Army Wives – Recap & Review – System Failure

photo: lifetime

Army Wives
System Failure

Original Air Date: Apr 8, 2012

Will – Associate Staff Writer
will@thetwocentscorp.com

Wow, what an incredibly emotional episode this week. It had me surprised but also a little relieved. We learn this week that Claudia Joy has gone into complete kidney failure. I was worried that she had gotten a brain tumor that she could not recover from. Luckily, this can be treated with dialysis three times a week until she can get a new kidney.

Of course, Emmalin arrives and she is not happy with any of the answers the doctors are giving her about her mother. If that was my mother, I would not be happy either because they do not know what could have caused this except that her diabetes was probably a factor. At first Michael wants to be a donor to Claudia Joy but he can not because of an old jumping accident. Emmalin, against her mother’s wishes, talks to the doctor about donating but she cannot because she could develop diabetes later in life just like Claudia Joy – so she will need both of her kidneys.

BBC America Brings “Top Gear” Host, Richard Hammond, to New American Series “Crash Course”

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BBC America brings one of the hosts of the world’s most popular car shows – Top Gear – to America in the new original series Richard Hammond’s Crash Course! Premiering on April 16 at 10 PM ET/PT, the series follows Richard through his journey across the States as he learns from local experts how to operate some of America’s largest and most dangerous machines.

From training with a US Army crew to operate an MIA2 Abrams Tank in Fort Bliss, Texas to driving the world’s most powerful fire engine, The Striker, at Dallas Fort-Worth Airport, Richard conquers them all! But, there is no cutting corners on the work sites, as he completes fitness training with a US Army “Top Tank” crew, shimmies up a tree (despite a fear of heights) and gets down and dirty with the Luoto family at their Oregon logging company, all while getting a true taste of American hospitality.

FOX Renews New Girl, Raising Hope and Glee!

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FOX has ordered a second season of freshman breakout hit NEW GIRL, a third installment of the irreverent family comedy RAISING HOPE and a fourth season of the genre-defying musical sensation GLEE, it was announced today by Kevin Reilly, President of Entertainment, Fox Broadcasting Company.

“Over the past season, NEW GIRL has become the hottest new appointment series for young adults; RAISING HOPE has established itself as one of the smartest and most unique offbeat comedies on television; and GLEE has continued its success as a genre-defying, global cultural phenomenon,” said Reilly. “All three of these comedies add a fresh and distinctive flavor to our Tuesday nights, and I’m really happy to bring them back to our air next season.”

Mad Men – Recap & Review – Mystery Date

photo: amc

Mad Men
Mystery Date

Original Air Date: Apr 8, 2012

Ryan O – Senior Reviewer
ryano@thetwocentscorp.com

A sense of fear clings to the characters in this episode, cast by the murder of eight nurses in Chicago. This sense of doom leads Don, Peggy, and Sally in different directions. Joan, also featured in this episode, is more concerned about the arrival of her husband from the Vietnam War, which has its own sense of doom, of course, trumping anything else for Joan.

This episode, while proving that Peggy is human, also helps my love for the character grow and and grow. The episode also shows, in a very dark way, how badly Don wants to make his marriage to Megan work.

TheTwoCents 2012 TV Tournament – FINAL FOUR

FINAL FOUR

It’s time to find the favorite show on TheTwoCents!

The 64 top rated shows on TTC have been spread out into four divisions, named after TV royalty. The Carol Burnett Division, Andy Griffith Division, Bob Barker Division and the Aaron Sorkin Division.

The shows have been seeded by their popularity with readers on TheTwoCents.com (Print Entire Brackets)

FINAL FOUR VOTING HAS ENDED!

Vote after the bump!

The Amazing Race – Recap & Review – I Didn’t Make Her Cry (Kilimanjaro, Tanzania)

photo: cbs

The Amazing Race
I Didn’t Make Her Cry (Kilimanjaro, Tanzania)

Original Air Date: Apr 8, 2012

Ryan O – Senior Reviewer
ryano@thetwocentscorp.com

This episode features what I love most about the race: bringing us to remote and beautiful locations. The teams go to Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. The scenery, the people, and the wildlife all look fantastic. Also, the leg is long and grueling. They spend three days and two nights on the leg as a result of travel.

The episode also features a lot of stuff that I don’t like to see on this show: inter-team drama. This show isn’t that place for that. If you don’t like another team, just ignore them, which is so easy to do on this show. Just run your own race.

Saturday Night Live – Recap & Review – Sofia Vergara

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Saturday Night Live
Sofia Vergara

Original Air Date: Apr 7, 2012

Len – Senior Reviewer
len@thetwocentscorp.com

I wasn’t expecting much out of tonight’s SNL because of its recent track record of mediocrity when coming back from extended hiatus (i.e. Charlie Day, Charles Barkley, Steve Buscemi). I also was a little concerned because, while I like Sofia Vergara on Modern Family, I wasn’t sure how she’d handle live sketch comedy and reading off of cue cards. And how would the SNL writers treat her? She possesses some comedic chops, but would they devalue her by making every sketch have something to do with her voluptuousness and sex appeal?

Fortunately, Vergara came to play and the writers didn’t disappoint too much – except for a couple instances where they didn’t seem to have better ideas than to bring back characters that shouldn’t be brought back. This was mostly a real love-it-or-hate-it show for me, but the one constant is that Vergara kept me entertained.

Plus, we get to welcome a new cast member, Kate McKinnon, who I understand is the first openly I-guess-we’re-going-to-drag-sexual-preference-into-this-now gay performer in SNL history. It’s great and historic and all, but all we need to be concerned about is whether or not she’s funny. If you want to find out how she did, my One Direction for you is to read my recap and review! Click the jump and leave your comments at the end!

Farewell…Mike Wallace

photo: cbs

Mike Wallace, Journalist

News journalist Mike Wallace, well known for his hard hitting questions and interviews on “60 Minutes,” died Saturday. He was 93.

Wallace was an original correspondent for the CBS news magazine back in 1968 when it debuted. He retired in 2006 as a regular full time correspondent, but continued to appear on the show on occasion until his final interview in 2008 with baseball star Roger Clemens on his alleged steroid use.

Before his start on “60 Minutes,” Wallace was a versatile broadcaster spending the 1940s and 50s appearing on radio and television programs as announcer, reporter, actor and even game show host. It wasn’t until “Nightbeat” and later “The Mike Wallace Interview” on ABC in the late 1950s when Wallace perfected his interrogation interviewing style we grew to know on CBS.

Wallace is survived by his wife, son, stepdaughter, two stepsons, seven grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.

Farewell Mr. Wallace. Thanks for always asking the tough questions.

Fringe – Recap & Review – Everything in its Right Place

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Fringe
Everything in its Right Place

Original Air Date: Apr 6, 2012

Rachel – Sr. Managing Editor
rachel@thetwocentscorp.com

It is Grazing Day. What is Grazing Day, you ask? Well, imagine Gene the Cow in a huge FBI coat and baseball hat finally getting out of the lab to graze in the sunshine for the afternoon. She has that seasonal disorder, you know. All the usual suspects are going (except for Astrid, who has a fun day planned with the father she told AltAstrid she had no relationship with). But Lincoln, who already feels a bit useless, isn’t invited.

On her way out the door, Olivia returns the maze charm he gave to her after their first case together, not remembering it because she is turning back into Our Olivia. That is the final straw. Lincoln decides he needs a change of scenery. He had been building a connection with Olivia ever since his partner died, and she had come to represent ‘home’ to him. Now, for all intents and purposes, she has left him, too. Like the charm, he is yet again wandering the maze of life looking for a place to belong. He takes the menial task of performing a debriefing with Fringe Division Over There regarding all of their (our) run-ins with the lovely David Robert Jones.

CSI:NY – Recap & Review – Kill Screen

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CSI:NY
Kill Screen

Original Air Date: Apr 06, 2012

Maria – Sr. Reviewer
maria@thetwocentscorp.com

We see Walter Danzig serving Darren Gorland with a summons. Then he goes back to his car and smokes a roach. Remember, drugs are bad, people. The next time we see him he’s dead, rolled up in a tarp and looking rather gruesome. He’s also in a referee’s outfit. What is this guy’s story?