vsmakrock Reviews

Hockey Night in Canada (1952– )

Hockey Night In Canada set to return this October!

[21 September 2005]

There are many reasons why, at 37 years old, I am still single. Perhaps it is because I am too picky. Perhaps because I am not willing to put up with the probing and BS of dating.

Or perhaps, it's because I'd much rather spend a Saturday night watching Hockey Night In Canada than going out trolling for women who aren't watching Hockey Night In Canada themselves. This is a classic catch-22: I can't meet new women because I'm watching great play-by-play from Bob Cole and Harry Neal, as well as expert commentary on Satellite Hotstove, and of course, the tandem of show host Ron MacLean and studio commentator Don Cherry, who's first period intermission segment "Coaches Corner" is the best 5 minutes of the week; and if I were to go out and seek out women when I would much rather be home watching Hockey Night In Canada, the women out there obviously don't like hockey, or else they'd be at home watching Hockey Night In Canada, and who would want to be involved with a woman that doesn't like hockey? So, unless the people at the CBC website can come up with a dating service designed for men and women in North America who's first requirement is to be Hockey Night In Canada viewers, I'm afraid I will continue to be single...

In all seriousness, not having hockey was awful last year. Hey NHL and NHLPA, don't do it ever again. God bless hockey.

NYPD Blue (1993–2005)

Simply the best ever

[5 July 2003]

Consider that in the first 50 years of ABC television, NYPD Blue was on for 12 of them. Was it better, more edgy the first couple of seasons? Yes. Was it at the end? Not so much. Yet, it was still appointment television. It was ground-breaking, and if you missed it from Day One, sure you can buy the DVD's as they come out, but it was so different than anything on TV then, and it changed what we expect out of television dramas.

The character of Andy Sipowicz, played by 4 time Emmy winner Dennis Franz, was the most realistic character ever created on television, faults and all. He was a modern-day everyman, and that was why we rooted for him, even when he was in one of those moods. It was why we continued to watch right up until it's triumphant end.

It came along when the one-hour drama on network television was all but dead; it re-defined the look of prime time drama with language and wardrobe (or lack their of), as well as how it was filmed; and when you speak with anyone that is or ever has served in law enforcement in this country, they'll tell you it was the best show at capturing "The Job" from a realism and accuracy standpoint.

Thank God for re-runs.