Alphas: AKA: A New Kind of Super Hero

Last night Alphas premiered on SyFy. Not gonna lie I'd been looking forward to this since I found out one of the reasons Mr. Vincent Nigel-Murray, aka the fantastic Ryan Cartwright, was written off of Bones was because his pilot got picked up. Since Vincent was my fav of the replacements for my beloved Zack Addy (what can say I apparently have a thing for geeky, sorta socially awkward squints), I was devastated by his final episode. So hearing that he would once again be gracing my television screen once a week I KNEW I'd be tuning in.

The concept of Alphas is nothing new, a group of humans with extra ordinary powers, secretly working for the government. Luckily for the Alphas they look more like X-Men's  Jean Grey, without the hideous costume, than Beast. Fun Fact one of the writers, Zak Penn, also worked on X-Men: The Last Stand and The Avengers, so the man knows his super powers.

Another interesting twist, that most Super Hero stories, because let's face it having awesome powers means you have two career options: super hero or super villain, leave out is the day to day stuff. For example the Alphas need to find ways to pay rent, find transportation and such.

Another interesting stipulation is that these super humans have limitations, believable ones too, as opposed to the I can do ANYTHING until you wave a glowing green rock at me, nothing against the man of steel but I have issues with SEVERAL plot points of that world...

Anyway last night we were introduced to several characters with extraordinary abilities:

Nina Theroux, played by the lovely Laura Mennell, who has the extraordinary ability to bend peoples will. Which if you ask me as a seriously kick ass power.

Bill Harken, played by Malik Yoba, who has incredible strength brought on by a heightened fight or flight response, however after a few moments he goes all into shake overload mode and has to take a breather.

Rachel Pizard, played by Azita Ghanizada, can amplify her senses, at the expense of all others.

Cameron Hick, played by Warren Christie, is the new comer to the group and he has what I'll simplify to say perfect aim and extreme muscle control.

Finally we have Gary Bell, played by Ryan Cartwright. Gary is an autistic “transducer”, which basically means he can read electromagnetic wavelengths and is able to hack into cellphone signals and Wi-Fi frequencies purely using his mind. Now as I said I am predispositioned to love all that Ryan does, but it was fascinating for me to see just how much of a range he has as an actor. His transformation was incredible, he was almost unrecognizable from the happy little British squint I've come to know and love.

The team is lead by Dr. Lee Rosen, played by Academy Award Nominee David Strathairn. Who seems a bit Professor X to me, though interestingly enough we haven't learned if the Dr. himself has any abilities.

Despite a lot of technical jargon, Alphas not only held my interest, but made me want more. There is A LOT happening in every scene, and not all of it in the foreground. Many times during the pilot I caught myself rewinding to try and catch a part of the background conversations as well, just to learn more of what was going on.

I full on admit to being a bit of geek, super heroes especially, so I am really excited to see where they go with this series. Alphas has totally given me something to make me look forward to Mondays.

For those of you who missed it, full episode is available on the official site.

Platinum Hit: AKA Friday Nights Now?

So, again this maybe because I am the only person I know watching but, Platinum Hit got moved to Friday? Really? Isn't that like the kiss of death for a show? Aren't people supposed to start their weekend out and about on Fridays?Thus meaning I may continue to be the only person watching....

Actually I have to thank my dvr, who sadly I have yet to name, for alerting me to this, as all of a sudden it switched over to Bravo on Friday, because I have seen NO advertisements on the switch & just figured there wasn't an ep this past week due to the holiday.

(Spoilers ahead)

Anyways on to the actual show. The hook challenge was to write a hook about "Risk" & then compete against the other contestants to make the most money "busking".

Just wanna say, Sonyae was damn lucky to have immunity this week because she doesn't play an instrument & let's face it, her acapella skills sound like 50 cats are dragging there nails across a chalkboard, while drowning. Clearly street preforming was NOT gonna be her strong suit. Jess actually came in third, with her song about the only person who you can depend on is yourself. Johnny places second, with his betting on you, Jason Mraz-esq love song. Big shocker there, come on the boy is cute and his songs tend to be on the dreamy side...I'd give him money. Finally Jackie came in first place with her hook about taking the leap & telling someone you love them first.  To be honest I think she only won because the girl can work a crowd, not that her hook was bad, but I think she got more money on her personality, but hey work whattcha got, right?

Now of course comes the crucial picking of teams, Jackie ends up with the only team of three, made up of her, Scotty & Sonyea. Johnny takes Brian, & Jess takes Nick.  Now comes this week's twist, they have to write the song in a different genre than which it was originally written in. Dum Dum DUM!

Jackie goes with Country....again I say Jackie, who is working with Scotty & Sonyae, picks country...yeah, let that sink in a moment....

Johnny & Brian went for Reggae...to which Scotty pipes in "You better do it right." Ok I admit it, I enjoy me some Scotty, but really?

Finally Jess & Nick pick Pop...thus ensuring Nick will play the same cords he always does.

Off to the writing sessions. Despite thinking that Brian is COMPLETELY insane, Johnny lets him do his crazy thing and they end up working like the talented bromantic partners they were always meant to be.

Discourse rules in the land of Country and Jackie, Sonyae & Scotty attempt to put together a crazy disorganized mess of a song. Scotty checked out to mix the track, as he seems to always do, and Sonyea & Jackie tried desperately to actually come up with some decent story telling lyrics...

Jess & Nick seemed to work surprisingly well together, or at least Nick the Douche claimed that he brings out the best in whomever he works with, thus Jess is a good writer "when she works with Nick"...um..refresh my memory Nick, but how many of these episodes have you been on a wining team for? Just saying...

On to the actual competition, because really why else watch. So the time has come for our lovely little song birds to sing their little hearts out in the quest to become one step closer to winning this damn show. Nick & Jess are up first, he plays a pink paisley guitar and she rocks out...hmmm maybe you should have gone with rock instead of pop there Jess.  Johnny & Brian brought forth an AMAZING drinking margaritas on tropical beach type song. Of course during both performances we have shots of Johnny/Jess each jamming out to the others song. Then bring up Jackie and co. right after Scotty leans in & tells her she "needs to sing it Country"...bring on the fake accent.

After all is said & sang, Johnny & Brian and Jackie, Sonyea & Scotty are all called to the stage. Seriously when Jess's team isn't one of the first two to get called, you can see the tears start to form. Poor girl just can't take the stress, but fear not Jess, your song, though not a good pop song is NOT the worst...

No that honor goes to Jackie's team, who's song seems to not only to have displeased the judges, but also offended them...the bad accent was a bad idea....

After an awesome he said/she said match of bus throwing it was finally time to say goodbye to our dear Jackie. Which is sad, as I do find her talented, I just think the girl WAY missed her mark on this one.

The episode ended with Jewel walking in on our lovely remaining contestants telling them their next challenge starts....NOW!

Really? That's how you're going to end it, as much as it pains me to say it, but if it wasn't for the fact that Johnny is still on the show kicking ass & taking names, I probably wouldn't still be watching...but alas I am hooked...

Franklin & Bash "Big Fish": AKA Jason Alexander Makes a Good Jerk...

Ah, Thursday morning, that can only mean two things. 1) One day closer to the weekend (Huzzah!) and 2) Time to talk about last nights Franklin & Bash (Double Huzzah!!)

This week's episode was directed by Fred Savage (Aka Kevin Arnold of the Wonder Years, and more importantly The Grandson, yes that's the actual name of the role, in The Princess Bride!!)

Now for the Double Case Set Up:


Case 1 (Aka Franklin & Bash): Carter Lang, A rich Wall Street CEO (who paid himself $20 million as his company went bankrupt), finds out he has two months to live & so he puts Franklin & Bash on retainer while he "rights the wrongs" he has done.


Case 2 (Aka how Karp & Hanna earn their keep): Karp & Hanna have their sights set on snagging Abba Jia, the founder of Madeline Exports, a very wealthy, slightly crazy Indian woman as a client. Hannah, gets the brilliant, & let's face it obvious, choice to get Pindar, as their token Indian, to help.  Of course things don't go as planned (do they ever?) & despite loving Pindar at first, Abba is appalled/scared off by the "Proof" Peter has tapped to the fridge of Jared leaving his toe nail clippings about. It all works out for the best though,  & after some quick thinking by Carmine, Infeld & Daniels ends up winning her over.

But back to the boys, because let's be honest, that's why we watch, Carter is play beautifully by none other than Mr. Jason Alexander, best known for playing George Costanza on tv's hit Seinfeld. But let's face it folks, Jason Alexander has had many great roles, Philip Stuckey in Pretty Woman, Albert Peterson in the 1995 tv remake of Bye Bye Birdie, and my personal favorite, this little gem outta the 80's. (For those of you that have never seen that before now, You're Welcome.)

He starts to do some crazy (illegal) things, stealing & selling off a yacht, which belongs to his "protege" John Stills, breaking into his home to steal bare bonds & expensive wine, then disrobing in the wine cellar and taking a naked jog around the neighborhood.  Thinking he only has a few months to live, the prospect of being in jail for a bit doesn't seem to even phase him. That is until Peter & Jared talk to his doctor to get him to testify, in an attempt to get leniency from the judge & find out the truth. They visit Carter in jail & inform him there was a mix-up at the lab, and he is in fact NOT dying.

You can literally see the change happen, suddenly Carter is not so nonchalant about his situation. He turns on a dime, threatening to lie & say that Franklin & Bash had prior knowledge of his criminal acts, which of course would lead to jail time for them. The boys then find out that John Stills, that Carter was focusing his Robin Hooding on, is in fact the guy poised to "steal" Carter's job. Suddenly the whole rob from the rich to give to the poor attitude seems fishy.  The question now is what can they do about it? Sure he's a scumbag who deserves to go to jail, but he's still their client & it is their jobs to defend him.

There is actually a whole darts scene in where the two discuss what "the right thing to do is", Infeld even weighs in.

What follows is some VERY creative lawyering. The guys not only get Carter out of jail time (which I guess is essentially winning the case), BUT trick him into signing most of his money over to the people he has wronged and get him to agree to going to do volunteer work in Haiti for two years. SCORE!

We also got a brief glimpse into the relationship between the guys & Debbie, their adorable blond Infield & Daniels' secretary, as they offered her advise on the guy she'd been texting with.

Having a lot of the same issues with the show as before. Still not a fan of Hanna or Karp, nothing against the talented Garcelle Beauvais & Reed Diamond.  They just don't have much to work with and so their characters feel flat to me, in fact I think the fact that they went deeper into the bromance of Peter & Jared last week, makes the supporting cast of characters seem even flatter, only popping in & out of the stories when deemed necessary. The exception being Stanton Infeld, who seems to be the only character, I think at least, who's been steadily building since the show's beginning. Last night's episode showed his belief in doing "what's right", and his generosity, he mentions giving a portion of his salary to charity, add this to his want/need of understanding different cultures and the way he obviously cares about the people in his life, checking in on Jared about his father, employing his nephew ect, and you have a  great mentor for our boys.

Next week's episode pits Franklin against Bash which should be interesting. Also, it appears Janie Ross will be back in the courtroom with them. Interestingly enough I think she & her impending nuptials maybe mentioned/alluded to in ever episode, though to date she herself has had very little actual screen time. Maybe we'll FINALLY get to meet this fiance of hers. I'm still betting on it being Dawson.

Franklin & Bash "You Can't Take it with You": AKA Friends Forever...

Ladies & gentlemen, I would like to take a moment to give thanks & love to whomever invented the DVR. Thanks to this nifty little black box, which I FINALLY own, I was able to keep my regularly sched Wednesday night drinks appointment AND still come home to an all NEW Franklin & Bash episode. And skipping through commercials, HEAVEN! Honestly it's the little things in life that make me happiest. Please forgive the tangent, it's my new toy.

Once again we find our lovable Infield & Daniels' lawyers with two primary cases. One involving, Kirk Gibbson's lost home run ball from the game one of the 1988 world series, which we quickly learn is a passion of Jared's. The other "The Douchey Dad" case Hanna has been handed. The douchey dad being played by non other than Tom Arnold, as a man who feels reality tv has wrongly portrayed him & just wants out of his contract to do the show.

There is also a small story line of Karp needing to get a video of him "roughing up the suspect", as Pindar puts it, during a sleep study off the Infield Daniels' server. He fears that if it could have a negative effect him, when somewhere down the line he tries to become a judge. He's so desperate in fact, that he goes to the boys, who send him to Pindar. As I'm sure you've guessed it doesn't end well.

But back to baseball, the owner of the ball, a man in his 60's & his daughter, Eileen, not gonna lie hearing MPG say her name made me giggle gleefully, brought the ball to the boys because his sons were now suing him for custody of the ball. Since their sister had the ball authenticated for her father's birthday, the brothers, seeing a chance to sell it and get rich quick, and have started claiming the ball was theirs. After an initial meeting with brothers, (one of whom was played by Ian Reed Kesler, who, for those of you who watch Bones was in the Karaoke episode, "The Wannabe in the Weeds", as Chris Calbasa, or as the boy & I simply call him "the guy who got stuck singing Piano Man"), Jared sees their council is incompetent & therefore, despite Peter's warnings, becomes an adorable mixture of overconfident and a bit cocky, that they have the case locked up.

On a total side note, can we give some props to Pagano/Manwiller for awesome casting, yet again.

Anyway, since he feels the case is a lock, Jared has no problem when Hanna taps Peter to help her with her case. Of course it's never that easy, though, & when they go to trial, the brothers' new lawyer is revealed to be none other than Jared's father, Leonard Franklin, played by Beau Bridges.

So of course Hanna finds some sort of loop hole & she & Peter win their case, and even though things took a strange turn, Jared didn't lose his case, but honestly, none of that really matters.

Last night's episode, at least I thought, a really interesting insight to not only Jared's relationship with his father, but also the other people in his life. That despite all the quips & good natured teasing, Peter really cares for Jared. That he knows him in a way that only a best friend can. It was actually sweet to see how much he wanted to help Jared through what he knew was a really tough time for him, but still knew that ultimately he needed to do this for himself. Honestly, we should all be so lucky to have some one like that in our lives.

Even Infield seems concerned about Jared, and it's revealed, though we don't know how or why yet, that he knows Leonard, and there is some bad blood there. A mystery we'll get an answer to in a future episode I hope. Fingers crossed.

It's nice to see that even a summer replacement, "fluff" show can provide some depth to their characters. I'm not saying the show is Emmy worthy here, but the great thing is that in last night's episode, Peter and Jared's relationship moved beyond the quirky banter & "would you sleep with..." questions, to show a real bond, AND I still found myself laughing out loud during the show. Now, if we could just get the writers to give Hanna & Karp a little more character, I'd be a happy lil lady.

Platinum Hit: AKA I Not Gonna (B/c I Probably Shouldn't) Write You a Love Song

So last night was another episode of Platinum Hit & it was the Love Song Challenge. Which I was actually a bit surprised the contestants didn't do better at. I mean love songs are pretty much the bread & butter of any artist, are they not?

(Warning there may be some spoilers ahead)

Anyways the top hook winner was Sonyae, who I'm always a little skeptical of since she doesn't seem to have the ability to play any sort of musical instrument. Which I just find a bit odd/lazy seeing as this is what she wants to do with her life. In a really smart move she picked Scotty & Brian for her team, who both excel on the music writing & arrangement aspect of the competition. I'm kinda hoping she makes it to the top two, if for no other reason than I want to see what happens when there's no one else there to help her on the arrangements. Still gotta say though, her song, at least what they showed of it, was killer. I'm not even a big R&B fan, but I would totally listen to it.

Second place hook, went to Nick the Dick, who played the same 90's pop/punk melody he always plays. Honestly, I'm so curious as to if he's really that big of an asshole or if he's just edited to appear that way. Anyway, his team was made up of Jackie & Johnny. Which I thought would be way more entertaining since he's so anti-Jackie, well anti-everyone really, but mostly Jackie but alas a side from a few snarky comments during his confession sessions & a few dirty looks during the writing session, nada.

This left third place winner Jess, left with Melissa, & oh what a shit show that was. First off Jess was writing her song about her showmance with our very own Johnny Marnell. I'll admit it, I had high hopes for this one, I mean you couldn't ask for fresher inspiration right? I mean she spent the few episodes gushing over the boy, now go out and put that gushing to some good use! Unfortunately, Jess got ill during session day & well Melissa was Melissa & didn't pick up any of the slack, so the song, at least what we heard of it was pretty awful. The hook just sounded whiny & immature, sorta like a (not so good) love poem some teenage girl would plunk out in her diary. I understand she was going for simple but yeah....

Also I don't think it's fair that one team only had two members. They should have just had two teams of four, because of course Jess's song was gonna feel under developed, it was just her working on it, since you know apparently Melissa is useless. And even if Melissa had helped work on it that is still less attention than the other songs got, both having three people to collaborate on it.

Surprise, surprise Jess' song was this week's loser. Sonyae won & now has immunity for next week, which judging from previews is a VERY good thing for her. I have to say, this week's Loser Panel was INTENSE! There was crying, pleading, bus throwing & best of all Melissa copping some SERIOUS 'tude, most of which was directed at Kara. In the future Dear Melissa, snapping at the judges, after contributing nothing to a challenge, prob not the best way to stay in the game, just saying...

So Jess got REALLY lucky & we said goodbye to good old crazy Melissa this week, because honestly I think that if Melissa had contributed even a little, then Jess would have been packing her bags.

Next week the contestants have to perform their hooks for the masses, on what looks to be the Santa Monica Pier, maybe? I'm not gonna lie, I'm really interested to see how they handle that & who comes out on top.

The Next Thing You Know: AKA Sometimes Theatre Can Hit WAY Too Close To Home...

Saturday night, I saw Cap 21's production of Next Thing You Know, by Joshua Salzman and Ryan Cunningham, who wrote I Love You Because, which is actually one of my all time favorite shows. Seriously check out the OCR, the music is fun & catchy & the show is loosely based on Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice, which is one of my fav books.

Add my love of I Love You Because to the fact that Next Thing You Know's cast was made up of 4 people 3 of whom I actually knew both from working & the industry & as a friend, & I was pretty confident I would enjoy the show.

So confident in fact that I bought a ticket about a month ago, and then forgot most of the details of the show, including the name whoopsies. I figured since I had liked what else the writers had done, and knew more than 1/2 the cast, I was bound to enjoy it. The point being I walked into the show that night a complete blank slate, knowing only that the show took place (mostly) in a bar.

What followed was a show about being in your late twenties & having to grow up, make choices & moving on with your life, or as Wikipedia described it, "Next Thing You Know looks at a time in life where one day you wake up, and instead of a hangover, you have a job. Instead of a fling, you have a live-in girlfriend. And instead of naïve dreams, you have reality".

Um.....yeah as someone who just crossed into her late twenties, this was a pretty much sucker punch to the gut...um great I went out expecting to see a cute little show, & am now sitting there watching the performance while reevaluating my entire life...fun Saturday night...

There is just something about sitting & watching live theater that causes introspection. Are at least that is how it has always been for me. I am a relatively happy person, in fact most people who have to deal with me on a regular bias call me "perky". Still lately, I've been going over all the choices I've made in my life. I like to believe I have a carpe diem attitude to life, often saying that "No good ever came from just going home", & that "The question is never why, but why not?".  But then I think of all my friends who have done all this traveling, two of them toured the country following David Cook's Declaration Tour, another two travel to see different touring companies of Broadway Tours, I even have a friend who is a teacher & her summer breaks are spent traveling the globe, she's been to Egypt, Japan, & Africa among many others & I wonder am I really doing all I could/should be doing with my life. Of course most of this wondering happens when I am stuck sitting on an NJ Transit train, but still it is somewhat valid.

In Next Thing You Know four late 20-somethings who've come to that moment in life where they have big choices to make. Waverly (aka the whiner) is doing everything she possibly do to just "stay" the way she is, in between childhood & adulthood.

Meanwhile her best friend, & seemingly everyone else in her life, is starting to move forward, driving her further & further into a full blown quarter life crises. She dumps her long time boyfriend & starts seeing someone she knows will never be serious.

There are several situations that Waverly has to go through before accepting that you can't freeze time. Time moves on & you have to keep up with it. On a side note the acting was great & I would totally recommend everyone go see it, if Saturday hadn't been the last performance...

I still firmly believe that ever choice we make in life is for a reason & ultimately we all have a path, a destiny. It is not that I am unhappy in where I have come to in life it has just while watching the show, I couldn't help but be reminded of the what ifs. It's been awhile since I have come across a piece of theatre that has made me truly think about life & where I'm headed. It was a nice change of pace from the usual fluff.

June 24th 2011: AKA: A Long Time Coming

I am by no means a political person. I'm the type of person who often gets annoyed when Presidential addresses are on because, um hello, they interrupt my tv shows. I know I know I am what is wrong with America. However there is one issue I feel very strongly about: Equality. More specifically Marriage Equality for Homosexuals.

Though I grew up in a pretty  sheltered little Long Island town, where I didn't know any (openly) gay people. Oh sure our drama teacher was gay, and his "Friend", often helped out with the productions, and there were a few students who ended up coming out years after graduation, but it wasn't something that was really all that out in the open. Maybe it was because I was a theater geek, and came from a family of theatre geeks,  that I am so accepting of it.

Over the years I've made a lot of gay friends, and developed a spot on gaydar...I love my gay friends and honestly believe every girl should have a LGBF (Little Gay Boyfriend). Honestly they are awesome, you can tell them anything, there's never any jealousy with a romantic partner (on either end) and they tend to be more fun to do events, (theatre, chick flicks, shopping) that your actual boyfriend would rather skip.

And it baffles me that although the country (for the most part) has seemed to embrace the homosexual in terms of entertainment, fashion, design industries, they wig out over the idea of them getting married.

Someone legit said to me that they had no problem with them getting the same benefits as heterosexual married couples, but it shouldn't be called marriage.Cut to me biting my tongue to the point where it almost bled. I'm sorry, but do we not remember the civil rights movement? How is that any different from separate drinking fountains for whites & colored? There's no such thing as separate but equal.

Marriage, is not a religious word, and any argument of gay marriage ruining the sanctity of the institution of marriage was long ended by the divorce rate and Celebrity quickie marriages. Maybe, it's because my mind has been warped Disney movies, tv shows and rom-coms but I have just never understood why two people who love each other shouldn't be able to stand up in front of their friends & loved ones and be married.

Anyway, the reason for this whole rant is the fact that last night, New York State FINALLY approved gay marriage. This is a historical event, that has been a long time coming. I  have never been more proud to be a New Yorker, and to have this occur during Pride weekend is amazing. Our world is changing, as it should be, and I am so glad to be witnessing it.