Mythbusters puts a plane on a treadmill
There’s an argument that’s been floating around for awhile now that goes something like this: If you put an airplane on a treadmill and set it so the speed of the treadmill increased as the plane tries to gain speed, would the plane stand still, and if so, would it take off.
The answer to this seems pretty obvious to me, but apparently there’s people on both sides of the argument.
Tonight on Discovery the Mythbusters will be putting this to rest once and for all as they’ve build a big ass treadmill and will be trying this out. I can hardly wait to see the losing side of the argument try to find fault with the testing process, because some people will never admit they are wrong.
Wrestling Week in Review for 1/21
Let me start off by apologizing for missing last weeks update, I seem to have contracted the plague or some variation of it and I’ve been down and out since early this week… But, I had plenty of time to catch up on TiVo and watch some Wrasslin’.
We’re about 30 hours away from the Royal Rumble and it’s shaping up to be a pretty decent PPV. The Rumble is my personal favorite PPV of the year… it used to be the Survivor Series but then they forgot to add Survivor Series matches, So I forgot to pay them $40 - Seemed to be a fair exchange to me.
Well since the last update there’s been 2 episodes of TNA, RAW, ECW and Smackdown and since it was a week before a major WWE PPV, I watched each show and I’ll touch on each and at the end I’ll add in some basic Wrestling knowledge for you guys to chew on. Now, without further adoodle-doo… Let’s get ready to Rumble! I really hate that phrase and the guy that says it but I thought it was appropriate under the circumstances. Read more
Chuck returns tonight
Apparently NBC has enough episodes of Chuck in the can that it feels comfortable in releasing two of them on the same night, a different night than you’re used to seeing Chuck I might add.
Chuck is a turn-your-brain-off-and-enjoy kind of show, and I’ll admit I’ve enjoyed many episodes. I did eventually stop watching due to a lack of time, but I might TiVo this just in case the writers strike goes on for a few more months.
Then again, my TiVo has recorded over 200 shows it thinks I’ll be interested in, and my Netflix queue has many many titles in it.. so perhaps not.
For those who want to watch, Chuck bookends The Apprentice tonight at 8 and 10PM.
NBC trying to screw up Top Gear
Remember The Office? This was a UK television show about daily life in an office, cubicles.. desks.. meetings.. more meetings.. it’s like a live action Dilbert but it’s not about engineers, it’s about all types of office workers. The show was a huge hit in the UK and NBC bought the rights to it here in the States.
Everyone just knew they’d screw it up, but they didn’t. The casting of the American version of The Office is spot on, and in many ways the show is superior to the original.
Well, NBC has its eyes on another hit from overseas, Top Gear. If you’re even slightly into cars you really need to watch this show. You can see it on BBCAmerica Monday nights and occasionally repeated over the weekends. The humor.. the insane things they do, the general attitude of it’s host… all are perfect. This is some mighty fine television.
And there’s no chance NBC can make a successful version here in the US, no chance at all. Why? One word.. lawyers.
Many of the things that make Top Gear so interesting just won’t be able to be done here out of fear of lawsuits. Letting the hosts of the show drive around a racetrack in excess of 175 mph without safety gear while they comment on the car? Just not gonna happen. Making non-road worthy cars and driving them on public roads? In traffic? Nope, not gonna happen. How about letting a host drive a Porsche into a concrete wall at 35 mph to see how the car handles is? Nah, don’t think so.. at least not unless he’s covered head to toe in protective gear.
No, the flavor of the show will have to change if it’s made in America, and it’s gonna be bland compared to the original. Maybe it’ll have some funny parts, and maybe it will be somewhat interesting to watch, but I suspect more annoyance than entertainment.
Here’s a telling quote from Craig Plestis, the man in charge of reality TV at NBC, “This is a favorite of all automobile companies as it shows their cars in such a great light.” Obviously Craig hasn’t watched much Top Gear as they routinely trash cars from every manufacturer. I’m not talking about a light ribbing either, if they don’t like a car they’ll be very vocal about everything they see wrong with it.. and call it some nice names in the process. For that matter, they usually have some pretty negative things to say about the cars they like as no car is perfect. But when they hate a car, they really go off on it.. and it’s fantastic TV when they do. They aren’t beyond purchasing a new car then destroying it just to show how much they hate it. Does that sounds like they’d be “favorites of all automobile companies”?
Wrestling Week in Review for 1/11/2007
Those of you that don’t know who I am, my name is JC Edwards and I’m the resident “fanboy”, comic book movie, action flick aficionado, film critic of the MFG bunch. But, what some of you may not know about me, I was involved in the exciting world of Professional Wrestling for more than 10 years, and it’s a passion that still lives and breathes inside of me today. Each week I find myself watching the flagship shows of WWE RAW & TNA Impact, (ECW and Smackdown pretty much suck) and with each passing show I feel the need to comment on the current state of affairs in Sports Entertainment, more and more. I’ll be bringing my vast knowledge of the business along with some friendly insight into the whys and what’s the writer’s were thinking when they create a character or an angle that makes you the average viewer, or more importantly myself say WTF were they thinking! This week I’ll be covering the previous episode of TNA Impact from 1/10 and last nights RAW broadcast. Since this is a new weekly column we’ll gloss over the highlights and next week we can go deeper. I’m open to feedback and if you disagree with my evaluation of certain talent, feel free to bring it and we’ll debate all night long…. Whoooo!
Mythbusters Returns Tonight
Mythbusters comes back tonight, and they’re tackling the myths behind spies, specifically James Bond.
The narrow escapes, the crazy stuff you see in Bond films. Can they be done, or is it all movie magic. Jamie puts on a tux and tries to answer these questions and more.
Yes, Jamie in a tux.
What I’d rather see is Kari in a slinky black dress. Or specifically, with a slinky black dress around her ankles.
American Idol Starts Tonight
I mention this more as a warning rather than a reminder. Having an SO, I have no choice but to watch this, and I’m guessing a good number of you are in the same situation.
At least these opening few weeks of Idol are just auditions, consisting mostly of crappy singers acting stupid. Still, this is somewhat entertaining and the banter between the judges can be fun to watch.
If you have to.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
I saw the leaked pilot several months ago, and the show was better than I expected it to be. The action was good, the terminators acted like I’d expect them to, and overall it had the right feel to it. It premiers tonight at 8PM, so check it out for yourself.
That said, I don’t see how this will work as a weekly television show. Every week it will be them running when a terminator find them… they escape, only to be found again the next week. Won’t that get old?
Nine episodes are in the can so even with the writers strike you can look forward to this series lasting until spring even if only 50 people watch it. Hopefully they’ll keep the violence level where it should be for this type of show though, they already wimped out and cut down on the school shooting scene so they wouldn’t offend anyone. That just sucks.
Daily Show and Cobert return tonight, without writers
Jay did it, Conan did it, so now Jon Stewart and Stephen Cobert are both back on the air tonight without their writers.
On one hand they have it easier since each show is only 30 minutes, but I suspect the actual content of the non-interview segments was very dependent on the writers. Maybe it’s just my perception, but I have the feeling that both Jay and Conan are better prepared to adlib for their audiences. After all, they have bands to banter back and forth with if nothing else.
But in any case, it should be fun to see what happens. Tonight will be good I’m sure, tomorrow night.. probably. Past that? Who knows.