redvsblue Season 4

A crazy April resulted in me missing my monthly seasonal recap of the online web series, redvsblue. Aside from catching up and reviewing season four ("trailer"), today I will also be covering two of the four bonus discs included with the redvsblue 10-Year anniversary box set at the end of this blog.

When we last left off at the end of season three, Church (Burnie Burns) time traveled in many attempts and failed to change the past in order to save the universe. In season three’s final moments we saw the series’ first Elite/alien character approaching Church as the season ended. Meanwhile, the red army wound up accidentally travelling back to the Blood Gulch base and get back to being up to all kinds of silliness in no time. Just a reminder, midway through season three saw redvsblue upgrade from the first Halo to Halo 2 as the primary game engine used to capture footage, so the quality of the animation is a big jump up compared to previous seasons as a whole.

Season four picks up with Church back on the Zanzibar map trying to explain to his fellow blues on his time travelling mishaps and get them to track down and capture the alien invader. The reds are up to no good on Blood Gulch and to pass time Sarge (Matt Hullum) has Simmons(Gustavo Sorola), Grif, Donut (Dan Godwin) and some inanimate objects compete in a series of unique competitions to win the coveted honor of his second-in-command. Back with the blues, they capture the alien, and discover that Andy the talking bomb (Nathan Zellner) can translate the alien’s language (and later Spanish!).

Through Andy’s translation, the alien reveals that Tucker (Jason Saldana) has to fulfill a prophecy and so the alien leads Tucker, Caboose (Joel Heyman) and Tex (Kathleen Zuelch) across several Halo 2 multiplayer maps to their destination which wounds up being Blood Gulch. In one of my favorite moments of the season, during their journey they rediscover the clueless, endlessly respawning red and blue soldiers introduced last season that Tex takes great pleasure in taking out.

When the reds discover the blues are back on Blood Gulch, Simmons does an atrocious job at imitating a blue soldier to infiltrate the blues, but somehow manages to assist the reds to kidnap Andy. The reds go to this great trouble to kidnap Andy so he can translate a Spanish message left for them from red army command that ended up having no real importance to the reds and all amounted in a dramatic waste of time. However, the effort was worth it to witness Sarge’s awesome schemes in distracting Caboose to steal Andy. Church tries to get Andy back in another highlight of the season when Sarge and Church engage in a brutal series of negotiations.

The season ends with a bunch of expected tomfoolery culminating simultaneously on Blood Gulch. Tucker’s health takes a turn for the worse, and his fate at the end of the season takes a dynamic new turn. Shiela the talking tank (Kathleen Zuelch) joins up with the blue army again towards the end of the season so the red army gets reinforcements right as the season ends. I think I slightly preferred season four over three, as three got to be a bit too off-the-rails with all the time travelling business transpiring. That is not to say season four has its own share of zany affairs by introducing the alien into the mix, but the shenanigans seem a little more focused this season and a smidge easier to keep track of the overall big picture. I also appreciate none of the unwanted backstory on Tex’s AI in season four, which I remember getting too convoluted as a major plot point in future seasons that lead to me stop watching the show. I am going to give a hearty thumbs up to the filmmakers at Rooser Teeth for great work in the ‘less is more’ field by saving a couple of key past characters for some small, but vital moments this season that made their presence seem all the more special for saving them for pivotal scenes late in the season.

The season four disc is packed with the same array of extras as previous seasons. There are 40 minutes worth of outtakes, deleted scenes and special PSA videos. Standout PSA videos this season for me were the red and blue armies making New Year’s resolutions, the armies delivering special personalized fan requested video messages and going into hysterics over rising gas prices (this was when gas just went up nationwide to $3/gallon right after hurricane Katrina and has primarily stayed over that level for most of this past decade). The commentary track is filled with amusing production facts about failing at animation tricks to show Andy talking, starting to introduce their then PSA-only photoshop tricks into the regular series content in season four and Gus bragging up his special diet. Unfortunately there are also a few too many lulls in this commentary with random cast members constantly dropping in and out of the recording which made it seem they did not particularly care to be there and makes most of the commentary not worth going out of your way to check out this season.

As I mentioned at the start of this blog, I will be covering two of the four bonus discs included with the anniversary set. Grifball got its first mention here in season four with a seemingly innocuous throwaway reference from Sarge early in the season. Fan outcry demanded Rooster Teeth expand on the mysterious sport of Grifball, and Rooster Teeth responded with four mini-series over the years shot in the Halo 3 engine. Each disc has two sets of mini-series totaling about a half hour on each disc and are quick watches for an hour all together. Thinking back I am baffled as to why they did not combine all the Grifball mini-series on one disc for just an hour of total content. A bonus PSA video features Sarge and Caboose explaining the nature of Grifball, and yes this was the catalyst for the Grifball playlist in future Halo games. I have played Grifball in Halo Reach and Halo 4 and it is a fun change of pace after countless rounds of heated Slayer matches.

All four Grifball mini-series focus on the misadventures of Team Slipspace and the corrupt commissioner of the Grifball league. The first season has them throwing a match against the a team of Elites that does not go according to plan, while the second season focuses on a new recruit with his own baggage he brings to the table. The third mini-series introduces the over-the-top character XT who has his own unique set of limitations while the last mini-series has Team Slipspace get a little too over-their-heads by bringing sports agents into the mix that leads to a disastrous handicap Grifball match for the ages. I would not say these are must-see, but the Grifball mini-series are fun quick little viewings that are worth the time to slip in between the core seasons of redvsblue if you are ever binge watching the primary seasons.

As with the rest of the seasons of redvsblue, you can watch all the individually released episodes of season four for free off their YouTube channel or the redvsblue website. The nice perk of watching it on video though is all the episodes are seamlessly connected through smooth scene transitions which results in playing out as a nonstop 100 minute movie, where if you watch each episode individually online you have the musical intros and outtros separating each episode/scene for a not-so-seamless experience. Season four is part four of five of The Blood Gulch Chronicles saga so please come back next month for my thoughts on the end of the first major series-spanning arc of redvsblue.

Past redvsblue Blogs

Season 1
Season 2
Season 3

Memphis Heat

I have always heard a lot about Jerry Lawler dominating the Memphis wrestling territory, but somehow did not really know a heck a lot about the actual history of the promotion. My only memories of it were how Jerry Lawler recalled his days breaking in there and becoming the main star of the promotion in his autobiography, It’s Good to Be the King…Sometimes. Lawler did a tremendous job recounting his run in his book, including his epic feud with SNL/Taxi star Andy Kaufman that got the promotion some nationwide attention. Other than Lawler’s run there, I recall hearing how the territory being one of WWE’s first official developmental territories in the late 90s before Ohio Valley Wrestling took over around 1998 and Memphis wrestling folded up right around the turn of the century.

Despite knowing about the Memphis territory, I never saw much video of it over the years until as recently as a year ago when WWE finally got the rights to their video library. It is time to fill in a lot of those gaps because a documentary finally came out detailing the history on Memphis wrestling throughout its glory years until the mid-80s. Believe it or not, WWE did not produce or release this documentary, Memphis Heat (trailer), that came out from an independent distributor in 2011 shortly before WWE acquired all the Memphis wrestling video rights.

Other than being the promotion where Jackie Fargo and Jerry Lawler reigned supreme, it was good to finally get a proper history lesson on Memphis wrestling. Memphis Heat goes all the way back to the 1950s covering the origins of the territory. A lot of time is spent on covering the pioneering stars for the promotion like Sputnik Monroe and Jackie Fargo. I also learned from this documentary that the Memphis territory was known for its version of hardcore wrestling with wrestlers throwing fire at each other, wrestling bears and tar and feathering one another. I certainly got the impression after watching Memphis Heat that the Memphis promotion was the ECW of the wrestling territories of the 70s and 80s before ECW and the ‘Attitude Era’ of the WWE brought it mainstream in the mid-to-late 90s.

The filmmakers tracked down a lot of old Memphis talent such as Sputnik Monroe, Jackie Fargo, Jimmy Hart, Jerry Lawler, Rocky Johnson, Bill Dundee and many more to take you down the rise of the promotion and what made it stand out among the other territories. The changeover from Fargo to Lawler becoming the headlining star got a fair amount of treatment. So did Memphis being one of the premiere territories to go to see women’s and midget wrestling.

The last several scenes of the documentary focus on Jerry Lawler’s rivalries with Jimmy Hart and Andy Kaufman. The documentary abruptly stops detailing the history of the promotion around 1985 when it Jimmy Hart talks about leaving for WWE in time for the first Wrestlemania. Memphis Heat goes on to say that Hart leaving Memphis, combined with a poorly timed injury from Jerry Lawler in early 1985 marked the end of Memphis as a major wrestling territory. I found it a little hard to believe at first that a manager leaving was the death nail of a promotion considering how Lawler was the star wrestler of the company and competed there until it folded in 2001. After doing my research online however, it does appear that Jimmy Hart leaving the promotion was the equivalent of Hulk Hogan leaving the AWA that started the slow decline of the promotion.

I was still pretty miffed to see the documentary just end after detailing Hart’s exit in 1985. There are a brief few screens of text afterwards detailing the aftermath of Memphis and that it hung around until 2001. I would have at least appreciated an extra 15 minutes or so detailing what the heck transpired in those 16 years. I know Lawler hung around until the promotion folded and was allowed to wrestle there while still under contract with the WWE. As I detailed above in the intro I knew that WWE used it as a developmental league in the 90s where guys like the Undertaker and Rock went to learn the fundamentals before appearing on WWE television. I also heard how Vince McMahon himself made a couple cameos on Memphis wrestling previewing the evil promoter gimmick in the mid-90s before the “Mr. McMahon” character rose to prominence in the Attitude Era.

Yeah, Memphis may have floundered as a small-scale independent league in its last 15 years of existence, but I think that period definitely deserved some attention here and it is a major negative on the documentary. One other small knock against the documentary is the lack of subtitles. A lot of the Memphis stars interviewed here are getting up there in years and it is slightly difficult to make out what some of them are saying at times. I went to turn on the captions and was disappointed to see the option was unavailable.

There are at least a good two hours of bonus features however. There is a little over an hour of bonus interview stories that did not make the final cut of the documentary. Jerry Lawler has a great story in extras on how mailing in his fan art lead to him getting his big break in wrestling. There are also bonus vintage interviews and clips of old matches as extra features as well. One nice surprise was a pre-Hulk-a-Mania Hogan making a cameo on the Memphis set delivering a interview with a full head of hair! There is also a hilarious chain match in its entirety between Austin Idol and Jerry Lawler that had me cracking up. The final extra feature is titled The Galento Incident and details how a planned murder was prevented at the last moment during a Memphis show.

I enjoyed how Memphis Heat detailed the glory years of the territory and filled in a lot of gaps of wrestling history for me. And I get how you do not want to focus on the promotion’s dwindling years, but it just feels rotten to give it zero attention whatsoever, so make sure to have that in mind when going into Memphis Heat. WWE now has the rights to the Memphis video library, and I am looking forward to watching the long overdue Jerry Lawler documentary they just released a couple weeks ago and it is filled with a lot of his Memphis highlights and matches. If you want to strictly learn about the rise of the Memphis promotion, Memphis Heat is the documentary to watch and you can still order it off its website today.

Past Wrestling Blogs

Best of WCW Monday Nitro Volume 2
Biggest Knuckleheads
Bobby The Brain Heenan
For All Mankind
Goldberg: The Ultimate Collection
Ladies and Gentlemen My Name is Paul Heyman
Legends of Mid South Wrestling
Macho Man: The Randy Savage Story
OMG Vol 2: Top 50 Incidents in WCW History
RoH Supercard of Honor V
RoH Supercard of Honor VI
RoH Supercard of Honor VII
ScoobyDoo Wrestlemania Mystery
Superstar Collection: Zach Ryder
Warrior Week on WWE Network
Wrestlemania 3: Championship Edition
Wrestlemania 28
Wrestlemania 29
Wrestlemania 30
The Wrestler (2008)
Wrestling Road Diaries Too
WWE Network Original Primetime Specials

Angry Video Game Nerd: Volume 8

If you have been a regular reader of this blog, then you can probably tell from a couple of past entries that I am a fan of the online web series, The Angry Video Game Nerd (AVGN). For newer readers, I will suffice it to say that it is Cinemassacre’s James Rolfe playing a character known simply as “The Nerd” who bashes all types of old video games (although a lot of them are LJN published NES games) in a ridiculously brash, over-the-top manner.

Every year Rolfe compiles the latest year’s worth of AVGN videos and releases them on DVD . You can always watch the entire AVGN archivesfor free on the official AVGN website, but I have been a fan since the show started over a decade ago in 2004 that I do not mind sending $20 to James a year to have an official backup copy on my shelf. The 2014 DVD, AVGN: Volume 8 (preview), is the first single disc release of the AVGN collection, since a majority of the year Rolfe dedicated to finishing up and releasing AVGN: The Movie. The average past AVGN DVDs had around a dozen episodes and a good amount of extras, while Volume 8 has just six episodes and enough extra features to pack only one disc.

While there may only be one disc on this collection, there is still a lot of great content on this DVD. The debut episode focuses on AVGN-themed videogames in both the fan made variety and an official AVGN endorsed game out on Steam and WiiU. It was fun watching the Nerd trash intentionally-awful made games based on the trademark characters and lore of his own show, and I actually played the official game on WiiU, and it is brutally challenging and filled with all kinds of evil game tropes highlighted in past episodes, but in a daunting, ‘one more time’ kind of way to see if I can somehow make it to the next checkpoint and see what else the game will throw my way.

Next up is a two part special where the Nerd highlights a wish list of fan requested games that get the Nerd review treatment. Some of the games featured are 8-bit nightmares like The Three Stooges, Where’s Waldo, Home Improvement and Bad Dudes while others are more recent atrocities are shown like Shadow the Hedgehog and Bubsy 3D. Some of these games I would have loved to see get a full blown AVGN episode treatment, but Rolfe went on to say in the extras that none of these games he covered here felt especially awful to get a full episode, but were at least worth crapping on for a couple of minutes of highlights each.

Episodes four and five are my favorite on the DVD where he covers two notoriously bad driving games, Desert Bus on the SegaCD, and Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing on the PC. Desert Bus is an iconic unreleased SegaCD title that is intentionally designed to be boring where all you do is drive eight hours in the barren desert on a bus with nothing fun happening along the way, and Rolfe made sure it got the perfect AVGN review treatment. Big Rigs is a horribly buggy and downright unfinished racing game that somehow made it to retail shelves, and watching the Nerd endure its glitches and eventually succumb to the putrid quality of it all made it my favorite episode to indulge this season. The episode wraps up with with what the Nerd envisions as his ultimate TV commercial for Big Rigs in what is easily the best moment of this entire season. The last episode is what else but a review of a LJN published NES game, this one for Beetlejuice on the NES. It lives up to the caliber of past LJN classics, as does the Nerd’s take as he has no mercy from another piece of quality content from our favorite rainbow-themed publisher.

Even though there are only six episodes timing out to roughly an hour and a half of content, Rolfe made sure to pack this DVD to the brim with two and a half hours of extra features on top of it. I really liked the Video Commentary of the Year where James takes a half hour to go into all the behind-the-scenes facts on the making of each episode. There are two Q&A segments from conventions in 2014 totaling an hour and these are kind of hit and miss obviously depending on the questions. James and his Cinemassacre cohorts Mike and Bootsy are on these panels, and they do have some great tales on how they met and some dastardly moments of their gaming past to share, but that is not to say that there are also a few lulls here and there, but for the most part the Q&As were more entertaining that I originally anticipated.

Mike, Bootsy and James combine for a half hour in another extra where they all give speeches celebrating the 10-year anniversary of AVGN. I felt bad for them at times wishing they had a podium to read their speeches from, but it is another awesome extra where the Cinemassacre crew all reminisce on the past and celebrate Rolfe’s run on AVGN. The extras wrap up with ten minutes of outtakes and a couple of Mike’s videos from Cinemassacre focusing on his love for the Game Gear and a few other awful Ghostbuster games that were not featured on past AVGN videos. I have been getting use to Mike Matei’s work for Cinemassacre recently, and am starting to really enjoy his work, especially when he teams up with Rolfe for their weekly James and Mike Mondays videos where they play and commentate over a random game each week, so I will give props to Cinemassacre for including some of his work on here too.

So that wraps up my take on Angry Video Game Nerd: Volume 8. It is a little more on the pricey side for just one disc, but as I stated above I do not mind throwing a little money Rolfe’s way each year for constantly pumping out entertaining videos online for free each year and this volume is worth it for the Big Rigs and Desert Bus episodes alone. You also get a DVD topped off in space with a ton of extra features totaling up with the main episodes for about four hours of content all together, so if you are like me, make sure to order your copy to add to your AVGN collection today.

Previous TV/Web Series Blogs

2013-14 TV Season Recap
2014-15 TV Season Recap
Angry Videogame Nerd Vol 7
Mortal Kombat: Legacy - Season 1
RedvsBlue - Seasons 1-12
Seinfeld Final Season

2014-15 TV Season Recap

I had so much fun writing up last year’s television season recap, that I thought it be best to keep it an annual tradition. Last year Revolution and Psych had their final seasons, while True Detective is slated to start up later this year. Meanwhile, it looks like 24 returned to TV for one season only, but some theatrical films appear to be coming down the pipeline. So that freed up four slots for my episodic television fix.

Like last year I will be giving letter grades to each season. I regret not having get around to the Netflix exclusive series, Daredevil that has been lighting up the Internet buzz since it debuted last month, but hopefully I will start it up sometime this summer. I also heard good things about the latest on Agents of SHIELD, but I gave up on that show after a weak initial few episodes in its first season. Enough on that though, let us get on to what I have seen in the last year.

Gotham - I am a sucker for the Batman universe, and hearing how FOX’s prequel take on the Batman universe was going down had me easily tuning in for a season to see how it would all play out. Gotham starts right after an adolescent Bruce Wayne’s (David Mazouz) parents are murdered before his very eyes. We all saw that scene play out in Batman Begins plenty of times so I like how Bruce’s parents and the robber intentionally hammed it up for this iconic moment. After a season I am not yet won over by childhood Bruce on the show as he mostly bounces episodes from being insecure and afraid to showing signs of being the gung-ho detective crime fighter he will eventually become, but unfortunately Mazouz is not really all that convincing in either role. His scenes are made tolerable with an awesome supporting performance from Sean Pertwee portraying his loyal butler Alfred as he takes on the role of his mentor. Young Batman also is accompanied by young Catwoman (Camren Bicondova) throughout this season, and Camren does a far more believable job as childhood Selina than David does as childhood Bruce.

The main star of this season though is newly transferred detective, Jim Gordon (Ben McKenzie) as he works his way up the ranks through the Gotham Police Department through a flood of corruption and rampant crime. His partner is detective Harvey Bullock (Donal Logue), and I really like how it took several episodes for ambitious do-gooder Gordon to win over the part-rugged, part-corrupt and part drunk Bullock. The two have a really good chemistry on screen, and I thought they play off each other well through most of the season. This could not be a Batman-themed show without villains, and Gotham has plenty of them as we see the rise of the Penguin (Robin Lord Taylor) and the season-long transformation of the Riddler (Cory Michael Smith) throughout this season. Gotham crime lords Falcone (John Doman), Fish Mooney (Jada Pinkett Smith) and Maroni (John Doman) are also constantly at each other’s throats for territorial dominance of Gotham.

I really liked how the Penguin and the Riddler are handled throughout the season. Penguin has a far more fascinating arc as he works his way up as a low level goon in the season premiere to the king of Gotham by the finale. Riddler is more of an entertaining quirky side character most of this season. That is fine however as I really like how you gradually see him open up and embracing the Riddler persona in the season’s final episodes. Maroni, Falcone and Mooney’s big crimelord triangle has some lulls in this season with a few too many backstabs and alliances happening to keep track of, and I got the feeling the writing team needed a break in the latter half of the season as they gave Gordon and Bullock a new foil with a throwaway serial killer to chase after for three episodes as a temporary break from all the gang warfare going on in Gotham.

Mooney’s character also has a far-fetched side story that transpired for several episodes where she is taken hostage in a way you just have to see play out for yourself to see how ridiculous it is, and whenever that side story reared its head it took me out of an episode. Finally, Gordon’s girlfriend Barbara (Erin Richards) has quite the fluctuating story arc throughout the season. There were a couple points where it seemed like they were pulling random plot points for her out of a bucket for shock value sake alone, but by the end of the season I somehow accepted her as an unpredictable psychopath and am intrigued where they go with her for the next season. Not an all-star season by any means, but Gotham hits more than it misses, and I am glad they are keeping up with the dark, gritty tone in the same vein as the Dark Knight trilogy and I will definitely stay on board for season 2. Gotham Season 1 Grade – B+

The Flash - It took me a little longer to get won over by The Flash then Gotham, but by the end of both of these debut seasons I far preferred the story of Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) over Bruce Wayne & Jim Gordon. Flash takes place in Central City, where a freak explosion in the season premiere transforms Barry Allen into The Flash. This freak accident also conveniently transforms a bunch of hoodlums into the painful villain of the week trope I despised off older superhero TV shows like Louis and Clark and Smallville. The creative team behind The Flash probably got this vibe too as the villain of the week thankfully took more of a backseat in most episodes, as The Flash does a far better job focusing on the key season-long crime of who killed Barry Allen’s mother and the mystery of The Flash’s primary antagonist for the season, The Reverse Flash (Tom Cavanagh).

The Flash has a strong team at his side with his fellow STAR Labs scientists Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker) and Cisco (Carlos Valdes) to lend him some fancy new tech and gadgetry to combat his latest villain. I love the cheesy nature on each episode on how Cisco loves coming up with pun-cringing nicknames of the weekly villain as the perfect cover to stay true to their comic book origins. Barry’s adopted father, Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) steals the show with an awesome supporting performance as a badass detective always by Barry’s side to lean on with some fatherly advice or to assist in the field in taking down the bad guy. By the end of the season, I was surprised I did not mind the weekly villains as much, and I was also surprised out of the amount of special effects and CG they were able to pull off on this weekly network show.

I have never seen an episode of Arrow before, but since both Arrow and The Flash are DC characters and both are on the CW, there are a few episodes where the Arrow’s cast guest stars on The Flash. It only happens a few times so it is not that distracting, but by the end of the season CW accomplished their goal of making me want to know more about the Arrow cast and now I want to start watching that show too. Both Gotham and The Flash have strong first seasons for new superhero shows, but The Flash won me over more with better storytelling in both the small and big picture. The Flash is more lighthearted than Gotham, but knows when to get serious with several, well-earned powerful moments that had me completely glued in to the show, and Gotham did not quite hit those marks unless it was going for shock value moments for the sake of shock value. If you have to pick one superhero show to start up this year, definitely go with The Flash. The Flash Season 1 Grade: A

Agent Carter - Here is the final new comic book themed TV show I watched this year. Agent Carter picks up a year after the first Captain America film left off. It is a year after Captain America vanished into a glacier in 1946, and while Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) may have been his high-ranking CO during World War II, she winds up demoted to secretary duties for the SSR (Strategic Scientific Reserve, a precursor to SHIELD). Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper) also guest stars on this show, as he is accused of treason right off the bat and so it becomes Peggy’s duty to clear his name throughout this abbreviated season.

Assisting Peggy throughout the season is Howard’s butler, Jarvis (James D'Arcy), who provides some much needed comic relief to this show and SSR detective Daniel Sousa (Enver Gjokaj). I am very conflicted about how I feel about this show. After a few episodes I wanted to give up on it, but then I discovered it was initially an eight episode mini-series as ABC was not even sure they would green light a second season until shortly before the first season wrapped up. The main over arching story is decent enough filled with Peggy going undercover in quite a few unique outfits in order to discover the secrets Stark was up to that got the government on his tail, and each episode has an enticing cliffhanger cluing me into the greater story at play. However, I could not help but feel Agent Carter had a low budget with disappointing action and special effects compared to Gotham and especially The Flash.

Unfortunately, Agent Carter gets bogged down by network television regulations that took me out of the show. Too many times the show strayed that fine line of being preachy with some of its messages. I get and respect that, and I understand it is part of the setting, but Agent Carter gets a little heavy handed with it throughout the season. I see that it makes sense as a theme given the setting, but a few episodes in it got grating as I already got the message wherein Peggy does a far better job getting the message across rather bluntly in The First Avenger film, and it is just too heavy handed here. Another nitpick is I watched a little too much Mad Men to where I got use to everyone, and I mean nearly the entire cast smoking in period pieces before 1960. Not a single character smokes in Agent Carter, and while I get not wanting main characters to not smoke for positive influence, it was another minor nitpick I had that gnawed away at me throughout the season that there was not even a smoky haze in the background to establish a realistic setting. Later, I learned there are FCC regulations on network shows that prohibit the use of smoking all together, and that Mad Men has it because it is a cable show and not major network television. Again, this is more on me for being a bit of a nut when it comes to little things like this, but combine this with a few other factors and it all combines in a disappointing debut season. Agent Carter Season 1 Grade: C

Behind the Mask - I am glad Hulu brought back their original series for a second season. If you missed the first season, it is a reality show in the lives of four sports mascots. This season brings back my favorite mascot from the first season, Tux the Penguin (Chad Spencer) of the AHL’s Scranton Penguins. This season’s high school mascot is The Tiger from Gilbert, Arizona (Navey Baker). The pro mascot is San Francisco Giants’ Lou Seal (Joel Zimei). The fourth mascot is a freelance mascot-for-hire, Chris Hall.

Chad has many hits and misses for his career transpire throughout the season that are fascinating to watch develop as he aspires for a pro-level job so he can afford to spend more time with his kid that lives across the country. Joel is a hoot to watch, as like Kevin who played Bango the Buck from the first season, he is living the dream and seeing him stay as passionate as he does about maintaining his mascot records through a new child and a Giants’ playoff run is a joy to endure. Navey is the first woman mascot on the show, and that brings a whole new dynamic to the show as she competed in mascot competitions and went through the indescribable journey that is senior year. Chris was a unique case since he is autistic and watching him succumb and overcome his autism was both difficult and joyous to watch, especially since he has a strong family supporting his mascot endeavors throughout his very emotional highs and lows. I think I will give the slight nod to the first season’s cast, but the second season of Behind the Mask was still an entertaining watch. Behind the Mask Season 2 Grade: B

ESPN 30 for 30 2014-15 Season - I love the ESPN 30 for 30 line of documentaries that have been around since 2009. I bought the original box set of the first 30 films, and now that Netflix puts almost all of them on streaming about a month or two after they originally air makes it super easy to keep up. I have seen around ten of them from the past year, and not a one disappoints. It seems a running theme on them the past year was collegiate era teams as there are documentaries focusing on the college careers of Christian Laettner, Randy Moss and Brian Bosworth. I remember a lot about Moss’s controversial professional years so learning about his college career was an eye opener for me. I recall hearing all types of craziness on how Boz was a riot for the Sooners before he flamed out in the NFL, and ESPN made a great production where Bosworth and his son relive his memories as he digs out memorabilia from a storage unit.

Laettner’s career as one of the best college basketball players is incredibly in depth and filled with interviews from many coaches, teammates and rivals. Part of me wished they detailed his NBA career a little more instead of just giving it a couple minutes at the end as more of a prologue than anything, but his high school and Duke coverage that makes up a vast majority of the feature is absolute gold. Requiem for the Big East is a thorough look at the rise and fall of the Big East conference in basketball. Also make sure to check out one of the newest 30 for 30s that hit Netflix called Of Miracles and Men, which is all about the Russian perspective of the historic 1980 Olympic hockey championship game. We are all use to the feel good USA side of the story, especially through the classic sports film, Miracle, but Of Miracles and Men brings a fresh perspective this time around from the losing side of the ice…which happened to belong to a Communist superpower at the time that resulted in quite the documentary. ESPN 30 for 30 2014-15 Season Grade: A+

The Following - The third season of The Following just wrapped up under a week ago. As I mention in last year’s recap, this was a bit of a guilty pleasure show because of how over the top it was with the crazy cults that Ryan Hardy (Kevin Bacon) had to go up against in the first two seasons. The writers probably thought having Ryan go up against a cult for a third straight season would have been pushing it, so instead he faces a small ensemble consisting of past and new foes.

It was cool seeing some old faces brought back, but they just were not as effective as the illusive Joe Carroll (James Purefoy) from the first two seasons. Carroll has a smaller role this time around as he is on death row waiting to atone for his crimes, but he does have one last ace up his sleeve that resulted in my favorite episode of the season. This third season of The Following attempts to establish a new villain as the primary antagonist in the form of Theo (Michael Ealy). He proves to be one not to mess around with and the show goes to great lengths to establish him as a legit threat as he easily surpasses the twins from the second season, and almost but not quite hits the levels of Carroll as the ultimate bad guy.

I was not a big fan of Ryan’s new girlfriend for this season, Gwen (Zuleikha Robinson), as the moment I saw her I kept thinking she was going to turn on Ryan on every episode. The fact that she did not have a secret cover was more of a surprise than anything. Ryan was awesome to watch as the recovering alcoholic you unfortunately knew was going to crack and go off the wagon when everything on the case proved to be too much for him to cope with. Watching his two close colleagues Mike Weston (Shawn Ashmore) and his niece, Max Hardy (Jessica Stroup) repeatedly fail to be trusted friends for him to lean on has become an accepted and amusing trope of the series as Ryan ignores them and proceeds to do things his own way that are well, not by the book. This was still another crazy fun season of the show, but both previous seasons have higher moments that this one could not live up to. The Following Season 3 Grade – B+

Ok, I have rambled on about my television viewing habits from the past year long enough. Props if you have made it this far! I want to hear your thoughts and recommendations from past year of television please comment below or send me a tweet @Gruel.

Previous TV/Web Series Blogs

2013-14 TV Season Recap
Angry Videogame Nerd Vol 7
Mortal Kombat: Legacy - Season 1
Seinfeld Final Season

WWE Network's New Primetime Specials

It has been awhile since I discussed what has been happening on the WWE Network here. Since I last wrote about WWE Network when they ran Warrior Week a year ago shortly after his death they have been my usual go to destination for a few of their programs. Usually I watch the weekly NXT episode and the new monthly PPV on the WWE Network every month, but every several weeks they will have a new original series lined up or a new original special that will catch my eye and I will tune in. I also will randomly turn on the live stream(imagine it as turning on WWE Network as it was just a TV channel and not a on demand streaming service) just to see whatever it is they are deciding to air at that particular moment.

Since Wrestlemania 31 however, they have been hyping up new original weekly primetime programming. It is essentially one new original show each weeknight in primetime. This started a couple weeks ago and I thought I would chime in with some quick thoughts to let you know which shows are worthwhile. Before I do that I will give some quick shoutouts to some other original WWE Network programming I have caught this past year that I recommend checking out. First, absolutely make sure to check out the two part ECW Exposed special where Joey Styles and Paul Heyman address the many controversies of ECW’s past and answers tweets from the fans. It is a very entertaining and informative watch, and the two even shed some new light on past lingering questions where the statute of limitations has now expired. The WWE Countdown series continues to be a good guilty pleasure as I am a sucker for a countdown show, and somehow WWE has continued to release a new episode or two a month in this series since the WWE network launched. It is starting to get unintentionally funny for the interviews they are using for this show as you can tell they are mixing in very recent interviews with newer WWE talent and recycling older interviews when wrestlers were in much older gimmicks, like Cody Rhodes rocking that sweet mustache and when the Matodores were simply Epico & Primo.

For any fan old or new, make sure to check out the 20 episode, The Monday Night War mini-series. I 100% agree with what someone online recently referred to this series as a great starting point for newer fans who have never witnessed this time in wrestling before as a perfect way to get caught up on one of the best must-see eras in wrestling history, and immediately follow it up with Wrestlemania X7 which transpired several days after WWE bought out WCW. Even if you lived through this, it is a great way to get refreshed on the era, and each episode has an interesting theme or angle it brings to the table like focusing on key Monday Night Way players like Bret Hart, Chris Jericho, ECW, the Cruiserweight Division and Mick Foley. I am only about halfway through this, but every couple of months I find myself catching up on an episode or two. Just keep in mind The Monday Night War has a little bit of WWE revisionist history woven into it as you are definitely getting WWE’s side of things and if you want the complete story make sure to do your proper research, but for the most part it is pretty close to reliving how that era went down.

WWE recently started a new monthly series, simply called WWE 24. They are essentially mini half hour documentaries on a certain superstar each month. The first two episodes that came out earlier this year focused around Daniel Bryan and Booker T, and were great quick retrospectives on their entire career. Of course I would have preferred them getting the traditional in-depth, two hour DVD documentary treatment, but this is a neat quick peek and I like how it was utilized last week for its latest installment focusing on Roman Reigns. Since he has only been around two and a half years, this feature on him seems far more comprehensive focusing on his coming up in the Samoan family heritage and his quick college football career before making the transition to WWE. I like the first half of the special focusing on his and coming years, but unfortunately, the last half after him breaking apart from the Shield faction comes across as a feel-good, please cheer for Roman Reigns propaganda special, which I will absolutely refuse to do until he naturally earns the fans respect in the ring.

So the WWE 24 installment of Roman Reigns was a noble effort and quite well made, but came across a little too heavy handed for my liking on WWE Network’s new primetime programming block. Next up is Jerry Springer’s Too Hot for TV. I completely forgot Springer is still around these days, and WWE scooped him up to host this new series where he introduces and narrates over edgier segments from WWE’s past, most notably from the Attitude era. It is what I expected with Springer cracking lame one-liners as he introduces each segment. Some segments I completely forgot about were a hoot to relive, like Batista randomly hooking up with Melina to motivate him in a Smackdown main event match up, but for the most part it is rehashing popular edgy segments in a new fashion I have seen many times before. It has already lasted two episodes, and I will be surprised if it will last another two since you can probably get a better fix of the Attitude era from the various Countdown and Monday Night War episodes instead.

Another new series WWE started this year where episodes mostly release in a monthly format is a ‘podcast interview’ series. The first two episodes of these were conducted by Steve Austin, who hosts his own weekly podcast where on the Network he interviewed Vince McMahon and then Triple H. I never got the feeling Steve’s questions were rehearsed and the interviews were part reminiscing about the past, part current questions on behind-the-scenes of the current state of WWE, and part hard hitting questions. Austin had a great mix of questions and I liked his interviews with Vince and Triple H. Vince kind of rambled on endlessly about a couple of odd tangents, but then again he is nearing 70. Triple H is more on the ball and has a fitting and well spoken answer for every easy and hard question Steve tosses at him. It looked like Austin’s schedule must have been booked going forward because another former wrestler-turned-podcaster, Chris Jericho takes over afterwards. First he interviewed John Cena last month, and during primetime week he interviewed Stephanie McMahon.

Jericho is not necessarily as hard hitting as Austin, and is more about reliving stories on the road and past storylines that played out before with his guests. I did notice however through his playful chumminess with both Cena and Stephanie in those interviews, he will somehow slyly sneak in a legit hardball question and phrase it in an innocent way where he got actual answers from both Cena and Steph. If Austin would have straight up asked the hard questions as he did in his interviews with Vince and Hunter I feel Steph and Cena probably would have gave us a rehearsed, PC answer or just ignore the question all together. I prefer Austin’s interviews over Jericho’s because Austin is a preferable straight up interviewer and has a better variety of questions where Jericho can be a little irritating at times as he has a very punch-worthy smile as he indulges in the past on camera antics a bit too much with his guests. Jericho’s interviews are still worth going out of the way to listen to, but if you only have time to check out a couple on the WWE Network I recommend Austin’s first. Also make sure to check out both Austin’s and Jericho’s respective podcasts as both are great listens and they have a great array of past and present wrestling stars.

WWE smartly cashed in on all the hype to the recent boxing superfight between Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao by airing a special on the Floyd Mayweather/Big Show match at Wrestlemania XXIV in 2008. I thought they were just going to be re-airing the match in its entirety, but instead they went the full mile and showed highlights of the entire feud and compiled old/new interviews from everyone involved in making the match possible such as Mayweather, Big Show and Triple H. If you never saw that match in its entirety I highly recommend you do so as I vividly recall back then it having potential to be a Butterbean/Bart Gunn-esque train wreck, but instead wound up as one of the best and most entertaining celebrity matches in WWE history. I ended up catching the Mayweather/Pacquiao fight at a local sports bar, and I watched this special earlier in the day and it only helped me get hyped up for the big fight. That fight may not have been the KO slugfest that everyone wanted, but I still got mesmerized in the ‘sweet science’ of it all as Mayweather put on a smart, defensive counterpunch clinic that night.

WWE brought its once popular annual summer tournament, the King of the Ring out of hibernation and made the semi-finals and final match a one hour WWE Network exclusive special on primetime week. Last time we saw the King of the Ring tournament was in 2010 with Sheamus winning, and then going on a losing streak as ‘King Sheamus’ and the WWE going on for years later saying that winning the tournament was more of a curse than a blessing to the last couple of winners. WWE decided to rewrite history by taking five years off airing the tournament and hoped everyone forgot the likes of Mabel, Billy Gunn and Ken Shamrock winning the crown and then re-emphasized how the tournament was a big launch pad to the careers of Steve Austin, Triple H, Bret Hart and Brock Lesnar and boom, instant prestige! It aired the quarter-finals on RAW, and the next day on the Network we got Neville vs. Sheamus and Bad News Barrett vs. R-Truth, and the night finished off with the winners of those two matches. The special was straightforward, with solid wrestling action in all three matches, and quick old school promos from the winners immediately after all three matches, capping off with the traditional King of the Ring coronation ceremony. I enjoyed the one hour special, but probably doing the tournament as a traditional 16-man bracket over a couple of weeks of qualifiers on RAW and Smackdown instead of a rushed 8 man tournament announced only a day before it transpired would have made it a smidge more memorable in the long run for me.

The highlight of the primetime week of specials was probably the one hour Mick Foley Cheap Pops story time theater special. I want to say stand up act, but Mick Foley keeps insisting throughout it is not a comedy act, and instead him doing a twist on sharing his war stories from his many years in and out of the business. I saw his stand up/story time act at a local club about a year ago and it was quite entertaining. He tells a lot of stories you heard plenty of times before if you read his books or watched his documentary, but hams up certain aspects in that vintage, self-deprecating Foley fashion for some nice laughs. Props to Foley for having a whole new act lined up for this special as I did not recall a single bit reused from when I saw him last year as his act here incorporates tales ranging from Tim Tebow, George Clooney, The Miz and wrapping things up by getting his son Mick Jr. on the act. I hope WWE has more Foley comedy specials in the future.

Finally I will wrap up with thoughts on another WWE one hour special, but one that aired on ESPN instead of the WWE Network, and that was a ESPN E60 special on WWE titled Behind the Curtain. It is rare that WWE gives this amount of all-access coverage to third parties, so Behind the Curtain’s surprise announcement and release a couple weeks ago was a very welcomed fresh look at WWE behind-the-scenes. It focuses on the NXT careers of Xavier Woods, Corey Graves and Leo Kruger/Adam Rose at the tail end of 2013 and beginning of 2014. It profiles how all three found their way into the NXT developmental territory and how their careers either shot them into the WWE main roster or in the case of Graves took an unexpected turn into an announcing career.

All three have a inspirational story to tell as Graves is battling a nonstop barrage of injuries and concussions to live his dream, while Woods is working tirelessly while wrestling to become the first WWE star to earn a PHD and Rose is trying his best after a floundering career as Leo Kruger and reinventing himself as an Austin Powers-esque playboy, Adam Rose to make an honest living for his wife and special needs child. I am surprised WWE gave ESPN this amount of access to show all three working out behind-the-scenes at the WWE Performance Center as they develop their on-screen personas and overcome hurdles as they try to make it to the WWE main roster. Adam Rose is the surprise standout of this as you see the man behind the gimmick’s real life struggles and you cannot help but feel sympathetic for what the man is going through. I can only give the highest recommendations to check out this brilliantly made look at three of WWE’s newest stars.

I am done rambling now about catching up on all the unique original content on WWE Network. I think it is a steal for $9.99/month and it is easier than ever to sign up now compared to a year ago now that you can cancel anytime and always get a free 30 day trial period and are no longer stuck to the six month commitment when the WWE Network first started. You are already getting your money’s worth from the monthly PPVs alone, having every WWE/WCW/ECW PPV on demand anytime is icing on the cake along with a ton of archived TV episodes from all these promotions and the many original specials mentioned here. I feel having new original content though is a big factor at attracting new eyes, and while not every new primetime episode I ran down above is a hit, it is definitely a step in the right direction and will keep me tuning into the WWE Network more frequently. I am still waiting though for WWE Movie night where we can have stars of the direct-to-video WWE films chime in throughout movies with anecdotes from the production or how horrible the film was in the form of old 90’s movie night specials like Up all Night and Dinner and a Movie. I am dying to hear Kane’s on-the-set stories of See No Evil 1 & 2, make it happen WWE!

Past Wrestling Blogs

Best of WCW Monday Nitro Volume 2
Biggest Knuckleheads
Bobby The Brain Heenan
For All Mankind
Goldberg: The Ultimate Collection
Ladies and Gentlemen My Name is Paul Heyman
Legends of Mid South Wrestling
Macho Man: The Randy Savage Story
OMG Vol 2: Top 50 Incidents in WCW History
RoH Supercard of Honor V
RoH Supercard of Honor VI
RoH Supercard of Honor VII
ScoobyDoo Wrestlemania Mystery
Superstar Collection: Zach Ryder
Warrior Week on WWE Network
Wrestlemania 3: Championship Edition
Wrestlemania 28
Wrestlemania 29
Wrestlemania 30
The Wrestler (2008)
Wrestling Road Diaries Too

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

To get hyped up for the Avengers 2 opening last night, I gave another viewing of two of the latest Marvel films in the days preceding it with the first Avengers movie and Captain America: The Winter Soldier. I have already seen the Avengers a couple of times since buying the home video release, so that will not be what I will be covering here, but rest assured, it still holds up quite splendidly. This was my first time busting out The Winter Soldier (trailer) on BluRay however, and I am glad I got around to watching it again because the Captain America films are easily my favorite of all the Marvel Studios movies.

This takes place after the first Avengers film where Captain America, aka Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) is heading up a squad of SHIELD operatives also featuring the Black Widow (Scarlett Johannson) on a routine infiltration mission. Not everything is on the level however as Black Widow and Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) have ulterior motives for their mission, and Cap’ accidentally stumbles upon some secrets he was not suppose to learn that leads to Fury, Rogers and Widow being on the run from a secret government conspiracy where seemingly EVERYONE IS CORRUPT!

It would not be a Marvel film without introducing some new heroes and villains. Anthony Mackie steals the show in his supporting role as Falcon. I love the opening scene of The Winter Soldier where Falcon and Rogers meet running around the Washington Memorial, and you cannot help but immediately latch onto Falcon’s organic charisma bursting off the screen. Of course there is the subtitle for the movie, The Winter Soldier, and this soldier (Sebastian Stan) happens to be the primary foil for Captain America here. The mastermind behind creating the Winter Soldier and the government conspiracy is Senator Pierce (Robert Redford), who is always one step behind Rogers, Fury, Widow and Falcon.

It is always a good thing to see Fury and Black Widow have dominant supporting roles in a Marvel film as I always welcome their presence. Unfortunately, I am not a fan of how they tweaked Widow’s character in some aspects here, as they amped up the TNA factor with her in this film, instead of having her be the awesome ass-kicker she was in Iron Man 2 and Avengers. It seemed a little too pandering to certain demographics and brought back some memories of the direction Wizard magazine was taking that got me out of reading that. Seriously, her act is so heavy handed here that Marvel practically apologized for it via a throwaway line from Rogers in Avengers 2 along the lines of “she was going through a flirty phase” and she was back to being the rightful ass-kicker she always was in Avengers 2 instead of being played up for sex appeal to teenage boys here.

The history of SHIELD is explored in this film, and I got a lot out of the scene where Cap’ and Black Widow inspect the very first SHIELD headquarters. The duo discovers an “algorithm” that is essentially an AI of the presence of former Cap’ foil, Zola (Toby Jones). It is kind of a cool moment, but I think the Marvel film/TV universe overrates this character by playing the mystique of Zola up a bit too much here and in his cameo in the Agents of SHIELD television series. He was a lovable dweeb in the first Captain America film, but after that I never really had another desire to see him again. However, the big discovery Zola reveals to Rogers and Widow helps set up the final act, where Falcon, Cap’ and Widow team up to take down the rogue SHIELD agents in a climatic final act full of big-budget, awesome special effects that you come to know and love out of Marvel movies.

There is a decent little smattering of extras on the BluRay. There is a quick-yet-entertaining gag reel, and there are a handful of deleted scenes, complete with director commentary from the Russo brothers. Anthony and Joe Russo team up with screenwriters Christopher Marcus and Stephen McFeely for audio commentary. I listened to the last third of their commentary, and found it interesting hearing how they had to keep the lore in check with the rest of the Marvel Universe and how they revealed a few ways they were able to work within the PG-13 parameters when the action heated up in the last act. I am always a sucker for lengthy behind-the-scenes extra features, and that was a shortcoming on this BluRay with only three features totaling up to 15 minutes. On the Front Line is a good 10 minute look dissecting the stunts and action choreography, while On Set with Anthony Mackie is a quick look at the flamboyant nature that Mackie brings to the Falcon character.

I may have nagged on a couple of issues I had with The Winter Soldier, but ultimately I am splitting hairs over yet another great comic book film from Marvel Studios. The First Avenger is a great origin story and is a perfect tribute to vintage, World War II era-Captain America, while The Winter Soldier perfectly evolves the character into a contemporary setting. I hope I did not dive into spoiler territory a little too much here for those who have not seen it, but rest assured I made sure to stay tight-lipped about the films’ biggest reveals. I have talked to other friends and peers who swear more by the Thor and Iron Man films, but the Captain America movies are still my favorite Marvel Studios films, and I am already counting down the days until the third Captain America film, Civil War hits next year.

Other Random Backlog Movie Blogs


3
12 Angry Men (1957)
21 Jump Street
Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie
Atari: Game Over
The Avengers: Age of Ultron
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
Bounty Hunters
Cabin in the Woods
Captain America: The First Avenger
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Clash of the Titans (1981)
Clint Eastwood 11-pack Special
Dirty Work
Faster
Field of Dreams
Fight Club
The Fighter
For Love of the Game
Good Will Hunting
Hercules: Reborn
Hitman
Ink
Man of Steel
Marine 3 & 4
Mortal Kombat
The Replacements
Rocky I-VI
Running Films Part 1
Running Films Part 2
ScoobyDoo Wrestlemania Mystery
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Source Code
Star Trek I-XII
Take Me Home Tonight
TMNT
The Tooth Fairy 1 & 2
Veronica Mars
The Wrestler (2008)