Week 6 TV Power Rankings

Couple notes:

"Jersey Shore" is off because its season ended
"The Walking Dead" makes its debut
A bunch of shows weren't on because of the World Series

1. (1) “Chuck” – Still remaining at the top and even more likely to stay after I heard how next week’s episode is the best of the season. Guest stars from this week included Linda Hamilton from “The Terminator” and Robert Englund a.k.a Freddy Krueger
2. (3) “Community” – Last week I said this show would need to step it up in order to continue staying above “Modern Family”, and it did that 150%. I was wary when I heard they were doing a zombie themed episode as the show usually stays within reality. However, I was very pleased with the reasoning for why the students acted like zombies and even happier it didn’t turn out to be someone’s dream. I’d put this episode right behind the often mentioned paintball episode as my all-time favorites of the show.
3. (4) “Modern Family” – It’s really a shame “Community” did such a great Halloween episode because “MF” was also so good it deserved to move up in the rankings. Cam dealing with his past Halloween made me laugh the whole time. I thought Mitchell going down the pipe was really good as well. The only thing I didn’t care for was I felt the storyline about Gloria’s accent was something likely to happen in a show’s first season and almost seemed like lazy writing to bring it up now.
4. (X) “Walking Dead” – Here’s the deal. The rankings are based on the full season, and so far we only have the pilot of this show to go on. I realize a show about zombies isn’t for everyone and could easily get repetitive quickly. Having said that, I thought this was one of the best pilots I’d seen all year and that’s why I ranked it this high. Not sure if you saw my preview on The Alt Tab or not, but I was very excited for this show and it did not disappoint. Will it continue to rank this highly throughout its six episode season is another question?
5. (4) “Terriers” – Another solid episode and I am really enjoying how Britt’s old criminal lifestyle keeps interfering with his attempt to go legit. I didn’t want him to meet up with Hank, become a PI, and then never be dragged into his old ways again. Plus, I liked the furthering of the story between Katie and her professor, and especially Hank’s warning to the professor at the end. Great show, too bad no one watches it.
6. (6) “30 Rock” – Wasn’t on
7. (5) “Sons of Anarchy” – So they finally got to Belfast and what happens? Just more waiting around. I’m really hoping the way this season ends will make all the dilly-dallying throughout this year worth it. I’m hoping that, not expecting it.
8. (12) “The Office” – This was a fantastic episode. The first part was great with what Stanley wouldn’t notice and it reminded me so much of when they were able to get Creed to eat the potato without him noticing in Season 2. The Michael/Darryl and Jim & Pam/Danny storylines were kind of eh, but as I long as I get some Todd Packer in me I am a happy fan. I read about and agreed with the surprise there wasn’t some type of Packer & Danny interaction about potential competition between the two.
9. (13) “The Event” – Well look at this little engine that could. A couple weeks ago this one was in the 20’s and I was hoping it would be cancelled so I could get my time back. Let this be a lesson to all shows to always keep after it, it being my approval. The main complaint about “Lost” rip-offs has been too much focus on the mysteries and not enough on the characters. I thought this show fell into some of those traps early on, but has rebounded nicely and made a lot of these characters VERY interesting. The scenes this week of the federal agent’s past and him seeing the elderly woman he abandoned years ago was probably the best stuff the show has done this far.
10. (8) “Boardwalk Empire” – This show is kind of falling back into an old issue with me. I appreciate the detailed work that goes into the writing, the acting, the costumes and sets and the historical accuracies. I realize this is a good television show, one that will probably win many awards. I just can’t find myself super excited to watch it every week and if it weren’t for doing these rankings I’d probably save a bunch and knock them all out in a row over a weekend.
11. (7) “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” – This has been a disappointing season of “Sunny”. I had high hopea for the Halloween episode though. I had heard it had been screened at this year’s Comic Con and was received very well. I found it to be okay, but nothing special. The McPoyle’s presence is always funny and I was genuinely grossly amused at Dennis being the father of Dee’s baby. However, I thought the retelling of the night would be a lot funnier and I share the same level of apathy towards finding out who the father really is as the guys on the show did.
12. (9) “Hawaii 5-O” – This week was about surfing. The guy who played Ryan Atwood’s dad and Hercules was on it. Check out the picture on his IMDB page. That is classic!
13. (11) “How I Met Your Mother” – I didn’t really care for the baby talk episode. I find baby talk annoying. I didn’t like the way Barney looked in Marshall’s flash forwards either. Should “Lost” get credit for the term flash forward, because I never remember hearing it until the “We have to go back!” episode?
14. (14) “Cougar Town” – Still a disappointing sophomore effort from this show, but this episode was better than the past few weeks had been. Always nice to see Dr. Bob Kelso from “Scrubs” appearing someplace else too.
15. (16) “Eastbound and Down” – Getting back to where I like it and I am hoping next week we get to see April, Cutler and Kenny’s brother and family in the season finale. Oh and Cleg, he might be my favorite drug addict/dealer on TV right now.
16. (15) “Raising Hope” – I feel like this show’s kind of hit that rookie wall, but I also feel like it’s a little too soon for it to be doing that. I am going to keep watching because I like it, I just don’t laugh at it often.
17. (16) “Fringe” – Wasn’t on
18. (18) “Family Guy” – Wasn’t on
19. (19) “Glee” – I thought the Rocky Horror Picture Show themed episode was pretty good. I still think this season has been pretty mediocre.
20. (20) “The League” – Ghost Monkey would be a kickass band name. And the part about letting Ruxin set Pete’s lineup was one of the better fantasy related bits they’ve ever done. I think that’s totally something I’d be super confident about at first and then slowly drive myself crazy over throughout the week, and be inconsolable for months if I lost.
21. (21) “Running Wilde” – Wasn’t on
22. (22) “Survivor” – Smart play by Marty and where the tribes are merging next week he might be able to stay in the game a little longer. I also think if you played a drinking game where you drank every time someone said the word “game” on the show you’d be pretty effed up by the end.
23. (23) “Parenthood” – Better, not move up the ranks better, but better nonetheless.

Happy Halloween Bitches!

It's that time of year again. Time for discounted bags of candy on November 1st! My diet is going out the window once I buy a big bag of mini-Butterfingers for $1!

Oh yeah, and it's also time for scary movies. Every cable channel this weekend will be flooded with prime viewing for any horror flick fan. "The Exorcist", "Halloween", "Friday the 13th" and "A Nightmare on Elm Street" will probably be logging many hours in living rooms across the country over the holiday and rightfully so. Those movies are classics and should be viewed as such.

But here at Really Reel Reviews we like to dive a little deeper and we like to think our readers do too. We also feel perhaps some of the R3 faithful might be looking at the blog in hopes of a holiday recommendation they maybe hadn't seen or considered watching this weekend. Well, you're in luck because I present to you Really Reel Review's first Really Spooky Halloween Movie Treat: "Phantoms"

We don't want to give too much away as we're hoping this is a recommendation not many people have seen. The cast includes Ben Affleck (how great was "The Town" by the way? It's a good thing we were away when that came out because my review would have been borderline pornographic), Peter O'Toole, Liev Schreiber and Rose McGowan. The main plot is two sisters return to their hometown in Colorado to find all the people either dead or missing. What's really original and great about this movie is it just hits you right from the beginning. I think the first dead body is found within the first five minutes.

Like we said, we don't want to give too much away so that's all we'll say (rhyme!). So if you're looking for a new thriller to get the hairs on your arm to rise this Halloween, then check out "Phantoms". If for no other reason than to keep the Benaissance of Affleck going.

Week 5 TV Power Rankings

1. (1) “Chuck” – Instead of telling you guys you should watch this every week I am just gonna start listing the guests stars so you can see they get real good ones. This week was Eric Roberts, Batista from the WWE and the tall skinny guy from “Dodgeball” and “Avatar”.
2. (3) “Community” – I thought this was the weakest of the episodes of the season. If another one like this happens soon then it could be passed by the next show on the list very soon.
3. (4) “Modern Family” – I wasn’t thrilled with the preschool storyline, nor was I thrilled with the idea of Tom Brady being hurt on Phil’s fantasy team. However, I really liked the Jay/Gloria plot and I thought it was Manny’s best episode yet, continuing a very solid sophomore season.
4. (5) “Terriers” – This show’s really good and it’s getting better. It’s got great acting, great writing and the episodes are half stand alone and half serialized. I’d highly suggest people watching this week.
5. (6) “Sons of Anarchy” – I haven’t watched this week yet because next week’s is a 90 min episode and I’ve come so far that I just wanna watch them together. So yeah, deal with that.
6. (9) “30 Rock” – After the live episode was just so-so, I thought this show continued its resurgent season. Kelsey Grammar’s guest spot might have been the funniest on any show this year too.
7. (7) “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”– I really liked this episode until the next day I was thinking about the stuff with the dog that wouldn’t die. I started to think it was something I’d seen before and then I realized I had, on this show. A few seasons ago they had an episode with a cat that couldn’t die. This realization really took some of the shine off this week’s episode.
8. (10) “Boardwalk Empire” – I finally got the payback from Jimmy Darmody I was looking for and I was highly satisfied. This show is good, though it’s still not one I simply can’t wait to watch every week.
9. (11) “Hawaii 5-O” – Another solid episode. This show is what it is, kind of like a 6th man who gives you 10 points every night. You’re usually happy with what you get, but you’re never thinking it will make it to the starting five.
10. (8) “Jersey Shore” – Another episode of The Situation being a dick and I will be completely honest and say I can use the break from this people for a few months.
11. (12) “How I Met Your Mother” – I am going to reserve judgment on this new arc until I see where it heads. I have heard rumors though that the woman who was protesting will be a major woman in Ted’s life. Could she be the mother? I don’t know but I’m getting tired of the chicks in Ted’s life not being the mother.
12. (14) “The Office” – I thought this was a pretty good episode, not a classic but decent. I thought it was one of Meredith’s high points and I always like when Ryan’s douche-ness is allowed to come out. I wouldn’t get too worried about the new guy being a potential Michael Scott replacement though because he has his own show on FX called “Justified” (which will debut on the rankings in February). The best thing from this week has to be the potential of a Todd Packer appearance coming soon!
13. (20) “The Event” – I can admit it when I am wrong and I was wrong. This show is getting really good and I am beginning to look forward to it every week. I still don’t really care about the young guy and his girlfriend that much, but I am loving the plots about the “aliens”.
14. (13) “Cougar Town” – Some good things this week, especially when they tried to convince Ellie she was just as dumb as everyone else. Still, this show isn’t nearly what it once was and Travis is kind of starting to creep me out.
15. (15) “Raising Hope” – Wasn’t on because of baseball
16. (18) “Eastbound and Down” – Now this was more like the E&B of last season. I really liked Don Johnson as Kenny’s dad (although not as much as his appearance in the LeBron ad). I think the show should continue on this upswing as Kenny returns stateside.
17. (16) “Fringe” – Wasn’t on because of baseball
18. (17) “Family Guy” – Was a repeat
19. (19) “Glee” – Wasn’t on because of baseball
20. (23) “The League” – Another strong episode and I can’t ignore the fact it was also another episode without a NFL guest. Also, the storyline was a lot more relatable than some of the weaker early season episodes.
21. (21) “Running Wilde” – I absolutely hate it when networks show episodes out of order. This latest episode seemed more like it should have been the second episode and wasn’t very good either. I’ve said it before, but I think it’s just a matter of time until this show is scratched from the lineup.
22. (22) “Survivor” – I’m glad they switched up the tribes and hopefully this season will begin to improve. At this point though, I just can’t wait for next season with a tribe led by Boston Rob and one led by Russell.
23. (24) “Parenthood” – This show just isn’t as interesting as it used to be and the payoffs for the moral victories of the characters aren’t worth the crap they had to deal with to get there. That’s why it’s in last place.

Week 4 TV Power Rankings

1. (1) “Chuck” – I thought this was probably the weakest episode of the season, but it wasn’t close to being weak enough to knock “Chuck” off the number one slot.
2. (2) “Mad Men” – The season finale wasn’t the best episode ever, but this season was probably the second best after Season 1. The day after a cable show ends always sucks because I know this won’t be back until next summer.
3. (3) “Community” – There’s been a lot of comparisons of this week’s episode to the legendary paintball episode. Those comparisons are ridiculous because the paintball episode is the best sitcom episode in the last five years besides the first “Office” Christmas party. This episode based on “Apollo 13” references was still damn good and this show has created even more distance among itself and the other comedies on the list.
4. (5) “Modern Family” – I was a little worried MF was gonna hit a sophomore slump the way “Cougar Town” has, but I have been very satisfied with this season. I thought the Phil MC storyline was great, I loved Haley saying she “invented McKenzie” and my favorite part was Mitchell thinking Cam wanted him to shave his shoulders. The bike shorts didn’t really do it for me, but I know some people enjoyed it.
5. (6) “Terriers” – After a long story arc that covered several episodes, this week’s was more of a stand alone piece. The stellar chemistry and humor between the two leads allows the show to have really dark and depressing storylines without becoming a total bummer. This was also a perfect episode for someone who’s never seen the show to sample to see if they approve.
6. (7) “Sons of Anarchy” – I’m starting to feel like I rank this show so high because of how incredible Season 2 was. Now I’m entertained by the season and am enjoying it, but it’s been a lot slower to develop than the previous two seasons. Long story short, the main character’s son was kidnapped in last season’s finale. Through six episodes they still don’t have him back and I am nervous they won’t until this season’s finale. I’m not in favor of the storyline stretching out that far, nor did I expect it to.
7. (8) “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” – Now that was the kind of Sunny episode I was looking for. This season hasn’t been great, but if they can take the momentum from this one we could be looking and a nice comeback story.
9. (9) “30 Rock” – They did the show live this week. I also feel weird watching live shows that aren’t SNL, like something’s wrong with my TV. It was good for a show that obviously was put on with a higher degree of difficulty, but I can’t say it was one of the funnier episodes they’ve ever done.
10. (10) “Boardwalk Empire” – I thought last week’s episode was the best of the season and so my expectations were high for this week’s episode. The result was I was pretty disappointed. Now it’s not a bad show or even a bad episode, but my attention span is not what it once was and I was looking for more action then build up and development, and I got the latter.
11. (13) “Hawaii 5-O” – The show is just good. I can’t believe I have stuck with it but the characters are top notch, the setting is beautiful in HD and I like the storylines.
12. (14) “How I Met Your Mother” – This episode made me remember how thankful I am to not still be living in NYC. Thank you HIMYM.
13. (11) “Cougar Town” – This ship is sinking and I am sadly going down with it after telling so many people to hop on with me. It’s just a little too real this year, when last season was more fun. Also, I never really took notice of it last year, but they drink A LOT of wine. And during the day!
14. (15) “The Office” – H – I – R – P – E – S. We can all agree that this season is gonna focus a lot on Michael and Holly ending up together, right? Also, I read this episode might have been showcasing Andy as a potential replacement for Michael and his Sex Ed class was a trial for how he’d run the office. I don’t think I’d be super thrilled or super upset with that decision.
15. (12) “Raising Hope” – I still like this show a lot, but I noticed this past week was more of an episode where I would say “That’s funny” rather than laugh. That’s not good.
16. (16) “Fringe” – This show’s having a very strong third season, but I also don’t think it’s a show you can just jump right into either. So the boat’s pretty much sailed for all of you except Matt and me.
17. (17) “Family Guy” – The NLCS was on instead.
18. (19) “Eastbound and Down” – Yeah, I don’t know. There are funny lines, but the genius of the first season was they took this douchebag guy and made him loveable. This season he’s more annoying and tough to take a lot of the time. Plus, I miss a lot of the characters they took away and am not loving the new ones. However, that’s Nash Bridges as his dad! I am excited to see where that goes.
19. (18) “Glee” – I’m starting to not even remember what these episodes are about. The storylines are just all over the place every week. There was a girl on girl scene between the two cheerleaders though, so it’s not like I am gonna stop watching.
20. (20) “The Event” – This just got a full season order, which means they will make 22 or so episodes and it won’t be cancelled (if it is at all) until after this year. This show isn’t the worst thing on TV by any stretch of the imagination. But I think they made a huge mistake advertising it as “24” and “Lost” combined. There’s really nowhere to go but down from there.
21. (24) “Running Wilde” – This show’s getting funnier, but sadly it doesn’t appear to be long for the TV world. It’s a shame, but I’ll take my 30 minutes back per week so I can spend more time on my Madden Franchise. 2012 season, Pats are 14-0, Brady has 55 TD passes and my running back is named Tiger Hawthorne. I also have a rookie WR named Sleepy Richardson who is NASTY!
22. (22) “Survivor” – I will confess I haven’t seen this episode yet. I know they mixed up the tribes and Tyrone got voted off and I can’t say I am a fan of either of those happenings.
23. (25) “The League” – Maybe the best episode of the season, still a terrible season.
24. (22) “Parenthood” – I want it to be known that I did enjoy this show’s first season. This season is just too boring and maybe a little too adult for me. I am just not enjoying watching it nearly as much and I don’t care about the plots either. That’s a bad recipe for getting enjoyment out of a TV show by the way.

Week 3 TV Power Rankings

1. (1) “Chuck” – Another very enjoyable episode with some main characters returning (Big Mike) and some guest stars returning as well (Stone Cold Steve Austin and Nicole Richie).
2. (2) “Mad Men” – Wow, American Tobacco just got Drapered. The only downside is Draper’s badass ad was essentially the nexus of those annoyingly self righteous anti-smoking campaigns.
3. (4) “Community” – Best comedy on TV right now, hands down. If you watched it this week and didn’t notice the Abed storyline occurring in the background, google it. Amazing what we sometimes don’t pick up on.
4. (3) “Jersey Shore” – The Situation’s at minute 14 of his 15 minutes of fame. I have a feeling Season 3 isn’t going to be something to look forward to after this season’s limp to the finish line.
5. (5) “Modern Family” – I was disappointed with the use of Nathan Lane as Pepper Saltzman. I thought there was a lot they could have done there and it was surprisingly underwhelming.
6. (7) “Terriers” – Well they got out of the huge pickle they were in. Now it’ll be interesting to see how engrossing the show will be without that specific story arc.
7. (8) “Sons of Anarchy” – Oh boy. I’ve been waiting all season long for this bubble to finally burst and I feel like it’s coming in next week’s episode.
8. (6) “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” – I don’t think this season has been one of their best. I expected a lot more from this episode and besides Charlie’s hockey wig I didn’t get much out of it.
9. (15) “30 Rock”– I haven’t thought the past few seasons of this show have been up to the standard of the first two. But these past two weeks have been classics, especially this week.
10. (16) “Boardwalk Empire” – I was too difficult on this show last week. Clearly, they were just setting up the characters in the first three episodes and now they’re taking off. I can’t wait to see what Jimmy does to the guy who cut up his prostitute girlfriend’s face.
11. (9) “Cougar Town” – Seems like a bit of a sophomore slump for this show. It’s still funny and I enjoy it, but it’s nowhere near the quality of last season. It’s also making me feel like kind of a jerk because I recommended it so highly to people.
12. (12) “Raising Hope” – I don’t really laugh out loud that frequently at this show, but I just find the way most of these characters are to be very amusing. I enjoy my weekly view into their warped world.
13. (10) “Hawaii 5-O” – Still liking this show. The only reason it continues to slip is I like other shows more.
14. (13) “How I Met Your Mother” – I thought the last episode was the best of the season so far and I liked how it set up the arc of Ted designing the building. And I also love jalapeno poppers, but with cheddar not cream cheese.
15. (12) “The Office” – Loved Michael doing a full “Law and Order” for his audition, but other than that I wasn’t head over heels for this episode and haven’t really been for this season yet either.
16. (X) “Fringe” – So I kept forgetting to put this in. I like the way they have set up this season where it’s almost two shows with one being in focus each week. I know Matt has voiced his displeasure with it previously, but I am into it and excited to see where it’s going.
17. (14) “Family Guy” – Pretty much is what it is at this point. I’m laughing, just not nearly as much as I used to.
18. (17) “Glee” – Pretty serious themes in this week’s episode. This season has been uneven to me for most of the year, but I thought their version of “What if God was One of us” was the best song they’ve done this season.
19. (18) “Eastbound and Down” – Geez, this sh*t’s getting heavy, huh? I know it’s the character and he’s supposed to act like that, but I don’t think April would put up with the way Kenny talks to Vida and her son at the carnival. If it’s just that she’s so desperate for a man to want to be a father figure to her son then that makes this really sad because we know Kenny’s fatherly inclinations are not gonna last.
20. (20) “The Event” – Ok, it pulled me back in a little bit with all the dead airplane passengers waking up at the end of this week’s episode. However, I’m aware it’s teetering on the brink of cancellation so I won’t be getting too invested.
21. (19) “Mike & Molly” – Usually the last show I watch and I don’t think that’s gonna change soon. But as I keep saying, a lot worse ways to spend 30 minutes.
22. (21) “Parenthood” – I feel like this show has just hit a comfort zone and is just plugging along. While I guess that’s kind of like real life, that’s not why I watch TV so I am not entertained.
23. (22) “Survivor” – I’d like to ask the audience since I’ve only watched Season 1 and last season of this show, is this a good season? I feel like it really isn’t at all.
24. (23) “Running Wilde” – I thought this was the best episode they’ve done yet, especially the stuff with Will Arnett being so into the cake celebrations at the office. It’s too little too late though, as I’m predicting this is the next show off the rankings.
25. (24) “The League” – So last week I complained about how it’s not relatable to guys in real fantasy leagues. This week, they responded by having a scene of graphic g@y s*x. Plus, I am not happy Rafi is leaving the league (and I assume the show), he’s had some funny moments. Way to go guys.