Television

For those of you who, like me, were drawn into this different type of zombie series with season one, I’m pleased to season two does not lose any strides. Taking place roughly eighteen months after season one ends, IN THE FLESH continues to evolve into as good a main line drama series as I could want, with undead people in it.

In 1963, the U.S. took the lead in the space race with the launch of the Ascension -- a monstrous rocket propelled by nuclear blasts, carrying a crew of over 300 people in a self-sustaining environment not unlike a cruise ship. Their goal: to travel 100 years through deep space to Proxima Centauri. The crew would not survive the trip. Their children would likely not reach the destination. The grandchildren were the ones destined to be those who be the first humans from Earth to set foot on another planet.

Jell-O Pudding. Fat Albert. Rape allegations. One of these things is not like the other -- one of these things just doesn't belong.

It might seem that these last few weeks have seen an outpouring of allegations against America's favorite dad, Bill Cosby. It might seem that way, but in truth this has been a rumor that's been simmering for a long time.

The fuse to these flare-ups appears to trace back to stand-up comic, Hannibal Buress. Well, not directly, because he picked it up from your average Google search, but he does bring up the allegations in his stand-up routine when he attacks Cosby's "smug old man" attitude toward modern black society. From that point on, one alleged victim after another has begun popping up like mushrooms after a spring rain.

The BBC series AFTERLIFE starring Lesley Sharp and Andrew Lincoln comes to a full stop after only two seasons, leaving behind a number of questions that will never be answered -- which, for a series dealing with the eternal questions, is just how it ought to be. Maybe.

In this continuation of the story of medium Alison Mundy (Sharp) and the psychology professor Robert Bridge (Lincoln) who takes an interest in her -- first to debunk her then to help her come to terms with her own ghosts -- we are told right up front that things aren't going to go on forever for these two. Robert is diagnosed early on with an inoperable brain tumor, which he keeps secret from everyone, even his ex-wife as he attempts reconciliation with her. Meanwhile, Alison -- who briefly died at the end of the first season -- has brought back a haunter of her own: her mother.

Every time an opportunity arises to review "Sesame Street" products, I jump at the chance. The Children's Television Workshop has been creating masterful programming for little ones my entire life. Now that I have a toddler, its a wonderful way to review material that I can watch with my son.

Time is of the essence these days, so working and enjoying family time is a treat. Children of the United States aren't the only ones who have a chance to spend Sunny Days on the Street. My little guy and I often watch the Latin American version "Plaza Sesamo". It's a wonderful way to expose him to the Spanish language and cultural diversity.

"Shalom Sesame" offers a similar window to the nation of Israel and the Jewish people of the world. Disparate cultures are dealt with in an inclusive way that is a boon to young ones in our global community.

Almost as regular a tradition as Charlie Brown now is the Doctor Who Christmas Special. And, bonus, it's always something new instead of a repeat!

The teaser for this year's Chrissy Pressy from the TARDIS looks almost nothing like Christmas, and a whole lot more like a Ridley Scott outer space thriller! But fear not -- as The Doctor so aptly puts it, "It's Christmas, at the North Pole! Who are you going to call?" Well, it's sure not Ghostbusters! (Can I squeeze a third Sigourney Weaver flick into this description? Probably not.)

So just enjoy the teaser below, and start counting down the days til the arrival of that magical man in the strange flying conveyance who can get around the world without even a second passing. (And I may or may not be talking about The Doctor!)

Syfy knows its audience. With so much fan support for CONTINUUM, it makes sense to bring in another time-travel story about someone from the future trying to prevent a catastrophe by going into the past. This time, the network looks to an established storyline, springboarding off the Bruce Willis film, 12 MONKEYS.

She says she's not seeing him, and hasn't seen him for ten years, says "Mama" June Shannon in a video posted to the family's Facebook account. But ever since TMZ first broke the news that Shannon had been seen with convicted child molester, Mark McDaniel, the photographic evidence has been mounting up, and all of it seems to back up the fact that the two are definitely a couple, most recently seen "house hunting" together and smiling for the camera. (See picture, inset. Copyright 2014, TMZ.com.)

Sometimes, very rarely, I have my faith restored in the humanity of reality television show producers.

TLC, which has brought us such "learning" opportunities as 19 Kids and Counting, The Little Couple, and Breaking Amish has cancelled Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, a spinoff of Toddlers and Tiaras, which focused on the family of child pageant contestant, Alana Thompson, and some over-the-top redneckery and gross-out moments, replete with farts, poop jokes, almost-vomits, and things that make you want to bleach your mind.

John R. Dilworth's cowering canine, Courage, is the reluctant hero of this fun cartoon series that blends the styles of Schoolhouse Rock and John Kricfalusi. He's ostensibly a "cowardly dog," and yet he shows degrees of bravery all the time that exceed that of your average dog. He just shows it without any external bravado. He doesn't run around saving those he loves with a grow, but with a tiptoe and a whimper -- but he still does it, because it needs doing.

This Friday night, DC Comics' John Constantine makes his first live action appearance in the NBC series, Constantine. So far, it appears that the writers are doing the series right this time, eschewing the "Hellblazer in name only" platform that was established with the Keanu Reeves vehicle.

Constantine is played by Matt Ryan, whose resume includes such titles as The Tudors and "Layer Cake." In Constantine, however, producers are relying on him to carry the series as the lead -- something he seems quite capable of handling, if the trailers are any indication.

A series doesn't have to be long-running to be long-remembered. For evidence of that, look to Welcome Back Kotter, the Gabe Kaplan comedy vehicle which starred Kaplan as Gabe Kotter, a high school remedial education teacher returning to his Brooklyn alma mater, Buchanan High, to educate and mentor a class of misfits who've named themselves The Sweathogs.

The series only ran for four years -- fitting, since that's how long high school should last -- but the Sweathogs, the irascible Mr. Woodman (John Sylvester White), the recipes of Julie Kotter (Marcia Strassman), and Kotter's endless supply of uncles who inspired so many stories, made an indelible impression on American audiences. Lunch boxes, comic books -- the usual marketing machine engines were fired up to feed the audience as much Kotter as they could handle.

Next Monday, truTV debuts a new competition that could bill itself as "So You Think You Can Interpretive Dance?" Except that wouldn't truly cover all the bases of the art form known as "Faking." This demonstrates to me just how far off the Cool Meter I've fallen in my dotage, as I had never heard of such a thing before. Apparently, faking is "a mix of theater, acrobatics, black light and illusion." It's kind of like Cirque du Soleil, but more street.

American Dad!, the irrverent comedy from Seth MacFarlane, Mike Barker and Matt Weitzman which follows the clueless patriotic CIA Agent, Stan Smith (MacFarlane), is leaving FOX and making the transition over to TBS. That means cable, which means things can get even more wild than they did before.

Women prefer the walking dead at a rate of 62% over the 38% of males. Of course, we mean the AMC show The Walking Dead, not actual zombies (unless you're into the strong, silent type, who really is into you for your brains).

This statistic comes from the social analytics firm, StatSocial, which compiled the statistics based on Twitter data tracked from the week of October 7th through October 13th and a pool of 651,000 tweets. If you're a zombie on the prowl, look for a 25 to 34 year old woman in Texas (although New York City or Los Angeles would be your better bets).

For a breakdown on the numbers, check out the infographic below.

♪♫It’s the spook, spookiest time, of the year!♫♪

♫With kids that need scaring ♪

♪And candy that needs sharing♫♫

♪♪♫There’s nothing but FFFFFEEEEEEEAAAAAAARRRR!♫♫♪

♫♪♫It’s the spooooookkkk, spookiest tiiiiimmmmmeee of the YYEEEEAAAARRRR!♪♫

In case you didn’t know, fall is my favorite season. I like the cool fall weather. I like the smell of burning leaves, and the cheering crowds at the high school football game. I hate that every single thing has to be “pumpkin spice” flavored. I love wearing hooded sweaters and sitting in the driveway with my neighbors while we eat chili.

After the credits rolled on 2005's Revenge of the Sith, many fans of the original trilogy were left unsatisfied. The newer trilogy seemed to focus on updated special effects and intense choreographed fight scenes.

The overall story, however, seemed to sputter like the Falcon's hyperdrive.

Enter the ultimate in ironic acquisitions: Disney, a real Empire seeking to expand it's reach, purchased Lucasfilm and the rights to everything Star Wars.

Moving quickly they began to develop the next motion picture installment with Episode VIII. To ensure they remained in touch with the original audience, veteran actors such as: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher were all brought in to pass the torch to a new generation of heroes.

I have fantastic memories from seeing From Dusk Till Dawn in the theater back in 1996.  Goodness, it's so hard to believe that was nearly twenty years ago! Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino had only made a few films up to that point. More so, George Clooney was really just the dude from "ER" and a host of failed series. Now, Tarantino's films are always Oscar worthy, Clooney has been Best Actor, and Robert Rodriguez owns the El Rey Network. They are a power trio in modern Hollywood, but back then they were just making a horror flick.

The idea of remaking a well loved horror film as a television series that essentially follows the map of the original, well that takes balls! To be honest, it all pays off quite well. Considering the film was packed with stars or soon-to-be stars, the series pulls off recasting so well, that you mostly don't even miss the original players.

Less than halfway through this season of CBS and Endemol's Big Brother, I found myself asking myself, "Self, why are you still watching this show? This year isn't nearly as good as what we've had in the past."

But why did I think that? This season was replete with likeable characters (Donny), and it had its cute little romances (Nicole and Hayden). It had its built-in villain (Zach), and it even had the player we loved to hate and hated to love (Frankie). There were confrontations, there were blow-ups and dust-ups and OMG moments.

To top things off, this year I even began watching the Big Brother After Dark -- since I no longer had to subscribe to Showtime for it and could watch it for free on TVGN (soon to be renamed Pop).

It just goes to show, you can't always trust the critics. I hadn't watched any of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. because I'd heard from some corners -- comic-fan corners, mind you! -- that the show was not just underwhelming, it was actually bad.

Now that I've got the entire first season to review, I think that the critics were wrong -- mostly. And, yes, I get the inherent irony of my saying that -- I'm completely up on the Epimenides paradox. So with the second season debuting tonight, you've got a few hours to go pick this up and cram like mad to get up to speed.