TV and Burgers

Yes my friends you read that correctly; Sir Griffin will not be watching the Winter Games from Sochi Russia. Not one second.  There are several reasons why and I will share them with you now. First of all I am truly repulsed by the anti-gay laws of Russia.  Google ran an excellent pro-gay doodle yesterday with a quote from the Olympic Charter.  It read as follows "The practice of sport is a human right. Every individual must have the possibility of practicing sport, without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play," Now while that will do absolutely nothing to change the discriminatory laws of Russia (and I realize that things are not exactly perfect here either, but at least things are changing in the right direction) it was certainly a wonderful tribute. But there is also the stray dog issue.  I realize Sochi has an...

We conclude our previews with a look at NBC.  Now NBC has been in the doldrums lately and as far as I can see not much of that is about to change.  The experiment with the Million Second Quiz was yet another colossal failure, but then again it deserved to be.  So let us take a look at what NBC will be offering us this fall, shall we? The Blacklist: James Spader stars as Red Reddington, one of the FBI's Most Wanted.  In the pilot he surrenders himself to the FBI, but will only speak to a rookie FBI profiler named Elizabeth Keen.  Why her? Well probably because she's young and attractive, but I am sure there is another reason.  Anyway Red has a list of terrorists, many of which the FBI does not even know exist and he is there to help her find them. Why? Well he obviously has a motive, but that is not going to be quickly revealed.  I Like the premise, I like James Spader and I like Megan Boone.  I think I will like this show.  Though wouldn'...

As I began to write my annual fall TV previews I thought that it might be fun to look back at this past season and take a closer look as to what worked for me and what did not.  My tastes do not always match up with the masses and some shows I thought should have been successful were canceled while others I did not like got the call for a second season.  Some shows just outright disappointed me.  And with that in mind we shall start with… Revolution – No network show disappointed me more than this one.  It started out okay and it just went downhill from there.  Due to my appreciation and respect for JJ Abrams I hung in there all season, but I will not be back for Season 2.  I was okay with the implausible plot, but the fact that so many people had these secrets and refused to answer questions when asked just bugged the crap out of me.  Plus it really annoyed me that it turns out a lack of power turned everyone violent.  Why could ...

I know what you’re thinking because I am pretty much thinking the same thing; how can Sir Griffin hate a show that he’s never even seen?  That’s simply ridiculous, correct?  Well as ridiculous as it sounds and as ridiculous as the reality of it is, it’s true.  There are TV shows that, for one reason or another, I simply hate.  Now I am not talking about ridiculous reality shows that follow around a family or hang out at a business because I should never have to watch Honey Boo-Boo, Ducky Dynasty, Splash or anything involving a Kardashian to know that it is a piece of crap.  No, I am sticking strictly with scripted shows today because if I were to get involved with “reality” shows the list would be almost endless.  Now I don’t hate every show that I have never seen.  I have never seen Revenge, but I don’t hate it.  Same goes for The Good Wife, Gossip Girl, The Vampire Diaries and several others.  It’s just that some shows just hi...

In 2013 two of my favorite shows will reach their conclusion; Fringe will air its final episode in January and Breaking Bad will finish its run sometime in the summer. I always come to a series finale with some trepidation knowing that I have been burned in the past by some bad finales, but also with a bit of optimism since I have also seen some fantastic finales. How either of these shows will end is anyone’s guess, but all I ask for is an ending that is satisfying so I am not left to wonder or interpret on my own what really happened. Now the first episode of the first half of this season of Breaking Bad began with a flash-forward to Walter ordering breakfast (but not eating it, what a waste) in a Denny's on his 52nd birthday. Walt is using an alias and has a New Hampshire driver’s license. He meets with Lawson in the restroom and is given the keys to a car that has an arsenal in the trunk. The final episode ended with Hank sitting on a toilet in Walt’s house and finally...

Except for Survivor and The Amazing Race, I have virtually no use for reality television. I don’t watch it and by design I know very little about it. I don’t care about anyone named Kardashian, people that drive trucks or hillbillies that fish with their hands. However, I have determined that there are several reality ideas I have in my head that I would watch if they actually aired. So take a look at my thoughts for reality television shows and let me know if you’d watch any of them. Chelsea & Angie – Two of the sexiest and most beautiful Survivor contestants of all time, Chelsea Meissner and Angie Layton, move in to a beach house together. They spend their days and nights wearing bikinis and doing normal, everyday things. Sometimes they read the phone book aloud and they often run in slow motion on the beach. Though I could not promise anything it would be great if they became lovers. The beach house would be near where I live. Seacrest or Death – A conte...

As we all know Sir Griffin is way behind in his fall TV previews, but there is no need to complain.  I will, eventually, get all of them finished.  I realize that some shows may have already been canceled by the time I get this all done, but as always, Sir Griffin will do his best.  We’re taking a look today at NBC and fortunately for you I have already seen several of these shows so I can give some definitive opinions.  I am going to start with the four shows in which I have already seen the pilot.  Go On – Matthew Perry returns with another attempt to headline his own show.  And while I enjoyed Mr. Sunshine, I can tell you that this show is substantially better.  Perry plays sportscaster Ryan King, a widower who has joined a support group to help him cope with the loss of his wife.  I know it does not sound like a particularly funny topic, but I can tell you that it is very humorous.  I loved the pilot and particularly enjoye...

"Ezekiel saw the wheel. This is the wheel he said he saw.  These are Unidentified Flying Objects that people say they are seeing now.  Are they proof that we are being visited by civilizations from other stars? Or just what are they? What you are about to see is part of a 20-year search." Those words, spoken by Jack Webb, were the introduction to each episode of Project U.F.O. which ran on NBC for two seasons beginning in February 1978.  The show was based on the files of Project Blue Book, which was a study of unidentified flying objects by the US Air Force between 1952 and 1969.  The show starred William Jordan as Major Jake Gatlin and Caskey Swaim as Staff Sergeant Harry Fitz as two Air Force investigators working on Project Blue Book.  In season two Jordan was replaced by Edward Winter as Captain Ben Ryan and the show suffered greatly.  Winter, who had been brilliant as Colonel Flagg on M*A*S*H*, was a dud here.  His presence and th...

Back in the 1970’s the made for TV movie was much more prevalent on the networks than it is today.  Sure, we still get those occasional Jesse Stone films, but unlike the 70’s we no longer have entire nights devoted to movies of the week.  Often times these movies were pilots for series.  Such was the case with James at 15.    On September 5, 1977 the made for TV movie, James at 15, was first broadcast on NBC.  As it turned out it was the number one show of that week with an astounding 42% share of the viewing audience.  Almost immediately, NBC green-lit the series and it premiered on October 20 th 1977 where it quickly became one of my favorites.   If you don’t remember the show or if you never saw it to begin with let me tell you the plot.   James (Lance Kerwin) was a 15 year old boy that was transplanted across the country from Oregon to Massachusetts after his father took a teaching position.   James had a difficu...

I’d like to take this opportunity today to announce a new occasional series here at TV & Burgers.  Starting soon (which means whenever I feel like it and get around to it) I will be taking a nostalgic look back at some of my favorite shows from when I was just a kid.  In the days before Sir Griffin became an international sensation, he spent many a day sitting in front of the TV, mostly because sitting behind the TV was kind of pointless.  You could hear it, but that was about it.  Due to the fact that I spent countless hours watching TV I feel a certain obligation to my audience to share with you some of the shows that are long gone, yet bring back fond memories. Me and the Chimp Now I am not talking about going into to detail about the greatest hits of the past.  Gilligan’s Island may be the most brilliant show of all time, but that may be a little too mainstream for Sir Griffin to write about.  And yes, I loved Bewitched, My Three S...

Last night I accessed my DVR looking to see what I had recorded and ready to watch.  After being forced to sit through NCIS: LA for the sole reason that it was the second part of a storyline started on Hawaii Five-0, I decided I wanted some comedy.  I had seen that one of my new shows had recorded the previous night so I pushed play.  I got myself all relaxed and ready to see another episode of the hilarious Best Friends Forever, but instead I saw the beginning of some old grandma reality show featuring Betty White.  What the hell?  I knew immediately that my show was a goner.  Before I get much further please allow me to vent.  I am sick and tired of Betty White.  I officially suffer from Betty White fatigue.  Okay, she was kind of cute and funny in that Sandra Bullock movie a couple of years ago (The good one and not that bore fest that won her an Oscar) but ever since then we have had Betty White forced upon us in unprecede...

As we close out 2011, allow me to wish each and every one of my loyal readers a very Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa and Happy Holidays.  I thank you for your loyalty and for making TV & Burgers an overwhelming success. It is now time for Sir Griffin’s annual list of his ten best shows of 2011.  Before you read you do have to remember that this is my list, not yours, and thus if you disagree feel free to make your own list, but do not disparage mine.  I list my shows alphabetically and not in any order of favorites.  Also, there are a lot of shows out there that I just do not watch that are often critically acclaimed and since I’ve never seen them I cannot include them no matter how good they are.  I have never seen Mad Men or Breaking Bad so don’t look for those on this list.  So without further ado I bring you Sir Griffin’s Top 10 of 2011. 2 Broke Girls – From the first episode I fell in love with this show. ...

I do not watch a lot of programs on NBC any more.  In fact I only watch Chuck.  That’s it!  What was once must see TV is now an entire network of must avoid TV.  So knowing that NBC does not really cater to my tastes I was not looking particularly forward to seeing their offerings for fall and beyond.  However, I went in with an open mind.  Let’s take a look: The Playboy Club The Playboy Club:   Here we go again.  Yet another show based on the successful Mad Men mold.  Another drama based in the 60’s?  We already have Pan Am over on ABC copying the concept and now we have this.  Since this is going to be on network TV it will be fairly tame which makes me wonder why such ignorant groups as Morality in Media are bitching about it.  Frankly a show like this belongs on cable with a lot of nudity, but we will not get that.  What we will get is the story of some hot women working at a Playboy Club in Chic...