Cougar Town, Red Widow, Real Housewives, The Voice and I'm STILL not caught up! Not even close!

The answer to Tuesday's Trivia Question: The Robin Sherbastsky and the Minnesota Tidal Wave were the two cocktails in Monday's How I Met Your Mother

FIRST FIVES:Neil Moffatt, Monica Caraffa, Crystal Kyler, Heather Doyle & Alison Accarino
Honorable Mention: Christine Clarke

Sunday's Cable Top 5

The Walking Dead-AMC 5.4/10.9
The Bible-History 2.7/10.2
The Talking Dead-AMC 2.2/4.4
NCAA Basketball-TBS 1.5/3.8
NCAA Basketball-TNT 1.5/3.7

Monday's Broadcast Top 5
The Voice-NBC 4.7/13.3
2 Broke Girls-CBS 2.9/8.5
Revolution-NBC 2.7/7.2
How I Met Your Mother-CBS 2.7/6.8
Mike & Molly-CBS 2.6/8.6

Monday's Broadcast Trendrr Top 5
The Voice-NBC 694,729
The Following-FOX 182,488
Dancing with the Stars-ABC 137,121
How I Met Your Mother-CBS 79,917
Revolution-NBC 67,286

Monday's Cable Top 5
WWE-USA1.7/4.5
Teen Mom 2-MTV 1.5/2.5
Bates Motel-A&E 1.3/2.8
Storage Wars-A&E 1.1/3.1
Real Housewives Beverly Hills-Bravo 1.0/2.2 

Monday's Cable Trendrr Top 5

WWE Monday Night Raw

NBA Basketball-NBA TV 236,658

Bates Motel-A&E 97,503

Dancing with the Stars-ABC 137,121

Love & Hip Hop-VH1 88,673

Cougar Town
Mrs. Partridge, aka Shirley Jones alert!  Shirley and her hubby (not Ruben Kincaid) were hanging out with the gang teaching  them all, the great benefits of being old. This included glasses you wear around your neck, the early bird special, going to bed when it's still light out, and jazzy scooters.  Wow! Shirley looked amazing for 78 (she looked amazing for 58!).  Still no real kiss between Trav and Laurie, even when she did win the Penny Can championship for Trav's team. Bobby's still with Riggs and proved he'd do anything for her by carrying snakes in his cargo shorts. I love a guy that would do that for me! Lots of wine, lots of cleavage, Tom's still not invited in the house and this week not even Grayson went to work.  I really don't think these guys make any money at all...nobody works. 

Red Widow

Marta Petrov rules.  She can go from wearing a wire and making deals with Russian gun runners to walking in on her son doin his girlfriend in his room, dealing with him doing drugs and still remember to bring in Boris's show and tell stuff and have his friends out for a boat ride. Now that's a kick ass Mom. The best part about the boat ride was that Marta found the missing coke...anchored underneath! This changes EVERYTHING! I don't think that Marta and I trust anyone on the show at all. Not Mike, not her Dad, not her bro, not Schiller, not the feds and definitely not the Russian gun chick. I'm not even sure she can now trust her sister since she was making out with Ramos in the car after cooking dinner for her new hubby in her undies.  Of course Natalia saw it all happen.These kids totally need therapy. Marta had to get naked to prove to Schiller that she can be trusted. Nice rack Marta! Not sure if stripping down gave Schiller the confidence he needed, but the show needs ratings so if anything, she proved something to her bosses at ABC.

Real Housewives of Beverly Hills
Well, the finale of Real Housewives was satisfying for me.  Ken and Lisa's vow renewal party was in full swing and you know what that means...FIGHT!  You had Yolanda,Marissa, Brandi and the evil Faye Resnick.  I have no idea where Faye gets off butting into every ones conversations, fueling every ones fires and just getting into peoples business.  I can't stand her.  The most bizarre thing about the finale was Adrienne Maloof's appearance.  Apparently the housewives had no clue about her and Paul separating.  I really have absolutely no idea why Adrienne showed up at Lisa and Ken's house at all.  She was a mess, she seemed sedated, she didn't speak to Lisa or Ken.  They didn't speak to her either.  She basically came for the camera time and then left. WTF was that about? She didn't show up at the reunion and she isn't coming back to the show next season.  During the reunion the woman were shocked by this news. I think Bravo should sue her! Andy tricked us all into thinking that Adrienne's replacement was LeAnn Rimes and that she was going to come out onto the set.  But he was just joking.  Good one Andy.  Part 2 next week promises more tears, more screaming and the husbands! 

The Voice
I was still smiling and feeling good about the first night of The Voice when last nights episode started. I really don't care that much about finding the actual VOICE. I admit it, I just love the judges.  How cute was Shakira with her English to Country dictionary?  I need more shots of Usher's big red sneakers, I probably spent a good 10 minutes looking on the Internet for info about them.  Midas Whale wasn't my thing, Katya was pretty decent even though I didn't have a clue what she was singing and Sara Simmons was incredible. I still love and want The Voice chairs, but now, I want them with the judges in them, that way when I'm having a bad day, Adam can come and give me a hug and tell me "it's okay".  

Splash
My son screwed with my DVR...I missed it.  Hopefully ABC will rerun it over the weekend or I'll catch it online.

NEWS & INFORMATION:

-Good news Pretty Little Liars fans, not only has a 5th season been announced, but a spin-off's coming too! The spin-off is called Ravenswood and will center on a town not far from Rosewood (just to confuse everyone)  which has suffered a deadly curse for years and years. 5 strangers find themselves connected by the fatal curse and need to dig into the towns history. Sounds a bit like Secret Circle no?  As long as there are cute teenagers involved, I'm sure it'll do just fine with the PLL fans.

-I've gotta assume that Jay-Z had something to do with the big news that this years MTV Video Music Awards on August 25th (I'll be on vacation on LBI then) will be held at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.  I'm thrilled they'll be back in NY and really happy for Brooklyn. It's a good thing that most people will arrive via limo or mass transit, because parking's tough at the Barclay, so plan accordingly.

-More fun times over at the Moonves breakfast table.  I think it went like this, "Morning Jules" "Morning hon" "Did I tell you the TV Guide deal closed yesterday?" "You didn't babe, but I read about it on Twitter." "Lionsgate didn't want to part with the other half?" "Can you pass the fruit?" You know how I like to imagine the Chen/Moonves mornings...anyway, the TV Guide network is in 80 million homes.  CBS is buying the non Lionsgate half from JP Morgan Chase.  The deal includes TVGuide.com too.  There's talk of rebranding the network as TVGN, but that's not finalized.  Congrat's Les! (and Julie!)

-Apparently there have been 36.6 million live video stream on The March Madness Live app and 10 million hours of live video viewed during week one of the tournament. This is just about double from last year.   

-Big Dancing with the Stars news. Dorothy Hamill had to bow out as per doctors orders. She apparently has a cyst on her spine. So this week she spared one of the other dancers from going home.  Hope alls okay with DH!

-If you've always been DYING to advertise on the Sundance Channel...you're wish is coming true in the Fall.  Sundance wants to be more of a "playa" in the cable world and want to really get the word out there about their new show Rectify.  Good Luck Sundance.  I'm rooting for ya!

-Yeah for Robin Roberts! Along with recovering from her illness and getting back to work on GMA, she will be honored at this years ESPY awards with the Arthur Ashe Courage Award on July 17th.  If anyone deserves that award, this year, it's Robin Roberts.  Congrats!

Wednesday's Trivia Question: Who is Andy (played by Ian Gomez) from Cougar Town married to in real life? 5 point bonus if you can tell me another TV series that Ian's appeared in. (There have been a few)

WWTM-Kristy

http://watchingwaytoomuch.com

kristy@watchingwaytoomuch.com

kristy.carruba@watchingwaytoomuch.com

Red Widow, How I Met Your Mother, Rules of Engagement and Real Housewives...not a bad night of TV at all.

The answer to Monday's Trivia Question:  Kentucky beat Kansas in last years NCAA Finals. 

FIRST FIVE: Bobby Aguilera, Bill McLaughlin, Jim Carter, Dan Realson & Justin Jones

Honorable Mention: Elizabeth Mahoney

Friday's Cable Top 5

Wizards Return-Disney 1.1/5.8
American Dad-Adult Swim .8/2.0
Bering Sea Gold-Discovery .8/2.1
American Dad-Adult Swim .8/2.0
Gravity Falls-Disney .8/2.0

Sunday's Broadcast Top 5

Family Guy-FOX 2.3/4.8
Once Upon a Time-ABC 2.2/7.2
The Amazing Race-CBS 2.2/8.7
The Simpsons-FOX 2.1/4.8
Revenge-ABC 1.8/6.4

Sunday's Broadcast Trendrr Top 5

Once Upon a Time-ABC 72,609
The Simpsons-FOX 72,063
Family Guy-FOX 49,319
The Amazing Race-CBS 42,260
Revenge-ABC 41,843

Sunday's Cable Top 5

NA

Sunday's Cable Trendrr Top 5
The Walking Dead-AMC 524,459
The Bible-History 130,657
The Real Housewives of Atlanta-Bravo 53,411
Girls Season Finale-HBO
Talking Dead-AMC 37,932

Top 5 DVR'ed Shows for the week of 2/25/13-3/3/13

Modern Family-ABC From a 4.0 to a 6.3 (+58%)
Criminal Minds-CBS From a 2.6 to a 4.1 (+58%)
The Following-FOX From a 2.8 to a 4.3 (+54%)
Nashville-ABC From a 1.6 to a 2.9 (+81%)

New Girl-FOX From a 2.3 to a 3.6 (+57%)

RED WIDOW
The reason I love Red Widow is because you don't need a PHD to figure it all out. Of course just like most shows these days, a double life is being lead, well it will be now that Marta has made deals with both sides, but I'm getting ahead of myself.  For all of you that haven't gotten on the bandwagon yet, I think maybe you should.  If this show only lasts 8 episodes, or if it gets renewed, it's going to be a fun ride that you'll want to be on.  So here's the scoop: Marta's husband, brother Irwin, and friend Mike are small time weed dealers in San Francisco.  Marta's dad is a Russian mobster, but he isn't involved in the weed biz.  Marta's bro screwed over her husband and it got him killed.  Marta's left to clean up the mess. Her original plan was to do one job for Schiller (the drug kingpin in town) and get out.  But you know the deal...it's never just one job.  She was planning to get to Canada and go on the run, but it's TV and nothing goes as planned. Her bro screwed her over during job #2 and she had to clean up his mess too.  So now she's in with the bad guys and her only way out...make a deal with the good guys...the cops. (Here's where the double life comes in) So that's where we are now.  Marta has 6 episodes left to get the info needed to put Schiller (our favorite bad guy) away.  I guess that's what happens if ABC doesn't renew the show.  If they do...it could go in a few different directions.  The nice part about this show is...it's easy to understand. No crazy time travel, no secret initiatives etc.  Bad guys, good guys and the person stuck in the middle.  I'm having fun with this one. Hope you are too.  

HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER
Finally a really good episode of How I Met Your Mother that made me forget that we still haven't met her yet.  Although I thought after the last original episode Ted said he wasn't just dating anymore and this week he and Marshall pretended to be gay and he ended up having a "thing" with a woman, but I don't think it meant anything. Or did it? Anyway...Robin put Barney's bachelor pad on the market but he assumed with all the super perverted features the place came with like the Whore Begon Sleep System (by Stinson), Room with a Screw (by Stinson), Bitch Mountain (by Stinson) and so many more (all patents pending), that nobody would buy the place. Of course one couple wanted it but when Robin found out that they were going demolish it she didn't take the offer and it seems now the couple is staying put. I love NPH...love so I mean no disrespect at all when I call out that I noticed he had one slightly weird looking nipple...the right one. Just saying, but I digress.  Ted, Marshall and Lily were all currently obsessed with Woodworthy Manor (A Downton Abbey type deal) but every time Marshall and Lily would get set to watch, The Captain would call sending her off to check out a bizarro artist. Which had Marshall turning to Ted for love and affection...just kidding, but that's how they ended up pretending to be a gay couple at Barney's open house aka "The Fortress of Barnitude" complete with floating Jor-El head. Of course everything with Marshall and Lily ended up fine in our 22 minutes together.  My new obsession, Barney's bedding...I love it!

RULES OF ENGAGEMENT
I knew there was a reason I loved Timmy.  Well there's a million reasons I love that guy but the fact that he had never seen an episode of the Three Stooges caused me to love him a tiny bit more than I already did.  Of course Adam loves the Stooges and made  Timmy watch an episode which like me...he just didn't find funny...nope...not at all. Glad to see Liz back after a 2 week hiatus.  Ironically enough it is she and not Russell claiming to be a sex addict.  She made him go to her "meeting" where of course he hit on the women.  Jeff promised Audrey dinner at a new French restaurant she'd been dying to go to, but when he forgot to make the res he had to come up with sitcom type scheme to get in. His was pretty good, he tricked her into dressing up as Nicole Kidman. Like every sitcom type scheme, this one went bad.  The restaurant and Audrey realized what was going on. Audrey stormed out, got mad at Jeff, they made up and went back for their 1130pm reservation. Everyone's happy.  Including me.  

REAL HOUSEWIVES OF BEVERLY HILLS
Lisa's house, Villa Rosa (as it says at the door, on the doormat and in other various locations)  is INSANE!  Between Adrienne's, Yolanda's and Camille's houses I am constantly amazed at how over the top these people live life. Did you ever notice that we've never seen Brandi's house? Adrienne was in the midst of throwing one of the craziest and most decadent parties I've ever seen.  This one was to promote a red velvet vodka called Zing. There were naked women painted red with the word Zing on them, like statues, like fountains, like trees etc.  Paul had to get in on the action but then he left the party in anger.  Probably because Adrienne treats him like crap.  Lisa and Brandi don't go to the party they get massages on the cliff in Lisa's unbelievable backyard instead.  Adrienne and Paul announced their separation online the morning of Lisa's house warming/vow renewal party. Kevin Lee was at Lisa's making her place a palace of pink.  This guy will do anything for his clients including taking his pants off to put flowers in the pool. Taylor and Camille arrived at the party looking freshly botox frozen.  I go back and forth about my feelings for Yolanda.  I love her classiness and then I can't stand her "he is my king" thing when she talks about how she takes care of her man. Faye Resnick, Marissa, Yolanda and Brandi got into it at the party, because every party has to have a fight included or it wouldn't be considered a success. Next week is the finale and reunion part 1.  Can't wait. 

DALLAS

I don't watch every primetime drama obviously, but I would bet that of all the primetime soaps, Dallas is truly the best of the bunch.  Between the integration of the original cast, the new cast, the storylines, the sexiness, the juicyness...it's really too good.  One week is better than the next and last nights episode just rocked. Whitey from One Tree Hill showed up for the reading of JR's will.  Even in death, JR had the ability to tug on our emotions.  From the sweet, to the funny, to the shocker, JR's will had it all...just like him.  The biggest news to come out of it though is that Sue Ellen and John Ross split JRs ownership of Ewing Oil.  Bigger news came from Miss Ellie though. She gave JR's half of Southfork to John Ross not to Bobby.  The good news for the Ewings is that now they have a reason to come together...they all have common enemies in Cliff Barnes and Harris Ryland.  Since Cliff blackmailed the redheaded Allison Jones to get the transportation contract, the Ewings sent in a pro to fix the situation. John Ross knows how to get things done. He should he had the best teaching him. I gotta tell you..it was pretty steamy. I can't write the sexy talk that went on between the two of them, that'd be a whole other blog, but it was hot, and it worked.  John Ross got the married, politically motivated, Allison in her robe and on film which got Ewing oil the contract. Only problem is that on the walk through with the entire cast on the rig, Elena's brother Drew hid a bomb.  (He was sort of forced to by Harris, but it was also poor judgement).  Cliffhanger ending...Cliff gives the order to detonate the bomb even with his pregnant daughter on the rig. He is one evil guy.  I'm assuming everyone lives, but I guess we'll have to wait and see.  Back on land...Sue Ellen's drinking again, Gary's trying to help her again and Valene Ewing, looking younger than her daughter Lucy is back in town.  Harris and his controlling Mom, Judith Light, who seems to have lost her ability to act in between Who's the Boss and now, got into it big time.  She took away his money and his job. So what's a spoiled son to do? Throw his Mommy down the stairs.  Is she dead? Tune in next week to find out.  If you thought this recap was good...it's nothing compared to the show.

News & Information:

-What's interesting to me here is that mobile video consumption with the exception



-It figures I gave up on The Bible before the controversy over Satan looking like the President.  The History Channel is of course denying this and saying its ludicrous. I just had to check it out and thought you guys should be the judge.  I do sort of see it though. I doubt it was intentional, but I do see the resemblance.

-I'm always amazed that with YouTube and all of the other ways we all share funny videos these days, that America's Funniest Home Videos is still on the air.  It is and is currently ABC's longest running Primetime show. With it's April 7th episode it will celebrate 500!

-Syfy gave Face Off another season.  Good news for those of you into that one.
-MTV renewed Awkward which is good news for those of you into THAT one.

-Simon Cowell is looking via YouTube for his next star.  The yearlong talent competition called The You Generation starts tomorrow and will span 26 competitions, each will last 2 weeks. Syco execs will be the judges and winners are announced every other Friday. If you want to audition, you can submit a video.  Lots of categories to choose from in this one.  singing, stand-up comedy, makeup, style and cooking.  I'm betting one of you out there's got something to send in.  C'mon go for it!

-If you haven't gotten enough Justin Timberlake (and who hasn't?) then tonight you may want to watch his album release party on the CW at 8pm.  Just thought I'd mention that one for you.

-On Fashion Star Friday night, 7 designers items were purchased via the retail partners, Macy's, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Express totaling $600K.   All of the items sold out over the weekend.  Who says people aren't watching TV on Friday nights?

Tuesday's Tough Trivia Question: "Let's Be Careful Out There" What show, who said it and what was the actor's name that played him?  If you get all 3 right...10 POINTS...NO GOOGLING!!!!

WWTM-Kristy

http://watchingwaytoomuch.com

kristy@watchingwaytoomuch.com

kristy.carruba@watchingwaytoomuch.com

Rules, Vikings, Red Widow, Dallas, and the Housewives...lots to talk about today.

The answer to Monday's Trivia Question:  Cliff & Clair=The Cosby Show, Sawyer & Juliet=Lost and Dana & Casey were from Sports Night. Another one of those awesome underrated shows that nobody watched.  You guys should check it out on Netflix if you've never seen it. Great show.

FIRST FIVE: Ed Ziskind, Mike Pierro, Jim Carter, Caryn Vitolo, & Lillian Doremus

Honorable Mention: Daniel Block

Secret Bonus Trivia Question: The Trask I was looking for was Mr. Trask of Trask Industries in the movie Working Girl.  There were a few correct answers but only Steve Flynn answered correctly (in my mind that is) Congrats Steve!!!

Friday's Cable Top 5

American Dad-Adult Swim .8/1.9
WWE Friday Night Smackdown-Syfy.8/2.8
NBA Basketball-ESPN .7/1.6
Bering Sea Gold-Discovery .7/1.8
NBA Basketball-ESPN .7/1.5

Sunday's Broadcast Top 5

Family Guy-FOX 2.6/5.2
The Amazing Race-CBS 2.3/9.2
Once Upon a Time-ABC 2.2/7.4
The Simpsons-FOX 2.2/4.8
Revenge-ABC 2.0/6.8

Sunday's Broadcast Trendrr Top 5
Once Upon a Time-ABC 89,479
The Simpsons-FOX 70,745
Family Guy-FOX 49,786
Revenge-ABC 48,190
The Amazing Race-CBS 36,303

Sunday's Cable Top 5

NA

Sunday's Cable Trendrr Top 5
The Walking Dead-AMC 582,133
The Bible-History 121,815
Army Wives-Lifetime 51,873
Real Housewives of Atlanta-Bravo 49,505
The Client List-Lifetime 46,569

Top 5 DVR'ed Shows for the week of 2/1813-2/24/13
Modern Family-Increase from a 4.0 to a 6.2 (+55%)
The Big Bang Theory-Increased from a 5.6 to a 7.6 (+36%)
The Following-Increased from a 2.9 to a 4.5 (+55%)
Grey's Anatomy Increased from-a 4.1 to a 4.6 (+48%)
Elementary-Increased from a 2.4 to a 3.8 (+58%)

WWTM Monday Night

Dallas
O...M...G...Dallas was sooooo good last night.  JR's gone and now it's all about "Who Killed JR" as opposed to Who Shot JR" 30 years ago.  I thought that the episode from beginning to end was really a perfect tribute to Larry Hagman.  Even the opening theme song was adjusted to a sadder more fitting version.  So here's what happened, JR was killed by some random burglar (supposedly) in Mexico and of course he left all sorts of mysteries behind that will keep the family busy and viewers hooked for awhile.  Back on the ranch, a lot of original cast members showed up for the wake and funeral because honestly, what else have they got goin on?  Gary went off the wagon, separated from "Poor Val" and is in desperate need of a dentist.  Lucy looked pretty decent but explained that she married a plastic surgeon which was clearly evident. Half bro Ray was there to pay his respects, Cliff Barnes showed up to cause a commotion but Scarface calmed his butt down pretty fast. JR's former wives all showed up to make sure he was really dead this time and Mark Cuban and Jerry Jones also stopped by.  Nice to see that Sue Ellen and Ann both had time to get their hair and make-up done in between the wake and the funeral. John Ross wasn't doing so well, drinking JR Ewing scotch which apparently is in every room of Southfork.  He was so distraught that he took solice in the Range Rover with Emma who is not related to him at all...I made sure of it in my head when they started going at it in the driveway. Bobby finally lost it.  He's not sure what to do at this point. He's pissed that the wife he thought he knew he doesn't know at all and now, he's obviously left with some sort of vendetta or mission that JR needs him to handle for him from the grave. There was some good news, the Ewing Race Car won it's super competitive 4 car race and proved that a natural gas vehicle is the future.  RIP JR!

Real Housewives of Beverly Hills
It was the last night in Paris and the housewives and their spouses took a dinner cruise down the Seine where once again they dressed inappropriately and looked like they were freezing to death. But who care as long as they looked good right?  As a parting gift, Yolanda bought Brandi a crazy pair of turquoise shoes. I actually thought the other women were jealous. No idea how much they cost, but betting a small fortune. Once everyone got back to the states, Marissa went over to Kyle's house to ask Mauricio to help her co-sell her father-in-laws 18,000 square foot house for 23 million bucks.  I guess if they co-sell it, they can split the 3 million dollar commission right? Not that either one of them need it but 3 millions 3 million.  Yolanda and David did a photo shoot for some European magazine where apparently both of them are still relevant.  The photographer on the photo shoot had one of the oddest hairstyles I've ever seen.  Wish I could find a photo.  You need to see it to appreciate it.  Completely LA and completely ridiculous.  Lisa and Ken are throwing a housewarming/vow renewal party and hired Kevin "shi,shi, shi" Lee to plan the entire thing.  Remember him, he did their daughter's million dollar wedding last season.  The guy is nuts, but enjoyable to watch. (Think Franc from "Father of the Bride") Remember that wacko Dana from last season? She was back, had a ton of work done to her face, was drunk, out of her mind, smoking cigarettes and going through a bad break-up. I guess her dude got tired of footing the bill for $25,000 sunglasses.  Of course there had to be an event for everyone to get dressed up and fake kiss each other at...this week it was Kyle's store opening where I was shocked to learn that Yolanda only has a gold Amex card.  I would have thought platinum at the very least or the ultra exclusive black card no?  As always, these woman have no clue as to appropriate party conversation, so Kyle took her store opening as an opportunity to confront Kim about her nutty Parisian behavior.  Kim explained that she was confusing her water pills for her crazy pills.  I definitely didn't believe her, and I don't think that Kyle did either.  For some reason this season feels realllllly long to me.  When is the finale?  It has to be soon right? 

Rules of Engagement
I was really really hoping that the baby would never show up and that Adam and Jen would never get married, but in this weeks episode, Brenda, the surrogate, was back with a very very large belly and very very red hair. I'm guessing her OB GYN forgot to tell her that dying your hair during pregnancy is a no-no.  Jeff was trying to talk to the baby to get it to react to his voice, but only when he made fun of Audrey did this happen.  So of course that's what he did.  This weeks Russell/Timmy issue was around Russell plagiarizing Timmy's article in the WSJ. I know none of this seems funny.  It wasn't one of the better episodes, but still decent.  You know I love Timmy and that's really what it's all about for me.  

Vikings
Now that Super Hot Ragnar and Not quite as Hot Rollo have a boat, a compass and a plan to sail west, they needed a crew, so they had a secret meeting with WAY too many guys to keep the secret.  Of course one idiot leaves the meeting and immediately goes right to Gabriel Byrne and tells him the scoop.  Gabriele Byrne appreciated the guys info but then sort of tricked him into thinking he could sleep with his wife (who I finally realized was Mr. Schu from Glee's ex-wife) but when he went to collect on the offer, his henchmen killed him.  I didn't get that at all other than proving what a jerk Gabriele Byrne is.  I love the relationship between Ragnan and his kick ass wife.  She's so awesome, that she can kick his ass and get him to do the laundry. Apparently, Vikings have some sort of ritual where they wipe their face with water and blow snot rockets before setting sail. WTF is that about?  So the crew set sail and of course they sail into a terrible storm.  Without Captain Sig and the Northwestern, I was a bit nervous for them, but they got through it okay and landed on an island filled with Monks who had perfect male pattern baldness heads.  They killed a bunch of them but saved one who spoke their language and kept a bunch for slaves.  Now they're headed back home with tons of treasures and you know Gabriele Byrne is going to freak out when they get back.  

Red Widow
I guess Russian is in these days...We have Russian spies on The Americans and Russian gangsters on Red Widow.  I caught up on the pilot over the weekend and then Sunday nights episode last night. The stress of Daylight Savings Time on my TV viewing is tough.  I really like Red Widow. I am bummed that the cutest guy in the entire show, Marta's husband Evan, was killed off in the first episode.  I guess the writers figured that the ER guy would be enough eye candy for us. He's cute, but I would've liked Evan to have stuck around a bit.  Anyway Evan married into his wife's family of small time Russian gangsters, but Marta's brother got greedy and stole a bunch of drugs from a Russian kingpin dude named Schiller. This of course pissed him off so he killed Marta's husband right in front of their young son aptly named Boris.  After Evan's death, Marta was left to clean up the mess. Of course she not only cleaned it up, but she was pretty good at doing so, and now...she thinks she has a plan to disappear and get out of the biz, but part of the plan is to temporarily work for the bad guy.  Double lives are big these days and Marta's now officially living one.  Not too many recognizable faces in this show.  Laurent from Twilight works for Schiller, Marta's new boss.  Schiller is played by ER guy, Goran Visnjic. Anyone remember his character's name on ER? 5 point bonus if you do! 

News & Information:

-As you all know, I'm very interested in content consumption and how it's changing. So when Netflix's House of Cards launched a month ago, I was one of those people that watched the entire season in a week. I've been interested and curious about this model for a while. The idea of "zero latency" goes against the Netflix model big time. Everyone will consume House of Cards differently, so the social conversation won't really happen the way it does now with  live shows that air in real time. The good part for programs that are hot, and have buzz is that they promote social conversations which happen live and tend to translate into higher live ratings and less time shifting. The day after Netflix released all of Season 1 of House of Cards there were only 44,004 social mentions.  So I'm not sure how the model sustains over time.  Netflix and Amazon need subscription growth to justify purchase and production of more content since they aren't based on an advertising model.  Again...it's going to be interesting.  

-129.4 million Americans owned smartphones at the end of January 2013, according to comScore.

• This was an increase of 7% versus the previous three-month period. 
• Apple took 37.8% of the smartphone market  (+3.5%)
• Samsung took 21.4% of the market (+1.9%). 
• Android owned 52.3% of the market 
• iOS was at 37.8%

-Ellen's gonna keep on dancing through 2017.  It was announced yesterday that she'll keep on doing her thing for another 4 years.  While Ellen's no Oprah, she's pretty much all daytime has these days and she's following in Oprah's footsteps with her ownership of Bethenny Frankel's upcoming show this Fall.  I'm actually happy for Ellen.  She does a great job on air, online, and socially.  Congrats Ellen!

-For all of you One Life to Live'rs and All My Children fans, beginning on Monday 4/29 you can tune in to Hulu and Itunes and get new episodes of these two shows. This will be another interesting model to follow.  I know quite a few people who were devastated when Vicky Buchanan and Erica Kane said goodbye to network TV.  I hope all of you tune in and check these out...let me know what you think.  

-Yesterday on The View, Joy explained her desire to leave the show and Barbara told everyone that there are no plans for Elizabeth to be going anywhere. I'm not so sure I believe it all and you know how things go these days, but that's why I hate to post anything until it's confirmed. The good news is that I will probably become obsessed with who fills the chair just like I did when Regis left. This morning on GMA George said that his wife Ali Wentworth, Brooke Shields and Kirstie Alley were all in the running for the seat. It's going to be fun to watch...I know it.
-I know a lot of you watched The Bachelor finale last night...I hope you are happy with the outcome.  I could care less, but I did follow some of you guys on Facebook and Twitter last night so while I have no idea who Lindsay or Catherine were, I hope everyone's happy that Catherine got the rock over Lindsay. Now lets see how long Sean and Catherine really last.

Tuesday's Trivia Question: More couples...I'm not done yet.  Ray & Debra, Gabrielle & Carlos and Emily & Bob.  Name the shows.

WWTM-Kristy

http://watchingwaytoomuch.com

kristy@watchingwaytoomuch.com

kristy.carruba@watchingwaytoomuch.com