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Save the tub!

By Paige Hendrick on April 6, 2009 7:06 PM | 6 Comments


Unless you are a die-hard Kyle XY fan, like my self, then you're probably have no idea what save the tub means. Fortunately, hundreds of people who have been cluttering up the message boards on ABCFamily.com know exactly what that means and are doing everything they possibly can to save it.

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First I feel that a little background information on the show is necessary. Kyle XY is a show on ABC Family about a young man named Kyle, played by Matt Dallas, who wakes up in the middle of a forest just outside of Seattle while suffering from amnesia. The show revolves around Kyle and all of the things that happen to him while he tries to solve the mystery of who he is.


Now about the  tub, Kyle sleeps in a bath tub and instead of bloggers begging ABC Family to save Kyle they have dubbed the saying "Save the tub" instead. That is just one of the many mysteries to Kyle. 

 

The series premiered in June of 2006 and has produced three complete seasons. Then, on January 31, 2009 Kyle XY fans everywhere got the worst news they could possibly imagine, the show had been cancelled. This show was ABC Family's number one show for two years! It lost a little bit of ground when the channel came out with their hit series "The Secret Life of the American Teenager", but how many seasons can the show possible last? It's about a 15 year old girl that gets pregnant, will she get knocked up again in the second season? Highly doubtful therefor I think Kyle XY would have probably been the smarter choice to keep on. From almost the moment the announcement was made massage boards all over ABC Family have been filled with pleas from fans of all ages.

 
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The thing about Kyle XY is that it related not just to kids but to adults in their twenties, thirties, and even forties (according to the message boards).  The question that most people are wondering is, why would ABC Family cancel one of its top shows? In this economy most networks have completely gotten rid of the scripted show merely because of the amount of money it takes to make a pilot. With reality TV it costs barely anything. I think that the expense of a pilot is just the price one has to be willing to pay for quality programming but I wouldn't want to bad mouth the wonderful creations of such channels as VH1 who spawned the masterpiece Rock of Love.  Please tell me everyone realized the very large amount of sarcasm in that last remark. Now that ABC Family has found a show that works it would only make sense to keep it around and at least get a few more seasons out of it. But no, they have ripped it away from us and many ABC Family viewers aren't having it. According to the massage boards if ABC Family does not bring back the tub, they will lose more than they think.

Personally, I do not believe that all of the people who have said they are going to boycott the station are actually going to act on what they have said. I think that they will continue to be angry until another network picks up the show or ABC Family creates something else as genius as Kyle XY. Will Harris, a blogger on premiumhollywood.com, had the idea that fans should push for ABC family to create a regular season of 2 hour Kyle XY movies for the series. Not only would this bring back the Kyle XY viewers, but also it still leaves room for the networks new series'. Maybe hollywood could even capitalize on the idea and make a full length motion picture. 

I think that if ABC Family does not have room for Kyle XY on their station, why don't they make it an online exclusive? Then the show could still be sold on DVD and for the people who love the show, we don't have to go another day wondering what exactly happened to characters such as Tom Foss, or if Kyle and Jessie are technically brother and sister. And if they are, why is ABC Family having them make out?  Our questions about the show have not been answered and ABC Family needs to find a way to make that happen. If they don't, then what was the point of the show? Thats 43 hours of my life i will never get back. Well 86 hours if you count the second time i watched the entire series. Nonetheless i don't think we have seen the last of Kyle, or his tub!  

 

Oh no he didn't!

By Paige Hendrick on March 9, 2009 10:15 AM | 3 Comments
Yes, I will go there as well. "THE BACHELOR"! This season has completely changed the thoughts that most viewers had about the show. Did Jason Mesnick ruin "The Bachelor"?

Single women all over the United States watched this season with hope, something a lot of the other season's lacked. Sure, the other twelve seasons were successful, but this season had Jason! He was the single dad the country fell for and he had us all on his side. Key word in that sentence, had. He was dumped in front of the entire nation when he dropped to one knee to propose to last season's bachelorette DeAnna Pappas. He was rejected and swore never to let anyone hurt like he did. Well guess what he managed to do nearly a year later. 

I myself was a Jason supporter. To be honest all of the girls in my "Bachelor" watch party were too. Each week we would swoon over the tanned, brunette hunk wishing we were as lucky as those twenty five women. He seemed to have it all, looks, a career, ambition in life, his son, oh but wait, we didn't realize this SOB was without a conscience. 

He went through the entire season whining about how this is so hard. He claimed to understand how  the women were feeling and that is why he would be sure to be as sensitive to their feelings as possible. He stayed true to that until after the show. He put on this act for America and then when poor Melissa started to realize he wasn't the man she agreed to marry, he left her! For the runner up none the less.

Melissa is a sweet girl and she was hesitant to even be involved in this show, but she went out on a limb hoping this would be worth it. Even her parents had a problem with the whole situation. When it came time for Jason to meet her parents they refused to do it on TV. They wanted to do what was right for their daughter so they agreed to a phone conversation with Jason only to be proven right. Apparently he wasn't worth their time. 

Melissa made the comment several times this season that she has always been the "dumpee", was that a coincidence or just foreshadowing with clever editing? I tend to lean more towards the latter. Speaking of clever editing, did anyone else notice how often this man cried? According to Diane Sawyer's count, over twelve times in the finale. I have never seen my boyfriend cry more than twice let alone twelve times in a three hour finale! Those three hours would have been better spent watching Rock of Love, a love seeking reality show that viewers at least know the main man is probably gonna come back for another season, instead of one where we are lead to believe this is "real" love. 

Six of the seasons of "The Bachelor" have ended with a proposal but none of them have resulted in marriage, although supposedly a wedding is in the plans for two of  them at some point. The show did produce a spinoff, "The Bachelorette", which has had four seasons and another one on the way. Only one of those seasons ended in a marriage. 

So what's next? Well, Melissa is dancing on, literally, she is taking the place of Nancy O'Dell on this season's "Dancing with the Stars". The upcoming season of "The Bachelorette" will feature Jillian Harris, the season's second runner up. Personally I would have liked to see Melissa on this season but i don't think she is up for any more heart ache and trusting ABC again doesn't seem like something she wants to do anytime soon.  

As for Jason and his second choice desperate girlfriend... I wouldn't count on anyone tuning in to see the two of you wed. Molly will forever look like the desperate girl who got played and then went back for more. So Jason, enjoy having your cake and eating it too. You're  just one more example of why women are starting their lives and families on their own. 


Physical Media Becoming Obsolete?

By Paige Hendrick on February 15, 2009 1:02 PM | 5 Comments
The rise of broadband  and on demand services from cable providers to the home are making physical media almost obsolete. 

Blu-Ray and HD DVD came about within the last three years and with the failure to agree on a common format launched a format war that ultimately weakened both standards.
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Graphic By: Paige Hendrick

HD DVD, primarily backed by Toshiba, stopped production on all HD DVD players after several major stores decided to side with Blu-Ray. It was companies like Netflix and Best Buy who first sided with Sony's Blu-Ray format  and Wal-Mart proved to be the straw that broke the camel's back in this technology war. 

The war proved to be too much for HD DVD but Blu-Ray didn't come out unscathed. Blu-Ray sales have been flat and have not lived up to the expectations many had after the demise of HD DVD. The general public hasn't seem to stray from DVD for the simple reason that it seems to be good enough. 

These days consumers are finding other, cheaper, methods of receiving high quality video. Cable and satellite providers are now beginning to offer full HD movies on demand, eliminating the need for any sort  of physical media. 

Samsung has partnered with Netflix in order to give the consumer an incentive to purchase their Blu-Ray player. Netflix HD movies with be streamed directly to the player making the purchase of DVD's unnecessary. Currently Netflix has a limited selection of new releases but the company plans to expand their selection in the next few years as demand increases. 

Satellite companies and cable providers have capitalized on the transition by far most. Both Dish Network and DirecTV are now offering certain movies on demand , in 1080p, that are equivalent to Blu-Ray's video quality. 

Lately when I have been pondering this dilemma I just remember the  tech savvy words of Bryan Wilcox, "Digital delivery is going to usurp physical media within the next decade" 
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