USA Today just posted some first images to some of the pilots coming out soon. I definitely wanted to share a few that I am personally excited about.

• Alcatraz - A crime drama involving our country's most infamous prison, Alcatraz, and the team investigating the mysterious re-appearance of its 1960s inhabitants in the present. Starring Sam Neill, Sarah Jones, Parminder Nagra, and Jorge Garcia. Produced by JJ Abrams. Elizabeth Sarnoff (Lost) wrote the pilot.

My thoughts - This sounds reminiscent of The 4400. I mean, there's got to be something weird going on with these inmates that reappear, right? Special powers? Mutations? Do they remember where they were? Will we go there? There are a bunch of possibilities. And I have read that Jorge plays a hippy geek that is their Alcatraz expert. I really hope he is used for more than comic relief/heart. It would be refreshing if his character was just a real jerk.

• Terra Nova - The show begins in the year 2149, a time when all life on planet Earth is threatened with extinction. In an effort to save the human race, scientists develop a portal allowing travel 85 million years back in time to prehistoric Earth. The Shannon family (father Jim, his wife Elisabeth, and their three children Josh, Maddy and Zoe) join the tenth pilgrimage of settlers to Terra Nova, the first human colony on the other side of the temporal doorway. However, they are unaware that the colony is in the middle of a group of carnivorous dinosaurs. Starring Jason O'Mara, Landon Liboiron, Naomi Scott, Alana Mansour, Shelley Conn, Stephen Lang, and Christine Adams. Produced by Steven Spielberg and Craig Silverstein (Nikita, Bones).

My biggest draw to this series is Spielberg producing. His previous television producing credits have all been strong. Although I never saw SeaQuest DSV, he's also produced Band of Brothers, The Pacific and Taken - all excellent. Silverstein has had various failed television projects that haven't lasted past a season. Does anyone remember The Inside, K-Ville or Standoff? However, he struck gold with Bones and stepped up the action with Nikita, which I hope gets renewed. So this thing sounds like Lost in Space crossed with Land of the Lost. I hope it's more thrilling than silly. I wonder if they are going to say that we are descendants of ourselves or something ridiculous like that...

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• Napoleon Dynamite - The continuing adventures of a quirky Idaho teenager and his oddball family and friends. This animated show will be voiced by all the original castmembers (Jon Heder, Jon Gries, Tina Majorino, Efren Ramirez, Aaron Ruell) and will be produced by Jared Hess (the movie's writer/director) and Mike Scully (The Simpsons).

I just know the fact that Napoleon is returning will elicit a lot of groans from people who are tired of being called a "frickin idiot" and are happy to not see "Vote For Pedro" everywhere they look. However, if you enjoyed it before everyone else ruined it (hipster), then I suggest you dust off your DVD and get ready because I think this show will be just as hilarious. It's admirable that they got all the original voices and it's being produced by Jared Hess, whose quirk I enjoy so much more than the overrated Wes Anderson (although I loved Fantastic Mr Fox). I'm sure Napoleon will fit right in with the crowd that enjoys Mike Judge's TV work. "Just follow your heart. That's what I do."

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• Locke & Key - Based on the graphic novel by Joe Hill, this suspenseful thriller follows a family in crisis as they move into a haunted house full of secrets, dangers and wondrous opportunities. Starring Sarah Bolger, Miranda Otto, Jesse McCartney, Skylar Gaertner, Nick Stahl, and Mark Pellegrino. Produced by Steven Spielberg, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman.

Saving the most anticipated for last. We're all fans of the ongoing comic series and enjoy the dark places it has taken us. One concern I have would be how much will the violence be toned down to please a primetime FOX audience. A previous concern now eliminated was the casting of Jesse McCartney. I look at this picture and I see Tyler Locke. Other actors I am looking forward to seeing are Mark Pelligrino as Rendell, Nick Stahl as Duncan, and Black Swan and Nikita's Ksenia Solo as Dodge. The pilot is in good hands with Mark Romanek, who just directed Never Let Me Go, another tale with a mysterious setting on the outskirts of town. Add in the fact that you have Josh Friedman (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) writing the pilot, I think we may have something special.

I hope you enjoyed this look at a few of the pilots I'm excited about. Please leave a comment below and give your thoughts on any of these pilots. Thanks!

This weekend was epic. I just wanted to do a quick post recapping all of the craziness that was Comic Con '09.

Comic Con Vid Cast will be posted later today, we will also be posting the full video of each panel later on in the week

[singlepic id=216 w=320 h=240 float=left]The night before we left for CC, I received a confirmation E-mail from the NBC rep that we were going to be able to interview Yvonne Strahovski (“Sarah Walker”), Josh Schwartz (Executive Producer) and Chris Fedak (Executive Producer) on Sunday before their panel. Rob, CB and I proudly entered the press room to pick up our press badges, etc on Saturday morning at approx 9am. As excited as we were, we decided to take a few minutes to figure out a game plan for the day's events. While we were there, we overheard one of the members of the CC Team  mentioning the fact that Daniel Dae Kim was now going to be making an appearance on Sunday to do a press conference. As quick as we could we contacted ABC to RSVP. Their contact was on location all day and would only be reachable via Email (Thank you blackberry!) Before we knew it, we were off to the first panel: Watchmen, Terminator: Salvation and Friday the 13th. **STAY TUNED: Full Videos of the panels will be available on the site later this week** Dave Gibbons was brilliant and very articulate. You can just see the brilliance in the man as he speaks, and McG (Terminator: Salvation Director) knows how to command a room. Derek Mears (The actor who is playing Jason in the up-coming Friday the 13th) looks as creepy with the mask off as he does with the mask on.

[singlepic id=219 w=320 h=240 float=right]After the amazingness of the Warner panels, we decided to check out the floor and do some man-on-the-street interviews. It was awesome to see how excited everyone was about CC. We had a few standard questioned we asked and then we dove right into the listener questions that we received on the forums, over E-mails and on twitter. The costumes were fun, there was a big buzz in the air. Saturday was completely sold out and people were EVERRRRRYWHERE (a la Cleveland Style).

After checking out the floor, it was back to the IGN theater for Pixar's first look at their next film Up. After seeing 5 clips of this charming movie, although I hate to admit it, I believe Pixar has done it again. With out going into to much detail, Up is the story of Carl Fredricksen, an elderly man who longs to escape to South America. As many of us have seen, he does this by moving his house using thousands of helium-filled balloons. He eventually finds out that he has a stowaway on board, a "scout" named Russell who is eager to get his "helping the elderly" badge. Along the visually stunning landscapes, we get to meet some more fun characters. After Up, we were shown the trailer for Surrogates, and dozens of male and female models who seemed as if they were only void empty shells, creepily came around to pass out business cards to each of us prompting us to visit a website, where we could get our own Surrogates.

After a long first day, we decided to get some R&R along with some food-ski.  We Celebrated the night away with some good friends and even did a little karaoke. Saturday night, I got an e-mail from ABC. 3 words: 11:30 room 1D05. We were in for the Daniel Dae Kim Press conference.

Sunday morning came all too fast, but we were pumped! The first thing on the agenda was going to be the round table Chuck interview. After some slight readjustment to the interview room, we were under way. Yvonne, Josh Schwartz and Chris were seated in the middle of the room (all of 2 feet in front of Rob, CB and I) where they fielded questions from the 10 or so people who were interviewing. Besides our own questions, we asked Colleen and Jay from ChuckCast if they had any they would like answered. I believe that between all of us there, we had most of them answered. Yvonne is even more beautiful in real life then she is on TV. She seems to sparkle ::sigh::

After that we ran off to what we thought was going to be the Daniel Dae Kim press conference. When we entered the room they asked us which ad medium we would be recording with, and when we said we would be filming, rather then us doing a round table discussion, they allowed us some one on one time with Daniel. We have the audio from the round table as well, which we might discuss on this weeks episode with special guest Sue. Daniel was extremely nice and even recorded an opening bumper for us!

[singlepic id=218 w=320 h=240 float=left]The whirlwind day continued on with the Dollhouse Panel at 1pm. One quick note here, people began to line up for Dollhouse at 9am. Those Joss fans are dedicated! Joss was amusing and whimsicle but he really didn't talk a lot about Dollhouse. The conversations ranged from that, to Buffy, peppered in a little Doctor Horrible and a bunch of Battlestar.

Fringe was the final panel of the day and of our visit to Comic Con. It was amazing to have the whole cast there[singlepic id=220 w=320 h=240 float=right] Originally, only a few of the actors were schedule to make appearances. You can really tell that they all get along well and really enjoy what they do. There were some great conversations including "games" that they have built into the series. Did you know that the observer is in every episode? Or that the pictures that appear at commercial breaks are actually a code? They also talked about the grossest thing they have had to deal with on set.

Overall, the whole weekend was amazing. Rob and I were up until approx 4am trying to edit and post out the video. I can't wait until everyone has a chance to see it. I hope that everyone has as much fun watching it as we had filming it.

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     Over all we met and connected with a lot of great people. Behind the scenes Rob and I both went through good times and bad, through it all the community on the forums and twitter were always there to back us up. I just wanted to say Thank you to all of the good people that have crossed our paths this past year. Everyone has really helped form our show into what it has become today.

     Looking ahead to 2009, we have a few ideas that are beginning to take form. Rob and I are going to continue inviting people to guest host. We have some great people lined up for '09 kicking off during episode 39 with Chris from Boston. Also making appearances in '09 will be Sue and Robin from Trivia War, as well as listener Rob.

     2009 can hold limitless possibilities, on the down side there is potential for a SAG strike, and analysts believe that the country will continue to be in recession for another year. On the up side, as of Jan 20th we will have a new leader who is inspiring hope in the country. I wanted to leave everyone with a paraphrased statement that John Norton from MetroBuzz made during Trivia War's 12 Days of Christmas "This year universally was a tough year, 2008 isn't going to be on anyone's list of best year's ever, forget about the tough year, we are hopefully heading in the right direction now, it's a new day think of '09 as a brand new day, forget the past and it's time to start something new."

Well, devoted MJphiles, we're having some technical voodoo problems.  So we're doing a lot of praying to the tech god, Megabitia, and hoping there's a miracle.  But you know how the gods are.  Sometimes they're just douches, so we may be faced with a re-recording.  Fie, fie, fie!

Stay tuned for Episode 36!

And stay even more tuned for our upcoming Christmas and New Years Episodes that are sure to get you into spirit!

Junkingly Yours,

Meg

It's been over five years since Metallica released their last album, St. Anger, in June 2003. Despite many favorable reviews, many die-hard fans were disappointed, noting the album's down-tuned guitars, lack of solos and tinny snare drum. The album also marked the last collaboration between Metallica and longtime producer Bob Rock.

Fast forward to late 2008:  Metallica's ninth studio album was released on September 10, 2008, titled Death Magnetic. The highly anticipated album features the current bass player, Robert Trujillo, for the first time (he joined the band shortly after St. Anger was completed). It's also the first Metallica album to be produced by Rick Rubin, who has previously produced albums for Johnny Cash, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beastie Boys, and many more.

So how is it you ask? As a die-hard Metallica fan, I could not ask for more. I can say without hesitation that Death Magnetic is one of the best albums Metallica has ever released...period. This easily ranks up there with albums like Master of Puppets and The Black Album. I'm also happy to report that guitar solos are back in abundance. The first single, "The Day That Never Comes," is an awesome mix of mellow, melodic Metallica and fast, heavy Metallica. It features great riffs, a catchy melody and a ripping solo. The song is reminiscent of the epic song "Fade to Black."

Other notable songs are "Cyanide," the fast, heavy "All Nightmare Long" and "My Apocalypse," which gives the album a powerful, thrashy end. "Unforgiven III" is the closest Metallica gets to a power ballad, featuring a piano intro and strings throughout the song. There's a great flow between the heavy and soft on the album. Death Magnetic even includes an instrumental song, "Suicide & Redmeption," something which has not appeared since the album ...And Justice For All, released in 1988. The whole album is infused with power and emotion; this album just sounds so big.

The lyrical themes on the album are pretty easy to discern. James Hetfield is pretty upfront with his feelings, sharing his views on things like death, sacrifice, forgiveness and his a troublesome childhood. They're not the best lyrics I've ever heard, but then again nobody really listens to Metallica for their depth of introspective lyrics.

There's one negative critique I can give to the album. It doesn't even have anything to do with anything--creatively speaking--on the album. Unfortunately the album, like many other mainstream albums, suffers from major compression. It just so happens that this time, the compression is very noticeable. For those who don't know, compression evens out the volume of the entire track to give consistent audio levels. While this may sound like a good thing, it is mostly used to make the track as loud as possible. You lose the dynamics of the songs; the drums are distorted on some of the louder parts of the album. It turns out the downloadable version of the album, available as Guitar Hero III tracks, were left uncompressed. A version of this uncompressed audio has already appeared online. Hopefully this is something that can be fixed on future runs of the CD and digital downloads.

After all these years, Metallica has still got it. They've proven they still have the speed, energy and creative power that they had back in the 80s. With Death Magnetic, they were able to tap into the style of their early days, yet still come out with a fresh and exciting take. If you're a Metallica fan, this is a no brainer - get the album immiediately. If you haven't really been digging Metallica's latest efforts, give Death Magnetic a try, you might just find yourself getting back into them.

Stay Tuned for:

• Raphael Saadiq's new album, The Way I See It and more new music news
• More movie and TV news
  

The web has been buzzing recently with news that America's favorite web slinger is coming back to the big screen in May 2011. It seems as though the usual cast will be back on the set filming the fourth and fifth installments of the Spider-Man franchise fairly soon (with the possible exception being Kirsten Dunst who has not yet signed her contract). So while the fan boys excitedly type away about potential villains rumored to make appearances in the next installments (my vote: the Lizard), I have decided to write a different post. I will not write about how much I hated the last Spider-Man movie. This will not be a manifesto about the director's fumble in inserting a character for which he didn't care at the cost of a beloved villain, a role which was regarded as a mediocre side note.

I will not go that route, however, but instead come hither and give heed as I send out my warning:  unless the next Spider-Man films gets a Nolan-esque reboot, it is destined to go down the route of the earlier Batman franchise.

POW! Cue the Spidey-Nipples!

Before I begin, let's just have a super fast Batman history lesson. Batman was first a comic book character. The comic was very dark similar to the current Batman films. Next came along the Batman TV series, starring none other than the Mayor of Cohogue, Adam West. pan>The silly campy TV Batman came to be when it was decided that Batman was too dark for children and they decided to reinvent him. The Batman films started off strong--a dark brooding character envisioned by the genius of Tim Burton. Gotham City was under siege by a deranged clown, dark and gritty. It seemed as if they went back to their comic book roots. As the studios continued, the franchise roped in bigger-named actors to play Gotham's dark knight. The plot lines got sillier as they developed movies for younger and younger audiences. The bat mobile looked like something out of a cartoon. Batman had more gadgets then James Bond and more crappy one-liners to boot. It was a joke, that is, until Nolan took the idea and put a new spin on the franchise.

That said, I am not saying that Spider-Man has to be a dark and mysterious character. I just believe that we deserve a better movie with less camp and more substance. And I don't believe that Spider-Man should have a serious tone like his darker counterpart; he's always been the wise cracking super hero we always loved. I just feel that it can be done in a proper way. But, just as we don't expect or want Batman to suddenly do the bat-tousie, and a Peter Parker dance sequence in Spider-Man 3 was uncalled for and inappropriate. The wrong turn they took with Batman was that they were trying to make him something he wasn't.

Just as the Post-Burton series, they attempted to change the world in which the character lived. They took a complex character and dumbed him down so it would be more child and family friendly. To do the same with our neighborhood spider, would be to leave us with nothing more than a paltry pile of pixie sticks and play dough--sugary, substanceless play things. Removing complexities (even unanswered questions) underestimates our ability to sympatheize--empathize even--the plights of these protagonists, these tortured heroes. There is also no need for us to revisit the same plot ideas,themes, and character struggles for the fourth movie in a row.

Doesn't anyone else see it??  I feel like I am taking crazy pills!

The studios need to have staff that works on the movie because they love the content, that they're fan boys and girls. The studio is creating the two movies together because it is cheaper and more efficient to do so. The consequence being that the fans will lash out and, lo, the wrath of the fan scorned.  Yes, yes, it is a big budget summer block buster that will make them tons of money, but somewhere along the line if they do not revitalize the series is will be nothing more than a joke, a travesty.

Please, step away from the script. Don't rush into making a movie for the sake of it. We have all seen the standard that has been set by Nolan & Co.; you can create a brilliant film, about a comic book superhero that isn't generic and childish. Don't be afraid, take chances and always remember who the real audience is.

Letting you know that we've been going through a huge overhaul and are in the midst of beginning to apply awesome initiatives that we're super excited about. So stay tuned for new (and improved) features on our site, much more posts, the Media Junkyard LinkBack! Mutual Ad Placement program, and all sorts of MJ Goodness that are sure to make you have a hearty, lasting MJgasm.

So Stay Tuned and Rock On!

Wednesday, August 7th, at the Nikon Theater at Jones Beach, four friends meandered through the crowds, which were buzzing with the anticipation of seeing The Stone Temple Pilots. Rumors of the the disastrous PNC Bank Arts Center performance loomed over the Tri-State Area. Many of the members of the crowd were in attendance at the PNC show where Weiland made them wait for hours before coming out. When he did finally grace them with his presence on stage, he struggled to make it through his own songs. Earlier in the week, Scott had crashed into his band mates' drum set, at which point they needed to pick him up and place him back at his mic. At Nikon, no one knew which Scott Weiland they would be seeing.

Earlier that evening, those concert-going comrades discussed the "good ole' days" of seeing big name acts such as Bush, No Doubt and The Foo Fighters playing in smaller venues. They yearned for good music; awe-inspiring performances that were ticket-worthy and made you feel liberated, inebriated with bliss, existential, and, above all else, satisfied.

From the moment the band took the stage the crowd knew they lucked out and they were in for the Rock show they hoped for... That night was the first time in a long while that they were able to see the type of show where memories are born.

The set list included all of the classics--Interstate, Plush, Cracker Man, Creep and Sex Type thing just to name a few. Weiland's banter in between songs was, at last, coherent and witty. He was sober enough. They put on an amazing show, for which is all that anyone could ask. The good behavior could be credited to the fact that it was bass player Robert DeLeo's son, Duke's 3rd birthday. For whom the crowd more than willing sang.

One of the highlights of the show was when the band broke into their own version of Redemption Song by Bob Marley. It seemed fitting and intimate, like an apology to the masses.

By the end of the night, the crowd was pregnant with appreciation for the old school Stone Temple Pilots.  They were greatly missed.  The crowd lumbered out of the stadium high on life (some high on other substances) and stuffed with the musical nourishment they had missing.  Those four friends made their way back to the car with smiling, fuzzy with that satisfaction that they had been denied one concert past.   This was the stuff that dreams are made of; stuff that left them feeling hopeful of a music industry still loyal to the interests of real music lovers.  --Chris

Check out our new, extremely nifty mailing list link at the top of our page!  Once you sign up, you'll receive all the Media Junkyard goodness to your email--fresh, good for you news, newsletters, episodes, and more!  We're excited.  And we know you are too. So check it out!  You never know what you'll find in the junkyard!

P.S. Stanley and Darryl from the office ROCK!

-NBC is expected to officially announce today that Jimmy Fallon will be taking the place of Conan O'Brien when he, in turn, takes on the reigns as the host of Late Night. Most likely, Fallon will step in June '09 when Conan takes over for Jay Leno.

-Boston Legal will be coming back this fall for a fifth season on ABC.

-Fox has renewed the 30-minute comedy 'Til Death for another season. Bacl to You, sadly, looks to be canned as it has not been picked up for a second season.

-The Game on CW has been ordered for a third season.

-The final two seasons of ABC's Lost has been extended by one hour each. This makes both seasons a total of 17 hours each. Most likely 15 episodes and a two hour finale, but don't be surprised if Lost changes it up a little. Part 1 of Lost's season 4 finale , "There's No Place Like Home," will air May 15th and part 2 and 3 will be airing May29th.

After the Panel Rob and I were able to sit down with Jason and Grant to ask them a few more follow up questions. We were also able to find out their true feelings about a certain paranormal show which happens to run on A&E.

The Spirit is a film based on the comic book by Will Eisner, it is being directed by Frank Miller ( The 300, Sin City) the cast will include Gabriel Macht as the title character, Eva Mendes, Samuel L Jackson and Scarlett Johansson. Frank and Eva were both on the panel. They discussed the direction in which the film is going to go, Eva Mendes talks about her role in the film and they have a Q&A session.

Star Wars was the first topic of discussion they showed clips from new Star Wars video game: The Force Unleashed they also played some interviews pertaining to the creation of the game. Next Sansweet brought out Seth Green and Matthew Senreich the creator of the Robot Chicken: Star Wars special. The interview with Seth and Matt, tells of the origins of both Robot Chicken and how they came to create the Star Wars special. Finally Sansweet showed clips of the new Star Wars: The Clone Wars film. He also spoke about the series that will air on Cartoon Network and TNT shortly after the movie release.

Sansweet then went on to talk about the Indiana Jones franchise including: The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones, Lego Indiana Jones and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones has another series of DVD's releasing soon, they are also planning on releasing a special edition of the original Indiana Jones films. They showed footage of Lego Indiana Jones and the trailer for the upcoming Indiana Jones film.

Wall-E like most Pixar films is jam packed with amazing animation. The film itself seems to have very limited dialog with the film surrounding a small trash compacting "appliance" named Wall-E and his mis adventures. It was described as "what would happen if there was no one left on earth and someone left one of their appliances still on." Wall-E's adventures bring him to meet a bunch of friends including his cockroach friend, Eva and Mo.

The Prince Caspian portion of the panel was mostly a Q&A with Ben Barnes who plays the title character, William Moseley - Peter Pevensie, Trumpkin who is a new character in this film portrayed by Peter Dinklage, and also producer Mark Johnson. They made the announcement of when the third Narnia film will be released and they answered questions from fans of both the film and the books.

When people think of America, certain ideas come to mind; apple pie, the American flag and, of course, Baseball on an awesome spring day. A few of us went to Yankees stadium for the Yankees vs. Red Sox game on Thursday, April 17. Yes, the Yanks lost and they are morons for keeping Moose in for the whole game BUT this is not what the post is about. No no my friends, this post is about how ridiculous going to a simple baseball game has become.

I left from my office in lower Manhattan a little early on Thursday so I could make sure to catch the opening of the game. I don't go to a lot of games each season but when I do, I want to be there for the whole thing. With my messenger bag over my shoulder, I left my office, ready for a long weekend. We get to the stadium and wait on the ridiculously long line for security. Finally, it's my turn to get "wanded" and before the surly looking man even begins, he brushes me off to go talk to the man in the yellow coat. I go to talk to the guy and before I even utter a word, he begins "No bags allowed in the stadium." This is being said as a bunch of women all walk in with bags and the man behind me on the line is holding a bag full of what appears to be groceries. I simply asked why I couldn't bring in my messenger bag when other people were allowed to bring in bags. "No backpacks, no bags, your bag is too large, go bring it back to your car" he responds. Normally, I am fairly calm and even-headed so I figured logic was the next step. I told him that I didn't drive in and that I came directly from my office AND my bag was smaller than the bags that those women were coming in with so why couldn't I bring in mine. "You have to leave the stadium, walk two blocks and go to the bowling alley. That's where you can check your bag," he says. Ok, now I'm getting mad. I don't get it. I asked him once more, "what's the difference between what I have and what thay are bringing in?" That's when he drops it on me. "To be honest, the New York Yankees don't want men carrying purses, the largest bag a man can bring in is a fanny pack or one of those athletic bags with the spaghetti straps." First off, what is more gay than a dude with a fanny pack, and on top of it this douche is going to insult me and then use terms like spaghetti straps. WTF! So I loose my cool, ask to talk to his boss, at which time I go over then same reasoning I did with the first jackass security guard at which time he finally lets me into the game.

Finally the game can begin. I put the security incident behind me, the only problem was that there was something else behind me ... "That Guy." I'm not talking about the crazy fan or the heckler. In this case "That Guy" is the drunk asshole who has no idea what is going on around him, he just wants to yell and get attention for himself. It started out slow and easy "All F'ing Red Soxs fans are Fgts." As the game started to take a turn for the worse, so did he. "I don't even care, I am going to become a Mets fan," which would be followed by "All F'ing Firemen are Fgts." By the end of the game this steroid pumping Jerzy boy was just uselessly screaming. No words, just screaming like he was being eating from the inside out by bugs. I was half expecting to hear a "Hulk smash!!!" coming out of him. What happened to the American idea of Baseball and going to the game to have a good time? I feel like if I had children I wouldn't want to bring them to a game if they are going to be hassled and have to listen to some guy who can't control his booze curse and scream like a crazy person at the top of his lungs. With this being the last year of the old Yankee stadium, I can only hope that things for the future generations get better and not worse, and then people will have the decency to know that at the end of the day it's only Baseball.

     The Fuse party was back at Espace on 42nd.  We were there last for The Weather Channel upfront, where we were "shushed" and ate odd noodle off of grass (see earlier post for details).  We walked into the packed venue and found that the space was completely different.  There were models in bathtubs blowing bubbles (insert joke here), and the main bar was an ice sculpture carved out to look like speakers with real wiring inside.  In the main room there were windows suspended from the ceiling and an artest creating a mural on the wall.  The food situation was a little bleak but the drinks were plentiful.  The waiters and waitress (who apparently were also part time models) passed around trays of champaign with rock candy, these odd blue drinks which were painfully easy to drink and ring pops.  A warning to all reading this, combining those two drinks, beer, along with a few Grey Goose Pineapples is a dangerious combination. The masses were also given pairs of the "Kanye" sun glasses. 

     The main event of the evening was special guest Wyclef Jean who was sporting the newly shaven head look.  Wyclef rocked the house playing a mix of old and new matericals.  Midway through his set he had his sister share the stage with him to sing a very emotional gospel song.  Wyclef decided that he wanted a Long Island Ice Tea so his large scarey looking security guard lifted him on to his schoulders mid song and carried him over to the bar.  Towards the end of his set he reached out and grabbed our favorite Jewish friend Ms. Amanda, and pulled her on stage to dance with him.  All in all a good time was had by all, some more then others.  As the night wound down, Fuse was kind enough to get streach hummer limos for us all so that we would safely make it to our destinations.

In episode #19, Rob and I debated at length the merger of Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio. At the time of the recording, the The United States Dept of Justice just announced that they approved the merger. The approval only came after they decided whether or not there would be any harm to customers and that there would still be competition in the ad medium. The FCC still needs to approve the merger for it to go through, but in the mean time there are over 17 million subscribers hanging in the balance. While in the car the other evening with CB, Rob and Christine, the topic came up and once again everyone in the car went back at it. I thought it would be a good idea to post my thoughts on the conflict here, in a more organized fashion in comparison to the craziness of our show.

First and foremost, I think it's only right to just check out our definition of monopoly: A monopoly is the exclusive position or control of a commodity or service in a particular market where the company or group in control has the ability to manipulate the prices of said commodity or service. In my opinion, the key phrase to look at in that definition is "in a particular market." I believe that Blu-ray holds a monopoly over the high definition digital video disk market. The best example of this is that as soon as HD-DVD was no longer in the market to distribute HD-DVD players and discs, Blu-ray players increased in price. BUT that is an argument for a another time.

The current subscription cost for both XM and Sirius is $12.95. If the merger goes though I'm sure the first piece of business will be job layoffs and mergers. It will be to cut costs, but other than that the cost for the new satellite radio company is most likely going to increase. Sure they will have more subscribers than they did before, but they will also have twice the talent to pay. The cost might stay down in the beginning but either the quality / content will diminish and/or the costs will increase in the near future, forcing anyone who wishes to use satellite radio to pay more, since there is no other option.

The obvious rebuttal is that there are other ways to obtain radio. HD Radio and standard AM/FM Radio being the competition. So, in theory, the competition to a pay service is free. The difference is that the content is not the same. If I am in my car listening to 92.3 FM in NYC, unless their parent company owns affiliates in other markets, I would not be able to hear the same content nationally. This is the biggest difference between standard radio and satellite radio. I can be in California or in Charles County Maryland and still hear the same content on satellite radio. In addition, satellite isn't as limited by the FCC. It would be as if someone was to compare standard major network television to cable television. You are paying for the content not just the method of delivery. Imagine how it would be if there was only one cable TV provider, or even one satellite TV provider for that matter.

So is the Sirius/XM merger a monopoly? It's kind of hard to say that it isn't.

About a month back we decided to take our podcast on the road and do a show from Vegas. Being the Tech geeks that we are we deciced to fly Virgin America.

 We were excited to check out all of the cool features including the power outlets, mood lighting and the in flight chat. Mid flight they had to re-boot the system because they were having some issues with the satellite.

When they did we found out a nice little surprise. It seems that their in-flight entertainment system, "Red," is run by Linux. Thought that was a cool FF (Fun Fact) that everyone might enjoy. 

Chris Meloni also made an appearance to talk about his role in the first ever Nick made-for-TV original movie, entitled "The Gym Teacher." In the film, he plays a washed up olympic gymnast turned gym teacher.  In the movie Meloni is entered into a sort of "Gym teacher of the year" competition where he needs to get one of his lackluster students in shape. 

At the end of the show, Natasha Bedingfield came out and performed to represent the partnership between Nick and Sony Music Entertainment.   

The Weather Channel Upfront was a good time.  It was held at the very posh Espace, where we ate odd peanut flavored noodles from a platform suspended from the air covered in grass.  Gnarls Barkley was a hit.  They performed a 45 min set with a mix of their old and new material.  They made sure to let us know that their new album The Odd Couple "dropped" April 5th.   

Here are some pics (Sorry only had our phone cameras!) from the Nickelodeon and Weather Channel 2008 Upfront events!

This list has only approximations of how many episodes they will make and when they will actually return. How long it takes each show to be produced from script to finished product varies based upon what type of show it is, how / where it is shot and if they had any scripts already completed pre-strike. Our guess is that the networks are still going to shoot to have the new shows on air right about the time of Sweeps period, so in that regard the strike has not really changed much. ALSO there are rumors abound that the TV networks are going to extend their seasons until June, which would give some of these shows a little more time to get back into the swing of things. Hope you enjoy the list!

ABC’s Post Strike Plans

• Boston Legal
  • Only has one pre-strike episode which remains. They are expected to shoot 8 additional episodes to air in April/May.
• Brothers & Sisters
  • Expected to shoot 4 new episodes to air in April/May.
• Desperate Housewives
  • Expected to shoot 7 new episodes to air in April/May.
• Grey's Anatomy
  • Expected to shoot 5 new episodes to air in April/May
• Lost
  • Five pre-strike episodes remain. Expected to shoot 5 additional episodes to air in April/May. WOO HOO! I needs me some Lost!
• Men in Trees
  • Eleven pre-strike episodes remain, the first of which airs Feb. 27.
• October Road
  • Four pre-strike episodes remain.
• Samantha Who?
  • Three pre-strike episodes remain. Expected to shoot an additional 3 episodes to air this spring, likely after Dancing with the Stars.
• Ugly Betty
  • Expected to shoot 5 new episodes to air in April/May

CBS’s Post Strike Plans

• The Big Bang Theory
  • Expected to shoot 9 new episodes to begin airing on March 17.
• Cold Case
  • Expected to shoot 5 new episodes to begin airing on March 30.
• Criminal Minds
  • Expected to shoot 7 new episodes to begin airing on April 2.
• CSI
  • Expected to shoot 6 new episodes to begin airing on April 3.
• CSI: Miami
  • Expected to shoot 8 new episodes to begin airing on March 24.
• CSI: NY
  • Expected to shoot 7 new episodes to begin airing on April 2.
• Ghost Whisperer
  • Expected to shoot 6 new episodes to begin airing on April 4.
• How I Met Your Mother
  • Expected to shoot 9 new episodes to begin airing on March 17.
• Jericho
  • Seven episodes remain.
• Moonlight
  • Expected to shoot 4 new episodes to begin airing on April 11.
• NCIS
  • Expected to shoot 7 new episodes to begin airing on April 8.
• The New Adventures of Old Christine
  • Seven pre-strike episodes remain
• Numbers
  • Expected to shoot 6 new episodes to begin airing on April 4.
• Rules of Engagement
  • Expected to shoot 6 new episodes to begin airing on April 14.
• Shark
  • Expected to shoot 4 new episodes. Airdate TBD.
• Two and a Half Men
  • Expected to shoot 9 new episodes to begin airing on March 17.
• Without a Trace
  • Expected to shoot 6 new episodes to begin airing on April 3.

NBC’s Post Strike Plans

• 30 Rock
  • Expected to shoot 5 new episodes to begin airing on April 10.
• ER
  • Expected to shoot 6 new episodes to begin airing on April 10.
• Law & Order
  • Expected to shoot 5 additional episodes to begin airing on April 23.
• Law & Order: CI
  • Expected to shoot an indeterminate number of episodes to air in spring.
• Law & Order: SVU
  • Expected to shoot 5 new episodes to begin airing on April 15.
• Medium
  • Six pre-strike episodes remain. Expected to shoot 7 additional episodes for this season.
• My Name Is Earl
  • Expected to shoot 9 new episodes to begin airing on April 3.
• The Office
  • Expected to shoot 6 new episodes to begin airing on April 10. It's about time I was running out of paper.
• Saturday Night Live
  • Returns Feb. 23 with Tina Fey as host.
• Scrubs
  • Five pre-strike episodes remain and will begin airing on April 10. Up to four additional episodes may be shot; unclear whether they'll air on NBC rumor has it that they might go straight to DVD.

Fox’s Post Strike Plans

• Back to You
  • Two pre-strike episodes remain. Expected to shoot up to 8 additional episodes.
• Bones
  • Four pre-strike episodes are scheduled to begin airing April 14. Expected to shoot 2 to 6 additional episodes
• House
  • Expected to shoot 4 new episodes to air in April/May.
• Prison Break
  • One pre-strike episode remains.
• Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
  • Four pre-strike episodes remain.

The CW’s Post Strike Plans

• Aliens in America
  • Eight pre-strike episodes remain and will air March 2 to March 23 and April 27 to May 18.
• Everybody Hates Chris
  • Twelve pre-strike episodes remain, the first of which airs on March 2
• The Game
  • Four pre-strike episodes remain. Expected to shoot 9 additional episodes.
• Gossip Girl
  • Expected to shoot 5 new episodes to begin airing on April 21.
• One Tree Hill
  • Five pre-strike episodes remain, the last of which airs on March 18. Expected to shoot 6 additional to begin airing on April 14.
• Reaper
  • Three pre-strike episodes remain, the last of which airs on March 27. Expected to shoot 5 additional episodes to begin airing on April 22.
• Smallville
  • Three remaining pre-strike episodes will air March 13, 20 and 27. Expected to shoot 5 additional episodes to begin airing on April 17.
• Supernatural
  • Final pre-strike episode airs Feb. 21. Expected to shoot 4 additional episodes to begin airing on April 24.

March 17: How I Met Your Mother, The Big Bang Theory and Two and a Half Men - 9 Episodes each
March 24: CSI: Miami - 8 Episodes
March 30: Cold Case - 5 Episodes
April 2: Criminal Minds and CSI: NY - 7 Episodes each
April 3: CSI and Without a Trace - 6 Episodes each
April 4: Ghost Whisperer and Numb3rs - 6 Episodes each
April 8: NCIS - 7 Episodes
April 11: Moonlight - 4 Episodes
April 14: Rules of Engagement - 6 Episodes

The CBS dramas Shark, The Unit and Cane will remain on a previously announced hiatus to allow mid-season launches of Dexter, Big Brother and Jericho. Production will also begin again for the new drama series Swingtown which has not been scheduled yet.

NBC had also announced return dates for many of its sitcoms and dramas:
April 3: My Name Is Earl (1-hour episode)
April 10: 30 Rock, The Office, Scrubs and ER
April 15: Law & Order: SVU
April 23: Law & Order

Medium continues its current run and the network will announce plans for other series soon. In addition, NBC picked up two freshman dramas Chuck and Life as well as Heroes for the 2008-2009 season. NBC will re-launch all three series next year.

Any fans of Bionic Woman, Journeyman, Life is Wild or Big Shots? We hate to break it to you, but these shows are mysteriously missing from the tentative Fall '08 Schedules. These four freshman series have not been picked up and are not currently scheduled to go back into production. Hope you didn't get too attached.

Aside from those shows, everything else has at least a fighting chance. Here are some of our favorites and when you can expect to see them back on the air with brand new episodes!

• 24 - Most likely, we won't be seeing Season 7 until January '09. Sorry 24 fans!
• 30 Rock - Back in production, expected to complete 6-9 new episodes, which should air in late April/early May.
• Back to You - There are two episodes that have yet to be aired, not clear when production will resume.
• Chuck - Sorry, the season is as good as over. Look for new episodes in the Fall.
• CSI (all of them) - Back in production, expected to complete 5 to 7 new episodes, airing in April or May.
• Gossip Girl - Back in production, expected to complete 5 or 6 episodes, airing in April or May.
• Grey's Anatomy - Back in production, expected to complete 4 to 7 episodes, airing in April or May.
• Heroes - Season 3 will air in the Fall.
• House - Back in production, expected to complete 4 to 6 episodes, airing in April or May.
• How I Met Your Mother - Back in production, expected to complete 7 to 9 episodes, airing in April or May.
• Jericho - Started airing its seven episode season on 2/12/08. Future dependent on ratings.
• Lost - Started airing its season on 1/31/08. Eight episodes were completed before the strike. 5-6 additional episodes expected to be completed. May very well avoid any gaps.
• The Office - Back in production, expected to complete 7 to 9 episodes, airing in April or May.
• Prison Break - Two unaired episodes left. Not currently planned to go back into production.
• Pushing Daisies - Nothing new until the Fall.
• Reaper: Three unaired episodes left. Back in production, expected to complete 5 or 6 additional episodes, airing in April or May.
• Saturday Night Live: Returns live on Feb. 23.
• Supernatural - Two unaired episodes left. Back in production, expected to complete 4 or 5 additional episodes, airing in April or May.
• Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles - Currently airing. Four unaired episodes left as of this writing. Not currently scheduled to resume production.
• Two and a Half Men - Back in production, expected to complete 5 to 9 additional episodes, airing in April or May.
• Ugly Betty - Back in production, expected to complete 4 to 7 additional episodes, airing in April or May.

As you can see, many shows are resuming production right away, yet some are not. For now it is not quite certain what the fate of these shows will be. Some could end up back in production soon, while others will probably hold off until the Fall where they can have another shot at proving themselves without the threat of a looming strike. As we reported previously, ABC is considering extending their season into June to allow its shows to air a full season. If ABC decides to do this, it's likely that at least CBS and NBC will follow suit and do the same. Who knows, we may be able to have a proper season 4 finale for Lost after all!

Things may seem uncertain for now, but all will be clear soon. Upfront season is almost upon us. Will the major networks have their big Upfront Presentations this year or will it all be tamed? We'll let you know as soon as we know, but all we know is that we're anxiously awaiting for the invites to arrive!

For the full list of show statuses and more great media news, be sure to tune in to Episode 16 of The Media Junkyard when it is released on the evening of Sunday, Feb. 17th.

We know that the strike is not officially over quite yet and there have been no press releases or news stories about this. This is coming from the mouths of some very high level TV Executives. A source that would like to remain anonymous has spoken to both Jeff Zucker, President/CEO of NBC Universal and Ben Silverman, co-chairman of NBC Entertainment and NBC Universal Television Studio. Both Zucker and Silverman have stated that the Writer's Guild of America will be accepting the latest offer from the AMPTP and that an official announcement will be made on Saturday, February 9th sometime in the evening. Jeff Zucker is someone who would definitely know this information well ahead of time. I think it is very safe to say that come Saturday night, the Writer's Strike will be officially over and many of the WGA members will be back to work on Monday.

That being said, it is not quite certain which shows will resume production right away. Furthermore, on average, one episode of a television show takes about 4-6 weeks to be completed. What will this mean? Well, for shows such as Chuck or Grey's Anatomy that are currently off the air or running repeats, we will not see new episodes until mid-March at the earliest. For shows such as Lost that are currently running new episodes, it is a race against the clock to complete as many episodes as possible before the end of the TV season in May. It is projected that Lost will be able to produce 5-7 more episodes before that time comes. That means that we could be missing the last few episodes, BUT it has also been rumored that ABC might actually extend their normal season so that Lost and other shows can air their full seasons. This is by no means going to be a normal year for television. Expect the networks to pull all sorts of tricks to give their shows the best fighting chance.

Stay tuned to www.themediajunkyard.com and The Media Junkyard Podcast for all the latest updates!

Update:

It's absolutely CRAZY here. It is estimated that there are about 3 million people here for the parade.  We had some great views from our office which we have shared below. It's a really great feeling! Everyone has just forgotten life for awhile and instead are celebrating a great win! Even here in the office, we've taken a break from work and have been enjoying the festivities. Pride and spirits are high. It's a great day for New York!

Enjoy the great pics!!

1783 England and the US finally ended the "hostilities" between them

1789 Both George Washington and John Adams were voted in President and VP

1960 NASA was founded, and the beginning days of The Beatles

1968 The Beatles recorded "Across the Universe"

1971 Rolls Royce went bankrupt due to a bad agreement to supply airplane engines to Lockheed Aircraft

2008 The Media Junkyard Website is finally up and running and NASA broadcasts "Across the Universe" into outer space.

If you ask me, It seems as if Feb 4th should be held in a place of greatness. So here it is, our first entry ... The website is finally up and running, Rob and I couldn't be more excited. Here I sit listening to The Beatles in honor of their greatness, Ep 15 of our podcast is in the can and I can only look forward to great things we have planned. I apologize that this entry is going to be nothing more then a hodge podge of information. We will try to post here as often as we get some great media news info, or just some entertaining stories.

Tomorrow is the Giants Parade in lower Manhattan. Rob and I will be in attendance and posting pictures as quickly as we can, either via our phones or as soon as we can get to a computer in the afternoon. Make sure to check around 2ish for the pics.

There are a lot of rumors floating around about the writers strike. The trades are buzzing that it could be over as soon as this week. Once the head of the WGA and the AMPTP come to an agreement the next step is for the WGA to send out ballots to all of its members. The members then vote on it, and if the majority of its 10,000 members agree then a new contract is complete and the strike will be over. As soon as this happens Rob and I will be sure to release a Stray Dog Eps to let you know the details of the agreement.

I think that about wraps it up. Was it good for you? Everyone gets a little nervous their first time releasing their thoughts into the wild blue yonder of the internets. We hope you enjoy the site! Check out the links and the forum and let us know what you think!