I got lazy. That's the only excuse I can come up with for why I stopped following "Revenge" this season.

I absolutely love the television show. It's exciting, it's dramatic and it's even downright scary at times. The writing is smart, it's full of twists and turns I never see coming and I've fallen in love with the characters.

But I'm one of those people who are terrible at keeping up with a TV program. I have a hard enough time remembering to pack my lunch, let alone sitting down to a weekly television show on a specific day at a specific time. As Sweet Brown would say, "Ain't nobody got time for that!"

That's why I am forever grateful that Hulu Plus exists. Yes, it sucks that there are advertisements (even for paid members!), but having instant access to the latest and greatest in TV is pretty amazing.

So although "Revenge" season two wrapped last Sunday, May 12, I'm just now picking up where I left off somewhere around episode 10. Oops!

But again, thank goodness for Hulu Plus.

I remember reading The Great Gatsby in high school and loving it. The symbolism, the motifs, the character flaws... it's an English major's Disney World! So much to explore, so many ways to interpret. Loved it.

Flash forward over a decade, and all I could really remember about the book was a green light, Long Island, and something having to do with east and west. So when I found out that Warner Brothers was remaking the movie, I thought I should probably reread the book. And I started to. I got about halfway through it on the plane to Las Vegas last May. The plane landed. I closed the book. And it hasn't been opened since.

My problem with reading is that I love it. I know this doesn't sound like it should be a problem. But I get almost obsessed. I have to get to the end, and I can't stop thinking about it until I do. It gets to the point where it actually keeps me up at night. Pathetic, I know. But did you ever play a video game so much that you ended up replaying it in your mind as you were trying to fall asleep? It's kind of like that... which is also why I don't play video games anymore.

Anyway, I decided to see the movie despite all this. I found myself remembering a lot more as I watched. And I thoroughly enjoyed it. I thought the casting was perfect and that they did a great job of visually exploring the distinction between "old money" and "new money," even if that particular motif was not beating you over the head as it does in the book (from what I remember).

I felt the symbolism was all there, but not quite as obvious. For those who remember the book, I'm sure it was a sufficient translation. And for those who never read it, I'm sure it didn't matter. We all have a tendency to compare the movie to the book, and we should. But we also need to remember to treat them as separate entities.

And I think it was excellent no matter how you look at it - book or no book. What did you think?

Spring has sprung.The snow, for the most part, has melted away. The sun has come out to shine. The standard television has begun to close. Yes, it's that time of the year when all of your favorite shows say goodbye with a grand finale, and you hope it is a season finale and not a series. 

It may be no coincidence that this is basically "Spring Cleaning" time for the major networks. As the finales come through one by one, tv networks begin to make their decisions about what shows will make the cut for next year. Fans of shows like "Happy Endings" and "Community" will be seating on the edge of their seat waiting to hear if they have life after finale. 

Meanwhile, as those decisions are being made, networks will be watching somewhere around 100 or so pilots fighting to become tv series. Only so many will make the cut to be picked up as an official series. Only a few of those, at best will live on past 1 season. If you are lucky, 1 or 2 shows a season will become a multi year successful show. In fact, for the first time ever, you can watch some of the pilots being pitched to networks on Amazon.

"Revolution" was one of the closest things to be called a "hit" of the crop of new shows from this season. The sad thing is, even they were BARELY picked up for Season 2.

They say the real talent behind television shows, writers and directors, are finding other outlets to work through. Specifically cable networks, pay channels and even the online world. It is no secret HBO has delivered successful TV shows for years now. However, adding to that competition are outlets like AMC and Netflix. 

Netflix is even bringing back a formerly "canceled by the network" show this month in Arrested Development. This return may be one of the most highly anticipated shows of the year and it won't be on a single network, cable or otherwise. Just online.

So we slug through the summer. We watch our fair share of reruns and bad game shows and reality shows. We wait to hear who is cancelled and who is not. We find out what new shows are debuting that we want to watch. We watch them. We hope they are good. Then we hope they don't get cancelled.

Repeat.

As if we needed yet another tease for Monsters University... a new trailer was released for the movie that comes out on June 21st. This one seems to be a sort of combination of the one that mimicked a college commercial and other previews of the film. I feel like we keep getting more and more information. If they continue at this rate, we'll see the whole movie before it even hits theaters! Even still... I'm super excited about it and can't wait to go see it. What do you think?

Those who may not know, Motivators calls its home in the heart of Nassau County, NY. Specifically, each of us comes to work day in and day out in a little area known as Westbury. It's a nice area, known primarily for its variety of malls and recently a Shake Shack! 

In general, around the country, people don't know a whole lot about Long Island. Most people know the Lawn Guy Land accent pretty well but there hasn't always been a whole lot to identify the area to America. Well for good or bag, Bravo is going to change that. Long Island is getting the Jersey Shore treatment.

Coming soon is the reality show, "Princesses: Long Island". This will feature girls from Great Neck, Jericho, Freeport and yes, Westbury, all of which I can only assume are probably a little...spoiled. I think people around here are pretty excited for the show to air. I believe a lot of people are eager to see the places they go to all the time receive national attention. I'm sure a lot of people will even watch to try to find people they may know on the show.

However, I have a gut feeling, this is not going to portray Long Island well. It probably is not going to be a show about the great schools Long Island has, or the scenic Eisenhower Park. While I'm sure the show WILL feature Jones Beach, this show will more than likely get the Jersey Shore treatment and feature boozing, bar hopping, plenty of drama and plenty of "hooking up."

This will probably not turn into "Long Island, what a great place to live!" but more likely "Long Island...crazy girls everywhere!"

The president of FX, John Landgraft, recently announced the network's plan to expand and split into three channels: FX, FXX and FXM. These three channels will target different audiences but keep with the FX brand at the same time.

While other networks have expanded and segmented by genre, FX wanted to try something new: segmenting by age. The new breakdown will be geared toward specific age groups all within the same genre of broadcasting. The thought process behind this decision is that people tend to want to see characters experiencing more of the things they experience themselves during the life stage that they are in.

FX will remain the original channel while FXX will cater to a younger audience and FXM to a slightly older audience. All three channels will be ramping up their comedies, dramas and miniseries.

Last night, AMC premiered 'Mad Men' season six. The previous wrapped in June 2012, so we waited nearly a year to see what happens next.

You'd think after a two-hour episode, the audience would know what's going on. But if anything, last night's season six debut left me with more questions than answers. Here we go:

1. What happened to Don?

The honeymoon phase can't last forever, but he seems more than just discontent in his fairly new marriage to Megan. In fact, he didn't say a word while his wife went on about how much she loves Hawaii, where they're on vacation. Rolling Stone reports that it took a good seven minutes before Don uttered a word, and even then it wasn't much: "Army."

And it didn't improve throughout the episode. I won't give away too many spoilers, but he appears off his game in his personal life and his professional life. What's going on, Don?

2. Will Betty ever get better?

I don't know why I care so much about Don's ex-wife Betty, but her story intrigues me. We saw her in dire need of psychiatric help a few seasons back, and last season we watched her struggle to lose weight. And yet I don't see her character developing; she's the same whiney, impatient little girl she was in season one. Except now she has a lot more baggage.

3. Where's Peggy again?

I can't be the only one who forgot Peggy left SCDP, right? OK, maybe I am. Still, to see her trying to function in a different office setting was kind of strange. I miss her and Don's playful banter. *heavy sigh*

I'm sure there are many more questions that need answers, but these ones are trending (at least in my mind). What did you think of the season six premiere of 'Mad Men'?

Branded items and television shows go together like peanut butter and jelly. Maybe not THAT well but especially nowadays they certainly go hand in hand. Primarily, you see them being sold to fans of just about any show on tv. You can get the name and logo of your favorite show on mugs, t-shirts, caps and more. Just head over to the website of whatever show you want represent and there is sure to be a Store link.

That being said, more often than not, there isn't a lot of selection to be proud of. It just isn't always that exciting to just throw on a shirt that says the name of the show and a picture of the cast. If you a real fan of a show looking to show your fandom with pride, you want something creative, something that really represents the ideas of the show. 

For years, The Office has had some of the most creative promos being sold on their site. Rarely do their items ever mention The Office directly, but instead reference companies or events seen on episodes of the show. For example, The Office is based on employees at a paper company called Dunder Mifflin, so many items will reference that company. They also had t-shirts for a "fun run" they participated called "Michael Scott's Dunder Mifflin Scranton Meredith Palmer Memorial Celebrity Rabies Awareness Pro-Am Fun Run For The Cure".    The idea for them has always been, it is more fun for fans to buy items they have actually seen used on the show.

Now they have taken their promo creativity to a whole new level. With the show coming to an end this season, they came up with the idea to make one last t-shirt incorporating many of the best jokes from the 10 seasons of the show. Using the entire front of the t-shirt they have words, and pictures and logos making references to many different people and places from the show. However, to make sure they really had covered the funniest moments, they saved one spot for the fans. On Facebook they let all of the fans vote on ANY joke they wanted for the last spot on the shirt. This allows fans who buy the shirt feel like they actually had a part in creating it. Not to mention, the shirt itself is very different from your standard promos in that the point of it really is to appreciate the viewers favorite moments. 

I applaud the creators for this idea, but I have only one suggestion. Add the second side of the shirt, there are too many great moments to go around!

Just like clockwork, every Fall the big 4 networks come out and debut their new primetime schedule. 3 hours a night, 21 hours a week, 84 hours combined for all of the networks. Dozens of shows premiere a year, the majority of which fail, so many of them being sitcoms. Sitcoms that failed to connect with people, characters and storylines that just didn't mean much to the viewer and get cancelled. So nowadays, when your sitcom lasts for 9 seasons, you probably did something right.

This May, the US version of The Office will have its series finale, on its own terms. It wasn't cancelled, the writers and cast decided on their own that the time has come to conclude this show. For those that possibly don't know The Office was based on a UK show, that while successful, was only on for two seasons. It was one of the first sitcoms in the US to be filmed without a live studio audience and without a standard 3 camera setup The Office's premise is that it is a documentary about regular people working at a paper company in Scranton, PA. 

Part of what made the show special was, at the time, the entirety of the cast were total unknowns. Much of the cast would actually be made up of the writers and producers of the show itself. Most of the cast that is, except the company's manager, Michael Scott. He was played by a then just breaking out Steve Carell. He would become iconic as the always awkward, sometimes inconsiderate, but mostly friendly boss Michael Scott that everyone would grow to love, and quote. He would play the character so well, that his career continued to skyrocket, unfortunately until he had to move on to bigger and better things.

Along the way though, through seven years viewers watched as Jim and Pam went from friends with feelings for each other, to dating, then married and parents twice over. People have watched Jim and Dwight fight each other, prank each other and also in times of need help each other. The show has helped make stars out of Jim Krasinski, Jenna Fischer, Ed Helms, and Rashida Jones among others. Some would even say if it wasn't for The Office, NBC wouldn't have its other Thursday night hit show Parks and Recreation, also filmed documentary style.

So by the time May 16th rolls around and The Office is ready to close, we should know all about the "documentary" that has been filming for 9 years, and learn a little bit more about the fates of Jim and Pam, Dwight, Andy, Meredith and everyone else viewers of The Office have grown to know and love for almost a decade.

Forget about basketball... This year, March is bringing some movie madness!

I absolutely love going to the movies. It's one of my favorite things to do, but I'm sort of selective about the theater I go to. It has to have certain criteria. My perfect theater on Long Island is United Artist in Westbury. It has it all: stadium seating, refillable buckets of popcorn and root beer fountain soda. AND it is owned by Regal, so I can use my Regal card to get points toward free soda, popcorn and movie tickets! It's also close by so I can usually make it to a movie we decide to see at the last minute.

March is apparently a big month for movies... Jack the Giant Slayer, Oz the Great and Powerful, and Upside Down all opened this month. There are also a few that were already playing that I didn't get around to yet like Side Effects, Zero Dark Thirty, Django Unchained and Life of Pi. So many movies; so little time. I want to see them all!!!