Quad Blogs

THE WEEK FOUR NFL PICKS!

Once again, the Phillies won the NL East right before the fourth week of the NFL season. You know, I’m still in baseball mood. The NFL season hasn’t swept me off my feet thus far. Baseball’s been fantastic this season. Great storylines, great playoff races and great awards races. The pitching has been tremendous throughout baseball: Halladay, Josh Johnson, Felix Hernandez, Adam Wainwright, Justin Verlander, Jon Lester, CC Sabathia, Cole Hamels, Roy Oswalt, Brett Myers, Jaime Garcia, Chris Carpenter, Trevor Cahill, Phil Hughes, Matt Cain, Tim Linceum, Jonathan Sanchez, Cliff Lee, CJ Wilson, Jimenez…just to name a few. There’s been outstanding individual performances like Brendan Morrow’s 1-hit, 17 strikeout masterpiece against the Rays, Dallas Braden’s perfect game, Galarraga’s botched perfect game, Matt Garca’s no-hitter. The NL rookie class has been one of the best of all-time.

Now, the playoffs begin. The Phillies looked poised to destroy the NL in their quest to return to the World Series for the 4th straight season. Plus, hockey season is now a week away. The NFL better step its game up.

Anywho, I went 9-7 last week. My overall is 28-20. Last year, at this time, I was 32-16 so I’m not complaining.

TO THE PICKS!

Atlanta over San Francisco

-The 49ers fired their offensive coordinator this week. I found out Singletary barely gets involved in the offensive game-planning because he lacks experience in the area. WHAT?!? He’s the head coach! The 49ers will be done for the season should they lose the game, and they’ll realize they managed to blow winning the easiest division. I mean, the Seahawks are the favorite. Ask any NFL fan to name 15 players from the Seahawks and no one can. As for the Falcons, they look good enough to win the NFC South this season. Don’t start the Niners defense in fantasy, people of Earth. This will be a blow out.

New York Jets over Buffalo

-Well, the Jets aren’t terrible. Harvard Fitzpatrick, meanwhile, lit up the Patriots defense last week. Good for him. Does this mean the Chan Gailey offense finally takes effect and the Bills become an offensive juggernaut? Probably not but they should be a respected offense. I think Rex Ryan would have a heart attack if his defense got beat by Harvard so the Bills will fall, predictably, to 0-4.

Cleveland over Cincinnati

-I watched the longer highlights of the Bengals/Panthers game to see how terrible Jimmy Clausen played. Interestingly enough, the Bengals as a whole surprised me with just how poorly they played despite winning and scoring 20. They barely capitalized on turnovers. They could’ve blown the Panthers out. Palmer’s throwing balls right at defenders when his own players are away from the ball. Maybe this leads to our first ever heel turn in the NFL. Soon we’ll see Palmer thrown an INT, and then he’ll remove his jersey to reveal the OPPONENT’S JERSEY and give the finger to every Bengals fan in the stadium. The Browns are a sneaky mediocre team. Their 0-3 record is mis-leading.

Green Bay over Detroit

-The talking heads continue to say ‘the Lions are a tough football team to play’ and yet I don’t agree. I stand by my words last week that the Lions remain a terrible football team. Things might change once the team gets healthier; however, they might remain the same. These are the Detroit Lions. One of these years, the preseason talk that the tide has turned in Detroit will actually be true. Not this year. As for the Packers, I don’t agree with the opinion that the Packers aren’t as good as we thought because of the Bears loss. It’s one loss. They can still finish 13-3 or 12-4. Also, Clay Matthews run of destroying NFL QB’s careers has ended. Shaun Hill might begin the run again for Clay Matthews though.

Tennessee over Denver

-Kyle Orton throws for 476 yards yet the Broncos score one touchdown in the game. Wow. 0-5 in the redzone. They were gutsy 4th quarter calls that I respected. But I’m sure the Colts would’ve won in a shootout too. I have nothing else to write for this game.

St. Louis over Seattle

-As predicted, the Rams beat the always-hapless Redskins. This pick really is based on the idea that the Seahawks are awful away from home. But, asking the Rams to win two in a row might be too much. Bradford’s a good NFL quarterback though, and he has decent enough receivers and a good running game to support him. St. Louis might finally have hope with their football team. I bet Ron Pitts and John Lynch return to their weekly Rams duty after a one week vacation from calling Rams game.

New Orleans over Carolina

-Carolina is very, very bad. I don’t think Steve Smith’s open criticism of Clausen on the sideline is the best thing for the young quarterback. The running game isn’t as strong as last year. Major problems in Carolina. The Saints are lucky to face the team after three tough games. The Saints should have a comfortable win.

Baltimore over Pittsburgh

-One of my favorite games of every NFL season. I hope the Steelers don’t improve to 4-0 with Roethlisberger returning next week. I have no interest in rooting for the guy. He’s a d-bag. Tomlin’s doing a great job though, ending the ‘is he a good coach or benefiting from Cowher?’ debate. The Ravens have to prove they can score on tougher defenses. This is a huge game for the Ravens. A statement game. Especially for the offense.

Houston over Oakland

-Houston’s lost to Oakland in recent years. They never have a good time in Oakland. So why am I picking them? Feels right, I guess. It would be in the Texans nature to lose this game and drop to 2-2, rendering the week 1 lost meaningless in the grand scheme of the season. The Raiders should’ve won last week. Gradkowski is solid for the Raiders and he has weapons to use. The Oakland defense is always formidable too.

Indianapolis over Jacksonville

-Del Rio sort of threw Garrard under the bus after the Eagles game. Well, he DID throw his QB under the bus. He told reporters to ask Garrard about his ineffectiveness. Way to have your QB’s back. It’s all downhill for the Jaguars now. Poor Jones-Drew. Poor Rashean Mathis. And the Colts are just fine. Every season, people want the Colts to fail but I like the consistency of greatness from the Colts. The Jaguars usually play the Colts tough though. I think the Jaguars are on the brink of quitting on their coach so maybe not a tough game for the Colts.

Philadelphia over Washington

-Reporters ask questions to McNabb, expecting him to say something that spark fireworks. It’s not going to happen. Donovan’s way too smart to say anything stupid regardless of how he really feels about the trade. I would’ve prefered McNabb finish his career an Eagle. Oh well. I don’t think the Redskins defense will be a true test for Vick. Thus far he’s thrived against two poor defenses and one that hadn’t prepared at all for Vick. The Eagles defense played great last week; however, it’s just one game. Consistency is key. Facing McNabb is going to be a good test for the young defense. How long will Buck and Aikman rehash the trade, talk about the Vick/Kolb stuff and McNabb’s legacy in Philadelphia? The Linc better cheer McNabb in pre-game. He deserves it.

San Diego over Arizona

-Rodgers-Cromartie wanted the Cardinals to lose last week and nearly succeeded until Janikowski choked. I wonder how many penalties and dumb plays he’ll make this week. The Chargers regressed into an enigma again. The offense isn’t struggling too much without Jackson. The special teams have let the team down since the season began. Rivers might beat up a teammate on the field, during a game, before the season ends.

Chicago over New York Giants

-The Giants defensive coordinator hasn’t fixed the problems that plagued the defense last season. They’ve been blown out back to back. Eli might be playing the worst football of his career. The Giants will be lucky to finish .500. They’re like a a recent M. Night Shyamalan film.

Miami over New England

-Why the hell not? I don’t want the AFC East to boil down to Pats vs. Jets. I like the Dolphins. I like Sprano. I think Henne’s a solid quarterback. The defense is underrated. YES, UNDERRATED. Totally unrelated question: what are the chances Sergei Bobrovsky becomes the permanent starter by January?

Last Week: 9-7

Overall: 28-20

SCREENPLAY OF THE DAY

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang–Written By Shane Black

http://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/Kiss_Kiss_Bang_Bang.pdf

THE YOUTUBE CLIP OF THE WEEK

NBC should hope one of their new shows hits with the audience and the critics because they need a hit badly. The crop of returning shows consists of older shows that suffered from mediocre bad seasons. Plus, the age factor exists. How much life do some of these shows have left? Dick Wolf and Lorne Michaels are responsible for half of the primetime schedule. NBC has a show with a cult following in Chuck so the show’s audience is what it is. Most of the returning shows are what they are now. They are set in their ways. Community has the best chance of finding a bigger audience this year and becoming a bonafide hit. Dan Harmon and the writers aren’t afraid to take risks as proved by last year’s terrific paintball episode. But NBC probably will finish fourth overall once again.

For the next couple of days, The Foot’s previewing each scripted series on all five networks. On Wednesday, I previewed every returning scripted ABC series. On Tuesday, it will be FOX’s turn. Today is NBC.

The Show: 30 Rock

What Season?: The Fifth

Returns To Air: September 23, 2010 at 9:30PM

What To Expect: The press release merely states that the show is renewed for a fifth season. Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) is with Avery, the business news anchor who is carrying his child so expect a birth storyline. Matt Damon will be around for a brief time as Liz Lemon’s (Tina Fey) love interest. He plays an almost-astronaut. And Kenneth is being transfered to Los Angeles.

The biggest news surrounding 30 Rock is the live episode that will happen on October 14. The cast and crew will be live for the 9:30PM East Coast airing and they will be live for the West Coast airing.

The show didn’t receive the best reviews for last season but they have their audience, the emmys love the show and the show will easily get a sixth season.

The Show: Chuck

What Season?: The Fourth

Returns To Air: September 20, 2010 at 8PM

What To Expect: No press releases for NBC Preview, folks. I’m sure the masses fell in love with the press release. Don’t worry. The press releases will return on FOX day. If not then, The CW day.

The big news surrounding the show’s fourth season are the guest stars they’re bringing in. Linda Hamilton joins the cast as Chuck’s mother while Dolph Lundgren and the Old Spice Guy will make appearances on the show.

Last season’s finale set the pieces for a sort of reboot as the old base of spy operations was blown up. TWoP said the show took “a quantum leap in a new direction with a cool new base of operations.”

The Show: Community

What Season?: The Second

Returns To Air: September 23, 2010 at 8PM

What To Expect: Community was one of the best comedies on the air last season. It is original and full of tongue-in-cheek jokes while self-aware about sitcom cliches and tropes.

Last season ended with a great twist/cliffhanger. Torn between Britta and Slatter, Jeff finds an expected-but-still-OH-WOW love interest in Annie after she ended things with Vaughn. The first season ended on the image of Jeff and Annie locked in a passionate kiss as Britta and Slatter waited inside for his decision. Professor Chang is no longer the Professor because he never WAS a professor. Chang will become one of the group seemingly. And Troy decided to move in with Pierce after Abed refused to be roommates with him because he didn’t want to destory the friendship. Pierce might be a tough roommate for Troy to handle.

Also, Betty White guest stars in the season premiere as an Anthropology teacher. John Oliver will have a larger role this season as well. Drew Carey and Rob Corrdry will stop by Greendale as well.

The Show: Law & Order: Special Victims United

What Season?: The Twelfth

Returns To Air: September 22, 2010 at 9PM

What To Expect: (From NBC Press Release) “We’re looking forward to launching our 12th season with a special two hours of ‘SVU’ that will take Benson and Stabler through the twists and turns everyone loves,” said Neal Baer, executive producer. “We’re blasting off with a stellar guest cast including Joan Cusack, Peter Strauss and ‘Lost’s’ Henry Ian Cusick.”

What To Expect Part Two: Last season, the medical examiner was shot and the Assistant DA left the show. Jennifer Love Hewitt will guest star in the premiere as a rape victim who fears leaving the house. Overall, expect more crimes to be solved. It usually happens in the world of Law & Order.

The Show: The Office

What Season?: The Seventh

Returns To Air: September 23, 2010 at 9PM

What To Expect: Hm. Is someone leaving this show? Oh yes, someone is. The star of the show. I think it’s a mistake for the show to continue without Steve Carrell. The quality of the show is already dropping. But NBC won’t because they make many terrible decisions, thus, the struggle for ratings.

Last season, Michael told Kathy Bates that he wants Holly back. Well, Kathy Bates will guest star in an episode or two this season. No idea about Amy Ryan. And the biggest storyline will be Michael Scott’s departure and the search to replace him.

The Show: Parenthood

What Season?: The Second

Returns To Air: September 14, 2010 at 10PM

What To Expect: More family drama with all of the characters. My research didn’t find much about the happenings of last season or what to expect for the upcoming season.

The Show: Saturday Night Live

What Season?: The Thirty Sixth

Returns To Air: September 25, 2010 at 11:35PM

What To Expect: No more Will Forte because he left the show; however, SNL hired three new cast members. Among them is a guy who can finally replace Fred Armisen as Obama on the show. Seth Meyers is still head writer and weekend update anchor.

The host for the premiere hasn’t been released but Bryan Cranston will host the October 2 show. Jane Lynch will host the October 9 show.

OTHER RETURNING SHOWS

Sunday Night Football returns September 9 with the New Orleans Saints hosting the Minnesota Vikings.

The Apprentice returns September 16 at 10PM

The Biggest Loser returns September 21 at 8PM

THE YOUTUBE CLIP OF THE WEEK