American Idol Recap

Missed last weeks post, but here is a recap anyways.

Carly and Brooke have both been eliminated. It was Brooke’s time to go, but Carly deserved to stay longer. The last two themes, Andrew Loydd Webber and Neil Diamond were lame, and somewhat boring. No one blew me away, David Arch. was boring and mechanical like usual (great voice, but lame) and David Cook stole the show both weeks.

The final two will now most likely be a battle between David Archuleta and David Cook. May the best David win (Cook!).

I see Syesha going home next, and then Jason Castro. Syesha has been singing  better than Jason, but he is more popular.

American Idol Top 7 Elimination

Again this week my favorites were David Cook, Jason Castro, and Brooke. I am thinking that unless Brooke starts to up her game she may be going home soon. She’s starting to appear in the bottom three more and more. The guys are OWNING this season so far.

So, last night’s elimination was not unexpected. I predicted that Kristy Lee, Syesha, and Brooke/Carly would be in the bottom three, and they were. The surprise for me was that Syesha was the one that was safe…leaving Brooke and Kristy Lee waiting for the bad news. Of course, it was no surprise that Kristy Lee got the boot, as she has been on her way out since week 1, and it was nice to finally see her go. At this point everyone is close to being awesome, so one slight slip up can send someone packing (Mikey Johns).

My hope is that next week we will finally see Syesha hit the road, and after that who knows. My guess is that Brooke, Carly, and Jason would be the next to go. At this point, I feel like we’re looking at a final two show down between David Cook and David Archuleta. Personally, I am bored with Archie, and would hope that Cook could pull off the win. We’ll see.

Chikezie Falls, as Dr. Sara Tancredi and Takezo Kensei Rise

It’s been a busy week for me, and I haven’t been able to post as much as I wanted to. To make up for it, I have enough news to fill several posts:

 1. AMERICAN IDOL: Chikezie bit it on American Idol and was voted off on Wednesday night. My favs this week were David Cook, Brooke White, and Michael Johns. Carly was good, too.

2. Prison Break: Doctor Sara Tancredi will be back as a series regular next season on Prison Break. Those of you familiar with the show may be wondering how this is possible, considering the fact that SHE NO LONGER HAS A HEAD. Well, apparently it was not her head in the box, and Michael and Lincoln were fooled (along with the rest of us). She’s popular, so this is a good bit of news.

3. Heroes: Tekezo Kensei/Adam, the villain who has a healing factor that allows him to live forever, will be back on Heroes next season despite being buried alive by Hiro in the season finale. He can’t die, so it is not unexpected that he would escape…especially since next season’s chapter is called Villains. According to SyFy Portal, Kensei will be one of several villains making a huge impact next season. The others are, of course, are Sylar, Angela Petrelli (really?), and 12 others who we have yet to meet. TWELVE? Are we going to see a Legion of Doom sort of organization, or what?  

4. Horton Hears a Who: This is not TV-related, but I saw Horton Hears a Who last weekend, and it exceeded my expectations. I was thoroughly impressed with the animation and the overall film. I would definitely recommend checking it out if you have any interest in animated films.  Two Thumbs Up.

Lost – Episode 4.8 – Meet Kevin Johnson

In Meet Kevin Johnson, we finally get to see what happened to Michael after he and Walt left the island. The entire episode is a giant Michael flashback, with only one scene at the beginning and one at the end that take place in the present.

Basically, we find out that Mikey felt so guilty over shooting Libby and Ana Lucia that he had to tell someone. That someone was Walt. From what I can tell, Walt did not take the news well, as he ended up living with his grandma while Michael gets a ratty apartment somewhere in New York. He spends all of his time feeling sorry for himself, and repeatedly tries killing himself. Enter Mr. Friendly/Tom, who uses his Otherly manipulation techniques to persuade Michael that the only way he can make up for those muders is if he works for Ben as a spy on Mr. Widmore’s boat. You see, according to Ben and the Others, Widmore is the one that planted that fake flight 815 and has plans to kill everyone on the island for his own gain. All Michael has to do is stop the boat from reaching the island. He eventually takes job, and we are caught up to the present. Sayid, obviously not trusting Michael at all, turns him in to the Captain, and the episode ends. Lucky for us, we only have to wait a month for the next episode.

Other noteworthy bits form this episode:

• The island is apparently not letting Michael kill himself. Tom tells him this, and it is true that all of Michael’s attempts have ended in failure, via gun jams, or other odd flukes. Is this something like the effects of the numbers?
• How much time has gone by for Michael in the real world? I mean, as far as the island folks are concerned, he’s been gone for, what? Maybe a month, or a month and a half? Yet, here we see him well established in an apartment in New York City, having tried to kill himself multiple times. THEN we see him crash his car, and end up in the hospital with a neckbrace and who knows what other injuries. Then we jump ahead again, and he’s already healed. I don’t think he could have gone from escaping the island, to losing his son, to living in New York, to repeated suicide attempts, to what would appear to be a lengthy recovery from the car accident, to more suicide attempts, to being recruited to work for Ben, to the boat trip BACK to the island, all in a month and a half. We know time runs differently on the island, so how much time went by for Michael after his escape. I think it was much more than a mere month and a half. Just my opinion
• We get a glimpse into what Tom meant when he scoffed at Kate’s refusal to take a shower in front of him and he responded “You’re not my type.” That’s right, Tom has a hot young boyfriend.
• Ben says that Widmore planted the fake 815, and Widmore claims that Ben planted it. Awesome. They are both liars, and I am anxious to find out which of them is actually responsible.

Anyways, this was a decent episode. It was not what I was expecting when I heard it would be a “What has Michael been up to” flashback episode, but I still liked it. I had expected to see him and Walt on the boat, and getting rescued, etc….It was still satisfying in this form as well.

*SIGH* Now we have to wait a month for new episodes, and I am totally happy about that. We almost had to wait 9 months, so yay!

American Idol Recap – Top 11

So, Beatles Week: Round Two went down last night. I LOVE The Beatles, but to be honest, these contestants are butchering a lot of their songs. Here are my thoughts on each of them:

 Amanda – Back in the U.S.S.R. – Amanda is hit and miss for me. The latter half of this song was pretty decent, but over it it was just okay.

Kristy Lee Cook – You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away – I love this song normally, and her version wasn’t horrible…at least when you are comparing it to her puke-worthy performance last week. Anyways, another middle of the road performance. Didn’t love it, didn’t hate it.

 David Archuleta -The Long and Winding Road – Archie’s back in top form. He nailed it. Very nice version. I have a love-hate relationship with this guy. I feel like the majority of fans just LOVE him, and no matter what he does he will end up in the finals. That sucks. He’s forcing me to cheer for the underdogs. AWESOME singer, though.  

 Michael Johns – A Day In the Life – MY FAVORITE Beatles song, one of my favorite contestants. It can’t go wrong, right? *sigh* Mikey, what was up with that arrangement? He was awesome in parts, but the way they took the song apart to fit it into the 1:30 window was just garbage. He wasn’t bad, but the song arrangement really hurt him.

 Brooke White – Here Comes the Sun – Probably in my top 2 favorite contestants, but last night she was just sort of awkward. Her singing was pretty good (not her best), but her movement on stage and the dancing…Yikes. NOT GOOD. Just weird. 

Jason Castro – Michelle – Another weird one! I love Jason, but he was just weird/goofy last night. Great song, but the french lyrics seemed to make him giggly. His singing was on, but his movement and composure was just wonky. He and Brooke were on another planet.

David Cook - Day Tripper – Each week this guy makes me more and more of a fan. He is just awesome. His version of Day Tripper was sweet, and he even utalized a voice box thingy, which RULED. Simon was dumb, and didn’t like it. Up yours Simon. I think this guy could give Archie a run for his money.

Carly Smithson – Blackbird – AWESOME. She is so good. She nailed this song. Love her. Simon, on the other hand, loathes this song, and as an extention, this performance. He actually gave her a bad review because he just doesn’t like that song. *rolls eyes*

Syesha Mercado – Yesterday – I had lost interest in this little lady as of late, but her rendition of Yesterday was a homerun. She’s back on my radar, and I think she saved herself a trip to the bottom two.

Chikezie – I’ve Just Seen a Face – I don’t care what the judges say; That was a great performance. They didn’t get it, but I thought it was awesome. I wasn’t a fan of this guy, but after last week and this week, he’s starting to win me over. He played Harmonica, too!

Ramiele Malubay – I Shoulda Known Better – Hmmm…Not so hot. I like this song, but she didn’t fit with it. Didn’t really make an impact.

 My Top 3 This Week: Archie, David Cook, and Carly…all three were dope!

My predictions for the bottom three: Ramiele, Amanda, and Kristy Lee Cook….with Kristy going home. She’ s cute, but she hasn’t made the best decisions in song choice and arrangement.

  

How I Met Your Mother Recap

Season 3: Episode 12: No Tomorrow

 

    Last night’s HIMYM episode was the first new material since the WGA strike ended, and it was great to have the gang back. Amazingly, their St. Patrick’s Day episode aired on St. Patrick’s Day. Holiday episodes never land on the holiday they are about, so that was cool. Also cool: Barney’s AWESOME green suit.

 

     The episode was not the best they have produced, but it was still funny and better than a lot of sitcoms out there. Basically, Barney and Ted spend the evening at a club and find that they can do know wrong…or, more accurately, that they can do a lot of wrong, but not get caught. While it was entertaining to see these two get away with a lot of naughtiness, the laughs were not as abundant as I would have liked. Barney was great as always, but that’s a given. We also catch a glimpse of the yellow umbrella that “the mother” uses, but we still don’t get a chance to see her. Ted did bump into a hot chick at the club. It was odd, because they both stopped, turned, and said sorry and whatever polite things you say to someone when you run into them, and then we didn’t see her again for the rest of the episode. It makes you wonder if the producers were saying to the viewers, ”Hey! This chick might be the mother!” Or they could just be messing with us.

     Meanwhile, Marshall, Lilly, and Robin head to Marsh & Lil’s new apartment for board game night. Having not actually moved in yet, the trio discovers that the apartment is crooked, and leans to one side. The incline is enough for things to roll across the floor. I enjoyed these scenes more than the club scenes with Barney and Ted, due to the sillyness. They actually tilted the cameras so the scenes were crooked to the audience. Marshall discovers the crookedness first, and tries to hide it from Lilly by making up a ridiculous story about the ghost of a confederate general living in the apartment.

     The episode was enjoyable, but on a list of their best and worst episodes, I would place it squarely in the middle. It wasn’t bad, but it definitely wasn’t as funny as the episodes that featured “Robin Sparkles” or the ongoing slapbet fiasco between Marshall and Barney.

Marshall Meets the Muppets

Source: Variety

In an interesting development, it has been announced that Jason Segel, who is most well known for his role as Marshall on How I Met Your Mother and his involvement with several Judd Apatow projects, has been tapped to write and direct a brand new Muppets movie. You can find more info on this here. His goal is to create a movie closer to what the first few Muppet movies were like.

 I think this is awesome. I am a huge Muppets fan, and a huge fan of Jason Segel. The two of them together will no doubt be a marriage made in heaven. I hope.

Lost – Episode 4.7 – Ji Yeon – Whipp’s Thoughts

We’re seven episodes into the abbreviated fourth season of Lost and the hits just keep on coming. While not the strongest of the season, this was still one hell of an episode. First, we find out that Sun (as I long suspected) was one of the Oceanic Six…and for a while, we all thought that Jin was one as well, until it is revealed that within the same episode, Jin is having flash-backs and Sun is having flash-forwards. Tricky tricky!! Turns out, good old Jin is taking a dirt nap in the future. There was an excellent scene at the end of the episode in which a teary Sun takes their new born daughter Ji Yeon (named just as Jin wanted) to visit her daddy’s grave. You have to wonder, though: Is Jin dead-dead or pretend dead. We know that the Oceanic Six lied about how many survivors there were, and we have to assume that there are a large number of people from the flight still on the island. Who’s to say that Jin isn’t one of them, and that this grave is just like all the other empty graves that were no doubt set up for the folks who “didn’t survive the crash.” Dead or not, since it is in the future, we know that Jin will be around for a while. I’m a Jin fan, so I’m hoping that in the future shown in that flash-forward that Jin is alive and kicking back on Lost Island.

As for the happenings on the island in the here and now, we had several interesting developments.

1) Sun decides that she doesn’t trust the boat people, and she and Jin decide to move to Locke’s camp. Juliet REALLY doesn’t want Sun to die (which she will if she stays on the island), so she uses a stall tactic to get them to wait…that is, she reveals to Jin that Sun had an affair before they came to the island. The stall works, as Jin runs off all pouty, and Sun won’t leave without him. In the end, Jin decides that he was a different guy back then and that he doesn’t blame Sun for cheating, and they both decide to stay on the beach and wait to get rescued. It was a touching scene of making up as Jin brought Sun dinner. Too bad only one of them is around for the birth of their daughter. Bitter sweet.

2) Out on the boat, Desmond and Sayid are finally granted an audience with the captain of the ship…but not before they see one of the crewmembers walk off the side of the ship wearing a whole lot of chains. Stranger yet, none of the crew make a move to save their drowning crewmate. Strange. The captain tells them that the crew has been experiencing severe cases of cabin fever. You don’t say? Anyways, they ask the captain what they are doing at the island, and he explains that the boat belongs to Charles Widmore, Penny’s dad, and that he is after Benjamin Linus. They think that he is the one that staged the fake crash of flight 815. They want to know how someone funds something like that, not to mention where he got 300 + dead bodies. These are very good questions. Personally, I think both Widmore’s people and Ben are lying about everything and we probably still don’t have a clue about why the boat people are at the island…and who or what Ben is. He obviously has a life off of the island, based on all of those passports and bundles of money that Sayid found in his house a few weeks back. Time will tell.

3) Lastly, as Desmond and Sayid are brought to their new room on the boat, we see cockroaches everywhere and a huge blood splatter on the wall. Yummy. Anyways, the boat’s janitor is called over to clean it up. He seems extremely reluctant, but finally comes down the hall and out of the shadows and…it’s Michael!!! We knew he was coming back to the show, and now he is here. YAY! My money is on him being Ben’s “man on the boat.” Mikey is introduced as Kevin Johnson, and Sayid looks extremely confused.

We won’t have to wait long to find out what Michael is doing on the boat, as I believe this week’s episode is all about him and where he has been since he left the island.

So, there you have it. If I missed something, or you disagree with anything I have said here, please feel free to comment!  

Enter The Whipp

Hey Folks!

My name is Brandon Whipple, and I would like to welcome you to the first post here at WhippTV. What is WhippTV, you ask? WhippTV is a blog in which I will post my thoughts on all things related to television. You will find news, reviews, opinions, and general thoughts. While I love TV (and boy do I watch a lot of it thanks to my two TiVos), it is impossible for me to watch everything on the air. I will cover most shows, and as much news as possible, but if you feel my coverage of certain shows is lacking, please let me know. If nothing else, I will find volunteer correspondents to pick up the slack where those shows are concerned. Who knows, it could be you! My goal is to have a top notch blog that covers the best and worst of TV, and I’m confident that I will be able to deliver.

So, please give WhippTV a whirl. It’s not much to look at right now, but things will be picking up real soon. You can subscribe to this blog’s feed over on the right side of the page. Thanks for giving WhippTV a try!

 

~Whipp~

 

p.s. Keep your eyes peeled, because I plan to launch a few sister blogs that cover things like movies, video games, and comic books. When they are up and running, you will find their links here on WhippTV. Thanks again!