TV | Gumballs Plays Games

On TV: HBO’s Getting On, Family Guy, The Walking Dead and Showtime’s Masters of Sex

Posted on November 25, 2013 by GumballsPlaysGames

Tonight was an interesting night on TV kicked off by the next to last episode of The Walking Dead this year (which has its mid-season finale next Sunday). This ‘Governor’ centric episode was more exciting than last week’s and the arc will climax next Sunday in what is sure to be the most action packed and dramatic episode yet. I’m looking forward to it because I feel like this season has started off slowly. Unfortunately, I’m sure we’ll be left with a cliffhanger and will have to wait until spring to continue watching. I’m not a huge fan of the split season format, but I guess it means we get to enjoy The Walking Dead through more of the year.

Next we watched the latest Simpsons and Family Guy. I have to say the killing off of Brian Griffin was quite tragic and I’m not entirely happy with the decision. We knew going into the year a Griffin was going to be killed off, but I entirely expected it to be Meg or Brian since they’re not voiced by Seth MacFarlane. The new dog, Vinny, is not an enjoyable character and not at all a suitable replacement for Brian. I understand they wanted to shake things up, but I can honestly see myself losing interest in the show with one of my favorite characters gone.

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We also watched the premiere of the new HBO series Getting On, which started its 6 episode run tonight. Getting On is based on the British TV show of the same name and is a comedy that takes place in a hospital’s geriatric extended care unit. I figured we’d give it a try as Vanessa works in a retirement home and we figured it’d be amusing. It seems like a good show so far. The show stars Laurie Metcalf (Jackie from Roseanne) as Dr. Jenna James who is quite obsessed with her fecal matter study. Alex Borstein (the voice of Family Guy’s Lois Griffin) plays head nurse Dawn Forchette. I look forward to seeing how the series progresses.

Lastly we got back into Showtime’s Masters of Sex by watching the third episode. We have the series DVR’ed and I look forward to watching more of it during the long holiday weekend. It’s a good show that seems reason enough to keep Showtime for now. The plot is starting to thicken and I can’t wait to see where it goes next.

Saying Goodbye to Breaking Bad

Posted on September 30, 2013 by GumballsPlaysGames

Last night was the series finale of one of my favorite shows: Breaking Bad. The finale was fitting for the series, but I have to say I had more fun watching seasons two and three than four and five. It was a fun ride and I enjoyed almost every moment (looking at you ‘fly’ episode!). Now maybe I’ll finally get around to finishing season three of Game of Thrones. Maybe that’ll end on a happier note ;).

Also last night brought the return of The Simpsons and Family Guy and both premieres were quite enjoyable. We’re also two weeks away from the return of The Walking Dead and I can’t wait!

I also DVR’ed the premiere of Showtime’s new show, Masters of Sex, but haven’t gotten around to watching it yet.

Earn free movie rentals with HitBliss

Posted on April 30, 2013 by GumballsPlaysGames

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HitBliss is a program currently in BETA which pays you to watch advertisements and allows you to use the money you’ve earned to rent movies or TV shows from the service. Once you download and install the app and set up your profile you can start earning money simply by watching the ads. The app will occasionally prompt you to click a button or press enter to ensure you are actually at the computer watching the ads, and if you respond quickly, or respond to the prompts a number of times in a row you “level up” and start earning money even faster.

You can also choose to share your web search history and Facebook and Twitter profiles to earn money quicker as well.

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I just signed up for the BETA this afternoon and after watching and responding to about 10 ads I already had $5 to use toward any movies in their library (just over 300 movies in the library right now). There are some new release and hit movies (such as Django Unchained and Saving Private Ryan) and then quite a few movies already available through Netflix.

Once you earn $5 you can no longer earn additional credit until you spend some of that on rentals. It seems like your earnings will always be capped at $5 to prevent you from stockpiling money and never watching ads again. I imagine when HitBliss is out of BETA it won’t be as easy to earn money, I feel like I got over paid, earning $0.50 per minute long ad I watched. Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice to make so much money watching advertisements, I just feel like they’ll probably scale it down to something like $0.10 per ad. I’m no expert, that’s just my opinion.

The app looks nice and works smoothly and is available for Windows or Mac (I’m running the Mac version).

I hadn’t heard of HitBliss until I stumbled across WordPress user zabelieth’s blog post.

Some screenshots of HitBliss in action:

Another Netflix original series: House of Cards

Posted on February 1, 2013 by GumballsPlaysGames

Netflix is getting more and more into original programming with the return of Arrested Development and the Lilyhammer series. Today its newest original series, House of Cards, debuted with all 13 episodes of season one available on day one.

House of Cards stars Kevin Spacey and its list of producers include David Fincher (Fight Club, The Social Network), Kevin Spacey and Eric Roth (Forrest Gump, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close) among others.

I haven’t watched it yet, but the show looks quite interesting. I’m definitely looking forward to watching it. Many people are discussing just how they’ll go about watching the series. Would you try to watch the entire season at once, or one episode a week? The nice thing about Netflix’s distribution method is it’s entirely up to you to decide. It’s “on demand” in a sense. This seems like it’d take away from the social aspect of watching a series. For example every Monday you might hear people at work talking about the previous night’s episode of The Walking Dead. With House of Cards some of your friends may watch the entire series by the time you’re only on the second or third episode.

With its original programming, Netflix hopes to change the way television works. Reed Hastings has said:

Imagine if books were always released one chapter per week, and were only briefly available to read at 8pm on Thursday. And then someone flipped a switch, suddenly allowing people to enjoy an entire book, all at their own pace. That is the change we are bringing about. That is the future of television. That is Internet TV. [CNET]

I certainly look forward to the future of Netflix programming, and agree entirely with Hastings’ statement that the viewer should be in charge of how they consume their content. I look forward to checking out House of Cards this weekend, and will be sure to return with my thoughts on the series.

Sony streaming player fiasco

Posted on November 12, 2012 by GumballsPlaysGames

So this weekend I brought my Sony digital media player to my girlfriend’s house so that we could watch some movies (because who rents DVDs anymore, really?) However I forgot to throw the remote in my bag. No problem I thought, there’s an iPhone app that lets you control the device. I download the app and it tells me I need to turn the streaming player on first to set it up….Ok… The problem is, there is NO on/off button on the device at all. I’m not sure if Rokus and Apple TV devices are the same, but there is literally NO way to power on the device without the included remote.

I tried unplugging the device and plugging it back in which causes it to power on and display SONY on the TV, but it immediately goes into off / standby after it powers up. I tried pushing the reset button on the device which did the exact same thing as cycling the power.

I even bought a cheap universal remote thinking I could program it to turn on the Sony streaming player. False. None of the Sony codes would work with the device. Lastly I called Sony tech support only to be told that indeed there is no way to turn on the device without the remote, and I could order a new one for $45. Forty-five dollars? Are you kidding? The streaming player itself was $99, who would pay half that price for a new, cheap remote (pictured below). I asked them if there was a way to program a universal remote only to be told they can’t help me unless I have a Sony universal remote and I’d have to call Phillips to see if they could help.

What a mess… I find it hard to believe that the ONLY way to turn the device on is with a cheaply made $45 remote you can only get through Sony. Not cool. I think I’ll be selling this device and getting an Apple TV.