THE KILLERS NEW ALBUM TRAILER: BATTLE BORN

BREAKING BAD SEASON 5 POSTER

Yesterday Breaking Bad unveiled it's Season 5 poster.  Big deal, right?  For me, yes.

Did anybody else notice the machine gun on the right hand side of the poster?  Walt hasn't owned a machine gun before. Hmm....

Also, here's the official description that came with the release of the poster.  "No longer under the thumb of a mastermind criminal, Walt now assumes the role of one himself, as he and Jessie look to build their own empire."

If you haven't seen this show before, make room on your DVR.  AMC is re-airing the entire series beginning on Monday at 2AM.  Each night they'll show two episodes at 2 and 3AM.  Catch up!  It's a good.  16 episodes remain in the series, the first episode of the first half of those 16 airs on July 15.

WRAP PARTY: COMMUNITY SEASON 3

Season 3 of Community began with the video above.  A musical piece that shouts "we're gonna be less crazy" to the audience.  That musical piece couldn't have been more of a lie.  It could definitely be debated which season has traveled to the most extreme portals of insanity, but Season 3 definitely wasn't any less crazy as the cast promised in the opening minute of the season.

THE HIGHLIGHTS

S3 Ep2-Geography of Global Conflict:  One of my favorite episodes of the season.  It features Martin Starr (Roman from Party Down or @mkrenek) as professor of a Political Science class named Professor Cligoris.  Annie competes in a Model UN against an Asian Annie lookalike named Annie Kim.  Parks and Recreation also did the Model UN bit this season, and it really worked for both of them.  Oh yeah, Britta gets tasered by Chang.  Awesome!

S3 Ep4-Remedial Chaos Theory:  To me, one of the most unique episodes in television history.  A series Top 5 for me, and probably one of the more critically acclaimed episodes of Community's brief existence.  The episode features the main 7 at a party at Troy and Abed's house.  A game of Yahtzee turns into an episode that consists of different time lines.  Their game of Yahtzee is interrupted by the pizza delivery man.  The group  rolls the die to see who has to leave the table and go downstairs to get the pizza.  I guess you could say laziness is the beginning huge factor of the episode, but that's beside the point.  This is such a hard episode to explain, but in the end we find out that when Jeff leaves to get the pizza, everyone is happy.  When Troy leaves to get the pizza, the group goes crazy.  We learn in the tag that Pierce is dead, Shirley is an alcoholic, and Annie is in a mental ward.  Luckily, that wasn't the actual timeline.  It's confusing.  Just watch it.

S3 Ep5-Horror Fiction in Seven Spooky Steps:  Each member of the group tells a spooky story, while Britta tests them and the results have shown that one member of the group is insane.  This also features the jazz hit (and theme song for "Saxual Intercourse") from Michael Haggins that you can see in Episodes 14 and 15 of Cirque TV.

S3 Ep8-Documentary Filmmaking: Redux: The gang is asked to be actors and participate on the crew for a new commercial that Greendale is creating.  Things get loony when The Dean progressively loses his mind during the filming of the spot.  It's shot from the POV of Abed.  After watching this episode I realized Dan Harmon was telling us what we would soon learn about the way he runs things.  In the episode The Dean goes over budget, the production of the commercial goes incredibly longer than expected, and to top it off,  during the shooting of the episode Pierce plays the role of a diva and storms off the set.  We would later learn that this has actually happened more than during shooting of other episodes.  Also, adding to the aura of this sensational episode, this originally aired the week NBC announced that it had benched Community, causing an out roar of rage towards NBC among the hardcore fans like myself.

S3 Ep10-Regional Holiday Music: SNL's Taran Kilam guest stars as a glee class teacher.  He begs the members of the group to join the glee club, and eventually brainwashes them into joining one by one.  This episode is a direct shot at Glee.  In the end, we find out that the instructor of the Glee Club actually is a murderer.  This was the last episode before Community when on it's hiatus, so I think I also viewed this episode more closely than others just because I didn't know when the next episode of Community would air.

I thought the second half of Season 3 was much weaker than the first, but it still had some really solid episodes.

We find ourselves now awaiting Season 4, set to return in the fall of 2012.  One would think things will be much different. as the creator and mastermind of the series Dan Harmon has been relieved of duties as show runner.  Show runners getting replaced is not an unusual thing in TV land, but there aren't many show runners who possessed creative control like Harmon did with Community.  NBC ordered 13 episodes for Season 4, but I would expect that order to get extended because not many of the new programs coming to NBC look promising.  That's probably just me looking at this thing with the glass half full though.

TENSE SNL SEASON FINALE

The SNL season finale ended with a farewell sketch for 7 year veteran, and one of the greatest cast members of all time, Kristen Wiig.  It was a great tribute that was more heartfelt than anything i've ever seen on SNL.  But something happened during that final sketch that has gone largely unreported.

Jason Sudeikis was a complete mess during the Wiig sendoff.  Sure, it definitely appeared to be emotional for many of the cast members, but the way Sudeikis was acting was rather strange.

Sudeikis, like Wiig (and Andy Samberg), is a 7 year veteran of Saturday Night Live.  A little known fact about SNL is that when you are brought on, you are signed to a 7 year contract that Lorne Michaels can rip up anytime should you be "let go" or if it "isn't working out."  That's kind of got a MLB service time vibe to it, but the point is that Sudeikis and Samberg's contracts are up.

The future of Sudeikis and Samberg on SNL has not been publicly reported, with the latest tidbits coming out that decisions on the cast would be made in July.  Samberg's departure became evident in the episode before last when it marked the 100th digital short.  It has a finale type of vibe to it, and in the season finale he did another digital short which featured Chris Parnell.  The very first digital short was "Lazy Sunday" with Chris Parnell, and the digital short series is apparently coming to an end with another Samberg/Parnell rap (this time about Sister Act 2: The Musical).  Samberg gets the last words, and it definitely had the vibe of "peace i'm out."

But back to the most tense moment I think i've ever seen on SNL.  The video is linked below.  Thanks Hulu!

http://www.hulu.com/watch/363338/saturday-night-live-shes-a-rainbow

The cast definitely is emotional during their personal goodbyes to Wiig, but notice the emotions of Sudeikis after he says goodbye to Wiig.  He goes straight to the back, and appears to be either really emotional or really frustrated.  Either way, he was a complete mess.

It's hard to pencil in exactly where his emotions were coming from though.  I want to be clear that I don't know, but speculating on this makes me fear for the worst.  Could he have been angry?  Maybe that the show is giving Wiig a huge personal sendoff, but not him?  As some of the old cast members come out on stage, notice you lose sight of Sudeikis. In the end, you see him in the back left but he is clearly separated from the rest of the crew.

Hey, i'm just throwing stuff out there.  Maybe when he gets extra emotional that's just the way he looks.  He might just look like an angry, jealous person when he's super emotional.  I'm not calling him an angry, jealous person.  It was just an odd visual, and came across extra tense.

I've speculated over the last few months that Sudeikis has been disconnected from the show.  I've noticed a blatant lack of preparation as far as knowing your lines.  There have been plenty of sketches where he has just been flat out bad.  It's pretty obvious that he doesn't want to be there.

I feel like Andy Samberg is finished, but might show up from time to time like plenty of old cast members do.  For Sudeikis, I hope that he works out a short term deal with SNL over the summer for him to work a half-season.  They did the same with Amy Poehler in 2008, during the election when they needed her to stay aboard and play Hillary Clinton.  Sudeikis is the man that plays Mitt Romney, and it wouldn't surprise me if he comes back for just a couple months until after the election.  It also wouldn't surprise me one bit if that was the end of Sudeikis.

No matter what he was doing, thinking, or feeling on Saturday night, watching what transpired was the most tension i've ever seen in my 20 year career of watching Saturday Night Live.  Whether he was sad, frustrated, angry, jealous, or just flat out emotional, it was clearly odd behavior and I think it's telling on the future of Jason Sudeikis on SNL.  There's not one.

CirqueTV Episode 14

THANK YOU NBC

NBC has received quite a bit of criticism over the last couple of years.  They're ratings have been in the tank, but they made some moves this week regarding the 2012-2013 schedule that are very admirable.

I'm way too biased here, but the network renewed Community for a Season 4, despite it's low ratings.  Why would they renew a show that isn't doing a bit of good ratings wise?  Well, the ratings system is so flawed that it doesn't give you the full impact that the show actually has.  It's the system in place now though, and that's what will be worked with.  Community's fanbase is rabid, but they are young.  Many don't watch it live.  Thursday night at 7PM isn't a great television watching time anymore like it was in the days of Friends and Seinfeld.  Community does have decent DVR ratings and even a larger viewership on Hulu.  That's a lot of college and early 20's aged kids that make most of that up, and that's why they don't show up as a heavy hitter in the actual weekly ratings.  Plus, it's quirky, smart, different, and sometimes so over the top that it's impossible to even realize what's going on.  Even some of the cast members have admitted that they didn't really know what the heck they were shooting.

The order was only for 13 episodes, which will put them at 84 total.  According to tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com 88 is considered the minimum amount for Monday-Friday syndication.  There's no doubt that Community will be one of the first options to get an extended order should NBC sour on one of it's new sitcoms in the fall or spring.  This is also not being labeled as a final season, although I think we should probably prepare for that being the case.

I love that NBC is putting faith in the popularity that this show has online.  I also love that NBC is trying to make itself the comedy network.  Although the ratings don't show it, it has definitely had the best sitcoms as a whole over the last 2 decades.  I think they are realizing the rise of cable and understanding the dramas very rarely can compete with the likes of the less censored FX, HBO, SHOWTIME, ETC...

NBC doesn't come without flaws though.  They still seem deadset on trying to have an identity in the Multi-Camera genre as they renewed Whitney, one of the more awful shows i've ever seen in my life.  This is the first time a multi-camera show has made it to Season 2 on a network other than CBS since 2007.  The Tim Allen show Last Man Standing pulled that off on ABC as well.  Don't expect Whitney to see a Season 3, but as always I could be wrong.

After NBC pleases me with the renewal of Community, they follow that up by even more good news.  Parks and Recreation will be renewed for a 5th season.  At first, it was reported that it would only be a 13 episode order, but that rumor was quickly debunked as NBC announced that the Parks and Recreation Season 5 would be 22 episodes!

Parks and Recreation creator Michael Schur admitted that they had to approach the Season 4 finale "Win, Lose, or Draw" as a series finale, because their future was still up in the air.  I don't think many people had any doubt about the return of Parks and Recreation, but it's a shady business.

I don't like to pit comedies and dramas up against each other, because it's such a different animal.  I've said it before and i'll say it again, Parks and Recreation is my favorite sitcom of all-time.  I'm in love with every character on that show.   It's brilliant, heartfelt, somewhat original, has a talented cast and writing staff, and it deserves to be on the air as long as the cast and staff want to do it.

Like Community, once this show hits syndication it'll be popular to the masses, but for now it's a show not nearly enough people are viewing.

In closing, great job NBC and thank you for renewing two of my favorite shows.  I hope you continue this direction of more comedy and less drama!

ALBUM REVIEW: BLUNDERBUSS by JACK WHITE

Much like Chaz' mom on "The Wedding Crashers", I never know what Jack White is doing.  The Racontuers are probably a top 20 band for me, even though they've only released two albums.  I really like The White Stripes, although they won't make any favorite band or favorite album lists of mine.  On his debut solo album "Blunderbuss", we find Jack to be either doing a bit, or bringing a lot of past demons to the table.  I coudl be wrong here, but it really seems like Jack White is lashing out at his ex-wife/sister Meg White.  Recent comments of his revealed that Meg was kind of the control freak in The White Stripes arrangement, and this album definitely backs up his comments.  That's the part of this album that I love, or at least love to pretend is happening.  He could very easily have no vitriol towards Meg or his other ex-wife, but it definitely seems that way.  Then again, Jack is a really weird guy.  I mean almost obnoxiously weird.  There are times, when I feel like he's trying to hard to be the Johnny Depp of indie rock music when he really doesn't need to do that because everybody knows he is the Johnny Depp of indie rock music.

This album ventures into almost every genre you can imagine, and I think it's a pretty good listen but maybe i'm a victim of having high expectations.  While it's definitely not a bad album, it lacks something.  There's a certain punch I was expecting to be packed and it just wasn't.  What saves this album for me, is the hope that he really is lashing out at Meg or other women that have been a part of his life.  That's where the drama lies in this thing.  He says the album has nothing to do about anything or anybody, but it's fun to imagine right?  Here's a track by track...

MISSING PIECES: Figuratively, he speaks of getting his legs and arms cut off.  That's pretty cool right?  I guess it doesn't have to be a woman, but it seems like he's singing about a cold hard bitch or at least somebody that has betrayed him.  It's a really good way to start the album off.  Upbeat, catchy, and fun.  That's how I like my album openers.

SIXTEEN SALTINES:  The most White Stripes type song on the album in my opinion.  I see the "Who's Jealous, Who's Jealous, Who's Jealous of who?" line as him screaming at Meg, but that's probably completely irresponsible on my part.  Great song!!!

FREEDOM AT 21:  The guitar riff is simple but I find it pretty pleasing.  There is layered drumming on this song and it is such a beating.  It gives me headaches.  I'm not sure why it's even there, as it doesn't add anything except unwanted noise and clutter.  It seems as this song is possibly a calling to youth to get off their iPads and smartphones.

LOVE INTERRUPTION:  Acoustic guitar with a touch of keyboard and a female backup singer.  It contains lyrics of some of the most awful things you can think of, but I think the idea he's going for is that love can conquer all of these awful things so he wants to challenge them with love.  I don't know man, it's Jack White we're talking about.  I never know what he's doing.

BLUNDERBUSS:  The steel guitar makes it's first appearance on the title track.  I found this song to be extremely boring, but the good news is that every song is wrapped up in about 3 minutes or so which makes the boring ones pass quickly.  It's a pretty song I guess, but a sleeper.

HYPOCRITICAL KISS:  Wonderful keyboarding on this track.  Again, a song that really goes nowhere but this one hits hard lyrically.  It's hard for me not to see these lyrics aimed directly at Meg's temple...."You would sell your mother out, and then betray your dead brother with a hypocritical kiss."  Whoa.

WEEP THEMSELVES TO SLEEP:  Welcome back to really upbeat music.  Fun song, and sounds like a Raconteurs track.  A classic Jack White type solo takes over at the 3 minute mark.  It doesn't standout, but it's a solid track.

I'M SHAKIN':  It's about Samson and Delilah and that kind of beats me down because it seems like that's an extremely overused cliche relationship to sing about.  Who cares though, because this song is freaking awesome.  An extremely old school rockabilly type vibe.  Fun.  Love it.

TRASH TONGUE TALKER:  More upbeat music!  Remember the song on Tommy Bob where his dad dies at the wedding?  I forget what it's called, but I know it's a classic.  Well, that's kind of what the breakdown on this song sounds like.  I dig this one!

HIP (EPONYMOUS) POOR BOY:  Man, it's going to take a lot of convincing to make me believe that this song isn't aimed at Meg.  One thing that needs to be known to the casual fan is that Jack White's real last name is not White.  He took Meg's name when they married.  Check out these lyrics.  "And I'll be using your name, but I'll be happy for you, cause you got nothing to do".  They must have had a bitter go of things.  Couldn't have been easy.  Meg having to be around him so much even after divorce and he's got hotter chicks around him, including a hot wife at one point.  Jack, probably realizing that Meg was holding him back due to her limited rhythmic ability.  I can only imagine how crazy shit got.  Man, this song is for her and it's a good.

I GUESS I SHOULD GO TO SLEEP:  I get the feeling this is put after "Hip Poor Boy" on the album kind of as a "oh i've said too much" statement.  Did I mention it's two and a half minutes of boredom?

ON AND ON AND ON:  Worst track on the album.  Boring.  No direction.

TAKE ME WITH YOU WHEN YOU GO:  The album closer starts out with a fun little piano riff, and a nice buildup with the drums.  The violin makes a rare featured appearance, followed by a pretty badass guitar breakdown.  This is not a bad way to close the album, and definitely one of my favorite tracks.  A love song I think?  Again, the common theme of me never knowing what the hell Jack White is doing.

So there it is.  My review of "Blunderbuss".  My favorite tracks are Missing Pieces, SIXTEEN SALTINES, Hypocritical Kiss, Weep Themselves To Sleep, I'M SHAKIN', Trash Tongue Talker, HIP (EPONYMOUS) POOR BOY, and TAKE ME WITH YOU WHEN YOU GO.

What generic grading scale can I use?  Uhhhh, let's just go with the out of 100 method.  Like grade school.  I give this album a 65.  I expected better, but that doesn't mean it's bad.  Overall, it's pretty good I guess. I think.  Hell, I don't know.