Here we go again...

In the interest of full disclosure I have to admit that it has been a long time (at least a season and a half) since I have found Entourage to be genuinely funny. That isn't to say that the show sucks or isn't entertaining because it is. However, it is entertaining in the way an episode of Cribs is entertaining. Sure, it's fun to see all the big mansions, sweet rides and hot chicks; I just wish the show made me laugh the way it did for the first couple of seasons. At times last season it got to the point where I started to wish that the show would drop Vince and the guys completely and reboot with Ari representing a new up-and-coming star (although it would be nice if they figured out a way to keep Drama involved somehow). An even better idea would be a buddy-cop show with Ari and Lloyd as partners on a very socially progressive police force (maybe Sawyer and Miles from Lost could co-star).

Unfortunately, the first episode of season seven is not any funnier than seasons five and six were. While watching the episode I kept a running tab of the number of times I smiled, chuckled or laughed. The score card reads as such: Three smiles, one chuckle, ZERO LAUGHS. The lone chuckle came, of course, during a scene with Drama and Lloyd (two of the show's saving graces). Drama visits Lloyd (who is now a full blown agent) for career help, explaining to him, "This is my livelihood, Lloyd. And my dream." Lloyd responds sweetly, "You think I don't know that?" and tenderly grabs Drama's hand. Drama wrenches his hand away with a look of pure disgust on his face. Chuckle-worthy, right? But if this is the funniest scene in an episode of a show that is supposed to be a comedy, there is a problem.

Recapping the plot of the episode is almost an exercise in redundancy. If you are at all familiar with the show, than you already know what happens. Vince has a problem with the director of his current movie so he calls E for help. E can't get the job done so he calls Ari. Ari berates a couple of underlings. Drama is out of work so he goes to Ari for help, but Ari is too busy with running an agency to help. Turtle drives around a lot and embarrassingly strikes out with a chick. Vince has a close call on set, but ends up fine and everyone is happy by the time the ending credits roll. However, the episode did end on a high note with one of my all-time favorite songs, Gangstarr and Inspectah Deck's "Above the Clouds" playing as Mark Wahlberg's name flashed onto the screen.

Am I totally off base for not liking this episode more? What did everyone else think?

"I saved your life, Jesse. Are you going to save mine?"

Season 3 of Breaking Bad goes out with a bang (albeit a someone ambiguous bang), literally. As the screen goes black and the echo of gunfire hangs in the air, we are left to contemplate how Walt and Jesse got to this moment and where they are going from here.

The intro gives us a bit of back story, showing Walt (sporting a full head of hair) and a pregnant Skylar (sporting a full belly of Walter Jr.) house shopping. This scene serves as a sobering reminder of just how "bad" things have "broken" for Walt and his family. As the couple walk through what will become their home, Walt is unimpressed. He wants something bigger, with two more bedrooms. When Skylar reminds him of their budgetary constraints Walt responds, "Why be cautious? We have nowhere to go but up!"

Even in his worst nightmare Young Walt could have never imagined how much trouble Present-day Walt has caused. With the Heisenberg hat squarely on his bald head, Walt meets Gus in the desert to face the music. Although he is hardly negotiating from a position of strength, Walt gives Gus two options: He could kill Walt on the spot and try to track down and kill Jesse, or Walt could get back to cooking and Gus can forget about the whole mess with the murdered drug dealers. Walt prefers the second option and for the time being, Gus seems to agree.

Breaking Bad could just as accurately have been titled Breaking Point. It is a study in what human beings will do when they are backed into a corner, pushed to the limit. If you were diagnosed with terminal cancer, how far would you go to provide for your family? Would you manufacture illegal drugs? What would you do if someone you cared about was in danger? Would you intervene, even if that meant risking your own safety? What if your life was on the line? Could you murder a (relatively) innocent person?

Gale makes a triumphant return as Walt's assistant cook. He is very eager to learn the ins and outs of Walt's process, which raises a red flag. It is clear that it was Gus' intention to have Gale take over after Walt's inevitable death, which so many viewers assumed to be the case all along. Walt, who seems to be one step ahead of Fring a lot lately, assumes correctly that his run as Gus' personal chef is close to an end and conjures up a contingency plan.

That plan, of course, is the murder of Walt's assistant/replacement Gale. Walt knows that Gus cannot afford to have a production stoppage, even a temporary one, so if Gale is out of the picture Walt becomes irreplaceable. Jesse, who unlike Walt, has never taken another man's life, is not very excited about this idea. He suggests that he can go on the run and Walt could go to the Feds for witness protection. "Never the D.E.A.," Walt responds. My guess is that Walt would rather die than cause his family the humiliation that would be the result of a D.E.A. agent's brother-in-law entering witness protection.

The original scheme was for Jesse to find out where Gale lives and then call Walt with the location so Walt can do the actual deed. A wrench is thrown into the plan when Walt is apprehended by Mike the Cleaner and brought to the lab to be "cleaned". In a sad and pathetic sequence Walt pleads for his life and offers to give Jesse up in exchange for a reprieve. Mike seems amenable to this idea and gives Walt his cell phone to call Jesse and arrange a meet. Instead, Walt tells Jesse that he has been captured and that Jesse will have to murder Gale.

As I mentioned before, the final scene of the episode was a bit ambiguous, although show creator Vince Gilligan claims this was completely unintentional. The way the final shot was edited, the viewer is left to question whether or not Gale is dead. This is clearly a mistake in direction and editing and certainly worth grumbling about, however viewers shouldn't use it as an excuse to hate on an otherwise excellent season. The only other thing I didn't love about the finale is the absence of any semblance of closure with the Skylar and Hank story arcs.

The interesting thing about this latest turn of events for Walter is the question of whether, by having Gale killed, has the White character turned even more dark (see what I did there?) or has he started down the path toward redemption?

Ex-Hell's Angel claims FX stole his show idea

According to TMZ, a former Hell's Angel biker is suing FX, claiming the cable channel stole his idea for a show about an "outlaw motorcycle club." Chuck Zito, a biker turned actor, says that he brought the concept for a show (which would eventually become Sons of Anarchy) to FX in 1998. Apparently this guy Zito had a small role on HBO's prison drama Oz, which isn't that surprising. His publicity photo looks like a mug shot you would see on the sex-offender registry.

Zito is asking for more than $5,000,000 in damages from FX for breach of contract.

Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter fired back in a blog post, denying that Zito had anything to do with the creation of SoA and calling him a "loser" and a "delusional b****". Well, my guess is Zito's lawyers are preparing a defamation of character law suit as we speak.

HBO Releases New Boardwalk Empire Trailer

HBO has just released a new trailer for its upcoming prohibition-era gangster series Boardwalk Empire. We have had a few glimpses at the show previously, but this trailer is the first to include any dialogue or indication of a particular story arc.

Boardwalk Empire, which stars Steve Buscemi as Atlantic City crime-boss Nucky Thompson, is written and produced by Terence Winter, a Sopranos alum, with direction from Martin Scorsese. Both sets of fingerprints are all over this trailer. Apparently, Boardwalk is the most expensive project HBO has ever undertaken (which is surprising, given the expense of Rome), and it shows. The look of the show is very crisp and cool, the costumes and sets look great. Winter's and Scorsese's Atlantic City is both glamorous and dangerous.

Boardwalk Empire makes its debut this fall, so as we get closer expect to see more in-depth trailers hit the web.

Preview Trailer #3

BIG ASS ANNOUNCEMENT!

We at ThatUnfreshFeeling are proud to announce that this blog will now be carried on Examiner.com. To access my page on the Examiner website click here.

This is very big news for me personally, as this is the first time any legitimate publication has shown any interest in this site or its material. I want to thank everyone who visits ThatUnfreshFeeling for helping me make this happen. All of your support is very greatly appreciated.

Now that I have been provided the opportunity of a larger platform, I will need your help more than ever. Here are a few little things you can do help me:

- Visit my page on Examiner.com and click the "Subscribe" button. You will get an email each time something new is posted.

- Tell a friend. I have bosses and shit now, so the more people who read my articles the less likely it is that my editors will think I'm a hack. Use facebook, twitter, tag the URL on a bathroom stall, I don't care. Just help me get the word out.

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Please don't stop visiting ThatUnfreshFeeling. I will continue to post everything I write on here along with some stuff I can't get away with posting on Examiner.com (they have editorial standards, I don't). Thanks again for all of the support!

Anyone got $2500 I can borrow?

This might be a tad blasphemous but I am going to say it anyway. Marlo was one of my least favorite characters on The Wire (mainly because he just wasn't as charismatic as Avon or String). However, Jamie Hector, the actor who portrayed the up and coming Westside kingpin, may be my new favorite human being.

Somebody get Oslo on the phone, I would like to nominate Jamie for the Nobel Peace Prize...ok, an NAACP Image Award is might be more do-able, but fuck it, shoot for the stars right? This American hero is putting together an event to benefit his non-profit organization, Moving Mountains, called "The Streets Vs. Law: Paintball Tournament 2010". On this Saturday, for the paltry sum of $2500 (for the VIP package), you and a group of friends can exchange gun-fire with some of your favorite characters from The Wire, including Omar, Snoop, Slim Charles, Carver, and Kima. All I can say is that I am in the process of trying to sell a kidney or testicle to finance my ticket to this tournament.


In preparation for the event I went to the sporting goods store in search of a paintball gun. The sales person sold me on what he called "the Cadillac of paintball guns". He meant Lexus, but he ain't know. I paid him with a wad of hundreds in the aisle of the store. He certainly earned that bump like a muh'fucker.


My plan is to show up to the event dressed in a black suit with a bow-tie and demand to be teamed up with Michael K. Williams, although I will probably have to wait in line behind a bunch of gay, Hispanic gentlemen.


I have but two bones to pick with this otherwise glorious event:
The event is in New York, not Baltimore. What gives, Marlo?
It doesn't appear that the guy who played Rawls is participating. I would empty my bank account for the chance to throw a few hot ones at his punk ass.

Here is a link to the the event's website.

"Hey look, its Cameron from Ferris Bueller!"

Last night was the first installment of NBC's Persons Unknown. The network is calling this show a summer-long mini-series, but it seems more like a summer-long tryout. The series is 13 episodes long, the typical number of episodes for cable series and a tad too many for your average mini-series.

Persons Unknown is a classic example of a show with a very cool premise but sub-par execution. I was instantly reminded of the movie Cube, but the show also has a bit of a Saw vibe as well. The idea behind the show is cool, if not completely original, the set pieces look great, but unfortunately the acting, direction and writing leave quite a bit to be desired.

The plot is a pretty straight forward mystery, kind of Hitchcock meets Clue. A handful of strangers from different walks of life with (seemingly) nothing in common are kidnapped and wake up in strange hotel rooms. Upon breaking out of the rooms and encountering their fellow hostages they group discovers that they are being held captive in an old fashioned ghost town which looks a lot like a studio back lot (in a cool way), complete with sheriff's department, general store (empty), Chinese restaurant and clothing store, all surrounded by omniscient, black-domed security cameras (it seems like every other shot is through the vantage point of these cameras, which gets pretty distracting). Two of the hostages atempt to make a run for it, only to discover that they are carrying around biometric implants that administer a dose of tranquilizer when they cross the invisible boundary around the perimeter of the town.

A wrinkle is thrown into the plot with a story line involving a reporter who gets his hands on a security tape of one of the hostages being kidnapped which leads to a weird interview with the hostages bizarre (possibly involved with the kidnappings?) mother. This plot device doesn't work very well and takes the viewer out of the very cool world of the ghost-town and back to the not-so-interesting real world. Clearly, these scenes will serve a purpose down the line, but they are pretty boring none the less.


Aside from the problems with the acting and the script, I had a bit of an issue with the way that NBC is marketing this show. The tag-line of Persons Unknown is "By the end of this summer, All questions will be answered", which sort of positions the show as the anti-Lost. NBC is basically saying to their audience, "Were you disappointed by Lost? Do you like mysteries that take place in interesting settings? Yes? Well, then do we have a show for you!" The problem here is that by drawing a parallel between Unknown Persons and Lost, they are setting themselves up for failure. Lost, for all its faults, was a pretty damn great show, with not only an extremely interesting and controversial premise, but above average writing and performances by the actors. Unknown Persons is going to have to offer more than the promise of answers to even sniff Lost's greatness. Not only that, but the show's devotion to moving the plot along and "answering questions" comes at the expense of fleshing out the characters. I worry that by the end of the summer when the all of the answers are in, no one will be left to care about what the questions were. That said, it is the summer season, so what the hell else is on? I'll probably check it out for at least a couple more weeks. You should too.

"Murder is not part of your 12 Step Program."

It's been a hell of a week, so I will spare everyone a full review/recap of the episode. Instead, I offer a quick list of pros and cons on the episode and the direction the show is taking.

Things I liked:

The opening montage with Meth-Mouth Wendy blowing a precession of guys. As gay as it sounds, the Association's "Windy" always puts me in a good mood.

Skylar researching money laundering on Wikipedia.

Mike The Cleaner's "Half-measures" monologue. This scene is a testament to the show's greatness. Even a bit player in the series is able to deliver an astonishingly captivating performance if called upon.

Marie's bet with Hank.

The scene with both Walts watching Jeopardy together. As a kid I watched countless hours of the game-show with my dad, each of us trying to shout out the answer (or question, in this case) before the other.

Jesse getting high again. It seems that every great drama features a character that battles a substance problem and when the character falls of the wagon it is a cue to the audience that shit is about to hit the fan. Think Chrissy (Sopranos), McNulty (The Wire), Tommy (Rescue Me).

The most gruesomely bad-ass vehicular homicide committed to film. You got the guy flying ass-over-elbows into the air as well as the guy mangled in under the tires. I guess Walt is going to need yet another new windshield.

Things I didn't like so much:

This season has been a bit ADD in regards to the plots. Case and point: The Cousins. They arrived on the scene with a bang and everyone anticipated that as the season unfolded they would get closer and closer to Walt, leading to a late-season show down. Instead, they arrived at Walt's doorstep just an episode or two later and their entire story was wrapped up mid-season. Also, they brought back Combo's murder and the ramifications of it up out of nowhere. Don't get me wrong, I love tie-ins to prior seasons, but these two street level dealers that Jesse and Walt are faced with are nowhere near as cool as the Cousins.

As intense as the sit-down between Gus, Walt, Jesse and the two dealers was, I just wasn't buying it. Gus is a smart guy and the head of a multi-state, multi-million dollar drug empire. If The Wire has taught us anything it is that the top guys in a drug organization would never, ever be caught in the same room as the street level dealers.