http://www.dtvusaforum.com/blogs/michael-j/ Digital Television Community - Join 4K+ members on our forums discussing all aspects of DTV, HDTV, and related topics en Sun, 26 May 2013 08:40:15 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.dtvusaforum.com/images/styles/GamerBlue/misc/rss.jpg http://www.dtvusaforum.com/blogs/michael-j/ http://www.dtvusaforum.com/blogs/michael-j/133-review-last-man-standing-tim-allen.html Fri, 18 May 2012 15:17:48 GMT Looking for a good comedy with a great story line and lots of laughs? Try the “Last Man Standing” on ABC with Tim Allen. Attachment 1697... Looking for a good comedy with a great story line and lots of laughs? Try the “Last Man Standing” on ABC with Tim Allen.

Allen plays the main lead as the “manly” man who works at a large sporting goods store which sells guns, boats and all manner of camping equipment. Some of the funniest skits are when he makes advertisement videos for the store. He is known as “Outdoorman” in the videos and has a large local following.

The scenes shift between his place of work and his home life. He is second in command at work and is pretty much his own boss, but at home, he has three teen aged daughters and a full time working wife to contend with. His oldest daughter has a son of her own, while the middle daughter is an upper classman in high school. The youngest daughter is just getting ready to go to high school. His wife is very intelligent and has no trouble keeping him in line. As you can imagine, the four women in his life rule the roost and keep him constantly off-balance. It’s hard to be a “manly” man when the odds are stacked against you 4 to 1.
The show has had 24 episodes and they have all been filled with comedy and laughter. The main characters are Tim Allen as Mike Baxter, Nancy Travis as his wife Vanessa, Hector Elizondo as Ed (in a really great roll – he is truly funny), his boss at the sporting goods store, Alexandra Krosney as Kristin, his oldest daughter, Molly Ephraim as Mandy, his middle daughter and Kaitlin Dever as Eve, his youngest daughter. Christopher Sanders plays Kyle, a trainee at the outdoor store and a sometime boyfriend of Mandy’s.

You may remember Tim Allen from a TV show that was popular in the 1990’s called Home Improvement. He played the role of Tim Taylor who had a TV home improvement show called Tool Time. The show lasted for 8 seasons and had great ratings throughout its run. He made several movies for Disney including Santa Claus and Santa Clause 2 & 3 where he played the lead role of Santa Claus. He also starred in Toy Story 1, 2 and 3 as the voice of Buzz Lightyear. A little known fact about Tim Allen is that his real name is Tim Allen Dick. He dropped the last name of Dick thinking that most people would feel it was a made-up name because he was a comedian.

If you are a comedy fan, this show will be well worth your while to see. You can find some of the episodes and clips at the Last Man Standing web-site:
http://beta.abc.go.com/shows/last-man-standing/video ]]> Michael J http://www.dtvusaforum.com/blogs/michael-j/133-review-last-man-standing-tim-allen.html http://www.dtvusaforum.com/blogs/michael-j/117-end-tv-remote-near.html Mon, 07 May 2012 13:32:07 GMT Just imagine. No more looking through couch pillows, end tables and under chairs for your television remote control. All you need to do to turn on... Just imagine. No more looking through couch pillows, end tables and under chairs for your television remote control. All you need to do to turn on your TV is to use a voice command or hand gesture in a certain way. Changing channels, volume and all other manners of TV operation will be handled with a single gesture or specific word.

This would sure beat the current method of playing pass the remote when your wife walks into the room and wants to change the “300” movie you are watching to “Chopped” on the cooking channel.

With just a simple wave of her arm, you go from excitement, adventure, blood and guts to grown men hugging each other and cooking strudel.

The idea is really an outfall of the interactive video games everyone is now using. With the Wi, Xbox 360 and others using a natural user interface, they have revolutionized how video games are used. Now television manufactures are hopping on the bandwagon and making their own versions, improving on the idea.

For instance, LG is developing a unit currently called the LG Gesture Cam which they will be selling with certain of their big screen TV’s. It has a sensing device connected to the TV that can read body gestures. You will be able to play games using only hand signals and will also be able to control your TV functions, such as volume, changing channels, etc. simply with a wave of your hands. You will even be able to “grab” and “drop” an on-screen option just like you do on your computer. The voice version of this unit will still require a remote to hear and broadcast your commands to the TV, but you won’t have to hold it to make it work.

Samsung also has a version they are working on, but it is in the design stages. Their TV’s would include a built-in camera and microphone to pick up the gestures and voice commands. It’s called Smart and is an interaction technology which is their version of Microsoft’s Kinect. It will allow basic control of the TV, menu’s to browse through and select from, voice search commands and face recognition which will allow the participants to have their own separate accounts.

We are probably six months to a year from having a workable system available at local retail outlets, but just the fact that we can look forward to replacing the remote whose only purpose in life is to play “hide and seek” makes the wait worth while. ]]> Michael J http://www.dtvusaforum.com/blogs/michael-j/117-end-tv-remote-near.html http://www.dtvusaforum.com/blogs/michael-j/114-nbc-cancel-harrys-law.html Sun, 06 May 2012 14:56:37 GMT Even though Harry’s Law is pulling in an estimated 8 to 9 million viewers during it’s run on NBC, the 18 to 49 year old demographic that advertisers... Even though Harry’s Law is pulling in an estimated 8 to 9 million viewers during it’s run on NBC, the 18 to 49 year old demographic that advertisers seem to prefer is low and the show is in eminent danger of being cancelled.

What a shame!

The show has an excellent cast of characters who seem to work well together and the plots are always new and interesting. A lot of times in a TV series like this, politics seem to take over and the writers start trying to inject their own political viewpoints into it. Harry’s Law has managed to avoid that and as it is ending its second season, the characters, plots and storylines are getting more involved and sometimes seem to feed off of current events in the legal world.

In my humble opinion, the show is always interesting and the twists thrown into the plots are unexpected, fresh and exciting.

The lead role of Harry Korn is by played by acting legend, Kathy Bates. You may remember her from her many film roles such as Molly Brown in Titanic, Annie Wilkes in Misery (for which she won an Academy Award), a short, but memorable stint with Jack Nicholson in About Schmidt, and a supporting role with Terry Bradshaw in Failure to Launch. She has also appeared in recent TV series such as Six Foot Under and a brief appearance as the ghost of Charlie Sheen’s character Charlie Harper in Two and One Half Men (really hilarious and well worth watching).

It is so great to see her back in action again as she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2003. The cancer bout had briefly curtailed her roles through recent years, but has managed to bounce back from the sometimes fatal disease. She credits her work for helping her to get through this period (the disease is now in complete remission). Many in the industry think her personal toughness and will to live have also been a big factor in helping her win this fight.

Back to Harry's Law, even a move from Wednesday evenings to Sunday evenings didn’t dampen its viewers enthusiasm as most of them moved with it (7.9 million viewers). Will NBC dump this fresh and innovative series and risk the wrath of many faithful viewers? Stay tuned.

Harry’s Law is shown on Sunday nights at 8PM EST on NBC. If you haven’t had a chance to see it yet, please check it out. It will definitely be worth your time. ]]> Michael J http://www.dtvusaforum.com/blogs/michael-j/114-nbc-cancel-harrys-law.html