TV Heartbeat! Orphan Black finale! True Blood begins its final season! More premieres! Game of Thrones Sound Off!
It’s a busy, busy week with many goodbyes, long goodbyes and hellos!
New and Notable Orphan Black!!! The second season draws to a close as we find out what Sarah’s willing to do to get Kira out of Rachel’s clutches. Sending in the Hendrix family is usually pretty destructive so I’d send them in first. Come see why the internet will riot if we don’t hear Tatiana Maslany’s name on July 10th when the Emmy nominations are announced.
True Blood’s seventh and final season begins on Sunday! For a look back at True Blood through the years, catch the Farewell to Bon Temps special which features roundtable memories from the cast and creators. If you’re really sharp, you can catch a quick glance of me and Big Apple Elisa kicking off the montage clip of fans (circa Comic Con 2010). HBO is marathoning a season each night on HBO2 so catch up on your favorite moments before we begin the final run!
We’ve hit the true summer TV season so there are a slew of other noteworthy season premieres and new debuts including:
Almost Royal – a cross between Borat and Kate and William! In this comedy, a pair of “aristocratic siblings” meet unsuspecting Americans as they travel the country. Air-headed, privileged and possibly incestuous, Poppy and Georgie Carlton’s adventures make for intriguing/odd comedy as they learn about plastic surgery and soap opera acting when they visit LA.
BBC America launches The Musketeers, based on the Alexandre Dumas novel. Toning down the over-the-top French romanticism, this is a fun adaption with plenty of sword fights and intrigue. Starring Luke Pasqualino as D’Artagnan (Adama in Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome), Ryan Gage, Howard Charles and Santiago Cabrera (Merlin) as the proverbial three musketeers. Their nemesis will be Cardinal Richelieu played by Peter Capaldi who is best known as the latest Doctor Who. He also wears a lot of capes in this show.
Teen Wolf starts its fourth season which aims to emulate the tone of the first season and head back to a funnier, slower-paced show. Less crazy this season…
And if you’re into the world ending, there are a few shows you can tune into!
The skitters continue their havoc on Earth! In Falling Skies, we return to the Masons and the remaining 2nd Mass who are brutally attacked by a new Espheni war machine.
Based on the novel by William Brinkley, TNT’s The Last Ship follows the story of Commander Tom Chandler (Eric Dane) and the crew of the USS Nathan James (including Adam Baldwin) who discover that half the human population has been wiped out by a virus while the ship has been at sea. The cast also includes Rhona Mitra as a virologist examining the deadly bug.
Had enough with stories about the apocalypse? How about the post-apocalypse? Dominion is Syfy’s series based on characters from the film Legion. Remember the film? Yeah, not a lot of people do, but since angels and the Armageddon seem to be having a moment, Dominion is on trend. This story takes place 25 years after the archangel Gabriel (Carl Beukes) began a war against mankind. Fellow archangel Michael (Tom Wisdom) has sided with the humans to fight Gabriel and his army of lesser angels.
Dominion also features mere mortals in this tale with many humans caught in this war including General Riesen (Alan Dale of Lost) and Senator David Whele (Anthony Stewart Head).
Thursday: Defiance premiere (Syfy), Dominion debut (Syfy), Rookie Blue premiere (ABC), Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee premiere (Crackle)
Friday: Cold Justice premiere (TNT), Funniest Wins debut (TBS)
Saturday: Orphan Black season finale (BBC America), Almost Royal debut (BBC America), Crisis series finale (NBC)
Sunday: Falling Skies premiere (TNT), The Last Ship debut (TNT), The Musketeers debut (BBC America), True Blood premiere (HBO), Rising Star debut (ABC)
Monday: Teen Wolf premiere (MTV)
Tuesday: NY Med premiere (ABC), Tyrant debut (FX), Covert Affairs premiere (USA)
Wednesday: Big Brother premiere (CBS), Taxi Brooklyn (NBC), Wilfred (FXX)
Health check Good news for some freshman shows! USA network’s first comedy, Sirens, will be back! The Chicago series about a, um, colorful group of EMTs will have a second season to save lives, chill Twix bars and cause all sorts of mayhem! Bear claw donuts beware!
Starz gave a quick renewal for its latest series, Power. The show produced by 50 cent centers on a gangster going legit.
Crystal Ball Disney continues to leverage fairy tales for all they’re worth with a new Disney channel movie called The Descendants. Nope, it’s not George Clooney and Shailene Woodley grieving over their cheating, comatose wife/mother. This is about the kids of some of the most beloved Disney heroes and villains and whether they follow in their parents’ footsteps. Entertainment Weekly got a first look at the kids which include Jafar’s son, Cruella de Vil’s son and Malficient’s (Kristen Chenowith) daughter.
And speaking of girl power, the Powerpuff Girls will be puffin’ again in 2016! Cartoon Network is reviving the show, one of their biggest shows ever. Let’s assume that Mojo Jojo will also be around!
Sound Off Game of Thrones, HBO’s most watched show ever, just completed its fourth season. After four seasons, countless deaths, power plays and battles, has the show sustained its quality? [SPOILER ALERT if you haven’t watched the full season yet!]
Well, generally yes. This season was a bit more difficult with two heroes gone (victims of the Red Wedding – damn you Walder Fray!), a huge roster of characters which mean some are absent for weeks (when was the last time we saw Margaery?), fewer episodes with Dame Diana Rigg, pointless nudity (gratuitous nudity that has nothing to do with the main action) and general depression as life sucked for everyone in general.
But there were also numerous high points this year including the Purple Wedding (couldn’t have happened to a nicer Joffrey!), Jamie’s parting gifts to Brienne, Lysa Arryn’s death (though she was a scary/fun character), Tyrion’s For-Your-Emmy-Consideration trial speech, a massive battle at the wall with giants, Jon Snow taking charge, nearly full-grown dragons (though why Dany chained them in the catacombs to get them to behave is beyond me), justice for Twyin Lannister and hope in the form of the Stark children figuring out how to use their own particular strengths to survive.
As with any year, there was a fair-sized graveyard that included Joffrey, crazy Aunt Lysa, the Red Viper, Ygritte, Grenn, Pypar, the Hound, Jojen, Shae, Tywin. Given the nature of this show, it’s only natural that people will die. At least we can say that more villains died than heroes which is probably because there are so few heroes left!
Game of Thrones is still some of the best TV on air now so I’d say the show is still great, though this season was maybe more uneven than previous seasons. Still the high points make up for the lesser bit so I’d say the seasons rank as follows:
Season 1: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
Season 2: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
Season 3: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
Season 4: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
Next week: Orphan Black
Stay tuned!
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Game of thrones was do good this season! But kit Harrington is a pussy!
I still highly doubt (SPOILER) the Hound kicked the bucket. Game of Thrones is one of those shows that takes great pleasure at SHOWING us deaths. If any death happens off screen, it automatically becomes a “death.” I ain’t believing it until I see a cold body. He’s got way too much of a story left to tell that hasn’t been resolved.
Ryan – LOL! Yeah, Jon has definitely been sort of wimpy in past seasons, but I was glad to see him take command of the Battle of the Wall and head out to face Mance by himself. Finally! His time as a “double agent” was definitely passive…
MTF Reader Joe – Well, I’m not a book reader so there certainly is a chance that folks know more about the Hound’s fate. It would be nice to see him come back and take out his brother who may be coming back with crazy strength or something. I understand that in the book, it was that infection that did him in and the fight with Brienne was totally made up for the series. Nice epic duo twist!