the McPhee Blog

Generally speaking, I assume if my Tivo doesn’t record it, I don’t want to watch it.  However, I occasionally like to double check the DVR just in case.  Tonight I saw that Better Off Ted was going to air (and was not set to record).  I assumed it was a re-run and glanced at the episode description just to see which one it was.  To my surprise it was a new episode.  A quick Google search revealed that I had already missed three of the six new episodes slated to air this summer.

If you haven’t checked out Better Off Ted yet, you really must.  It is one of the best shows currently running.  It may even be one of the best shows ever to air.  I don’t have time to write a review right now, but here are the details for the summer episodes.  Tonight’s episode airs on ABC at 9/8c. Season 2 is slated to start in January.

Sadly, IMDB has missed it again.  Brooke Williams plays the character of Jennsen on the ABC syndication Legend of the Seeker. Her name is alternately spelled Jensen and Jansen depending on which website you read.  According to the records IMDB does have (and to Wikipedia) the spelling in Jennsen.

In the opening scene of Legend of the Seeker’s “Fever” episode, we once again see Jennsen (the little sister of hero Richard Cypher) as she is fleeing a D’Haran search party.  I won’t go into plot summary of this episode or the series in general other than to say that she has held significant speaking roles in at least two episodes (Bloodlines and Fever).  Additionally her character is integral to several major plot elements.  As such, I would expect IMDB to have a good record of her.  They do not.

If you go to IMDB’s main page on Legend of the Seeker there is no mention of Jennsen or Brooke Williams.  Williams is mentioned on the Bloodline page but is listed as uncredited.  She is not listed at all on the Fever page. There are named credits for both a “crying woman” and a “crying baby”, but no credit for Jennsen.

I have no new information to post on Ms. Williams.  I only wanted to provide those of you who were looking for her name with that information.  I may write a bio for her over at the Elephant Feather later, but for now her name will have to suffice.

I just watched the newest episode of Fox’s Fringe.  I’m behind, I know.  The story focuses on the character Valerie Boone, who despite having very few actual lines, is the driving force of the entire episode.  I was so struck by Boone’s quiet beauty that I immediately jumped on the internet to find out which actress played the part of Valerie.  She has an air of vague familiarity about her – like someone I  met once but have almost forgotten.  In any case, I had to find out who she was.

However, none of my entertainment mainstays  had any information on this character.  IMDB completely left off the character of Valerie Boone from their page on Fringe: Midnight.  Wikipedia has a summary of the episode, but doesn’t list any of the supporting actors.  So, I reluctantly googeled it and the first four or five results also didn’t list her name.  I was finally able to find her name, so I am posting (albeit too late for the post episode googlers) her name here to help populate the internet with the correct information.

The character of Valerie Boone on Fox’s “Midnight” episode of Fringe was played by actress Trieste Kelly Dunn.  Dunn has a recurring role as Molly McConnell in Fox’s  Canterbury’s Law.  She recently made a guest appearance on ABC’s Cupid playing the part of Sonja, a conniving jewel thief.  Over her career she has also held guest roles in shows such as Law & Order and Dawson’s Creek.  You can check out her IMDB (which doesn’t include the Fringe credit) or her wikipedia page (which does) here:

Trieste Kelly Dunn on IMDB

Trieste Kelly Dunn at Wikipedia

 I don’t typically watch anything on TNT, but I’ve heard some good things about Leverage and I like the leading men in Trust Me.   So, I went over to TNT.tv to check out the pilots of those shows.  As it it turns out TNT does not support Macintosh computers.  I jumped over to Hulu which has a direct link back to TNT where, as I already stated, they do not support macs.

According to Gene Munster, Senior Analyst at Piper Jaffray Apple Computer has a U.S. domestic market share of 21%.  TNT has somehow decided that they need not support 21 percent of the market.  This is what TNT says about the issue:

“  TNT.tv would like to apologize for not being able to accommodate Mac     users.  The issue is related to the Windows Media Player, specifically video with Digital Rights Management (DRM). This is because the WMP for the Mac is not supported directly by Microsoft . Our agreement with the studios that produce the shows stipulates that their content be protected (full episodes) from piracy with DRM software. Additionally, WMP is more universal than other platforms like QuickTime and Flash Video for distributing protected content.   “

I can remember a time when the internet was a confusing place.  Nearly every website had a notice that read something like:   “This website best viewed at 800 x 600 resolution using a Netscape browser running Windows 98 and sitting at a computer placed next to a North facing window between the hours of 2 and 3 pm.”  We accepted it because that was how things were.  Compatibility hadn’t really caught on.

That is not the case today.  I am a big proponent of networks providing online content.  First of all it makes financial sense.  It is very quick and easy to get any television show or movie for free online.  However, it is slightly easier and quicker to go to the networks website and watch the show from them with their ads.  It’s a win win situation.  Additionally, At this point all of your competitors are doing it, so you really shouldn’t be the one network not playing along.  People are not going to just watch your show on cable.  They are going to take it from one of the dozen websites or torrents where your content is freely available.

I’ve railed against CBS in the past for having clips – a completely ridiculous idea.  TNT has the full episodes, they just won’t let everyone watch them.  I’m not sure if TNT’s issue is one of arrogance or stupidity.  ABC, FOX, NBC, and Comedy Central are just a few of the networks that have no issue supporting both Macintosh computers and PCs.  It’s really not all that hard.  I mean, really TNT?  You are no ABC.  Why would you think this it is a good idea to cut off nearly a quarter of your market?