The series finale of 24 had a lot of good points. Here are some my thoughts, in bullet point format:

• How great is Cherry Jones as President Allison Taylor? That woman can show emotion and the pains of being a national and global leader better than any other President that they’ve had on 24 to date. If they make a movie, I hope that she makes the cut to play the President.
• The confrontation between President Taylor and Dalia Hassan (played expertly, brilliantly even by Necar Zadegan) was one of the most emotion-packed, skillfully performed scenes on television during the entire spring season on any channel. This was the scene where President Taylor threatened to bomb the IRK into the stone age if Hassan didn’t sign the peace treaty later in the afternoon. Amazing, amazing work by these two extremely talented actresses. Brilliant.
• Oh, by the way, can anyone play the hateful, scorned woman better than Zadegan? Absolutely amazing performance. When she snapped at President Taylor that there was nothing else to say after the Russian President arrived, you could almost feel the thought of, “You filthy bitch,” ingrained in her words. That’s hatred right there!
• And what can you say about Kiefer Sutherland’s performance as Jack Bauer? Not only was be great on tonight’s series finale, but he played the most convincing anti-terrorist, patriotic American that I’ve ever seen on television. Sutherland should rest easy knowing that he has single-handedly created and dominated the anti-terrorist character that all future anti-terrorist characters will be measured up against.
• How surreal was the end of the first hour of the finale when Jack put a sleeper hold on Chloe O’Brian (performed by Mary Lynn Rajskub) and knocked her out? Of course, Chloe got her revenge by blasting Bauer in the upper chest before the CTU team came in.
• And I don’t know about you, but how great is Gregory Itzin at playing the weasel of the show, former President Charles Logan? That’s some good, scumbag acting right there!
• If I had to choose one person that made tonight’s series finale better than could have been expected, it has to be Cherry Jones. She slightly beats out the great performances put on by Necar Zadegan and Gregory Itzin. Absolutely wonderful job tonight. The way that you could see every emotion on President Taylor’s face throughout the show was a marvelous job.

Talk about a powerful final half hour of television. Between President Taylor’s withdrawal from the peace agreement, Charles Logan killing his assistant and then popping himself in the head, and Jack Bauer getting ambushed and kidnapped and then ultimately set free by President Taylor and Chloe – what more could you have asked for in an action-packed finale?! In fact, this finale was so packed full of storyline arcs and action that the two hours seemed to fly by in no time whatsoever.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that FOX deserves kudos for not piling on billions of commercials during tonight’s finale like ABC Television did with the LOST finale last night. Putting aside any differences that I have with the FOX Broadcasting Company (like the fact that they cancel shows too quickly – Family Guy or Arrested Development, anyone?), they do know how to create a good and proper send off for their shows once they’ve reached the end of their road. And part of that proper send off is not insulting the fans of the show with an inordinate amount of commercials.

Good job, FOX.

One of the last things that I want to say about this, the final season of 24, is how great of an impact the secondary characters had on this season’s show. Not only were regulars like Itzen and Rajskub excellent at their roles, but the introduction of Katee Sackhoff of Battlestar Galactica fame and Freddie Prinze, Jr. of preteen movies fame made great additions to the regular cast. And so did John Boyd as Arlo Glass. The one thing that you can always say about the folks at FOX is that when they’re looking for a computer nerd to fill in a seat at CTU, they know how to find the people with the right look for the job!

Another parting thought – as I said after last night’s LOST finale, I’m glad that this show is over because now I get an hour back in my life each week! Amen! Finally, any coincidence that 24 ended on May…twenty-fourth?! Ah, maybe that’s just the leftovers of last night’s LOST series finale! Anyway, what did you think of tonight’s series finale of 24? Good? Bad? Indifferent? Feel free to post your comments on the show!

In a move that qualifies as a shocker, Conan O’Brien has made a deal to return to television in a new late-night show on cable—not network—television.

The former “Tonight Show” host has agreed to start up a new show on TBS, the comedy-oriented cable channel in the Turner network lineup. The new show will start in November and play at 11 p.m. weeknights, teamed with that network’s other late-night show, hosted by George Lopez. That show, now at 11, will slide to midnight.

The news comes as a stunner because Mr. O’Brien was known to be in talks with the Fox network, and most predictions had him moving there in September or January.

TBS was not known to be in the picture. But Mr. O’Brien’s representatives had been quietly talking with that cable network as issues continued to arise with the potential Fox deal.

The move will surely be closely examined for its implications for the future of broadcast vs. cable television, with one of the biggest stars of recent years in network television abandoning that side for cable.

In a release accompanying the announcement Mr. O’Brien said: “In three months I’ve gone from network television to Twitter to performing live in theaters, and now I’m headed to basic cable. My plan is working perfectly.”

Mr. O’Brien begins his live concert tour here Monday night.

In the statement, Steve Koonin, the president of Turner Entertainment Networks, emphasized the change from network to cable:

“For decades, late-night TV has been dominated by broadcast television,” Mr. Koonin said. “Now, with a young audience and a growing late-night lineup, TBS is set to be the choice of comedy fans for years to come.”

What do you think? Could this possibly work out for Conan O’Brien? Cable channels are a little bit looser with their restrictions than network television so that could work in his favor. Also, with the 11:00pm start time there is a built-in lead against both Jay Leno and David Letterman. Plus, he’s pushing that miserable “Lopez Tonight” show back to a 12:00pm starting time, which will probably be good for everyone.

I guess we’ll have to wait and see how this whole thing plays out. All I hope for is that O’Brien beats the pants off of Leno…I can’t stand that arrogant punk.

Anyway, in case you haven’t been watching the Jimmy Kimmel Show, Jimmy has been giving voice to the hate that Hollywood has for what Jay is doing to Conan. In fact, after spending an entire show imitating Leno, Jay invited Jimmy on his show for some stupid segment that he does called 10 at 10. Well, Jimmy took this opportunity to absolutely destroy Jay Leno like so many in Hollywood have wanted to do since this debacle started. Take a look below.

How great is that? Jay doesn’t even know how to respond!

There is a lot to write about this particular issue. I could write about how one of my liberal professors is touting the White House’s opposition to FOX News strictly on ideological grounds. One could also write about how Chris Wallace from FOX News Sunday hit the nail directly on the head when he suggested that this White House is filled with a bunch of crybabies. Or one could write about how other news stations are sticking up for FOX. In fact, directly from that New York Times article comes this:

In a sign of discomfort with the White House stance, Fox’s television news competitors refused to go along with a Treasury Department effort on Tuesday to exclude Fox from a round of interviews with the executive-pay czar Kenneth R. Feinberg that was to be conducted with a “pool” camera crew shared by all the networks. That followed a pointed question at a White House briefing this week by Jake Tapper, an ABC News correspondent, about the administration’s treatment of “one of our sister organizations.”

Pretty respectable for the competition to honor the unfair treatment that FOX News has been receiving, huh?

However, I want to focus on two things regarding this issue – the White House’s intentional blur between what is news and what is opinion on FOX News and the game that the White House is playing with FOX News.

First, anyone who studies media or watches a great deal of CNN, MSNBC, and FOX News while reading a diversity of newspapers can tell you that there are only so many ways a company can report a story. When a tornado hits Kansas, you don’t often hear FOX News reporters saying, “A tornado hit Kansas today and the lousy liberals are to blame.” Just like you don’t hear any legitimate reporter on MSNBC blaming conservatives for acts of God. When it comes down to reporting events from around the world, you’re going to read or watch the same report no matter where you go.

However, when it comes to commentary, you’re going to get a divergent approach to “reporting.” Bill O’Reilly calls himself a “humble correspondent.” That’s part of his approach to opinion journalism and there is nothing wrong with that at all! O’Reilly takes a very traditional view on the issues, but that’s okay because he’s hosting a program that is rooted in commentary. Glenn Beck has a staunchly libertarian point of view. Now, those who are not well-versed in political ideology would suggest that Beck is a conservative, but he’s not. So the next time you hear a mass media report or read in a newspaper that Beck is a conservative, then you need to second guess that source of news. Sean Hannity, on the other hand, is a hardcore conservative and there’s nothing wrong with that, either.

FOX News clearly labels these programs as commentary and anyone who knows anything about social interaction beyond “Hello, my name is…” can tell that these programs are NOT news-based! The White House isn’t filled with dummies, they understand that these programs are opinion programs. However, their strategy is to lump the legitimate news departments in with these opinion programs to paint FOX News with a broad, anti-liberal, anti-Obama brush. They know that by doing this, there will be a certain percentage of the population that completely agrees with them and will eventually take over this fight now that it has been brought up at a higher level. It’s a shame that such easily influenced, non-critical thinking people exist to do the White House’s prolonged dirty work.

My second point is that the White House actually managed to do something that they hadn’t been able to do up until they began attacking FOX News, i.e. get the FOX News commentators to STOP digging into the backgrounds of Obama’s staff. Think about it. Glenn Beck single-handedly led to Van Jones’ downfall, which opened up the door for other media organizations to wonder what they had missed out on (read the New York Times article linked above). This, frankly, scared the hell out of the White House and led to them attacking FOX News. If the media is covering itself, then they’re NOT digging into the people who maybe shouldn’t be sitting around the table with the President, right?

Hopefully, people will begin to notice this on a large scale and begin to demand that their White House stop engaging in partisan attacks on the media and, instead, get back to the job of running this country.

New Jersey transportation officials say a year-old state law banning cell phone use while driving has resulted in nearly 109,000 summonses issued in the past 11 months.

That’s almost double the amount of tickets handed out during the previous five years for the offense.

A state law signed on March 1 last year makes talking on hand-held cell phones while driving a primary offense. That means police are now able to stop motorists just for talking on the phone.

Division of Highway Safety director Pam Fischer says the primary law is making a difference, resulting in about 10,000 tickets a month.

New Jersey is among four states and the District of Columbia that have made using a cell phone while driving a primary offense.

Alright. I call bullshit on this law “working.” What measure, exactly is being used to judge whether or not this law is working? Go ahead – go back and reread the article and tell me how we know the new law is working. Go ahead, I’ll wait.

Did you see anything? More tickets being written? Yeah, okay. And? What does this prove? Nothing!

I hate this type of crap because today’s society is so consumed with doing a million things in a day that it is a rare thing to read and critically review information that is presented to us by the media. This is the main reason why the mainstream media is garbage and there is a rising class of entertainment-as-real-news that is taking over the ratings.

Most people will read this post on My FOX NY and just read the headline and scan for a quote from someone official affirming or refuting the headline. In other words, there are probably masses of people out there who saw this bogus article and now, in passing, would comment that the cell phone ban in New Jersey is working. Let’s shed some reality on this situation…

Nearly everyone in New Jersey has a cell phone crammed in their ear while they are driving or their thumbs are going a mile a minute texting away in traffic. Don’t deny it, my fellow Garden Staters – you know that you’re guilty of this in the car. Don’t deny it! And that includes some of the worst offenders – our law enforcement officers!

Anyway, this cell phone ban is not working. And for the love of God, just because more tickets are being written does not mean that a piece of legislation is success! Just like most of the other traffic-related laws on New Jersey’s books, this cell phone ban is yet another way for local municipalities to raise more money off of the already broken backs of our overtaxed population.

In the mean time, check out New Jersey Carpet Cleaning for the best carpet cleaning in the Garden State!

Penn will be working with the Asian-American and arts communities, said Shin Inouye, a White House spokesman. (Penn’s parents are Indian-America.) His start date is not set.

Penn told EW: “I’m going to be the associate director in the White House office of public liaison. They do outreach with the American public and with different organizations. They’re basically the front door of the White House. They take out all of the red tape that falls between the general public and the White House. It’s similar to what I was doing on the campaign.”

I’m all for actors putting their proverbial money where their mouths are in terms of working in the benefit of the greater good when it comes to being politically active. That’s a fine and noble aspiration if you ask me, so I admire Penn’s willingness to give up a budding acting career to make a larger impact on the world. Yet still I find myself wondering what degree of impact Penn can have working with Asian-Americans and the arts community. Is there a great need for a dose of celebrity in that part of the American citizenry?

Part of my questioning about Penn going to the Obama White House has to do with the fact that I really enjoy House and the role that he played on the show! Penn’s character, Dr. Kutner, was an excellent addition to the cast and he will be sorely missed. However, like I said before – I like that Penn is willing to put his growing acting career on hold and stand behind his political beliefs. I wish him the best of luck.

The other channels – especially those morons at NBC – could learn a thing or two from FOX about how to put on a good show and (more importantly) how to reduce the amount of commercials during their broadcasts. For example, I find it extremely hard to get into NBC’s new show, Kings, when there are so many awful commercials scattered throughout the broadcast (incidentally, I think that this is what did in NBC’s Crusoe earlier this year, too).

Part of this problem lies in the fact that Lost creator, JJ Abrams, is no longer working on the show. This is typical of Abrams who is getting a reputation for starting a project and then leaving before the project is completed. I hope he doesn’t do that with Fringe on FOX because that’s becoming one of my favorite shows, too, but I digress.

My main problem with last night’s episode was that the creativity factor seems to be gone (or drastically reduced). For example, Benjamin Linus is plotting to get everyone back on the island and in the midst of his plan he walks into a butcher shop and, miraculously, the butcher lady knows everything and starts talking to Ben about his plan. What? Then Ben runs into a problem when Hurley gets himself arrested and it seems that he cannot return to the island. What does he do then? He walks into a temple of some sort which happens to be where some old lady appears to be marking the movement of the island. What?

Hardcore Lost fans would argue that finding out the answers to these questions is what this season will bring to the table. I disagree. Lost has proven that it won’t answer as many questions as it asks and with a set time frame on how many episodes are left in the series, I don’t think that the writers are creative enough to bring satisfactory conclusions to all of the open questions. As I was texting a friend of mine last night, I’ll begin to be pleased when I know the full story of the original Hostiles who eventually became the Others. Once we get that out of the way, I’d probably be less harsh on a random butcher lady being a key to Ben’s puzzle.

The writers need to be careful with the whole moving through time thing because it becomes very tiresome, very quickly. Nobody is interested in watching a show that you have to struggle to keep up with on a variety of levels. I’m not saying the show shouldn’t be for intelligent, quick witted audiences like Arrested Development used to be, but I am saying that the more aggravating thought you have to put into watching each episode, the less enjoyable watching becomes.

In the next episode, I need to see more about Daniel Faraday and more about how that secret room at the bottom of the island was accessed if the Asian guy who seems to be leading the Dharma Initiative didn’t instruct his team to get into the hole. I also want to know why Faraday was at the digging site so many years before Lost takes place. Has this guy been time traveling for a while? Putting that out there, I have to admit that it’s getting a bit repetitive to have an abundance of questions coming out of each episode of Lost.

The first season of Lost has to go down as one of the best seasons of television in history. It was dramatic, thought-provoking, interesting, and it kept you glued to your seat. The second season dragged a little bit and the third and fourth seasons were duds for a lot of fans. Last night’s opening episode for season five really tried to get back some of that aura that the first season had, but I don’t think it accomplished its goals.

Anyway, check out Jersey City Locksmith for the best locksmith service in the Garden State!

Fringe
This is the best new show of the season, bar none. The show is from J. J. Abrams (the guy who created Lost) and has a distinct “Lost” feel to it (more on that later). The use of John Noble as Dr. Walter Bishop was a great casting decision. Noble plays the sometimes crazy, but always intelligent Dr. Bishop better than anyone else could. He has that unique range in his acting where he can be completely serious or an absolute nut job. Good casting.

What is less pleasing about the show is the interplay between Dr. Bishop and his son Peter Bishop, played by Joshua Jackson. Peter Bishop is supposed to be this low-level playboy turned into entrepreneur turned into businessman or something. His character is supposed to have an air of arrogance about him and Jackson does a good job of bringing that out in his acting. But the writers have Peter constantly annoyed and aggravated at his father and it gets very old, very quick. In fact, I think it got old around the second or third episode.

Anna Torv is Agent Olivia Dunham, a member of the FBI who is charged with investigating events that may be part of “The Pattern.” Sound cryptic yet? Thank you, Mr. Abrams, for bringing some of your Lost thoughts over to Fringe! But that’s part of the problem with this show. And this is definitely an unfair statement, but knowing that J. J. Abrams is behind this show is scary because Abrams has a history of leaving shows and projects half finished. Case in point – Lost. As soon as he left Lost, it began to go downhill. I hope he sticks with Fringe because if he leaves, then this complex show might be doomed.

For now, though, I recommend checking out Fringe or at least DVR’ing it for future viewing. Oh, and BIG kudos go out to the FOX team for bringing us this show with limited commercial interruptions. As the show cuts to commercial, the viewers are told “Fringe will return in __ seconds.” The blank space is either 60 or 90. Imagine that – a great television show with limited commercial interruptions!

House
If Fringe is the best new show on television, the House has to be the best returning show on television. Since I started watching this show last year I’ve been hooked. It’s awesome! So far this season Dr. House, played by Hugh Laurie, has had to face his step father’s death and almost losing his best friend Dr. Wilson. The writers for this show are doing a great job of pushing along the basic storyline of Dr. House being a complete asshole to his co-workers and his patients, yet maintaining a certain air of super intelligence and coolness while doing so.

The latest episode saw “Thirteen” getting fired and rehired by House (and some explicit, yet enjoyable, scenes of Thirteen hooking up with another lady). The games that House plays with his employees and co-workers has been given a nice kick in the ass this season by the introduction of Lucas Douglas (played by Michael Weston) – a private investigator hired by House to spy on everyone.

Douglas does a good job of matching wits with House in the early episodes of this season. He and House become friends and Douglas becomes the doctor’s “on-call” personal investigator. The interaction between the two is fun to watch because it is written very much like a big brother/little brother relationship.

If you haven’t yet gotten hooked on House, then now would be a good time to start. This show is great!

Even more television reviews coming soon!

Some examples of the stereotypes…

FOX canceled Back to You – the news sitcom starring Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton. They put SO much promotional resources behind this show that you have to wonder if someone at FOX is finally going to get canned for wasting so much money. But this is FOX’s way – they start a show, give it two or three seasons (just enough time to build up a core fan base), and then dump the show. Idiots.

Then you have the brain trust at CBS who decided to cancel Jericho – again. If I’m not mistaken, CBS canceled Jericho last season and then was forced to bring the series back after tons of fan outrage. Hey, if that works, then I wonder why Arrested Development hasn’t been brought back by FOX yet!

Our friends at ABC canceled the Cavemen show. You know – the show based off of Geico’s advertising campaign. What a completely stupid…and I mean absolutely dumb…basis for a television show. ABC is only saved this time around because they are acquiring Scrubs from NBC. If you haven’t watched Scrubs, then you have to give it a shot. Lots of humor on that show.

The CW, which may have more problems that they’re not letting on about, gave up on WWE Smackdown! which will certainly go down as the dumbest move in this company’s short history. Why a dumb move? It’s the number one show on the network! I’m glad, though, that they’re bringing Smallville back for another season, but I’d like to see how they move that storyline along without Lex Luthor – especially in light of the large role he played in the season finale last night.

NBC is dropping 1 vs. 100, The Singing Bee, and My Dad is Better Than Your Dad. Good grief! Who gets fired for approving these shows in the first place – really? Alright, so 1 vs. 100 had some potential, but the game show scene is way over saturated right now.

Anyway, I guess there is still a chance that some of these shows will be brought back, but it’s doubtful.