Tag / New Girl

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iTunes Top 200 Artists: #89-98

It’s been 4 years since we last counted down the Top 200 artists in my iTunes library.  Since my iTunes stats are still intact, across multiple PCs, iPods, iPads, and iPhones, I figured it was time to take another look at the artists that have entertained me the most based on number of plays from late 2007 through January 1, 2021.

We kick off the second half of the countdown with today’s batch of 10 artists, the three tied for 98th place, 2 tied for 96th, the single artist at 95th through 92nd, and the first of 3 tied for 89th.

#98: Gin Blossoms
iTunes stats: 85 plays
Previous ranking: #84

A slight 52% increase in plays for the 5 different tracks in my collection from the Arizona-based band leads to a 15 spot drop.

#98: Smash Mouth
iTunes stats: 85 plays
Previous ranking: #97

The former ska band, who traded in their roots for a more pop sound, picked up 39 new listens to drop just a single slot.

#98: Carpenters
iTunes stats: 85 plays
Previous ranking: #129

The king and queen of 70s soft rock raised their plays by 150% for the 6 separate tracks in my collection to jump 31 spots on the list.

#96: Tommy James & The Shondells
iTunes stats: 88 plays
Previous ranking: #129

The Michigan-based psychedelic group added 54 additional listens to the 4 songs that are in my collection.

#96: Mazzy Star
iTunes stats: 88 plays
Previous ranking: #66

While they have 6 tracks in my collection, only 4 contributed to the play total for this trippy band, which managed a mere 35% increase.

#95: Sam Phillips
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FOX Upfronts

For the second straight year, FOX has shifted their game plan, abandoning their single camera comedies and, instead, moving closer ideologically with its sister news network.  The end result is a fall schedule with only one show that interests me, and even that 9 unwatched episodes from this season still sitting on my DVR.

Monday has two returning shows, The Resident and 9-1-1, which didn’t pull me in last year.  The Gifted, based on Marvel’s X-Men characters, moves to Tuesdays, followed by a revamped Lethal Weapon.  Wednesday’s lineup remains consistent, with Empire followed by Star.

Thursdays get turned over to the NFL, as the much-reviled game moves over from CBS.  Friday has the revival of Tim Allen’s Last Man Standing and The Cool Kids, about a group of friends in a retirement community, followed by Hell’s Kitchen.  Sunday’s animated block remains mostly the same, with a new comedy, REL, closing off the night.

The second season of The Orville will return to Thursday after the NFL season.  Gotham will also appear at some point for its final season.  Also on tap for mid-season are The Passage, a post-apocalyptic thriller starring Mark-Paul Gosselar, Proven Innocent, a legal drama from Danny Strong, and the return of Cosmos.

Gone and mostly forgotten are Brooklyn Nine-Nine (which was saved by NBC), The Exorcist, Ghosted, Kicking & Screaming, The Last Man On Earth, LA To Vegas, Lucifer, The Mick, New Girl, Superhuman, Wayward Pines, and The X-Files.

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FOX Upfronts

A year after banking their season on the return of old favorites, FOX has gone a different route this year.  Gotham loses its longtime home on Monday nights, replaced by The Gifted, based on Marvel’s X-Men characters, which will follow Lucifer.  Tuesdays will lead off with the second season of Lethal Weapon, followed by The Mick and Brooklyn Nine-Nine.  Wednesday takes a musical cue, with Empire followed by Star.

Gotham lands on Thursdays, followed by Seth MacFarlane’s first live-action show, The Orville.  Friday remains the same, with Hell’s Kitchen followed by The Exorcist.  A new comedy, Ghosted, moves in between The Simpsons and Family Guy on Sundays.

The final season of New Girl will appear at some point.  Also on tap for mid-season are The Resident, a groundbreaking medical drama starring, amongst others, Matt Czuchry and Emily VanCamp, and LA to Vegas, a comedy about a flight crew going back and forth between LA and Vegas.

Gone and mostly forgotten are APB, Making History, Pitch, Prison Break (which may return again in the future), Son of Zorn, 24: Legacy (again, may return in the future), Bones, Rosewood, Scream Queens, and Sleepy Hollow.

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Midseason Review – Tuesdays

old-tv-set1Continuing our look back at my thoughts on the new fall season, with the offerings that I found myself interested in for Tuesdays.

7:00

Brooklyn Nine-Nine – Similar to Gotham, I still have the final 4 episodes from last season sitting on the DVR waiting to be watched.  Unlike Gotham, I am looking forward to doing so.

The show continues to deliver the funny.

The Flash – The end of season 2 seemingly rewrote the entire timeline of the first two years of the show, so who knows what we will get as season 3 kicks off.

The first half of the season dealt with the fallback from Barry changing the timeline.  Hopefully the second half moves on from that to get back to what made the show entertaining.

7:30

New Girl – The quirky comedy returns for its 6th season, with some changes in the relationship statuses amongst the roommates causing issues.

The show is still entertaining, but it is starting to show its age a bit.

9:00

This Is Us – To be honest, I’m not entirely sure what this show is about.  But, I’ve seen some good things online and it has a few stars I like, so I might give it a chance.

A highly manipulative look at family dynamics that somehow manages to entertain.  This easily fills the Parenthood hole in the TV schedule.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – Season 4 moves back an hour and, following the events of Captain America: Civil War, has yet another new status quo.  Oh, and Ghost Rider is slated to show up.

The show motors on, introducing LMDs to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Now let’s look at the new shows premiering in the spring on Tuesdays:

Bones – The veteran show returns for a final season on FOX.

 

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2016 New Fall Season – Tuesdays

old-tv-set1Continuing our look at the new fall season, here are the offerings that I may find myself interested in for Tuesdays.

7:00

Brooklyn Nine-Nine – Similar to Gotham, I still have the final 4 episodes from last season sitting on the DVR waiting to be watched.  Unlike Gotham, I am looking forward to doing so.

The Flash – The end of season 2 seemingly rewrote the entire timeline of the first two years of the show, so who knows what we will get as season 3 kicks off.

7:30

New Girl – The quirky comedy returns for its 6th season, with some changes in the relationship statuses amongst the roommates causing issues.

9:00

This Is Us – To be honest, I’m not entirely sure what this show is about.  But, I’ve seen some good things online and it has a few stars I like, so I might give it a chance.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – Season 4 moves back an hour and, following the events of Captain America: Civil War, has yet another new status quo.  Oh, and Ghost Rider is slated to show up.

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FOX Upfronts

24LegacyEverything old is new again at FOX, as their upfront presentation included new versions of 24, Lethal Weapon, The Exorcist, and Prison Break.  As is their norm, FOX announced multiple schedules, one for the fall and another for mid-season.

In the fall, Mondays remain the same, with Gotham followed by Lucifer.  24: Legacy, starring Corey Hawkins, premieres following the Super Bowl in February before settling in on Mondays.  Tuesdays comedy block gets reduced to Brooklyn Nine-Nine followed by New Girl, followed by the returning Scream Queens.

Wednesday is the home of the Lethal Weapon reboot, starring Damon Wayans in the Danny Glover role of Murtaugh.  The final season of Bones moves back an hour on Thursday in the fall, before giving way to the return of Prison Break in the spring.  Friday brings the adaptation of The Exorcist, which sounds like a horrible idea.

Gone, but not forgotten, are Bordertown, Cooper Barrett’s Guide to Surviving Life, Grandfathered, The Grinder, Knock Knock Live, Minority Report, and Second Chance.

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Midseason Review – Tuesdays

old-tv-set1Continuing our look back at my thoughts on the new fall season with the offerings I found myself interested in for Tuesdays.

7:00

The Muppets – ABC brings a new version of the Muppets to television, this time as a work place comedy.  Basically, The Office but with Kermit.

Possibly the new show I was looking forward to the most, but it suffered from tone issues.  A new showrunner is taking over, so hopefully things will more resemble the Muppets everyone knows and loves.

The Flash – A surprisingly fun adaptation of the DC superhero.  The first season was very satisfying and I hope for more of the same.

Still a lot of fun, though the Flash’s secret identity is one of the worst kept secrets in Central City.

8:00

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – Another new status quo, following the end of last season and the events of the latest Avengers movie, as we head in to season 3.

More of the same from the fine folks at Mutant Enemy and Marvel.

Scream Queens – Emma Roberts and Jamie Lee Curtis team for this horror comedy, hopefully in the vein of the Scream films, from FOX.  I’m certainly willing to give it a shot to impress.

I lasted a few weeks, but once the show came back after the World Series, the schedule got busy and I had to drop it.

iZombie – The zombie comedy, which was a midseason surprise last spring, returns for a full season.  I have a lot of faith in EP Rob Thomas, so I’m looking for good things.

A surprisingly enjoyable procedural from the people who brought us Veronica Mars.

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FOX Upfronts

X-Files LogoAfter a successful season, which featured new hits like Gotham, Empire, and The Last Man on Earth, FOX released a fall season that is without the usual churn that the network is known for.

Gotham will continue to kick off Monday nights, and will be followed by Minority Report, a sequel of sorts set 10 years after the 2002 Stephen Spielberg film.  Tuesdays get shaken up a bit as the comedy block moves up an hour and becomes more guy-centric, with new shows starring John Stamos, Rob Lowe, and Fred Savage.  They will be followed by the horror-comedy anthology Scream Queens, from American Horror Story creator Ryan Murphy.

The Morris Chestnut project Rosewood leads off Wednesdays, followed by this springs monster hit Empire.  Bones stays put on Thursdays, followed by the relocated Sleepy Hollow.  Friday remains the domain of disposable reality programming while the Sunday lineup remains unchanged.

The X-Files returns for its 6-episode run in January, debuting following the NFC Championship game and then airing again the following night.  New Girl is also expected to return sometime next spring, allowing it to air uninterrupted.  Finally, American Idol will return in the spring for a final season.

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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

Selfie – I love Karen Gillan and am quite fond of John Cho, but put them together in this loose adaptation of Pygmalion and, at least based on the pilot, you get a steaming pile of something or other.  I will give this a chance to improve due to the talents involved, but I don’t hold out a great deal of hope.

Well, the show was quickly pulled off the air and cancelled.  Hopefully, Karen Gillan returns to our television screens quickly, in something worthy of her talents.

The Flash – Spinning off from Arrow comes this latest forray from the CW in to the world of DC superheroes.  Hopefully it follows more from Arrow‘s example than Smallville‘s.

I don’t know if this has been the best new show of the season, but it has certainly been the most fun.  It has a sense of joy that neither Smallville nor Arrow had before it that brings a bit of levity to the DC television universe.

7:30

Manhattan Love Story – I’m not too sold on giving this new show, about the romance beteen two nuerotic New Yorkers, a shot.  But, I’m willing to try anything once.

Well, some show had to be the first one cancelled this season, which is about the only thing this show accomplished.

8:00

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – The show, which greatly improved following the events of Captain America: Winter Soldier, returns for a second season at a later timeslot and with a new status quo.

The battle between SHIELD and Hydra continues in a much improved show from one year ago.

Supernatural – For some reason that nobody can particularly understand, the show returns for its 10th season.  The show has been adrift for quite some time now and last season really started to drag.  I’m willing to keep watching, but I don’t know for how much longer.

Due to timeslot conflicts, I had to record this on a different TV.  To date, I’ve watched maybe 3 episodes of the new season and I’m not in much of a hurry to watch the rest.

Marry Me – Casey Wilson reunites with the creator of Happy Endings, who also happens to be her husband, for this new comedy.  Happy Endings was a tremendous show that ended way too early, so I will give this a shot and hope that it rekindles some of that magic.

This also needed to be recorded on a different TV due to timeslot conflicts.  I haven’t watched much of it, but I have enjoyed what I’ve seen.  It does seem to scratch, at least a little bit, that Happy Endings itch.

New Girl – The group returns for season 4, and less couples than we have seen in year’s past.  Hopefully, the funny keeps coming.

I think the problem is that they have too many characters that they don’t really know what to do with.

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