'Break' away

You know how I mentioned yesterday that I got bored watching "Gossip Girl"? Well, triple that boredom and you have how I felt watching Fox's "Prison Break" (8 p.m. Monday, WPGH), which returns Monday with a two-hour fourth season premiere. I only made it through the first hour and then I gave up.

Truth be told, I gave up on "Prison Break" after the first season. The show had a great concept, but it was basically exhausted once they, ya know, BROKE OUT OF PRISON.

"Prison Break" probably reached its nadir of sadism last season when Dr. Sara Tancredi (Sarah Wayne Callies) lost her head off-camera. Her beloved, prison breaker, Michael Scofield (Wentworth Miller, interviewed here in July), was understandably upset and he's in a revenge-minded mood as the new season starts.

By the end of the first hour, he's feeling much better as Sarah, with her head intact, is returned to him. Then it's onto the next ridiculous distant goal: Stealing a black book belonging to "The Company" on behalf of the U.S. government. Why the feds need help from a bunch of prison escapees is beyond me, but making sense is not a "Prison Break" strong suit. When this motley crew heads toward an Air Force plane, the audience is told they got access to it because "this guy called in a favor." Again, not so much with the making sense.

Michael rouses the troops, saying, "We're all a long way from where this started but what I can guarantee you is if we do this thing right we'll be close to where it ends: Freedom. Finally."

If the show stays true to fulfilling that promise, this show will end. Finally.

Will you be watching Monday night? Post your comments below. (To comment, log in or register.)

Psst, 'Gossip Girl' is back, pass it on

The CW's "Gossip Girl," a favorite among magazine editors and New York gossip columnists but not-so-much among viewers judging by its low ratings, returns for its second season at 9 p.m. Monday on WPCW.

The show remains an enjoyable guilty pleasure, ramping up with the close of summer in the Hamptons. Viewers are quickly reminded of where the characters' tangled love lives lie.

Nate (Chace Crawford) is dating an older, married woman (Madchen Amick) and has a steamy makeout scene with her at the start of Monday's episode.

Serena (Blake Lively) spent the summer moping about alone, missing Dan (Penn Badgley), who's making out with women he meets at booking readings.

Blair (Leighton Meester) is still angry that Chuck (Ed Westwick) stood her up and she finds every possible amusing mutilation of Chuck's name. Blair also continues to get the best dialogue.

"A hot lifeguard is like Kleenex: Use once and throw away," Blair counsels Serena.

There is much ridiculousness in the first episode of season two, including a "white party" full of drama that's both intentionally amusing and over-the-top and off-putting (Nate and a married woman? Really?), all of it accompanied by a winning music soundtrack.

By the end of the third episode of the second season there have been multiple hookups and breakups, enough to make your head spin or bore you to tears. Alas, I found myself experiencing more of the latter. I just don't care enough about any of the characters for my mind not to wander, leading me to read magazines and generally ignore the show.

Will you be watching or is "Gossip Girl" just too much for you? Post a comment below. (To post you must log in or register here.)

Tuned In Podcast: Conventions, series begin to debut

In this week's Tuned In Podcast, Entertainment editor Sharon Eberson and I discuss coverage of the first night of the Democratic National Convention, an onslaught of new series and returning shows that are about to debut and the Summer Olympics closing ceremony.

Listen or subscribe at post-gazette.com/podcast.

DNC convention, night two

I didn't flip around a lot Monday during convention coverage but I did tonight and what was the first thing I encountered? Distortions of reality by a conservative Fox News Channel commentator. Sean Hannity, in discussing Weather Underground member William Ayers, who had some tangential connection to U.S. Sen. Barack Obama years ago, said that Ayers spoke approvingly of 1960s bombings in a New York Times article on Sept. 11, 2001. Of course, for a newspaper to be on doorsteps on Sept. 11 means it was published in the morning of Sept. 11 before the 9-11 attacks. Hannity's insinuation, of course, was that Ayers was piling on and falling in line with foreign terrorists who attacked the United States.

Worse yet, liberal co-host Alan Colmes didn't attempt to correct Hannity's misrepresentation. This is why I hate watching cable news.

***

ABC's Charles Gibson is eager to hear a "cogent, quick way" that the candidates will propose to turn the economy around.

He and his colleagues also discussed the need for Democrats to hammer away at Republican U.S. Sen John McCain. Of course, that was happening, ABC just wasn't showing it or was talking over it with its commentators. But credit ABC for at least running clips that showed speakers did go after McCain, including U.S. Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, who described McCain's voting record -- with President Bush 90 percent of the time, supposedly -- saying, "That's not a maverick. That's a sidekick!"

***

The phone rang and I think I just missed a galvanizing speech by the governor of Montana. Oops.

***

Something about the sound of Chelsea Clinton's voice in narrating the video about her mother, U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, was really familiar. This is a little out there but it reminded me of Debrah Farentino's narration on "Earth 2." Yeah, totally random observation, I know.

"Whether you voted for me or you voted for Barack, the time is now to unite as a single party with a single purpose. We are on the same team and none of us can afford to sit on the sidelines," Clinton said, a broadside at the reported 20 percent of Clinton supporters who say they won't vote for Obama. "This is a fight for the future and it's a fight we must win together."

She said Democrats must unite and then launched the sound bite of the night: "No way. No how. No McCain."

Nice line: "Sisterhood of the traveling pantsuits."

Yikes, it's 11 p.m. Prime-time coverage is going long and cutting into local news time. That didn't happen last night but it is tonight. I'll be curious to see how long the networks stick with convention coverage after the Clinton speech is done. If I stay awake that long.

NBC bailed first, then CBS at 11:11 p.m. ABC went until just after 11:12 p.m.

It's 'Greek' to me

ABC Family's "Greek," the network's top series until the success this summer of "The Secret Life of the American Teenager," returns for a new batch of episodes tonight at 9.

The show, aimed at teens and twentysomethings, ably captures a middle ground between the earnest "Secret Life" and the over-the-top "Gossip Girl."

Tonight's season premiere takes a page from NBC's playbook, piggybacking on the Olympic spirit as the sororities and fraternities compete in the Greek Week Olympiad. For some reason this entails the frat brothers dressing up as women and the sororities playing football. Perhaps this is normal in the greek community on college campuses, but I wouldn't know. I was not a frat boy and am somewhat flabbergasted that I enjoy this show as much as I do.

I suspect its appeal comes from how well the show handles its outcast characters, who, perhaps in a leap of faith on the part of the show's writers, are accepted and embraced. On the flip side, the show also treats its more popular characters with more dignity than one might expect. They're not all evil and have more layers and shades than you'd expect from a teenybopper series.

Guest stars in upcoming episodes include Charisma Carpenter ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer"), returning as national sorority rep Tegan, Max Greenfield ("Veronica Mars") and my favorite new addition, Carol Potter, who played Mama Walsh on the original "Beverly Hills, 90210." She plays "a character who is pivotal to Casey's future."

Is "Greek" a series you watch. And if, like me, you are outside the show's demo, do you consider it a guilty pleasure? Comment below. (To comment you must sign in or register.)

Not a great 'Jobs'

Executive producer Thom Beers has made a career out of chronicling the extreme jobs of crusty characters, from "Deadliest Catch" to "Ice Road Truckers." But with NBC's "America's Toughest Jobs" (9 p.m. Monday, WPXI), he's met his match. And you suddenly realize, Mark Burnett ("Survivor") is a genius at these types of shows in a way that Beers is not.

Part of the fun of watching Beers' other shows comes from watching the guys -- and it is almost all guys -- who do these jobs going about their usual work. In "America's Toughest Jobs," Beers has to track both the contestants and their bosses, the TV tough guys who offer commentary on how horrible the contestants are at the tasks they've never done before. But so much time is spent on how terrible the contestants are that viewers don't get to know them. Where Burnett is able to slowly but meticulously build these characters, Beers doesn't make much effort. That may also be due to fact that the contestants are so busy working that they have no time for back-stabbing or plotting. But still, I couldn't help being surprised to hear the first contestant sent home exclaim, "In the short time I was here, I really did bond with some people."

Really? Viewers never get to see that.

"I wish I could have gotten to know them more," the evicted contestant says.

Me too.

Will you be watching "America's Toughest Jobs"? Are you a fan of tough guy TV, and if so, why?  (To post you must log in or register here.)

'Kill' comes to a close

HBO's "Generation Kill" is less emotional than the landmark World War II mini-series "Band of Brothers" but it has been a fascinating depiction of the invasion of Iraq. "Generation Kill"  comes to close Sunday at 9 p.m. with the final episode, which concludes with a musical montage set to Johnny Cash singing "The Man Comes Around."

It's also worth watching the end credits to hear what sounds like real Marines describing their Iraq experience. One expresses anger over Americans' indifference to the war and the Marines' efforts.

That matches the overall tone of the miniseries, which never really took a political point of view except to say that an effective military campaign requires a realistic view of the battlefield, something too often lacking in the "Generation Kill" portrait of the Iraq invasion. Those gaffes and the incompetence of some soldiers isn't usual war movie material.

"None of us wanted the reference points for the actors or anybody working on this to be other war movies," said Evan Wright, author of the book that was the basis of the miniseries. He also got a writing/producing credit on the HBO production. "We wanted their reference points to be the reality of the war that was fought."

To that end, "Generation Kill" relied on several advisers who had been there. Rudy Reyes even played himself in the miniseries.

"Few of the actors had any military experience, let alone war experience," said Wright, who was embedded with Marines during the invasion. "Our idea of war is shaped by movies and movies often get things wrong. We wanted this one to be focused on the reality that I observed during the invasion."

'Atlantis' deep-sixed

Sci Fi Channel today announced the cancellation of "Stargate Atlantis."

Post-Gazette entertainment editor Sharon Eberson is continuing her Comic-Con blog and she writes about the end of "Atlantis" and the future of the "Stargate" franchise. Give it a read.

Rock-com

The marketing materials for IFC's "Z Rock" (11:30 p.m. Sunday) could lead one to think it's child-like or rock-star-sleazy. The show's logo is the letter Z on a child's block with rockin' wings behind it. So I wasn't sure what exactly to expect but the time slot should have been a giveaway. This comedy series, based on a "(kinda) true story," is both sweet and raunchy.

"Z Rock" follows brothers Paulie (lead vocals) and David Z (bass guitar) and life-long friend Joey (drummer) who form the band ZO2 by night and The Z Brothers by day. The Z Brothers play for children's parties. It's funny enough in concept and execution but not something I would stay up past my bedtime to watch.

Joey is the most responsible band member while Paulie and David, the hunk of the group, are more likely to hook up with groupies in a van the night before a kid's birthday party. The hook-ups don't leave much to the imagination in terms of what's going on just out of the camera frame.

Their manager, Dina (Lynne Koplitz), tries to book them gigs. She networks wherever possible: "I'm not Jewish but I go to temple for the connections."

Episodes have a serialized element with the women the guys bed in Sunday's premiere returning the following week when a child's party is double-booked. Cast members from IFC's "The Whitest Kids U'Know" guest star as the rival band.

"Z Rock" definitely works up a sweat trying to be outrageous. A bar manager hits on Paulie pretty severely but denies he's gay with this exhortation:, "I will bite your penis if you say that again!"

There's definitely some amusing moments but the show will have limited appeal. That's probably OK by the show's creators and even IFC. "Z Rock" has "cult series" written all over it.

Tuned In Podcast: DTV

In this week's Tuned In Podcast, Techman Ced Kurtz and I follow up Sunday's story on the six-month mark to digital TV conversion. We talk about what viewers need and what they don't, the biggest misconceptions and what steps viewers can take to be prepared.