Arrested Deveploment: Season 3 on DVD

The final season of the best comedy in decades came out yesterday.

I struggle to find words as to why this show failed. Perhaps it was just too clever and too sly, and too bold for Joe American. And I've said for years that satire is lost on mainstream American's, so that could be it also.

So, the final insult that FOX could give this show was only ordering thirteen new episodes for the fall 2005-06 season, airing only 3 episodes in September before yanking it for a month of baseball in October. Then they aired only 2 episodes (back-to-back) in November followed by 3 in December -when people are out shopping for Christmas and when, generally, most of the networks run repeats. FOX then aired only one show in January before taking it off for 6 weeks and finally aired the final 4 episodes on one night, a Friday; against the always highly rated opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics.

While TV comedies are at an all time low, and such lame series as Two and Half Men are nominated for Emmy's as best comedy show (which went, this past Sunday, to My Name is Earl -which while a funny and clever show, pales to Arrested Development and even the highly underrated Scrubs), the loss makes me wonder where next great comedy series will come from.

I sense that in a few years -maybe even 10 - Arrested Development will become a classic - and people will wonder why such a brilliant show died so soon.

I know why, at least I think I do.

But I want to thanks series creator Mitch Hurwitz and the entire cast of AD for giving me some the best laughs in years. The show will long live in DVD for me and I will giggle at all the shows, even when I've watched them over and over again.

Long live Arrested Development.

California: One year later...

One year ago today, I arrived in California.

A whole year has gone by. The thing is, my life has really not changed too much. Still working for Borders, still trying to live paycheck-to-paycheck, still single -with no boyfriend prospects on the horizon.

I'm happy, in some ways. There are only a few minutes of a day that I miss Chicago and the family. I certainly don't miss the weather -especially last Thanksgiving when it was 70 here and 2 below in Antioch.

True it gets hot here -and it is a dry heat (lol) - but its so much better than the wickedly humid days and bitter cold I grew up with there.

And since February, I've been working with the Hidden Frontier crew, which is such a huge bonus, I can't even say. Rob and his crew have been so supportive and so kind and have honored me by allowing this boy to play in their toy box.

But I would be lying if I said I'm more happier here than in Chicago. I guess, I even hoped, that by now I would have a new job making -realistically - the same amount I was when USG fired me in January '05.

But as the song goes, God just laughs at my plans. I seemed doomed to live a dull, prosaic life filled with fears of not being able to buy food or pay the rent. What did I do in a past life that I'm paying for now?

I know this woe is me bullshit is not pretty, and I know there are many, many people worst off than me -like most of the Katrina victims from one year ago, and the handicapped and the real poor - but why can't I just find a fairly decent job that can take away these worries?

Sure, I sleep fine, but my stress level continues to go up, as my hair continues to fall out, and get grayer. I want to have a life such as Rob and my friend Marc back in Chicago. Where everything they touch turns to gold -and with no effort what so ever.

Why can't I?

Warner Bros. announces release date for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

With Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix still 11 months from hitting theaters, Warner Bros. is wasting no time in scheduling the penultimate entry, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince for November 21, 2008.

This means the final film of book series should hit theaters in July 2010. That is if Rowling can get that last book out. Already she's making hints during some British chat shows that at least three main charaters will die in that final tome. This has sent a flurry of authors like Stephen King to send public letters to Rowling requesting she not kill off Harry.

While no release date has been announced for that last book -or even a title - I suspect that we'll have it in our hands in June or July of next year.

Doctor Who returns to Sci Fi on September 29

Outpost Gallifrey is reporting that Doctor Who’s second season -starring David Tennant and Billie Piper - will return on September 29 to the Sci Fi Channel. While it has not been “offically” announced, according to an NBC/Universal release (which is was published as a PDF form on the web site) for Sci Fi shows that Doctor Who returns to the schedule on that evening starting at 9pm EDT. It appears that Sci Fi will air two episodes that night -and then repeat them two hours later, which is their usual pattern.

The question is, will The Christmas Invasion be included? That special holiday episode runs 59 minutes, some 15 minutes longer than a standard Who episode. So either is could be skipped and shown at a later date, or with it heavily edited to fit the time. Sci Fi could extend it to 90 minutes, by adding an extended trailer for season 2, but there remains nearly 13 minutes unaccounted for. Still, Sci Fi has altered its schedule in the past, but it’s a good bet that the 2 episodes that premiere on September 29 will be New Earth and Tooth and Claw.

Kyle XY picked up for a second season

One of the few scripted shows in a summer glutted with reality crap, Kyle XY on ABC Family (along with Sci Fi's Eureka) has earned a place on my must watch list. This charming (and sometimes hokey) funny hybrid of family drama tinged with sci fi is far from original, though. But that's not a bad thing, either.

Its a series about a teenage boy (played with great gusto and believeability by Matt Dallas) who wakes up naked in the forest, with no memory of who he is and where he comes from. After wandering into a nearby town, the boy is taken into custody, but the police find they have a conundrum on their hands, as the boy seems not to able to talk.

And while a he seems healthy as an ox, the local doctors are at a loss why he can't speak or why he has no bellybutton.

But soon, the young man displays a savant-like intellect, learning things like talking, math and other things in a swift time. Baffled, he is put in the care of a psychologist (Marguerite MacIntyre), given the name Kyle and settles in with her family, including her husband and teenage son and daughter (Bruce Thomas and Jean-Luc Bilodeau and April Matson).

While he is prodigiously intelligent, he is also deeply naive - much like a real teenager.

Anyway, the series has done well on the cable net, averaging 2.1 million views, becoming their most-watched original program. Repurposed on sister network ABC, it has an audience of 4.6 million, which has been a sizeable increase from a year ago. Now, ABC Family have announced that the show will return for a second, most likely airing next summer.

I like this show alot, despite some of the by-the-book teenage angst that grips all three young stars. And while this show resembles Starman in many ways, it has more wit and heart. Dallas, in a truly break-out performance, is able to show incredible emotion in his face and eyes, and its a marvel at the way he can take an every day object and make it look like its the first time he's seeing it.

The mythology of the show is who or what is Kyle. Why does he have no memory, why does he have no bellybutton and is he connected some how to a mysterious murder? Kyle also has a shadow, a man who watches his all his moves. Nicholas Lea, last seen as bad guy FBI agent Alex Krycek on FOX's The X Files, plays an equally mysterious watcher. But all we 've seen him do is a lot of stalking, and reporting to a mystery person on the phone.

Its a wonderful show, despite the 7Th Heaven teen troubles, and Matt Dallas holds all of this together. He's a talent and should be watched.

And since he's pretty on the eyes, that won't be too difficult to do.

John McClane returns for Die Hard 4

Bruce Willis will play Detective John McClane, who seems to keep landing in one wacky situation after another, one more time in Live Free or Die Hard next summer, as 20th Century Fox has announced a June 29th 2007 release date.

The script is by Mark Bomback and Doug Richardson focuses on an evil mastermind who attempts to shut the country down through an attack on the computer infrastructure. Len Wiseman of Underworld fame will direct.

This long planned fourth film in the franchise has been in development for years, and once had a working title of Die Hardest, will come 12 years after Die Hard With a Vengeance.

Now, only if we could get the damn Indy 4 before Harrison Ford turns 70.