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Musgo Del Jefe offers suggestions on what's worth watching for the upcoming week.

Senses Working Overtime: This Week in Television (12/23/07)

Written by Musgo Del Jefe

MUSGO'S TOP 100 FEATURE OF THE WEEK

No. 86 – The Breakfast Club (USA) (WED)

If you're 40 years old this year, then there has never been a more perfect movie released at a more perfect time in your life than The Breakfast Club. It's not a perfect movie. In fact, I'm feeling guilty for including it in the Top 100 movie list. But it is MUSGO'S TOP 100 list, not Gene Siskel's. I saw it at a sneak preview in February of my senior year. And went to see it every week after that for about four weeks. "You see us as you want to see us… in the simplest terms and the most convenient definitions. You see us as a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess, and a criminal." That's powerful stuff when you're still in high school. I still linger on it today when I pass it on TV remembering how much fun we had discussing it. I loved Ally Sheedy to death, but I was always a little weirded out by the fact that she was like 23 or 24. And there's always poor Larry Lester.

Ratings around this movie…

83 – Beauty & The Beast (1946)
84 – Babe
89 – Diabolique
92 – Heat
96 – The Conversation

SUNDAY

The Hunt For John Wilkes Booth (HIST) Great story – man assassinates Abraham Lincoln and goes over 12 days before he is caught and killed. Well done doc that covers all the bases. Why hasn't this been made into a blockbuster movie?

The Amazing Race (CBS) It took a week off for Survivor last week. Now the teams are back and racing through Italy. It looks like the point where all the teams start falling apart. This show is more fun when the racing isn't pretty.

 

MONDAY

A Christmas Story (TBS) "You'll shoot your eye out!" All day long. Pay tribute to the greatness that is Darren McGavin.

A Christmas Carol (AMC) This is the George C. Scott version from 1984 and I'm convinced that it's my favorite version that doesn't include Muppets.

TUESDAY

Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl (ABC) If you've had a long Christmas day, just sit back with a cocktail and chill out to some pirate action. Only if you didn't get a Wii or DVD from Santa, of course.

A Very Special Family Guy Freakin' Christmas (TBS) "KISS Saves Christmas", if only Peter, if only.

WEDNESDAY

American Masters: Bob Newhart (PBS) I love his stand-up. Has anyone mastered the nervous stammer better than Bob?

Funniest Commercials Of The Year (TBS) I think my kids look forward to this special each year as much as any Charlie Brown special, etc. And it's not their love of Kevin Nealon. It's the fact that Dad skips all the commercials during the year that this is their only outlet. And I love it too!

THURSDAY

CSI:NY (CBS) The show hangs out on Thursday this week with a wintry rerun. But it does guest star Sasha Cohen and it's a fun little mystery.

The First 48 (MTV) This addictive series follows the first forty-eight hours of homicide investigations. Tonight you can catch a marathon of them.

FRIDAY

Men In Trees (ABC) I'm out of ideas for Friday night for you. At least you get some Justine Bateman here.

SATURDAY

Samantha Who? (ABC) It gets good ratings and yet nobody watches it. Catch up with the first few episodes tonight. Good move, ABC.

Chuck (NBC) Another good move to try to find a bigger audience. And the episode is called "Chuck Versus The Wookie"!

TV-ON-DVD TO OWN (to be released December 23)

Galactica 1980 (Complete Series) ($22.99 @ Best Buy). Am I even suggesting you buy this? Well, I'm not suggesting that you actually watch it. It's not really that good. But if you are a BG completist like me (for the classic series, at least) you probably gotta own it. And there's nothing else out there this week.

TV-ON-DVD NEWS

You know my love for the Golden Age of the TV miniseries. It looks like the powerful 1978 series Holocaust starring Michael Moriarty is ready to arrive in May of 2008… maybe it was my glowing review of Vol. 1. Love American Style (Season 1, Volume 2) is set for March 11.

TOP 5 ADDS TO YOUR NETFLIX QUEUE (released December 18)

5. Balls Of Fury. There's no logical reason to rent this. It probably stinks. But it's got ping pong and Christopher Walken going for it.

4. Stardust. A little soft for a Neil Gaiman story, in my opinion. You can't argue with the quality cast that it attracted – including Robert DeNiro, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Peter O'Toole, among others.

3. Once. I've been enjoying the soundtrack for months. I've heard nothing but great things about this film.

2. Deep Water. Donald Crowhurst entered a yacht race around the world in 1969 in a homemade boat. This documentary incorporates footage from the actual race. Let's just say it didn't go as smoothly as Don had planned when he entered.

1. The Simpsons Movie. C'mon. Do I even have to explain myself here?


BEST BUY BEST BUY OF THE WEEK

Last minute shopping? There's still room in my stocking for Purple Rain (2-Disc Set) for $4.99. After Christmas, you can get Heroes (Season 1) for the very reasonable $24.99.

About Gordon S. Miller

Gordon S. Miller is the artist formerly known as El Bicho, the nom de plume he used when he first began reviewing movies online for The Masked Movie Snobs in 2003. Before the year was out, he became that site's publisher. Over the years, he has also contributed to a number of other sites as a writer and editor, such as FilmRadar, Film School Rejects, High Def Digest, and Blogcritics. He is the Founder and Publisher of Cinema Sentries. Some of his random thoughts can be found at twitter.com/GordonMiller_CS

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