Obviously it's been dead here for the past few weeks, but this has been a ridiculous Western Conference race. Thankfully, Golden State lost last night and we've clinched the last playoff spot.
This has been the most insane NBA season of my lifetime and I'll most assuredly be gone until the end of our playoff run.
Go Nuggs
Biggest game of the season tonight. Despite the two games we've got coming up against Golden State, Dallas seems more vulnerable and I can't see us doing any better than a split against GS.
Nene is coming back tonight to play a few minutes, which is great news. I've been claiming all year that with a healthy Nene we'd be at least 5 games better and if he can get in shape before the end of the season, it'll help our playoff run significantly.
The game's on TNT so I expect each and every one of you to be rooting your asses off.
Keywords: Please win
Though it was a mere formality, CBS announced yesterday that Jericho is no longer.
The series, which was rescued from its first cancellation after an outpouring of support from some nutty fans, couldn't manage to capitalize on its reprieve, averaging over 25% less viewers than season one. This time 'round, however, fans will get a proper send off as the producers shot an alternate ending against the possibility Jericho would not return for a third season.
Personally, so long as the series finale provides closure, I'm okay with putting Jericho out to pasture. Despite the limitless potential, this season has been terribly executed.
Rather than subtly examining a government and town trying to rebuild from the ashes, the series disintegrated into a soap opera lacking any semblance of reality. Geotz and Ravenwood were so over the top and exaggerated they rendered the concept of corporate influence within a provisional government laughable.
However many tough choices Beck could have been faced with, dealing with Ravenwood was not one of them. And with that absence of moral ambiguity, Beck's struggle was nothing more than a heavy-handed approach to showing the struggles of war.
But perhaps most crippling was the absence of Gerald McRaney. Though I had always suspected as much, Jake's performance as leading man proved that the town of Jericho really couldn't survive without Johnston Green.
Skeet Ulrich never exactly hit it out of the park as Jake, but by sharing so many scenes with Lennie James (Hawkins) and McRaney, the damage was minimal. Well, with Hawkins off dealing with the bomb and Mayor Green six feet under, season two saw Jake forced into a spotlight he was ill-equipped to handle. The results were crippling to say the least.
Truthfully, I always enjoyed Jericho and while I could never stand the romantic subplots and knew it could be doing more, McRaney and James ensured it was never in any danger of getting knocked off the TiVo. But with McRaney gone and James' role less than it should be, I can't help but feel it's about time to say goodbye to Jericho.
Keywords: Jericho, Cancel, Canceled, Cancelled, Cancellation, Season 2, Season Two, Renew, Renewal, Renewed, Episodes, CBS, Nuts, Campaign, Save
Though it doesn't debut until March 30th, Showtime is streaming the season two premiere of The Tudors online.
Watch The Tudors - Season 2 Episode 1
The first two episodes are also available On Demand throughout the country.
Keywords: The Tudors, Showtime, Watch, Online, Video, Streaming, Stream, Free, Season 2, Season Two, Episode 1, Episode One, Premier, Premiere
He's baaaaaaaaaaaaaack (which means I'm gone). Support tanking, root for the Nuggs!
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Here he comes, 15 months after he was kicked out of Philadelphia over irreconcilable differences, A.I., The Answer, the MVP, the hip-hop hoops icon -- call him what you want -- is back in the city he once owned like few others ever have in its deep, rich sports history.
The ones who know the fans best believe Iverson will get an ovation tonight that will rattle the roof of the Wachovia Center when the 6-foot guard out of Georgetown is introduced as a Denver Nugget.
Few athletes ever electrified, and polarized, the city like Iverson. He was an MVP with a rap sheet. A wanna-be rapper with a stat sheet stamped for the Hall of Fame. He whined about practice, clashed with his coaches, crossed over Michael Jordan and stepped over Tyronn Lue.
Iverson always proclaimed his love of Philly, the fans and the Sixers and swore he wanted to end his career with the franchise that made him the No. 1 overall pick in the 1996 draft.
Any problems he ever had in a dysfunctional relationship with the Sixers were somehow always worked out until the one month they didn't and Iverson was gone faster than a drive down the lane.
Iverson was arguably one of the four greatest Sixers, compiling a sparkling resume over 10-plus seasons that put him in the mix with Wilt Chamberlain, Julius Erving and Charles Barkley. His No. 3 jersey was a best seller around the globe, the headband wrapped snugly around his cornrows, and the tattoos were as much a part of his image as the way he ricochets around the court. Play every game like it was his last was more than a catchphrase, it was a lifestyle.
"I'd like to say I played as hard as he did but I couldn't," said former Sixers center Todd MacCulloch. "I couldn't put my effort up against him. I don't know how many people in the league could. He's a special talent, a special player."
Iverson fearlessly crashed the lane against players nearly a foot taller than him, played through countless injuries and added the pizzaz that was missing in what was a staid franchise.
Iverson transformed the 76ers from lottery losers to contenders, though he couldn't bring home an NBA title to this championship-starved city. He came close in 2001, when the 76ers lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA finals.
It's easy to believe the ultimate undersized underdog has one more fantastic show left for the fans he used to call his own.Keywords: Denver Nuggets, Philadelphia 76ers, Allen Iverson, Billy King, Ed Snider, Mo Cheeks
Back in October, Fox announced that it was developing a pilot with Niecy Nash and Abraham Higginbotham (who doubled as 'the office poof' on Arrested Development):
Arrested Development writer Abraham Higginbotham will be teaming up with Niecy Nash of Reno 911! to develop a multi-camera comedy pilot focusing on "the less-than-glamorous staffers at a glamorous New York hotel."The pilot, titled The Inn has been given the go-ahead by Fox.
Although it'll be a shame to see Higginbotham go from such a brilliant single-camera like Arrested to a multi-camera that'll likely be limited by Fox's new mandate for formulaic sitcoms, given the comedic charm of Niecy Nash and Higginbotham's talent with a pen, the project shouldn't be written off just yet.
Obviously there haven't been any updates this week. The NBA season is winding down and I'm off with the Denver Nuggets. I'll be in and out of Philly for the rest of the season and playoffs (God willing), but I'll try and update when I can.
I actually haven't had a chance to watch last night's episode of Lost yet (long night) so I can't comment, but the reactions are interestingly mixed, with the slight edge going to those that dug it. Here's the relevant commentary.
As always, beware of spoilers.
Jeff Jensen - Entertainment Weekly: "The best thing I can say about 'The Other Woman' is that it tried hard to deliver the goods I wanted — maybe too hard. The whole thing felt forced to me — the sudden transformation of Charlotte and Faraday into Mission: Impossible secret agents; the overheated melodrama of Juliet's flashback; the groaningly contrived kiss between Jack and Juliet (Juliack?); the cliché ticking-clock climax in which catastrophe is averted with a proverbial second to spare."
James Poniewozik -Time: "Having gotten rid of the deadweight flashbacks, the sixth episode of season 4 manages to give us one that actually fills us in on a story we want to know more about: what happened to Juliet with the Others."
Alan Sepinwall - NJ Star-Ledger: "Almost anything was bound to be a letdown after last week's time-bending love epic, and while The Other Woman' wasn't the weakest episode of '08 (that remains Kate's episode), a number of season three-era problems crept in for the first time this season."
Cynthia Littleton - Variety: "This episode was packed with plot development -- fabulously concrete, tangible, easily understood plot development, which is the rarest kind on Lost."
Kristin - E! Online: "God bless the writers' forthcoming time-travel entanglements, for they will finally explain how it's supposed to be 2004 on the island but Walt has peach fuzz, Claire has skinny jeans, and Juliet and Goodwin sipped tonight from wine glasses from the 2007 Crate and Barrel collection. (Yes, super ridic that I know this, but ask any 2007 bride.)"
Keywords: Lost, Recap, Spoilers, Episode Six, Episode 6, Sixth Episode, 6th Episode, The Other Woman
With Arrested Development long canceled, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia has taken the throne as the best comedy on television. Equipped with biting wit, social relevancy and the subtle humor rarely found in today's world of sitcoms, it's garnered a cult audience over the course of its three seasons.
Even still, despite the show's critical acclaim, I'm often chastised for my claim that Sunny is the best comedy on TV and among the best ever. Luckily hot on the heels of the news FX has reupped with Sunny for 13 more episodes, creator Rob McElhenny sat down with Entertainment Weekly for an insightful Q&A in which he does a great job of describing some of the qualities that make Sunny supremely superior to almost everything else on TV (think South Park):
We never try to push the envelope for the sake of pushing the envelope, which we think is just lame. And you can see it coming a mile away. Anybody can be outrageous. There's a certain subtlety we hope comes across. And our number one goal is to make people laugh.McElhenny also dishes the dirt on some upcoming storylines:
A lot of people think we're just doing d--k jokes.... What we are doing is presenting both sides of the argument and poking fun and poking holes in all of them. Take on the abortion issue or the gun control issue — we hope it's a comedic take, ultimately, but that it has some kind of social relevance.
We're going to do something with the tax rebates that everyone's going to be getting this summer. We're going to jump on it by giving out Paddy's coupons, which are essentially $100 rebates that we mail to everybody and they can come in and use their Paddy's dollars, but then we don't redeem them at all. We force them to use American dollars.As they've only just begun breaking stories, it's going to be a long wait. Here's hoping a fresh batch of Lipitor can help alleviate the wait.
[Another] thing we're thinking about here is Dee [Kaitlin Olson] finds out she's pregnant and wants to give the baby up a la Juno. So it's all about trying to find the right couple, and then moving in with the couple and having the couple just basically pay all her bills and give her a car and a place to live and just taking advantage of the couple's generosity.
I want to do an episode about how Dee winds up having what she thinks is a heart attack, and she ends up taking Lipitor, or some kind of heart attack medicine, and we all recognize that what we need to do is get medicated as quickly as possible for anything that ails us.
We really want Frank degenerating even further. We see our characters not really changing over the course of the entire series, but he drops one rung lower on the ladder each week. By the end of it he's just going to be a puddle of goo.
