Also This Week: Blu CIVIL WAR, MATADOR, THE 100, INDIAN SUMMERS, THE FOLLOWING, MAISON CLOSE!! Cheapest Ever LOUIE, THE KILLING, INVADER ZIM, STARMAN, NEW GIRL, HAPPY ENDINGS, DON’T TRUST THE BITCH, GOOD GUYS & BOB’S BURGERS!! WAYWARD PINES!! SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN!! BIONIC WOMAN!! ASCENSION!! SURVIVOR!! AMAZING RACE!! LAST MAN STANDING!! MOM!! MIDDLE!! DEXTER!! GIRLFRIENDS’ GUIDE TO DIVORCE!! GOOD WITCH!! REGULAR SHOW!! IMPRACTICAL JOKERS!!
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2015’s final seven “Mad Men” episodes were some of the series best. Spoilers ahead.
* Enough time will have passed since Bert Cooper’s demise to allow Roger Sterling to grow a sizeable mustache.
* And we’ll learn enough time has passed for Ted Chaough and Pete Campbell to have relocated back to New York following their adventures in California.
* Don Draper, richer than ever, will still be back on top at Sterling Cooper. The episode will begin with him coaching a hot blonde model to disrobe for a fur coat campaign.
* We will learn the former Megan Calvet’s marriage to Don is over, but Don is still living in the fabulous New York highrise apartment they once shared.
* We will learn also that Don has leapt back into promiscuity with two feet, indulging sex with women in public and/or outdoors. Don will meet a pretty, 40ish and troubled waitress.
* Sterling Cooper will remain firmly in the hands of former rival McCann Erickson, which bought 51 percent of SC because it coveted the agency’s Chevrolet account.
* Joan Harris will implore a client to accede to consumer demand and start producing cheaper pantyhose to compete with L’Eggs (which Hanes began marketing in 1969). Joan’s new bosses at McCann will prove less than helpful to her quest. An unwelcome joke will be made referencing the size of Joan’s mammoth breasts.
* Peggy Olson will witness Joan’s frustration and drink too much wine on a blind date with a good-looking lawyer.
* There will be a lot of time with Ken Cosgrove on Sunday as the account executive reconsiders his decision to end his literary career. He contemplates quitting Sterling Cooper to write a novel about an ad agency, but ends up doing something else.
* The hot blonde from Fox’s “Last Man on Earth” announced she would pursue a masters in psychology.
* Photographer Pima came on to both Peggy and Stan. (For somebody who doesn’t look like Joan, Peggy sure has attracted her share of suitors over the years.)
* An elevator-riding Sylvia Rosen pleasantly bid Don a good evening.
* Roger assigned Don to golf with Pete.
* Megan learned Roger is boning her mom.
* Don got a “date” with Diana the Waitress, confessed he was “ready” for her, then discovered he made her too happy.
* Harry Crane offered his help and his penis to Megan Draper.
* Don gave Megan a million dollars. The date on the check was May. 27, 1970.
* Amy Ferguson, who played Joan’s hot hippie babysitter, was also in “Inherent Vice,” also set in 1970.
* We learned Lou Avery is running Sterling Cooper West between visits to Hanna Barbara.
* We learned Don’s Manhattan penthouse was on the market for $85,000.
* Thirtysomething Joan Harris hooked up with St. Elsewhere’s Bruce Greenwood, 58.
* Don fired Peggy’s schlubby copywriter John Mathis.
* Glen Bishop joined the army and almost kissed Betty Francis.
* Don ignited a cigarette for one of Sally’s friends.
* Betty trashed her son’s toy machine gun.
* Don learned he’ll soon no longer be neighbor to Dr. and Mrs. Rosen.
* While waiting for his Cadillac repair, Don watched an episode of “The Flip Wilson Show” that originally aired Oct. 1, 1970.
* Max Gail’s character beat Don with a phone book in Alva, Okla., because a 1/8-Camanche maid took money intended for a kitchen.
* Drunk Duck Phillips got Pete a job with Learjet.
* Trudy Campbell was invited to move to Wichita.
* Henry told Betty she would be fine, just before he ripped the cigarettes from her hand.
* Betty skipped over denial, anger, bargaining and depression and went straight to acceptance.
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Inspired by "Twin Peaks" but really more of a cross between “The Prisoner” and “Lost,” “Wayward Pines” The pilot was directed by M. Night Shyamalan, and it’s the best thing he’s helmed in a decade.
The big Shyamalan-y reveal comes with episode five. Because the series is based on novels, it's easy to discover what that reveal is. But don’t look. This is one of year’s best series.
Syfy’s six-hour miniseries “Ascension” tells the tale of hundreds of Americans who in 1963 were secretly cut off from humanity for a 100-year space-ark journey to a new planet their descendants would inhabit.
So the United States had the wherewithal to create and launch giant interstellar ship at the same time it was struggling with putting Gemini capsules into Earth orbit? And 1960s scientists found a habitable planet that a ship with 1960s propulsion technology could reach in 100 years? And a way to provide this ship with 100 years worth of fuel?
Leaving aside these improbables, the idea of a “generation ship” whose journey would last multiple lifetimes is an interesting one, but the soapy onboard characters and tired plotlines engineered by writer-producer Philip Levens (“Smallville,” “Knight Rider”) may leave viewers feeling like they’ve been watching this miniseries for 100 years.
If viewers can tough out the first two hours of nonsense, clichés and bad dialogue, they will be rewarded with quite an interesting twist. But I doubt many will find it worth their time and trouble.
... The main problem with “Ascension” is that its best feature — the promise of a succinct three-part story that ends — is something of a myth. There is already talk of making it a series. The opening installment is sharp over all but has squishy spots; that makes you wonder if the premise and the execution are up to the challenge of a series run. …
... I’d be happy to watch a thoughtful, Ridley Scott-style drama about all this, but “Ascension” is unfortunately hidebound to its network’s soap-opera instincts. … The poor citizens of Ascension flew all this way and yet cannot escape the gravitational pull of Syfy’s tractor beam of the banal. …
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says:
... There are several intriguing concepts built into Syfy’s “Ascension”, but the execution is not quite up to snuff in the first episode and infuriating by the conclusion. …
... The direction, at times, has a jerky feel. The dialogue is riddled with cliches. The metaphor to society at large is heavy handed. The have-nots are, for example, “lower deck trash.”…
... for all the drama surrounding the characters, relatively few resonate. …
TV-on-Disc Calendar
Last Week
American Horror Story 4.x (Blu-ray)
Atom Ant: The Complete Series
Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Complete Series
Bewitched: The Complete Series
Brickleberry 3.x
Big Bang Theory 8.x (Blu-ray)
Care Bears: The Complete Original Series
Castle 7.x
The Code 1.x
DCI Banks 3.x
The Don Rickles TV Specials Vol. 1
Duck Dynasty 8.x
Grace Under Fire: The Complete Collection
Happyish 1.x
He’s A Bully, Charlie Brown
I Dream of Jeannie: The Complete Series
Last of the Summer Wine 2005
The Leftovers 1.x (Blu-ray)
Little House on the Prairie 7.x
Little House on the Prairie: The Complete Series
Marple: The Julia McKenzie Collection
Maxie's World: The Complete Series
Mission: Impossible: The Complete Original Series
Party Down: The Complete Series
Penny Dreadful 2.x (Blu-ray)
Reign 2.x
Scott & Bailey 3.x
Silent Witness 2.x
South Park 18.x (Blu-ray)
TMNT 2012 1.x/2.x
Tut: The Complete Series
Vikings 3.x
Vikings 3.x (Blu-ray)
The Wonder Years: The Complete Series
This Week
Ascension: The Complete Miniseries
The Bionic Woman: The Complete Series
The Civil War: The Complete Miniseries (Blu-ray)
The Danny Kaye Show: Six Episodes
The Following: The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce 1.x
Heroes: The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
Indian Summers: The Complete Miniseries (Blu-ray)
Justified: The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
Mad Men: The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
Matador: The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
Sam & Cat: The Complete Series
The Six Million Dollar Man: The Complete Series
When Calls The Heart: Follow Your Heart
Next Week
Back to the Future: The Complete Adventures
Back to the Future: The Complete Animated Series
Curse of Oak Island 2.x
Facts of Life 7.x
Growing Pains 6.x
Hotel: The Complete Collection
Mike Tyson Mysteries 1.x
Mr. Warmth: The Ultimate Don Rickles TV Collection
My Favorite Martian: The Complete Series
Nurse Jackie 7.x (Blu-ray)
Olympus 1.x (Blu-ray)
Peaky Blinders 1.x
Therese Raquin: The Complete Miniseries
October 27
Downton Abbey 1.x-5.x (Blu-ray)
The Middle 6.x NEW!!
Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries 3.x
Transformers: Robots in Disguise
November 3
AD: The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
Batman 3.x
Black Sails 2.x (Blu-ray)
Californication: The Complete Series
Doctor Who 9.x Vol. 1 (Blu-ray)
Game of Thrones 1.x (Steelbook Blu-ray)
Game of Thrones 2.x (Steelbook Blu-ray)
Getting On 2.x (Blu-ray)
I Love Lucy: The Complete Series
Mrs. Brown's Boys: The Complete Series
Star Trek: The Complete Series
The 10th Kingdom (Blu-ray)
That '70s Show: The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
November 10
Automan: The Complete Series
Better Call Saul 1.x (Blu-ray)
The Dick Van Dyke Show: The Complete Remastered Series
Gosei Sentai Dairanger: The Complete Series
Justice League Unlimited: The Complete Series (Blu-ray) NEW!!
Manimal: The Complete Series
Maude 4.x
Nathan For You 1.x/2.x
WKRP in Cincinnati 3.x
November 17
Cristela 1.x
McHale's Navy: The Complete Series
The Rebel 2.x
Sgt. Bilko 4.x
November 24
Doctor Who Christmas Specials Giftset (Blu-ray)
Inside Amy Schumer 3.x
December 1
Mystery Science Theater 3000 XXXIV
TMNT 2012 Vol. 8
The Walking Dead 5.x (Limited Edition)
The Wild Thornberrys: The Complete Series
Zoo 1.x (Blu-ray)
December 8
Doc Martin, Six Surly Seasons + The Movies
Doc Martin 7.x (Blu-ray)
Dora & Friends 1.x
Under The Dome 3.x
December 15
Luther 4.x
December 22
Dominion 2.x (Blu-ray)
The Nanny 5.x
December 29
Ray Donovan 3.x (Blu-ray)
Shameless 5.x (Blu-ray)
January 5
Banshee 3.x (Blu-ray)
Father Brown 3.x Vol. 1
January 26
Downton Abbey 6.x (Blu-ray)
February 9
Power Rangers Time Force: The Complete Series
March 1
Death in Paradise 4.x
Scott and Bailey 4.x
March 15
Game Of Thrones 5.x (Blu-ray)
March 29
Humans 1.x (Blu-ray)