WITI Research Guru Blog

So I'm watching another great episode of "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" last night and they start to play "The Man Comes Around" by Johnny Cash.  I have loved this song for years.  It is from the album of the same name which was a part of the American Recordings series that he did with Rick Rubin before he died.  The album includes covers of the nine inch nails song "Hurt" and "Personal Jesus" by Depeche Mode.  I am also a fan of that technique in episodes where they run a series of story lines with a song playing over the top.  One show that finds great ways to use this method is "The Shield."  One was at the end of the pilot episode when they used "Bawitdaba."  Another was from the season 4 finale when they closed with the Cheap Trick version of "Ain't That A Shame."  There are a ton more uses in that series and, of course, music was a huge part of the "Sopranos."  But that will just lead to another discussion of the series finale.  But getting back to my original point, make sure you check out that Johnny Cash album.

The internet is swimming with undercover video from ComicCon of the teaser trailer for the new X-Files movie.  Check it out here.  The tag at the end states that it will release on July 25.  Twentieth is keeping everything fairly under wraps on this one.  Which is probably for the better.  I'm such a slave to spoilers.

"M*A*S*H" fans rejoice, the show that actually ran longer than the Korean War itself is returning to the lineup.  Starting Monday the 11th, you'll be able to revisit Hawkeye and the whole gang every weekday at 12n, following "FOX 6 News at 11."  And for those of you "TMZ"ers out there, you'll only have to wait an extra half hour to get your Hollywood gossip when that moves to 12:30pm.

My sister-in-law, who works for Children's Hospital, sent me an email about a contest that Colgate-Palmolive is running with the Starlight Starbright Children's Foundation.  Together they are donating fun centers to 30 hospitals across the country.  The centers are equipped with a Nintendo Wii, DVD player and a Sharp AQUOS™ LCD TV along with interactive games.  On top of that, the 10 hospital that receive the most online votes will receive a second center.  So follow the link here, click Wisconsin on the map and vote for Children's Hospital of Wisconsin.  You can vote once a day through March 31.

On MSN today they have a series of interesting articles/lists that showcase the high and low points of the relatively brief, but ever evolving, history of the internet.  It would be interesting to hear what everyone thinks about their lists.  Did they miss anything?  How much of it was spot-on?

Here are the links to the articles:

The 13 Most Embarrassing Web Moments

The Web's Most Useful Sites

The 10 Funniest Sites on the Internet

The 16 Greatest Moments in Web History

TV Guide is reporting on their site that a sit-down has finally occured between David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson and Chris Carter to discuss a new "X-Files" movie.  They are slated to start filming in December.  Carter will direct the script he worte with Frank Spotnitz.

This is great news.  I have been DVR-ing a ton of old episodes that have been airing on Sci-Fi.  Most recently, I watched the great episode "Jose Chung's From Outer Space."

Anyone else excited to hear this?  What are some of your favoite episodes?

One of my all-time favorite comic strips was "Calvin & Hobbes" (along with "The Far Side").  So I was thrilled when I stumbled upon this website.  It has every "Calvin & Hobbes" strip that was ever printed.  They are all there, in order, by month and year. 

From the very first...

...to the very last.

Enjoy!

Sony Television has a great contest going on right now.  Go to this website and vote for your favorite episode.  Will it be "The Contest?"  "The Yada Yada?" "The Marine Biologist?"  "The Soup Nazi?"  There are some many great ones to choose from.  To make it a little easier. you actually vote for your top ten.  Plus, once you vote, you can enter to win a $4,500 electronics shopping spree from Overstock.com.  Pretty sweet, huh?

 

Now that the field has been set for the NLCS and ALCS, the networks, along with Major League Baseball, have decided to get a little creative with the start times for the games - starting with game 1 of the ALCS.  FOX coverage of the game will start at 6pm on Friday.  This was moved so that TBS could air game 2 of the ALCS at 9pm (which would be primetime in the Mountain and Pacific time zones).  That means no 6p news that night and we're going to have to move "Seinfeld."  Friday's 6:30pm episode will air on Saturday at 12n.  ALCS game 3, on Monday the 15th, will also start at 6p, so more of the same.  (At least it won't start at 3pm, like they originally scheduled, and more people will get to watch.)  BTW,  Monday's episode of "Seinfeld" will air next Saturday at 12:30pm.
Not too many changes, but I just wanted to let everyone know.  Here's to hoping that next year the Brewers are in!

Let me preface this my admitting that I am a big fan of both "Family Guy" and "Star Wars."  So it was probably a foregone conclusion that I would like last night's season premiere titled "Blue Harvest."  Side Note - "Blue Harvest" was the name they shot "Return Of The Jedi" under to keep plot points from getting out.  Well this episode FAR exceeded my expectations and had me laughing out loud several times throughout the hour.  I could never really do the episode justice by trying to recap the whole thing.  So let me just list a few shining moments off the top of my head...

The references to Angelina Jolie during the openning crawl
Princess Leia trying to download the message into R2
Switching John Williams for Danny Elfman
The lack of railings on the Death Star
The "Doctor Who" clip
Sneaking by stormtroopers to "Minnie The Moocher" ala "The Blues Borther"
Han Solo trying to get the couch off the Death Star
The other members of "red team"
"Airplane" references
An appearance by the Griswolds
The "Robot Chicken" discussion

Now get this.  Aintitcoolnews.com is reporting that there might be an "Empire Strikes Back" parody in the works!  Here are the details...

Sunday night’s “Star Wars” edition of “Family Guy” was the series’ highest-rated installment since it returned to Fox in 2005, and a parody of “The Empire Strikes Back” “seems likely,” a Fox source tells TV Week’s James Hibbard exclusively.
(Producers will likely first want to secure again the cooperation of Lucasfilm -- which allowed the use of the original sound effects and John Williams’ music but requested that the show tone down the Luke and Leia incest jokes, among other changes.)
The same piece suggests the “Star Wars” parodies could become an annual tradition much like the “Simpsons” Halloween specials.
Hibbard’s article also notes that there are no plans to repeat the episode, and it will not be available for download via Fox.com, XBox or iTunes.

Speaking of "The Simpsons," last night's show open was a great bridge from the movie.  Long live Spider Pig!