TV News: PERSON OF INTEREST Renewed For Second Season

Great news for fans of Person of Interest today, network CBS have renewed it for a second season. The show which stars Jim Cavizel and Michael Emerson follows two guy's, Finch and Reese who fight to detect crimes before they happen. They are alerted to a "Person of Interest" by a machine which spits out the Social Security Number of a person that's about to become involved in a bad situation. Finch is the mastermind behind the computer which detects the crimes whilst Reese is the mussels behind the outfit.

Following a slow start the show has been a massive hit for CBS, even more so of late. Person of Interest has a knack of delivering mystery and intrigue regarding it's two lead characters at just the right time and the most recent episodes have been very, very good. The show has just aired it's seventeenth episode in the U.S, that was last week's "Baby Blue", it's not on this week but should be back the week after next with "Identity Crisis".

Person of Interest is the highest rated new Drama on TV, and regarded by many as the best show on TV right now, I would second that. If you read this blog often then you know I love Person of Interest and every episode has been reviewed, you can check them out HERE. So, lets celebrate with going over some my favourites of the first season. First up

Mission Creep - The third episode in the series and one which really announced just how big of a show this could be.

Witness - The episode where we were all introduced to Elias, a man who would come to play a big part in future story lines.

Number Crunch - Reese's former employee's, the CIA have been on the hunt for him along time and this is the episode where they finally catch up to him.

Root Cause - Another episode where we were introduced to a threat that could return later in this season or maybe the next, computer hacker "Root" was all over Finch's machine in seconds.

Wolf and Cub - One of my personal favourites and a brilliant performance put in from a young guest star who before the episode most people had wrote off.

Awards? Yeah it's won some of those, ok not quite as impressive the Emmy's but it has won the "Favourite New TV Drama" at the people's choice awards. Actress Taraji P. Henson was also nominated for an Image Award for the "Outstanding Actress in a TV Drama Series".

This first season has three episodes to go and I have been saying for a while that the story was good enough to warrant a second season, and I can't wait.

TV Preview: THE WALKING DEAD Returns February 12th 2012 on AMC

The Walking Dead is back on the 12th February with it’s eighth instalment of the second season “Nebraska”, if you caught my reviews of the show last time round then you already know that other than the last episode “Pretty Much Dead Already” that I haven’t been that impressed. I didn’t watch the first season though so it took me a little while to
catch up with just who everyone was and what they were about, I’m probably still figuring it out.

The season 2 premiere was a fantastic episode with that scene on the freeway where all the cars had just come to a stop and been abandoned, the group of survivors where then
encountered by a massive group of zombies in what was a very impressive scene. Since then though The Walking Dead hit some-what of a dead end when they all landed at Hershals farm, they just didn’t move from there which turned the show from a promising road trip into a bit of a bore.

Now we are hoping things will move on a little with the return of the second season, just to wet your appetite a little I have posted the trailer for the returning episode below, take a look and let me know what you think.
 

FREE 30 Day Trial at LOVEFiLM.com

Just a quick one from me this morning to let all my readers know about a fantastic deal which is available to you all at LOVEFiLM.com, as you have probably guessed from the title of this post the offer is a 30 day free trial with the UK's biggest DVD, Blu-Ray rental and online streaming service. Not only is that a great offer to get you started but LOVEFiLM have also dropped the prices of all their top packages of late, for only £9.99 a month you can have unlimited DVD and Blu-ray rental along with online streaming of movies and top TV shows. If you prefer something a little more modest then you could subscribe to same package as me £5.99 a month, for that you get 3 DVD or Blu-ray rentals a month along with two hours of online streaming, like what you see? Then you can sign up to LOVEFiLM from the link below.



I suppose you are wondering what I think of LOVEFiLM, that's fine there is a full review of the quality service they provide HERE, and don't worry if you like what you see over there then you can get over to LOVEFILM and get signed up, read a review of my latest Blu-ray rental Inception starring Leonardo Di Caprio.

I won't just be putting this out today as you know I review TV shows and movies everyday here at Movies Music & Television, later I will be back to reviewing Dexter's first season with what has been the best episode yet "Return to Sender" so, don't forget to come back later on following your visit to LOVEFiLM.

Weekly News: Wahlberg Talks THE FIGHTER 2, Idris Elba On Board for LUTHER Series 3 and BOND 50

We have been talking about Mark Wahlberg over here lately, you may have caught the trailer for his new movie Contraband which was posted here just the other day.  Wahlberg has been quite quiet recently not starring in a movie since 2010’s The Fighter (Blu-ray review coming soon). Things will be changing for him soon though, Contraband which I mentioned above comes out next week, and Wahlberg has a pretty crammed
schedule over the next couple of year, including plans to start shooting The Fighter 2,  asked about the follow up to his Oscar winning movie Wahlberg said;

It’s definitely a priority but I don’t think it’s necessarily gonna be a sequel, it’s really kind of its own thing about the Ward/Gatti wars and this crazy relationship that came out of these fights. After the first fight they became very close friends, yet two more times they went in there and tried to kill each other and caused a lot of physical and mental damage that really took a toll on them, and certainly still takes a toll on Micky to this day.

Wahlberg has also said that Entourage series creator Doug Ellin is currently penning the script to Entourage the movie, Wahlberg served as an executive producer on the series as well as starring, no doubt it will be the same in the movie.  He is also waiting on a new Michael Bay movies being re-scripted called Pain & Gain, the movie which will also star Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is the story of two bodybuilder who become involved in and extortion ring and kidnapping.

Great news coming from Idris Elba Friday gone, he has confirmed there will be a third series of BBC’s hit TV show Luther, not only that but The Wire star Elba has also hinted that he would like to bring his unorthodox character Detective Chief Inspector John Luther to the silver screen, a move I would personally love to see.

The show has been a massive hit on both sides of the Atlantic thanks largely to Elba’s star status in America, it draws average viewing of about 6 million a night when airing here in the UK.  The third series of the show will be similar to the second in that it will be four hour long episodes which will hopefully air late 2012 or early 2013, Elba told BBC Radio 1’s Edith Bowman the following;

“I have definitely given the green light to the third season, I’ll be working on it next year” adding “We are working on the best Luther series ever. We’re working hard.”

If you haven’t seen either series of the show then series 1 has just started airing on Netflix, be sure to go and take advantage of the one month free trial they are currently offering, as well as that season 2 has just been released on DVD.

James Bond fan?  Yeah, well they have a very special treat coming up in relation to James Bond this year, the film franchise is celebrating it’s 50 year anniversary in spectacular fashion by releasing all the movies, Dr No to Quantum Of Solace in a special Blu-ray box set later this year which will be called Bond 50.  The set will feature 9 movies which have previously been available in HD, it’s said to feature about 130 hours of special features and an amount of new content.  The price will be somewhere around £240 so this may only be for the most hardcore of Bond fans.

2012's Most Anticipated TV shows: Part 1

So, we are into the New Year and that promises one thing.  A whole host of new TV shows for us to be taking in from both the U.S and U.K, I have come up with a list of the ones which I will hopefully get round to watching early this year along with some trailers to wet your appetite a little.  I will also mention a few shows that I may watch but might not review unless I can think of something to come up with. Anyway lets get on with the list (in no particular order).

First up it’s probably the most anticipated of all the new shows, Alcatraz is a new mystery thriller brought to us by none other than J.J. Abrams who has decided to bring one of his hit TV shows favourite actors back to the small screen, that’s right Lost’s Jorge Garcia stars in Alcatraz alongside Sarah Jones, Jeffrey Pierce and Jurassic Park’s Sam Neil.  The show is based in the modern day and follows Detective Rebecca Madsen (Jones) who is assigned to a grizzly homicide, a fingerprint lifted from the scene points to a suspect named Jack Sylvane (Pierce), a former Alcatraz prisoner who died decades ago.  Needing help with her investigation she turns to Alcatraz professional Dr Diego “Doc” Soto (Garcia) who helps her piece together events and find that Sylvane is not the only former inmate who is alive and well.

Alcatraz starts on Fox January 16th at 9pm, I will probably cover every episode of this show.

Next up it’s the new Sci-Fi drama starring Keifer Sutherland named Touch.  You may remember I put the trailer out for this sometime ago now.  The show also stars David Mazouz, Danny Glover and Roxana Brusso.  In the show Sutherland plays Martin Bohm a former journalist who’s wife was killed in the 9/11 attacks, following that he is left to bring up his autistic son who is obsessed with numbers and can predict the future.

Touch starts on Fox January 25th with what I believe is the pilot, the rest of the show goes out March 19th, I would think that may change if the pilot proves a hit, I will be watching and reviewing the pilot and probably will take in the rest of the show.

Next up it’s Spartacus: Vengeance, the official follow up to Spartacus: Blood & Sand, a show which I didn’t see but I have heard plenty about.  There is no reason I didn’t watch it really other than I didn’t know it was on, there was a similar show on in the UK on BBC named Rome which I did catch and that was brilliant maybe I will try and catch up with Blood & Sand  over the next week or two.  The new instalment comes with a much bigger budget which will mean one thing more gore, violence, sex and swearing, sounds great, I’m in.

Spartacus: Vengeance starts on Starz January 27th, I will watch the first one and see how it goes from there, but this really does look like fun.

Onto The River now, a new Horror TV show brought to us from the people responsible for the Paranormal Activity movies, I haven’t seen those the trailers scare me to much but this Blair Witch style format does look pretty go.  The River follows a documentary crew who go out into the deepest darkest corners of the Amazon with a family who believe their father, an explorer who went missing six months earlier may still be alive, when there they discover supernatural goings on.

The River starts on ABC February 7th, I will be watching and providing it doesn’t scare me to much then I will probably review it.

Ok, so that is the top four that I will be looking at, you might have noticed there aren’t any U.K shows listed there.  There are some new/returning ones which I intend on watching firstly it will be Mad Dogs starring Philip Glenister and Max Beasley, I didn’t watch the 4 part first season but I don’t think it will be to hard to get into.  New to U.K TV will be Eternal Law which starts this Thursday 5th January, I will probably take a look and other than that from the U.S I may take a look at season 3 of Justified.  Remember Person of Interest has about three episodes left to go with the next 1.11 “Super” being on January 12th also returning on February 12th will be The Walking Dead 2.8 “Nebraska”, enjoy this little list?  Then why not go and check out 2012’s most anticipated movies part 1 and part 2.

Weekly News: ICE CUBE To Front Run New FX TV Show, WWE CHRIS BENOIT Movie

Ice Cube is a guy that likes to keep himself pretty busy these day’s, he is currently front lining Are We There Yet for TV, the show will be based on the movie from 2005 in which he starred.  He is more recently involved with serious cop drama Rampart (recently reviewed here) and has a role upcoming in 21 Jump Street.

Now he has announced that his company Cube Vision will be front running a new show for FX called Eye For An Eye.  Ice Cube will produce and star along with his Cube Vision business partner Matt Alvarez.  In the show Cube will play a long serving paramedic who becomes sick of leaving violent crimes with people badly hurt in the back of his ambulance, one day he decides to something about it and becomes a little vigilante deciding to go Eye For An Eye.

Who else thinks this sounds a little like Dexter?  Ok he’s not a blood spatter expert but he does work in the medical profession, at least the vigilante side sounds like Dexter, or maybe Person Of Interest.

Ok who loves WWE Wrestling?  Not me, I do like the showman ship involved with the sport and I used to watch a lot of the sport when I was younger, that was when people like the Rock and the Undertaker, Stone Cold Steve Austin and Scotty 2 Hotty (remember him?  The Worm), most of the guys from back then wised up a little deciding that all the bumps to the head were not doing them any favours.  They followed Hulk Hogan and moves into the movie industry, admittedly most of them have done a much better job than he did but you get my point.  Remember the name Chris Benoit the former Heavyweight World Champion?  Yeah, me too, he was on the go the same time as the guys I mentioned above.  In 2007 Benoit ended his life after he murdered his wife and 7 year old son.

Now SRG Films are planning on bringing his tragic story to the big screen, the movie will be named Crossface and the script is based on the book Ring Of Hell: The Story Of Chris Benoit and the fall of the Pro Wrestling Industry.  Benoit was in the WWE from 2000 until his death in 2007, prior to that he started his wrestling career in his native Canada before moving to Japan.  Benoit's story shed light on the dangers of the sport of wrestling, along with the anabolic steroids found in his home it was also revealed that Benoit had suffered severe Brain damage due to repeated untreated concussions. The first draft of the script has already been submitted with a view to start shooting some time next year.  Like I said above I’m not a fan of wrestling now but this is a movie I would watch.

Weekly News: ICE CUBE to do fourth FRIDAY movie, COURTNEY LOVE insults a fan, DEXTER renewed for seasons 7 and 8

Great new this week especially if you’re a fan of Chris Tucker, Ice Cube or any of the Friday movies, I don’t know about you but, for me the second two movies didn’t quite cut the mustard so to speak but, the first one, the original Friday starring both Tucker as Smokey and Cube as Craig would have to go down as one of the best hood movies of all time.

I absolutely loved the the 1995 original, I lost count of how many times I saw this movie as a teenager, a bit like Menace II Society it’s one of those that during my teenage years you just had to see.

The movie turned Tucker into a bonified movie star and really brought Ice Cube out as a family guy as apposed to the hard ass Compton NWA rapper we all knew previously.  Now New Line Cinema and Ice Cube are sitting down and passing round a joint whilst discussing the possibility of a fourth Friday movie which Ice Cube will will write and lead reprising his role as Craig Jones.

The hope is now that they can also get Chris Tucker on board to make the movie, I can’t really see him turning it down right now, due to his IRS debt and the lack of any other offers Tucker has lost the box office status he once had back in the 90’s.  One problem though the new religion he follows may stop him from performing the same role as he did in the original movie but, they could bring Smokey back as a reformed character.

 

Next up this week it’s not really news, more of something which just made me laugh.  Courtney Love, heard of her?  Yeah that’s right the one who was married to Kurt Cobain from Nirvana.  Courtney now front’s a band named “Hole” I’m not so sure that’s a great name for a band with a female lead singer and I for one can’t say I have ever even heard of them let alone know any of their music.

Hole were performing in Sao Paulo, Brazil when a fan held up a picture of her late husband, the move didn't really impress Courtney to much and she stormed off stage but not before giving the fan a piece of her mind.  Courtney was tempted back to the stage after no more than a minute but demanded that the fans chanted that the Foo Fighters are Gay, there not of course but what they are is a whole lot better and more successful than her band.

Great news for fans of Dexter this week, cable network Showtime have finally managed to close a deal with Michael C. Hall and have renewed their front running show for two more seasons, which will take the show into it’s eighth season.  Both seasons will consist of 12 episodes each with season 7 scheduled to start production next year in Los Angeles.  Last week’s re-appearance of Brian Moser, The Ice Truck Killer sent audience ratings through the roof and they were the highest they have been since the season 6 premiere.  Michael C. Hall will co produce the show as he does now.

Weekly News: THE WALKING DEAD Season 3, THE JANSON DIRECTIVE, BEVERLEY HILLS COP TV Show, INDEPENDENCE DAY Sequels

Some TV news for you first of this week, the news relates to The Walking Dead.  The break away hit AMC show is only three episodes into its second series .  The season 2 premiere drew the biggest ever cable ratings with 7.3 million tuning in to catch the “walkers”, the show faltered only slightly on it's second episode “Bloodletting” drawing 6.7 million viewers.

The show already airs here in England and its international roll out is this weekend, that is expected to draw anywhere around 10 million viewers.  So what does the show get for it’s star status?  An AMC spoke said earlier this week “today we are proud to announce that the dead shall live as we proudly renew The Walking Dead for a third season on AMC and globally”.  Not bad considering how far into the second season they are.

Let’s not forget though the show still has a little room to falter as Frank Darabont, the show runner for the first season and beginning of this one, left the show half way through, will it still have the same capture.

Whilst we are on the subject of TV, I will slip this one in for you, you may well have caught it on the Person of Interest reviews, if not then the show has had a full season order from CBS taking us past the 9 we already have.  The show has been the highest watched new drama this season with an audience of 13.97 million, thanks mostly to it’s 9pm slot which was previously filled by CSI.

Also getting high ratings is Homeland, this show has also just been renewed for a second season thanks to large audiences, no doubt helped by Dexter which airs just before it.

Who loves the Bourne movies?  I do, go check the review.  Good news if you like them too, as something just as good seems to be on its way to the big screen.  The Janson Directive is the last book published by late writer Robert Ludlum, who of course wrote the Bourne books.  Now Universal have hired a script writer to turn The Janson Directive into a movie.

It seems it will be a Vietnam veteran movie which follows Paul Janson, an ex Navy Seal and member of a covert government organisation.  He is plagued by memories of the Vietnam War and how his commanding officer handed him over to the enemy to be tortured.  Janson is working on a job trying to rescue an important man but his plans go wrong and before long he becomes then hunted, he’s left with no choice but to follow clues leading him to a massive scandal.

So Stallone loves making sequels to his old movies like Rocky and Rambo but, Eddie Murphy is one actor who isn’t going to be doing any of that.  Talk of Beverly Hills Cop IV (4) has been doing the rounds for many a year now but it has never amounted to anything more than speculation.

Rolling Stone magazine have an interview coming up with Eddie Murphy who has told them that a fourth Beverly Hills cop movie won’t be done and he is preferring the idea of producing a spin off TV show of the hit 80’s movie, check what he said to them below.

They’re not doing it. What I’m trying to do now is produce a TV show starring Axel Foley’s son, and Axel is the chief of police now in Detroit. I’d do the pilot, show up here and there. None of the movie scripts were right; it was trying to force the premise. If you have to force something, you shouldn’t be doing it. It was always a rehash of the old thing. It was always wrong.

I’m not so sure how a TV show of Beverly Hills Cop would work, I loved the first and second movies, third one was a bit of a joke and I really wouldn’t want to see a fourth so I’m pleased there not doing it  but, a TV show?  Let’s see if it comes off.

It seems we are all about series renewals and sequels this week so why not mention another.  Rumours of a follow up to Independence Day have been doing the rounds for years now but it seems they are moving forward and the scripts are expected to be handed into Fox by December.

The studio have said that there will be two sequels shot at the same time, so that’s ID2 and ID3, they of course would like there star man Will Smith back to take the lead but his involvement still isn’t confirmed after he asked for a salary of $50m to do the movies.  The studio has said that they are prepared to make the movies without him, why?

No script details have been released as of yet but to leave box office gold like Will Smith out would be a big mistake in my opinion.  Would the first movie have been such a hit without him?  Would you even go see the second and third it he wasn’t the star?.... I’m not so sure I would be quite as lured, for me they should be making it their business to get Smith back on board.  The first movie took $800m worldwide and with Smith in for the sequels I think they could gross even more.

Weekly News: TRANSFORMERS 4 & 5, NEW WAYANS BROTHERS COMEDY, EMINEM and BACK TO THE FUTURE Alternative Ending



I put this here so you'd read it...

Just as Transformers 3 is wrapping up at the cinema Paramount have made an announcement that they are going to be making 4^th and 5^th movies also.  Hasbro are keen that director Michael Bay is back on board and the movies will be shot simultaneously, just like the final two Matrix movies, we all know how that turned out…..Well actually we don’t, I’ve seen that a bunch of times and still couldn’t tell you what it was all about.

It has been confirmed, or at least is thought that Shia LeBeouf will not be back for either of these two movies, however Jason Statham’s name is doing the rounds right now but no formal offer has been made.  Personally I think they should leave it at three, I thought the first one was good, didn’t have any desire to see the second one and even less to see the third.  The only reason for bringing it back really could be the fact the third movie grossed over $1 billion.

What do all of these shows or movies have in common, White Chicks, Scary Movie, Little Man, In Living Colour, The Wayans Brothers and My Wife and Kids?  They are all produced by The Wayans brothers who also tend to star in them all to.

Now they are back with a brand new sitcom on ABC, It’s not titled as yet but Marlon Wayans has been giving a little up on what things will be about.  He said the show is going to have a couple/buddy cop feel about it, and guess what Marlon plays a married cop, sounds like White Chicks for TV to me.  There is no name on who the other cop will be, or at least Marlon Wayans hasn’t named the person yet.  What we do know is the character will be moving in with Marlon and his wife.  It will be pretty stupid no doubt but anything which these guys have been involved in is usually pretty funny.

Two names in the music industry that you usually wouldn’t associate with each other is Eminem, the hip hop and rap superstar and Elton John, the mild mannered guy from the 70’s.  Turns out though they are pretty good friends, so much so that they are on the phone to each other at least once a week, Eminem told Rolling Stones Magazine Elton likes to check I’m on the up and up.

The friendship came following the height of Eminem’s drug addiction when after one overdose he was told by doctors he was only a couple of hours away from dying.  He spoke about his addiction to Ambien, a prescription drug which Eminem says was killing his Brain cells.

Eminem said that during the peak of his drug addiction he was taking 60 Valium and 30 Vicodin pills a day.  That was back in 2007 when he overdosed on Methadone, the drug which is used to wean drug addicts from Heroin.  Dr’s told him the amount of Methadone he took was the equivalent to four bags of Heroin.

That’s where Elton stepped in to help, Eminem says Elton was the first person he called when he wanted to get clean, Em says he keeps all of his writing from those drug addict days to remind himself that he never wants to go back to drugs.

Ok last but not least I ran by this video on the net this week thanks to Slash film, the video comes from a YouTuber, Midians Music (check out his awesome channel) who has put together a very entertaining little video with his idea of an alternate ending for Back To The Future.  Not news I know but thought I should share it with you, it is pretty clever. 

TV Previews: DEXTER 6.4 A Horse Of a Different Color, HOMELAND 1.4 Semper I, THE WALKING DEAD 2.2 Bloodletting, TERRA NOVA 1.6 Bylaw and PERSON OF INTEREST 1.6 The Fix

Back as always this week with all the best previews of your favourite shows, first up this week it's DEXTER.  The show is getting some real competition from HOMELAND this year but for me this is still the best on TV.  There are some disturbing events in Dexter this week which really look as though they are going to drive on with this seasons religious theme.  Horses are being rode into town but not by people, the Travis and Dr Geller story looks as if it may well pick up steam this week.  Brother Sam is a major and welcome feature, Debra finds something disturbing at crime scene and it looks like Dexter finally learns of this season's killers.

HOMELAND for you next, remember last week I was telling you that this show is pretty hard going.  This weeks looks no different and drawing from similarities with AMC's The Killing there is a real political edge to this weeks show.  Brody's behaviour is starting to become more and more erratic, leading the political drive behind his media darling status to start doubting his credentials.  Elsewhere Carrie is growing desperate for evidence linking Brody to terrorist Abu Nazir, the man she be believes is funded by a wealthy Saudi Prince, her friend Saul advises her to forget about the Brody link and concentrate on Nazir's money trail.

Ok to THE WALKING DEAD now and from the impressive season 2 premiere this week really seems to be moving up a gear, remember right at the end of last weeks show that little kid got shot, yeah.  Well this week picks up pretty much where that left off and the group of survivors are now more divided than ever.  The group make it to a hospital in an attempt to save the boy only to be met by the "Zombie massive" in what looks to be another impressive scene of special effects.  I think I may be watching this ahead of HOMELAND this week.

Anyone else becoming disappointed with TERRA NOVA?  The last two weeks have been really disappointing even episode 5 (review coming soon) which had an impressive preview failed to deliver to the standard of what's already great on TV.  The show is taking a weeks break but will be back with what is another promising preview.  A murder at TERRA NOVA, who is responsible the Sixers?  Or does the Shannon's son have a dark side that are all going to get to know about.

Last but certainly not least PERSON OF INTEREST had an impressive 5th episode (review coming soon).  As always this week there is a completely new target thrown up by that genius computer system.  This could possibly be the one story that rolls on with a possible love interest for Reese, the computer throws up a woman's SSN turns out she is a fixer (sure I don't need to elaborate).  It looks like another solid installment of the show which CBS have just ordered a full season for.

TV Trailer: TOUCH Starring Kiefer Sutherland

So fresh out form 24 Kiefer Sutherland is currently awaiting the finalised script for 24 the movie, in the mean time he has been keeping himself busy with what seems like another great TV show.  Touch is a new sci-fi drama brought to us by Fox, it's written by Tim Kring (Heroes) and will be directed by Francis Lawrence (I Am Legend, Water For Elephants) and is due to air in 2012. 

The story centers on Martin Bohm (Sutherland) and his autistic, mute son Jake.  Martin discovers that Jake can actually predict events before they happen.

That's pretty much all there is right now, details are pretty thin on the ground.  The trailer below is taken from movies music & television's new YouTube channel, have you checked it out yet?  There are only a couple of videos right now but I'm working on it.  In the mean time check out the Touch trailer below.

Looks good right?  As well as starring Kiefer Sutherland the show also stars Danny Glover (Lethal Weapon) and Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Undercovers (TV), Larry Crown)

TV Previews: DEXTER 6.3 "Smokey and the Bandit", HOMELAND 1.3 "Clean Skin", TERRA NOVA 1.4 "Runaway" and PERSON OF INTEREST 1.5 "Judgment"

What’s happening in your favourite show this week?  Well this is your best place to find out with preview videos of Dexter, Homeland, Terra Nova and Person of Interest for you.  Do you like this post?  Let me know.  I’m hoping it can become a more permanent fixture here on a Sunday and it seemed to do pretty well last week.

I’ll go with Homeland first this week as I’m trying to catch up with it right now so I can review it, I don't want to give to much away to myself at this point so all I'll say for this episode is that it looks like another great installment with things really kicking up a gear and the Brody family reluctantly agree to a television interview following the return of their hero.

Next my personal favourite Dexter is back this week with the third episode of the sixth season named “Smokey and the Bandit”, I was really impressed last week remember following the introduction of Brother Sam (Mos Def), a reformed criminal who seems to have mended his way.  We still don’t know to much about Travis or Professor Geller but it looks like this week they are taking their killing to an all new twisted level.  Elsewhere Dexter is given a glimpse into his future when a serial killer from the past makes a re-appearance while Debra is uncomfortable in her new job as lieutenant.   

Have to mention Terra Nova I suppose, it showed some real promise during the two hour premiere, the second instalment was ok then last week really disappointed me.  I realised then Terra Nova is nothing more than a family show that’s probably designed for parents to sit with their children and watch.  I still haven’t decided weather to keep up with America as I have been or just watch this at UK pace, maybe I’ll see what epsidoe 4 “The Runaway” is like before I make my decision.  This episode looks like it’s going to get back to the core concept of Terra Nova and The Sixers.

Last but not least this week it’s Person of Interest, this show really kicked into action during episode 4 and this week’s preview to episode 5 “Judgment” looks just as promising.  Last week did not really have an ending with us left wondering what happened to Andrew, did Reese Shoot him?  Or, did he shoot himself?  I not holding my breath that we will find out as this week seems like a whole new story.

Midweek News: CHERYL COLE New Album, X FACTOR Viewing Figures Down

Some music news first for you this week, although it’s Cheryl Cole so can we really call it music?  We can from now on, following her successful debut album in the UK and US Cole and her producer and friend Will.i.Am have confirmed they are currently working on the Geordie lasses third album.

Since Girls Aloud have been “ON A BREAK” Cheryl has carved herself a successful solo career even making in roads into TV, we all know how that went when she wind up in America on Simon Cowell’s new mega US X Factor.  Now fully out of hiding from that embarrassment Cole has now set to work in the studio again with an album of songs ready to be recorded.

This album is going to be like nothing we have heard from her in the past, unlike her last album of pop junk which saw one song feature Will.i.Am (maybe more), the duo have hinted that collaborations are already lined up with rap superstars Eminem, Niki Minaj and R&B artists Rhianna and Usher.  Along with that there is a slight rumour that she may well also be collaborating with hit DJ and producer David Guetta.

Things seem to be on the up for Cole once again and this is one album I can see myself taking a listen to, Cole has also just signed on to star in her first Hollywood movie What To Expect When Your Expecting which will also star Jennifer Lopez and Cameron Diaz.

Some more music news now, seems I’m on a bit of a role this week although this sort of combines music and TV.  NME.COM are reporting that X Factor viewing figures are down 2 million from where they were in the 2010 live shows.  In 2010 the show pulled in 12.2 million for it’s first live show whilst this year it only managed 10.4 million still not bad for the UK but, what’s the problem?

The new judging line up?  I don’t think so for me the judging panel is a good one, apart from Louis Walsh, can’t stand the guy.  The inclusion of Gary Barlow for me is a great effort, he is a proven musician and songwriter and has really done well since joining the show.  Tulisa, again nothing to complain about obviously the new eye candy replacing Cheryl Cole but, also a proven artist and songwriter.  Then you have Kelly Rowland, I certainly have no problem with her.

So what is the problem?  To many twists and turns would be my guess, and the fact that it’s on TV far to much.  Personally I’m a little sick of it.  The first live show this year went on for two hours 30 minutes, way to long in my opinion.  I know this year they had 16 acts to get through rather than 12 but it’s still to long and some of it can be cut down if they take out all the talking.  I didn’t watch the show live I recorded it and watched it back, that only took about an hour, a suitable length of time.

Then you move onto Sunday night and the live results show, no problem with that apart from the fact it’s on for one hour, why?  So we can watch the two live acts who are on Simon Cowell’s payroll for the week.  Then awaiting the judges to make their decision was just ridiculous, if I could have skipped all the pausing I would have “The person I’m taking to the next live show is…………zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz” To long!

I said at the very start of this series of X Factor that I hope they don’t do with the show what they done with Britain’s Got Talent, they turned it into overkill twice a weekend then every night of the week it’s just to much.  Now it looks like the X Factor will be heading in the exact same direction.

This Weeks TV Previews: DEXTER "Once Upon A Time" and TERRA NOVA "What Remains"

Another new weekly post for you now and it's one I hope is going to go down well.  I figured as I review all of these shows and you take your time to come here read and leave your comments then we should take a look at whats coming up in each of them week on week. It's not going to be to long writing wise but hopefully it will suffice.

First up, the best show on TV DEXTER (last weeks review HERE).  Dexter got off to a good start last week with his body count up to three already, this week I don't think there will be so much killing, maybe a little more story with another new character.  This week should see the characters of Travis Marshall (Colin Hanks) and Professor James Gellar (Edward James Olmos) really get developed a little further, these two it would seem are really going to drive home the religious feel to this season.  They are going to be joined this week by Brother Sam (Mos Def), looks to me like he may be Dexter's biggest foe this season.

Dexter season 6 episode 2 - Once Upon A Time... premiers on Showtime October 9th 2011 at 9pm.

Next up some Dinosaur adventures for you, this weeks TERRA NOVA looks like an exciting one following last weeks slight lull, as Ruben said it was like watching that Hitchcock movie Birds.  The love triangle seems like it will come into the swing this week.  Elizabeth, Jim and Michael are sent to investigate radio silence at a scientific outpost where a mysterious virus has broken out, not wearing a gas mask in the clip below Elizabeth seems a little confused and shoots her husband Jim with one of those sonic blaster guns before cosing up with Michael.

Terra Nova season 1 Episode 3 - What Remains premieres on Fox Monday October 10th at 8pm.....Episode 2 will premiere in the UK on Sky1 the same night at the same time.

Weekly News: DI CAPRIO in SATORI, DEXTER in turmoil, SUGE KNIGHT, P DIDDY and STRIKE BACK SERIES 3

Currently the highest paid actor in Hollywood, Leonardo Di Caprio has been in some pretty big movies most of which I haven’t got round to seeing yet, currently on my list The Basket Ball Diaries and Inception, now it looks like I will be adding a new Di Caprio movie to that list, an uber cool one which will see the leading man take the role of an assassin.

Deadline are reporting that Warner Bros. Pictures have acquired the rights to make a movie out of the best selling novel Satori.  Di Caprio has been picked up as the leading man, he will play Nicholai Hel.  A westerner raised in Japan by a group of martial arts experts.

The movie is billed as a sophisticated thriller, it has a certain hint of Jason Bourne to it, raised and taught assassin skills by his master Hel repays him by killing him.  For his actions he is thrown in a Japanese prison and tortured for three years before the CIA break him out on one condition.  He must kill the Soviet Commissioner to China.  The movie is set during the 1950’s, and Hel is betrayed by his so called allies and ends up on the run through Vietnam from American, Chinese, Russian and French intelligence agencies as well as the Corsican mob and a Vietnamese crime syndicate.

Cancel Dexter, WHAT!  Are you kidding me?  Unfortunately I’m not, it hasn’t been cancelled of yet and hopefully it won’t be but just as season six wraps it’s shooting talks between the shows star Michael C Hall and network Showtime have stalled.

The show is the biggest hit on the cable network and Season 6 opened last Sunday night with an impressive premiere which saw Dexter receive it’s highest rating ever of 2.2m (I thought it would be more).  Showtime have offered Hall a figure of $20m to acquire his signature for another two seasons, talks have come to an “Impasse” though as Hall has said he wants $24m for two more seasons which would make him one of the highest paid actors on cable TV.  Let’s just hope they get this resolved and we get another two season of a quality show, I say give him the $24m, if Charlie Sheen is worth that sort of dough then so is Michael C Hall

I got some music news for you believe it or not, well actually it’s more of a gang related story which goes back to the early 90’s it involves two record labels Death Row owned at the time by Suge Knight and Bad Bay Entertainment owned by Sean “P. Diddy” Coombs.

An Ex-LAPD detective Greg Kading has wrote a book and claimed that he has evidence that the heavyweight record producers where involved in the murders of both Biggie Smalls and Tupac Shakur.  He claims in the book that the LAPD had evidence which was suppressed, it included taped confessions from hired hit men but was removed just before the case was solved.  Sean Coombs has E-Mailed LA Weekly saying it’s pure fiction and completely ridiculous.

More good news now, hit TV show Strike Back has been commissioned for a third series.  The British drama is currently coming towards the end of it's second series on SKY1 (UK) and HBO/Cinemax (US).  The third series will once again be a co-production between Sky and HBO/Cinemax and will start filming early 2012 in South Africa before it premiers later in the year.  The show follows a fictional part of the British Intelligence agency named Section 20 and concentrates on counter terrorism operations.  None of the cast have been confirmed as yet but I would think leading man Philip Winchester would return for another series no problem.

Movies Music and Television, Weekly News Roundup: WOODY HARRELSON OSCAR NOD, SCARFACE REMAKE, MONEYBALL and J.J. ABRAMS "ALCATRAZ"

First off this week who thinks Woody Harrelson is worthy of an Oscar?  Me for one.  I have been a big Harrelson fan for years and in my opinion he is one of those actors who can pick up a role and make it his own, what I mean by that is he isn't just Woody Harrelson in every movie you see he can really step into something and make you believe he is the character he's  playing.  My two personal favourites are Natural Born Killers and White Men Can't Jump.

Harrelson has actually been nominated for an Oscar twice in the past and I have to be honest I haven't seen either of the movies.  For The Messenger he was nominated for a best supporting actor role and The People vs Larry Flynt saw him get the nod for best leading actor.

Now it seem that Harrelson is going to get another chance, Oren Moverman who directed Harrelson in The Messenger has helped heap him with praise once again.  Rampart premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and the cop drama drew rave reviews.  The movie is based on a character named Dave Brown a corrupt cop who strolls through life believing he is always on the right side of the law, his past finally catches up with him and he is forced to come clean with his family and department heads.

Deadline are reporting the movie has now been picked up by Millennium pictures in a deal worth $2m dollars but no release date has been set.  As well as Harrelson leading the movie he is backed up with a stellar cast including Robin Wright, Steve Buscemi, Sigournay Weaver, Ben Foster, Ice Cube, Anne Heche and Cynthia Noxon.

Who knew the Pacino version of Scarface was a remake?  Not me that's for sure.  It seems that they aren't happy with one remake released in 1983 and now they want to make another updated version, although they are trying to stay away from words like sequel or remake.  The original Scarface was released in 1932, in black and white of course and starred a guy named Paul Muni who played an Italian immigrant who took over Chicago.  Pacino as we know was a Cuban immigrant who muscled his way to the top of the Miami cocaine trade during the 1980's, his iconic one liner "say hello to my little friend" and the character of Tony Montana is still merchandised to this day when asking most people if they have seen a Pacino movie (who hasn't?) there answer will be Scarface.

What is it with remakes at the minute and where would they go with a new character if it's not a remake like they say?  The 1983 version of the movie still sits in prime place in my DVD collection along with other classic gangster movies like Casino and Goodfellas and personally I wouldn't like to see any of them remade.

Who has heard of Moneyball starring Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill?  No.  Well this is a movie which has been gathering interest for quite a while now, released in America over the weekend it has drawn rave reviews.

The movie is a biography which is based on a book of the same name, it follows Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) and his successful attempt to build a Baseball Team with the Oakland A's after they employ computer generated analytics and a reduced wage bill.

The movie is brought to you by Aaron Sorkin the Oscar winning director who lead Phillip Seymour Hoffman in Capote.  Hoffman also stars in this movie along with Robin Wright, check the trailer below.

So why am I so interested?  Well if you come here regular you may know that I'm a huge fan of Football, not American, the English Premier League and Newcastle United in particular.  I read an article a while back now comparing the tactics of Mike Ashley (Newcastle owner) and the director of the Oakland A's Baseball team.  Ashley has made similar cuts at Newcastle particularly with the wage bill, this season manager Alan Pardew has managed to make people really fight for their place in the team creating a little hunger once again, that's why I'm interested.

I have mentioned in a couple of posts lately that Director and Producer J.J. Abrams must surely be the busiest guy in Hollywood right now, and it seems he has struck gold once again with his new TV show Alcatraz.

The Pilot episode of the show premiered at this years Comic Con and left the audience dripping for more.  The show has been billed as the new Lost and also draws comparisons from many other Abrams projects like Fringe and The 4400.

It centres around a mysterious incident at Alcatraz prison in 1963 when all 302 prisoners and guards vanished without any explanation.  One prisoner from back then named Jack Sylvane shows up in modern day San Francisco, mystery is he hasn't aged a day since his dissipearne from Alcatraz.  He has returned to right a few wrongs and the lead Detective in the case Sarah Linden along with geeky historian Dr. Diego Soto (Lost's Jorge Garcia) are left to unravel the mystery.  They are soon joined in the investigation by FBI agent Emmerson Hauser (Sam Neil, Jurassic Park) and learn that Sylvane won't be the only prisoner from 1963 making a re-appearance in San Francisco.  The show is due to air on Fox in early 2012.