"Smash", Sports update

Hello,

A couple of days ago I wrote about some TV shows that I'm watching. One of those shows is "Smash", starring the gorgeous Katharine McPhee. I'd written that I wasn't watching "Smash" temporarily because an episode wasn't available on Comcast On Demand yet. However I realized yesterday morning I might be able to watch the episode on the NBC website. Sure enough I was and I watched that episode yesterday morning online. Last night I watched the two most recent episodes On Demand. I don't think I've seen any of these episodes at the actual broadcast time.

Other than sports I rarely watch television shows "live" any more. I love the flexibility that the internet and On Demand gives me in watching my shows. The other great thing about those viewing options is there are less commercials. I'm able watch these shows when it's convenient for me. About the only show I watch close to it's original broadcast time is "Mad Men".

Thoughts on the 3 episodes of "Smash" I watched yesterday. They are episodes 8 to 10. The titles of the shows in order: "The Coup", "Hell On Earth" and "The Understudy".

1) First of all "Smash" is at it's best when it focuses on the making and producing of the Marilyn Monroe play "Bombshell". In comic book speak, it's origin story. Please let's see more of this.
2) "Smash" suffers when it focuses on the personal stories of the characters. For one example lets take the personal life of Julia Houston.
A) She previously had an affair with Michael. Then Michael was hired to work on her new show. I hated that they rekindled their affair. Again I really hate story lines based on a really bad or dumb decision by a character. Julia made several bad decisions Then why the hell would she write a song about her affair? Did she want to be caught.
B) Frank and Julia's son Leo. This might be one of the least interesting characters currently on TV. According to wikipedia.org, Leo goes missing in a future episode. Let's hope he'll be Mahatma Katie and go to Alaska to count salmon.
C) The whole story line involving Frank and Julia adopting a baby. Thankfully that story line seems to have been dropped. Julia already has enough boring family members, she doesn't need anymore.
D) Then finally the whole boring storyline about Julia and Frank's separation. Yawn.
3) But I'm also getting bored of Dev and the political shenanigans of New York. Although is Dev about to leave the show. The reporter RJ is throwing herself at him. We almost had a Dev ultimatum making Karen choose him or Broadway. Maybe we'll be rid of him and political story lines. Although it was funny that Tom was thinking of breaking off a relationship because he was dating a Republican. There's a reason why I don't follow politics in actual life much. That's because politics are boring.
4) Speaking of Mahatma Katie, we need much more of her in this show. She brings a non-theatre sensibility to the very insular New York theatre scene. She feels like a real person, not a caricature of a real person. Some characters, Ellis for instance, feel like a caricature. Katie is a breath of fresh air for a show that can spend too much time in the cloistered lives of the characters in "Smash".
5) Ellis, the weasel, has got to go away. By far the most annoying character on TV of the shows I watch.   I love that the show gives him a girlfriend. The actor that plays Ellis is gay, there's no doubt about that. So why the charade? I also didn't like how he traded sex to secure a better chance to get Rebecca Duvall on the show. (Ellis reminds me too much of Tyler in "Revenge". Can someone please shoot Ellis too?) Ellis is even more annoying than Pete Campbell, Mitch Larsen or Lori Grimes.
6) Have you seen the preview of next week's episode where we Uma Thurman "sing"? Girl can't sing. That combined with Derek seeing McPhee as if she were in character as Marilyn on Broadway seems to be foreshadowing that in a few episodes McPhee will officially take over as Monroe. Let's hope that's permanent.
7) Some of us are single men, it's not good for us to see the lovely Miss McPhee in a skintight CGI outfit or writhing around on a bed. Especially when she's singing this song:



Sports: The Red Wings lost a disappointing game to the Nashville Predators last night. With Nashville's 3-2 victory that gives them an early 1-0 lead in the best-of-7 series. To me it seems crucial that Detroit win Game 2. The Red Wings don't want to go back to Detroit down 0-2 and have to win 4 of 5 games to move to the next round of the playoffs.

Good news Dallas flag football fans. From Tim MacMahon's latest article about Tony Romo. "Tony Romo, recognizing that quarterbacks are "defined" by Super Bowl titles, said he won't be satisfied with his career until he wins one". Later in that same article and this is the Tony Romo I think of: "Yet, at this point, Romo's career is recognized as much, if not more, for his failures as his accomplishments. He has only one playoff victory, and Romo's most memorable moments have been disappointing season finales: the playoff loss to the Seattle Seahawks sealed by his botched hold on a field goal, losing to the Giants as a No. 1 seed in the 2007 playoffs, a 44-6 loss to thePhiladelphia Eagles in 2008 with a playoff berth on the line and the loss to the Giants in last season's finale."

Why is this good news for Dallas flag football teams? That's because Romo won't ever win a Super Bowl, he just doesn't have the ability to take the Cowboys that far. In fact in 3 of the last 4 years the Cowboys haven't even qualified for the playoffs. Jerry Jones is still the GM and Romo is still the alleged quarterback. Has something else changed enough to compensate for those two? I doubt it. So once Romo's days in the NFL end, the sooner the better, he'll still be looking to win that elusive title. This might be a good time to begin the recruiting process Dallas area flag football teams.

I think this Giants fan said it best: Giants21Joe10: "As a Giants fan, I like Romo. He's bad enough that the Cowboys will never win a Super Bowl with him, but good enough that they'll never get a top pick or decide it's time to move on to another QB."

That's something that Jerry Jones just can't, or won't see.

In the MLB, the Dodgers are rolling along. They are 5-1 with great contributions from Matt Kemp, Clayton Kershaw and Andre Ethier. I always feel good about the Dodgers chances of winning a game when Kershaw takes the mound. However out of my five MLB teams they are the only team that has a winning record.

When do you give up on a baseball team? My other four teams have losing records. I know it's too early to give up on the Red Sox at this point, although I think we can put a fork in the Cubs. That's in spite of both teams having the same 1-5 record. Did anyone really expect the Cubs to contend this year. As for the Red Sox they just have too much talent, did anyone not expect them to contend this year. Although the AL East will be fun to watch all season. The top 4 teams seem decent plus they will all get wins by constantly beating up on the Orioles.

I expect Atlanta to get in a better place as well and I would love to see the Pirates finish above .500 this season. Of course it's only a few games into the season, having a realistic point of how teams are going to do this season is very premature. I love how ESPN includes a team's chance of making the playoffs on the MLB standings even though it's so early in the season.

Am I the only one that thinks this movie looks stupid:



Great songs:

This is a very pretty song. Sammi Smith's "Help Me Make It Through The Night":



Another very pretty song: Kenny Rogers "She Believes In Me". I've featured this video before and am featuring it again because it shows the amazing lyrics. This has got to be a Top 100 song.



Ok here are a couple more upbeat songs. This is INXS's "Need You Tonight":



Taco's "Puttin On The Ritz":

 

Whitesnake's "Fool For Your Loving":



If you are going to rip off Led Zeppelin, you might as well kick some ass while doing so. Whitesnake's "In The Still Of The Night":



themusicaddict