Lots of complaints are made about how terrible television is these days. A common statement overheard in TV talk is, “All those channels and still nothing is on.” But if you really search for something you are interested in, then chances are you will find a show that interests you.
I for one am a big fan of television right now. For the past decade or so television has become a quality medium that rivals what is seen in movie theaters. Budgets have increased, the talent level has improved , and writers are actually putting forth effort in telling season-long stories, as opposed to shows in the past where each episode’s focus was simply to entertain for that time slot and had no bearing on the next week’s plot.
In the next year, I will already be setting aside precious life hours for 14 television shows, so adding new shows each season is something I have to take seriously and can’t allow every new show that is slated for the fall season to be downloaded to my DVR. If I am going to commit to a new show, I have to be sure it is going to be something I am interested in and will entertain me for the entire season. I don’t want to get caught in a trap like I did with the CW’s Smallville where I felt obligated to continue watching until the end, long after it got bad. Although, I have become a bit more resolute with my television standards as recently I gave up on The Event and V after half a season of the former and a full season of the latter.
My current roster of shows that I will stop down for each week includes Mad Men, Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead, Dexter, Community, The Office, Parks and Rec, 30 Rock, The Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Justified, Supernatural, and psych.
Premiering this fall are six new shows I will give some attention in order to see whether they make the rotation. These include FX’s American Horror Story, AMC’s Hell on Wheels, CBS’s Person of Interest, Fox’s Terra Nova, and NBC’s newest comedies Up All Night and Whitney.
The synopsis for American Horror Story isn’t overly intriguing, which is basically that a family moves in a new home that is haunted and creepy things follow, but it is FX and they have hosted some pretty great programs in the past. Therefore I will give it a look on network cred alone. American Horror Story premieres October 5 at 10/9 central.
Hell on Wheels has been touted as a reincarnation of HBO’s Deadwood, which is the next completed series I plan to watch on DVD after I finish the one I’m currently working on. Hell on Wheels would fall under the western genre, which I love, and is on AMC, which is a network new to original programming but has already put out great ones like Mad Men and Breaking Bad. The Walking Dead is also fantastic, but after only one season I want to give it a little time before giving it the same acclaim that Mad Men and Breaking Bad have garnered. Given AMC’s recent track record for programs, I will give Hell on Wheels some consideration. The program premieres November 6 at 10/9 central.
The only reason I’m willing to check out Person of Interest is because of Michael Emerson, who played Benjamin Linus on Lost. The premise is a lot like Philip K. Dick’s Minority Report, where future crimes can be prevented with technology provided by the wealthy character Emerson will portray. The series also stars Jim Caviezel as a former CIA agent hired to help stop the crimes before they happen. Person of Interest premieres September 22 at 9/8 central.
Jurassic Par … Oh, I mean Terra Nova has been in the making for a long time and will finally see the light of TV day when it begins September 26 at 8/7 central. The Shannon family is sent back in time to a colony of humans who must flee from the year 2149 due to overpopulation and poor air quality. What the Shannon family will soon find out is the colony is placed in the middle of a group of carnivorous dinosaurs.
Being a new parent myself and able to relate a little to Up All Night, Christina Applegate and Will Arnett star in this comedy as parents with a newborn baby trying to juggle work and home life. The premise isn’t too original, but the previews look funny, I am a fan of both stars, and I feel like a lot of the jokes will have been written with me in mind specifically since I am only a few months from going through the same situations. Up All Night will start September 14 at 10/9 central.
Whitney is the wildcard show for me. It probably has the shortest leash and will need to get me laughing in the first few episodes and keep it up all season long if it is going to make the cut. The show stars comedienne Whitney Cummings and will be about her real-life experiences and stand-up routines. Whitney premieres September 22 at 9:30/8:30 central.
I would also like to add Boardwalk Empire to the list, which is in its second season already, but without HBO it makes it difficult.
Wednesday, September 07, 2011
Tuesday, September 06, 2011
F-A-N-S, FANS! FANS! FANS!
Yesterday’s Labor Day was spent with the wife and children at my mom’s house. The weather was so nice we left the back door open all day and let Emery and my nephew and niece run in and out at their pleasure.
With such nice weather coming and autumn being right around the corner that means it is football time. And when it is football time, it is also fantasy football time.
My softball teammate Jared is a big fantasy football nut, so we got a league together at the last minute with the wives involved. Although my wife is interested and knowledgeable in football, the three other women in the league are not. They received help from their spouses, but it will be interesting to see how this goes for 16 weeks.
Overall, my drafting went okay. I got into a bit of trouble in the early rounds with not taking a running back early, but hopefully with the talent taken in their place it will make up for it.
I had the ninth pick of the draft and here is my roster in order of the round they were taken:
1. QB – Michael Vick
2. WR – Calvin Johnson
3. WR – Vincent Jackson
4. RB – LeGarrette Blount
5. RB – Jahvid Best
6. RB – Knowshon Moreno
7. TE – Vernon Davis
8. WR – Anquan Boldin
9. RB – Marshawn Lynch
10. QB – Joe Flacco
11. WR – Mike Thomas
12. DEF – Baltimore
13. RB – Ryan Torain
14. WR – Jacoby Ford
15. WR – Antonio Brown
16. K – Matt Bryant
A few notes from the draft:
The fun in doing a live draft with your friends is enjoying the camaraderie over pizza and junk food, laughing at the bad picks, and reveling in the theft of a player one or two spots early while your buddy had his heart set on that guy. Watching someone anguish over losing a top tier pick or sleeper project they had targeted is possibly the highlight of the entire night, depending on which side of the theft you happen to be on.
We had a few of those moments last night, the funniest being when Jeff snatched Nate Burleson one pick before Jared could get him. Jared’s prolonged torment was priceless. I was on both sides of a steal. My pick of Vernon Davis was one of those types of picks, which resulted in James, who picked one spot after me, being left to fret over what to do next. I was especially happy with the Davis snatch because James had the last pick of the round, which means he then had the first pick of the following round and then I came after him. So I had the option to pass on Davis and select Anquan Boldin, who I had my eye on the entire time, needing to only wait three spots until it would be back on me. However, I knew James didn’t have a tight end yet, so I took a chance with getting Davis first and hoping he wouldn’t get Boldin with his next two picks. My planning paid off because as soon as I said Vernon Davis, James was heard huffing and puffing about what to do since Davis was gone.
Being the one who lost the opportunity to get who I really wanted happened prior to the Davis selection. It was in the third round when my brother-in-law Tony picked Frank Gore with the 28th pick of the draft. Somehow Gore had fallen that far and I didn’t have a running back yet, so Gore was a golden nugget in my eyes. Yet, Tony stole Gore from me and that put my entire draft in jeopardy.
The most prescribed draft strategy out there currently is grabbing a running back with your first pick of the draft, if not getting two running backs with the first and second picks. Some people follow that strategy to a fault, taking talented running backs who should be second- or even third-round selections over transcendent quarterbacks or wide receivers simply because they are under the belief that running backs have to be taken early.
This year I was going with the “most talented player on the board” strategy. As long as I had a spot available for him, I was taking the highest rated player on my board when it got to me, within reason. I made an alteration with the Davis, Boldin selections, but that was because of the situation. I also made exceptions as it got later into the draft because I would need extra running backs and wide receivers over back-up tight ends or a third quarterback.
Because of my strategy, at the ninth pick I was looking at Philadelphia’s quarterback Michael Vick as the best player available because all the elite running backs had been taken and Andre Johnson was also off the board. I decided to stick with my strategy of going with the best player available instead of taking a running back because the fantasy football blogger says that is what you have to do. And so, the dog-killing parolee was now the starting quarterback for team Moby D. After James took Maurice Jones-Drew and Michael Turner with back-to-back picks I was on the board at pick 12 and took Detroit’s Calvin Johnson.
In rounds three and four, I lost out on Gore and was then left with another wide receiver as the best available option for the 29th pick of the draft, so I took it and picked San Diego’s Vincent Jackson. It only took three rounds for me to panic. Since I didn’t have a running back at this point, which I didn’t think would happen but I had to live with the strategy I had implemented, I decided round four was the time to get a solid running back. The best running back on the board at that point was LeGarrette Blount of Tampa Bay. I toyed with the idea of skipping Blount and going with Peyton Hillis, who has the potential to accrue more points but is also riskier as he is more likely to injure himself because of his running style, but I stuck with my strategy and took the best player available with the 32nd pick.
Rounds five and six were used to get two more running backs. I had three choices between Detroit’s Jahvid Best, Denver’s Knowshon Moreno, and the New York Jet’s Shonn Greene. I have high hopes for Best this year so he was a lock among the three, and getting him at pick 49 was a great bit of value in my opinion. I passed on Greene and went with Moreno for the 52nd pick of the draft because I just wasn’t sure of the timeshare that Greene and LaDainian Tomlinson would get.
Rounds seven and eight were discussed earlier as that is when I stole Vernon Davis from James in round seven and followed it up with Anquan Boldin in the eighth round. They were picks 69 and 72, respectively.
In round nine, I started looking at bench players. This was also where I started to veer from the best player strategy and take what I thought was either good value or necessary because of what I had already done before. With the 89th pick I got another running back, but since Seattle is the place for players to die in the NFL, I don’t expect much from Marshawn Lynch. He could surprise me and end up producing, but I am not holding my breath. The tenth round was a reach pick because I had to find a solid back-up quarterback for Vick. The ex-con is a tremendous player and his value could be astronomical this season, but I also need to have a plan B should it not work out. I went back and forth between Baltimore’s Joe Flacco and Detroit’s Matthew Stafford. Both quarterbacks are projected at about the same with Stafford having a bit more potential and both quarterbacks also didn’t have a conflicting bye week with Vick. Another thing I looked at was that both of the main receivers for Baltimore and Detroit were already on my roster, so there was no advantage to getting one quarterback over another in that regard. I decided to go with Flacco because he is a little more proven and I have had him in previous seasons. He is a bit more solid of a choice and I know what I can expect from him each week.
Jared knew the dilemma I was having during this round and even wrote down Stafford’s name on a sheet of scrap paper to show that he was confident he knew what I was thinking. He ended up taking Stafford a few picks after me and said in my position with Vick as his starter he would have done the same thing in picking Flacco as his backup.
The last six rounds went by without a lot of fanfare. These final players included a defense, kicker, insurance policies should starters go down during the season, and sleepers that could have a decent season and become trade bait down the line.
Only the top four teams make the playoffs, so I will need a lot of things to go right this season in order to win the championship. But luck is as much a part of fantasy football as solid drafting and in-season waiver wire moves.
With such nice weather coming and autumn being right around the corner that means it is football time. And when it is football time, it is also fantasy football time.
My softball teammate Jared is a big fantasy football nut, so we got a league together at the last minute with the wives involved. Although my wife is interested and knowledgeable in football, the three other women in the league are not. They received help from their spouses, but it will be interesting to see how this goes for 16 weeks.
Overall, my drafting went okay. I got into a bit of trouble in the early rounds with not taking a running back early, but hopefully with the talent taken in their place it will make up for it.
I had the ninth pick of the draft and here is my roster in order of the round they were taken:
1. QB – Michael Vick
2. WR – Calvin Johnson
3. WR – Vincent Jackson
4. RB – LeGarrette Blount
5. RB – Jahvid Best
6. RB – Knowshon Moreno
7. TE – Vernon Davis
8. WR – Anquan Boldin
9. RB – Marshawn Lynch
10. QB – Joe Flacco
11. WR – Mike Thomas
12. DEF – Baltimore
13. RB – Ryan Torain
14. WR – Jacoby Ford
15. WR – Antonio Brown
16. K – Matt Bryant
A few notes from the draft:
The fun in doing a live draft with your friends is enjoying the camaraderie over pizza and junk food, laughing at the bad picks, and reveling in the theft of a player one or two spots early while your buddy had his heart set on that guy. Watching someone anguish over losing a top tier pick or sleeper project they had targeted is possibly the highlight of the entire night, depending on which side of the theft you happen to be on.
We had a few of those moments last night, the funniest being when Jeff snatched Nate Burleson one pick before Jared could get him. Jared’s prolonged torment was priceless. I was on both sides of a steal. My pick of Vernon Davis was one of those types of picks, which resulted in James, who picked one spot after me, being left to fret over what to do next. I was especially happy with the Davis snatch because James had the last pick of the round, which means he then had the first pick of the following round and then I came after him. So I had the option to pass on Davis and select Anquan Boldin, who I had my eye on the entire time, needing to only wait three spots until it would be back on me. However, I knew James didn’t have a tight end yet, so I took a chance with getting Davis first and hoping he wouldn’t get Boldin with his next two picks. My planning paid off because as soon as I said Vernon Davis, James was heard huffing and puffing about what to do since Davis was gone.
Being the one who lost the opportunity to get who I really wanted happened prior to the Davis selection. It was in the third round when my brother-in-law Tony picked Frank Gore with the 28th pick of the draft. Somehow Gore had fallen that far and I didn’t have a running back yet, so Gore was a golden nugget in my eyes. Yet, Tony stole Gore from me and that put my entire draft in jeopardy.
The most prescribed draft strategy out there currently is grabbing a running back with your first pick of the draft, if not getting two running backs with the first and second picks. Some people follow that strategy to a fault, taking talented running backs who should be second- or even third-round selections over transcendent quarterbacks or wide receivers simply because they are under the belief that running backs have to be taken early.
This year I was going with the “most talented player on the board” strategy. As long as I had a spot available for him, I was taking the highest rated player on my board when it got to me, within reason. I made an alteration with the Davis, Boldin selections, but that was because of the situation. I also made exceptions as it got later into the draft because I would need extra running backs and wide receivers over back-up tight ends or a third quarterback.
Because of my strategy, at the ninth pick I was looking at Philadelphia’s quarterback Michael Vick as the best player available because all the elite running backs had been taken and Andre Johnson was also off the board. I decided to stick with my strategy of going with the best player available instead of taking a running back because the fantasy football blogger says that is what you have to do. And so, the dog-killing parolee was now the starting quarterback for team Moby D. After James took Maurice Jones-Drew and Michael Turner with back-to-back picks I was on the board at pick 12 and took Detroit’s Calvin Johnson.
In rounds three and four, I lost out on Gore and was then left with another wide receiver as the best available option for the 29th pick of the draft, so I took it and picked San Diego’s Vincent Jackson. It only took three rounds for me to panic. Since I didn’t have a running back at this point, which I didn’t think would happen but I had to live with the strategy I had implemented, I decided round four was the time to get a solid running back. The best running back on the board at that point was LeGarrette Blount of Tampa Bay. I toyed with the idea of skipping Blount and going with Peyton Hillis, who has the potential to accrue more points but is also riskier as he is more likely to injure himself because of his running style, but I stuck with my strategy and took the best player available with the 32nd pick.
Rounds five and six were used to get two more running backs. I had three choices between Detroit’s Jahvid Best, Denver’s Knowshon Moreno, and the New York Jet’s Shonn Greene. I have high hopes for Best this year so he was a lock among the three, and getting him at pick 49 was a great bit of value in my opinion. I passed on Greene and went with Moreno for the 52nd pick of the draft because I just wasn’t sure of the timeshare that Greene and LaDainian Tomlinson would get.
Rounds seven and eight were discussed earlier as that is when I stole Vernon Davis from James in round seven and followed it up with Anquan Boldin in the eighth round. They were picks 69 and 72, respectively.
In round nine, I started looking at bench players. This was also where I started to veer from the best player strategy and take what I thought was either good value or necessary because of what I had already done before. With the 89th pick I got another running back, but since Seattle is the place for players to die in the NFL, I don’t expect much from Marshawn Lynch. He could surprise me and end up producing, but I am not holding my breath. The tenth round was a reach pick because I had to find a solid back-up quarterback for Vick. The ex-con is a tremendous player and his value could be astronomical this season, but I also need to have a plan B should it not work out. I went back and forth between Baltimore’s Joe Flacco and Detroit’s Matthew Stafford. Both quarterbacks are projected at about the same with Stafford having a bit more potential and both quarterbacks also didn’t have a conflicting bye week with Vick. Another thing I looked at was that both of the main receivers for Baltimore and Detroit were already on my roster, so there was no advantage to getting one quarterback over another in that regard. I decided to go with Flacco because he is a little more proven and I have had him in previous seasons. He is a bit more solid of a choice and I know what I can expect from him each week.
Jared knew the dilemma I was having during this round and even wrote down Stafford’s name on a sheet of scrap paper to show that he was confident he knew what I was thinking. He ended up taking Stafford a few picks after me and said in my position with Vick as his starter he would have done the same thing in picking Flacco as his backup.
The last six rounds went by without a lot of fanfare. These final players included a defense, kicker, insurance policies should starters go down during the season, and sleepers that could have a decent season and become trade bait down the line.
Only the top four teams make the playoffs, so I will need a lot of things to go right this season in order to win the championship. But luck is as much a part of fantasy football as solid drafting and in-season waiver wire moves.
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