I'll Be BACK. SARAH CONNER, Family Guy, and lots MORE.

What up, Cutters? (tm DDP)

So man, it was quite the weekend for people I tangentially know on TV. First, my pal Richard Rubin of Beauty and the Geek fame, and college chum to my old Camp Shalom co-counsellor Mike Zoosman, debuted as a regular on NBC's 1 Vs. 100, on which he was situated next to such TV luminaries as Ross the Intern, a trio of blonde triplet models, and Oscar the Grouch. Pretty awesome. Then, also over the weekend, The Dropkick Murphys were on Letterman, who you probably know as a rockin' band out of Boston - what you might not know is that I went to high school with one of the guys in the band, so it was pretty cool to see a fellow KO class of 2000 alum makin' it big, and as a member of one of the best rock bands around no less.

Otherwise, this weekend, as predicted by me, consisted of a lot of catching up on sleep and generally being lazy. Although, I did get a lot of errands done, including taking advantage of my New Every 2 plan from Verizon to pick up a new cell phone. I did a lot of research online, and was thinking I was going to pick up the LG VX87000 ... which is a slim silver flip-phone. But I walked in and was semi-wowed by the new LG Venus, so on a whim I went with that one, which is a combo of an iPod-esque touch screen with a slider keypad. After purchasing, I had a wave of regret as I fumbled at first with the touchscreen controls, but since I've been warming up to it a bit. I do love that because of the split-screen, the menu can instantly change depending on the context. I guess I also get worried that a phone like this is not rugged enough for me, since I tend to drop things a lot ... I am just a little perplexed at why they can't just make a real upgrade to the LG phone I had before, with a flip-phone stule but thinner. Oh well, I'll see how I'm likin' the Venus after a few more weeks ...

- So, after a bit of a lull, things are beginning to pick up, at least for now, in the world of TV. Ergo, the return of ...

TV STUFF:

- The big weekend TV even was surely the much-anticipated debut of TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES. I actually saw this pilot last summer, and at the time I was surprised by how fun it was and how much potential there was in the series. Watching the first episode again last night, I pretty much felt the same way, though I am really eager to see where things go from here. I think the biggest strength of the pilot is that not only did it mostly embrace Terminator continuity, but the show seems willing to expand upon it and go in some interesting directions. Adding the element of time travel to the show blows open the story possiblities, and there's a ton of potential in that regard. The action delivered here, and we saw some of the most high-octane drama we've seen on TV in a long while. Basically, stuff blew up real good. I even enjoyed some of the cheesier aspects of the show, as, let's face it, Terminator films have always had a hefty dose of cornball humor, and a long tradition of cheesy one-liners. So yeah, I didn't mind, and in fact I enjoyed, when the show's resident evil Terminator, posed as a substitute teacher, took attendance and then, upon spotting John Connor and opening fire on the classroom, declared "class dismissed." Cheesy? Yes. Appropriate? I think so.

The main question mark on this series is, to me, the characters. Lena Heady, outwardly, seems to have what it takes to follow in Linda Hamilton's footsteps as Sarah Connor. But I'm still waiting for her to prove a bit more kickass, and a bit more endearing - maybe display a little of the crazy-psycho tendencies of Sarah C. from the films. Same goes for John Connor - he seems a bit too emo-ish - I'd like to see more of the flippant punk kid from T2 that, as I recall, was basically the coolest kid ever when I was in sixth grade or so. Of course, the standout of the series is already Summer Glau as a teen girl Terminator - again, it remains to be seen where this character will go - will a more human side come out? - but it's a fun twist and I am eager to see the character's arc play out.

I think I really need to see tonight's second episode to get a better feel for the show, but right now Sarah Connor is def off to a promising start. It definitely provides a mix of action and sci-fi that is unique to the current TV landscape, and in general, who doesn't love robots from the future? I'll see how this pans out over the next couple of eps, but for now, I'll be back.

My Grade: B+

- And yes, I am psyched for tonight's return of PRISON BREAK. But oh man, my internal 24 clock is ticking, and it's telling me that this SHOULD be the week that Jack Bauer returns to kick unholy levels of ass. So the burden of bringing the Monday night gravitas now falls on Michael Scofield and Lincoln Burrows as they attempt to escape from Sona prison. Come on, boys, don't let me down.

- Last night also brought a new episode of FAMILY GUY, which I had praised over the last several weeks of having built up some good momentum, especially with the Stewie Kills Lois two-parter. I enjoyed last night's ep, and got some good laughs, especially from the whole Peter grows a mustache angle (he looked kinda like my dad, bwahaha ...). The Stewie becoming the most popular kid in school plotline was also pretty funny and well done. Things went downhill though once Peter had a stroke and the entire focus of the episode changed. I wish they could have just kept things simple and focused, but the stroke thing felt rushed and wasn't all that funny. All in all, a pretty decent ep that got a little off-track by the end of the show.

My Grade: B

- By the way, I never reviewed last week's SIMPSONS, which I actually thought was a pretty entertaining episode. I agree with the complaints that the Ralph Wiggum for president plot was waaaay too rushed, but overall the ep was a great satire of politics and had some memorable lines. John Stewart's cameo was actually pretty hilarious (I loved Krusty trying to steal his jokes), and overall this was one of the better episodes so far this season, along with the Eternal Sunshine ep from a few weeks back (that one would have probably garnered an A - or so from me).

My Grade: B+

- I picked up the JUNO soundtrack this weekend ... I really do hope that the movie doesn't get lost in the awards season, as Ellen Page in particular is really deserving of some love for how awesome she is in this one. As for the soundtrack, I tend not to usually be into the hipster indie stuff, but I really do love the song selection on this one ... Kimya Dawson, who does a lot of the songs has a fun, funky style that I'm really digging.

- On one final note of nerdiness, I finally beat God of War II this weekend after like a year of on-and-off playing. Badass game.

Alllrighty, I'm outta here for now. Back with more soon, including some political stuff. Catch ya' on the flip side.