Posts by Gino Sassani

"We're just a typical American family that just happens to run a multimillion dollar outdoor empire. We create, test and sell the world's coolest products for the modern outdoorsman, and we find our inspiration on a little slice of Heaven called the Busbice Family Ranch in Louisiana."

Sounds like an infomercial, doesn't it? It's actually the intro to A&E's latest in their collection of redneck families who happen to be in the dough. If you like Duck Dynasty, this show was made for you. It's another one of those eccentric families in the outdoors business. With names like Uncle Hard Luck, these guys fit right in with the Robertson family over at Duck Dynasty. In fact, they're buddies, and Willie guests in the pilot episode. He'll also pop up later as well. It's the whole A&E family of outdoorsmen as Swamp People's favorite Troy "Shoooooot" Landry comes by a couple of times to visit. It's more down-home reality television and "accidental" humor.

"My name is - . This is my true story like it's never been told before." 

You can fill in that blank with any one of six names or groups for the first season of Gunslingers. Each episode picks up the story of a legendary icon of the West. We're not talking about the fictionalized characters from the long run of television westerns. These are the real infamous gunfighters whose history has become the stuff of mythology over the years. The episodes are told from the point of view of that week's subject, as played by an actor, of course. Other parts are also played out, but the focus is the point of view of that gunslinger. That means the story is going to be slanted somewhat. To balance that perspective we have input from western historians and even actors who might have portrayed the story in Hollywood. Together with dramatization of the pivotal moments, we get a somewhat unique look at an otherwise widely known story.

"It means what it always means. Nobody tells you anything when you wanna know it. Only when they feel like telling it. And then only enough to make you crazy to know more." 

When it comes to Pretty Little Liars, it seems making the fans crazy is what they do best. The fifth season of the show is out on DVD, and this is no place for beginners. If you don't know who Aria, Spencer, Emily, Hannah and Alison are, it's time for you to head back to the beginning and catch up. You can find our reviews from those seasons here. For the rest of you, let's talk Pretty Little Liars, shall we? 

The premise here is dirt simple. They've taken the buddy cop idea and found a way to work in the forensics science fad and deliver a procedural with a few twists. Angie Harmon plays Detective Rizzoli. She's wanted to be a cop all of her life and is living the dream working with a special unit out of Boston PD. Her best friend in life happens to be Dr. Maura Isles, who is the Chief Medical Examiner for the unit and is played by Sasha Alexander. These are the kind of friends who finish each other's sentences and share a lot of history together. That's not to say they are at all alike. 

Rizzoli is a relative free spirit. She doesn't let a lot of things get her down and doesn't take things outside of the job very seriously. But this season she has to deal with severe loss. She ends up having a miscarriage, and the show loses one of its cast members as Detective Cross is killed and Lee Thomas Young leaves the series.