OH!

This is my new favourite thing. Christopher Walken, appearing on Jonathan Ross's show on the BBC, was asked to read the lyrics of Lady Gaga's "Poker Face," not knowing the song at all. This is the result:



Then, one brilliant fan put together this mash-up of the Walken bit over the actual song, and it's genius:

It's the Nik at Nite Lost S5 Contest!!

As we've already discussed on here, Lost Season 5 will be released this December on Blu-ray and DVD, and Buena Vista is offering a limited edition Dharma Initiative Orientation box set. Season 5, in my mind, was the best of the series so far (here's hoping Season 6 tops it!) and I can't wait for the box set, just as many of you can't wait for it either.

Well, I have some good news for two of you. Starting on Monday I'll be posting special preview material from the extras that will be available on the season 5 box set, and I'll be putting up a new clip every three days or so, depending on how often I'll be getting them from Buena Vista. Next week, however, along with Monday's clip I'm going to post a question. Another one will be posted on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. When all of the questions are there, you have to email me your answers to all five questions by midnight EST on Friday. I'll go through all of the entries and choose two winners on Saturday who will be the proud recipients of a copy of the limited edition Season 5 Orientation Kit DVD set!! I need to get the names and addresses of the winners to Buena Vista by December 1 (so keep an eye on your email on the weekend) and they will ship the winners' copies out December 7 to arrive at your house the next day, with any luck.

The only catch, sadly, is that these are region 1 DVDs, and therefore the DVD portion of the contest is open only to entrants from Canada and the U.S. I apologize to my other readers, but what we'll do to level that playing field is, if you'd like to enter from outside the U.S., I'll open the contest to you and your prize will be a signed edition of my book. Not exactly the glamour of a DVD box set, but at least this way we all get to play!!

So come back tomorrow and every day after that until the DVD's release, for a chance to win one of two copies of the season 5 DVDs and preview clips from the extras on the DVDs, which I'll post until the DVD's release on December 8! (And just in time for our S5 rewatch, which begins the following week!) Good luck to all of you! Spread the word and send people over here throughout the following week.

Lost Premiere Date Announced!

Season 6 will officially begin on February 2, 2010 with the two-hour premiere, in the 9pm time slot (thank goodness, since last week 10pm was being touted as the possible time), following a recap episode that will kick off the season an hour earlier at 8. This means Lost has officially moved to Tuesday nights, meaning our discussions will be held on Wednesday mornings here (does that seem wrong to anyone else? I always enjoyed our Thursday morning, and it'll just seem weird to be discussing it a day early... oh well, I'm not complaining!) You can read the full press release here.

Now this comes a week later than we'd originally thought it was going to air, and if Lost is also going to be taking off two weeks in February for the Olympics, as Carlton Cuse announced recently, how will that work? The Olympics begin on February 12. Does that mean they're airing the premiere plus one extra episode and then taking two weeks off? Or has ABC scrapped that earlier idea?

What we know is that season 6 will be 18 hours long. If the premiere is 2 hours, then that puts us at May 25 for the finale, but that's ONLY if there's no recap episodes in between, no weeks being taken off, and no break for the Olympics. However, I'm thinking the finale will be 2 hours long, which will give ABC one free week to run a recap episode. OR... if they take two weeks off for the Olympics, then they might double up episodes on another night. But considering the timing of the premiere, I don't think they'd run two episodes and then stop there, and maybe they've changed their mind about the Olympics (here's hoping the ratings for Lost will be able to hold up against them) and it'll end nicely on May 25. Fingers crossed.

Getting Ready for Season 6: Second Chances

I don't know if anyone's seen the new lame commercial for Lost, where we see Jack about to drop the bomb, and then he does, and then it says, "Lost... coming in 2010." Wow. Thanks for telling me WHAT I ALREADY KNOW. Ugh. Anyway, I think THIS should be the commercial. Yes, it's got stuff we've all seen, but it's still wicked, and suggests things could be rewound and tried again. The clock ticking at the end sent chills down my spine.

The Lost Conference

A few months ago I mentioned a pending international Lost academic conference, organized by David Lavery and Lynnette Porter, the authors of Lost's Buried Treasures, 2E: The Unofficial Guide to Everything Lost Fans Need to Know. Now the date and location have been announced: it will be held from January 12-15, 2011 in... Oahu!!

Just think: academic papers, tours of the Lost locations on the island... this was a gathering made for nuts like us. I'm planning to be there, and here's hoping some of you might make it as well! I'll keep y'all posted. The basic information can be found here.

Glee: Wheels

Two weeks without Glee is TOO LONG. I've missed this show so much, I was thrilled to have it back again. From giving us a new perspective of Sue Sylvester to solving one of the big nitpicks I've had with the show, it was a triumphant return. I was glad there was finally an episode devoted to Artie, who used to actually be part of a boy band (NLT). Here's a pic of him in those younger days.

Highlights:
• Artie telling Tina that his penis still works. Hahaha!
• Sue's comment to the newest Cheerio: "You think this is hard? Try auditioning for Baywatch and being told they're going in another direction, THAT'S hard."
• The revelation that Sue's not actually up to anything, but has a sister with Down's Syndrome. Sue has a heart?! I love it.
• Tina admitting she doesn't actually have a stutter. Thank goodness!! I thought that actress put on the worst stutter in the universe, so I'm glad that's resolved.
• Kurt and his dad. Sweet. So sweet. I knew he was going to blow that high note. (Though for as much as I adore Kurt, I thought Rachel actually was the better singer... you could actually hear the autotuner on his voice.)

Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before...

As you've probably heard already, Variety has reported that Dollhouse has been officially cancelled. As if to offer us a lollipop at the funeral, Fox has added that they will be incredibly generous and air all 13 episodes. Aw. How generous of them.

I know that back when Dollhouse was first announced, I blogged right here that I thought Joss should be riding a short bus to school for agreeing to go back to Fox, and said there's no way the show would last through a second season. But this is the one time I wanted to be SO wrong. Sigh.

The show got off to a bit of a shaky start, and had its ups and downs, but by the end of the season it was showing off some pretty stellar stuff. This season has been amazing, and the last episode -- where we got "Sierra's" backstory, was incredible.

There was no love lost between Joss and the WB by Buffy's fifth season, but that network at least gave his little show a chance. They gave both Buffy and Angel five seasons and a total of over 100 episodes each, which is about seven times the number of episodes Firefly got, and five times the number of Dollhouse eps.

Joss has already commented on the cancellation, in his weary yet comic style. I don't care how many times you get cancelled, Joss... I will always love you for things like this:

Hmm. Apparently my news is not news.

I don't have a lot to say. I'm extremely proud of the people I've worked with: my star, my staff, my cast, my crew. I feel the show is getting better pretty much every week, and I think you'll agree in the coming months. I'm grateful that we got to put it on, and then come back and put it on again.

I'm off to pursue internet ventures/binge drinking. Possibly that relaxation thing I've read so much about. By the time the last episode airs, you'll know what my next project is. But for now there's a lot of work still to be done, and disappointment to bear.

Thank you all for your support, your patience, your excellent adverts. See you again. -j.

This will probably just give people one more reason to say they're going to stop watching TV and will only watch TV series on DVD from now on. I'm starting to be with them on that.

Remember...

We Like Lost

40 Years of Sunny Days Sweeping the Clouds Away

It's hard to believe, but today Sesame Street officially celebrates its 40th anniversary. That's right... 40 years of shows brought to you by the letter A and the number 8. My brother and I watched Sesame Street all the time as kids, had the little stuffed Bert and Ernie that came with the soft car where the wheels didn't really turn... the little Sesame Street playhouse that opened up into the apartment building with Hooper's shop in the bottom and the little plastic nest where Big Bird sat (and the chalkboard in the middle). We could sing all the songs, we probably learned how to read by watching it, and I think back on it with immense fondness. It was a show that used muppets and real people to tell its stories and teach concepts to children, and it was set on an inner-city street, not some swish middle-class neighbourhood. There were all sorts of languages and ethnicities and worlds that Sesame Street opened up to little kids, and is one of those shows that probably creates universal recognition among anyone in their 30s or younger. I mean, what kid who grew up in the 70s and 80s doesn't occasionally find THIS song in their heads:



Ah, 70s grooves and the Pointer Sisters. You can't beat it.

Today Sesame Street is still on the cutting edge of issues, music, and parodies, every celebrity seems to be clamouring to get on it, and it can still be enjoyed by the parents as much as the children. For example, as much as I like Feist, when I find myself singing her music to myself I usually sing the Sesame Street version, "Whoa-ah-oh, we're counting to four!"



Their parodies are timely and charming, and seem to get it in a way that most sketch comedy shows don't. Check out the recent Mad Men sketch:



Happy birthday, Sesame Street. Here's to 40 more wonderful years. Please don't ever change.