Zatz Not Funny!

Free Fall Season Online Premieres Reviewed

It was a long and boring summer for television this year, but with the fall TV schedule just around the corner, I’m starting to get excited about some of the new shows that are popping up. At the start of the summer, I thought that I would have lots of exciting new shows to check out, but with the exception of Burn Notice (which is freaking awesome), this summer’s crop of new shows was a major let down for me. Too much reality TV and not enough compelling fresh content.

Normally, the start of the Fall TV schedule is a pretty busy time for me. If I don’t catch a show from the very beginning, there is a good chance that I’ll never tune in, so I try to catch as many of the pilots as possible. I won’t end up subscribing to all the shows, but I like to check all of the new ones out, so that I can figure out which ones deserve a season pass. This year, this task got a little bit easier because a couple of the studios have been making some of their pilots available early.

Last week, NBC released free pilot downloads on Amazon’s Unbox service, for 4 of their upcoming shows. Not to be outdone, CBS decided to release an episode of the Big Bang Theory early. Over the weekend I checked out all five of the early releases and had some mixed reviews on the new shows.

Dragon’s Lair HD DVD Review

Infinite free respawns never felt so good? Kevin Tofel, of jkOnTheRun, shares his Dragon’s Lair thoughts and pics.

Ah, 1983. A time when I was waiting for my growth spurt, had no gray hair and could often be found in an arcade or pounding away on my Commodore 64. I enjoyed all different game genres in the arcade: I didnât discriminate on which machine was worthy of a quarter. However, I was always drawn to Dragonâs Lair which was one of the first laserdisc-based games. Maybe it was the movie-like cartoon graphics that captured my attention. (Actually, it was more likely glimpses of the spunky liâl Princess Daphne, but I digress so letâs get to current day.)

Fast forward to 2007. Iâm still waiting for that growth spurt, I bleach the grays and have no time for arcades these days. And whatâs with these âtokensâ? everyone keeps trading real money for: is this Second Life in the real world? No, these days, I stay home and play games in high definition on an Xbox 360 and 60-inch Sony SXRD set. Itâs all exactly as I would have predicted back in 1983, of course. ;)

Thatâs why I was excited to get a copy of Dragonâs Lair in HD-DVD to review. With the remastered disc from Digital Leisure and my Xbox 360 HD-DVD drive, I figured Iâd be giddy with Daphne sightings, er, I mean, ready to once again quest away as Dirk the Daring.

The Gamefly Update: Improved

Back in July, Gamefly reached out to me after hearing of my first (subpar) stint as a customer. They offered me 90 days on the house (2 games out) to test their supposedly improved service. Having received about a dozen Xbox and PSP games the last two months, I can report that delivery times have … Read more

Gizmodo Gets Scoop on New ReplayTV Gadget

I have a soft spot for ReplayTV, having gotten an early Panasonic version of the company’s hardware back in 2001. However, there’s been virtually no word of the DVR pioneer since ReplayTV moved to a software-only business model last year. Now Gizmodo reports that the company is launching a new product – an HD/DVR tuner … Read more

Web-Only “Quarterlife” to Debut November 11th

This is what I’ve been waiting for. Something good to watch on the Web. Seriously, with the amount of bad television churned out by the networks these days, I’m all for having a few professionals take the plunge to produce for an online-only audience. Last week, MySpace announced that producers Ed Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz (Thirty Something and My So-Called Life) will debut Quarterlife on its site on November 11th. The show will not be seen on regular networks, only online.

While I don’t know if Quarterlife will live up to my TV-watching criteria (it doesn’t have Timothy Busfield after all), I’m extremely happy that professional producers are willing to give Internet-only distribution a try. Zwick and Herskovitz are almost sure to lose money, but they have a chance to convert some key TV-watchers to the Web and make the platform viable for other producers in the future. I could care less about watching TV online per se, but I’d do almost anything for good content, and it’s clear that producing quality TV for the networks is getting harder and harder.

Nano “Fatty” Misaligned

Based on feedback in the Apple forums, Engadget reports that new iPod nano components are misaligned in some units:

the screen doesn’t appear to be completely level within the casing

Having played with several of these in the Apple Store, I encountered the defect on just one. The degree of tilt is pretty small, but it is noticeable (and surprised me). Assuming Apple hasn’t replaced the model I saw Saturday at Montgomery Mall (MD), you can see for yourself – in the front section, check out the silver Nano attached to the iMac furthest in on the far left.

Supposedly Apple is replacing these units. As they should.

If Money Grew On Trees: FogScreen

If money grew on trees, I’d have a funkadelic living room. FogScreen “produces a thin curtain of fog that serves as a translucent projection screen, displaying images that literally float in the air.” It sounds like FogScreen has been available overseas for a bit (mostly appearing at trade shows), but is now making its way … Read more

Xbox Media Extender Modding

While this hack isn’t new, it’s worth revisiting… Life Hacker documents how they upgraded an Xbox into a Xbox Media Center (XBMC). I can tell you from first hand experience that once you have the required supplies (Splinter Cell, USB reader) the process is quick and easy. And when you’ve completed the upgrade, the classic … Read more