TV This Week-Premieres & Finales 9/4/2011

It’s Labor Day Weekend here in the U.S. which I’ve always considered the official end of summer.  This week’s TV schedule is loaded with sporting events, summer finales and reality series premieres.  In the coming weeks things begin to heat back up with the Fall TV season just getting started.

As you prepare for this new TV season, be sure and check out the GeekTonic 2011 Fall TV Season premieres guide highlight all the new shows and provide a detailed listing of all TV premieres for the Fall and early-winter TV season.  Read on for the GeekTonic weekly TV update highlighting all the new premieres, finales and specials coming up this week.

                 Dinosaur Revolution premieres on Discovery Sunday

 

NOTE: All Times are Listed for EST – TV schedules subject to change

Sunday, September 4

Dinosaur Revolution (9pm on Discovery) A new animal/history series.  The series mixes history and storytelling in this 4-hour mini-series.  They use CGI and pretty good storytelling to make this more than just a documentary.  If you have any interest in the history of dinosaurs, check this one out.  Read more about this one at the Kansas City Star

All American Handyman (9pm on HGTV) Season 2 premiere

Border Wars (9pm pm on National Geographic) Season premiere

Las Vegas Jailhouse (10pm on TruTV) Season 4 premiere

 

Monday, September 5

The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills (9pm on Bravo) Season 2 premiere

The Glades (10pm on A&E) Season 2 finale

 

Tuesday, September 6

Flipping Out (9pm on Bravo) Season 5 finale

Take the Money and Run (9pm on ABC) Season 1 finale

Sons of Anarchy (10pm on FX) Season 4 premiere

The Rachel Zoe Project (10pm on Bravo) Season 4 premiere

Combat Hospital (10pm on ABC) Season 1 finale

Frontier Force (10pm on National Geographic) New reality series that follows a Montana Sheriff as he brings law and order to the county.

 

Wednesday, September 7

Rescue Me (10pm on FX) Season 7 finale – also the end of the series

Paranormal Witness (10pm on SyFy) New “paranormal” reality series.  Oh how I miss the real scifi channel.

 

Thursday, September 8

Burn Notice (9pm on USA) Season 5 finale

Rookie Blue (10pm on ABC) Season 2 finale

Suits (10pm on USA) Season 1 finale

Wilfred (10pm on FX) Season 1 finale

Louie (10:30pm on FX) Season 2 finale

 

Friday, September 9

Friends with Benefits (8:30pm on NBC) Season 1 finale

The Contenders: They Lost The Election But Changed Political History (9pm on C-Span) A new political history series that begins with Presidential Candidate Henry Clay.

Unleashed (9pm on Sundance) New fashion/reality series

 

Saturday, September 10

Cops (8pm on Fox) Season 9736 premiere

Donna Decorates Dallas (10:30pm on HGTV) New series

 

Sunday, September 11

True Blood (9pm on HBO) Season 4 finale

In the Flow With Affion Crocket (9:30pm on Fox) Season 1 finale

Curb Your Enthusiasm (10:05pm on HBO) Season 1 finale

Entourage (10:35pm on HBO) Season 8 finale which is also the final episode for this series

 

Monday, September 12

Bachelor Pad (8pm on ABC) Season 2 finale

Showhouse Showdown (10pm on HGTV) New series

The Best Thing I Ever Ate (10pm on Food) Season 6 premiere

 

Tuesday, September 13

Rise Up (7pm on ESPN) Season premiere

Miracle Babies (8pm on National Geographic Wild) New series

It’s Worth What? (8pm on NBC) Season 1 finale

90210 (8pm on CW) Season 4 premiere

Ringer (9pm on CW) New drama/mystery series starring Sarah Michelle Gellar.  This one was originally supposed to air on CBS, but was moved to CW at the last moment.  It actually looks better than CW’s standard fare.  For a complete synopsis & preview video head to the CW New Premiere Page at GeekTonic

Parenthood (10pm on NBC) Season 3 premiere

I Hate My Bath (10:30pm on DIY) New series

 

Wednesday, September 14

H8R (8pm on CW) A new reality series about reality series stars.  Yes you read that right.  Mario Lopez hosts this new reality series from CW.  Lisa Gregorisch-Dempsey of Extra is working on a new show that pairs people with the celebrities they hate.  This show lets reality TV’s biggest detractors meet face to face with the stars they loathe.  First up will be Kim Kardashian and Jersy Shore’s Snooki.  For a complete synopsis & preview video head to the CW New Premiere Page at GeekTonic

America’s Got Talent (8pm on NBC) Season 6 finale

Survivor: South Pacific (8pm on CBS) Season 23 premiere

America’s Next Top Model (9pm on CW) Season 17 premiere

Big Brother (9:30pm on CBC) Season 13 finale

Operation Repo (9:30pm on TruTV) Season 9 premiere

Hulk Hogan’s Micro Championship Wrestling (10pm on TruTV) New reality series where Former pro wrestler Hulk Hogan offers his “expertise” (and name) to the new Micro Championship Wrestling.

Up All Night (10pm on NBC) a new sitcom series starring Christina Applegate.  A couple experience the fun of a new baby.  The mom is a professional woman, the dad gets to take care of the baby at home.  For a complete synopsis & preview video head to the NBC New Premiere Page at GeekTonic

Necessary Roughness (10pm on USA) Season 1 finale

Deadliest Warrior (10pm on Spike) Season 3 finale

Free Agents (10:30pm on NBC) New sitcom series borrowed from the original U.K. series.  Two recently single coworkers end up becoming friends with “benefits.”  For a complete synopsis & preview video head to the NBC New Premiere Page at GeekTonic

 

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Kindle Tablet Details Leaked

TechCrunch has the scoop on the coming very soon Kindle Tablet from Amazon.  Here’s the rumored details:

• Runs Franken-Android.  Supposedly a “forked” version of Android custom to Amazon.
• 7 Inch Tablet
• Form Factor much like the Blackberry Playbook
• $250 – same price as Barnes & Noble Nook Color
• Amazon-Centric – the “forked” version of android has this tablet focused on media and more specifically Amazon’s media.
• Storage will be 6GB
• Wi-Fi Only
• No camera

For more, read the TechCrunch article.  I’m expecting to see the tablet in the next month or so hopefully with a Kindle update including library borrowing support!

Microsoft: Media Center Will be Part of Windows 8

Microsoft addressed the growing doubt about the survival of Media Center in their Windows Operating System today with a blog article.  In the article Microsoft confirmed that Media Center would in fact be part of Windows 8 – with some caveats.

Media Center Lives On

Microsoft’s Steven Sinofsky says in the article:

“I want to reassure customers that Media Center will definitely be part of Windows 8.”

No Media Center in Pre-Release Builds

He goes on to say that while they do plan to include Media Center in the new version of their flagship operating system, interestingly it will not be in the early pre-release builds:

“Media Center will not be part of the first pre-release builds. …. These are engineering decisions as well as business decisions.”

Probably No Changes to Media Center in Windows 8

He left the door open for how Media Center might be packaged with the Operating System – so it could be handled as it was in Windows 7 or it could be separated in some way.  I read no mention of any improvements or additions to the Media Center look, feel, or functionality and the fact they will not include it in the early releases leads me to believe it will remain largely unchanged from the version we now have with Windows 7.

HTPC’s Still tiny Niche Market

Another interesting tidbit in the article was about actual usage of Media Center.  here’s a quote that confirms what we already know – Media Center as all HTPC products still serve a small, niche market:

Our opt-in usage telemetry shows that in July, Windows Media Center was launched by 6% of Windows 7 users globally with the heaviest usage in Russia, Mexico, and Brazil (frequency and time). However, most people are just looking around; only one quarter (25% of 6%) of these people used it for more than 10 minutes per session (individual averages), and in 59% of Media Center sessions (by these 6% of users) we see almost no activity (less than a minute or two of usage).

Continuing to tell us a little more about usage, he goes on to say that of the functions used in Media Center, TV was used most often followed by streaming content and finally DVD and CD.  These numbers pale in comparison to Media Player which was used by 66% of Windows users in July.  If I was consulting for Microsoft, I would advise them to break out Media Center from the OS as a low-cost add-on for the operating system.  Market it as a “premium” product that is valued something beyond MS Paint.   Microsoft had been alluding to the possibility that Media Center would be dropped based on “The Future of the Living Room” focused on XBox and Bing.  So this confirmation of Media Centers survival will bring a sigh of relief to many.

So I see this as some bad news – no notable, new improvements to Media Center, but good news – Media Center survives.  And in this day and age of dwindling HTPC’s in the world, survival probably sounds pretty good to those HTPC enthusiasts in the world.

Read the complete article, Building Windows 8 at MSDN Blogs