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Midseason Review – Tuesdays

old-tv-set1We continue our look back at my expectations for the fall television season, and today we are focusing on Tuesdays.

7:00

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – Following the success of The Avengers, ABC, corporate sibling of Marvel, gets to air the spin-off featuring a team of SHIELD agents tracking down threats across the globe.

What looked to be the hit show of the fall has thus far disappointed.  From a strictly Marvel perspective, the lack of any recognizable characters, beyond Coulson, from the movie universe has been a disappointment.  From a Whedon perspective, the show has lacked any of the heart that previous Mutant Enemy productions have shown.  It may be that this show just has too many corporate masters to appease in order to put on a decent show.  I’ll keep watching, though, in the hopes that it improves.

7:30

Brooklyn Nine-Nine – There hasn’t been a real police workplace comedy since Barney Miller left the air in 1982.  The premiere episode wasn’t bad, but sometimes a little bit of Andy Samberg can go a long way.

The show still struggles occasionally with Andy Samberg overload, but, besides that, it has been a very surprising comedy hit.

8:00

New Girl – This show really found its footing once Zooey Deschanel’s Jess and Jake Johnson’s Nick hooked up towards the end of last season.  The two have incredible chemistry, and keeping them apart really served no purpose.  Now if only they could find a consistent usage for Winston.

With Happy Endings ending, Damon Wayans Jr. was available to return to the role he played in the pilot, at least for the remainder of this season.  Things have been a little uneven this season. Continue reading →

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Midseason Review – Mondays

old-tv-set1Day 2 of our look back at my thoughts on the new fall television season and what is new for the winter and spring.

7:00

How I Met Your Mother – Entering its 9th and final season, the show finally introduced the titular mother in last spring’s finale.  This entire season will take place over the weekend of Barney and Robin’s wedding, but should have some flashbacks and flashforwards involving the mother.

The show has worked best this season when the mother has been involved, which, sadly, hasn’t been too often.  The plan is for it to air without reruns through the series finale in March.

Bones – Also returning for its 9th season, Bonesstarts the year on Mondays but is scheduled to move to Fridays after the World Series.  Replacing it on Mondays will be

Well, FOX finally pulled the trigger and actually moved Bones to Fridays.  Not much to say about the show that hasn’t already been said.  It seems to just keep chugging along.

Almost Human – Brought to us by some of the good folks responsible for Fringe, I’ll give this a shot, assuming it ever does show up on Mondays.

We’re 9 episodes into the season and I’m still not sure what to make of this one.  More often than not, I find myself falling asleep during the show, which I guess doesn’t bode well for it.

8:00

2 Broke Girls – Entering its 3rd season, it is time to accept that this show is not going to change.  It will continue to feature two talented leads and surround them with base racial stereotypes and humor aimed towards the lowest common denominator.  To this point, the charm of the leads has been enough to overcome bad things about the show.  At some point, though, that is bound to change.

The status quo got shaken up a bit, first with the addition of the cupcake window at the back of the diner and then with the addition of the baking school. Continue reading →

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Midseason Review – Sundays

old-tv-set1With the advent of winter premieres, the start of the premium cable network shows, and with February sweeps around the corner, it’s time to revisit my thoughts from the beginning of the season and look ahead at what’s to come for Sunday nights.

7:00

Once Upon A Time – Season 2 of the show about fairy tale characters in the real world started to go off the rails a little as new characters showed up and the plot expanded.  This season promises a more focused plot, which will hopefully result in the show becoming more enjoyable again.

Well, the first half of the season mostly jettisoned most of the characters and focused on a small group fighting Peter Pan in Neverland.  While things were more focused, they may have been too focused.  The show returns in the spring with (another) new status quo, so we’ll see where it goes from here.

8:00

The Good Wife – Last season, the show moved from solid to really good.  With Alicia and Cary planning on leaving the firm, the season ended on a cliffhanger that will hopefully continue to carry it to new heights this year.  The big problem once again will be catching the entire episode when football runs long, as it always does.

This show has become crazy good.  The slow burn of when will Alicia pull the trigger and leave and then the explosion of what happens once she (and the others) do was tremendously done.  The one complaint, and it is a small one, is that every case since has been the new firm versus Lockhart Gardner.  It would be nice to see them do battle against some other law firms as well.

Revenge – Another ABC show that became much more convoluted in its second season.  This went from one of the better shows of the previous season to one that, more often than not, was a chore to get through.  Hopefully a new show runner will get things back on track this year.  Otherwise, it might be time to say goodbye to the Hamptons.

Things did get back on track somewhat, but the soapier elements are starting to seep through.  I’ll be sticking with the show for now, but I can’t say for how much longer.

The Walking Dead – Now here’s a show that keeps building and building.  Following last season’s story with the Governor, things get shaken up at the prison this year.  I can’t wait to find out what happens next.

The first part of the season ended with the Governor dead, but Rick and the rest of the survivors forced to separate and go their own ways.  Things should pick up again next month when the show returns. Continue reading →

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#255 – Alan Embree

alan_embree_2008_07_01Name: Alan Embree

Rank: 255

Position: P

Year With White Sox: 2001

Alan Embree came to the White Sox via trade with the Giants on June 29, 2001.  Embree struggled with the White Sox, putting up a 5.03 ERA in 39 appearances after the trade.  Following the season, he left as a free agent.

Embree rejoined the White Sox organization in 2010, when he signed a minor league contract with the team on May 10th.  The then-40 year old Embree allowed 16 baserunners in 7 1/3 innings and was released on May 28th without getting called up to the major leagues.

Embree’s numbers in a White Sox uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were:

Continue reading →

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GlobalFit III: Week 27

Y3Week27This week was supposed to be the first back to work after more than 3 weeks of vacation, but the Polar Vortex had a little something to say about that, plunging temperatures below 0 for over 2 days and keeping me home both Monday and Tuesday.  Wednesday was the day that I finally ventured back to work, and the first day to break 5000 steps in 2014.  Thursday was even slightly better, coming in 4 steps below the 6000 step plateau.  Friday just missed on 5000 steps, and the weekend was surprisingly above their low average.

Total steps: 25,196

Weekly average: 3599.4

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GlobalFit III: Week 25

Y3Week25The week of Christmas is finally upon us, with only Monday sticking out as a successful day thanks to running around and shopping.  Tuesday was Christmas Eve, which involved a trip to out for dinner with family.  Wednesday, therefore, was Christmas Day, which was spent mostly around the house opening gifts and playing games.  The rest of the week is a bit of a blur at this point.

Total steps: 17,920

Weekly average: 2560

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GlobalFit III: Week 24

Y3Week24Another week where most of the data seems to have disappeared.  Which is very disappointing since the two times I actually did go to the gym over the entire vacation were on Monday and Tuesday of this week and neither made it.  It’s almost as if the two week memory promised by the tracker didn’t quite make it this time.  So, other than those two days, I am at a loss as to what I might have done the rest of the week.

Total steps: 15,800

Weekly average: 2257.1

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Concert Flashback: Tripping Daisy

95trippingdaisy

As I recall, there were 3 problems heading into this show:
1) I only got tickets to impress a girl I had a crush on, who happened to have seen them the week before and wasn’t interested in seeing them again
2) It was the day after my 21st birthday
3) It was Tripping F’n Daisy

In my hungover state following the celebration of my birthday, I drove home from school with Mike, who had come down for the big birthday bash, and Tracie, who was going to attend this dud of a show with me.  All I remember of the show is that they played their one big hit, I’ve Got A Girl, and that the show wasn’t all that well attended.  I’ve been to a few shows at the Metro since then and have never seen that much room on the floor.

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#256 – Ricky Horton

51TAName: Ricky Horton

Rank: 256

Position: P

Year With White Sox: 1988

After months of rumors and speculation, the White Sox and Cardinals finally consummated the trade that sent Ricky Horton and Lance Johnson to the south side in exchange for Jose DeLeon on February 9, 1988.  GM Larry Himes planned on plugging Horton in to the starting rotation, saying, “He was a key pitcher for Cardinals with the way they used him. Now he gets the opportunity to take the ball every five days for us.”  Hopes were so high that manager Jim Fregosi tabbed Horton to take the mound on opening day.

After compiling a 3-6 record in his first nine starts, however, Horton was moved back to the bullpen, where things went from bad to worse for the next two months.  “I tried to think of the season as two halves,” Horton said.  “I put the first half out of my mind and tried to start over fresh in the second half.”  Horton turned his season around, becoming the most consistent lefty in the pen for the White Sox until August 31st, when he was shipped to the Dodgers in exchange for pitcher Shawn Hillegas.

Horton’s numbers in a White Sox uniform were:

Continue reading →