Downton Abbey is back...Just What I Needed After All That Football.

The answer to Friday's Trivia Question:  "Bathing is a lonely business...except for fish. Fish all bathe together" is from the movie (the original) Arthur starring Dudley Moore.
FIRST FIVES: Neil Strahl, Justin Jones, Monica Caraffa, Gerald Piscopo & Elke Raskob Honorable Mention: James Gabriele
Thursday's Broadcast Top 5 The Big Bang Theory-CBS 6.1/19.2

Two and a Half Men-CBS 4.5/15.4
Person of Interest-CBS 3.4/16.2
Elementary-CBS 2.6/11.4
Mobbed-FOX 1.2/3.1 Thursday's Broadcast Trendrr Top 5 The Big Bang Theory-CBS 106,907 The Vampire Diaries-CW 45,326 Two and a Half Men-CBS 39,927 Person of Interest-CBS 29,664 Elementary-CBS 27,349 Thursday's Cable Top 5
Fiesta Bowl-ESPN 4.0/12.3
The Big Bang Theory-TBS 1.5/3.4
Buckwild-MTV 1.4/2.5
The Big Bang Theory-TBS 1.2/2.7
Impractical Jokers-Tru 1.1/2.0

Thursday's Cable Trendrr Top 5 Fiesta Bowl-ESPN 938,625 Buckwild-MTV 155,867 Beyond Scared Straight-A&E 91,494 Real Housewives of Miami-Bravo 34,247 Kathy Griffin-Bravo 31,591
Friday's Broadcast Top 5

Cotton Bowl-FOX 3.1/11.2
Shark Tank-ABC 1.8/6.3
Undercover Boss-1.5/7.5
Dateline-NBC 1.5/5.6
Last Man Standing-ABC 1.4/6.6

Friday's Broadcast Trendrr Top 5

Cotton Bowl-FOX 594,761
Shark Tank-ABC 32,947
Blue Bloods-CBS
CSI NY-CBS 22,786
Undercover Boss-CBS 20,491 Friday's Cable Top 5
NA

Friday's Cable Trendrr Top 5

NBA Basketball-ESPN 805,885
NBA Basketball-ESPN 231,430
WWE-Syfy 60,884
Portlandia-IFC 25,743
Piers Morgan-CNN 14,832
When we last left Once Upon a Time, Cora and Captain Hook were anchoring their magical pirate ship in Storybrooke and gearing up to wreak havoc. Well...Cora wasted no time at all...she really despises her daughter.  So much so that she took her form and framed her for the murder of her buggy therapist, Dr. Hopper/Jiminy Cricket. Now everyone thinks Regina is his murderer.  I mean the set up was perfect wasn't it? Regina was pissed off at the doctor/cricket for not honoring doctor/patient confidentiality and telling Emma how hard Regina was trying to be a better person. There's your motive right there, especially since in general, Regina's not a very nice person. Emma didn't believe that Regina was the killer, she thought Rumple did it but he proved his innocence and had Emma use her own magic to see Pongo the dog's view of the murder taking place in the dream catcher (who knew dream catchers could catch murders too?).  It looked like Regina did kill the cricket. Not sure if you guys picked up on some Star Wars tie-ins this episode.  First you had Snow White spare the Queen's life because she knew there was good inside of her somewhere which was just like Luke sparing Darth Vader's life for the same reason. Then when Regina made her magic move it was exactly the same as the Emperor's move in Star Wars. Interesting right? Oh and how funny was it when Emma and Henry walked in on Snow and the Prince doin the nasty?  Not sure why there are no walls or doors in their place but you'd think Snow and the Prince could be a little more discreet. Of course the twist at the end wasn't expected at all...SPOILER ALERT: Jiminy isn't even dead! Cora swapped his body with someone elses and now he's being held hostage on Captain Hook's boat.  So Hook will use Jiminy to get his revenge on Rumple next week.  This was a really really good episode...really good! OMG I just love Downton Abbey.  So happy it's back.  Unfortunately things aren't so great in Downton these days. Apparently Lord Grantham's brilliant idea of investing all of his and his wife's money in a railway company didn't pan out and now they're broke.  Cora didn't really seem to care, she held him and told him she loved him and that they'd just sell Downton and downsize. She seems high to me all the time.  Nothing phases this woman...ever.  Mary and her grandmother freaked out about this and plotted to get money out of either Matthew, who seemed to have come in to money again (this time from his ex father-in-law) or Cora's Mom, Shirley Maclaine.  Shirley was hilarious and a welcome addition to the show in my opinion.  The scenes between her and Maggie Smith are the best.  Shirley thinks everyone in England is behind the times and can't believe they are still living the way they do.  When the oven broke down right before a dinner party, Shirley suggested a picnic and a sing-a-long. The staff was appalled by this idea, but of course Shirley saved the day.  Cybil, Mary's sister, and Tom, her chauffeur husband came home for the wedding thanks to grandma, who secretly sent them the money.  You know she just wanted them home for the sport of it.  Tom's an outspoken, republican, chauffeur but he is fun at a dinner party, especially when Cybil's ex slipped him a mickey.  Who knew they had mickey's to slip back then? I sure didn't.  Mr. Bates is still in jail and I think...although maybe I'm wrong...I think he actually did kill his wife...can someone confirm? Anna is doing everything she can to prove his innocence, but now I think...maybe he did do it. (I still laugh every time someone says...Mr. Bates...I know, I know, I can't help it.) O'Brien's still scary looking, and Thomas is still an ass, but I love the sparring between the two of them. Edith, the ugly sister, finally got a guy.  Unfortunately he's 25 years older than her and only has one usable arm, but Edith thinks she's in love with him.  Looks like we'll have another Downton wedding now and bummer for Edith that there's no money to pay for it. We never got to see Mary and Matthew's vows, just when they got to the altar they cut to the bride and groom coming home in a new sports car from their honeymoon.  Call me old fashioned, but I would have liked to see the wedding.  Is it me or did Lady Mary become anorexic since last season?  Oh and more bad news, Mrs. Hughes seems to have breast cancer.  She was so upset that she forgot the pudding cups for dinner and Mr. Carson pounced all over her for that faux pas. The two hour premiere just flew by.  I can't wait for next Sunday.    I watched my first episode of Boardwalk Empire over the weekend.  I liked it, don't get me wrong, and I have always been intrigued by the 20's and prohibition etc,  but I didn't get sucked in the way I did with Sons of Anarchy after the first episode.  I didn't automatically start episode 2, cancel all my plans, and sneak episodes in wherever I went.  Boardwalks good, I get it, and I'm sure it's going to get much better as I consume all three seasons, but I gotta be honest...I need a hot guy or a hot girl or something.  Does that wish come true? I love Steve Buscemi, I do, but I don't need to see him with his shirt off if ya know what I mean.  I'll keep ya posted as I navigate through all 3 seasons (because I will) but I miss Jax Teller and can't wait for SOA season 6. NEWS & INFORMATION

-Not sure if this qualifies as news, but Comedy Central renewed Workaholics for 2 more seasons.  I can't remember if I checked this show out at some point or not. I think I did and realized it wasn't my thing, but maybe I'm thinking of The League, which I didn't love at all. (I know, I know...I need to give this one another chance-not gonna happen)
-Dog the Bounty Hunter and his wife Beth are coming back to TV.  Dropping "Bounty Hunter" from the title, just plain "DOG" is what their going with. The title could be confusing...maybe dog lovers will tune in instead of Bounty Hunter fans, but then again, maybe that's the strategy.  Who knows? Anyway...the show will air 10 episodes in April on CMT.  Dog, Beth and their son Leland will go all over the place helping other bail bondsman track down criminals.  In this show though, viewers will get to see more of the strategizing and the use of technology in the process.  I've never seen one episode of Dog the Bounty Hunter and probably won't watch Dog ever but I'm an equal opportunity reporter so here ya go.  If there is ANYONE out there who is excited by this news...let me know. I'm curious. -ABC is starting the year off with some premiere's and some live Tweeting.  Here's the schedule: *1/7-The Bachelor 8-10p @SeanLowe09 *1/7-Castle 10-11p @MollyQuinn93 *1/8-Don't Trust the B 930-10p @Krystenritter *1/8-Private Practice 10-11 @caterinatweets *1/9-Suburgatory 930-10p @Jeremy Sisto (I love him and his botoxed forehead!) *1/10-Grey's Anatomy 9-10p @jessicacapshaw *1/10-Scandal 10-11p@kerrywashingtond (various cast members are also participating) *1/11-Malibu Country @jairodriguez

-I always wondered why there was never a TV show about Summer camp.  While I've never been, everyone I know that went, talks about camp as the best time of their life.  I read somewhere that many Hollywood producers and studio heads went to camp.  MIchael Eisner the former CEO of Disney even wrote a book about his time in Summer camp, so I always wondered why there was never a show about it. I can't take credit for it, as I've never really put these thoughts out there in this blog, but NBC just greenlit a show for this Summer called...Camp! I hope it's good and done well. All I know is, I'm already looking forward to it.

-All Star Celebrity Apprentice doesn't start until March 3rd, but the entire cast was revealed yesterday and good news...Gary Busey is back!  He could be the only contestant as far as I'm concerned. Smart to bring him back.  I wasn't going to watch this season, but now that I know he's back, I may have to reconsider. Gary's out there...way out there, he's a rambling lunatic. Also back for more: Stephen Baldwin, Penn Jillette, Omarosa (Trump loves her, I hate her), Lisa Rinna, Marilu Henner, Trace Adkins, LaToya Jackson,Claudia Jordan, Dee Snider, Brande Roderick, Brett Michaels & Dennis Rodman.

-Not sure what it means, but NBC cut Revolution's first season order down by 2 episodes...glad I never invested the time in this one...I had a feeling. 

-There's a new streaming service to add to the roster Redbox Instant by Verizon, which is currently in beta test mode but open for business. I haven't checked it out yet, but you can sign up for a free month trial and then it's 8 bucks a month for movies and DVDs.  Same prices as Hulu+ and similar to Netflix.  Amazon Prime is a bit cheaper, 80 bucks for the year. I gotta remember to give this one a whirl.

-Speaking of streaming, there is a really cool new website called canIStream.it. What's cool about it is that you can go to it and find out what service has the movie you are looking for.  If it isn't available anywhere you can sign up for an email alert as soon as it is.  Pretty cool right?  The only thing better would be to include TV shows as well.  I'm guessing(hoping) that will be coming soon. Monday's Trivia Question: Name another HBO show that Steve Buscemi was in.  Bonus if you can name his character.
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