P.I. Soccer Moms

Posted by coach Rick — October 15, 2011

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.

our favourite dumb blonde

Posted by coach Rick — September 23, 2011

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 …

Nuthin’ But A Glee Thang

Posted by coach Rick — September 22, 2011

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)

River Monsters – extreme fishing

Posted by coach Rick — September 9, 2011

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. …

Ricky Gervais – Extras

Posted by coach Rick — September 6, 2011

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.

have you seen Expedition Impossible?

Posted by coach Rick — August 5, 2011

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.

Detective Inspector John Rebus

Posted by coach Rick — June 3, 2011

When visiting Scotland I got into Rebus. Happily, Warren is a bit of a fan, too, collecting those that have been televised or turned into movies.

Detective Inspector John Rebus is the protagonist in the Inspector Rebus series of detective novels by the Scottish writer Ian Rankin, ten of which have so far been televised as Rebus. The novels are mostly set in and around Edinburgh. …

Rebus can be said to belong to a long tradition of paternal Scottish hard men. A natural leader whose gruff exterior and fierce will to succeed in his field belies a benevolent nature. …

In the Rebus television adaptations he was played by John Hannah in the first two series, but in the later series the role was taken over by Ken Stott to much acclaim. …

Hannah is a terrific actor, but I’d say Stott is much truer to the Rebus of the novels.

Stott as Rebus

Leave a comment if you’ve an opinion on the two actors.

call me a Gleek

Posted by coach Rick — March 11, 2011

An unlikely hit about High School show choir set in Lima, Ohio.

How could you do an elevator pitch on that?

I’ve been rewatching the series starting with the Premiere. What strikes me second time ’round is how strong the music is, in general.

Click PLAY or watch one of my favourites on YouTube.

Glee has been a commercial success, with over twenty-one million digital single sales and nine million album sales. …

In 2009, the Glee cast had 25 singles chart on the Billboard Hot 100, the most by any artist since The Beatles had 31 songs in the chart in 1964. In February 2011, Glee surpassed Elvis as the artist with the most songs placed on the Billboard Hot 100 chart …

I’m surprised the novelty hasn’t worn off.

Like many others, I’d watch an hour long show only for Sue.

And some of the characters: Kurt, Santana and especially Brittany have really grown on me over time. Coach Beiste, too.

why ‘normal’ people won’t give up Cable TV

Posted by coach Rick — February 8, 2011

Ad agency Hill Holliday recently conducted an experiment, asking five families to give up cable TV in favor of connected TV devices for a week.

The growing availability of online content and video subscription services, coupled with an exploding market for connected devices, has pushed the idea of cord cutting — or dropping a traditional cable TV subscription package in favor of online video sources — into the mainstream. But how viable is the concept, really?

For its experiment (which the agency stresses was not intended as a scientific research study), Hill Holliday provided each family with a different connected device: the Roku, Apple TV, Xbox 360, Boxee Box and Google TV.