Tag / Pretty Little Liars

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Travelling The 50 States – California

Over my 47 years, I’ve done my fair share of travelling across these United States.  I thought it would be an interesting experiment go look back at those trips to each of the 31 states I have visited (62% isn’t bad, is it?) and see if, and when, I may be returning.  Working in alphabetical order, we start today with the 31st state to be added to the Union: California.

State: California
Joined the Union: 1850
Visits: 11

With eleven visits between 1998 and 2019, the Golden State is the state I have visited the most, outside of those I have lived in and/or attended college.

My first visit was in 1998 to attend Comic Con International in San Diego.  I went early, spending the entire week and enjoying some pre-Con time checking out the sights, including the San Diego Zoo.

I returned the following year for Labor Day weekend, but this time up to the San Francisco Bay area, to visit my old friend Scott, who had moved out there after graduating to work at AMD.  What I remember from that trip is my first Giants/Phillies tilt at the former Candlestick Park, my first trip to the toilet that at the time was called Network Associates Coliseum, and a car trip over the Golden Gate Bridge.

I returned to San Diego for Comic Con in 2000 and 2003.  I don’t remember much of the 2000 trip, but the 2003 trip included my one visit to the former Jack Murphy Stadium to see the Padres face the Diamondbacks.  At the Con, I managed to see many of the stars (or, at least, bit players) from Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Smallville, and Tru Calling.

With the Cubs coming off their first division title since 1989 and a new stadium opening in San Diego, my friend Pete and I planned a trip for the Cubs mid-May road trip.  We attended all three games at PETCO Park, which the Cubs swept, while also taking in the local sights and the ambience of the Elephant and Castle bar in our hotel. Continue reading →

by jim

Post Mortem – Pretty Little Liars

Loosely based on the novel series of the same name written by Sara Shepard, Pretty Little Liars followed the lives of four (and eventually five) estranged friends who are reunited when they begin receiving messages from a mysterious figure, named “A”, who threatens to expose their deepest secrets.  The show was one of the first breakout original hits for the ABC Family network when it premiered in 2010.  On August 29, 2016, Freeform (the rebranded ABC Family) confirmed that the series would be ending after its seventh season in 2017.

As teen soaps go, this was one of the better ones.  A time jump in season 6 avoided the going-away-to-college problem and gave the series a spurt of freshness, but, by the time season 7 wrapped up in late June 2017, it was time to go.  I’m certainly looking forward to what comes next for Amber Benson, Lucy Hale, Shay Mitchell, and Troian Bellisario.

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The CW Upfronts

With the least number of spots to fill in their weekly lineup, the CW has added only 2 new shows to their fall slate.  Supergirl returns on Monday, where it will be followed by Valor, a drama about a military team sharing a secret after a botched mission in Somalia.  Tuesday remains the same, with the Flash and Legends of Tomorrow offering up a double dose of the DC universe.  Riverdale moves to Wednesdays, where it will be followed by a re-booted Dynasty.  Supernatural returns to Thursday for its 40th season, and will be followed by Arrow.  Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and Jane The Virgin reunite on Fridays.

iZombie will return at mid-season, along with Black Lightning, yet another show from DC, and Life Sentence, starring former Pretty Little Liar Lucy Hale.

Lost to the sands of time are The Vampire Diaries, Reign, No Tomorrow, and Frequency.

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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.

Continue reading →

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2015: The Year In Movies

Movie_Reel_22

2015 was a bit of a letdown after last year’s improvement in movie watching for me, with the vacation over the past 3 weeks of December helping to greatly boost my total.  I managed to watch 69 movies last year, 9 less than last year and my fourth consecutive year under 100.  Again, many things contributed to this, chiefly the insane amount of TV I’ve been watching, the greater effort made towards going out for walks, and the awful amount of time I spend either at work or getting to and from work.

Here’s a look back at the first 50 movies I did manage to watch last year and what recollection, if any, I have of them. The films are listed in the order I saw them.

Labor Day (2014)
A bit of a dud of a film and a poor way to start the year.

Bachelorette (2012)
This received nowhere near as much publicity as the similar themed Bridesmaids, but I enjoyed it much more.

The Last Exorcism Part II (2013)
Turns out I never saw the first one, which could explain why this made little sense to me.

The Factory (2012)
John Cusack and Jennifer Carpenter team up to do cop stuff.

Godzilla (2014)
A much better remake attempt than the Matthew Broderick endeavor in 1998.

Drinking Buddies (2013)
An interesting indie film about a Chicago brewery and the people that work there.

Life After Beth (2014)
The latest zombie rom-com.

Butter (2011)
Who knew butter carving could be so entertaining?

Devil’s Due (2014)
A newlywed becomes impregnated with a hellspawn.

Tusk (2014)
Kevin Smith’s latest makes me think it may be time for me to stop watching Kevin Smith films. Continue reading →

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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.

Continue reading →

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Vacation Recap: Los Angeles

dodgerstadium

We left off yesterday with me in a rental car leaving San Diego behind and heading towards the city of Angels.  The plan was to stop at Dodger Stadium on the way to my hotel and take in an afternoon matchup between the Dodgers and the Giants.  I’d given myself 3 hours to make the 2 hour drive so I would have time to get to the stadium and acclimate myself before the game started.  Trip Issue #3!  Things were smooth sailing until I got closer to LA, when traffic started to swell.  All told, the 2 hour drive ended up taking closer to 4, and I arrived in my seat during the 4th inning, by which time the Dodgers had fallen far behind.  One Dodger Dog later and many Giant home runs later, the game was over and I found my way to Glendale and the local Hilton, which would be my home for the next 4 days.

Saturday night, in search of a nice dinner, I headed out for a drive and decided to just wing it.  Somehow I ended up driving through Griffith Park and seeing some of the sights, but I didn’t find anything interesting as far as food went.  Eventually I ended up back at the hotel, where I caught the end of the Wisconsin loss in the NCAA tournament along with a tasty hamburger at the hotel bar.

muppet_starsSunday was the only day I didn’t have anything specific planned, so, after a morning walk to the local Starbucks for a nice breakfast, I headed down to Hollywood to check out the Walk of Fame and to get a good look at the famous Hollywood sign.  To be honest, the Walk of Fame was mostly creepy, other than the block or so around Hollywood and Highland, where Jimmy Kimmel’s theater is located.  I tracked down all of the Muppet-related stars and a few others of interest, including Ricardo Montalban, Mister Rogers, and George Takei. Continue reading →

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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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2013: The Year In Movies Part 2

112 different people starred in the movies I saw last year (starring in being the first two named stars, a tradition dating back to the old Chicago Tribune TV guide), and only 7 of them were in more than 1. Those seven are:

Films Per Actor Per Year

Name Films
James Franco 3
Joseph Gordon-Levitt 3
Jennifer Lawrence 3
Jennifer Aniston 2
Jessica Chastain 2
Alexandra Daddario 2
Robert Downey Jr. 2

Now let’s take a look at the remaining movies that I saw in 2013, following up on Friday’s post.

The Purge (2013)
An intriguing premise that kind of fell apart as the film went on.

Thor: The Dark World (2013)
A better movie than the first, and a good follow up to the Avengers.

This Is The End (2013)
Quite possibly the funniest movie of the year.

Evil Dead (2013)
The remake of the classic horror film that I also saw for the first time this year.

Skyfall (2012)
I had this disc from Netflix for over 6 months before I finally got around to watching it.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)
I left my work’s holiday party early to catch this in IMAX on its last day before it was replaced by the new Hobbit movie.

Continue reading →

by jim

Midseason Review – Tuesdays

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

7:00

Raising Hope – The quirky Fox drama returns for its third season with more of the same hilarity.

Nothing new to report on the Raising Hope front.  You know what you are going to get: no more, no less.

7:30

Ben and Kate – The premiere episode wasn’t bad, and I was pretty impressed with Dakota Johnson as Kate, but I could feel Nat Faxon’s Ben starting to grate during the first half hour.  I’m not sure how much more of him I am willing to take.

As it turns out, I wasn’t willing to take any more, since I never went back to watch any subsequent episodes.

8:00

Go On – Matthew Perry’s latest attempt to escape the shadow of Chandler Bing has aired three episodes already and it isn’t bad.  Perry plays a sports radio host who joins a support group after his wife died.

Like most of Perry’s post-Friends output, a lot of the heavy lifting is left to his charm.  There are flashes of something here, though, and if the writers can figure out how to consistently offer something beyond Perry’s innate likability, they will be on to something.

New Girl – Zooey Deschanel returns in one of last season’s break out comedy hits.  The show got stronger as the season went on and the writers found their footing, and I’m looking forward to its return.

New Girl continues to impress, and has even started to find interesting things to do with Winston this year.

Happy Endings – This went from a late season replacement to one of the most consistently funny comedies on TV last season.  The ensemble group plays well off of each other and the writers bring the funny every week.

Still funny, but it seems that hardly anyone is watching.  With ABC burning off episodes by airing them on both Tuesdays and Sundays, I fear we may be looking at the unhappy end of Happy Endings.

Continue reading →