Posts Tagged ‘may 2008’

« Older Entries

The Poison Sky

Monday, July 6th, 2009

The poisonous Sontaran gases (creating the titular "poison sky") above Sylvia and Wilfred's street ignite as the flames from the Doctor's atmospheric converter spread globally.

“The Poison Sky” is the fifth episode of the fourth series (since revival) of British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast on BBC One on 3 May 2008. The episode features both old companion Martha Jones and the alien Sontarans. It is the second of a two part story, following “The Sontaran Stratagem”.

Plot

Synopsis

Following from the previous episode, Sylvia Noble (Jacqueline King) manages to free Wilfred Mott (Bernard Cribbins) from the car by smashing the window with an axe. The Doctor (David Tennant) sends Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) back to the TARDIS while he sets off to figure out what the Sontarans are up to. After studying the gas, UNIT determines that it will need to reach 80% density to become lethal. Elsewhere, Martha Jones’s clone (Freema Agyeman) informs the Sontarans of UNIT’s defence systems and helps them to teleport the TARDIS to their orbiting ship. Realising that he is trapped, the Doctor attempts to goad General Staal (Christopher Ryan) into revealing their plan: Staal is smart enough not to fall prey to this ploy, but the Doctor soon works out by himself that the Sontarans plan to use the Earth for their own benefit, since they are beginning to lose their long war with the Rutans. He also tricks Staal into moving the TARDIS out of the main war room, placing Donna in a position to help.

Against the Doctor’s advice, UNIT decides to use nuclear weapons against the Sontarans; however, Martha’s clone has covertly copied the launch codes, and stops every attempt they make to fire the weapons. This in itself shows a hidden agenda, since the Doctor knows a nuclear strike would not have harmed the Sontarans in the first place. This, combined with the unidentifiable elements in the gas, suggest that the Sontarans have an interest in keeping anything from disrupting the atmospheric conversion. At the same time, the Sontarans, under Commander Skorr “the Bloodbringer” (Dan Starkey), mobilize a contingent of troops to protect the factory. With the Sontarans’ ability to jam most conventional firearms by expanding the copper-lined bullets, the UNIT troops are quickly slaughtered and the factory is secured.

Luke Rattigan (Ryan Sampson) leaves the Sontaran mothership to gather his students, explaining that he plans to have the Sontarans take them to another planet and begin the human race anew. The students merely laugh him off, even when he brandishes a gun. When he returns to report his failure, the Sontarans likewise ridicule his efforts, admitting that they had planned to kill his students and never intended to take him anywhere. Rattigan teleports back to his mansion before they can kill him, and the Sontarans lock the teleport pods behind him. Back in his own quarters, he lies sobbing on the ground.

Meanwhile, the Doctor instructs Donna on how to reopen the teleport pods. As she makes her way through the ship, UNIT begins a counterattack, loading their weapons with non-copper bullets and using the aircraft carrier Valiant to clear the gas. The counterattack is a success, and the UNIT troops are able to put the Sontarans on the defensive. The distraction allows the Doctor to make his way to the cloning room where Martha is being held. Having figured out long before that the clone wasn’t the genuine article, he severs its connection to Martha, leaving it to die. Martha convinces the clone to betray the Sontarans in its last moments, and the clone reveals that the poison gas is actually food for Sontaran clones: they are converting the planet into a giant breeding world. With Donna’s help, the Doctor is able to reactivate the teleport pods, allowing him to rescue Donna, steal back the TARDIS, and teleport into Rattigan’s mansion.

With the terraforming equipment Rattigan’s students built, the Doctor builds his own atmospheric converter, igniting the atmosphere to clear out the poison gas as shown in the picture. However, he knows the Sontarans won’t accept defeat so easily, and teleports to their ship with the converter, planning to give them the choice between retreat or death. Staal chooses the latter, content with the knowledge that the Doctor will die with them. At the last moment, Rattigan teleports himself to the Sontaran ship and sends the Doctor back to Earth, sacrificing himself to destroy the Sontarans.

With the day saved, Martha says goodbye to Donna and the Doctor in the TARDIS and prepares to head home. However, before she can leave, the TARDIS suddenly springs to life, locking the doors and piloting itself to an unknown destination as the jar containing the Doctor’s severed hand bubbles.

Continuity

  • Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart is mentioned as being “stranded in Peru”, the first explicit mention of the character in the new series. Colonel Mace refers to him as “Sir Alistair”, implying he has received a knighthood since the events of Battlefield.
  • Just as Donna moves towards the TARDIS screen while the Doctor contacts the Sontarans, Rose Tyler briefly appears on the screen, silently calling out. This follows a similar silent cameo appearance in “Partners in Crime”. The same happens in “Midnight.”
  • The Valiant, the primary setting for the climax of “The Sound of Drums” and much of “Last of the Time Lords”, is seen again in this episode when it is used by UNIT to clear the poisonous gas from the atmosphere over the ATMOS factory. It is also equipped with a scaled down version of the Torchwood weapon that destroyed the Sycorax ship in “The Christmas Invasion”.
  • As the TARDIS traps Donna, Martha, and the Doctor at the end of the episode, the Doctor’s severed hand, last seen at the beginning of “Voyage of the Damned”, can be seen in a similar state of agitation it felt when the TARDIS materialised near it in the Torchwood episode “End of Days”.
  • In addition to the Sontarans, the Rutans are mentioned for the first time in the revived series.
  • Lachele Carl reprises her recurring role as Trinity Wells, a US newsreader, seen previously in the episodes “Aliens of London”, “World War Three”, “The Christmas Invasion” and “The Sound of Drums” and in Doctor Who spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures story Revenge of the Slitheen.
  • The Doctor asks Colonel Mace, “Are you my mummy?”, while wearing a gas mask – a line spoken by gas mask-wearing characters in “The Empty Child” / “The Doctor Dances”.
  • The episode is revisited in the series four episode “Turn Left”, where Jack Harkness and the remaining Torchwood team of Gwen Cooper and Ianto Jones stop the Sontarans in a parallel timeline. Harkness is transported to Sontar while Cooper and Jones are killed destroying the Sontaran ship.
  • The finale episode “Journey’s End” features a brief flashback of Luke’s sacrifice, among others, as the Doctor remembers all of those who have died for him.
  • The Doctor doubles back from calling Martha, Donna, and himself the “old team”, and calls them the “new team”. In Series 2’s “Doomsday”, Rose proclaims that the Doctor and herself are the “old team”.
  • A single remaining Sontaran from this story is the focus of The Sarah Jane Adventures story “The Last Sontaran”.

Production

This episode and the previous episode were filmed over five weeks, beginning in September 2007. Post-production was completed a week before the first part aired.

During production, director Douglas Mackinnon intended to have the episode’s climatic scene in the TARDIS show the moveable column in the center console move up and down much more rapidly than normal. However, when attempting to accomplish this, Mackinnon ended up breaking the prop, which took thirty minutes to repair.

When interviewed on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, Catherine Tate stated that she had been filming alongside ten actors playing Sontarans for two weeks before she realised that there were actors inside the Sontaran costumes. She had assumed the Sontarans “ran on electricity”. It was not until an actor removed his helmet to reveal his real face that she realised her mistake. She stated she was “freaked out” by this and said she “nearly died”.

When the Doctor interrupts the Sontarans’ transmission, animated footage from CBeebies’s part live action, part animationeco adventure show Tommy Zoom is brought up on screen featuring the villanous Polluto disguised as a magician and the heroic Tommy and his dog Daniel as his audience. Originally, the plan was to use Shaun the Sheep, but this fell through.

As in many previous episodes of the revived series, supposed BBC News 24 footage is used featuring reports of unfolding events. However, as with the more recent appearances of such footage in Doctor Who, the channel is simply captioned on screen as ‘News 24′ devoid of the BBC logo. Since this episode was produced, the BBC News 24 channel was rebranded in real life as BBC News.

Broadcast

Unofficial overnight figures indicated that “The Poison Sky” was watched by 5.9 million viewers, giving it a 32.5% share of the total television audience. The final consolidated figure was 6.53 million viewers. It was the second most watched programme of the day, being beaten by ITV1’s Britain’s Got Talent, which got 9.12 million viewers. It was the highest rated programme on BBC1 for the day and the 18th most watched of the week. The episode received an Appreciation Index score of 88 (considered “Excellent”).

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Zoey 101: Chasing Zoey

Monday, July 6th, 2009

Zoey 101: Chasing Zoey is a TV movie based on the Nickelodeon TV series, Zoey 101. It originally aired on May 2, 2008 and stars Jamie Lynn Spears as Zoey Brooks. Zoey101: Chasing Zoey is the fourth and final movie of the series. It was also the shows last two episodes. The movie more than double of the series’ average viewers when it drew about 7.3 million viewers.

Plot Summary

The movie is centered around PCA’s approaching prom and the characters issues leading up to it. It starts with Zoey’s boyfirend, James, giving her a locket with the inscription I love you – James. Zoey, however, is still unsure about how she feels about Chase. This leads to Zoey’s eventual break up with James. When she offers to return the necklace, James insists that she keep it. They each agree to remain friends. After this, James is not seen and it is unknown what became of him. Dateless for the prom, Zoey stubbornly refuses to attend. The night of prom Chase returns to PCA, and after making a clumsy entrance, Zoey and Chase share their first kiss. At the prom Zoey and Chase announce their relationship to their ecstatic friends. Zoey invites Chase to stay with her in Hawaii for the summer, which Chase of course gladly accepts..

Quinn and Logan decide to choose each other’s dates and pair each other up with Dustin and Stacey respectively so to not arouse any suspicion of them dating. At the prom their relationship is revealed when Stacey tries to kiss Logan. He unthinkingly declares he doesn’t want to kiss Stacey. Which leads to Logan and Quinn confessing their love for each other for the first time as well as their first kiss in public.

Wanting to drive Lisa to the prom, Michael gets a classic car from his father. Trouble comes when the car turns out to be a stick shift which Michael cannot drive. A mysterious Asian man (James Hong) claiming to be the lower school math teacher comes seemingly out of nowhere to help Michael learn. He has Michael learn by stomping grapes and stirring tuna, which both help Michael with the gas pedals and shifting the stick (A reference to “Karate Kid”). No one but Michael knows who this man is and at the end of the movie, Michael sees him on a bull and asks him to tell his girlfriend he helped him, but the man says he cannot because he does not exist. He disappears into the dark of the night, leaving Michael scared and confused.

Mark is crushed when his girlfriend, Brooke, dumps him saying he is not exciting enough. Michael tries to teach Mark how to drive stick using the same methods the Asian man taught him with, trying to take his mind off everything. Mark takes the wheel and hits an upset Stacey running out of the building. Her lisp is fixed as a result.

Lola is named head of the prom committee, but passes the work onto Stacey, while she relaxes. She agrees with her boyfriend, Vince to arrive to the prom “fashionably late,” they end up becoming lost in the woods due to unforeseen events with their taxi driver. With the aid of the nerds, Lola and Vince make it to the prom before it finishes.

The final scene of the series closes with the main cast dancing together in the resulting: Zoey and Chase, Logan and Quinn, Lola and Vince, Michael and Lisa, and Mark and Stacey.

Zoey One-o-Win Week

Heavy Marketing was announced to promote the new TV movie with a week long sweepstakes titled, “Zoey One-o-Win Week”, where viewers can win actual stuff from the set like Chase’s Bicycle or The Lounge’s Foosball table and Pool table , PCA T-shirts and Backpacks, bean bags, and Scripts with Bonus Scenes signed by the cast. A “James and Zoey” mystery prize was revealed on May 2, 2008 around the end of the premiere. The prize was about Zoey and James. The prize was the locket given to Zoey by James which read “I Love You -James”.

Chase and Zoey episodes
Each day from April 28 – May 2, 2008, Nick airs 2 back-to-back episodes of Zoey 101 that have Zoey and Chase moments.

Day Date Episodes Season
Monday 28 April Welcome to PCA; The Play 1
Tuesday 29 April Back to PCA, Time Capsule 2
Wednesday 30 April Surprise, Zoey’s Balloon 3
Thursday 1 May Zoey 101: Goodbye Zoey? 3
Friday 2 May Trading Places, Chasing Zoey 4

Cast

Main Characters

  • Jamie Lynn Spears as Zoey Brooks
  • Erin Sanders as Quinn Pensky
  • Victoria Justice as Lola Martinez
  • Christopher Massey as Michael Barret
  • Matthew Underwood as Logan Reese
  • Paul Butcher as Dustin Brooks

Brief and Special Appearances

  • Sean Flynn as Chase Matthews (Part 2)
  • Austin Butler as James Garrett (Part 1)

Supporting

  • Abby Wilde as Stacey Dillsen
  • Lisa Tucker as Lisa Perkins
  • Brando Eaton as Vince Blake
  • Jack Salvatore Jr. as Mark Del Figgalo
  • Dan Schneider as the angry cab driver
  • James Hong as Mr. Takato

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

House’s Head

Friday, July 3rd, 2009

House looks around in the bus during one of his hallucinations

“House’s Head” is the fifteenth episode of the fourth season of House and the eighty-fifth episode overall. It was the first part of the two-part, season four finale, the second part being “Wilson’s Heart”. Co-written by several House producers and directed by Greg Yaitanes, “House’s Head” premiered on May 12, 2008 on FOX.

The episode revolves around Dr. Gregory House (Hugh Laurie), who, after being involved in a bus accident, vaguely remembers seeing someone who is “going to die”. House tries to trace back his steps throughout the episode to find out the identity of this person. A woman (Ivana Miličević), who claims to be “the answer”, guides House through hallucinations about the crash. House eventually realizes that “the answer” is Amber Volakis (Dr. Wilson’s significant other, portrayed by Anne Dudek), who is revealed to have been on the bus when it crashed. The episode ends in a cliffhanger ending, leaving Amber’s survival unknown.

14.84 million American viewers watched the broadcasting of “House’s Head”, making House the ninth most-watched program of the week. The episode, and in particular a strip tease scene involving Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein), gained positive critical responses. The episode was submitted for five Primetime Emmy Awards, from which two nominations followed. Greg Yaitanes won the Emmy for “Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series”, but Hugh Laurie lost the award in the category “Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series” to Bryan Cranston of AMC’s Breaking Bad.

Plot

The episode opens in a strip club where Dr. Gregory House is getting a lap dance. Disoriented, buzzed and suffering from a head wound, House has a short disjointed vision and presumes that “somebody’s going to die”. When he leaves the club, he sees that the bus he was on crashed. Back at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, House is diagnosed with a concussion and post-traumatic retrograde amnesia, he orders his team to check the bus driver for a possible seizure that precipitated the crash. Dr. Chase (Jesse Spencer) performs a medical hypnosis on House to stimulate his memory, during this, House finds himself getting drunk in a bar, alone. Chase, Dr. James Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard) and Amber Volakis (Anne Dudek) guide House through the hallucination, and the only other person House recognizes is the bartender (Fred Durst), who forced House to take the bus by taking away his keys.

While the team investigates several pathologies to fit the bus driver’s condition, House overdoses on his Vicodin and starts to hallucinate. He finds himself back on the bus, where he sees a woman (Ivana Miličević) who was not on the bus. However, before House can speak to her, Wilson awakens House to do an MRI on the bus driver. When House returns to the bus hallucination, Dr. Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein) is with him. As they discuss the bus driver’s possible diseases, House realizes they are in his head and tells Cuddy to accompany the discussion with a strip tease. Cuddy complies, but just before she takes off her bra, she notes she is distracting House, and stops. The woman from House’s earlier hallucination returns and introduces herself as “the answer”. She tells House to “look” at the bus driver’s shuffling feet, which House believes to indicate Parkinson’s disease. When the bus driver needs to be intubated due to a possible clot from a pulmonary embolism, House notices the driver’s recent dental work. He reasons that an air bubble, that got accidentally injected into the patient’s bloodstream through the gums, would explain all the symptoms. The bubble is extracted, and the patient is saved.

In a renewed attempt to retrieve his memory, House has his team reenact the bus crash. House overdoses on physostigmine, a medication against Alzheimer’s disease, and his mind flashes back to the bus scene before the accident. “The answer” keeps asking House what her necklace is made from, until House realizes that it’s made of amber. “The answer” transforms into Amber Volakis, and when Cuddy manages to resuscitate House from his overdose-induced cardiac arrest, House immediately informs Wilson that Amber’s life is in danger. Wilson has not spoken to Amber since before the accident. Thirteen (Olivia Wilde) checks the patient roster and sees that a patient admitted to a different hospital matches Amber’s description.

Production

“House’s Head” was the fourth House episode directed by Greg Yaitanes. It was written by Peter Blake, David Foster, Russel Friend, Garrett Lerner and Doris Egan. Executive producer Katie Jacobs said that the season finale was “a little bit different” than the episodes preceding it. “House’s Head” was supposed to air after the Super Bowl XLII but due to the 2007-2008 WGA Strike the episode was derailed, and the House season 4 episode “Frozen” was aired instead. The T-shirt House wears in the episodes, which shows a skeleton drinking coffee, and says “Coffin Break”, was created by a designer named Taavo.

When Lisa Edelstein (Dr. Cuddy) heard she had to do a strip scene in the episode, she called actress Sheila Kelley, wife of Richard Schiff (with whom Edelstein had worked previously on The West Wing and Relativity). Kelley had worked on a movie about strippers long ago and Edelstein asked her for her advice on the choreography of the striptease. On the episode itself, Edelstein commented: “It is very interesting what happens in the first half of the finale in terms of learning about how House sees people and getting the world from his point of view entirely”. Before the filming of the scene started, Edelstein showed the dance to Hugh Laurie, who, according to Edelstein, was “incredibly supportive, like a cheerleader”. Edelstein commented that after the scene was filmed she, “felt beautiful, and it ended up being a really lovely experience”.

During the preparations for the bus crash, the whole sequence was storyboarded. Greg Yaitanes described stunt-coordinator Jim Vickers as “crucial” for the filming of this sequence. The bus crash scene was filmed interior using a big spinning wheel (which Anne Dudek referred to as a “gadget”). This gadget was mainly the back of the bus, and could be turned 360 degrees to increase the authenticity of the scene. For the rest of the bus, a greenscreen was used that surrounded the complete outside of the bus. The shots involving Anne Dudek, were filmed at another time, using light effects and people acting like they are in a bus crash in the otherwise motionless gadget.

Reception

Ratings

The episode premiered in the US on May 12, 2008 on FOX. The episode was viewed within five hours of broadcast by 14.84 million viewers, and had a 5.8/14 share of the 18-49 demographic. It was the second most-watched program of the night, beaten only by Dancing with the Stars. In the week from May 11, 2008 to May 18, 2008 “House’s Head” was the ninth most-watched program. The show was watched by 15.02 million viewers on Live + SD television. In Australia the episode aired May 12, 2008, on Network Ten, where it was watched by 1,432,000 viewers, making it the night’s second most watched program. It ranked fourth most-watched show in the 18-49 demographic. In Canada, the episode was broadcasted on Global Total, also on May 12. It was watched by 2.296 million viewers, making it the week’s fourth most watched program, behind Grey’s Anatomy and American Idol (Tuesday and Wednesday). 1.7 million viewers watched the episode’s first broadcast on United Kingdom’s Five on June 26, 2008.

Critical Reaction

Overall, “House’s Head” was very well received by critics. Sara Morrison, from Television Without Pity, called the moment that House gets back his memory “the best ten minutes of television you might ever see”. She was also pleased with the hypnotism scene, because it gave Chase “something to do”. Morrison graded the episode with an A+. Michelle Romero, of Entertainment Weekly, said that she can watch “House’s Head” twice and get as much out of the second viewing as the first.TV Guide’s Gina Dinunno stated: “It’s everything I imagined: brilliant, snarky, confusing – even dirty! They did an amazing job at leaving us with the cliffhanger of all cliffhangers as we wait to see what will happen to Amber”. Alan Sepinwall, from The Star-Ledger, compared the episode to the House season two finale “No Reason”. He, however, also said that the episode had “several issues”, mainly the hints towards “the answer” being Amber. On this, Sepinwall commented “House is, at heart, a mystery, and when the show telegraphs the solution, it isn’t half as entertaining”.

James Chamberlin, of IGN, said that he hoped the second part of the season finale could live up to the first half. He also said that the scenes revolving around “the answer” reminded him of The Matrix. Chamberlin graded the episode with a 9.5 on a ten scale. Barbara Barnett, of Blog Critics, praised both Hugh Laurie’s and Lisa Edelstein’s acting performances. She also said that, although there were many “memorable moments” in the episode, the scene in which the bus crashed was “intense”, “tension-filled” and “heart-stopping”. Maureen Ryan of Chicago Tribune’s The Watcher stated that, although she did predict the twist about midway through the episode, there were “so many other enjoyable elements” that it didn’t bother her. Jennifer Godwin of E! said the episode was “easily one of House’s best finales ever”. Also, several critics were surprised by Fred Durst’s brief cameo as the bartender in House’s flashback.

The scene in which Lisa Cuddy did a pole dance was very positively received by critics, Mary McNarma, of the Los Angeles Times, stated that these scenes “in three minutes earned back the price of Tivo”. James Chamberlin of IGN stated that he never expected Edelstein to do a strip tease, although he had hoped it. In season four DVD commentary, Jesse Spencer, Lisa Edelstein and Omar Epps all stated that “House’s Head” and “Wilson’s Heart” are their favorite House episodes.

Awards

Cast members Lisa Edelstein, Jesse Spencer and Hugh Laurie submitted the episode for Primetime Emmy Awards on their behalf. In the categories Outstanding Supporting Actress – Drama Series (Edelstein), Outstanding Supporting Actor – Drama Series (Spencer) and Outstanding Lead Actor – Drama Series (Laurie).Peter Blake, David Foster, Russel Friend, Garrett Lerner and Doris Egan, the writers of the episode, submitted the episode on their behalf for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series. The episode was also given up for consideration in the category Outstanding Directing – Drama Series on behalf of director Greg Yaitanes. Hugh Laurie and Greg Yaitanes’ submissions both came through as nominations Yaitanes won the award, but Laurie lost the award to Bryan Cranston for his appearance in AMC’s Breaking Bad.

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Living the Dream (House)

Thursday, July 2nd, 2009

“Living the Dream” is the fourteenth episode of the fourth season of House, and aired on May 5, 2008.

Plot

House (Hugh Laurie) is convinced that one of the actors on his favorite soap opera “Prescription: Passion” (guest star Jason Lewis) has a serious medical condition after observing his symptoms on television. House decides to intervene, kidnaps the actor and convinces him to run a test, but both the actor and House’s own team dismiss House’s assessment and do not believe there is anything wrong with him. However, the actor develops more symptoms: His leg goes numb preventing him from leaving the hospital, and after subsequent tests and more symptoms he eventually goes into a coma. The team gives him antibiotics for a possible infection, but when this has no effect House has an epiphany and administers steroids for a floral allergy. The steroids work but the floral allergy test comes back negative. Not until after the actor has been discharged does House realize that he is allergic to quinine from the tonic water in the fake gin and tonics that he has to drink on set.

Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein) tries to keep up appearances when an inspector makes an unexpected visit to Princeton-Plainsboro. House takes advantage of this, threatening not to cooperate if he doesn’t get what he wants (like the flat-screen from the doctors’ lounge). When Cuddy says: “Me keeping my job is good for you,” House simply replies: “Yes, but it’s better for you.”

Meanwhile, Amber (Anne Dudek) and Wilson’s (Robert Sean Leonard) relationship develops. They go mattress-shopping, and when they each want a different mattress, Amber leaves it up to Wilson. On advice from House, Wilson chooses Amber’s preference, but it turns out Amber was testing Wilson: She wanted to see if he’d take care of himself first – that’s what she wants him to do because that’s what she does herself. So Wilson exchanges the mattress for the water bed he has always wanted.

Reception

The episode was watched by 13.26 million viewers, making it the fourth most watched program of the night, behind Two and a Half Men, CSI: Miami and Dancing with the Stars. The episode also scored a 5.0/13 share in the 18-49 demographic, which was the highest score of the night. Mara Greengrass of Firefox News felt “Living the Dream” was a “snoozer” and that in comparison to the previous episode very little happened. James Chamberlin of IGN was pleased to see Cameron get more screentime. Sarah Collins of North by Northwestern felt the episode proved that House is a “whack job.”

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

The Road Less Traveled (Battlestar Galactica)

Tuesday, June 30th, 2009

The Road Less Traveled is the seventh episode in the fourth season of the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica. It first aired on television on May 2, 2008.

Plot

Survivor Count: 39,676

The episode begins aboard Demetrius, now 58 days into the mission to find Earth. Helo reports to Captain Starbuck and reminds her that the time is near to rendezvous back with the fleet. Starbuck concentrates intently on a star chart of a sector Helo states they have explored twice already. She tells him that she has a feeling that the “third time’s a charm” and that she will scout the sector herself.

On Galactica, Gaius Baltar continues to preach his monotheistic beliefs. He hears a woman’s story of the loss of her family during the Cylon sneak attack and her anger that the Gods stood by and let it happen. Baltar tells her that the Gods didn’t aid them because they do not exist and humanity has been pandering to their own ignorance. Meanwhile in his quarters, Galen Tyrol listens to Baltar’s rhetoric over a radio while he exercises.

In space, Starbuck and her wingman Hot Dog head out to explore the sector. Soon, DRADIS picks up an incoming Cylon Heavy Raider. Starbuck intercepts the craft which is heavily damaged and spinning out of control. Suddenly, she hears the voice of Leoben Conoy over the communications channel who tells Starbuck that he has found her and it is time to complete her journey. Leoben is brought aboard Demetrius where he tells Starbuck that she needs the help of his fellow Cylons and that she needs to go to the the Hybrid, for it will give her the answers she seeks. Instead of locking him up, Starbuck has him taken to her quarters.

On Galactica, Tory finds Tyrol standing in the Viper launch tube obsessing about Cally’s “accident”. Tory tells him that she was emotionally disturbed, but Tyrol says she would have never left their son Nicholas behind. Tory wonders if she sensed Tyrol was a Cylon, and was afraid of him. She suggests whatever the reason it was part of God’s divine plan and speaks of Baltar’s preachings. Vexed, Tyrol suggests she has been spending too much time with Baltar.

On Demetrius, Anders returns from a recon flight and finds Leoben with Starbuck, guiding her hand in painting her mural – his other arm around her waist. Anders furiously rips Leoben away from her and Starbuck protests the intrusion. As the guards take Leoben away, Helo steps in and reminds Starbuck of the months of mindgames that Leoben played on her back on New Caprica, but she argues that Leoben can help find Earth.

Meanwhile, Anders roughs up Leoben and demands to know what he wants from Starbuck. Leoben says he just wants her to understand her destiny, just as Anders himself is looking for his moment of clarity. Anders pulls a gun but Leoben says if he dies, Starbuck’s dream dies with him and explains there won’t be a resurrection this time. Leoben informs him of the war among the Cylons, between those who embrace their nature and those who fear it. He proposes an alliance between his faction and the fleet. The hybrid can lead Starbuck to righteousness and together they can find the promised land. Anders scoffs at the notion and leaves.

Afterward, Anders tells the others of Leoben’s proposal which causes more animosity amongst the crew who want to return to the fleet. Everyone, including Athena, believes Starbuck is being brainwashed by the Cylon and he will only lead them into a trap. Helo tries to silence any talk of mutiny, but the antagonism grows more intense. Starbuck appears, apparently overhearing the others, and tells Helo to retrieve the navigation computer from Leoben’s Raider.

Back on Galactica, Baltar discusses with Tory, the effects his movement is having with the President Roslin and the Quorum, but although he is attracting more followers, the leaders consider them of little consequence.

Tyrol attends Baltar’s next sermon where Colonel Tigh arrives and pulls him aside. Tigh strongly suggests that Tyrol get over Cally and return to duty, but Tyrol takes offense saying its not as easy for him to bury his dead wife as Tigh had buried Ellen. He also brings up Tigh’s continual visits to Caprica Six. Tigh tells him that he is not ashamed of anything he has done he can live with, but Tyrol can’t.

On Demetrius, Sergeant Erin Mathias, goes out in a space suit to check for tracking devices on the docked Raider, but the ship suddenly explodes and Mathias is flung into space.

On Galactica, Tyrol attends another sermon by Baltar; as he leaves, Baltar calls out to him – to set their differences aside and take his hand for Cally. Tyrol tells Baltar that Cally may have forgiven him but there are some sins that even God won’t forgive. Instead of taking Baltar’s hand, Tyrol violently chokes him. Baltar’s followers pull Tyrol away while he furiously shouts that Baltar didn’t know Cally. Tyrol then enters his quarters and furiously trashes the room. He pulls out a gun and points it at his head shouting in despair. He then tearfully breaks down.

On Demetrius, Starbuck accuses Leoben of blowing up his raider and strikes him bloody. He swears it was a malfunction but then tells Starbuck to finish him off promising he won’t be resurrected this time. Starbuck relents and asks what happened the two months she was missing – the visions of her mother she had, what does it all mean? Leoben says she has to make peace with the ghosts of her past as they are obstacles that are keeping her from realizing her destiny. He tells her that he sees her as an angel blazing with God’s glory and waiting to lead her people to salvation.

Starbuck meets with her crew to honor Mathias. She blames herself for her loss, but they have to complete the mission. She orders Helo to set course to rendezvous with Leoben’s Basestar. When she leaves, Lieutenant Pike refuses to follow Starbuck any further and demands Helo take charge of the situation. Pike refuses to stand down, and Helo knocks him to the deck.

On Galactica, against the warnings of his followers, Baltar pays a visit to Tyrol’s quarters. He finds Tyrol lying awake in his bunk with the gun on his hip. Baltar nervously apologizes for his intrusion and says he is truly sorry for Cally’s loss. He admits to having done unconscionable crimes but he seems to have been given another chance for redemption and begs Tyrol for forgiveness. As Baltar leaves, Tyrol holds out his hand in friendship and Baltar eagerly accepts it.

On Demetrius Starbuck enters the bridge and issues an order to Helo to prepare for a jump to the coordinates of the Basestar. All eyes fall on Helo as he swallows hard and tells Starbuck he cannot put the crew at risk. Starbuck relieves him and appoints Mr. Gaeta as the new XO, but he also refuses to follow her command. Starbuck narrows her eyes as Helo asserts his authority to relieve her of command.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Stanny Slickers II: The Legend of Ollie’s Gold

Monday, June 29th, 2009

Stan stages his discovery

Stanny Slickers II: The Legend of Ollie’s Gold is an episode of the television program American Dad!.

Synopsis

Officially declared dead after an accident with a pudding truck, Stan comes back to life to realize his dream of leaving a legacy on the world and begins to excavate his home in search of Ollie North’s “Contra”-band buried treasure (the Smiths’ house was previously owned by North himself). Through a Schoolhouse Rock!-esque song, Stan explains the story of Ollie North, a Marine Corp officer who sold weapons to Iran and gave the profits to anti-communist rebels in Nicaragua. He looked for it years ago but had to give it up to raise his family. While he continues to excavate his home, family problems increase as Hayley turns to body-piercing and Steve creates a robotic girlfriend out of a vacuum cleaner.

Greg and Terry decide to document Stan’s attempts as to whether he is descending into madness or not. He claims there are clues due to the “good, bad and ugly” electrical outlets in the living room (one works, one does not, and one is cracked) and the “ice creamsicle” (the initials I.C. standing for Iran-Contra) wrappers he found. When he creates a mine shaft and begins to eat dirt, Francine decides to put a stop to it just as he found a box of gold bars (and middle fingers his family while he’s at it). But because no one was there to film his discovery, he decides to stage it. When Terry refuses (as it is unethical for a journalist to stage events), Stan films the discovery himself.

While he tries to decide what would be the best quote, the mine collapses on him. While trying to rescue him, Stan refuses to let the gold go. He was then hit over the head while relaying his final words. In his unconscious state, he dreams of the future, where his discovery had become legendary; however, Hayley has become uglified from being peirced heavily and even has a lip plate, and people look strangely at Steve, having made a functional robot wife, and Francine has married the Langley Falls town geologist. Visitors to the Smithsonian comment how much is it worth that a statue was carved on Stan finding the gold if his children grew up to be a mess. This dream teaches Stan that true legacies are made by the families men raise, not by achievements or immortalization on monuments. Stan then wakes up and saves himself, leaving the gold. He declares that he has learned his lesson, ordering Steve and Hayley to get rid of the robot and the body piercing or he will kill them. At the end of the episode, the black fireman from “Joint Custody” tells his partner that he will wait until the Smiths are in bed and then dig up the gold themselves.

In a sub-story, Roger learns that a woman was sexually harassed at Big Buy. As a result, the company was sued and gave her a million dollars. Deciding to cheat Syntho Corp., Roger disguises himself as an attractive, fat lady to provoke someone but it doesn’t work and Klaus just laughs at him. So the only way he could get his money is to be a man and harass himself. He fakes a harassment and gets $90,000; Klaus tries to get at some of the money, but to no avail.

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Any Given Sundance

Saturday, June 27th, 2009

“Any Given Sundance” (a play on the title of the film Any Given Sunday, but otherwise unrelated) is the eighteenth episode of The Simpsons‘ nineteenth season. It first aired on May 4, 2008. It guest-starred Jim Jarmusch and John C. Reilly as themselves. After Lisa enters a film about her family into the Sundance Film Festival, Homer, Marge, and Bart, and Maggie are embarrassed by the candid behind-the scenes look at their family. Meanwhile, Principal Skinner and Superintendent Chalmers decide to enter the movie business.

Plot

The Simpson family heads to a tailgate party, and while Homer and Bart steal other tailgaters’ food, Lisa busies herself by filming the events for a school project, and notices life in its own perspective. Lisa shows the film to her teacher, who reviews her film and says he enjoys it, but says it lacks drama. Principal Skinner reveals he has a secret cinema passion. He forces Lisa to create a film that will include plenty of drama, and Lisa concludes that the only true source of drama is her family. Lisa starts to video her family doing their everyday activities.

Superintendent Chalmers takes notice of Lisa’s filmmaking and convinces Skinner to enter Lisa’s film in the Sundance Film Festival. The Sundance organizers agree to premiere Lisa’s film, as she’s an intellectual misfit, and her movie is not a mainstream production. Lisa’s movie, Capturing the Simpsons is accepted. When the family learns Lisa’s film had been accepted, they all go to Park City, Utah to see the premiere. The family is anxious to see the premiere of the film. Skinner and Chalmers try to enter but are turned down. Capturing the Simpsons, produced by “Chalmskinn Productions” begins. Lisa shows her family in all of its dysfunction. Audience members begin giving sour remarks about her family. One scene features Bart breaking dishes and Homer walking in with bare feet. Marge cleans up after them and Lisa wishes her a “Happy Birthday,” embarrassing the entire family. The film ends, and receives a standing ovation. But Homer, Marge, and Bart, and Maggie are all appalled at how the film portrays them and cannot believe Lisa would do such a thing. She tries to explain that the editors might’ve changed it, until the credits list her as the editor. Comic Book Guy posts a glowing review on his blog, so that the whole world would know about the film.

Lisa thinks that her family may be monsters.

The family ignores Lisa, which makes her want to take back her film. Meanwhile, some distributors find Skinner and Chalmers and want to buy Lisa’s movie. Skinner negotiates the terms of the sale, which include access to the most exclusive VIP tent at the fest. The film becomes very popular, but Lisa’s family realize others hate them because of the way the were portrayed in the film, and approach the family and ask them to act the way they did in the film. Lisa feels sorry for what she did to the family, and while deep in thought, Jim Jarmusch approaches to her and says he can relate because his movies are also about “social misfits experiencing the dark side of the American dream”. Lisa however, feels that she may have, deep inside, humiliated her family on purpose. He tells her the answer to her question of whether or not her family will forgive her is in a film: Life Blows Chunks, a documentary by Nelson Muntz, produced by Chalmskinn Productions. It shows Nelson’s struggling life, where Mrs. Muntz is a thief and drinks heavily. When his film ends, Lisa learns that although her family may embarrass her, humiliate her, or infuriate her, there are other families with tougher problems. She apologizes to her family, and they gratefully accept her back. Nelson and Mrs. Muntz, who are now in the spotlight, enjoy the attention.

In the end, we see Skinner and Chalmers with John C. Reilly, who is trying to audition for Chalmskinn’s next movie, Ghost Willy, but they reject him.

Cultural references

  • The title of this episode is a reference to the 1999 film Any Given Sunday.
  • The closing scene of Nelson’s documentary is reminiscent of the one in François Truffaut’s 1959 film, The 400 Blows.
  • The name of Lisa’s film, Capturing the Simpsons, is also a nod to a famous documentary about a dysfunctional family called Capturing the Friedmans.
  • The episode also features the Spoon song “I Turn My Camera On” as the music to a montage of the Simpson’s everyday activities.
  • The camera that Lisa was using at the tailgate party said “My little Sony”, a reference to My Little Pony and My First Sony.
  • When Bart suggests they make another movie about the family, Marge answers “No more Simpsons movies. One was plenty.” This is most likely a reference to The Simpsons Movie.
  • When the family drives to Salt Lake City/Utah, it’s a reference to the movie The Shining. This is the second time this reference is made after the segment “The Shinning” in Treehouse of Horror V.
  • The game between Springfield University and Springfield A&M is a parody of the Big Game, an annual college football event in California. Springfield University with its red and white colors represents Stanford University, while Springfield A&M with its blue and gold colors represents the University of California, Berkeley.
  • Comic Book Guy’s website is called Ain’t I Fat News, a reference to Ain’t It Cool News.
  • Jim Jarmusch plans on making Cheaper By The Dozen 3, a much darker sequel to the Cheaper By The Dozen comedy films.
  • Skinner claims to have the nickname “Two Baskets Skinner” which is a reference to a Monty Python sketch in which a music composer played by Terry Jones is overshadowed by an unwanted nickname, ‘Arthur “Two Sheds” Jackson.’

Reception

Richard Keller of TV Squad called “Any Given Sundance” a “so-so episode” and said “it just had the feeling of one of those installments where you look up and the show is over. And, the bad thing is you really don’t remember what happened”. His favorite part of the episode was Nelson’s documentary which he compared to that of Barney Gumble in “A Star Is Burns”. “Any Given Sundance” was watched by 6.18 million people during its first airing on May 4, 2008, which, at this point, is the seventh lowest watched episode in The Simpsons history.

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Silence in the Library

Saturday, June 27th, 2009

Professor River Song questions the Doctor about where he is on their personal timelines.

“Silence in the Library” is the eighth episode of the fourth series of the revived British science fiction television series Doctor Who, first broadcast on 31 May 2008. It is the first of a two-part story, followed by “Forest of the Dead”, and is the second two-parter Steven Moffat has contributed to the series after “The Empty Child”/”The Doctor Dances” in 2005. A few days before the episode aired, the BBC announced that Moffat will become Head Writer of the programme for the show’s fifth series in 2010, replacing current Head Writer Russell T Davies, who has held the role since Doctor Who returned to television in 2005.

Plot

Synopsis

The Doctor and Donna arrive in the 51st century at a planet-sized book repository simply called “The Library”, summoned by an anonymous request for help on the Doctor’s psychic paper. However, they find it completely devoid of humanoid life, and the Library’s computers even claim as such, though when the Doctor widens the search for non-humanoid life, the Library’s computers claim over “a million million lifeforms” exist. A Node, an information drone which presents a donated human face to the user to facilitate communication, warns them to count the shadows, which appear despite the lack of objects to cast them. As they try to search for answers, they meet a team of explorers, led by archaeologist River Song, who have come to ascertain the meaning of the Library’s final communication, which states “4022 saved, no survivors”. River Song seems to know the Doctor, has a diary with a cover matching the Doctor’s TARDIS, and even possesses a sonic screwdriver. She also later displays knowledge of the TARDIS’s “emergency programme one”. She only admits that she will know the Doctor in his relative future, refusing to disclose more for fear of spoilers. Professor Song also recognises Donna’s name, but avoids explaining why Donna was not present when she knew the Doctor.

The Doctor organises the team to make sure the area is well lit as he explains that they are surrounded by Vashta Nerada, microscopic carnivorous creatures that disguise themselves as shadows to hunt and latch onto their prey. He notes that they are usually nowhere near as aggressive or numerous as the ones here seem to be. Before he can fully explain, however, Miss Evangelista wanders off and is stripped to the bone in moments. The Doctor and Donna learn that the exploration team wears communication devices which link to their nervous systems for thought-based communication. As a side-effect, these devices tend to retain an imprint of the user at the moment of death, creating a short-lived “Data Ghost” of that person’s consciousness, which is capable of communicating with the living (being ‘unaware’ that it is dead) but eventually dissipates to the point where it simply repeats the last thing it said or nonsense.

Curiously, the Library’s operations seem to be tied to the imagination of a young girl; she sees the Doctor and Donna through the eyes of a security camera when they first break into the central room, the exploration team appears on her television when the Doctor attempts to hack the Library computers, and books fly from the shelves when she fiddles with the television’s remote control. The girl is under the observation of Dr. Moon, a child psychologist, at the request of her dad, but Dr. Moon insists to the girl that what she imagines in her nightmares is in fact real, while the real world is a lie. He also states that there are people in her library who need to be saved.

The team’s investigation is interrupted when a shadow of Vashta Nerada latches onto the pilot, Dave. Although the Doctor attempts to save him by sealing him inside his suit, the creatures manage to get inside, eat him alive, and then animate his suit in order to chase the other explorers. The Doctor attempts to teleport Donna back to the TARDIS while he leads the rest of the team to safety, but something goes wrong with the teleport and Donna fails to materialise properly. As the team races away from the possessed suit, the Doctor is horrified to find a Node with Donna’s face on it, which claims that Donna has left the Library and has been saved. The show ends in a cliffhanger as the Doctor is forced to leave the Node behind, but is trapped by the approaching suit on one side and the Vashta Nerada shadows on the other.

Continuity

As shown on the BBC Doctor Who website, there are a number of books in the library either written by former Doctor Who writers or featured in previous episodes. Among those seen are the operating manual for the TARDIS, Origins of the Universe (Destiny of the Daleks), The French Revolution (An Unearthly Child), the Journal of Impossible Things (”Human Nature”/”The Family of Blood”), The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy (written by Douglas Adams, former Doctor Who writer and script editor), Everest in Easy Stages (The Creature from the Pit) and Black Orchid (a book first seen in the Fifth Doctor serial of the same name).

The Doctor mentions that “emergency program one” will send Donna home should she be left alone in the TARDIS for five hours. In “The Parting of the Ways”, this program was activated by the Ninth Doctor to send Rose Tyler home.

According to Steven Moffat, the squareness gun used by Professor River Song to help the party escape from the impending Vashta Nerada is intended to be the same sonic blaster that was used by Jack Harkness in the episode “The Doctor Dances”. Moffat suggests that it was left in the TARDIS after “The Parting of the Ways”, and taken by River Song in the Doctor’s future. The name “squareness gun” was coined by Rose in the earlier episode.

The psychic paper has previously summoned the Doctor to a location in “New Earth”, where the Face of Boe called the Doctor to his supposed deathbed.

The Doctor also mentions that he loves “a little shop”, a sentiment previously expressed in the episodes “New Earth” and “Smith and Jones”.

The Doctor says, “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” to Dave once he realises the Vashta Nerada have latched onto him. This has been a recurring phrase throughout the new series.

Broadcast and reception

“Silence in the Library” was scheduled against the final of ITV’s talent contest Britain’s Got Talent and suffered in the ratings as a result. BARB’s final figures recorded an audience 6.27 million when adjusted for time shifting. Britain’s Got Talent was viewed by 11.52 million in comparison. This was the first time since the series’ revival in 2005 that Doctor Who did not have the largest audience share in its timeslot.

However, the episode did receive an Appreciation Index score of 89 (considered “Excellent”), the joint highest figure the new series had received to date, alongside “The Parting of the Ways”, “Doomsday” and the following episode “Forest of the Dead”. BBC Three’s repeat of the episode was watched by 1.35 million viewers, almost double the figures for the equivalent repeat of the previous episode, “The Unicorn and the Wasp”.

This episode, along with “Forest of the Dead”, has been nominated for a Hugo Award in the Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form category.

Production

Casting

For the role of River Song, whom producer Russell T Davies describes as “sort of the Doctor’s wife”, the production sought to cast Kate Winslet. One of Winslet’s first acting roles was in the BBC teen drama Dark Season, written by Davies. The role of River Song eventually went to Alex Kingston, about whom Davies said, “I bloody love her!”

The role of Strackman Lux went to Steve Pemberton, who is best known for his work as a member of The League of Gentlemen. Pemberton’s fellow League member Mark Gatiss wrote the Doctor Who episodes “The Unquiet Dead” and “The Idiot’s Lantern”, and appeared in the episode “The Lazarus Experiment”.

Locations

Certain scenes were filmed at the Old Swansea Central Library and the Brangwyn Hall in Swansea, Wales.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Job Fair (The Office)

Thursday, June 25th, 2009

a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pam_Beesly" title="Pam Beesly">Pam at Dunder Mifflin's job fair booth.

“Job Fair” is the thirteenth episode of the fourth season of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show’s sixty-fourth episode overall. Written by Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky and directed by Tucker Gates, the episode first aired in the United States on May 8, 2008 on the National Broadcasting Company (NBC). The episode featured Trevor Einhorn as a guest star.

In the episode, Michael and a few employees go to a high school’s job fair to find a summer intern for Dunder Mifflin. However, very few students seem interested in the internship. Meanwhile, Jim attempts to make an important sale by golfing with a potential client. At first the client claims to be not interested in talking about business, but after much negotiation, Jim lands the sale. Back at the office, Dwight is left in charge. Everyone leaves except his ex-girlfriend Angela, leading to an awkward day.

Plot

After Ryan Howard (B.J. Novak) gives Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) a warning about his job performance, Jim tries to land his biggest client ever. He takes the potential client golfing, bringing along co-workers Andy Bernard (Ed Helms) and Kevin Malone (Brian Baumgartner). When Jim tries to talk business, the client reveals that he is not interested in switching paper suppliers. But after much persistence and negotiation, Jim lands the account.

Jim and Pam kiss.

Michael Scott (Steve Carell), Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer), Oscar Martinez (Oscar Nunez) and Darryl Philbin (Craig Robinson) set up a booth at a local job fair to find a student for Dunder Mifflin’s summer internship but while their peers are prepared and have provided materials and products for their companies, Michael only brought a single white piece of Dunder-Mifflin paper. The fair proves unsuccessful, as Michael drives away the only interested student, Justin (Trevor Einhorn) because of his looks. Pam ventures to a booth advertising graphic design, where she discovers that she has yet to learn many graphic design programs. The man working at the booth recommends she goes to either Philadelphia or New York City to learn about the graphic design technology.

Meanwhile, Michael has left Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) in charge of the office, but none of the employees obey his wishes. When most of the employees leave in the middle of the day, Dwight is left alone except for ex-girlfriend Angela Martin (Angela Kinsey), causing the two to interact awkwardly for the rest of the day. When Jim and Pam meet up again in the office, they share two long, passionate kisses having accomplished both of their goals (Jim making the sale and Pam finding out the next step for her future in graphic design).

Production

This episode was the third episode of the series directed by Tucker Gates. Gates had previously directed the third season episodes “Branch Closing” and “Women’s Appreciation”. “Job Fair” was written by Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg.

In order to create the blisters that Andy had on his hands during the episode, the make-up crew had to use Ben Nye sunburn colors, RCMA scar making material, and acetone. The process took twenty to thirty minutes, in which the sunburn colors were applied first and the scar making material was applied last.Angela Kinsey was pregnant during shooting. Her character wasn’t pregnant, so items (such as a copy machine) were placed between her stomach and the camera to hide her pregnancy. Writer Lee Eisenberg recalled that during editing “I asked if we had any wider shots. Both Gene (Stupnitsky) and Dave Rogers (the editor) reminded me that we were shooting around Angela’s enormous belly”. Kinsey later gave birth on May 3, five days before the episode premiered.

Reception

“Job Fair” received 3.6/9 in the ages 18–49 demographic in the Nielsen Ratings. This means that 3.6 percent of all households with an 18 to 49 year old living in it watched the episode, and nine percent had their televisions tuned to the channel at any point. The episode was watched by 7.22 million viewers.

Reviews for this episode were mixed. Travis Fickett, of IGN, criticized parts of the episode, saying that the situation between Dwight and Angela was “played out so minimalist that virtually nothing develops” and even though Michael “gets up and makes an ass of himself” the resolution “isn’t much of a pay-off”. Fickett did say that although “this may not be the funniest episode, it shows how the series is capable of subtlety and depth.”BuddyTV’s Oscar Dahl thought that “Job Fair” “had some nice moments, but it was a bit lacking in the comedy department”. Jay Black, from TV Squad, wrote that Andy “stole the show”.

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Spring Breakup

Sunday, June 21st, 2009

Stan parties with Jessica

Spring Breakup is an episode of the television program American Dad!. It is the third season finale.

Synopsis

Stan is upset at how Francine half-heartedly responds to his playful banter, who claims that it is just becoming too dull for her. She goes out to visit her parents for the week, leaving Stan depressed. Shortly after Francine leaves, Roger hastily tries to convince Stan to move into a motel for the week—soon it becomes clear that Roger, under the name “Scotch Bingeington,” is hosting a spring break party at their house and has already invited dozens of partygoers, as he wishes to become the next “King of Spring Break.” Stan tries to force them to leave until he meets a rather enthusiastic young woman named Jessica who keenly responds to Stan’s witty remarks. Stan takes an interest in this girl, but feels it would be wrong to be with her due to the fact he is married. However, he quickly changes his mind when he receives a phone call from Francine on her first day away, who does not acknowledge Stan’s statement of how he genuinely misses her after only one day.

Stan and Jessica party hard with everyone else, and they begin to develop a rather close bond. When the week is up and Francine returns home to the party, she is outraged to see Stan with Jessica, who is already prepared to leave for home. Stan, who is incredibly spiteful at how Francine finds his actions boring, leaves Francine and goes out to look for Jessica. In her own spite, Francine complains about the situation to her mother only to be berated by her instead. Her mother actually supports Stan’s position, claiming that in order for a marriage to work, both spouses must put all their efforts into making each other happy. Around this time, Stan manages to find Jessica, but she, having been sobered up, says that what she felt during spring break “wasn’t real” because she was drunk, leaving Stan feeling dejected. Stan and Francine meet up again in a coffee shop, and they both apologize for their own behavior and patch things up.

Meanwhile, Steve realizes that the presence of all the drunk girls at Roger’s spring break party is another chance to lose his virginity. His target: Carmen Selectra, a reporter for MTV who had come to broadcast the party. Carmen agrees to have sex with Steve, but he stalls so he can get her complete medical history, and is turned off after learning she has breast implants. Towards the end of the party, Carmen presents to Roger the crown that will make him King of Spring Break, though he turns down the offer as he says that there is something lacking in his party. Carmen then announces to Steve that she had her implants removed so they can have sex; unfortunately, the stage on which she is standing collapses and she is killed, thus costing Steve another chance at losing his virginity; she apparently would’ve survived if she still had breast implants to cushion her and absorb the shock of the falling debris. Realizing that this is the element he was missing—a party’s not a party until someone dies—Roger pulls a dented crown from the wreckage and proudly proclaims himself King of Spring Break.

Cultural references

  • The episode’s title is a reference to spring break.
  • Carmen Selectra is a parody of Carmen Electra, who actually guest starred in the pilot of American Dad! as the voice of Lisa Silver. Electra didn’t voice Carmen Selectra in this episode. In fact, one of the partygoers wonders if people meant to say “Electra” instead of “Selectra.” But one person disagreed.
  • While talking to Stan and Jessica about the Tunnel of Booze, Roger says “In the time of chimpanzees I was a monkey…”, the opening lyrics to Beck’s song “Loser”.
  • The songs “Fly” by Sugar Ray and “Let’s Get It Started” by The Black Eyed Peas were used in the episode.
  • The college “Central Virginia State” is possibly a reference to “Virginia State University” and “Virginia Commonwealth University.” Many times during this episode they talk about Rutgers University and even show Stan going there to meet Jessica.
  • Before Francine comes home, we see a short few seconds of a Donkey Kong resembling ape on top of a pyramid of kegs throwing kegs down at laughing frat boys. This a reference to the original 1981 arcade game Donkey Kong.
  • At the table Carmen Selectra can be seen eating a burrito, most likely a reference to the years Carmen Electra was a spokesmodel for Taco Bell’s “Grilled Stuffed Burrito”

Trivia

  • When Roger, as Scotch, tells Francine that he feels sorry that she was awarded a four of ten at a wet T-shirt contest because “she had three kids” and Francine states that she had two, Francine actually has had three kids (Surro-Gate), but her third kid was for Greg and Terry, so it doesn’t count since she was a volunteered surrogate.
  • This is the last episode featuring the newspaper headline gags seen in the opening sequence of American Dad.
  • Leisha Hailey who plays Jessica also played Lily in the Episode Surro-Gate
  • Several of the strippers from Stan Knows Best, make background cameo appearances in the second and third acts.

Censorship

  • In the FOX version of this episode, Steve says “I will not waste an ounce of wiener on you” to the drunk girl after seeing Carmen Selectra. In the Adult Swim version, He says “I will not to waste an ounce of boner on you”
  • When Roger calls Francine to let her know someone is trying to have sex with one of her garden gnomes, the Adult Swim version shows a man’s legs as he’s thrusting up and down in the background. On FOX, the scene is cropped so that way the man’s legs are out of the frame.


Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

« Older Entries