The World of Television

Redeem yourself with "24" Rebroadcast this Sunday

Sat, 3 Jan 2009 16:54:36 -0500

The two-hour TV movie "24: Redemption" aired last November, designed to bridge the series's distant past (it's been off the air for nearly two years, thanks in part to the writers' strike) to the new season beginning this month. If you missed it, you've got another chance to tune in this Sunday night on FOX, at 8pm ET/PT, and catch up on Jack Bauer's story before "24" returns to weekly shows next weekend.

This two-hour movie, in realtime as with the past seasons of the series, takes Jack out of his (and our) familiar Los Angeles setting and plops him in a fictional, wartorn country in Africa, where warlords "recruit" children to armed service by force.

"Redemption" airs once more on FOX this Sunday night, but if you miss that showing, as well, you can still grab the DVD version, released just after the movie first aired. Either way, you'll want to watch this before FOX premieres the 7th season of "24" next Sunday and Monday, January 11th and 12th, in one of the network's four-hour premiereathons.

Heads up! New Year's Eve "True Blood" marathon!

Wed, 31 Dec 2008 01:11:51 -0500

I came late to the "True Blood" party, but I caught up as the first season of this new HBO drama ended this fall. If you've missed the boat so far, your chance is today; HBO2 is running the whole first season starting at 6pm ET. (If you get both east and west coast HBO feeds, you may have more than once chance to grab each episode.)

Set in a small Louisiana town, "True Blood" imagines a universe where vampires are real -- and "came out of the closet" two years ago. They don't want people to be afraid; they've switched from drinking people's blood to a new synthetic that's available commercially and is almost as good as the real thing.

Vampire stories are often thinly veiled stories about romance, or at least sex, and there's a fair amount of both in "True Blood." Anna Paquin as the small-town waitress, and Stephen Moyer as the newly arrived vampire she falls for, have a great on-screen chemistry, and do a fine job with their respective roles. There's also lots of anti-vampire prejudice, complete with parallels to the real world. (The "God Hates Fangs" sign is hard to miss.)

Season one is coming out on DVD soon (or just record it all tonight), and season two will air on HBO next year.

"Dead" Again

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 13:25:44 -0500

I'm always following entertainment news, and some of it makes me smile, but I think there was an actual "Squee!" when I heard the news that "Dead Like Me" is returning for a direct-to-DVD movie sequel. "Dead Like Me: Life After Death" will be released by MGM Home Entertainment on February 17th, 2009.

The TV series, which played on Showtime and still appears in reruns on the Sci-Fi Channel and HDNet, follows a girl named George who, upon her death by flaming space toilet, joins a team of reapers responsible for collecting people's souls when they die.

Ellen Muth returns as George, joined by Callum Blue, Cynthia Stevenson, and others from the TV series. Missing is Mandy Patinkin, the group's gruff leader. Patinkin went on to star in "Criminal Minds," but left that show after two seasons.

A nine-disc gift set of the complete "Dead Like Me" TV series is being released on February 17th, as well.

High-Def Netflix streaming, now on your TiVo

Mon, 8 Dec 2008 00:22:15 -0500

Excellent! Later today, TiVo is rolling out high-definition streaming Netflix service for any broadband-connected TiVo Series3, TiVo HD, or TiVo HD XL recorder. If you have an unlimited Netflix subscription that offers the Netflix Instant Queue for watching on a computer or other device, your HD-capable TiVo can now be that device.

http://www.tivo.com/netflix

Unfortunately, older TiVo models don't physically have the hardware to support the streaming method Netflix uses, or I'm sure TiVo would gladly make this feature available for the Series2, as well. At least you can still use Amazon Video On Demand and other video streaming on the older TiVos.

This makes it much less important for me to get one of the snazzy LG or Samsung Blu-ray Disc players I've been eyeing, with Netflix streaming capability. In fact, it makes that original plan a wasteful idea, since the TiVo I already own can do Netflix streaming for free; no need for me to pay extra for a BD player that can.

That's the best part of this. If you're already a Netflix subscriber, and you already have an HD-capable TiVo, you can now get instant gratification and watch any of a wide variety of movies Netflix offers, at no extra charge, right now, not after waiting for a disc in the mail.

Catch up on "Lost" at abc.com

Sun, 7 Dec 2008 23:14:29 -0500

Surely there are some folks who haven't been watching the J.J. Abrams hit "Lost" all along. Just for you, ABC has made the entire four-season run to date available for online viewing at abc.com. What better opportunity to catch up before the next season begins on January 21st?

ABC's new full-screen online episode player offers HD playback and closed captioning, and if you start now, and have lots of free time over the holidays, you could watch the first four seasons before the fifth begins.

Of course, if you're not into watching TV episodes on your computer, Amazon can put them back on your TV where they belong.