TV Round-Up

November 5, 2007 at 9:11 pm | In Bionic Woman, friday night lights, heroes, the Simpsons, tv shows | Leave a Comment

Heroes: The Line
As I watched “The Line” I kept shaking my head in stark disbelief at all the bad choices this show is making. It’s amost as if you said, “How can they make this show any worse?” and the producers decided to show us.

Basically, we’ve reverted back to season one’s plotlines. Peter doesn’t understand his powers, Sylar is evil and if we don’t stop what’s going on, the world will end. Or at least New York City

I could almost accept the re-treads if the characters didn’t all do incredibly bone-headed things that made me want to throw things at the television. Let’s start with Mohinder, whose intelligence and common-sense is on a sliding scale based on what the current scene needs. One second he’s defying the Company and throwing a chair into the refrigerator that contains the virus (a bone-headed move if I’ve seen one since doesn’t that release the virus?!?) and saying he’s leaving, only to see him still there a scene or two later, talking about working for the greater good. It’s a real headscratcher, that’s for sure. Then, you’ve got Sylar who has a monologue on his evil nature to the non-English speaking half of the Wonder Twins. Which brings up the whole question of why does one half of the Wonder Twins speak English so well and the other doesn’t. Oh wait..I forgot. It’s called lazy writing. And then we’ve got Peter, who is re-treading his whole arc from last year and not very well.

It’s enough to make you scream. Were it not for the hope of seeing Kristen Bell in the next epsiode, I’d honestly give up on this one. Though another part of me is curious to see how Hiro’s story plays out. But I’m sure no matter what kind of big twist the producers thing they have in mind, it will be totally predictable, something we’ve seen before and ultimately disappointing.

Bionic Woman: The Education of Jamie Sommers
I keep wanting to love this show. It teased me with the third episode, almost as if it were saying, “Ha, ha…look at how good we could be, if we wanted to.” The thing is, the show does just enough to keep my interest up until we get to the big change at producer and bringing in the writers from Friday Night Lights. I believe that changeover happens soon, though I am discouraged that Glen Morgan’s leaving might take Darren Morgan with him. Darren Morgan’s X-Files episodes were all brilliant. I’d love to see him write an episode or two here.

But back to Bionic. One thing that bugs me is how easily the sister angle is shoved aside for the sake of the plot. The past four episodes, every time Jamie is given an assignment, she brings up her responsiblity to care for her sister. Here she’s given the chance to go undercover and it’s not mentioned ever. Instead, Jamie heads to campus and meets the hot T.A. who may or may not be the bad-guy. He turns out not to be, but we suspect him for a long time.

But in between those rather pedestrian moments, we have some better stuff to tease us. The show seems to be trying to embrace the whole Jamie struggles to reconcile her want for a normal life with the new-found powers and responsiblity she has. I could say this was all better done on Buffy, but I promised myself I wouldn’t do that…oh wait. Anyway, the whole plot of Jamie going to college, having a normal life and proving she could succeed in the tract she wanted to pursue was a nice touch. Yes, it didn’t till a lot of new ground but I still liked it and it was these scenes where the show worked best.

Friday Night Lights: Backfire, Let’s Get It On
Meanwhile, I continue to love just about every last second of Friday Night Lights. Well, every last second that isn’t somehow directly about Landry killing the man attacking Trya and the two covering it up. Those scenes just seem to bring the whole thing to screeching halt every week. And I find it interesting that this overly melodramatic plotline is the one that is highlighted in the previews every week. NBC, this may be the reason new fans aren’t tuning in. I’m not sure how you highlight the other plots, but there’s got to be some guy making a lot more money than I will in the promo department who could do it.

That said, I still like where the storyline has taken the characters (again when we’re not obsessing about it and the details like the watch). Anything that gives Landry more screen time is good in my book and man, have they been making good use of it. This week’s episode where Landry becomes the unlikely hero was nicely done. Seeing him soak in the adoration of the fans and his name being chanted by the crowd was nice. And in the midst of that, Trya dumps him so he can’t even really savor the moment. (I loved how Landry’s father goes to Trya and warns her away from his son. The statement of “Landry has never lied to me, but he did now” was great).

Meanwhile, Eric Taylor is trying to get things back in order in Dillon. I’m hoping the show doesn’t go the same route as Voo-Doo last year with the terminated coach. When he shows up and points out he has a family too and that he’ll see Eric again, I have to admit I liked the moment. And I also said, “Please let’s not have them meet in the playoffs.” Maybe if they met in a pivotal game that might work better. But I have a bad feeling we could repeat what we saw last year.

That said, seeing Eric try to get back in the swing of things was nicely done–both at home and as the head coach. The scene in the office talking about getting back in the saddle was hysterical and I love how both parties played it. It’s scenes like that that make me love this show.

And we’re seeing a different side to Matt Scarcen. He’s growing up, becoming more assertive and a leader. I believe that is why he’s clashed with Smash and I loved seeing him tell Julie he wouldn’t go with her to the concert because he was too mad at her. I’m intrigued to see where all of this goes.

The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror XVIII
Anyone remember when the segments on the annual Halloween episodes, oh I don’t know, had something to do with Halloween?!? Of the three here, only one of them had anything remotely to do with Halloween. I’d love to hear why a Mr. and Mrs. Smith parody is thrown in as part of the Halloween episode. I guess whenever season 19 comes out on DVD, we’ll hear that on the commentary. Other than that, I have to say this was a disappointing Treehouse of Horror.

TV Round-Up

October 15, 2007 at 3:13 pm | In Bionic Woman, friday night lights, tv shows | Leave a Comment

Friday Night Lights: Bad Ideas
One of the many things I love about Friday Night Lights that I love so much is that despite the fact that the show is a fictional one, just about everything about the show and the stories feels authentic. I know a lot of shows have tried to acheive that quasi-documentary feel to them, some to greater success than others for humorous value, but there isn’t a show out there that just captures the fact that you’re getting a glimpse into the lives of these characters as much as this show.

Which is why the whole Trya/Landry subplot is sticking out like a sore thumb.

Let me first say I like some parts of where the plot is taking us. Seeing it push Tyra and Landry together is a nice touch and the scene with Landry telling Tyra she knows how he feels and that he’d do anything for her was nicely done and unflinchingly honest. (And teased exactly in the wrong way by the NBC promo that aired during The Office). And as the two sat in Landry’s bedroom, kissing as the episode ended, I was reminded of the quote from Speed about relationships that begin under intense pressure don’t always work out or last.

That said, I’m still not sold on the melodramtic nature of the plotline itself. I’m wavering of if I think the Landry’s discovery of his watch was some kind of reaction based on guilt or if it will actually become a plotline later. If it’s guilt, then I like it. If it’s a clue that links Landry to the murder later, I’m not going to be quite as happy.

The rest of the episode worked for me. The unflinching honesty in portraying just how draining the separation of Eric and Tamy is was incredible. Seeing Tamy slowly fall apart in the first two episodes of this season has been incredible. Seriously, how did Connie Britton not get an Emmy nod last year? The scene in the new guidance councellor’s office as Tamy loses it in front of him felt as awkward as it should have in every respect. And watching Tamy go from confident on the phone with Eric to losing it in the hospital when Grace is sick was wonderful. The look on her face when the doctor said something about her husband helping her out….yeah, just engrave her name on the Emmy statue now. It was that good.

And Eric’s situation. I think there was a lot more to the comment “I bet you were a great high school coach” than meets the eye. It’s one of those compliiments that you wonder if it was really a compliment. Yes, his speech might have caused the NCAA committee to look more favorably on the spoiled athlete he defended. But I have a feeling that could come back to bite Eric, leaving him without a job and a way back to Dillon. And you can tell that he’s torn–his heart isn’t really in anything he’s doing. He wants so desparately to be with his family, but also to follow his dream. And as we look at what’s happening, it seems he’s not giving his all or best to either of his roles right now because he’s torn.

And then Tamy states outloud for the first time that maybe this whole him in Austin, her in Dillon thing was a bad idea. I think we only have to look at Julie to see that bearing out. Watching last week’s episode, we saw how the Taylor household functioned better with both parents there….

Meanwhile, things aren’t looking too hot for Buddy Garrity. Now while Buddy is a pain in the rear, I think Eric understood the politics of the town. You get Buddy on your side, he’s loyal. I have a feeling if the team loses a game ,the new coach’s supporters will turn on him and drop him like a hot potato. Which while Eric had a few stumbles early-on last year, Buddy never dropped his support. Sure, he went too far bringing in VooDoo, but Buddy never left Eric hanging out to dry. I have a feeling this is what will be the downfall of the new coach. That and he didn’t come up through the Dillon ranks. If the team loses, you can bet the blame will fall to him and his new style of coaching.

Bionic Woman: Sisterhood
After a first episode that felt too rushed and a second episode that felt disjointed (turns out it was two scripts smashed into one story), Bionic Woman finally gives us an episode that lives up to its promise and potential. The story was by producer David Eick and you could almost hear him saying, “This is how the show is going to succeed” on every scene.

First of all, I had no idea it was part one of two. Nice surprise there.

The first two weeks, we had some heavy-handed exposition. Jamie was apparently chosen to be a Bionic Woman, Will lied to her about their relationship, Sarah is slowly self-destruction, the group Jamie works for is trying to stop some kind of global forces of evil. But this week, we finally got to see all those elements in play in a way that actually worked instead of feeling like the neon-sign screaming “foreshadowing” or “backstory” was going off.

Sarah comes to Jamie, seeking her help. Jamie is apparently the Bionic Woman 2.0 and has some upgrades that will help Sarah survive. But only if Jamie goes with Sarah. Sarah won’t go into the group that financed and employs Jamie. I guess killing 14 people will do that for you. I do like that the series addressed how Sarah survived the bullet to the brain. It’s not exactly the most convincing argument, but at least the series answered the question instead of leaving it hanging. Sarah and Jamie engage in an almost Buffy and Faith-like give and take. Jamie is bristling against her new destiny and seeing it as a limitation on her life while Sarah has fully embraced it and has less of a moral compass. Seeing the two debate over the morality of what was done, as well as finding out what drove Sarah mad was nicely done. And I’ve got to wonder–the fact that Jamie was hurt in a collision with a semi and that Sarah lost her sister in a collision with a semi…that seems to bit too obvious a coincidence. Is there some connection?

The episode itself had a lot of tension. Seeing Jamie torn about whose side she was on or should be on was nicely done. Seeing her de-active and activate her tracker to save her sister worked. And seeing she and Sarah bond a bit only to have that trust fall apart worked well. I like the tension of this relationship and the fact that you can see how both sides are struggling here. There’s shades of gray to both sides and not just one is good and one is evil. Again, back to the Buffy and Faith thing…Faith went to the dark side, but you could see why she did. Same thing with Sarah.

I will admit the one part that I didn’t buy so much was the “let’s guard the diplomat’s teenage daughter.” It was OK, but the ending where rebellious teenage girl sees the light after attack and saving by the Eastern European country mafia goons…yeah, a bit much. Of course, I guess we should be thankful it wasn’t Jamie battling Bigfoot.

So, I’ll admit it–I was wavering on this one, but I’m a bit more sold now. I think the show is starting to show signs of life and delivering on the promise. I can only hope the audience that was driven away last week comes back and sees that the show is getting good now.

TV Round-Up

October 4, 2007 at 4:45 pm | In Bionic Woman, Reaper, tv shows | Leave a Comment

Bionic Woman: Paradise Lost
I wanted to love the second epiosde of Bionic Woman, but I have to admit that, overall, I found it a bit “myeh, not so much.”

It seems like there was a lot of heavy-lifting going on in this episode as the series tries to find its footing for the week-in, week-out business of telling its story. Hopefully we’ve got those all in place now and the show can starting establishing its voice and telling stories that are unique and interesting to the series as a whole.

This week, we find Jamie struggling with the burden of having these new powers thurst upon her. We find her attempting to rebel against her new-found destiny (if you will) by trying to go back to her old life, even going so far as to pick up a guy in the bar for a meaningless tryst in the bathroom. That is, until, she gets a little too into it and breaks his ribs, shoving him up against a stall. Jamie still continues to run from her new-found destiny, until a random encounter in a bookstore pushes her to realize she can play a role in making the world a better place and saving the world. But, (in one of the more obvious from a mile away plot points of the night) the guy in the bookstore turns out to be part of the conspiracy group. Needless to say, not shocked by that one, at all.

Meanwhile, some other group has poisoned an entire town. Jamie goes through some training (which did anyone else wish Giles would show up?) and then pushes to be sent out into the field. I’m still curious to know exactly what strength Jamie brought to the mission, other than her bionic ear working to help find the girl who hadn’t died from exposure to the virus. This whole plotline raised a lot of questions, few of which we got any substantial answers to–or even hints of answers, mind you. What is this other group and why’d they poison the town? Will this threat come back? Why was our group so bent on finding out who did it and why? How many of these organizations are there out there? And do they have their own versions of Jamie as some kind of secret weapon?

I am guessing and hoping the show will start to answer these as the weeks go along. It’s still a bit early yet to tell what the overall bigger picture here might be. But I hope it comes into focus soon.

Meanwhile, we’ve got the whole Sarah plotline. Sarah, the first Bionic Woman who went a bit mad and claims her software was hacked. Oh yeah, and she survived a bullet to the brain. I really want to know how that happened. The story even hints that it knows we’re wondering, but it’s kind of glossed over.

Overall, we had a lot of threads but not a coherent whole this week. I am not sure what they’re setting up here, but I hope it takes off soon. As I said before, right now I am getting a strong Buffy-wannabe vibe off the show. A lot of the themes seem to be the same and I can only hope Bionic finds the story it wants to tell with those themes soon.

Reaper: Charged
Reaper’s second episode, on the other hand, shows how you can use your second-episode to remind the audience of the show’s premise, all the while expanding your universe. And you can do it in an entertaining, fun and enjoyable way.

I’ve always thought the second episode of a television show must be one of the hardest to produce. After putting all your eggs in a basket to sell the show to the network and then viewers, now you have to start delivering on the promise and continue to build on expectations. And I’ll give Reaper credit–the second episode did that.

In “Charged” we find Sam attempting to rebel against his calling. He figures if he doesn’t open the box, he can’t be the bounty hunter for the Devil. The Devil doesn’t take kindly to this and the way the box follows Sam was nicely done. But it turns out that is Sam doesn’t accept his role in things, innocent people will die. Sam is thrust, reluctantly, into action.

I loved the way the vessel this week was the toy truck and that it got destroyed. Interesting to see how Sam is going to have to deal with things, should things go a bit wrong. And the scene where he announces who he is to the escaped soul and then the Devil telling him now the guy was hunting for Sam was hysterical. I’ll go so far as to say that this week’s escaped soul wasn’t necessarily all that pivotal. In X-Files or Smallville terms, he was little more than the freak-of-the-week, but he did what he needed to do–motivated Sam and showed how and why he has to do what he does.

And the episode itself was a fun. It worked well and had some good moments in there. A couple of good laugh out loud scenes and the plotline of trying to hide the secret identity from his mom were welcome touches. CW may have a hit on its hands here…assuming anyone will watch.

Trust me–it’s worth giving this show a try.

TV Round-Up

September 29, 2007 at 9:30 pm | In Bionic Woman, Family Guy, Smallville, The Office, tv shows | Leave a Comment

Bionic Woman: Pilot
Based on the strength of the creative staff behind the show, I was really, really looking forward to seeing Bionic Woman.

That said, I was kind of worried that NBC might be hyping it too much–ratcheting up my expectations to such a height that virtually no show could live up to them.

After one episode, all I have to say is, “So far, so good.”

I don’t recall much about the 70s version of the show. I do know it was a spin-off of Six Million Dollar Man and that it had Lindsay Wagner…but that’s about it. Oh and that it was kind of campy. So, I guess you could say I’m coming into this one fresh.

Now, I’ll admit–the first chance I had to download and watch the pilot, I took it. And when I saw it, I have to admit I liked…especially the second-half when it gave off the Buffy-vibe (I was having flashbacks of Buffy and Faith battling as we watched Jamie battle the evil Bionic Woman played by Katie Sackoff…and in a good way). It’s interesting that the show would remind me of Buffy. It’s certainly playing off some of the same themes–woman leading an ordinary life one day is suddenly given powers and has to learn how to use them in order to “save the world.” On Buffy, we battled the supernatural forces and here…well, I guess we’ll wait and see. The interesting part is that we have the dark Bionic Woman introduced early and it should be interesting to see how that give and take develops. I’m glad they signed Katie Sackoff to a recurring role status–the scenes with her character just had a lot more pop and tension.

I will admit, some of the elements of the show were a bit forced…the whole sister angle, not sure where that’s going. But I’m willing to give the show a chance based on what I’ve seen here. The first episode is good and I can’t wait for the second.

Smallville: Bizarro
The good thing about the season premiere is that, for once, Smallville doesn’t feel the need to wrap up everything with a nice, neat bow. It does deal with Bizarro Clark, though I fully expect he’ll be back later this year (though I’m still waiting for Brainiac to return as well….so take my prediction with a grain of salt) and Chloe comes back to life. Of course, the show has to go to great lengths to make Lois dumber than a box of rocks and just accept that weird stuff happens and not question it any more. But I keep recalling my pledge to turn off my brain and just go with it, and that seems to be helping a lot.

Meanwhile, Lana is alive…though how she escaped and/or knew her car was wired to blow up, I’m not sure. Unless she did it to frame Lex, but that’s giving the girl a lot more credit that I think she should be given.

Family Guy: The Star Wars parody
Robot Chicken’s was better.

And while I liked the one joke about hyper-space looking like the opening credits of Tom Baker Dr Who, the rest of the show was too scattershot. And, typical Family Guy, jokes are allowed to run too long, until all the funny is sucked out of the gag.

The Office: Fun Run
I read an interview where the production team behind The Office said they were looking at the hour-long episodes to open the season as a feature film and not just two episodes jammed together. And having seen this week’s episode, I think they took that thought too far. Like most comedies these days, they had some good jokes that were stretched too thin over the running time of the episode.

Don’t get me wrong–there were times in this episode I was on the floor laughing. But it also felt like, at times, we were stretchings things a bit. That said, it was still funnier than Caveman will ever be on its best day.

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