jeffchin.com » tv

Sopranos and Spurs

jeff — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 13:43:18 +0000

Not much to say about the season finale of the Sopranos last night. I first thought I was being cheated by not having guns blazing as the credits rolled – but then after hearing all the chatter on the Junkies this morning about the open ended-ness and possible interpretations, the brilliance started to shine through. The last scene was super intense with Journey playing in the background, the bells on the doors being rung every time someone walked in, Meadow struggling with parallel parking, and some potential perps glancing at Tony. There’s actually some good discussion in the comments on Digg.

And where the Sopranos had everyone hanging on till the bitter end, the NBA didn’t give the fans a show at all. I switched to the game after the Sopranos ended to see the Cavs getting spanked by the Spurs 51-27 sometime in the 2nd quarter. I turned it off after that…

Verizon FiOS Interactive Media Guide

jeff — Wed, 23 May 2007 14:09:48 +0000

As consumers, we are often slaves to our cable company by the location of our house. Aside from getting Satellite TV, there isn’t really a choice other than the cable company that’s assigned to your area. Living near the edge of Arlington County in Fairfax County, I am stuck with Cox Cable. Just a few hundred yards away in Arlington County, you can have Comcast Cable. Although many people hate Comcast cable, I’d rather have it than Cox. At least Comcast is trying to take steps forward by making a deal with TiVo to use their amazing DVR software (which is very much delayed), HBO onDemand in HD (which no one else has), as well as consistently adding HD channels like The Food Network faster than Cox Cable to their HD lineup.

The new star on the block is Verizon FiOS. I only know one person that has it, but he likes it because it’s cheaper and you get more. Soon, it looks like he’ll be getting a lot more with the rollout of the new Interactive Media Guide (IMG). It’s rare that a big company will sit back and design a product that addresses the consumer’s everyday gripes about a product rather than just pushing something out into the market just to be there. You can tell that Verizon listened to consumers, and then thought about how to make the TV experience simpler, more convenient, and enjoyable again. It also looks like they took a page out of XBOX 360′s book with navigation tabs (or blades as the 360 calls it). They’ll even be rolling out Weather, News and Stock widgets in the future. It’s a shame I’m not eligible for FiOS where I live.

Take a look at some screenshots or the video preview of IMG’s design and functionality.

Death of TV

jeff — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 03:14:00 +0000

TV to me is dying a slow death. I used to come home from work and knock out 2-4 hours of programs off my TiVo and DVR every night, but with the combination of adding studying to my daily routine and bland story lines – my season’s passes are dropping like flies.

Another factor that has come into play is the addition of 2 magazine subscriptions. I now subscribe to Wired and Business Week. Who knew there’d be so much pressure that comes along with getting a new magazine every week? What are you watching, and is there anything that I absolutely should add to my “keepers” list?

Dropped:
The OC (couldn’t even finish out the final season)
Lost
Heroes
Most MTV reality shows

Keepers:
Prison Break
Grey’s Anatomy
How I Met Your Mother
The Office

Hanging on by a Thread:
24 (Jack, please don’t kill me)
Scrubs

Paralysis by TiVo

jeff — Mon, 19 Sep 2005 13:26:00 +0000

Yes, I’ve raved about Tivo all the time, but I think it’s taken over my life. Yes, it allows me to watch my favorite shows on my own time, but I didn’t think that I’d be watching my favorite shows all the time. I’m not even sure how many Seasons passes I have right now, but it has to be about 30 or so. Yesterday I watched 3 straight hours of TV, with no commercials – and a second tv with Monday Night Football on it. Somebody help me. Below is a list my Seasons Passes (not in order) that I can remember, have I missed anything good?

1. The OC
2. Laguna Beach
3. The Apprentice
4. Arrested Development
5. The Family Guy
6. Grey’s Anatomy
7. The Real World: Austin
8. Lost
9. Prison Break
10. Jeopardy
11. My Name is Earl
12. The Office
13. That 70′s Show
14. Making The Band Part 3
15. nip/tuck.
16. Desperate Housewives
17. Mind of Mencia
18. Chapelle’s Show (if it ever comes back on, I’ll be ready!)

Things I’ve Learned From Watching 24

jeff — Tue, 24 May 2005 15:33:00 +0000

The blood pressure raising season finale was last night and it definitely disappoint. But throughout the last 24 episodes, I’ve noticed that 24′s view on the world is slightly modified for Tv.

1. Jack Bauer is more important than the President.
2. Jack Bauer’s cell phone has the most amazing battery life known to man.
3. Even during highly secretive missions, it is not necessary to put your cell phone into “vibrate” mode.
4. Everything revolves around Los Angelos
5. You can get anywhere in LA within say…15-20 minutes.
6. It is not necessary to eat.

Magna v. Networth

jeff — Fri, 24 Dec 2004 14:56:00 +0000

I’m not sure if you were equally obsessed with the Apprentice as I was, but season 2 was awesome. I actually didn’t even watch season 1 (probably because I didn’t have it as a season’s pass in my Tivo). With Kelly kicking Jenn’s butt in the finale of season 2 only a little over a week ago, Trump announced that season 3 is already ready, and will premiere on January 20th.

This time it’s not going to be guys v. girls, it will be Streetsmarts vs. Booksmarts. The streetsmart team will all be highschool graduates, and the booksmart team will be college graduates and more. I am not 100% positive on who will win, but I will put my money on the streetsmart team. Trump likes ‘winners’ and people with proven experience and winning tendencies. Even in season 2, he shied away from super booksmart candidate Kevin. But, the season has yet to begin, and I haven’t seen any of the candidates yet. Better yet, apply to be on Season 4 of the apprentice!

Quick poll, who do you think will win in Season 2…booksmarts or streetsmarts?

Spring Forward, Fall Back

jeff — Sun, 31 Oct 2004 05:36:00 +0000

I’ve always wondered what the heck happens on TV at 2 AM when the clocks fall back an hour. Thanks to my 4 hour nap this afternoon, I was able to stay up and actually stay up to see what happens. (Yes, I know, this is a little lame…stories of drunken halloween parties and costumes would be much more fun and newsworthy, but, as you can tell, I didn’t go out this year. ) I didn’t actually see what happens then, but I did search around in my Tivo guide to see what the timing was per show. For example, ESPN had SportsCenter on from 1AM – 1AM. Other stations had shows on at 1, 1:30, 1, and then 1:30 again. Veeerry tricky. Well, I guess that answers that burning question I’ve had for the past few years. Enough of this overthinking non-sense, it’s time for bed. I should be out getting an extra hour of drinking.

Legwarmers and Conan O’brien

jeff — Mon, 27 Sep 2004 20:55:00 +0000

This weekend, I hit up the State Theater in good ol’ Falls Church, VA with fellow Samurai Don, and Andrew. It was a veritable JMU reunion as I saw probably about 30 people that I knew. We JMU’ers love our 80′s music I guess. It was a ton of fun, and they ran through a library of totally necessary 80′s songs that you’d expect from any quality 80s cover band. I really don’t think that 80′s cover bands will ever go away, simply because everyone deep down inside loves to indulge in a cheesy power ballad, a quirky one hit wonder and a beer with some friends just to get stupid. I’d put the Legwarmers right up there with Gonzo’s nose, and The Breakfast Club.

In other news, I just read that Conan O’brien will be taking over the all prestigious 11:30 time slot that Jay Leno will have had reign over for 17 years. My tastes have gone from Letterman in the 8th grade (back when he used to do a lot more funny things with Rupert G from the Hello Deli), to Leno (simply because Letterman kinda lost it), and finally to Conan. Possibly one of the most brilliant talk show hosts ever. His off the wall humor has definitely made it into my everyday speech, and his “In the Year 2000″ skit has been a staple in quoting late night jokes. Hopefully he won’t be forced by his producers and program managers of NBC to stray from his proven recipe for laughs just to fit in with the 11:30 crowd…

Tivo and Towing Woes

jeff — Mon, 30 Aug 2004 03:18:00 +0000

Today (or last night actually), I got towed. Not from an illegal spot, not from in front of a fire hydrant, but from my own condo’s parking lot! I have a sticker that I’m supposed to be displaying in my back window, but I didn’t stick it on because well…I didn’t want to. But it came back and bit me in the butt when I drove home with the windows open. I guess it blew off, and what do you know, my car is gone this morning. After a cool $100, I had my car back. Talk about money not well spent…

Anyways, things are moving along with my condo, and it feels like I’ve turned a big corner after I connected my Tivo last night. I feel like watching TV is 100x better, and I can finally see all my favorite shows. Speaking of which, Nip/Tuck is still one of my top 5 favorite shows. I started watching it last year (1st season), and am still shocked and intrigued by every episode. So far it has remained edgy, the stories more and more outlandish.

Today I played golf with my dad at Renditions in Davidsonville, MD, thanks to amanda for a great bday present. For those of you who don’t know, Renditions is a golf course where they recreate 18 PGA tour holes. There are three from Augusta, Shinecock, Sawgrass and many others. I scored an abismal 117, a mere 45 over par. I took a bunch of pictures and videos with my new camera, and I’ll have those up soon, along with more pictures that I’ve been taking…until then, it’s back to work. Although tomorrow we are having our team outing at Dave and Busters. Should be a blast, have fun at work…suckers!

Check Out the Big Brain on Brett

jeff — Thu, 08 Jul 2004 15:15:00 +0000

Actually his name is Ken Jennings, and you can catch him every weekday night on Jeopardy at 7:30 PM. If you haven’t heard of Ken and his Jeopardy winning streak before now, where have you been? I didn’t hear about him until he had won 20 games in a row. You read that right, 20. That’s small potatoes now though, because as of this posting, he has won 26 times in a row. So far he has won $868,960; $680,000 more than the previous record holder Tom Walsh.

Jeopardy got rid of their “5 day winning limit” a little while back, and Ken is taking full advantage of it. Now approaching the million dollar mark, he seemingly disrespects Mr. Perfect-Pronunciation and now ‘stache-less Alex Trebek’s trivia questions on a daily basis for 30 minutes a day. I saw him a few days ago, and he was getting a bit cocky, making jokes after correctly answering questions (or in correct Jeopardy terms, asking the right questions to the answers). But, I guess he has the right to do so now, considering how dominant he’s proven himself to be. Anyways, this is a phenomenon not to miss, if I had a TV signal in my new house, I’d be tuned into Jeopardy to watch Ken romp the competition everyday, but until then, I’m sure he’ll continue his winning streak.

Check out articles online about him on The Washington Post, Slate, and keep track on the status of his winning streak at Jeopardy‘s website.