Okay, we are five episodes into Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD and I have to say, I dig it. Clark Gregg’s Agent Coulson genuinely looks like he is having a blast as he chews through the scenery. I love the nods to the movies and seeing both Maria Hill and Nick Fury earlier in the season was shocking (I figured we’d get one, both both? Awesome.). The show feels like it is firmly set in the Marvel movie universe and I love that we’re getting to see more of the said universe. What will happen when the new Thor movie is released? Will we see any of the supporting characters? How about the big guy himself?

My only complaint so far is that the rest of the team needs to be fleshed out a bit more. I want to know more about them. Fitz and Simmons are a lot of fun, Agent May has shown shades of her dark past, but why should we root for Agent Ward or Skye? Neither have drawn me in the way past Whedon leads have. They don’t have the Buffy and Angel chemistry, Captain Mal’s wit, or Echo’s mysterious past and circumstances. Than again, we have plenty of time to learn more about the team and I’ll be along for the ride.

Official Description, “Girl in the Flower Dress”: Coulson and the team travel to Asia to rescue a young man with an unusual and dangerous power. Meanwhile, Skye has a secret that jeopardizes her relationship with the team.

Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD airs tonight at 8pm on ABC. What else is on tonight?

8PM
CBS: NCIS (crime drama)
CW: The Originals (supernatural drama)
NBC: The Biggest Loser (competition)
ABCFAM: Pretty little Liars (teen drama)
FOX: Dads/Brooklyn Nine Nine (comedies)
CNN: Anderson Cooper 360 (news showcase)
DIS: Wolfblood (info)

9PM
CW: Supernatural (supernatural drama)
ABCFAM: Ravenswood (teen drama)
NBC: The Voice (competition)
CBS: NCIS Los Angeles (crime drama)
ABC: The Goldbergs/Trophy Wife (comedies)
SYFY: Face Off (competition)
FOX: New Girl/The Mindy Project (comedies)

10PM
FX: Sons of Anarchy (drama)
NBC: Chicago Fire (drama)
CBS: Person of Interest (thriller/drama)
TNT: Cold Justice
LIFE: Chasing Nashville (reality)
MTV: (10:30) Awkward (teen)
CNBC: Car Chasers (reality)

The San Diego Comic Con has begun and with it we are being flooded with awesome geek news- from both the actual con and the lead up to it. Lets start with one of the biggest comic book movies that is currently in production…

Bishop (Omar Sy- pictured to the left in costume) has been confirmed to appear in X-Men: Days of Future Past! The time traveling mutant has been rumored to be part of the cast, but we did not get confirmation until this past week. With Day of Future Past‘s story involving time travel, he was a good candidate for a role, especially when you consider the other notable time traveling mutant and fan favorite Cable, has had his parents killed off before he could be born (Scott Summers is his father and a clone of Jean Grey is his mother- but the real Jean Grey raised him in the future in someone else’s body… yeah, we don’t have to get into the specifics. Maybe it is a good thing that Bryan Singer choose Bishop instead of Cable). I just hope Bishop’s role is not a cameo.

Lets stay on topic with some more Marvel Comics adaptation news. (SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT!) Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD just keeps sounding better and better. First they got Joss Whedon on board to write and direct it. They put together an awesome writing/producing team of  Maurissa Tancharoen and Jed Whedon (Dollhouse, Dr. Horrible). Brought Clark Gregg’s Phil Coulson back to life after his tragic Avengers death. Put together a damn good cast with Ming-Na Wen, J. August Richards, Brett Dalton, Chloe Bennet, and Elizabeth Henstridge. And now from the floor of the San Diego Comic Con and the show’s first public screening we have confirmation of the return of Agent Maria Hill (played by the wonderful Cobie Smulders). I am so excited for this show (premieres on September 24th). I just can not wait for the further adventures of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division.

The Walking Dead premiered a first look trailer for season 4 and my jaw is still on the floor. The footage might be spoiler-y or it could just be misleading. We’ll have to wait for the show to return on October 13th to really find out. You can watch it here. The trailer gives us a first look at Lawrence Gilliard Jr as a very (and I mean very) different Bob Stookey than the one we met in the comics, along with Tyreese in a scene that looks like it is ripped from the comics but in a different location, Michonne on a horse, Rick and Tyreese ready to trade blows, and a bunch of new faces (both alive and getting eaten). We can’t be sure if this was footage from the first episode back or the first few episodes, but it looks like when The Walking Dead returns, it will waste no time in jumping back into the action and racing forward. For better or worse, there was no sign of the Governor in the trailer… We’ll have to wait and see what he might be planning.

Keep checking back as we try to round of the most exciting news coming out of San Diego and we’ll be giving away another DVD this week. What movie? You’ll have to keep checking back to see!

There is so much going on, so lets just jump right in and focus on some television news today.

After clearing house with cast members via a plane crash the season before this past one, Grey’s Anatomy is upgrading four recurring cast members from this past season to regulars… “Grey’s 2.0”? “Grey’s: The New Class”? All four, Camilla Luddington, Gaius Charles, Jerrika Hinton and Tessa Ferrer (pictured to the left), took on the roles of the new class of interns along with Tina Majorino. Sadly, due to being attached to the new TNT drama Legends, Majorino has not joined the others as a regular next season. Personally, I preferred the Veronica Mars and  Napoleon Dynamite alum to the others. We’ll see if she’ll be back recurring and depending on how her new show does, if she’ll be upgraded at some point.

While on the subject of a Shonda Rhimes show, lets turn to another one. Scandal has been red hot for ABC and the drama just made another smart move. They have upped Scott Foley to a series regular for the shows upcoming third season. This past season he recurred as Jake Ballard, who ended the season with his fate being a cliffhanger. I guess we can say that he survives “the pit” (sorry, I can never resist a bad pun).

Foley has been busy on TV in recent years, with recurring gigs on Cougar Town, Grey’s Anatomy and True Blood, along with a regular role on the dead-before-it-aired The Goodwin Games. It’ll be nice for him to stick around a series for more than a season and grow into a new role.

Moving away from ABC and Shonda Rhimes, how about we turn to some lighter fare? The well received Cartoon Network Teen Titans Go! has been renewed for a second season. The series features DC Comic’s younger generation of heroes, including Robin, Beast Boy and Raven, being teenagers and doing normal teenage things. Things like taking your driving test and messing with a pizza man. The cartoon is over the top and zany.

Season one is still ongoing with new episodes airing every Tuesday at 7:30pm, then reairing throughout the week. The series is surprisingly enjoyable and I can’t wait to see what they have in store for future episodes. Shut off your brain, sit back, and enjoy.

Hey everyone, I hope that you had a wonderful Holiday and New Years (and break from television)- but it is 2013 and shows are coming back just as fast as they left. Tonight I think you should sit back with ABC at 10pm for a new episode of Happy Endings and stay through Don’t Trust the B- in Apartment 23 (pictured above).

Wait a minute! Why in the freck are Happy Endings and The B- new on Sunday, don’t these comedies air new episodes on Tuesdays? Well, ABC? Would you like to explain yourself? (crickets) Last month the usually reliable network pulled 666 Park Ave and decided to replace it with new episodes of two of television’s most underrated comedies- I mean what makes a better pair for the melodramatic soap Revenge than these two shows… right? Right? (ugh) To make matters worse the network is keeping both comedies in their regular slots with new episodes. They say this will give the shows a chance to get new fans and try out a new time slot. What it actually looks like to a fan is that they are burning off episodes with little regard for the show or building audience.

Don’t Trust the B- in Apartment 23 has grown from an okay show with silly over the top characters (including Dawson’s Creek star James Van Der Beek as himself) to a laugh out loud show with even crazier over the top characters (Beek stands out). The series went from something I’d watch every now and than when bored to a show that I DVR and watch every week (now twice a week?). Hopefully the ratings improve and show ABC that this is a comedy worth keeping. Ditto for Happy Endings.

Official Description, “Paris…”: June begins a new job and is befriended by a colleague, but Chloe thinks the coworker is just keeping her enemies close. Meanwhile, Mark asks James for help in expressing his feelings to June.

What else is on tonight?

8PM

ABC: Once Upon a Time (fantasy drama)
FOX: The Simpsons/Bob’s Burgers (animation)
NBC: Dateline NBC (news showcase)
BRAVO: The Real Housewives of Atlanta (reality)
FOOD: Chopped (competition)
VH1: Mob Wives (reality)
ANIMAL: Gator Boys: Xtra Bites (docu)

9PM

FOX: Family Guy/American Dad! (animation)
ABC: Revenge (drama)
NBC: The Biggest Loser (reality)
PBS: Downton Abbey (period drama)
ANIMAL: Gator Boys (docu)
FOOD: Rachel vs Guy: Celebrity Cook-Off (reality competition)
LIFE: An Amish Murder (tv movie)

10PM

ABC: Happy Endings (comedy)
CBS: The Mentalist (crime drama)
FOOD: Iron Chef America (competition)
ANIMAL: Finding Bigfoot (reality)
DSC: Moonshiners: Outlaw Cuts (reality)
E!: Ice Loves Coco (reality)
HGTV: House Hunters Renovation (docu)

I remember going into this show blind when it first aired. For me, I like to watch every pilot that I can regardless of who is in it or who the off screen talent are. That’s why when I walked away from the pilot, I found myself pleasantly surprised. I knew of Kerry Washington, I’d seen her in a bunch of movies, but never thought she really stood out in any of them and I knew of Shonda Rhimes, of Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice‘s fame, but I was never impressed with either show. That’s why I was actually blown away by Scandal. It was a lightning fast show with tension in every imagininable way. Cut to half a year later and the show is in the middle of a stellar second season and Kerry Washington has come into her own as “fixer” Olivia Pope in this soap/procedural hybrid. It is also one of the hottest show’s on network TV right now- if not the hottest (and when I say hot I really mean erotic) because Kerry Washington and Tony Goldwyn (who plays Fitzgerald Grant) have some of the craziest chemistry on TV.

I will say this about the show, though it is a guilty pleasure of mine to watch, it does have a few faults. Firstly, there is the fact that the central relationship of the show, between Olivia Pope and Fitzgerald Grant, keeps having unnecessary blockers pop up to prevent the duo from actually getting together. Secondly, the procedural elements can be at times feel forced into the plot, though I suspect this has something to do with the fact that the network is asking for those elements moreso then anything since Shonda Rhimes does use the form of soap/procedural in her other hit shows. Thirdly, I really hate the First Wife character mainly because she’s a barrier for the central relationship and she’s a god damn bitch that hasn’t shown any redeeming qualities yet. Lastly, there’s is a new conspiracy that was added to the show which came out of left field for one character (I won’t reveal who) and I still can’t wrap my head around it or why they did it. It seems like they wrote themselves into a rut, but I will also say that since this is still very much a young show that is still finding its voice.

Though, some may view this as a chick-centric series, it is actually incredibly intriguing and very well written series that has razor sharp “Sorkin”-esque dialogue. It may not be the best show around but it’s a series that both men and women can enjoy equally and become fully engrossed in. My suggestion — watch it — it’s worth it because it is actually quite entertaining. That and tonight’s episode, according to the recent TV spots being spammed by ABC, state that Entertainment Weekly thinks tonight’s episode is the best episode of not only the show but of all shows this week. That is quite a big statement, and I’m intrigued to find out if it’s true or not. Are you going to take a gander? Scandal airs at 10:00pm on ABC.

Episode Description, “Defiance”: Harrison leads the group as they assist a billionaire whose mental state is questionable. Meanwhile, Olivia helps plan Fitz’s 50th birthday party; and James stumbles onto something big as he looks into Cytron.

PS: Kerry Washington is my new celeb crush because of this show.

Also on TV Tonight…

8PM

CW: The Vampire Diaries (supernatural drama)
NBC: 30 Rock/Up All Night (comedies)
ABC: Last Resort (action drama)
CBS: The Big Bang Theory/Two and a Half Men (comedies)
FOX: The X Factor (reality competition)
BET: Apollo Live (variety)
SPIKE: Impact Wrestling (wrestling)

9PM

NBC: The Office/Parks and Recreation (comedies)
ABC: Grey’s Anatomy (medical drama)
CBS: Person of Interest (drama)
FOX: Glee (musical drama)
CW: Beauty and the Beast (drama)
LIFE: Project Runway All Stars (reality)
TLC: Four Weddings (docu)

10PM

NBC: Rock Center (news showcase)
CBS: Elementary (crime drama)
FX: It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia/The League (comedies)
ID: Very Bad Men (docu)
MTV: Jersey Shore (disgusting “reality”)
TLC: Along for the Bride (docu)
VH1: The Greatest (top list)

Shark Tank is a show that takes real entrepreneurs and gives them a short time to present their “get rich” business idea to a panel of business and tech moguls, including Barbara Corcoran, Mark Cuban, Daymond John, Robert Herjavec, and Kevin O’Leary. On paper I thought this idea was ridiculous, but it is so addicting and entertaining (and slightly inspiring) that I can’t help to make it one of my must watch shows every week. The panel of “sharks” are diverse and it is so interesting to see the ideas that they fight over and the ones that they laugh off. They have taken ideas like a man that draws cats and a couple with a homemade sippy cup and have turned their businesses into huge successes (along with countless others). If you’ve never watched the show, I urge you to give it a chance. You’ll want to spend every Friday nights in the Shark Tank.

Official Episode Description: An unemployed Tampa man and his pregnant wife serve their famous chicken dip; an injured NFL athlete has an idea for a spring-loaded laundry hamper; a zip bag that turns into a bowl is pitched by two brothers from Missouri; and a wireless device for finding lost keys and cell…

Shark Tank airs on ABC at 8pm. Also on tonight…

8PM

SYFY: WWE SmackDown (wrestling)
CBS: CSI: NY (crime drama)
CW: America’s Next Top Model (reality)
DISNEY: A.N.T. Farm/Jessie (teen)
FX: UFC: Browne vs Bigfoot (fighting)
LMN: No Surrender (movie)
NGC: Family Guns (docu)

9PM

LIFE: America’s Most Wanted (news)
ABC: What Would You Do? (reality news)
CBS: Made in Jersey (drama)
FOX: Fringe (sci-fi drama)
NBC: Grimm (supernatural drama)
CMT: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders (docu)
DISNEY: Gravity Falls/Fish Hooks (teen)

10PM

HBO: Real Time With Bill Maher (talk)
ABC: 20/20 (news showcase)
CBS: Blue Bloods (crime drama)
NBC: Dateline NBC (news showcase)
CINE: Strike Back (action drama)
E!: Fashion Police (entertainment news)
FX: The Ultimate Fighter Fridays (fighting)

Yesterday we got some awesome news! ABC’s very physical obstacle course game show Wipeout has been renewed for another season of hijinks and just as important, Jill Wagner will be returning to co-host! She has been very much missed as she left before the current season and was replaced with Vanessa Lachey, who just doesn’t have Wagner’s comedic timing or likability.  Tonight we have a new episode at 8pm and it will likely be the extent of my TV viewing (I have two episodes of Homeland‘s first season to distract me along with the 6th season of Doctor Who… so who needs to waste time with reruns?).

Official Description, “Snakes on the Plains”: Obstacles include Snakes on the Plains and Pulling Teeth.

Also on tonight..

8PM

GOLF: On the Range (docu)
PBS: RNC Coverage (news)
HGTV: Property Brothers (docu)
SPEED: Car Warriors (docu)
NBC: The Office/Parks and Recreation (comedies) (repeats)
FOX: Raising Hope/New Girl (comedies) (repeats)
CBS: The Big Bang Theory (comedy) (repeat)

9PM

ABC: Rookie Blue (crime drama)
CBS: Big Brother (reality competition)
NBC: Saving Hope (drama)
CW: The Next (docu)
CNBC: Crime Inc. (news showcase)
DSC: Auction Kings (docu)
ID: Behind Mansion Walls (docu)

10PM

FX: Wilfred/Louie (comedies)
ABC/NBC/CBS/BET: RNC Coverage (news)
A&E: The First 48 (news showcase)
DSC: Saw Dogs (docu)
FOOD: Extreme Chef (competition)
MTV: Snooki & JWoww/Awkward (reality/comedy)
HGTV: (10:30) House Hunters International (docu)