pick up a copy of the 21 episodes of the Battlestar Galactica - The Complete Epic Series on DVD to see what the new series was based on.

In case you don't know, the premise was that a single battlestar, the Galactica, survived after the human race was attacked by a robot race (the Cylons), bent on human extermination. The Galactica, along "with it's rag-tag fleet" sets off to find a mythical place called Earth, where one of the lost tribes of man settled many millennia ago. The Cylons were always waiting to attack and the Galactica and it's crew always lived to stumble on and fight again another day.

Old Lorne Greene and his boys would saddle up and go into town, oops, thats Bonanza. Okay, the "battlestar" was pretty much the Ponderosa in space, and the boys would go and fight the hated Cylons. The Cylons were pretty cool at the time, humanoid robots with a light-emitting diode that went left-to-right and back again across where their eyes should have been, and they always said the same line - "By your command" in a cheesy robot-speak. But, hey, I wanted to have that costume for Halloween sooo bad. Never got it. In the new series, the Cylons were humanoid robots, but they looked human. Not that much of a Halloween choice.

Edward James Olmos (remember him as the intense Captain on Miami Vice?), played the intense Captain Adama on the latest incarnation of the Galactic franchise. James Palmer played his son, "Apollo" Adama, the hotshot starfighter pilot, who didn't see eyeball to eyeball with the old man. Olmos always had a few tricks up his sleeve as the Cylons slowly infitrated the crew as "sleeper" agents. And what was that all about? One day a crew member would realize they were a robot? I missed most of the 73 episodes of the series but there are some people who absolutely swear BG is the best thing on TV these days. That's for you to decide. If you are interested in buying the series, you need to start at the beginning with Battlestar Galactica (2003 Miniseries), the miniseries which breathed new life into the Cylon threat. THEN, watch the season 1-4 in turn.

Watchmen Graphic Novel Flying Off The Shelf

With the success of the newly released Watchmen movie ($85 million and counting), it is hardly surprising that the graphic novel that inspired the film is absolutely flying off the shelves. Over at Amazon it is currently the number one bestseller. If you are considering picking up a copy of the novel, here's a link to the Watchmen graphic novel. Personally, I'm in the middle of reading a copy that a co-worker lent me and it makes for interesting reading. Take a look.

Race To Witch Mountain Tops Box Office

The Rock is in yet another hit movie. "Don't go in the pimped out fridge Jack" he says was he enters a fridge that leads to the aliens lair. Pimped out fridge? Interesting idea. The movie breaths new life into the old Witch Mountain franchise. There was that movie way back in 1975 called "Escape to Witch Mountain" with 2 orphaned kids with extraordinary powers being chased by a rotten millionaire. Doesn't that sound suspiciously like a plotline straight out of Heroes? The kids were played by Ike Eisenmann and Kim Richards (whatever happened to her? I remember a reaaally cheesy movie called "Tuff Turf", but then I think she gave up the acting spotlight.) But wait! There they are in the movie! Richards and Eisenmann are given cameo roles as a sheriff and a waitress in the remake. Anyway, old Eddie Albert (of Green Acres fame) helped little Tia and Tony "escape" from evil Aristotle Bolt (played by Ray Milland).

"Return From Witch Mountain" was the followup in 1978 with Kim Richards, Ike Eisenmann and Eddie Albert reprising their respective roles as Tony gets taken prisoner by an always delightfully sinister Christopher Lee as the evil Dr. Gannon and his partner in crime, Bette Davis! I'm not making this stuff up.

Anyway, back to Race To Witch Mountain. It looks like a good romp, with good special effects and the Rock (sorry, I mean Dwayne Johnson, as he's a serious Actor now) playing the role of cabbie Jack Bruno, helping the two kids, Sara (played by AnnaSophia Robb) and Seth (Alexander Ludwig) avoid a terminator of sorts and various shady government agent guys.

Well, the Disney (yes it's a Disney flick...) film opened to the tune of $25 million, knocking The Watchmen out of top spot.

According To Jim Winds Down After 8 Years

Have you been watching According To Jim? The show has been on for eight years! But it looks like the sitcom is drawing to a close this year. Twelve episodes of the Jim Belushi led series begin airing March 24th and then - that's it. Of course, I'll be missing Courtney Thorne-Smith (Jim's wife on the series), but knowing her track record, Thorne-Smith will land on her feet. She has had a regular gig since 1992 when she started her 5 year run on Melrose Place as Alison Parker, then her Ally McBeal role as Georgia Thomas for 3 more years and then right into According To Jim in 2001 opposite Belushi as Cheryl.

Kimberly Williams-Paisley, who played Cheryl's sexy sister Dana on the series left the show at the start of the eight season and is expecting her 2nd child (should be this April). Cheryl and Dana's brother Andy (Jim's partner in most of the shows shinanigans) was played by Larry Joseph Campbell.

And what about Jim Belushi? Well, Jim is always busy and is currently finishing up some voicework for Dorothy of Oz a takeoff on the Wizard of Oz. Belushi voices the Cowardly Lion in the animated flick which should be out this year. Next year Belushi appears in The Ghost, a Roman Polanski-helmed film which stars Pierce Brosnan and Ewan McGregor.

Okay, What's Up With Heroes?

Have you been watching the show Heroes? I've been watching since the beginning, and this season hasn't really measured up IMHO. At the start of the season, the good guys became kinda bad and the bad guys, well, you know.

Claire (the cheerleader), tried to be a butt-kicking aniti-hero, but that just didn't work out for her. In the last episode she was targeted by Nathan Petrelli's group but Claire was warned by a tect message from Rebel that her "free pass" had lapsed. This was because Emile Danko had discovered her biological father could fly. He did this by pushing Nathan Petrelli out a window and watching as Nathan stopped falling and fly off to safety.

Oh, in case you haven't picked up Heroes seasons one and two, here's a couple of links that will allow you to do so.
Heroes - Season One
Heroes: Season 2

We Need More Drew Carey Shows!

I just finished watching an old episode of The Drew Carey Show. Like sooo many, I was a big fan of Drew back in the day when he worked at Winfred Lauder and battled Mimi and hung out at the Warsaw Tavern with his buddies, Lewis, Oswald and Kate. Drew's show aired from 1995 until 2004 (9 years, quite a long run).

Here's a list of the various characters who were on the show:
Drew Carey - played naturally enough by Drew Carey. Lovable loser. An everyman trying desperately to get ahead.
Lewis Kiniski - lanky Ryan Styles played the oddball Lewis. He and his roommate Oswald were hilarious.
Oswald Lee Harvey - Diedrich Bader was the slightly dim buddy who always hung out with Lewis.
Kate O'Brien - lovely Krista Miller was great as Kate, Drew's longtime crush and only female member of the group.
Mimi Bobeck - what can be said about Kathy Kinney's performance as Mimi, Drew's arch-nemesis and co-worker. With WAY too much makeup and outlandish costumes, she made Drew's existence a living hell. Mimi eventually married Drew's brother (who dressed in women's clothes) and they had a son they named King Augustus Antonio Carey.
Nigel Algernon Wick - Mr. Wick was Drew and Mimi's boss after the first season. Gleefully played by The Late, Late Show's Craig Ferguson, who is Scottish, Ferguson played villainous Mr. Wick as an English prat, always firing some unfortunate employee (usually named Johnson). Mr Wick also got Drew to marry him in order for Wick to remain in the country when his visa expired.
Here's a link if you are interested in buying the 1st season of the show. The Drew Carey Show - The Complete First Season.