Articles by Ryan Berenz

About Ryan Berenz

Member of the Television Critics Association. Charter member of the Ancient and Mystic Society of No Homers. Squire of the Ancient & Benevolent Order of the Lynx, Lodge 49, Long Beach, Calif. Costco Wholesale Gold Star Member since 2011.

“E:60”: Final Fall Edition

November 6, 2007 Ryan Berenz

The final fall edition of ESPN’s E:60 airs Tuesday, Nov. 6 at 7pm ET. The series will return for another run in April 2008. Features on tonight’s episode: Gunnar’s Dream Comes True Former NFL quarterback Boomer Esiason is a very visible presence around pro football as an analyst for television and radio. But behind the scenes, Esiason and his family have faced a difficult personal challenge, his son Gunnar’s battle with cystic fibrosis. In 1993, Gunnar was diagnosed with the disease which affects the lungs and digestive system. Today, at age 16, he still undergoes 90 minutes of treatment a […]

“My Name Is Earl”: Our Other COPS Is On

November 2, 2007 Ryan Berenz

“Our Other COPS Is On” opens with the prison inmates watching TV until their time is up and Randy has to turn the TV off. But the inmates stole the knob off the TV, so it stays on. Turns out that COPS is on. And it happens to be the other episode of COPS that was filmed in Camden County on July 4, 2002, the first July 4 after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. There’s lots of jingoism and paranoia at the celebration on the fairgrounds. The Camden County cops were shipped a bunch of anti-terrorist equipment by mistake and […]

“E:60”: Not Yet Replaced With “World Series Of Poker” Reruns

October 29, 2007 Ryan Berenz

E:60 is still alive and kicking on ESPN. The third episode airs Tuesday, Oct. 30 at 7pm ET. Features on the episode are: Lost Boy E:60 correspondent Tom Farrey follows a young Sudanese, Macharia Yuot, on a journey that spans 7,000 miles and almost 20 years — a journey rife with emotional peaks and valleys. Yuot is one of the “Lost Boys of Sudan,” the more than 20,000 Sudanese children who were ordered to flee their villages during civil war to escape being conscripted by government soldiers or murdered. After a 800-mile trek and years in refugee camps, several thousand […]

“My Name Is Earl”: Frank’s Girl

October 26, 2007 Ryan Berenz

It’s Conjugal Day at the prison! Frank (Michael Rapaport) is in the hot box for biting someone’s earlobe off, so he won’t be able to meet his girlfriend Billie (Alyssa Milano) for Conjugal Day. Frank shows Earl a nude photo of Billie, who has a tattoo of angel wings, uh, down there. Billie shows up for Conjugal Day, but Earl has to tell her that Frank won’t be coming. Billie’s upset that Frank got tossed in the hot box, but then becomes even more upset when Earl reveals that he saw her nude photo. Billie breaks up with Frank, and […]

World Series: Rocks & Sox On FOX

October 24, 2007 Ryan Berenz

Sorry about the headline. You’ll see/hear that a billion freakin’ times before the series ends. The Colorado Rockies and Boston Red Sox play Game 1 of the World Series tonight at Fenway Park on FOX/FOX HD at 8:35pm ET. Should be a good series, with the Rockies on some freakish winning streak and the Red Sox coming off their usual ALCS comeback. Boston is probably the superior team, but the Rockies have silenced all the doubters before (and they have Jesus on their side). Part of us is pulling for the Rockies to finish the fairy tale and take some […]

More “E:60”: The Laker Girl, Baby Bullfighters, Ocho Cinco And A Deadly Bet

October 23, 2007 Ryan Berenz

Features on tonight’s (Oct. 23 at 7pm ET) edition of ESPN’s E:60 newsmagazine series: The Laker Girl It’s not easy being Jeanie Buss. At age 46, Buss is juggling a set of complicated relationships while running business operations for the Los Angeles Lakers. Buss’ father, Jerry, owns the Lakers but has handed day-to-day oversight to Jeanie and her brother Jim, who runs the basketball side of the club and could eventually compete with Jeanie for the top job. Jeanie is in a long-term relationship with the team’s head coach, Phil Jackson, whom her father once fired. As the 2007-08 NBA […]

“My Name Is Earl”: Creative Writing

October 19, 2007 Ryan Berenz

Please respect the meat, my friends. Please respect the meat. “Creative Writing” starts with Earl taking a creative writing class with some other inmates. He wants to come up with an imaginative story, but all that ever pops into his head is a male gymnast. Randy takes up a creative writing project of his own, imagining a story in which he, H.R. Pufnstuf and a chimp battle a puppet sniper, a sumo guy with a bazooka and a bunch of ninjas. But all Earl can think of is the gymnast. Joy has a story idea, too. (See where this is […]

Can “E:60” Bring Journalistic Cred Back To ESPN?

October 16, 2007 Ryan Berenz

ESPN’s highly touted E:60 sports newsmagazine series premieres Tuesday, Oct. 16 at 7pm ET. E:60 features a combination of investigative reports, profiles of intriguing sports personalities, compelling features on the best stories in sports, and cutting-edge stories on innovations in the sports world, including emerging sports and new technology. Correspondents include Jeremy Schaap, Lisa Salters, Tom Farrey, Rachel Nichols and Michael Smith — and “The Sports Guy” Bill Simmons will be a special contributor. In addition to reporters’ segments, viewers will also get a behind-the-scenes look at how these stories are covered — from the initial pitch to developing the […]

“My Name Is Earl”: The Frank Factor

October 12, 2007 Ryan Berenz

In “The Frank Factor,” Joy visits Earl in prison, still feeling guilty about him doing time for her. Suddenly, Earl spots a guy in prison he knows, Frank (Michael Rapaport), and it turns out they have quite a history together. Flash back to seven years ago. Earl’s parents are having their house fumigated, so Earl and Randy are homeless, sleeping outside on someone’s discarded sofa. But trash day comes, and Earl and Randy are homeless again. Earl spots an ad for a cheap room to rent, and he and Randy sublet the kitchen floor of Frank’s trailer home. Paco, Frank’s […]

NFL Network Gives You Total Access To The Season’s Worst Game

October 9, 2007 Ryan Berenz

NFL Network is probably my favorite cable channel, but it seems it’s falling on hard times these days. Most big cable companies are still refusing to carry it, and it even rented away its best show, NFL Game of the Week, to ION (!) this season. And NFL Net couldn’t even catch a break this past weekend when it decided to make Sunday’s Ravens-49ers game — a miserable crapfest the Ravens won 9-7 — a special “Mic’d Up” game. NFL Net added 12 extra cameras to this game and put microphones on 10 players and coaches to bring us Ravens […]