TV Recaps Reviews

A former Confederate soldier seeks revenge for his wife’s death, determined to hunt down the men who killed her. Cullen Bohannon follows the trail of the murderers to the town of Hell on Wheels, a lawless, corrupt place inhabited by immigrants, outlaws, emancipated slaves, and lost souls. The town services the Union Pacific Railroad’s West construction of the first transcontinental railroad which is overseen by ‘Doc’ Durant.

AMC has produced another fine show with Hell On Wheels. This gritty post-Civil War Western set in the 1860′s has already been renewed for a second season. It is always good to see a realistic style Western that is done well and Hell On Wheels achieves this. The show covers wide-ranging themes of revenge, immigration, slavery, and the civilization of the West, making this show very watchable. The characters are interesting, and the cast is uniformly strong, with stand-out performances by Anson Mount as Cullen Bohannon, Colm Meaney as Thomas ‘Doc’ Durant, Dominique McElligott as Lily Bell, and Christopher Heyerdahl as The Swede. Common also gives a strong performance as freed slave Elam Ferguson.

Catch the final season one episodes of Hell on Wheels on AMC Sundays at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT. Check your local TV listings for more information.

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Adam heads to Rochester, New York to mentor NASCAR driver Joey Logano as he takes on the Sticky Lips Barbecue 5-pound Atomic Bomb Challenge. Joey must finish a double cheeseburger topped with spicy Rochester hot sauce that uses insanely hot habanero chilies, and a pound of French fries in order to finish the challenge in 30 minutes. Adam is concerned when he learns that of 200 challengers in the Atomic Bomb Challenge the challenge has never been defeated.

Adam’s first stop is Campi’s, known for their famous oversized bombers sandwiches. Adam checks out the kitchen where they are assembling these tasty sandwiches. The chef creates the steak bomber, adding sliced chuck steak to bread then topping it with sauteed mushrooms, grilled bell peppers, banana peppers, and onions, crowning the sandwich with Provolone cheese and Rochester’s signature hot sauce made of a rich meat sauce mixed with spices. Adam mouth is watering as he dives into the steak bomber and finds it divinely delicious.

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This season of The Bachelorette has started off with a bang, and the surprises just keep on coming! This season contains exotic locations, elaborate dance routines, and of course, the bad guy Bentley.

The first episode reveals that the new bachelorette is Ashley, the third runner up for the last season of The Bachelor. This was a shock to everyone! Most of the male contestants were pleasantly surprised with one sour apple, that being Bentley. This particular contender made it clear that he was to here for a different bachelorette, Emily, and that he wanted to manipulate Ashley as much as possible. The sneaky part of this is that Ashley was given a forewarning about Bentley from his ex-wife. Another shocker on the first episode was when we all got to meet Jeff, who decides that he is going to wear a mask because he wanted Ashley to get to know him for what was on the inside, his personality, rather than his appearance.

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Gone are the days when a new series ran its course for a season, in some cases shows last for a few episodes and are pulled from the schedule. I’m surprised really at the number of shows cancelled on Fox. There were a number of dramas cut from Fox’s schedule which makes you wonder what they are going to substitute them with. It seems to me that a little more time invested in the following shows on Fox, NBC, and ABC would yield the ratings networks are looking for.

The biggest surprise cancellation on Fox was The Chicago Code. I’ve been watching the Sean Ryan cop show since it premiered and from the beginning, the direction, storyline, genuine character development, and excellent acting made it well worth watching. Ryan’s success in The Shield on FX can’t be duplicated on network television, but certainly The Chicago Code was as close as you could get in terms of high quality television. The cast was outstanding, particularly Jason Clarke, Jennifer Beal, Billy Lush, and Delroy Lindo. There isn’t a good reason, at least from where I sit, why this series wasn’t given a second season to gain more of an audience. If you haven’t had a chance to watch The Chicago Code catch the series finale tonight, Monday, May 23 at 9:00 p.m. on Fox. Ryan’s Terriers on FX was also cancelled earlier in the season and deserved a second season. Sean Ryan made FX’s name with The Shield, losing Terriers and Chicago Code from the FX/Fox lineup seems like a real mistake. The Chicago Code is one show I wish a cable channel would snap up, similar to TNT’s resurrection of Southland, this show deserves a second chance.

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If you have watched Man vs Wild on Discovery and enjoyed it, Duel Survival is a must see show you won’t want to miss. Cody Lundin and Dave Canterbury are two survival experts paired in extreme wilderness situations that show viewers how to survive in emergency situations.

Lundin and Canterbury’s skills are many, but their personalities and survival methods are often polar opposites of each other. Duel Survival takes the survival experts to the freezing conditions of Antarctica, climbing in Wyoming’s harsh Rocky Mountains, traversing the rugged jungle in Thailand, and wading through the swampy Everglades of Florida.

Cody Lundin has more than 20 years experience as a minimalist and primitive skills expert, and is an internationally known professional survival instructor. Lundin founded the Aboriginal Living Skills School in Arizona in 1991, where he teaches primitive living skills, urban preparedness, modern wilderness survival skills, and homesteading. Lundin has trained thousands of students, corporate, private, and governmental agencies, and dozens of international and national media sources in urban and outdoor and preparedness skills.

Dave Canterbury has more than 20 years experience as an Army-trained scout, sniper, and professional hunting guide and tracker, with years of combined military and civilian survival experience. During his time in the Army, Canterbury became a Special Reaction Team (SRT) instructor and sniper. After his Army career Canterbury worked on a reptile farm, as well as a commercial fisherman and diver in the Florida saltwater marshes.

Lundin lives what he preaches, walking barefoot for more than 20 years as part of his indigenous self-reliant philosophy. Canterbury is a high energy outdoorsman who takes chances when he feels it will pay off in survival. Lundin looks for low energy gathering of bugs and plants for food while Canterbury must hunt for red meat.

Lundin and Canterbury are always fascinating when traveling through survival situations, there is never a dull moment watching these two survival experts.

Duel Survival shows on Discovery on Fridays at 9:00 p.m. PT/ET. Check your local TV schedule for upcoming episodes of the series.

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When it comes to television there have always been a few science or technology oriented shows but unfortunately due to a variety of reasons very few of them have done well. Fortunately one show has successfully managed to bring science and research to television while also staying incredibly entertaining. That show is Mythbusters on Discovery Channel.

The way Mythbusters stays entertaining while still being educational and informative is simple; plenty of explosions and lots of other cool stuff going on. The two hosts of the show, Adam and Jaime, also keep the show incredibly entertaining with their funny comments and interesting testing methods. Each week the Mythbusters crew test numerous urban legends or myths that have gained popularity through the years and thanks to a fairly unrestricted budget they are willing and able to try basically everything to accurately recreate each myth.

Mythbusters is actually quite a simple show to understand but at the same time it is technical and has plenty of science involved. No matter what episode you watch or what they are doing you will probably learn a few things that you have never heard of and at the same time you’ll be thoroughly entertained. At first it may seem like a contradiction but in the end it makes sense.

Obviously Mythbusters and Discovery are doing something right because each episode draws millions of viewers. With the combination of humor, science and just generally cool tests Mythbusters really does seem to have the perfect combination going. If you’ve been looking for some intelligent yet hilariously entertaining TV to watch then definitely check out Mythbusters. The show is on Discovery each Wednesday and you’re sure to get some good laughs while also learning a thing or two about science and research.

Photo courtesy of Discovery Channel.

About the author: Jonathan is a journalist currently writing for Amazing News where he and others consistently provide heartwarming and cheerful news stories that can make your day better and brighter.

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NBC’s Harry’s Law stars the ever excellent Kathy Bates as Harriet Korn, a disenchanted patent lawyer who seems to be living on the edge of sanity as she quits her lucrative job and opens a law office in a poverty stricken area of Cincinnati. Harry is determined to make a difference, even if its just on her little corner of the world. David Kelley’s star vehicle for Kathy Bates does her acting skills justice. Harry is a great character, seemingly clinically depressed, funny, feisty, sarcastic, pessimistic, all packaged around a brilliant legal mind who cares about injustice in the legal system. This gun toting lawyer reminds me of some of Kelley’s great characters from Boston Legal: a little of the crazy of Denny Crane, mixed with the courtroom abilities of Alan Shore. The supporting cast is good, particularly Nathan Corddry as Adam Branch, with some glints of Allen Shore himself, and Christopher McDonald as Tommy Jefferson, the outrageous grandstanding lawyer who is mostly bluff with a heart of gold that seems just a bit tarnished. McDonald is fantastic in a character he has honed to make you dislike his morality and yet find him endearing at the same time.

If you enjoyed Boston Legal you will find Harry’s Law filled with interesting, odd, and colorful characters, all encased in Kelley’s well written social commentary. Watch Harry’s Law Mondays on NBC at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT. Check your local TV schedule for upcoming episodes of the series.

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NBC has a new reality TV food show starring celebrity chefs Bobby Flay (Food Network: Iron Chef America, Throwdown); and Curtis Stone (The Celebrity Apprentice, TLC: Take Home Chef) called America’s Next Great Restaurant. The remaining judges for the series are Steve Ells, founder, chairman and co-CEO of Chipotle; and Lorena Garcia, executive chef and restaurateur. For the judges this is not just a contest, this is personal since they will invest their own money in the winning restaurant.

The show follows ten contestants who believe they have the next great idea for a fast food restaurant. The contestants present their restaurant concepts to the investors. The contestants are not professional chefs but regular people from all walks of life. Flay, Stone, Ells and Garcia serve as mentors to the contestants as well as judges, working side by side with them to bring their restaurant idea to life. The winner of the contest sees their food concept launched as a restaurant chain in three locations – Hollywood, Minneapolis and New York City.

The producers of the series are Dan Cutforth and Jane Lipsitz of Magical Elves, the Emmy Award-winning producers of Top Chef and Project Runway. If you like Top Chef and Project Runway, you will recognize this reality show format and no doubt enjoy the show.

Watch America’s Next Great Restaurant on Sundays at 8:00 p.m. PT/ET on NBC. Check your local TV schedule for upcoming episodes of the series.

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30 Rock went live on the east and west coast with a live audience. This is a review of the west coast show. Liz Lemon is celebrating her 40th birthday but no one seems to know at TGS other than her, making her angry. Jack has agreed with Avery that he will give up drinking while she is pregnant and not drinking is driving him over the edge. Jenna and Tracy are having the usual battle over who gets the most attention during the TGS show. Tracy decides during the live TGS show he will laugh out loud at his own jokes and break character in order to get laughs from the audience, while Jenna retaliates by threatening to flash her breast to get attention from Tracy.

Live sitcoms are not easy to do, and 30 Rock managed to pull it off. Set on the SNL stage with a veteran SNL director managing the live show, the episode showed twice, once on the east coast and once on the west coast. The live episode was co-written by Tina Fey. Each joke on the live episode appeared to be geared toward a character on TGS congratulating Liz on her birthday, only to end up ignoring her birthday.

The show relied more on jokes and less on a beefed up storyline like usual since time was limited and the fast pace line delivery of 30 Rock was more difficult to do live with a responsive audience. The flashback device often used in 30 Rock episodes was worked in brilliantly by using Julia Louis-Dreyfus as flashback Liz Lemon, a clever way to solve this live action problem. When Jack asks Liz “Why are you better-looking in your memory?” Liz tells Jack “My memory has Seinfeld money”, making the use of Louis-Dreyfus as a stand-in even funnier. Jack’s flashback segment showed his memory of himself as a buff model guy surrounded by beautiful women.

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As the fall 2010 television season kicks off, the fall lineup for television has some interesting new programs you will not want to miss. The three shows featured here include an action series on NBC, a comedy series on FOX, and cop drama on FX. Each of these series features great scripts, talented actors, and a twist on your usual premise for a television show. Here is a sampling of new shows you will want to catch this season.

The Event
NBC Monday 9:00 p.m.

The Event is an action packed conspiracy-thriller that some critics have called a mix of 24 and Lost. The series stars Jason Ritter (Joan of Arcadia) as a young man who stumbles across a national secret while in search of his girlfriend, who mysteriously disappeared from a Caribbean cruise. The series co-stars Blair Underwood (L.A. Law, In Treatment) and Scott Patterson (Gilmore Girls). The Event captures your attention from the first minute and does not let go the entire hour.

Running Wilde
FOX Tuesday 9:30 p.m.

Will Arnett (Arrested Development) plays Steve Wilde, a wealthy, immature playboy and son of an oil tycoon who can have anything in the world he desires except his old girlfriend Emmy (Keri Russell, Felicity), an uber-liberal humanitarian who hates everything Steve stands for. When Steve and Emmy meet again Steve will stop at nothing to win her heart. The series has some great secondary characters, including Emmy’s daughter Puddle (Stefania Owen, The Lovely Bones), and Steve’s sidekick Migo (Joe Nunez, Prison Break), and nanny Gertie (Jayne Houdyshell, Law & Order). The comedy works well here, and Arnett and Russell are a dream team of comic chemistry. Will Arnett is co-creator and writer of the series, along with Arrested Development alums Mitch Hurwitz and Jim Vallely.

Terriers
FX Tuesday 10:00 p.m.

Donal Logue (Grounded for Life) stars as Hank Dolworth, an ex-cop with a checkered past, teamed up with his best friend Britt (Michael Raymond-James, True Blood) as unlicensed private detectives. Dolworth has a knack for running into trouble with his ex-partner from the force, Detective Gustafson (Rockmond Dunbar, Prison Break, Soul Food). The first episode spends time setting up the storyline, and by the second episode the gritty characters, clever lines and action are the order of the day. This off the grid ex-cop against the bad guys show uses humor, great writing, and action to keep the audience enthralled. Terriers is the brainchild of show co-creator Shawn Ryan (The Shield).

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