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October 30, 2006

iPod

My Fellow Ravers,

I am writing a story about iPod's recent fifth-year anniversary and was wondering if there are any people out there who enjoy the little music gadget --- and better yet --- still own the original iPod?

Drop me a line so I can interview you: aravens@lowellsun.com

Thanks!

Posted by Andy Ravens at 2:28 PM | Comments (0)

I'm Ready For Some Football

Monday Night Football: Back on ABC. Well, locally at least.

If you don’t have cable or access to ESPN, you can still watch tonight’s Patriots-Vikings game on WCVB-TV Channel 5. Kickoff is 8:30 p.m. and Mike Lynch will anchor a pre-game show live from Minnesota at 8 p.m.

In the past, Channel 5 would air all Sunday night Patriots games that appeared on ESPN. Channel 5 is an ABC affiliate and ESPN is part of ABC, hence the relationship. Got it?

Sunday night NFL games now air on NBC, but ESPN still gets the Monday night match-up, which is dominating the cable TV ratings.

The Pats game replaces “Wife Swap,� “The Bachelor,� and “What About Brian.� Ho-hum. Wouldn’t you rather watch Tom Brady zinging it to Troy Brown, who needs a handful of catches to break the team’s all-time receptions record?

Thankfully there aren’t any plans for Wednesday night football on ESPN. “Lost� addicts would be flipping over television sets and jumping out windows!

That humming you hear or that smoke you see tonight is coming from my DVR, which will work overtime to record everything I’ve missed.

Here’s my taping schedule suggestion:

8 p.m. “Prison Break,� Fox
9 p.m. “Heroes,� NBC
10 p.m. “Friday Night Lights,� NBC (A new day and time=better ratings?)

Later dudes,
Andy

Posted by Andy Ravens at 12:54 PM | Comments (2)

October 27, 2006

Scary Movies

With Halloween right around the corner, droves of horror flicks come to the small screen this weekend. By horror flicks, we are not referring to “The Dukes of Hazzard� or Deuce Bigalow,� which are on way too many times this weekend. I don’t understand.

Here’s a list of some other equally scary movies:

Friday
“Hellraiser,� 6 p.m., AMC
“Night of the Living Dead,� 8 p.m., Encore
“Misery,� 8 p.m., Family Channel
“Scary Movie 2,� 9 p.m., TBS
“The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2,� 9 p.m., Bravo
“Dreamcatcher,� 10 p.m., TNT
“Scary Movie 3,� 10:50 p.m., TNT
“Friday the 13th,� 11 p.m., Bravo

Saturday
“The Fog,� 11 a.m., SciFi
“Horror Express,� 12 p.m., CW
“Jason X,� 1 p.m., SciFi
“A Nightmare on Elm Street,� 2:45 p.m., AMC
“It,� 4 p.m., Family Channel

Posted by Andy Ravens at 12:10 PM | Comments (0)

October 26, 2006

Repeats! Yikes!

With a lot of TV re-runs on tap tonight, it’s a good time to watch all those saved programs that hijack space on the old DVR.

If space is not an issue, then here are a few suggestions:

College Football: Clemson at Virginia Tech (7:30 p.m., ESPN) — Love the Thursday night college football game. Love it.

The World Series (8 p.m., Fox) — This may get rained out, but it’s worth a look. I know the Sox aren’t playing, but Game 5 is always a pivotal contest.

“Ugly Betty� (8 p.m., ABC) — No re-run here. New episode!

“Dave Chappelle’s Block Party" (8:10 p.m., Showtime) — Funny movie. Hilarious comedian.

“Billy Madison� (8:30 p.m., Cinemax) — A movie that stars Adam Sandler when he made me laugh.

“American History X� (9:45 p.m., Encore) — Great anti-skinhead movie with Edward Norton starring in the lead role.

If all else fails head to YouTube.com and enter "Borat" into the search engine. If you are unaware of Borat, the picture at the top is the famous reporter.

Posted by Andy Ravens at 3:54 PM | Comments (0)

October 24, 2006

TV Tidbits

Last night marked the return of “Prison Break,� and it was a nice break from Fox’s coverage of the World Series, which continues tonight at 8. Of course, if the Red Sox were getting ready for Game 3, “PB� would be the last thing on my mind.

But alas, the Sox are golfing now, the Pats are practicing, the C’s are in exhibition and the Bruins…aren’t very good. So we turn our lonely eyes to the flat screen for unrealistic fun.

Unrealistic: That’s an understatement when it comes to “Prison Break.� Whether it’s Sucre holding his breath longer than an underwater free diver or the odds that someone looking exactly like Sara would be at the wrong place at the wrong time — “Prison Break� is “full of you know what� at times. By the way, that is the lovely Dr. Sara Tancredi pictured above.

But it’s still a fun show. It’s got tension and action that resembles “24� and plot twists that still seem fresh…for now.

The long layoff affected the pace of the show and ratings might slip when they come out tomorrow. Still, there are plenty of questions to be answered and that should keep most viewers (at least me) in for the long run.

Speaking of long runs, you can bet NBC’s “Heroes� will enjoy success for at least four or five seasons. A serial drama like this shouldn’t last too long (pay attention “Lost�), because at some point you’ve got to come to a conclusion or else you’re just spinning your wheels (hello there, “X-Files�).

It’s great to see our heroes are finally joining up and figuring out how to deal with this mysterious blast that is suppose to devastate New York. The next few weeks should be fun, especially now that a full-fledged plot has emerged — enough with the introductions — let the "X-Men" style fighting begin!

Does anyone else love the quick opening scenes and music that begins every "Studio 60?" Great stuff.

Fox is in the moving business again. Its fledging drama “Justice� followed “PB� last night and “Vanished� was banished to Friday nights.

Tuesday night’s best bet continues to be “Friday Night Lights,� and despite the show’s bad ratings, I’ll still plug it until NBC pulls the plug.

Happy viewing and a special shout out to Pete Lally’s music marketing class at Umass-Lowell, where I had the opportunity today to speak about the newspaper business. Hopefully, I wasn’t too boring.

Later.

Posted by Andy Ravens at 3:28 PM | Comments (2)

October 20, 2006

The Chronicles of Good Decisions

Major kudos to WCVB-TV Channel 5, which recently announced plans to air its nightly newsmagazine, “Chronicle� in high definition ALL THE TIME.

“Chronicle� will become the first program in the local market to regularly produce high-def in studio and in New England’s great outdoors. The revolution begins Oct. 25.

Super cool.

Posted by Andy Ravens at 11:45 AM | Comments (0)

October 18, 2006

Get Over the Hump

Wednesday: The hardest day of the week to learn how to spell (at least when you're in elementary school) and arguably the busiest night of TV watching.

First you have your staples:

“Jericho� (8 p.m., CBS): A staple? After watching the pilot, I didn’t think so, but this show gets better every week.

“Lost� (9 p.m., ABC): Finally, we’ll learn what happened to Locke and Eko after the hatch went berserk. Oh wait, this is “Lost.� We won’t find out EVERYTHING.

“Criminal Minds� (9 p.m., CBS): That’s what DVRs are for. This time the crew is after a serial rapist. That scenario sounds familiar, but I’m sure there will be a nice twist.

“The Nine� (10:01 p.m., ABC): This show battles it our for “Best New Show of the Season� with “Friday Night Lights.�

Speaking of “FNL,� last night’s episode was another winner and, yes, that was Pearl Jam’s new tune, “Come Back,� that was played during the show's concluding minutes.

Posted by Andy Ravens at 11:06 AM | Comments (0)

October 17, 2006

When Good Shows Get Bad Ratings

This is all too familiar at NBC and if history repeats, the Peacock network will be smiling widely months from now.

Here’s the situation: NBC’s crown jewel, “The Office,� was brought back for another season after receiving the worst ratings of any television show to get a second chance. Good television critics liked the quirky series that had to grown on the American public.

Here’s hoping the same thing happens with NBC’s “Friday Night Lights,� which airs its third episode tonight at 8.

The story about Texas high school football, and more importantly the characters involved, hasn’t lit up the ratings board. However, critics have universally determined the edgy, hour-long drama is one of the season’s best new shows. I agree.

Football is only the background of “Friday Night Lights,� which is really about a town full of steamy romances, ugly politics and real people with little money.

Give “Friday Night Lights� a chance tonight. It’s only two episodes in and here’s all you need to know: A young head coach takes over the Dillon Panthers, a team with New England Patriots-like pressure to win it all.

The star quarterback is paralyzed in the first game of the season and weight of the Texas football world is placed on his unprepared back up.

Meanwhile, boosters, the mayor and fans are up the coach’s “you-know-what,� constantly bothering him with advice.

Of course, the high school kids are beautiful and a few love triangles have developed. There’s something here for everyone, so don’t be shy, check it out tonight.

Posted by Andy Ravens at 3:33 PM | Comments (1)

October 16, 2006

Comedy Central: An Update

I wanted to give everyone an update on my “Legends of Comedy� tour that took place Friday: Pretty freakin’ cool day.

George Carlin, who appears at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium on Oct. 29, called me at 12:20 p.m. – yikes! – a full hour before our interview. I was not ready! Fortunately, he was just calling to ask if we could schedule the interview later in the day. No problem, George.

So around 2:40 p.m. Carlin and I are speaking over the phone. I give the guy credit: He’s been interviewed a million times and routinely asked the same questions, and despite that he was still very gracious and genuine. I can’t say the same thing for other celebs I’ve spoken with.

Towards the end of our 15-minute talk I told Carlin that I was likely going to speak with Bill Cosby, who was performing at the LMA that night. I asked if they were friends and Carlin tells me he’s a loner who doesn’t hang out with people. I’m still not sure if that was meant to be a joke or the truth. Perhaps a bit of both.

So it’s now time to take in Cosby’s performance, which was funny. Standard Cosby. Lots of audience interviews and rants on married life.

The best part came after the show when my wife and I (thank-you LMA staff) spoke with the comedy legend for about 15 minutes in the Green Room. Just me, my wife and Cosby. Very cool.

We talked about our favorite “The Cosby Show� episodes, including the one where Theo decides he is ready to move out. That sketch, Cosby said, was based on his son Eniss’ similar plans.

As we finished up our chat, I told Cosby that I interviewed George Carlin earlier in the day. Cosby confessed he once stole a joke from Carlin. I wish I could remember which one, but I’m guessing it was one of Carlin’s earlier clean ones.

Posted by Andy Ravens at 3:39 PM | Comments (0)

October 12, 2006

New Movie Season

I just put the finishing touches on my mega “New Season� movie preview that will run this Sunday in The Sun.

I poured over dozens of films. Watched trailers. Read reviews. And came up with Andy’s First Annual “Top Five Movies I’m Looking Forward To Seeing This Fall/Winter.� You won’t find this list in the mega review – this one’s for all the loyal Ravers out there – all ten of you!

5. “Rocky Balboa�
All right! I know this is going to be a bad movie, but I can honestly say I am looking forward to it. Call it a guilty pleasure. Call it nostalgia. Stallone and Burt Young together again? Hey, why the heck not? It’s Hollywood. If you are counting, this is the fifth sequel in the “Rocky� franchise.

4. “Babel�
Director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu concludes his trilogy that started with Amores Perros and 21 Grams. I love the way this movie begins: Two Moroccan boys are in the desert, playing with a rifle when something goes terribly wrong.

3. “For Your Consideration�
Director Christopher Guest (“Waiting for Guffman,� “Best in Show�) gets his buddies together again in the flick about making an independent movie. Eugene Levy and Fred Willard star.

2. “Borat: Cultural Learning of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan�
If you don’t find the title funny and have never watched “Da Ali G Show� skip this movie. On the other hand, this should be good. Really good.

1. “Flags of Our Fathers�
Clint Eastwood directs and co-produces this epic tale of the American Flag raised on Mount Suribachi. Could be this year’s “Saving Private Ryan.�

Posted by Andy Ravens at 1:18 PM | Comments (0)

October 11, 2006

Comedy Central

I’ve got a nice little Friday lined up for myself. If I can keep from peeing my pants, it should be a great day of comedy.

Here’s my Friday schedule:

Afternoon: Interview George Carlin over the phone about his Oct. 29 appearance at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium.

Night: Cover Bill Cosby’s performance at the LMA.

Whoa. I have the chance to interact (directly and indirectly) with two of my favorite comedians. If I bump into Jerry Seinfeld on the same day, I’m officially going to pay more attention to those “Twilight Zone� re-runs at 4 a.m.

All righty, so what to watch tonight? No hard choices here:

“Jericho,� 8 p.m., CBS
“Lost,� 9 p.m., ABC
“The Nine,� 10:01 p.m., ABC

I’ll DVR “30 Rock,� 8 p.m., NBC

Posted by Andy Ravens at 3:11 PM | Comments (1)

October 10, 2006

"Friday Night" Tuesdays

If it’s Tuesday night, it must be time for Friday night. “Friday Night Lights,� that is.

NBC’s story about high school football in Texas got off to a strong start last week with one of the best pilots I’ve ever seen. The star quarterback goes down and now it’s up to the loveable second stringer to save the day.

“Friday Night Lights� airs at 8 p.m. on NBC.

Speaking of the Peacock, how about last night’s episode of “Heroes?� Although the sound editing was shoddy (spoken lines echoed and did not line up with moving mouths) the story was A-plus work.

After a lethargic second episode, the “Heroes� third installment last night has me back on the bandwagon. Who is this mysterious killer? Does he possess all of the hero powers?
Love the L.A. cop and the Japanese man who can stop time.

Posted by Andy Ravens at 11:31 AM | Comments (5)

October 5, 2006

I Want the Truth!

After a good eight hours of sleep, the “Lost� season premiere buzz I had last night has turned into a terrible hangover.

Don’t get me wrong, last night’s premiere was entertaining, but once again loyal fans are left with more questions than answers.

We did find out that the others are living in some sort of suburban town and they do not appear, as they seem. They wear clothes right out of Banana Republic or The Gap; hold book club meetings; and listen to CDs.

But does this really come as a surprise? We already know about the make-up and fake beard the Others used to dupe everyone into thinking they were, well, homeless?

The episode also suffered from redundancy. We learned absolutely nothing with that Jack flashback. We know Dad is a drunk. We know about the ex-wife. We know enough.

Here’s what we want to know:

1. What’s the secret behind the Dharma Initiative?
2. What caused the plane to go down? Magnets? Metals?
3. What’s the fate of Eko and Locke?
4. Why wouldn’t the Others guard “The Hatch� and make sure those numbers are always entered? Why would they leave it up to Locke or Desmond?
5. Where is Desmond’s girlfriend? Last night’s premiere should have at least addressed Season 2’s cliffhanger.

Here’s what I’m thinking:

The producers haven’t thought this thing through. They’ve posed so many questions (and haven’t created any answers) that this show could suffer a slow death, ala “The X-Files.�

The actor who portrays Henry Gale (real name, Ben) only initially signed on for a couple of episodes. Fans loved the character and now all of the sudden he’s the seemingly evil man behind everything? Huh? No master plan, here, JJ Abrams?

And naming Jack’s new love interest Juliet? As in “Romeo & Juliet?� Kinda obvious and an indication producers will follow through on their intentions to inject more love and action into this season. Looks like they are biding time to come up with some answers to the whole Dharma thing.

Thankfully, ABC’s “The Nine,� which followed “Lost,� lived up to its lofty expectations. We’ll wait to watch another episode before falling head over heals.

In the meantime does anyone have an aspirin or an advanced copy of the season premiere of “24?�

Posted by Andy Ravens at 10:54 AM | Comments (1)

October 4, 2006

Lost/The Nine Analysis

Just finished "Lost" and "The Nine." A good solid two hours of TV.
I'll have more on both shows in the morning, but here's what I've got for now:

"Lost"
Juliet and Jack are so gonna hook up.
Juliet was reading a book by Stephen King.
The Others want to convert Jack.
Kate and Sawyer will connect and that will drive Jack crazy...enough to join the Others?

"The Nine"
I'm guessing the little girl made some connection with the robber.
The doctor messed things up inside the bank...perhaps he had a chance to save his girlfriend and failed?
What's up with the haircutting? Yikes...more later.

Posted by Andy Ravens at 11:54 PM | Comments (0)

Are you Lost?

I heard a sarcastic comment the other day that I’ll paraphrase: “Jack Bauer would have gotten off that island in a day.�

Bauer, played by Kiefer Sutherland, is the super terrorist-fighting federal agent who routinely escapes from unimaginable situations every night on Fox’s “24.� If you didn’t know that, well, welcome to the 21st century.

The island the jokester speaks of is the setting of “Lost,� which kicks off its third season tonight. After a less-than-perfect, somewhat dragging sophomore effort the stakes couldn’t be higher for ABC’s mega hit.

It’s time to reveal more secrets on “Lost.� Producers have withheld many of these secrets and if they don’t start delivering answers ratings will plummet.

In television land, it’s always good to keep some secrets secret for a while. But every once in a while you’ve got to throw your audience a bone. Stack up too many secrets and the whole thing becomes a mess.

Producers have revealed some clues, but those revelations only lead to a Pandora’s box of more puzzling questions. It’s time to explain some items, “Lost� folks. Or else, your audience will give up.

Let’s hope the old cliché, “Third time’s a charm,� rings true tonight. But given the show’s track record I’m afraid we’ll be left spinning in our sofas, nudging our spouses, “What does that mean?�

Jack Bauer would know the answer. Does anyone have his cell number?

Posted by Andy Ravens at 12:12 PM | Comments (2)

October 3, 2006

"Lost" (and found) Secrets

If you wonder what the “Dharma Initiative� stands for or what those crazy numbers mean, check out this.

This brave blogger pieced together all the clues from the summer’s “Lost Experience� web game. Check it out; it might just enhance “Lost,� which debuts tomorrow night on ABC.

Posted by Andy Ravens at 12:49 PM | Comments (0)

October 2, 2006

Monday's TV Picks

Before I choose what you SHOULD watch on TV tonight, let’s breakdown the weekend:

Another superb CBS broadcast of the Pats-Bengals game on Sunday. A few hitches in the audio (switching from 5.1 Dolby Digital to 2.0) didn’t hamper a perfectly called game by Big Texan Jim Nance and Pats-lover Phil Simms.

The 4:15 p.m. start was perfect, since Mr. and Mrs. Ravens attended a long, fun wedding the night before. We reconnected with some wonderful people from Central New York (that’s CNY folks) who promise us they’ll start participating in our “forum.�

While I was still nursing a smooth Coors Light at the Burlington Marriott ‘round midnight, my DVR was busy recording the season premiere of “Saturday Night Live.� All I heard this summer was how the cast was revamped, but we, unfortunately got much of the same “hee-hee-that’s-sort-of-funny� humor.

Pros: The airport security gig was funny. As was the Al Pacino checks his bank balance sketch.

Cons: The opening sketch – the one that should be over-the-top good – fell flat. Writers could have made a better effort at mocking President Bush. Is it really that hard? Tune into the “Daily Show,� SNL employees.

Let’s see what’s happening on TV tonight:

Fox’s “Prison Break� (8 p.m.) is a lock. As is NBC’s “Heroes� which airs at 9 p.m. That means I’m giving up on “Vanished,� which also airs at 9 p.m. on Fox. I’ll tape “Vanished,� but let’s see if I even bother to watch it.

We’ll, of course, tune in again to “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip,� which stars old friend Matthew Perry. And for the record, this show shall now be referred to “Studio 60,� because it is shorter and quicker to type. Mmmkay?

Sitcom land offers a lot tonight. My pick of the bunch is not a surprise: Yes, CBS’s “How I Met Your Mother� (8:30 p.m.) takes the crown.

If sitcoms and dramas aren’t your thing, check out a full slate of appealing movies: “Man on the Moon� (6 p.m., Encore); “Scarface� (8 p.m., AMC); and “North Country� (9 p.m., HBO) all air tonight.

I’ll leave you with something really funny to watch. If you didn’t like Billy Bob Thornton in “Sling Blade� or Jon Heder in “Napoleon Dynamite� don’t click here.

Posted by Andy Ravens at 12:13 PM | Comments (6)

Marty Nestor

If you are looking for some acoustic rock that's been described as "edgy as a jail house cup of coffee," check out Westford's Marty Nestor on Oct. 7 at the Celebration of the Arts and Antique Show in Dunstable.

Nestor plans to play from 12-3:30 p.m. (now that's a big set).

Go to here for more info.

Posted by Andy Ravens at 11:37 AM | Comments (0)