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Special effects.

The Emmy award-winning team at Brainstorm Digital has put together the before and after shots from season 2 of HBO’s hit series “Boardwalk Empire”.

Click PLAY or watch it on Vimeo.

… Says Glenn Allen, visual effects producer for Boardwalk Empire and co-founder of Brainstorm, “It’s our most complex job to date. Everything is HD now, so we have to treat it like a feature film. …

Thanks Ron.

I don’t know anyone who disliked Friends as much as I did.

Four Six (Dana had to correct me.) good looking white people whining about their lives. 63 Emmy Awards. That’s my definition of over-rated.

Glee, in contrast, tries to tackle important issues. They did a terrific job on Rachel’s nose.

Click PLAY or watch it on Vimeo.

Glee doesn’t always hit the right note. But when they do, it’s awesome.

… less Hebraic and more Fabrayic …

That mash-up was voted Best Glee Song of All Time by TV Line readers in a July 2011 poll.

The last episode of the 2nd season sees Karl Pilkington on a mission to climb Fuji. … And to come up with an invention — inflatable pants.

I don’t know why I like An Idiot Abroad. It’s absurd. But there are little moments of brilliance.

Karl almost liked Zen Buddhist meditation. Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Almost.

Warren recommended this British reality TV comedy — An Idiot Abroad …

It’s another in the series where Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant make fun of their friend Karl Pilkington. In general, I don’t like their mean humour.

But in this program, Karl is the star. One of those genuinely hilarious characters that don’t even know they are funny.

…An Idiot Abroad charts Pilkington’s reactions when visiting the New Seven Wonders of the World, as well as the situations he’s placed in and cultural differences and idiosyncrasies in the countries he visits. …

Click PLAY or watch the series preview on YouTube.

First stop for Karl was chaotic China. His befuddlement was somewhat familiar to me, too, having come directly from polite, strict and orderly Japan.

Click PLAY or watch a China preview on YouTube.

A second year (the show renewed) has Karl doing his “Bucket List” (things to do before he dies).

This American Life is the best radio show in existence. Always good.

But they outdid themselves in episode 447:

THE INCREDIBLE CASE OF THE P.I. MOMS
Originally aired 09.23.2011

What do you get when you take a P.I. firm, then add in a bunch of sexy soccer moms, official sponsorship from Glock, a lying boss, and delusions of grandeur? This week’s show.

Ira explains how a man named Chris Butler created a private detective agency where the investigators were good-looking soccer moms. Their publicist invited a reporter named Pete Crooks from Diablo magazine to do a ride-along with the PI Moms on a case. Pete thinks it’ll be a simple, fun assignment. Turns out he was wrong. …

Chris Butler is a megalomaniac who decides that his Soccer Mom private investigators would make him a reality TV celebrity. He now faces life in prison.

… On one level it’s a brilliant, astonishing story. On another an indictment of American “culture” in 2011.

To listen download from here, or subscribe to the audiocast via iTunes.

One bit of good news — the P.I. Soccer Moms reality TV show was cancelled.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Brittany (S. Pierce) is played by Heather Morris.

… Her big break came in 2007 via Beyoncé. Morris was one of Beyoncé’s backup dancers on The Beyoncé Experience world tour …

Morris was taking acting classes and actively pursuing an acting career when she was asked … to teach the choreography for Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies” dance to the Glee actors. At the same time, the show was looking for a third cheerleader, and Morris ended up landing the role of Brittany.

Initially a background character who hardly ever spoke, the role grew as writers discovered Morris had a gift for delivering one-liners …

Do you know any Glee fanatics?

Heather Morris and the cast of GLEE put their own stamp on the Dr. Dre classic NUTHIN’ BUT A ‘G’ THANG.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube. (profanity)

Ron and Kate love this reality TV show.

River Monsters is a documentary television series that aired on Animal Planet hosted by Jeremy Wade …

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

… River Monsters had the best series premiere in Animal Planet’s network history by delivering 1.3 million viewers. It was also its most watched regularly airing primetime telecast in over six years. …

I’m not much of a Gervais fan, but when Kate played the first 3 episodes of this TV series, I found them HILARIOUS.

Extras is a British sitcom about extras working on TV and film sets and in theatre. The series was co-produced by the BBC and HBO, and is created, written, and directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, both of whom also star in it. …

Each episode has at least one guest star; a television or film celebrity, who play what Gervais and Merchant have referred to as “twisted” versions of themselves; an exaggerated or inverted parody of their famous public personas. …

Kate Winslet
Ben Stiller
Ross Kemp/Vinnie Jones
Samuel L. Jackson
Les Dennis
Patrick Stewart

The guest star cameos are the best part.

Click PLAY or watch a clip on YouTube.

Expedition Impossible is a 2011 American reality television series. The series follows thirteen teams of three competitors as they “solve problems while racing across deserts, over mountains and through rivers” across the nation of Morocco. …

Click PLAY or watch the trailer on YouTube.

Before its debut, Expedition Impossible drew comparisons to other reality television series, including The Amazing Race, Pirate Master, and Burnett’s own adventure race series Eco-Challenge.

Burnett has repudiated the comparisons to TAR, saying “There’s no taxis. There’s no hotels. This is very, very different. Here, you actually need to put yourself on the line, really be willing to cross the deserts and the mountains and use the camels and the horses. So, it’s a very, very much more difficult competition.” …

It steals much from Amazing Race, but is even better IMHO.

The Gypsies seem near certain to win:

John Post, 25, Pensacola Beach, FL. Sustainable Farmer
Taylor Filasky, 31, San Diego, CA. Video Producer
Eric Bach, 26, San Francisco, CA. Entrepreneur

Group of friends that, collectively, have traveled to over 40 countries.