I leave in a mere 5 hours for sunny San Diego where I’ll probably see no sun or feel no summer loving as I’ll be spending all of my time inside the San Diego Convention Center with 200,000 of my closest geek friends.

COMIC-CON 2007 begins tomorrow and I’m there all weekend with GMMR and some other TV Bloggers for the biggest group of television panels a fan could dream of.

Want LOST scoop? Heroes Spoilers? Supernatural Hotties? Battlestar’s Final Season Spoiler? The dish on new shows like Pushing Daisies, Chuck, Bionic Woman, Reaper, Moonlight, Journeyman, and many more? Want a podcast chock full of these goodies? Well, keep checking back all weekend as I’ll try and post some updates each night.

Want to follow me all day, Thursday through Sunday while I try and get Lee Pace naked? Follow me on TWITTER! There’s also a Twitter panel on the right hand sidebar. Check back for updates throughout the day, all day, all weekend!

While I’m gone, please head on over to my new site… DUCKY DOES TV! I’m in the midst of moving all posts there so that will be Ducky’s new home very very very soon! Let me know what you think. I love the new layout and I’m still working on all the content so bear with me.

May the force be with you or something dorky like that!

I almost forgot the Emmy nominations were this morning. Silly me. There are some fun additions to this years Emmy list and sadly there are still a few head scratching oldies thrown in for good measure.

Outstanding Drama Series
Boston Legal
Grey’s Anatomy
Heroes
House
The Sopranos

Outstanding Comedy Series
Entourage
The Office
30 Rock
Two and a Half Men
Ugly Betty

Outstanding Reality Series
The Amazing Race
American Idol
Dancing with the Stars
Project Runway
Top Chef

*my choices for favorites are in BOLD.

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We’re back… Podcast #11: Big Brother 8, Burn Notice, Psych, So You Think You Can Dance, Transformers, Rescue Me, Kathy Griffin, Porn, Prison, Ugly Betty, Comic-Con and more.

TV Podcast 11: Ducky and GMMR take a dip in the technical difficulties pool and come out swinging.

BIG BROTHER 8 has arrived and we’re obsessed. We talk spoilers, live feeds, and our favorites. What do we think about BURN NOTICE? PSYCH’s back on USA. KATHY GRIFFIN does gay porn and RESCUE ME forgets to rescue one of their own.

Do we need two karaoke shows? We dissect SPELLING BEE and DON’T FORGET THE LYRICS.

SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE continues to dominate the summer and we talk about our new favorites.

A little TRANSFORMERS talk? Sure, just a bit. COMIC-CON? Yes, we’re now Comic-Con geeks and we preview our trip at the end of July. PUSHING DAISIES, MOONLIGHT, BIONIC WOMAN and other Fall Shows.

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As you’ve maybe heard me mention in one or two posts, I’m taking my first trip to San Diego’s COMIC-CON INTERNATIONAL in two weeks.

Comic-Con has moved beyond the manga lovin’, furry wearing, swoard bearing, trekkies you’re thinking about right now. It’s more than a comic book convention. It’s a sci-fi convention as well. That doesn’t make it sound any less geek central does it? It’s turning into a Sci-Fi/Horror/Fantasy Film and TV Convention as well. Sound better? I thought so.

As you know, I’m one of the people that runs The Independent Film Festival of Boston (shout out Nancy, Brian, and Christine who regularly read the blog and are my cohorts) and obviously you know I’m a big TV geek. The chance to see panel discussions, meet creators of film and tv shows I love, see sneak previews of films and tv shows I love is just too big. I must go!

GMMR and I are shacking up in San Diego for the week and we’ll be meeting up with Rae, The TV Addict, Seat42f and many other tv bloggers (as well as 250,000 of our closest and scariest friends) to cover all things fall tv! We’re also hoping to do a huge TV Bloggers Podcast or two!

What shows are gonna be there? The list is big and here are the ones I plan on attending in some capacity.

TORCHWOOD (BBC America’s spin-off of Doctor Who)
LOST
REAPER
MOONLIGHT
24
CHUCK
PUSHING DAISIES
BIONIC WOMAN
TVGuide’s Hot List and Super Women
HEROES
KYLE XY
BATTLESTAR GALACTICA
SUPERNATURAL
SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES
SARAH SILVERMAN PROJECT
BUFFY’s 10th Anniversary
TIN MAN
The 4400
JERICHO

Granted some of these panels overlap so there will be a few that get missed but TV wise, this is my dream list. There are also a number of film events that I want to attend.

Paramount Studios Presentation, Lionsgate Presentation, FANBOYS (with Kristin Bell), Warner Bros Films, 20th Century Fox, Shoot Em Up, Rob Zombie’s HALLOWEEN!!!!!, Rogue/Focus films, The Incredible Hulk with Ed Norton and many more.

Kinda crazy, huh?

Are any of you guys going? What do you want me to find out or meet or see while I’m there? Let me know.

This is a great letter that Boston Globe TV Columnist Matthew Gilbert put up today. It’s addressing new NBC bossman Ben Silverman about how to approach the upcoming fall television season in regards to Friday Night Lights. It’s heavy on the convincing tip and why not, it’s one of the best shows on television and it needs to be treated as such. I hope you get a kick out of the letter and please let me find out that he really sent this on to Ben Silverman!

Dear Ben Silverman,

Mazels on the new situation as co chair of NBC. I envy you about as much as I envy the person who’ll take the presidency from Bush — that is, not much. I hope you’ve got plenty of Krazy Glue on hand, because you’ve got a lot of pieces to put back together. But, as producer of network TV’s best comedy, “The Office,” and the pop-art soap “Ugly Betty,” you clearly have good instincts.

But Ben, I am nonetheless nervous about “Friday Night Lights” — yes, the show that all the critics are whining about and that will probably become a thorn in your side if it isn’t already because it will remind us all of another egregious NBC botch, “Freaks and Geeks.” Dude, you gotta make it work.

You gotta find a way to represent “FNL” with more excitement to viewers. Despite the fact that NBC is the hippest kid on the network block, the one with Tina Fey and Steve Carell and “Scrubs” and Jason Lee and “Heroes,” it has been unable to tell viewers that “FNL” is not medicine. Sure, it’s a “family” show and it trucks in “rousing” sports movie cliches. And its docu-poetic approach to small-town Texas life is perfectly suited for those artsy viewers who’ve seen “The Last Picture Show.”

But “FNL” is also a charged relationship drama that stars some amazing young actors. Find a way to sell it to audiences who like youth soaps. Put the show’s kids out there — and not always in football uniforms or against a football-field backdrop. Obviously, Zach Gilford, Gaius Charles, Scott Porter, Taylor Kitsch, and Aimee Teegarden are pretty and sellable, not to mention talented.

But also make a publicity point of Jesse Plemons, who plays the geeky Landry. He’s a great character, a Texas take on Seth Cohen from “The O.C.” And as recovering bad girl Tyra, Adrianne Palicki has great offbeat allure. The potential of these two characters makes me think of Hiro and Claire from “Heroes.”
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It’s summer and it’s hot outside and on TV! Podcast #10: Ducky and GMMR Sun Themselves

TV Podcast 10: Ducky and GMMR strap on their tankinis, floaties, and hit the pool to tackle the chaos of the summer television schedule in the sweltering heat.

Shows we’re watching: Age of Love, Top Chef, The Next Food Network Star, Kathy Griffin’s D-List, The Closer, Rescue Me, Traveler and obviously So You Think You Can Dance.

Shows we’re looking forward to: The return of Big Brother 8 and the premiere of Burn Notice.

Then we hit the news and crazy ass Isaiah Washington, Heroes casting, the return of Sark, Nip/Tuck, 24’s Female President, and we give big bear hugs to Kelly Clarkson. Oh yeah, and we talk The Office cast on the big screen.

We’ll cover a ton of shows so thanks for coming back and listening to the joint TV Podcast between www.givememyremote.com and www.duckyxdale.com

Subscribe via iTunes

Listen Online: Podcast #10

Interested in catching up on our past podcasts? Head on over to the podcast page where you can listen to all of our previous episodes.

Have a question for Ducky and GMMR? There are a couple ways to contact us:

Free Voice Mail (Comments/Questions):
This is Dan and Kathie’s favorite method of contact because it allows us to hear from you and we use these messages live on our podcast to answer your burning television questions. It’s FREE and you don’t have to do anything but click RECORD BY PHONE on the box below and it will walk you through how to contact us!

It’s super easy and free to leave us a message:

Step 1: Click on “Record by Phone”

Step 2: Dial the number shown and enter the four digit code when prompted

Step 3: Leave a message

Step 4: Listen to our next podcast to see if we answered your question

 

iTunes Comments:
This is a great way to spread the word about our podcast and it really helps new listeners determine if they want to subscribe to us or not based on YOUR COMMENTS. Subscribing to the joint podcast between duckyxdale.com and givememyremote.com is the best way to listen to us.Please comment on duckyxdale and givememyremote’s TV Podcast at iTunes.

Can it be true? Is it possible that my honey bunny Julian Sark from ALIAS is joining one of my favorite shows this fall? According to the svelt Kristen over at E! my dreams of seeing David Anders on television again have come true!

Omigod! Omigod! Omigod!

Honestly, I’m downright giddy to be breaking the news to you that David Anders—known as the wonderfully sinister and sexy Sark to Alias fans—is joining the cast of Heroes!

Though NBC has not yet announced it, my Heroes moles tell me it’s official: Anders has been given the much coveted series-regular role of Kensei, a Sark-ish character who just so happens to be 1,000 years old, for the upcoming second season of Heroes. I’m told Anders starts work on the show on Monday.

Hear that? It’s the sound of Alias fans around the world shouting “Yippee!” as they bust out a happy Snoopy dance. And you Heroes fans should be, too, because, hot damn, the show just got even better.

If I wasn’t still lying on the floor dumbfounded by the genius of Pushing Daisies, I’d be down here having palputations over the news of DAVID ANDERS JOINING HEROES!

*Update: TVGuide’s reporting the following on Anders role…

David Anders, aka Alias’ delicious Sark, will play Takezo Kensei, an ancient samurai warrior and Hiro’s childhood hero. Kensei, of course, is the original owner of the sword Hiro sought during much of Season 1.

Additional castings are coming in faster than that pesky eclipse. Lyndsy Fonseca (Ted’s future-daughter on How I Met Your Mother) and Dianna Agron are cheerleaders, one sweet, one tart, in a Southern California town to where Claire is expected to move. Barry Shabaka Henley is Detective Fuller, a New York police officer. Holt McCallany is Ricky, the ringleader of a group of Irish thugs.

No Michael Scott, Dwight Schrute, Jim Halpert, nor Pam Beesley are joining the cast of HEROES this fall but someone in The Office family is!

Per TVGuide, Jan’s moonlighting musician Administrative Assistant Hunter, Nick D’Agosto is joining Heroes in the fall as Claire’s new boyfriend West. Does West have superpowers? Of course he does but all D’Agosto is giving up is that he has “a very cool superpower.”

Geeking out!

I know its been an insanely long hiatus from the TV Podcast between duckyxdale.com and givememyremote.com but I’m happy to report that we are back and in full force with Podcast #8.

Here we dish about the best and worst of the 2006-2007 Season Finales! Join us, we’ll make you laugh… well we’ll at least make ourselves laugh! Sorry we don’t do a weekly podcast, our schedules tend to be out of sync but we try to do our best! Thanks for sticking with us.

Subscribe via iTunes

Listen Online:Podcast #8

Interested in catching up on our past podcasts? Head on over to the podcast page where you can listen to all of our previous episodes.

Have a question for Ducky and GMMR? There are a couple ways to contact us:

Free Voice Mail (Comments/Questions):
This is Dan and Kathie’s favorite method of contact because it allows us to hear from you and we use these messages live on our podcast to answer your burning television questions. It’s FREE and you don’t have to do anything but click RECORD BY PHONE on the box below and it will walk you through how to contact us!

It’s super easy and free to leave us a message:

Step 1: Click on “Record by Phone”

Step 2: Dial the number shown and enter the four digit code when prompted

Step 3: Leave a message

Step 4: Listen to our next podcast to see if we answered your question

iTunes Comments:
This is a great way to spread the word about our podcast and it really helps new listeners determine if they want to subscribe to us or not based on YOUR COMMENTS. Subscribing to the joint podcast between duckyxdale.com and givememyremote.com is the best way to listen to us.Please comment on duckyxdale and givememyremote’s TV Podcast at iTunes.

HEROES Season 1 Finale Tonight 9pm on NBCCan you believe that we’ve made it through 22 Chapters already? Tonight’s finale, Chapter 23 “How to Stop an Exploding Man” promises to knock our blocks off (pun intended).

The showdown between good and evil is just getting started and tonight all of the Heroes gather in NYC and the lines will be drawn. Hiro and Sylar will go toe to toe. Peter and Sylar will go toe to toe. Niki and Jessica will go toe to toe. All hell will break loose.

Aside from Lost, this is the most anticipated Season Finale of the year. Here are some pics to wet your appetite (until 9pm tonight). Is anyone else sad that its only an hour episode?

Wow, the HEROES Season 1 finale hasn’t even aired tonight and they’ve already set the street date for the DVD box set! Get the plastic ready kids because on August 28th, we’ll be able to relive the entire saga from the beginning. We’ll see Hiro teleport to NYC for the first time. We’ll see those infamous bangs in action. We’ll see some bad split personality action and some bad Parkman action but seriously who cares because it’s all worked out in the end! Hell, we’ll get to see Mr. Muggles again!

Show of hands for people that are freaking out about tonight’s finale. That’s what I thought!!!

Some DVD Extras information:
-Includes the 73 minute uninterrupted original unaired Pilot episode as creator Tim Kring envisioned it.

-The Making of HEROES

-Special Effects featurettes

-The Stunts - backstage look at the shows hair-raising stunts

-Mind Reader - Parkman’s mind reading abilities reveal your inner Hero with a series of simple tests

-Profile on Artist Tim Sale who gives us all the Manga influenced art in the show (obviously he’s not decapitated)

-The Score - a behind the scenes look at Wendy and Lisa from Prince fame as they score Heroes

-50 Deleted and Extended scenes

Heroes Chapter Twenty One “The Hard Part”

Seriously, I never expected to feel my heart break and bleed for Sylar but damnit, the writers and the phenomenal acting made it happen. I got teary watching Sylar degenerate to a little insecure boy and I was never in a million years expecting that. I can’t lie because I so was not expecting his Mother to be Audrey from Little Shop of Horrors either! I seriously sang “Suddenly Seymour” for half of her first scene.

His story is painful and horrible when you think about it. His complex of wanting needing to be someone comes from that Mother of his. She couldn’t settle for him being just an ordinary boy. He had to be special in order for him to be anything to her. She in essence drove him to be who he’s become today. She created Sylar the mythical figure before us and she paid dearly with a pair of scissors.

The water to ice shavings scene was not only reminiscent of Winona’s frolic in Edward Scissorhands, it was almost as poignant. He created a world that expanded beyond her horizons, beyond her snowglobes. Too bad in the end it turned ugly but for a brief instance, she was happy and pleased and this was all our poor little wounded psychopath wanted. It was sad I tell you.

“The Hard Part” was all about not wanting to face the truth and finding the strength to do what’s needed at any cost.

Hiro and Ando once again risked life and limb (and sword) chasing down Sylar trying to save the world. Micah tried to finally escape the hold Candice has on him only to discover he’s in quite the labyrinth of a hotel. DL forced Jessiki to help find Micah and in doing so blurred the line between the bad girl we’ve come to know and the Mother we hope to one day see again. Suresh met up with Molly, the girl from the beginning of the season that Parkman used his lame powers to find under the closet. All I remember is that her Mother was impaled with like 100 forks or something and wasn’t she pinned to the stair railing? Creepers…

Could Window Petrelli BE more of a powerhouse? I love that she revealed all her cards to Nathan. He was blown away to discover that not only is she aware of Linderman and his master plan but that she’s been working for years to get to this stage in the game. It’s scary and exhilarating to watch this woman in action. Nathan is the savior but it comes at a wicked cost. He needs to let half of NYC explode in order to secure his spot as the power player and the cool head in a time of crisis.

Meanwhile the impending crisis of Peter blowing up the city moved closer to a climax. He met Ted and went all glowy! Claire Bear was reunited with HRG and besides the fact that this thing is coming to a head, all is well in the world tonight.

I cannot wait for the finale because honestly, I have no idea where we will head next. Save the Chearleader, Save the World. What could possibly top that?

I haven’t really been able to watch television for the week or two leading up to the Independent Film Festival of Boston but now that it’s over, I can play some catch up!

American Idol
I did not see last week’s charity head case known as American Idol “Idol Gives Back” and from the clips I’ve seen online and in the recaps, those white outfits were not so horrible I wouldn’t have been able to sustain three hours of it anyway. I got news of the double elimination sometime later in the week and until that point I was working under the notion that Jordin Sparks was kicked off. Yeah, someone played a cruel joke.

I was pleasantly surprised to find she in fact was not kicked off (nor was anyone). Then I got sent a picture of who until I received this picture was my new choice for winning this lame season of Idol. The picture is of Jordin with a Pro-Life sign. Guess who’s no longer my choice to win American Idol?

Last night The Alien and Chris Richardson got the boot. Oh well… as long as my Blake is there, that’s all that matters. How amazing is Blake? He’s unreal. And PS - A Chris Richardson/Blake Lewis sandwhich is pretty amazing to think about…

Heroes
5 Years into the future is way OOC! They did a really good job with moving the stakes of this show waaaaaaaay up! Insane how much went down this week. Peter looks manly with that scar and his ass is dating crazy Niki. Sylar’s killed a lot more people, including the President of the United States, Nathan Petrelli, Candice, and finally he has taken out the Cheerleader. HRG is in contact with Claire, works as a smuggler of kinds for those with abilities. The Haitian was working with Homeland Security which is now run by Parkman. Hiro’s bad ass subway sword Hiro and poor Ando’s dead. Unreal…

Brothers & Sisters
Can you imagine this show without Rob Lowe? Could Emily Van Camp be playing a more evil and twisted whore? Could Kevin’s lips be any more pink? Could Nora be any better? Could Justin be more of a wet blanket? Could Rachel Griffith be acting her ass off anymore? Still really enjoying this show!

Drive
Um, I started basically 24-hour festival duties on Tuesday and somewhere in that time, Fox cancelled DRIVE. I was wondering what happened Monday night because it didn’t record. Lame. I’m really digging the show and seriously, poor Amy Acker and Nathan Fillion NEED SHOWS THAT CAN SURVIVE!

Supernatural
Folsom Prison Blues was a great episode. The ghouls and demons were wonderfully creepy and seriously, Dean was waaaaaaay funny this past week. I loved the whole “What are we? From Texas?” comment and also Sam asking Dean if he was at all concerned with how into Prison life he was. Jensen’s really had some shining moments this season and with each episode I become more and more of a fan. Also a nice added touch to last week’s episode were all the references to previous jobs and the consequences of their actions. I really appreciate that the writers keep that in our minds. Lesser shows wouldn’t even address previous criminal acts and I like the justified but incorrect way they rationalize all of it.

Grey’s Anatomy
While there were moments to last week’s episode that rang true for the Grey’s I used to love and adore, there are still elements that annoy the shit out of me. I couldn’t be more over this whole George/Izzie thing. It’s beyond obvious that Callie knows something is up and that the show is holding out on the confrontation until the end of sweeps. The whole Derek/Meredith thing is retarded. He’ll be in the hospital where she’ll be working, it’s so not the same sitch as Adele and Richard. All I kept thinking the whole episode was how great it would be if the spin-off was better than Grey’s so I could stop watching this Titanic of a show.

Lost
Last week’s Sun episode of Lost was friggin traumatic. Granted when I watched it, I’d had only about 10 hours of sleep in 5 days so I may have been hormonally off balance but hot damn did I cry through most of the episode. Sun’s transformation mimics that of Juliet’s. The character they are today on the island couldn’t be further from who they were off the island. Juliet was so mild and meek and such a wet blanket. Her demeanor is so different and more confident and ruthless since the 3 years have passed. Sun is similar. Her whole character and her whole physical being is different from flashback to present. Incredible acting and incredible transformations make both of these women compelling and strong while showing they weren’t always so.

And there is nothing better than watching Sun tell a withered old whore that she’ll drop of the power of her family onto her and crush her if she dare show her face around Sun or Jin again. Amen sister! Tears for Jin’s father, Tears for Sun’s situation, Tears for Juliet wanting to give good news, Tears for Sun discovering the baby really is Jin’s and being happy instead of devestated she’ll only have three months left to live. I was a soaking mess after that hour.

I don’t remember if I watched anything else. It was all a fog. I’m trying to play catch up but it’s hectic as I’m also moving in a week. More to come…

We all read about it months back but finally HEROES resident gay, Exec. Producer Bryan Fuller is speaking out about what really went down with the plan to have Zach go gay.

Claire’s best friend and only confidant Zach was supposed to be gay and the rumors began flying when word came that Zach was being written out of the show. Actor Thomas Dekker was up for the role of John Connors in The Sarah Conners Chronicles and people were worried about how playing gay could affect his chances. Absurd but that was the rumor.

Now, we have the real answer…

“There was an unfortunate miscommunication and when the script arrived that had the line in it, ‘I would take you to homecoming but you have to know that I don’t like girls that way.’ The actor [Thomas Dekker]’s, manager threatened to pull him from the show…“

To read more about Zach and the whole GAY DEBACLE (along other shows that Bryan Fuller’s been involved in), head on over to Popgurls.com

Heroes last night was out of control. There was so much going on that I felt like I needed a shower afterward. It makes me insane that we have to wait until April 23rd until we get the final five episodes of this unbelievable freshman series.

I don’t even really know how to recap the incredible, character and plot driven episode so I guess I’ll just give my random thoughts. Do you not have problems watching when every single character is involved in one episode? Damn, too many people wrapping up this second act and leading us into the homestretch.

The Big Revelations:

Mother Petrelli is in on the whole thing! The omniscient grandmother met Claire and divulged that she’s ordered Claire to be watched but was disappointed that the indestructible one gave the Haitian the slip! An amazing revelation. Does she or did she work for those Primatech freaks? Does she have relations with Linderman? How crazy that this whole time she’s known Claire existed and that both of her sons have special powers! Guess that answers the question as to who higher up than HRG wanted her protected and alive! Go Grandma!

PS - I love Christine Rose, one amazing character actress who commands attention. Cannot wait to see where this goes.

Simone is officially dead, regardless of what you’ve seen in the previews. That shot of Simone standing up, opening her coat to reveal the bloody bullet ridden mess was real but it was not Simone. The culprit? That minx Candice Wilmer! The newest member of the Primatech team, the new Eden, has unbelievable powers. She can become anyone, taking on their persona and causing some major mental manipulation and damage.

In this episode alone she got Isaac out of murder charges by pretending to be Simone when the cops showed up to investigate a tip they received from Peter. She totally screwed HRG! And she’s a major wiseass. I like this girl; she’s dangerous.

How exactly did she screw HRG? Well, early in the episode we realized that Mrs. Bennett’s mind wasn’t as erased as we thought. In the time between episodes, she supposed had her brain erased but she revealed to the newly erased HRG that she’s knows exactly what went down in Episode 17! She was amazing. I loved seeing her all active, coherent, and in on the action. She told HRG that Claire had escaped and that she was on the run among other things missing from HRG’s new mind. He really only lost everything pertaining to the events of Episode 17. Long story short, at episodes end HRG and Mrs. Bennett have a convo about Claire and wouldn’t you know it, that vixen was impersonating Mrs. Bennett. Next thing, in walks Eric Roberts and some goons. HRG’s screwed!

The question now is, what the hell happened to Mrs. Bennett? Is she alive or dead? Is she erased again or does she still know all the dirty secrets she’s not supposed to know? I can’t stand it! And where’s Mr. Muggles? Is he really in being borded until they can find housing now that theirs has been burned to the ground?

Another pretty big reveal was that Nathan Petrelli was working with the FBI to bring down Linderman. Nathan went to Vegas to confront Linderman. He met Hiro there and helped him get past Linderman’s security and into the secured art area Linderman keeps.

Hiro meets Javier from Felicity, tries to steal that damn sword, gets caught and before you know it is rescued by ANDO! Ando was posing as a security guard at the casino and finally saved the day! Hiro and Ando are incredibly entertaining together and putting them in comic peril was quite fun to watch.

What else major?

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